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backwordscompatible[Zatanna almost didn't go through with the announcement. She was tired of them. Of having to go on the public network and tell everyone about the disappearance of yet one more person close to her. After three years...and more discussion on the subject than she ever wanted to have again...]
[But then she found his scrapbook. The one he had started all those years ago, trying to record as many memories and notes of people that had come and gone. A way to honor their memory. After a time, it had become a shared project of theirs. He'd shown her the entries for Dick and Kyle and Pepper and Finnick and so many others. Now she had another name to add to it. As it was, the book could just barely be visible behind her, sitting on a chair with the beginnings of a new entry already jotted down at the top of what she knew would wind up being several pages long:]
Jack Frost is gone.
[To her credit, her voice was steady. Her face was freshly washed, hair combed. There were no signs of the tears that had fallen upon realization earlier. No evidence of her heartache. Only the slightest hint of reddened eyes from when she'd had to speak to some of the local children earlier.]
[Jack's children. The ones he used to play with in the park.]
[Her eyes lowered to a twin set of figurines sitting on the edge of her table. Two little turtles. Hand carved. After a long, contemplative pause, she turned the two of them so that their noses touched. In between the empty space formed a small heart. A Secret that had taken her far too long to figure out.]
The Welcome Center will continue on as normal. In case anyone was wondering.
And before anyone asks--[because she knows they will]--I'm fine. I'm...almost used to it by now.
[One of the biggest lies she'd ever told. She could deal. She could carry on. But she would never get used to it.]
[But then she found his scrapbook. The one he had started all those years ago, trying to record as many memories and notes of people that had come and gone. A way to honor their memory. After a time, it had become a shared project of theirs. He'd shown her the entries for Dick and Kyle and Pepper and Finnick and so many others. Now she had another name to add to it. As it was, the book could just barely be visible behind her, sitting on a chair with the beginnings of a new entry already jotted down at the top of what she knew would wind up being several pages long:]
Jack Frost is gone.
[To her credit, her voice was steady. Her face was freshly washed, hair combed. There were no signs of the tears that had fallen upon realization earlier. No evidence of her heartache. Only the slightest hint of reddened eyes from when she'd had to speak to some of the local children earlier.]
[Jack's children. The ones he used to play with in the park.]
[Her eyes lowered to a twin set of figurines sitting on the edge of her table. Two little turtles. Hand carved. After a long, contemplative pause, she turned the two of them so that their noses touched. In between the empty space formed a small heart. A Secret that had taken her far too long to figure out.]
The Welcome Center will continue on as normal. In case anyone was wondering.
And before anyone asks--[because she knows they will]--I'm fine. I'm...almost used to it by now.
[One of the biggest lies she'd ever told. She could deal. She could carry on. But she would never get used to it.]