#ohboytwocakes

a little bit of context: in the story identity crisis it was revealed that zatanna had been mindwiping and altering the personalities of villains to make them incompetent. in catwoman (2002) #50, zee revealed to selina that she had done something similar to her to push her into becoming a hero. this is my adaptation of that.

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“Wait, wait. Kitten, stop,” Zatanna said, pushing Selina away. Selina didn’t try to protest her doing so, even though she pouted as she was forced to stop kissing Zatanna’s neck.

“What’s wrong, Z’anna? Did I do something wrong?” Selina asked. She smiled and her expression was softer than Zatanna had ever seen before. Zatanna felt her heart clench.

“No. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I did. I should have told you sooner but it’s too late for that. But I can’t keep it a secret from you any longer,” Zatanna said, biting at her lower lip.

Selina furrowed her eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

“It...it would be easier to show you,” Zee said. “May I cast a spell on you?”

Selina made a face. “Um, sure?”

Zatanna nodded. “Thank you,” she said. She raised her hands and pointed her palms at Selina. “Rebmemer.”

Selina grew tense as her memories washed over her. She was in the Justice League’s Watchtower, lying on a cot and surrounded by heroes. Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Flash, Hawkman, and Zatanna were all standing around her.

Selina remembered being told they were her friends, that they were going to make her life better. She remembered Zatanna casting a spell, one that would change her forever. One that would transform her from a villain into a hero.

Once the memories finished, Selina stared down at her hands, where at some point they had clenched into fists in her lap. “Why...didn’t you tell me sooner?” she asked, nearly whispering.

Zatanna flinched. There was a moment of hesitation before she said, “I didn’t know how to.”

“I pursued you. You let me. You let me fall in love with you...and didn’t tell me what you had done to me,” Selina said, a careful blankness to her voice. “I learned to trust you, not having known that you violated me.”

“Kitten, I—”

“Don’t fucking call me that, witch!” Selina exploded, jumping up from the couch.

Zatanna jerked back, a hurt expression on her face. “Selina—” she tried again.

“No! You don’t get to make fucking excuses as to why it’s actually okay that you broke into my mind and changed things! You don’t get to make excuses as to why it’s fine that you’ve been manipulating me these last months!” Selina yelled. Tears welled in her dark eyes even as her face contorted with rage. “How fucking dare you?!”

“I haven’t been manipulating you! Sel, I love—”

Selina grabbed a vase off one of the end tables by Zatanna’s couch and threw it at a wall. “Fuck you, Z’anna! You’re not allowed to fucking love me! You aren’t allowed to say that shit as if it excuses what you’ve done to me—” she snarled.

“Nothing excuses what I did to you! I know that! I’ve known that! It’s why I was so reluctant to team up with you, because I know what I did was wrong! I didn’t want to do it but I did it anways and nothing excuses that. I’m so sorry, Selina, and nothing will ever make up for it and I know that. But you needed to know—” Zatanna was interrupted by Selina pressing their lips together into a furious parody of the kiss they’d shared earlier that night.

Zatanna noted the hot tears that clung to Selina’s lips, even as she grabbed Selina and tugged her closer. She noted how uncharacteristically tight Selina’s grip on her curls was, even as she wrapped her arms around Selina’s waist. She noted the tiny pinpricks of pain in her shoulder as Selina dug her knife-sharp nails in, even as she moaned helplessly into Selina’s mouth.

Selina pulled far enough way that their mouths were no longer touching, but no farther. Her eyes shone with furious despair as she said, “Shut the fuck up. Just stop.” She pulled the rest of the way away. Zatanna let her go, making no moves to resist. “Don’t try to find me, Zatanna.”

The prompt was to write a confrontation between Zatanna & Selina that dealt with their potential relationship post-Identity Crisis. most specifically we each took inspo from Catwoman (2002) #50. Hope y'all enjoy our snippets! (and here’s a link to tee’s! enjoy!)

...

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Selina laughed incredulously, shaking her head before turning to the woman at her side. Zatanna felt her body tense at the movement, knowing and already dreading what was to come.

That haughty tone in her voice, the confrontation in her eyes. All the dominoes were carefully being put into place by the Cat.

And the magician was already prepared to knock each and every one of them down.