"We'll sneak out while they sleep
And sail off in the night.
We'll come clean and start over,
The rest of our lives."
I slipped through the crowds, looking for her, scanning faces, looking around for one of those electronic boards that give flight locations. The searing pain in my chest had started to subside after I infiltrated the airport. I couldn't let her go… couldn't just let whatever it was between us go. Loss threatened to swell in my throat, and I almost couldn't focus for a moment, stepping between the gaps created in the crowds, my eyes flickering over every blonde head I saw. I didn't care about Electro, or whatever problems Harry Osborn was having…
And there she was, reclining among the endless seats, waiting for her flight to be called for boarding. Hope surged through me, the pain ebbed, and I started forward-
And I saw her, lying in a casket. I don't know how. Why. Where. But the image flashed in front of me as clearly as the real Gwen. Her skin was the unnatural color of prepared bodies, her hair flowing down around her face, no visible wound. I flinched, took a step back. What had I seen? I shook my head, looked around. For a moment, things seemed to change. Then Qwen was sitting there again, looking at her phone, glancing around, waiting. Maybe I was losing my mind, maybe it was some power, maybe a vision from God…
She saw me. Gwen was looking straight at me. She stood, walked over slowly, like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. I saw her in a casket again… it wasn't as blurry this time. Like it was becoming more solid, more real. And I just knew.
"You come to say goodbye?" She asked quietly. I saw tears in her eyes.
"Yes." I said gently. Inexplicably, the vision dimmed. Whatever future I was seeing was fading, somehow...
"I don't believe you." She said bluntly. "You didn't sneak past security just to say goodbye."
"If you stay in New York with me, you die." I said with utter certainty. She froze, looked like she didn't know if I was telling a joke or losing my mind.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take. " She retorted. I shook my head, even as the hellish vision faded, as normalcy returned.
"I love you." I said, pulling her closer, kissing her forehead. "And I'll find you when this is over, when I can walk away from this. We'll start over."
"What if it's too late by then?" Gwen asked, wounded, trying to be cold, and instead just sounding grieved, as I walked away.
"It won't be!" I called over my shoulder.
"When we're gone, we'll stay gone!
Out of sight, out of mind.
It's not too late
We have the rest of our lives!"
-Satellite, by Rise Against
