All This Time

missed time on a battlefield

The worst part, Diana thought, was knowing that if it were any other point in history and the gods had not been destroyed, she could have gone to the Underworld herself and begged Hades to return Steve to her. She would have, too. No matter how much her mother would scold her for doing such a thing—for a man, no less—she would have done it without hesitation. As it was, though, the gods were dead, or at least greatly disabled, and Diana was left to create a life for herself in London without him.

Etta was wonderful. Of course she was. She helped Diana learn the ways of man and when she needed new dresses, Etta was always there to offer her opinion. It was with Etta that Diana found her first job and it was with Etta that she attended her first wedding: Etta's own. Etta's children were the first children that Diana spent her evenings watching and they were the first babies she watched grow up. Etta was wonderful, but she was not Steve.

As guilty as Diana felt, she couldn't help but feel sad when Etta announced she had found a husband. Even though Diana was always welcomed and never treated like an outsider in Etta's home, she couldn't help but feel like she was watching something unfold that she could never have. It hurt in a way she could not explain.

In the late 1930s, when a new war started to brew, Diana was almost thankful for it. She had a distraction, a reason to leave London and get away from Etta's happy family for just a little while. She did not expect to come face to face with Steve Trevor in the middle of a battle.

She'd been having dreams for weeks before it happened and if she'd been paying any attention, she would have understood it was the gods communicating with her. Now though, standing on a battlefield with guns echoing in the distance, she seemed to forget all of her dreams.

"How?" she whispered, taking a careful step towards Steve. She reached out a cautious hand, almost afraid to touch him in case he disappeared before her.

"It's a bit of a long story."

He was solid beneath her fingers and warm. His face was a bit rough where he hadn't yet shaved, but the feeling of his skin prickling hers was grounding in a way the gunfire around them was not.

"You're really here?" She felt like she could cry. The years of being without him filling her with so much grief that just looking at him seemed to release it all.

"Hey, it's okay," Steve murmured. He pulled her into his arms and Diana shook in both relief and tears. "Maybe we should go somewhere with less guns though, yeah?"

All Diana could manage was a nod, so she nodded vigorously. Steve kept his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders, steering her through the remains of the small town and hurrying them into a nearby forest. Slowly, the sounds of gunfire and weaponry faded until Diana's soft sniffles were the loudest sound.

"Better?" Steve asked, letting go of her.

In a blind panic, Diana leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly, refusing to let go, lest he disappear again.

"How is this possible?" she asked. She tipped her head back to look at him, but kept her arms around him. "You died. You've been dead for years."

"I know and I'm so sorry, Diana." He reached up and gently framed her face with his hands. "I am so, so sorry that I left you. I waited for years before Hades could fulfill his promise and even now, I don't know if I could ever make it up to you."

"You being here now makes up for it," Diana said hastily. She wasn't sure she could survive it if he left again. "What did Hades promise? Have the gods reformed?"

From the battle field, a bomb went off that shook the earth beneath them. Steve's arms tightened around Diana's shoulders and both of them turned to look. Nothing changed around them though, so Diana turned back to Steve.

"How is this possible?"

"From what I've heard, only a few of the gods have, you know, reformed," Steve muttered, waving his hand in a poor description of reformation. Diana raised an eyebrow. "Hades was never fully destroyed and Persephone was a pretty good friend during my time there."

"You met them?"

"Like I said," Steve said, brushing her cheek softly with his thumb. "It's a long story."

Even as the earth shook below them and Diana felt a pull towards the battle field nearby, she stayed to listen to Steve. Without letting her go, he told her how Persephone had greeted him after death as there was no one else. She'd explained, albeit poorly, that as a favour to the Godkiller, he would be revived as soon as Hades had fully reformed. He couldn't tell Diana if there were any conditions to his return, much to her chagrin, but she was more than content to have him in her arms for the moment.

"And how much do you know? Of the world? Of the war?" Diana asked quietly.

"I'm fairly caught up, I think." Persephone still returned in the spring and was able to bring back news of what was happening, but Steve knew he was missing information.

"Etta is married," Diana said suddenly. Steve raised a brow and Diana reached up to run her hand over his face. "I almost cried during the ceremony, though not for any acceptable reason. She has children, too."

"Is she still in London?"

Diana nodded. "I'll take you to see her as soon as I can."

"After the war, yeah?" Steve suggested. Diana frowned, curious why he didn't want to go earlier. "You didn't think I'd leave you to fight another war by yourself, did you? Besides, what's better than catching up on missed time in the middle of a battlefield?"

Against her will, Diana smiled.