Creative Chaos
Hedgehawk
shylarah
Simple Unicycle
pugbutter
Punished GN
princess
Red Rust
Zatara felt beat. Never did he realize he would be fighting armored, gun-slinging gorillas ever in his life but that was just he did, fighting armored, gun-slinging gorillas. He guessed he wouldn't be so surprised after all given the fact that the world was always just plain weird, he just didn't think much about it until he joined the Supermen of America which made him fight even weirder villains. Still, the benefits that came with being a superhero far outweigh the cons where one was the highly inevitable possibility of death.
Anyhow, he felt a little grumpy once the team made it back safely in HQ. There was no 'Gee Zatara, thanks so much for helping save the Flash! We wouldn't have found him without you!' or even a 'Your spells were so cool, Zatara! We're so glad to have you on our team!'. Instead, it seemed that everyone went back to their own personal stuff and life continued on per usual. On the other hand, it might make him seem like a douche for wanting attention after saving the day, but a little acknowledgment or two wouldn't hurt. Zatara just sighed and went back to his private quarters.
As soon as he entered, he threw himself on the bed and groaned loudly. His whole body was aching due to the fact that he wasn't working out as was instructed of him to be in top shape in every mission, so there were times where he had to catch his breath for a few minutes after running for a long time. He made a mental note on catching up on his stamina but for now, Zatara needed some rest before he got sent out on another exhausting mission.
He looked at his nightstand where a picture frame was. Shown was him when he was a child, his grandfather and namesake Zatara the First, and his deceased mother Zatanna. Zatara sat on the bed and took the frame in his hands, lovingly running his fingers along his mother's face and smiling wistfully at the memories he had with her. He wanted to try and find her despite feeling so tired, but his grandfather's words rang in his head:
'When you speak to the dead, ALL of them could hear you'.
Indeed, Zatara can see and even talk to the dead. It was a trait that he inherited from his father John Constantine who was never there for all of his life. The blond bastard didn't show up to any of his birthdays and he didn't even show up at Zatanna's funeral. Zatara hated that Constantine was not in his life yet he still had a connection to his 'beloved father'. They tried many different ways of removing his ability to see spirits but he would always regain the ability no matter what so they stopped trying. When Zatanna died, Zatara thought that his gift would let him see her once more but his grandfather adamantly refused, stating that what was dead MUST stay dead and that they should never interfere with the natural order of things or else chaos will ensue.
There were so many opportunities for Zatara to seek out his mother now that he's not under his grandfather's wing anymore but he didn't do it with respect to Zatara the First's wishes. Despite his ability, he never once saw Zatanna's spirit, not even a sliver or a shadow of her ghost. Either she already crossed over to the other side, she was hiding from him, or, Zatara hoped not, her soul was under the control of some demonic entity. The last one was a far-stretch, Zatara admitted that, but they lived in a world where gorillas could speak and aliens could destroy buildings in a single punch. Still, it's totally plausible that demons and angels don't even exist.
Right?
