Zatanna
Shadowcrest
It took her several days to get her wards adjusted enough to let their motley crew of shady magicians inside. The house had protested at every turn and was more than a little difficult to reason with.
"You know, if magic dies, you're done for, too," she shouted after attempt number 15 to let Brother Night inside. "I'll be fine if you'll just do what I'm telling you to. Look, if he gets out of line, you'll get a chance to drop a chandelier on his head."
No wonder it likes that damn cat. Freaking peas in a pod.
Once she won the battle, she emptied the parlor of furniture, fixtures, rugs, and anything else that might go airborne once the spell ramped up. She made a note to lock Asshole in her room. If he didn't claw someone's eyes out, he would probably find his way into the other dimension; they were suffering enough already.
The last step would be getting herself ready for the trip. She desperately needed sleep, so she had used her newly-learned rudimentary potion skills to cook up a vial that smelled like something scraped out of the bottom of a dumpster. It would either help her sleep or kill her. Either was a cure for exhaustion, so she decided it was worth the risk and put it by her bed so she could take it the night before.
Showtime was in two days at 8:00pm. They decided to go on a Tuesday night so they could move in the dark until they got their bearings and found a hotel off the beaten path. The Gotham City of another dimension could be exactly the same or completely different. Recruitment of magi in the other dimension would start Wednesday morning and continue until they had enough firepower to do the job right this time...hopefully. She wasn't feeling overly confident. They were relying on enemies, assumptions, and a lot of wishful thinking.
Typical Constantine style.
After a long day of prep, she crawled into bed with a book and a purring cat and tried to relax. A little after midnight, she heard a familiar buzzing sound from the closet. Bruce walked in for the first time in weeks. With a sigh, she put her book down and sat up as Asshole ran to greet his favorite human. She was too mentally exhausted for a fight right now.
"Hey," he said, catching the cat as he leaped into his arms, "you're getting fat."
"Merrrrow." He jumped back out of his arms and onto the bed, looking at him expectantly. Keep looking, jerk, he ain't here to cuddle. Bruce walked over to the bed and sat on the end, grabbing her foot and rubbing it gently.
"You okay?" He asked quietly.
"Yes. What did you need?"
"To see you." His eyes stayed on her foot as he rubbed. This wasn't typical Bruce behavior...she had fully expected him to be halfway through an angry speech by this point.
"About what?" She wasn't trying to be rude, but her mind was focused. All that mattered now was completing her mission and all he would do is try to talk her out of it.
"Not about anything. I just wanted to see you. When did you get back?"
"Wednesday afternoon." His eyes briefly shot to hers, and he nodded before looking back down to her foot. She pulled it back gently and tucked it underneath her, causing him to look up again.
"I missed you," he said, voice still quiet. Who are you and what have you done with Bruce Wayne? "Can I sleep here tonight?"
She was surprised and more than a little confused, but it wasn't something she had to ponder for long. Focused as she was on the mission, the idea of falling asleep with her favorite arms around her was too good to pass up. She nodded silently, which prompted him to stand and strip his clothes down to his boxers. He was quickly next to her under the covers, pulling her against him with a deep inhale of her hair. Asshole took his usual place across their legs and purred contentedly. This was hardly a resolution to their issues, but it felt warm and safe and familiar. It wasn't long before she was out again...having her usual dream of late.
Bruce
Shadowcrest
Nothing compares to this.
Something about waking up with her in his arms made him feel better. Even now, when they weren't okay, it meant more to be here with her than to be waking up alone. Loneliness had never bothered him before. He had lived with it...thrived on it for years. Even with his family, there was a part of him he had left closed off until now. Until Zatanna. The part of him that wanted to wake up in the arms of someone he loved every day. The part of him that still cared about a future beyond Batman. It had been buried for so long that he didn't recognize it when it surfaced, clinging her to her lips and clutching onto her body as if it would die without her there.
He looked at the clock on her nightstand: 8:55. It was almost time to leave for work and she was still fast asleep. Catcher in the Rye was lying beside the clock and propped next to it was the envelope that had his birthday card in it – still unopened. After their last encounter, it wasn't surprising that she hadn't wanted to read it, but it still stung a little that his words had gone unnoticed. When his watch buzzed, he quickly silenced it and shifted Zatanna's sleeping body off of his chest. He ran his hands along her back, but she didn't stir. As much as he wanted to talk, he didn't want to wake her and upset her. Moving his head down slightly, he pressed his lips gently to hers and held her for another moment before easing out of bed.
"Keep an eye on her for me," he whispered to Asshole as he stepped into the closet and returned to Wayne Manor.
Zatanna
Shadowcrest
- Crying. Muffled crying and voices. I don't deserve to be this happy.
No warm arms were around her when she woke after 10:00. She felt a sense of relief. If he had come to argue, he wouldn't have hesitated to wake her before he left. Instead, he helped her get some rest and slipped out while she dozed. There wasn't much time left now...she would be headed into unknown territory in a day and a half and now she felt like she could do it with a clear head. It would also save her from having to drink the horrific-smelling potion she had mixed.
As she showered and ate breakfast, she stared at the clock, dreading the afternoon. She had finally reached the point where she couldn't keep Constantine out of her house...they needed to finalize their preparations, but he showed up at 4:00, as drunk as ever.
"You're fucking worthless," she mumbled as he collapsed into a chair. "Why even bother coming if you're just going to be shitfaced the whole time?"
"Because you need my help," he slurred. "You think I'ma let ya go alone?"
"It would be safer. Your expertise seems to lie in getting people killed or damned for eternity. Or maybe that's your goal. Fuck me over one more time on the way to Hell."
"You don't have to be so fuckin' mean all the time, Zee. I'm trying my goddamn best here." Asshole hissed at him and left the room. I feel you, bud.
"Oh, is that what you're doing? Seems more like you're drinking and letting me do all of the work."
"Well, love, I would dance around on a stage in my underwear if I thought it would help, but I don't think I'd draw a good crowd."
Rolling her eyes, she continued her preparations as he passed out in the chair. After several hours, the room was ready, with candles lining the walls and the windows darkened. She drew a massive rune circle that was big enough to hold all of their allies and contain the magic. The symbols were a combination of powerful protective marks that she compiled from her weeks of study, and together she hoped it would be enough to get them where they needed to go. The only thing she wasn't sure of was if it was enough to get them back. One worry at a time.
At 11:30, she had finished...back aching and eyes burning from working so long. Constantine was still passed out in the chair, so she transported him to the halfway house across town when she was ready to shower and go to bed. He could wake among his fellow vagrants and find his way back by the time they needed him to be there. As much as she hated to admit it, she would need his help recruiting people once they made it to the other dimension. She could only cover so much ground in a few days.
Climbing into bed, she curled up and tried to focus on anything but the next night. Her stomach was tied in knots as she completely and utterly failed...her mind considering all of the ways their idiotic plan could go sideways. The list started and ended with Constantine. She decided to cast a sobriety spell on him as soon as he arrived that would last until at least the end of the week. It wouldn't stop him from being a piece of shit, but he might be able to help if he wasn't drowning in booze the whole time. She drifted in and out of sleep the whole night, waking over and over with a sense of dread that she couldn't shake. There was no sweet dream on this night.
Bruce
Watchtower
Trust. He realized he was learning it as much as he was desiring it from Zee. As he sat at the meeting table, empty chair behind him, he had to hold his tongue to keep from telling everyone about what she was planning. Diana was doing what she could to find out what Tsaritsa was up to and he remembered Constantine's words about the allies they had gathered: if they got spooked it would all be for nothing. And she'd never forgive me.
Relenting, he let the meeting carry on and conclude without an update on what he knew about her mission. He planned on talking to her afterward and see if she would accept help, as Diana suggested, but a train derailment in upstate New York had the League scrambling to assist. He flew his plane there and helped Clark lift cars as the others rescued survivors and recovered the bodies of victims. By the time they had cleared the area, it was already well past dawn and time to get ready for work. He was glad he had slept the night before with Zatanna, because he didn't want to risk falling asleep in another meeting. The board had only just gotten over his last stretch of antics. Zee would probably skip training again, but he decided to drop in on her at Shadowcrest so they could talk. Kate happily agreed to take back over her patrol night to free him up.
Time to fix this. No yelling.
Constantine
Halfway House
The phrase "splitting headache" was surprisingly accurate. As he woke in a cot, surrounded by half a dozen other drunks drooling and snoring, he felt like someone had taken a pick ax to the middle of his skull. Not that he didn't deserve it, but this was a little harsh, even for Zatanna. Stumbling to the door, he walked into the bright light of late morning.
Need a fuckin' drink.
Unfortunately, Zatanna must have been tracking him, because as he approached a pub a few blocks down from the halfway house, he was suddenly transported back to Shadowcrest.
"Blimey, Zee. Christ." He ran to the front door and outside to puke in her garden.
"Sober your sorry ass up. Now. If you don't, I'll send you back to the sewer in London and do this goddamn mission myself." She shoved a mug of coffee at him, searing his hand with the spilling liquid before she stomped back into the house. He tried to walk down the steps, but she had placed a barrier that threw him back to the front door. Landing on his ass, he cursed again and threw the mug onto the steps.
"This is fuckin' ridiculous. You can't fuckin' treat me like..."
"Like what? A drunken fuck up? How else am I supposed to treat you, John? You reappear in my life and get me to go on this suicide mission with you, but you can't stay sober for a day...for one fucking day...to make this work. I was finally happy...finally felt like I could find something better in this life than misery and loneliness, but then you show back up. I don't want to die tonight. If you want to, fine. Finish this and you can fucking drink yourself to death and the world will be better off. I'm done playing babysitter to a man who can't get his shit together long enough to treat the people he claims to care about like anything other than dirt to scrape off of his boot."
Screaming. My head has a pick ax in it and she's screaming. Stop fuckin' screaming.
"Alright. Alright, just please stop. Where's the fuckin' coffee? I'll drink it if you stop screaming." She walked away and pointed to the kitchen as she passed. He fumbled through the cupboards until he found another mug and poured the black sludge in, gulping it in three big swigs. Opening the fridge, he pulled out some butter and put it on a slice of bread, choking it down as he chugged water. He'd spent so many days in a row drunk he no longer knew how to get sober. Fighting the urge to retch it all back up, he stumbled in the direction Zatanna had walked until he came to a room set up with a huge rune circle and candles.
No fuckin' furniture.
He collapsed onto the floor in a heap, falling asleep again as his head continued to pound.
Zatanna
Shadowcrest
He had one use in life and it was the only thing she needed right now. If there was any way she could accomplish the mission on her own, she would leave him to rot in a gutter somewhere, but she wasn't going to call on anyone else to risk their lives...not this late in the game and not when he had just the kind of warped expertise that would help her. They had 8 hours before they left and she wasn't sure it was enough time to make him functional, but she wanted to use a recovery spell as a last resort. He deserved to suffer through the world's worst hangover.
Still fuming from his forced arrival, she decided to meditate until he regained consciousness. She had prepped all she could otherwise and now all she needed was strength and courage.
Two hours later, she heard the half-dead lush start to stir and lowered her feet to the floor to walk over to him.
"Get up. You're going to shower. You smell like piss and vomit." She dragged him by his collar to the downstairs bathroom and threw him in. "Hand your clothes out and I'll wash them." After a few minutes, he cracked the door and tossed the stinking garments out. She used a spell to lift and clean them, not wanting the stench to stick to her hands. Opening the door again, she threw them onto the floor and returned to the kitchen for an early dinner. He would need to eat more than bread if he was going to function. When she had the pasta and salads prepared, he emerged from the hallway, steadier than before and looking less like a vagrant. He had even used the razor she had left on the counter.
"Can you help me with this bloody headache? I feel like death."
She turned and grabbed a bottle of Motrin to set in front of him. He glared at her for a long moment, but poured several into his hand and swallowed them.
"Eat," she said, shoving a plate of food in front of him and sitting on the other end of the bar. He silently complied, looking down and being quieter than she'd ever known him to be. Maybe he drank away his ability to ramble. Unfortunately, he found his voice about halfway through the meal.
"Looked like you've been hard at work," he said, still staring at his plate as he ate.
"Someone had to be. You sure as hell weren't going to do anything useful." His eyes briefly cut to her, but he went back to silence as he finished his meal.
She pulled him to the den next, sitting him down in a meditation circle and placing herself across from him.
"Try to focus. Are you going to drink while we're there?"
"No." Lying.
"If you can't control yourself, I'll cast a spell on you that gives you an instant hangover if you so much as look at alcohol. Now, are you going to drink while we're there?"
He sat for a long time with his eyes closed, before he finally opened them and looked at her.
"No." Lying.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to control her anger.
"There are a lot of things I'm willing to sacrifice myself for, John, but you and your drinking habit aren't on the list."
"I'm telling you, I won't..."
"Stop. Enough lying. Lohocla si cixot ot uoy." A glow flew from her hand and into his abdomen.
"Fuckin' goddamn cu..."
"Call me that and food will be toxic to you, too. Fuck you, John. Fuck you for making me do this and for using me. Fuck you for everything you've ever done. We win this and the spell will be gone. You can kill yourself any way you wish after that."
As she finished her sentence, the house let out a loud groan. Someone had crossed the barrier of her wards, so she looked at the clock...7:00. Now or never. She returned to the floor, leaving John alone in the room to pout while she answered the doorbell.
"Welcome, June," she said, opening the door. She was glad to see someone that was at least ambiguous in her loyalties had arrived first. June's eyes were large as they walked through the house, every painting on the wall watching them as they moved toward the parlor. Zatanna showed her where she would be standing when it came time to cast the spell. "You're welcome here, but please do not stray beyond this room or the hallway to the entrance. My house does not take kindly to prying eyes."
Brother Night arrived next and the house groaned even louder, fighting against its instinct to throw him to the far reaches of the Earth. She maintained her civility, showing him the room and asking him to respect her boundaries. Zee was well aware that the opportunity to explore her mystical house was one of the draws in getting the sorcerers involved in the mission. Many had heard of Shadowcrest, but few had ever been allowed inside. Next to ring the bell was Tsaritsa, who hugged Zatanna when she entered as if they were great friends. It send a shiver down her spine, but she managed to keep her composure and be as polite as she was with the others. Zachary Zor and Effron were the last to arrive, whispering with one another and likely conspiring to try to kill her and take over Shadowcrest after their oath was fulfilled. Another worry for another time.
Once they had all assembled in the room and taken their places, they formulated their time table for return. She and Constantine would have until Friday evening at 8:00pm to recruit and coordinate with the magi in the other dimension. Once they returned, they would carry out the seance on Sunday afternoon. Everything would have to fall into place perfectly or they were fucked.
"Don't worry, my dear. I'll make sure it all goes off without a hitch," Tsaritsa said sweetly. "After all, I have a promise to collect on afterward."
Oh, right...that. Great. Yet another worry for another time.
She looked around the room as Constantine moved closer to stand inside the circle. Their allies were not thrilled with him being there, but likely considered the option of him dying in the process worth the risk.
"Thank you all for this. If we succeed, we all live. If we fail, we all die. I do not plan to fail." The rest of the group nodded as she looked to each of them.
"How do we know which dimension to send you to?" Effron asked.
"I'm going to impart an energy to you. It's something within me. I gained it when I fought a beast from the other dimension and it should give you what you need." Skeptical eyes looked around the room at what she said, but she ignored them. "Leef ym ygrene."
"Well, I'll be goddamned," John muttered as the energy passed through the room. "You had a piece of it the whole time."
"I have it!" June said. "I can tell where it came from."
The rest of the room turned to her as she began to chant. A dim glow started to form as they prepared to summon all of their power. Constantine gave her a small nod and she closed her eyes and began to speak.
Bruce
Shadowcrest
He stepped out of the Zeta tube and into Zatanna's room. Asshole ran to him, screaming and pawing at his leg. Her door was closed.
"Hey, cat. You get in trouble or something?" He walked to the nightstand and picked up the unopened birthday card she had propped there, slipping it into his coat pocket and stepping out...being careful not to let the cat escape. Whatever he did, he probably was safer in the room until she stopped being mad at him.
The house was colder than usual and had an eerie feel about it. He couldn't place what it was, but it made the hair on his arms stand up as he slowly walked down the stairs.
"Zatanna?" The kitchen and library were empty, so he continued to search. When he reached the end of a long hall, he saw a glow coming from around a set of double doors. As he got closer, he heard voices mumbling and a howling wind. He opened the door and stepped in, freezing when a flash of light suddenly surrounded him and he heard a voice rise over the throng of the others.
"Bruce! No!"
To be continued…