Zatanna closed her bedroom door silently and collapsed onto her bed. She hadn't spoken with Dick since their confrontation with Klarion, and frankly, she wasn't really sure she wanted to. Her pillow was soon damp with tears, but eventually, she got tired of crying. Tired of everything. Her eyes were as leaden as her aching limbs, and it wasn't long before sleep claimed her.
Yet despite her lack of energy, she had a fitful onslaught of nightmarish dreams, causing her to thrash and cry out a number of times. But the thing about dreams is that they are so rarely ever just dreams.
She blinked away her tiredness and swiveled to take in the scene. A bridge extended from under her feet to a black-and-white dimension Klarion had claimed as his personal playground. Zatanna peered over her shoulder, where her body, now an empty shell, was curled up in bed.
A purring sound echoed from somewhere within the vicinity. "Where are you Klarion?" she hissed through her teeth.
"Eager to play my pet?"He appeared above her, reclining in midair.
"Why am I here?" she deadpanned.
The witch boy stroked his chin. "We are two sides of the same coin," he walked his fingers up his arms, "we share a certain connection."
"And just how do I break that connection?" Klarion's voice was starting to grate on Zatanna's nerves.
Klarion cackled. "You don't! The power of the key we were after earlier diverted into each of us. Together we form that key. And ever key has a lock."
Zatanna's cheeks reddened. She wasn't sure she liked where this conversation was going.
Klarion continued, "Our destinies are entwined now, baby magician." He took a dramatic pause to examine his nails. "Plus, I don't think you have much of a future with that bird boy of yours."
Anger flared up inside her. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to zap the smirk off of his face.
But the ghost of a whisper trickled to the surface of her mind. It was a voice, a child's plea. "Will you help us?"
If she didn't start singing to Klarion's tune he was bound to lose interest in their little 'game'. Zatanna forced a terse smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and stepped closer to him. "You're right," she began. Klarion raised his eyebrows, evidently unimpressed. The mistress of magic injected as much sincerity into her voice as she could muster, before continuing, "we both want the same thing. Power. Recognition. Pleasure. There's no denying that we work better together."
Klarion's lips curled into a twisted smile. He snaked his arm around Zatanna's waist. "Then by all means, let's play."
A hand rested on his shoulder. "Have you... have you spoken with Zatanna yet?"
Dick shrank away from Artemis' touch. "What makes you think I want to?" His eyes were hidden behind his pair of shades, but it didn't take a detective to guess they were clouded over.
"Please. It's obvious you two have feelings for each other."
"Yeah? Well maybe it's not that simple!" His voice automatically raised an octave, both defensive and forceful. "You sound just like Megan, acting like everything's just going to fix its self!"
Color rushed from Artemis' face as if she'd been slapped. "Newsflash Robin: I am not M'gann! In case you haven't noticed I'm not some innocent and naive girl, and I don't think that everything is solved by a few little words! I'm not Kaldur, who accepts pain and just moves on. And I am certainly not like Wally who just runs from it. But Zatanna is my friend, and if you really care about her, you'll work things out."
"I'm not the one at fault here!"
"Try," Artemis challenged, her almond shaped eyes narrowing. "At least try."
They locked eyes; both unyielding. After a few moments time, Dick broke the gaze, averting his eyes to stare at the floor. "Fine," he conceded.
Artemis grinned smugly, pleased to have won another battle, and left the room, leaving Robin to his own jumbled thoughts.
He slunk along the walls of Mount Justice, stopping outside of Zatanna's room. He rapped on her bedroom door, his reluctance fading away at the thought of seeing her. "Zee," he called softly. "You awake?" He was met with silence.
Robin was torn between retreating from this section of the cave, or entering her room. Would that count as intruding? He groaned. "Zatanna, if you're awake, I really need to talk to you."
Silence.
They stood side by side, overlooking the soulwell. The air around Zatanna and Klarion crackled with magical energy.
"What, exactly, is the plan?"
Klarion massaged her shoulder. "Relax dear pet. We're on the same side." His touch was almost... gentle? But Zatanna was shrewd enough to guess the motive behind his gesture.
"As you have already deduced, my goal all along has been to create a weapon." There was something odd about Klarion's tone of voice. It lacked aggression, and there was something both calming and sturdy and familiar about it. He sounded almost like, well, like Dick. Zatanna's chest ached with longing.
"According to ancient transcripts, there are three parts required for making the ultimate weapon. It requires an offering of human sacrifice, and the energy of a thousand trapped souls," he grinned, his teeth a brilliant white, "which I have already accomplished. I also need the raw power of one of the primordial relics; in this case the key. Finally, I require pure chaos. Which was contained in the ampoule that you shattered."
I shattered?
"But the chaos now runs through your blood, so in essence, you are the last thing I need for my weapon." A blast of crimson energy shot out, forming a chain, and coiled tightly around Zatanna before she was able to recite a protective spell.
Klarion's face once again contorted into his demonic form. He laughed cruelly, and his next words were a whisper against her skin. "But one last kiss before you die, to remind you, that in the end, you were mine." He leaned forwards, but his lips touched empty air. Zatanna had vanished.
"Huh," she gasped, her eyes flying open as she sat up with a jerk.
"Oh Zee," Dick sighed in relief. He, Artemis, and M'gann stood over her bed.
"Do you all like watching me sleep, or something?"
"We couldn't wake you!" M'gann fretted.
Zatanna clutched her head, swaying slightly. "Oh, it was just a bad dream, or something."
Dick gently moved the covers off of Zatanna. New burn marks ran along her skin, in a chain link pattern.
"I tried entering your dream, but I couldn't. My telepathy's been getting stronger, but I just couldn't." Miss Martian ducked her head miserably.
"Then what pulled me out of it?"
Artemis elbowed Dick in the ribs. "Let's just say our boy wonder here has quite the way with words."
Dick grinned sheepishly. "I tried talking to you, and I guess it must have worked."
Zatanna returned his grin, her eyes sparkling with a blue fire. "I thought I heard you. But how did you know?"
"I came by your room to talk, to work things out, when I heard you screaming. You mumbled a bit in your sleep. Something about Klarion."
Zatanna swallowed. Lately all she seemed capable of was messing up. Her father had given up his chance at living life to save her from Doctor Fate, and now she'd been caught with Klarion. Sure, they'd only been kissing, but how far would things have gotten if Dick hadn't been there? She was honestly so tired of always being ashamed. Could she really bring herself to confess everything?
She felt so trapped in the moment, but an hour had passed in no time at all. M'gann, Artemis, and Dick hadn't left her side. "I need to go back there."
"Zee? Are you crazy?! He'll kill you!" Dick clutched a handful of sheets, his knuckles turning white.
"We are so not letting you go back there," Artemis interjected.
"I made a promise earlier," Zatanna said slowly. "A promise to a little boy who Klarion trapped. He saved me, they all saved me. I have to go back for them," she said insistently.
M'gann, Artemis, and Dick shared a look, worry etched upon each of their faces. M'gann offered a hesitant solution. "Back on Mars, the high priests and priestesses spoke of astral travelling, where multiple people could enter dream-like realities. If I link us up, the next time Zatanna falls asleep, we'll be with her. But the thing is, if one of us dies—"
"—Do it," Dick and Artemis interrupted in perfect unison.
M'gann hesitated, before shaking her head. "You don't understand how serious it is. If one of us dies in the dream... well, we all die."