Young Justice: Salem
September 25th, 2010
With a soft pop of displaced air, Zatanna and I appeared on the grassy field outside the Tower of Fate. Above us, the tower loomed like a dark giant, the afternoon sun casting a long shadow across the grass.
Zatanna sagged against me, her face slightly pale. “I never thought I’d say this, but I like the other way better,” she mumbled, “this one is just kind of bleh.”
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’d love to say it gets more pleasant with practice, but I’d be lying. You just kind of get used to it after a while.” Apparating was never particularly pleasant. It felt like getting shoved through a too-small metal pipe, your entire body briefly compressed and stretched at the same time by an inviolable force.
“And why couldn’t we take one of your portkeys?” she asked, a hint of a whine creeping into her voice. “They also suck, but at least it's just one big trip instead of a couple of little ones.”
I squeezed her shoulder and patiently repeated myself for the third time in the past ten minutes. “Portkeys are less tightly controlled and can have negative consequences on fragile life.”
Zatanna sighed softly and rubbed her belly. “I’m not exactly carrying around a baby yet. It's barely more than a bundle of cells right now.”
I shrugged. “Perhaps I’m being too cautious, but I’m loath to risk any harm to our child. I didn’t exactly conduct the research myself, so I don’t know all the details.” Our child. Saying it still felt completely insane. Was I ready to be a father? Perhaps not, but I would do my best regardless.
Zatanna leaned into my touch. “No, no, you’re probably right. Better safe than sorry. And at least those islands were really pretty. We should go there again sometime. Have a picnic or something.”
Unlike portkeys, where distance was simply a matter of the amount of magic used during the item's creation, apparating became significantly more difficult the further you were trying to travel. I was a powerful wizard and I’d grown quite proficient at apparating over the past few months, but I was still not keen on trying to apparate directly from Poseidonis to the eastern coast of the United States. Particularly not when I was bringing someone with me.
Thankfully, having to apparate to or from Poseidonis was an issue I’d foreseen some time ago. Thus, I’d taken the time to visit and memorize isolated spots in Bermuda, the Azores, and even the western coast of Africa. It was still rather far to apparate, but much more manageable than going straight from the Conservatory to somewhere like Gotham.
I kissed her forehead. “Whenever you want to go, just let me know. I’ve only really seen the parts of the islands where we apparated too. I’d love to explore them with you someday. Just you and me, alone with the sea and the sky.”
She sighed again, but this time it was more wistful than irritated. “That does sound lovely.”
“Then we’ll make a date of it.” And if that went well, then perhaps I’d look into quietly charming one of the smaller islands unplottable Typically such a working took several wizards casting together, but with enough mana, perhaps a few sacrifices, and some concepts borrowed from the magic Ozpin had taught me…Well, the idea of an island that could only be found by those of Black blood was certainly an appealing one. And with nothing but ocean for miles in every direction, I could ward the entire place to high-heavens without any risk of destroying the neighborhood around me if I made a mistake or triggered something accidentally.
Zatanna leaned against me for several more seconds. Then she took a deep breath, straightened her back, brushed a strand of hair away from her face, and turned to face the Tower. She took a single step forward, then stopped and took another deep breath. She bit her lip nervously and looked back at me.
I smiled and squeezed her shoulder again. “I’m right here. All the way.”
Her answering smile was tight and filled with worry. She was just as nervous as I was, perhaps more so even, and certainly worse at hiding it.
“Just think of it as practice,” I suggested. “At least Kent probably won’t try to murder me when he finds out. I’m not getting anywhere close to your dad without casting every protective spell I know over myself.”
Zatanna laughed. “He probably wouldn’t try to kill you. Just…maim or seriously injure.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are we thinking about the same person here?”
Zatanna shot me a faux glare.
I laughed. “Okay, maybe you’re right. But I like my arms and legs where they are, and that doesn’t seem like a great way to start off my relationship with my future father-in-law. Now, let’s go. Stalling won’t make this any easier and we’re burning daylight.”
Zatanna’s glare vanished, leaving her looking almost terrified. “You’re right.” She turned and buried her face in my chest. “But I’m scared. What if he gets mad? I…”
I brushed her hair back gently. “If there’s anyone he’s going to be mad at, it's me. I don’t think Kent can be mad at you. He really cares about you and just wants what’s best for you.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You don’t know that. You’ve barely known him for a couple of months.”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but you’ve known him for a lot longer than I have. Tell me truthfully, has he ever been angry at you?”
“Um…”
“And I don’t mean angry about something you did. I mean like, actually angry at you. Not worried or scared or disappointed. Angry.”
“...not really, no. He sometimes got upset when I didn’t do my homework or stayed up past my bedtime, but never angry.”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
“...thanks Hydrys.”
I gently turned Zatanna around, leaving her facing the Tower’s open doors. “Now let's go face the fireworks.”
Despite how confident I’d acted in front of Zatanna, I actually hadn’t been sure how exactly Kent would react. On one hand, I was pretty sure he liked me and had even helped our budding relationship along. On the other hand, I’d gotten his favorite niece pregnant before she even finished school, and we were neither engaged, nor married.
I hoped he wouldn’t take it too poorly. Particularly since I did plan to take responsibility for my actions and marry Zatanna, not run for the hills like some sort of scoundrel. Zatanna and I had spent a good amount of time discussing how we would break the news to her father, who would doubtlessly be rather upset with her and absolutely furious with me. After all, she’d gone behind his back dozens of times so we could spend time together despite his frequent orders to stay away from me.
Ultimately, we hadn’t been able to come up with a particularly good plan to break the news to him. We considered waiting a little, perhaps announcing our engagement and only saying that Zatanna was pregnant some time after. We considered getting married as soon as possible––she’d checked and it was legal to do so at sixteen in Gotham––and only telling him once the deed was done. We also (briefly) considered just going to him directly and hoping for the best, but we’d both quickly decided that was a terrible idea.
Instead, we’d decided to temporarily sidestep the issue by telling someone else first. Someone who had a better opinion of me than Giovanni Zatara did, and was close to both him and Zatanna. Namely, Kent Nelson, Giovanni’s mentor and Zatanna’s honorary uncle. With any luck, he’d be able to help us figure out how in Merlin’s name we were going to break the news to Zatanna’s father without things erupting into violence.
In the end, Kent’s reaction was…better than I had feared it might be. The three of us were seated together in the Tower’s sitting room. Zatanna and I were side by side on the same loveseat where we’d sat when I gave her our passes to Poseidonis, while Kent was sitting across from us in a cozy armchair. It had taken some prodding and a long, roundabout conversation, but Zatanna had just told him the news, complete with my immediete proposal.
He stared silently at us for several long moments, his hands wrapped tightly around his cane as he leaned in towards us. Then he sighed heavily. “Well, I can’t say I’m too surprised, but I was expecting it would take a little bit longer than this. You kids work fast. This is why it's important to use protection.”
“I did,” Zatanna said softly. “It didn’t work.”
Kent’s gaze turned towards me and I shrugged. “Most wizards are highly infertile, but I did take a potion for it. It must have worn off by now.”
Kent closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hand. “Life finds a way.”
“Yeah…” Zatanna whispered softly.
He turned back to Zatanna. “You understand your father is going to be furious, yes?”
She nodded. “I know.”
“And since I’m hearing about this at all, I take it you’re not considering an abortion either.”
“No, we’re not,” Zatanna said softly.
“Absolutely not, never,” I said at the same time.
Zatanna and I exchanged looks and then I turned back to Kent, my eyes boring into his. “This may be a surprise, but it is not an unwelcome one. We can revisit the question if the child proves unviable, but otherwise the option is completely off the table. I understand why muggles engage in such things, but it is not an option I am willing to entertain.”
Kent nodded slowly. “Well, I can’t say that Giovanni would be any happier about the idea either. At least you two will agree on one thing.” He sighed heavily, his heavy wrinkles standing out in the flickering light of the fireplace. “So you two intend to marry, than?”
“As soon as possible, yes. We don’t know if we want to do something special or just take care of the legal side for now and worry about a ceremony later, though.”
“Being parents is a lot of responsibility.”
“We know. Thankfully we have eight months to prepare. Zatanna will be finishing up with school by the time she’s due and I will have plenty of time to spend with her and our child.”
“And you think you can support yourselves?”
“Even if Giovanni kicks her out, my home is well protected and easily big enough for us and many more people besides. I will need to spend some time accumulating currency, but I am confident that we will be able to afford anything that our magic is unable to provide.”
Kent leaned back in his chair and brushed a hand through his gray hair. “Well, at least you’re in a better position than most parents your ages would be. I guess there is little more that I can ask. I can’t say I’m happy with what has happened, but you both could have chosen far more poorly.” He shook his head slowly. “How time flies. It feels like just yesterday you were a little girl bouncing on my knee, and now look at you. You’ve become a wonderful young woman, Zatanna. I wish you both the absolute best.”
“Then you’ll help us tell dad?” Zatanna asked hopefully.
“I guess so, if only to ensure he does not do something we will all regret.”
“Dad isn’t that bad,” Zatanna defended half-heartedly.
Kent raised an eyebrow. “When it comes to you? Well, we’ll have to wait and see, but I wouldn’t count on it. We’ll have to be smart about this.”
See, even Kent was on my side, and he knew Giovanni far better than I did. Whatever plan we came up with, I absolutely wasn’t getting within a hundred meters of the man without plastering every protective ward and charm I knew over myself.