Superman, Son of Hippolyta - A T-Rexcellent Reviews Fanfiction
I of course own no DC Comics properties or characters and make no money off of this, I am merely a giant DC Fan who wants to share my stories with all of you.
Chapter 6: The Wolf and the Lioness
The Island of Themyscira, inside the Royal Children's Chambers…
From where she sat, Hippolyta smiled as she watched her daughter hug the huge white canine around his neck, burying her pretty face into his neck while her young son climbed onto the canines back and sat there, riding on him as though the large wolfish looking dog was really a very furry horse.
Krypto, for his part, remained entirely calm and almost unphased as her children fawned over him, his gaze was entirely on her and the new child in her lap who was still feeding ravenously from the milk bottle in her hands.
The Queen of the Amazons looked at the Wolfdog who looked right back at her, Hippolyta's blue eyes meeting Krypto's red ones.
Hippolyta smiled at him and she was sure beneath that furry, fang filled muzzle, Krypto was smiling at her too.
Thinking back on it now, Hippolyta did not really know when she had decided to accept the white Wolfdog into her family.
Truthfully, it had not been a choice at the time, because when Kal came into her life, Krypto came along with him.
The boy and his pup had arrived on Themyscira together, asleep in the same bed when she first saw them, curled around each other like twins still in the womb, they had fallen asleep like that during their first night on the island as well and every night since.
Her son loved his furry friend who loved him in turn, the fact that dog barked relentlessly whenever he was removed from the boy's presence, until finally returned was proof enough of that.
Besides, when her daughter woke up the following morning and discovered she had not just only gotten a new younger sibling, but a new pet as well, seeing that ecstatic smile on Diana's face, Hippolyta couldn't say no to letting her children keep the puppy.
For the longest time, she couldn't even think of a reason to do so, for after quickly realising her Little Sunlight did not pose a threat, the pup had taken an immediate likening to her, almost as much as the boy, nuzzling and licking her affectionately every time she picked him up.
The Queen of the Amazons fondly remembered her daughter playing fetch with the Wolfdog pup in the Gardens of Persephone while she and her son watched, occasionally, the little Wolfdog would scamper over to her with the fetching ball in his mouth, his big bright puppy eyes practically begging her to throw it, which she did, often laughing while doing so.
But those times were fleeting, as Krypto began to grow and grow larger by the day, until finally, the once adorable looking white puppy had transformed into a large fearsome looking beast with all the sharp teeth and claws that were expected of an apex predator to have.
Her fellow Amazons had been understandably concerned when they saw the large canine trailing behind her into the palace throne room with her children, even more so when it laid down by her throne like it belonged there, watching silently as court proceedings carried on throughout day while keeping a keen eye on Kal as he played by her other side.
Hippolyta had not wanted to admit it at the time, but she had her concerns as well, though Krypto had never shown even the slightest sign of aggression towards her or her children, the sight of the large Wolfdog towering over her young daughter and still infant son, staring at them with his blood red eyes sent shivers down her spine.
She remembered coming to check on her children late one night and to her shock found the large canine resting on her daughters' bed, Diana hugging its furry tail while she slept like it was her favourite stuffed toy, Krypto meanwhile had his eyes half open and focused on the door from where he lay facing, the way he had raised his head and growled at her in the darkness of the room before finally recognising who she was had shook the warrior queen more than she liked to let on.
The next morning, her sisters had begun to voice their concerns about the animal sleeping in the royal children's chamber, suggesting that perhaps the Wolfdog should be given a place to sleep in the islands kennels with the Two Headed Orthrus Dogs, but Hippolyta had chosen to deny the suggestion for the moment, as despite her own growing concerns, the Krypto had done nothing to warrant such an imprisonment.
Then the day came when she had taken her children to the island's Farms of Demeter to show them the different kinds of livestock, they raised on Themyscira, from great Geryon Cattle to Cockatrice Chickens, all had been going well until one of the Calydonian Boar piglets had gotten out of its pen and had seen Krypto standing outside the fence.
The little tusked creature had runaway squealing in terror at the sight of the large wolfish looking dog, Krypto for his part had immediately raced after it with predatory intent and before anyone could stop him, had snatched the little boar in his jaws and began shaking it to death.
The sounds the dying piglet had made in its final moments of life were terrible to hear, sending the other farm animals into frenzy and her fellow Amazons running onto the scene, meanwhile, Hippolyta just watched as the now blood-stained albino Wolfdog held the tiny dead piglet in his jaws, looking at her and her children intensely all the while as he dropped it before effortlessly ripping off one of its back legs to eat.
For a mother, it was all too easy for her to imagine a small boy or a young girl in the place of the freshly slaughtered boar.
That night, a decision had to be made, once again the suggestion of locking the Wolfdog up in the kennels was suggested, but this time on a more permanent basis, at least until the children were older and would be able to properly defend themselves against their pet should he ever savagely decide to turn on them.
While her circle guards and Alkyone in particular had voted for the beast to simply be put down, they had even offered to do it themselves, but she had refused them that kill, her children would never forgive her if she allowed that to happen to their beloved pet, Hippolyta wasn't sure she'd be able to forgive herself if she allowed that to happen either.
So, she had settled on caging the canine instead, locking the Wolfdog up in a large spacious kennel that he had all to himself with everything a dog could ever want or needs, except her children.
Krypto hated it the moment he saw it and immediately started pawing at the door and whimpering the moment he realised she meant to leave him locked in there.
She remembered how he had looked at her with those blood red eyes of his as she walked away from the kennels, like she had betrayed him by doing this to him, but she hadn't, it wasn't anything personal, he was a potentially dangerous predator and she was a queen only doing what she thought was best for her children and her tribe, right?
But Krypto obviously didn't agree, as his mournful howling echoed around the palace every night since clearly implied.
Her children didn't agree or understand either, Diana had been greatly upset when she was told Krypto wasn't going to be allowed to sleep in their room anymore and Kal had started crying every time he heard Krypto howl in sadness throughout the night.
But despite their grief over this unfortunate situation and her own sadness at having to be the cause of it, Hippolyta did not change her mind on the matter, her children loved their pet and deep down, she knew Krypto loved both of them as well, but sometimes, love just wasn't worth the risk.
After a while, things seem to have calmed down, Krypto eventually ceased howling and her children seem to have accept her decision, but still the guilt and pain remained heavy in her heart every time she went to the kennels to check on Krypto, to see the Wolfdog just lying there dejectedly inside his cage, not even bothering to look up at her when she called him.
She always left the kennels regretting her decision to come there and almost reconsidering her decision to keep him locked up, almost being the key word there, as almost also always meant never.
It was the day right after the last visit, that Hippolyta did indeed finally regret locking Krypto up in the kennels.
That was the day the Nemean Lioness attacked.
She had taken both Diana and Kal back to the farm to try and cheer them both up when the giant golden, partially striped big cat had erupted from out of the jungle, leaped over the farm fence, before bringing down a Geryon Cow calf with tooth and claw in mere moments, just enough time to send the other farm animals into another fearful frenzy.
Grabbing the killed calf in her by its throat, the Lioness had jumped back over the fence and tried to reach to the jungle to make her escape, but was blocked off by her farm sisters and their pack of Two Headed Orthrus guard dogs.
The pack of canines swarmed around the predator who was forced to drop her kill and flee in the other direction, towards Hippolyta and her children.
The Queen of the Amazons came face to face with the Queen of the Beasts and instead of embracing her fellow ruler, the huge wild cat instead tried to kill her.
Passing Kal to Diana and telling her daughter to run, Hippolyta bravely stood between the predator and her fleeing children with nothing but her spear and shield in her hands, the big cat growled and swiped her massive clawed paws at the Amazon Queen, but Hippolyta did not budge, she would not give an inch, not until she knew her children were safe from harm.
Eventually, the big cat just became annoyed and decided to pounce on her.
Hippolyta felt the breath get knocked out of her lungs as several hundred pounds of ferocious feline fell atop her claws first, knocking her spear from hand and sending it rolling.
Thinking quickly and feeling the hot breath of the Nemean Lioness on her face, Hippolyta pulled her shield up in front of her face before the big cat could take her throat in her fang filled jaws, the Amazon Queen's muscles strained as she felt the feline beat and bite at her shield, trying to break through and reach her windpipe, clawing at her shoulders in the process and drawing blood.
Hippolyta gritted her teeth through the pain and prayed to all the Goddesses on Mount Olympus that her sisters and their Orthrus Dogs would hear her plight over the panicked farm animals and come to her aid.
But then, Hippolyta, heard her daughter scream, probably seeing the life-threatening situation her mother was facing, and to the warrior queen's horror, the Nemean Lioness stopped attempting to maul her and looked up in the direction the cry had come from.
No!
Moments later, the big cat had leapt off her and was now racing across the field, rolling in the grass in agony and terror, Hippolyta saw the fearsome feline closing in on her children position with freighting speed.
No! No!
She saw Diana put her brother behind her, pull out her small sword training and prepared to defend herself, but still, Hippolyta could clearly see the terror in her daughter's eyes, terror she knew was reflected in her own eyes.
No! No! No!
Hippolyta tried desperately to force herself to stand up but only fell down in the dirt again, she tried to reach for her spear and grasped only grass instead, her children were defenceless, the predator was closing in and there was nothing she could do to stop what was about to happen.
No! No! No! Please!
The Nemean Lioness slowed to a stalk, orange eyes fixed on the scared little girl holding the shaking short sword in trembling hands with the babe behind her, the predator was not intimated in the slightest, growling menacingly, the big cat opened her jaws and prepared to go in for the kill.
No! No! No! Please! Someone please save them!
In that moment, Hippolyta prayed to all the Greek Gods and Goddesses even harder than she had before, this time, not for her own life, but for the lives of her two children, the lives of her infant prince and young princess, the lives of her Little Sunlight and her Little Fallingstar.
Please! Gods! I beg you! Save them! PLEASE!
HHHOOOWWWLLL!
But it was not the voice of any of the Greek Gods that answered her prayers, instead, it was a familiar canine howl.
HHHOOOWWWLLL!
Out of the corner of her left eye, Hippolyta saw a white blur racing past her vision and with another furious howl, Krypto launched himself at the Nemean Lioness with protective fury, his sharp fangs amazingly piercing through the big cats near impenetrable fur with ease and instantly drawing blood before the feline finally threw him off her.
The Wolfdog must have heard her children's cries from halfway across Themyscira, had somehow escaped his kennel and raced across the island at lighting speed to come to their rescue, as with hackles raised and teeth bared in a savage snarl, Krypto put himself between the large Nemean Lioness and the two royal children.
Glaring red eyes met orange ones as the Wolf and the Lioness threw themselves at each in a vicious clash of teeth and claws, snarling and growling as they wrestled with each other in the dirt.
The two battling beasts tussling eventually brought them closer to her just as Hippolyta found her spear again and forced herself to her feet, the warrior queen took a steading breathe, pulled her throwing arm back, and threw her spear with all her remaining strength just as Krypto leapt back from the battle.
The spear's sharp point struck the felines ribcage with such force that half of its wooden length snapped off from the impact of it impaling into the Nemean Lioness's side, puncturing through the flesh and into the lung.
The Nemean Lioness staggered back and forth from the blow, managing to give off one more defiant, dying roar as her throat filled with blood, hacking and spitting crimson life fluid across the green grass moments before she over into the dirt, dead.
The battle was over, it was quick, bloody… and shockingly tragic in its conclusion, as Hippolyta watched the Lioness's life leave her before the Amazon Queen's very eyes, she watched as the light faded from them as she lay in bloodied ground, watched as the slow pained breaths of her speared side slowly ceased and, in a moment, the Nemean Lioness was gone from this world.
Hippolyta closed her eyes in sadness and looked away from the grim scene, it had to be done, she told herself, for her family.
Falling back onto her knees, Hippolyta opened her eyes just as her daughter came rushing over to her with her little brother back in arms, the queen could see the tears in both their eyes, just as she could feel them in her own.
Opening her arms up, the Queen of the Amazons accepted her Little Sunlight and her Little Fallingstar into her embrace with a glad cry, holding both her son and her daughter close to her heart for as long as possible.
A sudden whimper caught her attention and Hippolyta finally looked up from her two children's tear-filled faces to see Krypto standing a few feet away from her, dirty and battered from the battle, but otherwise, relatively unharmed.
That was how her Queen's Circle and her fellow Amazons found them, with the beautiful dark- haired queen and the savage albino beast staring at one another as Hippolyta held her children protectively in her arms.
Seeing the slain Nemean Lioness lying on the ground nearby and large Wolfdog out of his kennel before their queen, Alkyone and her circle sisters had almost attacked the albino beast on sight.
But Hippolyta had ordered them to stand down, she had ordered all of them to stand down as with a slight limp and bloodied jaws, Krypto came closer to her until his face was right in front of the queen's.
She saw many swirling emotions in those blood red eyes of his, anger, relief, concern, sadness and understanding.
"Thank you, Krypto". She whispered to him, in a faint voice so low no one else but her, him and her children could hear it. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you, I'm afraid I just don't know how to do that anymore".
Krypto stared at her for a long moment before letting out a forgiving whimper and began licking her face clean of her tears, Hippolyta laughed and wrapped her arms around his thick furry neck, pulling the animal into her little family hug.
That night, Hippolyta's children slept in her room with her, she had Kal's crib moved in front of her bed where she slept with Diana in her arms while Krypto lay atop it, his body positioned in such a way so that Diana could hold his furry tail as she slept and allowed Krypto to watch over Kal as he slept soundly for once.
Alkyone and some of the other Amazons had voiced their displeasure at her decision to release the Wolfdog from his captivity in the kennel, much less allow it to sleep her royal chambers, on her bed of all places.
But in all honesty, Hippolyta really did not care what her sisters thought at that moment, her family was alive, safe and back together again, all four of them.
Hippolyta and her children slept soundly that night, but Krypto did not.
In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes just enough to see the Wolfdog had gone out onto her balcony, forelegs up on the stone railing and was seemingly listening for something in the quiet night air.
A few moments later, Krypto came back into the queen's chambers, climbed back onto the bed, laid down and resumed his watchful post, shifting his furry tail back into her daughter's unconscious grasp and nuzzling his warm, wet muzzle into her son's side while he slept.
Hippolyta smiled as Krypto turned to look at her just before she fell asleep again, once again, his two red eyes glowed like twin fires in the darkness, but they held no ominousness for her this time, only warmth.
The Queen of the Amazons closed her eyes.
But the next morning, when she opened them, Krypto was gone.
Surprised and more than a little concerned, Hippolyta left her children with Epione as she went about looking for the fourth member of her family.
After searching around the palace to no success and asking the guards on duty to no avail, Hippolyta walked outside to the courtyard and began calling out to the Wolfdog repeatedly, growing more and more worried each time he failed to respond.
HOWL!
But then to her immense relief, the queen heard the all too familiar howl of the Wolfdog and moments later, his white furred form emerged from the jungle's dark green depths and in no time at all, the canine was climbing up the stone steps and trotting over to her at a brisk pace.
Hippolyta smiled at the sight of him, glad her children's pet and protector was alright, but her smile fell and formed into a slight frown, when she saw that the Wolfdog had something in his jaws, something still alive.
It was a small wriggling mass of golden fur and for a brief moment, Hippolyta thought it might be an antlered Jackalope Hare that Krypto had caught while out hunting, until she heard the unmistakable mewing sound coming from it and her eyes widened in realisation of what it really was as Krypto gently placed the small crying creature down at her feet before looking up at her with a whimper and obvious sadness in his red eyes.
Bending down, Hippolyta picked up the little Nemean Lioness in her arms, the infant wild cat clung to her like the scared kitten it really was as it continued mewing pitifully in her embrace.
The cub was very small and clearly starving, given how easily she could feel its bones through its furred skin and the queen remembered how desperate the adult Lioness from the previous day had been to leave with prey of some kind, the reason why had just become tragically clear to the Queen of the Amazons as the tiny cub in her arms continued to call out to a mother she would never see again.
With a heavy heart and a sympathetic look on her face, Hippolyta began petting the cub consolingly as she walked back into the palace with Krypto by her side, ignoring the shocked expressions of her sisters faces as she carried the young Nemean Lioness back to her quarters.
Well, it wasn't the first time she adopted an orphaned child or a large predatory animal into her family.
Hippolyta was broken of reminiscing by a loud meow as she realised the Lion cub in her lap had finally finished off the whole bottle of warm milk and was now crying for her attention.
Putting the empty bottle down, the warrior queen stroked the cubs golden furred body before picking her up and setting her on the floor, immediately the little Nemean Lioness came over to investigate the two children who were fawning over the great white Wolfdog who had saved her from starving to death in the jungle.
Meowing to get their attention, Hippolyta watched as Diana slowly reached out to gently pet the cub on her furry head, the Lion cub stilled but then started purring loudly as she leaned into the touch before beginning rub herself affectionally against the giggling little girl while Krypto and Kal both watched in clear approval, as did Hippolyta.
"Welcome to our family, Rhamnusia." The queen said smiling at the new, fifth member of her family who turned at the sound of her name and meowed at her.
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 6: The Wolf and the Lioness, which introduces a new character Rhamnusia the Nemean Lioness, props to my friend Luke5921 for the name by the way and my first rearranged chapter, of which there might or might not be a few more in the future, don't know just yet.
As always, a shout out to my amazingly supportive friend and fantastic fellow fanfic writer Ricardo753 for supporting my work, go check out his own stories, their T-Rexcellent.
Now please allow me to thank all of you who have followed, favourited and especially reviewed this story.
SuperWonderStan, ManOfSteel, Luke5921, cabrera1234, Joel, HeartOfChaos13, GR8ER3241, Kalel4444, JustAnotherIntern14, please keep the reviews coming guys, their what fuels these chapters and to all my other readers, if you write me some reviews in the future then you can be seeing your name here to, until next time this is T-Rexcellent Reviews signing off.