YOUNG JUSTICE | DRABBLE: A LIVING NIGHTMARE
Title: A Living Nightmare
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 565
For: roxy61995
She quickly awakens.
What the fuck?
She slides her hand up to her forehead and feels the sweat that it's smothered in. When she tries to reach for the water on the bed stand, her hands begin to shake.
It happened again.
The nightmare she's been having for months continues to plague her. The scary part is that it's real.
It's not her fault and she knows that but that doesn't mean she's okay.
I should have went after him. I thought just maybe he would believe me for one second.
She was wrong.
Flashback:
"Don't do this. Please Dick. You can't leave," Zatanna pleads. She puts a firm hold on his arms and drags him towards her.
"Zee, you know me better than most. You should know that I can't do this anymore. Not this way. Not without Wa….." Dick stops himself and gently pulls away from her hand. She can see the pain that has been building within him, ever since Wally passed away.
Her eyes get watery. Zatanna misses Wally, too. It burdens her to know that Dick lost a great comrad and Artemis lost the love of her life. Zatanna can't let go of Dick, because if she does, he might meet a tragic end as well.
"Look at- LOOK AT ME!" she yells. He faces her gaze and pushes a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"Nothing's right. Face it. Things have changed. Artemis has changed. I have changed. Accept it for what is."
"It still doesn't change the fact that you belong to this team. What happened to being chalant? You barely even care anymore about anyone. Not even yourself."
"Why do you think we broke up? If you wanted stability, Zee, you should have looked somewhere else."
She can't believe it. He doesn't even know who she is. Or maybe he's just pretending that he doesn't.
"I never wanted stability, Dick. I just need assurance. You were so caught in everything. I was never at the top of your list. It was always the mission. And I get that but you pushed me away. You say don't want to be Batman but you still sacrificed me for the sake of it."
"Zatanna, you know I-"
"Save it. Maybe you should go. Maybe you are right. In fact, you never did tell me what the glamour charm was for so why would you tell me that you loved me?"
Zatanna bent her head down and wiped away the sliding tear on her face. She slowly turned away from him and walked down the hallway. As she creaked her head back, she saw that he was gone.
She would never see him again.
Present:
Zatanna held his uniform in her hands. He left it behind as he didn't want to be reminded of the disaster he led his friends into.
She smothered herself in it and she sobbed, leaving a pattern of tears embedded in the cloth.
A part of her believed that it was better to let Dick go. The other part wanted to search every end of the Earth for him. However, any hope that she still held onto, only existed in a small corner of her heart.
Once she let all the pain drift from her eyes, Zatanna went back to sleep. Only to once again, enter the horror that would always scare and haunt her.
