GLISTENING DIAMONDS.
040. ❛ time? never heard of it. ❜

DIANA RAN THROUGH the green portal and stumbled through someplace else. Her body froze as she stood still, letting her eyes wander around. Her body ached in immense pain, her hair was a platinum mess, her face was bloody and exhausted, and overall, she looked tense.

The room she was in was still. There was no noise, no sound of war. The walls were silver, there were desks with books and whatnot scattered over them, and holographic technology was placed all over the place. Then it clicked in her head.

The Avengers Compound.

She let out a breath of relief and let her shoulders sag down in exhaustion. Her lips twitched up in a small smile as she looked around. She looked around the room and noticed no one was there, so she entered the next room.

She burst through the kitchen and saw a figure cleaning up the kitchen. Diana broke into an excited grin and ran over to the woman, crushing her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh my god, Nat! Y-You're alive! I— what happened? I was there in Wakanda, ready to beat up that fucking purple grape, and suddenly I was here." The girl smiled and held the woman at arm's length and paused, "Wait— why are you here?"

Another figure entered the room, and Diana's sparkling green eyes lit up in excitement at the sight of Steve Rogers. She let out a happy sigh, "Oh, Steve."

Natasha Romanoff pushed the girl away harshly, with tears brimming in her and Steve's eyes. Diana looked hurt by the action but nonetheless stepped back from the spy. She chuckled confusedly, her smile faltering, "Nat? Steve?"

Natasha pulled out a gun from her waistband and pointed it straight at Diana's forehead, "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?"

Diana frowned in confusion and held up her hands in surrender, "Nat, it's me. Diana." She then looked to the blond super soldier for help, but his face was stoic and calculated, "Tell her, Steve."

Steve shook his head and walked closer to the two, "Diana disappeared five years ago. So, who the hell are you?"

Diana blinked rapidly and stumbled back, catching herself on the kitchen island, "Five years— what? I'm so confused. It's me, guys. Can you lower the gun down, Nat? I promise it me, 100%. Okay, that doesn't sound very convincing, but trust, it's me."

Natasha took off the safety of the gun and held it closer to the blonde, the cold barrel of the gun pressing against the pale skin of Diana's forehead. "No, bullshit. I've been searching for you for years, and then suddenly you walk in here looking as if you haven't aged a day? I don't think so. So I'll ask you one more time: who are you?"

Diana scoffed and looked at the two. Actually looking at them. Natasha's short blonde hair and grown out and faded back into her usual red and Steve no longer had a beard and was sporting a few white hairs.

"Steve?" Diana's eyes brimmed with tears as a headache started to form. She was so confused, and she felt her head splitting. The new information wasn't helping, and she just wanted to know what was going on.

Steve's face softened and walked over to Natasha, pressing his hand on hers to make her lower the gun, keeping his eyes locked on Diana.

After a few seconds of silence, Diana shifting from one foot to the other, Steve pulled Diana into a hug. His hand was on the back of her head, tears falling from his eyes. Since that day in Wakanda, he thought her dead. He mourned and blamed himself for not keeping her out of the fight. Yet, by some miracle, there Diana was, still as young and bright as ever.

Natasha dropped the gun and hugged Diana as well. Never wanting to feel the feeling of living without the girl again.

AFTER EATING, TAKING A SHOWER, and cleaning up, Diana sat down in the living room with Steve and Natasha. She was perched on the velvety love seat, the creamy feeling of the furniture weighing her down to reality. "Five years? I've been gone for five years?"

The pair nodded and watched the girl pull at her hair, "What the shit?! That stupid purple grape! I had him and- and he just does this to me?! What the fuck?! Like what the actual fuck?! Where's Peter?"

Natasha avoided eye contact and Steve paled drastically. Diana caught his eye; she knew Steve had a soft spot for her and would tell her anything she asked,  "Steve... where's Peter? If you lie to me—"

Steve rubbed his temples and released a shaky breath, looking back up at the teenager. Just when it seemed that he was getting used to his new life, he had to relive the old one by explaining to Diana. "When Thanos snapped... he erased half of the universe to maintain balance. We lost so many people. What happened here on Earth happened everywhere else. Peter was with Tony on Titan and..."

Diana's lips trembled and she shook her head in denial, "N-No."

Steve shook his head solemnly, "I'm so sorry, Diana. He didn't make it."

Tears streamed down Diana's face, and a strained breath left her mouth. She wanted to break on the spot, but there were still more questions she had. "And my father? Is he still in Germany o-or..."

Natasha finally looked up after avoiding eye contact, "The weight of losing you... it was too much, and he—" The redhead sucked in a deep breath and straightened up, "The depression was too much, and he overdosed on medication. There was a will left to you with some letters, but they're back in Germany, and I haven't brought myself to go and get them."

Diana almost laughed. Almost. "That good for nothing, piece of shit father of mine actually cared enough to leave me a letter? Fucking pathetic." She inhaled sharply and stood up unsteadily, "And what about Mj?" Noticing their silence, she got her answer, "I—I need a moment."

She went into the nearest bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. Diana panted as she looked up in her reflection with her hands on the counter. She could feel it getting harder and harder to breathe as her heart ached more and more, but she didn't let the tears fall.

They say there are five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It wasn't overselling to say Diana felt them all.

She was more in denial than anything. Sure she was angry, but she needed someone or something to be angry at. She had nothing to bargain. She was already depressed. And acceptance? She wasn't even close to that.

"Promise me this is forever, Ana."

Oh, how those words haven't left her head since she heard the news. They were permanently engraved in her mind. It seemed as her head was blank but so full at one time. She couldn't think. She was fading away and it had only been two minutes since she was told what happened.

Grabbing that glass cup placed neatly next to the bathroom sink, Diana threw it against the wall, watching as it shattered and fell. Similar to how her heart felt.

A muffled sob escaped the back of her throat, and she held the back of her hand to her mouth to stop it, the tears still not falling.

She slid down the bathroom floor, brought her legs up to her chest, and cradled her head with uncontrollable trembling hands.

Natasha got up and walked to the bathroom once she heard the glass shatter; opening the door slowly only to find the girl in a broken mess.

She sighed softly and kneeled down beside the girl. Natasha pulled her to her chest and smoothed back her blonde hair with tears in her own eyes, "Shh, love bug. Let it out. It's just us."

Diana rocked her body as muffled sobs escaped her throat unwillingly. "No, no, no. N-Not my Pete... Dad... Mj."

Diana clung to the woman as her lifeline and no longer tried to hold anything back. She let the tears fall with Natasha. Diana let out ugly sobs, and her whole body shook. Her throat was closing in on her, and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

She knew what was happening. She was falling down that same dark hole once again but this time she wasn't so sure she'd escape.