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Chapter Text

As the plane climbed higher and higher in the air, Steve laughed. He felt invincible. He felt on top of the world. He was saving the day. He was helping end the war. He was going to help stop one of the worst bloodsheds of all time. Steve felt an overwhelming sense of pride. If only his dad could see him now. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe anything he’d done in the past week. Stealing Doctor Poison’s notebook, finding a mystic island full of beautiful women, defying the British government, crossing No Man’s Land and coming out on the other side, meeting Diana.

Diana.

Steve closed his eyes. His chest ached. He would miss her. God, would he miss her. Her radiant confidence, her kind eyes, her soft hair, her ever present hopefulness. He had given up before he met her, he realized suddenly, but she had shown him. Shown him there was still light, still hope, still goodness in the world and its people. Steve thought about the way she had led the soldiers in to battle and the dance they had shared and the night they had spent together. He had wished they had had more time together. He wished they could’ve danced more together, that they could’ve grown old together, that they could’ve saved the world together. There was so much they could’ve done together. So much. But the world didn’t need Steve Trevor, it needed her. Diana could stop Ares, Diana could save an entire village of people and fight off an entire battalion unscathed by herself, Diana could make people listen and bring them together, Diana could see the disgusting brutality of war and still have hope people could be better. Diana was hope. The world needed Diana.

 Steve breathed out shakily and opened his eyes, taking in the starry night sky. He reached for his gun with a shaking hand as the clouds darkened the windows. Numbly, he realized he was crying.

I don’t want to die, he thought.

Steve aimed for one of the bombs in the back of the air craft.

I love you Diana.

He closed his eyes.

I’ll see you soon, Dad.

He put pressure on the trigger and- There was a distinct sound of metal being ripped open and a strong gust of wind on Steve’s face. His eyes whipped open and darted to his left. There was a gaping hole where the door should’ve been on the pilot’s side and a figure standing in its wake. A woman’s figure.

“Diana?!,” he gasped, sitting up straight.

Had she defeated Ares? Had they already ended the war?

The woman moved forward into the moonlight.

“Not quite,” she chuckled, her voice sounded smooth and sinister. Steve swallowed.

As she reached forward and her face came into view, Steve saw that her eyes were a vivid green and her hair a shocking purple color. He sucked in a sharp breath and quickly brought his gun around to aim at her.

“Sleep well, Steve Trevor.”

She placed two fingers on his forehead and he collapsed into the seat, unconscious, weapon clattering to the floor.

Circe chuckled as the captain fell back in his seat. She could definitely see the appeal as she stroked her hand from his temple down to his chin, tilting his face and examining it. Sharp cheek bones, beautiful dirty blonde hair, crystal blue eyes and plush lips. She looked down to his chest and reached out a hand, running her fingers over the shirt material.

No, she thought. There would be time enough for that later. She scooped his pliant body into her arms and balanced carefully on the balls of her feet. She focused on one of the bombs and leapt as it exploded. She cast a protective shield around herself and the captive man in her arms as she flew through the destruction. Circe heard the princess scream from below as the plane fell apart in flames around her. She smirked.

Chapter Text

Diana walked down the street towards the office buildings in Central London. It was taking her some time, but she thought she had London, or at least part of it, committed to memory. She knew the route from her flat to the pub Sameer and Charlie frequented, the route to Etta’s apartment from Diana’s and the route to the government building where Etta was currently employed and where Diana was now walking. Everything had been quiet in the two months since the war ended, but Etta was still wary about walking home by herself after dark. Diana couldn’t blame her, even she felt uncomfortable by some of the looks men gave her on the streets, so she had agreed to wait outside for Etta every week night and walk her home.

Truthfully, it was nice to walk with Etta and spend time with her. Diana had so few friends here and so much to learn. Etta would always tell her stories about Steve and her life in London and about history and the culture of England. Sometimes they would stop in stores that sold unique items that Diana had never even heard of before, such as the bitter black liquid called coffee that Diana absolutely detested or radios which were small square boxes that projected voices of men and women and sometimes played music. Diana’s favorite shop was the bookstore, there was so much she had to learn and though Etta did her best, Diana found the readings just slightly more enjoyable.

Diana reached the building and entered through the revolving doors, making her way up to Etta’s office. Well it was not technically Etta’s, it was General Darnell’s, but he was almost never in when Diana went to visit. The general had been Steve’s friend and had taken Etta as his secretary when she was out of a job after his death. Diana still didn’t agree with the job itself, but she was glad for what he had done for Etta. Diana stopped short. No one had greeted her when she had entered. She looked around. There was no one in the building. Etta told her, sometimes, though far too often in Etta’s opinion, that there were holidays and people were allowed to leave work early, but Diana doubted that was the case. Something in the air told her to be on her guard. As Diana ascended the steps, she heard the roar of several people talking at once and turned the corner into the row of offices that led to the board room. The door was opened and she could see into the room, which was filled with men shouting and arguing with each other. Diana slowly made her way down the hall, listening in to the conversation. She reached the door labeled “Gen. Darnell” and stopped with her hand on the door knob.

“Have you gone loony?! We couldn’t possibly- “

“You, bastard! I- “

“What in God’s name – “

“How the hell could you possibly even say that at a time like this?!”

“That could mean war!”

Something in the air drifted and Diana could feel somebody watching her. Diana slowly raised her head and considered the space, darting her eyes across the rows of men standing and screaming at one another.

Diana…

Diana’s head jerked up, her eyes immediately drawn to the back of the meeting hall. A woman was sitting in the room’s podium, high over the men, her green eyes boring down into Diana’s, like a predator stares at its prey. A man was standing behind her, a hat over his eyes and his hand hovering close to something attached to his hip, which Diana guessed was a gun. The woman looked at Diana, extended a hand towards her and the doors slammed closed in front of her. Diana put her hand on her lasso under her coat, bracing her other hand on the door knob and was about to leap into the room when, suddenly, she was being grabbed and thrown into the room. Diana regained her footing in an instant, bringing her fist around to strike her attacker when the figure of Etta Candy, arms raised high, came in to view.

“It’s just me, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle, but I had to talk to you!”

Diana straightened and began stripping off her coat to get to her armor underneath.

“Talk,” she said.

“The woman in the board room, she’s been here before.”

Diana, now in her armor, gripped Etta’s shoulders firmly, looking into the other woman’s eyes.

“How many times,” she asked, seriously.

“Quite a few,” Etta said, ”She used to come in with Sir Patrick all the time. I thought she was just his home assistant, his nurse or something of the sort. Every time she would come in, there was always a fight and I thought it was just a coincidence, what with the war going on and everything, everyone was angry all the time. But it’s not, Diana, it’s not. She came in today with somebody else, I couldn’t see his face he was wearing a hat, and I saw her do something. With her hands. I’m not sure how to describe it, but she just, she wiggled her fingers and this mist sort of came out and spread to all the men in the office. Then they started screaming at each other, threatening each other! They started acting like animals, Diana! It was awful!”

Animals.

Something tugged at Diana’s memory. One of Antiope’s stories from long ago, when she was just a child gazing up at the clouds, fantasizing about the gods and goddesses that once lived there.

BANG!

Etta gasped as a gust of wind knocked her down on to the floor.

“DIANA,” she gasped, as she clung to the desk for support, “DIAN- Of course, you’re gone. Right. Okay.”

Etta sprang up from her spot on the ground.

“I’m going to go get help,” she called out after her friend.

Etta ran through the gap where the office door had been knocked off its hinges, making her way to the local tavern. Diana flew into the Board Room, smashing the doors in her wake. She was on the podium within seconds, pinning the woman beneath her, a hand on her throat and a fist raised to strike. The woman laughed.

“Circe.” Circe grinned a row of porcelain fangs.

“Hello, Diana.”

There was another piercing noise and Diana fell to the side, shouting in pain, and gripping her upper arm. Circe used the distraction to knee her in the gut, causing her to fall to the floor. Circe brushed herself up and stood over Diana smirking. Diana cursed herself. She’d been so focused on Circe that she hadn’t checked her surroundings. She let her guard down and she’d been shot. Circe put her foot on Diana’s chest, crushing her ribs and imbedding her into the ground. Diana gasped as she grabbed the other goddess around her ankle, trying to get off the floor.

“Shh. It’s all right. I don’t plan on killing you just yet, but lunging at me was a bit too daring for my taste, Diana. Do you like my little sharp shooter,” she asked, ”He’s really quite good wouldn’t you say? I plucked him directly from the battlefield. Come here, sweetheart, show the little princess that beautiful face of yours.”

The man from earlier came into Diana’s vision, only this time she could see his face. Blue eyes met brown and Diana felt her heart strangle her throat.

“Steve,” she croaked.

He didn’t respond, he just stared. Steve. It was Steve, but it wasn’t. He looked hollow and worn out, like he had not rested in years. He face was expressionless and he stared at her with such indifference, it broke her heat, as did the emotionless eyes staring back at her. There was no warmth to his eyes, no light, there was just blank darkness. It was almost as if he had died on the plane. Diana felt something surge through her. The same powerful anger that had built itself into an all-consuming rage as it had when she had met Ares on the field of battle. She would not lose Steve Trevor again. She refused. Diana let out a scream that rattled the very foundations of the building, fighting against the searing pain in her arm and chest as she threw Circe by the ankle into the wall behind the podium. Diana got to her knees as fast as she could, making her way towards Steve. He hadn’t moved, not even to point the gun at her. She almost wished he had. It would’ve at given her some indication as to whether there was something still left, something living. She reached Steve and used the hand not clutching the wound on her arm to touch his face.

“Steve,” she said, tears in her eyes, “Steve, it’s me. You’re safe. I’ll protect you. I’ll save you. Look at me. Please look at me.”

He did and she saw the same thing she had seen moments before, but there was something in his eyes. It was there only for a second and then it was gone, but Diana had caught it and she was no letting it go. Diana opened her mouth to say more, so much more, about how much she loved him, about how she kept the watch under her pillow and kissed it before bed, about how she had gone back to the square and touched his picture every day. She never got the chance as she was knocked to the side, into the railing of the podium, the marble bar and columns falling on top of her, trapping her. Diana tried to get up, but she could feel herself becoming physically exhausted. A piece of marble had pushed itself into her healing bullet wound, reopening the gash and making it longer and deeper. She felt her ribs crushing even more and she was finding it harder to breathe and think, scraping with the arm not trapped until her fingers bled onto the white stone.

“That’s not how sister’s treat each other, Diana,” Circe scolded, her hands on her hips, standing beside Steve, “I’m trying to teach you a valuable life lesson and you throw me into wall. Honestly, did Hippolyta teach you any manners?”

“What lesson,” she asked in a whisper, coughing as she inhaled more dust.

Circe smiled, grabbing Steve by the hair and pushing him down to kiss her, roughly. He reacted immediately, wrapping his arms around her and combing his fingers into her lavender locks. She pulled away breathing heavily, as Diana watched, disgusted. Circe narrowed her eyes at Diana’s horrified expression.

“All men are pigs, Diana,” she said, “And pigs deserve to be slaughtered.”

Circe thrusted both arms into the air reaching her hands into a dark purple fog that had not been there a second ago. The fog began to spread from the podium into the crowd of still shouting men below. Suddenly the insults of men turned into animal like screeches and Diana tried once more to lift herself from the wreckage as the wails increased in intensity. Steve Trevor cast a shadow above her as he glared down at her, kicking her in the face. Diana slammed back into the ground, her energy gone. She caught one last glimpse of his crystal blue eyes before there was a gun shot and Circe screamed, the mist dispersing as she clutched her bleeding chest. Steve ran to her side almost immediately, shielding her with his body. A large swirl of purple smoke engulfed the two and Diana stretched her hand out as they disappeared into the air. There was shouting and she heard doors slamming shut, footsteps running up the podium stairs. Diana saw the face of Etta Candy and felt her warm hands on her face before she passed out.