Hello everyone! I am back with another Chalant fic for you guys. This fic is a little more serious then my previous ones and I am warning you guys that there will be a character who dies in this fic. Now, all of that aside, I hope you guys enjoy this fic. This story is HEAVILY inspired by JYJ's "In Heaven" music video. The concept was so appealing to me that I wanted to write about it.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters that are written in this story. The characters of Zatanna, Nightwing, and any other heroes in this fiction, belongs to DC Comics.
Come Back To Me - Chapter 1
NIGHTWING
Richard Grayson was calling his girlfriend, Zatanna Zatarra for the fourth time in a row. After he heard her voice mail, he decided to leave her a message. "Hey Zee, it's Dick. I know that you don't want to talk to me right now, but I have a mission to go to in a couple of minutes. I just wanted to let you know that I will make it up to you and I hope you will forgive me. I love you Zatanna." He ended his voice mail with a sigh and moved his hand through his hair. It's been a couple of days now since Zatanna started to ignore him. They were arguing over their relationship since they were both in different teams now and had different responsibilities. Richard wanted Zatanna to skip out on major Justice League missions and do something else, while Zatanna wanted Dick to join the Justice League and trust her enough to allow her to stand up for herself. Problems like these were conflicting their relationship and Dick knew that if they didn't fix it, they were going to split up.
Deep in thoughts, Dick didn't notice the team slowly gathering in the main lobby until Tim interrupted his thoughts with a short nudge. "Hey Dick, are you okay?" Tim asked him with a hand on Dick's shoulder. Tim was a person who looked up to Dick as a big brother and they have a close relationship since they were always working together on missions. Dick gave Tim a small reassuring smile and nodded, "Tim, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, let's focus on the mission today, alright?" Tim nodded and left to join the other team mates at the main lobby, leaving Dick in his thoughts again for a short time. "I want to fix things up with Zatanna... I really do love that girl and I can't just let simple things get into the way of our relationship." After that thought, Dick straightened up his posture and headed towards the main lobby to address his team.
"Okay guys, there is intel indicating that there may be a some terrorists plotting to blow up some major buildings around the United States. These buildings include research centers, hospitals, banks, postal offices, and much more. Our objective is to evacuate the buildings marked on the hologram before us." Nightwing pointed to each and every major building that was marked on the map that was projected by a hologram. "We will all go in teams of two, one will evacuate the inhabitants and the other will be a scout for any suspicious activities." After Nightwing was finished with his debriefing, he assigned a group of two members to each major building around the United States. "Tim, you're with me since Gotham is our turf." Tim nodded, watching the other team mates head towards the zeta-beam or the bioship in order to reach their destination.
When Nightwing and Tim teleported to the batcave, they were greeted by Alfred. "Ah, Master Richard and Master Tim. Master Bruce has just left to attend to some League matters. Is there anything I can do to help?" Nightwing smiled and gave Alfred a pat on the back. "Nah, Tim and I got a mission ourselves, we'll be back soon Alfred. Oh, could you have some cookies ready for us when we come back?" Alfred gave Nightwing a smile and nodded. Tim was smiling in amusement, even though Richard was older than him, he couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Dick may act like a child sometimes. "Okay, shall we get going Dick?" Dick gave him a short laugh and ran off towards the motorcycles that Bruce had in the batcave. Tim followed him afterwards, getting onto his bike with no difficulties. "Hey, last one to the destination buys the other person whatever they want?" Dick rose his eyebrow and gave him a short laugh. "You're on Boy Wonder!" They both shook hands and then sped off into the night towards their destination.
ZATANNA
Zatanna was truly exhausted when she reached her apartment in Blüdhaven. She quickly changed out of her magician outfit and into comfortable clothes, grabbing a bite to eat afterwards in order to fulfill her hunger. She just finished her league duties and were given the next day off. Zatanna never expected the Justice League to be a tiring job, but it was all worth it since she was saving lives with her powers. After finishing her short snack, she decided to check her voice mail for anything important. She realized that there were multiple missed calls from her boyfriend, Richard. She sighed when she saw his name flash on her home phone station. It's been a couple of days since she decided to ignore him and whether she liked or not, it was killing her inside.
She deeply cared for him and thought that they were going a bit overboard with their arguments over something that wasn't much a big deal. She listened to his voice mail, noticing how sincere he sounded and sorry he was. She was feeling guilty because she also had a play in their arguments. Turning off her voice mail, Zatanna headed towards her bed and laid down on it, thinking about Dick, the Justice League, and most importantly: her father. After 6 years, her father was still Dr. Fate's captive and it really pissed her off. Zatanna was still trying to find a way to get rid of Nabu and have her father back, no matter what it will take. Sighing, Zatanna slowly drifted into sleep.
NIGHTWING
Once Nightwing and Robin reached Gotham City's major hospital, they were both laughing as they were talking about the bet. "Hah, I won Dick, you owe me anything I want!" Tim said proudly with a smile. "Yeah yeah, we'll get to that later, now let's focus on the mission." Richard got off his bike and headed inside the hospital with Tim following him. When they were inside, they both noticed that it seemed like any other hospital and it wasn't in chaos as they expected it to be. While walking around the main lobby, Tim had a feeling that something would go wrong in a matter of minutes. Just like that, Dick and Tim heard an explosion on the other side of the hospital, causing chaos and panic among the people in the main lobby. "Alright, Robin, it's time to start evacuating these people! Get the injured and ill out first then we will figure out what's causing the explosions!" Tim sprang into action after Dick gave his order.
After about half an hour, almost the entire hospital was evacuated, including the staff. Nightwing watched half of the hospital blaze up in flames while everyone else stared in terror. "WAIT, MY DAUGHTER IS STILL IN THERE! SHE'S PARALYZED AND CAN'T MOVE!" The woman was held back by her husband as she was screaming. Dick turned to look at her and asked her what she look like, what floor she was in, and what room number it was. After he was given the proper information, the lady thanked him and gave him a short hug before Nightwing departed towards the hospital. "Wait! Nightwing, I'm coming with you!" Tim said while catching up to him.
"Robin, I need you to stay here, keep the crowd calm and lead them somewhere far away, alright?" Tim nodded, "be careful in there." Nightwing nodded and then proceeded to get onto his bike. He sped off into the hospital towards the room the girl was trapped in. It amazed him how they missed this one girl while trying to evacuate everyone else out. When he reached the room, he noticed that the fire was closing in and he had to act quick. Going into the room, he noticed that it was dark and could hear a small whimpering in the corner. Figuring that it was the girl, he walked towards the corner, only to be hit on the back with a metal baseball bat by a figure he couldn't see.
When Nightwing hit the ground, he laid on his back to try and figure out who hit him. He heard a sinister laugh and turned his head to the corner to see The Joker holding the little girl with a knife near her throat. He also heard loud footsteps walking towards him. When Nightwing saw the face, he was frozen in terror when he realized that it was Bane that hit him with a baseball bat. "Robi- I mean, Nightwing. It's a great pleasure to meet you in these circumstances again." Bane said with a his terrifying deep voice. The Joker stood next to Bane with the girl in in his arms and laughed. "You know, I think killing you would finally change Batman's rule!" The Joker laughed while the girl stared at Nightwing in terror.
Richard tried to get up but was hit again with the baseball bat by Bane, almost knocking him unconscious. Nightwing slowly got up again to look at the circumstances surrounding him. He was up against Bane and the Joker at the same time, two terrifying enemies that are capable of getting into your mind. "Let the girl go and maybe I won't kill you guys." Nightwing said slowly getting up, he was beginning to feel dizzy since he was hit really hard by Bane. "Now boy, I think you should show us some respect, you are in no position to be threatening us." Nightwing screamed in pain after Bane finished his sentence. Bane was hitting Nightwing's legs constantly, with a brutal force each time the metal baseball bat his knees and legs. Laying there in pain, he realized that many of his bones were shattered in his legs, so he struggled to sit up while The Joker kept laughing.
Coming to the conclusion that Nightwing was useless without his knees, Bane signaled the Joker to leave the girl. "We'll meet again Bird Boy, or not. HAHAHA!" The Joker threw the girl next to Nightwing and ran off with Bane following behind. As Bane and the Joker were walking through the hallways, Bane pulled out a small detonation and pressed up, setting off and explosion near Nightwing and the little girl. Nightwing winced in pain as he tried to sit up, he was in deep trouble and he knew it. He could try to call Robin for help, but he knew that it was helpless because there was fire beginning to form around himself and the little girl. Richard couldn't stand up and move properly and he had to try and save the little girl. Crawling towards her, he took her into his embrace and tried to calm her down.
"It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here. You're going to see your parents again." The little girl nodded into his chest, crying her heart out. Searching around the room, Nightwing couldn't formulate a plan to try and get both of them out in one piece. His legs were shattered and the fire was spreading quickly. Jumping out the window would be suicide so he couldn't risk the girl's life. Then the idea of his motorcycle came into his head and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned on the motorcycle by remote and steered up towards him and the little girl. Luckily he was tall enough to place the girl on his motorcycle while sitting. The little girl was paralyzed from the waist down, so she couldn't feel much of anything when he placed her on the motorcycle. Richard tried to get up to get on his motorcycle but failed continuously. Richard sigh and sat straight up against the wall again. He had to set the motorcycle on auto-pilot and get the girl out of the hospital.
Trying to muster some courage into the little girl, he smiled at her and gave her a reassuring nod. "When you get back outside, treasure those who are close to you, alright?" The little girl nodded her head and then she disappeared in a few seconds. Nightwing programmed the motorcycle to take her out of the hospital as quickly as it can, with the destination of Robin's location in mind. When she left the area, Nightwing sigh and took off his mask. Everything around him was in flames now and he knew that his time was coming soon. He thought of everything that mattered in his life and shed a few tears. He thought of how Bruce has raised him to become the man he is now, the brother-like relationship he had with Tim, the relationship he had with the Team, and most importantly, the loving relationship he had with Zatanna.
"Looks like I can't propose to you now huh Zee?" Richard quietly talked to himself as he inhaled more of the fumes the fire created. He was losing his conscious the longer he sat there. "It's alright... I know that you at least love me back, and that's all I need to know." After he quietly said that to himself, he passed out due to the lack of oxygen in the room. Flames were spreading across the hospital rapidly and sooner or later, the whole hospital would go down. Nightwing's motorcycle, carrying the little girl, reached Robin in time. When he noticed that it was just the girl alone, Tim's eyes widened in fear as he began to ran towards the hospital, only to see it blow up before his eyes. He stopped and stared at the destruction in terror, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "NIGHTWING!" Tim repeated to say his name constantly over his communication link, but he heard nothing. Tim sank down to his knees and stared in terror as the fires continued to consume the hospital.
ZATANNA
Zatanna began to stir from her sleep as she heard someone banging on the door repeatedly. Getting up with a loud moan, she headed towards the door to see Wally and Artemis standing there together, both looking tired and drained. Artemis looked like she cried her eyes out while Wally looked incredibly terrible. "Wally? Artemis? What's going on that you guys have to come visit me at this time of the day?" Zatanna asked, inviting them into her apartment. "Zatanna, I think you should take a seat." Zatanna rose her eyebrow in questioning and took a seat at her kitchen table. Wally and Artemis followed suit and both gave Zatanna a look filled with sorrow. "Guys, what's wrong? Did something happen to your home or something?" Zatanna was really curious now since they both sat there quietly with serious looks on their faces.
"It's about Dick, Zatanna." Artemis replied with a sad look in her eyes. "What about him?" Zatanna asked crossing her arms. If this was Dick's way to try and make it up to her by using her best friend, it wasn't going to work. "I don't know know how to say this Zatanna, but Dick is no longer with us." Zatanna gave Wally a confused look. "What, did he quit the team or something?" Both Artemis and Wally shook their heads and she heard Wally sigh. "Zatanna, your boyfriend, he died last night while saving a little girl." Zatanna almost stopped breathing the moment Wally mentioned that Dick was dead. She didn't believe him or rather didn't want to believe him. Zatanna looked around and then shook her head with a small smile. "Stop joking guys, if this is Dick's way of getting back at me, I'm not buying it." Both Wally and Artemis still gave her a very serious expression.
As soon as Zatanna saw that both Wally and Artemis was really serious, she could feel tears begin to flow down her eyes. "No way! He can't be dead! He's Nightwing, I know he can find any way to escape!" Zatanna said getting up, angrily yelling out her frustrations. Artemis soon got up and went over to hug Zatanna. Wally watched as Zatanna begin to put up small fits with Artemis but soon gave in and started to break down into full fledged cries. It was a sad scene to watch, especially since they were all so close and knew each other for so long. Zatanna and Artemis spent the entire morning crying together, with Wally trying to comfort both of them as much as he can. But, he also couldn't help but a shed a few tears himself as the mourning dragged on. The lost of Nightwing has hit them all and things would never be the same again since he has left such a big hole in the team and the hero community.
Okayyyyy! I will leave the chapter here, stay tune to find out what happens in the next chapter!
I hope you guys liked reading this fic. If you guys could Read & Review I would appreciate it very much!
Thank you very much and much love!