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DREAM
They told her his name was Bruce.
He was the first boy she had ever seen.
They told her that he was older now. They told her the time was nearing for him to leave his home and there was much waiting for him on his journey. They told her that he was to study and learn all over the world and to prepare for the destiny that was waiting for him.
Now he needed to be set upon the correct path. She was to lead him to it. After she led him there, her task would be complete.
She had also been told that when she saw him he would look the same as he did that night. As he had in the nightmare she had shared with him. He would look the same – but he wouldn't be the same. Time had passed for him. Five years. He was older. He had hardened. They said it was important to remember that, as he would probably resist her.
Morpheus had explained to her that the boy was often plagued by Phobetor, the brother of Morpheus, and forced to relive that night again and again while he slept. Whenever she was needed, Morpheus would to take her to him. She was to lead him out of Phobetor's nightmares and provide some measure of comfort while she lead him toward the destiny that Themis had foretold.
Themis, being the Goddess of Justice, had rules. Of course. She couldn't tell him her name. She could guide him to his path, but it had to ultimately be his decision to step upon it. When her task was complete, he would not remember her. It would be as any other dream – it would soon fade. She should not and could not visit him again in his dreams. If she were to meet him again one day, in the physical world, she was not to tell him about the time they had spent together. Themis explained that he must believe that his path had been chosen by his own free will – which it was to be so. If he discovered her involvement, he may question this truth and then many would then be at risk.
The night she prepared to visit him for the first time, Themis had reminded her that the key was to use the blessings bestowed upon her. Wisdom, kindness, and especially persistence were to be her greatest tools. He was stubborn, Themis had told her. That is why she, specifically, had been called.
And so she had been called when he next entered the realm of Hypnos. In the comfort of her bed, she fell into a deep slumber and soon found herself in that dark alley in the strange world. It was familiar to her. It was the same as before.
The boy sat on the ground, next to the man and woman. He was still holding the woman's lifeless hand. She watched him for a moment. The empathy she felt for him almost overwhelmed her. Fighting tears, she went to him. He needed her strength. She would give it to him. When she reached him she stood by his side for a moment, looking at his mother and his father, as he was.
Then she spoke. "You don't have to stay here," she whispered.
He hadn't noticed her. He looked up, startled. Then he looked confused. Then he looked angry. His face was still streaked with blood and tears. It had dried into a thin crust on his cheeks. His blue eyes looked weary. Her heart ached at the sight of him.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" he asked her.
She dropped to her knees beside him. "I was sent here for you. You do not have to stay in this place. Nor do you have to come back."
His face, tortured with grief, twisted into anger. "Go away. I do have to be here. They're here. It's you that shouldn't be." He looked back down at them. He hadn't released his mother's hand.
She gave him a small smile as she said, "Ah, but they are not." Reaching down, she took his hand in hers, replacing the cold hand with her warm one. "They do not want you to stay here."
He pulled his hand away. She could see the rage in his eyes as he looked at her, but she could also see the fear and the grief. The five years had passed, but the emotion still lingered as strong as it had that night.
"How do you know that? You can't know that. Where are they then?" he demanded angrily.
"Where I'm from it is called the Elysian Fields. It is a beautiful place where the righteous, heroic, and virtuous souls are to remain after death, to live blessed and happy in the afterlife."
He replied quietly, "We call that heaven. But it doesn't really exist. Go away. I'm not leaving."
She took his hand in hers again, her grip stronger this time. Then she stood and pulled him to his feet. It didn't matter that he tried to resist. He couldn't. She was much stronger than him.
"Come," she said.
"Wait," he replied as if something had suddenly occurred to him. "Are you real?"
"I am. In my world I am very real. But for you, I can only be real through the intervention of Morpheus."
"Morpheus?"
She nodded her head. "I can only be real for you while you dream."
"If this is just a dream, why can I feel it when you touch me?"
"It's your dream. You feel what you want to feel and touch what you want to touch. I am alive and I am real, although I'm not physically here. Only my spirit is."
"You are a spirit? A phantom? And your spirit can touch me?"
She nodded again. "Only if you wish it."
"What's your name?" he demanded.
"It matters not what my name is. I am here only as a guide, to help you find your way."
"My way where?"
She shook her head. "That is all I can say. Where would you like to go?"
"We're going somewhere?"
"Yes, Bruce."
"No," he refused.
"No?"
"You know me. You know my name. I'm not going anywhere until you tell me who you are."
Hera, this boy was tiresome. She sighed. "As I said, for you, I am simply a guide."
"If you are simply a guide for me, who are you where you are from?"
She thought for a moment. "A princess. Now, where would you like to go?"
He looked at her incredulously. "A princess." His expression suddenly changed to one of comprehension. "Now I understand. I've gone insane. Thirteen is young for a schizophrenic break, but it could happen."
It was her turn to look at him with a look of confusion. "What is this – schizophrenic break?"
"I'm hallucinating. Seeing things that aren't there."
"Oh." She paused for a moment, and then punched him on the arm with her free hand.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"Does it feel like you are hallucinating?" She smiled at him.
"No. Maybe. I don't know what hallucinating is supposed to feel like. But it doesn't matter anyway. I don't really care if I go insane." All of a sudden he sounded more sad, apathetic.
He looked down at the street. His lifeless parents were no longer lying on the ground. He looked back at her, suspicion reflected in his icy eyes.
"Where did they go?" he said angrily.
She looked at him with sympathy. "As I said, they are not really here. You brought them back here. Only you."
"I didn't bring you here."
"No, Morpheus brought me here. But you allow it to be so."
"I could stop allowing it."
"I suppose you could try. I hope that you do not."
He looked at her for a moment. "I don't know why I'm even talking to you at all. I really don't talk to anyone anymore unless I have to. I usually don't have to. For some reason though, I don't want you to go away yet."
He nodded toward the ground where his parents had been. "I want to go where they are."
A look of sadness and regret crossed her features as she slowly shook her head. "I am sorry. I am not permitted to take you there. Only those who have passed are permitted to go there."
"The Elysian Fields?"
She nodded.
"Is that close to where you are from?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then take me to your home."
So, the first time she visited him in his dream, she took him to the island. They didn't speak any more of his parents. She showed him the temples and explained what she could about her home. She couldn't explain much. She wasn't permitted to.
The second time Morpheus called her, she found him again in the alley in the midst of the nightmare. The man was struggling with his father. She walked straight to him.
As she drew close, he watched transfixed as the figures of his father, mother, and the man with the gun disappeared, as if washed away by water.
"Stop this, Bruce. Stop bringing them here. Let them rest."
He lowered his head and looked away from her. "You're back," he whispered.
"Yes."
"I thought you were just in my dream."
"I am just in your dream. But as I explained, I am also real."
He raised his head to look at her. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the bruises on his face. She reached out and gently brushed them with the tips of her fingers. He flinched.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I got into a fight."
She looked at him with obvious surprise. "You don't know how to fight?"
He shrugged. "They were a lot bigger."
"So? Then you don't fight very well."
He glared at her. "There were a lot of them."
"So?"
He glared harder. She laughed.
"As if you can fight," he said, turning away.
She smiled broadly. "Would you like to see?"
"I'm not fighting a girl."
She laughed again. "We'll see."
She began to tell him about her training in great detail. She showed him how she was trained in hand to hand combat. This he was very interested in. She didn't realize it, but it was during this time that the first seeds began to take hold.
He eventually let her really 'show' him her fighting ability. At first he thought it weird to be fighting with a girl that was smaller than him. She teased him that he might be thirteen in his mind, that he still looked eight and she was bigger than he was. He then asked her age and was irritated, if not surprised, when she told him that it "mattered not" – she aged differently than he did anyway.
While they 'practiced' fighting, as he called it, Bruce began to really talk to her. She learned that he was very smart and studied with boys much older than him. He would finish school soon except that now he would finish his studies at home since his guardian took him out of school for fighting all the time. He spoke about someone called a school counselor who said he was starting fights because he wanted to get beat up. Bruce explained that even though he really didn't care if he got hurt, those boys were mean to lots of kids and if they picked on him they might not pick on the other kids. He really didn't like it when other kids got picked on. She told him that as long as he was fighting anyway, he might as well learn how to win.
Each time they met, their bond grew. She soon was able to meet him right at the beginning of the nightmare and it was as if he was waiting for her there. It had been some time since they had met in the alley and also found his parents or their killer there.
She would take him away from the alley. He would usually want to go to the cliffside by his home. There, they continued to talk and to 'practice' fighting. When they parted, it was always sudden and unexpected. It was like they were just pulled out of his dream. She would wake up in her bed and he in his. It happened this way each time until their very last meeting.
Morpheus had told her that it was to be their last meeting. Themis told her she had done well. The boy's guardian had seen a spark in Bruce that hadn't been there in five years. This had allowed his guardian great relief and so he had made plans to take Bruce abroad to study science and to learn different fighting styles, as this had become something he now cared about. Bruce hadn't cared about much at all for five years. This pleased his guardian who had been praying for something to interest his charge, if not to bring him happiness.
And so they met for the final time in his dreamland. Bruce told her that he was leaving to go study around the world. She did not show her disappointment; She encouraged him to learn everything he could and that it would be important for him to do so.
Bruce was nothing if not perceptive, so she didn't really need to explain that when she left this time, she would not visit him again. She did explain that he had found his own path and he no longer needed a guide. She knew he didn't want her to go. She didn't want to stop coming, either. However, she told him that his memory of her would fade, as any dream would over time. He didn't look convinced, but he didn't object or argue. As it would turn out in the future, her Gods had underestimated the power of Bruce Wayne's mind.
That final time, she left him back in the alley. It was empty now. He hadn't brought his parents there in some time. She believed that he wouldn't ever bring them there again. She would be wrong.
As she walked away from him, fading into the darkness, he called out one final question to her.
"Please - you say I won't remember you. If that's so, couldn't you at least tell me your name?"
She didn't stop walking away from him, but turned her head slightly to the side and smiled, arms folded behind her back. As she faded into the blackness he heard one more word from her.
"Diana."
Recalling the events from her childhood and the first connection established with Bruce, Diana gazed out of the window of her room at the Watchtower. Below her was the blue, green, and white colors of the earth.
There were no more tears left in her. She was empty, she was spent. She had also come to a decision. Picking up the phone that connected to a secure satellite, she made a call to the Earth below.
"Hello, it's Diana. Yes, it's nice to hear your voice too. I'm actually calling because I would like to see you... No, is there somewhere else we can meet?…..He is? Then yes, that would be fine. Why? To say goodbye….Yes, I'm leaving and would very much like for you to understand why. Yes, for good… No, I'm going home… Thank you, that would be fine. I will see you then."
Diana reflected on how, back then, she had left him reluctantly and without any choice. She was unhappy now, as he had been then, that they were not to see each other again. Or so they had believed. Now she was leaving of her own free will, but with the heartbreak of knowing that this time he probably never wanted to see her again.
She thought that she had none left – that in the seclusion of her room, away from her colleagues, she had cried every drop she had in her. The tears began rolling down her cheeks again.