Here it is, the final installment of what is currently my longest work ever. Hope you like it.
Epilogue: Resolution
Queens, NY - 3 months later
Gabriel Gray hurled his newspaper to the floor, then doubled up, gasping in pain; the sudden movement hurt. The blows he'd taken from that punk Edward Cullen had put his arm in a cast and caused hairline fractures in his sternum, as well as deep bruising that covered most of his torso, and for a long time afterward everything had hurt no matter what he did. Now he was feeling a bit better - the bruises had faded from the dark purple-black they'd been when they were fresh to a sickly purplish-greenish-yellow, and he could almost make it through the day without painkillers as long as he avoided strenuous or jarring activity.
He knew he shouldn't have lost his temper and thrown the paper, but the article he'd just read about the brutal murder of wealthy Manhattan businessman Bob Bishop made him angry enough to forget about exercising prudent judgment. It was a sensational case - so gruesome that the Times couldn't print the full details of how the body had been found, and if that wasn't enough to grip the readers' imaginations, there was also the mystery of it; the murderer had slipped in and out of Mr. Bishop's extremely secure mansion without leaving a trace of their presence. No fingerprints or DNA other than the victim's was found at the crime scene.
Gabriel didn't care about any of that, however; the only part of the article that grabbed his attention was a single line near the end which stated that Mr. Bishop was survived by his daughter Elle, who seemed to have gone missing. Missing, he scoffed to himself. She probably ran off with that psycho boyfriend of hers. He was furious that the two of them had come in and mucked up all his plans, beat him to a pulp, then disappeared into the sunset without facing any consequences whatsoever. Well, if the authorities wouldn't make them pay, he would.
I don't need the police anyway; I'm better than them. I'm special, and one day I'll make them all see that… Then Elle and her boyfriend would be sorry they'd ever met him. In fact, he intended to make them sorry they'd ever been born, but he knew he wasn't ready to take them on yet; the ease with which Edward had incapacitated him was proof of that. He needed more power. Once he was fully recovered, he would go on the hunt for new abilities.
Using his telekinesis, he slid Dr. Chandra Suresh's book across the coffee table to where he sat, opened it, and began thumbing through the chapters on the various powers the good doctor had thought evolved humans might be capable of manifesting. Searching for something that could aid him in his quest for revenge, he eventually landed on a chapter about spontaneous cellular regeneration. It didn't exactly have any aggressive applications, but being able to heal instantly definitely would have come in handy when Edward broke his arm. Yes, this might be just what he needed…
Well, after three years, this story is finally over. I almost can't believe it, and I'd like to thank everyone who's read, followed, favorited, or reviewed this, especially those of you who've been with me since I started work on it and stuck with me until I finished it. Your support has meant the world to me.
A couple of people have asked about a sequel, and as you may have surmised from the last line, I do intend to write one - that didn't sound much like a final ending, did it? So Edward and Elle dealing with Sylar coming after them will obviously be part of the sequel, but I also plan to use it to explore some loose ends I left lying around due to my exclusive focus on the E/E relationship, such as Alice's family connection to the Petrellis and what happened to Bella after she was released from Company custody. And while I'm writing about that I'll almost certainly work in some Peter/Bella romance, since they are my Heroes/Twilight OTP after all. For those of you who don't want to read about that, it's been great having you as part of my reader base. For those who do, I look forward to seeing you there.