The night was as still as water, and Wayne Manor slept within the boundary where shadows and memories intertwined.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVVW0P4UkDM
Jason sat in a chair, stiff, not looking away for even a second.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wbQhZI7fQ
The girl on the bed had her eyes closed, her breathing steady, as if she'd just fallen asleep—except this sleep had lasted six years.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5G33NLT36
He never imagined he’d see her again. Not like this.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNACuIgUs7o
And now, he had brought her back to his own room.
A room that had always held only himself and his shadows.
Nana’s old room was now Stephanie’s. That girl, who always came and went like the wind, had somehow become the most space-consuming presence in the entire manor.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡky4RzErSf2
Jason’s own room, though he’d been gone for years, was still kept perfectly in order by Alfred—as if he had never left.
Jason leaned down and gently smoothed out Nana’s black hair. Her long hair was like ribbon, falling across the pillow strand by strand. He carefully spread it out, like preparing a sacred object for a ritual. Then he sat back in the chair, quietly keeping watch.
Six years.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQuUdQRFSR
He closed his eyes and asked himself: what had he done in these six years?44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadQegnwdM0
He smoked. Drank. Fought.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9l5x7rZ5N
He yelled at the world and drowned in himself.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiKWJfXpNw
“…What the hell have I been doing all this time?”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IRvMojI1V
He didn’t speak aloud—just let his gaze lightly rest on her face.
The communicator buzzed, breaking the silence.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBurz6MFzI
Batman’s message was short and cold: “Down to the Batcave. Now.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujKurz5iTH
Jason turned for one last look at Nana lying on the bed. She didn’t move, as if that moment had been sealed in eternity.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1D0TMJn1zK
He quietly shut the door behind him.
Hours later, the door opened again.
Jason had only meant to come in quietly, to sit back down beside the bed, to continue whispering his prayers to this miracle.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVG0HXPnOv4
But as soon as he stepped into the room, he froze.
There were two extra people in the room—two little troublemakers.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3e05e9WLbh
Cassandra and Stephanie were “decorating” Nana’s long hair like they were wrapping a present.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAYPShHtvx
They sat on the edge of the bed, braiding her hair into intricate plaits and clipping in pearl-like ornaments.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7BZvdjLdG
She looked like some goddess of flowers from mythology being adorned for a festival.
Jason’s eyebrow twitched.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfAJ6NoUWih
“…What are you doing.”
The two girls glanced at each other and smiled like kids caught sneaking candy.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnJm0z78py
“Pretty, right?” Stephanie clapped her hands and stood up.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrerPjeNzy4
Cassandra quietly packed up the accessory box, her movements swift and efficient.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVkLPg4eBO
“We’re leaving now,” Cassandra said softly, nodding to Nana as if saying goodnight.
Just as they reached the door, Stephanie suddenly turned around, flipped her hair, and smiled with a mischievous glint.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxh6wMztcFu
“Oh, right. Congrats, Jason, you finally broke our prediction.”
Jason: “…What prediction?”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ17BjtzLbcc
Stephanie said it seriously, “We all thought you were gay. I mean, you hadn’t been near a woman in years.”
Jason’s eyes widened.
“But you’ve made me believe in love again.” She made a heart gesture with her hands.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFb4JGGVGKX
“—Get out!”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHUXo4qvX7
Jason roared and slammed the door behind them, shaking the frame.
The room was quiet again.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxjlwoSOpWk
Jason returned to the bedside, looking at the sleeping girl, as if he could hear her dreams through time.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfHwV6Zowo
She remained still. That loud slam hadn’t stirred her at all.
——The door opened again.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKiXRx3x5D
“Hey, forgot to say,” Stephanie poked her head in, looking innocent, “All the missing words in the scrapbook have reappeared.”
Before she even finished, she closed the door again herself.
Jason took a deep breath, staring at the closed door with a twitching mouth, but didn’t curse aloud.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC9QRkvE8MR
He turned around and pulled out the familiar scrapbook from the bedside drawer.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30SaDfhlWw
The cover was already worn, but he remembered every page she had collaged, every article she had clipped, every handwritten note she left.
He flipped it open—44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhKlK91Jx0
The words were back.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMPPzuGOaC
The annotations that had once vanished into thin air, the traces of love and memory, were now neatly printed on the pages again.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHU5NRt7sf
Jason flipped through slowly, letting his fingertips brush each word.
Sunday was still two days away. And to Jason, those two days felt endless.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuAKPefmcSV
Though Nana was still asleep, the atmosphere in Wayne Manor was like a festival, making it hard for him to breathe.
The two little troublemakers—the girls who treated Nana like a life-sized doll—came in almost every day, crouching at the bedside to whisper, bringing hair clips, ribbons, glitter, satin… as if they were dressing up the sleeping princess from a fairy tale.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnVV06bzI08
They seriously discussed which hairstyle would best suit “the future-awake Nana,” even saying things like, “We should reserve her style early, or it’ll be a waste if she wakes up with messy hair.”
Dick wasn’t much better.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ558LQ2h1F6
If he wasn’t coming in for selfies, he was trying to record a “Welcome Back” video, muttering things like, “She’s my little sister, of course I have to post about it—well, anonymously, on the Gotham Observer fan account.”
Batman and Alfred, on the other hand, simply sat by the bed in silence, just watching, saying nothing.
Tim came and went, notebook in one hand and recorder in the other, like he was conducting some kind of informal interview.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYBBdB1NWs
He asked Jason a bunch of questions—about Nana’s temperature, aura fluctuations, whether new words had appeared in the scrapbook.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Lw4lXJka1
Jason tried to be patient, but eventually he lost it and yelled: “She’s not awake yet! What the hell are you even recording?!”
Damian was perhaps the most infuriatingly simple.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTyUAHU0h8
He walked in, glanced once, stared at Nana’s thin wrists and delicate collarbones, and coldly muttered, “Weak.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNwLfpFiYB4
Then he walked out.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qbynQx8Nl
Like a hawk evaluating prey, losing interest and turning away.
Jason watched everyone come and go like they were touring an attraction, and his unease grew.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGwwJfkGKa
Nana was his.
He brought her back—pulled her from the seams of the world.
This half-hearted contact made him uncomfortable to the core.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbVsvadJY1
If it weren’t for the people here helping care for her, Jason would’ve taken her away already.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjPSnYQKTP
He wanted to hide her—wanted her to wake up only in front of him.
Finally, Sunday arrived.
Wayne Manor put on what could only be called a miraculous team performance.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6vtsBwZ7l
Everyone acted like a brand-new person, as if they had truly become devout Christians.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xN4FqRYTr
They woke up early, washed up, put on formal suits or dresses.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPi0AcOXOZ
Jason even saw Damian tying a tie—without insulting anyone.
At the breakfast table, they opened a freshly bought box of Bibles, flipping through them like students cramming before an exam.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKrV7VGzL8
Pages rustled, and people argued over which verse would catch a god’s attention best.
As for donations—44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkF8aNNtjP
That turned into a full-on farce.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQsYNgtGHBN
Stephanie had prepared a thick stack of cash in a handbag, saying “Gods deserve style.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW64TBeQozw
Alfred stopped her just in time, insisting they could only bring coins.
The whole mansion was ransacked like it was doomsday prepping—coins turned up from sofa cushions, behind bookshelves, even from the bottom of Damian’s weapon crate.
Finally, the group set off.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuOk3ORCex
Each of them holding a Bible, dressed neatly, solemn expressions on their faces.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7BWz3L7b5
Like they were headed to face divine judgment.
When they entered the church, they weren’t the Batfamily anymore.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1s3X3eVuFU
They were Gotham’s most un-Gotham-like believers.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5a82ejWBk
Singing hymns, listening to sermons, bowing and kneeling—they fully embraced their roles.
As they walked out of the church, sunlight streamed down in a perfect golden slant.
“To be honest,” Dick said, loosening his tie, “That was kinda refreshing.”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcTuESk4C7
Stephanie clapped, “Is this the new Wayne family bonding activity? Can we do a prayer marathon next time?”44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3jIJ9KuH9
Tim murmured, “So… did it work?”
Just as everyone was still teasing, still wondering whether the gods had sensed anything from them—44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBSrSDSqQT
Alfred’s message came in.
“Everyone, I have good news. Miss Nana is awake.”
For a moment, the entire scene froze.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kkwEGntVM
“What?!” Dick nearly dropped his phone.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIabn17xJD
Jason read the message and didn’t say a word.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMybPbrVhA
He ran straight for his motorcycle.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAH8L3hidjo
A second later, there was only the sound of the engine and dust in the air.
Batman furrowed his brow and asked quietly,44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hnMpA5K0V
“Alfred… so what’s the bad news?”
“The bad news is… Miss Nana cried alone in her room because all her believers had vanished.”
Everyone: ???!!!
“Well, just hurry back.”
The team instantly fell apart.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBGo4F8g10
A group of church-dressed individuals, still smelling of incense and guilt, scattered like lightning toward their vehicles.
Gotham’s goddess had awakened—44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡma3MIsgOyx
But her very first tear…44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡov4nNy9FbE
Was because her believers had all disappeared at once.
Everyone’s guilt went through the roof.
44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4qJ9eqniU
and then Add to home screen.