Diana and the Unicorn

By Josephine

Disclaimer: All characters owned by DC Comics, and I am making no money from this piece of fiction, and even if I did, it would go straight to DC Comics in the form of my comic purchases. I'm addicted. (In any case, I'm NOT making any money with this.) The unicorn inspired by "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle (and this bastardized unicorn does no justice to his amazing book).

The continuity of this story is all screwed up. Don't even try to make sense of it.

Rating: R, for some non-explicit sexual content.

The unicorn lived alone.

Not that the unicorn minded his own company, or wanted companionship; indeed, he preferred the safety of privacy. He did not hide from the other animals, but neither did he seek them out, for the other creatures of the forest would shy away when they saw him, sensing perhaps his age, or his power. When men passed through the forest, he watched them from a distance, neither trusting them nor desiring their presence, but curious about them.

And when the women entered his forest, he trembled in fear.

For it was the women for whom he would lay down, for whom he would let their hands roam over him, petting, touching. Women who cried when the unicorn allowed them to see him, women who dried their eyes and looked at him in lust, envy and greed. Women who tried to call for help to hold the unicorn down, and tie him, and keep him for their own. The women who could not resist the desire to own the unicorn's immortal beauty, quick grace and effortless power.

And the unicorn could not resist the women. Their odor was the sweetest perfume, their perspiration the finest nectar, their laugh a beautiful melody. The unicorn loved their fingers, their eyes, the backs of their knees. He loved the way they moved, breathed.

And he loved one woman above all others.

The unicorn had first seen her in the skies above his forest. The unicorn had not seen a woman in many years, had managed to avoid them--until he saw the raven-haired figure silhouetted against the azure sky, poised and ready to fight a dragon.

The unicorn had known of the dragon, had felt its presence from where it slept in the underground caverns, and had known when it awakened. The unicorn would have slain the dragon himself, eventually, or been killed by the monster; it always came to that. The dragon destroyed, the unicorn preserved -- they could not exist together for long.

Instead, the woman in red, gold and blue attempted to slay the dragon, was driven back, and tried again. The unicorn leapt over rocks and fallen trees as he followed the fight, and the speed of the two combatants in the sky could not compete with the unicorn's fleetness over the ground. The unicorn watched as the woman became corrupted with the dragon's dark magic, watched as the woman somehow gathered the strength to shatter the dragon's heart, watched as she fell out of the sky.

The unicorn had stepped forward, prepared to save the woman himself, when the men arrived. He bounded back into the trees, observed the man in blue pound on the woman's chest and bring her back to life, saw how the other men sighed in relief when she breathed and stood.

And he heard the woman's name. Diana.

He whispered the name himself.

It was the first word he had spoken in eight hundred years, and it rolled off his tongue like a heartbeat.

********

Time, which had always seemed to the unicorn as air, began to feel like a sodden weight. He wondered about the woman, whom he had not seen since that day. The unicorn could feel the magic in the woman, but he could also feel the woman's age, and knew that soon, in a flick of the unicorn's eyelash, a breath, the woman would grow old and die. It was as with all things around the unicorn, and he could not regret their passing; but now, he wanted to know the woman, wanted to know what made other beings regret.

And the unicorn was afraid.

The woman was powerful; she had killed a dragon. If the unicorn sought her, lay down before her, the woman could subdue him, capture him.

And then all would be lost.

The unicorn lifted his head, felt and listened to the world outside the forest, and realized how loud and dirty it was, and how far from him the woman lived, and began running. The forest animals stilled as the unicorn passed them, their nostrils filled with the golden scent of him, their eyes unable to see him, but wishing and afraid that they would. The unicorn wheeled and turned suddenly, ran further, and took a deep breath of his forest air before he plunged into the outside world; it tasted like spring to him.

Outside, it tasted of smoke and ruin.

And it held the faint taste of Diana.

The unicorn ran faster.

********

"Stop, Diana," Batman commanded.

Diana kept walking.

He caught her arm, and she shook him off like a gnat. He stepped in front of her, and she considered pushing him aside again, but she couldn't bring herself to treat him so callously, even if speed was of the essence.

"You will not go this alone."

"And you can not go, Batman. Nor can the others. Step aside."

"Then Canary, Troia, or Powergirl can assist you."

"I will not endanger other women needlessly. It will only take one of us to fix this." She tried to step past him; he moved with her.

"And it only takes one demon to kill you." Batman widened his stance, trying to create a more formidable block in her path, physically and mentally.

Diana's lips drew back in a snarl at his attempt. "I am no thoughtless rookie to get myself killed, Batman." She moved forward, forced him to step back. "And I will not be cowed by you. Try your parlor trick on your criminals in Gotham, but do not try to frighten me into agreeing with you."

"I agree with him, Diana," Superman said from behind her. "Get backup."

She clenched her jaw at his voice, but didn't turn away from Batman, and held his stony gaze with hers. "I do not need backup for every little confrontation. I am a warrior; I can handle this alone."

"Like you handled the dragon?" Batman asked.

Her eyes flashed blue fire at him, and her voice was icy. "Do not think that I will ever believe that I made the wrong decision there, Batman, nor is it a decision I regret."

Clark landed beside them, put a hand on her shoulder--to comfort her or to keep her from Batman's throat, she didn't know. "Warriors have comrades. They do not fight wars alone," he said.

"If the rest of their comrades are unable to fight, they do. Men can not enter the temple, and even if they could, there would be no reason for any of the JLA to go, besides me." She looked at Clark, and her eyes gentled. "It is a one-person job, Superman. I can get in and out, without any reason to endanger a backup."

"If there is a possibility of endangering a backup, then there is the possibility that you yourself would be in danger," Batman pointed out.

"A danger which I am more than capable handling by myself! You do not require backup for every criminal who operates in Gotham, and I do not need it for every magical threat on Earth." Diana took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. "Batman, if I had heard about this anywhere else, I would have left without consulting you, or the rest of the JLA. I just happened to be here when the call came through."

"The call came through to the JLA, Diana. The JLA, not just you."

"Intended for me, though, since I am the only one capable of going. And I am wasting time here, arguing with you." She shrugged off Clark’s hand with some effort, brushed past Batman with none at all.

"Diana--" Superman began.

Batman cut him off. "I will have Powergirl and Black Canary meet you at the portal, Diana."

"Fine," she replied, entering the transporter coordinates into the computer. She turned away from the console, faced the two men. "But I will be done before they arrive," she said, stepped into the transporter, and disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The growl that emanated from Batman’s throat was probably inaudible to normal ears, but Superman heard it. He imagined that Diana, recently transported across the soundless, buffering vacuum of space, from the moon to the Temple of Enna, probably heard it, too.

********

"So what was this place?" Dinah nodded toward the temple while she wrapped Diana’s arm. "Batman just gave me a quick rundown before he transported me here."

"It’s a sanctuary for women built in honor of, and protected by, the goddess Enna." Diana tried not to wince as the bindings pulled at the eight inch gash down her tricep. "Only women can enter through the temple’s doors, which are really a magic portal."

"And they needed you because of some demon?" Dinah tied off the bandage, grinned at her handiwork. "That’s a great job, if I do say so myself."

Diana tested her range of motion, nodded. "Several demons, actually. They are imprisoned within a small room in the temple, and they broke free. I just had to fight them back into the room, and reseal the door." She frowned suddenly. "I do not see why Batman would disapprove of my coming here, when I was completely prepared, but he would send you and Kara here, with the smallest amount of knowledge regarding the threat."

"Hmm." Dinah raised an eyebrow and pretended to think it over. "Let’s see: well, you were fighting demons, and let’s not forget that you were KILLED by a demon not long ago, Diana. He didn’t send us here to fight, he sent us in case you were hurt, or outmatched and needed help to get out." She looked pointedly at the bandage. "And you were."

"A scratch," Diana said, and smiled when Dinah rolled her eyes.

"In any case," Dinah said, "It didn’t matter. You were finished by the time we got here, Powergirl was able to get right back to whatever it was Batman dragged her away from, the demons are dead and the virgins are safe."

"They aren’t virgins," Diana said absently, suddenly aware of a presence nearby, old and powerful.

Magical.

"Not virgins? They know what they are missing and they still lock themselves up?"

"Sex is not pleasant for everyone, Dinah, and--" Diana stopped speaking, staring ahead at the edge of the forest.

"And?" Dinah waited for her to finish the sentence, realized that something had caught her attention, and turned to look. "Oh," she said. "Pretty horse."

"Horse?" Diana tore her gaze from the unicorn to look at Dinah incredulously. "Is that what you see?"

Dinah wondered at the tears that filled Diana’s eyes, at the sadness in them that stemmed from Dinah’s own words--a horse. She looked back at the creature standing motionless at the forest’s edge. Its white coat shimmered in the sunlight, and in the midst of the shimmering Dinah thought she might have seen something more--what? but then the more was gone and she was staring at a beautiful horse. "A horse," she confirmed.

She stared, openmouthed, as Diana’s breath caught on a sob, then as she stepped forward, shakily at first and then faster, toward the horse. And Dinah did something she thought she’d never do: she voluntarily called him, because Diana’s behavior scared her more than any bad-tempered hero ever could. Not that he did. She tapped her reserve JLA communicator, waited for the curt "Yes?" before asking:

"Batman, were any of those demons shaped like horses?"

A pause. "No. Why?"

"Diana is rubbing herself all over one, that’s why. Toodles."

********

The unicorn trembled. She was here, close, coming toward him, and it was all he could do not to fall at her feet. The smell of women filled the air, most strongly from Diana, but also from the woman behind her, who had her own intoxicating odor. Other, fainter, older smells filled the clearing, but he ignored them, and focused on the woman in front of him.

She stopped a few feet from him, and he realized that she was waiting for permission to come closer. Joy swept through him, and some of his fear abated; if she respected him now, she might not want to take and keep and destroy him.

He said her name. Diana. A brilliant smile lit her face, and her tears fell. He dipped his head, and his horn gleamed like moonlight when he touched her arm, healing her injury. And he yearned for her hand even as it came to rest on his cheek, as it stroked across his neck.

And he yearned for her voice even as she spoke. "I was never one of those that dreamed for you, but you are here." Her fingers traced the line of his jaw, slowly, reverently. "And you are more beautiful than any dream I might have had." She closed her eyes, placed her cheek against his muzzle.

Her touch was bliss, and he could not speak. He sank to his knees and she went down on hers, keeping the contact between them. He laid down fully, legs tucked under him, his head by her shoulder. She caressed his ears, the silky beard under his chin, then stretched along his body to stroke his shoulders and withers, lying her head against him now and then to smell, to feel him against her face.

And the unicorn realized that she had captured him as surely as if she had a golden bridle wrapped around his neck. And he trembled at the thought of her letting him go.

********

"You know, you could have just used a communicator. Breaking into a former teammate's house is a little presumptuous, don't you think?"

Batman didn't try to stifle his impatience. "Tell me."

Dinah dropped down into a kitchen chair, a frown creasing her features. "I'm not sure that I can. I can't explain it at all."

"Don't explain. Report."

She drew her eyebrows together in annoyance. "Aye, aye, sir," she quipped. "At oh fourteen hundred hours I encountered Wonder Woman outside of the temple of Enna, on your orders. Subject: Wonder Woman was standing outside, and she reported that she had sealed the demons' door again, and that Powergirl and I were not necessary for the mission." She dropped the military tone, continued in her normal voice. "Powergirl left, I bandaged her up--"

"She was injured?" Batman interrupted.

"Her arm, temporarily," Dinah said, "And I'll explain the 'temporarily' part of that in a second. And then we were talking about virgins and Diana gets this weird look on her face, like she's been given a billion dollars or something. And I turn to look, and the billion dollars is just a horse." She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, and looked up at Batman. "Or that's what I thought at first."

"Continue."

"So Diana walks up to it, and stops for a second, and then I think that I heard it say her name. Then she starts petting it like it is a horse, and then the horse lies down, and she sits down beside it. That's when I called you."

"And cut me off almost immediately," he said.

Dinah quirked an eyebrow. "Well, yeah, since I knew it probably wasn't a demon, I decided to go make sure everything was okay, and you couldn't help me do that from the bottom of your cave."

Batman narrowed his eyes at that. "Continue," he said.

"I get over there, and Diana is still petting the unicorn--"

"Unicorn?"

"I didn't realize it then, but when I got there, Diana was crying. Happy tears, not sad ones, and she's laughing at the same time. And I notice that her bandage was gone, and so was the gash on her arm and all the blood. And she takes my hand, and she has me touch it--" She broke off, and her eyes filled with wonder "--and it was like touching sunshine. And I saw it. It was a unicorn."

"It was hot?"

Dinah shook her head. "No, like the feel of sunshine on your face, but with a kick of something else--like an orgasm. Warm and absolutely glorious."

"What did it look like?"

"I think I know," Dinah said, and she bit her bottom lip. "It wasn't a horse with a horn; it was far more beautiful than that. Like a deer, but more horselike, and like an antelope, but more goatlike. It was beautiful." She looked down at the table, her eyes sad. "But I can't keep the image in my head. It's like I could see it, but not really, truly see it, and my brain can't remember what I thought I saw."

"A hallucination?"

Dinah glanced at him. "I know what you are thinking -- mind control, or mind altering drugs. But it was real. I touched a unicorn today," she said, and laughed to herself.

"Hhn. What did you two do then?"

"Well, we were there for a while, just petting him, and then he stood up, and left. After he licked Diana's neck."

"Her neck?" he echoed.

She nodded. "Yep, from her collarbone to her ear. He said he wanted to taste her. It should have been gross, but it wasn't, and they both seemed to like it." She reached up, touched her own neck, and smiled. "I wouldn't have minded him licking mine, that's for sure."

"It can talk."

"Of course," Dinah said. "I can't remember exactly what it sounded like, but his voice was very beautiful, too. He also told her that he would be back." She peered at Batman curiously. "Why didn't you ask Diana this yourself?"

"You were closer," Batman said, and left.

********

The sorcerer sighed. "I wish you wouldn't ask me this, old friend."

"But you will be mortal. You will have less power, and could be hurt. And then we are all doomed." Despite his words, the sorcerer prepared the potion. "Tell me, why now?"

The unicorn moved restlessly inside the chamber. He did not like walls. I have known more humans than you could imagine in my time, and each one has died, but I do not regret their passing. I feel sorrow, but I do not regret. In this form, I can not.

"When you are immortal, being unable to regret is a blessing. Otherwise one would be driven mad." The sorcerer pulled a dusty, rarely used book from a locked cabinet.

The sorcerer laughed humorlessly. "A short time? What do you know of short times?"

"Very well, my friend." The sorcerer waved his hand, said the proper words.

The unicorn screamed, and the scream sounded like that of a man.

********

Diana dreamed of him lifting her to his lips and mouth and tasting her as he had before. Of riding him, feeling his muscles move between her legs, his body thrusting under hers, deep inside her--

She woke, disoriented, aroused, and fumbled for the bedside lamp. The overhead light snapped on, and she blinked, then realized what had awakened her.

"Batman," she said. "How presumptuous of you."

His mouth quirked. "You are the second person to tell me that tonight."

"I am sure that I will not be the last." She sat up and pulled the sheets up to her neck; not to hide her nude body, but to hide its arousal. She hoped he would think the flush she could feel on her cheeks and neck was from sleeping. "Is there an emergency?"

"No."

"Just here for a chat?" Sarcasm tinged her voice.

"No." He looked away from the bed. "I'll be in the kitchen," he said, and turned with a swirl of cape.

Diana threw back the covers, muttered under her breath, "Yes, the kitchen, where there are more corners to hide and skulk in." She shoved her arms into a silky robe, and tied the sash with a vicious jerk.

He was leaning against a counter, and Diana rested her hip against the island in the center of the embassy's kitchen. "If this is about today, I don't want to argue about it further. You got your way, I got mine, and everything worked out perfectly."

"I talked to Black Canary. I have concerns."

"About what?"

"This 'unicorn'."

She looked at him disbelievingly. "You can not be serious." She saw that he was, and she folded her arms across her chest and said, "Okay, then, what misgivings do you have about him?"

"For one, she reported that you seemed to have a total loss of yourself upon seeing it." He folded his arms as well, matching her defensive stance. "You have been reckless of late. If it returns, I question the effect it might have upon your and your teammates' safety."

"Only you would call my confidence in my abilities 'recklessness'," she ground the words out.

"You do not deny the overwhelming effect that it had on you?"

"No," Diana said. "But I was not in combat at the time. In any case, every action that I made upon seeing him was of my own volition."

"Which brings me to my second point: Dinah reported a disorienting effect. How can you be certain you weren't under its influence?"

Diana's shoulders began to shake with laughter. "Because it is a unicorn, Batman. They don't influence or disorient, they just are." Diana closed her eyes, remembering, a wistful smile touching her mouth.

"How are you certain it wasn't an illusion?"

She met his eyes again. Her voice gentled. "Because I touched it, Bruce." She lifted her hand, rubbing her fingers together as if some remnant of the unicorn remained between them. "And it was amazing. Have you ever touched something so beautiful, felt something so magical, that you knew it had to be real because there was no way you could have imagined something so perfect?"

His chest tightened painfully, and he forced himself not to look away from her suddenly piercing gaze. "No," he lied.

She felt the lie, frowned and stepped forward. "Bruce--" The doorbell rang, and she stopped mid-stride, frustrated, knowing that she had not convinced him, and wishing she had before he left. "I have to get that; I'm the only one at the embassy tonight," she said. "You should go." She turned, and by the time she reached the kitchen's entrance and looked back, he was gone.

Probably watching, she thought with a smile, to make sure that it wasn't the Joker with a bag of dynamite at the front door.

It wasn't the Joker, but a man who fell into her arms, exhausted and shaking. Diana caught him, knowing the moment she touched him who and what he was, and she held him against her, carried him to her room, and lay down beside him. She ran her hands over him, checking, making sure he was not hurt, glorying in the feel of him. Finally, she curled around him and watched his chest rise and fall as he slept.

********

"You seem to be in good health." Diana pushed the instrument back into place.

"I said that I was," he said, smiling, and placed one her hands between his. He couldn't stop touching her.

"You did not look it last night" Diana said, remembering.

He cupped her chin, and tried to reassure her. "The transformation was...painful. But I am recovered."

"Yes." Diana looked around the Watchtower's medical lab, and came to a decision. "I'm going to put in for a leave of absence while you are here. How long will you stay?"

A hint of sadness danced in his eyes, the irises impossibly gold. "Only a short time," he said. "Then I will transform back, and return to the forest."

Diana didn't question why, or prod him to stay, and he was grateful. She seemed, like him, thankful for whatever time they had together.

"Then what would you like to do first? What would please you most? And what should I call you?"

"Erik," he said, and ran his thumb across her cheek. "And what pleases me most is to be with you. I will follow where you lead."

"Let me inform the JLA about my upcoming absence, and then we will leave," She smiled. "Erik."

********

"I've called Zatanna. She will be here shortly to take over your monitor duties," Superman said. Diana nodded, looking over to the other corner of the room where Erik stood, watching the Earthrise. Batman and J'onn sat quietly on the other side of Superman, while the others who had been there for the impromptu meeting-- The Flash and Green Lantern -- looked knowingly between Diana and Erik. When she rose from her seat, they did as well, and greeted Erik with curious stares.

"A unicorn? Really?" Kyle asked. He took in the man's hair and features, including the conspicuous scar on his forehead.

Erik inclined his head in assent. "It is true," he said.

"And you are magic? Like you magically healed Diana's wound?"

Diana had given them all a full account of their meeting, and she trusted these men, so Erik felt he could as well. Trust them, but still not ignore the hostility that emanated from one of them--he wouldn't give them too much information, or let them know exactly how weak he was in this form. "Yes," he said. He appreciated their curiosity and wonder--a unicorn was nothing, if not a little vain.

The man in blue, the one that Erik sensed was their leader, shook his hand. The gesture was alien to Erik, but he replied in kind, squeezing hard, and saw Superman's eyes widen a little in surprise, and then his face break into a smile.

"You're strong," Superman said.

Diana frowned. "Did you two just have a testosterone match?"

Superman didn't have the grace to look abashed. "I think I did, but Erik here didn't," he said, when Erik repeated, "Testosterone?"

"The hormone of men," Wally said. "You know, you being new into mandom and all, maybe GL and I could show you around, let you see what the testosterone is for." He felt Kyle's nudge, and pointed look at Diana, and quickly added, "Oh yeah, except for the fact that unicorns only like virgins, right? They only show up for them?"

Kyle choked on a laugh. "That can't be true, because Black Canary saw him, remember?"

Erik frowned. "And Diana is not a virgin and yet I came to her," he said, and wondered at the shock, and sudden blushes staining the faces of the three men near him.

Diana looked amused at her friends, so perhaps he had said something funny. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

She grinned, and pulled him aside, preparing to leave. "They didn't know that I wasn't, and they place a lot of importance and have an inordinate amount of modesty where virginity is concerned," she said loudly enough for them all to hear her. Erik realized that she wanted them to know she felt no shame for not being a virgin.

And he also realized that it was one of the men there who had lain with her before.

He let Diana pull him toward the doorway of the huge room, then froze when a new scent hit his nostrils. Magic and woman mixed.

Diana sensed his excitement, heard the click of heels in the hall, and quickly realized its cause. "Zatanna--of course she'll recognize what you are." She looked back at the men near the conference table, and pushed him forward. "Meet her in the hall," she said quietly. "Zatanna, at least, will appreciate everyone not seeing her reaction to you."

Erik hurried out, his heart pounding.

Diana turned around. Batman stood directly behind her. He tried to pass her, but she blocked him. "Wait for a minute," she said.

They both heard Zatanna's gasp, her small moan of ecstasy.

"Let me pass, Diana," he said. It wasn't a request.

A sob from the hall. He repeated his demand.

"Let me pass."

She put her hand on his chest, holding him back. "You deny magic, Batman. You would not understand what you saw." She noticed the others, still congregated around the table, become curious as she and Batman stood at a stalemate near the door.

Batman leaned forward, pushing against her hand, and ground out through gritted teeth, "Let. Me. Pass."

Diana hesitated, then heard the delighted feminine laughter rolling down the hall. "Very well," she said, and removed her hand.

Batman swept by her, then past the couple holding each other, Zatanna laughing and crying at once. He barely glanced at Erik, but he catalogued everything about him in his mind: height, weight, coloring, age.

And Diana was right, he didn't understand what he saw. He couldn't understand how anyone, after being held by Diana throughout the night, could look at any other woman the way that Erik was looking at Zatanna.

********

"You should have seen it, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other," Green Lantern was telling Plastic Man over the intercom, who was sitting in for monitor duty as relief for Zatanna.

Clark flipped off the monitor, and looked at Batman. "At least I know now why you two have been at each other's throats for months."

Batman didn't reply.

Clark continued, "It wasn't hard for me to interpret your body's reaction to Erik's little announcement about Diana. Heart and breathing rate, pupil dilation. You already knew."

Batman continued uploading information on the computer from the Batcave.

"And in this instance, I don't think you knew because you have a habit of knowing everything. I think you knew because you were there personally."

Batman finally looked up. "Either way, what concern is it of yours?"

"Besides her being my best friend? Besides trying to lead a team where the relationships between the members are interdependent and built upon trust? Besides trying to understand why you two have snapped at each other since--" His voice trailed off.

"Since she came back from the dead?" Batman volunteered, and Clark winced.

"I think I see now," Clark said.

"Do you?"

"You and Diana had something going, probably for only a short time since no one knew, then she was killed by Neron. She came back, but you probably brushed her off, not wanting to resume a relationship, especially since she was killed and you went through the pain of losing her." Clark nodded as the behavior of his two closest teammates became clear. "You wouldn’t want to go through that again. And then she died again, briefly, when she went after the dragon alone. The two of you became even more antagonistic after that."

"It amazes me that you’ve won Pulitzers with deductive reasoning that seems to have no concrete evidence as a foundation," Batman said.

Clark ignored him and continued, "And I would bet money that you didn’t tell her the real reason that you broke it off, since that would be tantamount to admitting a fear -- the fear of losing someone you are close to. So you probably did it like Bruce Wayne dumps his society girls."

"I had Alfred call Diana up? Your story is bordering on the fantastical, Clark." The upload from the Batcomputer finished, and he began running through the profiles it drew up.

"No, I mean you probably said, ‘It was fun while it lasted, but no thanks’. Probably made her feel a little used. She probably thought what you two shared had meant something, and you told her it was nothing at all. Just sex. That would explain why she’s been upset with you; otherwise, Diana would have taken it in stride. She understands fear, but she doesn’t understand cruelty."

Batman clenched his fists, and his gut twisted as he listened, but his voice was calm and even. "If your pop psychology exercise is over, Clark, I have work to do."

Clark looked up at the screen, saw the profiles Batman was scanning. "You are looking Erik up, aren’t you?" A new idea dawned on him, and he said, "It wasn’t just sex. You are in love with her."

Batman smiled grimly. "I’m a lot of things, but I’m not that masochistic."

"Masochistic? How?"

Batman threw him a cursory glance. "I was in Gateway City, too. It wasn’t me she dreamed of."

Clark stared at him in disbelief. "The reason that dream broke down in the end was because we both, Diana and I, knew it was wrong. And it wasn’t just because of Lois, Bruce. And don’t forget that you were the one who convinced her that it wasn’t real. You."

Batman didn’t look up or answer. Clark, finally frustrated by his silence, left.

Batman continued sorting through the profiles, and flipped the JLA intercom back on. Now Wally and Kyle were both telling Plastic Man about the meeting today.

"Yeah, did you see his face? Completely smitten with her."

"Smitten? What century do you live in?"

"Shut up, GL. Anyway, it was obvious she thought the same thing, because she couldn’t wait to get him alone, if you know what I mean."

Batman opened the intercom, growled into it, "The intralunar communications system was not designed to convey gossip. If you want a run down of a meeting, I suggest reading the minutes."

And he enjoyed the subsequent silence.

********

"--and who is that unidentified Adonis whom Wonder Woman has been seen with around town lately? Our sources only know that his first name is Erik, and that things seem pretty hot and heavy between them. If the reports are true, then this is the first official romance that Diana has had since the first rumors sprouted about Wonder Woman and Superman. Jennifer Aniston is sporting a new hairdo that's taking Hollywood by storm--"

Diana sighed and turned off the television. The news channel had entered into its entertainment segment, with, as usual, only five percent of their information correct.

"I just saw the unidentified Adonis up in the Watchtower with Zatanna."

Diana turned and smiled. Clark hovered outside, just past the balcony. "So you thought you would use this opportunity to quiz me," she guessed, and strolled out the French doors, and leaned her arms against the balcony railing.

He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I’m not as paranoid as Batman, but even I thought there was something odd in your behavior toward one another. And Zatanna. Right now he is up there, and they are running their hands over each other like there is no tomorrow."

Diana nodded. "He’s amazing to touch."

"Batman worries that he may be exuding some sexual control over you two."

"Zeus forbid that Batman ever consider it to be something purer than sex," Diana said with an edge to her voice. She waved Clark onto the balcony. "I don’t expect you to understand completely, given your aversion to magic, but I will try to explain."

Clark heaved a sigh of relief. "I’m glad someone will."

Diana laughed. "It’s simple, really. A unicorn is a deposit of Earth energy. Pure Earth, filled with magic--almost like a battery. Immortal, powerful, and solitary."

"Why does it affect women as it does?"

"Because of that intrinsic connection to the Earth, Gaea, who is female." Diana looked up at the night sky, at the moon and her namesake. "I think that’s also why Erik’s connection to me is so powerful -- I was created directly from clay, and breathed to life with magic. Like him, earth and magic together."

"And when you touch him? I shook his hand, and although I was surprised by his strength, I felt nothing orgasmic like Dinah said, nor did I feel a desire to keep touching him."

Diana tried to imagine Clark orgasmic after a handshake, and burst into laughter. He grinned, too, and eventually she composed herself enough to answer. "Touching him is touching pure magic. What I feel, I can’t really explain to anyone who hasn’t channelled magic, who doesn’t know the touch and taste and feel of it. Zatanna feels that, too. Dinah considered it sexual, because it is the closest thing in her experience to which she can relate it."

Clark said, "Like trying to explain to a normal person what lifting five thousand tons is like. They can only compare it to lifting ten pounds, or twenty, and they can’t ever really know what it is like unless they experience it themselves."

Diana nodded, and they sat in comfortable silence, watching the moon.

"I was actually going to come down here to see if you wanted me to beat him up for trading you in for Zatanna," Clark announced.

Her laughter pealed out again. "I was not traded in, Clark," she sputtered, giggling. "He’s only here for a little more time, and he wanted to spend some time with her. She fascinates him."

"And you don’t?"

"In a different way." She shook her head. "But I can’t explain the difference. If I had to, I might say that she is new magic, and I am old. She’s the bright penny, and I’m the rusty Roman nickel. Besides, I’m no better than she is."

"No," Clark said, "But she isn’t my best friend, either."

She smiled at him, clasped his hand in hers and looked up at the sky.

"So," she wondered. "Can you see what Plastic Man is doing?"

"Going through your underwear."

"The Flash?"

"Eating a bowl of sugared corn flakes."

"J’onn?"

"Same as Wally, but with Oreos."

A pause. "Batman?"

"Brooding."

"GL?"

"Ugh...you don’t want to know."

********

She dreamed of his hands, touching, soothing, inflaming as they did before. Of the expression in his eyes as he slid into her, the taste of him, his tongue, his lips. Of his breath as his body clenched in need, trembling in release--

"Bruce?" she said as she sat up. The parlor was dark, but she could see him from her position on the antique sofa. She ran her hand through her hair, feeling its disarray, glad that this time she had clothes on with which to hide her body’s reaction to her dream--a short sleeping toga, but clothing nonetheless.

She watched as he closed the drapes, then pushed back his cowl. Her breath caught; his actions were exactly like the last time he had come to her, the night before Neron. He'd not been fast enough that night, an innocent had died, and she'd been thrilled and terrified that he sought her for comfort. She had expected that he would be incommunicative for days after such a--as he saw it--failure, but he hadn't pushed her away. That had come later.

She sat, waited as he walked closer, stopping two feet from the couch.

"I talked to Superman about your unicorn, but I still have questions," he said.

The tiny hope that had sprung in her died. She sighed tiredly, closed her eyes, and leaned back against the arm of the sofa. "Ask away," she said.

"Why wasn't Superman affected by his touch? If it is a being of pure magic, then not just women would react when they felt it. In my experience, magic itself is non-gendered."

She was surprised by his insight. "Superman didn't feel anything because of two reasons: he's Kryptonian, and Erik is in his current form."

She felt the couch give way as Bruce sat down, and she looked at him, but he was staring at the floor, thinking. "And his Kryptonian physiology prohibits him from 'channeling', as you called it, the pure Earth magic?"

"Yes." She reached behind her, turned on the dim table lamp. She didn't need it to see him by, but she wanted to erase the intimate feel of the darkness. "I really didn't have the heart to tell him that the Earth didn't recognize him as her own."

Bruce nodded. "And Erik's current form?"

"His human form doesn't ... express his magic like the unicorn form does. So only someone who recognizes what he is would feel that connection. In the human form, knowledge is important. If, for example, Arthur saw him, he'd likely have the same reaction as Zee and myself, because he is more familiar with magic. Although it wouldn't be as strong, because Arthur's roots are in water magic, not earth."

"Dinah experienced it."

"Erik was a unicorn then. Touch, in her case, ripped through her blinders of knowledge. If she touched him now, she would get the same sense, because she has experienced the magic before through him. If she hadn't seen him before, though, touching him now would have no effect."

"And it would have no effect on me, then," Bruce said.

Diana smiled slightly. "Did you expect that it would?"

He looked at her, finally. "No." He reached up, pulled his mask back over his face, and stood.

She waited until he was at the balcony doors before asking, "Aren't you going to tell me about the dragon?"

He froze, turned back. "No, I wasn't."

"I've been sleeping with a unicorn for the past two weeks," she said, and wondered at his barely perceptible flinch. "There is no way I couldn't have known. Erik dreams of it." She got up, motioned for him to follow her to her office, where her computer screen cast a silver light over the room. "I've been tracking its movements for a while, trying to get an idea where it has hidden its heart. The dragon won't deliberately give away the hiding place, but it is also too paranoid to go long without checking on it." She glanced at him, wishing she could see past his mask. "You knew, and you wouldn't have told me," she stated softly.

"I found out today. Fate came to visit your unicorn, and I listened."

"Eavesdropped," Diana said.

"He urged Erik to transform back, since he is more vulnerable in his present form."

"The dragon will come for him," she said.

"What happens if the dragon wins?" Bruce asked.

Diana swallowed hard, staring at the screen with its tiny lines indicating the dragon's location. "A unicorn preserves magic. Magic that is used, unused, from spells in the past and yet to be cast, or just pure extra magic is stored in it. If Erik dies, that magic that he preserves and that flows through him dies with him." She sat down on the desk, faced Bruce and his mask. "That may not seem like such a bad thing to someone like you, but the truth is that the entire world would fall apart. Spells that had been cast using his earth magic in the past would unravel."

"Such as?"

"Me." Diana said. "I was created by the gods using earth and magic. If Erik died, the magic that created me would be no more."

"But you are flesh and blood now," Bruce pointed out.

"I would die," she said firmly. "Themyscira would perish. Perhaps a bit of Atlantis. Demons trapped by earth based spells would escape into the world. Magic users would lose an integral part of themselves. The Earth itself would lose some of its integrity, land masses would fall apart."

"Continents are not held together by magic."

"Aren't they?" Diana narrowed her eyes. "Dinah saw a horse before she realized it was a unicorn. How do you know there isn't more to life than what your science allows you to see, Detective?"

"I have never denied the existence of magic, Diana."

"Yet you continue to deny its importance."

"Perhaps I don't like the idea of my life being dependent upon the whim of an irresponsible unicorn."

Diana 's mouth fell open. "Irresponsible?"

Bruce leaned forward. "Yes, irresponsible. If what you say is true, then that unicorn has no business changing forms, and making himself vulnerable, just because he wants to feel some women."

A disbelieving laugh escaped her. "He isn't here to feel some women, Bruce. He's here to experience life. In his form as a unicorn he can know and love people, but he can't truly care for them, or hold them or the memory of them close to him. As a human, he can, and he'll remember that feeling as a unicorn. He loves me, but as a unicorn he would never really care if I died tomorrow. He wouldn't regret my passing, even if he felt sad about it. But as a human, he does. And he touches us because that is how he experiences us best, and we experience him best. It's not simply some sexual sowing of his oats." She stopped, wondering why she continued to keep trying with him. She stood abruptly, gestured to the computer. "I'll send you the information on the dragon. Your computers can analyze the data better than mine." She gave him a hard look. "And do not even think of letting the JLA confront it without me."

"We'll do what the team decides is best." Bruce said, and she grabbed his arm as he turned.

"I have experience, Bruce."

"You were killed, Diana." He paused. "Although I wouldn't appreciate another rock thrown at my head."

She smiled at his joke. "There's no prophecy now," she said. "And Erik will transform back into a unicorn. With him, the JLA will be doubly powerful."

"When will he transform?"

Diana hesitated. "Probably in a couple of days. Sooner if the dragon starts showing any destructive activity. Right now it is just resting, doing nothing but moving from cave to cave."

"Why not go sooner? A preemptive attack?"

Diana bit her lip, said, "I know this is selfish, but I want just a little more time with him."

Bruce's jaw clenched, and he looked away from her. "Fine. Two days."

She broke into a smile, reached up, kissed him impulsively on the mouth. She noted his rigidity, his abruptness as he tore away from her to leave, and felt her happiness replaced by anger and frustration. She flew forward, stopping in front of him, placing her hands deliberately on his shoulders to hold him in place.

"For Gaea's sake, Bruce, you can at least pretend to bear my touch. We were friends once, and if the sex meant nothing, then nothing should have changed," she said harshly. She reached up, yanked back his cowl so that she could see his face. "Unless it didn't mean nothing," she finished, hating the pleading note that entered her voice.

His face was expressionless. "What do you think it should mean, Diana?"

She searched his face for something, anything, and found nothing. "It means that it was just sex." But she remembered, knew it had been more.

He nodded.

She firmed her lips. "Fine. Do you still desire me?" That got through to him, and his eyes widened fractionally.

"I don't see--"

"No, you don't." She pressed herself against him. "Do you want me? If it is just sex, why can't we continue?"

"Diana--"

She rubbed herself against him, breathing against his jawline. "I can feel you, Bruce. You can't hide that from me." Diana felt him giving in, felt his body shift and react to hers, and she wanted to feel his hands, his mouth. "Touch me."

His arms stiffened. "Like he would?"

Diana raised her head, wondering whom he was talking about, when she realized what he meant. She pushed herself away from him. "You stupid caveman. You think that I'm throwing myself at you because Erik is with Zatanna and I need a sexual fix?" She laughed hoarsely, her chest feeling as if he had hit her with a boulder. She lifted her chin and looked at him down her nose, eyes flashing. She quickly untied the fastening of her wrap, and the white fabric fell from her in a puddle at her feet, leaving her nude. She spread her arms.

"Look at me, Bruce. Look! It's me and it is mine. And I do not settle for anything less than exactly what I want. Erik has touched me all over, but it's not the same as when you do. It's two different sensations, two different things. And if I wanted his magic I wouldn't be crawling all over you just to feel a little bit of what--" She broke off, closed her eyes. "Just go. Please."

She heard him leave, and kicked at her toga furiously, glad that when the fabric hit the wall, it wouldn't break through it. She went to bed, and tried to convince herself of a single thought:

If it had been just sex, he would have stayed.

********

He was probably the caveman she accused him of being. He felt a primitive urge to erase the memory of every other person's touch on her, sexual or not.

Bruce looked up and around himself, at the Batcave, and tried to find some humor in literally being a caveman.

But he didn't smile.

He leaned back and thought about that morning on Crime Alley, when he had walked there with his two roses, had placed them on the sidewalk, and eventually walked on. He was lost in thought and wouldn't have seen her if he hadn't looked back when a woman screamed at a taxi driver for giving her the wrong change. He had been at the other end of the block, had seen the woman with dark hair and glasses stop at his roses, and say a few words to the ground. And he had chased her down before she could fly away, pulled her off the sidewalk into an alley where they wouldn't be seen together.

"I wish you hadn't seen me," she'd said.

"What are you doing?" His voice had been hard, his heart thumping madly.

"Since I found out who you were, your story, I've done this on the anniversary," she'd said, her eyes impossibly blue in the gray, early light.

"Why?"

She had frowned. "Because someone besides you should. Someone besides you should tell them what a person, a hero, you've turned out to be. I would venture that you apologize and make promises to them. I tell them how many people you've saved, what a difference you've made. I would have done it at the cemetery and headstones, but I didn't think you'd want Wonder Woman and your parents linked in any way, and risk your identity."

He should have been angry, should have told her that Alfred took care of that, should have told her that stopping at that spot in such a flimsy disguise might have risked his identity anyway, but instead he found himself burying his hands in her hair and kissing her, and she had responded with a desperation of her own. For eleven days he had lived and breathed her, and on the twelfth she was in the hospital, dying.

The computer beeped an alert, and he switched to another screen, which tracked the dragon's movements. It was headed toward New York.

"Too early," he muttered, and opened a link to the JLA.

********

Diana hit the dragon as hard as she could, felt a grim satisfaction as it shot backwards into the water.

"Here it comes again," Superman said.

"Where's Erik?" She screamed over the roar of the waves and dragon's bellow of rage.

"He's with Fate and Batman. They are headed for the heart," Superman yelled back.

Diana breathed a sigh of relief when Kyle transported in, catching the dragon in a huge, green cage.

"Close up those holes, GL," she said. "It can breathe fire, and--"

The flame spurted outward, hitting Superman straight on, knocking him back into Kyle. Diana flew, caught Kyle as he fell, unconscious. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the dragon turn around, head back over the water.

She gave Kyle to Superman, who was sporting burns over the right side of his body. He had, Diana knew, almost no resistance to magic. "Take him back to the Watchtower. I'll go on."

"Not alone again, Diana."

"I won't be," she said. "I think it is going back to get Erik, and its heart. Batman and Fate will be there."

Superman nodded, wincing as the movement pulled at his burned skin. "All right. Be careful, Diana."

"Always," she promised, and flew after the dragon.

********

Bruce watched as the man became a horse. It lay shivering on the ground, its legs tucked underneath it, head down.

"What's the matter?"

Diana's voice came over his headset. "Batman, the dragon is on its way toward you."

"Acknowledged. The others?"

"GL and Superman had to go back. How's Erik?"

"Transformed but weak."

He heard the fear in her voice. "I'm not far behind it, but I think it will reach you before I do. Stay out of its way, Batman. It breathes fire, and it is powerful, dark magic. If the unicorn isn't strong enough to fight it, and Fate doesn't feel that he can successfully, then run."

The unicorn got to its feet. Batman watched it, looking for some sign of great power. It looked like a regular, gray-white horse to him. He trusted Fate, but the unicorn was an unknown to him, and he hated working with and trusting unknowns.

The cavern they were in thundered under an impact, and small rivulets of gravel fell from the ceiling.

He heard a roar, and then several other, smaller impacts.

Fate climbed up a rock, gestured to Batman to follow him. "We've got to get to the heart. The unicorn will hold the dragon off until we find it."