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English
Series:
Part 3 of The Devil All the Time
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Published:
2021-06-13
Completed:
2021-11-22
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90,652
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68/68
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The Revenge of Devil

Chapter 68: Epilogue

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Four months later

"Good morning," Peter greeted his parents cheerfully as he entered the kitchen. Tony sat at a table with a cup of black coffee, reading the news on a tablet while Pepper stood at the hob and cooked them breakfast.

"Happy birthday, honey!" Pepper said instead of greeting and immediately imprisoned him in an embrace. "Wow! Sixteen, I don't believe it," she breathed with a smile and kissed his forehead before returning quickly to making pancakes.

"She's been a little hypersensitive since morning," Tony warned softly as Peter sat down next to him.

"I heard that!" She nodded, but the smile didn't leave her face. "I don't know which of us were looking at photos of Peter's childhood today," she teased.

Peter had to laugh. "I'm only sixteen, what are you going to do when I'm twenty?" he asked with a smirk. After the whole event with Teresa, it took them a while to find happiness again, but Pepper saved them, as always. To Tony's displeasure, she took care of everything about his sister. Only she dealt with Ross, and Peter was incredibly grateful for that. She arranged a session with a psychologist who regularly went to Raft to see her, and who Pepper even paid herself. With Ross's help, she arranged a correspondence with the warden so that Peter could stay in touch with her. Tony didn't want to support any of this, and for a while, it tarnished their relationship, but between father and son, it finally began to return to normal, so everything was fine.

"None of that," Tony protested. "You are not allowed to grow older anymore."

"If it worked that way, he would have been banned a long time ago," Pepper smirked, handing everyone a plate full of pancakes.

"What time will the others come?" He asked with his mouth full of pancakes. They haven't seen much of the others in recent months. Somehow they all needed time for themselves. He looked forward to seeing them all again. And especially Aunt Nat. He had to tell her that he had long ago accepted her past and that he loved her anyway. It took him a moment to come to terms with what she had done in the past. To accept that the real Black Widow did not remain in the past, as everyone thought. But it was still his Aunt Nat. He needed to have her in his life, just like mom and dad.

"We're scheduled for three o'clock, but you know, they'll probably show up sooner," Tony scoffed, watching the pancake plate with interest as a wrinkle began to form on his forehead. "Didn't you really change your mind?" He sighed and looked at him with concern in his eyes.

"You know it's a useless question," Peter muttered, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. He was afraid Dad would forbid him to. He knew his mother would stand up for him, but he didn't want to argue again. Not when they were finally so happy.

"I'm just worried about you. I'm not sure you're ready for what you see there," he explained. He wanted to stop him from visiting Raft, but he couldn't. Not when his wife agreed. He couldn't put up with it, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

"Minister Ross will be with me, nothing will happen to me," Peter tried to reassure him.

"And you're forgetting that Teresa is in a closed sector. Everett leads him behind her and then straight out. They won't see any more prisoners," Pepper reminded him.

"I don't like it anyway," he growled, sipping his coffee.

"Secretary Ross has just arrived, waiting for Peter," Friday told them, after which Peter stuffed his last bite and quickly got up from his chair.

"Take care of yourself, little bat," Tony said anxiously before his son could walk away.

"And tell her the good news, if the situation is right," Pepper said. Peter nodded and turned to leave, but when he was at the door, Pepper added, "And come soon! Not that you're late for your own party again!”

Peter put on his shoes in the hall at lightning speed, checked to see if he had a cell phone and a wallet, and ran out of the house. At a safe distance from their house was a helicopter whose rotor blades were still moving, so there was quite a wind going around. He bridged the distance between him and the helicopter, which he boarded without hesitation. As soon as he closed the door behind him, strapped himself in, and put on his headphones, Minister Ross instructed them to take off, then turned to him and shook his hand in greeting.

"Mr. Stark," he greeted him amusedly.

"Minister," he returned the greeting and shook his hand. "What did I tell you about that name? Mr. Stark is my father, please call me Peter," he growled desperately. He didn't see him as often as his parents, but it wasn't their first meeting.

"You know I'll only do that when you call me Everett," he replied, as always.

Peter sighed, but said nothing. He turned to the window and watched as they slowly left the mainland and headed for the ocean. Everett didn't force him into the conversation, and Peter was glad for it. He was looking forward to finally seeing Teresa, but he was also quite nervous. Although they were allowed to start writing letters a month ago, today will be the first time he would see her, and feared how she would react. What if she blames him for her imprisonment? He promised to save her, but he couldn't keep his promise.

"We're going to land," Ross told him.

Peter just nodded. He was so immersed in his thoughts that he wouldn't even have noticed the giant round buildings emerging from the ocean if Ross hadn't told him they were already in the Raft area. As soon as the prison building stopped moving, they landed at the designated place. Peter quietly followed the minister. The security check was really thorough, but he didn't notice it much. All he could think about was seeing his sister in a few minutes.

"On the other side of this door is the same button you see here. If something happens, all you have to do is press it and I'll come, understand? Good luck, Peter, "Ross told him with a small smile, patting him on the shoulder encouragingly before typing the access code and letting Peter in.

Teresa's cell was quite pleasant, which calmed him down. He wouldn't like to have her be stuck in some dirty prison. His mom certainly had a lot to do with it. He would have to thank her again later for that. The brunette was sitting on the bed reading a book. There was a piece of cake on the table, as it had on Peter's side. The room was divided by plexiglass, so they could see each other without any problems.

"You're here somehow early, Doctor," Teresa said after a moment without lifting her head from the book. Peter didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet. To the brown hair girl, it seemed strange that she didn't get an answer so she finally gave him a look. "Peter," she breathed in surprise.

"Surprise," he muttered with a nervous smile, moving closer to the glass.

Teresa stared at him in astonishment for a moment, then set down her book and glanced down at the cake on the table. "It's your birthday," she said to the cake, realizing what date was today.

"Yeah. And as a gift, I wished I could visit you," he informed her gently.

"Did you waste your birthday present on me?" She chuckled a little icy. Peter was ready for it. Her doctor told them that he was working with her to express emotions and that she often jumped between Teresa, whom Mary had created, and Teresa, whom Richard knew. "Why did you do it? So you can see for yourself that I will not run away from here?” she snapped.

"I wanted to tell you in person, but maybe I should have written it to you in the first letter. I don't blame you for anything," he said with a sad smile. "The only one I blame is Mary. She brainwashed you. It's all her fault, and even though I regretted that she is dead, I'm happy about it now. You may not want to hear it, but she was never our mother. I'm sorry I didn't know about you and I couldn't get you away from her sooner. Now everything will be different. You are my sister and I will take care of you," he promised her, and this time he intended to keep that promise.

Teresa stared at him quietly for a moment. Her hard expression slowly eased, and in a moment he could see the sadness in her eyes. "How could you? I'll be here forever and you'll get tired of going here after me one day. You'll forget about me one day."

"It won't happen!" He blurted out immediately.

"I wouldn't blame you, brother. You have a wonderful family. I wanted to kill them and they still help me. I do not get it. I don't understand,” she muttered, confused, and got out of bed so she could get closer to him. "It was too late to realize that I had such a person. Richard was my dad, just like Pepper is your mom. He always wanted the best for me, but I didn't care about him. And in the end, I even killed him," she whispered in a depressed voice, and Peter felt she wasn't far from tears, which was a pleasant surprise to him. He didn't want her to be sad, but it was an emotion. At the moment, he was happy for whatever emotion she showed. It meant she was making progress.

"I have a little present for you," he told her. "The truth is, you didn't kill him. He was quite in critical condition and had to fight a lot, but a week ago he stopped being in danger of death. He still has a long way to go, but Richard will live," he told her in a reassuring voice.

The brown woman blinked at him in surprise, and for a moment her expression hardened again, as if she wanted to take her words back now when she realized that Richard would be alive, but it really only took a few seconds. Immediately, a sincere smile spread across her face. One he had never seen before. He knew immediately that he wanted to see him more often. It was a glimpse of Teresa that Richard knew. A flash of his real sister.

"I have to ask. Would you do it again?” He reluctantly asked the question he wrote to her in each letter. According to Dr. Greenberg, that was a great yardstick for her progress.

"I don't know," she hesitated. "Probably yes."

Peter had to smile. Because despite her confession that she would go through it all again, she hesitated. It has never happened before. She always answered yes automatically.

"Let's have the cake," he suggested, running for his piece. Teresa did the same.

"Happy birthday, little brother," she said with a small hint of a smile before they both began to eat.

Peter spent the whole two hours there with her, during which they talked about everything. There were times when Teresa swam and was withdrawn and cold, but they always lasted only a few minutes. It was only a small step forward, but Peter was very happy about it. If it goes on like this, Loki's words may eventually become a reality. Maybe they'll let her go one day. Until then, however, he would visit her as often as he could to let her know that he was serious about her.

Because Peter had long known that even though they had a long journey ahead of them, it was worth the short moments when she smiled at him with love in her eyes. He knew that even though they had gone through hell, it was dawning on them for a better tomorrow. He had known for a long time that when he went through hell, he must not stop.

He knew they could do whatever life built their paths because they would be together.

 

Notes:

Oh my god, that's it. I cannot even believe it. That was quite a ride. Thank you for reading it! ❤️

I have one surprise for you! There will be Holiday Calendar and it will be here soon. You can read it if you want to know some details about our heroes' lives.

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