As always... Disclaimer: The following is a fan based fiction. Wonder woman, the justice league and all other DC characters used are property of DC comics. Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. Please support the official releases and the story by king of nightmares and dragons.

The justice league searched around the apartment of Felix Faust, searching for any lead that might tell them what he was planning to do with the artifacts he was forcing them to collect.

Shayera picked up a book and searched through it before angrily flinging it against the wall in frustration. The other members turned to her at the sound.

"This is pointless. We haven't found anything useful in here and we're running out of time."

Diana didn't want to agree with the other hero but she knew that Hawkgirl had a point, they had found nothing since their search began and the clock was ticking against them, if they didn't do anything soon, then all of Themyscira could be doomed.

Feeling as if her last options had been exhausted, she spoke up.

"There is one person who might be able help us." She said, drawing the attention of her teammates.

"Who?" Asked Batman in his gruff monotone.

"My brother."

"Your brother?" Exclaimed Flash as the rest of the justice league stared in curiosity.

"I thought you were an only child." Said Superman.

"I never said that. I am the second child of my mother. He was the first."

"And why have you never mentioned this brother of yours to us before?" Demanded Batman.

"Because it is not something that I enjoy discussing. Themyscira is an island full of nothing but women who hate men and my brother was a son of Hades, conceived by my mother when the death god tricked her. My people never were kind to his gender at the best of times, and his circumstances did not leave him with much leeway amongst my sisters." Diana's eyes almost watered talking about the tragic tale of the Amazon's prodigal son.

"And your mother just let it happen?" Asked Superman, expecting a denial from his teammate.

"Unfortunately, with the death god trapped in the underworld and no one to vent her frustrations on her bitterness and hatred of Hades fell on to my brother. I remember the first time he ever came back from sword training, he was missing an arm from a sword strike that Egeria dealt him." The entire league's eyes widened to near circles, to hear that anyone could be so cruel was shocking, let alone to hear that such cruelty had been dealt by a resident of an island of peaceful amazons.

"I'm guessing it didn't end well for him?" Batman said, he had turned away from Wonderwoman to look over a series of books piled high on a stood, but one could still sense a morbid interest in his tone.

"No." Diana muttered, her face transforming to one of melancholy before becoming a small but sad smile.

"He hid it well from me though, he tried not to let me see what my sisters were doing to him. That day when he walked through the door and I greeted him he just smiled at me and told me that it had fallen off and run away from him. I was young enough to believe such things then. After that he let me ride on his shoulders around the gardens, though I expect he had more than a few broken bones, before he set me down for a nap and that's as much as I remember. The next morning he was fine. His arm had even regrown itself." Diana said, tears of both sorrow and joy gathering in her eyes as she recalled those peaceful days with her brother before she was old enough to understand the horror of what her sisters, who loved and adored her, were doing to him.

"You said he was at your home, wouldn't he be turned to stone too? What's the point in asking him?" Asked Jon Stewart.

"If he had been at Themyscira you would be right." Diana shook her head a negative.

"But a little over fifteen years ago, brother finally lost his mind. Truthfully it is a wonder it did not happen sooner, suffering as he had for all those years at the hands of those who were supposed to love him, and watching his sister receive the treatment he was just as entitled to eventually became too much for his mind to handle." Diana had moved over to an old armchair in the center of the room, one of the few places clear of the mass of mystic tomes, in order to sit. It appeared that speaking of her family was a painful process.

"I wonder if he would lave lost himself so totally had it not been for my own ignorance, after all, I am responsible for his descent into madness."

Superman place his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure that it wasn't your faul-"

Diana wrenched herself from his grasp, leaping from the chair and rounding on the man of steel. "It was, it was all my fault! On that day fifteen years ago, it was my brother's day of anointment, the day where he was meant to be recognised as the legitimate heir to the throne of Themyscira and named its ruler should anything happen to my mother. It was meant to be a day of great joy for the both of us. A day that by tradition no amazon could ruin for him... well no amazon save two. My mother declared that I would lead Themyscira if anything were to happen to her as queen when it was his by right, she stole his birthright right out from under him and the worst part was; I accepted, I jumped and squealed and postured as my sisters laughed at my brother's humiliation, passed over for a child six years his junior and still considered a child by our people. his own status suspended until he could perform a task fitting of legend. He went insane and tried to pry open the gates of Hades with his own two hands... a legendary feat, one could suppose. He actually almost succeeded, Hades' armies was beginning to spill through the doors, ready to once again savage the world before my mother stopped him. The gods sentenced him to an eternity imprisoned in isolation for his attempt."

"So where is he?" Asked Batman, already pulling out a device, its purpose something Diana could not even begin to guess.

"His prison was meant to be inaccessible, remote and far from civilisation. The gods decided to place it in the heart of Mt. Etna, surrounded by the dangers that come with an active volcano."

The league sat in Wonder Woman's invisible jet, flying over the Tyrrhenian towards their destination. Diana was tapping her feet and fidgeting in nervousness at the thought of seeing her brother again. He had cursed her and every amazon on the island the last time she had seen him, and that was after her mother had quite literally stabbed him in the back to stop his plan to free his father.

Setting the autopilot so that she no longer had to fly them herself she turned to her team.

"My friends, before we arrive, I need to go over some things about my brother." The team nodded understanding her.

"First of all, Hawkgirl, you must stay here."

"What! Why?" She demanded loudly, while the others looked expectantly at Diana.

"I do not mean to offend you my friend." The amazon said, making placating gestures in an attempt to calm the woman.

"It is just that my brother has not had many good experiences with women other than me, if he sees you before we get his help he might rush and try to kill you." Shyera twirled her mace and smacked it against her hand.

"Bring it on." She said, confident that she could best Diana's kin.

"Hawkgirl, this isn't about fighting, we need to find out what he knows and see if it can help us against Faust." Said Batman, his eyes narrowing at the female hero. Hawkgirl sat down and grumbled out something that could be loosely translated to acceptance.

"Second." Diana continued. "Do not mention that this is aiding Themyscira. My brother hates our home more than anything on this planet and finding out that we are doing this to help them will make him more likely to throw Faust a feast than help us defeat him." They all nodded. "If he asks why we have come, tell him that Faust is terrorising some other city."

"Lastly, do not stare at his eyes for more than ten seconds, or he will know in what ways we are deceiving him." Diana offered no explanation as to why they should not stare but they all agreed nonetheless.

The jet touched down just outside of the abandoned city. Diana exited with the rest of the league minus Hawkgirl.

"Tower which houses only one prisoner, allow entrance to the princess of the Amazons." Diana called out to empty air.

A groaning sound echoed off of unseen walls and a door opened in front of them. Just inside was a group of Amazons who were standing guard in front of another door.

"Princess Diana, what brings you to this forsaken place?" Asked one of the guards. As the rest of the League walked in behind her the guards rushed forwards and pointed their swords and spears at the male members.

"Who are you? What are you doing here with our princess." Demanded one of the guards. her weapon pointed against Superman's throat.

"Be calm sisters. These are allies." Diana said placing her hands on one of the spears, lowering it from J'onn's neck.

"My princess, what horror has come to our people that has made us turn to these men for allies?"

"The worst kind sister, conquest by other men."

The warriors of paradise island gasped.

"Why are you here then my princess? To gather our remaining forces for a counterattack? A wise move."

"No, a counterattack would simply fall victim to the gorgon's gaze that our enemy has harnessed. I require entrance to speak with my brother, to consult on how we might overcome this enemy."

"That may prove impossible princess." The guard seemed torn between regret and satisfaction. "Soon after we moved him here, the prisoner succumbed fully to his madness, he has been rambling nonsense ever since we brought him here fifteen years ago." Diana nearly collapsed in shock, but kept up her calm and stoic visage in front of her sisters, she could cry for her lost brother later.

"I will still need to see him, let me into the cell, if trouble occurs, send in my compatriots."

"But Diana." Said Superman. "You said we would ask him together."

He was clearly worried, that much Diana could tell just from his voice.

"I know, but from what my sister just told me, I think it would be best if I spoke to him alone for now."

Batman gave her a careful nod. "Alright, call us if anything happens."

The gate slowly opened and Diana walked confidently in. As the gates slammed shut behind her she moved farther into the prison and towards her target. It wasn't long before she began to hear haunting notes floating along the air.

"99 dead amazons on the wall, 99 dead amazons… you take one down, rip it to shreds,

98 dead amazons on the wall."

The song continued as she walks and despite its cruel theme she can only wonder where he learned it. The song was not native to the amazons so he could not have learned it from the guards. It was unlikely that he had come up with it himself... so where had he heard it? Her thoughts were interrupted as more of the song's disturbing words floating inside her head as she walked towards what could well be her end. A part of her considered the irony of that.

'What an ironic way to end this life.' she thought to herself. 'After all the villains I defeated I am killed by the brother who loved me most of all.'

As she came to the last door, which kept her brother in his cage, the song reached its final part.

"2 living amazons on the wall, 2 living amazons… Oh look its dear sister and lovely mother, what should I do." The song cut off and insane laughter rang through the air. A chill ran up Diana's spine as she heard it. She had met Batman's archenemy; the joker, and his insane laughter seemed tame in comparison to the unhinged cackles that emanated from the room in front of her.

"Kill sister, Kill mother… Oh look, no more dead amazons on the wall. Better go kill some more.'

Taking a deep breath and summoning all of her courage, she pushed open the door to the prison and waited for the strike that she knew would come.

Except the strike never came. Turning her head back to the place where she though he was, she gasped to see what had become of the boy she had once had such fun playing with.

His skin, once a healthy tan that would seem to shine in the sun, had withered to a sickly white with its absence. His body was gaunt, skin stretched over bone with almost no flesh to fill it out. His eyes were dull and empty as his mouth moved silently, the song he had been singing over until the next time his broken mind demanded that he repeat the dreadful tune.

"Brother." Diana cried, rushing over to the older man and picking him up as if he were light as a toothpick. She carried him to the cot that lay in the far corner of the room and laid him down. She rushed around the room, hoping to find any kind of sustenance that would ensure her brother's continued survival. Part of her knew that as long as he was in the tower he would never die, but seeing him as he was had drowned all logic that she might have had and set her on the singular mission of helping her brother.

She finally found some stale bread and water in a jug and brought both over to him. Opening his mouth for him in his weakened state, she gently fed him the bread and made him drink the water.

As soon as the pieces of the stale loaf and old water disappeared down his throat his body began to fill out out. His bony physique seemed to grow and increase in seconds until he was once again the picture of the peak human form. Color flowed back into his skin, returning to its healthy glow even in the dimly lit room.

It took no more than seconds upon seeing his transformation for Diana to come to a near horrifying conclusion. With the combination of his amazonian and godly body as well as the magic of the tower and the food her brother would have had to have deprived himself of food for weeks in order to reduce himself to such a state.

'But what was his goal?' She wondered. What could his aim have been that required such fasting? A thought struck her so suddenly that it made her almost dizzy with grief.

Had her brother, the man who had lived through countless horrors in his life and remained for the most part the same tried to kill himself? Her mind could not process the thought that the man she respected and cared for more than any other in her life would stoop to such ideas as suicide.

'But still.' Her mind betrayer her and began to wonder… could this place, this isolation that never ended in the darkness that was never broken save for whatever torment the guards chose to inflict on him next, have been what truly broke his spirit. more than anything else, her brother had always been someone who believed that life always had something to offer to keep one alive. To think, no, to even consider that he himself had given up on the land of the living made the world in which she lived in a little darker, the birds no longer chirped so happily, the flowers no longer looked as beautiful, and everything she could remember since he had told her those words seemed a little more false in its majesty and wonder.

The man's eyes fluttered open on his bed, and he was greeted with the sight of Diana, the Wonder Woman, Princess and future queen of the amazons and his younger sister. He bolted up and lunged at the woman, locking her arms in a hold that not even she could break and forcing her into the ground on a single smooth move.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now, thief." He spat.

Thief. It was heartbreaking for Diana to hear her own blood refer to her with such contempt, and with such a horrid title. But she could not blame him. When Hippolyta had first announced that Diana would succeed the throne and not her brother, Diana had been more than happy to jump up and accept her new position without delay, not thinking of the consequences or caring for the implications of her words.

From that fateful day onwards she had held true to the belief that it was her fault for her brother's fall. That seeing the girl whom he had always looked out for and cared for amongst the sea of women who despised him so willingly take his birth rite. To accept without any kind of questioning or confusion, had broken him. Shattered whatever fragile spirit he had and driven him to undergo such an insane idea as to attempt to open the gates of tartarus.

Staring down at the girl now woman in the dirt brought painful memories to his torn and broken mind. Images of happy days and peaceful nights raged through him and he recoiled in his haste to cease injuring the one person he still cared for.

Diana saw the battle in her older brother's eyes, sanity breaking through for just seconds before the madness closed in and swallowed it whole.

"You…" He sputtered in rage and fury. "You stole everything from me: my sisters, my mother, my birth rite. If you had never been born, I would be the one our sisters loved."

The sad thing was that Diana agreed with him slightly. She had heard later on of the stories of his treatment when he was a child. But she also knew that it had gotten significantly worse when she had been gifted to their mother. Now here he was; the bravest, noblest and strongest person she had ever known, reduced to a gibbering mess in the confines of his own madness and solitude.

"I know." She said. "And I know that there is nothing I can ever do to right the wrongs committed by our sisters-"

"Your sisters." He cut her off.

"They are your family as well." She replied, and instantly knew that was the wrong thing to say.

"They stopped being my sisters when they tried to feed me to the lions on your 9th birthday."

Diana flinched. She still remembered that day. Some of the more… zealous amazons had hunted her brother down a few weeks before her birthday and kept him captive. They starved him and beat him in hopes of him dying but he had not given in; adamantly declaring that he would not die until he got to give his younger sister a birthday gift. So Diana's sisters had decided he would get his wish.

On the day of her birthday, after retrieving a prize worthy of recognition for her mother and sisters to commemorate her growth and skill, Diana had been brought to the coliseum to watch a tournament in her honour. When it was finally over, she was about to get up to leave as it had always been, only to see the two gates at opposite ends of the arena open. Out of one stumbled her brother, looking weary and tired.

Out of the other stalked a group of hungry lions. Diana's eyes widened with horror as her sister cheered the lions on shouting for their prince's death and yelling in disappointment as each lion failed in their pursuit and was felled by the young warrior. The fight had lasted for what seemed like years as the young Diana watched her brother strike the hungry felines down, wrestling them to the ground and choking them, using their own claws as weapons to slash and kill, taking dozens of wounds over the course of the battle as fatigue reached a hight she had never seen in her sibling and the well rested but hungry beasts landed glancing blows with their claws or took their literal pounds of flesh from his exposed form.

Looking back at that day the fight could have lasted no more than an hour, sixty minutes before all of the lions lay dead or unconscious in the arena. Her brother had managed to defeat each and every animal that had been brought against him, and although he was panting with exhaustion and covered in claw marks that would undoubtedly scar we was victorious. the girl had cheered her for her brother with so loudly that he had turned and smiled up at her, waving in an attempt to seem nonchalant even as their sisters and mother looked on disappointedly at the lions. It seemed that more than just those responsible his kidnapping had hoped for the young prince's blood to be spilled.

In the aftermath of the fight Diana had had to plead with Althea for hours just to get her to attempt to heal the wounded prince, and even then it had been half-hearted and filled with sabotage. Her brother had shaken her off of him and stormed into the woods surrounding their city after the fourth time he had discovered her trying to cut him open.

"Brother… please." She pleaded with him.

"Don't call me that. Call me by my name." He snapped at her, his eyes still furious and burning.

"You know I cannot. Mother decreed your name would never be spoken again after you left." He scoffed.

"Why should I care about her rules? She's nothing more than a stone statue now." Diana's eyes widened then narrowed, how had he known?

A light chuckle escaped from his mouth.

"Yes I know what has happened. Do you think that a mere mortal like Felix Faust could have gotten his hands on a gorgon talisman, no matter how talented in the mystic arts?" The blood froze in Wonder Woman's veins, was her brother working for his father.

"So you know about the artefacts?" She asked, looking for any recognition to the words

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending how one could look at it, His eyes showed genuine confusion along with anger and insanity.

"What artefacts. He just said he wanted to play a little trick on the amazons and I provided him the tools to do so."

Diana took out the pictures she and the others had taken and placed them in front of her brother. His eyes shot open to the size of plates before he levelled a glare that could melt steel and freeze souls at the same time directly at her.

"Have you delivered these artefacts to him yet?" He asked, completely serious as he stared at his younger sister.

"No we haven't, they are safe with me." She replied.

"Good. Listen Diana." The madness had completely fled his gaze now. It seemed that the threat these objects posed was enough to make even him serious. "These artieacts together make up the key to the gates of Hades, if you give them to Faust I have no doubt that he will use them to return the armies of the lord of the dead to this world. I wish nothing but the worst on the inhabitance of that island but the monsters that will rise from tartarus at his command, they are too horrible, and they will not be stopped, not by anything."

Diana nodded at him, now understanding the seriousness behind her brother's words.

"Thank you brother. I am very grateful for your help." She stood up and bowed before taking her leave and walking back towards the door.

"Wait! Take me with you."

"I'm sorry, I cannot."

"Please. This place… not even our home was this bad."

"I am sorry, I cannot go against the will of the gods."

Anger once again flared in his eyes, consuming all other emotions and making Wonder Woman flinch away at his harsh gaze.

"Fine, go, leave me in this place. I cannot say I hope you will fail but if nothing else I will deny you the knowledge of how to undo the curse of the gorgon."

"Brother!" Diana yelled at him. "You cannot allow for them to stay like that."

"Why not?"

"Please brother, for me."

"That won't work Diana."

"Fine... If you would be so petty as to doom all of our sisters to an eternity of petrification, Then your punishment might just be deserved."

"Why is it petty? At least in their eternity of prison they won't be conscious to go mad from it all."

"I will come back, and you will tell me how to save them."

Diana left the room, walking down the hall and back towards the real world. Behind her music began to start again. Except this time it was not the demented song about killing amazons but a smooth and slow humming. Tear welled in Diana's eyes as the notes floated to her ears. It was the song that he would always hum to her as a child. Furiously she wiped the tear from her eyes, trying in vain to stay angry with him, but she wondered. 'was he truly being petty?'

She shook her head, he was attempting to soften her with his song. When they had been young children whenever she was sad or tired he would pull her into his arms, take her to her room and hum that tune until she was asleep or no longer as sad as she had been.

Unknowingly she began to hum the tune as well, even as she left the cell and headed back to her plane with her friends she still hummed the tune much to the confusion of her team. Only the guards seemed to recognise the music but their faces only showed mild contempt.

"My princess." One of the guards addressed her as she approached, the rest of the group not far behind.

Batman walked up to her, interrupting her music with a somber look.

"So what did you learn from him?" Diana sighed and turned back to the assembled group.

"He gave Faust the amulet that allowed him to conquer Themyscira." The others almost gaped in surprise.

"That little pile of shi-"

"Calm yourself John Stewart, it is not what you think." Diana interrupted him. "He gave Faust that amulet with the intent of mischief, not conquest."

"Does it matter why he gave Faust the amulet? the problem is getting it away from him and reversing its magic." Said Batman, ever the logical one.

"As much as it pains me you highness, the man it right we will need to find a way to nullify the curse of the gorgon if we wish to defeat this man Faust."

"I know sister, but I fear this is a quest you cannot assist us with."

"What? My princess surely you would not forbid us the chance to avenge our homeland."

"You have another, more important task. With so many of our sisters incapacitated my brother's prison is more vulnerable than ever before. As princess and acting queen until my mother returns to her throne I charge you to watch over the prison of the prince of Themyscira and ensure he does not offer aid to the invader Felix Faust."

The guards were clearly unhappy to be stuck guarding a prison as others left to save their home but by the decree of their ruler they could not deny her orders.

"Very well sister. May you know swift victory in the battles to come."

"And you as well sister."

Diana and the Justice League walked out of the volcanic prison, into her invisible jet. The hatch closed itself and Diana quickly made the preflight checks to ensure that the vehicle had not been compromised. The plane lurched slightly as it rose from the volcanic depths moments before it sped into the air, soaring through the sky at speeds approaching mach three.

"So how are we going to stop Faust?" Asked Batman. "I thought you were going to find a solution."

"I did." Diana said. "It took some negotiation but I was eventually able to get the information I needed from my brother."

"How'd you do that?" Asked the Flash as he leaned against one of the seats. "And why didn't you tell them that."

"I needed them to stay where they were." Diana said.

"As for how I got the information. This is how." She got up out of her chair and headed towards the rear of the craft. Pushing the button that led to a small storage compartment the door slid open to reveal the amazonian's older brother, laying peacefully against the wall and fiddling with something.

"My friends. I would like you to meet, my brother: the former prince of Themyscira and son of Hades." The man bowed slightly and stared at each member of the justice league individually. After a few minutes of silence he spoke.

"Why are you wearing your undergarments outside of your cloths?"