❨ 𝑨𝑭𝑰                        . . .                    𝑏𝘰𝘰𝑘 𝑖𝑖𝑖 ❩
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
━━━ 𝙱. 𝙱𝙰𝚁𝙽𝙴𝚂 / ❛ i may have the
𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 of a 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣, but i have the
𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 of a 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜. ❜

━━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘༄⋅°
𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄,      𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴 !

BUCKY, LONG AGO, before they put him back under, had realized what his relationship with Diana was like. He was an ordinary man holding on to an angel, Diana. He was quietly begging her for the strength to stay, he was telling her everything. And she, quietly, gave him the strength to live, gave him the strength to stay and fight.

Around her, he felt like his head was in the clouds yet his feet were on the ground. He realized this one day when she was singing to him, helping go to bed. "Oh so, your wounds they show, I know you have never felt so alone. But hold on, head up, be strong, hold on 'till you hear them come. Here they come, oh. Take an angel by the wings, beg her now for anything, beg her now for one more day. Take an angel by the wings, time to tell her everything, ask her for the strength to stay."

With these words, he realized he was the man, and Diana was the angel. She held on to him tightly, telling him she needed him, too. They were each other's angels. They were both man and angel, and to each other, that was enough for both of them. She ran a hand through his hair (it was now a little past his chin) and kissed his head. He had fallen asleep in her arms and dreamt a beautiful dream.

There was a young Diana, around the age of seven or eight by the looks of it, who rode a pearly white horse, wearing an Ancient Greek toga and her trademark gauntlets. As she rode, she yelled a warrior's yell and pointed at invisible enemies. Bucky had then remembered that Diana was the only child on the island, no one to play with her, and no practice to keep her childish energy at bay; he thought that she was playing a game where she was an army's general leading her men, well women, into battle.

He kept that dream in his head as he fell back under, smiling at Diana, who smiled sadly back at him.

DIANA STOOD IN front of the mirror, looking at herself, wearing a two-piece blue bathing suit.  Had her forehead always been somewhat slanted? Had she always had freckles? But instead of being disappointed at her figure, she was happy. All of these things made Diana purely her. She wasn't a carbon copy of what Hollywood considered "perfect", she was her own self.

She had smiled at her reflection. She had read in a magazine before that men would only date you if you were tall, blonde, skinny (but not too skinny or strong), blue-eyed, and had curves and an ample bosom. Diana had the tall part down, yet Bucky had loved her for who she was, not for her looks. But, he had said that she was beautiful, both on the inside and the outside.

She stepped out into the bright sunlight of the warm summer day, seeing the others around the pool Tony built. Ever since Bucky had been put under there had been a more lively feeling, as if everyone had the world taken off their shoulders for a while - though the protection of the world still hung on their shoulders, it didn't feel like it at all. She eyed the orange and black cover of a book sitting on the glass table next to a lounge chair. 'The Iliad', it read. She smiled, picking up the book. She remembered when she had read this as a child. Then she thought it was somewhat boring, but when she read it once more as an adult, she had loved it. It told the story about the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy.

'Those men were idiots for bringing in a large horse,' she had thought as a child. Men were idiots, always bringing in anything that seemed pretty and large, just like a beautiful woman with large breasts and ass. Men whored around more than a woman, and they did not care for the wails of those that loved them for cheating with another woman. They never did.

When she told this to her mother, she had simply replied with, "Mankind does not deserve you, be grateful that you are well-protected in these walls that were built by Zeus."

Zeus.

Her father.

The man that gave her life. She wanted to meet him; to see him even if it was just for a second. She wanted to hug him and thank him for bringing her to life. She wanted him. But he was dead, and there was no way she could change that. She took a deep breath and stepped into the pool, the freezing waters breaking, rippling, then mending themselves as her body went through it.

"It's good to see that you've decided to join us, Diana," Steve swims closer to her, "I thought you were going to bail after you said you'll be here."

"I never break my promises, Steve."

"Are you sure?" Wanda asks. "I remember that you told us you were going to tell Bucky about you both meeting during World War II. I still haven't heard you talking about it."

Diana stared at the blurry picture of her feet at the bottom of the pool. She took a deep breath and grits her teeth, swallowing thickly. "I want to break it to him slowly. He has gone through too much, I don't want to pressure him."

"It's been 4 months Diana! Tell him!"

"How can I if he's in cryo?" She snaps. She sees Wanda's flinch, and her heart softens. She didn't mean to scare her friend. "I'm sorry. But he's in cryo, and there's nothing I can do about it. He's not going to wake up ― Not anytime soon, at least."

THE LAST THING the Avengers were expecting was visitors. A knock was heard on their living room door while they were watching A Nightmare On Elm Street, and Peter paused the movie to let them hear what was going on. Diana felt something weird - like a jabbing pain in her stomach that seemed to pull towards what was behind the dark wood doors.

"Who is it?" She called out.

"Happy," a familiar voice called back. "There's someone here who wants to meet you. Says that he's related to someone here."

"But all our family is dead," Peter replies, "well, minus Aunt May, Hippolyta and Thor's brother, but they're not here."

"They're related to one of you. He looks a lot like Diana, though."

Diana furrows her eyebrows. She clears her throat and shakily says, "let them in." Happy opens the door to let in a huge man with tan skin, dark hair and beard, and regular jeans and a t-shirt. "Who are you?" The man smiles warmly at Diana, and the feeling in her gut becomes stronger. She stands tall in order to intimidate the man. He doesn't answer. "Who. Are. You?" She growls. He smiles wider, but it was still the same warm smile as before.

"I think you should know," he replies. "You have that same feeling in your gut, don't you? The one where it feels like an arrow pointing you towards me? I have that, too. And you should all know by the way we look alike."

"I don't have a brother."

"I'm not your brother," he chuckles deeply. It was a light and airy sound, yet it had power behind it. "I'm Zeus, the God of Thunder."

Thor stands up and steps closer. "I am the God of Thunder."

Zeus takes one look at him and corrects himself. "Right. I'm the Greek God of Thunder and King of the Gods. You are the Norse God of Thunder and Prince of Asgard. Now, I'm your father and you're my daughter, Diana. I have been awakened a long time ago during World War I when you have found your true power when you first became Wonder Woman. I've been searching for you for the longest time, but you've managed to have a low profile throughout the years. When you began fighting I felt it once more, but decided to store it and let you live out a normal life - or as normal as your life can be.

"You have made me come back to life, as I gave life to you once. I've come to thank you -"

"Thank me for what? I should be the one thanking you."

"For bringing me to life. And protecting Mankind. Without you, Ares would still be alive and the world would be dead. You have saved many lives, all of you," he turns in a circle and smiles at them. "You should all be proud of yourselves. And, as you once said Steve, the safest hands are still your own."

"How do you I said that?" Steve asks.

"I'm the God of Thunder, but I'm also the God of the Skies. I can see anywhere and everywhere on Earth. Also, I have the best hearing. Diana, you've got yourself a great man. Keep him. I see the love in his eyes when he looks at you. He treats you with respect as a real gentleman would. Make him happy."

Zeus takes a cautious step towards Diana, trying to be careful in order to not scare her, but was genuinely surprised when she jumps into his arms with a tight grip. She buries her face in his shoulder blade.

"I've waited to meet you for so long, and now I'm happy I am."