Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. I merely write this for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.
A to Z, an Anthology
Ubiquitous
She was everywhere; it was like he could never escape her. Well, he supposed, that was hardly unusual. His life had been that way ever since she had first entered it, completely naïve and innocent to the ways of the world beyond the island on which she had been born. It had taken him time to become used to her effect on him, even more to admit openly to anyone other than himself. Eventually, though, he had, and he had never regretted it.
Diana was still everywhere to him, but now it was different. While her presence was still strong around him, Bruce knew that her true self was no longer elsewhere for him to go in search for. He would never again find her at the Metro Tower, or up on the Watchtower. She wasn't even on Themyscira, visiting her mother and sisters.
No, Diana was gone for good now.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. Bruce was supposed to be the one who died. Whether at the hand of some random villain or to the ravages of time, he was not supposed to be the survivor. Not this time.
Nonetheless, he was. Because of an ambush created by the returned Darkseid and Lex Luthor, Diana of Themyscira was dead. She wasn't the only casualty in the League – Vixen, Fire, and Plastic Man had also died at their hands – but it was her death that affected him the most. It was one of the few times that he had been genuinely tempted to break his most sacred rule. Luthor had been in his grasp. It would have taken just a few short, quick movements and his neck –
But he hadn't. Dealing out death had never been his creed. Diana had understood that.
No matter where he went, Bruce couldn't escape her. If he hid himself in the Batcave, he would recall all the times she had transported there, intent on getting him to come out into the sunlight. If he patrolled Gotham, he would remember the times she occasionally met him on one rooftop or another, sometimes to provide him with information and other times to just tease him with her presence. The Manor was much the same. He didn't even bother going to the Watchtower or Metro Tower to try to break away from her.
He stared at the memorial in front of him. Various cities throughout the world had built them in tribute to the princess who had saved them at one time or another. This one was in Paris. Paris, the City of Lights, the city Diana had loved more than perhaps any other. After their first meeting here, she had come back to it many times, sometimes with him accompanying her, sometimes alone. The city's spirit spoke to her on a level that other cities could not.
Bruce sucked in a deep breath of cool, morning air and looked around at his surroundings. The Parisians had placed Diana's memorial in an almost hidden glade within one of their parks. Though everyone knew it was there, it seemed as though only a few visited it at one time, so as not to disturb the beautiful little clearing.
He had no idea if Diana had ever been here, in this place, but just like every other place he went to, her presence was tangible. She would have loved this spot if she had seen it, Bruce thought. If he closed his eyes, he could almost fool himself into thinking that she was right behind him, leaning over to breathe in the scent of the flowers that grew in abundance here.
Bruce idly wondered if Demeter had ensured the continuing beauty of this place, so that it did justice to the one to whom it had been dedicated.
Bruce…He could almost hear her voice speaking to him.
Diana was everywhere, because she had loved the entire world. There truly was no escape from that, and Bruce wasn't entirely sure he wanted to.
Ubiquitous: adj. existing everywhere.