"soon enough, we will rule everything-"

"and we can do as we please"

"and those Olympians will pay"

"we'll make them cry like a bunch of infants"

Laughter rang through the deserted empty passageways. The passageways were an ancient product of the Athenians and was built initially to help slaves escape the city. However, over the ages, they had slowly become secret passageways for occult practices and were rumored to be the satanic capital for a few years before finally it was deserted as a part of an archeological dig. However, that too had been abandoned and these hallways had never been touched from that day onward. Rodents and other night-dwelling reptiles had made this their permanent habitat and soon enough, modern Athens had forgotten about these passageways entirely. They reeked of rotting flesh, recycled air and burning oil- it wasn't a pleasant smell to say the least.

The dim light of the burning candle was barely enough to keep the alleys lit, but they were more than enough. Shadows of two creatures were painted onto the ancient stone walls as the creatures walked by, their footsteps and words echoing and slicing the silence of centuries. Their voices were itchy and well, not too pleasant. It was quite evident that these were anything but human. Both seemed to be short, with long hair and tails and wore dirt stained white togas. They did not wear slippers and instead, their yellowish nails scratched slightly against the cobble-stone floor as they walked. These were ancient creatures to say the least. Yet, they clearly were not too bright and therefore hand ended up working as slaves to well him.

After a few more minutes of walking and cackling, they finally came to an abrupt stop in front of a large wall. Light carvings were evident but that could be easily overlooked. However, if one looked carefully enough, a large round circle was drawn in the center of the wall and strange carvings of a forgotten language and carvings of various mythological creatures could be seen. On closer inspection, this wall was clearly a door or a gate of some kind. As the two halted in front of the door, they whispered amongst themselves for a bit and after countless minutes of pointless arguments, one of them produced a small blue stone. It was a clear blue, circular stone and could have been easily mistaken for a semi-precious stone. However, it was so much more. Placing it on the ground, both took several steps back and watched the stone hover in the air for a bit before vanishing. They had no idea what it was- they were simply told to get it as soon as possible. Glancing at each other with equally clueless looks, their thoughts were interrupted by a clear voice, causing them to instantly straighten up.

"Well done my dear fools. It seems that you did follow instructions… for once," the voice echoed as shivers went down both their spines.

A figure was not seen. It was simply a voice but they knew clearly whose it was and that person was clearly far more frightening than well, anything. It would be foolish not to obey. Therefore, both simply glanced at each other again before breaking out in a nervous laugh.

"Yes master..," one of them commented as both continued to laugh, anxiety evident in their tone.

"Now… are you certain that the girl's healing has been paused?" the voice questioned as both nodded vigorously.

"Yes master, for sure" one commented.

"Yeah, we did it ourselves and we saw"

"it was stopped master"

"stopped like an apple"

"apples don't stop. "

"of course they do you idiot"

"I'm the idiot? Apples can't stop... they aren't alive"

"so?"

"so app-" both had broken out into another one of their pointless arguments, absolutely forgetting their surrounding and the presence of the voice until it bellowed through the silent alley, silencing them instantly.

"silence fools!" the voice bellowed, causing both of them to straighten up again, their arms pressed against their sides.

"now… if you are certain that the girl's healing has been stopped, it's only a matter of time before she loses the rest. You are to make sure she does and that she is unable to establish contact with anyone. Isolate her and make sure she remains defenseless. Do you understand?" the voice questioned as both nodded vigorously again.

"good... and don't even think of messing this up. I have waited for centuries for this moment and I will not have it snatched away from me by two incompetent fools," the voice echoed as both repeated their actions again.

"now.. . leave before I fry you," the voice echoed again as both instantly turned around, quickly walking away, not daring to say another word.

Once both of them had left, from the shadows, a cloaked figure emerged. It was impossible to tell the gender of this figure as the heavy black cloak covered every possible indicator. However it was quite evident that whoever this figure was, it was an important person. It was easy to tell- the cloak was a thick, black coat- hand stitched evidently. Moreover, the person carried a black staff and in the figure's palm was the blue stone, carefully concealed by its fits. Kneeling down on its knees, the figure brought the blue stone up to its lips, pressing it softly before placing down on the ground. It was then that the ground shook slightly causing a wooden square to surface. The wooden square was divided into 9 equal circles and in 7 of them were round stones of varied colors, similar to the blue stone. Carefully placing the blue stone into the 8th circle, the figure placed the wooden square back onto the stone floor, watching it dissolve. Then, it knelt down, pressing its lips against the cool surface of the stone floor.

"Your divine holiness… soon you shall be freed from this unjust captivity and you shall have your revenge upon her just as you had planned to do so. Everything is in place. The girl has been located and she is powerless and the last stone will be easy to retrieve. Soon enough, your glorious realm over this pitiful world will be restored again and this time she will be punished," it whispered as the figure stood up.

Picking up one of the candles from the candleholder, it blew the flame out, allowing darkness to engulf the alleyway again, as it had always done. This time, not even the greatest powers of the worlds could prevent what was going to happen. He would be freed again and that harlot would pay for her actions against his glorious holiness.

-x-

It had been almost 3 days since Diana had finally woken up. She had opened her eyes and finally managed to speak a few days ago, asking a nurse to bring her water. The young girl, awestruck and shocked instantly complied, knocking over several medical appliances while she complied with the request of the Amazonian warrior, alerting every single person she came in contact with. Within the matter of a few seconds, several faces and voices buzzed around her. She couldn't hear what they said and barely could see their mouths move but she knew they were present. The white light had been overbearing and she had been thankful to J'onn who managed to push anyone and everyone who was not concerned with medicine leave. Naturally, most left reluctantly but they got the message. After running several tests and other things that she didn't quite understand, she was finally allowed to sleep. That was a summary of the last 3 days she had spent here. All she did was eat and sleep and it was disgusting. Diana didn't know for how long she had been out and she didn't know what was going on in the outside world but she was certain that she should be helping. However, she reluctantly agreed not to. After all, spasms of pain radiated throughout her body, practically chaining her to the rather uncomfortable white bed.

Upon further examination, it was found that her healing abilities had been rendered well, useless. She was healing just as any ordinary human would. Why this happened was baffling but she was concerned with something else. The loss of her healing abilities was one thing. However, not being able to communicate with the Olympian Gods was a whole other concept. She had attempted to do so several times over the past few days, closing her eyes and praying for hours at a stretch. At the most, she would end up falling into a reluctant, dreamless sleep. Nothing else ever seemed to happen. She was cut off from them. She lacked her healing abilities and that meant one thing- she was becoming human. Of course, this had happened to her once before when she left her home, being exiled by her mother and her kingdom for disobeying and dishonoring their laws. However, after proving herself to the Gods, she had regained them. The point was that she never lost any of her abilities without a reason. To her knowledge, she had done nothing wrong. Therefore, why take it away? It didn't make sense. But then again, whatever happened at the mall that day didn't either.

As the days progressed, no matter how hard she tried to recall the details, they seemed to be slipping away from her mind. She had gone over it in her mind a hundred times and the more she thought of it, the more ridiculous it sounded. No person, a violin, fluctuating lights, broken glass and her slitting her wrists and falling unconscious for days- something did not add up. It seemed to be a bad horror movie if anything. But the point was that this actually did happen. Not that she told anyone about it. After all, what was she going to say? It would sound absolutely ridiculous and people would probably think that she was making it all up. Of course, Diana wouldn't blame them for that. At this point, that is exactly what it sounded like. It just didn't make sense.

Then, there was Bruce.

What was that even? Nothing made sense. Sure, people wished each other good health and all of that… But that was something far more than that. Every time her mind went over that, her face would involuntarily turn as red as an apple. Her face would feel warm and a strange sensation would occur in her stomach. Again, it was not exactly something she could share with the world. Ever since that day, she couldn't even look at him without her face turning red. But then again, he was the only one who hadn't come to visit her so far. Even people she hardly interacted with, which basically was most of the League anyway had come to visit her. Though most came for the gossip to know what happened and less to actually wish her good health, in her opinion anyway. But oddly enough, she could always feel his eyes on her. It was so strange. She really did expect him to come but he didn't. Perhaps he felt awkward about that? But then why would he do it? But he didn't say anything wrong or anything… he just wished her good health but-

"YOU AMAZONIAN BRAT, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?" thundered Shayera's familiar voice, shattering the silence of the sparsely populated medical ward, earning her several glares that she naturally ignored.

Diana on the other hand, was snapped out of her thoughts as she felt her body instantly jolt at the intensity at her friend's voice as she turned to face Shayera. To be honest, she had forgotten that she was even here.

"Oh… yeah…. I was sort of dist-" Diana began, attempting to come up with a convincing excuse when her friend promptly cut her off.

"Your face was red," she stated bluntly, leaning back into her chair as her emerald green eyes were fixed on Diana's sapphire blue ones, a perfectly arched eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

She squirmed. Yes, the fierce princess of an immortal race of warriors actually did squirm and flinch under the intensity of her red-haired friend's gaze. But then again, who wouldn't? When she wanted something, determined was a grave understatement to describe Shayera. This was one of those moments. Diana knew that she would not stop until she got an answer that she was truly satisfied with. The problem was, Diana certainly couldn't tell her the truth but she also couldn't come up with a viable excuse in time.

"Oh... is it? I didn't seem to notice," she finally managed to say, accompanied with a nervous laugh.

"Oh really?" Shayera questioned, an amused smirk spread across her lips as her arched eyebrow was raised slightly further, clearly enjoying the current situation.

"…. Yeah," finally Diana managed to say, both their eyes locked with each other, neither one of them backing down.

Finally though, Shayera broke the battle of the glances, clearly winning.

"You like someone," she bluntly stated.

The moment she heard that, Diana's body stiffened as a high pitched laugh that she did not know she was capable of escaped her lips as she darted her sapphire blue eyes to now stare at a random object in the sparse, white room.

"Sure you don't," Shayera's voice was heard as she rolled her eyes, sarcasm dripping from her eyes.

Clearly this reaction proved it all. Very evidently Diana liked someone and that was news itself. After all, Diana had always been about honor and duty, one of which was of course, being absolutely pure from 'the temptations of the Man's World'. Therefore, for her to actually like someone was pretty big. She wasn't letting this go.

"I do not. I am an Amazonian Warrior Princess for Hera's sake. I will not allow myself to succumb to the temptations of the Man's World. I do not like or have ever-"Diana began, finally regaining her naturally regal composure as she began to speak before Shayera cut her off abruptly.

"Yeah yeah, cut the crap because you're not fooling anyone. Clearly you like someone so don't even bother denying it. Now, who is it?" she bluntly demanded, rolling her eyes as a very amused expression now inhabit her face.

"Shayera I told-"Diana began, allowing a sigh to escape her lips before her friend cut her off again.

"Please don't tell me it's Steve. I can't stand that guy. Oh gosh, it's not Steve is it?" she questioned rapidly as Diana rolled her eyes before responding.

"No it's not Steve," she replied, her tone rather monotonous at this point.

"Thank Heavens! For a minute there I thought it was and well, oh thank God you don't like him," she replied, rapid and clearly overjoyed at this point.

"Look Shayera I-"Diana attempted to begin again before she was cut off by her friend… again.

"Oh is it someone I know?" she questioned, excitement evident in her tone and her voice.

"Well-" once again, she was silenced by her clearly excited friend.

"It's someone I know! I knew it! It's someone in the League then! Oh my gosh!" she commented, excited and well, very excited at this point as Diana simply rolled her eyes at her friend's reaction.

"Let's see… oh is it Clark?" she questioned brightly.

"What? No!" Diana responded, clearly outraged.

"Okay then, can't be Barry, J'onn or John… oh is it Arthur?" she brightly questioned as Diana repeated the same reaction as the one she had to her earlier question and the reaction was the same for a long list of names.

It almost seemed as if Shayera was determined on stating every single male member of the League. Diana, at this point, simply rolled her eyes, responding with a monotone 'no' to every single question.

"hmmm… well then.. oh God. Oh my God. Oh God!" Shayera squealed- yes, she actually squealed in pure excitement with a wide grin.

"No way! You like B-" as she begun, Diana's eyes instantly widened as she clamped her mouth shut with her palm, silencing Shayera effectively and earning herself several inquisitive looks from members of the medical wing.

After letting out a nervous laugh and when she was sure that Shayera was calm enough, she finally let her friend go as she allowed a silent sigh to escape her lips, falling back onto the bed.

"Oh Gosh, I still can't believe you like him out of all people! I mean… I knew that there was something up between you to, everyone did but… wow," Shayera commented , clearly excited but in a much softer tone.

"People thought there was something between us?" Diana questioned in pure disbelief as her friend simply laughed.

"Well obviously. I mean come on- he's so different with you and you are too. You're evidently close and neither one of you even thinks of looking a anyone else-" Shayera began as Diana cut her off this time, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe because I'm an Amazonian warrior princess and he has Gotham to worry about," she replied, her tone dry.

"But I guess it was bound to happen eventually. You both clearly understand each other better than anyone else" Shayera continued, ignoring her friend's earlier comment.

As excited as Shayera seemed about all of this, Diana clearly wasn't. This was absolutely unpredictable to begin with and then… Bruce was one of her closest friends. He was a great sparring partner, a great friend and a brilliant ally. She hadn't wanted to admit it but she did see him slightly more than a friend and she resented herself for it. Since that day, she had done anything and everything possible to squander it but it simply wouldn't fade away. It was absolutely disgusting. After all, she was an Amazonian warrior princess and she liked a man. This was the ultimate betrayal. It was disgusting. It was sickening. It was so pathetic. Diana had finally given into the temptations of the Man's world and it seemed that no one else understood why it was such a big deal for her. Ever since she could recall, she had been told over and over that the Man's world was filled with distraction and temptation. It was an evil place. However, once she was banished away from her home by her mother for breaking the laws, she had vowed to protect the Man's world with the abilities she had. It had gone brilliantly so far. People viewed her as their savior and guardian. She didn't really care about their thoughts but what she did care about was this. Now that it was evident that she did have romantically inclined thoughts about one of her closest friends, a man that too, Diana couldn't help but feel well, fake. She had come here, promising herself to stay above these ordinary temptations and she had fallen prey to them. Was it foolish of her to assume that she could remain pure? Perhaps it was. It was like everyone seemed to say- the truth hurt and at this point, it stabbed her harder than anything had ever done before. Therefore, she simply sat there, drowned in her thoughts as she watched her friend's lips move, not hearing a single word she said.

In the shadows though, a familiar figure stood cloaked by the darkness. Why he couldn't walk up to her was unknown to him. It was so much easier when she was unconscious or asleep. The point was that she didn't have her eyes on him. Therefore, she couldn't see him. For some reason, it made him slightly more confident. It was odd for him to feel that way. After all, she was a friend… a very good friend and nothing more that. She would never be. Neither of them would ever allow that to happen. Yet, when he saw her face turn as red as her lips, he couldn't help but imagine what she was thinking of. He had never seen that expression on her face. It suited her. Then again, most things did. She was so… rigid, not that he wasn't. She looked better when she was smiling or making an expression like that. Color suited her, blankness didn't. Though he still wondered, what on earth caused such a reaction from her? He had to admit though, he was slightly jealous of Shayera, considering she was the one who brought it out, he thought to himself as he watched her practically leap out of her bed and cover the winged-woman's mouth to prevent her from saying anything. As he watched them settle down again, he watched her slowly drift into her own thoughts. At that point, he knew that it was time to leave. After all, he would be there again once she slept. It was much easier to see her then and it was impossible for him to keep away from her. As much as he hated to admit it, he was quite attached to her already. It was a disgusting reality, considering he had spent the majority of his life distancing himself away from humanity. However, while doing so, he had become quite attached to her and he had to admit, seeing her alive and well better, was a relief to him.

After all, she was a close friend. Neither of them would ever allow it to be anything else, he thought to himself as he finally turned around and began to walk away to begin his monitor duty.