They were late.

They were too late. 

Demonic, evil magic filled the house as Ritchie. Or whoever was controlling Ritchie started to come forth. The dying man's screams echoed through the House, magical power flowing from him like a river of lava. The force of the magic send them all tumbling to the ground. When the light faded, in Ritchie's place, stood Destiny with dark red eyes and menacing figure.

"Five hundred years, I've waited," Destiny growled. "Five hundred years, I've planned."

"Really?" John said smarmily. "I guess 500 must be the new 300. What say we share your beauty secrets over a pint, eh?"

"A god does not prattle with mortals," Destiny said. His hands glowed with dark energy and before any of them could react, the House was blasted to smithereens. 

Zatanna was the one who protected them all, summoning the fastest shield that Clara had ever seen. Clara summoned her own shield, bolstering the shield spell already cast. When the explosion faded and the debris and the dust had all settled, Clara dropped her shield. Zatanna dropped her next. 

Clara turned to speak to her friend, but her eyes widened as Zatanna suddenly stumbled to the ground. John managed to catch her just as she passed out. 

"She gonna be okay?" Boston asked. 

"I...I don't know," John answered hesitantly. "The amount of magic she's used, sometimes you don't recover." 

"But she will," Clara said. She knelt on the ground next to Zatanna, holding a hand over her forehead. "Praesidium."

Clara's hand glowed with blue light as a dome slowly formed over Zatanna's body. Praesidium was a protection and recovery spell and it was one of the most powerful spells in her arsenal. As far as her memory served, there had been no instance of this spell breaking. It was horrendously difficult to cast too, which is why she was glad she had practiced it a lot as a teenager, knowing its usefulness. 

Clara looked at John. "You've done what you can for now, John. But Destiny has to be stopped or everyone is going to be at risk." 

"She's right," Blood agreed. "He'll have this city by midnight, the Eastern Seaboard by dawn. Then, what's to stop him? He'll be a god." 

"We don't need another one of those mucking about," John agreed.

"Alright," John said after a deep breath. "Clara-"

"Leave Z with me. I'll make sure nothing happens to her," Clara interrupted. "You guys go ahead. We will join you."

"Alright then," John said. As he muttered the words of a transportation spell, Clara's eyes met her favourite vigilante's.

There was a moment, Clara realised, that Bruce wanted to say something. But he didn't. Or he wouldn't. The spell surround him and everyone else, except for Clara and Zatanna, in a golden orb which slowly floated into the air. 

Soon enough, the golden orb had disappeared, leaving Clara alone with Zatanna still unconscious. 

People with magic, Clara decided, were a crazy bunch. Wizards, sorcerers, magicians, anyone with the slightest hint of magic always wanted something...more; whether it be power or knowledge or more magic, they always wanted something. Clara was no different. She wasn't even born to anyone with magic, not that she knew of. All she really knew of her past was that she had been found as a baby in an orphanage in Washington DC by Giovanni Zatara, Zatanna's father, who had then helped the magical couple that was the Jarrett family adopt her. The Jarretts already had one daughter but had always wanted more children. 

Clara had been openly welcomed into the family. To her, they were her parents and the only family she had. But even then, there were a part of her that wondered where was she really form and who were her real parents. How powerful had either of them been to bless her with such incredible magic?

It had been easy enough to alter her records with magic so that no one would know the truth about her adoption. Only Zatanna and her father knew. Clara had always thought no one else would find out. But Orchid had to go and reveal the truth. And now Bruce knew. After all of this was over, Clara was sure they were going to have a very long conversation about it. 

She blinked when she felt Zatanna stirring. Clara looked at her friend and realised that she was slowly waking up. With a wave of her hands, she dropped the protection spell. 

"Z, you okay?" Clara asked. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could go back and kick Destiny's ass," Zatanna answered. Clara held out her hand which Zatanna took and then stood up.

"Let's go save the day," Zatanna said. 

As they opened portals of their own, Clara nodded. "Yeah. I have a feeling we're really going to have our work cut out for us."

She didn't know how right she was.

The second they stepped out of the portals and saw Wonder Woman attacking Bruce, Clara knew everything was wrong. Judging by the destruction that marred the city, Destiny had already began enacting his nightmare spell over everyone. And that included Diana too. 

Zatanna quickly casted a spell, tying Diana up in her own Lasso of Truth. Clara rushed to Bruce's side, noticing a knocked out John in his civilian uniform near him. 

"You okay?" She asked. 

Bruce nodded. He turned towards Zatanna. "Glad to see you back on your feet, Zatanna." 

The hairs on the back of Clara's neck stood up, feeling the presence of a very powerful being. Before she could react and before even Bruce could react, Zatanna had casted a spell, stopping Superman from landing a killing blow. 

"Even him?" Clara moved out of the way. As did Bruce. 

"Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!" Zatanna said, struggling to hold back Superman. 

Clara raised her hands, summoning golden chains of light. She pointed her hands towards Superman and the chains slowly rose in the air, wrapping themselves around him. Even then, she realised, Superman was strong; his power immense. Though both Zatanna and Clara were holding him back, it was a strenuous task. 

"Your friend is crazy strong!" Zatanna yelled out.

"I know!" Clara yelled back. 

Simultaneously, both of them summoned more magic energy, enhancing the strength of their spells and leaving Superman frozen in his place. 

Behind them Swamp Thing was trading blows with Destiny, both hitting each other with vicious attacks, also destroying parts of the city as they fought. A resounding explosion echoed, the heat of the blast reaching them. 

"What is John doing?" Clara asked, eyes rapidly following Destiny in his dark red magic orb. She could see him captured in Destiny's orb. She couldn't tell what he was saying, but judging by how angry Destiny looked, it was probably just John Constantine being John Constantine. Which is to say it was him being annoying. 

"Heck if I know!" Zatanna answered, though there was the faintest traces of worry in her voice. 

By the time they reached where John was, the situation had already twisted in their favour. It appeared that Blood had stabbed Destiny through the heart, which had caused that red crystal to fall out of him. John was casting a spell that was burning Destiny with powerful flames. Bruce stabbed the crystal with a batarang, causing it explode and break apart into nothing but dust.

Destiny continued to scream, the flames burning his cloak away. The flames reached a crescendo, forming a towering inferno till all of Destiny had turned into ash and it was just Ritchie left. With a groan, Ritchie landed on the ground. 

Shrouds appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the dying man. He gasped in shock, sharing at the representations of Death that filled the air. 

"Johnny, I was...I was under a compulsion. You've got to save me," Ritchie pleaded. "You owe me. You owe me!"

"Sorry, mate," John answered. "Can't take the chance that Destiny is still pulling your strings."

Ritchie started screaming, begging to be saved as the Shrouds dragged his soul from his body. A portal to hell opened on the ground and Ritchie's soul was dragged within, before the portal closed and disappeared. 

"What the hell did we miss?" Zatanna said as she and Clara stepped forward.

John immediately looked at her, grabbing her shoulders. "Z, you're okay. I thought..."

"My head feels like the morning after Brixton," Zatanna grumbled. 

"Brixton? What happened in Brixton?" Clara asked as John started laughing. 

"Surely not that bad," John said with a grin.

Etrigan joined them as well. "So Merlin's spell hath ended."

"It would seem so," Blood answered with a light smile. "Though it's a good news, bad news sort of thing." Blood stumbled to the ground, groaning. Etrigan grabbed him before he could stumble to the ground. 

Bruce knelt next to him, pulling apart his coat to reveal a bleeding wound near his heart. Blood shuddered in pain. 

"What's going on?" Clara asked, concerned. 

"Yeah," Boston said. "He wasn't wounded." 

"Unless I miss my guess," John said grimly. "That happened on the day he was bound to Etrigan." 

"And now that I am not," Blood's voice sounded strained and he looked like he was in a lot of pain. 

"I am truly sorry Jason," John actually looked apologetic and sad. "Don't be. It's a welcome end." 

Clara felt sorrowful. She did not know the man, but she would feel the grief of his death.

"Don't be," Blood answered with a sad smile. "It's a welcome end." 

Drained and tired, Jason Blood took his last breath. 

I'm sad to end it on such a sad note. But I think this was the perfect way to end the story that was shown in the Justice League: Dark movie. It is also time to move on to the actual meat of the story, which is Clara's past and a newfound quest to find her birth parents. And of course, the growing Clara and Bruce relationship, which I am really excited to write hehe

I hope you all enjoyed this journey that we took with Clara through the movie and I hope you are excited to read more of her story. I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Comments and votes are super appreciated <3