The next morning...

It was… Beautiful. Nothing like what her mother told her of this world. She heard stories. Stories of a blasted landscape pitted and scored. A warzone where women fought tooth and nail against their male oppressors. An eternal battle between what was just and what was cruel. Instead, she strolled through a well manicured garden. One filled with trees that were active with the chirps and squeals of songbirds in every canopy, flower bloomed shrubs and bushes lined either side of the smooth stone pavements with every colour imaginable. In the clearing of freshly cut grass, she could make out groups of people lounging on tartan-coloured rugs of thin cloth, eating food and drink from a nearby basket while sitting in the shade of brightly coloured parasols. Some played with brightly colored balls or passed disks to each other in a game she did not recognise. She almost fell into a stop to take it all in until she heard a voice call out her name.

“Diana? Earth to Diana. Come on, it can’t be THAT great, it’s only John Marshal Park.”

Blinking, she turned her head to smile back at Steve, the man smiling back with a strange look, almost like he was holding back laughter when Diana stepped aside in surprise to a trio of people gliding by the path on wheeled shoes. On the other side of the clearing, she could see a pair of what she swore were mechanical horses made of wheels and pedals a men and women were riding as they rode out of sight.

There was just so much to take in all at once. “It’s just so… So… It’s wonderful Steven Trevor.”

Chuckling a little bit, the man shook his head, his smile still on his face as he felt her smiling infectious. On their way down the path, Steve pointed out some landmarks here and there; the Washington monument, the arts and industry building, the Reflection Pool leading to the Lincoln memorial. On their walk, Diana noticed several couples and families pass by, many of which had children with them that made her heart melt… but one thing stood out for her in each pair who passed them by.

“Why are they holding hands?”

Blinking back at the question, Steve Trevor followed her eyes to a couple walking hand in hand while sharing a drink on their walk.

“Well… It means they’re together.”

Seeing so many couples walking through the park, Diana looked down at Steve’s open hand and reached out for it, looping her fingers through his. Looking down at her holding his hand, Steve was a little taken back, but his smile never faltered. If anything, it only grew.

*

Waking up in bed to the warm sunlight cutting through the windows of her personal quarters in the palace, Diana rubbed her eyes and sat up. It was morning. Getting up out of bed and standing to her full height, Diana shook her long dark hair loose and went to a basin full of clear water in front of a polished mirror. Splashing water over her face, she gave herself a look over. Her eyes sparkled like sky blue sapphires in her reflection, her skin supple smooth and without a trace of scars or blemishes, despite the many battles she had fought through. Her black hair flow over and down her shoulders, framing her beautiful face and only accentuating her beauty. Exhaling and leaving a plume of steam on the mirror’s surface, Diana turned away and got dressed.

Stepping out of her quarters, she found two guards at alert, clicking their heels just as Diana closed the door to her chambers. Looking to them both, it sunk her heart to see them as they were. Their hair was dry, brittle, unkempt. Their skin weathered and sick looking, riddled with blotches and spots that looked marred with disease. Even as they tried to maintain a stern façade, their faces were drawn, elderly. Their eyes sunken in and glassy, their stiff lip betraying misshapen teeth.

“Bad dream my princess?” The guard asked, her voice cracked and hoarse. “A nightmare?... Worse than this one?”

“A memory Atla, a fond one from long ago.”

Nodding, despite not understanding the context, the guard nodded down to the end of the hall. “Our sisters are training in the courtyard for morning regiment, our General Nubia is waiting for you.”

“Her along with Generals Aello and Ocypete.” Answered the other guard, a hood over her head to cover her face. Turning to see her, it saddened Diana to see Episteme hid her face and hair, out of shame.

“Thank you, my sisters, be well, in time I will try to resolve this curse.”

Nodding back at their princess and taping their shields with the gauntlet’s holding their spears, Diana made her way down the marble halls and columns. Behind her, she could hear the two guards, their words making her feel worse as she heard Atla mutter that they should never had gone to man’s world.

Making her way out in the open air, Diana could find hundreds of her sisters training, sparring, honing their martial skills as they would every day. Their appearance was painful to see. Frail looking, misshapen, twisted and gnarled like the branches of a tree, their bare skin liked as cracked and gnarled as the branches of the oaks in their forests. Their hair was clumped and frayed, so much so many of them wore hoods to cover their faces, and wore additional armor to cover their bodies… And yet, their strength had not diminished. She could see two of the royal guards sparring with the same strength, speed, and ferocity as they normally would. Off in the distance she could see a dozen of her sisters draw back arrows to fire at straw and clay targets with the same practiced ease they always had.

This told her the wish only effected their appearance. They had not been robbed of their warrior heritage, only their majesty and beauty. At the very least that gave her some hope. Out in the distance she could hear Aello and Ocypete bark commands to the Amazons in their training, citing stories of long past victories to set standards as they judged their militia’s prowess. Taking a few steps into the training grounds, several amazons bowed to their princess on her walk, while others stared back at her with jealous eyes.

“So, our ‘beautiful’ princess decides to grace us with her presence?” Chided Seena, formally a beautiful blonde haired amazon woman with striking blue eyes. Now those eyes were pale and milky, set to a scolding face withered and aged to crone-like humility.

“I’ve come looking for Nubia Seena. And I do not know why my friend would curse you so, but I intend to find a way to undo it.”

“Of course, he’d go easy on YOU, the whore of man’s world” Gasping, Seena dropped her spear as she felt her skin crawl, alerting everyone there as she shuddered. Her once lovely hair shed off her scalp in strands, and her fingernails grew long and chipped, forcing the woman to fall to her knees and whimper.

Shocked, Diana was beside herself with guilt. When she took a step forward towards her sister with an outstretched hand, the elderly looking Seena hissed a sneer at her princess. Telling Diana more than she needed to know that her help was not welcomed. With some hesitation, she walked on, leaving Seena to be tended to by the rest of her sisterhood.

Checking further through the training grounds, she found Nubia standing with her arms crossed barking out words of encouragement to two of her finest practicing their lance work, just as Atla and Episteme said. Joining the woman, Nubia turned to eye the princess and her features, as tanned and leathered as they were, softened ever so slightly in a cracked smile. Her pleated hair hung from her crown like rotten leaves from a weed, and her eyes were a milky pale grey. But even so, Diana’s blood sister smiled as best as she could and greeted Themyscira’s Wonder Woman.

“Diana, good morning.” She spoke with a gurgled cough, sharing an embrace with the princess as they moved to a table and two chairs were a clay bowl sat with offered fruit for breakfast. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did… But my dreams were troubled. I could not let go of the past, nor could I reconcile on why my friend had made such a wish.”

Sitting back more sharply, Nubia frowned, looking almost bristled. “Aello and Ocypete claimed their visit to Man’s world was fool hardy, this entire affaire has not been without…” At that moment, the mocha-skinned woman blinked and slouched back in her chair, crossing a leg over the other and draping her arm over the arm rest of her chair. “Did you know I spent last night hopping from one body to the next, lookin for something sweet to eat? Like this place doesn’t have ANY chocolate, at ALL!”

Boston?!”

Raising her hands up in mock defense, Nubia snorted and moved to give her rear a feel. “Yeah, yer probably right, introduce this girl to some Hershey’s chocolate and she’d have more junk in the trunk than a Gran Torino on a garbage run.”

“Boston, why did you do this?” She asked the man possessing her sister. “They are my sisters, my people, my FAMILY. You tore away their natural beauty and scarred their bodies, made them hideous to themselves, and for what?”

Leaning back in the chair and crossing Nubia’s arms, the elderly looking woman spat a raspberry and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t make’em ugly Diana, I just made’em easier to look at.”

Taken back, Diana gripped the table with such intensity the marble chipped. “H-how can you SAY that?! My sisters are GOOD people Boston.”

“Right, right, COURSE they are…” Scoffed Boston, rolling Nubia’s eyes again with a crooked smirk. “So, what do you call burnin a guy alive for the crime of showin up at yer front door? You realised they were planning dinner while they were roasting me alive, right?” Seeing Diana hesitate to answer, Boston continued. “There’s a sayin where I come from Dee; beauty is skin deep. Well, I took that saying, rolled it into a little ball and tossed it out the frickin window! Now everyone here looks like what they REALLY are deep inside. Every act of contempt or apathy, every bruise and scar they inflicted, every backhanded comment, every dirty low down thought they’ve ever had, they wear on their faces now. And whether you agree with it or not, it AIN’T pretty!”

Gripping the table more tightly, the surface cracked, just as she slowly leaned back in her chair, unable to refute what Boston was telling her. “So, that’s it then? My mother and sisters are doomed to a life where they cannot stand to see each other’s sins?”

Raising Nubia’s hands and shaking her head, Boston snorted. “Only if that’s what they want for themselves Dee...” Losing the smirk, the woman folded her hands together on the table and looked deeply into Diana’s eyes. “Have you never considered why YOU didn’t go all wicked witch o’the west like the others? Think about that Diana.”

Sitting straight and blinking in confusion, Nubia looked down and out to the courtyard and back to her sister, finding Diana with a look of worry and deep in self reflection. “What… What was I doing?”

Seeing that Boston was no longer in control of Nubia, Diana sat up to stand and rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder. Confusing Nubia somewhat, especially Diana’s answer. “You have giving me much to think on Boston. We will speak of this again when you are ready to talk my friend, for now I must see to my mother.”

Still confused, Nubia nodded and stood to her own feet, returning to her duties while Diana left to find the Queen.