The day was a training day for the Team. A simple, normal, easy training day- wait, scratch out easy. All of the Team had shown up in the Watch Tower for the exercise, meaning they had no choice. From Superboy, who was about to be accepted into the League to Static, their newest recruit.

Sparring sessions with the opponents they were most likely to work with on missions, so they learnt how they worked, and sweat glistening over their foreheads and forearms. Nothing was more exhausting than the trainings Nightwing put them through- especially after he took his break after Wally's fateful demise.

He had been harsher, tougher, and harder working on his return. Some of the heroes around him had warned him not to push himself again, not like after Zatanna, after Jason, after Wally. There was always a period of time after the three went bye-bye that he would reach rock bottom. That ultimate place where he would be stuck in darkness and broodiness.

But it seemed his regime wouldn't relent that easily this time.

Tigeress growled, yes- growled, as Superboy sent a punch her way. The fist narrowly missing her upper leg. Sweat was evident, pouring down her face in buckets, but for her counter part there was no sign of a struggle- only the momentary grunts of brute force.

Miss Martian was fairing better than she would have thought to be, going head to head with their leader, she was prohibited from using her natural abilities- and he was prohibited from using his water bearers, his hands subconsciously twitching towards the weapons strapped to his back.

"Team." Nightwing called, demanding the attention of everyone, "Take a break. Be back here in ten minutes."

Sighs of relief could be heard around the blowing blue floor, being deactivated. The Team spread out, some heading to their rooms, some to the locker room, and others heading towards the cafeteria.

The senior members staying behind to review the working and points of the younger and inexperienced members.

"Don't you think your being a bit harsh?" M'gann asked looking at the bird themed hero.

"They need it, it's not easy out in the field M'gann. You know that, they know that. But they haven't gone through what we went through, and I don't want them to." He gritted out, narrowing his eyes as he continued typing on the futuristic technology.

"But they know the risks, Dick." She tried again, reaching for the man behind the mask, "They know, they've read the stories, gone over mission files, and been on the front line."

Recognized Doctor Fate 1-7.

Aqualad's mind whirred; Fate hadn't been present in the Watchtower since his abrupt departure to chase after Klarion. Seems like he had done it. But the Doctor also knew the Team's training schedule, mainly to be able to avoid more awkward situations.

None of his peers seemed to make any different of his arrival, not even a glance of acknowledgement from Nightwing who had the most trouble accepting their friends fate. So he brushed it off, pushing it further into the depths of his mind, focusing back on the task at hand.

She felt alienated.

Understatement.

She felt like she had grown another head and an extra set of arms. But she was the only one that could see or feel them.

She also had a sense of déjà vu, something she had experienced before but hadn't. It wasn't her walking around the base like she owned the place, that was Doctor Fate. So right now, she was desperately thinking of taking it upon herself to install direction signs around the place.

Almost bumping into another clump of a person she muttered sorry under her breath and kept walking, too lost in her own thoughts to notice the shocked expression she was receiving from a very confused Beast Boy.

Who looked at her, even when she disappeared around the corner. Shaking his head and blinking hurriedly, he decided he needed to stop playing video games in the sanction of his room and get proper sleep.

The magician peeked into every room, she could get into, setting sights on a plain room, a decorated girly room, someone's meditation area, a room with various weapons hanging on the walls and accidentally walking in on someone who was sleeping soundly.

She passed a few more rooms she didn't really understand, a shower room, a room with lockers, the cafeteria. Not noticing the small group of heroes in the corner, eyes all directly looing at her in wonder and eeriness.

Zatanna trudged down the hallways, getting lost in the maze of the satellite, honestly, how many different rooms did one base need? She had been to so many she couldn't remember if she had been in this room before.

And then she stumbled upon Black Canary, who she had walked straight into and been forced back onto the floor. Rubbing her head she directed her eyes upward to find the blonde bird looking at her with the utmost shock, regret and a hint of anger. What had she done this time?

"Zatanna?" She breathed out, helping her back to her feet.

"Yeah?" She answered, still dazed from the hard knock.

"Is it really you?" Black Canary said, still in a memory daze. Really seeing the woman Zatanna had grown up to be since their first meeting when she was a child. Her features were more defined, her check bones for prominent, and her eyes even more piercing outside of the confines of the helmet.

"Yeah, it is. Nabu let me go because Klarion can't come back to Earth. Order has been restored and all." She laughed off, doing her best impression of her only confident for years.

"I'm guessing you want to see your friends?" The older hero smiled gently, knowing very well why Zatanna would've come up to the Watchtower, because she wouldn't have been up here to talk to the League.

"Yeah, do you know where they are?" She said nervously, playing with the end of her plain t-shirt. "I just came to see how they're doing, and then I'll visit dad."

"Of course," Black Canary smiled kindly, half of her believing it to be a dream, "Follow me."

She looked on as Black Canary walked forward to greet the Team, or the people she knew in the Team that had since expanded over the years. They were older, taller, more weary, tired and more adult like. It was unnerving to see her childhood and have that taken away from her, to being dumped back into the rollercoaster of life and stopped to keep going at late teens, missing out a good chunk of her life out.

The fast movements of conversation could be seen from her standpoint, and she noticed the frowns burrowed deep within their foreheads. Black Canary turned to walk away, leaving the room in complete silence. None of the Team had shown any acknowledgement to her presence.

They were in denial, and couldn't possibly believe the story the former trainer had told them; Zatanna couldn't be back- she was serving as Doctor Fate for the rest of her life, right? They actually had no idea how Fate's helmet worked, but after all this time they had accepted the assumption that she would be forever trapped in service.

"You think it could be true?" Artemis asked, unable to help the small burst of hope that accompanied the thought of having a friend back.

"I don't know, it almost seems too good to be true." M'gann said sadly.

"The computer recognized Doctor Fate earlier," Kaldur sighed, "Not Zatanna. But I do not believe that Black Canary would be so cruel to us."

"You're right, just keep an eye out for her, we've got training to do. Five minutes left of the break, go and have a snack or something." Nightwing said, returning to his work. His jawline hardened, pressuring his mind not to think about all the 'what could have been's'.

No one had noticed Conner's stiff form, unmoving and as still as a statue. His eyes were locked on hers as they entered an unprovoked stare off, maybe he jut wanted to see how long it would take for her to vanish again. To pull out the helmet and plop it back on her head and laugh in his face for believing she could actually come back to them.

"Conner?" Artemis asked, turning to face him, blocking his view of Zatanna, "What's wrong."

He couldn't speak for a minute, trying to find his voice in the mess of things wasn't something he had to do before. "She's back."

Stunned silence fell over the group of heroes. Did Conner, probably the least optimistic of the group, just say that Zatanna was back? The world as we know it has descended into chaos.

"What?" A hollow sounding Nightwing spluttered out, his hands lifted from the keyboard he had been typing on earlier.

"Look." He suggested, pointing around Artemis' face and in the direction of the far corner of the training room. Bringing Zatanna to the attention of every person in the room, she shied away from all the wide stares she was receiving.

"Zatanna?" Artemis gasped, the first person to get over the initial shock. "Is that really you?"

Said magician only smiled widely at her friend and nodded, taking slow steps towards the band of people. Who looked more and more accepting of her return as she neared them.

"But how?" Kaldur asked, remembering Nabu's stubborn reply to his request of her freedom, although that seemed so long ago now.

"Klarion is officially never coming back to earth, Nabu let me go." She smiled, joining their makeshift circle. "I'm back for good."

With tears in her eye M'gann was the first one to pounce on her and strangle her in a bear hug, one that was gratefully returned. Artemis rolled her eyes and joined in, starting a chain among the group, and eventually the original Team was involved in a group hug with laughs and cries.

The rest of Zatanna's day had been spent catching up with her friends, meeting the unfamiliar faces of the Team and messing around with Artemis and M'gann- just like it was back in the day. She had been given a tour of the Watchtower, shown what had happened to Mount Justice for herself during the Reach Invasion.

Although to be honest, she had noticed a certain bird purposely avoiding looking her directly in the eye. It wasn't that it annoyed her- no way. She just didn't know what was more infuriating the fact that he wasn't ready to look at her in the eye, or the fact that he hadn't even said a word to her yet.

"-so everything that you missed hasn't been very important, I mean- hello? Um… Zatanna?" M'gann said, noticing the distant look on her face, watching the trainer of the team with an almost toddler look. "Zatanna?" She shook her lightly, snapping the younger out of her thoughts.

"W-what?"

"You blanked out, what's so special about Nightwing?" She smirked knowingly. Knowing very well the nature of the short-lived friendship between the two youngest of their time.

"N-nothing." She said, looking back at the Martian, "It's just weird. I mean the last time we talked he was a goofy thirteen year old with a English bashing issue, and called Robin, not Nightwing. Just reminds me how much things have changed, how long I've been away, how many things I've missed."

"And you think that looking at him will make things a bit better?" She accused with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey it's not my fault that little Robin got taller and won't talk to me." She scoffed, taking a bigger bite out of her cookie, one of many she had made with M'gann.

"What cha talking about?" Artemis swayed in, mask off and eyebrow cocked.

"Zatanna's just reminiscing while ogling Nightwing." M'gann laughed, "Cookie?" She offered, holding up the plate of newly baked treats.

"Funny, he looks at you just as much as you look at him." Artemis chuckled, electing a small blush on the magician's cheeks.

"Funny, I don't see it. Anyway, things have changed. What's up with the Tigress get up?" She asked, noting the black and orange garb she was suited up in, "And why the hell did you swap your bow for a sword?"

Artemis looked away briefly, tightening her grip on the mask. "Artemis was Wally's partner, Tigress is solo- the new Artemis."

"Sorry." Zatanna said, remembering all too well the sacrifices that saved the world from a near impossible to fix apocalypse. "It's just… all too weird to see everything for myself."

Things were different once you were experiencing them for yourself, not through a looking glass of sorts.

"S'alright," Artemis mumbled, "but seriously- you need to talk to him, or it will get seriously awkward."

"Excuse me?"

"Talk to him." She urged, "Honestly you two are so dense when it comes to these things." Looking at M'gann for support, "Young ones, am I right?"

"Right you are." M'gann said, nodding her head slightly before sharing a laughing fit with Artemis while Zatanna is in the middle of the two looking very taken aback and mockingly shocked.

Later she visits the memorial to the fallen, the statue of Wally somehow reduces her to tears. And she is thrown into memories of the goofy teenager who was always eating and trying to prove to her that magic didn't exist, even after he had his experience as Doctor Fate.

She gets to look at Aquagirl and Robin's hologram and she immediately starts comparing her Robin and the second Robin. She's also met the newest Robin, who is a lot more timid and Batman-like than hers ever was.

But she looks at Aquagirl, or Tula- as Kaldur had told her, and thinks about all the fun they could have had together. She had never met the hero, but she had seen her in action- she was part of the squad that reviewed her first mission and deemed her worthy of the Team.

And when she has a heart to heart with Conner she realizes everyone remembers her as one of the holograms. Some don't even know she's returned from 'service' yet, half of the League were off world, her father, thankfully, wasn't, some of the team knew of her, but they didn't, don't, know her.

She also realizes that M'gann and Conner aren't going out anymore, though she thinks they're just being extremely bone headed. They had been high school sweethearts, when he met M'gann Conner's life began- literally.

When she finds herself alone again because he remembered wolf was hanging around waiting for someone to feed him. And then she bursts into another dam of tears and screams at the holograms as if they could hear her. She throttles on about how it was unfair how she got trapped in that stupid helmet and how she lost half of her life fighting a fight that wasn't hers to fight.

And the cycle goes on until she crumbles and ends up crying herself to sleep in the nature themed room, surrounded by a sprinkle of fireflies, who seemed to understand her pain and swarm around her in a protective wall, keeping her hidden from any intruders that could disturb her.

By the time someone arrives through the zeta tube startling her awake it's well past mid-day and the people that had known of her return had been freaking out about her whereabouts. She yawns and stretches, lying on the clean cut grass wondering what the hell she was doing with her life.

She doesn't know how long she spend looking up at the ceiling, but the League have out done themselves, decorating the ceiling to look like the sky back on earth- white clouds covering the particular patch she was looking at, it was almost like cloud watching with her dad when she was a child.

"Zatanna?" A voice breaks through her concentration, as she lurches forward into a sitting position. But her fears are subsided when it is revealed to her that the voice was Nightwing.

"Oh, hey. Rob- Nightwing." She corrects herself; she had to remember he wasn't Robin anymore.

"How long have you been here?" He asks, "The whole Team has been looking for you."

"Right…um. I kind of fell asleep here last night, what time is it by the way?" She chuckles to herself.

"Nearly two o'clock." He says, "I… um. How ha- um- So wha-" Nightwing stumbles, trying to ask her something that won't make him sound like a total dork, although he would admit that ship sailed a long time ago.

"Are you like this when you talk to all girls?" She laughs, bringing back the dynamic of their friendship. "Who would have thought that you would still be chalant after all these years, Boy Wonder." She teases, patting the patch of grass next to her as a signal for him to sit down.

He grinned back in response and plonked down next to her, "For your information the tabloids think I am very nonchalant when it comes to women." He shot back, only to realize his mistake when he looked over to her and found a confused expression staring back at him.

"Tabloids?" She asks weirdly.

"Oh right, sorry secret ID. I remember Bats never let me tell anyone when I was Robin, and you know- secrecy and all that jazz." He apologized sheepishly.

"Does this mean I finally get to know who the mysterious protégée to Batman is?" She asked in an overly posh British accent.

"It does." He smiled, throwing his hand out as a gesture of greeting, "My name is Richard Grayson, but my friends call me Dick."

"I knew it." She howled in triumph, giggling at his stumped face, "I so knew it."

"What- How?" He all but screamed, they hid their identities with the utmost protection; any outsider who knew all but had their memories wiped of the knowledge by Martian Manhunter.

"Nabu complained about you one time, or was it Batman? Can't remember anyway, but he was going on about a glorified billionaire playboy who spent his nights dressed as a dark crime fighter should be more thankful to the efforts he was making to the world." She shrugged.

"Seriously?" Nightwing was stumped.

"Seriously. Plus I've always had a sneaking suspicion since dad and I were invited to a dinner at the Wayne Manor and you kept using pick up lines, which I now I'm half sure Wally was texting you." She chuckled, remembering the awkward dinner she had to endure that night, and the awkward blushes that appeared on her cheeks for no reason.

"Dammit." He cursed, "Oh, well. So… how long have you been back?"

"Since yesterday, I came up here as soon as I was out of the tin can." She smiled, "And then M'gann and Artemis spent a lot of time hounding me for information I may have acquired during my time being Doctor Fate."

"Was there much of that information that you gave away?" He asked, noticing her fallen features.

"I remember when you first became Nightwing." She whispered hoarsely, "I didn't know how to react, or what to do. And then when I got Nabu to deliver a short message to you when you were promoted to Team leader you looked so shocked, I- I never understood why you would be shocked, it's something that I thought about when Nabu and I weren't on speaking terms."

He was silent for a period of time, looking at her face in detail. The changes from when her remembered her to now, at nineteen years of age. It was like looking at something that had grown up without you, or was that what she felt like being thrust back into the real world?

"I just… didn't understand why you would still remember me." He admitted.

"Are you kidding?" She bluffed, forcing a smile onto her lips, "How could I forget the Boy Wonder?"

He rolled his eyes, "I don't see why you keep calling me boy wonder, that's Robin's thing, not Nightwing's."

"Ah, but you forget. I just got back so you will always be Boy Wonder to me, your stuck with the name." She said, taping his nose gently with a finger.

"I can show you how wondrous I can be." He smirked at her, leaning in slightly so she could feel his breath on her face. Not letting him see how much it actually affected her she pushed him away and laughed,

"You need a breath mint, seriously Richard. I would have thought you had enough money to at least afford toothpaste."

"Shut up." He laughed, as they got up and walked to the cafeteria to find the Team. Maybe they were a bit dense when it came to these things, she thought, but who cares?

Around midnight is when Zatara came to the cave, after being stuck on a mission and receiving an urgent call from Black Canary. He had tried to get another hero to step in for him, but he couldn't find one that could complete this certain mission.

So to say that he was shocked to see his daughter outside of the Doctor Fate guise was an understatement. To see her openly laughing with Nightwing watching a movie in the lounge room was a sort of revelation for him as well.

"Zatanna?"

The laughter stopped as the two heroes turned around to face the ageing magician.

"Zatanna is that really you?" He asked again, met by the awkward glances between the two before Nightwing nodded and left the room.

"Dad it's me." She said, coming up to him, "Nabu let me go."

Tears found their way to his eyes, and placing a gloved hand on her cheeks tears streamed down her face as well. "I thought I would never see you again, Zatanna."

"I know, dad." She whispered, leaning into his hand, "I thought I'd never see you too. But I'm back."

Zatara laughed for no reason and hugged her, holding her close to his heart. Remembering the child he had raised, the fourteen year old he had lost to Fate all those years ago, and now being able to see her again as a nineteen-year-old woman.

"Ti amo, Zatanna. Don't forget that." He whispered, letting the tears flow freely.

"I evol uoy, too." She whispered back. As the stars of space glistened outside the window and rejoiced as the Zatara's were once again reunited, the world turned beneath them, and far off in the distance the sun was glowing brightly, and it would be years until they would come face to face with fate again.

A/N: Aw... Okay, so I loved, loved, loved writing that. It was just lovely! Thank you to everyone who read, who reviewed, who favourited and followed, much love and appreciation to you all.

Thank you so much again and, you know if you feel like it, leave a review for me. Tips, pointer, criticism, I'm cool with whatever.

Haha, seriously thanks :)

-Burnt Pages of History