Disclaimer: I do not own Daredevil, Arrow or anything else you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

So we finally reach the end of this tale too. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me till here. It means a lot.

Chaos Sorcerer: Thanks for the review. Very glad you found it emotional and driven. Thanks for that. I can too but I think he did a lot. Glad the flashbacks fit well with Fisk's speech. You're not the only one. I wish that too. Yeah. The poor little baby girl should probably never find out. Kate Bishop, huh? Sounds interesting. I think Diggle would have mixed feelings. Glad you agree with med on Barry and Felicity. I know right! Part of me still wants Barry and Felicity to be together though it doesn't make any sense. Now, I'd only like to say to you that you catch up with "The Devil and The Archer" series by reading "The revenge of Fisk and the Throwing Star killer" and "Death and Punishment" so you can get to see how much more crazy it is about to get. Enjoy this. And goodbye for now until next time.

omega magnus: Thanks for the review. I did.

Chapter 25- One positive outcome

Two days later

Wilson Fisk's suicide was all over every single news channel. The reporters were also asking questions to the government about why Fisk was out of prison without anyone knowing to the point of harassment but the government chose to remain numb on the matter.

The dead bodies of all the assassins and criminals he had employed were also all over the news, with some of them like Bane, Sportsmaster, Victor Zsasz, Hush and Scarecrow being identified. The government offices of course had yet to make any statement.

Clinton Church

"Let us pray. Lord, we gather to lay rest to your daughter, Karen. We ask that you welcome her into your heavenly kingdom, and give repose to her soul. Through Christ, our Lord, Amen."

Everyone listened to Father Lantom's speech quietly. Many had attended Karen's funeral. Ellison was among the attendees and even her estranged father was there, sobbing uncontrollably over the fact that he had never tried to make things right with her.

Oliver, John and Felicity were there too. Not for Karen but for Matt who was very broken by her death.

Matt had been up the previous night, trying to write a eulogy. But how could he possibly do Karen justice with a few pages of scribbling conceived through a veil of tears?

"I've asked Matthew Murdock, Karen's longtime friend, to say a few words about the woman we all held such a special place in our hearts for." Lantom said before calling Matt, "Mr. Murdock?"

Matt got up from his seat and slowly walked towards the podium. It felt vulgar- playing the role of a helpless blind man at the funeral of one of the few people who knew the whole truth about him. He felt like a liar.

Standing at the podium, Matt held the pages of his eulogy and said, "Hello. This may take a while. Ahem."

Putting his fingers on the paper, he started, "Um… Karen was… Karen was…"

He could speak no more than that. There were no words. He got down from the podium and walked up to her coffin. Touching it, he said softly, "I'll miss you."

Matt then walked back to his seat. There were no words.

An hour later

After the ceremony was over, Matt was walking away quietly when two familiar people called him at the same time.

"Matt?"

"Mr. Murdock?"

"Oliver." Matt said as he turned around to face him and the other person, "Hello, Peter."

"Matt…" Peter trailed off, "I don't even know where to begin."

"Oliver, Peter." Matt said, "I'm not going to be very good company right now."

"We understand." Oliver said, "But I think there are a few things we should talk about."

"Yes, there are." Matt agreed.

"Does tomorrow night sound okay?" Peter asked, "How about the usual place? Nine o' clock?"

"I'll try." Matt said simply.

As he walked off, he heard another familiar heartbeat.

"Matt!"

Matt turned around as Laurel walked up to him.

"Laurel." He said simply.

She hugged him tightly and said, "I'm sorry about Karen."

Matt hugged her back and as they broke apart, he said, "You were right. I don't think we can do this anymore. You deserve better."

With some tears in her eyes, Laurel nodded and hugged him again, "But you're still important to me."

"You're too." Matt said as he hugged her back. They broke apart and Matt walked off.

Matt returned home. There was an envelope there for him. Picking it up, he walked over to his table and took out the letter.

It smelt like…Karen.

Holding it up, he started reading it- "Matthew. By the time you read this, I hope you're about 75. Will you still be able to feel the raised ink through your aged fingertips, I wonder? One of the benefits of my WFSK package was an obscene life assurance policy. As you must know now, I have listed you as the beneficiary. Whenever you get it, if you've ever loved me, I want you to promise me that you will spend the money on yourself. Don't give it to any charities, don't pay any bills with it- spend it on something that'll make you happy but no girls, Murdock! I've got my eye on you now. Consider it a bonus for everything I've put you through- good and bad. Consider it a memorial for someone whose adult life was made stable by yours and Foggy's kindness. But mostly, consider it yours. Please, Matt- you've always done so much for me; let me do this one thing for you. Of my death, however it came, I can say only this: it was a small price to pay for having known you.

Love forever, Karen."

Almost three years ago

"Here we go." Karen said as she put a bowl of food for Matt and then took her seat with him and Foggy, "So I know it's not much in the way of repayment. But it is, um, my grandmother's recipe, and she made me promise only to serve it to my future husband."

Matt and Foggy both chuckled at that.

"You know, it's, like, filled with virtue or something." Karen joked.

"I thought I detected a whiff of virtue in there." Matt joked.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you really should be thanking the nut in the mask." Foggy pointed out.

"He's not a nut." Karen said, "I mean, he's a little weird, maybe-"

"We're just glad you're okay." Matt said and she looked at him.

"Hear, hear!" Foggy said.

"Well, if it weren't for you two, I'd still be in that cell." Karen said as she started serving both Matt and Foggy.

"Hmm." Matt said, "Job's easy when your client's innocent. All you did was tell the truth."

"Yeah, but you listened." Karen pointed out.

As Matt and Karen started eating, Foggy said, "Oh, and don't get us wrong, we're still gonna bill you. Just as soon as we figure out how to make bills."

The three laughed before Karen said, "I did notice that you could use some help around here. And I owe you. Maybe I could clean the place up a bit."

"Is this place messy?" Matt asked Foggy.

"Our firm is very prestigious and discerning, Miss Page." Foggy said in mock seriousness as he pointed at her, "Do you have any prior experience hiding electrical cords", Foggy paused to chuckle along with Matt and Karen, "Up in ceiling tiles?"

"Uh, no, but I'll work for free." Karen said.

"Yeah, you're hired." Matt said.

As Karen chuckled, Foggy said, "You just got hired!"

The three laughed happily together.

Now

Matt broke down as his head was filled with Karen's memories and put his head on the table.

"You don't owe me anything, Karen." He sobbed, "You don't owe me anything."

Ryker's Island, Next day

Foggy was led out of the prison by a cop. Oliver had tracked down Lydia McKenzie and made her confess, leading to Foggy's freedom.

"Hey, free man." Matt said.

"Hey, Matt." Foggy said in a broken voice.

"C'mon." Matt said, "I've got a car waiting."

The two walked into the car and sat inside.

"The funeral is done?" Foggy asked Matt.

"Yes." Matt said softly.

"I should have been there." Foggy said with tears in his eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Foggy." Matt assured him.

"It doesn't matter that they cleared the charges, Matt." Foggy said as he slowly started crying, still feeling he had let Karen down by not showing up to her funeral even though it wasn't his fault, "Because they can't erase the real crime."

Foggy started sobbing as Matt pulled him into a hug to comfort him.

The Brooklyn Bridge, Later that night

Matt sat on the tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, dressed up as Daredevil, deep in thought.

"Care for a little company?"

Matt turned around as Oliver and Peter walked up to him, dressed as The Hood and Spiderman respectively.

"No offense, Oliver, but the company I care for won't really be showing up tonight. Or ever." Matt said with a sigh.

Matt and Oliver then told Peter everything that had happened in the past few days.

"I'm sorry, Matt. I know what you're going through." Peter said sincerely after they were finished as he remembered Norman Osborn throwing Gwen Stacy off the Clock Tower to her death, "It happened to me once. It was a long time ago. But not so long that I still don't think about it every time I'm trading punches with one of these egotistical maniacs. There's nothing worse than losing someone you love to the job."

"Peter is right, Matt." Oliver told him as he remembered everyone who had suffered during his five years away, "I have lost people in the last five years while trying to finish the job. And it never gets easy. It can never get easy. And every time I put on this Hood, I feel like I'm honoring them as much as I'm honoring my father."

"I've been there before too." Matt said as he remembered Elektra being impaled on her own sai by Nobu, "But when someone dies after a reckless mistake inevitably catches up with them…you learn to sleep at night I guess. Sooner or later."

"Yes, but Karen was an innocent." Oliver pointed out.

"The conclusion I have come to after the years spent doing this is that there are no innocents." Matt said, "Everyone's guilty. Even us. Especially us. Because for all the 'good' that we try to do, we can't damn the torrent of death and injustice that threatens to drown us every day. We're guilty of being bandages on leprosy. But still our hubris would have us believe that we can make a difference. Well, we didn't make any difference to Wilson Fisk."

As Oliver and Peter sat next to him on both sides, Matt said, "All the death and madness he caused- all in the name of revenge. The man ended lives- promising or otherwise- and for what? To destroy the life of just one man? What a joke. No Oliver, there are no innocents. Even in the strictest of definitions, people like the loved ones you and Peter mentioned and Karen are still guilty. They're guilty of dying and leaving us alone in this mire of solitude and misery."

As the three got up, Matt continued, "And can you blame them? Why should they hold onto life? Just to be with liars like us? That's what we are really- liars. All we offer is false hope. We tell people that by putting on these clothes and beating up chain snatchers and muggers that "It'll all be okay. We're here to stop the madness." But we're lying. Because we know we can't stop it all. There's just too much. And in the case of someone like Karen, we've damned them simply by third party association. Lunatic 'A' hates me, so in an effort to destroy me, he'd kill hero friend 'B.' It's insanity! And we're the crucial cog in the damnation machine, people like us! Because nothing good comes out of anything we do!"

Turning to Oliver and Peter, Matt asked, "Because with Fisk and all of his victims of the last week dead and buried, can you both tell me one thing- just one thing- that makes any sense in this mess whatsoever?"

"You saved that baby girl's life, Matt." Peter pointed out as he looked between Matt and Oliver, "You both did."

"Peter is right." Oliver agreed, "If there was one positive outcome in this entire mess, it was this."

Shooting a web, Peter said, "Think about it. Gotta go."

With that, Peter swung away, "See you both around."

"Well." Oliver said as he shot a grapple arrow, "Like Peter said, think about it."

He swung away too. Matt stood still for a few moments.

'Oliver. Peter.' He said in his head, 'Thank you. I owe you both one.'

Later, 1313 Avenue B, Apartment B

Matt knocked on the door and stood still for a few moments.

A few seconds later, a half dressed Natasha opened the door, "Tony…?"

She trailed off when she saw Matt and her expression turned to one of rage, "YOU!"

She punched him on the face, sending him to the ground as his glasses and stick fell off.

"Wait! Natasha!"

Natasha pressed his throat with her arm, "Psychopath! Perhaps I should extend you the same courtesy you showed me on the roof, yes! Talk fast before I sever your vocal chords!"

"F-Fisk…" Matt said hoarsely.

"That was you?" Natasha asked as she removed her arm and Matt gasped for breath.

"Yes." Matt said as Natasha got up, "I'm sorry. I have some explaining to do."

"I'd say you do indeed." Natasha said as she walked inside, "Come into my parlor."

Later

"You expect me to believe you were drugged?" Natasha asked after Matt was finished.

"Can you think of any other reason I'd attack you like that?" Matt pointed out.

"One or two." She said half seriously before saying, "I'll allow, Matthew, that perhaps whatever toxin Fisk and Dragon poisoned your logic with exacerbated your rage against me. But I think there was something there to begin with."

"Like what?" Matt asked.

"I think beneath your noble, quiet exterior, lies a heart of a man who feels betrayed by women." Natasha told him what she thought as he listened with interest, "Think about it: You were abandoned by your mother at such a young age. And when you get involved with women, they scar you terribly. With me, it was never serious enough to begin with. But Karen…" Natasha trailed off with an apologetic look at Matt, "I'm really sorry about what happened to her. She also did break your heart once. Then there was Elektra, who first tried to goad you into killing a man and then died in your arms. Not to mention Laurel, who finally got tired of the relationship due to your lifestyle."

Turning to Matt, Natasha continued, "Your romantic history leaves much to be desired, Matthew. The women you've fallen in love with haven't necessarily been angels. It has- amongst many other things- made you fragile."

"Are insinuating I'm a misogynist?" Matt asked her.

"No, Matthew." She clarified, "But I do believe that you should spend a little time doing some soul searching. Take a look at your relationships with all things distaff before you head into any future relationships. Even with me because I'm keeping my door open for you, Matthew, because I do love you. But I know that is the last thing on your mind right now."

Walking closer to him, she said, "You are one of the only men to ever touch me, Matthew. I tell you these things not to hurt you but to help you. Because someone as good as you shouldn't be alone."

Holding his face in her hands, she said, "You deserve to be loved and content and fulfilled in your personal life, because your life as Daredevil will never offer you purchase from the storm. You need a place to hang your heart at the end of the day. You need peace. But if I've ever imparted you anything, let it be this- look within yourself for peace before you look for it in me or anyone else. Because you'll only be setting us up to disappoint you."

With a smile, she asked, "Got it, Red?"

The two crashed their lips into each other in a deep passionate kiss that lasted for a few seconds before pulling apart.

"Got it, Red." Matt said with a smile as the two hugged.

"But if you ever try to cripple me again, I will put the bridge of your nose in your brain." Natasha half-threatened and half-joked.

"Yes, dear." Matt said with a laugh.

Next day

Matt stood in the graveyard and with a sigh, dropped his flowers at Karen's grave, followed by Foggy. Matt then walked up to Maggie's grave and dropped flowers there too.

"I love both of you." He whispered as he remembered both of them.

Later, Nelson and Murdock

Matt and Foggy stood in front of the building.

"So what're we doing here?" Foggy asked Matt.

"You see, Foggy", Matt started, "I'm at the end of the day, an idealistic lawyer. Which is why I became bankrupt. But recently, I got some money which I had to promise someone I'd put to selfish use. So what do you say, we get this place renovated? Nelson and Murdock?"

After a few seconds of deep thought, Foggy raised his fist into the air with a smile, "Nelson and Murdock!"

That night, Saint Vincent's Hospital

Matt and Oliver stood in front of the glass as the baby girl slept in the other side of the room. Father Lantom was with them too as he had come to get his injuries from Dragon's and Lawton's attack treated.

"Look at her." Lantom said as the three watched the baby, "After everything that's happened, she's still able to sleep."

"That's one centered infant." Matt said.

"One centering infant too." Oliver pointed out.

"Do you resent her, Matt?" Lantom asked him.

"The baby?" Matt asked.

"Yes." Lantom said, "For being at the center of everything that's happened."

"I thought about it for a while when I dropped her here after Fisk killed himself." Matt admitted, "I couldn't help thinking that Fisk put me through all that pain, and all those people had to die…and at the end of it all, the baby was nothing more than a baby. And I'm ashamed to say that for a day or two, I did resent her."

"But then I talked to some friends." Matt said as he and Oliver exchanged a knowing smile and thought of Peter too for a second, "They helped put things into perspective. And I realized that the little girl, well, she is a savior. She's my savior."

As Oliver and Lantom looked at him, Matt said, "Because of her, I can salvage some sanity from the maelstrom. Without her, I'd have lost more than I did over the past week. I'd have lost my mind, my soul…my faith. No. That little girl is definitely my savior. After everything that happened, she represented the only thing that stood between me and the abyss."

Putting his hand on the glass, Matt smiled as he heard her heartbeat, "And I'll always love her for that."

Lantom patted Matt's shoulder and said, "You're a good man, Matt. I'm proud of you. Your father and Maggie would be too."

"Has she found some parents, yet?" Oliver asked Lantom as he looked at the sleeping baby.

"Once the state found out there were no living relatives, we were able to find suitable adoptive parents in less than a day. It's a young couple in New Jersey who've been wanting a baby for quite some time." Lantom said and Matt and Oliver smiled.

"That's really great." Matt said happily, "Maybe they'll allow a few visits from her Uncle Matt."

"They do want to know what the baby's name is though." Lantom said, "Does she have one?"

"I was never told." Matt said.

"I don't think the mother had the chance to name her." Oliver said.

"Then I guess we can tell her adoptive parents that they can name her whatever they'd like." Lantom said.

"Well…Maybe I should…I mean…" Matt trailed off.

"Do you have a name you'd like to give her yourself?" Oliver asked Matt.

After some deep breaths, Matt finally said, "Karen. Her name is Karen."

Oliver and Lantom smiled as Matt stood still with a smile of his own. At that moment, Lantom wanted to tell Matt something. Something he should have told him a long time ago.

But when he turned, Matt and Oliver were gone.

"Where'd they go?"

Matt and Oliver jumped on rooftops outside, dressed as Daredevil and The Hood respectively.

"To do my work, Father." Matt said with a smile, "To do my work."

"You know what?" Oliver said to Matt, "I have been thinking for quite some time. I should fight crime outside the List more. I won't abandon the List, but I have to fight all kinds of crime equally."

"So?" Matt asked.

"I don't want to be called The Hood anymore." Oliver said.

"What do you want to be called?" Matt asked.

With a serious look, Oliver said, "I am…the Arrow."

Weeks later, unknown location

A man with one eye watched a news channel showing how the Arrow had foiled a bank robbery.

He switched off the TV and walked away, "Bask all you want in this glory, kid. But I'm coming for you. And I will take away from you everything that you hold dear."

And finally! The 2nd part of "The Devil and The Arrow Trilogy" is finished. It's kind of surprising how it ended on a mostly positive note considering all the negativity in the recent chapters.

But as the band "Disturbed" has said- "Sometimes darkness can show you the light."

Matt will find the truth about Maggie in the next story now which will mainly cover Arrow Season 2 and end this Trilogy.

Originally, I wanted Matt/Laurel to be the endgame pairing of this but recently, I got more sold on the iconic Matt/Natasha pairing in the comics and I'm going with that instead.

But Laurel deserves happiness too and so I will find a guy for her too in the next story.

So thank you to everyone who stuck with this story from the start till the end. I am very grateful to you all for your support and kind words. Thank you!

Until next time.

Aragorn II Elessar.