John and Sindella raced into the room and saw this man in a black cloak in the doorway. Zatanna was in the middle of the room, hidden under the coffee table, shaking and crying at the sight of the scary man. John went to attack the man as Sindella went to Zatanna.

The raven haired girl crawled out from beneath the table and onto her mother's lap. "Mommy.." She said, her voice was so small and filled with fear, as she put her head in her mother's chest.

"It'll be okay sweetie." Sindella said, holding her close, as John flew across the room as smack into the wall. He slid onto the floor, getting up on his knees and at glaring at the man with hate that rivaled the destructive power of Poseidon the God of the sea and promising to hurt this man badly when he gets his hands on him.

"Daddy!" Zatanna said, seeing her father slowly getting up.

"Seniv, dnib siht nam." The vines that grew along the fence that lined their front lawn flew off of the post and bound the man. This cloaked figure had his legs bound together and his arms up in the air.

The man smirked and let out a 'hmph', the vines that were touching his skin burst into flames. The ashes of the vines flew into John's mouth, past his magical defenses, and down his throat as his he was levitated up in the air with his arms stuck to his sides and his legs were forced together. He was choking on the ashes, unable to breath as his airways were becoming clogged with them, his magic was trying to force the ashes from him as a last ditch effort to get the ashes out of his airways, but it wasn't working. Zatanna was crying because her daddy was in pain. Sindella was holding her as she was shaking.

"Stop! What do you want!?" Sindella screamed, tears falling down her face as he husbands body began spasming.

This figure smirked, taking his hood down, revealing he had a mark on his cheek, the mark of the Hidden Ones' royal court. Sindella's eyes became cold, immediately knowing what must be done.

"You want me to go back home, to the village?" She asked. The figure nodded. Sindella sighed and glared at this man. "Fine, but you have to clean those ashes from my husbands throat and then let me say goodbye." The figure nodded, striking the deal. With a wave of his hand, the ashes flew from John's unmoving body and into the chimney.

The man opened up his eyes, breathing in a single breath as he pushed against the wall to sit up, before feeling his daughter's arms fly around his neck. He held her and looked at his wife, who stared into his eyes as she knelt down beside him, tears were in her eyes.

"Sin, what's happening?" He looked into her eyes, and saw her tears. He held her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb. "Hey, it's alright. I'm alright. Zatanna's alright. We're fine." He kissed her lips, bringing a sad smile to hers when he pulled away.

You will be. "Do you trust me?" Sindella asked, knowing the answer all too well.

John nodded "Yes. I trust you with my life."

This made what she was about to do all the more difficult. She thought and thought to the day that she almost lost her life in a car crash, a half a year ago, and she used her voiceless magic to get ready to alter their memories.

Tears fell down Sindella's face as she kissed her husband, her magic entering his mind through his mouth. He was too caught up in the sudden kiss to realize what was going on, too caught up on the feeling of her lips on his, until she pulled away. John's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell back against the wall, his memories of the past six months were becoming altered and his brain was getting used to it all.

Zatanna looked at her father, and then to her mother. She clung to her mother, tears streaming down her face as she nuzzled her mother. She was so scared, and as much as Sindella hated to do this, it had to be done. Sindella whispered soothing words to her daughter in Turkish, her words soothing her daughter, allowing for her mother's wordless magic easy access into her mind.

Zatanna suddenly stopped nuzzling her mother, falling limp in her arms. Sindella used her magic to lift her husband up off of the floor and onto the couch, before placing Zatanna on his chest, and putting a blanket over the two of them without using her magic. She focused her magic on the pictures on the mantle, erasing herself from all of the pictures from the past nine months, and used her magic to make everything that was hers vanish from the house.

She looked at the figure and nodded, walking to the doorway. She turned back towards them and whispered "Be safe, my loves." And then, just like that, they were gone.


To clear up any confusion, in this story Zatanna was four when her mother 'died', but Sindella erased all memory of her from John and Zatanna's minds from the past nine months, so from the middle of May to the middle-ish of January, so it seemed like she had died in the car crash before Zatanna's birthday (May 20th). Any more information will be given later on in this story in case you're curious.