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i
It begins like this.
Diana had just arrived at Gateway City a few days ago; and was working under Helena Sandsmark at a museum, at the time it sounded kind of dumb - like, why would Wonder Woman work in a museum? But even if it was dumb, it gave thirteen-year-old Cassie Sandsmark the opportunity to meet Wonder Woman - and the wild ride that said meeting would start, but at the time, Cassie wasn’t thinking about that.
It was good fortune that Diana lived in a small apartment near Cassie’s house, she had gone there once, so she knew how to go there, knocking the door two times, she hoped Diana wasn’t like, badly wounded - or almost dying, today was her day off, but superheroes never have days off, luckily for her, Diana opened the door quite quickly, she seemed like straight out of a beauty salon (doesn’t she always?) and she smiles as she spots the teenager.
“Good afternoon, Cassandra.”
“I told you to call me Cassie.” Cassandra sounds way too formal, and Cassie doesn’t do formalities “Sorry for bothering on your day off, but I wanted to ask you something.”
“What’s it?”
“Do you like ice cream?” The question sounds stupid, it probably is, Diana didn’t care about ice cream, but she had to give it a shot regardless “Because there is a new ice cream parlor not too far away and...I wondered if you wanted to go with me, it’s cool if you don’t.”
“I would love to get ice cream with you, Cassie.” Diana sounds delighted at the idea, and Cassie is relieved she isn’t interrupting something important “Come in, wait a minute so I can get ready.”
“You look ready to me.” Cassie commented as she threw herself into the sofa “I hope you don’t take 30 minutes.”
“I won’t.” Diana grins at the teenager “But even if I do, you look comfortable there.”
“It is, may even fall asleep here if you don’t hurry up.”
“Patience is a virtue, Cassie, and it will be ten minutes.”
Luckily, Diana got ready in the ten minutes she promised, and Cassie lead the way to their destination, Diana told about her life in Boston - which was way cooler than Gateway City, in Cassie’s opinion - and Cassie told her about her school and her friends, while she admitted, a bit embarrassed, that she was a big fan of hers.
“And you have probably heard that before, and you’re tired of it.”
“The complete opposite.” Diana ruffles Cassie’s hair lightly “Yes, I’ve heard it before, but every time I get endlessly flattered by the admiration young people like you have for me.”
Who wouldn’t admire Diana? She is Wonder Woman, she is strong, can fly, could beat Superman’s ass if she wanted to, she is gorgeous and nice! But Cassie doesn’t say it out loud because she doesn’t want to sound like an obsessed fan, so she switches the topic.
“Which is your favorite ice cream? I like mint chocolate chip but cookies and cream is great too.” She grins at the older woman and adds “You cannot say chocolate, or vanilla, or strawberry.”
“Why?”
“‘Cause it’s boring, and you’re Wonder Woman, you cannot give me a boring answer like that.”
“And who’s going to stop me?”
Cassie puts both of her hands on her hips, and clearly attempting to be intimidating (except she isn’t trying at all), answers the question.
“Me, duh.”
Diana ruffles her hair again.
“Fine, when we get to the ice cream parlor, you’ll help me choose a new ice cream flavor, but it has to be one that you haven’t tried either.”
Cassie nodded with enthusiasm, it sounded fair enough.
The truth was that sometimes starting over sucked, especially on a new town, she had lived in Getaway City all her life, but she knew that her friend Tammy came from Chicago and was pretty introverted at first, because she missed her relatives from Chicago and her friends there - sometimes she still does - and Diana might be a Princess and Wonder Woman, but she supposed she might feel alone sometimes, too.
So, screw being a fan, Cassie wanted to be Diana’s friend.
She hadn’t gone to the new ice cream parlor, so it was her first time as well - the place was alright looking, the walls were light pink and the tables were black while the seats were red and black, but what surprised her was all these different flavors that she had never seen before, and all of them look delicious, but she decides to pick caramel-flavored ice cream, Diana goes with the pineapple flavored one.
It must have feel obvious that it’s the best ice cream she has tried on her life - sorry, mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream ice creams - because Diana is smiling as she asks her.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s amazing! Yours.”
“It’s delicious, you should try it.”
“You should try this one, do you want to come tomorrow? Heard my mom wanted you to babysit me tomorrow.” She cannot help but roll her eyes at the idea, she is old enough to stay at the house alone.
“She wanted me to keep an eye on you.”
“Babysitting.”
Diana didn’t deny it.
“Well, perhaps tomorrow we could do something else.”
“Huh? Like what?”
“Cassie, do you who Hermes is?”
“Yeah, he’s the Messenger of the Gods.”
Then Diana explains that she has the sandals of Hermes, that it was a gift from the Gods when she first arrived to Man’s World, and those sandals can make you fly, Cassie’s mouth is a big O through the whole explanation.
“Are you serious?” She doesn’t think Diana would play with her emotions like that, but if she were serious…
“Yes, Cassie, I am serious, consider it a retribution for your kindness today, but…” Her voice went serious all of sudden “It must be only under my supervision.”
She wants to argue that she didn’t do anything worth a retribution, she had acted like she would like to be treated, but man, this was going to be so cool!
ii
Things happened, long story short: She went and asked Zeus for her powers, he gave it to her, and it might have happened behind Diana and her mom’s backs, that didn’t matter, Diana decided she needed training so she made Artemis responsible of it, learning the Amazon’s language had been difficult at first, but she speaks it perfectly now - with the exception an accent she cannot get rid off, unfortunately -, the physical training had been very hard, but she overcame it, and the mental training could be...boring, but Artemis didn’t have patience for slackers, so she pulled it out.
It was still super useless knowing the nature of a stupid rock, though.
And today was the graduation day of Cassie’s Amazon Training! And it was being celebrated at the Ice Cream Parlor.
The final proof was fighting against Devastation, who manipulated her worst insecurities and made her almost kill Diana, but Diana made Cassie get her shit back together and defeated Devastation, though she ran away.
Good, because she would not hold back if she came back.
“Aw, the Wonder Baby graduated.” The black-haired older woman said in a playful tone.
“It’s Wonder Girl , Donna!”
Donna was the first Wonder Girl, Cassie's idol, Diana’s sister (complicated) and a superhero who went for the codename of Troia, she was the kindest person Cassie had ever known...when she wasn’t calling her Wonder Baby to piss her off, she used to be furious at the nickname, but Donna told her that it was way better than being called Wonder Chick , and well, she knows what she is talking about, so she is only vaguely irritated by the nickname nowdays.
“Donna, leave Cassie alone.” Diana was having the time of her life with her sis’ teasing Cassie, despite her words saying otherwise “She graduated today, you cannot call her Wonder Baby no more.”
“She knows I do it with love, I know she isn’t a baby, I wouldn’t have given her my costume if so.” Donna checks the menu, and lets out an Ah that shows she’s delighted “They added milkshakes to the menu, I think I’ll ask for a strawberry one, what about you, gals?”
Diana picks strawberry too, Cassie picks chocolate.
“You used to say that picking chocolate was boring, Cassie.”
“Picking chocolate ice cream is boring, Diana, for milkshakes it’s good, and besides, it’s my day.”
“The kid is right.” Donna grins “So, when are you going to put my costume?”
Donna’s costume? She’s not ready for it, yet...sure, she might have graduated from her Amazon Training 101 but that and Wonder Girl’s Outfit. ..were very different things, she knows Diana trusts her, and Donna does too - and she is terrified at the idea of letting them down, until she proves to herself that she is half as good as Donna, she won’t use the costume.
But she won’t say it out loud.
So, instead, she says.
“One day, maybe.”
“Whenever you feel prepared, kiddo.”
The milkshakes arrive and this time, Diana is the one asking questions this time.
“What does it excites you the most about being an Amazon?”
“Well…”
She didn't had a dad, all her life it had been her and Helena against the world, and Helena was focused on her work and on raising a child so she wasn't interested in romance, and it was hard enough to take care of one child to even consider siblings, but part of Cassie always wished to have a big sister to look up to, and now, thanks to the Fates, she has two.
But she wasn't going to get emotional here on the ice cream parlor.
“I like that we can kick asses together now.”
iii
“You know that we could meet somewhere else, right?”
“I like it here, Cassie.”
“You must, flying all the way here? There are other ice cream parlors.”
It’s the first time that Cassie meets with Diana in a year and a half, they are on speaking terms, but not on good terms exactly, in fact, the only reason why they are on speaking terms it’s because of Donna constantly pushing Cassie to be civil.
“How is school? Is Helena doing fine?”
“School is fine, my mom is fine, she says hi.”
“Send her my regards.”
“Will do.”
“How are the Teen Titans?”
She could say fine, the Teen Titans are considered the League’s annoying little sibling that they choose to ignore and Diana had not been on the Justice League since last year, so if Cassie said fine, Diana wouldn’t know if she was lying, that would be, of course, if the problem with Diana wasn’t that nobody could lie to her, and she didn’t even need the lasso to make you spit truths, she could do it by just having a normal conversation in an ice cream parlour.
“The titans are a trainwreck, have been for a while, but we’ll manage.” I am a trainwreck, I have been for a while, but I’ll manage “Why did you want to speak to me?”
“Let’s order the ice cream first, and yes, I’ll pay.”
Good, because she came here for the ice cream.
Diana orders a butter pecan one, it’s not like it matters, but she is following the tradition of picking a new flavor every time they went to this ice cream parlor, so she picks stracciatella, because it sounds good, when was the last time she and Diana went to this place, anyways? Obviously it was before everything went to shit, but she cannot remember the exact date.
“I wanted to try to talk with you, Cassandra.”
“Fine, which is your favorite Star Wars movie?”
“You know I do not mean that kind of talk.”
“Oh! You mean when literally everyone on earth, included you, abandoned me at my worst?” She is not bitter, not at all “There is nothing to talk about, I already told you what I had to say, shit happens.”
“It wasn’t the place or the time to discuss it, Cassandra, now it is.”
How could she explain it without ending this conversation with her yelling at her mentor? She understood that Diana couldn’t be around sometimes, they weren’t Batman and Robin, for Gods’ sake, but going ghost for a year? In the worst year of her sixteen years of life? That was very hard to forgive.
She switches to the Amazon’s native tongue, some people might stare at them, but it was better than this bunch of randos hearing her angst.
“It’s no secret I have always looked up to you, Diana.” Cassie begins as she savours the ice cream “As long as I remember, so having you as my mentor was a great deal, being Wonder Girl means a lot to me, and the worst scenario I ever imagined was me letting you down, never the opposite.”
“Cassie…”
“No, no, let me finish, Artemis was my mentor, my friend, and I love her, but you? Diana, you and Donna were my family, my sisters, who I thought I could always count on, hell - Donna died and I was heartbroken, and you were as well, but we could mourn together, we could help each other, and then Donna came back and everything was alright for…how long? Five minutes? and then everything went to hell and my boyfriend died, my friends left me, and you went ghost! So tell me, how did you think I felt? Think about it, how would you have felt if I had decided to quit the Wonder Girl mantle and cut off any communication with you after Donna died?”
Perhaps the worst part of this was that she wasn’t yelling like she did when she met Diana again on the Museum for the first time after the events of last year, her voice is the textbook definition of bitterness - but is the cold, resentful kind.
“I would feel...betrayed, considering the bond we shared.”
“As long you understand, Di.” She really doesn’t understand how she is keeping herself together – perhaps she is running out of tears – her mentor is quiet through the rant, but she silently grabs one of Cassie’s hands under the table, the gesture is enough to make Cassie sigh - the anger slowly turning onto grief again, Diana takes a deep breath, almost like fighting against Cheetah was easier than talking to your proteges.
“I had to leave, Cassie.” Diana begins, and Cassie is quiet out of respect “I needed time, to heal, to find out who I was, I kept an eye on you and Donna, I walked away from being Wonder Woman, but I would never walk away from you, not completely.”
“I deserved to know that, you're not Batman and I'm no Robin.”
“You are right.”
“You were there when Conner died, you saw me crying over him, holding his body, you knew how I felt.”
“I…”
“At least a fucking text message asking me how I felt would have been a consolation.”
“Cassie -”
“You hurt me, Diana.” And with this sentence, Cassie is finally letting everything go “You broke my heart . Own it.”
She puts a bit of the ice cream on her mouth, she hates this empty feeling you get once you let out all your emotions at once, and this perfectly good ice cream was a good substitute for it.
“I am sorry, Cassie, I should have known better.” Diana puts her free hand on Cassie’s cheeks and Cassie knows the woman really means it “I had to leave, yes, but I didn’t thought about either you or Donna felt, I don't know if you will forgive me, I don’t know if I deserve it, but I will beg for your pardon regardless.”
“I think we are on the road to forgiveness.” Cassie gives Diana’s hand a light squeeze, she knows she cannot be mad at her forever “I still trust Donna more than you, though.”
“Understandable.”
“If you do that again, I'll drop the Wonder Girl mantle and become Black Canary Jr. She is cool”
Diana laughs, and Cassie a small smile on her lips as she says that she is being totally serious, it's a small step, but at least they talked about it, perhaps it was long due, but better late than never.
“I have demands so you earn my complete forgiveness.”
“How so?”
“I want another ice cream, this one melted when you tried to get me emotional.”
“Our bond is worth an ice cream?”
“Duh! The ice cream is the reason our bond exists.” And now there is a mischievous spark on Cassie’s eyes and she asks “You will need to pass a bunch of tests to earn my trust again, honesty being the first test, so, it's true that you have the hots for Nemesis?”
“ Cassandra.”
“ Tell me.”
iv
The last time Cassie remembers getting ice cream with Diana is a few months later - but it has a twist to it, instead of staying at the parlor while they eat the ice cream, Diana decides to order it to-go and that they walk around the city instead, the second twist is that they have eaten every single flavor available except the average ones, and repeating flavor is not an option - so they have no option other than ordering average ice cream flavors.
Cassie orders chocolate while Diana orders vanilla and Cassie feels kinda bad that they didn’t invite Donna to this, but there is something about getting ice cream with Diana that is almost exclusive to them - perhaps it’s because it’s the bridge between the pre-Wondergirl days and the present.
It’s weird, but she cannot help but think about the memories - the very first time Cassie had invited Diana to get ice cream because she thought Diana might have felt lonely, when she put the wig and the sandals to help Diana against Doomsday (okay - help was a little exaggeration), that trip to Argentina to stop Circe and her bunch of weird friends, going to Hell and back with a blind Diana.
“What are you thinking of, Cassie?” Diana puts her hand on Cassie’s shoulders “You’ve been quiet for some time now.”
“I was thinking about how far we’ve come, remember when I was a twerp? When we went to get ice cream the first time?”
“I always will.”
“So will I, I did it because I thought you might miss your old friends from Boston, the first time I saw you at the Museum I remember being so amazed, like you were so oh! and I was so...I don’t know, I don’t really think I was very pretty.”
“Don’t say that; Cassandra, I thought you were beautiful, different from how you look nowadays, but beautiful all the same.” And Cassie can feel that Diana was thinking about the good old days as well, because she looked like she wanted to ruffle Cassie’s hair, but decided to stroke it lightly instead “I have been thinking about you as well.”
“How so?”
“I was remembering how your hero experience started, Artemis giving me daily updates about your training, how remarkable you were…I remember I wasn’t surprised, you always had the potential for great things.”
“Because Zeus is my dad?”
Diana shook her head.
“I might get punished by this, but I have never thought your heroic nature had anything to do with your Godly heritage, as Zeus himself said, Helena is a remarkable woman, and your good traits come from her.”
Cassie wonders if a mythological creature is going to fuck up this moment, for once, it seems it won’t happen.
“I remember when you stole -”
“Borrowed. ”
“Stole the sandals and the wig for the first time - and wouldn’t be the last, and I thought that I shouldn’t had arrived to Gateway City, I didn’t want to risk a child’s life, but alas, your stubborn nature mixed with the Fates gave you powers, and your very first steps were saving kittens for trees.”
“Simpler times.”
“And look at you now, Cassie, you overcame every obstacle – losing loved ones included, and became a trustworthy leader and an excellent partner, you are a standard to be held when it comes to proteges, I’m very proud of you.”
By the Gods, she feels like she is about to burst into tears with Diana’s words, she fucking hates that little part of her being that always says you’ve never be half as good at this as Donna was, but Diana managed to silence that annoying part of her, if Wonder Woman is proud of you, then there’s no reason to doubt yourself, right?
“...Wow, Diana...I…” She wishes there was some quirky comment that she could give, but she doesn’t think she can do it without her voice breaking “Thank you.” She should say more, she wants to say more, that she is grateful of everything she has done for her, that the word mentor doesn’t even begin to cover what Diana really is - a friend and a sister and that she bothers to get ice cream with Cassie from time to time considering how busy she is means a lot on itself “You’re not so bad, yourself.”
The comment caught Diana off guard - which is hilarious because Diana is never off guard, and for a few seconds she seems genuinely shocked, but she grins back at Cassie and punches her on the shoulder lightly.
“I cannot help but think you were cuter when you were inexperienced and you had the wig and the goggles.”
“Cut it off with the wig, it’s my dark past.” Diana didn’t need to know that the wig was still somewhere on Cassie’s bedroom “I know it’s pushing it, but you should join mom and I for dinner, she commented the other day that she hasn’t seen you in years!”
“I don’t know if I can join dinner tonight, but I’d gladly walk you home.”
“I hope you mean fly.”
“That works too.”
But she did stay for dinner that night, Helena was incredibly insistent on it, to the point she said she might even feel offended if Diana refused, in Cassie’s opinion, Helena and Diana were...weird, because Helena disapproved of Cassie’s superhero antics, but she was always kind to Diana and always considered her a friend.
“Thank you for taking care of my daughter, Diana, I hope she listens to you more than she listens to me.”
“Sometimes she doesn't.” Cassie stuck her tongue out at Diana playfully as the woman continued “But what she lacks in obedience she makes it out on bravery and fast thinking.”
Helena stare turned serious towards her daughter.
“Listen to what Diana says, Cassie, she is in charge of your well-being.”
“And as frustrating it might be at times, one must listen to mothers, I do not mind that you don't obey me at times...but you have to do what Helena tells you to do.”
“I think the chicken is lovely, mom.”
“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, young lady.”
The argument dissolves into laughter and the conversation topic changes anyway and Cassie cannot help this is a massive throwback, Diana, Helena and her eating together hadn't happened in years, perhaps the last time was when Cassie was still at Young Justice?
Regardless, it's nice, but a bit nostalgic.
She doesn't know why, but this feels like a goodbye.
v
Diana knows that the most logical point to start the search was at the Gateway City museum, where Helena Sandsmark works.
“Angel, what are we doing in an ice cream parlor?” Steve is confused – not his fault, Diana never bothered to explain why she wanted to come here first “I thought you needed your allies to reach Themyscira?”
“I do.” She waits for a blonde young woman to come hug her asking if she had been missed, the moment never arrives “That’s why we are at Gateway City, I have a young sister who lives here.”
It had been illogical to come to the ice cream parlor first, she was starting to remember - and things were starting to make sense - but she didn’t know if Cassandra was starting to remember as well, and even if she did, she couldn’t read Diana’s mind to know that she was looking for her.
Yet, somehow, she cannot help but feel a bit disappointed (saddened) that she is not here, but she hadn’t lost hope completely, Getaway City is a big place, but she shall find Cassie (or Cassie will find her, wouldn’t be unlike her) and maybe, just maybe, things will start to be on the right track again.
“Well, we might get some ice cream since we are here, and then continue looking to that young sister of yours, Diana.”
“Agreed.” Did Cassandra even get to meet Steve? She cannot remember “But you cannot pick chocolate, vanilla or strawberry for ice cream.”
Steve looked confused.
“Why?”
Diana grins at him as she orders a caramel ice cream for herself.
“Because it’s...boring.”