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 8: Uncomfortable Questions
On the Island of Themyscira, inside the Palace Infirmary…
"Epione, why am I the only boy on the island?"
Kal was being treated in the palace infirmary when he asked that, he had just finished training for the day when he, Phillippus and Krypto had suddenly been attacked by a terrifying three headed fire-breathing beast, or more commonly known throughout Greek mythology as a Chimera.
Three heads, one that of a striped Sabretooth Cat, the second, belonged to a long-horned Antelope and the third and final head, was a hooded Cobra's. All of which for the record breathed fire whilst its four legs were a pair of feline clawed, paws at the front and a pair of strong ungulate hooves at the back.
Three heads meant three times the trouble and the Chimera proved that when it came charging out of the jungle, attacking all three of them at once with each of its multiple heads. The horrifying hybrid thinking that the unusual trio would be too tired from martial training to defend themselves properly and thus saw the odd group as an easy meal.
That was the Chimera's first mistake.
Because before the multiply headed monster could even get close to them, Krypto had caught its scent and alerted Kal and Phillippus to its presence with a growl, the Chimera, still probably thinking it could salvage this hunt despite it losing the element of surprise, launched itself out of the jungle and across the training grounds, roaring in anger and breathing blasts of flame
That would be the Chimera's second and last mistake.
For as the three headed firebreather came close, Kal, Phillippus and Krypto flew into synchronized action, Phillippus threw her twin maces right into the Chimera's two fire breathing faces, stunning the hybrid and causing it to halt in its charge, giving Krypto the chance to lunge over the flames and took hold of the Chimera's Cobra headed tail in his long jaws and pulled back, effectively catching the larger hybrid creature by its tail and removing the reptilian part of the creature from the fight.
Meanwhile, Phillippus kept the other two mammalian heads of the Chimera at bay with her huge double-bladed staff, stabbing at snapping jaws and spinning at fiery blasts, while Kal picked up the sword his mentor had loaned him for today's training and jumped into the fray, quite literally.
With all three heads preoccupied at the moment, Kal took the opportunity to jump on the Chimera's back, sword in hand and did exactly what Phillippus had taught today that day during training, go for his opponent's head, in this case, all three of them.
First, he cut off the Cobra's head whilst Krypto still had it restrained in his jaws, right at the base of the Chimera's tail, causing the now only two headed hybrid to roar in both shock and pain, before grabbing the Antelope head by its long horn and pulling it back just enough that his blade could reach the underside of its throat, opening its jugular with a quick cut.
With the Cobra head severed from the rest of its body and the Antelope head currently hanging down and quickly bleeding out, Kal focused all of his attention on the Chimera's only remaining head, the Sabretooth Cat one, which by now had ceased snapping at Phillippus and was entirely focused on him as well.
Kal barely managed to pull back in time to avoid the feline head's huge sabred jaws coming down on his sword arm, missing the limb, thankfully but not the sword itself, with over half of its blade snapping off inside the Chimera's mouth before shattering into shards.
With less than half of a broken blade left in one hand and slowly feeling himself losing his grip on the Chimera's striped back with the other, Kal did the only thing left he could do in this situation and stabbed the Sabretooth Cat head through the back of the skull, forcing his now much shorter sword's broken edge through fur, flesh and bone until finally, he hit the beast's brain and the battle was over.
The Chimera almost instantly ceased its roars of pain, stilled where it stood before toppling over as dead as its other two heads, while Kal just collapsed on its back, both exhausted and very relieved as Phillippus and Krypto came over to check on him.
While all three of them had come out of this brief battle largely unscathed, with both Krypto and Phillippus surprisingly only suffering rather superficial injuries, Kal seemingly hadn't suffered any at all, despite remembering that the Chimera had certainly managed to graze him with their flames and sabres during the struggle, their attacks had not left any obvious marks on his person.
Still, Phillippus had insisted on taking him to the medical ward to be treated before leaving him in Epione's capable hands while she went looking for his mother to inform her of what happened and what her student had bravely done.
All this is what led up to the scene now where Kal was asking this question after having been strangely silent as Epione looked him and Krypto, who lay on the floor beside his bed, over for any unseen injuries on their persons.
The seemingly harmless question was asked with no hint accusation, only the innocent tone of a child, naturally curious about the world around them, of which Epione had to remind herself that their prince still was, despite his surprising maturity for his young age.
Still Themyscira's head healer and her fellow ward sisters, along with the botanist Oenone and the handmaiden Cydippe, found themselves stunned by the unexpected question and at a loss on how to answer it, looking at each other desperately for a solution while the entire time their young prince starred looked up at them patiently from where he sat on the examination table with those trusting blue eyes of his that their queen had fallen in love with.
Those same beautiful blue eyes that Epione herself, had fallen in love with so long ago…
After all, she had been the first among her sisters to hold him when he was just a babe, to cradle him in her arms before anyone else… even before her queen, who got to call him her son…
The healer forced the jealousy and bitterness from her heart as she finally thought of an answer.
"B-Because my prince." Epione said, turning to face her only male patient in her history as the head healer on the island. "By divine law, only women are allowed to live on Themyscira, men are forbidden here and boys eventually grow up into men, Kal."
Epione had hoped that simply and straight forward explanation would be enough to satisfy the boy's accursed curiosity, but that hopeful thought, sadly, was only a pipe dream as Kal became silent in consideration for the barest of moments before he asked yet another uncomfortable question.
"Okay, but then why was I allowed to live here with all of you?"
This time, it was Oenone who answered Kal question, to Epigone's great relief. "Because you are not just any boy that has been born on this island, Kal." The dark-skinned botanist answered rather uncomfortably, her discomfort seemingly lost on the young boy before her, of which all the Amazon's in the medical ward were immense gratefully for. "You are the queen's son, our prince."
"But why was I being born a prince make me such an exception." Kal asked, still clearly not satisfied with their answers. "I mean Diana's a princess and no one treats her any differently from any of the other girls on the island".
Epione and Oenone shared uncertain looks, wondering just what they should tell him and which one of them should tell it to him, luckily for the both of them, Cydippe decided to step in and answer this question.
"Kal, you have understood that… the day you were born, it was one of the happiest days in all our lives." Cydippe said rather awkwardly, having difficulty looking her young prince in the eye when she said this to him, which Kal did find strange, but chose not to comment on it. "We all knew you were special, even long before you showed such promise at your private warrior training with Phillippus."
Kal knew that much was true, since he had gotten three days out of a week off from his princely training, he had honoured the deal he had made with his mother dutifully, not once since then had he run off from training sessions to the relief of his teacher Phillippus and no time at all, his strength at arms and warrior skills in general had increased immensely, something of which his mother, sister, mentor and almost every other Amazon on Themyscira had taken notice of.
"You did?" Kal could feel the pride and joy growing inside his young soul at this information.
Cydippe nodded quickly, so quickly in fact that Kal barely noticed. "Yes, we did Kal, and so did your mother, Hippolyta requested, no, she begged the Queen of the Greek Gods, Hera herself that she be allowed to raise you here on our island with your sister Diana, instead of sending you away like we must do with the other boys who are born here."
Kal was silent after that for a long while, his curiosity seemingly sated for the moment as Epione quickly went about finishing her work, more than a little grateful that the boy had finally stopped asking his rather uncomfortable questions, as were Oenone and Cydippe.
But it was not to be.
"Epione, where do you send my brothers?" He asked the healer suddenly and Epione, Oenone and Cydippe, along with every other Amazon woman in the medical ward felt their throats tighten as their prince asked the very worst question a boy could ask on this island.
"I'm… I'm sorry Kal." Epione said hesitantly, slowly looking back up into her prince's curious gaze with those beautiful, trusting eyes of his.
"My brothers." Kal asked once again, surer and firmer than he was before. "The other boys who are born on Themyscira, where do you send them?"
For a long moment, no one women in the ward spoke, none of them knew what to saw or tell the boy in that moment, until…
"My, my, it would seem our prince's near-death encounter has made him curious today."
Every head in the room turned to face the door as the Queen's Circle, sans their captain, entered the palace's medical ward unannounced.
"Myrto, what are you and your circle sisters doing here? Why isn't Alkyone with you?" Epione asked in an even tone, it was rare for any of Hippolyta's personal guards to seek treatment from her, they usually just had Alkyone's partner Phinea tend to their injuries and none of them appeared to be wounded at the moment.
"Our captain is with the queen and the general at this moment, we all heard about what happened with the boy and that pair of Shadow Panther's from Phinea." Myrto answered in an almost pleased tone of voice as Epione glared at her. "We simply wished to know how injured he was, Epione."
Epione opened her mouth to respond, but her patient beat her to it. "Thanks, Myrto, but you and your circled sisters didn't need to worry, I'm alright, really." Kal said, gesturing to his undamaged form.
Epione and all the other Amazons in the ward could practically see the disappointment in the three queen's guards' eyes as they all saw the non-existent nature of the boy's injuries, luckily for all of them though, Kal did not see it.
"Yes, we can see that." Myrto muttered distastefully under her breath before forcing a false smile onto her face. "You were very lucky today, little Demigodling, wouldn't you agree Charis?"
"Indeed, do try to be more careful from now on, our prince." Charis rumbled a like a volcano from behind Myrto, amongst a room of tall warrior women, the dark-skinned giantess stood tallest. "Luck eventually runs out after all."
"Yes, and it would just be awful if something terrible were to happen to you, your majesty." Philomela added ominously as she stepped out from behind Charis and came to loom over the boy with her sisters.
The other Amazons in the room, Cydippe and Oenone included, shared uncertain looks while Epione moved to stand protectively between her royal patient and the trio of extremist Amazons.
"Myrto…" Epione growled threateningly, something the healer was not known to do.
"But to answer your original question, our precious little prince." Myrto said leaning closer to the boy on the bed, outright ignoring Epione's anger, as did Charis and Philomela. "We send the boys to live with their fathers on their own island in Man's World, a wonderful place where they can be allowed to grow up and behaviour as men are oft to behaviour."
"Oh, really?" Kal asked innocently.
"Yes, it's the best thing for them and a trivial sacrifice for us." Myrto explained simply.
"Kal, why don't you take Krypto back to your room and get some rest, I'm sure your mother will be back soon to see you." Epione said quickly, narrowing her eyes angrily at the trio of queen's guards before they could say anything else. "I need to speak with my sister and her fellow queens guard warriors in… private."
"Okay Epione, come on Krypto." The boy said as he hopped down from the examination bed and walked out of the room with his huge white Wolfdog following on his heels.
None of the Amazons missed the way the canine growled at the three queens' guards as he stalked past them, or the way Myrto, Charis and Philomela gripped their weapons tighter when the animal did so.
Epione had just turned to chastise the three members of the Queen's Circle when Kal suddenly stuck his head back around the corner of the door. "Hey Myrto, do you think one day… I'll be able to go this place where my brothers are?"
Epione was too startled by the boy's sudden reappearance to respond in time before Myrto could give the answer they all feared she would. "Why, of course you can, your majesty."
"I can." Kal said sounding both surprised and delighted.
"Certainly, you deserve to be reunited with your brothers one day." Charis added in a rather foreboding tone. "It would be just cruel of us to deny you that our little Demigodling."
"Really?" Kal could barely keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Yes, when the time is right our prince, my sisters and I will be more than happy to send you their ourselves." Philomela said, the cold-blooded archer smiling coolly at the boy for the first time Epione could recall, as were her two circle sisters, which just made the healer feel that much sicker in that moment about this whole horrible situation.
Kal smiled then, a truly joyous and gratefully smile that was so pure in its sincerity that it made Epione want to weep at the sight of it.
"Thank you Myrto, I'm sure I'll enjoy getting to see where my brothers got to grow up."
"Oh yes, my prince, I assure you." Myrto said, smiling a venomous smile at the innocent boy before her. "It's just to die for."
Still smiling, Kal pulled his head back around the corner and was gone in an instant, Epione waited until she heard the echo of his footsteps fade away down the hall before turning to the three queen's guards. "You three should not have come here or told him any of those lies."
"Would you prefer we just repeat the lies you three were telling him instead." Myrto snarked, turning to face Epione with a couldn't care-less expression. "We saw you all struggling to answer his questions and fret about like fools, we were doing you a favour, sister."
"I mean, really, our queen's son's birth was one of the happiest days of our lives." Philomela asked sardonically, looking at both Cydippe and Oenone. "Putting it all on a little heavy there weren't you?"
"Besides, what we told him weren't lies." Charis argued before clarifying. "Well… most of them anyway?"
Epione could feel her blood run cold at the women's words. "What do you mean by that, Charis?"
Philomela rolled her eyes in annoyance before answering. "What Charis means Epione, is that when the boy has served his purpose and we no longer have any need of him, my sisters and I have every intention of reuniting him with his brothers."
Epione could see the horror she felt on the faces of Oenone, Cydippe and all the other Amazons in the room with her.
"Sisters, he has done nothing to any of you." Cydippe exclaimed pleadingly.
"And he's never going to get the chance to either." Philomela stated, her eyes turning cold, revealing the cold calculating women she was. "Don't forget the only reason we keep him, you all know what happens to boys on this island, this one is no exception."
"He's been raised amongst us; he's grown up on our island with us." Oenone stated passionately.
"So do the Calydonian Boars I raise on our farmland." Charis stated with fold arms and a tone as hard as stone. "And yet I still slaughter them once they grown big enough butcher and you all still eat them sisters."
Myrto nodded in agreement with her circle sisters before turning back to face her biological sister Epione once more. "So, you see Epione, you can bandage up the boy's injuries as much as you like, but it doesn't change the fact that the little Demigodling is as good as dead, the only question is whether he'll die by Hercules hands or-."
"Enough!" Epione shouted finally, no longer able to stand what her sister and her fellow queen's guard members where saying. "Myrto! Take your circle sisters and leave my medical ward! Now!"
Myrto did not flinch at her older sisters surprisingly fierce tone, but instead simply shook her head in a disappointed manner before exiting the room with her two circle sisters in tow, leaving every other Amazon in the medical ward feeling angry, horrified and conflicted at the same time.
Except Epione, Epione just felt guilty, guilty for lying to the boy she saw like a son, the closet thing shed probably ever get to a child of her own, and guilty for allowing her younger sister to become the cold-hearted women she was today.
Mother, please forgive me.
Greetings to all my fellow fanfic readers and writers, I hope you all enjoyed Superman, Son of Hippolyta Chapter 8: Uncomfortable Questions, I like to think this chapter lives up to its name as I actually felt more than a little uncomfortable writing it, also in the immortal words of a certain Irrkan Invader…
THEY LIE! THERE LYING! LIES! LIES! WHEN WILL THE LIES END?
Not for a while I'm afraid Zim, as there is still plenty of Kal's life growing on Themyscira to show before Hercules arrives on the scene and even more uncomfortable questions get asked, but as with all things in life, the truth will eventually get out and when that happens… well… there's a reason why hurt and comfort genres are a part of this story's description.
On a lighter note, though, if any of you have any ideas for scenes involving creatures and monsters from Greek Mythology, please let me know in a review, I of course have my own, but I'm always interested in your own as well and I want Kal to fight or deal with a variety of mythical monsters before he faces the King of Monsters and no, I don't mean Godzilla… though that would be really cool…
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 and Erika Lopes 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.