Chapter 15
Helena stood behind Maril as the girl said her vows. She talked of her duty as a royal and how the marriage would strengthen their respective nations. There was no talk of love or what their relationship would be like. When her vows were done the bishop proclaimed them man and wife and told the groom he could now kiss the bride. The Thanagarian general was still wearing the hood of armor, but he pushed a button on his belt and the plates pulled back. His face was revealed and Helena nearly fainted as she saw Warhawk was really Rex. Maril started shedding tears of joy as the entire congregation started talking. The people in the nearest pews began relaying the news Rex was alive.
As Maril slowly walked towards Rex the life began to disappear from his face. He aged quickly and his skin turned to dust. The dust blew away leaving just a skull.
Maril screamed over the sight and Helena woke up with a startle. As she wiped the sleep from her eyes she realized she had been dreaming. She looked around her to see the guest room she was in illuminated by the moonlight that entered through the glass doors that led out to the balcony.
She looked over at Connor to find he was still asleep. He was snoring softly, which she usually found annoying, but tonight sounded sweet to her ears. Dreaming about Rex and how Maril didn't have him made her appreciate the fact she had Connor.
She thought about how unique it was for them to be spending so much time together. This was the first time in forever they had spent two consecutive nights together. In just two days she felt like their relationship was being invigorated.
The diamond on her engagement ring sparkled in the moonlight and she stared at it. She was reminded of the commitment she was supposed to make to Connor. She was also reminded of how she was doing him wrong by dragging her feet by not setting a date for the marriage.
Helena felt hot and pushed the covers off her. For a moment the air that hit her naked body felt hot. She soon realized the problem was the entire room was hot. Tamaran was a tropical planet and the temperature of their buildings was always adjusted to match that.
She figured the night air would be cool and walked to the doors to step outside. She paused when she reached the doors as she was hesitant to step out naked, but then realized it was late and no one else would be awake to see her. She looked back at Connor, who was still sound asleep and then flung the doors opened and stepped outside.
A light breeze hit her and she was immediately relieved by the coolness of it. She walked to the edge of the balcony and looked up at the night sky. She remembered back to her first trip here and how every night Maril would point out Earth to her. Helena had to think deeply about where it was, but soon found it. It was nice and bright.
She wondered what was happening back home with her parents. If she remembered correctly, it would be the middle of the night in Gotham as well. Her mother would be out on patrol and her father would be telling her what to do like a back-seat driver. She couldn't imagine her mother taking too kindly to all the commands her father would give her.
As she looked up at the stars she felt some light raindrops on her face. She thought about running back inside, but the light drizzle actually felt good. The rain picked up a little and started wetting her hair. Helena stayed out as she knew the rain on Tamaran seldom got heavy. It never did much more then drizzle on the planet.
Helena shifted her focus to the other balconies overlooking the courtyard. Most of the League was in rooms around theirs. General Warhawk was in a room around here as well. Rheand'r had pointed it out to her earlier. She remembered the location of it relative to hers and found it. She noticed the door from the balcony to the room was open.
As she looked at the open door she started thinking about how little they knew about him. He was likely sleeping in there. She had the chance to rummage through his room and find out something about the man.
Helena ran back into her room and threw on a robe. She grabbed her crossbow from her bag along with her mask. She put the mask on as she walked back out onto her balcony.
She thought of a grappling hook arrow and one immediately appeared in the bow. She fired it across the courtyard and it wrapped around the ledge of Warhawk's balcony. She detached the arrow and wrapped the other end around her ledge. She then walked across the line like a tight rope and jumped onto his balcony.
She carefully walked across the balcony without making a sound. She activated the night vision on her mask and looked inside the room. She could see someone in bed at the other end of the room. They weren't moving and she guessed they were asleep.
She crept into the room and looked around. The general didn't look to have any bags or belongings near the door, so she scanned the other end by the bed. She saw his bags against the wall opposite his bed. She quietly walked over to them, keeping an eye on Warhawk.
Just as she leaned over a bag, a light turned on behind her. Helena tensed up as she thought about what to do. Normally, she never did anything without careful plans for every contingency, but she had been so anxious to inspect him she didn't think about what to do if she was caught snooping. She cursed under her breath as she realized her hesitation had helped trap her. She couldn't just leave when Warhawk had gotten a good look at who she was. She couldn't attack him as that would cause a host of problems. She stood facing away from him, waiting for him to make the first move.
"Looks like your detective instincts got the better of you, Helena," Warhawk said. Helena was initially shocked he would know her name. However, his voice had an air of familiarity to it. As she racked her brain for where she might have heard it the answer popped in her head. The voice was that of Rex. It was impossible, but there was no mistaking the similarity.
Helena turned around to confirm if it was really Rex. She had forgotten to turn off her night vision and she was blinded by the light he had turned on. She held a hand up to her eyes and closed them hard. She kept them closed so they would have a second to heal. She heard Warhawk get out of bed and walk over to her. She felt his hands on the sides of her helmet and she offered no resistance as he took the mask off. Helena opened her eyes and blinked a couple times. She looked up at Warhawk and saw Rex Stewart holding her mask and inspecting it. She was in such shock over the sight she was unable to move or speak.
"An Amazonian helmet with a modern night vision system," Rex said as he looked over the mask. "Your parents must have made this together. I guess they made up, or at least learned to speak and spend time together."
"Uh huh," Helena answered still stunned by what she was looking at. She stood up so she could look at him. He was shirtless, wearing nothing other than a pair of shorts. His wings were missing, that was the first thing that jumped out at her. Helena looked him over from top to bottom, he looked taller and more muscular then she had remembered. His body was covered with scars; some appeared to be blaster hits, others looked to be slashes made by a knife or whip. From his body, it was obvious he had seen a lot of action.
He looked and sounded like Rex, but Helena still had trouble believing it could actually be him. Thinking like a detective, she needed to take a closer look and inspect him.
"Hold still," she said as she placed her left hand on his shoulder. Helena was a bit shocked when her hand touched solid skin. She expected Rex to be revealed as nothing more than an apparition of her mind. He was real though, his Thanagarian skin felt warm to her touch. He stayed in place as Helena walked around him so she could get a look at his back. She gasped as she saw the two large lateral scars that occupied the space where his wings had been. She was shocked to find them even though she should have guessed they were there. She ran a hand along each of them to feel the raised and scarred skin. The wounds were bumpy, but the skin itself was nice and smooth.
"That must have hurt like hell," she said as she continued inspecting them.
"When they cut off my wings they thought it would kill me, but a fellow prisoner saved me and helped me escape. It was a while before I found out my wings had been sent to you as proof of my death." Rex had spent years wondering what the reaction of everyone was to his death. He always wondered how quickly his friends and family accepted the story the Thanagarians had given them. He always wondered about Maril, whether or not she had doubts about his death. The two of them had such a strong connection. She had to have felt he wasn't dead.
"Those bastards," she yelled. "I can't believe we just took their word for your death."
Rex found it strange she was talking about him like he wasn't there. He thought this must having something to do with the shock of still finding out he was alive.
"I want to kill them! Kill them all!" Rex could hear the uncontrollable anger in her voice. He didn't want to concentrate too much on what the Gordanians did, he was anxious to finally know how the people he loved back home reacted to his death.
Helena moved her gaze from the large, lateral scars to the rest of the smaller ones that dotted his body. She scanned over all the ones on his back then walked around to see the ones on the front of his torso. When she looked up at him Rex wasn't surprised to see a look of strength and determination on her face.
She ran her hand along the scar that ran along the side of his face. Rex stood perfectly still as she did so. "What happened to you?" she asked. There was a hint of sadness in her voice, but Rex detected her overall emotions were well in check. As Batman's daughter she didn't exactly wear her emotions on her sleeve. "Why didn't you let us know you were alive?" she added.
Rex looked down in shame over how he had stayed silent all these years. Now, every reason he had for staying quiet seemed stupid. "I. . .I never thought I would live that long. Even after I escaped, I was in the resistance and, I had to fight." He looked back up at Helena so he could look her in the eyes as he talked. He wanted her to see the sincerity in her eyes.
"The entire time I was fighting I thought I never had more than a few weeks to live. I was always afraid we would be discovered and attacked. I really believed I would not live to see victory. I didn't want all of you to have to go through my death twice."
Helena stayed stoic and emotionless the entire time he talked. "And what about when you had your victory. Why didn't you contact us then?"
Helena sounded like his mother scolding him. She made him feel ashamed about his silence. He couldn't look at her as he talked. "The war changed me. I did things none of you would approve of me doing. I'm not the boy who left you guys five years ago. I had no idea how you guys would accept me."
"I can understand," Helena said as Rex saw tears start to form in her eyes. He was shocked upon seeing them. Helena was always the emotionless and stoic one of the group. "My father often told me he was scared of what his parents would think of his career as Batman. He believed there was a darkness to him his parents could never accept. I can see why you stayed silent, but unless you've turned into an outright super villain, everyone is going to be too happy to see you alive to care about what you had to do to free Thanagar. Your mother has spent every day in agony since she was told you were dead. Your father has almost become a recluse and seldom leaves his apartment. And Maril-" Helena got choked up as she started thinking about her best friend. "Maril has been holding a candle for you all these years. She still loves you and has been haunted by your. . .by thinking you were dead."
The tears were really streaming from Helena's cheeks and she had to wipe them away with her free hand. Helena had always been the strong one among their group, but she now looked like she could use some comforting. Rex embraced her and she rested her head on Rex's bare shoulder as she cried.
"You've grown a bit," she said with her voice choking.
"Almost four inches after I escaped from the camp."
"No wonder we couldn't recognize you," Helena said. "But you're alive now, and you and Maril are going to be married," she whispered.
Helena leaned back so she could look him in the eye. "I know I said this before, but Maril loves you just as much as before. She agreed to the marriage because she knew she could never love anyone like she loved you. She wasn't sad over having to enter what she thought would be a loveless marriage because she thought she had lost out on love when you died. When she was told you died, she didn't believe it. Even when she saw your bloodied wings, she didn't believe you were dead."
Rex could tell Helena's tears were turning from tears of joy to those of sadness. "She felt you. . .she knew you were still alive. It's all my fault. I told her to accept the facts. She had to accept you were dead. I should have believed in her feelings. We should have gone to Thanagar and smashed everything until we found you."
"It's okay Helena. You did the right thing."
Helena moved away from Rex as she wanted to lead him away. "You have to go and tell her now. And your mother, she's here too. They need to be told immediately. They need to know you're alive now."
Helena started to move, but Rex wouldn't let go. "I can't do that yet," he said to her.
"Why, what's stopping you?"
Rex knew he didn't have a good answer for her. He knew Helena wasn't the kind of person to accept vague answers, either. "I'm afraid of what they're think of what I've done; of how I've hurt them by staying silent for so long."
The tears disappeared from Helena's face in an instant and a look of anger replaced the look of sadness. "Dammit Rex, they all love you. They will all forgive you for whatever you've done. They've been in agony since they thought you died. Every day you wait to tell them you just cause them more agony."
"And I can't stand to see their faces when they realize how much unnecessary agony I have caused them," Rex replied. His tone was anger, but his face showed the sadness he was feeling at the moment. "As for what happens when they find out what I've done, they may not scream at me and force me out of their lives, but they will think differently of me."
Helena was incredulous over what he was saying. "You're being ridiculous," she screamed at him. She had no idea what else to say.
"I know your father and what he believes," he yelled back at her. "I know how he despises the very idea of killing anyone. I know if you were to do so he would forgive you for it, but he would always think of you differently. You know this would happen and it would hurt you for your father to know you broke one of his cardinal rules."
Helena knew Rex was right about what he said. Her father loved her too much to ostracize her for killing, as long as she was not going to do it again. However, she knew the rest of their lives her father would see her differently and have a certain mistrust of her. Rex had chosen the perfect example for making her understand how he must feel.
"Okay, if you want to wait forever to tell the rest of your friends and family, go ahead. I won't interfere. I'll keep your secret."
"Thank you," he replied, relieved.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them. "I should be going," she said as she grabbed her helmet out of Rex's hand. "Would you mind escorting me out," she said to him.
Helena walked out to the balcony and Rex followed her. As she walked she thought that she should get the last word in their conversation. "You realize you are getting married to Maril within the next two days," she said to him as she turned back around to face him. "She is going to find out within a short time."
"I need to wait until after the wedding," he pleaded. "This marriage is too important for my nation. I can't risk Maril freaking out and delaying it."
Helena wanted to scream at him Maril would do no such thing, but knew it was pointless. Rex was fearful and nothing would change his mind. She merely shook her head to convey her displeasure.
"I will keep your secret, but I wish you would reveal yourselves to those who love you," she told him. She walked to the balcony without saying anything to him and he said nothing to her. She walked across the rope that was still present. When she reached the ledge for her room the rope disappeared behind her. She picked up her crossbow and went inside her room, making sure the door was closed behind her.
Helena removed her robe and slipped under the covers. She cuddled up against Connor. The feeling of his skin against hers sent a surge through her body. She rubbed her face against his and enjoyed the feeling of his facial hair as it brushed her skin. He began to stir and she kissed him to bring him out of his slumber.
"What time is it?" he asked in a groggy voice.
"It's still the middle of the night," she whispered to him.
"You want to do it, or something?"
"I wanted to tell you something," she said as she ran her hand along his shoulder and neck. She kissed him again.
"You're acting like you want to have sex," he said. His voice sounded more alert.
"I'm just trying to let you know I love you," she answered. "I woke you because I wanted you to know I think we should get married the last week of July."
Connor bolted up, fully awake now. "Are you serious?" he asked her.
"Yes," she answered simply.
"What made you want to set a date?" he asked.
Helena knew she couldn't tell Connor the truth about Rex and how that made her realize the mistake she was making. Luckily, a lie came quick to her. "I woke up and was thinking about Maril's marriage. It made me realize I was being foolish by dragging my feet so much."
Helena could see the elation on Connor's face as he moved in and kissed her. "I don't care if you want it or not, you're getting sex," he said.
Helena laughed heartily as he started kissing her neck and worked his way down to her chest.
Rex watched Helena as she left his room, thinking about everything she had said. She made it sound like revealing himself to Maril would be easy and painless, but he knew better. He went back to bed and tried to get some sleep, but couldn't get his loved ones out of his mind.
He remembered back to the first trip he had taken to this planet when Maril had been allowed by her mother to bring along him and Helena. One night in particular the kids were allowed to stay up late. Maril's uncle, Ryand'r took them out in a speeder and allowed them to observe the night life from above. Rex remembered that night well. His relationship with Maril was just beginning. When the kids went out in the spinner Helena sat shotgun and he sat in the back with Maril. Her uncle drove them around and pointed out spots of the city to them, although Helena was the only one of the three who really saw anything. Rex and Maril sat in the backseat cuddling and kissing. From time to time they glanced at Maril's uncle and Helena in the front seat. The two of them were completely oblivious to what Rex and Maril were doing in the back seat.
When Ryand'r brought them back to the palace Maril took them to the top of the tallest spire so they could have a clear view of the night sky. She pointed out Earth to them. Helena was transfixed by seeing the Sun from afar. As she was staring at Earth Maril pointed out Thanagar to Rex. As she was pointing it out, she stood behind him. She kissed him on the neck and then whispered in his ear.
"Everyone except the three of us is asleep," she began. "After we drop Helena off at her room, we can go to mine, together." Maril let out a loud yawn and said she was tired. Helena agreed that it was time to turn in and they all headed into the palace. Maril and Rex dropped Helena off at her room and then they headed to Maril's room together.
The two of them made love for the very first time that night. The connection he felt with Maril that night was unbelievable. He knew that night Maril was the girl he was going to marry. The two of them stayed awake talking until the sun came up. As the first rays of light came through the window Maril told him he was going to have to go back to his room. He told her he didn't want to leave; he didn't care if they got caught. He loved her and didn't care what anyone else thought of their relationship. She protested, but he wouldn't budge. Finally, she had to push him out of bed. She was quite unapologetic as he hit the floor, but she knew it wouldn't hurt him of course.
Rex thought about how things had been so carefree back then. He thought about how much he had changed since then. He had no idea whether or not Maril would still love him anymore. It was strange to think their childhood dream was coming true in that they were going to be married, even though they may no longer love each other. Helena had told him otherwise, but that was because Maril still saw him as the boy he was five years ago, not the thing he was now, whatever he was.