All I Ask of You

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Recovering from the injury was surprisingly easier than Annie originally anticipated. The stab wound ended up being shallower than they all thought. It just caused immense pain, and Annie still felt a soreness in her side. However, if that was what she had to go through in order to finally see Carnival disappear for good, then she truly couldn't care less.

What did end up concerning Annie was the mysterious man she encountered. No one wrote of what she saw necessarily, but almost everyone insisted that he wasn't important. But Annie would beg to differ. If there was someone out there who could just shove whoever he saw as a threat into another dimension, it was very much so the point. This guy had been running around for who knew how long, and she seemed to be the only person to know about him.

No amount of internet searching was pulling up anything. It was likely that she was never going to find him. However, what concerned her was that he not only knew her, but he knew she had been stabbed before. She didn't trust the guy, and the only other person who seemed to put a lot of thought into it was Peter.

"So he really just showed up out of nowhere?" he asked, frowning.

Annie nodded, "Yep. Right after Carnival stabbed me. And I starting kinda yelling at him, and then he just left because you guys were coming."

"Right... okay this isn't about the dude, but... do you think we would've made it in time if he hadn't been there?"

"Y-yeah, I got him by surprise. So I think I could've even met you guys halfway."

The truth was that Annie had no idea if she would have ever seen any of them if it hadn't been for that guy. As angry as she was for him not doing something earlier, the timing was undeniably convenient.

Peter sighed, pulling her in for a hug, "I can't believe you were gonna do that. You didn't even know I would be fast enough."

"And I didn't know if he was gonna cut your throat or not, but I wasn't about to watch that happen," she said, hugging him back tightly.

Neither of them had much time to process just what her decisions had meant for the both of them. Actually, Annie still didn't believe that she was going to be stuck with Carnival for forever. There was no way she would have let that happen, but she couldn't bear the thought of watching Peter die in front of her. And thankfully, neither of them had to worry about anything bad happening. School was about to start soon and they were going to have to go home.

Right then, Harper ran into the computer room the couple was in, "You'll never guess what happened! It was so freaking insane and you guys just can't guess it! I wouldn't have ever guessed, you guys!"

"Well, you gonna tell us?" she questioned.

Harper squealed, "I'm officially Tony Stark's fashion assistant! It's now a paid position and everything. My parents can suck it! I got a job with someone who's more successful than they'll ever be!"

Ned quickly followed into the room, "Yeah! It was wicked awesome, you should've been there."

"That's awesome! I didn't know that was a thing, but I'm so proud of you!" Annie exclaimed, grinning as she went to hug Harper.

They all left for their homes in that mood. Annie, Peter, and Ned went to their apartments. Harper left for their dorm room. It left Annie in a car with just her mom, since her dad was back at the university and trying to get an early jumpstart on prepping his classes. Not that being in a car with her dad felt like a better option by any means of the word. He would ask too many questions because he always seemed to doubt what she was doing.

As Annie sat in the passenger seat, a short newscast came on the radio station they were listening to. It was about the huge fight that happened with Carnival. She even heard her own hero name being put in it. For once, it was something that was positive. That was a nice change of pace, to say the least. Clearly, it wasn't going to bring back Tina, but it was a start to making up for what she did.