Third person view
"Deep breaths my child, the prey will hear your rapid breathing" a blonde haired and blue eyed woman said kneeling next to a eight year old girl holding a bow with an arrow already knocked. She had the older woman's eyes but had black hair instead of blonde.
They were both dressed in white togas with the older one wearing a golden crown on her head. Currently they were kneeling in some bushes overlooking a small clearing and a pond with muddy edges in the middle of it.
Grunting and snorting was then heard as the two quieted down and the older woman took a bow of her own off her back. Soon after she did that, a small pack of European wild boars came into sight of the two women. The boars then began to wallow in the mud near the small pond.
"Remember my child. Wait for them to turn broadside and aim behind the shoulder. A quick clean shot for an animal that is giving it's life so that we may continue to live" the older woman whispered as to not alert the boars of their presence.
"Yes mother" the younger woman said as she watched and observed the pack of boars. She was scanning for the biggest one as that would prove her worth as a hunter.
She had been practicing with her teacher in archery for a few months now but this was her first hunt.
She quickly picked out the biggest of the dozen, which was the one closest to the duo. She slowly pulled her bow back as the older woman did the same ready to make a shot if she missed. Thanks to her superhuman strength, she could handle pulling her bowstring back without any trouble.
The younger girl took a deep breath and let go of the string. The arrow flew like a lightning bolt striking the beast in it's side, right where she had been aiming.
It let out a squeal and spent a few seconds doing a circle trying to gore it's attacker. But upon seeing there was nothing but an arrow to spear with its tusks, it ran off to the west.
The girl groaned but felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at the woman who had a smile on her face.
"I didn't drop my first boar neither. Besides see how there's bubbles in the blood? That means you hit them in a single lung at least. Now let's go get your kill. I'm sure your sisters will be happy to get the meat" she said standing up as the girl did the same.
They got down to the area where the boars were rooting and immediately began tracking the blood trail. It was still heading west towards the beach.
About halfway to the beach, the older woman stopped and hummed looking around. The younger girl, seeing her mother stop, stopped as well.
"Mother, is everything okay?" She asked. The woman was silent for a few seconds before she nodded.
"Yes, it's just... I've never had a boar run this far after being lung shot. Heh, I guess this one must be an Amazon to the other boars. Full of spirit and no quit" she said causing her daughter to laugh and continue to follow the trail.
However once her back was turned, the older woman took her bow off her back and knocked an arrow. Just in case a Nemean Lion decided to be lazy and scavenge instead of hunt today.
However the blood trail didn't look like a drag mark left by a predator, it still looked like the animal was running.
"Mother!" the younger girl said snapping her mother out of her trance. "There it is" she said parting the leaves to reveal they were at the beach. And there down the beach a little ways, was the boar.
The girl chuckled and ran towards her kill while the woman smiled but at the same time, was worried. Surely that boar hadn't run all the way to the beach, right? That was about a good thirty minute walk from where they had been hunting.
However she quickly snapped out of her thoughts as she seen her daughter running towards the animal, bow still on her back.
"Diana!" the woman yelled making the girl stop dead in her tracks.
"Never approach a presumed dead animal without your weapon drawn and ready. I've seen people crippled for life because they approached a boar they thought was dead" the woman said as the girl, now known as Diana, slumped her shoulders in shame before taking her bow off her back and knocking an arrow.
Slowly they approached the boar from it's rear and Diana gave it a slight kick in the hindquarters. It didn't move.
"Now you may celebrate" the woman said as Diana immediately dropped her bow on the ground, cheering and dancing around while her mother smiled at her antics before turning her attention onto the boar.
How did it run all this way with a lung shot and now that they were close to it, she could see a lung shot is what it was.
Diana had moved away from the kill due to her dancing and was now closer to the water. As she was dancing, something then struck her foot which caused her to stop her celebration.
"Huh?" she said looking down. It was a plank of wood that the water had washed up with the surf and had hit her foot.
She picked it up and inspected it with a hum of curiosity. It looked like the kind they use for their ships but why would it be floating in the water? A Themysciran wouldn't just throw away a piece of good lumber like this.
Hearing her daughter's abrupt stop in her celebration, the woman turned and seen what her daughter was holding.
"Where'd you find that, Diana?" She questioned her daughter as she came up to her and took the wood from her.
"Floating in the water, it hit my foot" she said. The woman nodded before she began looking up the beach towards the city from where they came from. She seen nothing so she turned the other way.
She then gasped as she saw a silhouette on the beach a little ways away. It looked like a small row boat but it was turned upside down. She kneeled down to her daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Diana, I need you to go and get your aunt. Tell her to bring a squadron of Warriors as well as some Healers" she instructed. Diana was confused but nodded and began running at full speed towards the city.
The woman turned and began running towards the boat, unsheathing her sword just incase it was a landing party boat.
However as she got closer, she seen it wasn't a full boat but instead only half a boat with the front half missing entirety.
And on top of that, a woman was leaning with her back against the boat. She was dressed in a white toga like the woman was just except without all the gold and it was made of normal cloth not silk like a Themysciran's.
She had brown hair with hazel eyes and was panting frantically like she had just ran a marathon.
Another thing about the woman, she was also clutching a growing blood stain on her stomach and her skin was pale, nearly blue.
"Hang on" the woman said sheathing her sword and coming over to the woman.
A/N I can't write like this anymore, you all should know by now that it's Hippolyta.
"Help will be here soon, sister" Hippolyta said softly. The woman gave the Queen a sad smile.
"Unless you can change the minds of the Fates, I don't think you can be much help" she said slightly shifting her weight.
"Hey, can you take him for a few minutes? He's getting heavy" she said. Hippolyta looked at her arm that wasn't holding her wound and seen there was a bundle of cloth in it.
Guessing what was in there, she carefully took it out of her arms and held it close to her chest. Inside the bundle was a small baby boy, barely nine months old. He had a small fuzz of blonde hair but had his mother's hazel eyes. His skin was slightly pale but not as much as his mother's.
"He's a tough little guy" the mysterious woman said now pressing both her hands onto her wound.
"Our ship got destroyed and we got thrown into the water. Didn't even let out a single cry" she said smiling softly. She then put a hand on Hippolyta's knee who was in a sort of trance by looking into the child's eyes.
"Can I made a request?" she asked and at Hippolyta's nod, she continued. "Can you make sure he gets to a good home?" She asked. Hippolyta nodded.
"I promise, I'll get him home to his father" Hippolyta said. But the woman gasped in horror.
"No! You can't do that, his father was the worst. He was the reason I was on the boat, I was trying to get away" she said nearly hysterical. Hippolyta nodded and calmed her down.
"Okay, okay. I'll find him a loving family to raise him. I give you my word Hippolyta said. The woman smiled.
"Thank you. His name is DJ" she said, her voice becoming weaker. Hippolyta then heard an army of footsteps from behind her. She turned and seen a group of armed Amazons coming towards them. She was immediately able to make out the red hair of her best Warrior and the blonde hair of her sister.
"It's okay they're here, sister. Help has-" Hippolyta stopped upon seeing the woman wasn't breathing anymore and her eyes had a dead look in them.
"Sister?" she said shaking her shoulder. However the woman didn't respond and instead her head just slumped to the side.
"Sister, are you alright?" Antiope asked stopping a few feet away from her sister and the mysterious woman. Hippolyta didn't say anything but stood up allowing all the Amazons to see the that the woman had passed.
"She is gone" Hippolyta said as the baby stirred in her arms, attracting everyone present to the bundle of cloth in her arms.
"Is that-" an Amazon asked as Hippolyta angled the boy so all could see him and he could see them. He just stared at them with a blank expression confused at seeing so many people dressed like they were.
"Do we have any boats ready to set sail?" Hippolyta asked her sister as the two stepped away from the body while a few of the squadron covered the woman in a cloth and respectfully picked her up.
"Yes we do, why?" Antiope asked confused as they all began the walk back to the city.
"Because I'm going to return this child to man's world. We'll stay to see his mother buried and then we will set off" Hippolyta said as slightly bouncing the child, much to his amusement.
"Um sister, have you forgotten what time of year it is?" Artemis, the fiery red haired Amazon, asked. Queen Hippolyta was about to reply when realization hit her.
It was that time of year when Poseidon takes all his frustration that he had pent up over the year and forced his anger upon the sea. Creating storms with huge waves, high winds, and maelstroms that could swallow an entire ship whole. But because of the barrier the gods had placed around Themyscira, the weather always remained sunny with some rain so sometimes it was easy to loose track of the seasons.
"Great Hera, sometimes I hate this barrier" she said annoyed. The child yawned before he snuggled against Hippolyta's chest and before too long, he was sleeping.
"So what will you do with the child, sister?" Antiope asked as they entered the boundaries of the city.
Hippolyta thought it over for a few moments. There was one option for getting rid of the child right that second. Hephaestus had given them an offer when they first discovered Themyscira that if they had any male children born on the island, that he would take them and use them in his forge.
'No' Hippolyta thought to herself unknowingly bringing the child closer to her body. They had never taken him up on his deal before and they never will, despite him being a god.
"We will look after him until the sea calms and then I will go to man's world and find him a loving family to raise him" Hippolyta said before she turned to everyone present who had stopped to hear her plan.
"But no one is to get attached to him, am I understood?" She asked as everyone nodded. It had been quite some time since a baby had been on Themyscira with Diana being the last, and only, one. And even then she was molded from clay and given life by the gods.
A long time ago, Hippolyta thought about sending some Amazons into man's world to get pregnant and then return to Themyscira to birth the children but given what most of them had gone through with Hercules, she didn't want to put her people through that.
And with the population around two thousand of immortal beings, Hippolyta knew it would be enough to keep Themyscira populated and the gates of Tartarus guarded for quite some time. And if the time ever came for the island to be populated again, then it would be up to the Queen of that time to make a decision.
Later that night
Hippolyta sat by the fireplace in her room, drinking a glass of Themysciran made wine: Some of the strongest wine in the world. And the Amazons needed it since it took a lot for them to get drunk.
Across the room, the baby was sleeping peacefully on her bed. Diana had been so excited about the baby since she was the youngest child on Themyscira, she normally had to play with older children growing up.
And despite Hippolyta telling her, repeatedly, not to grow attached to the boy, she and the baby had spent the rest of the day after the funeral of the mother playing games.
Diana had even wanted to sleep in her mother's bed with the boy but that is where Hippolyta drew the line in the sand. It will already be hard enough for her as is when the child is to be returned.
A small thump and the quick patter of skin against hard floor caused Hippolyta the turn in her seat. The baby had woke up and climbed, or fell, off the bed and was now crawling towards her armor and her sword which was leaning against the wall. He was probably seeing his reflection in her golden armor, so humorous...
Her sword!
She quickly jumped from her seat, knocking the chair over as she did so, and ran over, picking the child up just as he was about to grab at her armor which meant her sword was to the right of his neck.
"Shh little one, calm down. It is alright" Hippolyta said calming the baby down as he was now crying from the sudden abduction. While she was doing that, Hippolyta was also putting her sword up on it's wall hanger as well as putting away anything else that could harm the baby.
She had forgotten just how much trouble a crawling baby could be and was now regretting getting rid of Diana's old crib.
"You're quite the little adventurer, aren't you?" she asked having calmed the baby down before sitting back in her chair at the fire after standing it back up. The baby babbled before he turned his body so he was facing her chest and began trying to nurse through her toga as she had taken off her breast bindings.
Hippolyta laughed at his antics before turning her body and grabbing a nearby cup. It had a narrow and rounded top with a small hole in the very top of it. The top had been made so it could screw off and back on to fill the cub with a liquid.
Since Diana had been molded from clay, her body didn't have any milk to feed the hungry baby with, so she had to use cow milk to do so. However she couldn't just drop the child off under the cow. So she had to invent something to keep the child alive. This was one of the few things Hippolyta had kept from Diana's childhood as keepsakes.
"Now now, little one. I know they look like a midnight snack but I promise you, there is no milk inside them" she said before detaching him from her and turning the baby back onto his back and began feeding him with the bottle.
She slowly rocked back and forth in her chair and began humming a song just like she used to do when she fed Diana.
After a few minutes, the bottle was empty and the baby was full. However as Hippolyta put the bottle down and looked at the boy; she seen he didn't have a look of happiness on his face but instead a look of discomfort.
Remembering from when Diana was a baby, she almost immediately knew what was the problem and placed the baby over her shoulder.
After a few pats on the back, the baby let out a small burp before he laughed at the sound he just made. Hippolyta laughed at him laughing before brought him back against her chest and looked down at him.
His eyes were so full of hazel that they reminded her of those of a Nemean Lion's: rugged and wild. Yet there a was also innocence and a caring personality behind them.
Slowly the eyes began to blink close as the baby let out a small yawn. He then snuggled in close against Hippolyta's warm chest and quickly fell asleep.
Hippolyta smiled at the boy before leaning down and planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Sleep well, little one" she said. After a few seconds of looking down, she then looked up with the smile on her face being replaced by a worried frown.
"Oh shit" she said realizing that she had done the thing that she told everyone else not to do. She had grown attached to the boy
She then began thinking over some stuff about the future of both Themyscira and the child. After a few minutes, she nodded to herself before she sighed.
She then reached past her glass of wine and grabbed the bottle of the Themyscira based drink. She was gonna definitely gonna need a buzz for tomorrow.
This was something I wrote up back when I first started Experiment X, but I left it in the doc manager to do the Young justice fanfiction.
However I almost completely forgot about it and when I recently remembered that I still had it, it was three days from being deleted.
So to avoid loosing all the work I put into it, I'm putting the first chapter out now but until I finish either Pridelander Soldier or Experiment X, probably Pridelander Soldier, this will be the only chapter for now.