Nora lowered her gaze to the ring resting quietly in her palm.
She remembered bringing it back after waking from the dream.
She had placed it inside a small box in her desk drawer, together with the Heart of the Ocean.
She still had no idea how Tim had managed to find it.
As silence settled between them, Tim finally spoke.
His voice was so quiet it sounded almost like a plea.
"Please..."
"...don't leave me again."
He looked at her.
Those blue eyes that were always calm, rational, and endlessly analytical held no calculations now.
No deductions.
No careful reasoning.
Only the fear of someone who couldn't bear to lose the person he loved a second time.
In that moment, he wasn't the brilliant detective everyone admired.
He was simply an ordinary man who had lowered his pride...
and surrendered completely to love.
Nora met his gaze.
She didn't look away.
Instead, she answered those pleading blue eyes with a gentle smile before speaking softly, each word steady and sincere.
"There are no borders between dreams, and yesterday still awakens in tomorrow.
From this day on, when you're awake, I'll walk through this world beside you.
And when you fall asleep, I'll stand watch over your dreams.
Even if we're separated...
I'll follow the trail of every dream until I find my way back to you."
Tim never looked away.
He held her gaze until she'd spoken the very last word.
Only then did he give the slightest nod.
His voice was rough with emotion.
"Thank you..."
He hesitated before asking almost timidly,
"...May I put the ring on you now?"
Nora smiled.
Slowly, she extended her right hand toward him, palm facing down, offering it without a word.
Tim lowered his head.
Carefully, he picked up the ring.
His fingers trembled, but they never loosened their gentle hold around her hand.
Then...
very slowly...
he guided the ring over her fingertip.
A little farther.
And farther still.
Until at last...
it came to rest on her ring finger.
Tim stared at the ring for a long, silent moment.
His soul...
had finally found its home.
The sitting room remained utterly silent.
Everyone watched the scene unfold before them.
No one interrupted.
No one spoke.
Yet the same thought quietly surfaced in every heart.
They had just witnessed...something profoundly important.
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Just then, Nora lifted a hand and gave Tim's chest a light pat.
She smiled.
"All right, all right."
"The pact is sealed."
"Now let's bring Leila back."
Jason had been standing nearby with his arms folded.
The moment he heard those words, he slowly straightened.
Somewhere deep in his mind, a memory he'd nearly forgotten quietly resurfaced.
Gotham will take everyone you love.
It was a long time ago.
So long ago that he had still been nothing more than a skinny kid growing up in Crime Alley.
Someone had said those words to him.
Little Jason had looked up without a trace of fear in his eyes.
Only a stubborn determination that refused to yield.
He'd clenched his fists...
looked the man straight in the eye...
and answered,
"Then I'll make the damn city spit them back out."
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The chauffeur opened the car door, and Leila hopped out with practiced ease. Her little dress shoes tapped brightly against the pavement as she landed.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Carter!"
She waved cheerfully to the kindergarten teacher waiting at the entrance before heading inside to pick up her younger brother.
Children's laughter echoed through the familiar hallways.
The classrooms were filled with colorful building blocks, crayons, and sheets of paper, while the faint scent of wax crayons lingered in the air.
As she passed one classroom, Leila suddenly stopped.
Something had caught her attention.
She slowly turned her head.
Through the half-open classroom door, she saw a little blonde girl sitting quietly at a table, her head lowered as she carefully drew, one stroke at a time.
For some reason, an overwhelming feeling welled up inside Leila.
I have to meet her.
There was no reason.
No explanation.
It was simply as though a quiet voice inside her had given her a gentle push, urging her forward.
She walked over to the table and looked down at the drawing.
Pointing to the winged figure on the paper, she asked curiously,
"Is that a butterfly?"
The unexpected voice startled the blonde girl.
Her shoulders flinched slightly as she looked up at the older dark-haired girl standing beside her.
Only then did Leila notice her eyes.
They were an extraordinary shade of green—
clear and luminous, like a sunlit lake hidden deep within a spring forest.
The little girl stared at her for a moment before giving a small nod.
"...Mm-hmm."
"It's a butterfly."
Leila lowered her head, thinking.
A second later, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wait right here!"
"I'm going to get someone. Just wait for me, okay?"
To emphasize her promise, she nodded enthusiastically, as though swearing she would absolutely come back.
Then she spun around and ran out of the classroom.
Left sitting alone at the table, Nora watched the older girl disappear down the hallway.
Her little face filled with confusion.
...Get someone?
Who?
She tilted her head, having no idea what the girl was planning.
A short while later, hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway once again.
The girl had indeed come back.
And this time, she was holding another child's hand.
The little boy looked about the same age as Nora.
He wore the same kindergarten uniform, though there was a quiet composure about him that set him apart from the other children.
His blue eyes calmly took in his surroundings as his sister cheerfully tugged him over.
Leila gave him a gentle push between the shoulders and smiled.
"Let me introduce you."
"This is my little brother, Tim."
Then she turned back toward the blonde girl.
"Tim, this is..."
She stopped mid-sentence.
Only then did she realize...
she had absolutely no idea what the girl's name was.
Silence filled the air for a second.
The blonde girl blinked.
Seeing the flustered look on Leila's face, she kindly rescued her.
"I'm Nora."
"Right! Right!"
"It's Nora!"
Leila beamed as though she had just accomplished a very important mission.
She clapped her hands together happily.
"Perfect!"
"Now you two can be friends!"
Completely satisfied, she looked from Tim to Nora.
The two children, meeting for the very first time, simply stood there, quietly looking at one another—blue eyes meeting green.
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Just as Leila had hoped...
From the day she brought Tim over to Nora, smiled brightly, and declared, "Now you two can be friends," they were rarely apart.
In elementary school, the moment the final bell rang, they would leave the school gates together.
Some afternoons they went back to Drake Manor, where they sat side by side at the same desk to do their homework.
Tim always worked through every problem with neat, orderly handwriting.
Nora, on the other hand, had a habit of drifting off halfway through an assignment, her gaze wandering out the window until Tim gently tapped her notebook with his pencil.
Only then would she stick out her tongue sheepishly and return to her work.
Whenever Nora forgot to bring a textbook, Tim was always the first person she thought of.
"Can I borrow yours?"
"Sure."
There was never any unnecessary conversation.
Tim would simply hand it over.
Eventually, he even got into the habit of keeping an extra set of notes, just in case she missed copying something again.
At lunchtime, they always sat together.
Their classmates had long since grown used to the sight.
Some even joked that if you found Tim, you would always find Nora nearby.
Then one day, the teasing started.
Some of the students began throwing around an unpleasant nickname behind their backs—Drake's little duckling—and a few deliberately made snide remarks within earshot of Tim.
Tim merely looked at them once, calm and unreadable.
He didn't react.
Nora did.
She walked straight over.
Not long afterward, the boys with the sharpest tongues all ended up sporting black eyes and bruised faces.
In the end, it was Tim who quietly stepped in to handle the aftermath.
He apologized where necessary.
He spoke to the teachers.
He explained exactly what had happened.
As always, he cleaned up every loose end.
The years passed like that.
By the time they entered middle school, Tim had become student council president.
Naturally, Nora became vice president.
They spent nearly every day together in the student council office, organizing events, sorting paperwork, and managing school affairs before staying after classes to finish whatever work remained.
The only thing that consistently gave Tim a headache...
was Nora's math.
Before every exam, he'd practically drag her into the library and patiently explain each problem one at a time.
"That's not how you solve this."
"But I'm pretty sure the answer is right."
"...You skipped half the steps again."
"But I already did them in my head."
"Write them down."
"...Okay."
There was, however, one other thing that quietly bothered him.
The captain of the football team.
At some point, the boy had started appearing around Nora with suspicious frequency.
He'd bring her drinks.
Flowers.
Find excuses to start conversations.
Nora, completely oblivious, never noticed any of it.
Tim noticed everything.
Before long, though no one ever found out how, the football captain suddenly became impossibly busy.
There was always another team practice.
Another student leadership meeting.
Another competition a teacher had volunteered him for.
Busy enough that he no longer had time to exchange even a few words with Nora.
Throughout it all, Tim remained exactly as he always was—
calm,
composed,
as though absolutely nothing had happened.
Then, on his sixteenth birthday...Tim finally confessed his feelings to Nora.
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When the news finally spread, Leila smiled with quiet satisfaction.
She folded her arms across her chest, looking like someone who had finally completed a long-awaited mission, then gave an approving nod.
"I knew it."
"I've known for a long time that you two were perfect for each other."
Nora smiled and turned to look at her, those beautiful green eyes resting gently on Leila.
"What about you?"
"What about your person?"
Leila waved the question away with an easy laugh.
"I don't have one."
Nora continued looking at her.
"No."
Her voice was soft, yet filled with quiet certainty.
"Think carefully."
"Someone is waiting for you."
"And they're heartbroken."
Leila froze.
She stared into Nora's green eyes, and for reasons she couldn't explain, her thoughts suddenly became tangled.
Someone... is waiting for me?
Who?
Who's crying?
Then, a familiar voice drifted toward her from somewhere impossibly far away.
Gentle.
Tender.
As if it were whispering right beside her ear.
"Always love you."
Leila stood perfectly still.
The voice was so achingly familiar that, although she couldn't remember who it belonged to, something inside her chest clenched painfully.
Her nose stung.
Warmth gathered behind her eyes.
Suddenly, she wanted to cry.
She didn't know why.
She only knew that, deep within her heart, a vague thought quietly surfaced.
If I let the tears fall...
Someone would be there to wipe them away.
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Jason stood beside the bed, silently watching the two figures lying there.
Tim slept peacefully.
Beside him lay his mechanical girlfriend.
It sounded absurd.
A few years ago, if someone had told Jason that one day he'd be standing in a bedroom, watching his little brother sleep beside an android while placing every last shred of hope in her hands, he would've called them insane.
And yet...
This was the only hope he had left.
The android's name was Nora.
According to her, she possessed the ability to bring things back from dreams.
This time...
The one they were bringing back was Leila.
When everyone had gathered to discuss the situation, Nora had carefully explained how her ability worked.
Half of her soul existed in reality.
The other half remained within the dream world.
That was why, in the instant the explosion happened, she'd been able to reach Leila first, pulling her soul into the dream before it could disappear completely.
Now there was only one thing left to do.
Prepare a new body for Leila.
Then bring her home.
The entire plan sounded like something out of a fairy tale—so impossible that any reasonable person would have looked at it with skepticism.
Jason didn't.
He chose to believe.
Or perhaps...
He simply had no other choice.
Because beyond this, there wasn't a single remaining way to bring Leila back.
The room was utterly quiet.
Only the steady rhythm of breathing and the slow ticking of the clock's second hand broke the silence.
Originally, the rest of the Wayne family had intended to stay in the room and keep watch as well.
Then, just before falling asleep, Nora had calmly said,
"When I bring her body back..."
"...she might be naked."
"You should probably have some clothes ready."
The room had gone silent for several long seconds.
Jason was the first to react.
"Out."
He turned toward everyone else.
No one moved.
"Everybody out."
Then he started physically ushering them toward the door.
"Jason, I—"
"Out."
"TT."
"Out."
"I think I can—"
"No. You can't."
In the end, he shut the bedroom door without the slightest hesitation.
Now he was the only one left awake.
Beside the bed, he'd already laid out a clean change of clothes and a thick blanket, just in case.
Time slipped by.
Outside, the night grew darker.
Moonlight slowly drifted across the floor, painting a long ribbon of silver over the hardwood.
Before long, it was nearly midnight.
Jason had remained standing the entire night.
He never sat down.
He never left the room.
His eyes rarely strayed from the two sleeping figures on the bed.
There was no impatience.
No urging.
He simply stood there in silence.
Waiting for a miracle.
With his head lowered, he prayed the same prayer again...
and again...
and again.
Please.
Bring her back.
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Legend says that Jesus rose again on the seventh day after His death.
Leila's return felt no less miraculous.
Jason stood beside the bed, barely daring to breathe.
Then, in the very next instant, the air above the mattress shimmered.
There was no radiant light.
No magic circle.
No spectacular display.
A figure simply appeared out of nowhere, suspended barely an inch above the bed, as though someone had quietly placed her back into reality.
The moment she lost that invisible support, gravity took over.
Leila fell gently onto the mattress with the faintest rustle of fabric.
She landed on her back, her long black hair spilling across the white sheets like ink poured over fresh snow.
Jason moved the instant she appeared.
He snatched up the blanket he'd prepared beforehand and carefully—yet with desperate urgency—wrapped it around her, making sure not a single inch of skin remained exposed.
Only after he was certain she was completely covered did he slide his hands beneath her and gently turn her over.
And there she was.
The face he'd longed for through countless days and sleepless nights.
No blood.
No wounds.
None of the cold stillness of death.
She simply lay before him, peaceful and whole.
Jason's hand trembled as he reached toward her.
These hands had spent years gripping guns, throwing punches, and surviving violence. They were rough, calloused, and scarred.
Yet now they moved with heartbreaking care.
His fingertips brushed softly across her face.
Her forehead.
The corner of her eye.
The curve of her cheek.
"...I missed you so much."
His voice was barely more than a whisper.
The moment the words left his lips, the tears he'd been holding back finally escaped.
One drop.
Then another.
Falling onto her face.
Jason couldn't stop himself anymore.
He bent down and pulled Leila—blanket and all—into his arms, holding her so tightly that it seemed if he loosened his embrace for even a second, she would disappear again.
He lowered his head until his forehead rested against her shoulder.
His entire body shook.
Then...
A pair of warm hands slowly rose.
They gently cupped his face.
Her fingertips brushed away the tears streaming endlessly from his eyes.
Jason froze.
He lifted his head at once.
Leila's eyes were open.
Those dark eyes shimmered with tears of their own.
She looked at him as tears slipped silently down her cheeks, yet a gentle smile rested on her lips.
Jason smiled back.
He reached up and did for her exactly what she'd just done for him.
Carefully, he wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
But...
The moment he cleared one away...
Another took its place.
She wiped away his tears.
He wiped away hers.
It seemed neither of them would ever run out.
Eventually, they both laughed.
They laughed with red, tear-filled eyes.
They laughed while tears still clung to their cheeks.
In the end, they simply gave up trying to stop them.
Without another word, they closed the distance between them...
and kissed.
Holding each other as though neither of them would ever let go again.
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"...Should we leave?"
Nora lowered her voice to little more than a whisper.
She genuinely didn't want to interrupt the reunion unfolding before them.
Besides...
This bed had already been through enough for one night.
On one side was a couple who had just found each other again after believing they were lost forever.
On the other sat the bed's rightful owner, a mechanical body, and Nora, whose soul had finally returned to her own flesh.
One bed.
Five people.
It was getting a little crowded.
Tim glanced down at her but didn't answer.
Instead, he quietly pulled the blanket up around her, carefully wrapping her from shoulders to feet until she resembled a cocoon, leaving only her face peeking out so she wouldn't catch a chill.
Only then did he lift his gaze toward the other side of the bed.
Jason was still holding Leila as though the rest of the world no longer existed.
He lowered his head again and again, pressing kisses against her forehead...
Her cheek...
Then softly capturing her lips.
No matter how many times he kissed her, it never seemed enough to convince himself she was truly back.
Tim watched in silence.
Several quiet seconds passed.
Finally—
"Hmph."
The sound wasn't loud.
It carried just enough annoyance to say, Fine... I'll let you have this one.
He couldn't even be bothered to interrupt.
Instead, Tim bent down, scooped Nora up—blanket and all—and lifted her effortlessly into his arms.
Wrapped so completely in the comforter, she looked like an oversized caterpillar with only a small, pale face peeking out.
Holding her securely, he stood and headed toward the walk-in closet to find her something clean to wear.
The moment Nora heard that unmistakably jealous little hmph, she couldn't hold it in anymore.
A laugh escaped her.
Her shoulders trembled as she giggled, and she naturally rested her head against Tim's chest.
Tim looked down at her.
He didn't say a word.
He simply tightened his arms around her ever so slightly.
The door to the dressing room clicked shut behind them.
A heartbeat later...
The two of them, already in complete agreement without exchanging a single word, leaned in and kissed.
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End of Extra Story: What If We Had Met in College
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