"Why are we doing it this way?" I asked for the tenth time that morning.
The opposite of me was Diana, who was working tirelessly. Seeing that she was motivated to get the job done, I turned my attention toward my task, mixing gigantic tubs of dough.
"You did offer your assistance, didn't you?" Diana looked up from her gigantic simmering cauldron of deliciousness.
"I did… But I did not think you would ask me to do it this way."
"Don't complain. You are a god now, you don't get tired from making dough." Diana continued, her little happy dance brought a smile to my face, even if she was dancing on top of a three-meter ladder.
Honestly, her 'A warm meal for the people who need it' was a project I had never thought I would be a part of. The passion she showed, and the desire to help continued to amaze me. With our physique and the Gods' Kitchen, as I came to call it, everything finished before I even realized it.
In front of me was a delicacy I had gotten hooked upon stumbling it in my past life. And Diana, too, had fallen in love with a masterpiece. The Aussie meat pies. A perfect creation in my opinion.
Arriving at the destination, Diana was greeted enthusiastically.
The way she mingled with the crowd, handing out the warm pies, and seeing her smile match that of the children, bright and dazzling, my heart skipped a beat.
"Thank you." An old man approached me. His voice was soft, but the pain he hid in his heart cut through. Then, there was his rough complexion, and the scar that adorned his face, it could terrify even the adult. Yet, he was surrounded by children, all of whom he ushered toward the front to receive their portion.
"Why me? Shouldn't it be Diana to receive your gratitude?" I had to ask.
"The other might not notice, but I do," The man said quietly, his eyes staring at the children who had formed a small crowd around Diana. "Your lovely wife, she is a saint. Everyone here loved her, especially the children. She had her ways with them, the way they swarmed her the moment she arrived and the way they talked about her when she left."
"That does not explain why you are thanking me."
"What I am trying to say, Sir. Your wife is the kindest person I know. But kindness could only get you so far."
"Don't look down on kindness too much, the world needs it right now, and I am only here because of her kindness after all." Gazing at Diana, my Diana, I felt everything was right. A part of me hoped that time would stop so that her smile would never fade.
"That might be sure, Sir. But if it was not for you, then we would not be here."
"You know?"
"It is hard not to when you are the only reason why most of the shelter still operating as it is," The old man said sincerely.
"It's worth it. For them, and her."
With the crowd requiring his presence, I was once again left to my thoughts. My eyes swept across the dining, everyone was enjoying their meal, and the smiles on their face bloomed even brighter.
"Mister, do you want some?" A little girl tugged at my shirt, her mouth stained with grease, and her smile was brighter than most.
"Thank you. How do you like the pie I made?"
"You made? Are you here with big sister Diana?" The little girl asked.
"Yes, in fact, we live together," I said, hoping to draw a reaction from her. But it did not go like how I expected it to.
When her eyes widened, and her fingers pointed toward me questioningly, I knew something was up. Especially when Diana covered her chuckles upon seeing it.
And my fear came true and the girl screamed from the top of her lungs, "Big sister Diana's bully."
Instantly, the children stopped what they were doing, all of their eyes were on me. They even abandoned their pies and swarmed me. Their indignant yells echoed in the dining hall.
All of their fake tears, as they stood up for their big sister, drowned out everything else. I could barely hear myself think.
Thankfully, the mopping stopped when Diana called for them and thanked them for revenging her.
Even when I was covered in grease, saliva, and booger, I could not be mad at the kids. However, my attention was on the chuckling Diana, and the smile on her face.
Honestly, I could not be any prouder.
She was more than just a hero to the world, more than the depiction of later media. I thought and imagined countless ways how things would unfold but seeing Diana, who was a God Queen, connecting with humanity was not among them.
Thus, it was all the more heartwarming.
With peace and happiness, fear and worries were not far behind. They crept up onto me like a cat in the middle of the night. The future was going to change in a way I was sure I could not predict. Thus, I needed a plan.
Ideas for the future swirled in my mind. Should I emulate the Hightable in John Wick uniserve? Or do I copy SHIELD from Marvel? Or create something like Men in Black? Should I even build my own organization?
All of which required careful thinking.
Because ruling through fear was out of the question. There were too many variables, and the countless examples, both fictional and non-fictional of its horrifying result.
Ruling through compassion and love, on the other hand, was not optimal either. Even if it was on the other side of the spectrum. But it would most likely result in the same consequences. I would be cheated and betrayed.
"What's on your mind?" Diana asked when we arrived home.
"The future…"
"Anything specific?" At Diana's question, an unavoidable event resurfaced in my mind. Damaging as it was, it also represented an oportunity.
The long-awaited conversation reached its due.
Thus, for the next hours, I gave her the details description of 'World War 2'. An event I called the first point of deviation.
Like I had expected, Diana did not take it kindly, the anger and rage burned within her when she heard of the atrocities that were going to be committed. Her anger only intensified when I told her to disrupt the unfolding future.
"What do you mean I could not kill him? One man, for millions of people?" Diana screamed.
"You can't Diana, we don't know how it would unfold. We don't know if killing him would intensify the war to the point of no return." I tried to argue, but all I saw was the burning rage within those eyes.
"You are a hypocrite, Xandros. Since it does not benefit you, then you are not going to intervene. Like how you disrupted reality and met me? How you killed Zeus?"
"Diana…"
"Tell me, Xandros? Are you going to stop me?" Diana asked.
"Would you listen to me? Five minutes. That's all I asked for."
I stared deep into her eyes, the anger was merely a mask. What I saw were compassion and empathy.
"The children?" I asked.
Instead of answering, she collapsed into my arms. Carrying her back to our favorite spot, nestling on the couch in my laboratory. This time, however, she had a companion. Apemosyne. The name she had given to my first creation, the rabbit who was sleeping soundly in Diana's arms.
"It was the children, isn't it?" I picked the topic up again.
"I want to see them growing up in a peaceful world, Xandros. Not for them to die in another meaningless war? What about the millions of innocents he was going to massacre? We could stop him Xandros. We could stop it all one life in exchange for millions." Diana said.
"What if his death brought even more chaos, more disaster? What if they win instead? I caused enough chaos, Diana. I killed Zeus and turned us into gods. My actions are going to cause countless ripples throughout reality. If you were to intervene in the history of the mortals, then the chaos we left behind would be imaginable."
"I can imagine it," Diana stated, the conviction in her voice was as day. "Even if the world is destroyed, I cannot knowingly abandon the lives of millions of innocent people."
"You are determined, right?"
"Yes."
This was what I had expected starting this conversation. Maybe this was my own little test to see if my intervention had changed Diana negatively. But the outcome was what I had expected. After all, this was who she meant to be. The unyielding hero who would stop at nothing to save the life of the innocent.
Thus, I wanted to change the future. Over the past year, I had lived long enough in the what if, the fear that my action would alter the future in ways I could not stop had long vanished.
Since this reality was going to be thrown into the deep end, what stopping me from destroying all of the 'what if', and creating my own reality? And what better opportunity to establish my secret control over the world, than a conflict that brought the world to its knees?
"How about we save the innocent?"
"But we can stop this war," Diana yelled.
"You might see the good in people, Diana, but their greedy nature would never change. Even with his death, at most, you would push back the inevitable war by a few years. Trust me, when I say this, the war is unavoidable," I conjured up the only proof Diana would need.
The Treaty of Versailles.
"How? Don't they understand the pain of war for the people? How could they do this?" Diana asked, her voice trembling with emotions.
I was shocked to see her vulnerable side. The humanity hidden underneath godly nature, and was hardened through time. Holding her close, I watched as she broke down. Everything she believed in, everything she fought for shattered before her eyes.
"Is it unavoidable?" Diana asked for a glimmer of hope, but there was a hardened edge to her voice.
"Unfortunately."
"Will you help me save the innocent?"
Hearing the vulnerability in her voice, broke me. Peppering her with love and kisses, to drive away the sorrowful atmosphere, only when a soft smile could be seen on her face did I stop.
"Of course, my God Queen. How about some rabbit stew to cheer you up?"
At my words, Apemosyne woke up, its nose twitched, its ears flopped, and its legs kicked at my arms unceasingly. There were also squeals of panic as it looked toward me indignantly.
"Stopped it, you are scaring Apemosyne." Diana calmed the rabbit down with a few head pats, before turning toward me, "Thank you."
"What for?"
"For being honest. For being here. And for not judging me."
Peace… A goal I aimed to achieve. But the real question was how was I controlling the world?