Can History Be Wiped?
"We have a history…"
Zatanna couldn't believe it. She had been used. In the vilest way she could have thought of. She had been used to fake her best friend's death; her natural abilities had been abused for the greater good, what a load of crap. What was worst was she was used by the only man she had ever loved.
She was pretty sure the feeling was becoming past tense, but every time she distanced herself; he would always draw her back in. Every time she tried to get over him, she would find a reason to love him even more than before. Why was it so hard to move on? Why was it hard to forget the smart mouth that could contest with every quip she sent out, the eyes that searched her soul and could read her like an open book, the hair she loved so dearly, even when he decided to get a mullet, the courage she lacked that he had she admired so much, his kind soul that had been her shoulder to cry on countless times, and his unbelievably romantic and pure heart that once loved her?
Because she loved him.
Present tense, definitely present tense.
No mater how many times she tried, how much time she spent away from him, how many times she debated putting a spell on herself to get over him, how many nights she had spent crying for him, how many times he had broken her heart over and over, no matter how many times she went through hell to get back to Earth, she still loved him, but he didn't love her; not anymore at least.
He had proved that much by using her in the cruelest way possible.
He said the glamour charm was for an undercover operation he was busting in Bludhaven, and he would return it once he was finished with it, and every time she asked him 'how is the charm working?' he would reply easily, 'great, just like a charm should work, I owe you heaps Zee.'
He had even pulled out the nickname, she should have noticed, it should have been her first tip off. The second should have been the normalcy after Artemis' death, it was like he felt nothing, but she had put it down to throwing himself into work. The last and final tip off should have been when she had expressed her desire to go to the Summit and help the Team get the information they needed, as she had some unfinished business with the Witch Boy, he had told her no. He said it was 'strictly a Team mission' and that 'she could have the night off, she deserved it.' Lies, she had taken that night off, only to come into the Watch Tower the next morning to find Artemis greeting everyone as if she had never died.
And that's when she discovered the truth, the cold hard truth that her charm hadn't been used for an undercover mission by him, it had been used to help garb her best friend, disguising her while the rest of the world thought she was dead.
"Wh-what?" She stammered out walking closer to her dead-not-dead best friend slowly and apprehensively.
"Zatanna, it's me." Artemis said in reply, with a dazzling smile on her face and Wally by her side, as he had refused to leave it.
"B-but how? I mean you died! Oh my god you died, I'm hallucinating. This is just a dream, and I'm going to wake up and you'll be dead again." She mumbled, stumbling away from Artemis. Away from the lies, away from the hallucination, away from insanity.
"Zee, you aren't dreaming, I promise I'm real, I'm alive, this isn't a hallucination." Artemis consoled, taking slow steps towards the shaking magician.
"Artemis." Zatanna breathed out, looking at the imposter- no, not imposter- her best friend. Over come with joy she flung herself at the blonde and crushed her in a hug with strength she didn't know she had.
And the blonde hugged back, smiling in joy and tears flowing down her cheeks.
"How?" Zatanna asked, pulling back and holding the archer at arm's length.
"It's a long story," Artemis smiled crookedly, "Why don't we go to the cafeteria and get something to eat?" she suggested noticing how hungry she was.
"Sure," Zatanna replied, "but you have to tell me everything, don't miss anything out."
"Ok," Artemis wavered, knowing what the knowledge may do to her friend, "Wally,"
"Yes, beautiful?" Wally said charmingly, playing role of dotting boyfriend.
"Can you give me and Zatanna some time, we'll be back in an hour tops, I just want to catch up with my best friend." Artemis said, giving Wally a quick kiss.
"Sure babe, I'll hang out with 'Wing, see if he's doing anything important." He replied easily, speeding off to find his best friend.
"So shall we head down?" Zatanna said, feeling a bit sad that she didn't have anyone to share cute moments with.
"Let's go, I'm starving." Artemis said, as they fell into a comfortable silence, two comrades facing the Earth.
It hadn't taken long for Artemis to be pressured into spilling everything about the undercover mission she and Aqualad had been on, she felt like she needed to vent, to someone other than Wally. It felt good, to get all the hated feelings off her chest and into the air, where they would disappear. But Zatanna found herself becoming more agitated, hurt, confused, angry and vulnerable by the word.
The months she spent mourning over her best friends death had been for nothing, the countless times she had zetaed to Gotham just to put fresh flowers on her grave meant nothing, the amount of times she cried herself to sleep because she thought her best friend was dead was all for nothing. If everything she had done in the past moths after her friends 'death' meant nothing, then what did she do that she could say was something?
Almost too afraid to ask she got the words out after a pregnant pause between the two adults,
"How were you disguised?" She asked timidly, "I-I mean, how did they fake your death and then hide you in Black Manta's ship?"
Artemis knew she would have to tell her sooner or later, no matter how long she wanted to delay the inevitable heart break her best friend would feel, the feeling of her heart being pulled out of her chest and stitched back in, then ripped out again, no matter how much she didn't want to tell her she had to.
"Nightwing set the whole thing up." She said quietly, looking down at her cup of coffee, "I 'died' and then wore a glamour charm for my Tigeress disguise. Only four people knew at first, Myself, Nightwing, Wally and Aqualad. Then M'gann ripped the intel out of Kaldur's head trying to get back at him for killing me, Nightwing then had to tell Connor and La'gaan after M'gann was taken by Deathstroke, and then he told everyone before the Summit." She said truthfully, feeling ashamed and scared for the lines from the magician that were about to follow.
"So he used me?" She whispered out, with a steel look. Artemis didn't know what to say, what do you tell your best friend who loves the guy that used her for faking her best friends death? There's not exactly a book that's specific in that.
"Well…" Artemis trailed off, she didn't want to say it like that, it just made him sound really bad, but then again the situation called for it.
"Just answer me, yes or no." Zatanna said sharp and coldly, "Did he use me to fake your death?"
Artemis sighed in defeat and lowered her head, "Yes." She whispered.
Zatanna got up and started walking out, a fire of determination blazing in her eyes, her crystal blue eyes frozen over, cold as ice.
"Where are you going?" Artemis called after her, standing up getting ready to follow after the Mistress of Magic.
"I'm going to hunt down a certain bird," She seethed before disappearing from Artemis' vision and ears.
The blonde archer sat back down in a second defeat, she hoped that he was prepared for what was coming for him.
"Dude, you know Artemis will tell Zatanna everything." Wally said to the dark haired man who was still working on a case that had just appeared in Bludhaven.
"I know, and?" Nightwing flipped off, nothing to worry about right?
"The point is she's going to tell Zatanna about the glamour charm, and then you're going to have a very angry, powerful magician coming to kill you." Wally said, blinking at the apparent nonchalantness his best pal was displaying.
"And? Zatanna will be fine, she'll get over it, and even then, she doesn't kill." Nightwing said, not noticing the extra presence in the room, or the temperature dropping below zero degrees.
Wally just sat in a scared silence, too scared to alert Nightwing of the arrival of Zatanna, who looked like she was working on developing Kryptonian powers to kill him with, said powers such as heat vision and super strength.
"Hey Walls?" He said, not noticing any change, still working furiously on his case. But once again he was met with total silence, Wally swore it was so silent you could hear the Earth magnetic fields working.
Turning around, he found his gaze meeting the ice-cold glare Zatanna was giving him. He smiled at her warmly, only to be greeted by a swift slap to his right cheek, nearly knocking him down from the sheer force.
"Zee!" he exclaimed cupping his cheek, "What the hell was that for?"
But she didn't reply, only looking at him through tear filled eyes that told the story of loss, pain, grief, anger and hurt. Emotions that he had not expected to be met with by Zatanna, she was always so happy and compassionate, always caring for others around her.
Still looking at him with a twisted expression she delivered another power-filled slap at his right cheek, with all the strength she could muster, and in that minute she could only feel hate for him.
"Zatanna stop!" He shouted, not willing to have to fight her.
"Stop what?" She shouted back with a thick voice, "Hurting you? I'm sorry you've never been on the receiving end of pain before." She said delivering a ferocious backhand to his left cheek, leaving a distinct mark where her hand had found target.
"Zee, stop. What the hell is this about?" He asked, gingerly touching his cheek, which he couldn't feel.
"What the hell is this about? You used me!" She screamed, letting the emotions pile up and being released at her poor target, him.
"You used me to make that stupid Glamour charm, you used me to fake my best friends death! How could you, is that all I'm good for? Some object you can pull out and use, and put away again, with no regard for my feelings at all?" She ranted, her arms waving all over the place as if she was pointing to something.
"Zee, I'm sorry, but it helped stop the Light and the Reach." He said desperately trying to get her to understand the situation.
"I don't care about the stupid Light," She throttled back at him, her voice getting weaker and weaker, "I spent months grieving Artemis' death, I spent months crying myself to sleep because she was 'dead', I was forced to take a leave of absence for a month because they thought I wasn't fit enough to work, I visited her grave everyday, thinking that she was dead and inside that coffin buried six feet underneath the ground, always putting fresh flowers and talking to the bloody tombstone! I debated whether I should stop being a hero and helping people, I was nearly diagnosed with depression. I couldn't care less about the Light, but all the pain I held in and released for the past three months was caused by you." She finished softly, feeling lost and betrayed in the same moment.
Wally just sat there awkwardly looking at the mess his friend made without meaning to, even though he felt anger towards Nightwing for the whole undercover mission, he had put that beside and enjoyed being with his friends peacefully again, but obviously someone couldn't let it go, and he got why in that moment. Underneath all the meaningless flirting, constant contact, the conversations now and then, she still loved him, and it pained her everyday because she thought he didn't love her back.
Nightwing was startled at the confession Zatanna had just given at him, he had no idea his plan would cause so much pain to a person, and it hadn't been his idea to hurt anyone, especially Zatanna.
"Zee, I'm so so-" He said quietly, before being cut off,
"Don't say you're sorry." She said looking at him in one last act of kindness towards him, "you're not. Not really at least, it helped save the world," she said, the tears now staining her porcelain skin, walking towards him and cupping her hand on his check, rubbing her thumb over the patch that was red from her slap.
"Was it really worth it Dick?" She whispered, "Was it worth putting everyone through the pain we all felt? It may have saved the world but it destroyed countless people, including me."
"Zee I-"
"Don't, just don't." She said before leaning to kiss both his cheeks and backing away.
"Good bye Dick." Zatanna said as she set her co-ordinates into the zeta tube, but before the light could fully take her away, she said one last time.
"I love you."
And like that, she was gone. Nothing but a memory for him to hold onto.
That's Part I done! Watch out for Part II. Should be here in around a week, or less if I feel up to it! :)
The Missing X