tushanshu_logs | [Closed] Walk Away

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[Closed] Walk Away

Characters: Jack Frost, Oliver Queen / PART TWO: + Kyle Rayner / PART THREE: + Connor Hawke / PART FIVE: + Zatanna Zatara
Date: Following this showdown and Jack's horrible excuse. Exact length of time to be determined.
Location: One of Tu Vishan's abandoned villages (as outlined here) near the shell's edge, a few hours outside Keeliai and by the mountains.
Situation: Taking issue with Oliver's plan of action, Jack has brought him outside the city to see if he can't get his head on straight. Part Two & Three: After their return, there are still some things to answer for.
Warnings/Rating: Ollie's probably not happy, so associated warnings there.

Jack had been out to these areas several times since his arrival, so he flew straight and unerring across the barren landscape, stirring up heavy storm clouds in his wake, pregnant with snow that was only partially intentional, reacting to his emotions. When they finally touched down at the outskirts of a burned husk of a village, Jack dragged Oliver's unconscious form into the most complete building. It wasn't great, but it had four walls and most of a roof and that was good because Oliver was heavy and it didn't help that Jack couldn't stop replaying their conversation in his mind, over and over.

"What if someone starts coming after you the way you're going after these kedan?!"

"Then I kill them."

"Wrong answer."

So when the man awakes, he will find himself under a blanket but sans boots (and said footwear being nowhere to be seen) and Jack sitting in the windowsill, looking out at a thick curtain of falling snow and humming something of a song under his breath.

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"Picking fights...how?"

She was getting a very strong vigilante vibe, but that could've just been personal experience talking. There was always the possibility of another explanation.

Jack hung his head, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry but... I can't, it's not my secret to tell."

Something inside her snapped.

Maybe it was the exhaustion from draining herself. Maybe it was the leftover shock of having seen his injuries up-close. Maybe it was the fact that she was starting to get tired of all the things being kept from her. Whatever the reason, she abruptly stood up (an action she would most likely regret once the adrenaline wore off) and nearly screamed in frustration.

"How can you even say that?! This guy burned and cut and could've killed you, and you're still trying to cover for him?!"

Jack lost what little colour to his complexion he had, throat moving as he stared wide-eyed up at Zatanna.

"Z-Zatanna, it's-- I..."

"Nevermind. Maybe I should go and ask him myself."

The hoodie in the coldwater basin all but forgotten, she abruptly turned as if to leave. Making it three steps before she stumbled.

Jack was behind her instantly, wrapping his arms around her and laying his head against her back in a gesture that was part support, part restraint, and part hug.

"Please don't," he pleaded, hiding his face against her shirt. "I already messed up so bad with Oliver. No matter what my reasons were, he won't be able to see past the fact that I made him a prisoner a second time."

His grip tightened, his voice thickening. "Please, please don't let me ruin things up with you too."

She froze. And not just from the sudden chill that accompanied his touch.

Her knees felt slightly weak, but with Jack holding her up like that, there was little chance of her collapsing. The anger faded at the sound of his voice. How desperate he sounded. Scared. He still thought she was mad at him.

"You haven't messed anything up, Jack." Her hands somehow found their way to his arms. She had to bite her lip to keep her voice steady. "I...you don't get it. It was bad enough I had to watch Robin die in front of me." Momentarily forgetting that he didn't know about Robin. "I can't just keep sitting here, helpless, knowing there's a chance I could lose anyone else. I have to do something"

"I know... I know," Jack said hoarsely. He didn't know who Robin was but the fact that Zatanna had needed to watch someone die at all -- and someone she obviously cared about, by the fervency in her voice -- was bad enough.

"It's how I felt when I found out you'd almost drowned. I felt like I'd let you down because I only knew after it was all done and I couldn't do anything. Maybe that's why... with Oliver, I didn't want-- not a second time..."

A tug, gentle this time, back towards the bed. "But you did help. You cared enough to come over here." And healed his injuries, but in Jack's mind the former was far more important.

"It's not the same thing."

On some levels, it was. The emotional impact. She knew Jack understood that helpless feeling, and felt guilty that it was over her. But she refused to let herself dwell; instead, she stubbornly stood her ground, planting her feet right where they were and not giving in to letting him pull her back.

I only knew after it was all done and I couldn't do anything.

"I can do something this time. Oliver's here. Living in the adjacent suite, getting away with this right now. It's not right." Vigilante or no, this was so far beyond going after a criminal. Jack was a good person. Possibly the sweetest boy she had ever met. There wasn't a single notion that could convince her Oliver felt he was in the right by attacking, no matter what the Winter Spirit had done.

Edited 2013-03-06 04:06 (UTC)

"But nothing you do or say to Oliver is going to make it right," Jack responded lowly. "So why make everyone feel worse? And he's not getting away with anything, I'm the one who grabbed him."

"You don't know that." It was better than doing nothing at all. "And stop making it sound like you think you brought this on yourself."

Zatanna doesn't want to listen and Jack's hands withdraw from their spot around her, lingering only enough to make sure that she's steady on her feet before he turns away and goes back to lay on the bed, pulling his arms and legs into a ball.

He didn't know that, but he felt it.

But after everything that had happened, he couldn't trust that, not right now.

That made her falter. Somehow, it felt ever colder the moment he pulled away. She heard him return to the bed, and the ruffle of sheets indicating he wasn't just sitting down.

Her fists curled tightly into balls at her sides, and she closed her eyes. Why did he have to be like this? Forgiving to a fault. Like a child who never questioned his parents' authority, even if they were in the wrong.

"What would you want me to do?" Her mind was still made up about going to talk to Oliver. Somehow, some way. But she couldn't just leave things with Jack like this. She hadn't wanted to make him so upset. "And don't say nothing."

The winter spirit was silent for a moment, unsure what to say and what he wanted to say, but he finally he found something that didn't sit like oil in his stomach.

"Talk to Kyle first?"

It...was a fair suggestion.

Damn.

"Alright." The fight was slowly leaving her. Enough that she actually turned back around, immediately wincing when she saw the position he'd curled himself into. "Jack, are you okay?" She'd healed as much as she could, but the rules could be different for Spirits.

"I'm all right," he said woodenly though he didn't loosen his position any. "I know I have stuff to do, I just... it's kind of hard to think right now."

A pause and then a plaintive, "Do you think my sweater will be okay?"

Normally, she would have wondered if he was trying to change the subject. Maybe he was. But she'd seen him wear that outfit pretty much every day since they met. It wasn't too far off to assume it had some sentimental value to it as well.

"Once it's done soaking, I have a few different methods that usually get blood out." She glanced over at the basin, then back at him. Sighing inaudibly. "Do you...want me to stay with you a little longer?"

Oliver could wait. For a little while, anyways. Her original purpose for coming over was to make sure Jack was okay. Right now, he was definitely not okay.

"I'd never tell you that you can't stay Zatan-- wait, why do you know a few ways to get blood out of clothes?"

"Because I'm a girl. Don't ask." She made her way back over to the bed, sitting down near where his head was resting. Despite everything, she couldn't help a tiny smile. As if from some private joke. "But there was also my dad. I usually did the laundry for both of us, so if he came home injured, I'd take care of it for him."

Jack opened his mouth to protest (pretty sure that didn't have anything to do with anything) but he wisely decides not to pursue the question, and he turns his head so he's looking up at her.

"I hope that didn't happen too often."

She shook her head. "No. He's a long-distance fighter, so he very rarely gets into those kinds of battles. The only times he ever got hit were whoever he went up against got in a lucky throw or something."

"But he's a magician like you?" Jack said slowly. "I don't understand... why would he be in fights?"

"He is a magician. But not like me. Dad's the greatest stage magician in the entire world. He can pull off illusions even I can't figure out." She didn't bother to hide the pride in her eyes whenever she talked about Giovanni Zatara. "He's also one of the founding members of the Justice League, a group of superheroes who use their powers to help others."

"More superheroes?" Jack repeated, his face drawing momentarily into a frown. But he smoothed the expression out almost immediately; though the burns were healed, the skin where they'd been was still tender.

Instinctively, she reached out with one hand to smooth back a few strands of his hair. Pushing them out of the way to check on the wound. No, just a false alarm. He hadn't reopened anything. Though her fingers lingered a moment longer, lightly brushing through the thick, white strands. Like a mother soothing a sick child.

"What's with the face? You got something against superheroes?" The teasing was so subtle, he might've missed it.

[Closed] Walk Away

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