A/N: Short chapter again, sorry! Oh, and bad language here! You have been warned!
Chapter Fourteen – Consequences
Diana knew the instant it happened. It was not the same as the simple realisation of her own feelings clicking into place. This was…more shocking. More stunning. More…indescribably wonderful. This was like falling and flying at once. She pulled back from the kiss just to look at him. Blue eyes met blue as she searched his gaze, seeing what her heart told her. What she found there almost made her knees buckle.
"Bruce…" she whispered, before running her fingers through his black hair again and pulling him back to her lips. The kiss was harder this time, less hesitant, less exploratory and more driven, more passionate and sure. Suddenly she was the Amazon champion again; a woman strong and confident, a woman who knew that what she desired was hers, that her claim on her love could never be challenged or disputed. A woman marking her territory. He belonged to her. From the way his fingers tightened in her hair, his arm around her waist now a steel band pinning her to him – Bruce felt exactly the same way about her.
She knew he did, she could feel his love for her burning, right there in her heart and feeding her own flames of passion. Hera, how had he ever been able to block it – this man held more emotion than anyone else she'd felt before. Why, by Olympus, had it ever been dangerous? All he felt for her was love. There wasn't any pain anymore, any doubt or fear. He was in love, and relieved because of that.
On his part – if he hadn't been busy trying to kiss Diana senseless – Bruce would have been grinning like a loon. Part of him recognised how ridiculously out of character that was, but even that part didn't care. Could this completeness really come from one emotion? He wasn't one to play games of chance, to gamble with the direction his life took, or even to hope. The kind of love other people had, the kind of love his parents had had – that was far beyond his grasp. Until now he hadn't wanted to grasp for it. Until now, it wasn't a risk worth taking. Not for Diana. Diana deserved someone whole.
And it didn't seem possible…but now…he was.
He drew back to breathe, but chose to breathe in Diana's scent, burying his face in her hair. Was this how you felt, Dad? Was this how it felt when you found Mom? Grief washed over him – just another question to add to an endless list of questions he'd never get to ask. Somewhere, now buried deep under the love he felt for Diana, an alarm bell began to ring. Mourning for his parents was a step to accepting their deaths. Accepting their deaths meant that there could be no more Batman – that raw edge of anger and rage would be gone. He hated that he couldn't grieve without sacrificing that. When he pulled back a little more, it was to see tears in Diana's eyes – and it hit him.
J'onn's words came back with chilling accuracy. Very strong emotions will break it.
Oh God. Diana could feel his emotions. Afraid of hurting her, Bruce swiftly let go – and saw his fear hurt her anyway.
Unable to bear his fear and concern, as well as her own fear, Diana reached out, grabbing his hands. "Bruce, don't-" She broke off as a piercing pain hit her between the eyes, gradually increasing. Oh Hera not now. Please not now. It was coming back, encroaching on her mind like a storm. She was standing on a beach watching a tsunami race toward her and powerless to stop it. While she could still talk, was still lucid, Diana took his face between her hands, kissed him again. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she swallowed the sob that built. How could one person hold so much pain and still be able to stand upright?
"This is not your fault," she said, as clearly as she could manage with six billion emotions flying at her all at once. "Bruce, this is not your fault."
She couldn't stop the tears anymore, and sobbing, she tried to tell him she loved him, tried to stay standing and not fall her to knees. She knew he'd blame himself, but was beyond knowing how to stop that from happening. Was beyond knowing that the ice under her was cold. Was beyond knowing anything apart from the pain. Her hands went up to her head, gripped her hair and ripped strands out by the handful.
Heart breaking for her, and knowing that that fact would only hurt her more, Bruce knelt too, taking her hands and disentangling them as gently as possible. As soon as he did, though, she began scratching at her chest – hard, and her fingernails left bloody gouges in her flesh. Quicker than Bruce could move, she did it again, and he swore he saw bone. Knowing that another desperate grab would reach her heart, and not seeing another choice, he hit the pressure point on her neck to knock her unconscious.
With a sigh of what sounded like relief, Diana passed out, her body relaxing and falling backward. Bruce caught her before she hit the floor. Ignoring the tears that were rolling down his cheeks, he lifted his hand to activate his comlink. His voice was perfectly steady when he spoke, the Bat easily taking over. "Batman to Watchtower."
Static.
In his arms, Diana let out a quiet sob in her unconscious state. Bruce tried again. "Batman to Watchtower!"
Finally, J'onn's voice came over the link, broken and wavering. "-chtower to Batma- unications down- are you re-iving?"
"Barely," he answered. "But Diana is worse again – the empathy is back. Have her goddesses located Skatha yet?"
"-es," J'onn answered. "-ou need to ta- -er to Themysci- Are you reci-"
"Batman out," he said brusquely. Shifting Diana slightly so that he could support her body with both hands, he stood up and carried her through the Fortress in exactly the same way he had when they'd arrived. Damn it, she was supposed to be safe here, she was supposed to get better – and the only fucking thing that had changed was that he'd made things, quite literally, six billion times worse.
Placing her gently in the seat of the Javelin, he powered up the engines as quickly as possible and out of the Fortress, heading as fast as the engines could take them toward Themyscira.
As they passed by Europe, Diana screamed all the way.
---
"Hippolyta's not going to like that," Shayera commented. J'onn had just told them about the garbled transmission he'd received from Batman. "The goddesses told her that Diana was in safe hands with Batman."
"I am certain that whatever triggered her relapse it was not anything Batman could have prevented," J'onn replied.
"And he's not going to like that," Flash commented.
The seven of them had gotten back to the Watchtower once the ceasefire had been called again in the Middle East, tired and ready for bed. At the transmission they'd received, however, the worry for Diana had come flooding back. Shayera was tapping her fingers worriedly on the surface of the table, Flash was jiggling his legs nervously and Superman was biting his lip slightly.
John spoke. "Should we…"
"Bad idea," Shayera said. "If Hippolyta's going to freak out with one man on the island, Lord only knows what she'd do if all four of you turn up."
Superman began to protest. "But Diana-"
"Has Batman with her," she said firmly. "Even if we all went, we couldn't do anything for her. We'd only hurt her more until it's done. The goddesses have Skatha, and they're going to make sure that she lifts the curse on Diana. Then when they do, she'll be fine and we can all jump on her once she's back in the Watchtower."
Her matter-of-fact tone caused them all to smile weakly. "I'm up for that," Flash grinned, raising his hand.
"Then we're agreed?" John asked. "We're staying here?"
There was a pause as everyone nodded.
Then Flash spoke. "So we're going, right?"
---
Batman didn't set the Javelin down where he normally would have. Something told him not to, and he was too worried and anxious about Diana to be suspicious about where the impulse came from. As long as he got Diana to help, it didn't matter. He'd made it quicker than even he thought possible – from the Arctic to Themyscira in less than fifteen minutes. However, Diana would be waking up within moments, and he had no sedative left in his utility belt. Her screaming had ceased once they were over the Atlantic, but still she was clearly in pain, tossing her magnificent head from side to side and moaning in agony.
Bruce had spent the journey letting his guilt feed his anger. If Diana's gods had Skatha, why the hell hadn't they made her remove the curse? Why make Diana come to Themyscira? Goddesses or not, when he got hold of them…
He set the Javelin down on a small patch of sand at the back of the island, deserted by buildings apart from one small temple-like structure. At its entrance stood the solitary figure of a woman in white robes.
Like the knowledge of where to land, the knowledge that Hippolyta would be waiting had also simply been delivered into his brain. When he strode down the ramp, Diana in his arms, the queen's face was like thunder – but recognising the identical look on his face, she didn't waste time berating him.
"This way," she said tersely.
He followed swiftly, watching the queen shoot increasingly worried looks at her daughter. She seemed to be actively biting her tongue – and when they got to the temple, she strode inside. The woman waiting in the centre was treated to two chilling glares. She was evidently a goddess; her bearing said that much, along with the glower she shot back to them. Any further study was cut short when Diana stirred again in his arms, her eyes flickering open. Hippolyta crossed to them quickly.
"Diana!"
The concern emanating from the queen was so palpable that even Bruce could feel it, and it was enough for Diana to cry out in pain. She spasmed in his arms; to keep from dropping her, Batman, firmly in control – a survival tactic that at the moment Bruce needed – crouched.
Now fully awake, Diana went back to sobbing and trying to claw her heart out. Batman grabbed the metal bracers and held her fast. If she'd been lucid, there was no way he'd be able to prevent her, but in her weakened state she was no stronger than any other woman.
"Mortal."
He looked up at the goddess, holding out an imperious hand. "What?" he growled.
"Come."
"There's no fucking way I'm leaving Diana," he spat.
"You must," she said. "The bargain has been made on you. If you do not come with me now, the princess will be forever cursed."
"Go," Hippolyta said. "I am capable of taking care of my daughter."
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. "Hold her wrists. She'll rip her heart out if you let go." He transferred the woman he loved carefully into the arms of her mother, then got up and stalked toward the goddess. She nodded sombrely and led him forward a few more steps, then down a spiral staircase cut into the floor that he hadn't seen before. Diana's cries of pain followed him like some horrific verbal shadow. The goddess in front of him – Hera, he deduced – quickened her pace.
Eventually they reached a dungeon-like chamber – with a woman chained with gleaming silver manacles to the wall. She stood upright and proudly, her eyes narrowed in hate at Hera. When Batman came into view, however, her mouth stretched into a cold, evil smile, eyes glittering poisonously.
"Ah…the mortal."
"Skatha," Hera hissed. "Undo this curse."
"Not until he asks me nicely," Skatha sneered.
Bruce took one step forward, and Skatha's smile faltered slightly. It seemed she knew that she wasn't going to get her begging. "Do it," he ordered, more force in his voice than Hera could have ever managed.
"Do what, exactly?" she asked. She tilted her head to the side, listening.
As if on cue, another scream echoed down, torturing his heart as badly as it was torturing Diana's. "Damn it, just stop her feeling it all!" he yelled.
Skatha grinned. "Done."
---
Up the stairs, Diana's head was pillowed on her mothers arms, Hippolyta keeping up a low litany of prayer and flinching with every sound her daughter made. Suddenly, mid-scream, and with her eyes squeezed shut – Diana stopped.
She shut her mouth.
She opened her eyes.
She sat up, expecting to feel relief that it was gone.
She didn't.
She felt nothing.
---
A/N: I imagine a lot of people want to cause my physical harm right about now…leave me my fingers! I need them to type! Review please and butcher me verbally if you must!