A/N: A very special thank you to DaisyJane for my very first beta and allowing me to borrow Donna's origin story from 'Immortal Sisters'.
Minor spoiler for JL – 'Fury'
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
REPOSE
Several hours later, Superman returned to the infirmary at the Watchtower with the current Wonder Woman in tow. Since she had left the island, she had become his second shadow when he wasn't living life as Clark Kent. The rest of the time she spent with Shayera. She had been trained well by the Amazons, but she was young and inexperienced in the threats of Man's World. Diana had requested that Superman and Shayera personally oversee her ongoing training and her acclimation to life outside of Themyscira.
Superman entered his security override code into the private room that now was occupied by Batman. He took a quick survey of the scene inside. Bruce was now sans cape, cowl, and uniform. He was unconscious, his head stitched and bandaged. A mass of electronic equipment was hooked up to him, measuring brain activity, heart rhythm, pulse oximetry, and respiration. The steady beep…beep…beep… tracked his heart rate and rhythm as normal.
Nightwing looked up as Superman and Wonder Woman entered. While Superman inspected the room, Dick and Donna regarded each other cautiously. Dick knew the beautiful young woman was Diana's sister, but he was a bit taken aback by the fact that she was allowed in the secure area where normally only members of the League who knew Batman's identity would be permitted. He assumed that she must know it then and wasn't sure how he felt about it. At this point he would have to trust her to be as discrete as Diana.
After a moment, Superman finally noticed the silent tension and made with a brief introduction.
"Nightwing, this is Diana's sister, Donna – currently serving the League as 'Wonder Woman'."
Donna blushed slightly. The introduction definitely communicated Donna's presence as 'temporary', but she didn't mind. She knew that everyone aboard the satellite missed her sister, even the man currently lying unconscious in front of her.
The tall, dark, amazing-looking vigilante held out his hand. As she shook it, her blush deepened. Although neither of them spoke, she gave him a sympathetic smile, which he hesitantly returned. 'It's a pleasure to meet you' seemed inappropriate under the circumstances. Normally, Donna adapted to most situations easily and she was, by nature, a people person, but in this case she would not have had an easy time making conversation. Even though she had spent most of her life on an island of women, she had spent some time on Olympus and had been in the presence of the gods, both male and female. Even so, being introduced to male members of the League had been a little uncomfortable, as they were quite different in attitude than the male gods she knew, but just at first. Her natural enthusiasm toward life soon put her at ease in this new environment and with the men she had met, especially Superman and Flash. However, for some reason, being introduced to Nightwing was different. She felt more nervous and a bit excited rather than uncomfortable in meeting this man. It was a new feeling and it was disconcerting to the young woman.
She quickly refocused her attention as J'onn entered the room to brief them on Batman's condition. The Martian was silent for several moments as he went to the computer and reviewed several test results.
"Brain activity appears to be normal. Remarkably, despite the severity of the blow to his head, none of the test results indicate structural damage to his brain beyond a possible mild concussion. Although he's yet to awaken, he's responsive to external sensory stimuli." J'onn paused to check the readings on another of the machines. "I would anticipate he will awaken in the next few hours."
Nightwing nodded in relief. "Thanks J'onn. I'll need to leave soon to tell Alfred and the others." He turned to look back at Superman. "Where's Bane?"
"Wonder Woman and I apprehended him and his accomplices with minimal difficulty. It seems despite Bane's advanced intellect, he hadn't planned anything besides eliminating Batman. The information about Batman's weakened condition physically and emotionally had spread and that was as far as he'd gotten. We took them all into custody and transferred his henchman to Commissioner Gordon and the Gotham PD. They are headed for Blackgate."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "Dick, I know Bruce won't like this, but Bane we personally escorted to Belle Reve, where I believe he should have been all along. Arkham was never the best place to contain him. If it weren't for Bruce's need to control everything and everyone in Gotham, he would have been there in the first place."
Nightwing looked from Superman to his mentor. He understood Superman's point but he also felt he should be loyal to Bruce's decisions. "At least until things return to normal – whatever that is – Belle Reve is probably the best place for him."
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
Twenty-four hours later, Batman was still unconscious in the infirmary. Superman had called a Founder's meeting to have J'onn brief the group on Bruce's condition. Six superheroes sat at the round table. Five of the original seven were present. Donna sat in Wonder Woman's usual place.
"This morning when Batman hadn't awakened and brain activity generally continued to read as normal, we began to study the patterns of brain wave activity observed on the EEG – a basic sleep study. We very quickly noticed some unusual anomalies."
J'onn stood and walked over to stand in front of the interactive whiteboard and proceeded to pull up a graph. "This hypnogram shows what you typically find during a normal human nightly sleep cycle. There is a greater amount of deep sleep earlier in the sleep cycle, while the proportion of REM sleep – dream sleep - increases later in the sleep cycle and just before natural awakening. REM sleep accounts for 20–25% of total sleep time in most human adults."
"Overnight, Batman's EEG yielded this result." He paused for a moment to add another hypnogram to the screen. "I can't be entirely sure, but it looks like he is dreaming approximately 90-95% of the time. If his current results correlate to the typically observed dream cycle, he is only coming out of a dream for a few minutes before cycling back into REM sleep."
J'onn returned to sit at the table. "Although there is still much to discover regarding the function of dreaming for humans, normally during REM sleep, the mind has a chance to de-arouse from the stress and anxiety during the day. Most of us would agree that in theory this would be a helpful circumstance for Batman. However, to the contrary, this sleep state is particularly concerning given the current state of wear and tear on Batman's body over the last few weeks."
"During the deep stages of non-REM sleep, the body repairs and regenerates tissues, builds bone and muscle, and appears to strengthen the immune system. Staying in REM sleep is preventing his body from repairing itself while at the same time his brain is in overdrive. During REM sleep, heart rate and respiration speed up and become erratic. Therefore, the worst-case scenario is that Batman's accelerated heart rate over an extended period of time could potentially result in cardiac arrest."
The room was silent for a moment as everyone digested this information. Flash was the first to ask a question.
"But he's been unconscious just a day, right? Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves? He could wake up ten minutes from now."
J'onn nodded. "Yes, he could wake up at any time, but…"
"J'onn?" asked Superman.
"I've tried to reach him telepathically with an unexpected result. I received flashes of images, which are likely to be parts of a dream – but I was quickly…repelled by Batman. It was as if he knows he is dreaming and does not want me to interfere or interrupt them."
Donna sat silently, listening to the discussion. Unlike the others, she knew that Diana had somehow visited Bruce in his dreams when they were children and that it had something to do with his anger and her return to Themyscira. It happened before Donna had come to the island, so she knew very little about what actually occurred between them. Through their psychic connection she had felt Diana's pain at Bruce's rejection, but hadn't pushed her sister for the details. It was probably what had fueled her initial dislike of Batman as she hated seeing her sister in pain.
She knew his current state had something to do with what had happened, but she didn't yet know how.
X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X*X
She found herself in a dark alley. It felt familiar to her. A boy sat on the ground, next to a man and a woman. Blood spilled onto the ground around them. The boy held the woman's lifeless hand. She watched the boy 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. "You don't have to stay here," she whispered.
Her blue eyes flew open and she sat up in bed. She stared blankly for a few minutes as she became conscious of her surroundings. Outside the window, the Earth was visible from her room – her sister's room – on the Watchtower.
The images from her dream flashed through her head.
Donna grabbed Diana's blue silk robe from the bathroom and left the room.
Several minutes later, she floated to a stop in front of Batman's room in the infirmary. She didn't have security code access, so she tapped lightly on the door.
The door opened. Behind it stood the handsome young man she'd met the other day.
"Oh. Hi Donna," he said with polite surprise.
"I think Diana's with him," she blurted out.
Confusion was clear on his face. "Diana's with who?"
She nodded into the room behind him. "Batman. In his dreams."
His eyebrows rose on his forehead at those words, understandably bewildered by her statement. "O….kay. I guess you should come in then."
Donna followed him into the room. "I know it sounds crazy."
She watched intently as Nightwing removed his mask and rubbed his eyes. After a moment he turned to her. "Sorry, I've been patrolling in Gotham all night. I was just stopping by the check on him. Please explain?"
Their blue eyes locked and she forgot for just a brief moment why she was there. That nervous excited feeling from the other day returned causing her to lose her train of thought.
"Donna? Explain why you think Diana is with him?"
She forced herself to focus. "Diana and I are connected…psychically I guess is the best way to describe it. I sometimes feel what she feels. I also sometimes dream what she dreams."
Dick gestured for her to take a seat. "You share dreams?"
She nodded. "Yes. I just had a dream that felt familiar to me, but I know it wasn't, as I had never had it before. I figured it must be her dream and that it was familiar to her, but I don't think it is really her dream."
She noticed that he was looking at her like she had grown two heads. "Wait, this isn't making sense - can all Amazons share each other's dreams?"
"I'm sorry. Yes. I mean no. I mean, just Diana and I share dreams. Not the other Amazons. Oh, Hera." She paused and took a deep breath. "You see, I'm not – or I wasn't – an Amazon when I first ended up on Themyscira. When I was two, Diana found me floating offshore in a lifeboat. My mother was with me but she didn't survive. After that, Hippolyta sort of adopted me."
"For an island that is supposed to be magically hidden from the outside world, a lot of people seem to get shipwrecked or crash-land there." He flashed an amused grin at her confused attempts to explain.
Donna returned his smile. "I think the gods must have taken pity on me and allowed me to be found."
"The last time an adopted Amazon came here it didn't go so well," he teased.
Donna blushed and grinned sheepishly back at him. "Not to worry, I'm not as good at biology, so no plans to infect and wipe out the entire male population. Besides, I kind of like the males I've met so far." Her blush deepened a little more.
"Good to know." He raised his eyebrows a bit and smiled. "But I still don't understand how you dream Diana's dreams."
"Since I wasn't actually an Amazon, I didn't have their…durability. I was younger and far more impulsive than Aresia when I came to Themyscira. She grew to maturity and was awarded Amazon physiology when she completed her Amazon training. So my careless behavior caused me to be severely injured as a child. Both Diana and Mother prayed to the Gods for help. The Gods agreed to save my life by giving me a piece of Diana's soul. Her gifts allowed my injuries to heal. It also gave me her powers and a special bond so that we sometimes share thoughts, feelings, and dreams. So I guess you could call us soul sisters," Donna explained.
"Ok then," Dick said, "why do you think Diana is dreaming his dreams?"
"Diana is the only person I share dreams with but this doesn't feel like her dream. So I think maybe I dreamt his dream, not hers. And the only way that could happen would be if Diana was dreaming it too. Let me tell you what I saw." She described to him the alley and the young boy who was sitting beside a man and woman lying on the blood-soaked ground.
Dick said nothing for a moment, and then went to the computer terminal in the corner of the room that was used primarily for checking the test results of injured League members. He remotely connected to Bruce's database in the cave and pulled up a case file with old crime scene photos. When he had found what he was looking for, he directed her attention to the screen.
"Did it look like this?"
"Yes. Well, the people aren't there, but the rest is the same. The little boy was him?"
Dick nodded slowly. "Yes, I think so. And those were his parents. They were murdered in front of him. I've been told he's had nightmares most of his life, but he never talks about it. Bruce would freak if he knew she was having his nightmares."
"Oh…. Maybe he did know?" Donna hesitated a moment as she didn't know how much she should say as Diana had told her this information in confidence.
Nightwing gave her a hard stare. "How would he know?"
Donna sighed, as she knew she had to explain if she was going to help Batman. "Diana told me that she went into his dreams as a child and somehow that was why she had to leave the League. She wouldn't tell me anymore about it though."
"Wait – you said Diana actually went into his nightmares when he was a kid? She could go in and talk to him? How does that happen? And why?"
Donna shrugged. "I can probably guess how - if Diana was on Themyscira and visited him in his dreams long before they even actually met, it was probably one of our Gods or Goddesses that did it. Why? Your guess is as good as mine," Donna quipped with a wry smile that Dick returned with a sigh.
"If she's in there now, has she gone in to get him to come out of it or is he refusing to wake up because he is with her?"
They both looked over at Bruce, whose expression now looked fairly serene.
"But Dick, why would he refuse to wake up because she was with him? I can feel how much Diana cares for him and I am sure she would love to be with him in the real world."
Dick leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "That is actually part of the problem. In reality he thinks he's not good for her, good enough for her, and could only bring her pain. In his dream they could be anything to each other and since it isn't real, none of that matters."
"So, if what you say is true and she is in there with him now, how is she going to get him to wake up?"