Mary Jane goes to Hell

Summary: I admit it. It's a stinking fix-fic. I just couldn't take One More Day any more. I had it in my head, and it had to come out.

Of course, being me, that means it comes out… like this.

So, if you aren't familiar with One More Day: Spider-man made a deal with Mephisto, the devil, which undid his marriage with MJ in order to save Aunt May's life. That's all you need to know for this…

1.

"Well, hi," said Mary Jane. She didn't bother waving the sword at the devil. She figured that might just make him mad.

He smiled at her. "Planning to go somewhere?" he asked, folding his arms patiently across his chest.

He was very polite, she had noticed. Exceedingly so. And she could feel the power radiating off him in waves from here, a heat that chilled her.

"I don't think I belong here," she said carefully. She didn't want to get him angry.

He smiled, and those pupilless eyes flickered to Ben, who was laboring to breathe. "He doesn't belong here," corrected the devil. "Do you?"

"M-Mephisto, please," begged Ben.

The demon arched his upper lip imperiously. Mary Jane was fairly certain that nobody ever got anything from him out of begging.

But she had an inkling that Mephisto wasn't here just to stop them. Perhaps he wanted to gloat; or perhaps he had something more he wanted from her. But if he wanted them stopped, he could do that as easily by sending an army.

He was giving her personal attention; that meant something. It meant that she was more important to him and his plans than he was letting on. It meant all the things Ben didn't understand about this situation were coming down on their heads.

So she smiled at him. It took him off guard, and for just a second she saw raw calculation in his eyes as he considered this. Just for a second she saw that he wasn't omniscient.

And her heart gave a naïve flutter of hope, which she quickly tried to tamp down. She continued smiling, glancing back to Ben. "Forgive him," she said. "He doesn't understand the rules of the game. Not yet."

"And you do?" questioned the big red man, all dressed in red, with red horns and those terrible eyes. And even if his whole costume seemed a little over the top, he sold it all with that voice.

God. If she ever got back to life, she would have all she needed to make the greatest movie about hell. Ever. If she could find an actor who could do that…

"Not all of them, but enough to know why you're here," she said, trying to ignore the fear gnawing at her belly. Trying to ignore the bag at her belt snuffling. "What do you want?"

"He cannot stay here in my realm any longer," replied Mephisto. "He had a certain amount of time, and it has expired. He has failed, and he is forfeit for it."

Ben grew pale. "I thought I had more time!"

"You wasted it all," Mephisto assured him. "Wasted too much finding her, and too much time everywhere you went. You cannot go back. You are mine." His lips pulled back in a smile, revealing teeth that were sharper than they had any right to be.

MJ laughed. "You came out here to do the job you could have sent any demon to do? I don't think you did. What else?"

The devil shrugged, but now there was laughter in his eyes. "He told you how terribly important you are, didn't he? Would you like to see what is happening now, in the world? Would you like to experience it?"

He reached out and touched her head.

2.

She wasn't herself. She was a thug, a big thug who was strong enough to break a normal man in half. She had a name, but she'd forgotten it.

And Spider-man had just laid her out flat. He was standing over her, wearing that ridiculous scrap of pajamas that showed every tiny muscle in his weak little body, but his fist had just ploughed into her like a jackhammer. She was staring in horror at her chest, where broken ribs were sticking out.

And he was saying something. Laughing. Taunting her about the bones. About her name.

She let out a sob of pain and tried to move back. The room was filled with other goons, but they were backing away from him slowly. They'd never seen this side of him.

She could hear desperation in his laugh, sorrow, but all that was secondary to the rage. He was lost in the moment.

He grabbed a chair, smashing it to pieces over her legs. She felt one break, heard her own yell, now a baritone that scared her. And he continued to taunt her, spewing insults.

Finally, after he left, she felt the world fading to darkness.

3.

She gasped, sitting upright. The devil was standing over her, chuckling.

"He didn't kill that man!" she protested.

"No; not yet," replied Mephisto. He chuckled again. "Do you know, he came so very close? But he pulled back, at the last minute. It won't be terribly long before he is a killer. The one line he has so feared crossing, and he will dance over it. Ah. Do you know, I had to give him a chance to avoid this? I did. You were very smart, bargaining away your happiness and your own soul in order to give him more."

Her face fell. "What?"

"Oh, yes. In the original deal you would have gone to heaven when you died. You were safe." He leaned forward. "But you bargained further. You bargained for a chance. One that vexed me sorely, but I could not deny without showing my hand."

She realized with a sinking feeling that Mephisto wasn't here to bargain; he had come here to gloat. "I made that bargain," she said flatly.

"You knew it was stupid, but you loved him so much that you gave away all you had so that he could be happy." Mephisto's smile was unpleasant, but now she understood why he smiled.

She had gambled and lost, and she didn't even remember it. She had gambled everything on keeping Peter happy, and lost it anyway. "So you gave him that chance, but he blew it?" she asked softly.

"Yes," replied the devil. His gaze flickered to Ben Parker. "You, sir, are lost; and your nephew is lost. And you have nobody to blame but yourself, Mary Jane Watson."

He snapped his fingers and a demon appeared, grabbing hold of Ben, who screamed in pain. MJ tightened her grip on the sword, ready to fight.

A glowing white form appeared beside Mephisto. "I'm afraid not, brother," it said, its voice smooth and pure, a marked change from the voices they'd heard down here up till now.

It moved forward, grabbing Ben, lifting him up. It then turned, facing Mary Jane. "You may keep the sword a while, but I will be wanting it back," the voice intoned solemnly.

Then they were both gone.

Mephisto sighed. "Well, we knew that a risk," he muttered. "All right. Get the girl, and go back."

He said it for her benefit, not the demon's. He wanted her to freak out. She wasn't sure why, but now she knew a few things she hadn't realized before.

She'd done something, before. In the reality that had been erased. Something that made the devil angry; something that had nearly saved Peter Parker. She'd bargained away her life and soul to give him a chance.

The devil was doing this because he was angry at her, because he wanted to hurt her, to rub in just how badly she had failed.

She ground her teeth together, trying to steel herself, to ignore the fear gnawing at her. Because she was Mary Jane Watson. (Mary Jane Parker? That was lame; she wasn't giving up her name, especially if she'd never actually been married to the dude, due to reality-altering)

She was Mary Jane Watson, and that man had been so important to her that she had forfeited her own soul to try to help him. She had given up everything for him, sacrificing herself for him.

She barely remembered him in this new reality, but for the first time the enormity of the love they must have shared was sinking in. For the first time, she realized how deeply she'd loved that man.

And she swung the sword at the devil.

He was gone in the blink of an eye, suddenly standing five feet away, glaring at her. There was unbridled hatred in those eyes, and she knew she wasn't beat yet.

"You can't touch me," she told the two demons, keeping the sword between her and them. "Not while I have an angel's sword in hand."

Mephisto laughed at her, a dark laugh. "You think that can protect you? You don't even know how to find the stairs out of here. You can't leave without a guide. You're trapped right here, in this realm."

He vanished without another word, taking his soldier with him.

MJ dropped to her knees, pulling out Creed's head. "Is that true?" she demanded.

He was quiet for a minute, chewing his lower lip and glaring at her. He wasn't stupid, and he was a complete sociopath. He was going to try to manipulate her into helping him advance his goals.

She slapped him, hard. "I have a sword here, and maybe it can kill you, somehow or other! Something worth experimenting with, right?"

She felt sick to her stomach. Threats like this weren't her.

But this place, with its terrible danger lurking around every curve and horrible disfigured monsters just tended to bring out the worst in her.

Creed sneered at her. "I don't know," he said. "I do know he don't give up easy unless he's already won."

She stuffed the head back into the cloth, tying it tightly. She hoped that he wasn't getting stronger while in there; she wasn't very sure how healing and a new body would come about in the tiny sack, but she also wasn't sure how it would come about in a larger context.

At any rate, she needed to understand other things better.

So she ran on, trying to find the stairs to the next level, or somebody who could explain the rules.

4.

There was something horrible about this place. Maybe it was the colors, that were just a little bit off. Maybe it was all the dead people, who had been here a very long time and did nothing but run away.

Would she become one of these, doing nothing but running away?

Losing everything that made her herself?

Time ceased to have meaning after a while. There was only the present, the now, the feeling that she was being hunted by the worst that hell had to offer.

Then she found the little girl, all alone in the middle of the place.

She was just a tiny, frail thing, chained to a stake driven firmly into the ground. She sat there stoicly, not crying, just watching the world approach with those big blue eyes. MJ had learned enough about this place to know that it wasn't a good idea to go over there. That it was some sort of trap; the girl was either bait, or else a monster in disguise.

But she was just a little girl…

MJ couldn't turn off her compassion, even knowing how stupid it was. How it might get her killed.

So she pulled out the head she kept at her side. "What's this, then?" asked Creed, snuffling the air.

"Some kind of trap, or bait, or something," she said. "What do you think."

He glowered down at the child. "I dunno, frail. The hell I stay in normally is all brimstone and lakes of fire. I got no experience here. Looks like… move just a little bit closer, but don't say nothing to it. This is still hell, even if it's the nice hell."

MJ moved in carefully, sword drawn and at her side.

Creed grinned appreciatively. "Oh, yeah. A little girl like that… she'd be dessert, I think."

MJ shuddered. "Just look out for any kind of traps. Little girl? Sweetie?"

The girl turned blank eyes on MJ. They were blue, and tear tracks scored the skinny girl's face. Her hair was a reddish brown.

"Mommy?" she said plaintively. MJ felt her heart constrict.

"What the hell?" she demanded.

Creed sniffed. "You got any kids?" he asked.

"Not in this reality," she said. "Keep up. If this kid existed at all, she existed in the other world—the one where I married Spider-man."

But that didn't make any sense. If she'd had a kid in the other reality, would she have given the child up just for Peter's Aunt? No. This was beyond weird.

Creed chuckled suddenly, his sudden change in mood startling MJ. "What?" she growled.

"I think I know that smell," he replied. "That ain't no little girl. That's a devil. Let's get out of here."

A shapeshifting demon? But what did it hope to accomplish? MJ still hesitated, keeping the sword in her right hand ready to strike. "What do you want?" she asked.

The child's eyes changed, shifting colors suddenly to a dark black. It smiled gently at her. "Take me with you?" she asked.

"Don't do it," warned Creed.

"What do you really look like? Who are you?" asked MJ.

The girl's brow creased, and she looked down at herself. "This is your future, you know. Not your past, or your present, or anything else. But you gave that up. I don't know why that's what I look like. I don't have much control—can I come with you?"

"What is it?" MJ asked Creed.

"What, I'm a demon expert now? It smells like demon, that's all I know," he muttered. "I don't know what it is. Just leave it here; it's chained, it can't follow us."

The thing blinked at her again, and even with those ghastly black eyes it looked cute and normal. It scared MJ, more than a little. The smile slid slowly off its face, replaced by that curious blank expression. "Mommy?" it said again.

"Stop that!" snapped MJ.

The thing grinned, an innocent, child-like grin. "Sorry. I'm not going to hurt you, you know. I can try to take another form, if this one upsets you. But I don't know what it'll be."

"Take another form," said MJ harshly, starting to back away slowly. Creed was right. Something had put this thing in their path, and it wasn't as harmless as it looked.

It shifted, nothing but a formless void for a moment. Then it was a young man, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. It was Peter Parker.

Only it wasn't him. It wasn't right. The smile wasn't just shy and retiring; it was the same child-like innocence as the little girl.

MJ looked around, examining the whole landscape she could see. Something was very wrong here, very off. It had to be some kind of trap. "Creed, be helpful or you're just dead weight," she said.

"Just get out of here!" he snarled. There was some urgency in it now.

So she glowered down at the demon in front of them. "What are you?" she asked.

"A chimera; a will of the wisp. An insubstantial thought," it whispered. "Echoes of a future that will never be. I am regret; I am aches and pains. I am your son, your daughter, that you sold away unthinkingly. Consequences never known."

Then she knew the power of this thing. It wasn't in the lie of it, in showing her glimpses of the future and ensnaring her while a partner came after her. It wasn't in the puzzle of it. It was in the sheer truth of it.

Bone-deep she knew that it was showing her the truth. Every bit of her could see the truth, sense it. Smell it. Taste it.

And this was the harshest thing hell had shown her.

This demon wasn't here to run her down, or try to kill her. It was here to show her what she had done. To show her the consequences of actions. To show her how the decisions she'd thought were selfless had screwed up the whole world, had destroyed something beautiful.

How her decision to try to save an old woman had destroyed a future.

"She wasn't alive!" MJ protested. "Nothing more than a possibility out of millions! A quantum… quantum…"

But the little imp was smiling, and she knew no science could make that smile stop searing her so deeply. Because she was dead now, perhaps, she was able to feel such things as truth and honesty. Things so often hidden in life.

And she knew now that she had paid a much higher price than any she had thought she was paying. More than her own happiness, her own future. More than anything. She could see two children, two bright and shining individuals, snuffed out of existence.

Her stomach hurt, but she forced herself to walk away from the demon, and the plaintive cries of 'mommy' that followed her for a very long time.

5.

Time passed. Without a guide she was trapped on this level, this particular circle of hell. It was a world of forests filled with darker things, and denizens who ran away. She amused herself for a while with thinking about what these people had been done to be sentenced to an eternity like this. Cut others off in traffic? Perhaps slapped their mother?

It couldn't be too horrible.

This place also had boundaries. It took her time to work them all out, but it was a rough circle, with the forests at the middle. It was the strange hills around the forest where she stayed, along with the other lost souls.

Unlike them she didn't camp in any one place, staying on the move. She knew that there were things here hunting her, specifically. Several times she'd heard the plaintive cries of 'mommy' in the distance, and knew Regret, as she'd come to call the demon, was staying on her trail.

Creed grew more and more agitated, but she was beginning to understand the monster in him. He could never sate himself, not here. His eternal punishment was to crave more and more the thing he could never have. The kill that would be always out of his reach.

She found herself talking to him one night, his head propped up on a desiccated stump. "If you could go back to life, is there anybody back there you cared about?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow at her. "I know you're a killer and all, but even killers have to have somebody…"

"There was a girl, once, who made things… different," he said, smirking. "I killed her. And there's one guy… he's sort of family. And he's… fun. He killed me, this time."

She made a disgusted noise in her throat. "That's all the humanity you have left? A grudge-match?"

He laughed. "I don't much like animals, frail. They're weak, and stupid, and vindictive. They do make funny noises when you cut on them, though. No, give me the animals any day. They'll kill you or lick you, and won't screw with your head."

It was absurd to her that this certifiable serial killer could be called a cat person. "Hell," she muttered.

He grinned widely. "That's where we are. Don't forget it."

It was a little more difficult for her to re-cauterize the wound at the base of his neck with the sword this time. It felt a little bit more like he was a real person, not just a monster. She wished she hadn't asked him.

The next day, a new person arrived in Hell. And immediately tried to kill MJ.