Today was the day that marked exactly two years since the downfall of the Red King and the passing of the heroes Thunderstruck and Warlock.

A lot had happened since then.

Martyn and Cleo were both almost immediately taken into custody and put on trial. Martyn, as it turned out, had never actually murdered anyone or cause any physical harm (directly, anyway), but there were counts of theft and destruction of property, so he recieved a sentence of ten years in prison.

Cleo, on the other hand, was found guilty for multiple crimes, including (but not limited to) murder, arson, kidnapping, manslaughter and torture, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Ren and Jimmy couldn't be charged for any crimes obviously, considering that they were both technically dead (the version of Jimmy that committed all the crimes had perished, after all), so Jimmy didn't get any punishment.

However, it wouldn't have been too easy to track him down if Jimmy was punished, considering the fact that his last name was now Major instead of Solidarity.

As it turned out, Scott and Jimmy had been dating for a while, and they got engaged a couple of months after the incident and married about a year later. So at least they got their happy ending. Grian did as well in a way- he'd started dating Mumbo a couple months after the incident.

Another person to get their happy ending was, surprisingly enough, Etho. He was determined to become a hero, however he felt that he needed to atone for his crimes (which turned out to be theft and a few counts of assault).

After reporting himself to the police (god knows why, Grian was sure he could have gotten away with it), Etho and BDubs spent a few weeks putting together a case that ended up with Etho, who had practically all of the remaining heroes vouching for him, only receiving a year and a half of jail time and a lot of hours of community service (Grian couldn't remember exactly how many).

Grian himself received the offer of becoming a hero (alongside Etho and, surprisingly, Jimmy, who had also decided to become a hero) but he rejected it, opting to stick with vigilantism. He felt as though it was more fun to spend half of his time dodging heroes as well as villains (although the most they did, since they all knew him now, was jokingly scold him before letting him go).

Scott returned to his heroism under his new alias Natura and was joined by Jimmy, going by Ekrixi now, the pair being closely followed by Etho, who was released from prison a month or two after the aforementioned couple became heroes.

The former villain decided to drop his old alter ego name completely, going now by Mirage instead. Most of the public didn't realise that the new hero was the same person as the villain Aoratos, and the few who did didn't particularly care.

Not much else changed. Grian and Joel helped set up a memorial for Scar and Tango that both of them visited regularly- there wasn't a day that went by when the pair didn't stop to reflect on what had happened on the day that had been labelled by many 'The Heroes' Last Stand'.

It wasn't really a last stand, of course. Greed is a fatal flaw of humanity, after all, and with greed comes villainy and evil, so only a couple months went by before a whole host of new villains appeared, but he wasn't bothered about them right now.

He was at the memorial again when Joel found him.

——

Grian briefly glanced sideways at the sound of footsteps behind him, but he swiftly glanced back at the candle he was lighting with purple flames. He had made sure to head to the memorial as early as possible so he could get there before all the civilians did, although not nearly as many people seemed to care now as they did last year and the day Scar actually died (and Tango, he supposed, but Grian had spoken to Tango around two times before he died- it wasn't that he wasn't bothered that Tango died, but he didn't think about it too much).

There was a small huff as Joel took a seat next to him. "Hey. Mumbo said I'd find you here."

"Why were you talking to Mumbo? It's one in the morning." The winged man said pointedly, placing the candle next to the large portrait of Scar and the numerous bunches of wilted flowers that Grian had left over the past couple of months.

"Oh, you know I don't get much sleep when there's a lot going on in the hero villain world." His friend said with a small chuckle, reaching for a candle as well and glancing up at the portrait of Tango. "Mumbo doesn't either, it would appear. He's worried about you. And he noticed you slip out of your apartment an hour ago." Joel added wryly, handing the candle to Grian so that he could light it.

He rolled his eyes briefly at the mention of his boyfriend, summoning a small handful of purple flames to light the candle that Joel had chosen from the selection in front of the portraits. "Of course."

"So... how are you?" His companion asked slowly as Grian handed the candle back to him.

"Great. It's been two years since my best friend died, I'm doing fantastic." The man with multicoloured eyes huffed. Maybe not fantastic, but I'm okay.

"I mean, you do seem to be doing fantastic. You've been a lot better lately." Joel mused, Grian's gaze flicking sideways as the brunette put the candle down. "I like to think I have as well! For example, working with Etho and Jimmy- I no longer consider myself to be betraying Tango by doing so." The hero said proudly. "And you've started with vigilante work again instead of hiding inside. I think we're both doing pretty good."

"Why'd you ask then?" Grian shot back with a small laugh, although his gaze remained fixed on the green and gold candle in front of him.

"Well- I think you've been doing great lately. Everyone does. But I wanted to hear from you if you've been doing okay or not." Joel said quietly.

"I'm fine, Joel." Grian turned to face his friend and rolled his eyes at the skeptical glance he recieved. "Really. It's been two years. Yeah, I- miss Scar. A lot." He paused, staring blankly at Joel for a moment before speaking again. "But, uh- I think I've come round to accepting it more lately. I can miss him, yeah, but I can't stay hung up on the past forever. I can't mope about him dying while my friends are becoming heroes, and- and getting married, and moving houses and... stuff. I can't be sad forever while everyone else is actually moving on." Grian said with a shrug. "I'm still gonna let myself grieve- I don't think that will ever end- but I'm letting myself be happy as well."

He blinked with a surprised expression as Joel reached for one of the candles at the base of Scar's portrait, handing it to the winged man before nodding. Sometimes I forget Joel was friends with Scar as well. "Well said! I, uh- just wanted to hear from you that you were doing better instead of hearing it from everyone else." Joel smiled awkwardly as Grian handed the now lit candle back to him.

It was a bit weird, to see a side to Joel that wasn't the brash, easily annoyed friend he knew, to see Joel actually express an emotion other than triumph or irritation, but it was nice nonetheless.

The two sat there for a couple of minutes in silence before a notification pinged on Joel's phone and he glanced at the screen with an irritated mutter. Grian leaned over to see what he was reading as Joel reached into the bag that he always carried with him.

'-VILLAIN ALERT-

The villain known as Guardian Angel (abilities: taking injuries instead of others-transferring their injuries to him- and creating a forcefield as a form of protection) has been spotted in the downtown area! Please avoid the area until a hero is dispatched to deal with the problem.'

Grian exchanged a glance with Joel, who had already produced his mask from the bag. These villains don't sleep, wow. "Ready to kick some villain butt?" His friend asked with a grin.

The dirty blonde rolled his eyes as they both stood up. "Always." He muttered as he produced his own mask from his pockets. He cast one last glance at the portraits as Joel quickly put on his mask, glancing over as well. Wish me luck, Scar.

Joel laughed. "Race you there? I'll beat you this time."

"You wish."

Finally finished the epilogue ya y

If this makes no sense/feels all over the place it's because I'm tired and have a massive headache

In case it didn't make sense I'll summarise:

-Martyn and Cleo go to jail
-Scott and Jimmy get married
-Etho goes to prison for a tiny bit before becoming a hero
-Jimmy becomes a hero as well
-Mumbo and Grian are dating
-It wasn't mentioned but there's something gay going on between Etho and BDubs so 👀
-Grian and Joel made a memorial for Scar and Tango :]

Anyways the reason I decided for Grian to talk with Joel about grief n stuff instead of talking to Mumbo, Etho, Jimmy, Pearl, etc. is because 1. I think it's fun to show that he's begun to develop more friendships even after losing one of his closest friends and 2. As well as loosing Tango, Joel also lost Scar so he can sympathise

Also I had to include a Skizz cameo as the new villain (Guardian Angel) because I didn't know Skizz existed when I started this book so he wasn't included </3

Anyways woo series is done, might make a next gen fic at some point because hehe but no promises

Hope you enjoyed! <3 :]

Comments and votes are appreciated :D

I don't proofread so sorry for any errors lol