Mount Justice|
February 12th, 2016|
4:06 PM, EST|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the guest was announced, Zemirah felt herself freeze. She had been subtly rocking Wally, trying to keep him calm and not start another argument with his current peer. The little speedster, content with the soft constant motions, realized when she stopped and sniffed in disapproval. Zemirah tried to continue, but couldn't bring herself to move as her senses zeroed in on the newcomer instead. They got closer, allowing Orin to lead them where they were meant to be. Zemirah took a deep breath and began again, this time humming a soft melody to herself, more for her benefit than anyone else's. Logically, she knew she had nothing to worry about.
So why was she so frazzled?
Within three minutes, Orin arrived at the doorway, soon followed by another person. This woman was unmistakably Kaldur's mother. She had the same high cheekbones, the same sharp sea-glass green eyes, and the same blonde hair, although hers seemed to favor a more golden tone over Kaldur's platinum one. Before any introductions could be made, Kaldur saw her and scrambled out of Caroline's grasp and ran over to her.
"Mam! Mam!"
The woman crouched down and picked him up, holding him tightly. He nuzzled into her embrace, she stood once more. Zemirah sensed a great deal of love, but also confusion and… guilt? Zemirah puzzled over this; perhaps she blamed herself for this incident? Mothers had a tendency to blame themselves when their children faced problems. She could only imagine that this was throwing the woman almost completely emotionally off balance
"My son, what has happened to you?" she softly murmured.
"Klarion the Witch Boy," Caroline answered, her words dripping with burning venom.
Sha'lain'a, for that was what Zemirah remembered Kaldur's mother being called, looked at the four on the couch.
"I see he was not the only one struck."
"No," Zemirah answered. "They were trying to lead offensive as a distraction for him, while I stayed with Zatanna. I failed to protect all three of them."
Zemirah's eyes were downcast when she let the last words escape. She hadn't dared to say it aloud, but that had been her assignment. Protect. And then they were struck with a botched spell that could've killed them. And Zatanna… There was no telling what was wrong. The spell hadn't affected her nor had it affected Zemirah; by rights she should be awake. And yet…
Instead of the disappointment Zemirah expected, she felt a flow of affection from Sha'lain'a. She slowly looked up to find Sha'lain'a smiling at her.
"You must be Zemirah."
"I am."
"It is wonderful to finally meet you, in spite of the unfavorable circumstances."
"Likewise."
It wasn't a total lie. Zemirah was pleased to finally meet Sha'lain'a, she only wished she was prepared for it and that it was because Kaldur had brought her himself, rather than his situation.
"King Orin explained to me what happened," Sha'lain'a said, drawing Zemirah from her thoughts. "Is there any way to undo it?"
"Magic would be my department," Raven said. "And no. This spell is too complex for me to safely unravel; and its already unstable as it is. I have the power, but not the skills. If I try to break it, I may wind up hurting them instead of helping."
"So, this is permanent?" Sha'lain'a asked, her fear spiking.
"No, even if we don't break it, the longest it would last is a year," Zemirah quickly interjected. "But I don't think we need to wait."
"Zemirah is right, this morning we received a message from another magician, Sindella Zatara. We believe she can aid us."
"Sindella Zatara… Does she not have a child that could help?"
The others seemed taken aback at that. Zemirah recovered first.
"Kaldur mentioned Zatanna to you then?"
"Once or twice," Sha'lain'a confirmed. "He praised her bravery and magical skill, I presume undoing this would be 'up her alley'?"
"It would be, but she fell asleep and won't wake up. She's not comatose, but she's been out for two days."
Sha'lain'a looked completely stunned at that information. Unlike her son, Sha'lain'a was no sorceress, she had no idea how to aid them. She could only hope that this Sindella woman did. Still, she had her reservations. Sha'lain'a once again turned her attentions to her son. Even though he was once again a child, she couldn't help but notice the slight differences from his true child-like appearance. His face seemed to resemble his father's rather than his grandmother's much like it did when he was an adult. However, whether or not he noticed she didn't dare ask.
Zemirah had to stop herself from staring at Sha'lain'a as her general emotional state fully registered. The guilt began to overwhelm her, to the point that it nearly made Zemirah's knees buckle. A guilt that seemed to strengthen when the child in was in her arms; Zemirah began to wonder but pushed it aside to focus on the task at hand.
"We plan on meeting with Sindella tonight to see if she could undo the spell."
The conversation went no further than that when the computer announced another.
Recognized: Nightwing-B01
As if the situation wasn't awkward enough. Zemirah thought.
When their leader kindly joined them in the den and found Kaldur being cradled by his mother, he was clearly thrown for a loop. However, the quick charm that had endeared him to the older women of Gotham's elite as a child quickly took over.
"Hello," he said evenly. "I'm your son's teammate."
"And current team leader," Zemirah added.
"Are you the one taking them to see this Sindella then?"
Yet another thing the Gothamite hadn't expected, Sha'lain'a's voice was almost icy. She was very clearly annoyed with Nightwing. Zemirah watched as he tried to keep himself from getting scolded by his friend's mother with great amusement.
"Yes-"
"Then he will be back to normal soon then?"
Nightwing seemed to be taken almost completely aback and Zemirah sat back to watch how the scene would unfold.
"That's Zemirah's belief. However, we still have to take into account that Sindella has not contacted anyone, much less her own daughter in a very long time. We still have little reason to believe the message we received was from her."
"Who could it have been from otherwise? From what I understand, the being known as Nabu only interferes when the entire world is at stake, not the lives of two people."
Nightwing could not answer. His worry-induced paranoia was still bubbling, but his sense of logic was overriding it, thankfully.
"Of course."
After another few minutes, Orin and Sha'lain'a had to return to Atlantis, and Sha'lain'a requested that when her son was restored to his proper being, that he return to Alantis for a visit as soon as possible. His father was worried sick.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New York, New York|
February 12th, 2016|
9:16 PM, EST|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nightwing, Krystallo, Artemis, with their de-aged companions in tow stood on a rooftop across from their destination. Nightwing watched the apartment like a hawk and Artemis fiddled aimlessly with an arrow. Krystallo meanwhile was keeping the two de-aged heroes entertained with making some crystals change their shape and dance around; even making to figurines dance in the air.
"Chicken-wing, I told you the same thing an hour ago and I'll say it again:" she said, her island accent slipping through the prim vernacular she used at work. "The only person in there is one with a very similar life-force to Zatanna. We're standing out here trying to catch our deaths for nothing."
Nightwing sighed and relented, ordering the younger heroine to bridge them to the other building.
"Gladly," she said.
Before she could, however, a door appeared on their roof nothing before it, and nothing behind it. The only thing on it a handwritten note reading: 'come in'. The heroes all looked surprised. Krystallo was so stunned, the crystals she'd been using to entertain the toddlers clattered to the concrete beneath them, chipping it a bit.
"Magic," the heroine muttered.
Still, she gathered up the two smaller ones in her arms as Artemis and Nightwing carefully opened the door. The apartment they entered was warm and a blessed reprieve from the cold outside. Aside from the temperature, however, there was little else warming the place. The place was no different from the day Zatanna had moved out. Empty and devoid of liveliness. The only indication that anyone else was there aside from them was the woman sitting down at a small table looking at a photograph. Her blonde hair was greying and she was dressed in a simple floor-length white frock, no shoes.
"Hello," she said without looking up from the photo.
"Uhm, hi?" Artemis said.
At the sound of her voice, Sindella finally looked up from the picture and smiled at her guests. Her smile put Wally and Kaldur at ease, even Nightwing's heightened alertness lowered somewhat.
"Thank you, for trusting me. I understand my invitation was likely not the most… usual thing to do."
"That's a bit of an understatement," Artemis said, unafraid to make her annoyance known.
Sindella didn't take it personally and nodded.
"I would have visited the base myself, however, I simply couldn't take the risk."
"Risk of what?" Krystallo asked.
Sindella, who had oozed both welcome also gave off waves of sadness, and regret in equal measure, seemed to let her heart sink even further at the question. She stood up before answering.
"There is a reason I do not see my daughter."
The blond magician stood up and gestured for the two little ones to approach. They tentatively drew near and she placed a hand on their foreheads. She spoke a spell so quickly and softly that none of the others could begin to make out what it was. As she paused to take a breath, a soft white light began to emanate from the toddlers. When she completed the incantation, the light slowly faded and the toddlers looked exhausted. The Zemirah picked up Wally and Nightwing gathered Kaldur in his arms. The two fell asleep almost instantly.
"The spell is broken, when they wake in the morning, they will be as they were before the spell was cast."
"Thank you," Zemirah said.
"I still have a few questions," Artemis said.
Because nothing is easy, Zemirah thought.
"Why would just showing up at the mountain be risky, and what about Zatanna? Don't you want to help her?"
Sindella blinked, but was not annoyed, she only glided back to her seat and began to stare at the photograph once more.
"When Zatanna was a child, an old rival of mine cursed us both. A bit of revenge for a past slight. If ever the two of us meet again, both of us would be struck dead. It's the one spell I haven't been able to break. I knew if I came to the base to break those two free, I wouldn't be able to resist seeing her in person… She's grown so much."
The three heroes were taken aback at the confession. Zemirah had to wonder what sort of cruel person would place such a horrible curse on a mother and child.
"As for Zatanna's slumber, it's the consequence of a protective enchantment her father placed on her. Keep spells that would directly harm her from fulfilling their purpose. She sleeps to keep the spell from taking effect. Since it is broken she will wake naturally."
Artemis opened her mouth as if to apologize, but stopped and stared as Sindella put the picture down and a familiar top hat appeard on the table. Sindella picked it up allowed it to float over to the younger blonde.
"Give this to her, and tell her that one of her father's companion's broke the spell when she wakes."
Almost as soon as the hat was in Artemis's hands the scenery changed. And they were on the rooftop once more, the apartment they'd just been in pitch black from the windows.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mount Justice|
February 13th, 2016|
7:47 AM, EST|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=YJ=~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zatanna awoke in the infirmary and had to wonder what happened.
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days," an off-hand voice answered.
Zatanna looked up and found Artemis staring there, her usual wry smile replaced by something more… sad? She had no idea how to place this look but instead focused on what she said.
"Three days? What hit me?"
"Total Annihilation spell, according to Raven."
Zatanna, who had slowly been clambering of the gurney almost collapsed back into it.
"Raven? Are you sure I've only been out for three days?"
"Positive."
Zatanna blinked.
"The person who broke it sent this," Artemis handed her friend the hat and left, off-handedly telling her that there was breakfast on the table if she was interested.
Zatanna merely looked at the top-hat and stared. She hadn't been able to look at it since… The magician brought it close, but then something caught her eye. She reached in and she found a photograph, in it was her father and her mother, holding up a little girl in blue overalls, wearing her father's top hat. Zatanna smiled tearfully and placed the photo back in the hat.
She placed it on her head before walking out of the infirmary.