A Family/Tragedy story.

"A father dove without it's young is the weakest bird of all, for not a single creature will be able to catch it when it falls." -C.R

Zatara just finished patrolling New York and he was almost home when he felt his phone ring, he groaned What now?

He quickly parked his black Italian sportscar, he knew the irony, but it was a gift his father gave him on his eighteenth birthday, he could have bought it himself, and he'd kept it in excellent condition, waiting until his daughter turned sixteen so he could give it to her as a birthday gift. His phone rang in his pocket again, making him mumble curses under his breath, as he dismounted the bike. He looked at his phone and paled, it was the Goddamn Batman. Perfect..

He answered his phone "Zatara here, what's the problem?"

"The team was ambushed by Queen Bee."

Zatara's slightly tanned skin became pale as he asked "What happened? Are they alright?"

"Most of them." Batman paused, Zatara hated it when Batman or anyone paused when they spoke because that meant bad news was soon to follow "It's Zatanna-"

"What happened?" He roared into the phone, he knew he'd have hell to pay when he came face to face with the motherfucking Batman but he didn't care, if his little dove was injured then he was gonna bitch slap a Bee.

A moment was paused again, Zatara felt his stomach begin to do flips without even hearing the news. "She's in a coma." Zatara's blood ran cold "We had to take the team to the Watchtower, and hook her up to Life support, there's nothing we can do right now since J'ohnn is out on a deep space mission and Megan's powers shut down."

"I'll be there in a heartbeat."

Zatara took off, at a speed that would make Flash proud, and arrived at a Zeta-tube. He then ducked through the "Out Of Order" telephone booth and ran into the Watchtower. He ducked past his fellow League members, his heart going at a hundred beats per minute, before he stopped outside the infirmary, he saw the team's faces. Pain, regret, self anger/blame, all of the markings of true friends, Zatara wished he'd seen it earlier. He waited for the door to open Can't it open any faster?!, and when it opened, he was stopped by Superman and Black Canary from entering the room.

"I'm sorry Giovanni. She didn't make it." Dinah's voice was full of sadness. Clark couldn't even look him in the eye.

They were both blaming themselves, both wanting to have said something and gone with the team, both were wishing it was them. But then, if they were feeling this bad, how was Zatara taking it. As you would expect. It didn't take a Martian to feel Giovanni's pain. The indescribable pain of him losing the child that he helped bring into the world. He was in his own little world when he asked

"Can I see her, one last time?"

Clark and Dinah stepped aside, allowing Giovanni to get his wish. The mage walked inside the room and the sight before him ripped his heart to pieces that made an atom seem huge. There, on the bed, was a white sheet, and under that white sheet was Giovanni's little girl. his little dove that gave his life so much light and meaning. He walked up to the bed and pulled the sheet aside, revealing her angelical face. Her skin was pale, her silky charcoal hair framed her head, her body was relaxed.

A tear fell down Giovanni's face. I should have protected her! I should have been there! Giovanni thought, pushing a lock of Zatanna's hair out of her face. He bent down and kissed Zatanna's forehead, whispering in Italian "Addio, mia colomba piccolo angelo." (Goodbye, my little angel dove.)

He looked at her face for a few more moments before pulling the sheet back over her. The emotions he felt were indescribable. He locked them all up when he walked out to the hallway, he was numb the entire walk to his room at the Watchtower. He sat down on the bed and cried. He cried for hours. Mourning the loss of his daughter, the only good thing that kept him from slipping into the darkness, the only person who had made him smile after the death of his wife, the only light that kept him from falling into the blackness of his demons. The living legacy of him and Sindella, Zatanna's mother, was gone.

His angel dove could no longer fly. He could no longer teach her ways of defending herself. But, he knew that his daughter was in Heaven, cuddled up in her mother's arms. They were both waiting for him, and he knew it. His eyes landed on a picture of Zatanna and him at their home in front of the fireplace, a roaring fire was emitting from the still framed fireplace. He was sitting in a rocking chair, that he could never get rid of, and she was on his lap, her head on his chest. He remembered that night so clearly.

"Daddy?" a four year old Zatanna asked her father as he took his seat in the rocking chair, his eyes of spring green looked at her with a warmth that not even the fire, that she sat with her back to, had.

"Yes, Angelo piccola colomba?"(Little angel dove?) He asked her, curious to knew what she had to ask

"Why do you call me that?"

Zatara smiled widely as he scooped Zatanna up from her place on the floor and placed her on his lap where she snuggled into his embrace "Because, little angel dove, you are my light in a never-ending world of darkness." He kissed her forehead. And the words she whispered made tears of happiness come to his eyes

"Your my light too daddy." She kissed his cheek "I love you, Il mio tutore papà colomba." (My guardian daddy dove.)

"I love you too." Zatara whispered, smiling as the flash of a camera went off in the corner. Forever capturing the moment.

He looked from the picture to his feet "I'm sorry my angel. I am so sorry."

He then stood up and walked to the room that his daughter lie in. He looked at her forever sleeping form and began to cast softly spoken spells that bathed the room in light yellow light. Flowers surrounded Zatanna's body, all were different shades of purple, he had even used a spell that made an olive branch turn into a necklace, that rested around her neck, at the end of the necklace rested a yellow rose that hung just above her chest. He then lay down on the floor beside the bed, curled up in a ball, and falling asleep.

When Superman came to collect Zatara from the room Zatanna was in, because he evidently stayed in the room last night, he opened the door, but did not pass the threshold. Surrounding Zatanna were perhaps the most beautiful flowers that the farm boy had ever seen. He saw that beside the bed, Zatara had curled up into a ball, tears still falling from his eyes. He couldn't wake Giovanni up, so he just left him in the room. Letting him continue his grief until he was ready to let anyone into his heart again, he was still a father- hero or not- so he needed to grieve alone for a while, until he was ready to let those around and close to him give him any help at all. Clark heard Zatara whisper these sad words,

"A father dove without it's young is the weakest bird of all, for not a single creature will be able to catch it when it falls."