--10--

Author's Comment: I have to apologize a bit. I'd sort of forgotten that I hadn't finished this story. As a warning, we have officially seeped into tragedy, so be prepared for a very heavy chapter, but it's not the last. I promised closure before, and I intend to give it.

They were too late.

It was the only thought that made itself comprehensible in Chloe's mind. Too late.

They'd arrived in New York too late to help Spiderman or the Hobgoblin stop the creatures they'd been battling. They had raced to the top of the scaffolding just in time to see it happen: Harry's self sacrifice to save Peter and MJ.

"NO!"

The word had ripped from her throat in an unearthly sound, in a sound that didn't belong to her, like her voice had separated from her body.

Oliver hadn't wanted to let her come. He'd wanted her to stay safely in a hotel until they could be sure it was safe, but it had been no use. She'd insisted, demanded to be taken along because she had to see him again. She had to tell him she was sorry, that she loved him.

Yet as she skidded to his side, flinging herself over him, words failed her. She sobbed desperately, unable to control herself.

Harry looked at her and gave her a pained smile. She kissed his forehead and his cheek.

"It's okay," he whispered, barely able to shape the words, but she sobbed harder, shaking her head. His hand reached up to brush the hair out of her face. She took his hand in hers and held it in place, tears spilling down her face as the life went out of him, and he became limp. "No," she whispered inaudibly, still shaking her head, refusing to accept it. "No."

Peter's insides were twisting in guilt and pain and loss. His best friend. Harry had been his only friend for years, and this was Peter's fault. If Harry's father hadn't died trying to kill Spiderman, or if Peter had been honest with Harry from the beginning, or if he hadn't turned into a selfish jackass all because suddenly Spiderman was getting a little bit of positive attention...

It was wrong. It was horribly wrong, and it was his fault. Harry had sacrificed himself for Peter, something he could never repay.

He looked at Chloe's face with a fresh surge of guilt. She should never have been involved. He should have told Mary Jane up front that Harry was dangerous. MJ never would have let Chloe anywhere near him if he'd been straight about it. Chloe shouldn't even be there, and yet here she was, kneeling beside Harry, looking as though she wanted to die as well. The expression on her face tore at his insides. How could he have allowed it to happen?

He didn't deserve to live.

Mary Jane fought down a sob. No. No. "No," she whispered. This was so wrong.

And she'd let it happen. She'd run away from him the moment he opened up to her, abandoning him when he was already alone and confused. And so he'd snapped again. There had been no help for it. She and Chloe both had abandoned him.

Chloe. God she never should have allowed Chloe to date Harry. Chloe should be miles away right now, barely aware of what was happening.

She claimed she was a part of this world. She made a living off of commandeering a team of crime fighters and superheroes, but had she ever experienced anything like this before? MJ shook her head, blinking back burning tears. She wanted to embrace her friend, to comfort her, but she couldn't. She had brought this on Chloe. She'd brought this on Harry.

She wanted badly to reach for Peter's hand, in spite of everything he'd put her through recently, in spite of the fact that she should hate him. She wanted it anyway. She wanted to hold his hand and cry on his shoulder, but she didn't let herself.

She didn't deserve comfort.

It was gut-wrenching. Oliver had to use every ounce of willpower he had not to run to her side, to hold her. He didn't belong in that moment. None of them did.

As a red sun set in the sky and Harry Osborn left them, at least for this life, all he could do was blame himself.

This was wrong.

Chloe could have saved Harry. She loved him, and she could have pulled him out of the darkness in his life. But he and Mary Jane and Peter, they'd all planted the fear in her. He had been the worst. He knew, if it hadn't been for him, Chloe never would have run from that hospital. She would have stuck it out, believed in Harry. It was the kind of person Chloe was. And he'd persuaded her it was the right choice.

He'd been selfish. He'd wanted to protect her from everything, and in doing so, he'd set her up for the most unbearable pain anyone could endure: losing the one they loved.

He'd been selfish, and now Harry had paid for it, and Chloe would go on suffering for it for who knew how long. Chloe could have saved him, but Oliver had scared her out of it.

Yes, it took all the will and strength and courage he possessed to let her cry alone beside Harry's lifeless body. He knew that he could do nothing for her, that he didn't belong there.

And he didn't deserve to hold her.

Silence washed over Chloe as her crying slowed, sobs no longer racking her body. Only a few tears trickled over her cheeks now as she laid his hand down at last.

She remembered bitterly that there was once a time when she could have saved him. She had once had the incredible gift of healing, and now, she wondered once more why she had lost it. Not that he would have let her. Harry would never have wanted her to risk the possibility of giving her own life for his. Because in spite of everything, in spite of all the horrible things that had happened, that he'd done, Harry Osborn had been a good person. His final act had proven that to anyone who would question it.

Was she not allowed to be loved? Every man who had ever loved her had left her or, worse still, gotten hurt.

It wasn't fair. But it was also life. She knew in her heart that this had been inevitable. God had planned this, and there was nothing any of them could have done to prevent it. Not Peter, not MJ, not Oliver. None of them could have saved Harry Osborn. Even she could not have saved him, no matter how much she had wanted to.

And it would be all right because life went on. Whether you wanted it to or not, life went on, and it would simply go on without Harry. Harry wouldn't want her to be miserable, and she promised him silently that she wouldn't. That she would be strong and go on.

Harry had died honorably, saving the people he loved, and he had died in the arms of someone he loved who loved him in return.

It was what he had deserved.