Featured song: (We Could Be) Heroes – Alesso ft Tove Lo / Torn Apart – Bastille Vs. Grades
I do not own Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie, video game or anything related to the Marvel franchise and all that jazz! But maybe I own a moose in Alaska…or maybe not haha!
"You…you're…you're Spider-Man… you're Spider-Man…"
Peter ducked down his head guiltily, twisting the spider's mask in his hands as he stood before the astonished redhead.
"I can't believe it. This whole time…how did I not see…you were in plain sight…" Hayley stuttered, her eyes unable to leave the vigilante.
How had she not seen it? It was so obvious!
Her mind was a jumbled mess as she tried to process this momentous piece of information. All the signs were there, plain as day! Memories and past conversations started to flash before her, all the puzzle pieces finally fitting together. The great secret, the betrayal, Gwen's death – it all started to make sense. But now that she knew the truth, a small part of her wished she didn't.
Life had just become even more confusing and complicated.
The months of countless lies from Peter, from Harry, from everyone she thought she knew…it was too much.
This changed everything.
She clamped her eyes shut wanting desperately for this to all be some elaborate dream her mind had concocted. The whole situation was even more fucked up and complex than Hayley had initially realised. It was like she had begun to chip away at an iceberg, only to discover that beneath the water there was a colossal mound of icy deceptions and deceit.
Opening her tear filled eyes, Hayley quickly glanced at the tall red and blue blur, before shutting them again. Then she repeated the same action in quick succession, over and over, not understand why all this chaos wasn't going away. She tried to focus on the man before her, tried to truly accept who he really was.
Through the tears, all she saw was a stranger.
It all looked wrong. Peter's face on Spider-Man's body…it was just wrong. If she hadn't just flown among Manhattan's skyscrapers, then she honestly would have believed that Peter was mucking about, trying to get back at Harry. However, this was not a game. It was real.
This was real.
More small tears leaked from beneath her lashes and speckled down her face as she stared upwards to the clear blue sky, praying to the gods to give her strength.
"Hay – "
"DON'T!" she shrieked, stumbling away when Peter moved closer. "This isn't real…this isn't happening! You're not…but you are…say that you're not. Please say that you're not!"
"I am. I'm Spider-Man," Peter repeated shaking his head sadly. He didn't want it to come out like this, but he had no choice.
"All this time?"
"Yes."
"So, when I saw Spider-Man flying through China Town…that was you?"
"Yes."
"And on the news when you were fighting Electro and the Rhino and the destruction in Alphabet City…that was you?" Hayley spoke hysterically her voice trembling slightly as each new lie uncovered cut through her like a knife.
"Yes," he said simply, shame and guilt weighing down on him for being so deceptive to one he called friend. In that moment, he was taken back to the night Harry had discovered the truth – Hayley wore the same face bathed in devastating hurt. "I wanted to tell you, really I did, but I couldn't. I would have told you sooner if – "
"All the times when we met to visit Gwen…did you only want to talk to me for information? To keep tabs on Harry?"
Peter sighed. "At first, like, yeah, yes. I needed to make sure that he wasn't ever going to leave Ravencroft."
"When I bumped into you outside my apartment, on the subway, at Whole Foods – none of that was coincidence was it?" the redhead accused correctly, "You were watching me, weren't you?"
"Well – "
"Wait! At the gala…was that you Peter? Did you follow me when I jumped from the taxi? Were you the man who called the ambulance? The cops?"
Peter gave a small cowardly nod, not even daring to speak a word of confirmation. He felt too ashamed.
Clutching her stomach, Hayley bent over and threw up her small breakfast of dry cornflakes, creating a beautiful mess of orange flakes and vomit. She let out a soft forlorn moan and noticed that by her feet there were teeny tiny wet patches where her tears had marked the stone roof. Then her stomach heaved again and she crouched down low, curling herself inwards.
Hayley wanted to disappear. The truth was too painful; the multitude of secrets was too much to handle.
"Why didn't you save me?" she asked quietly, her voice cracking in raw sadness, "Why didn't Spider-Man save me?"
Walking forward cautiously, Peter mimicked the redhead and crouched down to her level, not wanting to be imposing or threatening in his stature.
"I did try. Believe me, I did," he implored, "I lost sight of you in the back alleys. And then I was too late. I didn't have my spider suit with me, so I couldn't – "
"I defended you! So many times Harry would fly into a rage when I mentioned your name, mentioned Spider-Man's name," she recalled frantically, suddenly standing and moving away from her deceiver. "I thought it was just a part of his psychosis because of what happened at the clock tower…god, how could I have been so fucking stupid?"
Her stomach churned again making Hayley double over and start to retch. Fortunately her stomach contents had only consisted of cornflakes so nothing else came up. Hopefully her queasiness would pass though she doubted it.
She was finding it hard to breathe. The people she knew, the world that she lived in, it was all starting to crumble. Beneath Hayley's chest, her heart was racing from the stress of finally learning such a mind-blowing secret. All she could do was squat down again, away from her vomit, and concentrate on sucking in much needed air into her lungs.
Peter stood and moved away from the redhead slowly, trying to give her as much space as she needed. He knew that revealing his secret identity would be difficult for her to accept, but he had honestly hoped it would go better than this. Gwen had taken it so well, and he was wrong in projecting his need for acceptance onto Hayley.
Hayley is not Gwen, Peter reminded himself heavily. She is far more complicated.
"You can't just decide to play hero and whisk me away whenever you feel like it, you know," Hayley glared up at him, her eyes ablaze with anger.
"God sake, Hayley, he was going to kill you!" Peter groaned throwing his hands up in frustration, getting thoroughly annoyed at having to repeat himself constantly.
It seemed like they were always having the same conversation over and over, dancing around the same topic but never coming to any solution.
"No he wasn't Parker!"
"How can you be so stupid Carmichael? He had you by your throat, choking the life from you! I saw it! I am trying, seriously, I am trying to protect you! Harry is dangerous."
"Is that what Spider-Man does Peter? He rescues the damsel in distress and then the whole of New York will love him again? Is that it?" Hayley spat sarcastically, brushing away the wisps of auburn hair that had blown across her face.
"It's not like that…I…Spider-Man is a symbol. He fights crime and protects all the citizens of New York, all of them. Including you."
"Does that include Harry? Hmmm?" Hayley tried to reason, already knowing the answer, "I thought not. He deserves a hero to save him too!"
"And is that hero going to be you?" Peter retorted, his fists clenching his mask again whilst he started to pace agitatedly. "You can't see yourself. Your neck is purple! I can even see finger marks! Why would you go back to that? Why do you keep going back to him?"
Hayley knew how her relationship with Harry appeared to everyone, what the surface of her iceberg looked like. Control. Abuse. Domestic violence. A warped sense of Stockholm syndrome. Dominant and submissive. Erotic Transference. Whatever you wanted to call it, everyone believed that her relationship with Harry was a lie.
Being a psychiatrist, she had seen it all, and it was not like that with him.
She understood exactly what people thought when they noticed strange bruises and cuts on her arms caused from Harry's nightly terrors. The redhead could accept what the hospital staff believed when the X-ray of her broken fingers had been examined. Hayley knew why Peter had assumed what he did when he found Harry with his hand around her throat.
And she also knew that the answer to Peter's question would never satisfy him.
"Why Hayley? Why?"
"Because…because I love him!"
"No, you don't. You don't, you only think that you do! He's manipulated you – "
She had had enough of people commenting on her relationship with Harry.
Jumping to her feet, Hayley leapt the short distance between herself and Peter, before drawing back her hand, punching him square in the jaw.
"How dare you Peter Parker!" she yelled in his face, "How. Dare. YOU!"
Peter darted back and away from the gutsy redhead, staring at her in disbelief. "I'm starting to think you're a lost cause Carmichael," he said regretfully, bringing a hand to his jaw and clicking it.
"You've already written Harry off, so you might as well give up on me too," Hayley commented bitterly, gritting her teeth from the pain that was now shooting up her arm.
She clutched at the hand that had punched Peter, the hand that now had a broken plaster cast crumbling away from her fingers. No doubt she probably had more fractured fingers now, judging from the way that they were pulsing with white-hot pain. Violence was never something she would ever resort too, but he had over stepped the line.
"Give up on me! Leave me alone and just forget about me! I will never stop loving him, so, please, just give up."
"Why can't you see that he used you?" Peter fought back, his face looking uncharacteristically hard as deep seeded hate and resentment started to bubble through the cracks in his web. "He played you Hayley! He was going to spend life in prison for his crimes! He is only free because of you! Because. Of. You! All he had to do was turn on the Osborn charm and then he had you, hook, line, and sinker!"
"It wasn't like that."
"Then how was it? Did he make you feel special? Needed? Wanted? He has that effect on all the girls, on all the models he's dated," Peter chuckled darkly, "Harry told me once that he doesn't do complicated. So why is he with you? Hmmm? You are exceptionally complicated."
"I don't know why he chose me, ok, I have no idea. But you can't just tear us apart like this! It's non of your business – "
"Mother Hub-He used you! Did he even tell you how Gwen really died? Or do you still believe all the lies he spouted in court? Even you said that he has a dark side. After all you have seen him do, all the things he has done, all that he has put you through, is it really that much of a stretch to believe that he could have killed her? Is it?"
Hayley paused and thought of how he had killed Kinsey without a second thought. How quick he was to fly into a rage and attack Menken. How controlling and short-tempered Harry could be. She thought of the suspicious and paralysing feeling that rippled through her body at seeing the smug grin on his face when Andrei Kuzmin's death was reported on the news.
In her heart, Hayley knew he had probably killed Kuzmin.
She swallowed thickly, noting how much her neck hurt and felt tender under the bruises Harry's punishing grip had caused. "Tell me how she died," Hayley asked quietly, trying to gain control of the situation. "I need to know the truth."
"We all have secrets: the ones we keep…and the ones kept from us. Do you really want to know?"
Hayley nodded.
Sighing, Peter ran his shaking hands through his scruffy hair. He opened and closed his mouth, the words getting lost on the tip of his tongue from how painful the memory was to speak out loud. Reliving that night was something Peter rarely did. The emotions were consuming, the tears never ending, the grief devastating. But if it would help Hayley to understand how monstrous his old friend was, then so be it.
He was just about to speak when Hayley beat him to it.
"Did you kill her?"
"WHAT? Christ, Hayley, how can you ask me that?" Peter cried, the hurt evident in his eyes and voice. "Fuck! Do you seriously believe I would? That I could?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore," she answered truthfully, hugging her uninjured arm around her waist, shivering as the cool air nipped beneath her thin t-shirt.
"Look, we were at the power plant, Gwen and me. I had just defeated Electro, and then Harry flies in on some sort of glider. He was all green, and I-I-I didn't know what to do. He figured out that I was Spider-Man as soon as he saw Gwen. Then he grabbed her and flew off."
It was very apparent how it pained him to speak the truth, and Hayley wished there was another way. She could tell from the tremor in his voice, from the water in his brown sorrowful eyes that having to recall the events leading to Gwen's death was extremely traumatic for him.
"I raced after them until I was standing on the nearby clock tower. Harry was too far above me to reach with my webbing, and he was holding her. I told him to put her down, to let her go…I told him to…" Peter sniffed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he tried to swallow away the memory, to control his intense grief. "…And that's when…when he dropped her."
"He…you mean…he just…" Hayley trailed off hardly believing what she was hearing. Her thoughts went back to what Harry had muttered as he held her throat, pompously bragging at how blondes were weak. "Then what happened?"
"I caught her and we fell through the glass," replied Peter shakily, "Then he dropped this orange bomb, some sort of OsCorp grenade, I don't know, it looked like a pumpkin. It exploded and I grabbed Gwen with my web, putting her safely on a cog below us. Harry came down and we fought until he fell off his glider."
He paused, his voice faltering over the words of the memory that he knew by heart but never wanted to remember.
Hayley was hanging onto his every word.
"The glider flew straight towards Gwen and then suddenly she was falling down the tower. I caught her again and then Harry grabbed me and he had a knife. All the cogs we turning. I had Gwen on one arm, on my web, and Harry on the other trying to kill me, but, I wasn't strong enough…I-I tried to save her, I did, but he, I…I was too late…she fell…a-and…she was dead."
Peter sank to his knees and brought the spider's mask to his face in an attempt to conceal the steady stream of tears pouring down his face. He was a broken man, vulnerable and exposed before her. And Hayley was at a loss of what to do, what to say, to make his world right again.
It reminded her of the many times in Ravencroft when Harry was defeated in a confusion of muddled emotions and exhausting pain.
The two boys were so alike in many ways.
Both abandoned by their fathers in some shape or form. Harry's emotional development had been compromised without any stable loving relationship, whereas Peter had his aunt and uncle to guide him. They had both gone through so much. So much loss, so much pain and anguish. The thing they both now had in common was Hayley. They needed her equally, to support and love them at this moment in time; one as a partner and lover, whilst the other as a friend.
And she could only choose one.
Ultimately, someone would get hurt.
In her mind, all Hayley could hear was Harry's screams for her during his electrical torture. She could hear his three line mantra about darkness on repeat, the one he uttered that night when she discovered him distraught and broken in the shattered bathroom. It was clear who needed her more, but she wanted desperately to comfort Peter, to help him with his grief, to make sense of all the pain and sadness.
Then she went and said something stupid.
"The…the whiplash killed her."
"What?"
"In-in the coroner's report, it said…said that she had sustained whiplash and blunt force trauma to her head," Hayley spluttered, hopelessly trying to hold back her sobs. "She...she d-d-died on impact. You both are…re-re-responsible."
Falling to her knees, she sobbed loudly, the emotion of finally having the full story tearing through her body. Her shoulders shook with such ferocity as she screamed and wept for Gwen, for herself, for Peter, for Harry, for them all.
More than anything she wanted to run away and hide and scream until she had no voice left. She was alone in this world, a world that she barely knew anymore. Hayley could feel it slipping through her fingers, the fantasy of heroes and villains blurring together until everything she knew was based on the reality of lies upon lies.
And all she could think about was Harry.
Looking upward, Hayley screamed at the sky as tiny droplets of rain began to pitter-patter down onto her, soaking her skin and auburn hair. She cried until she couldn't cry anymore, until all that was left was raw truth. It left her feeling bitter and cold.
Hayley hugged her arms tightly around her body, careful to not jostle her painful fingers. She began to feel the strong autumnal chill whistling around her, and the skin beneath her t-shirt started to get goose pimples.
That was when she suddenly became very aware that she was kneeling on the roof of a very tall skyscraper.
"You need to take me back now!" Hayley managed to croak quietly. Sensing movement she glanced over to see Peter, standing tall, putting on his Spider-Man mask. "Peter, you need to – "
"I can't do that," he muttered clearly through the vigilante's guise.
"Who knows what he'll do with me gone! He must be going crazy! He could kill someone!"
"Yeah he probably will, and if I take you back it'll probably be you."
"Parker, you are creating a monster out of him! By doing this you could have accelerated his goblin psychosis. All the progress he has made will be for nothing," the redhead pleaded.
"You can't ask this of me, of Spider-Man," Peter replied bitterly, wishing that he didn't have to make these difficult decisions alone. "I will not be made responsible for another death. I will not take you back to that abuse."
"Please, I can save him - "
"And who is going to save you? This ends now Hayley. You have to choose; him or me."
Hayley replied without a second thought. "I choose Harry," she whispered tearfully, "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too," Spider-Man sighed miserably, giving the redhead one last fleeting look before shooting out a web line from his wrist.
As soon as he started to run towards the edge of the roof, Hayley saw everything in slow motion. She watched mesmerized as Spider-Man sprinted past her, gripping the webbing in his hands like a slingshot, propelling him high into the sky. He did a somersault twist before diving off the roof and out of sight, down to the streets far below.
"Peter come back!" Hayley screamed racing to the roof's edge, "You can't leave me up here! PETER!"
It had taken Hayley five hours to get back to the Osborn Manor.
After Peter had left her stranded on the roof, she had cried and screamed some more until a very mystified businessman came out the fire escape door hoping to have a quiet cigarette break. She had completely missed the door in her hysterical state.
Now that she could get off the roof and back onto the solid sidewalk, a new panic started to set in. How to get back to Harry?
All Hayley had with her were the clothes she was wearing - a thin black Metallica t-shirt and skinny jeans. There was nothing in her pockets, no phone, no purse, and no money. Nothing.
So all she could do was try and follow the subway stations and find her way back home that way.
The weather had turned sour as soon as Peter left, in an almost prophetic sign of what had just occurred and of the many things to come. The chilling wind flurried around Hayley's slight frame making her shiver uncontrollably. It didn't help matters that the sparse and gentle droplets of rain had now turned into a monsoon of biting daggers forever stabbing icily against her bare skin. She knew that she must look horrendous with red bloodshot eyes, soaked through clothing, limp hair, and painful bruises on her neck. Passers-by with their umbrellas and zipped up tight raincoats stared at her like a leper, their eyes widening in shock at her broken appearance. For once, Hayley did not care what people thought of her. Their concerned stares were completely lost on her – they lived in a different world entirely. The citizens of New York were home in a place were good fought evil, heroes triumphed over villains, light dissipated the infected darkness.
Only Hayley knew different.
She envied their blind stupidity, and wished that she could go back to that state of delirium. It reminded her of how Neo was unplugged from the Matrix and born into a world of stark reality. Now that she had been reborn, Hayley wanted nothing more than to go back and get plugged into the fantasy of comforting illusions. But to do that would be wishing to have never met Harry, and really, there was no turning back from that.
Instead she focused on the one achievable thing – getting back to Harry before nightfall.
When Hayley finally returned, exhausted from her epic journey, she barely had the energy to knock on the heavy oak door of Osborn Manor.
The butler, Connolly, opened the door, his eyes going wide as soon as he saw her. "Miss Carmichael! Where have you been? The young master is in such a state. You must go to him."
Hayley nodded and gave a small strained smile, showing that she understood. "Where…is…he?" she managed to ask through wheezed breaths.
"Upstairs. He hasn't left, though I'm fairly certain he has tried," Connolly said appraising the redhead, "You look to be in a similar condition. I'll bring you some hot cocoa in an hour."
"Thank you Connolly," Hayley smiled warmly, giving the butler a salute before slowly making her ascent up numerous staircases to get to the penthouse.
Her bones ached and her movements were heavy as she carefully moved on upwards.
It was warm inside the manor but Hayley's teeth were still chattering and her limps were shaking from the intense frigid weather outside. It felt like her body was rejecting the much-needed toasty heat that surrounded her. All Hayley wanted was to accept the warmth, for her bones to no longer be painfully cold. A hot shower was in order, but she suspected that returning to Harry wouldn't be that easy.
Standing outside the door that led into the penthouse, Hayley listened intently from the corridor. It was quiet, almost too quiet for her liking, though it was probably better to return to desolate silence than rage filled noise. Her hand went to the handle, and it was then that she noticed how it quivered.
She was afraid. Afraid of what she might find and terrified that Harry would reject her for her betrayal, like he had done so to Peter.
You chose this you idiot, Hayley's mind chastised. You chose Harry, this life! There's no going back. Deal with it!
Her mini pep talk must have done the trick because suddenly she was turning the handle and opening the door.
As soon as she stepped inside, thin arms wrapped around her in happiness.
"Hayley! Oh my god, where have you been?" Felicia whispered joyfully, before releasing the redhead to look her over, "You look like a drowned sewer rat!"
"I – "
"We thought you'd been kidnapped!" the brunette hissed urgently, glancing over her shoulder as if someone were behind them.
Hayley looked past Felicia to see that the suite was still intact apart from the grey couches and blue seats being upturned. Other than that nothing appeared to be out of place. Even the fruit and pastries from their breakfast food fight had been cleaned up. One thing Hayley did noticed was that the bedroom door was shut with James the bodyguard standing sentinel beside it.
"Kidnapped?" she asked bewildered, almost forgetting the situation entirely in her relief at returning to a some what calm home. "Why would you think…wait, why are you here?"
"Harry rang me and started screaming down the phone about you going missing and that he was coming to OsCorp to find his glider and body suit," Felicia explained in a hushed and hurried voice. "I managed to convince him that I would bring the equipment to the manor so that he wouldn't get caught. Then I came here as quick as I could and phoned James and Pete. It took us three hours to restrain and calm him down."
"What? What's he done? What did he try to do?"
"He's basically destroyed the bathroom mirrors…and his neck…his face…"
"Fe, what's happened to him?" Hayley asked adamantly, her worry only growing with how stressed and tense Felicia seemed to be.
"He's completely green and the wound on his neck is black, I think it's infected."
"Shit."
"And he doesn't sound like himself," enlightened Felicia, her hazel eyes continuously looking over at the bedroom door as if behind it concealed a monster…which it did. "The day he became the Goblin, I saw him leave OsCorp on the glider. He spoke to me. His voice was full of venom, grit, and ice cold…he sounds just like that now."
Inside, Hayley's heart was starting to pound violently as panic began to infect her body. "I'll go to him – "
"Wait! You can't! He thinks you're dead!" Felicia cried, holding the redhead back when she tried to move from the doorway.
"WHAT?"
"Shhh, Hayley! I tried to tell him otherwise but he's convinced you're dead."
"How? Why?" Hayley spluttered – now she was really panicking.
"He said that Spider-Man was seeking revenge and took away his hope just like Harry did to the spider," Felicia explained frantically, almost as hysterical as the redhead. "When he's not rambling about that, he says that he choked you to death and he thinks I've hidden your body."
"Are you serious?" Hayley glanced down at Felicia's fidgeting hands to see fresh scratches on her arms. "Are you ok? Did he do that to you?"
"It's nothing really. You look far worse…your neck Hay…you look…he's in a bad way," the brunette confessed with a sigh. Then she looked Hayley right in the eye, "You need to take it slow. He's like a caged animal…just…be careful."
"I will."
Hayley tried to offer her friend a comforting smile but it didn't quite reach her eyes. In turn, Felicia squeezed the redhead's hand. They both knew the severity of the situation, and that they were the keepers of a great secret. The secret that the Goblin had returned. That Harry and his green Id were one and the same.
Quietly, Hayley tiptoed past the brunette and made her away across the living area of the penthouse.
The vast open plan room was dark and full of shadows, but she weaved daintily in and around the furniture, knowing the route from memory. Though she did almost trip over a fallen cushion.
She nodded at James, and the bodyguard gave her a once over look before moving to open the bedroom door for her.
As she entered, Hayley expected to see destruction but was again pleasantly surprised to only find a few dumped expensive shirts, still on their hangers, littering the mahogany floor. The bed was perfectly made with a lone white shirt neatly folded on the covers. Hayley skimmed her hand over the fabric as she crossed the room. A sad smile fell across her lips when she realised that it was the shirt she wore the night Harry saw her scars.
"Is…is he in there?" Hayley whispered.
Pete was standing guard of the bathroom door and gave her a stern nod. "I'll stay out here in case I'm needed."
"I'm sure it'll be fine," she said a little optimistically.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw him a couple of hours ago," Pete muttered truthfully. It had been hard enough to stop him hurting the brunette girl, let alone calm him down. "I said I'd keep you safe when Mr Osborn can't…and that includes from himself."
"I understand."
The bodyguard opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter, before slowly closing it again.
She noticed him instantly even though he seemed oblivious to her presence.
Harry was sat on the ground leaning against the shower glass walls. His eyes were closed, head back, and turned away from the door. The skin of his face appeared shiny, almost damp with a mixture of sweat, blood and serous fluid from a putrid sore on his cheek. His hair was like a birds nest, with his usual sleek style now caked in blood and sweat. Black and blue raised veins could be seen mapping their course all over his body. The worst sore on his neck, which Hayley could not see from where she stood, appeared to have a larger and more darkened green pigment surrounding the area.
He was wearing a grey shirt that he hadn't worn this morning and it was unbuttoned, revealing fresh lesions weeping and bleeding on his chest and torso. His whole body was completely green in colour with only small patches of normal pink flesh. The black skinny jeans he loved we ripped and bloody, as were his bare feet.
Large shards of the newly repaired mirror covered the floor, just like the previous time he had broke it. Though this time bloody footprints and leather shoe scuffmarks accompanied the glass. There had clearly been a struggle and the bruising was evident on his arms where he had obviously been restrained.
His chest was heaving steadily which was a good sign.
However, Harry looked exhausted; the severity of the day's events had taken their toll on his body. He was the worst she had ever seen him. In Ravencroft he had nothing to loose, whereas now he looked like he had lost everything he had ever held dear.
It was all the confirmation Hayley needed to know that she had chosen the right man.
As usual, Harry was muttering his usual three-line mantra, but like Felicia had warned, his voice had a monstrous edge.
"…You are the shadow...I am the dark…."
She shook her head sadly. How had it got to this? Hayley thought.
"…You are the shadow...I am the dark…."
"I will always be longing for you to begin spiralling downward."
Instantly Harry turned towards the sudden familiar voice. "Ginge?" he asked, the equal amounts of fear and hope in his voice made Hayley's heart break.
She stood awkwardly in the doorway and held up her hand in a pathetic attempt of a friendly wave. "Hi."
Those piercing troubled green eyes were deep like oceans with the ferocity of emotion reflected in them. The disbelieving relief was so potent that Hayley could barely believe herself that this was the same man who held her by her throat earlier this morning.
The Goblin started to scramble across the disastrous floor, seeming to be unaware that he could get cut at any moment. His movements were jerky and animalistic in their haste, and Hayley could say rather sadly that he had never looked more like a fairytale monster than in that moment. It took a lot of concentration to not flinch at his unnatural crawling. She almost had to cast her eyes away so as not to be fearful of him.
As soon as he was kneeling before her, Harry hesitantly reached forward to touch her. It was a child like gesture, as if his mind had created a test, and that she would magically disappear in a puff of smoke if he were to give in to the need to touch her. When his fingers dared to feel her legs, a wave of euphoric relief washed over him. He grabbed her legs and buried his face into the bottom of her damp t-shirt.
Hayley swallowed thickly as tears pricked in her eyes at the horror of seeing him undone in this way.
"You're here? You're alive?" he questioned, hanging on to her hips with his hands, his voice muffled as he clung as close as possible to her. Then the Goblin glanced up to see her face but frowned when he spotted her neck. "Why did you come back?"
"I told you I'd never leave you," Hayley said truthfully, kindly stroking his hair in a soothing manner.
"I-I-I…he took you away."
"I know."
"He wanted to take you from me, to destroy us," the Goblin wailed.
It was strange to see the Goblin in such a state of disarray. Normally his character was more hard, venomous, void of any humanity. But now it seemed that when Harry's hope had been taken, his strong Id had also crumbled.
"I know Goblin."
"You were gone. He took you away, no, tore you from me. He stole what is rightfully mine!"
Hayley ignored his possessive babbling and rolled her eyes but did not interrupt him.
"You are my hope! My light! He made a mistake taking you from me," seethed the Goblin, gripping her hips harshly as the vengeful anger started to return. "But you…you were a very bad girl Ginge, lying to me, deceiving me, flirting with the enemy."
She bit the side of her cheek as Harry's nails dug into her hipbones. "I'm sorry," Hayley apologised, knowing full well that it would feed the dark Id's ego. "I'm sorry for lying…but you lied to me too."
The painful hands the held her went slack.
Slowly, Harry rose until he was stood only a few inches taller than her, and he stared intensely into the redhead's eyes. His hand reached for a wisp of her hair and he stroked it between his fingertips.
He smirked as he goaded her, "Did I?"
"Yes. You lied about many, many things, you and Harry," Hayley replied stiffly, standing her ground, "And it hurts. You hurt me."
"But I would never hurt you," the Goblin said genuinely though his eyes sparkled darkly.
"You have and you did," she whispered, reaching up to take his hand from her hair and pressed it gently to her bruised neck. "See this? You left your mark on me. And I know in your heart that you would never intentionally hurt me, but you have…and you need to stop. How can I help you, stay with you, if you do this to me?"
The Goblin gently ghosted his fingers over her purple and blue skin. He smiled at her fondly, "Do you remember the first time we met?"
"Of course."
"You were such a slight little thing that I barely saw you amongst the chaos," murmured the Goblin. Slowly he moved his hand down to her collarbones, tracing their lines to emphasise how slight and tiny she was. "As soon as you touched me, I knew," he purred, the Osborn flirtatious charm oozing from him.
"You knew what?" Hayley breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from his. She blushed as his hand moved down further, caressing her breastbone, his toxic intensity making her blush. "You knew…knew what?"
"I knew that you had to die," he said simply, "When I broke those delicate twig like fingers of yours the first time, I made a vow to myself that when I was free, you would be the first to die."
Hayley swallowed and her whole body started to tremble as the green tinged hand moved up and away from her breast and back onto her neck. She winced slightly as Harry's fingers loosely held her throat once more.
Using his thumb, the Goblin stroked her chin and brushed over her vibrating lips. "I've killed two people for you."
"I-I-I know."
"So you see, I broke that promise," the Goblin reasoned. He quickly glanced away from her face, suddenly appearing nervous. "And now that I'm free, you are the one person I do not wish to kill. I do not wish for you to ever die."
Hayley smiled. "I'm not going anywhere Goblin. Not away from you or Harry."
"No more secret meetings Ginge?" he questioned although the statement was a direct order.
"No. Never. I'll never see the spider again."
"Good," the Goblin smirked, "Because I'd like to keep you all to myself."
At such an enticing statement, Hayley's heart started to flutter as his grinning lips descended upon her. She started melt against his familiar body, relieved that he still wanted her, that she was forgiven, that her betrayal had been wavered in the name of love. Or maybe should she say lust, as Harry's hands danced over her neck, her back, and her bum. There was a hungry and possessive need in the way he grabbed at her. It seemed like he wanted to relearn her body again, checking to make sure that she was entirely his.
When Harry licked her bottom lip, she was just about to moan out loud when he suddenly moved away sharply. Hayley mewled in disappointment and opened her green eyes to see him watching her seriously.
"You are enough for me Ginge. And I, I am enough for you. We were born to be together," he commanded as he moved one of his hands from gripping her ass to clutch the back of her sore neck, "Because it hurts doesn't it? It hurts like hell to be apart from me."
"Yes."
"Perfect," he grinned, the sexual tension between the two easing slightly. "So glad we understand each other."
"Do you want to know something kinda cool?" she asked randomly, nervously shifting in his arms, "I ticked off a point on my bucket list today."
The Goblin rolled his eyes but decided to play ball. "Did you?"
"Yeah. I punched Spider-Man in the face."
A cold and darkly victorious chuckle emanated from his smirking lips. "How did it feel?" he purred, as he caressed the auburn hair at the back of her neck.
Hayley paused slightly, caught a little off guard by such an unusual question.
"How did it feel?" she asked looking at him strangely, "You mean, when I punched him?"
"No," Harry replied, the smoothness of his natural voice returning, "How did it feel finding out that the arachnid was Parker?"
"Crushing. Devastating," Hayley confessed, "I thought that if knew the big secret that everything would make sense. But it doesn't."
Harry nodded sympathetically understand exactly how she felt. He wrapped his arms tightly around her small body, trying to express how sorry he was that she had to endure the pain and torment that came with being his girlfriend.
They stood for a while in the bathroom, holding each other, for misery loves company.
Drawing his body away, Harry took hold of the redhead's uninjured hand and led her back towards the bedroom. They carefully tiptoed around the mirror pieces on the floor; luckily the shards were large so it was easy to traverse their way through them.
When they entered the room, Pete nodded at the pair before going out into the living area to give them some privacy.
Hayley let herself be pulled onto their bed and they sat cross-legged opposite each other. She cradled her damaged hand in her lap, wincing as she tried to wriggle her wrist and pained fingers.
"Fucking Parker," Harry seethed as he inspected the broken cast and yellow bruises poking out from beneath it.
"So, is the great betrayal solely the fact that he's Spider-Man?"
"Partly." Harry paused, unsure if telling her the whole truth would be a good thing. So he decided to let her in, just a little bit. "The reason why he is Spider-Man is because he was bitten by a genetically altered spider from my father's labs. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but he can do everything a spider can, including self heal. All I needed was his blood. Just one vial would have been enough."
"Do you mean the venom of the spider did that to him? I remember you telling me about the venom in one of our sessions. Did you think that it might cure you?"
"Yes."
"Harry, you know about Doctor Connors right? The Lizard? He injected himself with a type of venom."
"Of course I know. He turned everyone into giant lizards. After that happened all the animal/human hybrid programs at OsCorp were destroyed," Harry sighed exasperatedly, "But the venom worked for Peter, so his blood holds the key! Imagine having the power to self heal? It was the cure my father spent his whole life working towards."
"And that's why you wanted his blood. What happened when you asked him?"
"Spider-Man said no. Peter. Said. NO!" Harry spat putting his head in his hands, the weight of the world on his shoulders. "He's meant to give people hope…but he took it away from me. I was his friend. I'm dying. And he just said no."
Hayley reached out and stroked his hair, taking the opportunity to think for a moment. She realised that after hearing both sides of the story, the great betrayal meant something completely different for the two men. Peter betrayed Harry by not giving a sample of his blood, whereas Harry wronged Peter by being the catalyst that caused Gwen's death. And the great secret, the elephant in the room, was that Peter was Spider-Man.
Like always, Hayley had been kept in the dark and was the last to know everything; two men, two separate stories, now forever intertwined into her life for good.
"Peter…h-he never told me that part," she murmured lost in her thoughts.
Harry sat up and stared deep into her eyes, "Of course he didn't. He's selfish!"
"You said you killed two people for me…is the second person my mugger? Kuzmin?" One look at the dark smirk on his face and Hayley had her answer. "Why did you use a pumpkin? You know, on his head?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe I was trying to be festive," chortled the Goblin, the returned blue in Harry's eyes suddenly flashing green, "It is Halloween soon."
"Sarcasm will get you nowhere Goblin."
"But it's so much fun!"
"You don't have to be the villain they expect you to be."
"Oh yes I do!"
"No you don't! No one is born evil. Evil isn't in your blood – "
"Yes it is! Retrov – "
"Retroviral Hypodysplasia is a disease! It's just a disease. It does not make you evil! It does not give you a free pass to kill people!"
"Are you going to spout some useless drivel about how with great power comes great responsibility? Or some sort of new age bull crap like that?"
"No. That's just stupid. Only your actions define you."
"Then I'm a murderer?"
"Yes," Hayley agreed simply, "Yes you are."
"And you're a very complicated vixen."
She blushed and smiled quietly to herself. "I thought Harry Osborn didn't do complicated?"
"I don't…usually," Harry pondered with a smirk. For him, Hayley was the right kind of complicated – a delicate and complex creature whose wondrous layers he adored unwrapping.
"Well, then we're both screwed, because we are as complicated as it gets."
She was wide-awake, lying in bed and staring at the dark ceiling.
Something had jolted her from a dreamless sleep and Hayley had absolutely no idea what it was.
There it was again.
A very loud noise was buzzing violently all around and she couldn't for the life her understand what it was.
It sounded like someone was screaming.
"Harry?" Hayley called loudly as she sat bolt upright, all drowsiness leaving her in an instant. She heard another yell and rolled out bed, wondering what mess she would find. "Harry?"
"…You are the shadow...I am the dark…."
"I'm here Goblin, Ginge is here."
"I thought I had killed you?" came the Goblin's disembodied voice.
Hayley tiptoed round the side of the bed to find him sitting on the floor at the end of it. She shimmed to the ground and sat down beside him, pulling him into her arms.
"I thought you were dead Ginge," he wailed loudly.
"I'm not. I'm real. I'm here. I love you."
Harry started to scream and yell frantically, much like he done during the first week of his sleep walking episodes. All Hayley could do was whisper soothing words, stroke his hair and hold him close. He hadn't let her comfort him like this in a long time. It was clear to anyone that they needed each other.
The bedroom door opened slowly and a rather dazed Felicia poked her head through the small gap.
Surprised to see the brunette, Hayley nodded in acknowledgment but brought a finger to her lips, telling her friend to stay silent. She had completely forgotten about Felicia.
Harry continued to howl.
The two women shared a trusted look, both knowing that although their friendship had started off rocky, Harry was what connected them. Their role as his secret keepers was an unspoken bond.
Felicia glanced at her boss who hadn't even noticed her, and her brown eyes glowed with tears. She blinked sorrowfully at Hayley before putting her head back the way she came and slowly closing the door again.
This particular night terror lasted for over an hour, with Hayley's love and comfort never wavering once. However, her mind had started to process and digest all the information she had learnt in the space of a day. She may have rejected Peter, but she had still listened to what he had said. There were still lies that she had yet to uncover, questions that were still unanswered. Harry had lied and used her to some degree.
He was her choice.
I'M ALIVE GUYS!
Soooo many sorrys, I had a very stressful Xmas/New Year, hence my late updating and review chatting's. Thank you for being patient with me!
So, I've recently been pointed out that there are a few medical inaccuracies in my story regarding Hayley and her training. I've gone back through to amend my errors as best I can because I do want things to be realistic and correct :) I will tell you guys the changes so that you don't have to reread it all.
Hayley holds a degree in Psychiatry and is a trained Psychiatrist. During that time she also trained as a nurse and therefore holds a dual license allowing her to practise as both. She is 21 and may not realistically have achieved this due to her age, however in a comic book and theatrical setting, lots of character's can have special "abilities". In the story Hayley has skipped a couple grades due to her advanced intelligence and also because the school system is slightly different in the UK. That's the best I can do guys!
Now that we've all been brought up to speed, YAY I'm back! Happy 2015 my lovely readers! Apologies for leaving you hanging for like nearly a month *ducks quickly from Harry throwing pumpkin grenades*, but I am back and this story is continuing YAY! And lots of conversation in this chap, not much action, but I think our tortured trio needed dose of reality!
Much love guys XXX