Epilogue

The static sound of the television filled the little sitting room, and the woman on the couch turned up the volume as a segment she wanted to hear was about to be broadcast.

"Hun!" she called. "Come here, I think you need to see this!"

She turned up the volume more as the man walked out of the basement door, wiping his hands on a towel and peering through his glasses at the television.

"Breaking news right now," the reporter was saying into his handheld microphone. He was quite obviously standing in front of the Veidt building as he spoke, and film crews were surrounding the area.

"We have just received word that Adrian Veidt, past member of the Watchmen and owner of Veidt Enterprises is dead of apparent suicide," the reporter continued, his own surprise showing obviously on his face.

Dan Dreiberg stopped wiping his hands and just stared.

"He was found late this afternoon in his apartment, alongside the body of a woman, apparently an employee of Veidt Enterprises. The woman was a…" the man looked down at a sheet of paper, "Grace Turner, one of Veidt's office secretaries. The cause of death is as of yet unknown, but sources suspect Arsenic poisoning to be the cause. It is unclear at this time if she opted to take it herself, or if it was, in fact, administered to her.

"As reported before, Adrian Veidt is dead from suicide. We received this footage earlier of the crime scene. I warn you, the image you are about to see may be disturbing."

The shot cut from the reporter to apparently someone walking a camera through a bedroom, the turning out onto a balcony.

Laurie Jupiter sat back in her spot on the couch and gasped, as did Dan.

Adrian was leaning against the railing, his arms resting on the ground by his sides, surrounded by a pool of blood. His head was slightly upturned, and his eyes were shut, as if sleeping. The woman was situated similarly against the railing next to him, her delicate face and long brunette hair set into a portrait of eternal sleep.

There were several other people on the balcony, one of them an older man who was crouched next to Adrian, feeling of his pulse.

"Mr. Campbell!" the person holding the camera said. "Mr. Campbell, what do you think about Mr. Veidt leaving all his money to charities and the construction costs of the major cities!"

"Get them outta here," the older man huffed, pushing the cameraman away and turning his back on him.

The scene then cut back to the reporter, who immediately shot into speech.

"Sources say that Mr. Veidt accurately severed the Radial artery in both wrists, which then caused him to bleed to death over a period of a few hours. As our cameraman said in that shot, Mr. Veidt opted to leave his entire inheritance and accumulated fortune to a few chosen charities and the construction costs of rebuilding the planet's major cities. As of now, it is unclear what the future holds for Veidt Enterprises."

The scene changed to the desk anchor.

"Striking news," he said, and Laurie turned the volume back down. She nor Dan heard the anchor begin to say "and in other news, the New Frontiersman have come forward with what they claim to be the journal of ex-vigilante and convict Walter Kovacs a.k.a. Rorschach. Only the future will tell if this journal is the real deal."

Laurie turned to Dan, her face flushed. Dan's face had sunk and he looked pale.

"Karma's a bitch, huh Dan?" Laurie said, and Dan tried to smile but failed. No matter how angry he was with what Adrian had done, he couldn't help but remember that he had been a close friend for almost twenty years.

"He just…" Dan began, and looked down at the floor. "He just wanted what was right. He just went about it all wrong. That's the second friend I've lost in a month."

"Oh, Dan," Laurie said, and turned on the couch to embrace him. She held him close, trying to squeeze the grief out of him. "It'll be okay," she said, pulling back and looking him in the eyes.

"Oh, I know it will. I got my happy ending. I just wish I could say that for so many others. Including Adrian," Dan said, removing his glasses and cleaning them with his towel.

Laurie hugged him again, and as he looked over her shoulder at the television, they played a montage of pictures of Adrian's life, ending in the picture of the Watchmen; Eddy Blake, Laurie Jupiter, Jon Osterman, Dan Dreiberg, and Rorschach. It seemed like just yesterday that picture was taken.

"Goodbye, my friend," he said, and returned his glasses to his face.

So, a HUGE, RIBCRACKING BEAR HUG to all who took this journey with me, I'm glad I could entertain you with my shenanigans. Thank you soooooo so much for reading :-]

Like a lot of people, music is my muse. And I've found that I can't write without it. Here are the songs that inspired this story, if you wanna check 'em out :-]

Behind Blue Eyes- Limp Bizkit, I'm Lost Without You- Blink 182, Broken- Lifehouse, Chemistry of a Car Crash- Shiny Toy Guns, Fin- Anberlin, Over and Out (The Renholder Remix)- Alkaline Trio, Fix You- Coldplay, So I Thought- Flyleaf, Apologize- OneRepublic, Boulders- New Found Glory, You're Not Alone- Saosin, and of course Exodus by Ferrante and Teicher.