Disclaimer: Bla, bla, don't own justice league, etc, etc.

So, finally finished this, and hope you liked it.

Dreams and Darkness

Zatanna blinked in surprise when she found herself in a large underground cavern of sorts with torches lining the walls every few feet. Looking around, she saw a mass of various glyphs and runes etched into the ceiling and walls, apparently at random, though none of them were familiar to her. "What kind of weird place is this?" the female magician wondered out loud. "Looks like an ancient temple or something, but how the hell did I get here?" Walking over to one of the walls, she reached out to an image of what appeared to be a bird, only to have her hand pass through it like a ghost. Zatanna pulled back her hand in shock, then looked at herself and took into account that she was wearing her pajamas, at which point it finally dawned on her. "I get it now, I'm just dreaming. Duh, how did I not figure this out earlier? Well, while I'm at it, I-"

The young woman's musings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps echoing from one of the halls connected to the room she was in. This was followed by five armed, bipedal, yet not quite human figures running into the room. "Hurry you fools!" the leader of the bunch barked at the others. "We must stop the intruder before he reaches mast-" His words were interrupted when a bright golden rope looped around his neck and pulled him into the hallway opposite the one they'd come.

"Was that Diana's lasso?" Zatanna wondered. "I didn't expect to be dreaming about-"

To her surprise, it was not Wonder Woman, but a faceless man that burst out from the hall, a golden lasso at his waist, a round shield on his left arm and wielding a double edged sword in his right hand, the blade drenched in tar like blood. With a fearsome war cry, he charged at the remaining four minions without even a glimmer of hesitation. Zatanna watched with a degree of shock and wonder as he performed a deadly dance, flowing in-between the creatures with elegance and agility to match Batman's own, yet dispatching them with brutal speed and efficiency. Beheading the last one, he paused for not even a second before taking off into the hallway the zombie creatures had come out of, sprinting flat out.

Zatanna followed right behind, wondering exactly how the dream would pan out as he ran like the wind through rooms and halls, navigating the passageways like he knew exactly which direction to go. His insane rush was bothered only by two groups of humanoid monsters, which he slaughtered with the same violence and intent as the first ones, until he smashed through a set of double doors leading into a ceremonial chamber of sorts. In one corner of the room were two cages, each holding six young girls of various ages under twenty. And in the middle of the room, gagged and bound to a slab of stone, there lay another unknown mid-teenage girl, panic written across her face. Close to a dozen humanoids stood between him and the bound girl, but worse, was the shadowy figure approaching the stone slab with a dagger in hand.

The unknown man charged forward, crashing into the monsters barring his path with recklessness and savagery. The creatures attempted to swarm him, latching onto and throwing away his shield, giving him several nasty cuts, but he fought like a Viking berserker, utterly disregarding his own wounds.

Time slowed to a crawl for Zatanna as he cut an enemy in half with a single blow, shoved his sword through the second's face, blasted a third off its feet with a strong punch and rolled under another's swing, running past them toward the victim. However, before he could reach her… the shadowy man plunged his dagger into the girl's heart.

Zatanna gasped in surprise as she woke up all of a sudden, falling onto the floor in shock. "What's wrong Zee? Are you alright?" Hector asked, having suddenly appeared at her side.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Zatanna answered, her breathing evening out as her mind snapped back to reality. "I just fell off the bed, that's all."

"It sounded as though you were having a nightmare," he pointed out, offering a hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Yeah… something like that," Zatanna muttered under her breath.

"If you want, we can talk about it over breakfast."

"Breakfast? Sweet, I'm hungry! What did you make?"

"Nothing too extravagant, just bacon, fruit and toast," Hector said as he brought her over to the table to sit down. "I've also got some eggs, but they're not cooked yet, since I'm not sure how you want them."

"Over easy, please."

"Coming right up." Turning on the stove, he grabbed an egg carton from the fridge and waited for the frying pan to heat up. "So, nightmare notwithstanding, did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah, I can't complain, and the bed was good. What about you?"

Hector shrugged his shoulders, then cracked a couple eggs into the pan. "It was alright. I had an interesting dream at least. I was with Cassandra, who was trick or treating in the same witch costume she wore on Halloween six years ago. Only this time, she had an actual magic wand and hexed anyone who was rude or wouldn't give her any candy. I think an old man's skin became hot pink all over, a kid that stole some of her candy grew a pig's tail, and someone else got chicken legs. The worst had the misfortune of making fun of her costume, so she turned him into a toad and said if he got a girl to kiss him, he'd be normal again, except that she made him so hideous that even the most desperate girl wouldn't want to go anywhere near him."

Zatanna laughed out loud at the thought of Cassandra doing such things. "She mustn't be as vengeful in real life, eh?"

"Not, not quite as much. But, she does have moments when she'll be more… underhanded, sneaky, and mischievous."

"I don't find that exceedingly hard to believe. Ooo, goodie!" she exclaimed once Hector finished with the eggs and put them on the plates. "That reminds me, when I came here for dinner last Thursday, was that one of those moments?"

"Yeah," Hector admitted, a look of embarrassment on his face. "Apparently, the real reason she ran off was so that you and I would be… alone."

The dark haired woman's cheeks colored a little as she dug into her plate of food. "Looking on the bright side of things, I think we can be pretty sure that your sister approves of the idea of us going out together, considering she took explicit care to inform me of your single status when we first met."

"I'd have to admit, she has made her approval of you fairly obvious. And yet, I just know she's going to get her share of laughs out of this." The two of them chuckled a little at the thought. "Anyway… what was that nightmare about that you had?"

"It was a little weird. It actually reminded me a little of 'Gladiator', except with a few magical elements thrown in. It was in an underground temple or ancient cavern, there was this guy with a sword, shield, and Wonder Woman's lasso, and he was cutting down these armed zombie monsters like it was nothing. Then it eventually got to where he crashed into a chamber, there was a girl tied to a stone table, not to mention a dozen more in two cages against the wall, and a weird hooded voodoo priest or something holding a dagger."

"That last part sounds kind of creepy."

"Yeah, it was. Then the evil priest started moving towards the girl that was tied down and the guy just lost it and started hacking at the zombies standing in his way like there was no tomorrow. Except that before he could save her, the priest stabbed her in the heart, and that's when I woke up. Still, it did look kind of cool, and for all I know, it could have been you."

"Right… as if I'd be dumb enough to steal Wonder Woman's lasso.''

''Yeah, that doesn't seem likely, does-'' Zatanna trailed off when she received a call on her League communicator, putting a finger to her ear and signaling her friend to be quiet. She listened to whoever was on the other end of the line and replied with: "Alright, just give me thirty seconds to get ready." She then pushed her chair out and got to her feet, giving her friend an apologetic look. "Hate to cut our time short, but duty calls."

Hector nodded in return. "I understand. Go save the world, preferably not in your pajamas."

Zatanna smiled in amusement, quickly muttering a spell to change into her magician's outfit. "I'm ready, beam me up," she spoke through her communicator. Looking at Hector one last time, she held her hand to her ear in the sign of a phone, mouthing 'call me', before she was teleported away.

Zatanna materialized on one of the Watchtower's teleporter pods an instant later and was greeted to the sight of Superman standing next to Mr. Terrific, the latter of whom was manning the controls. ''So, what's the situation?'' Zatanna asked.

''There's been an… unusual death in Metropolis,'' Mr. Terrific explained. ''A young woman was found dead under circumstances that the police can't quite make sense of.''

''I've looked into it myself…'' Superman continued. ''But I can't figure it out either, so I thought you could check it out, because I suspect magic may be involved.''

''Of course, no problem.''

''Alright then, let's get going.''

After teleporting down to Metropolis, the two super-heroes had made their way to the scene of the crime, where Superman spoke to the police stationed, explaining his suspicions about the nature of the crime, and therefore the reason for Zatanna's presence. The officers, although mystified by the idea of magic being involved, led them to the crime scene, a modest single apartment, where they were introduced to a balding policeman. ''Victim's been identified as Joanna Smith,'' he spoke up a moment later. ''24 years old, single, no known friends or enemies, lived alone, no relatives, worked as a waitress, but also did fortunetelling, palm reading and that kind of stuff on the side.''

''Okay, the fortunetelling might be something…'' Zatanna thought out loud. ''Is there anything else that might suggest something out of the ordinary?''

''It's really not much, but we've spoken to a couple of her clients who claimed they felt something strange when they came to see her. Something they couldn't really describe, but that they'd never felt before.''

''Another thing…'' Superman said. ''She had a crystal ball that was smashed on the floor, and earlier I happened to step on a piece and it actually cut me.''

''Unless it was laced with kryptonite, that definitely lends credence to the idea of the victim being involved with magic.''

''There's more to it than just that,'' the policeman informed Zatanna, leading her to a room where they found a shelf filled with books and a few statuettes, a table with two chairs, tarot cards, candles and a couple other such items. On the floor was a mess of crystal shards, a few scattered mystical memorabilia and the body of a young, dark haired woman.

The officer spoke to the woman kneeling next to the victim's body, asking her to relate her findings to the two super-heroes. ''Well, there's not a whole lot I can actually tell you,'' she began. ''The broken crystal ball, scattered items and the bruise on her cheek indicate a struggle. On the other hand, there was no sign of forced entry or of a struggle anywhere else in the apartment, so that would suggest that the perpetrator's presence wasn't unexpected. I'd say he, or she, was possibly here for a fortunetelling.''

''Makes sense,'' Zatanna agreed, looking at the books on the shelf with interest. ''What about the victim's condition?''

''Yeah… that's where it gets confusing. Other than the bruise, there's no sign of trauma, poison, lacerations, or any kind of damage at all. Ignoring the fact that she's dead, I'd say she's in perfect health. It's almost like the killing curse in Harry Potter.''

''I've looked over her with x-ray and microscopic vision, and I can't see anything wrong either,'' Superman offered.

''Okay… that's definitely weird,'' the Mistress of Magic admitted crouching down next to the victim, holding her hands over her while muttering a spell. ''Laever tahw si gnorw htiw reh.'' Zatanna remained in her position for a few moments, hands glowing with magical energy as she moved them over the unfortunate woman.

''Well, can you figure it out?'' the policeman asked patiently.

''No, but I did pick up on something… strange.''

''You mean stranger than all this?'' the forensic woman asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

''It feels like there's something missing within her, as if someone stole her magical essence."

"Is that even possible?" Superman inquired.

"It would take some pretty potent, not to mention really dark magic, but… it wouldn't be impossible,'' Zatanna said reluctantly. ''Unfortunately, that doesn't give us any clue as to who could've done this.''

''Can't you just pull some mystic whammy out of your hat to figure out who the hell killed her?'' the other woman in the room asked a little irately.

''I can give it a shot.'' Standing back up, she cast another spell, causing the shards of the crystal ball to float off the floor and reassemble on the table in perfect order. She then pulled up one of the chairs and sat down at the table, holding her hands close to the crystal ball. ''Wohs su tahw deneppah ereh.''

At her words, a mist appeared within the ball, taking shape and color until it showed the very room they were in. A second later, they all saw the unfortunate young woman in one of the chairs, with someone sitting opposite her. Curiously, whoever the other person was, they were surrounded in shadows, making it impossible to identify who, or even what gender, they were. The scene progressed to show the unknown figure fire a bolt of magic at the woman while she was staring into her crystal ball, knocking it and her to the floor. The unknown then punched her in the head, and, while she was dazed, reached into his/her pocket and slipped a ring on her finger. The woman thrashed about, but was restrained by her attacker who also silenced her cries with a hand over her mouth, until she finally went limp, at which point the ring was removed and pocketed and the mystery figure walked away.

''Well, that wasn't as helpful as I'd hoped it would be,'' the policeman muttered as the scene faded away. ''Any chance you can get a picture of whoever killed her?''

''I'll try. Wohs su eht eno ohw dellik reh.'' The crystal ball's mist materialized once again, shaping itself into the unknown figure, still clouded in shadows. Frowning at this, Zatanna trust her hands at the crystal ball, frustration leaking from her voice as she cast her next spell. ''Laever eht hturt!'' The ball shook a little for a few seconds, but otherwise remained unchanged. Raising her voice, Zatanna angrily tried another spell, causing it to shake violently, before a string of cracks appeared all over, and not even a second later, the ball suddenly exploded. Acting out of reflex, Superman dashed forward in a burst of speed to shield the others.

"Gah!" he cried out in shock as his hands were impaled by a mass of crystal shards.

"Superman!" Zatanna exclaimed, quickly getting out of her seat, cringing when she saw the damage done. "I'm sorry…" she apologized to the policeman and forensics woman. "But we've got to take care of this now."

"Yeah… sure," the officer muttered, stunned by the turn of events.

Putting a finger to her ear, Zatanna quickly contacted the Watchtower on her communicator. "We need transport for two. Now!"

"I'm on it," Mr. Terrific replied, before the two heroes disappeared seconds later.

Later in the day, Hector had just finished cleaning up the modest apartment and was relaxing on the couch for a moment, when his peace was disturbed by his sister coming in through the door. "Give me a call if you're ever in Metropolis," Kara's voice was heard from the hallway. "I'm sure my cousin wouldn't mind us crashing at his place."

"No problem," Cassandra replied. "We're definitely hanging out again sometime. Later girls!"

"Sounds like you had a good time," Hector commented after she closed the door behind her.

"Oh yeah," Cassandra exclaimed excitedly as she busied herself hanging up her coat, then going into her room to put her stuff away. "Kara, Courtney and Mary were awesome, and we all had loads of fun."

"Glad to hear that. Tell me, how did you get in touch with those three in the first place?"

"Sally and I met them during that field trip to Fawcett City a couple weeks back. We hung out for a bit, exchanged contact info, kept in touch and eventually we were able to arrange our little get together."

"Huh… So, how did things go last night?"

"Well, we all met up at Sally's house for starters, then we went to the club, but I'm sure you noticed that."

"Yes… I did," Hector said, prompting his sister to grin impishly.

"Anyway… After that, we went back to Sal's place, watched a movie, ate junk food, talked about boys, you know… typical teenage girl kind of stuff. Oh, and I also showed them a handful of magic tricks for fun."

"Cassandra…"

"Chill, bro," she reassured him as she walked back out of her room. "It was all low key stuff, nothing obvious or flashy, just to show off a little." Hector visibly relaxed upon hearing this, the tension draining from him. "You know, since Zatanna is a bona fide magician, and seeing how you're dating her now, don't you think it might be an idea to ask her to help-?"

"This isn't the reason you've been pushing us together, is it?"

"No, no, no, not at all. I promise I just want you to be happy."

"Okay, but I don't want to tell her yet. I'd rather wait until I know her better."

"You mean until you reach the point like when you and Alice were fu-"

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that again," Hector interrupted, not wanting to remember that particular embarrassing moment regarding his ex-girlfriend.

"Alright… I guess it can wait a while longer." Cassandra sat on the arm of the couch, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It's a shame that mom can't help me herself. A little tutoring from her would sure smooth things out."

"Cass… you know why she can't do that."

"The big guy wanted to punish her for messing with him, bla, bla, bla… Doesn't mean I have to like it. But enough about me… how was your night?"

"After that little fiasco at the club we came back here and watched Gladiator, and she stayed overnight. Then I made her breakfast this morning and-"

"Wait a second," Cassandra spoke up loudly. "Let me get this straight: You got up early… on a Sunday?"

"Yes."

"Sunday, your sacred 'Do not wake me up before 11:00 AM on pain of death,' day of rest? And you got up to make her breakfast?"

"Yes, but she was called away on Justice League business before we were done."

Cassandra blinked a few times in surprise, as if her brain simply could not process this fact. "… Wow, you've got it bad. Like, big time. Before you know it, you'll be… you know… like you and Alice used to do."

Hector groaned at his sister's teasing. "This is one of those times I wish I could afford to give you an allowance. That way I could threaten to take it away."

"Aww, you know you love me."

"And I always will."

After teleporting back to the Watchtower, Superman had quickly been whisked to the infirmary, where Dr. Mid-Nite had slowly and carefully removed the crystal shards stuck in his hand. Now, with his hands wrapped in bandage, he and Zatanna were in a meeting room with Batman, Diana and Jason Blood. "Now, tell us exactly what happened," Batman spoke up.

Superman began with telling them of the circumstances that had brought the two of them down to Metropolis in the first place. Partway through, he deferred to Zatanna, who spoke of her findings on the victim's condition. "To steal one's magical essence would indeed require foul magic," Jason Blood commented, a pensive expression on his face. "Magic like that, I haven't seen for some time now."

"Did you find out anything else?" Diana asked politely.

"Not a whole lot." She then proceeded to relate her attempt to discover the killer's identity via the crystal ball, and the results it had produced.

"That explains the state of Clark's hands," Batman noted. "And if nothing else, we know the killer was working for someone."

"What makes you say that?" Diana inquired curiously.

"If the killer was just after her essence for personal reasons, they wouldn't have needed the ring," Jason answered. "The fact that they'd place her power into the ring suggests it's meant for someone else."

A morose silence reigned among the five Leaguers at this revelation. "Unfortunately, whoever's behind this… I can't find them," Zatanna admitted reluctantly. "They covered their tracks too well."

"We'll find them," Batman said resolutely. "Somehow, however long it takes…. we'll find them, and bring them to justice."

Far away, in an unknown location, a feeble old man was waiting in an underground temple of sorts, with various symbols and glyphs etched into the walls, ceiling and floor. Half a dozen creatures that looked like they could have been human, deformities notwithstanding, surrounded the old man who sat in a wheelchair. After waiting in silence for some time, the double wooden doors to the chamber finally opened to admit two more humanoid beings that were escorting an unassuming man in a trench coat. ''I take it you were successful?'' the old man asked, wheezing as he spoke.

''Yes sir,'' was the reply. ''As promised, I got the job done. And here's the package you requested.'' The man in the trench coat then reached into his pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a ring made entirely of crystal. ''Vacuum sealed and packed inside a crystal ring, just for you, boss man.''

''Give it to me,'' the old man said as firmly as he could. The other walked up to him and dropped the ring into his outstretched hand, then stepped back as he slipped it on his finger. A flash of light burst out from the ring, enveloping the old man and blocking him from view. When the light finally subsided, the old man had been replaced by a younger, healthy one, standing on his own feet and dressed in a blue robe with pieces of gold about him. ''At last, I am once again as I was before.''

''Glad to see that, boss guy. So, since we've just about finished with this transaction, I'm thinking I'll be heading out now.''

''One moment,'' the rejuvenated man said, prompting the other to turn back around to face-him. ''There is one more thing… no loose ends.''

''Don't worry about that, I- hurk!'' the man in the trench coat found himself interrupted when one of the zombie like creatures stabbed him with a sword.

''You've been a great help to me, but your services are no longer required.''

''… Should've seen that coming…'' the man said, falling to his knees as his betrayer raised a hand surrounded with magical energy. ''Someone… will get you… for this…'' was all he managed to say, before being obliterated.

There you go, hope you liekd it, please review, and if you have any questions just ask.