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[Costigan is looking about as chipper as ever. Which is to say not at all.]

I was here before. I don't remember, but I know I was.

[There's a short pause before he continues.]

I have a list of names. If anyone knows them, or if you are them, contact me. I'll, uh- I'll write them in below.

Also if anyone has information on Eshai or Evandau. I think they were important.

[Another pause, then he reaches forward to click off the video and the list follows.]

Annabeth Ariadne Arthur Bruce Banner Dominick Cobb Jack Frost Abigail Hobbs Percy Jackson Hannibal Lector Lincoln Lee Kyle Rayner Spencer Reid Sabriel Catty Turner

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[That list of names.]

[Hearing a voice she'd heard before wasn't so surprising. Not anymore. Not even the fact that he seemed to know he'd been here before, but couldn't remember. All that would have warranted some interest--maybe even enough to respond--but not quite the reaction that seeing those names on the list brought about. And the memories that went along with them.]

...what do you want to know?

[About any of them. All of them. Give or take. Coming from a voice over the speakers because she couldn't bring herself to show her face just then. Not until the tears stopped.]

[Costigan matches her audio, not too keen on being seen any more than necessary himself.]

I found some.. notes, about them. Notes I think that I made. I want to know who they are.

You probably did.

[There was no hidden meaning or sarcasm behind the statement. She was simply agreeing with him. Which meant she remembered him as well. Or at least remembered that he had been here before.]

Eshai was the Emperor when I first came here. She was killed by Hannibal Lector, and her second-in-command, Evandau, took over. He was killed too. Years ago. By a creature named Malicant, who'd since also been defeated.

Did I know Evandau?

I can't vouch for how well, but if I'm remembering my timelines correctly, you were definitely around during his reign.

For the record, we weren't that close. I mostly knew you through Jack. [To her credit, she even kept a neutral tone when speaking his name. Time really did heal.] That's Jack Frost--one of the names on your list. You two were friends.

Friends how? What was he like?

[Again, the first part, she couldn't speak too much about, aside from...]

Well, you were definitely close enough to say something the day you found out we were together.

[And there may or may not have been a couple age-related quips. Which she still grinned thinking about.]

He was...okay, I don't know any other way to say this without it sounding wrong, considering, but he was basically like a giant kid. All the local kids adored him; we literally met with him underneath a giant dogpile of tiny kedan. He's the spirit of winter, so his magic focused a lot on ice and snow and one of his dearest friends was this chilling wind with a quirky sense of humor. If you can believe that much. He was fun and sweet and refused to cool it with the Winter puns, but that just made me love him all the more.

He ran the Welcome Center after another friend of ours who started it up went back home. And then, when he disappeared, I kept it going.

I have a hard time believing the spirit of winter was a real person and that doesn't even include the notes I left about him. How do you date a thing like that?

[He doesn't mean it to be critical or as harsh as it might sound. Costigan's confused and is trying to understand.]

[As the only child of the greatest magician in the world, and a pretty awesome magician in her own right...she was absolutely used to having to explain the weird and unusual, and didn't bat an eyelash at the question.]

He's not a thing. He's a person.

[Well, okay, maybe one eyelash.]

If you could see him, he'd look exactly like a teenage boy. Except white hair.

If I can see him?

[He sounds amused, but not in a good way.]

[Well. Here we go.]

Only people who truly believe can see him. If you doubt either his existence as the Spirit of Winter or magic, then you won't be able to.

[Such laughter, much incredulousness.]

Right along with Santa Clause and the tooth fairy, is that it?

[Wow. Rude.]

Laugh all you want, but I've met the former. And the latter exists too. Friends of his from back home.

I can prove it, you know.

I'd like that. Proof.

Most people do.

[Maybe not specifically about Santa or Tooth...or even Jack. Not right then. But she could still give him a glimpse into their world.]

Stop by anytime. Welcome Center. I'll show you myself that it's real.

Will you be there tonight?

Probably. I do live there, after all.

I'll come by.

Cool.

The main part of the building is open at all hours, so feel free to walk right in. You won't be able to access the back living quarters, but I'll know you're there and come out to meet you. Unless I"m in the shower or something. Then you might have to wait a few.

[But she was already planning one or two surprises waiting for him in the meantime. Just in case.]

Sure.

[And that's all he says for the time being. True to his word, Costigan arrives at the Welcome Center later that night, later than most would come calling but not so late as to be deliberately rude. He slips awkwardly through the door that he remembers from shortly after waking up in this magical hellhole, wondering if she was the person who greeted him upon his arrival or if it was someone else. The whole first few hours were mostly a blur.

He walks up to the counter, where no one is present, and leans on the thing. His eyes scan for cameras or the like, trusting the kid to know he's there like she said.]

[He won't find any cameras that he could see. Although, interestingly, there were candles hovering by the main entrance. As in, literally hovering. The holders they were in to catch any dripping wax were completely suspended mid-air. Even if he tried to wave his hand around, looking for the wire, he could find none. And if he tried to take it down, it would just float right back up to its intended spot.]

[More interestingly, though, was the fact that the light of the flame changed colors after a few seconds of his entering. And, less than a minute later--with wet hair and dressed in a pair of loose pajama pants and a spaghetti-strap tank top (she'd meant it about the shower)--Zatanna emerged from a small door behind the counter, holding a mug of steaming liquid in her hands.]

Hey.

The skeptic, I presume.

[Costigan's the kind of skeptic who doesn't look too hard because he doesn't want to find the answer. He sees the candles and almost immediately dismisses them as some kind of trick without bothering to investigate, focusing on waiting for the girl. The color changing doesn't escape his notice, but again he chalks it up to Halloween foolery and scowls at it nonetheless. When the girl enters in pajamas, his expression returns to neutral.]

Billy Costigan. [He confirms, sliding his hands into the pockets of his jacket.]

[She nodded.]

I know. I remember.

[They might not have been that close, but he'd been a good friend of Jack's. That was enough to warrant a strong enough sense of trust for what she was about to do next.]

I have something to show you. Well, two somethings, I suppose. One to help get the other. But before I do, I need you to promise that you're not going to just scoff and walk away without giving it a chance because that second thing kind of means a lot to me. On a personal level.

[She started off light-hearted, but the more she spoke, the more serious her tone got.]

[He tries not to feel unsettled at the idea of her remembering him when he barely feels like she's familiar to him.]

I don't scoff. And I won't walk away. [It's an easy promise to make. Costigan's not one for walking away from someone in the middle of things. He might call bullshit, might have reservations. Walking away wasn't polite enough for his parents and it was the kind of thing to get you killed with Costello. It never seemed like a good idea.]

I won't promise I'll believe you or like it. But I won't walk away until we're done here.

That's good enough for me.

[With that, she lifted her hands to lightly brush back her damp hair, then took a step away from him. One hand raised, and she uttered a few words in a language that may or may not be unknown to him:]

Gnirb eht koob ereh

[A cloud of smoke manifested in the air before her, swirling around and growing thicker and thicker until it formed a cloud, which soon dissipated to leave a large book. Its pages looking well worn. A swipe of her hand opened the cover, flipping through the pages slowly.]

[The words on them were all hand written. There were some pictures included. An names at the top of every couple of pages.]

Jack started this tradition. A long time ago.

[Her smile was sad as she watched several familiar words flicker by, keeping her eyes focused on the book. So she had no idea what his initial reaction to either the magic or the names might be.]

People who went home. Friends, mostly, although he tried to add as many entries as he could. So that nobody would ever be forgotten.

[After a minute or so, one page came up and lingered. The name at the top--"Jack Frost"]

When he left...I added an entry for him. It would have felt wrong not to.

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