Hours Later,Burial Grounds
The crowd had thinned. Those who remained were a select few,the heroes, and those who had chosen to see the funeral through to its end. Others had left after the first few hours. Others still simply couldn't bear the weight of the atmosphere any longer.
A stretch of open earth had been prepared behind the memorial grounds. The remaining mourners stood in a loose circle around it, the silence broken only by the soft sound of the wind and quiet weeping.
Wonder Woman stood closest to the edge of the graves. Beside her, Terra, her eyes puffy and red. Then Thena, who made no effort to hold back her tears. And beside her stood Max, expressionless, dark rings carved beneath his eyes from days without sleep.
They watched in silence as the caskets were slowly lowered.
Max raised his hand and gently placed it on Thena's trembling shoulder. Thena instinctively reached up with her left hand and laid it over his. Then she turned to look at him.
Max's eyes widened slightly.
Her eyes were blood red. As he watched, one tomoe formed,then another,bleeding slowly into existence in each eye. The Sharingan. Fully awakened, born not from from grief.
'Thena'.
He understood now, in a way words couldn't reach, just how much pain she was truly carrying.
Meanwhile
Nina found herself floating in a dark void.
The last thing she remembered was the feeling of finally letting go,and then nothing. She didn't even know how long she had been here. She didn't even have a body here. What puzzled her most was a single thought she kept returning to: shouldn't she have been erased the moment she took off the ring?
She was pulled from her thoughts when she suddenly felt herself falling.
She slammed face first into a floor.
"Damn it," she muttered.
She pushed herself up and stared at her hands. She had a body again. An actual, solid body. What was happening? Was her father putting her through some kind of illusion?
Nina stood and surveyed the room. There was nothing remarkable about it,if anything, it was strange in how plain it was. No doors. No windows. The only furniture was a single chair and a table. Nina walked to the wall and traced her fingers along its surface.
*It feels no different from an ordinary wall,* she thought. 'Which means'
She clenched her fist, about to push through it, when a voice came from behind her.
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting."
Nina spun around.
Her eyes widened slightly in recognition.
Now sitting in the previously empty chair was none other than Didi, who looked up at her with a warm smile. "Oh,so Max told you about me?"
"Yes," Nina said slowly. "You're Didi, right?"
"I am," Didi said. "And you know what it is that I do?"
"Yeah." Nina's voice was steady. "You're the one who guides souls to the afterlife." She let that sit for a moment before continuing. "Which means it's really over, huh."
"Yes," Didi said gently. "You died after the battle." She paused, then added, "Your fight was quite impressive, by the way. None of the others would have lasted as long as you did, or pushed him as hard. For a while there, you were the strongest individual on Earth."
Nina scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess."
A beat of silence passed before she looked up. "So... what now?"
"Now," Didi said, rising from the chair, "I guide you through."
She walked toward the wall. A door materialized in it,slowly at first, then all at once, as if it had always been there and was only just remembering itself. Didi reached out, gripped the handle, and turned it.
"But before then" she said, and pulled the door open.
Bright light flooded the room, warm and boundless, before softening to something gentler. Didi turned back to Nina with a smile.
"Someone would like to see you."
She gestured toward the door.
Nina hesitated for just a moment,then stepped through.
The moment she walked through the door, she saw them.
Her mother and father, standing there together.
Nina froze. Deep, long-buried emotions began rising to the surface all at once, threatening to overwhelm her entirely.
Diana spoke first.
"It's been a while, Nina."
That was all the confirmation she needed. Nina dashed forward and tackled both of them in a fierce hug, the force of it pushing them both back a step. Diana let out a soft, surprised laugh.
"You've grown stronger as well," she said warmly, rubbing Nina's back in slow, soothing circles.
"I thought I'd never see you again," Nina said, her voice cracking as tears fell freely. "I was alone for so long after you were gone. So lonely."
"It's alright now," Diana said gently. "You won't be lonely anymore."
Nina pulled back and wiped her eyes. Then Max spoke.
"I'm sorry for making you go through all of that, Nina. I truly am."
"It's okay, dad." She shook her head. "I understand why you did it. I'm just happy I got the chance to see you again." She paused, her brow furrowing slightly. "But how? Shouldn't you have passed on long ago?"
"I happen to know people in high places," Max said, a quiet hint of regret seeping into his voice. "It's the least I could do after everything that happened."
"Like I said, dad,it's okay. I forgave you a long time ago."
Max was quiet for a moment. Then, as if catching himself, he spoke again.
"So... did you open that letter?"
Nina blinked, then laughed softly, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah. And at first I wanted to get you back,by force. It, uh... didn't go that well."
"Did you at least give your father a run for his money?" Diana asked, amused.
"If it wasn't for his completely unfair regeneration, I would have won for sure," Nina said firmly.
"I'm sure you would have," Diana agreed.
"What,that's a lie!" Max protested.
"I told you I'd catch up to you," Nina said with a smirk. "And I was so close."
She glanced around then, her smile softening. "Now where's Terra?"
Max and Diana exchanged a brief look and quietly averted their eyes.
A silence followed. Nina's expression began to shift, the smile fading as her mind started going to darker places .
"BOO!"
A hand tapped her shoulder from behind. Nina yelped and spun around to find Terra doubled over, barely able to contain herself, laughter spilling out of her as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
"Finally got you back!" Terra wheezed between laughs. "You see how it isn't fun to pull pranks like this? Look at your face,absolutely priceless, I can't even-"
Nina tackled her.
The hug was fierce enough to knock the laughter clean out of Terra's lungs.
"I can't believe you would do something like this," Nina said, her voice muffled against Terra's shirt.
"Okay,I'm sorry,thena,I can't breathe" Terra managed in a hoarse voice.
Nina let her go and turned to face Max and Diana with a playful glare. "And I can't believe you two were in on it."
"She wouldn't stop asking us to go along with it," Diana said, holding her hands up.
"Totally worth it, by the way," Terra added, rubbing her back with a wince.
Nina crossed her arms, eyes narrowing as a slow, dangerous smile spread across her face. She turned to Max. "You know, I can't believe even you agreed to this, dad. But then again, after what happened at the spar, I really shouldn't be surprised."
Terra straightened up immediately. "Oh? Do tell."
"This ought to be good," Diana agreed, her eyes bright with amusement.
"Well" Nina began.
"As long as it's not something you made up just to get back at me," Max said flatly.
"Oh, I assure you it's not," Nina said sweetly. She glanced at Max. "You don't mind if I tell them, do you, dad?"
Max said nothing.
Nina took that as permission. She shifted, her form changing before their eyes until she stood as a younger version of Max,his face, his posture, his expression perfectly replicated. Terra's eyebrows shot up.
"It happened a few months ago during a spar," Nina said in a perfect imitation of Max's voice, before dropping back to her own. "Dad here was clearly enjoying himself a little too much,because the face he made there was absolutely diabolical..." She paused for dramatic effect, then replicated the expression exactly.
Silence.
Then Terra lost it completely.
"There is absolutely no way he did that," she wheezed, clutching her sides. "Were they massaging his soul or something?!"
"That is exactly what I said!" Nina burst out laughing alongside her. "I could not believe my eyes"
Max stared at them both with a dry, unimpressed expression. He turned to Diana.
She had her hand pressed politely over her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking.
"Seriously," Max said. "I didn't make that face. She's exaggerating."
Diana looked away. Her shoulders shaking harder.
"I did not make that face," Max repeated, which only made all three of them laugh harder.
From a distance, Didi watched the whole thing with a quiet smile. She stood by the door for a moment longer, taking it in,the laughter, the warmth, the years of distance finally dissolved.
Then she spoke, softly, to no one in particular.
"You did, Max. You really did."
She closed the door gently behind her.
*And that was the end of Nina/Thena Schiller's story.*
*After retelling everything that had happened in the time after their deaths, Thena, Diana, and Terra finally passed on to the afterlife together. And Max,at long last,let go, so that the current Max could exist*.
End of Chapter
Chapter 33:The End of Zetsu
Chapter 34:Kara's True colour's
Chapter 35:A Looming Threat