"Good morning, Zatanna"
Zatanna opens the door of her flat and was greeted by the blonde archer.
"Good morning, Artemis"
The girls share a quick hug before Zee steps aside to let her in.
"Where's D-"
Artemis stops mid sentence spotting the Boy Wonder sleeping on the couch.
"What did you do to him?"
The archer glares at the magician and Zee blushes.
"It wasn't like that. He has been working extra hard on a case with Blüdhaven PD and just last night he cracked the case as Detective Grayson and shut this huge operation as Nightwing…"
The magician explains the situation.
"And then you fuck his brains out…but isn't that a normal thing for you guys? He working with the police, Nightwing and then you freaks get at it?"
Zatanna ignores the teasing as she pourers tea for her and her friend.
"Well…yes but he has put a lot of overtime lately. He told me that he wanted to crack this case so we will have the whole weekend for ourselves and go to a fair in Coney Island"
Zee was beaming. A lot of her favorite memories are from the fair and almost all of them has to do with her boyfriend. It was a special place for them to go on dates and more since she used to go with her mom and dad when she was younger.
"That sounds nice, do you mind if Wally and I tag along?"
A snore calls for the girls' attention.
"Zee…"
Artemis smirks at her friend.
"Zee…I love you"
Dick keeps talking in his sleep and Zatanna blushes.
"You two are unbelievable…"
"You are jealous that Wally either snores super loudly or babbles about food"
Artemis was about to retort but the blue boy was blabbering.
"Zee…"
"Zatanna. I swear that if he mutters some freaky shit, he's waking up with my boot on his face"
"Would you marry me…"
The women froze on their spot. They couldn't believe what they just heard.
"Did he…?"
Zatanna was blushing furiously and couldn't hold back her smile.
"I better leave and don't worry about the fair. I guess is safe to assume that Dick would like some privacy with you, Mrs. Grayson"
"Stop it! But you don't have to go now, what about lunch?"
Once again, the archer slyly smiled at her friend.
"Your lunch is dreaming about you, girl"
"You are extra peckish, Zee"
Zatanna has been smiling and humming the whole day after Dick wake up. She was wearing a lavender sundress, hat and sandals. Dick was mesmerized by her beauty.
"It's been soooo long since our last fair. I'm just excited and you know that I love when it's just the two of us…"
She clings to his arm.
"We live together, baby. We are just the two of us a lot…"
"And I love that too. What are we doing first?"
Dick couldn't hold his smile at his girlfriend enthusiasm.
"We can do some stands. Maybe I can get a Zee plushie that goes along with your Robin one"
"I'd love that. They need to be together but we need 2"
"Why? There's just one me and one you"
"Yeah but I need a Nightwing plushy as well. And for every YOU there's must be a ME by his side, don't you think?"
Dick kisses her nose.
"Always"
The couple went through multiple stands, from games to food courts. Chalant got their plushies through different games from darts, to water pistols and some couples quiz game. They enjoy the sunset on the Ferris Wheel and now, they were on a hill watching the sea, the harbor and the whole fair from there.
"This date was amazing. I'm glad that you brought me here"
Dick was leaning against a tree and Zatanna was leaning on him, playing with his hands.
"I love it too. And I know…I'm a genius"
She starts to think that this is the perfect moment and place for him to pop the question.
"But can I ask you something Dick?"
"Ask away"
"Why today? Is there anything special or something?"
"Why? Didn't you say just now that you love it?"
He arches his eyebrow as she moves to face him.
"I did but it's just that I don't like when you overwork yourself so much and the timmmm-"
Dick cut her off by kissing her.
"Sorry, that was rude of me to interrupt you like that. But I couldn't resist myself…"
She smiles tenderly.
"I forgive you this time but you haven't answered my question…"
"Huh? Well…since when do I need a reason, besides be madly in love with you, to take you on a date and take the weekend off?"
She frowns a little.
"Is that it?"
Dick was surprised, he didn't expect that reaction from her.
"Yeah…why? Are you okay?"
Zatanna tries to control herself and move the conversation.
"Yeah. Sorry, you know how I get when you overwork yourself…even if it is for me"
Dick caresses her cheek.
"I know that's true but there is something else bothering you"
"What's your plan for us? Like where did you see us in five years or ten?"
Dick looks slightly surprised at her.
"Always by your side. You been the greatest stage magician, the strongest Justice Leaguer, you still being the hottest and smartest, kindest, mischievous woman on Earth…hopefully with a bigger place. I love our place but I'd be nice to have more space, don't you think? Having kids running around"
"What about marriage? Don't you want us to get marry?"
"I haven't thought of that besides those times when we joke about that or everyone else teasing us…why?"
"Seriously?! All this time together and you haven't thought about it?!"
Dick flinches with her outburst.
"Well…I mean, we live together, we have a pet bunny, we love each other, we have dates, we make love every day, we share our life in every aspect, I don't see what marriages can bring to the table…"
Zatanna gets up from her spot between his legs.
"What?! Dick, I can't b-"
The couples radios starts beeping.
"Yeah?"
Dick answers as Zatanna gives him her back.
"Dick, are you there? Is Zatanna with you?"
Nightwing can clearly heard Kaldur's voice.
"Yeah. We are together, what's wrong Aquaman?"
Zatanna remains silent.
"We spot Luthor bots looking for something on the debris of Mount Justice…they are too many…we…need…"
"Aquaman?! Aquaman? I can't hear you…"
Dick was clearly distraught as the comms went off.
"We better hurry and help them…"
Zee finally speaks as she changes their clothes into their hero clothes.
"Wait! Zee…are you okay? Are we okay?"
Dick asks shyly as Zee just looks at him from the side.
"Let's discuss that after we help our friends…"
With her magic, Zatanna opens a portal for them to get a safe distance from Mount Justice.
"Did you see anything?"
Dick asks Zatanna as they were hiding in the wood with a glamour charm.
"Negative. But this look wrong…it doesn't look like there was a fight in here and why were the Lexbots here?"
"No idea. Maybe we forgot something when we did the clean up but you are right, there's not sight of struggle here. I'll take point, cover me"
Nightwing did his ninja thing and disappeared from Zee's side and start scouting the place.
"Did you find anything yet?"
Zatanna gets nervous when she doesn't get an answer from her boyfriend.
"Nightwing? Nightwing?"
After a couple of calls, Zatanna leaves her spot and cautiously starts moving between Mount Justice remains. The magician stops when she recognizes where she was standing and gets confused as of why that part of the cave was intact. She remembers that the whole Cave was destroyed.
"This can't be right…"
The Zeta tube and the practice ring has been fixed to look the way it looked when she first set foot in the Cave. Memories flow through her.
"Access granted: Zatanna Zatara - A03"
The robotic voice announces making the magician jump from her spot and landing on the combat platform that turned on upon her landing.
The holographic computer started showing photos of her and Dick…when she kissed him on the cheek on one of their first dates, when she dressed as Nightwing and he as a magician for Halloween, when they were dancing on one of the Wayne galas, on Christmas under the mistletoe, when they were to a game on LSU.
"What's going on?"
The raven haired woman ponders that question as she sees all the photos.
"This..:"
She turns around and sees her maskless boyfriend on one knee with a ring.
"Zatanna Zatara. I can't see myself living without you…"
"B-but what was all that about marriages and not thinking about it five minutes ago?"
"I can't be too predictable if I want to keep the princess of prestidigitations interested in me, besides…anyone can say yes when they are happy but is not so easy when they are mad and you seem pretty mad about it 5 seconds ago"
"You make me believe that you never wanted to get marry! But that wasn't the thing that I was mad about…"
Dick looks confused at her, a cue for her to go on.
"I was mad because I thought we weren't on the same page…after all these years together…we know what the other wants without saying a word and even we have put rough patches, we talk and fix them, together"
Dick takes her hand and brings her back to the matter at hand.
"Yeah because we are partners…equals and I adore you in a way you don't have idea"
Zatanna sheds a few tears of happiness.
"Dick Grayson…I wil-"
Bang*
Zatanna happiness lefts her eyes as she sees how a bullet goes through Nightwing's head, making the hero fall and dropping the ring. The magician runs to hold him.
"No! No! No! Dick! NO! NO!"
She holds him tighter, placing him him on her lap and cradling his head to her chest.
"Dick, please. Not now!"
She shakes his still body, looking for an answer.
"I will marry you. Yes, the answer is yes. It has always been and it will always be"
Zatanna cries as she hugs her dead boyfriend's body.
"What the fuck is going on?"
Artemis was freaking out as she, Rocket and Megan were levitating alongside the whole living room and hearing screams.
"It's Zatanna. I can sense her distress…she's feeling a giant amount of anguish"
"Dick! Dick! NO! PLEASE!"
Megan flies towards the room where the magician was screaming in her sleep as everyone was floating and she was wrapped in an unstable aura.
"Zatanna! Wake up!"
Gravity gets back to normal as Zatanna wakes up crying, sweating and panting.
"Dick…I lost him…"
Megan hurries to hug her friend.
"Easy, Zatanna. Everything is alright"
"How can you say that when Dick is gone"
Zatanna hugs the Martian tightly.
"What are you talking about? Dick is with the guys…let me call Wally so he-"
Artemis pulls out her phone.
"Holy shit. I have way too many lost calls from him"
Swoosh*
A gust of wind was felt in the room as Wally appears carrying Dick in piggy back position.
"Zee! Are you alright?"
Zatanna let's Megan go and jumps to Dick's arms.
"Dick!"
Zatanna holds him as her life depends on it.
"It's okay, Zee. I'm here, you are fine, I'm fine, we are fine"
Wally, Artemis and Megan were leaving the room but Dick stops Megan for a second.
"Megan. Did something happen?"
"No, she was sleeping and then this happened"
The Martian felt bad for her friend.
"Alright. Thanks"
M'gann nods before leaving the room. Dick starts stripping himself and Zatanna off their clothes as he lies on the bed with her.
"I'm here, Zee. Feel my warm, relax. I love you. Everything is alright"
Zatanna starts to calm herself as she falls asleep.
"What the hell is going on?!"
The speedster ask confused.
"We don't know. Zatanna wanted to take a nap and out of the blue there was a gravity shift and she starts screaming for bird boy"
Raquel answers the redhead.
"What about you? Why so many calls and why did you two guys came?"
Artemis starts questioning her boyfriend.
"We were playing poker and then Dick started sweating and got all nervous and started panicking. At first I thought he was joking but he started asking for Zatanna…he knew that something was off and ask me to bring him here but I told him that it was his imagination and we decided to call you girls first and since neither of you answered your phone…Dick demanded me to bring him here"
The girls were sinking in the information.
"I guess their magic bond acted up"
Artemis got to that conclusion.
"You are so beautiful. You are the best. I love you so much"
Zatanna starts to wake up as she hears his voice like a whisper.
"I want to spend the rest of my life with you…"
Dick keeps planting soft kisses on her hair as he rubs circles on her back.
"I do too"
Zatanna answers him back, more asleep than awake.
"Hey, gorgeous. How are you feeling?"
Zatanna pecks him on the lips.
"Better with you here"
She closes her eyes as their breathing syncs.
"Do you want to talk about what happened?"
Zatanna hugs him tighter before start telling him about her nightmare.
"Well…that's how most of the things happened except for the last part. I'm here with you, Zee"
"I know but it felt so real and so scary…"
Dick lifts her chin and sees her teary eyes.
"I'm here, Zee. I'm not going anywhere…it was just a nightmare, we are getting married next week"
"I know. It must be the wedding jitters"
Dick feels his throat go dry.
"Or maybe you are having doubts…"
Zatanna couldn't move any faster as she straddles him and cups his face.
"Nu-uh. Never. I can doubt about almost anything but not my love for you…not a chance"
She takes his lips on a hungrily kiss.
"Zee. Do you want me to get back with the boys? Do you want to continue with your weekend with the girls before the wedding?"
"I know that this was supposed to be a friends only weekend but do you mind staying with me? I'm still not okay with that nightmare. I'm sorry for ruining y-"
Dick cups her face and caresses her cheeks with his thumbs.
"You didn't ruin anything. I want to marry you, Zee. That means that I want to spend all the time of the world with you and you never need to apologize, not to me"
"Aahhh. D-d-dick….that feeelss s-so-so goood"
Zatanna moans as she leans on the kitchen counter.
Knock* Knock*
"Zatanna! Can I come in?"
The voice of the archer can be heard through the door.
"YEEEEESSS!"
Zatanna's pleasure was too high that she didn't heard her friend's knocks. But at the other end of the door, Artemis heard a positive to come in.
"Hey, Zatanna. I just came here to check on you"
The blonde closes the door behind her as she enters Chalant's apartment. Zatanna goes red, she was lucky that Artemis couldn't see Dick thanks to the kitchen counter.
"W-w-what are you doing h-here?"
As expected, Dick didn't care about the archers arrival and doubles his efforts at Zatanna's expenses.
"I just told you. I'm checking on you…what's that sound?"
"A-a-a leak. I wanted to fix it with m-magic but you know how the guys get with that S-s-stuff"
"Tell me about it"
Zatanna does her best trying to hold back her moans.
"Where's bird brains?"
"Taking care of the leak…"
Zatanna bites her bottom lip drawning some blood out of it.
"Well then..it seems that you are a lot more peachy. I better take off. Remember that you are getting married this week and there's a lot stuff to get done. You are lucky that you have me as your maid of honor"
"I'm soooooo lucky"
Artemis was leaving the apartment but she stops at the door.
"And Zatanna?"
"Yeah?"
"You two are so gross. Enjoy your meal, Dick"
The Vietnamese closes the door as she snickers at the couple.
"ARTEAAAAAAA…."
"You are so bad. You didn't have to do that with Artemis here…"
Chalant was panting, lying on the kitchen floor.
"C'mon, Zee. It was fun besides, I can tell that you enjoy it"
"I did but c'mon. And we need to clean the kitchen floor…we did a mess"
"Technically you did it but okay. Also we need to do groceries…we run out of whipped cream"
Zatanna stands up in all her naked glory and Dick looks at her like a kid watching a candy.
"Stop staring like that! There's nothing special…we just have sex and you see me naked everyday"
Dick gets up and hugs her.
"Zee, everything about you is special. I can't get enough of you"
Zatanna mutters a quick cleaning spell before the couple heads to the shower and the to the store.
"We bought so much stuff"
Dick was carrying most of the groceries.
"Of course. I need the proper ingredients to clean the floor with your cute butt"
People were passing by and greeted the couple. Zee and Dick were the heart of their little community in Blüdhaven.
"Yeah, yeah. You say that last time and yet I'm still undefeated and the Master Chef of our home"
"Excuse me?! I won our first face off"
"You cheated with magic and you know it"
"Sore loser. You should watch what you say. You can't call your fiancé cheater, Mister Grayson"
"I know, I won't say that anymore"
"Good"
"Because this time next week I can say that my WIFE cheats in our cooking contest"
Zatanna was about to retort but the sky went from blue to a red color.
"HUMANS!"
A giant diabolic face made of fire appeared on the sky.
"This can't be good"
The couple exclaims.
"ENJOY YOUR LAST DAYS ON EARTH. I WILL UNLEASH MY ARMY OF DEMONS TO CLEAN THIS PLANET OF YOU, SAVAGES!"
Zatanna uses her magic to make the groceries find their way home.
"THIS IS DRACULA AND THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARMING. MAKE YOUR PEACE WITH WHOEVER YOU WANT!"
The face disappears from the sky leaving behind a blood rain. Dick looks at Zatanna who nods before changing her attire to her magician's outfit.
"Naelc!"
The rains goes back to normal. The normal rain calmed the people down but the couple knew that it was temporary. They need to fix this and went to the Watchtower.
"Is this possible? Can it be THE Dracula?"
Superman asks.
"It's very possible. Even in Themyscira, Dracula is well know in the legends"
Wonder Woman added.
"In Atlantis as well. He's a powerful sorcerer, a scientist and a force to not been taken lightly…"
Aquaman was in deep thought.
"Recognized: Zatanna - 25, Nightwing - B01"
"Dracula is very real and indeed is him. I check with Nimue and other mystics creatures and everyone is on the edge with his reappearance…"
Zatanna shared her knowledge of the mystic world.
"Zatanna. Nightwing. It's so good to see you. I'm sorry that we have to deal with this a few days before your wedding"
Clark was really looking forward to the youngsters wedding.
"The sooner we fix this, the sooner we get back to the wedding arrangements"
Zatanna wants to get straight to the point.
"Do you have any idea on how fix this?"
Zatanna steps forward.
"We do. Most of the League and The Team need to be on crowd control and fighting the horde of demons. A small group is going to look for backup"
Wonder Woman arched her eyebrow.
"Dracula was beaten centuries ago by a speaker magician, a hunter of the House of Belmont and Dracula's son. Alucard, has been confined to an eternal sleep, we are waking him up and ask for his support"
"And do you think he's helping us?"
"Yeah. He hates his dad. I'm leading a small squad: I'm taking 13, Blue Beetle, Wally, Red Arrow and Kaldur"
Kaldur was surprised by that line up because of the lack of magic users.
"What about you Zatanna? And the other magic users like Dr. Fate, Xanadu, Blood, Blue Devil and Swamp Thing?"
"We can't find Fate…Nimue, Jason, Swamp Thing, Blue Devil and myself are holding the strongest and bigger night creatures until Nightwing's squad comes back with Alucard"
Everyone hated that Fate was nowhere to be found when he had their friend hostage.
"Do we know where Dracula's son is?"
Aquaman steps forward.
"Yes. I went through some books in Shadow Crest and found where he was last seen. He should be in his tomb in a catacomb in Tārgoviste in Wallachia"
"Let's call for the members of the search squad and move as fast as possible"
Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Superman start contacting all the heroes to get all hands on deck, leaving the couple alone.
"I want to go with you"
The magician takes the acrobat's hands.
"I know, Zee but you are needed up here. You are the strongest among us and our best chance at surviving"
Dick squeezes her hands.
"I thought that was Alucard"
She smirks at him.
"He's a nice extra but I know you have it in you"
Zee can see Dick's confidence on her skills and that was all she needed.
"Just be safe, okay?"
Nightwing lets her hands go to gently lift her chin with the side of his index finger.
"Don't worry, Zee. We are stopping this and save a lot of lives, that's what we do, Mrs. Grayson"
She smiles at being called by that.
"Of course, my dashing fiancé"
She puts her hands on his chest as they share a tender kiss.