Atalanta's point of view

All I could do was send a sympathetic gaze towards my mother. I never realized how much pain she and Dad went through... pain they didn't deserve.

Apollo had a straight face, which I guess is his equivalent to a frown. While Mom's expression was plain, I could see how hurt she was. It was really annoying me.

"Mom," I gently called out to her while moving closer towards her. "Are you alright?"

I asked her while going in to hug her, knowing that there was no way she was alright, but it was all I could do to try and help her.

"Of course, Atalanta, you shouldn't worry about me," Mom tried to comfort me while not hugging me back.

I could tell that she was lying, but I didn't know how to get her to open up.

How do I help her?

My face twisted into a frown.

She's so annoying! When other people offer you help, you should accept it, especially when the offer comes from someone who loves you.

"Come on, sis, don't you know that telling someone not to worry only makes them that much more concerned? If you want, I could go hunt down and kill Orion for you. Would that make you feel better?"

"Orion has Gaea's support and is our equal; all you'll do is get yourself killed. And you can't kill Orion alone anyway," Mom said with a sigh. She had a tired expression on her face, a small flash of worry formed in her eyes.

Could Mom be worried about Apollo doing something stupid? I guess she might actually care about Apollo, even though she finds him annoying. And that fool is hurting her by putting himself in danger for her sake.

I might be able to help Mom if I make sure Apollo doesn't go and get himself killed.

I got up and grabbed Apollo by his arm.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"We need to talk alone," he didn't try to resist as I pulled him away, "We'll be right back, Mom."

Mom just looked confused at my sudden actions but didn't try to stop me.

"Uncle, are you stupid?" I asked him once we were out of earshot, or at least earshot for normal humans. I don't know if it is possible to get out of the earshot of a god, especially in their domain, but this is better than nothing.

"huh, of course not," his face was almost threatening to break into a condescending smile, "in fact, I'm probably the smartest god."

"Then why did you bring up killing Orion in front of Mom?"

"What's wrong with that? She clearly wants him dead, and I'm inching to oblige."

"And what happens if Orion kills you with his special sword. Do you know how sad she'll be?" I told him more than asked him, annoyed at his selfish desire for revenge.

Apollo trying to kill Orion won't help Mom feel better, nor will it bring back her hunters. All it will do is put Apollo in danger, and even if he does manage to kill Orion, it will just make him feel better, not Mom.

Apollo looked annoyed at me, his normal goofiness gone, "Would you rather I just let Orion run free? What do you think will happen if he manages to trap your mother?"

"No, we can't let Orion run free, not when he is still a threat to Mom. But that doesn't mean we should run off and try and fight Orion without a plan. We need to figure out his current goal, how and why Gaia is helping him, and learn his strengths and weakness. Then we come up with a plan that guarantees our victory, with the least amount of losses possible."

"Do you really think that you can outfox Orion? He has thousands of years of experience and has alluded lil'sis's hunters for centuries."

"Of course, I don't think I can outsmart Orion, but I don't need to. You are one of the greatest Olympians and known for being a great tracker. So, I'll rely on you... or are you planning to abandon your niece and sister?" I asked Apollo. Hopefully, compliments and guilt-tripping will be enough to calm him down. "No, I know you won't, Uncle. You're too good to do something like that."

Apollo's face turned into a smile as bright as the sun, "So you do understand how magnificent your uncle is. Good, I was beginning to worry that you were a massive tsundere like your mother."

It seems that compliments really do work on Apollo, or maybe they worked so well on him because of my similarity to Mom. Either way, though, despite his goofy personality, he could be a strong ally and help turn the tides of a fight against Orion.

Or I could just get him to fall in love with Orion; if that happened, then Orion would be tracked down and dead within the week.

"Uncle, can you please go for now," I told him while ignoring his tsundere comment, "I want to talk to Mom about everything, alone. We can deal with Orion after."

I decided to try and get Apollo to leave Mom and me alone for now, while he is in a good mood, and the idea of working together to kill Orion is still fresh in his mind. This way, I can do my best to help Mom without Apollo getting in the way while also lowering the chance he charges after Orion tonight.

"Sure, just make sure to do your best to help her, lil'anta," Apollo said while turning to walk away.

I just blinked. I didn't expect him to agree so easily; I thought that it might turn into another long debate. Yet, that's not what happened, just what is he thinking? Does he think he'll earn points with me by agreeing with me?

"Oh, yeah, niece, tell your mother that she is going to have to tell the story, she just told me, to the other gods, or I will do it for her."

I just looked at the sun god's back once more after he said that. I could tell that he meant that as the end of our conversation. So, I turned and walked back to camp.

I'm not going to be able to figure out what he was thinking tonight.

The walk back didn't take long for me to walk back to camp, "I'm sorry for going, Mom."

"It's alright," Mom noticed Apollo's absence, "where's Apollo?"

"We couldn't talk with that jerk here, so I told him to leave us alone," I told Mon as I sat next to her.

Mom didn't respond. She looked too nervous about doing so. It was as if she was worried about what to say. Seeing Mom like this feels unreal. She's always seemed so unshakable, even in my oldest memories. Mom has no weakness, yet here she is struggling to talk to me.

To be fair, I don't know what to say either... I guess starting at the beginning would be best.

"Mom, you said you were the Greek god Artemis. How?"

The gods should have left this world around 2000 years ago when the age of the gods ended. Yet, Mom is claiming to be one. If the Greek gods are around, then what about other gods? And how do they stay secret from the rest of the world?

"Atalanta, the existence of gods, are explained in Greek myth, we are descendants of Gaea, and possess authority over the world itself. While some may fade away with time, most of us can't just spontaneously disappear."

"But how does the world not know about you?"

"It's due to the mist, a magic force controlled by Hecate. It clouds mortals' minds to the mystical around them, going so far as to implant false memories if needed."

I looked down for a second while thinking about this mist. It was honestly absurd to think about; it sounded like a boundary field placed over the entire world, constantly ready to hypnotize any unfortunate moral. I can think of more than a few mages that would kill for something like that.

I looked up again as I felt Mom slightly shift positions; as she opened her mouth to speak, "Atalanta, how do you feel about the fact you're not human."

Mom's face was cold as always, with her eyes staring directly back at me, "I don't know. When you told me that I am a demi-god, it felt like something inside me clicked into place. But it just doesn't feel right to think of myself as a part god."

No emotion appeared on my face as I told her my feelings.

For 17 years, I was a pure human, and I've spent this life thinking about myself as a human. So, suddenly being told I'm part divine feels off. I just don't feel divine; I feel like me.

On the same note, Mom being a god, didn't feel real either. I just can't link her with the stories of Artemis.

Gods are supposed to be powerful foreign beings, nearly incapable of understanding humans. They are prideful and selfish beings that only care about doing what they want... or who they care about.

Think back on all my interactions with Mom; she is prideful and can be incredibly selfish. Despite that, I've never felt like my life was in danger around... she's always made me feel 's hard for me to imagine her doing half the terrible things that legends attributed to her.

At most, I could see her being kind of mean, like she is with Dad.

"Can you describe the clicking feeling?" Mom asked with an understanding look.

"It was like a link clicked into place with something bigger, but it felt like the link was already a part of me."

"That's a natural feeling for demi-gods when they learn their heritages. That sensation was your authorities fully connecting to the world, and your identity as a demi-god being fully ingrained into the world."

I took in what Mom said as best as I could.

Gods are nature spirits, and that means they are connected to the world, and I've inherited this trait from Mom. I need to figure out how this connection affects me.

Could my identity as a demi-god being ingrained in the world mean I'm now more vulnerable to attacks with conceptual advantages over divinity?

If gods are still around, then I'm willing to bet that anti-divine weapons are still around. I'll need to be careful.

"You keep mentioning my authorities; just what authorities do I have?"

"I checked your soul when you were born and found that you had strongly inherited all my authorities, meaning that you have authority over all my domains."

"I see," I responded as a small smile appeared on my face. The more power I have, the easier it will be to defeat Orion.

I noticed Mom was starting to smile, too; it almost seemed like she was reminiscing about something.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her.

"I was just thinking about the day you were born."

That was a surprising answer, given how greatly affected. Mom was said to have been by helping to deliver Apollo. I would think my birth would be one of her worst memories.

"Even though I'm the god of childbirth and love children, I could never understand why people would go through the pain of childbirth, even after thousands of years. But I came to understand them as I heard your soft cries for the first time and saw your silver eyes look into mine for the first time," she turned from her spot next to me and placed her hand on my cheek.

I couldn't help but stare into my mother's eyes as she did this. Her silver eyes looked so sad, "I came to a decision, as I held you for the first time, and that was that I would never deny you. Atalanta, no matter what you do in life, you will always be my child, and nobody can take that from you," Mom lowered her hand from my cheek as she took a breath.

I stared blankly at Mom for a moment, yet despite that blank expression, inwardly, I felt a whirlwind of emotions. I felt sadness because Mom's eyes were so somber and that she felt the need to say something like this. Guilt for knowing that Mom would never deny me, even if I commit acts of homicide as I did in my last life.

But at the same time, I conversely felt comfort in her promise, too, from knowing that Mom will love me no matter what I do to protect her. I truly don't deserve her as a mother.

Before I could respond, Mom started again, "And for that, I'm sorry, my daughter."

The whirlwind of emotions in me stopped as Mom said that. Just what did she mean by that?

"Because you're my child, you'll have to live a hard life, Atalanta. I'm a very powerful goddess, and you're a demi-god that's inherited my powers greatly. The scent of your divinity will attract many powerful monsters who will try to kill you. They will only increase in numbers now that you know of your divine heritage," Mom's hands tightened into fists as she said that before suddenly releasing them," But not only that, Atalanta, I'm sorry for my failures as your mother."

Anger that had been building up in me as Mom spouted this stupidity burst out all at once, causing me to interrupt Mom, "failures!? What failures are you talking about? Mom, you've been the perfect mother to me, so supportive, kind, and you were always there when I needed you."

My mind flashed back to my earliest memory of this life. I was three years old and was home sick with a fever. I remember Mom sitting on the side of the bed, with such a concerned and motherly expression on her face. When she placed her hand on my forehead, I started to feel better, and her hands felt so loving and kind. The smile on her face as that happened reminded me of Kiritsugu's smile of pure joy as he saved me.

"But what you fail to understand, Atalanta, is that as your mother, it is my duty to make sure you grow up safe. I didn't do that, as you've clearly been attacked by monsters without me knowing. You deserve a better mother than me, who has had most of her charges die under her."

My rage reached a new peak with her response. I had to keep myself from reaching out and shaking Mom, "You're wrong; I'm the one who doesn't deserve a mother as good as you!"

Truly, a villain such as myself doesn't deserve to have a familial bond with someone like Mom.

"And you did make sure I grew up safe; it is only because of you that I'm strong enough to beat back the monsters," I furiously told Mom, while ignoring all the power I gained from the class card, "Just as you said I would always be your child, you will always be my mother. Got it?! Now get over your selfish doubts and stop trying to apologize for being my Mom."

Those words were the only thing I could offer her. She blames herself for the death of hurts and is scared of failing again. That isn't something I'll be able to help her get over, at least anytime soon.

No, all I can do is calm down and help her in this small insignificant way.

I walked towards my mother and hugged her tightly; the differences in height forced me to look up to see into her eyes.

Mom looked conflicted as to if she was struggling with accepting my words. That conflicted expression slowly gave way to acceptance as she wrapped her arms around me. "Ok, Atalanta. I'm sorry if I hurt you with my apology. From here on out, I'll do my best to meet your expectations of me."

Neither of us immediately pulled away from our hug.

Hugging Mom and hearing her accept being my mother made me feel happy... and real.

After a minute, Mom pulled back from our hug, and I did the same.

The air around my mother had returned to its normal state, and the look in her eyes had returned to its normal loving gaze.

I felt relief and joy at Mom returning to normal, at least for now.

"Atalanta, I want to support you in achieving your dreams, but to do that, I need to know what your dreams are."

I blinked as Mom stood up and placed one hand on my shoulder.

My dreams?

My only dream in this life has been to protect my family. Yet now I've learned one of my parents is a literal god, and the other is a reincarnated Greek hero. Besides Orion, there isn't anyone who poses a threat to them. They won't need my protection, especially since my presence will only attract monsters to them. In fact, can I even live a normal life with monsters constantly trying to kill me?

And I can't follow my fake dream of becoming a hero, not after dooming an entire world.

"I don't know," I responded while looking away.

"That's ok, you still have time, but you must be careful, no matter what you choose to do. Greek Demi-gods aren't known for their long lives or happy endings."

I winced at that, but I knew that was true, given the recorded history of the countless Greek weapons in Unlimited Blade Works.

"I know, but don't worry, I plan to live a long life," I told my Mom.

"Good, I expect no less from my child," Mom said as she removed her hand from my shoulder, "now let's return to the point of the trip."

"Yes, ma'am."

I stood up and grabbed my bag. I followed Mom into the forest as we began our trip.

Mom decided to set up camp in the center of the forest, which took a surprisingly short amount of time to get to.

We were standing in a large circular clearing. Our tent was set up on one side, with our bags next to it.

I looked out to the sky and saw the setting sun. We probably only have an hour and a half of sunlight left before night.

"Will we still have time to go hunting today? Or are we gonna wait till tomorrow?"

"We'll go hunting soon, but I have a couple of gifts for you first."

"Gifts?" I asked, curious about what she got for me.

That curiosity almost twisted into nervousness when I remembered who was giving me the gifts.

"Yes, I've personally made a set of three gifts for you," Mom said as a silver glow appeared from her hands, and something appeared in her hands. She sounded excited.

It was a white hoodie with forest green trimming. It looked like all the other jackets Mom gave me, but that misconception disappeared as Unlimited Blade Works recorded it.

"I made this by solidifying moonlight and turning it into thread, then sowing that into a jacket," She told me as she handed me the jacket, "my original goal was to create something to hide your scent from monsters, but I found that beyond my skill set. Instead, I worked around that limitation."

My eyes looked up from the jacket and into my mother's eyes. All the information about the coat was already recorded into my reality marble.

"I enchanted this jacket using the blessing I give my hunters as a basis. It will cover your scent to make you smell like one of my hunters and give you a weaker version of their blessings. But monsters will still come after you, and smarter monsters will be able to tell you're not a hunter once they get close."

There was a small sense of awe welling up inside. This jacket had my mother's blessings in it and was made out of pure moonlight. It's true divine armor, one made solely for me.

Even if all it does is give me some small blessings and hide my true heritage, it's still an invaluable gift.

"Thank you, Mom," I truly thanked her while putting on the jacket in spite of the summer heat. "I can sense the amount of care you put into making this."

When someone makes something, there are two things that determine its quality, the skill of the artisan and their passion. The skill used to make this jacket is nothing special, but the passion was almost bottomless. Mom really put her entire heart into making this gift.

"You're welcome," Mom accepted me with a slight arrogant undertone. "And you shouldn't worry about the size of the jacket; it will magically change to fit your size."

"You really thought of everything, didn't you?" I complimented my Mom.

"Yes, I wanted to create the perfect gift for my beloved daughter after all."

Mom's words caused me to blush, but she didn't notice. She was too focused on pulling out two blades in the same way she pulled out my jacket.

"Here are the two other gifts I made for you," Mom said as she handed them to me, the silver knives felt surprisingly light. "They're created in the image of my own knives and are enchanted to help you use your half-blood powers."

I examined the two blades in my hand as I used structural analysis to gather as much information about them as possible.

Both knives were identical silver blades and possess incredibly high durability. Their ability to help me use my demi-god power and enhance them is incredible, but they're still inferior to most noble phantasms.

Kanshou and Bakuya are both far better than these two for dealing with monsters, even if I can't use them right now. And these daggers are hard to hide due to their size, whereas projections can be traced at will.

Despite being inferior to most noble phantasms, I still have many uses for my new knives. As weapons, they are perfectly weighted and just the right length for me. And they're better than any other mystic code when it comes to using my demi-god powers.

"Atalanta, I would like to test your combat ability."

"So let me guess, you're going to beat me up?" I sarcastically asked Mom. Even with Emiya's battle experience, it's impossible for me to beat a god, especially in the body of a child.

"Only if you're too weak to fight back," Mom said as she pulled her two knives out of nowhere again. She seemed serious, probably because this training is for my sake.

The blades were almost identical to the ones Mom gave me, but I could see the deep age inside of them.

"Do you want to fight right here?"

Mom didn't respond; instead, she just got into a battle position.

I moved my blades down to my sides, ready to move to defend myself at a moment's notice, "You know, it wouldn't kill you to just say yes."

Mom stared at me for a moment, analyzing my stance, before quickly moving at me. She moved fast, but I could tell she was holding back immensely.

I used both of my blades to block her first attack. Her strength was incredible compared to my own. At most, I could block a couple more attacks before my arms gave out.

I moved back, careful not to move in the direction of our bags.

There's no way I can win a fight against a god, and much less my own mother. Even if it's just training, I can't bring myself to hurt her... at the same time, I don't want to let her down. The only way to not hurt Mom and meet her expectations is to focus on defense. Hopefully, I'll be able to survive long enough to impress her.

Mom jumped forward, going for a kick, which I barely blocked again. But the force was far greater than the last attack, throwing me back several yards.

I managed to land feet first against a tree, leaving cracks in the tree. I let gravity drop me to the ground, even as pain welled up inside of my feet.

For a second, I let my guard down as I noted the damage to the tree. It was strangely annoying to me, like I saw someone vandalize my house. Then again, that feeling would be expected for a child of Artemis.

A small storm of emotions built up at that thought. One part of myself felt joy, feeling it as proof of my personhood, of truly being a child of Artemis.

While the other half felt horror, just how many different ways has my personality been changed without my knowledge?

Mom rushed me as my guard was down. I barely managed to block another set of attacks and decided to push back slightly, with a light jab at my mother's left.

Mom blocked my attack with one of her blades; the muscles in her arms looked relaxed as if she wasn't trying.

I'm starting to realize just how powerful she is. Even having my old body back wouldn't be enough to close the distance between us.

I tried to predict her next attack, thinking it would be an attack to my left, but my instincts screamed at me to prepare for an overhead strike. I quickly planted my feet into the ground and readied myself to block her next attack. My instincts were right, but the force was too much, causing me to fall to one knee.

Before I had time to do anything about it, I felt my mother's foot go into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and sending me into a tree.

A high-pitched gasp left my mouth as I hit the tree, pain resonating through my entire body; I barely managed to hold onto my blades.

My muscles seemed to pound in exhaustion and agony. I may have the body of a demi-god, but it isn't properly trained yet to deal with combat or pain.

This was the most pain I've been in since being reincarnated, but it was nothing compared to the agony I felt from my final battle in my last life.

I quickly got up, despite the pain. My clothing was dirty, but at least they weren't torn.

"I've seen enough, Atalanta. You did well," Mom said as a small flash of worry crossed her eyes.

I fell down after Mom said that, leaning against the tree I was thrown into, "Are you sure you don't want to kick me around some more?"

"No, I'm satisfied with your performance," Mom said, trying to help me calm down. "Your natural skills are better than I expected, and your defense is excellent. Your bladework reflects you're gentle soul."

"I'm not gentle."

"Then why were your attacks filled with hesitation and worry?"

I didn't say anything as I looked away.

There's a difference between being gentle and not wanting to hurt your mother.

"That's not the only reason I called you gentle, though; I can see it in your heart. You're the kind of person that would never hurt someone else unless you absolutely must. You find happiness in helping others. How can that not be proof of a gentle heart?"

"It just means I'm selfish, using others for my own happiness."

"Gentle people can also be selfish. And it's alright for you to be a little selfish; most Greek heroes are."

I rolled my eyes at the use of the word hero to describe me. "Are there any other tests before we go hunting?"

"Yes, I wanted to test your archery skills," Mom responded, taking my cue to move on.

"That shouldn't be too hard," I told Mom, confident that my archery skills are good enough to pass whatever test she throws at me.

"Good, I expect you to do well in this test, my child," Mom said as she took several sticks and altered them into bows and arrows.

I stood up and dusted the dirt off my clothing, "I won't let you down, even if you make me compete with a god."

Inwardly, I didn't think I could compete against a god, but it sounded like something Mom would want to hear.

Mom sent me a worried gaze as she said, "You shouldn't talk so flippantly about competing with the gods in the future. While I may let you do it, the other gods won't."

I winced at what Mom said. Her words made me remember the stories of Greek heroes who decided to compete with the gods, and how none of them meet happy ends.

"I'll be careful about that in the future; I'd rather not become a spider."

"Becoming a spider would be a lesser punishment compared to what some gods would do to you," Mom told me as she handed me the bow, "now then, your next test will be a measure of your shot speed and distance."

"I want you to fire at those trees, but only hit the dying leaves," Mom said as she pointed out several trees of varying distance.

I grabbed several of the arrows. Mom had dropped next to me. The bow Mom gave me for my birthday a few years ago was better, despite its smaller size.

Mom probably wanted to test me in suboptimal conditions.

I notched an arrow, taking a quick survey of my targets.

This test requires me to be very accurate, as I can't hit anything except dying leaves, and I have to be able to identify them.

Looking over the trees, I found myself able to identify which leaves. Mom was talking about, but not through sight but instinct.

Pulling back the bowstring, I quickly fired the notched arrow at the target, hitting the leaf furthest away from me.

Reaching down quickly, I grabbed another arrow a notched it in a second. It took me around 35 seconds to hit nine leaves. Even disregarding my young body and subpar bow, this was still a feat above most high-level archers.

After running out of arrows, I looked over at Mom to see her reaction.

"Good job. At the level of accuracy you displayed, even the most skilled human archers can only fire 12 arrows in a minute, with only the most talented able to reach any higher than that. Yet, you just fired three-fourths that amount in half the time. Your skills probably already surpassed many children of Apollo."

Mom was clearly pleased with the idea of me being a better archer than Apollo's kids.

It would be better to let Mom think this is because I'm her child rather than because of my past life.

"It's only natural for my skills are better than my cousins'. I did inherit my skills from the superior twin archer."

Mom's lips curled into an arrogant smirk; she grabbed one of the arrows she made earlier and notched an arrow on a bow that appeared from nowhere. It took her less than a second to replicate my feat.

"I guess you aren't the goddess of archery for nothing," I muttered in awe. The power released with each shot was enough to ruffle my hair and the arrows themselves seemed to instantly pierce their target.

"You should have already known that. There is no better archer than me," Mom boasted before stifling her ego. "I think that's enough combat test for today. Are you ready to go hunting?"

"Yeah," I answered while my hands absent-mindedly played with the string of my bow.

My body still ached from being kicked into a tree, but I can ignore it.

A quick glance over at Mom's face told me she recognize my pain, but she didn't bring it up.

"Then it's time for our hunt to begin," Mom motioned in the opposite direction of the tree.

"How's this going to work?" I asked Mom since we never really went over how we were going to go hunting.

She looked down at me; the edges of her lips rose slightly.

"Little one, hunting runs through your blood, just as it does through mine. This hunt will be your first chance to embrace it. It would be wrong of me to steal away such an important rite of passage. You're the head of this hunt." Mom's tone was joyous and filled with anticipation as she spoke.

An important rite of passage huh...

For most other people, a rite of passage is something like learning to drive or moving out of your parent's home. It shows you're growing up and becoming capable of handling larger responsibilities. Hunting isn't something I think would relate to proving either of those things.

Then again, my mother is the god of the hunt. Her placing a lot of value on one's ability to hunt would make sense. In which case, I can't let her down.

I'm not worried about failing due to the experience I absorbed from EMIYA, but I don't want to just succeed.

Mom's expectations are nearly palpable and I can feel how much this means to her. Failure would leave her disappointed.

Imagining Mom's disheartened face made me feel motivated.

I want to exceed her hopes for me. That way she'll be happy.

"I understand. Let's get going," I accepted responsibility for the hunt.

Mom nodded before patting my head. "Good, but don't be afraid to ask me for advice."

"Thanks for the help, but I wouldn't need it," I responded while walking away. We won't find any game waiting here.

My mother followed behind me without reacting to my denial.

It didn't take us long to find a set of deer tracks.

"Good work, you found the tracks faster than I thought you would."

"You already know where the deer is, don't you?"

"Yes, but it wouldn't be fun for you if I just led you to the target."

I didn't deny what Mom said as we started to walk in the direction of the tracks.

It took us less than half an hour of traveling for a stream to come into view.

I picked up a smell as we approached the stream. It smelt like deer.

"Mom, the deer is up there.".

"Yes, now how do you plan on killing it?"

"I was just going to fire an arrow at it," I responded to Mom while pulling the wooden bow off my shoulder.

That way, I can kill the deer with the least amount of pain possible.

"I'm going to sneak closer to it," I told Mom as I went into the forestry and made my way closer to the stream. Mom followed closely behind, following my lead.

A strange feel assaulted my heart.

I took a breath to steady my hands which started to shake in excitement. I don't like this feeling; feeling excitement at killing something isn't something I know how to handle.

Mom placed her hand on my shoulder, "This is close enough."

I just nodded and notched an arrow, firing it at the deer. The deer dropped onto the ground as soon as the arrow hit it.

Mom's hand moved off my shoulder as I got up and moved towards the deer.

I reached the deer to see it was somehow still alive, if only slightly. It was barely awake, but I could feel its feelings in the same way I could with that squirrel.

He looked me in the eyes as best as possible; its eyes weren't full of hatred or anger, but confusion and sadness. It wondered why he had to die, for what reason I killed him. Why did its death have to be so sudden?

Having died twice before, I can understand the look in its eyes better than anyone else.

I placed my hands on its side, next to the arrow.

Why did I do this? Because it was fun for me? Was it because of the excitement I felt?

Despite all these questions running through my head and feeling the emotions of the deer, I still felt happiness from the hunt. The excitement seemed to radiate from a part of my soul, spreading throughout the rest of me.

Mom walked up next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder, "I was right. You really are a gentle soul, to feel for even an animal. But you shouldn't feel guilt."

My mother said that as she handed me a knife, what she wanted me to do was obvious.

I took the knife and slit the deer's throat while looking it in its eyes.

The deer died in an instant.

"Atalanta, do you know why I chose this forest to hunt?"

I looked up at my mother due to her abrupt question, "I don't know."

"It was because the deer population in this forest has grown out of control. Since Pan has disappeared, it has become my job to balance wildlife in the forest."

"So, you decided to use this trip to do your job while spending time with me?"

"Yes, and do you know what I feel when I have to rebalance the population of the wilderness?" Mom asked me after answering my question.

I thought over Mom's question and thought about everything I knew of her personality.

I know Mom likes wildlife based on the way she reacted to those wildlife movies I had to watch in the past, but I know she enjoys hunting.

It's a contradiction. To do something she enjoys, she must destroy something she loves.

A smirk formed on my face, something about that sound so familiar.

"You do it because it's necessary, and it's your responsibility. By killing the minority of deer, you save the majority."

"Exactly, these actions protect our domain. I feel no guilt at my actions, only joy at having fulfilled my role as the goddess of the wilderness. The same can be said for you, my daughter."

The smirk on my face faded as I did my best to understand my mother's point of view.

Mom is basically saying that we shouldn't feel guilt or regret for actions that are fulfilling our roles. My Mom's logic, we shouldn't feel guilt for killing hundreds of humans if it's for the sake of protecting the wilderness.

That logic is inhuman, completely disregarding the lives of others when they get in the way. But didn't I already do that for Miyu's sake, killing all those who stood in the way of protecting her, without regards to them being people too?

And at the time, I felt no guilt at all. Instead, I felt happiness at being able to protect Miyu as her brother. I only started to feel guilt after being reborn and regaining my memories.

Following Mom's logic, I shouldn't feel guilt for my action as I was only fulfilling my role as Miyu's brother.

I – I can't believe that I'm a villain guilty of horrible acts and living with the guilt of my actions is my punishment especially because I would do far worse acts to protect my new family.

Still, though, if I'm going to have this guilt no matter what I do, then I'm going to do what makes me happy. If hunting makes me happy, then I'll embrace that feeling while dulling my heart to the guilt.

Isn't that what it means to be a villain?

"I understand; I won't hesitate to fulfill my role in the future," I told Mom, letting her think I agree fully with her reasoning, "but you didn't have to keep that deer alive to teach me."

"You noticed," Mom stated more than asked.

"There's no way I failed to kill a deer from that distance," even if I can't reinforce my eyes right now, I still have a range in the kilometers, and I know the biology of animals enough to know where to shoot to kill.

She most likely either pushed my aim slightly off course with the hand she had on my shoulder, or she used her authorities to make the deer harder to kill.

"I guess you're right; I could have been more subtle," Mom said as she looked up, "the sun should be fully set once we're done cleaning the deer."

Despite not feeling tired, I let out a yawn when she mentioned the time. My normal bedtime was approaching.

"Are we going to keep hunting or go back to the campsite and sleep?"

"Neither we're going to go back to the campsite and start training your demi-god powers."

I hummed in acknowledgment; that made sense since training my powers over the moon would be easier at night, even when it isn't a full moon.

It didn't take long for Mom and me to deal with the deer's body and make our way back to camp without prey.

I was looking directly at Mom as we sat across from each other. A campfire was lit next between us, the meet from the deer being roasted above it.

The sun had set for the day, and the crescent moon was now in the sky.

Mom caught me looking at the moon, "Tell me, what do you feel from the moon?"

"I feel enamored by it; I feel the urge to look up at it when I'm up at night. It honestly almost feels like I'm next to you when I'm under its light; it makes me feel safe," I responded as Mom looked away for a moment in embarrassment, or maybe happiness, that she makes me feel safe.

"I see. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, when I was first attacked by a monster, I felt as if the moon wanted me to command it," I told her as I thought over my battle with the boar.

"And did you try and command it?" Mom asked me.

"Yes, but the results were lackluster, with lots of energy being wasted," I told Mom as I mentally reviewed the various experiments I did, in secret, following the battle with the boar.

"Wasted energy can be fixed through training and magic items," Mom said as she looked at our dinner of the fire, "we still have some time before dinners ready; try and use your powers with the knives helping you."

I looked over to the twin silver blades that were sitting next to my bag and got up and grabbed them.

Walking back over to Mom, I stopped a couple of paces away from the fire and started to manipulate the moonlight around me, forcing it into my blades.

One of the things I've realized with the experiments I've done recently is that the ability to take in the moonlight is separate from my magic circuits. I guess that authorities work differently than magecraft but work best when together.

I found that when using my magic circuits, I wasted less moonlight, and it's faster to construct objects out of moonlight. But it does cost magic energy that way, while it just makes me tired to do it without magic circuits.

My silver blades started to glow silver as more moonlight was poured into them. It seems Mom wasn't lying when she said these blades were enchanted to make it easier to use my powers. The moonlight also seemed to stay stored in the blades, meaning I could have access to moonlight no matter where I was, even during the day.

I looked over at Mom to see her quite happy, even if she was trying to hide it. I guess this training was something Mom was looking forward to.

"It seems you have mastered the basics of your authority over the moon. How about your other authorities?"

"I haven't used them yet, nor do I know how to use them."

"That's fine; we'll focus on your other powers later. For now, let's develop your mastery over the moon."

I nodded at Mom's statement before I looked down at my blades as I suddenly felt all the moonlight in them disappear. I looked up at my mother, who had to be the cause of this.

"Your controls could be far better; it was easy for me to take all this moonlight from you," Mom said as she held a silver orb in hand, "not only that, but how do you plan on using this moonlight, Atalanta?"

"I plan to use it to construct weapons at a moment's notice," I responded as I thought over its use as a temporary substitute for tracing.

Mom shook her head at me, "No wonder you were talking about wasted energy. It is far easier to just shoot moonlight as a beam than to try and turn it into a sword or a bow. Besides, the constructs will be far weaker than the actual thing."

I just stared at Mom, inwardly laughing at the fact she was basically describing the weakness with graduated air.

Actually, now that I think about it, tracing and creating objects out of pure moonlight feels very similar.

Something clicked in my head just now. I wonder if my tracing is off because of my authorities changing my reality marble. Or maybe my elements could have changed or been altered?

Maybe if I combine my normal tracing with moonlight, I might be able to return my tracing abilities to their past levels. After all, it felt like there was something missing when I went to project something. Maybe moonlight is what was missing? It was worth a shot.

I shook my head; I could focus on magecraft later. Right now, I need to focus on my authorities.

I took a sniff of the air and realized that training my authorities was not what I needed to be focused on.

"Mom, the food is done," I told her as I moved to remove the deer meat from over the fire.

Mom just looked at our dinner, seemingly not realizing it was done, "How can you tell?"

"Anyone with any amount of cooking skill could tell."

I quickly distributed the meat while it was still hot, having already seasoned it with herbs Mom had on hand.

We ate dinner quietly until I remembered what Apollo said.

"Mom, the uncle said you need to tell the other gods about the circumstances around my conception and birth, or he'll do it for you."

"Yes, I know. I'll have to tell my hunters too," Mom said with a sigh.

"If you want, I can help you," I offered my help to Mom.

"No, I'll do it on my own."

"Yes, Ma'am," I responded to Mom, not wanting to linger on this subject for too long.

"By the way, Mom, I have a question, but I'm not sure how to ask it," I said while looking away in embarrassment.

"Atalanta, I'll answer any question you have to the best of my ability," Mom said, giving me the go-head.

"I was wondering if you plan on having any more kids now that you've had one," I asked Mom with a true smile on my face.

Mom, meanwhile, almost choked on her dinner, "Why would you even think that?"

"Because earlier you said you came to understand why women went through the pain of childbirth after my birth. So, I thought you might be open to having more kids."

"No, Atalanta, I don't plan on having any more kids; one is enough for me."

The smile on my face disappeared as I let out a sigh, "Sorry for asking."

"Atalanta, if you want siblings, you already have several older sisters in the form of my hunters."

Older Sisters? I didn't really think of the hunters that way, but I guess they are in a way. Honestly, it's kind of strange, going from older brother to youngest sister.

"I guess your right," I conceded the point, "I just wanted little siblings calling me big sis."

Truthfully, having a little sibling would be great; besides what if Miyu somehow reincarnated as that sibling. If she maintained her gender as a girl, then I would get the pleasure of beating up any boy that went after her. And if she was reincarnated as a boy, then I would teach him how to live as a boy, based on my old memories.

However, I would love any little sibling with all my heart, a reincarnation of Miyu or not.

Mom had gone back to eating after I conceded the point, and I decided not to disturb her; I'd rather just enjoy this quiet time with her.

I let out a yawn after I finished eating. I guess that was my tiny body's rebellion against me for staying up after bedtime. However, I will say that I find it ridiculous that Dad started forcing me to go to bed at a certain time.

Mom looked up at me from her own dinner as she took her final bite. She waited until she swallowed her food before speaking, "Atalanta, that's enough for today; it's time to take a bath, then go to bed."

"Why? You said earlier that we would train my powers, not eat dinner, then go to bed," I asked her, though it almost sounded like I was whining about having to go to bed.

"That was before I realized how tired you were."

I looked at Mom confused, "What do you mean tir-ahhhh," I was interrupted by another yawn.

"Atalanta, you need to watch how tired you are," Mom said as she stood up, "you might get stronger under the moon, but you don't gain infinite stamina or become immune to drowsiness. If anything, all the moon does for you, in terms of staving off sleep, is allow you to ignore the negative effects of not sleeping. That doesn't mean you don't get tired."

Mom started to walk toward our tent before unzipping it and pulling out my bag. "Here's your clothing. Now let's get going. The spring I prepared isn't too far away."

"What do you mean by 'spring I prepared'?" I asked her as I quickly stood up to follow her.

My mother took smaller steps once I reached her side, making it easier for me to keep up with her. "Do you not know what a spring is?"

"A spring is an area where water emerges from underground," I answered with ease. "But how do you prepare a spring?"

Mom kept walking as she looked down on me. "Atalanta, do you truly think that the control of my own domain is that pathetic? There were no springs in the area, so I made one. Such a feat is nothing to me. Even flooding this entire forest won't take more than a thought."

The more Mom talked, the more awkward I felt. I momentary forgot my mother was a goddess...

Luckily, I was saved by the very thing that started this mess.

Mom and I took a step through the forest and into an unnatural clearing. Around the clearing was a series of large trees that were close enough together to visually isolate us from the rest of the forest. In the middle of the clearing was a spring half the size of the living room back home. A small coat of steam danced off the top of the water.

"Don't worry about the water being too hot, Zoë; I've carefully regulated the temperature to be perfect for us," Mom explained as she was suddenly holding two towels. She placed them down near my clothing bag.

"I see," I responded curtly, not having been concerned about the water at all.

I quickly got undressed and darted into the large hot spring.

When my left foot first hit the water, I didn't feel anything special at all. But that feeling quickly changed once the water reached my knees. Pleasure spread throughout the submerged parts of my body, and the hot water felt like it was wiping away the soreness caused by my duel with Mom. Instead of standing, I sat on what looked like a carved rock chair, the water was a little bit below my shoulders from here, but that was fine.

"How is it?" Mom asked, causing me to look up at her.

"Mo- Mom!" I muttered in shock.

Sitting across from me was my mother. She was sitting on a rock seat that was a lot like the one I was sitting on. She must've gotten undressed and entered the spring while I was soaking in the water.

She had pure pale skin that seemed to meld with the moonlight and long silky hair as black as the night sky.

It would be a joke to say the body of 'Atalanta' was an inferior version of hers. The differences between them were too great for any comparison to be taken seriously.

"What is it?" Mom's eyes fell upon my own.

I turned away from Mom with red cheeks. "Nothing."

For some reason, a nostalgic look appeared on her face as she looked at my embarrassed expression. A reminisce expression adorned her face. That look was soon overtaken by a look of guilt, which just as quickly was converted into anger. After a moment, the anger disappeared from Mom's face, causing her expression to return to a stoic warmth.

Just what was that about?

"This is the first time we've bathed together, isn't it?" Mom seemed to ask herself before I could say anything.

I nodded in response. Even though my memories don't go back to the day I was born, I'm confident we've never bathed together.

In Japan, bathing together was more common than in America. I can still remember going to a hot spring once or twice in the early years of my past life.

"In Ancient Greece, human mothers and daughters would have bathed together regularly," Mom explained as two washcloths appeared in her hand. She threw one of them to me. "The world has both made so much and so little progress since then."

"What do you mean?"

Mom sighed while rubbing her forehead. "Do you know why human mothers and daughters bathed together?"

Why?

Japan's bathing culture was heavily influenced by Buddism, an eastern religion. Ancient Greece is considered the birthplace of western civilization, so eastern beliefs wouldn't have influenced it.

The US would be a better reference. This country doesn't seem to have anything like Onsen or Sento, and bathing is treated as a private affair. Even Dad stopped taking baths with me as soon as I could wash myself, but Mom is perfectly willing to bathe with me.

"It was something you were supposed to do alone? But mothers and daughters could bathe together because they're the same sex?" I made my guess.

"Partially," Mom frowned. "Men were allowed and encouraged to bathe in the public baths. It was part of the way they socialized and networked with other people. Women were barely allowed out of their homes and were strictly outlawed from entering specific public spaces."

I suddenly understood the answer to Mom's question. She must have been talking about the treatment of women.

"Thus, mothers and daughters bathe together in their own homes while the men were off enjoying the public hot springs."

"At least that gives them a lot of time to develop a good relationship," I piped up despite my own budding disgust. I'm not someone who has the right to get angry at injustice, nor do I care about ancient wrongs, but anyone can tell when something is wrong.

Mom laughed in response. Her laugh seemed to flow with the sounds of nature around us. There was no judgment in her giggles. "No, mothers and daughters didn't have much time to grow close. Let me show you something…."

Show me something?

I watched my mother closely, but she didn't show me anything. Then I blinked.

I froze in shock when I reopened my eyes.

Instead of my young twenty-year-old mother, a young girl was sitting across from me. She looked like an older version of me, one that was thirteen or fourteen years old. In spite of that, the demeanor and posture of the girl were a match for my mother. My instincts told me the woman in front of me was Mom, even as my mind said that was impossible.

"Mom?" I hesitantly asked.

"Of course," Mom responded with a young voice matching her body. "The body here in front of you isn't my true self, but a shell I take on to interact with the mortal world. I can completely alter all aspects of my form at will, though I'm not comfortable taking any shape," She explained while a bar of soap appeared in her hand. "In this case, I've just made myself younger."

I nodded along with my mother's explanation. A sense of unease crept into my stomach the longer she was in this form.

"If I was a human girl in Ancient Greece, this is what I'd look like on my wedding night," Mom explained while placing her hands in her lap. "Though, only the groom would see me this bare."

A sense of horror hit me as the meaning of Mom's words hit me. Her nonchalant tone did nothing to dampen the blow.

She was saying that girls no older than Miyu were married off and forced to have sex. The mere idea of that feels me with disgust.

"If I was born in Ancient Greece, I would never go along with something like that," I recoiled at the thought.

A dark part of my mind wondered if that was true. If I was born without my memories as Shirou Emiya, would I even see anything wrong with it? Or would that Atalanta be shaped by her culture and think it was natural?

That line of thought ended abruptly as I sensed bloodlust from my miniature mother. "You wouldn't need to worry about being forced into a marriage with a man twenty years your senior."

I looked into Mom's eyes as she talked. They were as sharp as a hawk's while her lips were curled down. Her expression was that of a goddess prepared to smite an insect.

Yet, it made me feel safe. The bloodlust wasn't directed towards me but at those who would harm me.

"I don't know how their culture developed such a disgusting custom."

"It's simple. Young girls were easier for them to groom into their perfect wives, and it let them reinforce the concept of subservience into them," Mom explained as her bloodlust faded. "Especially if the young girl was a demi-god like yourself."

Mom stood up and started to walk towards me. "By marrying demi-god young, they got the chance to tame her before her powers truly came in. Unfortunately, there are still someone people like that in the world."

Mom reached my side of the hot spring and took a seat next to me. She was still taller than me despite being in a small form.

"Atalanta, monsters aren't the worst threat you will ever face. Half-bloods are unique in that they are both mortal and divine. Even the blood of your kind is enough to bring ruin to an entire country. People will try to use your body and soul for their twisted goals."

"Thanks for the warning, but I already knew that," I answered with a smile. Hopefully, that will ease her concerns. "It's in peoples' nature to use others."

"That's a truth you should never forget," Mom smiled while handing me a bar of soap.

I nodded and took the bar of soap she handed me. "And Mom, can you turn back to normal? It's weird to see you a few years older than me."

In the blink of an eye, my mother returned to her normal self. "I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable."

"It's ok, Mom. Let's just hurry up and finish bathing. The hot water is starting to get to me," I answered while looking down at my reddened skin.

Mom offered a simple hum of agreement.

After we finished our bath, Mom and I made our way back to camp.

"Do you even need to sleep?" I asked my mother as we reached the tent, and she started to unzip it.

"Of course, gods need their sleep too."

I reached our small black tent as Mom started to get in.

The tent was just your normal basic tent, just big enough for two people.

Mom laid down on the left side of the tent, so I got the right side.

As soon as I touched the ground, I understood Mom's earlier words. Drowsiness and darkness partly took hold, and I was half asleep in less than five minutes.

As I laid there, stray thoughts from throughout the day played through my mind. And as I heard my mother's breathing, thoughts of those I lost played through my head.

My original parents, Kiritsugu, Sakura, Miyu.

A stray nightmare came to mind of Mom dying to Orion.

My body started to subconsciously tense, and I rolled over in Mom's direction.

I felt a gentle hand brush my hair; it must have been Mom, "Don't worry, I'm right here."

Mom's soothing voice called out to me as I fell further into sleep. It caused my body to relax.

But I accidentally muttered something as I felt her hand stop brushing my hair, "please don't leave me."

After letting out my quiet fear, I felt myself give in to the darkness of sleep completely. The last thing I felt was an arm pull tight around me.

RW- finished adding a scene that expanded lore and set up some hints for future events. This scene might be deleted later. It shows the difference between what Atalanta finds beautiful and what Poly does. Doing stuff out of order sucks! This will probably be the last RW for now; everything needs to be reorganized before everything gets all messed up.

AN-

Sorry for the late update, I had a ton of exams and a paper due at the beginning of the month, then I had to move, and then had to go without wifi, so it set my writing back a bit.

Anyway, this chapter has a lot cut out from up, as I realized there was a lot of changes in perspective that had to be cut (as that was one of the main complaints about the first chapter), plus a lot of the original version of this chapter was just paragraph after paragraph of exposition, that was just planned boring, so it was removed. So, after the great purge, what was left had to be rewritten to flow better.

Things of note that were cut. Apollo's perspective and the reason why he left without much of a fight. In the original, his internal monologue shows that the reason he left so quickly was that he understood that Atalanta would be the best one to talk with Artemis and thought it would make Atalanta like him more. Also, he feels some level of guilt for all this since he was the one who drove Orion mad, but he would never ever admit it.

Artemis had her perspectives cut to, and they involved her commentary on how she viewed Atalanta as gentle, from not only Atalanta's fighting style but her heart too. While her perspectives in this chapter would have shown off some of her more inhuman thought processes, but I made sure to include that at some level. Also, there were points were she thought of Atalanta as a hypocrite for some of her thoughts and actions in this chapter, but there was no way to include that with out it feeling forced. Also, Artemis became a more confident mother in this chapter, though her lack of confidence was a subtle thing that was only hinted at in chapter 1, making it hard to connect it to Artemis's realizing how much faith/love/trust Atalanta has in her, with her perspective being cut.

The next chapter is going to be different from what I planned, as I've decided to move Poly's flashbacks to later on, so we might just have one or two flashbacks to him raising Atalanta before she regained her memories, but that's it for now. This is because its kind of become apparent how long this intro periods lasted, and we still have like three more chapters of content before reaching camp half blood, and the start of the first real arc.

The next chapter should come out in the next month or two, depending on how collage work lands, and if I decided to write a chapter for my other story or not.

Also, to one of the guest reviewers- no proto-Arthur. By the way, I try to respond to reviews, but you can't do that for guest reviews, so if you want a quick response, making an account tjen review, that way y'all don't have to wait till the next chapter to have your question answered.

Thank you for reading this chapter and have a great day.

Oh, and happy late Mardi Gras, even if it was basically canceled this year.