Life in ancient Greece turned out to be far more fascinating than Diana had anticipated. The city buzzed with life, filled with colors she had never expected. If she were here as a mere traveler, she would have spent days marveling at the sights, but she had a mission.

Artemis had sent her back millennia into the past to retrieve a lost artifact, one tied to the gods themselves. Diana had thought the task wouldn’t be too difficult—after all, she spoke ancient Greek. Or so she had believed. As it turned out, the Greek spoken on Themyscira had evolved over the centuries, making it difficult to fully understand the dialect of this era.

Frustration gnawed at her, but she refused to give up. Eventually, she found someone willing to help—a blacksmith, strong-armed and sharp-eyed, with a steady voice that held quiet amusement when he listened to her struggle with certain words.

"I think I can help you. When I was a child, I saw something that matches your description, but..." He exhaled, rubbing a hand over his jaw. "That place was buried after an earthquake. If the artifact is still there, finding it won’t be easy."

She had faced worse odds.

For two years, they worked side by side, clearing rubble and carving a path to the artifact. The labor was exhausting, but neither of them gave up. Somewhere along the way, their partnership became something more—something unspoken, lingering in shared glances and fleeting touches.

At last, after digging a sixty-meter tunnel, they found it.

When they emerged from the tunnel, caked in dust and sweat, he turned to her with a quiet smile. Without a word, he reached out, his rough fingers brushing over her forehead as he gently wiped the dirt from her skin. She held still, her breath catching slightly at the warmth of his touch.

She didn’t want to leave.

Diana swallowed hard, meeting his gaze. "Thank you," she said softly. "For everything. For the shelter, the food… for helping me when no one else would." She hesitated, her voice lowering. "I don’t want to say goodbye."