Time changes many things.
Yet Diana still remembered Malrick's face as clearly as if she'd seen him yesterday. That confident smile when Ares fell, the quiet strength in his voice as he told her that everyone was safe — it was all burned into her memory.
She missed him deeply. She longed for him.
After learning the truth about Zeus and her mother from Queen Hippolyta, she finally understood what she felt. She had fallen in love with Malrick. But ninety years was an eternity. So long that he had become a shadow in her heart — a ghost who appeared every morning when she woke, and again in the fading light of dusk as she watched the sun sink into the sea.
Even the sound of seagulls made her heart stir with hope — as if he might appear again, walking toward her through the golden light.
Her mother never had to say it; Diana already knew something was wrong with her. Sometimes she even thought — if only she hadn't let him leave. If only she had tied him to her bedside with the Lasso of Truth, just to see him there each morning.
The thought made her blush, and she shook her head quickly. The Lasso probably couldn't hold Malrick anyway… and what kind of woman would actually tie a man with a rope?
Across the ocean, Malrick had no idea she'd ever entertained such thoughts. If he had known, he probably would've heard an imaginary kettle whistle in his ears and muttered that Diana was becoming a dangerously devoted woman.
---
Hippolyta once again heard those same words she'd heard countless times:
"Malrick will come."
With a soft sigh, she sat beside her daughter at the cliff's edge.
"If you won't go back, then I'll wait with you."
The evening sun splintered across the sea into countless shimmering shards of gold. Hippolyta gazed at it quietly.
"You and I were very much alike once," she said softly. "I used to wait here for Zeus. But he had Hera, Themis, Eris... so many others. With so many lovers vying for his attention, how could he remember one queen waiting for him on a distant island?"
(Lmao, my boy Malrick is the same tho….)
Her tone softened with bittersweet experience.
"Diana, it's better not to place too much hope on one person. Hope turns into obsession, and obsession blinds you. Men rarely remember the hearts they've left behind. They think women are chapters that can be closed without consequence. But no one truly lets go — not until they stop chasing what was never meant to stay."
She gently brushed her daughter's hair back.
"I let go long ago. Zeus is gone, and whether mortal or god, we must learn to release what we can't hold. You have so much life ahead of you, Diana. Don't imprison yourself in the past."
Her words were wise, patient — and they struck something deep inside Diana. The thought that Malrick might truly be gone made her chest tighten painfully. She threw a pebble into the sea, harder than she meant to, sending a wave crashing outward. The fish near the island were not so fortunate; stunned by the blast, several floated belly-up in the waves, glimmering beneath the blood-red sunset like silver ghosts.
But then Diana's eyes lit up with sudden mischief. She flipped backward off the cliff, her laughter carried on the wind.
"Mother, I'm going fishing!"
"Diana! Don't misuse your divine strength again! We already have more fish than we can eat!" Hippolyta called after her, exasperated yet smiling faintly.
Still, she felt a touch of relief. Maybe her words were finally sinking in. If she came each day with gentle persuasion, perhaps her daughter would one day move on.
The queen was just beginning to think about what she might say tomorrow when a sudden scream echoed up from the cliffside.
"Ah!!"
It was filled with surprise and something else — disbelief. Hippolyta's heart seized. Diana hadn't screamed since defeating Ares. Could something have attacked her?
"Diana!" the queen cried, rushing to the edge. But before she could look down, her daughter was already rising — lifted in strong arms.
And there he was. Malrick.
He stood there in the fading sunlight, holding Diana effortlessly, his clothes unchanged from the day he'd vanished ninety years ago.
Diana clung to him tightly, arms around his neck, her face buried against his shoulder. Their foreheads pressed together, their breathing uneven, and for a moment Hippolyta could only stare. That closeness — that unmistakable intimacy — told her everything.
"You… you rascal!" she muttered under her breath. "Zeus himself never came back… but you did?"
The queen glared at Malrick, torn between outrage and reluctant admiration. Then, seeing her daughter's radiant joy, she sighed and turned away. Without another word, she picked up her sword and walked back toward the inner island, leaving the reunited lovers alone.
---
Malrick had never experienced a kiss like this. It wasn't just passion — it was a storm, a collision of longing and love. Diana kissed him as though afraid he might vanish again, her strength enough to crush steel, yet trembling like a human heart.
If he'd been anyone else — anyone less than he was — he might not have survived the intensity of it. But he didn't pull away. He met her kiss with the same hunger, the same desperate affection that had burned quietly inside him for all those years.
When the sky finally darkened and only the faintest glimmer of sunlight remained, they paused at last, both breathless.
Diana's gaze softened, her blue eyes glistening with tears and moonlight.
"I knew you'd come back," she whispered.
Malrick brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek and smiled faintly.
"That was the deal, wasn't it?"
She nodded, then pouted suddenly and gave him a playful punch — one strong enough to demolish a wall.
"It's been ninety years! How could you disappear that long? I thought you'd forgotten me!"
Malrick winced dramatically, rubbing his chest.
"Ow! That really hurt!"
Tony Stark's words echoed in his mind: 'When dealing with women, never give explanations — give emotions.'
Do as I want you to.
"I didn't mean to!" Diana gasped, instantly worried. "Did I really hurt you?"
As she leaned in to check, Malrick moved faster than she expected, pulling her close and toppling her gently onto the sand.
"The ground's cold," she murmured, wide-eyed. "Malrick, what are you—?"
He grinned, his voice low.
"Making up for lost time."
Malrick kissed Diana again, as she moaned slowly under his touch. He traced gentle lines along her neck, the night deepened, wrapping them in its silence, as the fire between them burned softly.
______
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