"Well, for our first class I have to say that I'm impressed with each of you," Diana said to praise the students. The response of the four kids in her class was to groan, sigh or make a noise at her that she chose to ignore. "Now, I want all of you to get ready for class. We have a long day ahead of us. You are all dismissed."
Diana chose to ignore how quickly the students rose from their chairs and raced from the room, each of them grumbling to themselves as they stalked off. Diana smiled at each of them as they passed, but none of them made eye contact with her, save for Rainbow Dash, who cast Diana a glare before leaving the room. Diana waited until they had closed the door to her room and heard the footsteps fade away before she poked the owl resting beside her once.
"They're gone. You can speak now."
"Your students have to be the most ungrateful, ignorant lot I have had the misfortune of having to watch over in a very long time," Athena snarled as she flapped her wings in anger before hopping across the desk to Diana's lessons. "With all of their grades so low, you think that they would be grateful that you were taking the time out of your own day to teach them. But no. They gripe and complain and see you as the villain. I do not know why you bother."
"Because I enjoy teaching. Now then, have you done as I requested, my Goddess?" Diana asked. Athena nodded before her eyes began to glow with a divine power. Diana quickly checked outside of her door to make sure that no one was around before she sat back down and closed her eyes, feeling the divine power washing over her mind. She could feel her consciousness traveling across the plain of existence, traveling to a place of which she had little knowledge.
'I must warn you Diana, that I cannot keep this open for more than five minutes at most. Whatever it is that you wish to say, you must say it quickly,' Athena's voice spoke within Diana's mind once she felt the power settling down. Diana nodded before stretching out her conscious to another, a conscious whose power she could feel even on a mental level.
"Doctor Fate, are you there?" Diana asked. She heard the sound of someone talking followed by a few other voices, before the conscious that she was seeking turned its full attention to her.
"Wonder Woman? Is that you I hear?" the voice of the doctor said within Diana's mind. "I have been subjected to many mental talks over the years, but I will admit that the conversation we are having now is new to me."
"That is because I am using Athena's power to speak with you. I must be quick, as I do not have much time. What I must tell you first is, that I want the more magically inclined members of the Justice League to keep an eye on Hades while I am away. He is up to no good."
"That...we can do. But Diana, where are you? All we have received of your whereabouts was a cryptic message from Athena. Is something the matter?"
"Hades is up to no good. He is trying to steal a magic that will grant him power. I am going to make sure he doesn't. I can handle things on this end, but I need to make sure that he doesn't try anything else in our reality."
"You are currently not in our reality?"
"Diana."
"Right. I do not have much more time, so I will make this next one quick. I am looking for someone. Someone dangerous."
"Isn't searching for madmen Batman's specialty?"
"If they are from our reality, yes. But this creature is not, at least not to my knowledge. All I can tell you about the being is that it wears a brown cloak, is almost completely metal, and likes to talk in triplicates. And also, it possesses a power that I have never faced before. I need you to hunt it down."
"That I can also do. I can sense that our connection is almost up. Before we part Diana, know that you do not need to do this alone. We can help you," Doctor Fate said.
"Thank you, Fate, but I have dealt with the gods all of my life. I can handle this. Not to mention there is...another reason that I stay here. A personal one." The connection to the doctor then snapped when Athena's power burned out, causing Diana's eyes to snap open as she returned to her world. Upon returning to her reality, Diana discovered Sunset Shimmer sitting in a chair across from the teacher's desk with a look of curiosity upon her face.
"Greetings, Sunset. What can I help you with?" Diana asked after she had taken a moment to recover.
"Um, why were you sitting in a room and talking to yourself?" Sunset asked with concern.
"Because I was speaking with a member of the Justice League about some of the problems that you and your friends have been dealing with recently," Diana informed her student while also standing up and gathering together her teaching supplies. "If there is anything else you wish to ask, please tell me as we walk. I have classes to teach soon."
"Alright, so I went to the library and did as much digging as I could on the gods, Hades in particular," Sunset said outside in the hallway while the two walked to their classes. Diana raised an eyebrow at her student as she reached into her backpack and pulled out dozens of pages worth of notes. "Including his full history, most interpretations of him, and why he would be so desperate for our magic. And I'm starting to think that-"
"Thank you Sunset, but you did not have to do all this for me," Diana said.
"Of course I did! This is also my battle and I want to help you in any way I can!" Sunset said with a determination so strong that Diana knew it would be pointless to try and fight it. With a wave of her hand, she allowed Sunset to continue speaking, though after a few minutes of listening to the human's take on Hades, she found she couldn't listen any more.
"So, what do you think?" Sunset asked, snapping Diana back into the real world. The teacher shook her head before glancing down at her student, who was waiting with a huge smile for what the teacher had to say. Diana pondered what she had heard for a moment before deciding to answer with a question of her own.
"First, allow me to ask a question of my own. Have you and the girls been doing your sleepovers like I have requested?" Diana asked Sunset.
"Yep. They seemed puzzled at why I was so insistent that we have them so often, but I got around that by telling Pinkie that the fate of our friendship depends on the sleepovers. Which it does. And none of us can refuse Pinkie when she's at her best. So, for the past couple days we've all stayed at one another's houses," Sunset informed Diana before her face fell slightly. "I just wish I could tell them the full truth."
"You will be able to in time. I asked my fellow Leaguers to keep an eye on Hades in my world, so hopefully we will not have any issues with him any time soon," Diana said.
"But we may have other issues," Sunset muttered before cursing at the lasso. "Ugh, I'm worried that some of the people at our school might figure out that you and the woman that wrecked a part of downtown are one and the same. It wouldn't take a genius to figure it out."
"How do you figure that?" Diana asked.
"It's so obvious. New teacher shows up and has incredible, ninja moves. Woman shows up who kicks the crap out of a zombie. It wouldn't be hard to at least suspect," Sunset whispered, only talking when none of the students or teachers were close to the two. "Speaking of, you should have seen the comments freak out when the video of you fighting Grundy got posted. Everyone was certain that the zombie apocalypse had begun."
"Trust me, I have seen the zombie apocalypse and it looks nothing like that," Diana assured her.
"So what does it look like?"
"The zombies wear far more black and have rings. Now then, I believe that it is time you get to class while I also...go find out whatever is causing this feeling." Leaving Sunset in the hall, Diana headed towards whatever had just made itself known to her senses. The sensation brought her from the halls of the school to the entrance of the building. "This is an odd sensation. It is not like Hades' magic, nor the magic of Sunset. But then what..."
Diana got her answer when she walked around the corner of the school to find one of the new students from Crystal Prep standing in the center of a large, demonic symbol while muttering dark incantations under her breath. Diana's eyes widened for a moment before she raced forward and snagged the girl by the back of her coat. Agatha let out a yelp while she was torn from the symbol, which Diana made sure to break by wiping away a part of it with her foot.
"Hey, what's going on?!" Agatha cried out while struggling against her captor, but when Diana moved the girl so that they could be face to face, all resistance died as Agatha seemed to shrink in Diana's grasp.
"I could ask you the same question. I assume that you knew full well what you were doing, so instead I'm going to ask what in the name of the gods were you thinking?!" Diana scolded with a look of fury, but to her surprise Agatha's face seemed to alight at the rage that Diana held.
"Then there is magic here." It took a considerable effort for Diana to not show any reaction to Agatha's words, but at that point the student was in her own world. "If there wasn't magic here, then you wouldn't be reacting so strongly to an attempt to access the power of the dark arts. Therefor-"
"Enough. You just stated yourself that you were trying to conjure black magic," Diana cut the student off, taking the reigns of the conversation once more. "Aside from that being both futile and idiotic, what could possibly possess a young girl such as yourself to even resort to the dark arts?"
"You wouldn't believe me," Agatha said with a sneer.
"Try me," Diana shot back with a cold stare.
"Fine. But first, put me down." After Diana did as the girl asked, Agatha flipped open the book she carried with her and showed a page to Diana. "This is what I was trying to do."
"A book on how to channel the power of the dead?" Diana whispered to herself, hiding the horror of the fact that a girl would be holding such a book with another cold glare. "May I ask why you have this with you? You seem to be an intelligent young lady, so I assume that even if they are considered fiction, that zombies are a bad idea?"
"Because I want power, Diana. A power that only a demon or the dead can grant to me," Agatha replied as she brushed her black hair out of her eyes.
"And what do you want this power for?"
"What do you think? To be powerful. To no longer be looked down upon or seen as a freak," Agatha replied in a tone that was as cold as the underworld. Diana gazed down at the student for a long minute before sighing and shaking her head.
"Agatha...what you seek is not power. What you seek is to be accepted. To not look in the mirror and hate what looks back. You seek the approval of others," Diana informed the girl as she placed a hand on her shoulder. Agatha tried to shake the teacher off, but Diana's grip was not easily broken. "But you do not have to seek out others' approval to be happy. All you have to do is accept yourself."
"Accept myself?" Agatha asked with what sounded like half a laugh and half a gag. "Accept the goth freak that gets made fun of for-"
"There is nothing wrong with who you are. Do not let what others say about you, make you think any less of yourself," Diana cut her off once again. "Because there is only one you. No matter what anyone else says, you are a unique individual." Diana hoped that her words would help the girl, but upon seeing the look she was being given, Diana figured that she'd have to add a little more.
"Agatha, do you want to know the true secret to being powerful?" Diana asked Agatha, whose eyes lit up for a moment at the question. "It is to accept yourself. Accept your potential and who you are. Because once you free yourself from those doubts, you will have a power that none can take from you."
"Accept my potential," Agatha muttered. Diana smiled in reply before turning her head towards the school as the sound of the bell ringing drew her attention.
"And it seems that I've missed first period. Oh well, I know Athena will have covered for me," Diana muttered with a shrug as she glanced down at Agatha once more, who was pondering over the teacher's words. "If any of the teachers ask where you were, simply tell them that you were with me. I will back you up. And also Agatha, please take my words to heart. I know that you may not believe it now, but you hold a strength inside of you. All you have to do is accept it."
"Diana," Agatha asked, getting the teacher to stop before she could leave the student alone. "Answer me this one last question. When you were talking to me about black magic, you called the demons and the magic foolish and spoken of in fiction...but you never denied it yourself. So if you are being completely honest with me, answer me this. Is there magic at this school?"
Diana gave her student a long, contemplative look as she pondered over her answer. Torn between keeping the secret of the magic safe and being completely honest with those who trusted her, Diana forced herself to make a decision.
"It is not the same magic that you believe in, but yes. There is magic in these halls." Diana then walked back into the school before Agatha could ask any more questions, but her hurried leave prevented her from seeing the thin smile that Agatha wore upon her face.
"So, there is magic here. And the only way a teacher as new as you would know about it is if you were magical yourself. Not to mention that ungodly strength of yours and the fact that you are so fast...this semester just got a lot more interesting. After all, not many students can say that they were taught by a zombie-slaying warrior. Oh, I bet my boss would love to hear about this."