nysalogs | AND SUDDENLY THE WORLD HAS CHANGED;

[ It's the third day of Diana being in the stasis unit and Steve hasn't left the apartment today.

He spent a lot of the first two days with Bruce in the stasis unit, almost keeping an eye on Diana even though she was safe there. Was it healthy to watch over her in the pod? No, but it meant as soon as she was awake, they'd be the first to know.

They stay as long as they can before going back to Diana's apartment every night to rest, albeit reluctantly. Bruce stays there too because Steve needs him there. It helps, having Bruce there, even during the moments they don't talk or pretend they're sleeping.

Steve feels exhausted, probably from lack of sleep, and he hasn't shaved in three days which means his scruff is a little thicker than usual. With Bruce out to check on Diana, he sits at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He hates this. He hates this so much. He wants to have faith - like Diana taught him to have - that she will be back soon, if Bruce's three-day theory is correct. But he's also resigned to the fact that it could be a lot longer, and being in Diana's apartment is probably the last place he should be when he's missing her because it feels so empty without her, which is how he's felt in general the past couple of days. He's willing to wait as long as it takes to be reunited with her, but without a full-blown war to distract him, he has nothing to focus on but how miserable he feels. Miserable because it might be months - years until he sees Diana again, and miserable because if she does come back soon, she could be from up to a hundred years in the future where Steve is nothing more than a memory she's moved on from and wishes to never return to.

Steve hears the front door click open and thinks it might be Bruce at first, but then he remembers how Bruce prefers to enter through windows and suddenly Steve's heart stops as he pulls himself to his foot and stands in the doorway, looking down the hall to see who's there. ]

( it's a silly thought, that in a year, or two, she'd have forgotten him. that she'd wake and realize the absence and not ache for what never had the chance to be. it'd taken a century to even admit to someone she saw his face in every potential loss. and even in trying to find her way again, back from the edge of isolation and detachment, she had still never managed to forget Steve Trevor. she'd never tried, and she'd never want to.

in fact, those decades of mourning make the idea of seeing him again terrifying. she has memories of being in his arms and conversations shared and silly little kisses under mistletoe lived with him here that seem like a wisp of imagination compared to the hard and aching life she's had to live without him. she'd asked Bruce about Steve and even still it was hard to really believe anything but what she'd known for so long, that he was gone and due in no small part to her. logically it's foolish yet a part of her wants to run from the possibility he may not be there when she opens the door. if she never opens it, she'll never have to know.

running used to be her instinct, yet she'd been learning to fight it before she woke. she can't forget everything she learned in building her team the second change becomes difficult, she has to keep believing and pushing toward the light. even if it scares her. turns out, there are things that can frighten Diana, Princess of Themyscira.

she turns the knob and carefully steps into the dim room, feet bare and dressed in the nightgown she'd disappeared in but with a coat over her shoulders. Steve can probably guess where that came from, though talking about how Bruce managed to find her first is likely not the first thing she'll want to talk about. )

Steve, ( she whispers, and if she'd intended to be stronger, or more logical about this, she's already failed. Steve hasn't ever seen her cry, not in the worst of what they'd faced together in the war... he didn't see how she'd broken the second she knew he was gone. he'd get to see her pain now. turns out there was no way to hide it, even if she'd wanted to try. )

[ It's different from their last reunion back in the stasis unit which feels like a lifetime ago (more than an actual lifetime for Diana) and Steve knows why. It takes as little as one second of looking at Diana to know what's changed since he last saw her.

She has all her memories now, Steve can feel it from the way she looks like her entire body could crumple at any moment if she allowed it to. Steve has managed to discover something he hates more than the three days he waited for her to come home - seeing her like this.

He doesn't stride towards her like he normally would, as much as he wants to gather her up in his arms and tell her everything is okay or will be okay. He knows there are things that happened both here and back on Earth that she will see as not okay, starting with the villagers they saved that were gassed to death the very next day, and ending with his actions. ]

I'm sorry.

[ It's a whisper back, but it carries through the space between them. And from those words alone, she'll be able to figure out that he's known from the beginning of this - meeting again in space and being on this planet - his fate. What he did. What he doesn't regret, no matter how much hurt it caused Diana - he died fighting for what he believed in. He died knowing she'd carry on fighting for him and every other person she'd meet who reminded her of him. ]

I'm so sorry... [ The first apology was for hurting her with his sacrifice, the second is for lying to Diana about their memories being the same. He finally walks towards her, his hands reaching for her face like they always do in emotional moments, wanting to comfort her but not knowing how or what to say to make it better. ] I didn't know how to tell you, Diana...

( it's true, that she looks much like she could collapse and fall to pieces, that perhaps she's not without her weaknesses after all. she winces at the apology, because it's so like him and yet somehow reminders of him are still painful instead of powerful. how long will it take to convince her wearied heart that he isn't gone in this strange world, that there's no need to wrench and leap just to think of him?

Diana doesn't have to ask to know Steve is sorry to have left her. sorry that she has had to face all the memories he might have liked to protect her from. would this be easier now, if he'd told her then? honestly, Diana isn't even sure. none of what she'd lived on Natha had mattered when she returned to stasis, she'd lived it all over like she'd never even been, watched a speck on the horizon turning into a fireball and walked past the bodies of an entire village she'd fought so hard to protect,
that and more. a centuries worth of atrocities lived in her thoughts, now.

he takes a few steps toward her and for a moment she's paralyzed to her spot by the door, before the last ounce of strength she has left is abolished for meeting him before he can reach her. the touch he extends is gentle, careful — hers is heavy and tight, like she expects him to be wrenched away if she lets go. it's funny how she's imagined what she would say to Steve if she'd ever had the chance to talk to him again, and yet the words seem to fail her now. )

I know, ( because she knows that he'd struggled with it, she'd seen it. perhaps she should have known well enough to ask. her voice is slightly muffled by the rumpled fabric of his shirt. she isn't ready to let him go just yet, though, so he'll have to deal with it. it takes her a long while to speak again, as if she needs to bolster herself up to the words; or just to give herself enough time to trust her senses that he was actually there. ) When I woke up this almost felt like a dream, that you were here and with me again. Even with... ( she pulls back only enough to brush fingers at the snowflake pendant she'd kept on her beyond training since he'd given it to her. ) It still didn't feel real. You've been gone for so long, Steve. I couldn't imagine that you could be here, when I've been alone for so long.

( she lifts her hands to touch his face, the scruff she'd never seen on him before, the lines near his mouth that deepened when he smiled, with fear and awe all at once. the blue of his eyes are familiar, yet like a faded whisper in her memory just as much as the man she'd fallen asleep next to three days ago. the jumble of both is a hateful combination. it brings up the last moment she had with him, the things said she'd never been able to answer. almost unbidden, she feels she has to now. ) I love you. A hundred years I've loved you, and a hundred years I've had to wonder if you knew, before you left me. ( whether he did or not, he knows now. it's not a joyful proclamation, it's a painful one, loving him has been a wound for longer than it had been her wings. )

[ Diana can hold him in silence for as long as she likes, it's not like Steve isn't doing the exact same thing to her once he can tell she's comfortable with it and for the moment, he doesn't know what else to say other than sorry. He avoids apologizing any more times so the words don't lose all meaning and waits until she's ready to speak. He half expects Diana to be angry or upset the same way her eyes glistened back in that watch tower in their world, when she refused to give any more than she already had to help stop the war. Maybe not angry or upset with him, but at the situation.

To his relief, she's touching his face with tenderness and Steve lets out a breath he'd been holding, that sick feeling in his stomach starting to subside. She confirms the worries he had that a lot of time could have passed whenever she returned, though his eyes go wide when he hears how long exactly. A hundred years and she still remembered him. A hundred years she'd remained in love with him. He can't begin to imagine how painful those years must have been when Steve has been suffering after only three days. ]

I felt it that night in Veld. [ They hadn't just had sex; there had been so much love in that room, shared between them. They hadn't talked about it - there hadn't been time and maybe Steve knew it was unlikely he'd survive and didn't want to get his hopes up for a future with Diana. He hadn't known Diana very long but he'd been certain he wanted to stick by Diana's side to the end of his days, and he still wanted that. ]

You've really loved me for that long? [ Steve is torn between smiling and his heart breaking for her. As much as he'd fretted in her absence that she'd come back treating him as nothing more than a memory she didn't want to relive, he would have preferred her to have moved on because that's all her cares about at the end of the day - her happiness. He'd rather a hundred years of her being happy with someone else than missing him miserably, though that isn't to say he could have done the same if their roles were reversed. ]

I never left - I've always been with you. Maybe not physically but... [ He presses his hand against her chest, where her heart is beating underneath it. Here, in her heart he's always been. ] I love you too, I -

[ He stops mid-sentence to kiss her, unable to hold back any longer. And he's never kissed her or anyone as desperately before, but it would have been the kiss he stopped himself from giving her before running towards that plane promising death. ]

( she might have expected to be angry herself. this might be easier if she were angry. Diana finds a sort of power in her righteous anger, sometimes it overwhelms her and keeps her moving when nothing else can. sadness does nothing but defeat her, and yet she can't shake it so easily, even with the reality that he's here in her arms it's hard to shake the grief of losing him.

she's glad he knew, that's a relief to a question left unanswered for a century. still, she wishes she could have had the chance to tell him. that she'd have been able to say the words. she wouldn't have thought it'd be so important until she had to grieve him with the knowledge she'd never get the chance. )

I'll never stop. ( maybe it'd have been easier if she'd tried, if Diana had not held him in her heart so ferociously. still, when his memory was all she had left of him, she'd clung to it desperately. her eyes press closed at the idea he'd always been with her, shaking her head. ) You would not have been proud if you could have seen me. ( closing herself off, turning from people that needed her, living on the fringe of society — barely living at all. she's glad he wasn't able to see the life she'd pursued without him. it'd been nothing like the happy little existence they'd chatted about in Vale, almost intentionally so.

the hand pressed to her heart will surely feel the way it races at confirmation of something she already surely knows. truly hearing it is so much more than speculating at words whispered in the metallic ring in her ears. Diana tastes the salt of her tears in the kiss, yet even if it hurts she can't let go. it aches, and yet the touch of him, the reality of his lips on hers and his arms around her, is a salve she hasn't had access to in a lifetime.

he kisses her with a desperation she's never felt from him, not in their time in their own world nor this one. yet it's met with the same sharpness and neediness. she's missed him for so long, and if she can tell him how much in a kiss, the way she holds him as close and tight as she can. )

[ The kiss probably would have lasted a lot longer than it had if Diana hadn't sounded so ashamed of herself. To hear her suggest that if he'd witnessed her through the years she was without him, he might have loved her a lot less, or stopped loving her at all, a shell of her former self... Steve can't let a comment like that leave her lips and not defend her. ]

Diana... [ Taking a breath after the kiss, he sighs her name fondly, thumbing her cheek. ] I'm so proud to know you. You went up against your mother, the Queen of the Amazons, to help stop a war you didn't have to involve yourself in. You completely ignored me when I said crossing No Man's Land was impossible and actually did it. You went looking for Ares and you found him. [ The list goes on and on as to the things she's done that has made him proud to have met her and want to tell others what she's accomplished, the same way someone wants to share the story of a hero and have it be passed on to future generations. ]

And maybe you have a century of regrets... but everyone does. [ Including Steve - most definitely Steve. ] It's what makes you human. [ Not a god-killer or a princess but a woman he fell into a crazy situation with and fell in love with along the way. ] When it comes to feeling proud of you, I'll never stop.

( it would have been easier to dive into his lips and his touch and ignore the rest. she should have known that Steve Trevor wouldn't let her. it's the same unhealthy evasion she's made her mainstay for decades. her fingers brush at the back of his neck as she winces at his words, looking down with eyes forced shut. )

That girl you loved isn't the woman I grew to be. Not for so long. I turned away from war when the world decided to try its hand at a second. And so many after that. ( world war II, korean, biafra, vietnam, congo... and countless more. could she have stopped any wars that humans insisted on making? likely not. she still could have tried to save more than just herself. ) The one that fought for everyone that needed it died when you did. For longer than I'm proud to admit, Steve. I'm trying to remember who she was but it might be a century too late.

( she gives him a pained smile, hands slowly sinking from the back of his neck to press at his chest. the blind faith he has in her is absolutely familiar, yet somehow it no longer feels deserved. she wishes she could tell him that she kept fighting as vehemently as she had straight from Themyscira. the truth is uglier, that slowly she'd hardened herself to a world crying out in pain when she might have done something instead of nothing. how could he be proud of that? )

You don't know who I am now, not anymore. As much as I'd like you to. ( it hurts her to say it, but it's the truth. he died and time kept moving and while her body wore no proof of the fact, she'd changed in the hundred years she'd lived without him. ) I hope you will think the same when you do.

[ It's funny how when he first met Diana and the days in which they fought together, she filled him with such hope, yet now it's as though the tables have turned and Steve is the one less cynical than she is. It's a little startling to say the least, but one of the many things Diana taught him was not to lose faith. ]

Okay. [ He succumbs, seeing her point. He is never too stubborn to admit when he could be wrong about something. A century is bound to change anyone and it would be naive to think she was the same woman she was a hundred years ago. Too many things would have happened to have not changed her in some way and he has so much to catch up, some of which she might not feel comfortable to talk about. But his feelings for her run far too deeply for him to simply walk away from what they had - have. He's pretty sure his friends would never allow it. They've seen how much Diana makes him happy; they've seen how much being without her makes him feel absolutely miserable as well... ]

Okay, then... will you let me get to know you again?

[ It's very Steve to ask her that, so considerate of her feelings. For all he knew, maybe she didn't want to go back down this road with him again and finally move on. Maybe this was her moment of closure, to finally let him go... ]

( it is like him to ask, isn't it? it makes her smile even though her heart would have thought she'd forgotten how. it's sad and bittersweet but it is still there — it's true, he makes her happy, he always has. she's not sure she's brave enough to believe that he always will, if only because she's already lost him once. )

Yes. Of course you can. I want you to. ( in fact, even with the pain between them, Diana would be a fool to refuse him. Steve would never know how many times she'd wished they could have had a chance at something that extinguished so suddenly. given the opportunity to be with him again, even with her fears and misgivings, no part of her wants to refuse him. Diana simply wants him to know the woman he loved is not the battle-scarred, life-hardened product of time that stands before him now. she's afraid as he is that it will make things different between them, yet if someone's feelings might change...

there is no chance they will be hers, after holding him in her heart for a century. Steve should get the chance to decide for himself if he loves her still, after the mistakes she's made, after falling so far away from the girl he'd found so inspiring. she hopes he will. she prays that her steps back towards believing might be enough. that is for him to decide, in the end. not her. )

We have more time. I don't want to waste it any more now than I did then. ( a few weeks for him, a little more, perhaps. more than a lifetime for her, yet she's still certain. if anything, she's more certain. she knows now what she stands to lose, she's already lost it and mourned it. it makes her all the more determined to hold on to what they could have now. )

Thank you. [ He couldn't sound more grateful for her not pushing him away. Bruce had warned him that she could come back different but wouldn't elaborate how, simply telling him to see for himself.

Speaking of Bruce... ]

Have you seen Bruce yet? He's been a mess without you, too. [ They had leaned on each other in her absence. He'd had Richie and Clark to turn to for support as well, but it was only Bruce who seemed to really understand him, feeling the same pain without her. ]

He already found me.

( the bond they shared made it obvious, likely enough, when she was awake and when she was not. beyond that, Bruce Wayne had made it a habit to find her. it can't surprise Diana any longer when he does. that reunion had been a little easier than this one, in the end; Bruce had been in her most recent of memories, walking side by side into a mansion that would one day be their base of operations. it wasn't as jarring to see him as it had the man she'd lost a century prior.

Bruce is a conversation they can have at another time, though. right now, Steve is what she wants to focus on. she reaches for his hands, holding them near her heart as she takes him in for possibly the hundredth time since walking in the door. when will it feel real again? ) I'll tell you everything you want to know, I promise you, but for now I just want to be with you.

( it doesn't matter to her how, as long as they're together. )

Of course he did. [ Steve should have known and he's relieved Bruce found her first. He feels like it would have been far too overwhelming if it was his face she woke up to before anyone else's... ]

Let's sit. [ They can't keep standing in the hallway together - well, they could, but he's tired from lack of sleep and for someone who just woke up, Diana looks like she could do with some rest too. Steve will just lead her by the hand into the living room and sit on the couch, encouraging Diana to make herself comfortable against him. It doesn't take long for him to start feeling sleepy, shifting to a more horizontal position on the couch, making enough room for Diana to lie down and nestle into him. ]

Sorry for being such an old man but if I don't nap right now I'm gonna be sleeping for days... [ He sounds so apologetic, like he thinks he's being really rude right now, but it's as though his body is finally allowing him to rest now Diana is home. ] I'll be half an hour at the most. [ Wrong - he'll be sleeping for hours. He's got three nights of sleep to catch up on. ]

( yes, they could. somehow it doesn't strike her to move, it doesn't strike her to do much of anything. the shock of adjusting him back into her senses is taking its toll. she's not as clear headed as she usually is, yet Diana has no sense of regret or shame for it.

when he guides her to the sofa, she climbs into a spot next to him, a position far less proper and detached than she's frequented in what feels like decades, and yet memories of a few days linger to remind her it has both been that long and not at all. she winds arms around him and presses a dark head to his chest, shaking it barely in protest at the assertion she'd think him old. )

You are far from old. ( he was young, unbelievably young, like the picture she remembers of him standing near a plane. all smiles and youth and promise, a memory of who he'd been at the start of the war. war aged everyone, yet Diana can't see him as old when she knows his life had barely been a raindrop in a storm before it had ended.

she holds him a little closer at the thought. perhaps he will have more time now. perhaps they both will. she doesn't move or fidget as he fades, just holding him close and focusing on the steady beat of his heart. he'd likely assume she'd fallen asleep with him, yet it feels she's slept for a hundred years, she can't fathom another moment. instead she focuses on his presence beside her, and when he falls asleep proper she shifts just enough to look him in the face and run fingers that almost shake through his hair and along his features.

when he wakes, though, she'll be sleeping beside him as she did before she left. )

Edited 2018-02-18 21:52 (UTC)

[ Three days, objectively. Subjectively, it's longer, Bruce measures time by taking turns with Steve for leaving the room for necessities. He doesn't sleep much, he's reluctant to leave the stasis room with her still there — even if nothing's happened to anyone so far. But Steve needs the company, and Bruce always answers need with action. ]

[ Day three, the moment of truth dawns — she's not in the pods. Then the station, somewhere, he moves through the halls like a shadow. It's absurd to say he knows where she is, but he knows. ]

Diana.

( waking had been surreal. the same confusion and uncertainty of her first waking had flooded her thoughts as fresh air filled her lungs and the stasis pod quietly slid open. almost like a sleepwalker, she was too dazed to know why she must move, only that she must. she is dressed for the occasion; ripped from her bed, she's in a nightgown, though perhaps one more suiting of the girl that had fallen asleep in it than the woman that had woken in it. she breathes easier outside of the quiet stasis walkways, finding a spot that is flanked with huge walls of windows to look down at the planet below and the heavens surrounding. it needs to feel real again, when she can still close her eyes and remember so vividly decades spooling through her fingers like grains of sand.

Diana touches the glass, cold under her fingertips. how can her life have moved on even though it was meant to be gone? why had she been forced to go back when so much she loved was left behind?

she feels him more than she hears him or pays attention to footsteps approaching. it's not that she's surprised, because she can't be, yet there's something heartbreaking in how Bruce won't even need to hear her say a word to know she's not quite the Diana he'd gotten to know here. her shoulders lift and her posture tightens, something few would notice, though Bruce might be the most capable of spotting it. they're a team now and whether he remembers it all she hasn't forgotten, won't — only sometimes you reach for your armor, on instinct, because you think you need it, because you have learned never to go without it, that without it you won't survive. it becomes habit, thoughtless, even when there is no threat.

she has worked quite hard to let go that armor, yet in the weight of everything, instinct pushes her back toward it. )

Yes, ( she answers, not yet turning to face him. it is not like her to not know what to say, but for once she's almost at a loss for words. ) I remember. More, I think.

[ He has a coat. It's not cold on the station or in the stasis room — not any kind of cold Bruce can't simply out think. It whispers as it slides over her shoulders. He'd crossed the distance between them without a sound. ]

[ He recognises her in an instant. How could he not? Like knows like, and he knew this her as his partner before he ever knew the Diana that had first woken. It is a cruel, cold thing to have missed her, to say that the first moment he sees her back. Bruce leans over where she is, inhabiting her space like her shadow. They keep each each other strong, true, but there were always allowances for laughter, for moments less fraught, less tight. They kept each other company too. ]

[ Briskly, ]

Do you know where you are?

( it's not cold, and Diana wouldn't be bothered by it even if it was. Bruce is much like another man in her life that the fact does not stop him as his coat falls over her shoulders. it's not surprising to her anymore, she would have expected it of Bruce in both of her sets of memories. it is comforting to have one thing not lost in conflict. )

Yes. ( she's been trying to rationalize it as her reality all over again, staring down at a planet she spent months on, even though it feels like a whisper of a dream from a century ago.

her hand falls and she finally turns, looking him in the eye. he's as silver and gruff as she remembers, though perhaps more on the gruff side than usual. it is not vanity that makes her think her absence has a part in that. ) I've lived a hundred years in a dream, Bruce. Somehow none of it feels real. ( it's a surprisingly raw confession considering even after forming their team, they are slower to fold back curtains that hide their demons and weaknesses both. it's partly a confession from a woman that has grown to trust him as a partner, and partly as a girl that had learned so easily that he would never use such confessions against her. in combination it is harder to convince herself the right thing is to hide. )

Clark. Is he still here? Is... ( a pause, and a swallow, hiding a storm that she's still ungifted in discussing. ) Steve. Is he... ( funny how she can't even form the words to suggest he's gone all over again. )

[ His hands linger on her shoulders, only just, but not light enough to be the brush of the wind. This is real. She's here, he's her shadow. The rest of this station can speak for itself, as can the planet below. ]

They're both here.

[ The people they both lost are alive and well. Steve has his own battle to fight and Diana her own minefield when she returns to the apartment, but Bruce can stave it off for the time being. ]

What do you remember?

[ Structure, always, for disorientation. Her confession was for his ears alone, and as she thought he takes it and keeps it away, safely. ]

( Diana accepts the information, though it's a weighted relief. Steve has been a ghost for her for so long — she's not sure how to face him, even though he's lived in her heart for a century. Diana walks and acts with an easy confidence, yet it fails her in the idea of seeing Steve Trevor again, after so long.

talking to Bruce is easier. grounding. even if he's some strange amalgamation of the man she's known and come to trust twice, in a sense. the second time was more difficult a feat than the first. )

More than you, I suspect, though it was always difficult to get a straight answer from you. ( there's no bitterness to her tone; she understands why, even if she hadn't enjoyed being in the dark. ) The darkness we were afraid of found us. ( they'd known it was a matter of time, hadn't they? ) And we bested it, though not alone.

[ The first was through fire. That's always easy for him, when the actions of another are clear, in a fight, in a fight for their lives and the safety of the people they swore to protect. When given choices — he keeps his emotions hidden, he knew that had frustrated her, even as she drew out the truth. ]

We'll discuss that.

[ Later when she's settled, or now if she feels like it. ]

Let's walk.

( before, she might have taken his arm. not even three days ago (for Bruce, anyway) she'd have reached for him as easily as she breathed. now she nods,
crossing arms around herself to fall into place at his side. )

How much do you want to know?

( his gut reaction might be everything... Bruce doesn't always cater to his gut reaction, however. he won't remember anything she tells him if he returns to stasis himself, yet it might change his life now for knowing things he can't change. )

[ She doesn't take his arm — more noticeably, he doesn't offer it. There's no change on the bottom line: if she wanted to touch him, she wouldn't need to ask any kind of permission. ]

[ He folds himself a little, the shadow she's familiar with when she visited the cave or stayed for dinner on Alfred's request. ]

How many others?

( walking side by side is different yet not without its meaning, at least for them. they're used to walking alone; having someone else to fall into place beside them is something she's both confident in an unused to. it's an odd mix. )

Four.

( is that more than he was expecting? less? Luthor's records had been extensive, though only three leads had been extensive enough for them to easily locate. that left one name in the air, and possibly the one most important to Bruce. )

[ Too used to being by herself, too fresh from a hundred years of it. Diana is more open with her warmth than him, she hardly obscures it with acts and pointed words but that doesn't make it forthright as it once was. ]

I had three on file.

[ The unasked question soon becomes one, ]

Barry Allen, Victor Stone, and Arthur Curry. Who's the last?

Clark Kent.

( Diana knows how heavily Bruce wears the guilt of Clark's death, despite the fact it had been Luthor's creation to blame, not the altercation they'd had just before. still, perhaps knowing that Superman returns, not only here but in their world as well, will reassure him somewhat. )

We used a device called a mother box and the systems of the Kryptonian ship to resuscitate him, when things seemed bleakest. I didn't agree with it at the time, but he came back to us. Not easily or painlessly, but he's back.

( the deeper details of his resuscitation, she'll leave for later. ) That team you thought so impossible, Bruce, we built it. ( she offers a smile, thinking of the people they'd brought together, the young men that became so important to her so quickly. she wishes Bruce could remember them as she does, though perhaps it is only a matter of time. )

[ She could have hit him on the head and it wouldn't have produced the reaction the name does. His mouth even forms the word how, falling silently, swallowing the explanation. The details she spares for his own memories will make that up. Have to. He has so much to keep ahead of. ]

He's back. We have a team.

[ The rest, that's footnotes. Bruce's shoulders draw up, then drop. ]

I wonder if that's the end of it.

[ That there's nothing after what he saw coming. ]

There is much good in the world, Bruce. But plenty of darkness as well.

( which is her way of saying without saying that even with Steppenwolf defeated, she doubts peace will cover the land and there shall never be another fight for them to face. she's lived too long to believe in eternal peace any longer, sad as that might be.

at least despite her disillusionment, she's back to fighting for those moments of tranquility. however short. )

We'll do better. We have to.

[ His hope is no solid handhold. Bruce adheres to it because there is nothing else for his vicelike grip, everything else to grope for in the dark is not worth what it would do to him. ]

[ It's a never ending battle. Like weeds in a garden, like walking into the aftermath of storms. Their mission is the same. ]

You're in charge?

[ It's not quite a question. Clark looks to the future, Bruce is at her heels, but Diana is the one with the sword, with the stone resolve of one who can keep moving forward. She'll outlive them both, and while he doesn't expect for her to constantly put herself out there, she never turns away from anyone in need. ]

( they will. Diana believes they've built something important, even with their missteps and mistakes. Victor, Barry; they needed the team as much as the world had needed it. Arthur is older, perhaps not entirely wiser, yet he was not as detached from the league as he'd say out loud.

together they are stronger. together they will face whatever comes next. it is hard thinking that team is no longer with her, once again dissolved to distance. she yearns, suddenly, to look for faces she'd never have thought of before she slept. )

We did this together, ( she reminds, though he isn't entirely wrong. she's a little wry as she admits, ) You could still work on your sharing. ( he's better than he was, and oddly enough perhaps better still here than he was back in their world... but the secrets he holds so close keeps him apart from the team. they both have that weakness to fight past. )

[ They did this together. But he's no leader. He's the one keeping an eye on them all, building them what they need, waiting at the centre of his fortress to open the doors for who needs to be safe for a while. ]

Oh? I think I've been doing very well.

[ With the touch of smugness that always made her roll her eyes — hush, he knows she finds it a little endearing too. Maybe a little of having her at home was because there was no one else who understood, who shared that life changing experience, but here, it was a completely a choice. It'll keep being the one he makes. ]

( Bruce doesn't see himself as a leader, yet Diana knows that he was instrumental in finding and recruiting a great part of their team. as long as he clings to his secrets, insists on holding the darkest of his thoughts to himself, he'll never have complete success.

it still doesn't invalidate the steps he has taken.

she tilts her head in wry acknowledgement, before shaking her head. not quite an eye roll, yet the endeared exasperation is still there. ) As long as we don't compare you to young children, perhaps. ( the ones so stuck in egocentrism that they can barely manage to share... though, she's teasing him as much as he'd been teasing her. ) You have your moments. I think you're capable of more, however.

( he may not have the memories she does, yet, but having the ones she does means she's going to try and get them out of him. for both of their sake. )

Edited 2018-02-10 16:42 (UTC)

[ He's a private man, exacerbated by experience, by lonely, thoughtful paranoia. He knows Amanda had the right idea — Bruce believes in leverage, too. But in something greater than that. In trust, in partnership. He's never going to make himself much of a known quantity beyond his closest circle. ]

[ But there is that circle. ]

Typical.

[ That too, a little exaggerated, with an unseen smile. She believes in him. It's only a little annoying. ]

You should know by now I'm far from typical.

( he'd had to earn the faith she places in him, and he has. more than once over, as she was learning to understand the human world and far after she'd grown disillusioned with it. it took someone remarkable to reach her in both and he'd found his way all the same. it's paired with a small smile, yet one with a warmth she doesn't show just anyone.

with their ~~flirting~~ teasing out of the way, it takes a few moments to admit the obvious. )

There is someone else waiting for me. ( it's said with a soft note of hesitation — she doesn't show fear often, yet seeing Steve Trevor again after mourning him for so long? it's more than a little intimidating. she's no longer the girl he had been so inspired by. )

Yes, I do know everything.

[ His expression flickers — blink and you miss it that was reciprocity. His warmth too, is shown to so few, it's rare that an arrogant statement is undercut for the sake of humor. And while it was true her younger self easily claimed the lion's share — and claims some nostalgia — it was her that earned every scrap of it. ]

[ More seriously, ]

He's been waiting for you.

[ Whatever mountain she thinks is ahead of her, it's not as tall as she imagines. Bruce isn't as sentimental as to say love conquers all. Love takes work. It takes dedication and truth — qualities both her and Steve have in spades. ]

I know.

( a bitter thought. she remembers too keenly some of the last conversations they had. how Steve feared for how much time they might have. she didn't understand it then. she more than understands it now.

still, she can't help but hesitate. the world had changed without Steve in it, and she had changed as well. in so many ways the girl she'd been when she'd met him had died along with him. she wondered what he would think of her now; compared to the bright beacon she had been once, it is hard to feel more than a disappointment. )

I shouldn't make him wait any longer.

AND SUDDENLY THE WORLD HAS CHANGED;

special delivery (of feels)!

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wrapping up that other thread on your tag c:

sounds good my love!

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wrap here!!

another special delivery!!

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i. hate. when it kills. my formatting

that feel :| i preview 1 million times

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