SOMETHING ABOUT KAELYN HAD CHANGED. Maybe she started to accept the truth she had been given, but truth was, she wasn't sure. The girl had fought so hard for so long she wasn't sure when to stop. All she had ever known was to fight. From the moment her parents disappeared, she was looking for them, then she fought crime with her boyfriend, then she defended the end of the world. Where was she meant to draw the line? What happened if she stopped?

"I can hear you thinking from here," Peter called her out from across the room as he read a book while sitting on her bed. Currently, they were on summer vacation before they had to literally redo their senior year which was a little infuriating. While Peter read, Kaelyn was on their school's website to sign them up for the summer trip for their class. It was a European tour that Kaelyn felt was fairly deserved after both of them literally carrying the world on their shoulders. Maybe the two of them needed a break from being superheroes. Even so, Peter still had to make quite a few appearances as Spider-Man. Meanwhile Red Riding Hood seemed to fade into the background... Kaelyn just might be okay with that.

"I think I want to retire," Kaelyn sighed as she shut her laptop and spun around in her desk chair to face her boyfriend. "What is there left for me to fight for? Tony's dead, the world is saved, I'm not needed anymore."

"New York has a pretty bad crime rate," Peter said with a shrug as he dog-eared the page he was on and placed the book next to him. "You could be my partner-in-crime, just like we were before all of this happened."

The girl shook her head gently as she avoided the boy's eyes she could feel boring into her soul with certain care and concern she still wasn't quite used to. "No, that's not it. That has always been your thing, first and foremost. I just... I think knowing I had powers gave me a sort of obligation to help, you know?"

"I do," the boy nodded as he motioned for her to come over to where he was sitting, moving to the side to give her room while she sat down next to him. Placing his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her gently, he continued, "I guess saving the world makes retiring sound really good, huh?"

"I don't wanna die like Tony," the truth slipped out before Kaelyn could stop herself. Before Peter could question her, she figured she might as well explain. "I mean, I know I'm some weird Super Soldier type of thing, but I'm not sure HYDRA took into account all the extraterrestrial beings out in the universe with things that could probably kill me. I don't want to build a life just to have it taken away from me on a battlefield I threw myself in. Watching him die like that... it's selfish, I know, but I'm not a hero. I was never supposed to be a hero. I mean, none of this would have happened if I had minded my business on that rooftop, huh?"

Peter laughed, pressing a kiss to the girl's forehead before he spoke, "Well, I'm glad you didn't. Mind your business, that is. Maybe you got more than you asked for, that's for sure, but we got each other out of it, didn't we? I still remember when you kissed me at that party, it was like my whole life changed."

"Oh, hush," the redhead teased as a small smile graced her features, "I'm your high school girlfriend, Peter, I mean, we love each other now, but how long do we have? How long does it take until all we have between us is shared trauma?"

"Hey, hey," the boy spoke, but his tone wasn't angry or critical, it was calming, comforting. "We don't have to worry about forever, you know? All we did was make sure we could have a forever. Which, for now, is finally a possibility. Just because we have a future now, doesn't mean we have to worry about it now. We're still kids even if we've held the world on our shoulders and I know that right now, I love you. If I don't five years from now, that's a problem in five years. We don't have to fight crime together to stay together, Kae. If you don't want to live your life under the hood, then don't."

"I don't," she spoke before she could change her mind, but already it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her chest. Kaelyn almost felt like she could breathe again. She hadn't even realized it but she could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "What we did for this stupid planet, I can't do it again. I'm not like you or the Avengers, I can only handle so much. I mean, we lost everything, Peter."

The boy sat there and listened, waiting for her to be done talking before he spoke again. His arms were around her tightly as he knew all the girl ever needed was a hug to start feeling better. Once she was done, he leaned his head on her shoulder and said, "Not everything. Superhero or not, we have each other. We have May, your parents who are actually surprisingly nice when you're not suspecting them of being nazis, you've got Beth, Caden. All the people who love us are still here, we're just --"

"Missing one," Kaelyn choked out, her voice finally breaking after holding on for so long. "I just know that I'm not strong enough. I can't do it anymore."

"It's not a question of whether or not you're strong enough," Peter corrected, "Because to look at your life and what you have done and make the decision that you know is best for yourself instead of choosing to do what everyone else? To me, that's stronger than putting the suit back on. I love you so much, Kaelyn, you taught me how to love someone this way. Whatever decision you make, I'm going to support you."

"God, how do you always know what to say?" Kaelyn said with a small laugh as she wiped her tears, turning in his arms to grab his face gently and press a kiss to his lips. When she pulled away, she pressed their foreheads together and her eyes met his. "I love you so much, Peter. I know we're kids and it's stupid, but if we're forever... I'm okay with that."

The boy smiled and it was a smile she would always fight to protect. Peter was everything to her and she knew he always would be. She didn't need to have on a superhero suit to have this, this could be hers. Not Red Riding Hood's but Kaelyn's. Peter's heart belonged to Kaelyn Albright before it belonged to anyone else and that was all that mattered.

Whispering into her lips as he kissed her again, she could just barely hear the boy say, "I think I'm okay with that, too."

So, Kaelyn hung up the superhero suit in the back of her closet. She would keep it there, just in case, but something felt different in the air now. For the first time in a really long time, she felt a freedom she couldn't remember ever experiencing before. The world didn't need her anymore and Kaelyn was okay with that. She was okay with that.

END OF UNFORTUNATE HEROES BOOK TWO.

So, this is kind of the last chapter of this story. Surprise! Since there's nothing I hate more than ending a story on an odd number, there will be a chapter twenty, but it is going to be an epilogue. I believe Kaelyn knowing the truth about her powers and where she got them and making the decision to retire her suit is the true end to this story. The story is called Unfortunate Heroes for a reason -- none of the main characters are meant to be a protagonist, in a way. They weren't bred for it, I didn't write them to be perfect heroes. So, Kaelyn and Peter's story is over. I originally planned on a third book but after seeing what little attention this one gets compared to the first book (literally 1/8th of the reads) and also just my own motivation with these characters and their story, I thought it best to keep this series a duology. I'm not going to pull a J.K. Rowling and keep churning out content no one wants. I'm going to try to get the epilogue up either today as well or tomorrow morning so I can officially mark this story as completed so look forward to the official ending of the story!