Summary: Takes place a week or so after the previous chapter. Really sorry about the delay in posting this one, I wanted to have it up sooner but I was just too busy. Especially sorry if it's lackluster.

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

Today was the day. Zatanna and Rocket were going to join the League.

Ever since the breakup, Dick had tried to keep his distance from Zee. They hadn't spoken once since it happened, they just couldn't face each other. Dick would feel his heart shatter whenever he would pass Zee's room or even so much as overheard someone mention her name. Guilt had completely overtaken him, and he couldn't get her off his mind for even a split second. The look on her face when he said they had to end things...he felt like the world's biggest ass for what he did to her, but nonetheless, he was not changing his mind. He was wholly convinced their breakup was the best way to keep her safe. Bruce, who himself was recovering from the loss, had heard of their split, and he had sat down with Dick for a little heart-to-heart. Of course, it hadn't ended well. Dick stormed off, and he hadn't really spoken to Bruce for several days until Bruce reached out and apologized for it, which made Dick feel like even more of an ass than he already did.

Barbara had heard of the breakup through Artemis, and she called both Zatanna and Dick trying to help them through it. Over the past two weeks, she had been struggling to adjust to life in a wheelchair, and hearing of Jason's demise AND the breakup was just...so heavy. It was a miracle Babs was able to cope with everything on her plate.

Every member of the team was in the living room to watch the induction ceremony from the TV, with the exception of Dick. He couldn't bring himself to see Zee on live TV, especially since she would be leaving him behind. He felt a small sense of bitterness that she was leaving, if he was being honest. Well, don't get angry now. Your dumbass chose this. Remember who dumped who?

Instead of watching, Nightwing was working from the monitor room on matters related to his Blüdhaven endeavors. However, Babs must have known as much, because the next thing he knew, his phone started to ring. He groaned before answering, already knowing what she was going to say.

"Save it, Babs. I don't wanna-"

"I really don't give a fuck what you wanna do, Dick, cuz you're gonna hear me out when I tell you to get your ass to the living room and watch the induction ceremony." Or better yet, race down there now and fix this shit yourself.

Dick frowned. "Barb, I have work to do. I'll call you back later, once important matters are done."

"You know, you sound just like him." Dick tensed up, but he didn't deny it. She was right.

"I have to go. Call you when I'm done." Dick hung up and got back to work. What am I doing? Babs is right, I should...no, I chose this. Too late now. It was the right call, stick with it. I pushed her away to keep her out of harm's way. Doesn't matter if I become Batman, just so long as they're safe. Just so long as she's safe.

Maybe being Batman's not such a bad thing after all.

Dick continued working when the holo-screens were forcefully commandeered. Dammit, Babs! Dick tried calling Barb, but she wouldn't pick up. He was about to fight against her hacking when his eyes landed on Zee. All color left his face as he saw the sheer pain in her eyes. She was doing a good job of keeping it in, but he could see right past her facade. Maybe it was anger at him, maybe it was discomfort at Nabu being not twenty feet away from her, he couldn't tell. Whatever it was, Batman seemed to notice it, too, for he was right next to her, and he placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

Dick knew he could break the control Babs had over the monitors, but his eyes were locked on Zatanna. He watched as Superman introduced her, Rocket, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, and Booster Gold to the crowd. He watched as each of them received their ID cards one by one. He watched as Zatanna was last to receive hers, courtesy of Batman himself. What am I doing? This isn't helping her, she's hurt. I need to...what would I do? Bring her back? No, the damage is already done, she hates me. Plus, it's not like anything's changed. She'd still be at risk. Better she distance herself from me. Batman will take care of her, she'll be fine, right?

...right?

Dick sighed as the ceremony came to a close and the broadcast on the holo-computer stopped. He knew Babs was watching him, she probably hacked into the cameras in the cave. She disabled her hold on the systems once the broadcast stopped, and Dick pushed aside all his prior thoughts to get back to work. At least this way he could keep his mind off the royal fuck-up he had made this situation into.

Wally stopped by a few minutes later, placing a hand on Dick's shoulder. "H-hey, man. I was wondering if you-"

"Maybe later, Wall. I'm kinda busy with this right now." Wally felt Dick tense up as he continued working, and he sighed. He knew when to leave his friend alone, it was one of the reasons Dick even let him in as often as he did, and so he nodded before walking out of the room. As he left, Dick closed his eyes in pain, letting a single tear find its way out. God, what did I do?

Zatanna was rather lost in thought during the induction party. She, Rocket, and the others had been brought aboard the Watchtower following the ceremony, and everyone was having a good time, save for herself and Batman. Of course Bats wouldn't be partying, especially considering that he himself was still in mourning. Zee felt like going up to and maybe talking to him, but she decided against it. Not much I could do for him, anyways. She instead chose to watch Booster try and fail to ask out Fire and Rocket and Icon chat it up. At least Nabu's not here. Don't think I could handle that.

Zee watched Green Arrow and Black Canary together, and she suddenly felt her heartstrings snap. She looked away, but it was too late. The dark thoughts were already coming to her. C'mon, don't...just...forget about him. He's not gonna be here, he won't e-ever...Zatanna excused herself to an empty hall of the Watchtower to break down, sinking to her knees and curling up into a ball with her back pressed against the wall as she started to cry. She prayed nobody would hear or walk in on her, but she just couldn't stop herself. Rocket and Artemis had both tried their hardest to help her these past few weeks, but they were giving very different forms of advice. She didn't know which to follow.

Raquel had tried to get her to not think about Dick. Her advice was to just forget about him, to move on and not look back. Like she had done with Kaldur. But Raquel and Kaldur were a different story entirely, Kaldur's heart just wasn't in the relationship most of the time and if Raquel was being honest, neither was hers. Zatanna appreciated the support Raquel gave her, but she didn't like her advice. How could she move on, forget about him? He had occupied such a massive part of her life and heart for 5 years, the hardest yet also best 5 years of her life so far. She had thought they would be together forever, no matter how cheesy or sappy it sounded. But he wasn't, not anymore. How could she just...let him go?

Artemis was the exact opposite. She told Zee to not worry about it and live her life. Arty was convinced that Dick would get out of his funk soon enough and fix things with her. It was actually surprisingly optimistic of her. Unfortunately, as much as Zatanna would have loved for that to be the case, she wasn't stupid. Dick was clearly going through some shit right now, and it had already been nearly a month. He wasn't going to be trying to fix things with her anytime soon. And that made Zee mad. Really mad. What was he thinking just pushing her away like this?! Sure, he had stuff to work through, but for the past 5 years, she also had shit to deal with and she let him into her life! A small part of Zatanna hated herself for being so...bitter towards him because she knew all too well how much it hurt to lose a family member. But she just couldn't help it.

Zee didn't know how long she had been crying for, but the next thing she did know was a shadowy figure approach and offer her a hand up. She took it and got up to her feet, and Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze. He had promised Giovanni to look after his kid, even offering to adopt her all the way back when he had first been "abducted", and regardless, she was his son's boyfriend going on 5 years. He had grown quite fond of her. He had hoped she would one day be his daughter-in-law, he still did.

"Zatanna, I...how about you move in? You know there's always been a home for you in the Manor, and something tells me home is just what you need right now." Zatanna wiped tears from her eyes, trying to compose herself before shaking her head.

"I c-can't. Th-thank you f-for the offer, b-but it's t-too m-m-much right now." Bruce nodded, concern clear in his eyes.

"Okay. But if you ever need to...talk, or anything, you can come to me, or Alfred, or Barbara. Or..." Bruce paused before saying his name, but quickly continued. "I know he shouldn't have broken up with you, I've talked to him about it as well, but Dick's...not at all in a good place right now. Maybe...give him some time. He'll come around, I promise. I'm just sorry he's made you go through this right now, hopefully some day you two will be able to fix things. I would certainly love to see it." Zatanna tensed up at the mention of her now ex-boyfriend, and Bruce slowly and somewhat awkwardly pulled her into a hug, which she reciprocated. Regardless of her relationship with Dick at the time, she saw Bruce as a father figure to her, and she knew he meant what he said. She only prayed he was right about patching things up with Dick, God knows she would love that.

"Th-thank you."

"Of course, Zatanna. I'll be here if you need me."

Dick rubbed his eyes before deadpanning Donna and Kory. It had been a long day, he wasn't sure he was hearing things right. "Sorry, you're what now?"

"We're leaving. It's...it's been a long time coming to be honest." Dick frowned. He had just lost his brother and the love of his life. He didn't need to lose his sister and close friend as well.

"Why?" Kory looked down, almost guiltily.

"We've...we've had a few things to think about."

"B-but you...I...the team...we need you..."

"I...I can't do this right now, Dick. After everything that's happened recently...I need to get out of the life. I don't think I have it in me to keep up the hero business anymore." Dick got up and took Donna's hands in his own.

"Why?"

"I loved being Wonder Girl. Getting to help others was everything I ever wanted. But now...I don't know if this is all I'm meant to do anymore. If the past few weeks have taught us anything, it's that life is short. And I want more out of mine than to just...put it on the line to save others. I wanna find my real purpose, and it's not here right now." Dick nodded, understanding. Kory was next to speak.

"I...I wish to leave, too, Richard. Since I got to this world, I've tried to fit in amongst its people with heroics, b-but I have neglected...other matters. I want to try and be...human. I will be here if you need me, b-but for now, I want to see who I can be in this world."

"That goes for both of us. If you need me, I'll be back here before you know it." Dick nodded before letting Donna pull him into a hug. "I'll keep in touch."

"You better. Don't make me hunt you down." Dick broke off and hugged Kory next, and once they parted, both women nodded to Dick before picking up their bags and heading for the Zetas. He sighed as he ran both hands through his messy hair, looking back to the holo-computer at an old picture of the team. He frowned, noticing how happy they all were that day. It felt like an eternity ago, and he wished he could go back to it. But he couldn't. He could only move forward.

Again, sorry about the delay in posting this, and sorry if it's not the best. I've just had a lot to do recently, but hopefully things get more manageable soon. I plan to update and touch up several aspects of the timeline in chapter 1 soon. After revisiting it, I realize that a lot of the ideas I initially had were somewhat out of place and exorbitant, so I'm gonna try to rectify that to the best of my ability. Don't worry, not too much will change, just a few things here and there that really won't be too important to the overall story but were little details I thought were silly to have. I will leave a notification in a future chapter once I have finished my edits, so don't worry about that for now. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.