Young Justice: Red Comet

Chapter 1 - Spirit Plane

—Wanda

I sit down on the ground, facing a headstone. I can't see the name engraved on it through the darkness, although the half full moon offers a sliver of visibility in the cemetery tonight.

"Wanda," Mev says, touching my shoulder lightly. I look up at him.

"There's enough power here. I can start now."

"No point in wasting anymore time," Remy says. She sets Tim's body on the ground gently, kneeling beside the corpse. Zatanna's body is right next to him.

Jerking my eye sight from Tim's body to Mev's face, he looks back at me. We both know the truth, but I can't say it, not yet.

"Just remember that I can't be interrupted while doing this. If my concentrates breaks, it's even harder to try and open the portal right after that. So if the Team decides to show up, don't let them touch the portal."

Remy face is hard to see in the darkness, but she gives a nod. "We're going to get them back, no matter what. Right, Mev?"

"Of course. We won't let anyone touch the portal." Mev says. He leans down and gives me a kiss. Then, he goes and sits beside Remy and the corpses.

I look back at the headstone. I let the silence of the night feel me. The energy of the dead, the lost souls, the living, become my own energy. I breathe it in. I close my eyes, then concentrate on making a portal.

It appears, already large, but it's transparent. Now it's only useful for transportation. I concentrate even harder, the black oval portal growing less transparent. Now, if you peer inside, the world seems to be space. Stars twinkling and darkness surrounding. Then, it's complete.

I stand up, keeping my breathing even and slow.

"Is she going now?" Remy whispers. I don't focus on it, lest I lose my concentrate and risk destroying the portal.

Stepping through, I appear in the spirit plane of existence.

It's like stepping into space, except, you quickly figure out the darkness is actually black fog. And the stars? Souls lost in the distance. There's not any ground either, you just fly through the fog. I'm always had a fear of getting lost in here, and never finding my way back. It would be nearly impossible to lose the portal, since it's like a shining beacon in the black world.

"Zatanna!" I call, flying through the darkness. My cape trails behind me as I fly. It's odd, flying when my feet have never left the ground for an extended period of time. Except for when Mev will take me on flights in the middle of the night, just carrying me in his arms.

I almost miss her but I recognize the dark mane of hair. I rush to her, grabbing her arm to turn her to me.

"Dusk?" She asks, shocked. Her crystal blue eyes looking at me. She's confused, before her face scrunches in anger.

"You killed me. You betrayed the whole team. You're a traitor." Her accusations hit me like punches to the face. She tears away from my hand and glares at me.

"I know what I did, but I'm trying to fix my mistakes. Starting with you, Zatanna. Please, I can bring you back to life." I plead with her.

"Life?" She asks, losing her hateful expression. Then, she seems confused again. "I've been waiting here for a long time. I don't want to leave, although I'm always seeing a bright light. I need to be with Nightwing."

"I know. You stayed here because you weren't ready to go yet. Now, I can bring you back to Nightwing, and everyone else. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I'm asking you to anyways."

I hold my hand out to her. She looks at it, then back at me, unsure.

"I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" She laughs a little, taking my hand. I begin leading her back to the portal.

Halfway there, a bright star flashes in the distance. Then, it seems to grow large, until I realize it's actually two stars, and they're moving towards us. I stop and move Zatanna behind my body. I've never been attack in here before, but I've rarely stayed in the spirit plane long enough to find out if there is something that can attack me in here.

As the stars come closer, fighting their way through the fog, I feel Zatanna's grip tighten on me. I give her hand a squeeze to reassure her.

Then, just as the stars clear through the last of the black fog, I let out a soft sigh. It's two souls, and their names are Tim and Cassie.

"Hey, guys." I say softly. I'm shocked when Cassie smiles at me.

"Hey Wanda, Hey Zatanna. I was wondering when you were finally going to show up for Zatanna." She says. She and Tim are holding hands, and he shares a soft smile.

I shake my head. She should hate me. Why doesn't she hate me?

"Cassie, Tim. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I just—"

"We're not mad at you, Wanda." Cassie says. "Well, at least not very much. We understand why you did what you did. Don't beat yourself up for it, Wanda. I'm sure I would have done the same thing."

"No, you don't understand." I say weakly. They don't realize the truth. "I can only bring people back to life if—"

"If you have their soul and body." Tim says. "We know. I know that you can bring me back to life, but not Cassie because her body was destroyed." I see his grip tighten on Cassie. She looks at him with sad eyes and a smile.

"We know, but Remy doesn't." Cassie says softly. "But we decided to stay together. We've seen the light, and we were just waiting for you to show up so I could give you a little message before we went into the light."

"Cassie... Tim..." Zatanna whispers.

"Don't worry, Zee. We're together, and that's all that matters." Tim says, smiling.

"Wanda," Cassie says softly. She's looking into my eyes, and I don't dare blink. "Tell Remy that she's my best friend, and to try and stay out of trouble. Heaven knows that it somehow always finds her."

"And tell her," Tim adds. "Tell her that she shouldn't feel guilty about me."

My throat starts closing up but I nod, "I'll tell her. I promise."

"Thank you." Cassie says.

That's when I feel a hit on the portal and it nearly closes on its self. It takes all my power to keep it up.

"Go now!" Cassie yells. Holding onto Zatanna, I fly towards the portal. I feel another hit. Why aren't Remy and Mev keeping the portal safe?

Just as I reach it, it begins crumbling. Using the last of my strength, I force it open a moment longer, and crash through back into the real world.

WithZatanna's soul in my arms, I look up and see Remy and Mev holding back Jaime, Bart,Nightwing, Artemis, Kaldur, M'gann, and Conner.    

* * *

And you all thought I was going to bring everyone back to life, huh?

Also, the image is what Dusk's costume looks like. I figure I could throw that up there.

—RoseandPaper