"Steve," Diana whispered, watching the plane climb higher into the sky. A distant part of her brain was shouting at her, desperately trying to get her to put it all together. Steve's goodbye, the watch, the weapon, saving the day - it all added up to something her muddled thoughts couldn't quite reach.

The plane started to disappear beyond the clouds, heading straight for the stars.

"Steve," she said again, her body only instinctively struggling against Ares's trap while the rest of her focus was fighting its way through the fog of pain and betrayal and doubt and anger and absolute exhaustion.

Diana understood what was about to happen a second before it did. That didn't make the agony of watching Steve's plane explode in the dark atmosphere any less sharp – any less lethal.

She screamed.

"Watch him burn - just like the rest!" Ares shouted, ever enraged and malicious, as she pushed and pulled and drowned in fresh heartbreak. "You cannot save these humans. You do not have the power, the strength. No one does! Let them destroy themselves!"

"Diana!"

"Steven!"

Chief's shout of her name, cutting and demanding, drew her attention, but Charlie's anguished shriek of Steve's truly sliced through the fury that was beginning to overwhelm her – control her – consume her soul. Her gaze snapped to their voices in time to see Charlie's urgent gesture towards the sky before they were thrown back with a wave of Ares power. She looked back to the clouds once more and saw the wreckage of the plane free falling through the smoke. Among the scorched pieces was a man.

She could her Antiope's hoarse voice in her ear: Harder, Diana. You are stronger than this! And suddenly she was free.

Diana wasted no time dealing with Ares, but shot off past him, her feet moving so fast they blurred and then lifted from the ground. Her eyes watered. She was moving through the air off the waves of her powerful heat, scorching above the treetops, and leaving a blaze behind in the forest. Her gaze was trained steadily on the man being pulled rapidly to the earth. All sound faded, her heart beat slowed, and her sight cleared as she gave one final surge. She collided with Steve's body twenty feet off the ground.

Diana twisted in the air and landed roughly on her back, cradling Steve above her and keeping him out of harms ways of the debris flying around from their impact. She only had a moment to press her fingers to his pulse before Ares appeared.

She gently flipped Steve onto his back to stand over him, feeling her fury return at the sight of the monstrous god.

"Well, well, Diana," he said, raising his arms above his head, summoning lightning to his fingertips. "Quite the catch. Unfortunately, it simply isn't enough."

He struck. Diana caught the bolt with her wristbands but was thrown back. She watched through the red of her anger as Ares summoned another, his eyes fixed on Steve's supine form.

No. She thought.

With a leap, she rushed Ares, catching him around the middle and hurtling back towards the base. She could feel him trying to free himself from her grip, but her rage had given her a much needed burst of energy for the fight. She forced him into the solid concrete, feeling some of his might give way with the impact.

He soon recovered, though, and she was once again forced into the air and then rolling on the ground to a painful stop while Ares descended upon her. Chaos had erupted on the base, the buildings blown up, and soldiers trying to flee the absolute destruction. At the center of it was the War god, conducting the discord – reveling in it. Lightning was sparkling around him and Diana prepared herself to receive another blast. But he didn't grab a hold of a charge. Instead he reached out with his power and threw a woman on the ground in front of Diana.

Dr. Poison.

The fury that had pierced Diana's heart reached a full crescendo. Images of the innocent town full of dancing people and children burst through her consciousness – bodies dissolved, life snatched away, burning diseased air infecting all the good of humanity. Diana could feel the explosion of Steve's plane in her bones still, the vibrations reverberating across her body – contrasted with the pure stillness and death that was once a vibrant town of joy and music and magical celebrations in the snow.

This woman – this human – who would seek to kill, to bring so much pain, to cause so much loss, to make this backwards war eternal, was now cowering before her, undeserving of even death. Diana would deliver it anyway. It was her duty.

Before she even realized it, Diana had raised a tank above her head, ready to exact justice on this depraved genocidal creature. She could hear Ares urging her but couldn't make out the words with rage ringing victoriously in her ears.

Dr. Poison didn't move, her eyes wide, tearful, and open.

Diana closed hers.

She could feel the press of Steve's watch against her side, where she had tucked it under her armor. His voice echoed, bringing forth the heavenly taste of ice cream, the brightest of blues, the laughter of Sammy as Charlie crooned, Chief's soft hand in hers, Etta proudly brandishing the sword…

You have been my greatest love. Today you are my greatest sorrow.

His people.

They do not deserve you, Diana.

I wish we had more time. I love you.

It's not about deserving.

She took one deep breath.

Diana opened her eyes and tossed away the tank, letting Ares's own fury wash over her skin like water. This weak woman would not die by Diana's hand.

But Ares would.

The fight after that was brief. Diana was serene and fierce, with her blood red as well as gold, and Ares was now completely vulnerable to it.

"It's about what you believe," Diana said calmly, feeling her blood boiling with divine power and a love so impenetrable she could brush away the god of War itself as if she was brushing away a fly. She caught the lightning sent her way and held it, marveling in the pulsing energy straining and burning against her fingertips. "I believe in love."

She shot the crackling lightning at her brother and he dissolved as the dawn broke.

Steve abruptly burst into consciousness when he felt his stomach fall out from under him. There was a sharp swooping and when he opened his eyes, he was airborne. Also very warm.

"Diana," he gasped, wheezing through some stinging chest pain and throwing his arms around her neck. Her arms tightened around his knees and back but she seemed too focused to properly respond. After a few exhilarating moments in the air, Steve felt them start to fall. He knew he should've felt terrified, that his whole body should be protesting against this situation he woke up to, but he only felt trust – the kind of unconditional trust that only children have for their guardians, the kind that soldiers have to have for their comrades, the kind that from that point on would be immovable.

He watched the approaching ground with some instinctual trepidation but only winced on behalf of Diana's knees as they hit the ground.

"Hold on," she whispered before running and taking another inhuman leap into the air.

Now Steve had the chance to appreciate the semi-flight. The cool air rushed through his hair and over his face, but Diana's body kept the chill at bay. The world falling away from them, the quick journey into the sky – it was the same as flying, only infinitely more intimate. To the east the sun was just rising and he could see the bronze light streaming across the canopy of the forest, harshly breaking against the dark. Looking at Diana's stony face, Steve felt that same bloom of love and hope he'd been feeling since he first laid eyes on her. For a brief moment, everything was soft with his love and with her strength – floating gently across the wispy clouds of dawn.

At the peak of Diana's jump, he realized they were heading back to the German base. It had the appearance of a tornado's wake, but he couldn't make out any fighting. He reluctantly steeled himself anyway.

When Diana landed, Steve could hear the concrete crack beneath her feet. He was about to squirm his way out of her arms, but they were immediately swamped by Sammy, Chief, Charlie and a couple German soldiers with red medic crosses, gas masks removed.

Sammy was yelling at the soldiers in German and Chief was holding Charlie back while he slurred, "Steven, son, you crazy bastard! You indestructible bastard! You have to stop almost dying on me, Steven – my poor heart can't take it!"

Suddenly one of the soldiers was pressing their fingers to his wrist checking his pulse while the other was pulling a flashlight from his pocket and shining it into Steve's eyes.

He flinched away from the all the noise and crowd, his body automatically trying to retreat against Diana and her sturdiness. However, he couldn't help the flash of manly shame at being carried around bridal style in front of so many people and tried to say, "Diana, let me down," before he erupted into a burning coughing fit.

Diana held him closer for a second, almost imperceptibly, before kneeling and laying him carefully on the cold ground.

"Stay still," she said. "You're hurt."

"What happened?" he asked through his coughing. One of the soldiers was now pressing an ear to his chest while the other started yelling right back at Sammy – something about calming down.

"Shush," she ordered decisively, which was par for the course at this point. "You got rid of the weapon – I got rid of Ares. No more talking."

His chuckling started up the coughing again.

"He says to sit him up," Sammy translated, pointing at the exasperated medic.

Diana put one hand on his stomach and slid the other underneath his back. Steve would've protested that he could sit up on his own but he was too busy attempting to keep his lungs inside his body.

Once he was sitting, one of the medics pressed an ear to his back. He listened to Steve's breathing for a moment before leaning away and conversing quietly with the other soldier and Sammy. Sammy's face grew just that much more washed out and tired, his eyes shining with a new sadness.

"Bad news?" Steve stupidly tried to ask with his dry and inflamed throat. Diana kept a warm hand on his chest and rubbed as he wheezed through the pain.

Sammy shook his head dejectedly and said, "They're saying you breathed too much of the poison. That you have the same symptoms of some other men that were exposed…"

"How long?" Chief asked.

The soldiers shrugged and one said in accented English, "Day. Two days."

Steve closed his eyes and focused on Diana's warmth hovering nearby. He reached up and clasped the hand that was soothing his chest and held on.

It was quiet.

He could feel the sun on his back, could hear the deep breathing of those surrounding him, and allowed himself to process Diana's words.

You got rid of the poison.

"Gotta say," he finally managed. "Would've preferred to die all at once in a fiery explosion."

Charlie made a choked off pained noise before throwing his arms up and storming off. The medics shot him a confused look and then slowly backed away to rejoin their comrades. Sammy and Chief knelt by his side and did their solemn best not to wear their pity and grief on their faces. They were both well acquainted with loss, anyway.

Diana was not.

Steve didn't want to look at Diana. He could almost taste her power in the air – she killed an actual god – and someone like her doesn't just accept death; not for one of her friends, not for the innocent strangers of a town she'd never visited. He couldn't bear to see that hope right now. He wasn't strong enough.

He couldn't help turning to her anyway.

She didn't look hopeful. She didn't look determined or scared or furious. She just looked unbearably sad.

"You caught me, didn't you?" he asked, his eyes watering as the poison made his chest ache.

She nodded.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Chief and Sammy exchanged a knowing glance before standing up together.

"We're going to go find Charlie," Chief said. "And a radio."

They walked off, leaving Diana and Steve alone.

Diana wished she could leave this cold dead place and go back to Themyscira. It's bright shores and wildflowers called to her in her bones.

But she couldn't go back. Her mission was not done.

These humans, these creatures, they suffered so needlessly. And she had so much power. She had the capacity to help. She simply couldn't go back to her mother. And, more importantly, she could never go back to a Themyscira that was untouched by death.

Steve's blue eyes were flickering with a slew of emotions, but a quirk of a smile remained on his lips.

"Don't go," she said without meaning to.

His smile collapsed and he started coughing again. She reached out and pulled him to her so he coughed into her shoulder. She ran a hand down his back and felt him relax against her.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

She held him, pushing away the outside world for just a few moments, cherishing his breath brushing against her neck. Then she felt a sharp heat at her hip.

She looked down and saw her rope glowing brightly, more brightly than it ever had when she had seen it called to compel truth. It started to burn and soon a flame erupted from its weaving.

"Gah!" Steve yelled, scrambling back. But the flame did not burn her. Instead it shifted colors rapidly, grew as bright as the sun in the west, and then leapt from the cord onto the ground before her. It spread in a great golden circle around Steve and Diana, blocking out everyone else, and grew dense. It crackled and flickered but was not wild. Even its heat was contained, a pleasant soft warmth transforming the misty winter morning into a summer's day, at least within its circle. From the flames a woman's form took shape.

She appeared both old and young and was draped in a crisp white cloth. She stepped out of the fire and up to Diana where she sat in a shocked stupor.

"Diana," the woman said, placing a hand on Diana's forehead and smiling sweetly down at her.

"Umm," Steve said with his wrecked and squeaking voice. "Who are you?"

The woman turned towards Steve and knelt at his side. He sidled closer to Diana, sending the grinning woman a wary look.

"I am Hestia," the woman said. "You have felt my power before."

Steve frowned and asked, "The rope thing?"

"It cannot be," Diana said. "You cannot be Hestia. Ares killed all the gods."

Hestia's smile dimmed ever so slightly. She replied, "Not all the gods. There are still a few of us left. The weaker ones, so to speak, that never attracted much of his attention or greed."

Diana took a second to process this but when she did, her anger rose within her again.

"But then where were you this whole time?" Diana asked, knowing something about this new information was profoundly unjust. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"And be killed ourselves?" Hestia snapped. "Diana, if Ares can defeat the likes of Zeus, Athena, Nike, and Artemis, what hope did I have? What hope did Alectrona or Dike have? We did our best with what was left of us – did what we could in order to stay unfound. Until you were ready. Until your Fate was chosen."

"If you doubted yourselves, you should've doubted me as well," Diana said. "I contain no power that Athena or Zeus did not have."

"Don't sell yourself short, Diana," Hestia said. "You have done as Fate foretold. You killed him. Man's fortune is now up to them."

Diana shook her head in disbelief.

"You could've killed him yourself," she said. "You and Dike and all the rest. You misread his strength and missed his weakness."

Hestia gazed into her eyes, blazing and fierce. Diana held firm. She would not let Hestia get away with doing nothing for hundreds of years. Not when Antiope's death still bruised her heart and Steve's imminent death was flooding her blood with grief.

"You're right," Hestia said finally, stiff but humble.

"What is going on?" Steve asked. "What was his weakness?"

Hestia gestured for Diana to explain but Diana didn't have the energy or the emotional capacity to get through that conversation with him. Or contemplate what it was that sparked her epiphany. Or revisit his desperate pleas from earlier. Or recall his sweet goodbye – something she never wanted to hear again. So instead Diana placed a hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "Me."

Steve looked even more baffled and bemused by that answer but allowed it.

"That I can believe," he muttered, rubbing his throat as he coughed dryly.

"Stop talking," she said. "You are making it worse."

"It's gonna burn no matter what, Diana." He wheezed but smiled – reminding her of the inevitability of his suffering and death. As if he was trying to apologize for his own demise.

"Perhaps some ice cream would help," she offered, saying he had nothing to apologize for.

He laughed weakly and dreamily said, "Wonderful," in a good approximation of Diana.

Diana found herself returning his rueful smirk.

"Remarkable," Hestia said.

They both turned to look at her bright face, questioning.

"You have saved not only the gods, Diana," Hestia started in a tone that suggested she was thinking through something out loud. "But the world. Millions of lives. I sense that will do so again, throughout many lifetimes."

Her gaze turned inward and she tapped thoughtfully on her chin.

"Yes," she said and then "Yes," a bit stronger and more determined. "I can do this, I think. My power is undiluted with my recent…inactivity, so to speak."

"What can you do?" Diana asked, watching as the flames around them grew taller and brighter and started to smell of roasted spices.

Hestia grinned, proud and sharp. "I will save your love. He is not beyond our reach yet."

Before either Diana or Steve could react to this news, Hestia grabbed a flame with her bare hand, twisted it into a molten ball, and pressed it onto Steve's chest.

He jerked and tried to shout, but no sound came. Diana caught him as he slumped to the ground, before his head hit the concrete, and stared in awe as his skin took on an ethereal glow.

Just as soon as it started, it ended. Suddenly Steve was breathing deeply and easily in Diana's lap, wide-eyed and relieved. The flames encircling them vanished taking a satisfied Hestia with them, some final words lingering in the air: "Take care, Diana. An age of Heroes is yet upon us."

"Steve?" Diana asked, brushing the hair off his forehead while he caught his breath.

"Diana," he said softly, catching her gaze and smiling brilliantly. "I'm alright. I think. It's alright."

Diana was helpless to stop the tears pooling in her eyes. A goofy grin was spreading across her lips.

It was like watching the magical snow fall all over again.