Mount Etna
"This seems promising." Diana said, holding a sword in hand.
"Take it." Hephaestus told her.
Diana pulled out a curved dagger.
"As does this."
"My arsenal is at your disposal." The Smith told her.
"A shield perhaps." Diana pondered.
"If you think it will do some good. Though I do find your choices... archaic."
"It's how we were raised, Hephaestus."
"Don't disrespect the classics." Nathaniel agreed with his sister from his place sitting on the side. He seemed to be working through some of Hephaestus' creations, examining each blade, checking them for some unknown quality.
"Fine craftsmanship. Almost without flaw."
The smith god turned to glare at the prince.
"If you believe that to be an insult, know that it isn't."
"'Only Zeus is perfect' I believe the quote is?" Nathaniel smirked. "You'd be hard pressed to find a being more flawed."
"Were he alive to hear that, I doubt you would be so smug." Hephaestus groused.
"If only he were." Nathaniel grinned. "My god killing days are still in their early stages."
"Nathaniel, please, not here." Diana said, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder.
He rolled his eyes, placing the blade he'd been looking at back on its stand.
"Much as the classic 're goood 'n all. I like the heft a this 'ere." Lennox interjected, lofting a large six barrelled machine gun.
"You won't be needing it Lennox." Diana told him.
"I'm going alone."
"Over my dead-" Both Nathaniel and Lennox began.
"Which is the only way into the underworld, other than escorted by me."
"Truth from the Messenger. Surprising." Hephaestus said.
"Not the whole truth though. Is it Messenger?" Nathaniel said. "Themyscira has a gateway."
"To Tartarus." Hermes corrected. "And unless you want to spend days fighting through its forces before reaching Hades' castle, not to mention guarding the door to prevent escape of monsters, you'll not be fool enough to open it."
Nathaniel gritted his teeth, but conceded the point.
"There are still other ways."
"We're ready to go with you." Eros told her.
"I know Eros. That's why you can't because if I fail..."
"We'll be here." Hephaestus reassured before reaching to his son and grabbing his golden pistols. "Take these."
"What!" Eros exclaimed, shocked.
"She'll bring them back. Won't you Wonder Woman?"
Diana looked at the two weapons of love in her hands, sheathing them with a nod to both gods. As she and Hermes came together to leave, Nathaniel walked up to her.
"I hope you don't expect me to just let you go without a fight."
Diana smiled.
"I don't. But please, in case anything goes wrong, I am asking you to stay and assure Zola's safety."
She gave her brother a weary look.
"Not to mention, the last time he saw you, you did kill him."
Nathaniel looked at her.
"If he harms a single hair on your head. God or not, I'll kill him again, and he won't come back this time."
She hugged him.
"Thank you Brother."
"Wait Diana, there's something else."
Diana pulled away from the hug, sitting as Nathaniel gestured for her.
"The underworld. It's not going to be what you expect, more importantly, I don't know if Zola will be who you remember."
Diana and Hermes exchanged looks before turning back to him.
"What do you mean?" Hermes asked.
"Gods, monsters, souls, all those things exist in Hades' realm, but they're meant to you see. It's home to them. I living, breathing person. That's the last thing that should exist in the land of the dead. If Zola is there, even for a day, she might experience some... adverse effects."
"Like what?" Diana asked urgently.
"I'm not sure." Nathaniel admitted. "It might be that she's sapped of her emotions, her will. It might be that time has passed greatly for her relative to us. It might be that Zeus' child prevents any effects from reaching her. It's an unknown quantity. I'm just warning you. It will not be what you think."
"All the more reason for us to retrieve her as quickly as possible." Diana said firmly. "Thank you for the warning Nathaniel, but we must go."
As she and Hermes blinked away in a dome of blue energy, Nathaniel just stared at the space they'd left.
"To think, I could still worry so much for her." He chuckled.
"She's a grown lass, she can take care of herself." Lennox came up behind him. "Fancy a pint?"
Nathaniel nodded.
"I think so."
"So... what 're you hiding from her?" Lennox asked.
Nathaniel studied the son of Zeus over the rim of his beer mug.
"What makes you think I'm hiding something?"
"Come off it man. Don' got to be a genius to figure it out. Man like you, so many enemies, so few friends, keeps things close to the vest."
Nathaniel chuckled.
"That's true at least. However, I'm not hiding anything from Diana. At least, nothing like the things I've hidden that she's found out recently. Nothing she needs to know."
"That's a wide breath mate." Lennox said. "Lot o' things we don' need to know, 'nd most of them would be better if we did."
"Believe me, this really isn't her concern. It's about a woman."
Now Lennox seemed interested.
"A woman eh? Thought with 'ow you grew up, you might swing for the other team."
Nathaniel laughed.
"No no, not that I'm adversed to those who do, but as they would say, 'we don't chose who we love'. Believe me, I was as surprised as anyone."
"So?"
"'So' what?"
"Come on, don' make me beg."
"Haha. Fine. She's... she's like the sun, she's so warm, but she burns you if you're not careful. Real spitfire."
"Sounds like a headache."
"She is, but it's worth it. For so long, Diana was my only light. Then I met her. She so bright, so much of... everything really. I only hope the two of them never argue, that'd be a clash of titans."
"Mhm. Makes you wonder though..."
"What?"
"If they don' get along. Who you gonna side with? Between the Mrs and the sistah."
Nathaniel's smile disappeared.
"That's none of your business."
"Might not be, but still, you gotta wonder."
"Enough. How about you Mr Lennox, considering everything you've been through, I'm surprised you're here."
"You don't know shit about me." Lennox growled.
"Don't I? Born in The United Kingdom in 1912, you lived in London before enlisting in the British armed forced after surviving a german bombing run that killed the rest of your family. Served throughout the entire war. You accompanied troops from Normandy all the way to Berlin. Earned the Victoria Cross and the DCM alongside multiple other commendations and honours for distinguished service but was never promoted above lance corporal. In fact, you were written up multiple times for reckless endangerment and disobeying orders."
Lennox's fist tightened around his glass as he glared at Nathaniel.
"In the years after the war, and contact with Ares during the battle of Normandy, you began searching for the remaining children of Zeus. In 1994 you met Helena Sandsmark and produced a daughter, Cassandra Sandsmark, who right now has become involved in various operations with the newly formed group of teenage superheroes known as the 'Teen Titans'. Current address of Cassandra Sandsmark is-"
"That's enough." Lennox slammed his hand on the table, rattling their mugs.
"So now you know what I'm capable of." Nathaniel softly smiled. "Perhaps you'll answer my question. Why go through all this? Why stick your neck out after the last time?"
"You know about Cassandra." Lennox said. It wasn't a question
"I know about both of them."
"Then you know why I have to do this."
"...Very well, but if this little errand of yours proves too much for Diana, or if you hurt her in any way, I'll kill you."
"Then we understand each other."
The two men reached out across the table, shaking hands.
Diana and Hermes appeared in the underworld in a flash of light. They landed softly on grey sand, a red sky with dark clouds looming overhead.
"Huh. Not what I expected." She said, looking around.
"It never is." Hermes told her.
"But you've been here many times, Hermes."
The two of them walked along the sand, which had turned to ash-grey stone leading to a small flight of stairs.
"True. Yet each time, it's different. THe underworld is govened by Hedes' whims and imagination. As they change so does his realm."
The two reached the top of the stairs and Hermes pointed to something in the distance as Diana looked on, shocked.
"And while it's not what you were expecting. Clearly he's expecting you."
Spaced out before them, a perfect replica of London made up Hades' realm. From Big Ben, to the parliament building, the tower of London, everything about the lord of the dead's imitation was spot on. As the two made their way through the dead city, Diana kept a look out.
"I can't get over the emptiness. I figured, well, the dead wold be everywhere."
"They are." Hermes told her.
"Where are they?" She asked.
"Everywhere." He repeated. "The walls, the clouds..." He shone a light from his caduceus over the ground. "The street under your feet."
"Oh my." Diana gasped as the light revealed that the bricks they were walking on turned into an assortment of souls fitted neatly together.
"The underworld is made of souls."
Just behind them, a statue of a man riding a horse trembled. Part of the man's face cracked off, revealing tissue and nerves under it, without any skin. A golden iris shifted and looked upon the two intruders.
"Hades uses the dead to construct his kingdom?" Diana exclaimed, aghast at the very idea.
"Uses?" Hermes pondered. "Hm, you're implying an unwillingness."
"To be walked on Hermes? Damn right I am." She retorted.
In the background, the statues arm began to fall away as well, revealing more tissue and muscle carrying a stone sword.
"You're young. I think the concept of eternity is something you don't grasp yet." Hermes told her. "Diana... being immortal is a blessing, and a trap. A trap that mortals don't share."
The being under the statue began to peel away at the stone that was covering it.
"Imagine dying, and gaining the ability to be anything. Anything for just a piece of time, knowing that your time to reinvent yourself is forever. Not existing in a world, but being the world."
The horse shook itself free as well, and the two leapt off of the pedestal.
"It hardly seems like being used."
The sound of hooves on pavement caused the two to whirl around as a the creatures inside the statue neared them.
The two creatures were sinew and muscle, without skin they dripped putrid black blood onto the ground. The horse reared back, and the person atop it growled.
"You can't tell me anyone chose to be that." Diana said pointedly.
"Free will is a funny thing" Was Hermes' only response.
The horse charged with its rider dipping down to grind its sword against the ground.
Wonder Woman and Hermes made ready for battle, but were caught off guard as dozens of hands appeared from the floor, grabbing at their legs.
Diana swung her blade, cutting off the grasping hands and freeing them both. Seeing the soul creature bearing down on them Hermes tackled Diana out of the way of its charge.
"Get to the trees." He told her.
"I'm not leaving you."
Hermes swept his clawed feet across the underbelly of the horse, causing it and its rider to retreat back and circle around.
"I don't need your protection, and I'm not why we're here."
The two got to their feet, and Hermes pointed further into the city.
"Now find Zola!"
Diana jumped a fence, racing through large grey trees and vegetation. Running past a group of statues, Diana was held up as they began to crack apart. More of the undead souls began to emerge and as they did one opened its mouth.
"I knew you would come." It said in a voice Diana recognised.
"Hades? You stole someone I love."
"You left me no choice." He said through the soul.
"Oh, I left you? I don't think so."
"That's why you're here. You made a bargain." Said another corpse as Diana dodged its swing.
"Honour it, or the girl, Zola, will never leave. Nor her child." Said a third. "Truth be told, I don't understand why either life is so important to you."
"Because life is important." Diana told the creatures.
"No. Life is brief. Truly, that's all life is."
The creatures lunged towards her, only for Diana to launch herself into a backflip. As she came down she swung her sword, decapitating all but one of the creatures before landing perfectly.
"And in its brevity is where life's importance lies."
As the final creature came for a strike the wind whistled and Hermes flew in, pinning the creature's head and body under his feet.
"I'd say thanks but it looks like you enjoyed that."
"So let me thank you. After being lame, it felt good to be given an opportunity."
"There may be another one just beyond those trees."
"The first light we've seen. Let's-"
"Be like moths?"
"No, Diana. Let's be what we are."
The two raced through the park, which transformed into a dense wood the further they went in.
"THere's a strangely vague familiarity to this." Diana said as they progressed.
"Of course. The underworld is a shadow. A dark, fluid reflection of what's real. Not quite memory. More like something trying to be remembered."
"Yeah, that's what it is. It's..."
The two came to a large clearing in the woods, finding a familiar structure.
"Zola's farm." Diana said.
"Who's there?" A voice called out from the cabin. A figure emerged, carrying a shotgun and sounding rather hostile. "Come out where I can see you or I swear I'm gonna just start firin', same as always."
"Same as always?" Diana echoed, confused.
"Zola it's..." Hermes exclaimed excitedly, only for his eyes to widen. "Zola?"
"Hermes?" Zola emerged from the cabin, but unlike the last time they'd seen her, she was now far more obviously pregnant. Her belly distended and heavy with child.
"Wonder Woman!" Zola exclaimed, rushing towards the two.
Diana ran to her, catching her in a hug and lifting her into the air.
"Call me Diana, please hoe many times-"
"Never! I never gave up hope! Not after the first week, or all the months, never. I knew you'd come for me. I knew it. But what took you so long?"
"Zola..." Diana trailed off. "It's been..."
"Too long." Hermes interrupted, laying a hand on Diana's shoulder. "We have to get out of this place."
Inside the house, in the burning fireplace, a face appeared in the flames.
"We, Messenger?" The house erupted into a horde of bodies as the souls that made up the building broke apart and gave chase. "Interesting."
The new lord of the dead emerged from the fireplace.
"Which 'we' do you speak of?"
"Hades." Hermes acknowledged the god of the dead.
"It's a fair question. You came her with one, but to get another. So... Which child of Zeus is your 'we'?" He asked with a smile.
"Rhaaaa!" Hermes roared and began to charge.
"Hermes." Diana held the god back.
"You want to be the we, Wonder Woman? Fine, for we had a deal. Me, witha queen. To prevent my brother and me from warring. So have you persuaded Hera to marry us?"
"I don't think that's going to happen." Diana admitted.
"Then Zola stays. And her child will be born in shadows. I desire to see how that plays out."
"It's not all you desire though, is it Hades?" Diana said. "You want a queen."
"I was promised one." Hades reminded her. "But perhaps there's something else you can give me."
"Such as?" Diana asked.
"Those pistols, they belong to Eros?" Hades asked.
"Yes."
"Yes." The death god almost purred. "I will take them in trade. Zola and her child will be free to go."
"What about my promise of Hera as your queen?" Diana asked suspiciously.
"You mean your lie? Give me the guns, and it's forgiven."
"I have your word."
"Of course. I'll have what I want."
Diana pulled the golden pistols out of their holsters, handing them over to the lord of the dead. Turning away, she, Zola and Hermes began to walk as the souls parted before them.
"Wonder Woman?" Hades asked.
Diana turned back to look at the god.
As she did, Hades raised one of the pistols and with a bang he let off a single shot. The bullet traveled straight and true towards Diana, who readied her gauntlets to deflect the shots. However, the bullets did not ricochet off as normal ones did. Instead they tore right through the metal and pierced her chest. As Wonder Woman fell, Hades spoke.
"Messenger, inform our family. There will be a wedding."
"Zola." Hermes reached down, pulling Zola off of Diana's body.
"I'm not leaving!" Zola yelled.
"Yes. you are." Diana whispered as she lay dying. "Hermes... go."
Hermes and Zola were engulfed in a dome of light and whisked out of the underworld
"Yes Hermes, shoo." Hades said, coming to stand over Diana. "Can't you see she's in love."
Hippolyta screamed.
The world she was in was starting to tear itself apart. Thousands of years went by in an instant, but her son's life wasn't nearly that long. After all, Diana had been born only twenty seven years ago, during her people's last raid on mortal fishing boats, and Nathaniel was only six year older than her.
That couldn't be right either. Her children had been born millenium ago, the closest time marker she had for their births had been the exploration team that had informed her of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul.
No. NO. nO. None of this made sense. None of this could be real.
"You're seeing it now, aren't you? The cracks? It's a pity that he could never see just how much his existence changed things."
If only this gods-forsaken voice could leave her alone, then she'd be able to think. If she could just think, then she could understand.
"Trying to ignore me? I wish you luck. We're alone in this world dear Hippolyta, and until you find the end it's not going to get any easier."
Hippolyta's head swung wildly around, trying to find something, anything, to anchor her in the ever shifting illusions that made up her world. Everywhere was pain, every-when was agony. Nothing stood still longer than a moment and every moment was an eternity. An eternity of suffering, her son's suffering.
Hippolyta ran through the darkness, trying to find something to latch onto, something to steady her.
"How does it feel? Lost in the darkness, nowhere to go, no one to turn to? I didn't think he could actualise his pain so conceptually within the illusion, but it appears that Nathaniel might be even more proficient than Itachi or Akito."
Hippolyta's chest roared in pain, forcing the air out of her lungs as she tumbled to the ground. She writhed in agony, unable to find anything of solace in this world of darkness.
"I wonder... is this by his design, or perhaps the flaws in his life are beginning to show themselves?" The voice mused. "I'm actually not entirely sure. To see the raw dissonance in a fractured life-time could drive most people insane. At the same time, the pain and psychological ramifications are not so dissimilar from a mind breaking from excessive mental, physical and emotional trauma. You put him through enough of all three to cause this kind of effect."
Suddenly, in the darkness, there was a light. The smallest pinprick of light in the distance. It was tiny, absolutely minuscule, but it was pure. Hippolyta forced herself to her feet, dragging herself step by step towards the light.
The dark half-man watched her with sick glee, before it saw just what she was heading towards. As the light gave the barest illumination of its face, its smile became a snarl.
"No! No, you cannot. You can't go there. He doesn't even remember it. It's not a part of this, it has no place in your punishment. It's not meant for you."
Hippolyta didn't pay any heed to the voice of the beast. It couldn't actively hurt her, nor could it stop her from moving. It, just like everything here, was a fiction. An illusion of the past, brought into the present to torment her.
She continued on, stumbling over invisible obstacles, tripping and falling. But the nearer she got, the brighter light grew. She was getting close, all the while, the shadowy monster roared in her ear.
"You're the monster, not me. I'm his only friend, I'm the only one to ever tell him the truth."
"Lies." Hippolyta gasped. "You've lied to him the entire time. You're not his friend. He didn't make you. You don't care about him, and you are not him."
"I am!" The creature exclaimed in frustration.
"A ruse." Hippolyta said. "You're using him. You want your mother. In that way, and that way only, you are the same. You both wanted a mother. I am sorry that you can not have yours , but I am going to prove to him that I can be his again. I am willing to sacrifice for him. If it takes me a thousand millenium, I'll prove it."
"You're selfish." It accused her. "When have you ever cared before. You were the architect of all his pain. Now you want to change. Now you think you can. It's a selfish wish, you want him back, just to soothe your own guilt."
"I an selfish." Hippolyta conceded. "And guilty, but this isn't for me. If he hates me forever. I'll bear it. If he kills me, I'll welcome it. I won't ever hurt my child again, I can't."
"SELFISH! It's all your fault! All your fault!"
The light rested right in front of her face. She could see it so clearly. She reached out. So close.
"NOOOOOO!"
Her hand brushed the light, and suddenly the darkness was gone. It was chased away by this new piece, this memory. The creature was banished with the darkness, forced to wait for her to return.
"A boy my queen."
Hippolyta turned towards the voice. She was standing in the palace of Themyscira, but this was her own room. A younger version of her, though she looked no different, laid panting and heaving for breath in a bed. She wore a light frock, soaked through with her own sweat, and stared glassy eyed at the ceiling.
"My queen."
The younger Hippolyta turned to see Epione. Themyscira's chief healer was holding a bundle in her arms, wrapped in a dark piece of cloth was a child.
"It is a boy."
Both Hippolyta's eyed widened, though for seperate reasons. The Hippolyta of the future watched the aftermath of the birth of her son and understood what the monster had met. Of course her son wouldn't remember this. He was too young. This place, it wasn't one of her son's memories and so was not a piece of her punishment.
"A boy?" The younger Hippolyta seemed confused. Almost in shock.
"Yes my queen, should we reach out to The Smith?"
Already they planned to send him away. It wouldn't work, she knew that.
"Yes... yes, reach out and tell him we have something to trade." The young queen's voice was weak from the aftermath of the birth, but she didn't take her eyes off of the child in her arms. Even wrapped up in black cloth, Hippolyta could see the tuft of blonde hair to match her own that grew upon his head. Nathaniel's eyes, which would grow to be a deep, forest green, were at the moment a light blue like the sky on a clear, sunny day.
"We shall take him then my queen." Epione reached out to take Nathaniel from her arms, only for the queen to flinch away from her midwife's outstretched hands.
"No." The other amazons in the room seemed shocked at the queen's refusal. Hippolyta noticed and tried to put up an authoritative facade. "No, I'll keep him here. Epione, you should go and wash, the rest of you, see to it that contact is made with Lord Hephaestus."
The other amazons bowed, obeying their queen.
As the doors closed, Hippolyta looked down at the child in her arms. This was not the way of the amazons, she knew this. The instant a boy child was born, they were taken and stored with the other boys until such time as Hephaestus came to take them. Mothers fresh from the birthing bed were prone to violence and irrationality, uncaring of their ways in the face of their newly born sons. Hippolyta did not hold it against them, but still, a part of her rebelled at the fact that she was using her authority as queen to deny her people's ways.
"What to name you?" She wondered aloud. Nathaniel, though he was not named that yet, merely yawned adorably and tried to settle in her arms, burying his head into her chest.
"I won't have you here for long." She told him. "You will have to be sent away, as is fitting of a male on Themyscira, but you must be given a name. You are an amazon, no matter that you will never this remember this place."
"Phillip perhaps?" She mused aloud, testing the name on her lips. Nathaniel pouted, turning his head and waggling his arms and legs in the blanket. The younger Hippolyta laughed lightly at her new child's seeming dislike for his new name. "Perhaps not."
The older Hippolyta watched the scene play out, seeing herself in one of the few good memories she possessed with her first born.
"Maybe Hippolytus then. Would you like that little one?" She asked her son. Nathaniel, though she had not yet picked that name for him, displayed his discontent by trying to hide himself in her frock.
"Not Hippolytus, though perhaps that is for the best, better not to leave such a distinction." The younger queen supposed, bringing her son's face from her chest. "You are quite the insistent one, aren't you, so wilful, even new as you are to the world. That should serve you well with The Smith."
Mother and son laid together as Hippolyta tried to find a name. Meanwhile, the older Hippolyta watched with some odd form of jealousy. This was her memory, she had once been the woman on that bed, holding her newborn child and trying contently to pick out a name that her infant child would not reject. Still, she wished that she could take the place of her past self, she had no idea of the horrors she would eventually unleash upon her son, of how her own grudges would lose her not only her son, but also her daughter. If she could just go back, knowing what she knew now, she could change things, she would change things.
"Jason?" That name got the worst reaction, Nathaniel let out a slight cry. "No, Not Jason."
"Perhaps Nathaniel." Hippolyta barked out a laugh. "Wouldn't that be a name? Given everything that took place to arrange for your conception, it would be quite a slap in the face to your father."
The newly named Nathaniel didn't cry, in fact, he made no indication that the latest name proposed by his mother was unsatisfactory. Both Hippolytas saw this, and both descended into giggles.
"Oh, so you want to take a swing at Hades do you?" Her younger self asked her infant son. "Your father wanted me just to irritate his brother and I, I suppose he must be so proud, to have given me a disgrace of a child. Maybe Nathaniel is the perfect name for you, eh? You'll forever be a gift, but not to me, the Smith will make far better use for you."
The younger queen observed her son's face, which began to break out into a smile before he started to clap his hand. Hippolyta smiled.
"You would have made a fine Amazon, had you been born a girl. So young and already you help me to find what revenge I can against your father." Hippolyta brought Nathaniel close to her chest, and eventually shifted her frock so her son could nurse. Their ritual was still years away, so none of her sisters could take him. He would need to feed from her for the next few days before he was taken by the Smith to his forges with the rest of his soon to be brothers.
Epione re-entered the room shortly after, taking Nathaniel and inspecting him to ensure he was healthy.
"The boy appears to be in good shape my queen." She told Hippolyta without emotion. Hippolyta nodded, uncaring for the detached tone of her chief healer. The story told throughout her people was that the god of the dead had raped her, and the child was the result. She was under no illusions that her people would show him great warmth, but it didn't matter. In a few days he would be gone, a servant of Hephaestus.
"We shall move him to the designated quarters for the boy children my lady."
"No, leave him in the palace."
"My queen?" Asked Epinoe as the guards looked confused.
"None of our sisters are capable of feeding him at the moment. Best keep him close, I don't want to have anyone ferrying his milk across the island."
The guards relaxed and Epinoe bowed.
"Of course my queen. We will bring a cradle into one of the spare rooms."
"Good, ensure he is separated though, we don't want too many people seeing him."
"It will be done."
Nathaniel was taken away from her, and Hippolyta laid back on the bed, breathing a sigh of relief. The birth had been as difficult as any other, and she was glad for the chance to rest.
Suddenly the doors to her rooms burst open, and the two guards she'd sent out previously entered, alongside Dessa and Philippus.
"My lady." They said.
"Ah, good." Hippolyta smiled, and the future Hippolyta's eyes widened as she remembered what was about to happen. "Has lord Hephaestus replied already? When will he arrive to claim the child?"
The group looked amongst themselves nervously.
"There is a problem your majesty. The Smith says that he cannot take the child."
"What?" Hippolyta sat up in her bed, only wincing slightly at the sudden movement. "By the gods themselves why not?"
Philippus stepped forwards, looking concerned towards her queen.
"My queen. The lord of the dead has laid claim to the boy, no god or goddess may take him in. He cannot be taken from the island by godly hands."
Hippolyta's face became a sneer, already Hades was adjusting the consequences of their deal. Bastard.
"Then we shall move him to the mortal world ourselves. We can deposit him somewhere on the greek shoreline, perhaps Athens might benefit from an amazonian presence."
"My lady. The Smith has relayed a message. No one may take in the boy who is not his own mortal blood. Hades has seen to it. The child will be raised here, on Themyscira."
Hippolyta saw her younger self's face change to one of abject rage. Her teeth gritted and her eyes screwed shut.
"Why does Hades seem so set on not allowing us to give the boy away? He must know what was done to our men before Hephaestus came with his offer."
The others looked between themselves. It was a mystery to them as well.
"Be that as it may my queen, shall we proceed with the ritual?"
Hippolyta laid back in her bed, sighing.
"Not today. I haven't the strength to do it today, but as queen I must be the one to do it. On the morrow, it will be done."
"My queen, though we understand your reasoning, you should not have to be the one to do this. The child may have been forced on you by Hades, but you need not stain your hands with the blood of your own child, even a boy's."
"It is my duty Dessa. Philippus, make the preparations."
Hippolyta watched as she and her people prepared to murder her son a mere day after his birth. Nathaniel had barely tasted the world and already she was planning on ways to kill him. This memory had been one of light before. Her joy at the sight of her child had been pure, untainted, though tinged with the knowledge that she would not keep him. As she watched she realised that it was not his looks, so much like the form Hades had chosen when he'd laid with her, that had turned her against him, but sheer circumstance.
Her hatred of Hades, of his command over her, even after their bargain. That command that had come through their child, and in her desire to slight her former lover, she had lost sight of the fact that she was torturing her child to do it. Not that Hades probably even cared. He likely hadn't even noticed Nathaniel's suffering, only caring that it had brought her some form of anguish. How he would be laughing at her now if that version of him still existed. Torn to pieces, shattered and broken, all because she'd taken out her anger for him on their son.
The memory began to fade away as her past self began to fall asleep. Hippolyta tried to hold on, to grasp hold of the memory of those precious moments with her child before she'd let the darkness overcome her. It was all in vain, Nathaniel's illusion had provided it's small respite, and now was returning her to the terror that awaited her in the dark.
"Glad to have you back Hippolyta."
Hippolyta shook her head, trying to ignore the dark voice as it welcomed her back to the world of pain she had found herself submerged in.
"Where were we? Oh right, I believe it was right about..."
It didn't finish its sentence as Hippolyta felt the pain of an unrestrained strike. Turning to see what memory she was being played this time, she saw herself standing above Nathaniel. He looked to be about sixteen. Older than any of the memories that she'd seen since coming to this world, and she could see several of her sisters watching from the sidelines as she beat her son for some slight, what it was she couldn't tell, nor could she remember what it was from her own actions. The strike was vicious, sending Nathaniel skidding and spitting blood.
"Is that all mother?" He asked, wiping the red from his lip. "You usually do much worse for beating one of your warriors."
Her own rage-filled eyes glared down and a leg struck like a coiled snake, slamming into her son's stomach and sending him skidding even farther along the floor of the arena.
"What fun." The creature purred in her ear. "I wonder what he did this time? Oh right, he defended himself against one of the warriors you sent to try and kill him. I don't think you'd quite beaten the spite out of him yet. Let's watch, shall we?"
And so Hippolyta watched herself as she beat her son bloody. By the end of the memory, the sun was beginning to set, and Nathaniel was lying on his stomach, covered in cuts and bruises that were already forming into nasty coloured marks. Across the arena, Hippolyta herself had a few marks on her from where her son had defended against her.
"Useless child. Clean up this mess you've made, and don't come back tonight. You will find shelter in the forest, and I'll inform Diana of your punishment."
She walked away, leaving Nathaniel lying in the sand and the gravel.
Meanwhile, a repentant mother tried anew to aid her ailing child, only to be reminded that there was nothing in this world she could change. She was, in the end, helpless to change the past, and she had lost her children for it.
Only a week and a new chapter? Wha? How is this possible? Well, this probably won't be consistent, but the muse spoke to me and I was able to get this down during three days of the week. Hope you enjoy.