what they wouldn't do | DAREDEVIL

chapter forty seven

note from the author

Alright, I'm a little late on my deadline. The long weekend threw off my schedule a little, but...still better than six months, right?

Some more good news, some more bad news. I had some small changes I wanted to make to the second half of this chapter, and considering it was well over 30,000 words altogether, I had to (surprise, surprise) split it into two smaller chapters. Again! But that means the second half is ready to go—give or take a few small changes—and should be ready to post soon! Again, I'm going to estimate sometime next week-ish.

Bad news is that much like the last chapter, the one after this one—Chapter 48—will also end on a cliffhanger. A pretty bad one too—maybe my worst? But it's a scene I've had in mind for literal years while writing this, and I've waited so long to use it, so I can't give it up now! If it helps, this chapter doesn't end on a cliffhanger, although...I don't know if I would say it ends happily.

My only other note is a small glimpse behind the writing process. I've cut so many scenes from this story because the chapters get so long, but I keep all those cut scenes in a separate document. Sometimes I alter them and fit them in later on, sometimes I can't make it work. But as I get close to the end of this story there are so many scenes I wish I had kept in. So I'm throwing one in here as a flashback, set right around the time Matt was recovering from his poison arrow. It would have worked better if I'd included it back when I'd originally intended to, but that happens when you write something over such a long period of time. Anyway, just a little behind the scenes insight for people who may be wondering why I'm including this random flashback.

I'm still getting around to replying to some of the comments and messages, so if you haven't gotten a reply yet I promise I'm not ignoring you!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Thanks to everyone who has stuck around for so long with this story; I hope these last few chapters live up to 8 years of expectations that have built up.

—

A summer night not too far in the past...

                     IT HAD BEEN TWO DAYS since Matt had gotten his hearing back after his disastrous mission with Stick. Two days during which he hadn't gone out as Daredevil, thanks to his promise to Sarah that he would rest as he recovered from the poison in his system. He was feeling nearly one hundred percent now—or as close as he ever got to it—and if it had been up to him he'd have been out there already, making up for the missed nights. Scratch that, if it had been up to him he wouldn't have taken any time off at all.

     But Sarah had been so insistent in pleading that he not go out, almost panicked as she asked him to show some sort of concern for his own recovery. It had dug into him deeper than he'd expected, and he'd found himself wanting to say yes to whatever she was asking him.

     However, she hadn't specified that he had to stay inside altogether. Which was how he and Sarah had ended up navigating a complicated series of alleyways and rooftops across Hell's Kitchen just after the sun went down. He wasn't in costume, but they stuck to the shadows anyway as they reached their destination: the roof of a tall building just a few blocks north of where their neighborhood ended.

     "When I said you should take a few days off from knocking people around on rooftops, I didn't mean drag me around on rooftops instead," Sarah complained, slightly out of breath from the tall fire escape they'd had to scale to get up there.

     "Gotta be more specific," he told her.

     "Matt."

     Matt grinned. "It will be worth it. You'll see."