Falling into Gotham (Dick Grayson Fan Fiction)

Chapter 8

"I'm sorry, what?" I ripped my hand out of her grasp. "I promise you I can't use magic. Magic doesn't exist in my world."

"I can feel your magic humming beneath the surface of your skin. You have a lot of it." Zatanna grabs my hand again and places her palm on my chest. "If you don't start using it you will explode."

Dick takes a slight step away from me as my mouth gapes open. "W-W-What the fuck do you mean I'll explode?"

"You will not physically explode." She explains. Dick takes a step closer to me again. "But the magic you have bubbling under the surface will want to escape if you don't start using it soon. And when it escapes it's like a dam being opened for the first time in a long time. It will explode out of you, wrecking a lot of things in its path."

Dick takes a very large step away from me. I give him a nasty look and he pretends that he can't see me glaring at him from the corner of my eye. "So," he coughs out. "What do we do?"

"I'll train her. Teach her to harness and control her magic. It'll also help to see what kind of magic she might possess." Zatanna lets go of me and places her hands on her hips. Her eyes rake up and down my body, making me feel super self conscious.

"Sorry, sorry. What is happening right now? What the fuck do you mean I have magic? Does that mean magic is real in my dimension? Does Zahra have magic then too?"

"Hmm, are you sure you're from another world? You don't feel... different." Zatanna eyes me some more. Dick's eyes harden as she says that.

"Explain Zatanna." His voice dropped an octave and his tone suddenly became serious.

"Whenever I meet someone not from here, they feel off. Everything about them makes my magic uncomfortable. Even if they are not evil, my magic wants them gone. She, on the other hand, makes me feel calm. I am not on edge. Ask Raven, she will tell you the same thing." She explains.

My heart started pumping wildly in my chest, all I could hear was the roaring sound of my blood rushing. She isn't making sense, I can't be from here. How can I be from here?

"We should go sit somewhere and talk." Dick says. He looks over at me, his forehead crinkled in concern. "I need to inform Donna and Roy. Z can you take Angela to the meeting room? She doesn't look too good."

"Of course. Come along Angela, you'll be fine." Zatanna softly grabs my arm and leads me away from the spot in the hallway where we were just talking. We walk some more and pass a concerned looking Raven. She was in an oversized hoodie and leggings. Her hair looked damp, and the faint smell of lilacs wafted from her.

"Hi Rachel." Zatanna greets. I limply wave my hand as my head spins and a thousand questions run wild in my mind.

"Hey guys..." She trails off after seeing my sorry state. "What's happening right now?"

"I told her that my magic doesn't feel off around her and that she might not be from the dimension she thinks she's from." Zatanna explains. Rachel quirks up.

"Hmm, now that you mention it. She never felt off to me either. I never noticed." Rachel looks at me with sparkles in eyes. It makes me want to puke. If Rachel confirms I feel normal, then that means I must not be from home.

"I think I'm gonna pass out." I murmur. My vision starts to get spotty and I get a bout of lightheadedness.

"Oh no." Zatanna grips my arm while Rachel rushes to grab my other one. "I guess the news made her a bit unstable. Wonder how she'll feel when I say she probably made that portal herself?"

"WHAT?!" I yell. Then I guess all the stress of the morning finally gets to me, because I passout right there and then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, I think she's waking up!" A voice says over me. I slowly open my eyes and come face to face with Raven, Donna, and Dick all staring over me. I blink a couple of times and then slowly sit up. Dick places his hand behind my back and helps me fully get up. I look around and realize I'm on a couch in a room I haven't seen before.

"Where am I?" I ask, my voice hoarse. Dick hands me a bottle of water and I crack it open and down it as if I've never had water before in my life.

"Meeting room. Where we hold important talks and discussions." Donna explains. I finish the last of the water and Dick grabs it from my hand as I slowly stand up to finally really look around the room. Roy and Zatanna are here too. But they're sitting at the table already. Roy gives me a soft smile which I shakily return. Probably looks more like a grimace but It's all my confused brain could muster out at the moment.

"The last thing I remember is Zatanna saying I probably made the portal here myself." I say as I make my way to the long mahogany table in the center of the room. Raven, Donna and Dick all join me, Dick sits on my right and Donna on my left. I guess in case I pass out again the strongest people in the room are here to catch me.

"Yes, I did say that. And I think it might be true." Zatanna shifts a bit in her chair before continuing. "You say that magic doesn't exist in your world right?"

"Yeah, except for some slight of hand and TV editing magic isn't real."

"So it stands to reason you are the only magical... thing in your world. No one and nothing else could have created that portal. We didn't even know your world existed before you fell through here. The only reasonable explanation is that you created the portal yourself unknowingly."

We all take a second to absorb her words. I mean, it does make sense. "But I still don't understand how I got transported there if I'm really from here. Why did that happen?"

"I can't tell you that. Maybe as a child you unknowingly used your powers and transported yourself to the world you came from." she said.

I nodded, accepting that explanation until another thought occurred to me, "Does that mean I'm adopted?" I say this more to myself than anything. But Dick overhears me anyway.

"Have you ever seen baby pictures of yourself?" He asks softly.

I nod, "Yeah a couple. But it's usually me as a toddler. I've never seen newborn pics." I groan into my hands. My whole life has been turned upside down in only a couple of days. Everything I've ever known about myself was a lie.

"It's okay Angela, I was made out of clay to destroy wonder woman, but then the amazons wiped my memory and now she is my mother." Donna patted my back in a way that I'm sure was supposed to be comforting. "Family isn't the ones who helped make you, but the ones who were there to love you."

She's a very kind woman. I slowly smile at her and she beams back at me.

"So, not to interrupt this or anything but why am I here?" Rachel asks as she nervously wrings her hands together.

"Oh! Well, I won't be able to stay at the towers very long. Me and Constantine have some work to do about a possible demon in illinois. So at most I can train Angela for maybe a week. After that, it's up to you. You're one of the best magic users I know so I figure you'll be a perfect coach." Zatanna grins.

"Me?" Rachel practically shoots out of her seat. "I'm not well versed in portal magic at all! The most I can do is open one for like two minutes that would take them 20 feet away! Plus, it drains me so much I'm basically decommissioned for 48 hours! How could I be of any help?"

"Raven, you defeated the king of hell and trapped him in your forehead. You can teach Angela some magic." Roy speaks up for the first time this whole meeting. Rachel looks at him and then sighs. It's hard to argue with that logic. She slowly sits back down in her seat.

"Fine, I'll try and help. But no one can get mad at me if she can't even open a portal to downstairs." She grumbles under her breath.

Zatanna clapped her hands and beamed at all of us, "Great! I'm so happy we got that settled." She turned her head towards me and her smile turned from warm to a bit more serious. "Now then, shall we get started?"