WHO: Diana and Hippolyta WHAT: Mother and daughter reunite. WHEN: After Hippolyta is out of quarantine. WHERE: Diana's home WARNINGS: Some references to character deaths in the course of conversation. Spoilers for Justice League.
Hippolyta had been patient. She allowed the military their tests and precautions. Though there was still a possibility that they were a hostile force, she could deal with such matters in her own time. They would tell her more than they knew simply through their actions.
Then came the news that she had family in this world - Diana, lost to the Amazons for one hundred years by her own choice. Hippolyta concealed her reaction - worry, fear, relief - behind the dignity of a queen, and asked that her daughter not be notified of her presence. Though the woman who had brought the news appeared doubtful, no visits or communications from Diana followed in her wake. Hippolyta determined that her hosts had done as she asked. She wanted, desperately, to to see her daughter, but she needed time. What would she say to her child? Was Diana well, and what had she found in the world of men?
When the time came for Hippolyta to leave, she requested directions to Diana’s residence. By the time she arrived, she still had no idea what to do or say, so she simply knocked.
Diana had seen people on the network wake up with new memories from home. It had certainly not been something Diana fully expected to happen to her given how long she had been in this reality. But really she should have. Waking up with the knowledge that Kal was indeed alive again, that she and Bruce had helped assemble a force to stop Steppenwolf and the Unity, the headache had been worth it. Especially with her heart healed more from having lost Steve and knowing that sometimes one had to give their life for the greater good.
The knock on her door had Diana’s head turning and a brow arching up. She wasn’t expecting any visitors. Not to say her friends here needed to announce themselves before coming over. Mortals did like to randomly stop by at a friend’s residence she had witnessed. She headed for the door and tugged it open, not bothering to peer through the peephole in the wood. After all, she was more than a capable warrior, able to go toe to toe with Superman. As her eyes adjusted to the brighter light outside, they fell upon a figure Diana had not seen in nearly a century. Said eyes widened in surprise and her mouth fell open slightly.
“Mother…”
Without another word, Diana engulfed Hippolyta into a hug. She knew, from her new set of memories, that the Amazons had mostly survived Steppenwolf’s attack as the ancient warning fire had been lit (though she did remember his words of his axe still being wet with the blood of her sisters). But part of her worried that her mother had been one of the ones who had been wounded or worse.
“I’ve missed you.”
Any fears Hippolyta had harbored about her welcome faded in the face of Diana’s affection. She wrapped her arms around her child and held her close. They had parted so swiftly, all those years ago, that Hippolyta had long felt she should have done more to cherish those last hours Diana had spent on the island. Foolish hope had led Hippolyta to convince herself that Diana would not go, while wisdom had warned her that no other course lay before her child. How could Diana remain sheltered on Themyscira when, her whole life, she had been taught to love mankind for what they could be, and to answer the gods’ call to her people’s sacred mission? Steve Trevor had only been the breeze needed to coax a fledgling eagle from the nest in pursuit of its own instincts. Hippolyta, try though she might, could not blame him for merely holding open a door that had already been unlocked.
“It has been far too long, Diana.” Hippolyta’s voice was thick with emotion, and if she dashed away a tear with one hand where her daughter could not see, who could blame her? To have a child at all had been a miracle. To let that child go had been torment. Though Hippolyta had felt in her heart that Diana was alive, she’d had no news of her, no means to know if she was well, if she had grown into her powers.
It had been such a long time since Diana had last heard her mother’s voice but it still seemed like only yesterday since she had last heard it. The younger Amazon could hear the emotion in the elder’s voice. Diana was no mother. She didn’t know what it must have been life for her mother to watch her only daughter sail away with a stranger, never allowed to return to Themyscira due to their laws. Not to say it hadn’t been hard for Diana. She had given up everything she had ever known to try and fulfill the mission of the Amazons. And yes, she had succeeded but there had been a cost. Her mother and sister Amazons were never to be seen again by Diana, Antiope who had been killed to save her from a German bullet, her homeland, and her first love Steve Trevor.
Diana pulled back after several minutes, unashamed that unshed tears were in her eyes. Diana loved deeply. It was how she had been raised and what she believed. Love for the Earth, love for Steve, love for all mankind and their potential had allowed her to reach her own and defeat her brother.
“Please, come in.” Diana ushered her mother inside her house and shut the door. While the outside looked like your typical ranch style home, the inside was decorated far more like Diana’s rooms had been on Themyscira. Everything was warm and inviting. Off to one side was a locked case with a glass lid that held the armor Diana had taken. Sitting atop the armor were her bracers and just above those was Antiope’s tiara. The wall over the case held the sword and shield Diana now used. No doubt her mother would realize that the sword was far different than the one Diana had taken from the tower that night so many years ago.
Turning to her mother, Diana just studied her for a moment. “I never thought I would see you again. Then I was brought here over a year ago and I began to hope that one day you might arrive.” Her own voice was just as thick as her mother’s had been with emotion. Diana still couldn’t believe Hippolyta was here and her heart was filled with joy.
Hippolyta smiled, eyes warm with affection. She loved this rebellious child of hers. There were few things Diana could do that Hippolyta would not forgive. Like most mothers, she had only wanted her daughter to life a happy, fulfilling life. Diana was a god, and Hippolyta knew that she could only do so much to protect her. This was certainly not the turn Hippolyta had anticipated events to take, but she was grateful for it.
“I am sorry that I did not send word to you sooner, but I thought it would be better this way.” The Amazon queen followed Diana inside. She cast a curious eye over the room, noting the touches that spoke of home. For a brief moment, she traced the edge of the case that held Diana’s armor and Antiope’s tiara. Of course Diana had kept them. That should have come as no surprise, but Hippolyta was still moved by the evidence.
“The men and women at the facility informed me that I could learn of you through the technology in this world. It was .. tempting, but I would rather hear what has come to pass in your own words.” Hippolyta crossed the space to stand near her daughter. “Have you been well?”
Diana watched her mother enter her home. As her mother studied the case that held her armor, Diana smiled a little. “It is better. I think I would have tried to break into your room just to ensure it was you and they frown upon such actions.” The princess smiled warmly, taking her mother in. “There is something to be said for the spoken word,” she agreed.
She gestured at the couch so they could sit and talk comfortably. “I have been well.” Her gaze glanced back at the case holding Antiope’s tiara. “...I wish you had been there in my first real battle. To see me.” Her gaze shifted back to her mother. “It would have been your proudest day.” Her mind slowly drifted back to that day in the trenches. “There was a field of death separating myself, Steve, and three others from the Germans. Steve was adamant that we needed to go around but…” She looked at her mother. “A woman begged for help and I could not ignore it.” Her hands touched her forearms as if she could feel her bracers there. “Bullets flew at me but I was able to deflect them with the bracers and shield. Steve and our friends gave me an opening from the rain of bullets to smash the German guns. We fought our way to the village beyond the German trench. In the square was one of their armored vehicles.” An amused smile formed on her face as she remembered slamming herself into it. “To take it out of action I lifted it and flipped it over.”
She paused to brush some hair from her face. “Steve remembered some of our tactics on the beach though. He and two others grabbed a heavy armored door and placed it on their backs to give me a shield to leap off of to take out the last enemy.” She looked down, the sadness in her eyes at remembering Steve. “The next night...after that battle…I met my brother Ares.”
She looked up at her mother. “Why did you never tell me Zeus was my father? My biological father?” Diana of course had her suspicions of why the truth had been kept from her but she wanted to hear what her mother’s reasoning had been, to see if they were what her daughter suspected.
Hippolyta listened, patient and composed, as Diana spoke of her first days off of the island. It seemed Diana needed this as much as Hippolyta did, and so the elder Amazon waited for her daughter to weave her tale. The war sounded every bit as terrible as Steve Trevor had described, perhaps even more terrible than the Amazons could have imagined. Still, Diana had not faltered. True to her training and her heritage, she had forged paths where none were to be found, and fought to save lives that others had thought lost.
There were no happy endings in the world of men, nor in any world of which Hippolyta had knowledge. She expected no happy ending in Diana’s case, despite her relief that her daughter had survived and not been broken by her experiences. Hippolyta had known that she could not keep the truth from Diana forever, and feared the consequences of that knowledge.
“Do you remember the story that I told you?” she began. “In a way, I told you then that Zeus was your father, but I did not believe that you were ready to learn how such a thing had truly come about, or what it meant about you and your place in the world. You are my daughter. I wanted to keep you safe. The less you know of Ares and the gods and your connection to them, the longer you could remain on the island, to learn and grow, and be free of the threats of the outside world. Had he known of you, had you come into your power too soon, Ares would have come for you. And not all of the Amazons ever to have lived through the ages combined could have stopped him.”
Diana listened with just as much patience as her mother had shown her with her tale. She nodded at the question. She remembered the story well. And she truly had had a life free from threats. She had been allowed to be a child even in spite of the secret training she and Antiope had done. To let her imagination go and pretend she was leading soldiers into battle while charging imaginary forces on horseback. She looked up at her mother, nodding. “I had been thinking that was why you had done what you did, to keep me safe for as long as possible.” She gave her mother a faint smile. “He tried to talk me into joining him, to help him destroy mankind.” Her gaze fell. “When I saw Steve die...I was tempted…” She didn’t bother to hide the pain she still felt from his death. No doubt she would always be feeling the pain from that.
Her dark eyes lifted back up to her mother. “It wasn’t until I remembered Steve’s last words to me that I was able to pull back from the darkness. He said he loved me…” A faint smile formed on her face. “And his other words made me realize the truth too.” Her smile grew a bit more pronounced. “The world of men may not have deserved me as you said. But it’s about belief. And I believe I was sent, drawn to man’s world for a reason. Perhaps other than just stopping Ares.”
Drawing a deep breath, Hippolyta closed her eyes. She had been suspicious of Captain Trevor, but she had not wished ill for him. He had been brave, for a man, and honorable, for a spy. He was everything that she both loved and feared in men, capable of so much greatness, and of causing so much pain if that potential were to be cast aside in favor of selfish aspirations.Most terrifying of all, he had been capable of breaking Diana’s heart. Hippolyta reached out and drew Diana to her in another embrace. “My dearest daughter. I am sorry.”
That Ares had attempted to bring Diana to his side came as no surprise. He had become as petty and greedy as he claimed men to be. “I am certain that Captain Trevor did love you.” How could he not? “If I could tell you what Zeus intended for you, I would. I know only that you, as the last of the gods, have always been the final defense against Ares. You have done Olympus, and me, proud.” Hippolyta hugged Diana tightly once more before she drew back to watch her. “I do not believe that you were meant only to stand against Ares. No god has ever come into the world with such limited purpose. Perhaps you are meant, as you have said, to believe, and to fight for them in spite of their flaws.”
Even though it had been a century ago, the heartbreak was still fresh enough that being pulled into her mother’s warm embrace was exactly what she needed. She wrapped her arms around Hippolyta and just sat there, her eyes closed as she shared her loss with her mother. When her mother drew back and said she was proud of her daughter, Diana couldn’t help but beam a little.
Diana nodded in agreement before staring down at her hands. “I...admittedly withdrew from the world as best I could...I was afraid of leading...afraid that it would cause more deaths like Steve’s…” She looked up at her mother. “But my new allies, the ones who helped stop Steppenwolf and the Unity, helped me see that I shouldn’t be afraid of leading or inspiring others.” She fell silent for a few minutes. “Did...have you ever been afraid to lead our people?”
“Of course.” Hippolyta reached up to brush Diana’s hair back, a comforting gesture she’d used often when her daughter had been growing up. “Each time we step into battle, I am afraid. I fear that any oversight, any mistake I make will cost one of our sisters her life. I have been afraid for you most of all, because you are my child, and so much has been asked of you simply by the circumstances of your birth.”
The gesture was one Diana had missed. Yes, she was a full grown woman and Amazon, but she was still a daughter. It was comforting and reminded Diana just how much her mother loved her and would care for her and protect her. She smiled softly and nodded. “Before Steppenwolf came through to our world again, there was a man here from another world. Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton. He...could have been a god with all the power and strength he possessed. But about a year or so ago, a man created a monster to kill Kal. It succeeded in spite of our efforts but Kal was able to drive a special spear through it heart though it cost him his life. But that is what caused Steppenwolf to return. Kal, Superman as the world knew him, brought hope to many and his death devastated many.”
She shifted, getting a little bit more comfortable as she talked with her mother. “But the humans, they found the Motherbox that had been buried not long after I defeated Ares and kept it locked away for the most part. But Bruce, one of the mortals who fights with me now, used the Box to revive Kal.” No doubt her mother might have words to say about that. And Diana still stood by her initial belief, that the dead should be allowed to rest in peace. Thankfully Kal had come to his senses via Lois and came to help save the day. But there had still been that risk that Diana would have had to kill Kal if he hadn’t come to his senses.
“I had wondered what woke the Motherbox.” Many Amazons had died in defense of the artefact. Hippolyta regretted the necessity, but thanked her sisters in her prayers for their courage. The island, though peaceful for many long years, had ever been a place of preparation. Necessity had called, and the Amazons had answered with all of their vast skill and determination, in spite of the risks and their uncertainty.
“You saw the warning, then,” Hippolyta surmised. “This Kal, and your … friend … Bruce … They fought at your side against Steppenwolf?”
Diana nodded. With the Parademons feeding on fear, a world without the hero that had inspired such hope would be ripe with fear. The princess wanted to ask how many of their sisters had given their lives in trying to defend the box on the island but she didn’t want to cause her mother any pain in remembering the lost lives. All the Amazons knew the risks of going into battle. It was why they had charged into battle when the Germans had chased Steve onto the beach. And Diana knew it was why they had been so willing to fight and die to protect the Motherbox. Unlike mankind, the Amazons, even the Atlanteans, remembered the horrors of Steppenwolf and his forces.
A smile formed on her face. “I did even though I was hundreds of miles away. Mankind has created many technological wonders that allow one to see what is happening on the other side of the world in current time.” She could tell her mother about the destructive technology later, though they both already knew some of it in the form of guns. “They did. Along with three others. A mortal who has the power to run as fast as Hermes, an Atlantean, and a human who’s life was saved by the Motherbox mankind had. His father used it to fuse technology to the boy’s body to save his life.” Though from the video Diana had seen it had not been painless or pleasant. “It was he, Victor, that discovered a way to stop the Unity while it was in progress.”
Hippolyta frowned. She had not expected men to be so instrumental in the downfall of Steppenwolf, nor Atlantis to extend assistance in spite of past disagreements. But then, who else would? The Amazons could not leave their island. To do so would be to remove the protections of the gods, and there were still many dangerous artefacts housed upon their land. The Motherbox had been only one, and she was startled to learn that a mortal man, a child, had survived its machinations and retained his sense of self.
“I had hoped we would not be forced to turn to the outside world for help,” she admitted. “It was a vain hope, and I knew that, but I did not wish to place you in such danger.”
Diana knew that the Amazons and Atlanteans had never really gotten along. But as Arthur had said, it was in the past. And they had needed to move on. There had been a greater need than the rift between the two nations. And like her mother was thinking, for any Amazon to leave Themyscira meant a life of exile. It was why Diana had never sought to return home. Yes the island was hidden but Diana felt if she truly wanted to, she could probably locate it. And there were numerous artifacts held within Themyscira that the Amazons had the duty to protect and keep safe.
Diana smiled softly as her mother admitted to wishing they had been able to stop Steppenwolf on Themyscira. “I know you and our sisters did everything you could to stop it. But I remember the stories you told of how it took a great alliance between our people, the Atlanteans, mankind, and even the gods and beings from other worlds to stop Steppenwolf the first time. I know you did all you could. And you gave the warning that allowed us to prepare to fight and defeat him and his Parademons. And this way, to my knowledge at least, the Motherboxes have all been destroyed when they were separated before the Unity could be completed.” No doubt that would provide some relief to Hippolyta, to know that all hadn’t been for naught.
“You have done well, Diana. I am so very proud of you. Antiope would be as well, were she here to see how you have grown.” Where Hippolyta had seen a tender heart to protect in Diana, Antiope had seen strength to be nurtured. The pain of that loss still visited Hippolyta often. She wondered if her daughter felt it as keenly, as new to grief as she had been that day on the beach.
“You must tell me more of these friends you have made, and of the world as it is today.” Hippolyta yearned to be part of her daughter’s life again. There were also practical considerations. Diana knew far more of the world of men in its current form than her mother did. In this case, it was best that the child teach the parent.
Diana couldn’t help it. She beamed at hearing her mother say how proud she was of her, and Antiope as well. Diana still missed her aunt. Especially during battles. Antiope was a warrior through and through. The dark haired demigoddess was fairly certain she had taken after her aunt in that aspect. She loved a challenging fight. The fight with Luthor’s creature had been invigorating after all. Even fighting with Steppenwolf had been a fun challenge. But part of Diana would always wish that Antiope had lived to see how strong and great of a warrior Diana had become.
Hearing her mother’s request, Diana smiled. “I am more than happy to. Especially if they show up here. Though I will also tell you of the friends I have made here.” She rose to her feet. “Would you like something to drink? The tea here is good though it’s not quite as good as what home has.” Diana was happy to tell her mother everything over tea or drinks.
“Some tea would be wonderful.” Hippolyta rose to follow her daughter, curious about the rest of the house, and to see Diana moving through this modern world. A hundred years was more than enough time for an Amazon to adapt to most things.