Lady Diana: Knight

By superninja

A JLA Elseworlds fantasy, Animated Series style.

All characters belong to Warner Bros./DC Comics. This story is not intended for profit.

***

"You shouldn't worry about Bat Man," Hal said over his shoulder, as Diana stared back in the direction they had come for the fifth time. "He's been here before."

"What makes you think I have a concern?" she asked defensively, realizing that he had noticed her distraction.

Hal knowingly smiled, but chose to ignore her question. "Bat Man has been in these forests almost as long as I have. And like the forest, he has many dark secrets."

"Do you know why he is searching for a signet ring?"

In his most gentlemanly manner, Hal offered her his hand as she paused at the end of the bridge. Diana cocked her head for a moment wondering at the need for such a gesture. Then, taking his hand, he led her down the steps to the basket elevator that would take them to the hut thirty feet beneath them.

As they rode down in the basket, operated by one of the Lantern Order by a series of levers and pulleys, Hal turned to her and spoke.

"As I said, Batman has many dark secrets; and he guards them well. So anything that passes between us is merely rumor, you understand?"

Diana nodded picturing the cold grimace Bat Man had given the young man Kyle earlier. Perhaps his power to intimidate was worth studying. For a man with no magical gifts, he had found ways to place fear in people's hearts, yet balance that quality with the loyalty she felt now coming from the leader of the Green Lantern Order. There was both darkness and nobility within him, and Diana had to admit that it fascinated her.

As they reached the ground, Hal jumped out first, and then like before, proffered his hand to Diana, with the intention of helping her out of the basket.

"I am quite capable of helping myself," she said assertively.

Hal seemed to be a man full of smiles and interior laughter. "Mi'lady," he said, bowing before her, "Perhaps you are not familiar with our customs. But in our land, a lady is always first. It's not an insult, but a gesture of respect."

Diana helped herself out of the basket.

He swept his hand away from them, beckoning her towards the hut.

"To garner respect simply based on the sex of a person is misplaced," she replied.

"Is that so?" Hal said with a chuckle.

"Respect is something that is earned, and not given freely. At least where I am from."

"And where are you from?" he asked, opening the door. "No. Wait..." He paused at the entrance. "I don't wish to appear deceptive, or trite."

Diana leaned forward a little, surprised at this statement.

"The Order, being many things, are scholars as well. I knew you the moment I saw you. With all of my learning, I need be blind not to."

She crossed her arms, and stared back at him. "Continue."

"You are the daughter of the legendary Hippolyta, queen of the island kingdom of Theymscria."

"How can you be sure?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, and then passing through the doorway.

"Because you're the most beautiful woman I have ever witnessed given flesh."

***

Hal wasn't an obvious flirt, like Kyle. But Diana sensed that he was enjoying her presence. He was a very charming man: kind, considerate and humorous. Her people did not often relate to the other sex well, and Diana began to wonder if perhaps they were depriving themselves of something that to her, at the moment, felt quite natural.

Then she reminded herself that the Green Lantern Order were much like the Amazons. They were disciplined, and had rigid rules in place that set them apart from the rest of the world. They weren't like the men who came to trade goods with them at the harbor in Themsycria. When you walked past them, they stared at you with hungry eyes; more like a wild beast kept at bay than a creature with a soul.

"How did you come across these insects?" Diana asked, putting her hand into the air to touch the brilliance of one of them.

"The eye is deceiving," he said, putting his hand up into the air. Unlike the influence Diana's gesture had, the insects swarmed to his hand, almost fighting to land on it.

"Let's be kind, now," he said mirthfully, "We have a guest."

Diana's eyes widened as the insects dispersed, hovering near his hand as though a company waiting to be called upon in battle.

A single insect landed in his hand, and he drew it towards them, slowly drawing a lens out of his belt. She looked on in wonder as he placed the lens over it, making it much larger through the glass.

It was the same glowing green as before, but now she could see its features - a pair of large green eyes surrounded by a bulbous head and a thin, if not frail body, with elegant wings fluttering behind the shoulders. These weren't mere insects: they were pure magic.

"Can you speak with them?" Diana gasped.

"Of course," Hal said. "Ask Rori a question."

***

They walked through the thick forest, lit by the Green Fairies that hovered nearby.

Her mind was replaying the story of the Green Lantern Order over and over again. She didn't want to forget a single detail, hoping for a time when she would gather around the fire with her mother and sisters and tell them the wondrous tale.

Hal had related the story of how one lazy summer day he had strayed into the forest as a youth.

He was quite taken with birds; their power of flight was more magical to him than the magical beings that inhabited his world ("I would've given anything to see the world from their perspective."). And so, he had begun to catalogue them, and spotting a hawk had followed it into the forest hoping to find its nest.

What he ended up doing instead was step into a Fairie circle.

Children, he had said, were always warned against this. Parents and elders often related the tales of beautiful maidens, strapping youths, and of course, innocent children being carried away to the Fairie Kingdom, never to be seen again.

"Naturally," she remembered Hal saying, "I thought the idea of being carried away to the Fairie Kingdom quite grand."

And so he was. But the leader of the Green Fairies, Rori, was so taken with his open heart and his inquisitive mind, that they decided to teach him their ways. Every day, he would find an excuse to venture back into the forest to meet with them. He would teach them of the workings of the human world, and they would guide him in the knowledge of the magic arts.

Together they would lift the veil between the physical world and the spiritual world. He would show them how to build with human technology. Diana was surprised to learn that when he presented them with the concepts of human architecture, they had helped to built the massive fortress housed in the trees (the hut was their first go at it, which they were very proud of). They had taught Hal to speak to animals, and that the trees had names.

So, when he was of age, he left home to forge the Green Lantern Order. To allow people like himself to touch the veil, and lift it, bringing the two worlds together to benefit all.

Diana thought it was beautiful. More idyllic and peaceful than even her people had imagined. But then she remembered Bat Man's words about Alexander, and his desire to destroy the magical creatures in his kingdom.

She made a promise to her heart in that moment that she would not allow this dream to be destroyed.

Glancing over at Hal, she watched him walk beside her casually, comfortable in silence, letting her soak in all that she had learned.

"You never told me the rumors about Bat Man," she asked.

Hal looked up at the distance to his fortress.

"The story goes, that there was once a man of great power and wealth. Our King one day died under mysterious circumstances, and with no heir, it set the kingdom into chaos. Corrupt lords greedy for the throne set upon each other like wild dogs. And suddenly, this man became dangerous. They say his family was lured into the Great Forest on a hunting expedition, and they were ambushed and struck down, never to be seen again."

"But surely a person of such stature�"

"You didn't let me finish," Hal said, cutting her off. "What I just told you is fact. The 'rumor' is that some say their only child survived the ordeal. Rescued by his family's loyal man-servant, they made a life in the Great Forest in solitude. A nameless child, with a death-mark, and no means to reclaim what was rightly his."

"If his father was a man of power, how was this allowed?" Diana asked. Her brow furrowed, recalling the anger she had felt from Bat Man when she had asked about his quest.

"Several other influential families died in succession," Hal said. "Political sacrifices, most likely to prevent a line being drawn to the guilty party," he replied, staring gravely back at Diana. "No one knows to which family he belongs."

Diana locked eyes with Hal, outraged, as they reached the tree fortress.

"So that is why he seeks the signet ring," she said out loud. "To claim his place and avenge his family."

"He has no place in this world," Hal said. "All he seeks is vengeance."