Chapter 12
I don't even have a decent excuse you guys ¬_¬ just…yeah… life and stuff… I appreciate all the reviews that arrived in over the years. I ended up going back to university and found I had zero time for anything. I also wrote myself into a bit of a tough decision in terms of direction to go with the fic… Anyway, I don't know if anyone is still even following the story but… yay an update?
Klarion held Zatanna closely, making soft shushing noises at her sobs of pain. The blistering and burning on her flesh had spread nearly as far as her shoulders before he was finally able to soothe some of her pain.
"It's okay my sweet, I have control again," He whispered softly, stroking her hair. The marks on her skin were black. The chaos had once again been weakened by her contact with Dick, and as it was a significantly longer amount of contact, he had been able to regain full control of the chaos inside of her. The pain it had caused however, was taking its toll on her body. She had been barely able to stand after they crossed dimensions.
She is mortal! No mortal can contain chaos like witches can. The words of his elders echoed through his mind as he watched her frail form shaking in his arms. He had been certain that her own magic proved she could be a vessel to chaos. How was he to know that she would willingly transfer the last of that power to the monstrous offspring of that moron. She had contained the chaos without any outbursts until then, but after, without the foundation of her own magic, the chaos was free to spread out of control, twisting and mutating into something beyond chaos and beyond his control.
"What are you doing to me," Zatanna's voice was frail and broken between her sobs. Now that she was back in her own dimension, she could feel her natural magic trying to replenish itself, only to begin mutating. The pain was pulsing through every fibre of her body, corrupting her, and tearing her apart from the inside, while Klarions attempt to control her burned and tortured her externally. "You're killing me Klarion," She looked up at him, her eyes once again blue, with only mild traces of black. "You need to take it back, take the chaos back. I can feel it destroying me." She flinched as the black marks on her neck burned red for just a moment, tears spilling out of her eyes.
"You're mine Zatanna, you do what I say, not the other way around," Klarion was speaking through gritted teeth now. She didn't understand. She would never understand. She had to love him, submit to him, there was no other choice. Not now. Not if she wanted to live "You will die if you keep fighting me. Only I can control the chaos now, only I contain it. You see, you must surrender yourself to me this time. There is no other option. You will die without Chaos." His nails were cutting into her as he held her against his body. He had to make her completely submit to his control or the chaos would take over, and there would be no saving her from it next time.
"The Chaos is killing me Klarion," her voice was muffled as she pressed her face into his chest, trying to hold back more sobs just caused her body to tremble more.
"It doesn't have to," Klarion tried to sooth her, speaking gently, and holding her firmly, "We can make it stable again." He concentrated on the chaos swarming through her body. In this weakened state, unable to fight him, he was able to direct it where he needed it, to an extent. He closed his eyes and focused on allowing the chaos to swarm Zatanna's mind. He knew the memories from the hospital were already warped from chaos. If he could keep her under control, but allow her mind to spiral again, he could get what he wanted.
"The spawn you birthed; they have the power you need. They took it from you, do you remember?" Klarion turned her face toward him and stared into her eyes. They were still blue, very bloodshot from crying, but the slightest hint of black was threatening to overtake them once more. He focused on the chaos again, trying to push it into those memories, to change and manipulate them permanently. "Without that power, your true power, the chaos will consume you." It was hard to fight back the maniacal grin spreading across his face as Zatanna's expression turned from one of fear and pain, to that of understanding, and borderline anger.
"They… drained me…" her brow furrowed from a mixture of confusion and concentration. She tried remembering clearly, but Klarion seemed right. They did drain her, stole her power, her life. "I died… And you revived me?" Tears spilled from her eyes again as the memories flooded back to her, but everything was twisting and changing. "Dick…He betrayed me, he took them and threw me away!"
"That's right," He gently stroked her cheek, wiping her tears away while trying to suppress his self-satisfied grin, "I want to help you survive, but to do that, you need to trust me my sweet. You need to stop fighting against me, submit to my will. I can ensure you get your revenge, and that you survive this…. Transition to Chaos." He needed her manic and unhinged, but still controllable. He was closer than ever to getting everything he ever wanted.
"I will not be your puppet," She tried to fight past her exhaustion, through her pain, "I will not be controlled!" She struggled, trying to push Klarion away from her. The now familiar feeling of chaos magic boiling to the surface was back, building and strengthening with her anger, but her body was too weak to fight through the pain. She could see his jaw clench in frustration as he caused the marks to burn her, weakening her resolve to fight him, collapsing once more into the witch boy's arms.
"But you must," his grip loosened, and the burning stopped. Zatanna's world was turning black and it felt like everything around her was spinning, the pain was unbearable. Klarion tilted her head up, stroking her cheek gently, "You must submit, or I can't save you..." He was threading a fine line. If she became too angered, the chaos could erupt from her again and he would miss his chance to gain complete control.
"I promise you," He grasped her chin, angling her face firmly, forcing her to stare into his eyes, "Once the risk has passed, I will give you back your will. You won't remain my puppet. You will be a Queen by my side. Unlike some, I would never betray you my love."
Zatanna closed her eyes and exhaled. The darkness was creeping in, and with it the pain was building. She was exhausted and in too much pain to see through his carefully chosen words. The chaos, now wreaking havoc in her mind, made it hard to think straight.
"Do it." It was barely a whisper, but as soon as the words escaped her lips, Klarion sensed her magical defences drop. He reached into her with his magic, pulling the chaos magic back towards her heart. He gently placed her on the ground and placed a hand on either side of her head.
"This may hurt, but it must be done," His magic ripped through her, pulling at any memory, any knowledge, anything at all that had been yet untouched by the chaos. Then he ripped it away from her mind. A small gasp escaped his lips as he looked at her face and saw her eyes staring at him in horror, before finally rolling back in her head. Tendrils of blue magic rose from her body, forming into a stone in Klarions hand. He held it tightly and stared at Zatanna. She would be safe for now, and easier to control. He rolled the stone around in his hand for a moment before admiring it.
"Isn't it beautiful Teekl?" The stone was the same colour as Zatanna's eyes. The familiar purred softly as Klarions other hand reached down to scratch the cat. "This tiny stone holds so much power, so many memories, you could even say this stone is made of Zatanna," he chuckled slightly, "Or at least what was left of her." The small smile faded from his face.
What was left of her… It was cruel, but it really was the only way to save her. With her remaining memories and magic removed from the chaos, they would no longer be destroyed or mutated. Without her own will she could no longer resist his control, or fight back. While a part of that roused Klarion, he mainly hoped it meant the chaos would remain in check.
"I don't know, it has to be one of Klarions sick games. It's the only thing that makes sense," Dick was bandaging his injured leg as he and Bruce rushed towards Wayne Manor. Everything seemed to be spiralling out of his control. The more he tried to get his family back together, the more it seemed to be torn apart. Every decision he made seemed to create an ever-growing list of problems, each one with more severe consequences. Not only was his wife under the control of Klarion, but she was slipping from her own mind. Despite racking his brain, he just could not understand why she would come after their children, but her intent seemed clear.
'Let's go see our babies!' He could still see her black eyes in his mind, and the smell of burning flesh still lingered in his nose. He glanced at his ragged shirt on chest, barely covering the freshly blistered flaming red skin.
"Don't worry, we will protect the boys," Bruce had already called ahead to the manor, instructing Tim to suit up and move the twins to a secure room. Alfred would stay with them while Tim, Bruce and Dick prepared for the oncoming battle. "And we will find a way to save Zatanna." Dick didn't need to look at Bruce to know he was uncertain if they truly could save his wife.
"Fate said-" He finished bandaging his leg and sighed.
"It doesn't matter what Fate said, Giovanni is still in there, and he won't stop until Zatanna is home and safe. He will come." The batmobile skidded to a halt in the cave, and Bruce helped Dick out of the car and towards the elevator to the manor.
"There," Zatanna pointed to a large manor estate just on the outskirts of Gotham. Klarion supported her with one arm as they looked towards the manor, her body was still weak, but with his help she was beginning to mend. He looked down at her and frowned. Her expression was blank, nearing lifeless and her normally beautiful blue eyes were once again black. She was an empty vessel, doing as he said, and no more. He could feel the strain on her heart, which was struggling to withstand the pressure from the chaos. Her body truly was not designed to house this type of magic.
"Do you know what you must do," He studied her face for any display of emotion, any crack in the blank expression she wore. Despite originally enjoying the idea of a completely submissive Zatanna, this was not how he wanted her.
"Yes, my love," Even her voice was monotonous, bordering on robotic. On their way here, Klarion had told her the plan of attack, giving her detailed instructions on what to say and do when faced with a range of outcomes.
"Good. Let us go save your life, spread some chaos and try to have a little fun while we are at it," He directed her towards the manor by her arm, instructing Teekl psychically to scout ahead. He probed into her mind again, feeling the chaos growing and consuming what was left in her already tainted memories. There had been no way to safely remove any memory that the chaos already affected, but some preserved memories were better than none. Klarion had control of her mind for now, keeping the chaos from manifesting and ripping through her body, but he did not know how long he could control it for. If Nabu were to show up, he would need to release his control on Zatanna just to have the strength to fight. With no will of her own, none of her natural magic and no true memories, the chaos would be free to consume her.
"They're here," Robin dashed into the nursery, taking a defensive position by the doorway.
"Where is Fate?" Nightwing, now in a fresh uniform, hissed across to Batman, who was watching the windows. There was no hope of saving Zatanna without him, and there had been no word from him since the incident at the portal.
"He will show, stand your-," Batman's sentence was cut off as Teekl, mutated into his beast form, smashed through the window, spraying glass across the nursery. He snarled and leapt towards Robin, who quickly dodged towards Nightwing. Batman threw smoke pellets on the ground, cloaking their movements as they circled the familiar, being cautious that Klarion and Zatanna could appear from anywhere. They all knew taking out Teekl would make the fight with Klarion much easier.
"My Lord Klarion has a message he would like me to deliver," Dick could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He followed the sound of her lifeless voice towards the gaping hole where the window once was. He was ready for a fight, prepared to be met by the crazed, maniac version of his wife he faced earlier.
"Zee…" There was an audible tremor to his voice as his words caught in his throat. Her clothes were still ripped and torn, with dried blood stains and scorch marks. While her body seemed to be healing, it was still covered in blood. The black marks along her neck and chest no longer glowed red, but appeared thicker now that the surrounding skin was beginning to blacken from severe burns. Some patches of raw skin were visible where blisters clearly erupted. Her shoulders were slouched, and her head hung slightly to one side, but her face disturbed him more than her injuries. Her black eyes were completely expressionless, but there was a wide grin plastered across her face.
"You have been found in breach of the agreement made with the Lord of Chaos," Her head never moved as she spoke. In his peripheral vision, Dick could see Batman and Robin still maintaining focus on the familiar, while carefully listening to every word Zatanna spoke. "The decision to revive me while simultaneously sparing the children was conditional. I was to remain in the possession of my love, Klarion. Your recent expedition into the Witch-World dimension proved your intent to go back on this agreement," He could feel his anger building again. It was obvious these were Klarions words, not Zatannas, but it still provoked him to hear her refer to Klarion as her love and lord.
"What do you want, witch boy!" He couldn't hold it back any longer. Dick knew Klarion would be nearby, but he was still afraid to look away from Zatanna. "Get to the point already, stop playing these mind games!" Zatanna's head lolled to the other side as her dead eyes looked directly at Dick.
"The Lord of Chaos has come to claim the children." As soon as her words ended, the large familiar pounced at Robin, fangs bared, while Zatanna's hands shot up shooting two large eldritch blasts of black magic, one towards him and the other at Batman.