Diana:

Hands press down on me, pulling me upwards. Where? What? Just a moment ago, where had I been? The ringing in my ears intensifies, as if to prove to me it does not matter. The only thing that matters is the here and the now.

I open my eyes and find Steve staring down at me. His lips are moving but I can't read them.

"Steve?" He looks worried. "No, Steve whatever you're planning, let me do it." His lips move again and his grip on my wrists loosens. I look around as his hands grasp mine, pushing something cold and metal into my Palm. A plane takes off in the distance and suddenly it all comes rushing back.

As he turns and runs but I grab him, gripping him hard in my iron grasp. "Steve you can't," I tell him, staring into his sea blue eyes. He tries to say something but I pull him closer. "You can't," I repeat. "You'll die." I slip his hand down to my stomach. "You can't die." A tear slide down my face. "You have to stay, be a father. I'll go, I'll live."

The ringing fades and his voice sounds true. "Diana, what are you saying?" His eyes gleam with hope. "Diana?" Time seems to slow around us, as if the gods are giving as all the time we need to make things right.

"Don't you remember all those years?" He shakes his head. "We weren't there. It wasn't horrible but we. Weren't. There. Steve, we have to be there. For the child, the little," I pause, Greek words flowing on the tip of my tongue. "For our little ambrosine," I say, using a Greek name meaning immortal girl.

His gloved hands brush against my cheeks, wiping the tears from my eyes. "What about Ares?"

"Ares, he," I stammer, burying my face in his chest. "It won't matter there will be more wars. This one becomes the first world war because later there is a second. Then the Korean War and a Cold War and countless civil wars. I fail Steve. I fail. I kill the body, not the power."

Zeus:

My child. My girl, she has finally learnt the truth. And still, she chooses a life with a man who will age and die while she stays young.

"My daughter," I say, though she hears me naught, "I bestow one final gift upon you: you and your family shall live a long and happy life, and when it is over, you shall have your places in Olympus where you will live in peace. Your life will not be devoid of sorrows and tragedy, as you know the future is full of it, but it will also surround you with love and happiness and joy."

Steve:

"Go," I tell her. "I'll Wait, there is little time left." She lifts her head and looks up. Right up. My gaze follows her's to where a twenty-foot tall man sits in the midst of the storm. Lightning bellows around him as the heavens tremble and a tingling sensation rivets through my body.

"Thank you, father," Diana says quietly, pulling me closer as he disappears. She kisses me before running off after the plane that seems suspended in the air. As she moves towards it time seems to catch up with us and the plane takes off. But Diana, my powerful Amazon, leaps into the air and catches it.

It flies high into the sky, past where the giant had been. Hurry, I pray to the giant. Soon it will be too late.

Boom! In a flash of orange, the plane is gone, leaving only the deadly powder.

"Diana!" The scream escapes my lips before I even see a body falling from the sky and the glimmer of her armour in the fires. My legs are out of my control as they carry me, ever fast, to where she may land. Every second, I feel my heart sinking as she draws closer and closer -

To the ground.

All that rests in front of me is a cloud of dust where she'd landed.

"No!" This wasn't the plan. She said she would make it, that she could do it. Now the world is left without a protector, and I'm to blame.

Charlie's arms wrap around me, trying to hold me in place, pulling me backwards, pulling me away. I twist and turn and swear in a vain effort to get myself. I have to get to her, she could be breathing. A human would have died, but she might just be on the edge. If only I could get to her.

Out of the dust cloud, a figure emerges. Charlie's grip loosens. She's alright! I break free and run across the runway.

"You did it!" I exclaim, taking her in my arms.

"It's not over yet." She says, motioning to Ares. "I have one thing left to do."

We all fall behind her as she walks up to him. "Ares!" She cries. "Σας απαλλάσσω!"* We duck as she raises her arms above her head and a ray of light leaps forth, shattering the mortal form of Ares. He begins to grow and glow, until his large figure cracks and the light passes through, near blinding, until he can't hold himself together and his body disintegrates, leaving a flaming mess.

I run up to her, taking her in my arms as we both witness his body burn. The already ash-filled air begins to rain fire. "It's not over." She laments to me. "But when he returns, I will be ready." She turns back to the ruin, where factory workers have come out of hiding, celebrating the fact that they are still alive after the Gods wared on their runway.

"We should leave before they notice we're still here!" Cheif calls from behind us. We nod and turn and run back towards the fence.

Diana:

Dashing across the fields, Steve's hand in mine, I make sure not to outpace him. Using the tension in my arm as an indicator, I go no faster than he can. But it seems, mayhap I haven't truly run in a long time, that he is keeping pace no matter what. We reach the fence soon than expected and crawl through the hole we'd cut. 

I try to make a dash for the woods, but Steve hold me back. "Wait." He says, his voice shaky. I look back to see that the rest is the group is far behind us. It seems we outpaced them.

"I've never run that fast in my life." He mutters. 

"I have," I whisper, thinking about Zeus's appearance. I wonder if he did anything...

"Let's go!" Steve yells as they approach. We help them through the hole then disappear into the surrounding forest.

~~~~~

A few months later, the war has ended. Steve and I found ourselves a small house in northern England, away from it all. We made ourselves a little home with a long driveway and too much forest between us and the neighbours. A crackling fire keeps us warm as the radio drones in the background, talking about politics and upcoming elections now that the great war has been fought and won. 

With my hair tied back, I stand next to the stove, adding onions to the stew. If anyone walks in now, they'd see a normal household with two normal people, married after surviving the war and ready to have children in this new world. They wouldn't see the ancient armour hidden in the attic made out of materials from the gods. They wouldn't notice the bracelets I keep around my wrists and my wedding ring are made out of some metal form my gauntlets, helping me keep my powers in check and the population safe. 

If we're lucky, this stranger won't stay long enough to notice that we aren't ageing. The only telltale sign of time passing are the clocks and the little bump in my stomach, growing bigger with every week that passes.

The announcer changes, now to the old man who recounts tales from war heroes, whether he heard them personally or they were found in a diary pried from someone's cold fingers. 

"This is an interesting tale," he begins, "one about a mile tall man in the clouds and another walking on land..." the voice cuts. I look over my shoulder. Steve has turned off the radio.

"Don't worry yourself." He says. "They'll dismiss it as blasphemy or poppycock or both. Or just the delusions of a deranged man." I nod and smile. My secret's safe, my existence unknown.

Something tells me it won't last forever, that Ares will return. He had enough power to manifest a body, surely he will have enough to sow havoc a spirit. Whenever I think of the future, the world becomes a bit fuzzy, as if I've forgotten something important. But I brush it off as I serve supper to my husband, playing the role society has given me as the doting, caring wife. We sit opposite each other on an ancient mahogany table near a large window.

For now, it seems, the moment is all that matters. Ares will be back, and I will meet him. Until then, Steve and I shall live our lives as normal as we can make them.

~~~~~

Footnotes:

*"I banish you!" according to Google Translate. If this is an inaccurate translation, please let know.