Author's Note: Fun fact for all my Trekkies, both babyTreks and vets! As you may have guessed by the end of this chapter, this is in fact the very same Nexus from the movie Star Trek: Generations. This is my version of that story. I actually extensively researched all the science behind it, so everything should check out (Within a few microns). As others have mentioned, yes, there's lots of Apollo here, because this is also my version of Who Mourns for Adonais, as I couldn't resist turning it on its head. I hope everyone loves it, I'm incredibly flattered by the positive responses and this episode marks the halfway point for the series, so I'm really proud I got this far without exploding from the pressure of my own story! :D

Song for Eurydice, Part 2: Teaser

Guinan.

The name had meaning far beyond what Diana could understand, even if she could feel the truth in it. She wore the colors of the gods, the symbol of her father, the all-powerful king of the gods.

"Are you…?" Diana began to ask, only to receive another polite smile from the woman and a slow shake of her head from side to side.

"An Olympian like you? No." Guinan stepped closer to them, her eyes as kind and full of love as Hippolyta. "My people do live for as long, though. We're what you call a race of Listeners. We like to observe and experience life and cultures from all around the galaxy."

Spock remained skeptical, much to Diana's chagrin. "And what species do you belong to?"

"You wouldn't have heard of us, Mister Spock." Guinan took the question, however blunt, with an air of amusement. Diana appreciated that enough that it brought a smile to her face, even with the dire circumstances before them. "El-Aurians hail from parts of the galaxy that the Federation won't wade into for quite some time."

"And yet, you have chosen to integrate with a pre-warp culture." Still skeptical.

She smiled. "I'm not here for the Argelians. In part, I am, but I've really been here waiting for you." As she took another step closer to the trio, Diana felt Jim start to straighten in her grasp. "You see, I have the benefit of knowing what it's like to be inside the Nexus. And it's been calling to both of you. It knows when someone gets disjointed, displaced out of time, Mister Kirk."

As Jim slowly pulled away from her so he could stand straight and face Guinan, she tried to ignore how badly she didn't want to let go. After a week of avoidance and anger, it had been a moment of reprieve. One that she had to bid farewell to in the face of the larger crisis. What else would they have to bid farewell to in order to help Jim?

"You know my name." Jim said, sounding more like himself than he had in hours. Was it the temple? Or was it simply a passing moment of clarity that would soon be swept away as Steve reached out, past the time the Fates had seen fit to give him? "Are you the reason I'm here? Do you have this Vision or whatever the Argelians call it?"

Guinan chuckled in amusement, then motioned for them to follow her. As they did so, Jim and Diana each took up positions on either side of the Oracle. Spock kept a modest distance behind them, his tricorder out as he began to scan the temple. Perhaps now that he knew there was another alien species on the planet, he was less concerned with breaking Starfleet's Prime Directive. "The Vision isn't an object or a special ability, Captain."

"Just… call me Jim. Something tells me pulling rank wouldn't help me much here." Diana's lips quirked with amusement as she glanced over at him. Sure enough, Jim was craning his neck to see up to the temple's roof, the ceiling covered in frescos to honor the sun.

"Well, you're right. It wouldn't." Guinan led them across the length of the temple, passing candles on altars along the walls and statues that Diana could see herself restoring alongside her former colleagues in the Louvre. "But, to the original point: The Vision is what the Argelians call the Nexus."

"And what is the Nexus?" Jim asked. The longer they walked, the more Diana could hear Jim's curiosity return. It was bittersweet.

"It's hard to describe, to be honest." She replied before slowing to a halt at what seemed to be the far end of the temple. Before them were another set of large doors that stretched to the roof. Presumably, they also let outside. "It's a feeling. It's timeless. It's… like being inside joy."

Spock took that opportunity to look up from his tricorder, logical to a fault. "That is hardly a scientific descriptor one would attribute to a temporal anomaly."

Diana caught Jim's sardonic look back at his first officer. She had hoped to share the moment of exasperation with him, but he deftly avoided her gaze before he focused on Guinan once more. "Spock's got a point, though. According to everything the Argelians have recorded, this is a temporal anomaly of some kind."

"It is…" Guinan winced a bit as she had to dance around her answer. "And it isn't. The Nexus is…. So much greater than our understanding. The Nexus was created by a being more ancient and omnipotent than even the Olympians, in a time before most life existed. It exists in all times and all places, and when you're inside of it, you can see anything you want." She stepped over to an altar at their right, pulling a goblet and a pitcher of sacramental wine. "Imagine for a moment that this goblet is your life. And this…" She motioned to the pitcher. "Is the sum of your possible experiences in your life. Now, if I pour a small drop into the goblet, then that is a decision you've made. Eventually, we keep pouring until our goblet is full. The wine in the glass is the life you live. I can no more take one singular drop out of the goblet of my choice and drop it back into the pitcher anymore than I could do the reverse." She took a sip of the wine, smiling a bit at what was clearly a pleasant vintage before setting it back down. "But, in the Nexus, it doesn't matter. You could see each drop of wine and you can reorder it. You can pour it however you like. You can locate the specific drops that are from the sour grapes and pull them from your goblet. The Nexus shapes your reality for as long as you remain there. You can see the family you never had. You can take the path in life you never wanted to take." Guinan glanced over, meeting Diana's gaze. "You can save the ones you couldn't."

Too poignantly reminded of her past, the list that she kept and wished to restore, she fought every urge to indulge in that fantasy. Instead, she focused on what Guinan was describing. She swallowed, steadying her voice before she spoke. "It's Elysium. The paradise of the gods; where all great heroes live in eternal bliss."

The smile on Guinan's face was confirmation enough, but she continued. "Yes. And that is where Captain Trevor was fortunate enough to touch eternity before he was called back to this plane."

"Wait a second. Let me see if I understand what you're telling us." Jim held a hand up to pause her so he could process yet another exercise of faith. "You're saying that Steve Trevor was… in the Nexus. I thought he died."

"He did. On the same day that the Nexus came across the galaxy." Diana said, surprised by her own confidence in the connection. "But, Elysium was not time-bound. It was available to all righteous men and women. I, myself, have sent many of my sisters to the Elysian FIelds by our rites." Her voice trembled slightly with the fear that the gods had yet again failed her and her people.

"And they are there, I promise you, Diana." Guinan's tone was warm, comforting. "When we die, the wonders and mysteries of the universe are opened to us. But, Steve Trevor's sacrifice, as unique and as timely as it was, called his essence to the Nexus. And there it would have remained in eternity. But, for some reason that I do not know, the Nexus had other plans for him. He was given another opportunity." She motioned to Jim. "You."

"I'm not him." Jim said, almost too quickly. "I'm not… I'm James T. Kirk. Not Steve Trevor."

"In essence, you are him. But, you're right. You are your own person. No one can take that from you." She replied. Guinan seemed to have a natural way of knowing precisely what to say at all times. Perhaps it was her connection to this Nexus? Or perhaps it was a wisdom DIana simply had not yet learned in her life. "But, unless you comes to terms with the fact that you are Steve, in some way, then it will kill you both."

"With all due respect, I fail to see how this will help the captain. A temporal anomaly such as the Nexus would have already passed over the planet and left." Spock had put his tricorder away, but he was nevertheless still clearly analyzing the situation. "Even if we wish to help Jim 'come to terms' with the situation, your tool for doing so has already come and gone."

"I think you do see the logic in what I'm saying to you, Mister Spock." Guinan smirked. "After all, you're the one who suggested that your friend was in possession of two katras. I knew that you would believe that as much as I knew the three of you would be here."

"Why?" Jim furrowed his brow. "Because you're telepathic?"

"No." Guinan turned to the acolytes behind her, then motioned to the large doors. The acolytes opened the doors that Diana expected to lead back outside. Instead, light spilled into the dark haze of the sanctuary from a swirling orange wave just outside the door. In the center, she could barely see a figure entirely bathed in that light before she had to shield her eyes. "Because he orchestrated all of this."

The doors began to close, just enough that the group could now see the figure standing before them. "The eons have passed and what has been written has come about. You are most welcome, my beloved children. Your places await you."

Diana instantly knew the voice. She dropped her hand from her eyes, in awe that the god she had sought was now before her. "Phoebus Apollo…" She breathed, smiling.

The god in all his splendor, white chiton draped around him and a golden laurel atop sun-kissed, tight curls, smiled broadly back at her. "It is good to see you, Sister."

For the first time since she had left Themyscira and her unanswered prayers upon an alien planet, Diana was no longer alone. The gods had returned. They could save him, they could help guide her.

As Diana turned to glance at an uncharacteristically speechless Jim Kirk, the reality of the situation washed away any relief she may have felt.

Apollo had arrived. But, what terrible price would the gods require?