It was a split second and Peter choked on his blood, venom still leering at him with hate. Before he could stop him, Venom cackled loudly and fled into the night air. The man of sand dropped to his knees at the sight before him, a hero lost, a battle won, for all the wrong reasons. He stood, and spoke to Harry.
"Its you now, I never meant for this to happen, I'm sorry" and with that, he disappeared into the wind. Peter clutched his wound and fell to the floor.
They clutched him tightly, holding him, tears falling from both their eyes.
"Harry, i-" Peter choked on his words and Harry shushed him in response.
"I know Pete, I'm sorry, you were the best friend a guy could have, I'm gonna miss you"
"Its you now, please, save the city, you have to, you can't let them win, don't let them-" he choked and the blood came up, washing his bottom lip. Mary Jane sobbed harder and it was her turn.
"I love you Pete, I'm sorry" he tried to ease her
"I love you too MJ, im sorry too, it's always been you, you know that"
"I know Pete, don't leave me!" tears fell harder and harder from their eyes. A single tear managed to pry itself from Peter's dying body and fell down his cheek, touching his blood covered lip as he breathed one last time and the light faded from his eyes, to be pale forever.
The dark caskett lowered to the ground as Mary Jane hung on Harry's shoulder, sobbing hard. His stone like face showed no emotion, sadness eating at his heart. Peter's Aunt stood to the side, crying hard and the others circled around the hero's body didn't matter, they were just countless others that lived becasuse of him, survived because of him.
Many had come, when Harry had managed to get the death of spiderman annomously published into the paper. The turn out was more than they expected and no one disclosed the hero's identity, but all wept, dreading the fate of their city.
The spiderman costume lay draped across the black coffin as the priest said the final words.
"You did good bud" Harry whispered and placed the white rose over his friend's cold body, trapped in a dark prison, when it was his turn. Mary Jane couldn't bring herself to say any words when she placed her single red rose on his coffin.
The days passed slowly and Mary Jane couldn't let the solitude of her home engulf her, so she stayed in one of Harry's guest rooms. Aunt May also stayed at Harry's and the trio put off going to Peter's home and clearing the things out. It seemed as if it would have to be done, but if it was, it was an acceptance of his passing and no one wanted to admit that he was gone. The mornings passed queitly, each breakfast they sat together as a family, but no one spoke, unable to muster the words of comfort.
On one of the quiet mornings, Harry was tying his tie, to go out, since he was dealing with the funeral matters and today he was going to speak to Peter's landlord and take the initial scan of Peter's room. MJ came to Harry's room and tried to smile. Her eyes fixed on the mirror reflection of his fingers methodoligically tying the green and silver tie.
"You're going there today?" she spoke and he nodded, her voice felt strange, even to her, as if she hadn't spoken for ages.
"Can I come?" she asked and he turned to her, finally finishing with his tie.
"I was going to ask, I didn't know if you wanted to"
"well I do" the tears crept into her eyes but they did not fall, she didn't let them. He came forward to her and wrapped her into his hug. She sobbed, letting it all go. They hugged until she seperated, she wiped her eyes, trying to smile but shook her head.
"I wont go" she said and he understood. She looked into his eyes and he into hers and they seemed to stop for a moment, both feeling it, but neither wanting to give in, both wanting to honor Peter and never feel anything to each other again, but it wasn't the case and Harry pondered over it every night.
Their moment was interupted by Harry's butler, who came in and gave Harry the morning paper, as well as eggs benidict and orange juice. Harry grabbed the paper and seeing the headline, threw it down on the ground, swearing.
MJ picked up the paper confused and gasped as she saw the headline, she turned to Harry, but he was already gone and clutching the paper, she ran after him, down the stairs, into the study, behind a mirror, where masks and gliders lay. She stared at him shocked.
"You can't do this" she said
"Peter said it was me" he replied, suiting up
"but harry!- he cut her off"
"No, I've got to fight for this town, I've got to give back to it after my father messed it up. And besides, we can't let venom get away with this"
"you can't do it Harry, Peter barely could, you can't live a double life, you have too much at stake, look at him, respect him, he lost everything"
"you'll help me, any man can change the world and I might not be as good as spiderman, but I can try" she had to agree with his effort and smiled weakly, putting the paper down.
"Murder on the Brooklyn Bridge- Omnious Black Figure strikes again"
He picked the paper up and threw it in the bin. He smiled to her brightly and she couldn't help but laugh.
"you've never saved the world before" she warned and he laughed back
"I thought I'd start with the city" he grabbed his glider and flung himself out the window, landing and maneuvering it with grace. She smiled after him and went down for breakfast.
"Wheres Harry?" Aunt May asked almost immideitly as MJ sat down to eat her eggs
"Another hero in the making" she replied and Aunt May looked at her worried.
"Don't worry, Harry knows what he's doing" MJ reassured
"does he?" Aunt May questioned
"I hope so" Mary Jane replied
Actually, he didn't. Nor had the thought it through, at all. He received strange looks, gliding above the buildings and he knew, that the paper was this morning's but the event was last night's and venom would not still be at the scene of the crime and if he was, how would Harry even fight him? Mary Jane had been right, he couldn't save the world, he didn't know how to at all. He sighed deeply, coming up on the bridge, seeing the site before him, felt sick. The bridge was covered with photographers and cops, most of which sported a ribbon, with spiderman's design on it, in memory of the tragic hero. The body was sorruonded by press and forensics that Harry could barely see the person at all. The body of the boy instatnly reminded him of Peter, dying in his arms and he floated back, over the city, to Peter's home, ready to be a hero, but unsure of how to do it and whether he could be able to when the time came.
The door opened with difficulty and the landlord's daughter came out to see what the trouble was. She didn't recognize Harry and had no idea that Peter was gone at all, but had been worried since she had not seen him in weeks.
"do you know where he is?" she asked, sensing that the well suited man was a friend and not a burgler.
"oh" Harry turned, the truth dawning on him, everyone had heard Spiderman had died, but few knew that Peter had died.
"I'm so sorry, he was in an accident" Harry spoke and tears rushed into the girls eyes "he didn't make it, I'm sorry, I'm here to look over his things and I will come later in the week to clear the things out" the girl nodded, leaning against the door, in tears.
"Peter and spiderman in the same month? I don't know what is happening to this city?" she sobbed and Harry hoped that she would not make the link.
After talking to her, comforting each other and drinking tea in her apartment, he tried to squeeze back into Peter's apartment. When he finally got in, he looked over the messy room and he heard the police radio loudly. He glanced to the radio and heard it loud and clear, as a sign.
"410, requesting back up, 412 5th street, dark figure" without thinking about it, he changed into his own costume and jetted to the location, ready to fight off venom and release his anger that was buliding ever since Pete's death.
The fight barely lasted 20 minutes. Venom saw him, dodged his first three goblin bombs, got hit by the fourth, attacked Harry's glider, causing Harry to fall crashing down to the ground, while he ran off with the glider. Feet away from the surface of the hard concrete that would surely break Harry's neck, he was miraculously saved, caught by an invisiable force. He opened his eyes, he hadn't screamed, he had accepted it, he hadn't even tried to fight back, but he couldn't fight gravity. He looked up and saw that he was lying on a sand pile. Immideitly, he got up and thanked the sand man. The man just smiled, nodded and blew into the wind. Harry tried to cover up the dark bleeding scratches on the unmutalited side of his face, but it was no use, Aunt May and Mary Jane would see them immedietly.
"Oh my god! Harry!" MJ rushed forward the second he came into the door, carrying his costume in a bag. He dropped it on the floor and his butler picked it up almost instantly. MJ pulled him into a tight hug.
"I was worried" she confessed and he smiled weakly. "come on, ill clean you up, you have to tell us everything"
"Well, I went to the bridge, but couldn't do anything there, he wasn't there, then I went to Pete's and heard the radio, so I suited up and found Venom. I threw at least 4 bombs at him and the last one hit him, he took my glider, I got the scratches because he hurtled me against a wall before taking it and then as I was falling to the ground, the sand guy caught me and didn't even say anything, he just left, if it werent for him I wouldn't be-" MJ shushed him
"Don't say it! I can't loose you both!" she cried and he nodded, apologizing quickly. His first fight had gone so terribly, how had Pete done it each day?
"Your lucky Harry" Aunt May admited "And in time you will learn to be a hero"
"and besides, you don't have to work, so you'll barely lead a double life" MJ offered and he smiled
"If you want to look at the bright side, I got some cool scares to show for it" he replied, joking and still holding and ice pack to his face.
MJ unconcsiously tarted to trace the damaged side of his face, transfixed on the wound, Not the one with the ice pack and newly made wounds, but the one that was his own doing, the bomb, Peter's throw.
'What did the doctor say?' she wanted to ask, but the words wouldn't come out, she felt herself leaning in, just as she had the last time she was here, before Peter's death, she wanted to kiss him, wanted to feel the comfort of him always being there for her, her hero if not the anyone else's, she believed in him. He wanted to kiss her too, but the guilt was washing over him fast and he remembered how jealous he had made Peter, one simple kiss had almost ruined it all, or had it? If he had only believed in Peter and hated his father as his father had hated him, he would have helped Peter from the beggining and Venom would have been defeated. But still, as the thoughts in their mind told them not to, their bodies pulled them forward to each other, as if magnets, until they could hear and feel each other's hot breath. Aunt May silently left the pair and they failed to notice, too wrapped up in the world of romance.