Chalant Candlelight

Chapter 23

(Robin's POV)
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Save me...somebody...please...save me...
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(Zatanna's POV)
A few weeks passed, and we swept the incident under the rug. Mag's stayed attached to me, but I made a point of talking more to my teammates just casually. Even though I didn't trust them. But finally, after all Mags had said I decided I had to get to the bottom of this. Was Artemis really sleeping with Robin? Was she really using me to make him want her? Was she assuming that I was the reason he disappeared? Was anyone really my friend? Did they even care when I lost my dad?

I knocked on Artemis's door, hearing some commotion going on before she opened the door, by herself, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Hey," she spoke casually,

"Hey," I returned, "Can we talk?"

"Sure, come in." She opened her door all the way as we walked over to her bed to sit down,

"Be honest with me, do you like anyone?" I asked out of the blue, making her blush and her eyes dart around,

"That's so sudden," She put her hand over her heart,

"I've just been wondering."

"Just wondering?"

"Well, yeah! Who do you like -"

"What about you! Do you still like that one guy, Dick Grayson?" Artemis redirected, then I froze suddenly remembering our kiss some months past

"I forgot," I look with wide eyes at her, "I forgot about Dick Grayson. Ever since my dad became Dr. Fate, I've been here, I haven't left the cave in almost half a year."

"Oh my gosh, Zatanna, that must have been so hard," she put her hand on my arm. Was this real sympathy or fake sympathy?

"It's okay."

"Well, if you ever get back out there, I'm sure Dick Grayson will be there." She smiled,

"I don't know. I've been pretty close to Mags recently," I let slip. I saw her expression change,

"Zatanna, I don't know how to say this, but Mags, I think, has been giving a lot of the team, and me included, shady vibes." Her saying this made me become defensive and angry. I finally asked what I came to ask,

"Were you sleeping with Robin before he went missing?" I stood up as she jumped back at the shock of it all.

Suddenly, her closet opened, and a listening speedster fell out on the ground in front of us. That's when I realized Artemis had been with Wally before I came in and hid him in the closet when I knocked,

He jumped up, "You were sleeping with my best friend?" He questioned with a hurt look in his eyes,

"What?" Artemis looked at both me and Wally back and forth, "of course not!"

"Are you sure? Because Mags said you two were sleeping together."

"Mags’s said that?" She lowered her shoulders, "Zatanna, he's lying to you."

"Why would he do that? He cares about me," I take a step back, "he was the only one there for me after my dad..."

"He doesn't care about you, Zatanna." Wally attempted to reason with me, "he cares about your powers. "

"No, you're lying."

"He kept us from visiting you. He would tell us to go away and that you didn't want to see us. He's been fooling us all," Artemis admitted,

"I just wished we saw it sooner." Wally sighed,

"But...why would he lie to me?" My eyes began to water like crazy, I put my hands up to my face, feeling a mix of emotions unsettling my stomach,

"I don't know." Wally put his arm around me, pulling me into his hug as Artemis put her arms around me. That's when I remembered how much my team meant to me.

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I stepped out on the beach, the nighttime moon reflecting off the water and the clouds few and far between. I sat watching the tide push in and out. The waves, making slow rumbles towards my feet, I had wasted months with Mags feeding me lies and deceit.

"Zatanna..." His voice resonated as he rushed up behind me. He had made himself scarce the past few days, but now he had finally come out to play,

"Mags." My half open eyes lingered on the ocean. I didn't turn or take my arms off of my folded legs,

"I don't know what they told you, but -"

"They told me the truth." I said devoid of all emotion,

"Zata-" He was grasping at whatever power he still held over me, but he had none,

"-My father...is gone," I stated, "the man my father entrusted to protect me...is gone,"

"I know that, but -"

"-then you come along...you manipulate me, lie to me, turn people against me, and for what? So you can use me as your little pawn?" He stood next to me, "Well, I'm not playing your game, Mags."

That's when I looked up at his face, a smirk rising on his face, "Fine. If you won't obey me, you'll die by me." He laughed,

"Not today, you sick freak." I heard Artemis behind him, arrow drawn at the back of his head practically touching his head, how she snuck out here, I haven't a clue. I took this time to stand up, Wally rushing out to my side,

"Yeah, sick freak." Wally said with a smug face,

"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but you all leave me no choice." Mag's rolled his eyes before creating a portal that sent Artemis's arrow through and out the other portal into kid flashes calf, causing him to scream. Mags then threw his arm back, elbowing Artemis in the nose. I began running after him, throwing a punch only for my fist to travel from one portal out to hit Wally across the face,

"Ow, what the heck?!" He said, still crying in pain. I used a spell to throw rocks toward Mags, but he just redirected them back towards me. Artemis swept his feet out from under him making him fall back as I jumped on top of him and began to punch him in the face over and over, using a spell for brass knuckles, I don't know, I saw Robin do this before.

Finally, to get me off of him, he blasted me away with a force field before sending me falling through a portal in the ground, planning on dropping me on the beach from a high distance.

Once I fell through one side of the portal I saw a house, a giant scary looking house in the middle of nowhere, I saw lights on, I heard bloodkurdling screaming, then I exited the other side of the portal falling towards the beach.

I used a spell to shield my fall before rolling forward, shooting an energy beam at him, which hit him square in the chest, knocking him back. That's when I walked up. Artemis, too, with her bow drawn towards him,

"That's not Mags." I said as we both stood over the boy, "That's Kalrion." I finally realized when looking deeper into his face, his now pale face, almost a hue of blue, his dirty blonde seemed to be darkening with the color of his eyes every second I watched it.

He smirked, "guilty." He said before teleporting away.

(Robin's POV)
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Help me... help me...
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"Nobody is coming to save you,
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