Batman swept in and glared at the team. "What is the problem?" He asked.
"Sir, it appears Zatanna is unwilling to use magic." Aqualad said.
"Which is completely normal." Robin butted in. "I mean, she just lost her dad." He whispered. "She's not whelmed about that.
Batman raised an eyebrow. "You have a week." He walked into the zeta tube and left.
"I say we decide who goes on what day." Artemis said. "Robin will go first, I'll go second, Aqualad third, M'gann fourth, Superboy fifth, and Wally will be on the sixth day."
"And if none of us manage to get her to use magic?" Wally asked. "And why am I last?"
"Then we'll all go on the seventh day." Robin replied.
"And you're last because you're Kid Insensitive." Artemis added.
"Okay. Robin, work your magic." Wally encouraged his friend. "And you're the one who's insensitive. Remember the time I broke my arm?" He said to Artemis.
"Wally, you didn't actually break it the whole time." Artemis rolled her eyes. "Besides you acted like a jerk the whole time. Why would I feel sorry for you?"
"Yeesh. Get a room." Robin grumbled as he made his way to Zatanna's room.
"I know you're not whelmed." Robin said, walking into Zatanna's room. She had unpacked everything and was sitting on her bed listlessly. "But the team needs you to use magic."
Zatanna choked back tears. "I just…I can't do it. I don't want to do it. It's was Zatara's thing, not mine."
"But you're Zatanna Zatara."
"Just a shadow of my dad." Zatanna said unhappily.
"You're his daughter." Robin replied.
"Not anymore."
"He's still there. It's just…Fate decided to take over his body." Zatanna glared at him. Robin held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. You're the magic expert. But you're not going to be the magic expert if you don't use it."
Robin paused. "I lost my parents too. It was a while ago, but it still hurts. It's not going to get better, but their deaths? They made me want to do something. To fight. To become Robin. They're not dead. Not really."
"Are you going cliché on me?" Zatanna asked, smiling through her tears.
Robin grinned back. "At least you're smiling."
Zatanna smiled back. "But I still can't use magic."
"Small steps." Robin said. "If small means tiny, why don't you take off some letters in order to make it smaller, instead of more letters? It should be all, instead of smaller." Zatanna laughed.
"We're going outside." Artemis decided as soon as she came into Zatanna's room. "I can't stand it with Kid Idiot around and you haven't been outside since you came here." She dragged Zatanna out of the cave and past the awestruck looks of the rest of the team, who were training.
"That's so much better." Artemis said as she breathed in the salty air.
Zatanna laughed. "You look a lot better." She noticed. "Have you gotten together with Wally yet?"
Artemis spluttered. "What, no! I hate him. Hate him, hate him, hate him."
"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt, you know."
Artemis's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry. Can't you make food appear or something?" She asked.
Zatanna raised her eyebrows. "Did Robin put you up to this?" She asked.
"NO." Artemis said quickly. "It was Batman." She whispered. "But I would've done it anyways."
"Thanks." Zatanna smiled. "But, I don't think I'm ready to use magic yet."
Artemis sighed. "It's okay. I just wish you would though. You aren't Zatanna without…you know."
Zatanna nodded. "I know."
Aqualad joined Zatanna on the beach. "I hope you are well." He told Zatanna.
She smiled at him. "I'm fine."
"It is pleasant to see you out of your room."
"I know. It's just…with dad gone." Her voice broke.
Aqualad looked at her in concern. "Is your magic gone?"
"No." Zatanna said. "It's there, but…"
"You are scared to use it."
"It's what took my dad away!" She replied.
"Your magic did not take away your father. That was Fate's magic."
"It's all the same." Zatanna said bitterly.
Aqualad looked at her closely for a moment. "I left my school. I left my home to join Aquaman on the surface. One can only imagine what thoughts went through my head. But before I left the school, I learned one thing."
"What?"
"Magic is an integral part of my being. I cannot push it away. I had problems too, at first. But I gradually learned how to control myself, and my abilities. My magic is unique, just like yours. No one can identify you with Fate. Fate uses a different form of magic."
"I know." Zatanna said. She bit her lip. "I just…I don't think I can do it. Not yet."
Aqualad bowed his head. "Take your time. But you must use your magic. It is who you are."
"Come on, you look starved." M'gann said, pulling Zatanna into the kitchen.
"I'm not hungry." Zatanna said half-heartedly as M'gann became prepping the cookies.
"Nonsense. You can't ever not be hungry." M'gann started to telekinetically make the batter. "So, how has it been? After, you know…"
"Better." Zatanna paused. "I know you're trying to get me to use magic. I just…I can't. Not right now."
M'gann looked at her sympathetically. "I know what it feels like. I had the same problems. I was more powerful than I thought…than anyone thought. Eventually, Canary told me that I had to learn control. And I did. I started controlling my abilities."
Zatanna looked at her. "It's not the same as me."
"I refused to use my abilities after that because I was scared. Eventually, I realized what I was scared of was myself, not my ability."
"What am I scared of?" Zatanna mused. She paused. "I'm not scared."
M'gann looked at her. "Yes, you are. You're scared that if you use your abilities, you'll turn out like your father. It's not the same."
Zatanna sighed. She and M'gann sat in silence until the oven beeped.
"Have one." M'gann insisted. Zatanna couldn't find it in her heart to refuse, so she took one. To her surprise, it was actually quite good, and she was hungry. She ended up eating the whole tray and ate dinner for the first time since Fate took over her father.
When it was Superboy's turn to convince Zatanna, he sat there and listened to Zatanna talk about her father. She related all the sad stories and the funny stories and her frustrations with her father and how sad she was that she never got to say sorry for all the things she did.
Neither will admit it but was one of their favorite memories. Superboy later took some lessons from Zatanna's stories and applied it to himself and Superman.
Wally's tactic was to burst in. "Magic doesn't exist." He announced to the room at large. Zatanna narrowed her eyes.
Artemis rolled her eyes. "There are two magicians in here, doofus."
"I know, but I've just figured it out!" Wally said, and he went off on a long torrent of the reasons magic couldn't exist. Gazes switched back and forth between him and Zatanna, whose eyes were steadily growing narrower. "And that's why magic doesn't exist." Wally said happily.
"Is that so?" Zatanna asked quietly.
"Yup." Wally said proudly, smirking. Zatanna suddenly realized what he was doing, but she didn't care.
"Ouy era a Nitsuj Rebeib naf." She said, her eyes flashing.
Wally was still for a moment, still smirking. Then he started excitedly jumping up and down. "OMG where is he?"
Needless to say, the rest of the cave was extremely amused for the rest of the evening. Eventually, Zatanna felt sorry for him and took off the spell.
Wally, to everyone's surprise, was not upset or embarrassed. On the contrary, he got in front of Artemis's face yelling, "I told you that I could make her use magic! You should've made me go first!"
Artemis rolled her eyes. "At least I wasn't the one who turned into a Justin Bieber fan." Wally was so happy in proving Artemis wrong for the first time that he didn't care.