Chalant Candlelight

Chapter 18

(Zatanna's POV)

He and I were able to surpass the museums night security easily, I was being swept along the whole way until we got to the room containing a glass box, and in that box was another box, but this box was gold and looked obviously like the main character of its own life,

"Bingo." The ski mask guy said while we slowly approached, no one in sight. He got closer opening the glass box with whatever device deactivated its sensors, "I just need your magic to open the box, okay, then you can go home."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" A voice said behind us, making us both turn to the entrance of the door to see none other than SportsMaster making his way toward us, "Doing all of the hard work for me, huh?" He sneered before seeing me, "Wow." I saw the man get excited with a perverted mind, "What a lovely lady!" He stepped one step closer to me when the man in the ski mask put his arm out in front of me keeping Sportsmaster from stepping closer,

"You need to leave." The ski mask was not playing games.

"How about I break your face, steal that box, and your girlfriend?" Sportsmaster chuckled

"You're not going to touch her."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"This." With that the ski mask roundhouse kicked Sportsmaster before turning to me, he used a device on my mouth that broth the binding from it, "Get out of here." He commanded,

"Watch out!" I shouted as Sportsmaster ran at ski mask. They began to fight each other back and forth, I didn't leave, I just watched standing next to the box, I didn't know who I should stop, I was a superhero, it's my job to apprehend bad guys but both of these bad guys looked highly skilled, one kidnapped me but also just protected me, the other is a perverted old man. Using my magic I began to levitate objects making them hit Sportsmaster, I then began to use shield spells to deflect all of Sportsmasters hits on the ski mask guy. That didn't end well as Sportsmaster became mad sending a grenade-looking orb at me,

"No!" Ski mask yelled jumping in front of the orb, it hit his chest first bouncing away but exploding fire, forcing Ski mask backward into me, he knocked me down. When the smoke cleared I quickly got out from under him,

"Are you okay?" I figured I should ask since he just saved my life, My eyes traveled down his burnt-up shirt, underneath were tattoos galore, tattoos I'd never forget,

"I'm fine." He coughed, covered in ash, the fireball had only singed his clothes. He looked up from me at the pedestal,

"He took the box, he ran off with the fricking box!" He put his hands on his head, his voice exhausted and frustrated, he sounded near a mental breakdown, "I only did this for the box! I-I-I'm so dead, she's gonna kill me, I-I need to find him, and get the box back." He seemed to be having a conversation with himself at this point,

"Sir?" I said meekly, I didn't know if it was acceptable to call him 'ski mask guy'. He turned to me, "I know you're a bad guy, but I opened the box while you two were fighting." I raised up the necklace that was in my hand,

"You didn't?" I heard the relief in his voice as he approached, "Thank you so much." He accepted the necklace,

"Now may I go," I asked,

"Yes." He nodded before disappearing into the night faster than I could.

I held my arms, holding his jacket closed around me. I couldn't go back to the gala so I went to the cave, shaken was an understatement, when I finally got there Wally and Artemis were in the main room,

"Oh geez!" Wally ran to me, followed by Artemis,

"What happened?" Artemis asked, wiping the ash on my face,

"I-I...a lot." I felt faint in the safety of her arms as she drew me in, Wally holding both of us,

"Let's get you cleaned up, I've got some comfy clothes you can wear." Artemis began walking me away when she turned back "Wally, call Zatara and tell him Zatanna's fine, she's at the cave and studying for finals with me."

"Will do." He nodded.

(Robin's POV)

I enter the cave, having cleaned up and showered after one hectic mission for Missy which resulted in me and Yuliya being freed from her. My main reason for going to the cave was to check on Zatanna, I figured she would come here. I walk towards the living room where Artemis was talking to Zatanna who was wearing comfy clothes, her hair still wet, she sat on the counter eating cookie dough,

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened?" Artemis asked,

"It's fine, I'm okay." Zatanna played it off,

"Okay, well, I have to go, but if you need anything, tell me."

"I will," Zatanna said happily, giving me some relief that I hadn't traumatized her. Artemis left walking past me while I walked into the living room and kitchen. A minute or so passed of silence before Zatanna spoke up,

"Where were you tonight?" She didn't seem to happy, my stomach sank, was she accusing me of being the ski mask guy, "I thought you patrolled Gotham?" She sassed,

"You live in Gotham?" I asked acting comedically oblivious. I turned more serious, "Did something happen?"

"Nothing I care to disclose with you." She turned away her head,

"That's rich coming from the girl who only ever wants to get me to talk about my personal life." I half mutter with a laugh,

"Can we not argue for once, I don't have the will to." She said, for some reason, I was hurt more by that than if she had just fought with me,

"Fine, but I'm here if you need to talk," I said about to leave the room,

"I'm fine." She scoffed watching me walk away, "You busted your lip." She spoke in a monotone that I couldn't decipher. I stopped in my tracks for a moment before continuing out the door, It wasn't a minute before I saw Mags enter into the kitchen. I hung around out of sight to listen in,

"I heard you talking to Robin. Did something happen? Are you okay?" He asked,

"No, Mags, I'm not." Zatanna uttered, I could hear the tears in her voice, "It was horrible, I-I was so scared. This guy with these tattoos, he took me from the gala tonight and he made me steal something for him, then he just let me go."

"That must have been difficult." He pulled Zatanna off of the counter and into his embrace,

"It was, it really was." She sobbed into his shoulder.

I walked away feeling horrible that she confided in Mags and acted so strongly in front of me and I felt worse about what I had done to her. Freedom blinded me from seeing that she was just a kid and she didn't need to go through that. I was a kid too. What about me?

I got back to the manor, taking off my shirt, all my scars on display, from my many battles. I took a deep breath holding back my tears before eventually breaking down in front of the mirror.