A/n: Oooh updaaate. Updaaate! I did a update wow .o.

"The Covenant"

Chapter 17: Strictly business

MOUNT JUSTICE

AUGUST 27, 13:00 EDT

A loud alarm clock rang out through the witch's room. Awakening with a groan, the girl rolled over in her bed and reached out an arm to turn the alarm off.

"I feel like I barely slept." Hannah groaned, sitting up in her bed. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes with one hand before she placed it against her forehead. She thought that the scarce five hours of rest would at least somewhat revive her from the previous 20+ hours of no sleep.

It barely did the job.

With a sigh, Hannah got up from bed, lazily trotting around the room. It was already past noon, and she needed to do her (very late) morning routine. Breakfast (or in this situation, lunch), at least one hour of training and then a shower. She noticed Grigor perched up on the top of the giant vanity mirror, observing her with hesitant eyes. The girl smiled softly, trying to reassure him. Both of them knew that today was a big day. Grigor feared it; he did not want his beloved master going to that boy so willingly. Being the one inciting their meeting.

"Today is the day." Hannah spoke to Grigor "You shouldn't worry much, Grigor. It's strictly business."

The crow, though, didn't seem convinced.

"He…left?"

M'gann nodded, closing the cooking book she was reading before Hannah came and asked about the whereabouts of Kaldur. "This morning, after his talk with Batman." she informed.

The witch bit her lips. She had hoped to see Kaldur today; after the mission going as bad as it did, she wished to be there for him and offer comforting words. Or, at the very least, try and find out why his behavior was so strange lately "Has he at least said where he was going?"

"I didn't catch him before he left, but Superboy did. He said he was going back to Atlantis?" M'gann answered, unsure of whether the information she relayed was 100% true. Seeing the look on Hannah's face, she continued "But don't worry, I'm pretty sure he'll come back! I mean, yeah, he'll come back! Probably for dinner even!" she smiled. "He's probably just homesick. He hasn't been back home on Atlantis for a few months now."

Hannah nervously pulled on a lock of hair "I suppose…" she muttered "Is…there anything else for today? A mission or…?"

"No, I don't think so." M'gann answered "Nothing that I know of, anyway. Why?"

"I was thinking of going back to the Tower today; see if the mp3 I lost is maybe still there." Hannah smiled quickly, covering up the blatant lie with a happy expression.

The Martian defiantly didn't catch on whatsoever to it, she just nodded "Well, I'm sure that should be no problem. Bring your cell though, in case something comes up." Grigor, who was perched on Hannah's shoulder, let out a dissatisfied caw "Is…he okay? He seems grumpy."

"He's always grumpy." Hannah answered in a flat tone, giving the bird an annoyed glance. Grigor turned his head away from her, almost like he was pouting.

GOTHAM CITY

AUGUST 27, 16:41 EDT

"Well…this isn't quite Salem but I guess no one needs to know." Hannah announced flatly as she took in her surroundings "Though after this morning's events, I hoped I wouldn't have to come back to Gotham for at least a month."

The girl made sure to make her story as plausible as possible. She even used the Zeta-tubes to transport herself from the cave to Salem, making sure M'gann saw her leave, only to travel via portals to Gotham as soon as she stepped foot in Salem. Grigor crowed, not amused by her actions. Both of them realized only after she got to Gotham that traveling by portals was not one of those spells that were on the safe list. Hannah felt her magic drain the way it did before the bracelets were modified, and Grigor was worried; he did not want the girl facing that boy without her magic at the fullest.

"Don't worry so much." Hannah muttered as she walked down the street, eyeing the graffiti covered walls "The worst part of this whole ordeal is the fact we're in the bad side of Gotham."

Grigor had laid out where the boy wanted them to meet. And, as it happened, Klarion chose Gotham City. Which wasn't that bad of a place, Hannah defended, but where Grigor had led her was not a place anyone should wander alone. It was the slums of Gotham ran by gangs and convicts. This was their haven. No one of sane mind would walk around this neighborhood, unless they belonged in the former categories, or were just too poor to afford living anywhere else.

Noise reached the two and Hannah glanced in the direction from which it was coming from. She saw a bunch of teenagers, all around her age, smashing a car across the street from her and laughing. She wrinkled her nose in distaste and continued on her way, not wishing to spare them any second of her time.

Unfortunately…

"Hey there little girl! Where y'a heading?!"

Hannah scoffed, determined not to give them the satisfaction of reacting. Little girl? Why is it everyone called her that? She wasn't that small!

Laughter reached her ears, followed by quickened steps. "C'mon doll, why the hurry?" more laughter "Don't you know this part of the city is dangerous?"

Despite wishing for the boys to just leave her alone (for their own sake), the hope departed when one of the boys ran up and stood in front of her, blocking her path. Hannah rooted her feet to the ground, giving the teen a deadpan look. She heard the two other boys who were with him stop not so far behind her, effectively trapping her and keeping her from running away. The boy in front of her was fairly taller than she was, though not really muscular. Although, she had to say, the multicolored and ridiculously high spiked mohawk he sported could have given him the illusion of being taller than he was. He wore clothes that seemed ratted out on purpose, cut and tattered so that they looked like they were fresh from a fight.

"Cute little girls like you shouldn't be walking these streets alone!" the guy informed her, a mocking grin etched on to his face. "Bad things happen to cute girls in this part of town, y'know."

Hannah didn't bat an eyelash "Thank you for the warning. Now if you excuse me…" she tried sidestepping the vandal, but he didn't let her.

"Y'know, you're so lucky me and my boys are such nice guys!" he started once more "We'll make sure you stay safe in these here streets. For a fee, of course." he rubbed his middle and index finger and thumb together to illustrate his point.

Hannah noticed, with distaste, how quickly the street seemed to empty. There weren't even bystanders curious as to how this series of events will unfold, let alone a heroic person willing to help out a 'damsel in distress'. "I think I'll manage without your generous offer." the girl managed to sidestep him this time. Though she didn't even make it two steps without the Mohawk guy stopping her in her tracks by grabbing her shoulder. The girl clenched her fists, trying to force her anger away, but it only grew by the passing second.

Grigor, on the other hand, was having none of it. He swiftly jumped off the shoulder he was perched upon and bit the boys hand with his sharp beak, drawing blood. The Mohawk guy let out a screech and pulled his hand back, jumping away from the girl. The crow landed back on Hannah's shoulder as she turned around to face the gang of punks.

"W…what the hell!? That stupid bird bit me! It bit me!" the boy yelled.

Hannah looked at Grigor on her shoulder, petting him "It seems he started his meal a bit too early."

"What?" the boy gave a confused look.

"Crows eat dead flesh, you know." it was now her turn to grin mockingly "Though it seems you're not a corpse yet. I might have to medicate this situation."

The Mohawk guy and his posse seemed confused for a moment, the words taking time to sink in to their thick heads. But when they finally realized what the girl had said to them, they reacted in the exact way Hannah wanted them to. Violence. The Mohawk guy's fist went flying towards her face, followed by colorful slurs and insults. Hannah moved her body to the side, one hand catching the fist and the other taking hold of his wrist. Using his own force and momentum she threw him on to the ground behind her forcefully. With his arm still in her hold, she moved her leg over it so that it was positioned between her thighs and with one swift jerk dislocated his shoulder.

As she heard the rest of the delinquents rush at her in rage, Hannah quickly turned around and raised her hand. Before the boys even knew what happened, they were floating up above the ground, screaming in fear and confusion as they flailed around in the air.

"You really should not judge a book by its cover." Hannah spoke up casually "You never know if that little girl you're bullying is a cruel witch."

Their screams as she sent them flying in to the side of the building was more than satisfying.

Hannah let out a satisfied hum, shifting her weight from her heel to her toes and jumping over the boy writhing on the ground in pain. Paying him no mind, she continued on her way, as if nothing had happened at all. It didn't take long before she found the old building Grigor had been leading her too. She gave it a condescending look; it was a six story building, old and it looked fairly abandoned.

"Figures he'd want to meet here." she wrinkled her nose and walked inside carefully, making sure not to accidentally step on something she shouldn't. She felt Grigor tense on her shoulder as she started her way up the stairs "Shh, love, its okay. Calm down." she soothed and cautiously made her ascend.

The apartment she was looking for was at the last floor. Hannah was almost thankful that the building didn't have more than six floors. Some of the floors had a very poignant scent of urine and rat feces.

At least she hoped it was rat feces.

As she arrived to the top floor, Grigor's soft crows continued navigating her in the right direction. Hannah took hesitant steps to the only door that seemed fairly new, standing out in the worn out hallway like a sore thumb. She gripped the door handle and, much to her surprise, found it unlocked. Stepping inside, the girl was instantly blinded by white. It took her eyes a few moments to adjust to her new surroundings.

She was inside a big room, completely painted white; from the ceilings to the floors. There were large windows on the other side, gazing outside on to the city of Gotham. And, aside from one sofa placed in the middle of the room, it was barren. There was nothing else inside the room. The sofa faced the windows, away from her. And Hannah quickly noticed the familiar tuft of black hair of the boy seated in the middle of it.

"This doesn't seem like you." Hannah muttered as she closed the door behind her and made her way towards him. She walked all the way around the couch, stopping when she was finally facing Klarion. "All white? It's horrible."

The boy looked similar to the way she saw him last, when he sneaked in to her room in the Tower after the funeral. Sitting on the sofa, his legs crossed with Teekl placed comfortably over them.

"Would you like it better if I left it the way I found it?" he drawled "It reeked of vomit, and I'm pretty sure the walls were covered in some sort of poisonous mold."

Hannah felt her face scrunch up in disgust at the mere thought of it and quickly shook her head. "No. White is good." she answered in haste. "We need to talk."

Klarion looked up at her, amused. The girl stood in front of him, her arms crossed, her eyes narrowed. Her feet were spread apart just a bit so that her stance seemed more secure and threatening. The fact that she didn't want to move away for him to get up was her attempt to gain the dominance in the conversation by making him look up at her. Klarion chuckled, aware of her actions, and decided to let her have her way for the moment. He leaned back on the couch, making himself comfortable "Well?" he clacked his tongue "Talk."

Shifting her weight to her other foot, Hannah felt annoyed by how casual he was.

"I know you it was you in the cave, Klarion." she decided to go straight to the point "And I want you to stop it."

Her annoyance had risen considerably upon seeing the obviously fake look of surprise Klarion gave her "Me?" he gasped dramatically "I was nowhere near you for a week! Not counting this morning, of course."

"Cut the crap, Witch Boy!" she hissed

"Language~" he cut her off, catching her by surprise. He laughed at her flabbergasted face, the girl suddenly going mute from embarrassment. She didn't even know what she was embarrassed about. When he saw that Hannah was not going to continue, Klarion did instead "So what if I was in the cave? I just wanted to have a little fun."

"Fun?!" the girl barked, putting one hand on her hip and pointing an accusing finger at Klarion with the other "That was not fun! I'm pretty sure the rest of the team thinks I've gone mental after that evening!"

Klarion leaned his head back on the headrest of the sofa "It's not my fault you weren't able to see through such an obvious illusion. You're losing your touch."

The girl stomped her foot angrily. As she did, Grigor took in to the air a bit, shook up by her action. He decided that, perhaps, being near Hannah at this given moment may not be the safest option and flew up from her shoulder and on to the window sill "I am not losing my touch!" the girl barked "It's hard to see through illusions when you don't get any sleep! But that is not the point!" she crossed her arms again "Stop. Stalking. Me."

"Or what?"

"…excuse me?"

Teekl got up from Klarion's lap and stretched, before hopping off the couch and walking past Hannah. As she did, Klarion uncrossed his legs and got to his feet as well, forcing Hannah to take a step back "I said 'or what'." he repeated, this time as if daring her to answer. He leaned over slightly, invading her personal space "What do you plan on doing if I don't stop?"

Behind them, Grigor growled dangerously at Teekl who was watching him from the floor in amusement.

"Do you have some immaculate plan? Some amazing idea that will keep me away?" he was now looming over her, making her feel small. The same psychological warfare she tried using against him he was now giving back at full force "Because let's face it, we both know that even without Nabu's seal, you don't stand a chance against me."

Hannah narrowed her eyes dangerously. Yet, the hard glare combined with how she unconsciously pouted up her bottom lip made her anything but threatening. "Shut up." she huffed and pushed at Klarion's chest with one hand, trying to create more space between them. Though, as she tried to remove her hand from his chest, Klarion took hold of it, examining the gold bracelet "Hey!" she watched as the boy traced his finger over the golden ankh design "I really wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Do what?" Klarion looked up at her as he concentrated his magic in to his fingers "I am just going to…" as the tip of his nail made connection with the metal surface, a small bolt of electricity went up his hand, making him yelp in both pain and surprise. "Holly crap!" he screeched, blowing on his fingers in an attempt to cool them.

"Holly crap!" Hannah echoed him "I told you not to try that trick again!" she let out and tried to take Klarion's hand "Let me see."

"Ow, don't touch it!"

"I didn't even touch it; you're just being a child!"

Finally managing to take hold of the injured hand, despite Klarion's loud protests, Hannah examined it. The skin was red; from the tip of his finger and spreading out all the way through the palm and to his wrist was a pink, lightning-shaped scar, expanding like a vine all over the soft skin of his palm. "Woah, he really improved the security system on these…" Hannah exclaimed and covered Klarion's palm with her own.

"Ow, ow, ooow! That hurts!" Klarion hissed and tried pulling his hand back, but Hannah held it tightly.

"Don't be such a baby." Hannah said in a firm voice, concentrating her energy in to her palm.

"Stupid Nabu…" he growled under his breath "I guess the old coot didn't like it the last time I disabled his bracelets."

"He changed how they work." Hannah explained "Mostly aggressive and offensive magic causes the seal to activate now."

The boy's lips twitched upwards in a sneer and he let out a loud huff "Annoying old fart." he complained "He had been out of the helmet for ten minutes and already he found a way to block me."

She breathed out a simple incantation and a violet light shone bright for a few seconds from between their conjoined palms, before dying out. "There. All better." she removed her hand and revealed that the scarring was completely gone. Klarion drew back his hand, examining it to make sure the mark was no longer there. "And I have no way of making you stop stalking me. But I would appreciate it you would at least stop trying to drive me to the edge of sanity."

The boy let out a raspy giggle "Where's the fun in that?" though his giggle was cut off short when he saw the look Hannah gave him "Fine, fine, don't give me that look. Man, you're touchy." as Hannah frowned and punched his shoulder, he laughed once again, amused. "I will stop trying to drive you insane. Even though that is no fun." he added that last part with a visible pout.

"You're such a spoiled child." Hannah couldn't stop the exhausted chuckle that left her. Klarion, on the other hand, did not appreciate the comment. He took hold of her jaw and squished her cheeks.

"Oh, you're such a spoiled child!" he imitated her voice as he squished her face so that her lips seemed to be moving. The girl slapped his hand away before punching his shoulder once again "Ow!"

"This is ridiculous!"

"What part, exactly?"

Hannah threw her arms in to the air "All of it!" Klarion raised an eyebrow at her words, unsure of what she was getting at "You held me for around three weeks in captivity. I endured torture, both psychological and physical! You killed my parental figure!"

"…your point?"

The girl could not believe he was not seeing what she was getting at "My point? My point is that we should not be this chummy!" she outstretched her hands to emphasize her point "We're enemies Klarion!"

Klarion took hold of one of her outstretched arms, right under the elbow, forcing her to stop swinging them around so much "You're being overly melodramatic."

"I am not being melodramatic!" she whined, stomping her foot.

"Have you forgotten I have also saved your life twice now?" he pointed out "Not to mention that I am pretty much the only person who can and who is actually willing to get those things off of your arms!"

The two of them glared at each other, waiting to see who will waver first. Hannah pouted up her lips, her body tense, but as the words settled in her head, she let out a sigh, annoyed, and her shoulders dropped in defeat "You're making it very, very hard for me to hate you." she muttered as she unconsciously leaned against him.

Klarion gazed down at the girl leaned against his shoulder so casually. She was, even if unconscious on her part, incredibly at ease around him, and he couldn't help the smirk that formed on his face. The boy chuckled, gripping her arm a little bit tighter. "That was the plan." he muttered in a teasing tone.

Hannah let out a dry laugh and punched his shoulder again "Shut up."

Behind him, the two familiars each reacted differently. Teekl swished her tail, her face smug, before turning to face the crow on the window sill, her features saying "I told you so". Grigor, on the other hand, turned his head away from the cat, putting his beak high up in the air, as if he were huffing in annoyance.

There was no way he was going to let that damned cat know she was right about those two, especially since he was still in denial about it himself.

A/n: Bangarang, relationship development. Hannah is really confused on how she should view Klarion. On one hand, he's…a little bitch. On the other he's a likable little bitch. Ah, such is life.

I decided to add a little commentary at the end to reply to reviews!

sunflower13

That verse of the song sounds less creepy in its original form, haha. But reading it in English once more, yeah, I see what you mean. It is quite creepy.
Also, THANK YOU for pointing out that mistake to me! I corrected it as soon as I read your review! Thank you uwu

FFicWriterXxveryOriginal

Got the reference, I see ;)

Stronger123

Nyx811

Thank you, I hope I'll update soon!

VeeandreaHart

Haha, it's no problem, no need to apologize. I know exactly what it's like to be busy with school or, well, Uni in my case (hence the random hiatuses that always come up orz)
I'm glad you enjoy it so much, since I am really insecure in my writing in general it actually means a lot to hear someone say that (or…read someone write that…yeah) Thank you so much ( ´ ` )ﾉ

Molly Grace 16

I'd love to comment on this, but y'know how it is

Spoilers~ ;D

Jem Fukuyama

I'm glad you like it uwu and I KNOW OH MY GOD I AM STILL NOT OVER IT! Not only did it end on a giant cliffhanger, but it was obvious that if we got more episodes, Klarion would have been a more reoccurring character (I mean c'mon, he's pretty much the trump card of The Light) and it sucks since we won't get season three orz