CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "Even Rainbow Dash knows fake magic when she sees it"
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NEW ORLEANS
July 27th, 21:57 CDT
THE LITTLE GIRL PRACTICALLY DANCED ALONG THE PATH WITH HER HAND TIGHTLY HOLDING ONTO A MY LITTLE PONY FIGURE. Faith Nelson jumped and spun around in time with the trumpets playing on the side of the street a bright smile upon her face. She talked to herself, narrating Rainbow Dash's life and acting with more expression as the toy fought unseen enemies, 'saving' citizens who would merely laugh as Faith stated that she saved them from a dark entity.
"Faith!" her adoptive father, Kent, called out, a chuckle passing his lips at the girl's enthusiasm. "Slow down, I'm not as fast as I once was."
Faith immediately skidded, still bouncing on the balls of her feet as she spun to face him, her fingers tentatively grazing through Rainbow Dash's multicolored hair in an attempt to straightened it out. "Oh... Sorry Kent, I got carried away," she apologised softly, her childish voice being louder then it needed.
The passerbys weren't bothered however, finding the child's eagerness and bundles of energy adorable, simply smiling after greeting Kent as they passed.
"It's okay, come on," he insisted, pressing a hand to Faith's shoulder as he lifted his cane to motion to the small stalls and what looked like open houses. "You pick the next trickster."
After having dinner, Kent and Faith had gone out on what could be titled a typical walk to expose fake fortune tellers, witches, magic users and people who can supposedly contact the dead. Faith adored these nights and loved being able to prove non-believers wrong, knowing that in her heart magic was real. It was apart of her and she grew up learning ancient sorcery when she was old enough to walk.
First, Nova Star gladly took her under her wing, adoring every moment she spent during the year Faith was her student. Afterwards, when Nova went missing, Kent made Faith keep up with her magic, teaching her himself and even asking a good friend of his, Giovanni Zatara, to assist him. Faith grew up adoring all things magical, and even if she didn't know her real mother and father, she knew deep down that one of them must have dabbled in the mystic arts also.
Tapping her chin, she held her Rainbow Dash up and twisted the toy's head to look around too, acting as if it had an opinion. "Rainbow Dash wants to prove that one wrong," she answered, pointing to the one on their left.
The door read "MADAM XANADU" on it in a gold bring with a design of an eye positioned in the middle. Three cards stretched out over the door to advertise what was being offered: Tarots Read, Loved Ones Contacted, Fates Foretold.
"The fates Nobu gives out are never good," Faith said as she read through the offering a lot slower then Kent, pronouncing the Lord of Order's name wrong and struggling with the first word on the door. Doctor Fate's real name had always been difficult for her to say despite how many times she was corrected when someone would help her pronounce the god's name.
"Nabu," Kent corrected, after looking at his pocket watch before closing it and tucking it back in his pocket. "Remember what we learnt. Na—"
Faith repeated the sound; "Na."
"Bu," Kent finished before adding; "remember, like how a ghost goes boo."
The girl giggled before putting the two sounds together. "Na-Bu. Nabu."
"See, you got it!" he cheered happily, appluading the girl who grinned widely, showing off her missing tooth that fell out nights before. "Okay, let's see if they say the same as everyone else."
"I remember very clear that Nova said Nabu was never kind," Faith said in a 'matter of fact' tone, acting like she was the brightest person there.
"Nova knows personally."
As the pairing of a ten year old beginner sorcerer and an ex hero, but still considered the sorcerer supreme, Doctor Fate, entered, a woman stepped through the bead-guarded doorway across from the entry. Her skin and hair was dark with her green eyes being accented by the three blue jewels placed on her forehead, the colour contrasting against the other dull colours. "Bonsoir, monsieur," she greeted kindly, giving Faith a welcoming smile. "How can Madame Xanadu be of service?" Her french accent was mild but a bit hard to decipher in Faith's young ears.
Faith looked up at Kent, holding her Rainbow Dash in front of her torso as she waited for him to answer. He didn't, simply allowing the scammer to attempt to guess what they were after.
"Ah, there is someone to whom you wish to speak," she decided, watching them closely. "Your wife, mai no, your daughter's mother?"
"Yes, my Inza, Faith's mother. My daughter misses her dearly."
Deciding to play along, Faith looked up and forced traces of desperation into her eyes as she stared up at the woman, bottom lip forcibly quivering.
"Faith, that is a beautiful name," Xanadu said gently, bending down to be Faith's height and giving her a warm smile, one Faith could see right through. The woman was simply trying to make money, not give a young child closure or allow them to speak to a deceased love one. "Then madam will make contact if fate be kind."
Kent sighed as he sat down along with Faith and Xanadu. "But they so rarely are," he replied, thinking of the two powerful beings he knew who were associated with fate and destinies. Nabu and Nova.
She cleared her throat before holding out her hand expectingly. Faith sat beside Kent with Rainbow Dash clasped tightly in her grasp as she attempted to keep up her best saddened child act.
Kent reached into his jacket and pulled out a roll of dollar bills. "Oh, of course," he stated, placing it in Xanadu's outstretched hand. She doesn't say anything, slipping the roll down her shirt without hesitation.
The questionable magic orb in the center of the table lit up to a pure white as she closed her eyes, a wild breeze suddenly appearing and blowing her hair back behind her. The light above swayed and creaked, the table shaking ever so slightly as the curtains blew rapidly with the wind.
Faith blinked, unphased as she looked around, spotting the obvious causes to what some may think were supernatural phenomenons. She had learnt how to decipher fake magic from real magic, and this was definitely fake.
As the candles suddenly blew out, Madam Xanadu's eyes snapped open, glowing a blinding white. "Oh, my darling. How I've missed you." Her voice was wavering, pitched higher then it was. "My child, you have grown so much since I last saw you. Grown into a beautiful young lady."
Faith was immediately creeped out, her nose turning up in slight disgust at the words. Kent's wife never met her, she had died long before Faith's mother had even gave birth.
Kent bursted out into laughter at the failed attempt of contacting the dead. "Th-that's the best you could do?"
Everything clattered to their original places, as Xanadu's eyes returned to their natural shade, an angered expression plastered over her face. "Imbecile! You have broken the spell. Your wife is forever lost."
Faith scoffed, bouncing up and slamming her hands on the table. "That not magic. And his wife never even met me," she exclaimed a triumphant grin across her face, holding her hand out and pointing Rainbow Dash at Xanadu who flinched back. "Even Rainbow Dash knows fake magic when she sees it."
"Th-that supposed to be my wife? Heck, my little Spitfire would've kicked my can for throwin' away good money on you," Kent added, still laughing at the attempt in contacting the deceased.
"No refunds for non-believers," Xanadu huffed as she stood up out of her chair and crossed her arms.
"Faith, do you want to show her?" Kent offered as he also stood, collecting his cane from where it rested against the circular table.
Faith eagerly bounced around the room, pointing out the different types of mechanisms around the room that mimicked a supernatural phenomenon. It was pretty impressive, and if Kent and Faith weren't magic users themselves, perhaps they would have fell for it.
She then stops beside the front door, hand grasped around the door handle with a wide grin across her face.
Xanadu was lost for words, opening her mouth to snap back when Kent beat her to it. "A shame, too. You have the perfect aura for the work, and nothing would've pleased me more than to be reunited with my bride." He opened his golden pocket watch, looking down at the picture in longingly, a desire to be reunited with her and to be able to tell her all about Faith and how much he cared for his daughter adopted daughter. Kent really wished she would have met Faith.
As Kent goes to follow Faith, who has already stepped out the door, he's stopped by a large man who emerged from the shadows opposite the room. Abra Kadabra grabbed the collar of his shirt effortlessly. "You will be with her soon enough," he promised through his thick accent, holding the older man off the ground. His head then turned to Faith who was frozen fearfully in place, her body trembling with her little heart thumping loudly in her chest. Kadabra lunged for her, but she ducked quickly, dropping to the floor with a thud before scrambling to her feet.
"Faith! Run!" Kent insisted as he saw the girl's ancient magic twinkle from her fingertips. "Get to the Tower and find Nov—" he was cut off as Kadabra threw him loosely to the side, knocking the man unconscious from the strength used. Kadabra whipped his wand out from his back pocket and pointed it in Faith's direction, a zap of blue electricity appearing that striked at the girl.
Faith screamed in pain as she fell before forcing herself to scramble away, not having enough confidence in herself to fight a villain as dangerous as Abra Kadabra. All she heard was a cry of pain from Kent before the sound vanished as she ran down the streets of New Orleans, not sure where to go.
She just ran. She ran as fast as her little legs would take her, trying to remember the directions to either; the closest Zeta-Tube or to the Tower of Fate.
Except, Faith couldn't remember the specific locations of the Zeta-Tubes and she wasn't strong enough to summon a portal to the Tower. That night, she managed to find her way to a local restaurant Kent frequently took her to, the manager knowing her face and noticing how distraught she was when she showed up.
The manager, who Faith never remembered the name of, admitted he didn't have space at his home for her but offered the restaurant for her to rest at for the night. The next day he'd comeback and help her out with anything she needed, though there wasn't much a mortal can do to find the sorcerer supreme.
That night, Faith laid in one of the surprisingly comfortable booths with a fluffy rug the manager had dropped off for her, crying herself to sleep as she hoped Kent would be okay and Nova would comeback soon.
She knew that when Nova cameback from whatever vacation she was on, she'd make everything be okay. That's what Nova did, she made things better. That was her talent, that was her superpower. That, and overprotective mentoring. So much so there were many times Faith would think of her fuzzy memories regarding the sorcerer and think about how much she reminded her of a mother. It worked though. Faith genuinely thought of Nova as the mother she never met.
✨
THE NEXT DAY, FAITH WAS STARTLED AWAKE AS SHE HEARD SOMEONE MURMURING HER NAME A HAND PLACED ON HER SHOULDER AND TRYING TO SHAKE HER AWAKE. She had immediately jumped up, forgetting the thin booth she was on and instead falling to the floor, hitting her head on the corner of the table.
She cried again as a throbbing pain hit her immediately after before her eyes adjusted to the girl standing in front of her. "Zatanna!" She exclaimed happily through a quivering voice and hazy eyes, immediately diving for the raven-haired Homo Magi descendent, grateful that someone found her.
Zatanna murmured back a greeting, hugging Faith back tightly, hearing the younger girl continue to cry out of gratitude for being fortunate enough that someone she knew found her first. And turned out, Kent had given the manager a few numbers to contact if she ever got lost and could only remember her way back to this place.
"You're okay now, Faith," came the calming tone of Giovanni Zatara as he approached them after talking to the manager of the restaurant.
"Thank you..." she murmured as he picked her up effortlessly, passing his cane to his daughter and carrying the youngest out.
Faith was silent as she was carried back to the Zatara residence, her grip around her My Little Pony toy never loosening. She held onto it like was a lifeline.
After changing into a fresh pair of clothes, some spare pairs from Zatanna's closet, Faith took the spare bedroom in the family apartment, gladly taking the time to rest in an actual bed, attempting to ease her mind and not think of Kent and how Abra Kadabra took him from her.
She just kept telling herself that the League would find him eventually, right? And if they don't, soon Nova would return. Nova would make everything right, but was the young girl putting to much hope into a single dream? Those around her certainly thought she was, truly believing that Nova had either packed up and left over six years ago or was killed in a battle to protect Doctor Fate from those wishing to abuse the Helmet's power.
But she knew deep down that Nova was alive. She didn't know how or why she left long ago, she just had a gut feeling that Nova was still out there somewhere, fighting for what she believes in and continuing to protect the earth she's loved for almost two hundred years. The only difference was that she was no longer a golden ray of hope in the darkest moment, she returned to what she was before the ancient magic was inserted into her veins, before immortality became her burden to carry alone. Before she was even titled a hero.
She was a beloved vigilante that danced through the shadows each night, keeping the streets safe and protecting Faith like she said she always would. Nova Star was Faith Nelson's guardian angel.