Prisma19: Actually... Mari is the older sibling. In my version of things, Jake is two years younger.

Dick: you know, you aren't the only person to depict Mari as older than Jake.

I know.

Damian: how do people come to that conclusion?

Tim: yeah, as far as I know, they've never been featured in the same comic together.

Jason: or mentioned at the same time.

Tim: you know, canonically.

I think everyone gets it from the fact that the 'Nightstar' comic came before whatever comic Jake was featured in. That's why I chose to make Mari older, anyway.

Dick: so why choose a two-year age difference?

Because I'm not making her, like, 20 years older than Jake. It doesn't sit right with me.


Batman yawned into his glove. Interplanetary meetings were the worst kind of meetings. There were always some weird yellow or purple or whatever creatures yelling at each other in different languages. There were also humanoid-like figures, but they were also busy shouting in a different language.

The worst part was that, ever since Dick and Kory got together, he was even more tied into the interplanetary goings on. Sure, being part of the Justice League had given him a lot, but this was even WORSE now.

At least they managed to convince Galfore that they were allies. The best way to do that was with a Tamaranean wedding. Batman almost smiled to himself thinking about that.

"Bruce, do you HAVE to think about that wedding arrangement EVERY TIME we come out here?" Diana asked through the psychic link. Batman rolled his eyes, which went unnoticed by all because of his cowl, and gave her a near invisible smirk.

Uh, YEAH, I do. It's the only way to keep myself from pure boredom up here.

Instead, he thought back to her, "You really expect me not to think about my son's intergalactic wedding every time we come to space?"

Diana huffed in the link and went silent. Batman smirked to himself, continuing to think about that wedding.

They managed to convince Galfore that Dick was the prince of Gotham. With Batman going around being the person who was basically in charge of everything, Dick being technical siblings with Barbara, daughter of the police commissioner, and the fact that, like, EVERY girl in Gotham wanted to marry him (to this day) he could technically be considered a prince. So a royal wedding between the two planets made them automatic allies.

And poor Dick still didn't realize that half the universe thought he was royalty. Batman was determined to keep that a secret for as long as he could.

Everyone (except for him, of course) jumped when a loud ringing broke through the yelling. All heads turned to him. He looked down at his hologlove and read the message. Superman leaned over and read the message as well.

"'Story time is being interrupted'?" he asked. Batman sighed. He typed something into his glove. He frowned for a second. Typed something else in. And coughed to cover up a laugh. He brought up his arm to shield the smile on his face, getting rid of the message and hiding whatever he had just seen.

"What is it, ally Batman?" Galfore asked. Batman sat back up and typed something into his glove, closing everything out.

"Something is going on back on Earth," he said. "Nothing my team can't handle."

He turned back to everyone gathered around the meeting table.

"Please, let's continue," he said.

"Let's continue this interplanetary argument about who cheated at golf," he thought. Diana kicked him under the table. "It's true… don't deny it."


"And… done," Jake declared. He removed the stolen Batman glove and unplugged the cord, shoving it under the desk and hoping no one would notice it. He still had no idea why Mari wanted to find their suits instead of just Batman's, but maybe the whole 'superhero' concept was going to her head.

"That's a spare glove, by the way," she said. She flew back over to the wall where their suits had been hidden. Jake frowned at her, removing the mask that she insisted he wear.

"So?" he asked. She turned around and smiled at him, removing her mask as well.

"So… we can keep it," she said. Jake's eyes widened.

"Ok, now you're going too far," he said. Mari shrugged.

"Come on, it's not like they're gonna miss a spare glove," she said. Jake was about to say something when the batcomputer screen lit up. Both kids froze and stared as a message came up on the screen.

From: Batman

Re: Anonymous

Mess: Mari and Jake, if you guys insist on using the batcomputer, make sure you close everything out and don't ever reveal what you found on it. That makes it funnier.

-B

Mari and Jake glanced at each other and both busted out laughing. Mari nudged Jake in the shoulder.

"Told you we wouldn't get in trouble," she said. Jake rolled his eyes and glanced down at his phone, where the information from the glove was currently being transferred. He had suggested it so that they could access the information whenever they felt like it.

While he was thinking that it could be helpful to have, Mari was more concerned with using it for pranks. Jake had to admit… that sounded like fun.


Dick worked out how he was going to change up certain characters and still keep the plot. He knew he couldn't make Kory the mother in the story, and he knew for a fact that he would never abandon his children in the woods, but he couldn't think of anyone better to be Hansel and Gretel than Mari and Jake.

He cleared his throat. Surely, he could get away with a couple of changes… besides, he had changed up some stories in the past, and Barbara's Cinderella wasn't even like the original. It felt like more of a Disney cartoon than anything but told in a Barbie setting.

Once upon a time, there was a very poor family who lived in the woods.

Steph groaned again, leaning her head back against the couch.

"Why are all of these families poor?" she asked. "Not every family in the world is poor!"

"Well, some of them are," Jason told her. "And they can relate to the characters in some of these stories."

"How do you know that?" Steph asked snarkily, turning to him. Everyone was silent, waiting for the realization to strike her. When it finally did, she facepalmed and leaned back again.

"Forget I said anything…" she said. Jason winked at Dick, who fought down a smirk.

Now, the family consisted of a cruel mother, a father who loved his children, and the two children, one boy and one girl. Or, at least, that's how it was in the original. But I'm changing it to be a stupid man and his girlfriend's sister.

"Wait… you and Kory aren't married?" Steph asked. Damian turned to her slowly.

"How do you figure that it's Grayson and Kory?" he asked. Steph shrugged.

"'Stupid man and girlfriend's sister'," she said. "Not to mention two kids. He kinda gave it away."

"I feel disappointed in myself for not guessing that," Tim said. Dick breathed out a laugh.

One day, the girlfriend's sister, who may or may not have been named Mandy, told the stupid man, the kids' father, aka Me, to go and leave the kids alone in the woods.

Damian frowned at him.

"Yes, you're stupid, but you wouldn't do that," he said. Dick nodded.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said with a smile. "But there inlies the problem…"

"The problem?" Jason asked. Dick nodded.

"Yeah… I'm not sure what could possibly possess me to do such a thing."

Barbara's hand was in the air immediately. Dick sighed.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked her.

The stupid man, aka Dick, aka you, refused to do so. So, while he was working outside cutting down trees or something, I don't know, she led the kids out of the cabin and into the woods.

Dick blinked at her.

"Actually… that works pretty well," he said. He smiled at her. "Thanks, Babs."

"Don't call me that," Barbara said.


Mari and Jake peeked around the corner of the room with the grandfather clock. Everyone was gathered in the living room, already listening to their dad telling another story. Mari turned to Jake nervously.

"Well… we won't be able to sneak past them this time, not like this," she admitted. Jake looked at the window.

"What if we come in from upstairs?" he asked. Mari scoffed.

"How are we supposed to do that? Find a rope?" she asked. Jake turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. Her face turned red when she remembered that they could both fly and she let out a nervous chuckle.

"Oh… right," she said. Jake pointed towards the window.

"Come on," he said. Mari followed him.


Thankfully for the kids, the oldest one, who, in this version of the story, is going to be Mari, was listening to their aunt tell their dad to bring them out into the woods. She was happy when she heard her dad say no, but, just to be safe, she snuck out the back door and started collecting a bunch of white stones from the garden.

Later that day, because I was busy chopping down trees according to Barbara, Mandy went inside the cottage and told the kids to follow her. Mari and her brother Jake followed her, but Mari was a bit more hesitant. She started dropping the stones along the path that their aunt led them down.

Eventually, they came to a rest. Mandy said that she would go and look for Me, and she left them there.

When nighttime came and she never came back, Mari decided to tell Jake that they were abandoned in the woods.

"What?" Jake asked. "Dad would never do that."

"Why do you think aunt Mandy was the one who brought us out here?" she asked. Jake shrugged. She had a point.

"How are we gonna get back?" he asked. Mari gestured to the pebbles that she had left.

"Follow the white-stoned trail," she said. Jake frowned at her.

"You just directly ripped of 'Wizard of Oz'," he mentioned. Mari nodded.

"That I did."

"No regrets?"

"No regrets."

And they followed the trail of pebbles.

"Imagine turning THAT into a song," Jason said.

"'Follow the Yellow Brick Road'?" Tim asked. Jason shook his head.

"No," he said. "'Follow the White-Stoned Trail'."

"Is it bad that that actually sounds better than 'Yellow Brick Road'?" Barbara asked. Jason shrugged.

"People get tired of the same thing over and over," he said. "'White-stoned Trail' is something new."

"Can I get back to the story now?" Dick asked. Jason nodded.

"Yes, you may," he said. "It's just that we haven't provided commentary in a while."

Everyone was silent.

"Just kidding," Jason said. He started playing with his thumbs.

"Ok…" Dick said.


Mari flew up to her window and opened it slowly. She floated inside, Jake following her silently. They both landed on the floor, Mari closing the window behind Jake.

"Alright, what do we tell them if they ask where we've been?" Jake whispered to her. Mari put a finger to her chin in thought.

"We could tell them that we were catching up," she decided. She smiled at him. "It HAS been a couple years since we saw each other last."

Jake smiled at her and nodded. He checked the download bar on his phone. The information they had stolen from the computer was halfway done.

"Getting close?" she asked.

"Halfway there," he answered. The two headed over to the door and opened it gently, peeking down the stairs to where the story was still going on. Mari smiled at Jake.

"It looks like we didn't miss much," she said. Jake nodded.

"Yep."


Jake and Mari followed the trail of pebbles back to the cottage in the woods, where Me was very happy to see them and Mandy could've been having a better day.

After sending the kids to bed, Me and Mandy got into an argument.

"That's grammatically incorrect," Tim interrupted. "It should be 'Mandy and I'."

"I know," Dick said. "But I've basically named the dad Me by this point."

"Hi there, Me, nice to meet you," Jason said. Dick nodded.

"Likewise, You," he said. Both boys chuckled to themselves for a moment.

"I told you not to leave them in the woods, then you go and do it anyway!" Me shouted.

"No, you said YOU wouldn't do it!" Mandy shouted back. "So I went and did it FOR you!"

"Why do I tolerate you staying here anymore?!"

"Because my sister is your girlfriend!"

"Where is Kory, anyway?" Damian asked. Dick looked at the floor in thought for a moment.

"She's…"

"Overseas," someone interrupted. All heads turned to the door and spotted Kory and Mandy standing there. Mandy had her arms crossed, a bored expression on her face. Kory was smiling warmly.

"Kory!" Dick exclaimed. He jumped up and ran over to her, giving her a quick kiss. The boys all made faces behind them, which was probably the only thing that stopped Mandy from blasting Dick with a starbolt.

"Hey there, Dick," Kory greeted. "Sorry we couldn't come back last night. We got… busy…"

She cast an uneasy glance at Mandy, who just smiled innocently. Dick turned on a glare in her direction.

"It's not like we did anything illegal," she said. Dick's glare hardened.

"Don't worry, we didn't," Kory assured him. Dick's glare died. "And no, she did not give me any jewelry."

Dick nodded.

"Good… that's good."

"You guys are still telling stories?" Kory asked. Dick nodded and gestured to the couch.

"Yeah. We're telling Hansel and Gretel right now. Wanna join?" he asked. Kory glanced at Mandy, who just shrugged, arms still crossed. Both sat down and waited for Dick to continue the story. Kory glanced around vaguely for Jake and Mari, spotting them on the top of the stairs.

Alright… so, apparently Kory was overseas. Doing something. That's why Mandy was at the cabin, I guess.

"Wait… is it a cottage or a cabin?" Steph asked.

"Yeah, you keep switching them," Damian agreed. Dick shrugged.

"It's a tiny stone and wooden structure buried deep somewhere in the woods. Why does it matter?" he asked. Jason tsked him.

"Because it does," he said. The rest of the boys agreed with him and Barbara groaned.

"Just continue the story!" she exclaimed.

When Me wasn't paying attention again because stupid man- laughter, especially from Mandy -Mandy took the kids into the woods again. In the original, Hansel left breadcrumbs that were eaten by birds, so they got lost. This time, it was just unexpected and they couldn't prepare.

So she left them in the woods, they got lost, and they were never heard from again.

"The End," Dick said. Barbara threw a pillow at him.

"That is NOT how the story ends," she said. Jason and Tim nodded in agreement. Damian looked around at everyone and shrugged to himself. They knew the story better than him, anyway.

Dick huffed and crossed his arms.

Alright, alright, you caught me. That's not the ending of the story.

Jake and Mari wandered around the woods until they came upon a small cabin made out of cookies, gingerbread, and various kinds of candy.

Naturally, they decided to run over and start eating it.

"That's rude," Jason interrupted. "I've always found that very rude of them."

"What?" Tim asked him.

"Running up and eating the woman's house," he said. "It's always been so rude to me. I don't blame the- "

"SPOILERS!" Dick suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. Damian and Mandy had their hands over their ears at the volume. Dick smiled sheepishly, his face turning a little red. "I-I mean, not everyone in the room has heard the story, so… no spoilers."

From the top of the staircase, Mari and Jake bit their tongues to keep from bursting into sudden laughter.

"Jason," Dick said. Jason shrugged.

"Why not? I've already got the fiery death down," he said. Damian raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm surprised at how often you joke about that," he said. Jason waved a nonchalant hand.

"Better to joke about it then be depressed about it," he said. Tim's eyes narrowed.

"Jason no."

Dick cleared his throat, thinking about talking to Jason later.

Some person came out of the cabin. In the original, it was an old lady. In this, it's the former King Jason.

"Much more horrifying," Damian said. Jason and Tim burst into laughter.

There was something about bringing in the two kids and giving them food, and trying to eat Hansel or something, but since we've already faced the cannibalism thing, let's just move on to the part where Gretel pushed the witch into the fire.

"Expert storytelling," Barbara interrupted. Dick crossed his arms.

"It's true, isn't it?" he asked. "Remember the gas that made everyone hungry enough to consider cannibalism?"

"Now that I think about it, the cure wasn't strictly for cannibals," Damian thought out loud. "It just made everyone less hungry in general."

"Pancakes," Mari called down from the top of the staircase. Dick smirked to himself. Kory's eyes jumped from Mari to him, silently asking him something. Dick tilted his head slightly, then shook his head almost invisibly. Kory's posture seemed to relax.

How about, in this story, instead of being pushed into the fireplace, Jason just warned them never to eat his house again. The two kids would have agreed, run back to their house which they miraculously found somehow, and Kory was there and there was a happy family reunion. Yay!

"The End," Dick said. "For real this time."

There was some applause. Kory looked up at the stairs, where Mari and Jake were making their way down.

"You two ready to go home?" she asked. Jake whispered something into Mari's ear. She nodded slightly.

"Could we stay just a little bit longer?" she asked. Kory smiled.

"Of course," she said. Damian tapped Dick on the shoulder.

"You never answered the question earlier," he said. Dick frowned.

"What question?"

"Are you and Kory married?" he asked. Dick and Kory shared a long look.

"It's… uh…

"It's complicated…" Kory finished for him. Dick chuckled nervously.

"Um… next story is Amal and the Genie."


Dick: 'Well, Ali Baba had them 40 thieves'

Jason: 'Scheherazade had a thousand tales!'

Tim: 'Well master you're in luck, because up your sleeves'

Damian: ...what?

Dick: we'll work on it.