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One more difference. Zatara had never been part of the League, but he could see it. They had always needed more magicians anyway. As she continued, his expression turned from surprise to utter horror.

'Thr--' Kyle's heart stopped cold. Hal, Guy, and then John. He put the pieces together. 'Oh.. oh my God.'

Hal hadn't become Parallax. Hadn't destroyed the Corps, or Oa. Guy wasn't in a coma - or he wasn't yet. And John... John was still okay. Her universe sounded great, even if he wasn't a Lantern in it. At least the rest of them were.

Edited 2013-01-10 04:55 (UTC)

That...didn't sound to reassuring. Zatanna wasn't exactly a mind reader, so she had no idea what the reason for his horrified look could be. It was a bit extreme for her simply not recognizing him.

"What?" Somehow, she had yet to keep herself from asking the same question over and over again. "What'd I say?"

'It's not you!' He cut in with that a little too quickly but it was still a lot to process. He offered her a weak smile. 'I'm Lantern number four. Kyle Rayner, but just Kyle is okay.' He stuck out his hand a little more awkwardly than he normally would. 'This is weird. It's nice to meet you.'

It was even weirder than meeting that younger version of Hal. At least Lanterns expected time travel and whatever nonsense happened out there in space.

"O...kay..." She accepted the hand, hesitantly. Still unsure of his reaction. "Zatanna Zatara. But, then, I guess you already knew that."

So they would gain a fourth Lantern somewhere in the future. Maybe. Interesting.

(Why so many?)

He didn't shake firmly and let go pretty quickly, still processing everything about the others. Especially Hal. And wondering if it was ethical to warn them. 'So... I'm guessing this isn't the first time someone's told you about... older you?'

Not knowing what else to do, she habitually reached for one arm, letting the other hang loosely at her side.

"No, it's not. I've heard from a few other people. Including Batman."

She'd said Batman, not Bruce; Kyle figured he hadn't told her. Sounded like him all right. 'Who else is here?'

Oh, there were a lot of things 'Batman' hadn't told her.

"Well...if you're talking from my world, there's just Robin and Kid Flash." And that one other boy, Dick. But he was a civilian, so she didn't think to include him on the immediate list. "I've also run into Superman, and somewhere around a million other Robins and Batpersons."

A slight exaggeration. But that was what it felt like at times.

'Kid Flash... Wally?' Now that was weird, thinking of one of your best friends as a kid. He looked forward to all the potential of getting back at Wally for the attitude he'd given Kyle when Kyle was still a rookie. Friendly, of course.

'He should put labels on the Robins, sheesh. No other Lanterns, huh?' He was secretly glad no other Corpsman was stuck here, and it was somewhat relieving that Batman was stuck here too. And Superman was always a welcome face - sounded like he was one of the good guys here.

A nod when he personally named Wally. Zatanna wasn't going to go around giving away anyone's identities, but there seemed little point in denying it if Kyle already knew.

"Hey, where I come from, it's just the one Robin." She says this with a subtle hint of fondness. Obviously, they were close. "But, no, as far as I know, there's only the two Lanterns in the League. Umm...Hal and...John, I think? Though dad's told me stories about the third one. Guy Something." Usually accompanied with the most disapproving of fatherly glares.

That made Barry the Flash.. and he wondered if Jay was still around. Or even Alan.

'I think he had... four? Last I counted.' He didn't count, not really. He'd always been too occupied to bother with what was happening in Gotham... and anyway he didn't like Gotham very much.

'Guy Gardner,' Kyle's voice has a lot more fondness. Guy was his partner. 'If he's anything like the Guy I know, there'll be lots of stories.' Although few people took them in the same spirit he did. Then again, few people described Guy Gardner as their role model.

"Oh, yeah, Gardner. That's the one. My dad doesn't like him." There were stories, all right. "He sounds pretty fun to me."

Priorities.

'Oh, he is.' Kyle was grinning widely, and perhaps a little wickedly. Praising Guy was the quickest way to his heart.

Anybody who could send her dad on a tirade like the ones she'd witnessed was okay in her book. Heck, she wouldn't be surprised if her dad had tried to ground Guy for life more than once.

"Nice to know at least some things don't change across the multiverse." It was supposed to be a lighthearted comment, though there were traces of something else behind it. Anger. Frustration. Maybe even sadness.

Kyle shrugged. 'They really don't.' It was hard to imagine Guy without his Guy-ness. 'You must be getting really tired of it, huh.'

"It wasn't so bad at first." She glanced away, not wanting to seem like she was taking it out on him. But he did ask. "But after the fifth time, well...I just wish people would stop looking at me like they're expecting me to be somebody I'm not."

Superman was afraid to tell her 'too much' about her possible future for fear of upsetting her. That Cat guy had thought she was the result of a spell gone wrong. Someone else insisted she was 'supposed' to be older. And don't even get her started on the Hogwarts crack Red Robin or Hood or whatever he called himself had made.

'Sorry about that,' he said. 'It's always harder when they're somebody you're close to.' He knew what had happened when everyone had met a younger Hal. Zatanna didn't have anywhere near such a reputation, but she would have been on the receiving end of some of that. He couldn't help but feel bad for contributing to it.

"I'm not really close to any of them, though." Not even Batman. To her, he was just Robin's mentor. The Justice Leager who assigned the Team missions. Oversaw their training. Even before then, he was her father's close friend. There was never much of a personal connection there.

It was less about difficulty and more the fact that the notion kept being hammered into her over and over again. Like she was being punished for something that--for once--wasn't her fault.

"Just Wally and Robin." Moreso Robin. And Artemis, but she wasn't here. "And at least they know me. Me-me."

Kyle's eyes widened a little, but he nodded in agreement. Of course they'd avoid telling her anything. Even he was trying to fight off the impulse to, especially where Coast City was concerned. But the League had been like family to him, and he knew his Zatanna felt the same way. This younger one probably felt it about Robin (whichever Robin it was) and Wally.

'Technically the rest of us on the turtle also know you-you.' He offered her a smile, a genuine, amiable smile this time. 'But we could stand to get to you know better. Mind showing me around?'

Even though she didn't completely agree with him (they might've known her-her, but the comparisons were still being made), she did relax at the smile and offer.

"Yeah, sure. I think I could manage that." She glanced around, figuring out which path would be the best to start with. "Anything in particular you want to see, or should we just wander around aimlessly until the fun finds us?"

Zatanna was a big believer in the second option.

'I think today is an option number two day.' Kyle figured Bruce was going to want a debriefing as soon as possible, but he wasn't in any hurry and he might as well have some fun before business.

"Works for me." She starts down a random path. One that just happens to take them by 3-A. "In case it wasn't completely obvious, this is the Wood Sector. Feel free to 'ooh' and 'aah' at your leisure."

He followed. 'Nice place. Do you live nearby?'

"Over that way." She nodded in the general direction of her complex. "What about you?"

'Uh... not around here. The kedan dropped me off somewhere with a lot more water fountains.'

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