21 [Atalanta II]

Fate/Defiance

Chapter 20 [Atalanta II]

By theMadLad

Beta: Old man of the mountain

A heavy breeze tussled the sleeping Atalanta's hair and impacted her face, causing her to squint her eyes as she shook herself into consciousness, groaning from the action as pain rocked her body with every motion.

But as her head cleared, she suddenly flinched into full alertness as the memories of before she collapsed rushed into her mind.

—Then she froze.

She had opened her eyes expecting to be captured once more, at the complete mercy of those centaurs from before… but she wasn't. Instead she awoke to see a familiar sight ahead of her.

The stars.

They were larger and brighter than she had ever seen before. Her eyes shined as they reflected the light of the stars, expelling all her woes along with them. It took her minutes, perhaps even hours, to escape the stupor the sight had caused her. The sky was simply so beautiful that it stole all of her attention away.

"Purr-ty, right?" A voice to her ear spoke, causing her to flinch in surprise as she jumped up at the intrusion. Her head instantly spun to the culprit of the indecipherable words… only to come to a frightening realization.

There was no ground.

She panicked.

"Calm down! We are in the air right now, do you want to die?!" Icarus desperately shouted as he held the struggling girl in his arms while trying to stop her from attempting to get them both killed!

…She must've not liked his pun.

He gripped her chin to force her to look him in the eyes before her superior strength could prevail and send them both plummeting to their death. He could hear the wrappings binding them together start to strain from the force of her actions!

"It's alright, I'm right here. Just look at me, not the ground, me." He spoke in an attempt to draw her focus away from the empty air below. If she was going to panic in a frenzy, then he needed to be the calm and steady voice that grounded her.

Which meant he had to force down any worries and fears he felt and help her instead.

He watched as her eyes darted in a frantic manner from the empty ground below, to the bright night sky above, and finally to his eyes, which were trying to convey as much warmth and reassurance as possible.

She must have been terrified, but her struggling slowly ceased as she stared into his soft eyes.

"It's okay." Icarus calmly repeated as she watched him with rapid panicked breaths, "It's okay." He stabilized his wings as he continued speaking, freeing up his hands so that he could give her a reassuring pat on the head, "…It's okay."

Her harsh exhales slowly abated as she started to calm down, Icarus brought up the clothing she was wrapped in to her face, which she quickly started to sniff and lean into as if it brought her great comfort. They were the original clothes she had worn before being stripped of them, as he had retrieved it from the clearing after she had gone unconscious and wrapped her in it.

Although, he did notice that while surprisingly made of bear pelt, the clothing's make was of unnaturally high quality, as if made by an expert tailor. It was extremely strange when paired with the bear pelt, especially when it belonged to a little girl born and raised in the forest.

He guessed it might have something to do with Artemis, who was know to watch over her, and made sure to note it down in his head before continuing to pat Atalanta—and while the small girl gave him the cute vibes of an unruly housecat… he had a feeling that she would be much more difficult to take care of.

…It didn't help that her clumpy hair and wild odor spread to his hand as he continued to calm her down. Icarus' nose twitched as he caught a whiff of the smell, and while he was glad to have saved her and was willing to take up the responsibility of caring for her, he couldn't help but dread the thought.

Thankfully she was no longer freaking out and almost getting them killed, so Icarus started to control his wings once more as the girl continued to stare at him in wariness. Although he wasn't discouraged, as he found her reaction understandable.

It wouldn't be too long until they arrived back at his base, and he had no desire to stay out and challenge what hid in the shadows of night. Thankfully though, the moon seemed to shine particularly bright, lighting up the forest with enough visibility for him to confidently return home.

He nodded his head, subtly wiping his hand on Atalanta's pelt clothes while affirming his first course of action.

Getting this girl a bath, because damn did she stink.

————————————

"Stop moving!" Icarus yelled as the rabid girl clawed his side, "Fuck!"

It had been a few days since he had returned to his camp with the girl in tow, and he was currently trying to check her if her nose had properly healed yet. While normally this would be ludicrous, when pairing together a 6-year-old girl who could kill a man with her bare hands and the healing properties of the hearth lying at the center of his camp… he was willing to suspend disbelief.

"Shit!" One of her mangly fingernails pierced his cheek as he managed to pull the splint from her now perfectly healed nose. Damn, he felt jealous of her strength, even to the point of fantasizing of sucking out some bear milk so he could be the same. But, he didn't think it would work unless he did so while still an infant… although he could still take some of his envy out on her, "Alright, that's enough! We're getting rid of those mangly fucking nails!"

It wasn't too bad when he first got the feral girl into a bath. But, the stress he felt to keep her inside the bath as he washed her was comparable to a fight to the death! He could still hear her angry yowls and feel the phantom pings of pain up his body at the thought! Not only did she temporarily taint the water he had on hand with her muck, but she was also so dirty that his cleaning spell wasn't enough—hehad to resort to making some really crude soap from olives and animal fat!

And, finally, after cleaning her up and making sure she was healed up… she ran away!

He was fucking pissed! Icarus tried to go out to find her, but to no avail. He wasn't some expert hunter or tracker like the centaurs, so to catch someone like Atalanta who knew these forests like the back of her hand was an impossibility.

…But, eventually she returned.

Honestly, Icarus couldn't even be mad when he saw her, he was just too relieved she was ok. And although Icarus didn't know it, Atalanta saw—no, felt that. It was the first time she had met someone who wasn't an animal in the forest, genuinely care for her wellbeing… and it was warm. It was why she returned, she craved more of it—like a thirsty man who had lived in a desert all his life and finally found an oasis, they could no longer handle the water's absence afterwards—but, in this case, her thirst wasn't for water, but affection.

The gnawing ache of companionship that could only be so heavily felt by a child raised alone in the woods all her life.

Icarus wasn't sure about the approach he should be going for while taking care of her—should he treat her like a daughter or a little sister? He had the older mindset available to act as a father, but still eventually decided to treat her as a sibling. Doing otherwise would only be detrimental at best and condescending at worst as she grew older and wiser, after all their age wasn't much different and there was no chance that Icarus would ever tell anyone about his past life.

Icarus sighed as he looked at the girl while discarding the splint he had extracted from her nose. Due to him cleaning her off and practicing proper hygiene, in terms of appearance, the wild child from before was gone—only leaving a princess in her place. Even with her scrunching up her nose in irritation she was still supernaturally attractive in appearance, it was unnatural in a way.

Maybe royalty was always supernaturally attractive in a way? He thought it could be plausible during this era, maybe people's reverence of them affected their appearance? …But he was unlikely to confirm it due to how many royal families had divine blood and muddied any controlled observation.

He supposed he was too used to being around dirty people at this point, as usually only those with access to magic or royalty were properly bathed, and even then, people from this era didn't care too much about hygiene. Although the existence of germs was unlikely, he honestly didn't care, he just liked being clean.

Next Icarus took out some clippers to 'declaw' the girl in front of him while she struggled, but she knew it was futile, as Icarus was someone rather adamant about being clean and wouldn't back down about it.

"Atalanta." Icarus spoke as the girl looked up to him after a pause.

"Say it. Atalanta." He commanded while distracting the girl from the clipper. Atalanta scowled from his words, but as he responded with the most disappointed face he could muster… Atalanta folded.

"A-tt–la." She fumbled the words, unused to human speech being vocalized in her hoarse throat. This was something else that Icarus had noticed these past few days while taking care of her… he was likely her first interaction with another human.

He recalled what he remembered from her original myth. It was said as a child she was raised by a bear, which made the thought of her clothing a bit morbid, before being taught by wandering hunters. She was a lot younger than her original appearance in mythology and perhaps she just hadn't met them yet.

Which meant that she didn't know how to speak, read, or even behave like another person. Icarus believed that anyone could tell that even her adorable appearance was nothing more than a guise for her feral nature due to just how animalistic her body language was.

Hell, he was even the one who named her! He could have changed it, but he felt that would be a mistake as her name did hold a particular meaning.

Atalanta, meaning 'equal in weight.'

It would be a disservice to change it, as Icarus felt it was a name that was uniquely fitting for her. If he remembered correctly, her father, a king, abandoned her in the forest due to her being born a girl instead of a boy—-because he perceived her as being born less.

That was the start of her life.

And she spent the entirety of it disproving that notion.

She survived the dangerous forests of Arcadia and eventually became the Chaste Huntress, and the hero chosen by the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis, not simply out of pity… but recognition as well. She didn't lose out to any of her male counterparts and built a legend of her own right. Her name cemented that, her actions and legacy proved her father's belief a mistake—she was no less than a man, for her worth was equal in weight.

Icarus smiled as he had the thought before patting her head with a smile as he encouraged her, "Good job, now try again." She leaned into his touch like a cat, giving subtle purrs from the act.

"Say it. Atalanta."

She turned to him with a steady focused nod as she somewhat understood his words. Icarus took the opportunity to clip another nail while she was distracted as he gave a sly smile.

"A-At—" Oh? Was she going to do it this time? "--Atalanta!"

There it was.

============================

If you like my stories, please support me on P_atreon, at P_atreon(.)com/theMadLad, where you can find one advanced chapter early right now!

Author's Notes

EXTRA CHAPTER!! As a thanks for reaching #1 of All-time in the powerstone rankings on the fanfiction section last week.

I really appreciate it.

A bit short but I wanted to give Atalanta a proper introduction which is why I highlighted her naming in this chapter.

…As for that being the reason for her name—I honestly don't know. I just thought it made sense and was a pretty cool insight into her life in general.

Because Icarus had encountered her much earlier than her initial appearance in myth, I decided to have her not meet the hunters at all.

Icarus is pretty much going to be raising her. Next chapter will also focus more on Icarus and the aftermath of his battle with the centaurs.

Leave a like and some comments, comments make me happy.

Join the discord at, https://discord.gg/AMyqBN2