AN: So, I'm finally posting a new story (don't worry, I'll work on JYAT as soon as I can) and it's not even mine! That's right, this is a story written by my lovely cousin (who calls herself Athena) who does not have an account, so I'm posting it for her (after doing a bit of editing). She's pretty shy about her work, but this is really good. I hope you enjoy!

Zatanna breathed in shallowly, feeling pain as the air moved down to her lungs. Her head pounded as she slowly

opened her eyes. She lay on the cold concrete floor of a nearly empty warehouse. The magician tried to remember

why she was there, but all she could remember was being hit and falling to the floor, where her head cracked

against the hard ground. Zatanna lightly tapped her left hand to the top of her head. When brought to her eyes,

she saw blood on her white gloves. She sighed and then gasped. It was then that Zatanna remembered she had

not come alone, but with the birthday boy of this December 1st, Nightwing. She was not in fair shape with

numerous cuts and bruises, not to mention a gash across each leg along with her head injury, but the Team's leader

was most likely in much worse shape. Various memories flooded back to her. Yes, he was definitely going to be

worse off. He had, after all, drawn attention to himself so Zatanna could hide after getting both legs cut by some

sharp weapon. She had dragged herself behind some stacked boxes, and tried to stand, shakily succeeding. Then,

she heard a scream and limped out of her hiding place to help her friend. But, as soon as she was out from behind

the boxes, she was hit and the contact with the ground knocked her unconscious. She saw something in the dark

light of early evening, and recognized it as her foolish protector.

Zatanna now remembered how they got here and why they came to this place. She had gone to the Cave to wish

him a happy birthday and give him the traditional kiss, and he asked if she could help him with something. She

happily agreed but politely asked why she was chosen. He just smirked and said "So I can share my asterous day

with a close friend." He had matured and grown more serious since she first met him, so she smiled widely at the

sound of one of his made-up words. He then explained that there was an unseen evil force that was incredibly

unpredictable ravaging through Blüdhaven and Gotham, and wanted to investigate it.

They arrived at the last place the villain appeared. There, the two readied for a tough fight. Zatanna had asked why

he had not brought more of the team, and he replied that he had a hunch of who the villain was, and that a

carefully planned meeting would grant no need for more people, along with him missing spending time with her (his

saying this was accompanied with his signature smirk). Zatanna had then sensed an odd force, and a flash of red

and black was seen until it literally disappeared before their eyes. Nightwing called out a name, but the magician

had missed it, since she was focusing on the odd vibe from the person with them. The villain then attacked them in

a mad rage. Nightwing, with a little difficulty, held off the vanishing man, or was it a teen? Zatanna aided him by

casting spells to capture the mysterious person, but felt cold gloved hands grip her throat, and suddenly could not

breathe. The magician tried to utter a spell or kick or punch the villain, but was unable to break free. The person

had vanished and reappeared behind Zatanna and was choking her. Nightwing called out the name Jason and

pleaded for him to stop, and to let them speak with him, but Jason did so only after slitting her legs so she could not

walk easily. Nightwing growled and yelled that that was not necessary, and the teen responded by saying he

always liked to make Dick angry. A confused Zatanna fell to the ground, unable to heal or protect herself, but she

was slowly regaining the ability to breathe and speak. Zatanna realized this Jason person was about to stomp on

her face (after saying to Nightwing now was too late for more talking), but Nightwing threw a birdarang, which

stuck in Jason's ankle and made him buckle and fall next to the magician. Jason got right up after pulling the sharp

object from his ankle and vanished, seemingly to follow Nightwing, who had run away to draw attention from the

injured magician. It was then that she went behind the boxes, stood shakily (she was too worried for her friend to

act sensibly, to heal herself so she could help Nightwing or stay hidden), and was knocked out after hearing the

scream.

These memories all flooded back to her in seconds as she ran to her friend, her boots lightly clunking on the floor as

she favored a leg with less pain throughout it. "Nightwing!" she called out as she reached the birthday boy. She

dropped down next to him and used her right hand to lightly pick up his head and placed her left hand on his

collarbone. Zatanna loosely closed her left hand into a fist, and saw something on her glove, and let out a cry. She

then relaxed, remembering it was her own blood on the glove, not his. Zatanna turned her head to the side and

leaned toward Nightwing. Her ear heard no breath and felt nothing. She suddenly started to panic, adrenaline

running through her as her eyes widened in terror and she placed her hand on the side of his neck. She felt

nothing. "No, no, no. This isn't happening, this isn't real. This is just a bad, bad dream that I'll wake up from in a

minute . . ." Dream or not, she had to do something, so she thanked goodness for the emergency training she had

received at the Cave years ago. After pressing on his chest and doing CPR for what felt like forever but was only

minutes, she realized how futile all this was. He could have died hours ago, you were knocked out you worthless, awful

failure of a Leaguer! Nothing you can do can help! Zatanna started to cry, but some beacon of hope went through her

when she saw a glimpse of the sun setting through a space in the wall. That means we've only been here for a short

time! But he's still . . . oh no . . . She leaned down and put her head on his chest and cried, stroking his hair with her

left hand, then regretting it for the blood on it, which had not yet dried, was now on him.

So, this is the most depressing (also the longest) thing I've put on here. Still, I hope it was good, because I honestly believe Athena's writing is amazing.

So thanks for the story Athy!

~Goddess

PS: I was thinking about changing my username...I have some ideas that I might bring up in the next JYAT chapter (which I'll try to put up soon).