Here we go, last chapter! And here are the answers to the scavenger hunt. Nobody got them all, but the people who go the most right are Calpolboi and meryuko. Congratulations!
1. Dr. Hastie Lanyon is a character in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He does not have a major role in the plot, but thematically within the story he serves as the embodiment of rationalism.
2. Simon Williams is Wonder Man. In the comics, Ultron used his brain waves as a template for the Vision, and after a lot of fighting (comic storylines are hella complicated) he grows to accept Vision as a brother.
3. Taskmaster. In the comics, Taskmaster is a character called Tony Masters. The Black Widow movie turned Tony into Antonia, and I turned Antonia into Toni. This was apparently trickier than I thought because nobody got it right. Scutwork means menial, boring tasks. Someone who wants to do a lot of scutwork might consider themself a Taskmaster.
4. The initials on Parker's son's onesie are BSW, for Benjamin Steven Weaver. Tony says that Thor and Nick bringing their service dogs shouldn't be a problem at all (with Steve's allergy, it would be a problem). He also says there are several factors that motivated him to find something better than transplant. Shuri is developing new drugs for CF. And the flash of white Tony sees when he first approaches the house is, of course, Alpine the cat. Those are all the hints I intentionally left, but here are some that you picked up on:
The title of the chapter proves that this takes place beyond the average lifespan of transplanted lungs. The 15 years is After Gravesen, though, not after the previous chapter, so it's basically like 11 years after the previous chapter. Still outside the average lifespan. A lot of you pointed that one out. Also, apparently Steve not being the second or third person contacted was really suspicious.
5. 142,000 words. 43 chapters. It's called the Gold and Purple Years. More on that in the end notes. Also...all of y'all were WAY underestimating. I'm ahead of the game; the whole story is written and ready to go.
Epilogue Part II: The Merchant
Tony paced the tarmac, awaiting his friends' arrival. He'd offered the use of his father's private jet for the flights to and from Sweden, and everyone on this side of the Atlantic had graciously accepted. He ran through the itinerary at least three more times just to make sure he didn't forget anything. A lot was expected of him during this week, and he hoped he had enough time between it all to actually spend time with everyone. Mom and Dad had flown out a few days earlier so as not to "burden their youthful zest with their grown-up cynicism."
"I am a grown-up," Tony had countered jokingly. But he was glad they'd taken it upon themselves to give him this time. They hadn't been all together—well, all together was a relative term given some of them resided where those on Earth couldn't reach—since early July. Tony was lucky that he got to see his extended "family" as often as he did, but it still didn't feel like often enough.
He'd told them to show up at eight, and naturally Bruce arrived at seven thirty. "I'm blowing off reviewing a paper for Helen to come to this," he said sternly.
"I'm sure she'll find someone else," Tony assured. "But as far as this trip is concerned, you're irreplaceable."
"Thanks, Tony. Where should I put my things?"
"Oh, I'll take care of it." He gestured to one of the attendants that bustled around the plane like bees on a hive and handed off Bruce's luggage. Then, without further hesitation, he opened his arms for a hug.
"Congratulations again," Bruce said. "I can't think of anybody more deserving."
"Thank you."
After Bruce, people started filtering in so quickly that Tony barely had time to give them all hugs. The driver he'd sent down to D.C. to pick up Natasha made record time, and she arrived even before Parker did.
"What can I say?" Parker said after apologizing for being a mere two minutes late. "Separation anxiety."
"For the kids or for you?" Tony asked knowingly. Parker only rolled his eyes.
Bucky was the last to arrive, which was unusual for him. He explained himself to Tony apologetically, "I dropped Alpine off at Josiah's yesterday afternoon, and then the house was just…so empty. I went to visit Steve this morning and I lost track of time."
"It's okay," Tony assured. "With it being my plane and all, it waits for all my passengers to get here."
"Bucky!" Parker called, dashing over for a hug.
"Hey Parker! How is everything?"
"Fantastic." Parker kept talking as he led Bucky away towards the rest of the group.
Tony watched them go with a smile on his face. He stood there for a few moments just watching his friends enjoy each other before he announced, "Wheels up in fifteen minutes!" He could tell everyone was looking forward to having ten uninterrupted hours to catch up.
~0~
"Alright, who's napping?" Nick asked once they'd settled into their seats. Unsurprisingly, three hands shot up: Bruce, Wanda, and Parker. "I'm gonna need more than a hand raise, guys," Nick sighed.
"Take a guess," Nat quipped. She picked one foot up and rested it on the empty seat across from her.
"The ones with little rascals?"
"Bingo."
"I could go down for a nap," Bucky added.
"Exactly. The ones with little rascals," Nick repeated with a grin.
"Alpine is not a little rascal."
"All cats are."
"You watch your mouth," Natasha warned.
"I've never seen a working cat, that's all," he said, patting Talos on the head.
"Alpine's more or less an emotional support cat," Bucky explained.
"So is Hawkeye," Nat said. "That's a job."
"I wouldn't argue this point if I were you," Tony said. "It's a losing battle."
"Cat people refuse to be converted," Wanda said.
"I just don't trust the little bastards."
"Did one scratch you one time?" Nat teased.
Nick crossed his arms. "No."
Tony plowed forward and changed the subject. "How was everyone's week? Mine consisted entirely of planning for this trip and answering endless phone calls and emails, so I'm eager to hear about anything more exciting."
"Lanyon wrote his first scientific paper," Bruce announced.
Tony looked at him, dumbfounded. "The kid is three. Even with your genes in him I doubt that's possible."
"Well, his version of one," Bruce amended. "He basically just wrote random words with a few pictures here and there. But he added figure captions. It was adorable."
"Tommy discovered that running is even faster than walking and Billy is highly jealous that he can't figure out how to do it yet. But he's trying," Wanda said with a fond smile.
"Thor said opening night of Loki's play was a hit," Bruce continued.
"That's fantastic. What was it about again?"
Bruce shrugged. "All Thor could tell me was that it was a tragedy. I don't think he knew any more than that until he saw it."
"Are you going to go see it?" Parker asked.
"Heck no. I don't owe her anything."
Tony chuckled hearing such uncharacteristic aggression from Bruce. He'd heard the story of the deserted island, so he understood Bruce's wariness, but it was still mildly hilarious to watch him turn his nose up at the mere mention of Thor's younger sibling. Those that said they were going to nap started dropping after about two hours. Wanda was the first one out, followed by Bruce, Parker, and Bucky. Tony noticed that he slept with his hand over a specific spot on his ribcage and felt his heart clench in sympathy.
"How's life now that you've got Talos?" Natasha asked Nick.
"It's leagues easier," he said. "It's nice not to have to rely only on myself all the time."
"Nick Fury trusting someone else. I never thought I'd see the day," Tony said wistfully.
"Trusting a dog is much easier than trusting a person."
"Now that I believe."
People started to wake back up after an hour or so, but Bucky stayed down for three. When he finally stirred, he spent a few minutes yawning and rubbing at his eyes before returning to the real world. A few minutes after that, he exclaimed, "Oh! I almost forgot."
"What?" Parker asked.
"Someone at Gravesen emailed me this photo a few days ago and I was waiting until now to share it with you all." He dug out his phone to find the photo. When he turned it around to show them, Tony's mouth fell open. None of them had visited the pediatric residential ward in years. Not much had changed, except for the size of the gauntlet. Hundreds of names now took up nearly half the wall.
Parker was the first to react. "Wow."
"That's amazing," Natasha echoed.
"Help me out?" Nick requested sheepishly.
"It's the gauntlet," Bruce explained. "But it's at least ten times bigger than it was when we were there."
"They've kept up the tradition," Bucky said reverently. "They also sent me this." He took the phone back and swiped a few times before turning it back around to show them another picture. It showed the backs of the heads of several kids and parents sitting on the common room sofa, focused intently on the TV before them. They were watching Steve's video, the one with the ridiculously corny chair flip. Tony's heart swelled. This is exactly what he would've wanted—what they all wanted—for future generations of Gravesen kids.
"Bucky, this is the only thing that could've made my day better," he said. "Thank you."
~0~
They landed in Stockholm, eager to stretch their legs after such a long flight. Tony looked forward to finally greeting his last invitee. As usual, Tony heard him before he saw him. Thor awaited them in the airport, Korg sitting obediently by his side. "Friends!" he called. He couldn't hug them all fast enough, and almost ended up crushing Nat and Bruce against each other.
"It's been too long," Tony said as he accepted his own hug. Thor never stayed in the same place longer than a few months, making scheduling meet-ups even more difficult. But he looked as radiant as ever. Korg and Talos met eyes for the briefest of instants and exchanged a wordless acknowledgement of each other. Tony wondered if all working dogs regarded other working dogs in the same manner.
"How was the play?" Wanda asked.
"I think it went over my head," Thor admitted. "But…Lo-ki was great." Even after all this time, he still beamed every time he got his sibling's name right.
"How was Australia?" Parker asked.
"Gorgeous. And the waves…awesome."
"That's great."
"So what's first on the agenda?" Bucky asked.
"I figured we'd unpack and then just head out into the city," Tony said. With the time difference, it was already rather late, but he knew that because of jet lag, none of them would get to bed on time even if they tried. So that's exactly what they did.
They didn't get back to the hotel until almost two in the morning. Tony and Parker said goodnight to all their friends and retreated to their room. He'd consulted everyone when working out room assignments and they'd ended up with Tony and Parker, Thor and Bruce, Natasha and Wanda, Bucky and Nick, and of course Tony's parents in another room a bit farther down the hall. It actually worked out perfectly.
Parker offered Tony use of their shower first so he could video call home. With the time difference between New York and Stockholm, they'd made it back just in time for his daughter's bedtime. Tony showered quickly because he wanted to pop in and say hi before Parker hung up. He snuck up behind Parker where he sat at the desk with his laptop and popped into frame. "Hi little miss."
"Uncle Tony!" she exclaimed. Carol May leaned in closer to the screen and waved hello. "Mommy and Daddy were gonna read me a bedtime story."
"Which one?"
"Your favorite!"
"My favorite?" Tony hadn't read many children's books in his lifetime, his parents never really taking the time to share them with him. Edwin Jarvis, their old butler, had been the only one to ever entertain the childish fancy of a bedtime story. Anyway, Tony had grown out of them far faster than most kids and was reading science nonfiction not long after starting kindergarten. This book, however, he would read over and over again.
"Yes, your favorite," Carol May repeated. She picked up the book from beside her and proudly held it up. Tony's heart warmed just looking at the cover.
"Is Mommy going to read it or am I?" Parker asked.
"I want you to read it. But Uncle Tony can do his part."
"Okay," they agreed. Carol May held the book up so Parker could read, but she flipped it around after every page so she could look at the magnificent pictures. The book was originally published several years before Carol May was born, but Parker bought a copy from the first printing anyway. All of the Avengers did. None of them wanted to miss an opportunity to finally get their hands on the project their friends had been secretively working on for ages.
Barnes and Rogers, a tale of two best friends planning the party of a lifetime for their diverse guests. Co-authored by both the namesakes of the title characters, and illustrated by the latter. It became Tony's favorite book before it was even published, Carol May's favorite as soon as she grew old enough to follow the story.
Parker read each page with the same love and attention he always did, but Carol May cut him off when he started reading Tony's line by mistake. The end of the book had mini sections about each character featured. "No, Uncle Tony has to read this part." They'd written him into the story, of course. Without telling him. Tony hadn't known until he bought the book and encountered a whimsical illustrated version of his own face staring back at him from one of the pages. All of the Gravesen gang had made it into the book, in some form or another.
"What, you ask, sits in this pack? It's my heart that I carry right here on my back. The one in my chest stopped pumping, it's true, so they gave me an extra that works just like new. I keep my pack close and I'm always plugged in, by this wire that feeds right under my skin."
"But you don't have a wire now, right?" Carol May asked.
"No. The new helper heart that I made doesn't need one."
"We should ask Uncle Bucky to write another book with your new heart in it."
Tony forced a smile despite the ache of knowing that would never happen. They'd considered a sequel at one point, but he knew Bucky would never allow a book to be published with these characters drawn by any other illustrator.
Parker asked her to turn the page and they finished the story. He and Tony said goodnight and ended the call. "I still haven't forgiven Steve for not drawing me with more defined abs," Tony said.
"I think his rendition was pretty spot on," Parker countered.
"Shut up. I'm going to sleep." Tony flopped down on the bed he'd claimed, the one closer to the window. Parker rolled his eyes and headed into the bathroom for his own shower. Before letting himself drift off to sleep, Tony double checked his VAD settings on his watch, not missing the days when he had to plug into the wall before going to bed.
~0~
The week flew by in a blur, every day spent exploring the city together. Tony occasionally had to split off for official Nobel business, but he strived to spend every possible second with the second family that so seldom got to spend time all together like this. He wasn't sure which was more incredible—the sights or the company. Of the bunch, only Thor and Natasha weren't impressed, having already seen similar cities. Nat rarely went longer than a minute or two without gently caressing the arrow charm around her neck.
At first, Tony had been a bit worried about Nick, but between Nat's willingness to help him out when necessary and Talos's skill, everything proceeded without incident. Actually, 'without incident' was too conservative a term. Everything proceeded fantastically. Even for early December, the weather wasn't miserable, and with the combined brainpower of Nat, Parker, and Bruce, they never got lost.
The actual award ceremony and his acceptance speech were nothing but formalities. Tony spoke of his predecessors in the field, the people and institutions that had made this invention possible, and the nature of the award itself in his five-minute blurb. He'd never talked before such a massive crowd before—certainly not one containing such esteemed people—but he focused his attention on the little table in the back where his guests sat and it was all okay. His father didn't stop smiling proudly the entire time, and that in itself was enough to make Tony feel almost like he was about to pass out or burst with happiness.
After the banquet, he had to deal with the press. Tony hated to be away from his friends during this time, but he knew that cooperating with the endless interviews was part of the deal when winning a Nobel prize. They'd set aside a few hours after the ceremony for press and Tony kept reminding himself that he just needed to get through this before the group's last hurrah. Still, by the time the second hour came to a close, he was growing frustrated.
"You've been called the da Vinci of our time. What do you say to that?" an overly-perky reporter asked.
"Absolutely ridiculous," he said shortly. "I don't paint." He didn't want to be rude, but his politesse was starting to fall apart from exhaustion.
"And what do you say to your other nickname?" she asked. Tony had never heard the title before, but the reporter assured him it had been all over the internet for the past week. He had to admit he liked it. It certainly set him apart from Howard and the legacy he'd created for Stark Industries, proving once and for all that Tony had successfully rewritten the company's mission statement as he'd set out to do.
"That's not bad," Tony said. That nickname ran through his head on a loop for the rest of the session, continuing even as he returned to the hotel to get ready for tonight. Parker was there waiting for him.
"How did it go?" he asked.
"Annoying," Tony huffed. "But I think I gave them what they wanted."
"That's good. I can't believe this week is already almost over."
"Me neither. It's flown by so fast."
"I'll be sad to go home. But I am eager to see my family again."
"I'm sure you are. Now let's get going."
The eight of them got a table at some restaurant that Thor had recommended from his last visit to Stockholm. Though everyone was clearly tired from a week of almost non-stop activity, their energy rebounded for this last night. Nobody wanted to waste this moment. Those that could ordered drinks. Thor, on the other hand, quickly proved his impressive ability to knock back apple juice. But he didn't need to be buzzed to have a good time. He sat next to Tony, who got the head of the table, and Korg curled up on the floor between the two of them. Nick got the other head of the table so Talos would have room to sit beside him.
They spent hours just talking, laughing, and reminiscing. Even with a week to catch up, there was still so much they had to discuss. Tony could've sat here for days on end just soaking up the love that poured freely between them. He paused for a moment just to take it all in. He was reminded of how he felt at the Paralympics—utterly baffled and amazed that he and his friends had made it so far. This table alone sat the future CEO of Shield Pharmaceuticals, a Paralympic gold medalist, the president of Twinless Twins, the best husband and father anyone could ever ask for and a genius in his own right, a kickass pediatric oncology nurse, one of the leading scientists of this generation, a man who'd explored more corners of the world than Tony could ever hope to, and a now Nobel Laureate. It was incredible. At the same time, he was filled with deep sorrow for those that hadn't made it here.
Tony raised his glass and focused first on Bruce, Thor, Nick, and Natasha. "To absent friends." He let his gaze wander to the rest of them gathered here: Wanda, Parker, and Bucky. "And family."
"To absent friends and family," they echoed.
God, it seemed like a thousand years ago. Tony walked into Gravesen cynical and terrified, not loved by a soul in this world except for maybe his mother and loving nobody but her and a stuffed bear. And now here he sat surrounded by the friends who had carried him through the most difficult moments of his life. Fifteen years ago, Tony never would have dreamed of a family like this, and now it was his reality.
"To kicking Thanos's ass," Thor proposed. The rest of the table quickly took up the cheer. Even those of them who ultimately lost had put up a commendable fight. Tony would say they kicked Thanos's ass harder than those still living.
"It's Thanatos," Parker reminded them.
Thor shrugged. "Oops."
For one final round, Parker toasted using that other nickname that arisen and trended almost nonstop since his award was announced: "To Tony Stark, the Merchant of Life!"
I thought it fitting to end this massive story with a reference and inversion of that bit from the first Iron Man. Much like the Infinity Saga: I started this universe with Tony Stark and I wanted to end it with Tony Stark (except it's not really ending, more on that later).
I don't even know what to say at this stage. I've been posting this series for over a year, and the amount of support and love I've received has been far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. This universe will exist in my head for all eternity, and I hope it remains with you too, even just as a faint memory of "that cool story I read one time."
Once again, I must report that, though this seems like the end, there is more to come for the GCU! As you already know, I'm working on Without Gravesen. Not sure when I'm going to post it because I have another, more important project to post first: the Gold and Purple Years. This story will follow Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes from beginning...to end. I am not exaggerating when I say this story has both the softest fluff and the most refined angst I have ever written. It has everything you've loved about this universe so far, only magnified.
I also have more planned for the kiddos you just met in this epilogue (Carol May, Ben, Lanyon, Billy, Tommy, and maybe even a few surprises). At this point, I only have a few scattered scenes written and a few plot points I know I want to hit, but this story will most likely take the form of a third installment entitled "Beyond Gravesen." It probably won't be as linear a story as this one, more like a collection of scenes from the future, but there are directions I really want to explore with certain characters in this universe and that is the best way I know how to do that. Whatever form it ends up taking, I hope to see you there! Once again, thank you so much for all the love you've shown this story. I could not be more grateful for the incredible group of people who have decided to include this series in their lives.
The Gold and Purple Years to begin posting on Saturday! Hope to see you there! Thank you!