i. A guide on how to mess up first impressions.

        Zatanna stood off to the side, chewing on the skin of her fingers as her nails had been whittled down by now. She had long stopped listening to Robin's protestations. After all, he was making a fuss and she needed some comfort.

M'gann didn't blame her. Her uncle, whilst not unusual for him, also vanished into thin air. Everybody was thrown into uncertainty, and Zatanna needed someone beyond just the team to ground her.

M'gann's gaze flies to Superboy, just for a second and she lets a smile crack along her stiff expression. Since they've gotten together, M'gann felt so full-heartedly safe in his presence. That was just her, of course.

"Rob, come on." Wally grunted, crossing his arms. "Zatanna really needs her."

"Exactly," murmured Kaldur. "She needs somebody stable, somebody who isn't us."

"You two are biased." Robin snaps, crossing his arms. "Besides, Artemis and M'gann are also present!"

"Not enough, man, you know that! She's known them for, like, two days. Nailah literally lets Zatanna test magic on her on the reg."

"You only like her because she hates you."

"No, she doesn't." Wally bristles, crossing his arms with a huff.

"Sure, Wally." Robin smirks.

"You cannot hold a grudge against her forever." Kaldur noted, raising a judgemental brow. "She has enough grudges held against her from everybody else."

"What's one more then?"

As timely as ever, the computer system of the Zeta-Tube chimed. Zatanna's head perked up as she walked towards the entrance, holding herself like a fragile vase.

"Hawkgirl, A-Zero-One." It rang, and everybody stood on edge whilst Zatanna sighed in relief, hopping up to her stranger.

Clad in a soft sage-green hoodie and a dark leather jacket over it, the stranger tugs the hood lower over her head so it doesn't show her eyes. Her jeans are loose and baggy, and her combat boots are dark, muddied against the sleek floors of the Cave.

"Nai." Zatanna walked up to her hulking figure before she pulled her into a hug, hands spreading along the muscular descent of her back. "Thank God you're here."

"Hey, Zatan. Are you okay?" She smiled, her voice like a song on the radio. M'gann recognises it, but not enough ── not when she's hyper-focused on how tall "Hawkgirl" is.

"I've been better." Zatanna pulls away as she chuckles, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry I bothered your rehearsal. I know you've been trying to keep up with them, and I just... You were the only person I could think of."

"It's fine. Besides, I can't focus when half the world is just - well, you know. Where's the Little League?"

"Oh, uh──" Zatanna wiped the tears with her sleeves, sniffling. "They're waiting for you. I told them you could help, I hope you don't mind."

"Nah, 'course not. Besides, I owe you." Hawkgirl reminds as she instinctively reached for the gem on her choker.

Zatanna nods twice conclusively, and turns around to lead her friend to the middle of the Mission Room, panels opened on pleas and calls for help. The Hawk's dark eyes glint like hidden daggers from underneath her hood. She turns slightly and waves at Kaldur and Wally, who return a wave and a grin respectively.

The walls of the Cave that were once barren and dusty the first time that M'gann and Conner moved in, were now shrouded in the sterile glow of the lights──revealing food stains, scratches dug into the metal and deep indents from... something, she's sure──along with domestic photos of the Team, and framed posters from Wally.

She must've been an old friend of theirs, or a member that they had a falling out with: by Robin's behaviour, it must be the latter.

"You get introduced, okay?"

"Newbies, huh?" She tilted her head, patting Zatanna on the shoulder. "What're you gonna do?"

"I need to brainstorm with Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. Maybe we can figure something out before I try this locator spell."

Zatanna hesitated before embracing Hawkgirl again, thanking her for coming under her breath before breaking away and leaving for the rooms past the kitchen.

The Big Three, as those that were second only to the League, were the faces of the Team: and were on their way to make an announcement to the forsaken children of the entire planet. The ones that could access a device to watch it on, anyway.

M'gann watches as Hawkgirl turns away, walking towards the screen-panels. She pulls her hood back from over her head, hair billowing like water from a broken dam, trailing down her arms. Small hoops hang from her earlobes, partnered with a septum and lip piercing. The mask is like Speedy and Robin's──and while not unique, it certainly helps the mystery of her character.

"Hey there."

She waves at Artemis, Conner and M'gann. Artemis had been trying to find the source location of the magic, but to no avail: while magic was traceable, it was slightly impossible with no overhead view from a drone or a satellite.

M'gann and Conner were... emotional support.

"Hi." Artemis curtly mutters, and M'gann lets out a strained chuckle.

"Um, I'm Miss Martian." M'gann smiles, walking up to their guest. She made it so her voice was floaty, as if dancing through air. The Martian offered her hand and Hawkgirl took the hand in stride, shaking it in her warm grip.

"Hi." She made for a charming smile in response. "I'm Nailah Hall. It's nice to meet you, Miss Martian."

"Wow, um," M'gann murmurs incredulously, "hi, Nailah."

"Sorry, I told Hawkwoman not to call me Hawkgirl anymore. I don't visit so one can assume she changed it herself." She muttered, brushing sleep from her eyes with her large but slender fingers. They were calloused, and even decorated in soft pale scars.

Now that M'gann could see her up close, the dark sage of her shirt contrasted the deep bronze of her skin──so before the silence can get awkward (and before M'gann says something embarrassing and/or invasive), Nailah speaks up as she tucks her hands into her pockets.

"They said Speedy left, but I didn't know they replaced him. You, Blonde Arrow and Super-shirt must be joining Zatanna, right? As new members?"

M'gann glanced at Conner to make sure he wouldn't do anything drastic. As if on cue, Conner's head whips around to glare daggers into Nailah's otherwise indifferent, distracted face.

Blonde Arrow? M'gann senses Artemis' thoughts, brows furrowing.

"Yep, we are new. And, well - nobody is replacing Red Arrow. He wouldn't like that terminology, nor the idea." M'gann informed, motioning towards the duo of their trio. "That's Artemis, and he's Superboy."

"Artemis is a sick codename. I would have liked something like that instead." She murmurs, voice like a mournful tune on piano──and M'gann can hear Artemis let out a satisfied huff.

"I think your name's beautiful." M'gann smiles, and Nailah's frown breaks into a small, polite tilt of her lips. She tucks sweeping ribbons of hair over her shoulder as she returns a distinctly soft thanks.

"If you'll excuse me," she brushed a hand over the back of her neck──and along the smooth, black surface of the choker. "I've got to get geared up. Thanks for introducing me, Miss Martian."

"Of course." M'gann beamed, waving her off. "It was nice to meet you, Nailah."

Conner scoffed something under his breath, and Artemis whacked his shoulder. M'gann turned to her pair as Conner pouted, rubbing his arm like a punished child.

The two had been pestering each other since M'gann bailed on their concert plans to do the groceries for the crew and Batman: they were irritable, especially Conner. He was looking forward to seeing the Songbirds play, especially when he knew──as a mega-fan himself──that their concerts are as rare as a blue moon. M'gann personally couldn't sympathise, as most of her TV shows had a barreling list of seasons to catch up to.

"It's just my opinion." He murmurs to Artemis, arms crossing as per usual, his miffed expression all but permanent on his face. Artemis chuckles──albeit, with a hint of icy cruelty.

"Is your opinion that she's a little cooler than you, and you're mad about it?"

M'gann rolls her eyes, huffing a lighthearted chuckle. "Don't fight, we need to make a good first impression."

"Yeah, well, Conner's failed at that." Artemis smirked, her head held triumphantly high.

Just as Artemis says that, Zatanna and the trio exit the trophy room. Zatanna is visibly unnerved, meanwhile Robin has finally calmed down, although he is not pleased about it.

"That was fast." M'gann offhandedly muttered to Artemis, the locker-rooms in her periphery; just in time to find Nailah prepared and walking out of the rooms, only still in her hoodie. Behind her, two large wings ruffle and they loudly rustle as she fits them through two slashes in the back of her hood.

"Nailah!" Kid Flash exclaims with a big grin, waving his arms over his head──but when he sees what Nailah is wearing, he frowns and cartoonishly deflates. "Dude, where is your suit?"

"I'm not gonna wear that thing when I don't have to." M'gann is shaken by the cold change in tone: it's like a switch flipped, or Wally just struck a nerve.

"Are you wearing anything protective at all?" Kaldur queries, and Nailah shakes her head, shrugging. Kaldur opens his mouth to comment, but she continues with a soft scoff.

"It's not a problem, Kal. I can take a couple hits."

Conner murmurs a sarcastic 'yeah, right' under his breath that he thinks nobody else can hear. His girlfriend doesn't even need to face him to know it was him who said it though.

"Nailah..." Kaldur murmurs, and Robin makes a waving gesture that screams I told you she was going to be difficult.

"This wouldn't be such a bad idea if you'd just worn the suit." Wally comments, and Nailah shoots him a nasty look.

"What's with the cast, Walls?" She shifts her weight between her feet.

"Um, actually, it's a pretty lengthy story." He scratches the back of his head habitually, but then goes for a wink. "But if you wanna play nurse, I can totally tell you all about my heroics."

"Scared I'll break something if I play doctor?" She asks with an owlish tick of her head, and Wally zips up.

"That's enough, you two." Kaldur quiets the room, taking Nailah's shoulder into his hand before clearing his throat. "Zatanna is ready to try the locator spell. A moment of silence, thank you."

Everybody settles around the central chamber, standing far enough so Zatanna doesn't feel crowded in. The panels dissipate downwards, making space for the singular keyboard and holo-globe beaming from up above. M'gann couldn't cut the tension with a butcher's knife.

Zatanna outstretched her hands towards the globe and proceeded with her chant, her voice tense.

"Etacol retnecipe fo yrecros!"

There, a red sight sticks to an unassuming location, and Robin chimes in, fingers sliding along the keyboard in a trained move.

"Coordinates locked on Roanoke Island." He sounds almost breathless, looking back at Zatanna. Proudly, he murmurs, "You did it."

Zatanna doesn't look all that thrilled to have done it.

Nailah walks up to the saviour of their day, before then pressing her hand against her shoulder in a comforting action. Zatanna leans into it, apologising again underneath her breath──but Nailah comforts her, although none of it is heard.

Then, a crackle of thunder interrupts them and the entire room flinches, their hearts pounding in their chests. Zatanna looks up from where Nailah pulled her back to shield her.

"It worked!" A child's voice echoes across the walls of the Cave, and the Team whips around to find a ten year-old in the middle of the heavily protected Mount. Justice Mission Room.

"Where did you come from? Who are you?" Kaldur, the natural leader, leads the Team forward──leaving the two non-teammates, Nailah and Zatanna, by the holo-globe.

"Quick," the kid rushes, "read my mind!"

M'gann does as he says, flitting through his pages of scattered thoughts before landing on the finding at the forefront of his mind── "He's Captain Marvel," she mutters in disbelief.

"Yeah, and I'm Speedy Gonzalez." Wally gestures with his uninjured hand. "Look, just because he believes he's Capt──"

"Gee, Wally. Do I really have to get you nachos and pineapple juice to get on your good side?" Captain Marvel notes in a nasally preteen voice, smirking when he's proved his point.

A beat goes by as the team passes glances, and Nailah lets out a groan before murmuring, "Wally West, you total dumbass."

𖤛

"That's the best you can do?"

Klarion waves a hand at Artemis and Robin, who are then struck with a red bolt of lightning. Dry dirt and stray stones get thrown off in various directions as the pair falls back, running to their sides of the forest.

Nailah shakes her wings of the stone and muck as she dashes forward. She drags her feet across the dirt as she kicks it off on Klarion, hoping to blind and then attack him from above as the boys follow──only for the forcefield to block them out.

Wally, Kaldur, Conner and Nailah are all forced back by the magic, the latter guarding her face from her own dirt-attack as her back hits dead oak.

"Magic-users." She commented, folding back her sleeves.

Her wings ruffle and settle her back on the air, looking to Zatanna by Superboy's side. Bringing her hand back as she soars forward, she strikes against the forcefield. Nothing gives, of course.

Zatanna raises her hands to the forcefield, chanting something Nailah's too far to hear as she tries to find an opening to go.

Baby magic, she manages to make out from Klarion and then him chanting in a casual tone, waving a limp wrist. Zatanna shrieks as she's thrown back into the trees like a bug in a storm. Nailah whizzes forward like a bullet train, catching Zatanna in her cupped arms before Conner.

"Hey!" Conner shouts.

The prestidigitator gasps as Nailah soars upward, trying to get far from the ground so Klarion won't try shooting a strike at them.

Artemis nocks an arrow at the cat after Wally informs her of what to do (AKA, aim for the familiar and don't miss)──but before the launched arrow can even hit the cat, it dissipates into fiery smoke and instead, turns into a ball of mocking green yarn.

"God, he's insufferable!" Artemis yells as the familiar transforms, the speedster and the archer falling back──but Superboy runs towards it instead. A claw socks him straight in the jaw instead, knocking him back to the ground. Before he can even get his bearings and sit up, the familiar pounces forward, teeth drawn like an eagle's talons.

Then, Klarion pauses, gritting his teeth as his head whips back to glower at the amber gem, leaving Teekl to play with his Super-prey. The plan's been set in motion.

"So you teamed up with the grown-ups." He grunts, looking back to Wally and Artemis. Lifting a hand, he grumbles, "Teamwork is so overrated."

Struck with lightning again (a lot of lightning lately!), Artemis and Robin are thrown back as Wally flees the scene, and Kaldur lifts an arm to guard his body, letting the magic attack his body instead. He grunts, holding his knee as his eyes glow from the electricity coursing through his Atlantean veins. It was a vexatious sensation, proven instantly by an agonised cry from Kaldur.

Robin and Artemis land right at Nailah's feet when she lands, Zatanna ripping herself out of Nailah's arms as she goes to her friends' sides, holding a gloved hand to her mouth.

"Artemis, Robin!" Her voice cracks, hoping to God that they weren't gravely injured before looking up and watching Wally get thrown back by another strike; Kaldur drops to his knees, screaming as the pain gets indescribable. Nailah goes to Zatanna's side, pressing a hand to both their pulses.

"They're breathing." She says, leaving out how slow their heartbeats were. Being struck by electricity, magical or not, wasn't easy.

Nailah looks up to the scene, searching for M'gann──but the girl is nowhere to be found. Nailah couldn't blame her if she ran, and simply hoped that she wasn't hurt and on the other side of the battlefield, unable to be reached in time.

Nailah's eyes then dart back to Zatanna, who looks deep in thought. "I'm gonna try and get them somewhere else. Zatanna?"

Zatanna lifts her head, looking behind her to a large and dissatisfying rock. Lifting her hands, she chants something unintelligible to Nailah's untrained ear, until the stone fades into a glowing shade of gold.

Fate's helm.

Nailah grabs Zatanna's arm.

"Zatanna, no." She whispers incredulously, her other hand still on Robin's shoulder. She didn't dare let go, she didn't want to imagine his body losing warmth. They hated each other, sure, but she didn't want him dead. The guy's fourteen, for crying out loud.

"I have to do this, Nailah." She mutters. Their eyes never meet.

Her gaze was held by the helmet. Nailah could still hear the torturous sounds of struggle from Kaldur'ahm in the background, along with the grunts of Wally West wasting his energy on running at Klarion full-speed.

"And what if you don't come back?" She spat. "Your dad, he──"

"He's not here!" She yells, ripping her hand out of Nailah's bruising grip. "That's why I have to do this. Please, please, let me do this. Let me do something. You know I have to, you of all people!"

Nailah has to stop herself from shaking her, from taking the helmet for herself, from telling Zatanna that there's another way──but their strategists are under lightning-strike or unconscious. There is no other way, no other strategy. Zatanna's right, and God, does it suck.

Nailah grimaces, before looking away from Zatanna, and the latter takes the helm into her hands like it's something worth her profound gaze.

Another crackle of lightning accompanied Kaldur'ahm's screams and Nailah stands, looking one last time to Zatanna before stepping past Artemis and Robin's unconscious forms to go towards the forcefield and help──when a voice rings into Nailah's head.

It croons, soft and gentle. "Don't shout, Billy."

Nailah groans as she grabs her head, her ears ringing as she staggers and stumbles into a tree, nearly falling back on her ass. Ow, she mouths, ow, ow.

"I've linked you telepathically to the others."

"That's so cool!──I mean, it's the gem! At the center of the pentagram: destroy it, and we win!"

"That's all I needed to know." Zatanna murmurs, lifting the helm up to her head.

Nailah turns back too late as she watches her put it on, as her pale cheeks disappear under gold: and Kaldur's cracking voice echoes across the empty, dead oak-lined horizon.

"Zatanna!" Kaldur yells, and Nailah's head whips around to Kaldur still being electrocuted, his arms spasming as he holds himself up by his elbows. He can't be there when Doctor Fate takes Zatanna's body over and attacks Klarion.

Nailah seizes forward, flying Kaldur'ahm out from under the hands of the sorcerous lightning──but the electricity briefly transfers to her wings, causing them to spasm; throwing her through the wind and into the dirt, her arms guarded around Kaldur.

With a drag and a final crash──Kaldur, tender from both the fall and the electricity, groans. As his expression pinched and his teeth gritted, his bright eyes looked back up at the sky.

Zatanna, or Doctor Fate, floats effortlessly across it.

Nailah watches with a grunt, her hand cupping her side as she hissed at the blooming bruises across her abdomen, ribcage and legs. The girl she practically used to babysit is flying across the sky right now: she would be proud, in some other world where this was Zatanna and not Nabu.

"Klarion!" Her once-girlish voice, with the deep gravel of Nabu's tone, is that of a cold and cruel coalescence. "This ends now."

Klarion watches her, gnarling his teeth.

"Billy, tell Zatara!" Nailah flinches at the sound of M'gann's voice in her head, and Kaldur takes her shoulders into his hands with a worrisome shake of his hands.

By the crackle of thunder and a Shazam!, they can all assume Billy answered.

The blast of red and gold auras flash along the dull green of Nailah's hoodie, as she uses her other hand to sit up whilst her wings drag on the dirt like wet, heavy and feathered blankets. Kaldur hoists her arm over his shoulder as he brings her up with little difficulty, pulling her over to trees bunched up in a corner.

"Kaldur, I can walk," she exasperatedly assures him, grabbing the bark of a tree as she pulls her arm off his shoulders. "You were the one being electrocuted."

"You haven't been on the field in three years." Kaldur reminds her as he catches his breath. "It is my duty to help and lead, not let you limp to safety."

"Be glad I'm even limping, bud." She knocks her chest, before sucking a breath through her teeth as the echoing vibrations reverberate through her contusions. "God, this is why I left."

"Because of all the injuries?" Wally's voice chimes in, which seems to annoy Nailah a lot more than her oncoming migraine from the connection.

He zips in from the side, lugging the bodies of Artemis and Robin on his shoulders. Nailah makes a face at him, one that he doesn't even see as he attempts to put them down on his own (nearly knocking both their lights out again) before M'gann floats in from the side, shifting from her transparent state as she waves a hand and lets the two drift down against the dirt like babies being tucked into bed. Nailah wants to confront her and ask where the hell she's been, but she knows that's the leftover hostility for Wally.

"No, because of the free diner-dinners and coffee. Literally what else, Wally?" She telepathically sneers, as Kaldur stood back up, right as rain and raring to go again. They are so ready for this, it's enraging. Kaldur held out a hand to Nailah, who watched him like a wounded animal: all vicious but weary caution.

"That's enough, you two. We can continue this at the Cave." He joked, and Nailah let a pained scoff be her way of saying yessir.

She rolls her eyes, grabbing his hand and letting him pull her up. Unlike the rest of them, Nailah hadn't even been tased since she was fourteen and still an amalgamation of sidekick-protégé. Her wings spread out at their full length and ruffled up to their normal state of plumage.

"Billy said that the gem is what we need to destroy." M'gann informs them, and Nailah winces again. She's not going to get used to this during the fight. "We need to deal with the forcefield first."

"We have Fate on our side." Kaldur tells them. "All we have to do is get to the gem first. Wally, when the forcefield falls, you need to get to the middle of the pentagram and give the gem to Doctor Fate. Everybody else, let's get ready to distract Klarion."

"Ready?" They watched as Klarion swung energy orbs at Fate, who swerved away from them effortlessly.

M'gann floated upwards without needing much command, knowing already what she should do. Kid waited by Kaldur's order, and the leader gladly accepted: "Go, Kid!"

As Wally turns into a blur past the trees, Kaldur then turns to Nailah, nodding as he pulls out his water-sorcery hammers and goes for the forcefield with much gusto. Nailah fixes her knuckle wrappings before seizing forward, throwing punch after punch after steady punch at the forcefield. They're heavy punches: if only the forcefield wore down like glass or wood, then the rewarding crack of it splintering could mend her oncoming migraine.

Doctor Fate points his energy-blasts at the red dome, searing into everybody's eyes just as briefly as it leaves──until Fate starts stumbling on air, fading in and out of their form. On pure instinct, Nailah zips upward to see if Zatanna will drop through the fading helm and into her arms, but no prestidigitator's daughter falls from the sky. A gentle gasp is the only indication that Zatanna is alive under there.

"Ha! There, see?" Klarion's insectoid maw brags, and Nailah grits her teeth as she looks back down from where she's hovering before body-slamming against the top of the dome. No gratifying pop comes from either of them. "When the worlds divided, the helmet split too ── you're not all here, Nabu!"

"And you're losing hold of that poor, soon-to-be-dead girl!" With a little, lousy giggle, he lastly murmurs, "she gave up herself for nothing."

"No, Witch Boy," with a hand over her head, Nabu proclaims, "Fate decrees her sacrifice will not be in vain."

"Nailah!" M'gann shouts, ripping Nailah from under the direct blast-radius of the oncoming Fate attack, bathing them in gold and white light.

Nailah topples down under M'gann as the latter takes one last hit on the forcefield before realising she's on top of someone, and panickedly checks on Nailah.

"Nailah? Are you okay?"

Her hands press against Nailah's chest, checking for a heartbeat──and thank goodness, there it pumps──as Nailah groggily groans.

"Nice save." Nailah groans, grabbing her side. M'gann gasps in relief, a smile breaking across her face.

Nailah had almost forgotten this wasn't an eternal punishment, and looked up from her fallen position (then staring up at M'gann, now looking away) to see as the forcefield fell. The red finally descends, replacing it with the dirty horizon of Roanoke Island, and Klarion's semi-panicked visage.

"No, no, no! No, no, no, no!" The sucker drops to his knees, yowling like his cat. Doctor Fate brings his hands back again, before throwing an ankh onto Klarion, locking him in.

Kaldur turns around, and yells, "Now, Kid!" as a blur soars from the opening of the trees to the gem in the middle of the now-exposed pentagram.

"Catch!" West calls as he swings it towards Doctor Fate.

Nailah watches as the white gloves envelop the yellow glow, and a chant echoes across the throes of the wind──before everything goes silent for just a second. Nailah coughs, dropping her head from watching as she finally takes a breath. M'gann sits back on her heels as she takes herself off of Nailah.

Four old sorcerers drop like flies at her feet as Nailah pulls her feet back, not wanting to get their blood or spittle on her shoes. She's already plenty dirty.

In his Fate bindings, the Witch Boy shrugs, smirking like a jackass.

"Boy, they sure don't make evil immortal sorcerers like they used to. Oh, well." He snaps his fingers, and the ankh fades very carefully from over his sleeves, letting him free with a sluggish melt.

"What the hell?" Nailah exclaims, glancing at M'gann's equally bewildered face. Kaldur'ahm sighs, not even bothering to say anything in or outside of his mind, and Nailah can only sympathise.

"Fun while it lasted." Klarion dusts himself off, before turning towards his ginger familiar, calling it sweetly by its moniker: "Teekl!"

The cat roars from over Conner──whom Nailah will be complaining about the minute she's with her band──and hops off with a pep in its step, meowing as it does, before leaping into Klarion's arms like a trained dog.

He waves a portal open, before turning to the Team that handed his ass to him.

"See you later, armadillos: unless I see you first!" He lets out a wretched cackle as he hops into the portal, and Nailah makes an affronted grunt of accusation when neither Fate nor the League makes a move to do anything about it.

Wally zips over to under Doctor Fate, beating Nailah to it. The latter comes to stand with M'gann's help instead, both their hands dipped in sand and dirt.

"Aren't you gonna stop him?!" Wally shouts up to Doctor Fate, taking the words right out of her mouth.

"To what end?" Zatanna's uncharacteristically bitter voice blends all too well with Nabu's dismissive words. "Klarion is chaos personified. He cannot be contained."

"Are you serious right now? And what if he strikes again?" Nailah spits. What kind of Leaguer doesn't tie up their loose ends? What's the point of Fate being around if all he does is chase off the Chaos like they're strays bothering a nice dinner?

"Aren't you meant to be waiting on your mother, Ms. Hall?" Red Tornado openly queries, his tone genuine──however, that doesn't stop Nailah from shooting him a venomous glare (and the bird.) M'gann pulls Nailah away from the scene immediately.

Robin and Artemis walk out from their bit of the woods. Robin speaks up first, as per usual, holding his side. With a groan, he asks, "Did we win?"

"At a cost," admits Kaldur, staring up at Zatanna ── or rather, Doctor Fate. Her expression spares no detail of what she's thinking, because it's not only hidden under her helmet, but it's no longer Zatanna.

Zatara walks up, standing beside Nailah as they all stare up at Doctor Fate.

"Fate!" Zatara's broken voice makes Nailah stiffen, her hands balling into fists. The silent Doctor Fate, ever the mystery, floats as he looks down upon those lesser than him.

"Great Nabu," Giovanni begs, "release my daughter."

Nailah doesn't know if Fate takes pleasure from this, due to the distortion of his voices. He growls out, "no."

Zatara's expression breaks with emotion beyond what Nailah can understand.

"Hear what the Helmet wants in these hours," he demands with a gesture of his claws, though his words are muddled. "The world needs Doctor Fate, and the girl's natural affinity for the mystic arts makes her the perfect candidate."

The collective shock is palpable.

"You can't do that!" Artemis yells at him, and Robin follows in her anger ── "She has her own life to live!"

"Do you want her to spend the rest of her years being your vessel?!" Nailah shouts, pointing up at Nabu.

Then, much to Nailah's surprise, Wally speaks up too. He steps up to Doctor Fate. "Kent would never allow you to──"

"Kent Nelson did object, strenuously." Doctor Fate murmurs, although his voice is too clear to whisper anything. He turns fully to Wally, and Nailah has to stop herself from making any moves that would register as threatening. "So I released his soul to the afterlife. He is gone."

Kent Nelson, the previous protector and wearer of the helmet ── Nailah had offhandedly heard he passed, but she didn't hear that Wally had known him so personally that they were on a first name basis. Wally's lips part, as if he was going to retort, but Nailah can see when he goes against it and falters. Guilt, though fleeting, flashes across his emotive face.

"Take me instead." Zatara pleaded. "My skills are already at their peak. My body, physically stronger, better able to withstand the strain of your powers. Please."

Nailah wants to yell that this isn't fair. It's the same vein of helplessness when Zatanna put the helm on in the first place, and Nailah remembers how her eyes shone with that responsibility that told her that Zatanna would be a hero. The same responsibility she saw everyday in her mother's eyes through their old TV screen.

She knew they were destined for greatness, but not this.

Nailah's wings flutter and fold into each other to better mold into and rest against Nailah's back. She watches as Doctor Fate turns his attention back to Zatara. Despite the statuesque helm, the face could be indignant and smug if Nailah stubbornly squinted hard enough.

"All true." He husks, and Nailah has to stop herself from spitting on the ground. "But if I remove the helmet, what guarantee have I that you will don it?"

"My word." Zatara lifts his hands. "Ekat em daetsni."

And Fate accepts it.

Doctor Fate drifts downward, letting his hair and cape soar in the wind as he lands onto his feet, and steadily pulls the helmet from over his head. Nailah watches as Doctor Fate shifts from himself to Zatanna, the suit fading back into the helm.

When she opens her eyes, a smile immediately breaks across her then-blank expression and she cries out, "Dad!"

"Zatanna!" His overjoyed expression melts into melancholy when they click like puzzle pieces with each other, her father's hands shaking on her shoulders. Zatanna smiles into the hug, her eyes pinched shut as her unknowing tears fall down the swell of her cheek. Her father brushes her hair back as one brushes a bunny, and they both collectively take a breath.

"Remember," he tugs his daughter back, smiling down at her face before he presses a kiss against her forehead, and Zatanna's confusion shines clear through her wet eyes. "I love you."

He pulls the helm from her hands, and Zatanna all but reluctantly lets go. Nailah watched as she eyed her father, already sensing that he was about to do something drastic as her fingers twitched──only that she didn't know what. Not yet, not now.

"Take care of my girl." Nailah observes the way he straightens himself up when he tells this to the League, steeling his nerves and flexing his gloved fingers against the helm.

Zatanna, on the other hand, clocks another's trepidation: Nailah's. The way her brows furrow and her stance goes rigid, her wings towering over herself and Giovanni.

"You have my word." Batman nods.

Zatara takes a final look at his daughter to his left, then to Nailah on his right. He places a hand on her shoulder, and smiles, though it's one of grief and passiveness. He knows what he must do.

"And please," he says to Nailah──who stiffens at his addressing her──with a look she's sure will haunt her for the rest of her days, "make sure she lives her life."

Zatara doesn't wait for an answer as he lifts his hands and the helm replaces his dark hair with the familiar yet unfamiliar gold.

Zatanna lets out a shrill, stabbed-out gasp as she watches her father disappear, replaced by the steely coldness that is Doctor Fate.

"No──" Her voice shatters, before the screaming starts. "No, you can't do this! Dad!"

Nailah takes Zatanna's shoulders into her hands and pulls her away so she doesn't hurt herself trying to rip the helmet off her father. Zatanna shrieks, tears pouring from her eyes as she reaches for even his hand, only for it to never be enough.

"Dad, please! It was my fault! Dad!"

The searing light of Doctor Fate's consciousness taking over Giovanni's body tells Nailah that's no longer Zatanna's father. Zatanna's nails burn scratches into Nailah's arms as she screams, begging for her to please let me go, don't do this to me──but Nailah doesn't let up. She can't let her go, since she knows the Zataras most for their self-sacrificing: it came with the innate desire to do good.

"Leave these to Fate." His dark voice turns away from Nailah, and therefore, Zatanna.

She lets out a broken noise, slamming a fist into Nailah's arm as she begs for her father to come back──but he ascends instead, with the bound sorcerers, leaving only in a flash of Fate's light and leaving Zatanna to go limp in Nailah's hold.

Nailah holds Zatanna, hoarse sobs erupting from her throat as she shakes her head. Robin approaches first, and then Artemis and Wally. They rub soothing circles on her back as she sinks into Nailah's shoulder, tears staining her hoodie.

"I'm so sorry." Nailah murmurs, brushing Zatanna's hair back as the latter sobbed, fingers digging into her shirt. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

She knows all too well, if it wasn't Zatara apologising, that her words were just that: words. No meaning, no sadness, no true grief or sorrow. Until Zatanna's father says it to her face, the sorries meant nothing to Zatanna.

Nailah says it anyway.

𖤛

Conner had sequestered himself in his room, so M'gann had to do something other than bother him for the night.

The day was exhausting, of course──most of all, for Zatanna──so everyone retreated to the bedrooms or took a shower and went home. They all were planning on staying at the Cave for a few days, just to be there for each other: Artemis and Wally had dropped by their homes to hug their parents, having been shaken by the scene with Giovanni and the helm.

Nailah, however, had not been seen since they returned. Whereas everybody was in the lounge or their rooms, the winged runaway had changed up and then disappeared. M'gann did want to give Nailah her privacy... but she'd be kidding herself if she said she wasn't curious. After all, it gets tougher to understand people when she doesn't know everything about them from the get-go.

The stench of tar and tobacco led M'gann outside. She searched every possible hiding place: the hangar, the kitchen, the library, the medical bay and even the grotto──but where M'gann had actually found Nailah was on the outlook of the mountain, smoking.

"Hey." She murmured, putting out a cigarette on the ground as a cloud of smoke flowed like water from between her dark and glossy lips. "Sorry. It's a... bad habit."

Her cheeks were flushed from her hot shower, her eyes bearing eyebags and eyeliner in a blend of half-lidded darkness. She sucks a breath through her teeth as she flicks the burnt-to-the-core cigarette butt to her side, a makeshift ashtray of a leaf sporting two burn marks.

"At seventeen?" muttered M'gann, tucking her hands behind her. She'd heard of teenage smokers in her shows and passing advertisements: they were normally delinquents, with violent tendencies and looks that could kill.

But Nailah wasn't that, not entirely──because she had that gentle smile, that sentimental look she gave the pictures in the Cave, the distant avoidance where the distance was a fingertip's length. If M'gann touched her, like cigarette smoke Nailah would blow away, and never show up until the Team needed her again.

"Yeah, I guess." She canted her head towards M'gann, her dark lashes fluttering across her eyelids like butterflies. "I started at the beginning of this year. Now, I can't stop. I should, though."

"You should. Smoking can stunt your growth, though I... suppose you've grown plenty." M'gann smiled awkwardly, never moving too close to seem eager or moving too far to seem uninterested. She was at arm's length: Nailah's long, toned arms' length.

"Uh, did you need something?" She settles her wrists on the balls of her knees, tipping her head back as her hair settles on her shoulder. It was a curtain of sandy blonde-to-umber, and M'gann saw the way it drifted in the wind. Her wings had vanished when she changed in the locker-room; and the choker had reappeared. She had tossed off her muddied hoodie for a white ribbed tanktop, but she'd kept her pants. M'gann assumes she didn't have a spare.

"Um, nothing. I was just - worried. Because you didn't help us with Zatanna when she was moving in." M'gann murmured, brushing through her own russet locks subconsciously.

Nailah's hand disappears to her neck for a second as she takes a breath. M'gann can see as her slender fingertips drag along her pulse, her head tilting so she can fit her fingers between her neck and her trapezius muscle. M'gann can piece together a sight; Nailah's despondent expression as she drags her graceless fingers along the gem.

She shrugs. "Yeah, well... Zatanna probably doesn't wanna see me right now. It'd be like kicking a dead horse."

What a morbid metaphor, M'gann thinks as she grimaces. She already heard the term before, because those analogies were ever common within shows. She's just never heard it said out loud, in real life before.

"I'm sure she was just a little... shaken. Maybe after she's calmed down, you can come in and hang out with us?" She muttered, walking towards the open side by Nailah.

"Sweet offer," she huffs a humouring exhale through her nose, "but no thanks. I don't wanna ruin the vibe."

There was no vibe to be ruined, but that didn't dissuade Nailah from not wanting to be there. She was a force to be reckoned with when it came to her decisions, not that M'gann would know. Nailah didn't want to intrude, is all.

"Well, listen." She inhaled a short breath. "There's a party happening in five days."

"Party?" Curiosity dripped from her lips like morning dew. Not even an undulation of muscle betrayed what Nailah was thinking.

It's like everything froze in time, as the wind dwindled and her head tilted in a small blooming interest. M'gann would be flustered if she were less observant, and she knew this charming façade was just that: a façade.

"It's Wally's birthday. We're throwing a surprise party for him. It'd be nice to have you there. New friends, or - old, for Wally."

"I'm not part of your Team." She frowned, toying with her torn jeans.

"Maybe not yet. But I think you'd be a great addition to the Team." M'gann reasoned, getting on one knee before sitting back on her heels. "Zatanna had always spoken so highly of you."

M'gann placed a gentle hand on Nailah's shoulder before smiling.

Nailah's eyes dragged from the hand to M'gann's eyes. Her eyes are deep, and though they're tired, M'gann could tell there was something more──even if she would never understand it beyond them being an intense gaze that transfixed anyone in their path.

"I think you're amazing too." M'gann mumbled. "And I think she'd love to talk to you sometime. It might take some time because she needs a break, but... she'll talk to you soon. Just trust in her process."

Nailah turns away and lets her breath be carried by the wind; M'gann is just grateful that it isn't cigarette smoke on the breeze.

She barely catches it when Nailah says, "You know, you sound like Canary."

M'gann chuckles, because yeah, she's heard many a comment like that from her own teammates. "So I've been told. I think it's just giving advice, I've just had my fair share of getting it is all."

Nailah smiles slightly, before looking away again.

"Sure, I'll make some space in my calendar for it." She shrugs, flicking the tip of her finger against her thumbnail.

"I can't wait to see you there." M'gann grins, pulling her hand off Nailah's boulder-shoulder.

She reaches into her skirt pocket with a pep in her metaphorical step for her phone, flipping it open as she presses a few buttons. The clicking reverberated through the treacherous terrain like a bird's call──and Nailah glanced sidelong at M'gann's fingers, lips parted as the sunlight shimmered across her lip-piercing.

"Here's my number." She shows Nailah, who reluctantly pulls out her red cellular and dials it in before huffing another humorous breath. This time, it sounds like an actual chuckle being stifled rather than a huff of self-pity.

"Megan Morse?" She raises a sharp brow, and M'gann finds herself liking the way it sounds in her sardonic tone.

"It's my secret identity." She makes for a prideful huff, joining her hands behind her back.

"It's cute." Nailah comments, turning her attention to her phone as she favourite'd the number. She nods, clicking her fingernail against the rectangular screen. "Mine's just - well, you know. I like yours though."

"Thank you. I like yours too." M'gann smiles, sitting up on her feet. Then, that nervous and distant look returns as she gives another detached thanks.

"Hey, uh, listen..." Nailah mumbled, patting her thighs nervously. "I really appreciate what you did, saving me."

"I'm just giving you my number, Nailah." M'gann giggled.

"No," she chuckles, a bit flush, "I mean yesterday. You got me out of Doctor Fate's way and, I don't know, I... Thank you."

Huh. M'gann hasn't had anyone really thank her for a save before, not even her teammates (not yet, anyway): it was a given that you help somebody in a tough spot, especially those you worked with on the field. If somebody got harmed on your watch, the entire Team would be accosted.

Her cellular blares when Nailah opens her mouth to assuage the silence. A sore look blooms on her face as she pulls her phone out of her pocket, sighing.

"Um," she glances down at her phone with a serious yet doleful eye. "I have to go; it's an emergency. Thanks for the number, and call me if you need anything. Bye."

"Oh──" M'gann barely gets to say anything when Nailah stands up; waves one last goodbye; pulls up her hood and is almost kingfisher-like with how swiftly she glides down the slope of the mountain and disappears. Before long, M'gann hears the rumble of two wings and spots Nailah's shadowed figure soaring over the lit streetlights of Happy Harbor.

She'll see her at the party, she supposes.

"Bye."

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

pov you pull up to the badly writing fight scenes convention & user timerbombs is already there 😰

anyways hey guys chapter one is finally here, how does it feel to be a reader of a yj fic with one of the WORST update times. heh,.... Must be awesome amirite / 7k+ words & the only time the writing's decent is when i promote teen smoking, can we please get the police over here

i think ppl can tell that this was written over like a few months, not just because of how long it's been, but because the continuity can be so bad sometimes. like i cut so many versions of this chapter + extra scenes, like this is unfortunately ass! so respectfully don't expect better from ch.2 brah──but ALSO. if you wanna read a better yj fic, tune into rey's new batkid!oc x conner kent fic. conner kent i will fight you & i WILL win / alternatively, ali has an abundance of yj or dc works that are also as brilliant to read, imo because the ocs make it so interesting (sorry to the ccs lol) . these two inspired a buuunch of ppl, including me ^_^

ty for reading! props to you readers for keeping up with my bs, yall are great & i hope u do keep reading despite my qualms

dedicated to jojo & vivienne & arwen, & all the people in my life :) yall make life easier!