Chapter Twenty - Divergence

Standing against her gods had been the hardest thing Diana had ever had to do. But it didn't look like it would hold that title for very long. As they exited the realm of Olympus, she saw her mother waiting. The revelation that she would now need to explain what had passed to her sisters hit Diana like a tidal wave. She opened her mouth to invoke Hera's aid, realised she couldn't - never could again – and sank to her knees in grief.

Hippolyta did what any mother would do, and also knelt, gathering her daughter to her. "Oh, my little sun and stars … What has happened?"

For Damien, watching, he realised he was getting an unenviable glimpse into his future. He, too, would go home and need to break the news to his father. "Could be a useful dress rehearsal," Green Lantern murmured to him.

"We discovered the truth," Damien said, answering Hippolyta's question. "The gods … the gods betrayed us."

"Betrayed you?"

"Not us. All of us," Diana choked out. "Every Amazon in every world."

"Come. Come up to my chambers. You will be more comfortable there, and it will perhaps be easier to explain. Your friends can wait on your jets." The command was gentle but firm; Diana nodded at her husband to indicate he should go with the others.

Once alone with Diana and her mother, Damien wracked his brain to try and remember how it was Bella and Bruce had phrased it. "When we offer our prayers and sacrifices to the gods, they feed off that energy. Use us like a food supply. And … they were afraid that, with Diana and I leading the way, Amazons would begin to drift away from the gods. They thought we would turn against them. Take Olympus in the way they had taken it from the Titans. So they devised a plan."

"What plan?"

Diana had ceased her crying now, though her ashen pallor and hollow voice spoke of how bereft she was. "They decided to kill all the champions everywhere, in such a way that no one would ever come looking for us, and no Amazon would ever wish to follow us from Themyscira."

"It was a trick," Damien finished. "There was no threat. No collapse of universes. No reason to hunt Medusas. Nothing. Just a way to murder their most faithful."

Hippolyta leaned back into her seat with a long sigh. Diana stared at her. "Mater? You do not seem shocked."

"I am not." She took Diana's hand. "Forgive me, Diana, I forget how young you are. Your experience of the gods has always been distinctly different to the rest of us who have lived since the days of Achillies and Helen."

"What … What has it been?"

"Distinctly transactional. We have always given offerings of flesh and wine to the gods, and if so inclined they have given us their aid. We buy their favour. Thus has it ever been."

Damien frowned. "But what about–"

"Think about what Flash said," Diana said suddenly. "When we were hunting Medusa. He said that Athena turned her into that monster because she had been raped. She made the victim bear the punishment."

Hippolyta nodded. "That is indicative, Diana. We worship them because it is better than making enemies of them. But until you came along? The gods were vengeful, petty and vindictive. Beautiful monsters all."

"So you aren't … You aren't angry, or shocked?"

"I am angry that they did this to you. But no, Diana, I am not shocked."

"Even that we are still alive?" Diana asked.

The expression on the queen's face was unsmiling, but full of pride. "If anyone could defy the gods and live to tell the tale, it would be you, my daughter."

"What will everyone else say?"

"It will not be a shock to them either. You will not lose the love of your sisters, whatever else the consequence may be."

Tears filled Diana's eyes again, but she did not let them fall. "Thank you, Mater."

"Will you go home now?" Hippolyta asked Damien.

"There's no reason not to now," he replied, "and I imagine Bella will have several reasons why it should be as soon as possible. I would like to find a way to communicate with you, Diana."

"As would I."

She reached out and took his hand, as Hippolyta took his other. They sat quietly for a short while, a circle of quietly devastated Amazons.

"Man, I hadn't realised how echo-y my own head was," Flash complained.

"All the other Flashes are completely sealed in their own worlds now. You're unique again."

"Thank God for that," John quipped, elbowing Flash in the side. "Trust me, merging with someone else is not fun."

"Really? No silver lining at all?"

Shayera also elbowed Flash, though harder this time. "Pervert."

"Hey, I just meant getting a different perspective on things, what did you think I meant?"

The old machinery, which had enabled the other worlders to cross universes years before, had been dug out of storage and set up once again in the Batcave. Bella, Damien and their son were preparing to go home.

Superman stepped forward to shake both their hands. "This is goodbye for good then I guess?"

Batwoman nodded. "We can safely assume that."

"Then … good luck, too."

It was helpful for all the adults to have two small children in their midst; little Bruce and Bella's farewell was noisy and involved tears and copious hugs, plus promises to find a way to send emails and video-chat across worlds. The fuss the children were making rendered it unnecessary for their parents to have any conversation, awkward or otherwise.

Before long it was time to go; a fraternal embrace for Diana and Damien, and a silence which spoke volumes between Batman and Batwoman. The portal opened and the fractured version of the family walked through, and then they were separated forever.

Diana immediately turned to her husband. "She- She won't relent."

"No."

"Would-"

She left the question unfinished, but he knew. And he gave her the carefully-worded truth. "I don't know."

Diana knew—and she blinked away fearful tears, burying herself further into his arms and whispering another apology. Bella's vindication came in his silent acceptance of it.

The journey had tired Bruce out, and he had requested that Damien read him a bedtime story before the sun had set. Afterwards, Bella handed Damien a coffee and left the kitchen silently. He went after her, out to the sun terrace. It was freezing cold outside, ice gilding the grass and the trees in silver. It was beautiful, but entirely appropriate. He felt frozen, and Bella certainly was. They sat on a stone bench that had been warmed by the sunlight. The coffee cups were used as hand-

"I take it all's well with the city," he commented.

"Yes."

"You've heard from Rachael."

"No, that's how I know it's fine. Damien, we need to talk."

"I agree."

"Damien … we can't go back. I'm sorry," she said, actually sounding like she meant it.

"But– Bella, we love one another. I love you, and I know you love me, I know we want to be together! Are you going to tell me I'm wrong?"

"No."

"Then why? What more can I do to prove to you–"

"Damien, the issues aren't yours, they're mine. It's my failings that are the problem now."

"I don't understand."

"I can't trust you," she said honestly. "It doesn't matter how much you reassure me that you've changed, that you wouldn't ever lie to me like that again, that you'd never let an outside force come between us– You did. I'm not– I'm not angry anymore, and I'm trying not to blame you. I can't let it go. If we got back together, my paranoia would be the problem. If you went to Themyscira alone, I wouldn't be able to believe you'd come back again. If you had a solo mission, for God's sake, if you went almost anywhere without a full, minute-by-minute itinerary–"

"Then I'll make sure you have one!"

"Every time. For years, for decades? Damien …" She turned to him and touched his face, not trying to hide the fact she was crying. "Damien, you're not some exotic pet to be kept on a leash. You need your freedom, and I need my security. They're not compatible."

He shot to his feet. "Bella, for the gods' sakes!" When he turned around, the tears had gone, and her expression had turned stony. He hastily re-thought his words. "Alright, poor phrasing. I mean that if they, in that– that other world can make it work then-"

"I have no idea. Maybe Bruce has convinced himself she never would have really gone through with it."

"And you don't have that option," he said bitterly.

There was a long silence, and when Bella next spoke, she had stopped crying, but her voice had lost none of its grief. "I'm sorry, Damien. But it really is over." She cleared her throat. "I'll speak to the lawyers, of course. Get the divorce settlement redrawn. You'll need somewhere to live, and obviously the custody arrangements will be changed."

"Bella–"

"No. There's nothing else to say, I'm sorry. I had it right, all those years ago. I really am just a rich kid with issues."

FIN

I really hope everyone is staying safe - and staying inside! All the best x