Chapter 9: Impulses

"Didn't you say something about a how you expected to fight a giant monster?" Bruce quipped, inwardly gawking at himself. He never quipped. But the joy from last night would not ebb, and he clung to it.

"Spoke too soon, it seems," Diana shot back, the thrill of battle warming her veins. She snatched her shield from its place on her back, checked for the lasso where it rested, as ever, at her hips. "Thank you, Hestia!" she called, without looking back. When they saw a gigantic tree crash to the ground, Bruce and Diana both grinned and ran straight towards it. Finally, they thought; something easy.

"Hera said this was her sister's test!" Bruce yelled over the sound of something huge wreaking havoc in the woods. "That leaves Demeter, since Athena is Zeus's daughter." He remembered the myth that Athena had burst from Zeus's head and frowned, wondering if Athena would be an ally or an obstacle. "But I thought Demeter was goddess of the harvest and agriculture!" Nimbly, he tucked and rolled when he saw a tree crashing towards him.

Diana caught the falling tree, her warrior's cry splitting the air as she hefted it away from them. "Demeter blessed me with the strength of the earth," she shouted back. "Plus, in Greece, it is still winter! Demeter's probably not in good spirits until the Equinox!"

Bruce leapt over another felled tree, recalling his lessons. Persephone, he remembered; Demeter's daughter doomed to the Underworld to be with Hades during the fall and winter, free to be with her mother during spring and summer. He fired a grapple into another tree, flipped the switch, and let it reel him up into the branches, where he pulled himself up. Diana flew up, hovered beside him. Bruce pulled the branches down so they could see. His jaw dropped.

"Is that... what I think it is?"

Diana looked grim. "Yes. That is Cerberus, the hound of hell. Who, then, is guarding the gate then, Lord Hermes?

Bruce looked to his left, where Hermes floated, snacking on berries without a care in the world. "What, no popcorn?" Bruce asked.

Hermes blinked. "No what?"

"Never mind."

Hermes popped a berry into his mouth, watching the enormous three-headed monstrous hound thrash through the forest with vague interest. He said, "Hades should be able to mind the door and keep the dead within for a short time. He has no shortage of monsters at his disposal if he's above the duty himself."

"Is this the test then? Subdue Cerberus?" Diana eyed the three sets of snapping jaws and the bloody canines sticking from each of the three rows of teeth. Spittle flew as he snarled and snapped. She narrowed her eyes at the hissing and snapping serpent that was Cerberus's tail.

"Perhaps." Hermes pointed to the ground where two figures were watching. Diana could make out their vague outlines when she squinted. The first was a woman swathed in green and yellow, wearing a crown of wheat. Demeter, as expected. The second was a woman wearing silver armor with a red cape, and a plume of red feathers in her helmet. Diana swallowed when the unfamiliar sensation of nerves fluttered in her gut. Though she felt devotion towards Hera and all her patrons, Pallas Athena had been the one she prayed to most as a child, the one who she revered above all others- even more so, in her heart, than Hera herself. Diana had never dared speak this aloud.

"Demeter and Athena," Batman observed, noting the way Diana's eyes latched onto the latter goddess, how her throat worked as she swallowed hard. "A combined test of strength and strategy, it seems, Diana. Would you like my assistance?" He was braced to be turned down, something about how this was her fight, her challenge. It's what he would have done.

But Diana shook herself free of the anxiety, saying a prayer to Artemis for protection and a clean hunt instead. Perhaps in response, she felt the thrill of the hunt spark in her again. She grinned, met Bruce's eyes. "Of course," she said, palming her lasso and gathering a length in her hands. "Mind the teeth, both canine and serpent; Cerberus is venomous."

"The claws too?" Bruce eyed them; they gleamed in the sunlight.

"No," Diana said, smirking. "They just hurt. And remember: we aim to subdue, not to kill."

Bruce smirked back. "Don't I always?"

Diana rolled her eyes. "You go low; I go high." And she zoomed off, swinging the lasso with a warcry. Bruce grinned, pulled his cowl over his face, checked his grapple guns, and then dropped out of the tree. Neither saw Hermes perch at the top of the tallest tree to watch the show.

"Cerberus!" Diana screamed as she flew. The gruesome creature halted his rampage and focused on her. All three jaws snapped. With a shout in Greek, she swung the lasso and yanked hard. The end looped around the right head's jaw, and she pulled it shut. The head whined, and the other two snapped and growled in fury, sending spittle flying.

Diana shouted another Greek word, and yanked hard, attempted to bring the creature down. Cerberus groaned, foaming at two of three mouths, as he struggled against her.

Batman tossed a canister that started hissing and spewing gas upon impact under the hellhound's left head. Cerberus's snarling snout sucked in a full inhale of gas before the creature jerked and rolled away. Diana, still gripping the lasson to hold the right head's jaw shut, stumbled and then floated forward as the creature rolled. The left head, now asleep, hung limply, throwing the creature off balance.

With the left head asleep and the right muzzled by the golden perfect, the center head resumed it's snarls and snapping. It attempted to dive at Batman, who tucked and rolled away, and Diana pulled hard, keeping the creature from attacking. With a fierce cry, she yanked with all her might and brought Cerberus to his knees.

The center head growled and struggled, snapping it's teeth at Diana and attempted to pull itself out of her grasp. "Peace, Cerberus!" she cried. "We mean you no harm."

Diana could feel the skeptical fury in the hellhound; she felt him resolve to destroy them. Frustrated, she tugged and pulled, hoping to pull him closer to her, but the one free jaw would present a problem if she tried to approach. So, Diana, in blurred seconds, made a loop on the other end of the lasso and tossed it, pulling on the lariat until Cerberus's center head was muzzled too. Still, the two trapped heads of Cerberus let out a frightening growl through as she pulled hard to keep the creature on its knees.

"Great Cerberus, please!"

The creature snarled and resumed it's mighty struggle against Diana's grip. She screamed, from deep in her chest, as she tried to contain him.

Batman snuck closer, considering. While the creature was focused on Diana, he could take better aim. If the sleeping gas could neutralize one or both of the remaining heads, Cerberus could be subdued and sent back to the Underworld, which he supposed he had to believe in now. Diana just had to get close enough to touch it safely and calm it.

Though, he had to wonder- why hadn't she just picked it up and thrown it into the mountainside? She'd have a good reason.

From behind the creature, Bruce tossed a second canister, hissing and spewing gas as it rolled under Cerberus and stopped just under his heads. Diana screamed again, yanked the center head into the gas before the creature managed to roll away again. She let herself be pulled by the lasso, floating. She took pity on the creature, two of his three heads limply hanging in sleep and the third, dazed.

Impulsively, still gripping the lasso like a horse's bridle, Diana flew and landed on the creature's back, quickly pulling her makeshift bridle tight. Cerberus reared, howling through it's closed jaws. Vaguely, Diana registered a hiss behind her and a stinging sensation at the back of her neck. She shook it off.

"Great Cerberus!" she shouted. "Mighty hellhound! Feel the truth of my words!"

The lasso glowed; Cerberus stilled.

"I mean you no harm. I am Diana of Themyscira-I swear to you, you will not be harmed. Be at peace, and I will release you. You will be fully awake and back home soon. Peace. Please."

Feeling the truth from her and compelled by the lasso, Cerberus lay down. The right head, the only one awake, let out a quiet whine then sighed.

"Thank you, my friend," Diana said, stroking his side from where she sat behind his heads. With a flick of her wrists, the lasso fell away, re-coiling itself as she placed it back on her hip. Bruce stood, brushed himself off. He froze when he saw her, seriously considering snapping a picture. Wonder Woman, riding the Hound of Hell.

She slid off the creature's back, keeping a soothing hand on Cerberus as Demeter and Athena approached. Bruce stood at her side, offering a quick nudge, shoulder-to-shoulder. She smiled, feeling heat flood her neck and up her face. She knelt respectfully as the goddesses stopped in front of them.

"Rise, Princess," said Athena. Diana shivered a little, chilled by her hero's voice. She stood at attention. "My lady Athena. My lady Demeter. You honor us."

Demeter, wrapped in her golden and green robes and wheat crown, inclined her head. "You use your strength wisely and well, child. You subdued Cerberus without causing him harm. He may be a fearsome creature, but he is ours, and he serves a great purpose." She looked with kindness toward the creature, though her features were drawn and sad. "Persephone is fond of him. I am proud to see my gifts used with kindness and generosity. Well done, Diana."

Diana nodded slowly, feeling a strange sense of overwhelm settle on her. "Thank you, my lady." She spoke deliberately, feeling her heart pound.

Bruce watched Diana in the corner of his eye; she sounded off, she looked flushed. But he chalked it up to the genuine awe and worship he saw in her eyes as Athena stepped forward, unsheathing her great golden sword.

"My sister," Athena spoke proudly and deeply; her voice seemed to echo in the woods. The red plumes in her helmet stood out in the green and brown landscape. "You have battled bravely and intelligently; your strategy was both wise, and as Demeter has said, kind. You accepted help from a comrade, and you consistently strove to end the conflict. And you did it all with a fierceness that appeals to me." She grinned, reminding Bruce of Menalippe. "You will carry my blessing, always; I have always heard your prayers. I have tried to attend them from behind the veil, with what limited power I still have."

Diana sucked in a breath, fighting dizziness. "Th-thank you, my lady. You honor me."

"The honor is mine," the goddess said. Then, Athena lifted her sword, and laid the flat of it on Diana's shoulder. Diana drew in a deep breath, straightened. Bruce swore she was trembling.

"You have passed our tests, Diana of Themyscira. You are worthy of our blessings, and I, for one, am proud to call you sister."

Diana felt like time was slowing, like she might not be able to speak if she tried, or maybe her heart would run out of her chest. She managed, "Thank you, my lady."

"We will meet again, Diana of Themyscira," Athena promised with a smile.

"A good harvest to you, child," Demeter said. And in a blink, both vanished along with Cerberus.

Diana blew out her breath, even wobbled a bit. "Wow," she said. With a smile, Bruce nudged her shoulder again in congratulations, then caught her arm when she wobbled more. She waved him off.

"Now what?" Bruce wondered. He didn't let go of her elbow.

Always one for an entrance, Hermes swooped down beside them, the tiny wings on his sandals flapping away. "Now it's time to seek audience with the Great Father himself!" the messenger god declared. "Brava, Diana! Bravo, mortal!" Hermes grinned when Bruce rolled his eyes. "Let's go."

Diana felt herself smile at their antics. She felt herself take a step to follow Hermes, but then, her leg folded under her like paper. Vaguely, she felt Bruce's arms when he lunged for her.

"Diana?"

She regretted the fear in his voice, but the thickness in her mouth and mind prevented her from answering. She blinked hard, trying to bring his face into focus.

"What's wrong?" he demanded. Hermes hovered over Bruce's shoulder, looking confused.

Diana remembered the hiss, the sting at her neck when she'd leapt onto Cerberus's back. And she knew.

"Bruce..." she rasped. He jerked his cowl off, paling visibly and leaning close. "My neck," she wheezed. "Bite."

Swallowing hard, Bruce adjusted Diana in his arms, and Hermes lifted her hair. She heard the god suck in a breath through his teeth; she felt Bruce's fingers press into her skin a little harder. Her body felt heavy, numb, tingly. Not good.

"The serpent head, Cerberus's tail, it bit her," Hermes said. "She's dying."

Bruce blinked. "That's ridiculous. She's divine."

"So is Cerberus," Hermes answered grimly.

Diana fought to keep her eyes open as Bruce readjusted her in his arms, so he was cradling her. Her vision was tunnelling, her skin burning, and every bone in her body ached. She couldn't swallow the groan as he moved her.

"So heal her!" Bruce ordered, gently tapping her cheeks as her eyes fluttered. "Diana. Diana, stay. Stay with me."

"That's not my gift!" Hermes shouted. "We need help."

"Diana, please." Bruce swept matted hair out of her face, leaned in close. His hand shook. She blinked rapidly, fighting for consciousness. "That's good, yes. Stay with me, please." To Hermes, Bruce said, "Help from whom?" He didn't look away from Diana's face.

Her brows pinched. "Ah. Ah. Apollo," she whispered. She took a shaky breath, closing her eyes against the pain when Bruce pulled her into his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. And she prayed into Bruce's ear.

"Apollo. Help me." Then, all went dark for her and the tension bled out of her muscles.

Panicked, Bruce held her close, cradling her again as she went limp. He was not a pious man. But he believed in her.

"APOLLO!"

Hermes had considered flying off to find the god of the sun, music, and medicine, but when Bruce's agonized roar made him jump, he abandoned that plan. Diana's pasty complexion and shallow breaths assured him there was no time for that. So, he too screamed his brother's name to the sky. "Apollo!"

Bruce used his free hand to find his med-scanner in his belt, scanning Diana's vitals. Her heart was racing, and even as he scanned her, she paled further and lurched, and he was able to help her roll on her side to vomit once into the grass. She moaned, shuddering in Batman's frantic embrace.

So focused he was on tending to her, Bruce missed the blink of gold light behind him, didn't see the tanned god with yellow hair and simple white toga and sandals appear. Bruce whipped his head around when he heard a new voice, took in the sight of the new god with both hope and dread.

"I heard Diana's prayer," Apollo said. His voice was music, a rich tenor. "And yours, brother. And yours, Bruce Wayne."

Bruce stiffened when Apollo knelt beside him. The god's hand gently cupped her head, and Bruce gently shifted her hair to the side, revealing the two fang marks, swollen, like a red and purple softball. Like Hermes, Apollo hissed in alarm. "Cerberus! This is a fatal wound. We must go to Delphi, where my limited power is strongest, if I can hope to heal her."

The woods vanished in a blinding flash of gold light before Bruce's eyes.

XXX

Bruce gripped Diana for that blurred trip through the void. He barely noted the temple of Delphi when the light faded; instead, he checked-Diana was still breathing. He snarled wordlessly when Hermes and Apollo first attempted to lift her from his arms.

"This will be delicate magic," Hermes urged. "Apollo is her best hope." Batman hesitated, but Hermes said, "Bruce, please."

That did it; Bruce surrendered, allowing the gods to lift Diana nad place her on a high stone table at the center of the temple. Bruce wondered if the table was meant for blood sacrifices.

Hermes stepped back, siding with Bruce.

Apollo let his hands over on either side of Diana's neck. Then, he began to sing.

Bruce hated magic. But in that moment, when golden light began to emanate from Diana and Apollo, when her eyelids fluttered, he had never felt so grateful for it in his life. Apollo's voice swelled, filling the room with sound, energy, and power that made Batman's cape flutter. His song was in ancient Greek, so Bruce didn't catch much of it, but Apollo's face was full of emotion and his eyes were tearing. If Bruce could put an word to the expression and feel of the song, he'd chose "pleading."

"Add your voice," Hermes hissed urgently. "Sing!"

Bruce turned baffled eyes on him. "Sing what?!"

"Anything. It doesn't matter. Apollo will do the rest, and he's the god of music too. Sing anything and send it to her." And with that, Hermes opened his mouth to sing too- his brassy baritone, vibrating with emotion, carried no words, just a long, meandering "la" going up and down the scale, harmonizing with Apollo.

Bruce battled against his every instinct screaming that it was all ridiculous, that Diana even dying was ridiculous, that music and magic and gods were nothing and Diana needed a hospital, that this absurdity would do nothing for her, but then he remembered Diana's breathless awe at meeting Athena and the prayer to Apollo she'd whispered in his ear before she passed out.

Diana believed in this power. And he believed in her. So, he sang. He sang the first song that popped into his head.

Am I blue? Am I blue?

Ain't these tears in my eyes tellin' you?

Am I blue? You'd be too!

If every plan that you had done fell through.

There was a time I was your only one,

but now I'm the sad and lonely one.

Oh, I was gay, until today,

but now she's gone, and we're through.

Am I blue?

And as he sang, his deep bass joining the voices of the gods, the golden light grew and grew until the brightness blinded him. Still, he sang. And when the light faded with the song, there she lay.

Sweaty. Still. But full of color, chest rising and falling with easy, even breaths. Holding his breath, Bruce approached, med-scanned her again.

"She's... sleeping," he breathed.

He reached for the stone table for support as his knees turned to water.

"Well done, brother," Hermes commended quietly.

Apollo let his hands fall, stepped away from Diana for a moment, looking wan. "If not for both of your songs, your speed Hermes, and this mortal's belief, it could not be done." Apollo answered, still winded.

"I am not your devotee," Bruce said automatically. He pulled off a gauntlet to touch Diana's face, tracing her cheekbones and resting his hand in her hair. Gently, he lifted her head, and yes, the bite marks were gone. Her skin was damp, but neither cold nor fevered.

"Not mine, no," Apollo said, unconcerned. He turned to Hermes, who, with the danger passed, slid down a wall theatrically and let out a huge sigh.

"Brother, how did Diana come to be bitten by Cerberus?"

"Demeter and Athena," the god of travelers answered sullenly. "A joint test of strength and wisdom. Subdue the Hound of Hell." He gestured to Diana. "She passed."

"Really?" Apollo blinked. "Wouldn't receiving a fatal wound disqualify her from winning a test of strategy?"

Bruce, still standing over Diana and drinking her face and breaths like a dying man, bristled, feeling defensive. But before he could speak up, anger flooded him. Anger at her- she'd been impulsive. Shed nearly died. And then, his anger melted away into a sick fear.

Hermes, unaware of his new friend's storm of emotion, waved away Apollo's doubt. "Athena has not appeared out of nowhere to revoke her blessing." He shrugged. "She praised Diana's strategy-her wisdom, compassion, and skills in battle. Diana got close to Cerberus so she could use Artemis's gift to communicate with Cerberus and calm him. I suspect that's when she was bitten, in the instant before he trusted her. Diana was injured in her attempt to show compassion. She was impulsive."

Apollo blinked. "Compassion. For Cerberus. The Hound of Hell."

Hermes grinned. "Yep."

Apollo studied Diana, and, unobtrusively, the man hovering over her. He tapped his chin, considering. "She didn't get that kind of compassion from Athena," he said.

"She didn't get it from any of you," Bruce said, before he'd really decided to speak at all. "Or Hippolyta. It's who she is."

Apollo studied the mortal man, remembering his twin sister's scandalized gossip. This man, Bruce Wayne, the way he touched her, the way he'd sang... so. Artemis was right. Again.

A glance at Hermes revealed that the messenger god was half-asleep on the floor, crashing after the excitement of morning. So Apollo pulled up one of the high stone benches-a display of strength that Bruce watched without blinking-and sat. The sun-kissed god gestured to the other end of the bench.

"She will live," Apollo said. "Sit. Keep your vigil, but rest too. Healing is exhausting for everyone, and you gave nearly as much effort as I."

Bruce frowned at that, but he did sit, still holding Diana's hand in his own.

"I sang a song," Bruce said. Apollo nodded.

"Yes. Thank you. Music gives me power, and your voice is beautiful. But not simply music, but music with belief."

Bruce looked away, back to Diana's face. He remembered briefly, how that face had twisted in sadness when she turned her back on Steve Trevor. He remembered how her features had relaxed in pleasure as Bruce's hand guided her to orgasm. Before he could castigate himself for thinking of that moment now, his mind wrenched back to focus, reminding him of how her face had looked on the brink of death. She must be better in the future, he thought;; he'd help her, get her to be less impulsive. That way, she could live for centuries. Her death had seemed impossible; now it seemed unforgivable. The world needed her.

"Ah," Apollo sighed. "There it is. You believe in her. It is so strong an filled your music with power. I have not felt such belief in so long. That's how I was able to heal her; your belief helped me because it helped her body assist in it's own healing. Diana is like us-belief makes her stronger."

Bruce pondered this. It made sense, if Zeus biologically fathered her. Genetically, she was half Olympian; her body would be like theirs, her physiology and abilities would respond to belief as theirs did. And he did believe in her. More and more each day. Even with the impulsiveness. Perhaps he wouldn't be able to train it out of her- she'd had many centuries more training than he did, after all. And still, when she had the chance to show compassion, even at risk to herself, she would. It was who she is.

"You love her," Apollo said.

"She's my teammate. A fellow warrior. My friend. Of course I do." Bruce sold the lie with his flat tone, as if anything different was completely absurd. Apollo frowned.

"Of course," he allowed. "Perhaps you were disturbed to see her so injured."

"That was new," Bruce agreed. "I never realized Diana could even receive a fatal wound."

And he hated, truly hated the part of his brain that wanted to catalog this discovery next to Clark's kryptonite. The venom of Cerberus to the neck could take down the Amazon princess. But he remembered-Clark was dead. Fear seized his gut, and Bruce vowed to himself that no one would ever know of this. He would take it to his grave.

"Perhaps on your side of reality, Diana is nearly impossible to kill," Apollo mused. "She can deflect projectiles. She has rapid healing thanks to the ichor in her blood. She is one of the greatest warriors any world has ever known. She does not age. But here..."

Apollo uncovered the wound on Diana's arm, sucking his teeth in sympathy. "My sister regrets this still," he murmured. "She thought you were attacking Diana."

Bruce stared at her arm; the wound was still red, and as he watched, it still seeped blood. Apollo hummed for a moment- her arm glowed and the wound knit itself closed. "Here," Apollo said, "in our world, Diana is among equals. Equals with divine weapons. Creatures with divine venom. She did not send ARes to Tartarus easily-he put up quite a fight. Diana can die- she may not age, but she is not immortal. Nothing is guaranteed. Especially when she is compassionate, hot-tempered, and impulsive."

Heere, Apollo smiled. "She reminds me of Artemis. The Romans even used to call her Diana. She is impossible, yet I love her more than anyone else in any world."

Bruce stared at his Diana's sleeping features, relaxed and innocent. He wanted to take her from this place, yet he knew they must finish it to the end. Hera was still a problem. Zeus was still an unknown.

Diana could die. This seemed... unthinkable. He stewed over it until he realized Apollo had been silent for too long. He looked over, saw the sun god staring blankly into space, his face slack. Bruce watched for another two minutes until Apollo blinked and shook his head to clear it.

"What the hell was that." Bruce said it like it wasn't a question.

Apollo seemed to study him with new eyes. "This is a place of oracles and prophecies," the god said, "and I am its master."

"Well, save it," Bruce interrupted. "I'd rather not know my future. Self-fulfilling and all that. Don't tell me." He hesitated. "Unless- did you see Diana's future? Tell me."

Apollo smiled. "You cannot have it both ways, Bruce Wayne."

Bruce's mind whirled, processing. "What?" he managed.

"If I reveal Diana's future," Apollo said, "I will reveal your own."

XXX