One last spell | Dick Grayson and Zatanna Zatara

Chapter 3: a nellaf redro

Zatanna had never been fond of this habit of Dick's — suddenly starting to treat her as if she were the most breakable thing in the world. But today, it hadn't been that bad.

In the morning, she had talked to her father about everything and nothing at all. About herself and how she was doing. He already knew a lot — especially about her magic — because he had been observing her through Nabu's eyes, and he said he was really proud of the magician she had become.

Hearing that was overwhelming, and she couldn't contain the tears as she rested her head on her father's shoulder. It was such a sweet moment, so painfully normal, like nothing had ever changed and nothing ever would.

But that wasn't true. It could never be.

So when he put the helmet back on — while she begged him not to, because they needed more time — the same devastating feeling from a year ago hit her all over again. Funny how she had thought it would be easier than the first time.

It wasn't. Not at all.

As her knees hit the ground in one sudden movement, arms from Dick and Artemis caught her before she could fully collapse, holding her body tight. And maybe it had been a good idea to have Artemis there. It had seemed silly at first.

But now, as she collapsed into her boyfriend's and best friend's arms, it felt like Dick had been right all along.

But she would never tell him, of course. He was already too cocky about pretty much everything. Actually, that was just who he was — always so convinced he was the best.

And he really was. But he didn't need to show off about it, right?

Still, it was very sweet of him, arranging this whole thing in Central City and sticking strictly to the plan even after everything he himself had been through in the last few weeks.

After a lot of tears and too many deep breaths, Zatanna couldn't say she was calm, but she was definitely calmer. Ready to face the rest of the day.

And it could have been a lovely day. The sky was clear and the weather was warm, the first signs of summer starting to show.

Zatanna realized she had missed the sun. She hadn't been seeing it lately — working at night, missions usually happening at night as well, and most of her days being spent inside her apartment sleeping, every window covered so the sunlight wouldn't bother her.

But it didn't bother her now. On the contrary, the warmth against her skin almost felt comforting. Like a quiet reminder that maybe things could still work out somehow. That she might be allowed to be happy. To look at the bright side instead of only mourning with the feeling that she had lost her father again.

Once Wally joined them, it almost seemed like the sun got even brighter. She didn't usually talk to him as frequently as she did to Artemis, but she had kind of missed that annoying dork too.

He always managed to lift the mood, turning everything into something better than it really was. And seeing him and Dick together was something else — how had they not changed at all? They talked and argued and behaved exactly as Zatanna remembered from the day they had first met.

Of course, constantly cancelling out each other's intelligence.

And seeing Dick happy was good. It made her happy too. Because it was something she had seen so little of in the last few weeks.

They spent the afternoon doing normal things — or at least their version of normal. It wasn't exactly like the old days. Then again, they had never really been normal to begin with.