//------------------------------// // Unholy Alliance // Story: Let Them Wonder // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Hades gazed into the pits of hellfire that burned beneath him, pleased by the sounds of Grundy's soul as it screamed in agony. Yet, the god quickly grew bored with the sound of the immortal's suffering and turned back towards his throne with a small sigh. "That is what I get for sending a brainless fool such as Grundy to try and convince Wonder Woman to do what I asked. I cannot believe I thought that would work. I must truly be getting desperate." Hades strode to his throne and the portal to the other world that rested beside it, holding out his hand towards the vortex of magic. Yet, just as it had done many times in the past, a burst of rainbow magic blasted his hand back and prevented its entry. "But what to do now? I could send another soul of the damned, but there is no guarantee that they will yield any greater results. And even if I do send one of them there, Diana has shown that she would rather fight to the last breath than allow my minions to claim their magic. This is truly a dilemma." "One that you could easily avoid, if you think. Ponder. Plan." Hades turned his head so that he could glance over his shoulder, spying a being standing behind him that was covered in a brown cloak and had a hole punched through its chest. "But you are a fool. A moron. A god." "And clearly you are no wiser since you insult me in my realm," Hades spat back with brimstone in his voice. The creature didn't seem impressed with Hades' rage and walked up beside him, touching its hand to the vortex and changing the image to that of the students Diana fought so hard to protect. "But your appearance here intrigues me, so I will stay my hand until I learn what you are here for." "I am here for her life," the creature replied as it focused the portal on a girl with red and yellow hair. "But Diana prevented me from claiming it. So, I come to deal with the god of the dead." "Then you are the fool I believed, for I need that girl alive so that I can have the magic that she possesses within her," Hades informed the being, who paid the god no mind as it moved its face closer to the vortex. Far closer, Hades noticed, than the vortex ever allowed him. "But it seems that while a fool, you possess something I do not. You can enter their world, can't you?" "Have my words not made that clear, you arrogant ass of a god?" the being snapped back. Hades would have killed for that insult, but his curiosity stayed his hand a little longer. "But though I hate to admit it, you can do something that I cannot. You can slay that infernal Spirit of Truth. I cannot best her. At least, not this version of her." "So, it seems that we both need each other if we are to both get what we want," Hades mused before waving his hand and summoning forth hundreds of souls. "Very well being, I will make a deal with you. If you aid me in securing the magic within those six girls, then I will personally slay Sunset Shimmer myself." Hades extended a hand after saying this with a smile, yet the creature under the cloak stared at his hand for a long time before nodding in reply. "Very well, Lord of the Dead, since I can see no other option that would benefit me. Actually I can, but it would change this world so severely that it is not worth it. I shall work with you--until I no longer have any need of you." "How curious, I was about to say the same thing," Hades quipped coolly with a toothy grin. "So then, partner, may I ask what our next move should be? I have thousands of souls that would slaughter an entire world to be free of death. Which of them do we need?" "We need none of them yet, you idiot. Did you not see what Grundy did? It put the Amazon on guard. She will be on the lookout for anything that is a threat, and with that owl of hers we will not be able to surprise her like before," the creature ridiculed Hades, whose eyes blazed with a fire that he fought to keep from consuming him. "No, for the time being we must watch. Wait. Plan. Perhaps we will see a chance to attack. Or perhaps, we will find one that we can get to work for us. But patience will be our ally." Hades nodded in agreement, watching as the creature faded out of existence before letting out a snarl of fury. He took a moment to calm himself while also staring back at the hundreds of souls that he had summoned. With a flick of his hand, he sent them all back into the abyss from which he had called them, save for one that he called to his side. He grabbed hold of the soul and gazed down at it with a smile, taking in a soul as black as the greatest evil that he held within his clutches. 'Very well creature, I shall work with you for now. But when the time comes for another of my citizens to pay Diana a visit, I know exactly who it shall be.' =wWw= "A zombie? That is what they were calling the creature that appeared downtown?" Sombra asked before throwing back his head and laughing at the top of his lungs, ignoring the looks of annoyance that the other teachers gave him. "Please, zombies are nothing more than stupid stories that authors use to make a quick buck." "As usual Sombra, your opinion is valued," Cranky said with a roll of his eyes. "Forget the zombie, I want to know more about the woman that fought it," Cheerilee said as she glanced down at her phone, bringing up the image of the woman standing across from the zombie. "According to reports, she was incredibly strong and could even fly. Do you all know what this means?" "That I'm not going to be able to go on the Internet for a while without hundreds of people freaking out over her?" "This could be the world's first super being! I mean, aside from Sunset and her friends of course," Cheerilee whispered as she gazed across the teachers' lounge at Diana, who seemed far too absorbed in her book to be paying the three any mind. "This could change the world!" "Don't bank on it. Most are calling it a hoax, while others say its simply another online video," Sombra remarked while he gazed down at his own phone with a raised eyebrow. "Since there were only eyewitnesses and no cameras to catch the battle, aside from the phone that did, a hoax seems to be the general consensus." "And is that your opinion?" Cranky asked Sombra, who rolled his eyes in response. "So, you don't believe that a woman in a strange attire fought a zombie in the middle of downtown?" "Please. The only superwoman in this world is sitting over there listening in on us. Now could this be real? Sure, but until I get more concrete evidence, I'm just going to chalk this up as one of those weird, magical things that happens around here and leave it at that." Sombra's eyes shrunk slightly when he spied Diana standing up. He then became fascinated with the ground when the teacher walked over to their table, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to the others. "Now, how did you know I was listening in?" Diana asked Sombra. Instead of answering, Sombra chose to focus on the owl that landed on the center of the table. "Sombra," Diana repeated in a tone that made his spine shiver. "Please, explain to me." "Because there's only so many times a person can read the same page, before it becomes clear that they are not reading the page. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go somewhere that I don't fear for my well being," Sombra snarled before rising from his chair and storming out of the room. "Well, since you were listening in, what do you think Diana?" Cheerilee asked the teacher while showing her the image on her phone. Diana gazed down at the fuzzy image with a blank face, feeling the other twos' eyes upon her. "Is it real or is it a hoax?" "It is not a clear image, that much is certain," Diana muttered under her breath. "Well Cheerilee, I have heard tales of strange things happening around this school. Perhaps one of these strange events poured out into the city?" "So you think it is real?" "I believe that it could be real. But I also am sure that if it is real, then that would mean something serious is going on," Diana said in a tone that made the other two teachers lean in closer. "Can I ask the two of you to do me a favor?" "What kind of favor?" Cranky asked with suspicion. "If either of you see anything that seems out of the ordinary, please tell me about it as soon as you are able," Diana asked the pair of them. Both Cheerilee and Cranky stared at her for a long moment, with Diana gazing back into their eyes to try and read what they were thinking. Then something seemed to click in Cranky's eyes, and a moment later he nodded. "Alright Diana, I'll keep an eye out for anything strange," Cranky promised before elbowing Cheerilee. "I think we should do it Cheerilee. If what I heard is right, then some of our students almost got hurt by that creature. We need to communicate with each other if we wish to keep our students safe." "Um, sure Cranky, I can do that," Cheerilee agreed with a confused smile. "I am grateful to the both of you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a student that I need to go meet with," Diana said as Athena hopped onto her arm. Diana then rose and exited the room, fully aware that both of the teachers were giving her strange looks as she left. 'They suspect you,' Athena informed Diana. "They are suspicious of me. I do not believe that they suspect me," Diana replied, turning the corner down a hallway to see Boulder ripping the doors off of lockers and gazing inside. "And speaking of suspects...BOULDER! What are you doing?!" Diana yelled. The giant of a student leapt about five feet in the air as his head snapped towards Diana, his eyes shrinking under her glare. He turned and began to run for his life, but he had barely gone five steps before Diana had a hand upon his shoulder. "You can't run from me, Boulder. Explain to me what you were doing and maybe you will avoid my fury," Diana advised the student, while also gazing behind her to see that numerous other lockers had been ripped open. "C-Crystal couldn't find her locket. She figured that someone had stolen it," Boulder stammered out while keeping his eyes glued to the floor. Despite being nearly as tall as Diana, he didn't dare look her in the eyes. He was afraid that her gaze might turn him to stone. "So, I figured that I would find it for her. And if another student did steal it..." "For the love of Hera," Diana muttered under her breath before glaring at Boulder, who shrank under her gaze. "To detention with you, Boulder. Find Sombra's classroom. And if Crystal has had something stolen, then tell her to talk to a teacher about it. Better yet, send her to me. I'll deal with her." Diana shook her head as the boy walked away, turning back towards the exit once he was out of sight. "First Agatha, now Boulder. How much do you wish to wager that I will be having trouble with Crystal before too long?" Diana asked her owl friend. 'That would be an unwise bet on my part,' Athena replied. Diana said farewell to the students that were still in the entrance to the school before she headed through the front doors to find Sunset sitting on a guard rail. A smile crossed the student's face when she spied her teacher, and after hopping off of the rail Sunset raced towards Diana. "Hey Diana, how'd the day go? Any magical attacks or old foes returning from the dead that I need to know about?" Sunset asked in a whisper while she gazed around to make sure no one else was listening. "No Sunset, nothing like that happened. Aside from one of Twilight's experiments nearly blowing up the science classroom, it was a quiet day," Diana responded before gazing over her shoulder to see Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway of the school with narrowed eyes. Diana raised an eyebrow at her before motioning for her to join them. Dash smirked in response before she leapt onto a skateboard near her feet and raced away from the school. "Sorry about that, Dash has been upset that I seem to be spending more time with you than her--or any of my other friends," Sunset admitted with a small sigh. "I wish I could tell them that I'm not avoiding them. I need to learn how to fight." "Soon, you will be able to tell them. I promise," Diana promised her student as the two headed to the secluded area that Diana preferred. "In the meantime, simply focus on your studies and training, but I would also recommend that you do make time for them. I do not wish for you to waste all of your time with an old lady like myself." "Old? Diana, nearly every girl at this school is jealous of how you look," Sunset said with a laugh before she gazed into the distance. "Hey, Diana? If Hades does send another of his lackeys here to try to get us and you fight them, would you mind if...I fight with you?" "No." "No you don't mind?" "No, I don't want you to fight with me." "Why not? The best place to get experience to fight is-" "One, you are not ready for actual combat. Two, I am teaching you how to fight so that you can defend yourself if I am not there to protect you," Diana cut her off with such a powerful tone that Sunset immediately shut up. "And three, the kind of creatures Hades might send are far beyond anything you have seen. I would not risk your safety like that." "But you won't always be here to protect me," Sunset muttered, but Diana was still able to hear her. Diana placed a hand upon Sunset's shoulder to stop her and the young girl gazed up at Diana with an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry Diana. I just...want to prove to you that I am learning. That you aren't wasting your time teaching me." "I have never believed that I am wasting my time or my teachings with you, Sunset. And never let yourself think that," Diana calmly replied to Sunset with a warm smile. "And while it is true that I may not always be here to protect you, I promise that when I leave, you will not need to worry about either Hades or your nightmare causing you any more harm. I do not doubt your abilities. I simply do not wish to risk the life of my student when I do not have to. Now come, today I'm going to be teaching you how to break limbs and this is a lesson you will want to focus on." Sunset nodded before the two walked down into the grassy field and took up positions across from each other, both of them wearing smiles upon their faces as the next lesson began.