May 30th - 2031
Now early in the morning, Gwen quickly reached for the steps in the porch and opened the door that led inside May's former house. She walked forward inside and saw Elizabeth laid over the couch in a side-lying fetal position.
Her clothes were filled with red stains and dirt.
"Liz...!" She approached her daughter and crouched near the couch. "Hey, hey." She turned her around in the furniture so that they could look at each other and then cupped her bruised cheeks. Her eyes were completely wet and traces of tears could be seen down her cheek.
"Mom…" Elizabeth whispered, weakly.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Gwen questioned as she examined her.
"Mom… s-something happened." Elizabeth cleared her throat and allowed another tear to leave her right eye.
They focused on each other. "Liz... "
More tears started to come out, her glance drifted away. She mumbled, "Dad…"
Gwen cleared her own throat and tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion. She asked carefully, "W-Where is he, honey?"
Elizabeth remained in silence. Gwen caught some movement coming from the stairwell that led above and to her husband's former room.
Ezekiel finally joined them and after walking downstairs. He ceased on his tracks. His hands and coat were clearly bloodied. "Gwen… I-I…"
She stood up and felt an enormous vacuum within her. She bit her lip briefly. "Where is he…?"
Ezekiel went to reply her but stammered at his words as he found himself still in disbelief. He dropped his chin. "I didn't… I didn't find them in time. Eddie… he… I am sorry, Gwen."
"W-What…?" Gwen closed her fists in anxiety. Her own eyes were now starting to become wet, the water accumulated above her lower eyelash.
She took a single step backwards and slowly shook her head in denial, without ever taking her eyes off him. She gathered a large amount of air into her lungs and let them out once she heard Elizabeth whimpering at the couch.
Gwen shook her head again. She carefully approached Ezekiel and briefly eyed his bloodied hands. "No… just let me… let me see him."
He remained still, in her way, and tried to place a hand over her shoulder but stopped once he realized his hand wasn't clean. "Gwen… I don't think-"
She insisted, "I want to see him."
Their attention changed once the main door was again but now by someone' else's hand.
Harry appeared inside the house and watched the pair near the stairwell. He held a jacket in his free hand. He spoke lowly, "I came as fast as I could…"
He cut himself short once he absorbed the atmosphere around him as despair filled him.
Gwen took advantage of the distraction and walked around Ezekiel so that she could finally climb the steps like she used to so many years ago.
Ezekiel followed her with his gaze. "Gwen, wait…" He hesitated to join her as she quickly disappeared from sight.
It was only her right after all.
Harry didn't take his eyes off the second Parker in the room. He began to realize what was taking place there. "You called me and… w-what…" He cleared his throat. "...Ezekiel?"
"I- tried… Harry. I really tried." Ezekiel closed his eyes and sighed.
The world around Harry crumbled to him, his knees were now weaker. He dropped his jacket into the ground and began to slowly walk from corner to corner in desperation. He brought his hand many times to his forehead as he tried to figure things out.
He finally stopped near a wall and moved both his hands above and against it, before dropping his head as he supported himself against such wall. "Weren't you… supposed to help him…?" He questioned, lowly..
Ezekiel's voice broke shortly, "I was…" He cleared his throat in order to keep the tears back.
He didn't want to go through such experience again.
Harry's nails dug against the material of the wall. A single tear fell from his eye and landed in the ground. "Why didn't you help him then…?"
Ezekiel looked to his side and focused on his niece. She was still laid over the couch in the same way she was before, soaking her hoodie in tears.
He had failed all of them.
Harry continued, "You weren't supposed to go now, Peter… you weren't… I should have… I should have been the one!" He moved himself slightly backwards only to punch the wall as his arm went through the structure, leaving many scratches spread all over his fist.
He pulled his arm back from the wall and headed towards the main door, leaving the house and heading back to the streets of Queens. His jacket remained in the floor.
Now upstairs, Gwen found the door of Peter's old bedroom slightly open and she could see a small glimpse of the other side. Nothing audible could be heard coming to her, absolutely nothing.
And that worried her.
She gently pressed the palm of her hand against the door and slowly pushed the door inside. As she was given of the entire room after the door was open, the skin of her face flushed quickly after seeing him laid over his bed. She cleared her throat and covered her mouth with her hand. Her breathing became quicker and another trace of tear left her eye as she dealt with the image in front of her.
"Peter…" Her hand muffled her voice.
Her husband's eyes were closed and he had had the chest part of his suit cut open with many soaked in blood stitches and bandages applied to the wounds all over his chest.
After finding them, Ezekiel had probably cut the material open to try and help him with his injuries..
His shoulder was exposed and was covered by a large wrapping found around the shoulder, the palm of one of his hands was bandaged too. He was unmasked, his face, lips were filled with cuts along with the dark stains found in the skin of his cheek and beyond.
He was absolutely broken.
She slowly walked towards him, taking the palm of her hand out of her mouth as she approached the side of the bed and looked down at him. "Peter…?"
Gwen reluctantly sat in the edge of the bed and besides him. She briefly kept her emotions in check as she waited for any potential response out of her husband, but eventually allowed them to come out again once she realized he wouldn't say anything.
She moved her shaky hand near his arm to feel him.
He was cold.
Gwen instantly dropped her chin and began to cry intensely after touching him. "No…" Her tears landed over the spandex in his arm. She looked at him once again and cupped his cheek, kindly.
"Please, just… wake up… y-you're okay." She begged, shaking her head in denial as he remained still. "Don't… don't do this to me, p-please…"
Her trembling hand moved up to his hair to caress it and without ever taking her eyes off him. She felt the same hand get covered slightly by traces of blood. "H-Honey…?"
She widened his eyes shortly with the hope of waking up out of the reality she had been living in.
It didn't work.
"Please…" Gwen dropped her chin again as she cried in desperation. She lowered herself next to him and rested her head under his jaw. She moved her hand to his chin until she reached for the side of his head so that she could keep him close to her. She wanted him to embrace and assure her that everything would okay in the end.
"I need you…"
"I've done… what you've asked of me."
Venom limped his way forward as he finally entered the now rather dark chamber of his long time overseer, the one who raised him from perdition many years ago.
Quentin rose from his seat and peacefully climbed down the steps to meet the man covered by the wounded symbiote. The early blaze of orange coming from the sun outside the large window behind the chair casted its light over the back of his coat.
From under his hood, he spoke, "You look… not that good, Eddie." He met him and slowly walked around him, analyzing how much of a damage he had taken.
"Where is she…?"
"I see, this was caused by fire… the symbiote's major weakness, we were right." Quentin eyed the burnt pieces of the symbiote found everywhere over Eddie's figure. "Don't you find fascinating how it can still breath through the skin alone? It can truly hide in your body and still be able to work on wonderful things."
Through a blast of rage, Venom threatened to strike the man near him after his arm turned into the shape of an axe. "Where is she...?!"
Quentin didn't stir despite the axe stopping near his throat. He questioned, "How can I be sure that he's not with us anymore?"
Venom let out a grunt and moved his free hand near his cage rib, the symbiote allowed a material of sorts to leave the inside of the suit and slid into his hand. He pressed the mask against Quentin's chest.
Quentin took the bloodied and damaged mask into his hands. Despite the lenses being shattered, he could still see part of his shattered reflection on them. He began walking away from Eddie without ever taking his eyes off the mask.
"Interesting…" He slowly came to understand what meant having such mask in his hands. "You really did it, then?"
"He's… no more." Venom replied. He felt the symbiote start to stir deep within him.
"How did you do it?"
He faced his back from a small distance. "I did enough. I want…" He quickly twitched his head to the side. It called for him. "... I want my sister back."
End him… Eddie.
"You can have her." Quentin looked over his shoulder and at him. "She's already at your apartment. Treat her well now."
Make him pay.
"Why did you take her? Why did you even… do this?"
"I've done nothing myself. You have instead." Quentin fully turned to face him. "I'm surprised you actually did such thing to your former friend."
Eddie closed both his fists at his words.
He continued, "Do even you regret it?"
"Stop." Eddie demanded.
"You know it was you, not the symbiote. You know it didn't force you to do anything."
"I…"
Quentin showed Eddie the mask he had just given to him. "Leverage, Eddie. Your ill sister was only a leverage so that you could've done this, I thought you wouldn't, but you proved to be far worse of person than I could ever imagine."
We… are Venom, Eddie. We're the leverage.
Quentin continued further, "Still, being… decent, can only get you so far. Be proud, you helped me in more ways than you can imagine."
"Stop…!" Venom's deeper voice shouted as the symbiote fully came out and showed its threatening teeth and claws, while increasing the size of its own figure.
Quentin remained still in his position and looked up to the symbiote's monstrous face that rose slightly above him. "Incredible…."
Venom quickly shot a smaller and sharper spear from his hand that went straight towards Quentin, piercing him in the chest while immediately sending him flying towards the window only for the end of the spear in the other side of his body to go through said window, leaving him hanging against high above within his own room.
Quentin didn't move. It was a straight kill. His head dropped and now faced the ground, lifeless. The blood coming from behind him began to slid down the transparent glass.
Venom breathed heavily and slowly realized what he had just done. He sighed heavily and turned on his feet, before walking towards the bridge between the exit and the contained chamber.
"It's really… a shame that our relationship had to end this way after so many years of mutual cooperation."
He stopped on his tracks and focused his attention back to the window he had just impaled Quentin against.
Quentin rose his head and moved both hands to the spear stuck through him. He began to push it out of him. "D-Don't forget… I brought you back to the game. I… fixed you, and I… know everything about you." He successfully pulled the spear out of him and immediately fell to the ground, later on his knees.
Venom took a single step forward, confused.
Still on his knees, Quentin lifted his chin and met his opponent's curvy lenses. His own slightly greenish symbiote began to crawl its way off his neck and inside his hood, reaching for the skin of his face until his whole figure was completely covered by the living organism.
Before Venom could react, Quentin rose and had already sent a thick webbing from his wrist that wrapped itself around Venom's neck. The latter then moved his hands against the webbing to undo what suffocated him, but failed as he was now abruptly pulled towards Quentin who wrapped his own hand around his neck the second they met again.
His far thicker and nightmarish voice spoke, "You are not the only looking out for their loved ones, Brock." He threw him through the window and into the air outside the building.
Quentin watched Venom fall's until he crashed against the asphalt down the street. He then approached his intact chair and slid his finger over the armrest.
The outside doors of the chambers in the sides of the room began to slid themselves down towards the ground, allowing him to watch the many symbiotes stirr rapidly within their respective chambers.
He had the sample of Gwen Stacy's blood, it would now be possible to track his target down.
Quentin climbed down the steps as the creatures in the sides shrieked heavily for him.
Now absolutely nothing would stand between him and the Parker girl, heir of the gits he needed the most.
I tried to kill you twice, yet you forgave me.
Harry buried his head in his left hand while the other held a bottle of beer. He found himself sat besides the table inside the now busy bar. He sighed heavily, wanting for his existence and pain to finally end so that he could also be in peace.
This is wrong, Peter. This wasn't supposed to happen.
He freed his face and took a deep sip.
I should have been the one to go out first, not you.
He glanced the small greenish stains in his arms, scars from a long time ago. Harry wiped the trail of beer off his lips with his arm and lowered the bottle back to the table.
Instead, somehow… I'm still allowed to live and be reminded everyday of every bad shit I've ever done in my life. You deserved far better, Peter.
He looked over his shoulder and focused in the TV found behind the counter where he had taken his drink from, earlier.
People were gathered near it, their eyes were also fixated at the screen.
"Good riddance, I'd say. The guy was clearly out of control."
Harry frowned as he overheard the chattering within the crowd and eventually rose from his seat. He approached the crowd and sneaked his way through them until he was in front of the counter. He looked up to the TV and got to finally watch the news too.
"Sources claims that earlier in the morning, Spider-Man was seen being carried away by a unknown individual from the rooftop of the building and that he was supposedly unconscious. Reports are telling that the vigilante looked extremely injured."
"He got what was coming for him. No one told him to kept doing the things he did."
Harry ignored the remark, initially.
"A picture posted in social media also reveals the state of the vigilante."
Indeed, the picture taken from quite a distance and from above showed Spider-Man being carried in Ezekiel's arms. It was zoomed in and his face turned out to be blurred.
Elizabeth wasn't anywhere to been seen in the picture, thankfully. Harry thought.
He closed his eyes, imagining what his friend might have endured in his final moments.
"The freak is gone, maybe authorities will now finally stop looking for him and focus in the actual good of our city."
Harry looked to his side and met the man who had just spoke besides him. "What did you say?"
"You've heard me alright." He continued, "What now? Are you on his side? Was he there for the people when that building blew by one of his own kind?"
"You're kidding me." Harry closed his fists.
"That's not nice, man." Someone in the crowd interjected. "Spider-Man did many great things for the good of our city, for years. Have you forgotten when the city was in the blink of becoming a playground for those giant lizards?"
The man argued back, "For all we know he could have been involved in that, the difference being that there were lizards instead of spiders. Coincidence? I bet probably came from the same buch." He looked back at Harry.
Harry held his breath and immediately punched the man in the nose as blood bursted into his fists. Before he could jump on top of the man in the ground, some of the people gathered near him held him back by his shoulder and stopped him from causing even more of a havoc.
He protested towards the man in the ground, "I'll freaking kill you, I swear it...!"
"Calm down, dude!"
Harry pressed the back of his head against one of the two men that held him back, having them to let go of him and take some steps backwards in preucation. Harry looked at his surroundings, they were now all gathered around him and the man still was found laid hurt in the ground.
Harry breathed quickly, his heart raced fast. Eventually, he gathered his thoughts. "You all keep acting like things will get better… you got used to always having Spider-Man to fix your damn problems... and that made you take him as granted. He was… the one you prayed to appear when you were in need, and now you think... things will get better…? Screw you… screw all of you." He pointed at them.
No one dared to defy him.
Harry moved away from the crowd and approached his table so that he could take the bottle back to his grasp, before heading towards the main exit and finally entering the rainy streets of a cloudy day once again.
Elizabeth faced the wall next to her bed while she was laid over the mattress with the sheets covering her small frame. Some small bits of her pillow were soaked in tears, she had been letting those out quietly since she went to bed.
Everything somehow didn't felt real, but she had to tell herself it was.
She couldn't even feel angry anymore. Her own anger might have been the thing that actually led to her father's death.
She shut her eyes harder once she came to such notion. Eventually, she felt some weight press the side of her bed, behind her. She then felt a hand touch her shoulder.
Gwen whispered delicately, "How are you, sweetie?" She didn't want to alarm anyone. Yet, she had to be strong for her children, even if she felt like the world was taken from her grasp.
Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and met her mother's eyes. "... mom." She could already spot the dark bags under her eyes. Her mother had her hair tied in a ponytail. She wore one of her father's old shirts and a small short.
Gwen asked, "Is it difficult to sleep?"
The younger Parker nodded in response.
"Me too, honey, me too." Gwen moved a lock of her daughter's hair behind her ear. She looked at Olive's bed found in the opposite side of the room. "Olive herself looks like she's gone, though."
"She… she was really sad too."
"I know," Gwen cupped her cheek. "We all… are."
"I-I… I miss him, mom." Her eyes turned teary again.
She used her thumb to gently wipe a tear off her daughter's cheek. "I miss him so much too, baby." She sighed, heavily. "Do you… do you want to come sleep with me in my bedroom?"
Elizabeth nodded. Her eyes begged.
Gwen took her hand and helped her get off the bed, before carefully walking together outside the room so that Olive wouldn't wake up to any noises. They entered what once was the room Gwen shared with her husband.
Elizabeth looked around, everything was still left the way it was before. It was like he would be there anytime soon.
She wondered for how much longer that would last. As her mother closed the door, she went further and sat down in the edge of the bed.
Gwen turned one of the lamps besides the bed on and joined Elizabeth by sitting besides her. She took her daughter's hand on hers. "We… we have time, we can stay here like this if you want to."
"Do you think… he's okay?"
Gwen looked to the side briefly and cleared her eyes of the tears. She tried to also hide her sniff before focusing back in the child besides her. "I'd like to think so, honey. I'd like to think… he's now in peace."
"I want… t-to see him again."
Gwen hugged her, bringing her closer to her chest. She rested her chin on top of her daughter's head and moved her free hand against her belly. "We'll get through this… together. He would have liked for us to stand together as family no matter how difficult these days will turn out to be."
Elizabeth squeezed Gwen's hand harder. She felt like breaking down next to her after such words.
Gwen continued, "I'll be here, for you, for Olive and your brothers… you can always count on me, for anything. If you… want to cry, then you should, honey. If you want to talk to me… I'll be here, always. Don't hesitate, please."
Elizabeth buried her head in her mother's chest. "I love you, mom…"
"I love you too, Liz." Her tears began to come out as well.
Gwen brought her even closer, allowing her to empty what she could of her emotions. She felt like joining her too, everyone knew how she personally felt, but in this moment, she opted to remain stronger for a bit tad longer for her daughter.
She could cry later, alone.
Gwen cleared her throat and spoke weakly, "Liz… there's something… I think you'd like to see."
Elizabeth moved back from the embrace and met her mother's emerald colored eyes. She watched her place down what looked to be a letter in her hands. She had taken the paper earlier when she walked over by the stand besides the bed.
Gwen began gently, "Your father wrote this.. to himself, it was basically a… script of how he would approach you later on." She smiled, shortly. Her husband had a thing for being unpredictable. "He wanted to check on you, to know what you were really feeling, and just… talk more again."
Elizabeth didn't open the letter right away. "... can I… can I read it?"
Gwen nodded. "Of course." She said, delicately.
Elizabeth began to unwrap the paper until she could fully read its contents. She took a deep sigh and began doing so.
So… it's pretty clear that you are growing, Liz. Faster than I could initially pictured. I know this might be a difficult conversation, I've had your age once, but thankfully my uncle had his way with words. I care about you very much, someday you might not think so because I'm absent, or I might have messed up, but I truly do.
Elizabeth sniffed as she read further. Gwen watched her after moving her arm around the child's shoulder.
That's why I'd like for us to live in such an environment where we all can feel in peace and open to share everything we might feel in a good bay… and more importantly, in a bad day. I didn't have these early in my life, I lived in a dark cave, I kept things to myself and I barely allowed people to see through me. Then I met your mother and eventually you were born, in that moment for the first time in a long time, I began feeling so many good things again. I started to feel more than happy, I can't exactly explain such feeling. You are just that important to me.
A drop of a tear landed against the paper.
These last days, I think we have been distant from each other. Like somehow you're pulling away from me or something. I just… miss listening to some rock after picking you from school, and many more. I know some bad things have happened, and that you're still dealing with them. I also know you're getting older, growing, changing. Truth is, that's one thing that worries me as a father. I love my daughter so much and l would like for things to remain as they were for so long, but I should have know that life doesn't truly works that way. It's always moving forward, you can't stop the time, no matter how many times I try to.
Gwen kept her daughter close as she sobbed next to her.
It can get rough, difficult, sometimes there's barely something we can do about it. But even then, something good you didn't expect might happen, your brightest days will be yet to come, and then you'll be happy. So, I can only watch you grow up and I can help you deal with anything that gets in your way. I won't stop you, you're one of the strongest little ladies I got to know, I'm sure you'll do just fine even if there's a day that you won't feel like it, don't forget the bad moments, learn from them and live. Meanwhile, please, answer your father's calls because he loves you very much...I love you so much, Liz. Please, don't ever forget this.
Gwen kissed the top of her daughter's hair. She kept her close and comforted her. "We'll… get through this together."
"It's my fault…" Elizabeth teared again. "I should have…"
"Hey, it's not, you're not… guilt of anything." Gwen tightened her grip over her. "He kept you safe, that's what we always wanted to do. That's what… I'll always do too."
Elizabeth silenced. She closed the letter in her hands and allowed the rest of her tears to come out. "Can I-I… keep it?"
Gwen nodded. "You can… it's yours, always, honey." She unwrapped her arm from Elizabeth's shoulder and then took her daughter's hand on hers, leading them deeper into the bed. "Come, lie down with me."
Elizabeth eventually joined her mother and laid herself next to her while keeping the letter close to her chest. Gwen wrapped her arms around the mourning child and held her closely, assuring her that everything would be alright in the end, that they needed to remain strong as one family.
Yet, she wasn't sure she could be what they needed. She felt a colossal emptiness within her.
Peter always made her ridiculously happy.
Every little thing he ever did put a smile on her face and her heart would melt whenever he said "I love you, Gwen." She cared for him more in more ways than one could ever imagine. She already missed the goodmorning and goodnight texts from her when he was away, when he held her close, the smile on his face when he'd kiss her on the cheek and tell her what she meant to him.
There were no such similar feelings she could gather elsewhere in the world.
Her own tears landed in the pillow under her head.
Peter… why couldn't you just get back home this time…
She forced her eyes shut.
How should I go on without you…
Gwen nuzzled the hair in the back of her daughter's head, burying herself there, hiding herself from the world.
I just want to… hear you say that you love me again… please, just… please…
"Mary…!"
Venom dove through the open window of his apartment and landed in the ground inside his living room. He began looking around, checking every corner as he limped slightly within the room.
He told me she would be here…
The symbiote that covered his head retreated and allowed him to take fresher air into the skin of his face, showing the many bruises that were still healing despite the advanced capabilities of the organic suit he had been wearing for a couple of years.
He eventually ended inside his own room and finally found his sister laid over his bed, without any of the machines and medication that helped with the treatment of her rare genetic condition.
He had tried it all, but in the end, Quentin had been his best option to help keep her alive due to his many connections, but that wasn't a thing anymore.
The symbiote itself had rejected her once. He was now running out of time.
"Mary…" He approached her side of the bed and knelt before her.
"E-Eddie..?" She flicked her eyes and raised her hand slightly at him. "W-Where… where were you?"
He took her hand on his. "I'm here now, Mary. I'm sorry."
"They… they took me." Her voice seemed weaker than ever.
"Just hold on now. You will stay here with me, I'm not leaving you again."
She turned her head to the side and rested her eyes. "Did you… find her?"
Eddie sighed heavily. "I… I haven't. I-I don't know how." He watched her remain in silence. "Mary… I may… have done something terrible."
"Eddie…" She whispered.
"I feel… I think… I've made a mistake. Please… h-help me, I… I'm losing control, Mary." He cleared his throat.
He felt the symbiote's grip over his body get tighter the minute he confessed his feelings out loudly. His eyes turned wet as he squeezed her hand harder.
He continued, "What do I do… what should… I do…"
"Her. Please… Eddie, she… will need you."
"Mary… I… I'm not… I'm not a good person for her."
She took a last glance at him, her eyes were almost completely shut. She whispered, "... then be the uncle to her."
"What have you done to this city, you freaks!"
Harry watched from a distance as the crowd gathered in front of the local main police station began to throw rocks at the many policemen that carried shields in their arms, keeping the crowd from going any further towards the station.
Tensions were high. The reports that Spider-Man might be dead spread out like wildfire, it didn't take long for his supporters to take the streets and leave a pile of public destruction where they went through.
So they went to the nearest organization they could actually protest near of, even if the participation of such institution in the conflict that had many vigilantes set against each other had been minimum.
"You took one of us…!"
A smoke bomb was throw back at the crowd, yet the majority of them stood their ground, hiding behind cars that were now flipped over the asphalt.
Harry had his shoulder leaned against the wall in the end of the alley he found himself inside of. He had a bottle of alcohol in his hand. His eyes were puffy. He felt like joining the crowd and dive straight into the barricade, to give his own contribution by handing those officers his bottle.
To him, he had nothing else to lose. The one person he held close to his heart had been taken from him without him even knowing when it happened.
He thought of himself as one of the most terrible people Peter ever got to know, if not the worst. Yet. they were somehow together since they could remember, but now only one of them stood in their feet.
How could you allow yourself to go out like this, Peter…?
Harry sighed heavily. He brushed his face with his hand and let go of the bottle, allowing the glass to smash in the ground.
He spoke to himself, "Hopefully they wreck the place down."
"You would know a lot about that, wouldn't you?" An strange voice questioned from behind him.
Harry turned on his back and faced the intruder that hid in the shadow against the wall, deeper into the alley.
"Who… who are you again?"
"I was the one that let the very original symbiote out there, for you. Funny how everything in the end now goes back to that."
"Quentin…? But I… I thought you were…"
"I haven't for many years, such experience can change the way you see things."
"You aren't supposed to be out here."
"The same could be said about you. You have caused a great deal of damage to a lot of people, Harry. As for me, I… I kept myself in the shadows, and from there I became… somewhat better."
"I swear… if you're involved in anything of this…"
"But I am, Harry. I took everything I could from that project of yours after everything fell apart and then I made my way into where I am now."
"So, what is it that you even want, uh? Why are you here?"
"I want… I want what was taken from me many years ago, before I even met you. You know very well what I mean."
The files... Harry recalled what he had read about him as he assembled the team.
"If you're talking about her… you know you can't bring the dead back. There's no point to any of this if that's your end goal."
"You're right, I can't, not by myself. That's why I'll go myself to her instead… and that's why I need the Parker girl. She will carry me there."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about…?"
"She can bring me to where I need to go. Her skill… I've been following her closely. I'll let you know that despite everything, I had no feud with him… but, he's now out of the way."
Harry closed his fists. "Did you…"
"His former friend, Eddie Brock, did it." Quentin threw the mask to the ground in front of the once terminally ill Osborn. "Save your anger for him."
Harry knelt and took the bloodied mask in his hands. "You think.. I don't know you aren't involved with him? You just said you will be after Peter's daughter! She's just… a girl."
"A girl of many talents, talents that could change the way we see our world. It shouldn't go to waste. You would understand, you once relied on someone's else blood to survive. You know what it can do."
"I swear… if you try anything…"
"What will you even do… turn yourself again into a... goblin? Are you still capable of that?"
Harry approached him but quickly stopped on his tracks once he caught a glimpse of Quentin's hidden expression. "What have you done?"
"Why do you think the Six were even created? Do you even remember why I handed the symbiote to Spider-Man? To make the symbiote stronger, unstoppable. Fiers knew we wouldn't last against him in the end, and so we didn't. This was always meant to be an indestructible organism, that's why... I will need it later."
"You are dealing with something… dangerous, Quentin. Stop this, please. There's this time."
"I'll do… what I need to do. I want no bloodbath." Quentin continued, "I know that you've been tracking my footsteps lately, gathering evidence, so I'm asking you now to stay out of my way, forget about the Parkers. Walk away, move on. I've given you a chance, for old time's sake." He moved himself further into the shadow.
"How do you even dare…" Harry couldn't see him anymore. He looked around, but found no one. He brought his hands to the top of his head and kept turning himself around on his feet as he dealt with everything he had been told.
They were all in danger.
"You wanted to meet." Stephen Strange stood in front of the pedestrian crossing.
Ezekiel was found besides him. They watched the night time traffic in front of them. "I don't think you've ever got to know me."
"Me, personally, I haven't. But I know what you are." He ceased, briefly. "You're one of us."
Ezekiel nodded. "Not as powered, but I am."
"Yet you brought me here." He eyed the people that walked past them. "You managed to hide us in plain sight."
No one noticed them. They could talk all they wanted without ever being interrupted.
"That's how I followed a person that was lost in a place he wasn't supposed to be. That's how I came here."
"But you do know… I can't do what you're about to ask me."
Ezekiel narrowed his eyes at him. "Have you ever tried to?"
"No, but I know that's something that shouldn't be played with."
"You're powerful, you're better than me."
"Even still."
Ezekiel turned on his shoulder to face him. "Please, you need to try. I-I… I'm running out of options here, Strange. I need this."
"I'm sorry, but those who passed away… should remain that way. That's the natural order of things." He insisted.
"You don't understand… it's…"
"It's Peter Parker, Spider-Man… and your brother from another life." He looked to his side and met Ezekiel's begging eyes. "I'm sorry."
"What's the worst that could happen? Think of the people he could be helping, people that need him."
"I don't know, Ezekiel. Even if it was possible… can you imagine how this person would react to coming back? Would he even be the same person?"
"Just…"
"I'm truly sorry, but I can't do what you're asking of me. He was a great man, my most sincere condolences."
Ezekiel watched him vanish from his sight in a split second. He was now alone once again.
There was nothing he could do, slowly he began to accept that.
He sighed, before slowly moving his hand to cover his mouth as he began to cough unstoppably for a second. When calmer, he took his hand off his mouth and spotted the traces of blood in the palm of his hand.
He didn't know how much longer he could endure. He shut his eyes and closed his hands.
I… I'm so sorry, Peter…
March 14th - 2014
Knock, knock...
"Gwendy..!"
Gwen sighed while sat in her bed amongst the array of books set around her. Graduation was almost there. She even had to finish her speech, even if that was still a couple of months away.
Spider-Man knocked in the window once again. The glass drowned out his voice. "Are you really going to leave your boyfriend outside in the cold?"
She brought the pen in her hand to her lips and looked at the book in her lap. "You haven't really asked me to be your girlfriend, though." She argued back, bitterly.
He scratched his masked chin while being careful with his movements in order to not spill the contents inside the backpack in his back. "Um… well, considering we… um, I thought… I thought we're past such point already, no…?"
She kept her eyes fixated at the book. "We aren't."
"Ah… come on, Gwendy." He dropped his forehead against the window. "Are you mad with me because of that?"
"No, that..."
"Oh… that." He had tried his very best to avoid bringing up the subject. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it."
He protested it, "But I mean it! Like... I wanted to be there."
She looked up to the window and at him. He had his masked cheek pressed against the glass. He was being intentionally goofy to try and get her out of her current humor, she almost felt like doing so.
But she resisted.
"You promised me."
"I know…" He continued lowly, "I know, I did. It's just… this freaking clown down in the sewers… he almost bit a chunk of my arm off. I-I… yeah, I messed up, Gwen."
She raised an eyebrow. "Are you... okay?"
"Yeah, it doesn't hurt that much. I never thought I would have to get down there ever again."
Gwen nodded. "Good. Then you can stay a little longer in there."
He breathed against the window, despite having his face covered by his mask. "Ah! Come on, Gwen! I'll be present in the next gathering of the debate team, please."
She ignored him.
Peter insisted, "You don't let me in I'll have to sing Fortune Son here to you until the morning."
She scoffed.
He began proudly, "... some folks are born made to wave the flag… Ooh, they're red, white and blue…"
Gwen groaned. "Okay! You can stop, but you need to swear to me that you'll be there next time."
"I swear it, Gwendy."
She sighed again and moved her feet off the bed and into the floor. She frowned and made her way towards her window.
Peter smiled underneath his mask. She looked incredibly gorgeous in her shorts and t-shirt, no matter how mad she could possible be.
Gwen unlocked the window and moved her fingers underneath it so she could pull it up, her boyfriend assisted her by doing the same since he had the perk of super strength, stopping her from making that much effort.
Once the window was open, he moved his head inside and stopped inches from hers. "Can I get a kiss… maybe...?"
She crossed her arms and looked away. "I don't know, should you?"
"I see…" He gestured to his back, "You know, I think I have something you'll like."
"I don't think so, Peter." Her gaze remained off him for the time being.
He took the backpack from his back and moved it against his chest, before opening it and moving his hand inside.
Gwen's nostrils caught a new scent in the air, a delicious one. She finally looked at him and then at his backpack. She tried to pretend she wasn't interested, but failed nonetheless. She questioned, "What… what is that?"
"It's for you. Are you hungry?"
She tilted her head slightly to the side. She moved her eyes back and forth between his mask and the backpack he offered her. Eventually, she reluctantly took the backpack off his hands and slowly walked back to her bed.
Peter finally took his mask off and watched his extremely curious girlfriend sat down in her bed as her hand pulled a sack from inside the bag.
"You got me some McDonald's…?"
"You told me you had been urging for one lately." He approached her and sat besides her.
Gwen took the fries from the sack and held it in her right hand. She bit a single one and began chewing it. "This isn't really… healthy."
"It's just as people say… smoking will kill you... bacon will kill you... but, smoking bacon will cure it." Gwen deadpanned. He cleared his throat, "Erm… no?"
She finally let out a short smile and resumed her task of eating the fries. "That was terrible, even for you." He shrugged his shoulders. "But thank you for… well, this."
"Are you happy then'?"
"You're not buying me over, Peter." She offered him some.
He shook his head and chuckled. "Okay."
Gwen surprisingly leaned in to plant a kiss in his cheek. He smiled as he felt her lips press against his skin. "For someone who had been to the sewers again, you do smell good enough."
"I took a bath afterwards."
"You went home?"
He shook his head. "I stopped at Flash's place. It's near and he owed me for pulling him out of a possible retake test. The suit I had to swap with that one I hid at the clocktower."
"Really? You two, together?"
"Well, I do think he likes you more than me but we're quite okay, actually."
"Did you two shower together?" She suggested.
"What? No, why w-would we… of course not… you're messing with me."
Gwen laughed. "... I do have a funny date, after all."
"Date? What do you mean with that?"
"What?" She questioned back, innocently. She ate the last of her fries and moved the empty and small box inside the sack that was set in the ground besides the bed.
He quickly moved himself on top of her and pressed his weight over her. She giggled her entire way further into the bed. He smiled back. "I really can't with you."
"Oh… look who's saying!" She snaked her arms around his neck.
He planted a kiss in her nose. "I've missed you. You're so beautiful."
Gwen sighed in his embrace, content. The sincerity in his voice made her heart melt to the ground. "I've missed you too, bugboy. Thank you."
He moved a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Is anyone home?"
"A few people. Why, mister?" She tilted her head to the side, playfully. She wanted to feel his hand properly on her skin so she took his glove off him.
"Just curious." He moved his thumb gently near her nose. "I guess it will be awkward if your mom finds me here, on top of you, wearing Spider-Man's suit."
"I don't know which assumption she might take would be the worst."
He teased, "Which one is the second?"
"I don't know if you deserve it, though, bugboy."
He laughed. "I probably don't." He kissed her lower lip as she cupped his cheeks and kissed him back.
The one thing Gwen wanted to do was to forget about everything and just make out with her boyfriend for the next couple of hours, even if she had been annoyed at him before. There was something about him that made him irresistible, no matter what.
Maybe it was their young passion. She wasn't sure. What she knew is that she wanted to spend a great deal of her time with such troublesome boy.
At one point throughout the kiss, Gwen had her eyes slightly open and spotted the red stains in the skin near his pulse.
She let go of his lips and spoke, "Did you get hurt?"
He followed her gaze. "Ah… that, like I said… he almost took a chunk out of me."
"Peter Parker… what are you throwing yourself into?"
"Well…" He laid himself next to her in the bed. "... someone has to."
There it is. Gwen thought to herself.
She continued, "Just try… to be more careful."
"I will, promise." He gave her a peck in the cheek and noticed the books spread around them. "I also need to finish my homework."
"You can copy mine. It's alright." She offered.
"That's not really fair."
"Come on now, don't play hard to get." She moved her arm across his chest.
"I'm serious, Gwendy." He continued, "There's this one question about the… um, I think it's about the square something."
"Isn't it the one that asks what is the square root of two, to the square root of two power to the square root of two power?
"Ouch," He sighed. "Yes… and that would be two."
"Wow, such a smart guy, aren't you?" She teased. "You're better than me, sometimes my line of thought in math gets fuzzy."
"You're great." He argued back.
"Not really, it's definitely something that if I saw the less of, later in my life, the better it would be."
He kissed her tiny nose. "I can teach you a few stuff."
She smirked. "I think I would like that."
They locked lips again and engaged into a passionate making out session at Gwen's bedroom.
Their moment lasted until the sirens could be heard coming from outside her window and back at the streets, and this time it wasn't her father that was being called for duty.
She was still getting used to that.
"Do you… do you really have to go? I mean… your arm just got bitten.
"I… someone might be in need of my help, Gwendy."
She eventually nodded. He sighed and moved himself off her until he stood on his feet back at the ground.
He took his mask and moved it down his face, before turning back to her. "See you later…?"
"If we don't… I'll bring your backpack to school tomorrow." She knew he probably wouldn't come back to her in the same night.
"Thank you, you're the best."
"I better be." Gwen added, "Take care of yourself.
"I'll be back soon." He dove through the window and swung away from the building.
She approached the window and rested the side of her head against it as she watched him follow the police cars.
"I'll be here, Pete, waiting for you…"
"What I'm trying to say to anyone that gets to hear this is that… live your life the best way you can, we're humans and time's short to us, fall in love, surround yourself only with people you can count on, one is enough, do good to everyone… be greater. Wherever you go... I'll be with you each one of you."
Gwen held her husband's former phone in her gloved hand. She stood up in front of her father's grave. She could be seen wearing a grey coat that protected her from the wind.
She would return to the area again very soon.
Gwen wiped her thumb over the screen and locked the phone. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes as locks of her golden hair that escaped her beanie were blow by the wind into her sight.
She had endured enough by just listening at his recording.
"You didn't come back this time…" She whispered to herself and moved the phone back inside her coat, before taking the right glove off her hand so that she could touch the second golden ring in her finger, above her own.
All these years I wished I didn't have to go through this again.
She closed the same hand and opened her small purse, taking in her fingers a picture of her father from within the material. In the picture, a far smaller version of herself stood in her father's arms.
"You should have been here with me, dad." Gwen cleared her throat. "I… the pain… I-I can't."
She brushed her tears by sliding her index finger under her eyes.
You two risked everything… and you left me.
Gwen looked up to the sky and closed her eyes once again, allowing the wind to brush itself against the skin of her face.
She wanted to meet the both of them again. She kept wishing to herself for such thing to happen, maybe it would if she tried hard enough, they would appear in front of her.
Gwen focused back in her father's grave. "Give me strength, dad, please… I… I need it." She touched his stone and caressed the surface.
She kneeled in front of the stone and placed the picture next to the flowers she had brought earlier to him.
Another tear left her eye as she smiled, weakly.
"I love you, dad. Rest well, and… take care of him for me. Don't be mean too."
Gwen eventually rose and walked away from her father's resting area. She dug her hands inside the pockets in the side of her coat and headed towards one of the many seats spread all over the cemetery.
She found her friend, Mary Jane, sat in one of them. She had been waiting for her for a few couple of minutes since they arrived together. Gwen sat next to her and exhaled deeply.
"How are you, honey?" MJ took her friend's hand on hers.
"Not… great." She sighed. "This doesn't feel..."
"Real?" MJ completed her sentence, delicately.
Gwen nodded. "I've got used to him always coming back… I thought he was… invincible, he was… Spider-Man, I thought nobody could bring him down, but… he's not with me anymore and I don't know what to do."
"I'm sorry, I know how much it hurts." MJ cleared her throat. "He was a good man, one of the best. We all know he always tried his best. "
"I feel… like there's this huge emptiness inside me, even if… I'm carrying his baby. I-I…"
"Gwen… you…"
Gwen moved a hand to the back of her neck and closed her eyes, briefly. "... I am." She looked to her side and at her friend. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier… we just… we just got to know a few days back."
"You don't need to apologise, for anything." MJ squeezed her best friend's hand.
"I know." She sniffed.
"We'll… deal with this, together. I'll be there for you, always. You know that, right?"
Gwen nodded. She was gently pulled into MJ's shoulder as she laid her head against her friend.
MJ whispered delicately, "You're not alone… Gwendy." She kissed the top of her golden hair and sighed, allowing her own tear to leave her left eye. "Do you think he would want you to feel this way?"
"He wouldn't want me to feel this way, but I can't help but do. Everything we've ever built together…"
"It's still there." She placed her hand against Gwen's stomach. "And there's more to come."
Gwen sighed. "I'll… I'll try. Thank you… MJ." She continued, "He made an audio tape… a message to… just about everyone, with the whole truth about him. It's like he… somehow knew this was going to happen. I don't know what to do with it… it has far too much in it."
"I guess it's something that you will have to decide by yourself, he was your husband, you knew him the best. But what I am sure of, is that we will handle everything that might come next together."
Gwen kept her head in her friend's shoulder. "Could we stay a little longer? Just a little bit."
"Of course, anything. The world can allow us to finally take a break."
"I… I somehow ended up being in another… reality…?" Elizabeth spoke from her seat besides the dinner table. "I can't explain, I just… I just went there."
Ezekiel asked carefully, "When did this take place?
"Before dad… before he passed." She cleared her throat.
"You should have told us, or him, Liz."
"I-I know, but… I was angry and I…"
Ezekiel sighed. "It's okay, you're not guilty of anything." He comforted her. "Do you want to tell me what you got to see there?"
"I saw… I saw May's house, but it was different. It was like… already old. I t-think Aiden was there too, and he was older… I don't know why, but he struck me."
"I… I see." He brushed his face with his hands. "The truth is… I think that you were in my world, Elizabeth. I'm just not sure how you pulled this off, your gifts… I don't think anyone here ever imagined what you're really capable of."
"There was this… doctor, I think he was called Strange?" Ezekiel nodded to her. He knew very well who she was talking about, it was due to his kind that he was able to find Peter lost in the verse, much to his surprise. She resumed, "Some time ago he said something about me… something about space and time."
"It's probably because of the special sense you got from your dad… think of yours as being a doubled version of his. I can't fully explain it to you, but I wish I did."
"I just... don't want go there again. Aiden… he wasn't normal. I want… all the bad things to stop from happening."
"So do I, Elizabeth. I… I'm not your father, but I'll try my best to help your family with whatever I can, while I still can." Elizabeth sighed heavily. "About… this Aiden you've seen, he's from the world I came from. A lot of bad things happened there, but I would like to spare you of the details, okay?"
She nodded slowly, still fearing that such image in her head could one day become a reality in her own reality.
"How are you, Liz?"
Elizabeth looked to her side and towards the balcony. She bit her lower lip slightly as she remembered the new truth she found herself in.
Ezekiel didn't need a reply. "I know how you feel, and I can't give what you want, I tried to. I… I just want you to know… that I'll be here, for you, I'm not like your father, far from it, but I'll do my best for you, always."
Elizabeth remained still and closed her eyes, isolating herself from the world around her, trying to find anything of her father somewhere in the darkness of her sight, but nothing ever happened.
She didn't want to live a life without him, she didn't know how.
Later in the day, Gwen finally took a moment to ease her thoughts as she put David into the tub and started washing his soft hair. "Is it warm enough?"
"It is, mum." He nodded, already sat in the tub.
She remained crouched near it. "Why didn't you try to escape me this time? I have many memories of you crawling your way away from us."
"I don't know… I didn't feel like it." He seemed down, naturally.
Gwen tried to lift him up, "You don't like to be bathed by your beautiful mom once in awhile?"
David smiled, shortly. "I do."
She smiled back. "I know your dad showered you two the most, but I'm not too bad. I'm pretty sure I swapped more dirty diapers instead."
"I… I don't use diapers."
"Of course, honey, you're now an older and also a very handsome little man." He smiled again, allowing the foam above his head to slide down the side of his hair as he did so. She paused and gathered her breath. "You do look so much like him…"
"I miss dad, mum." David inquired, "Will I ever see him again…?"
Gwen ceased from bathing her son and brought fresher air into her lungs, before exhaling deeply. "You might not see him, but he'll always be with you, sweetie." She placed her hand against his heart, "... like here…" She moved the same hand up to his forehead. "... and here, whenever you dream with him."
He dropped his chin.
Gwen took his chin gently on her hand and made him look at her. "I love you, you know that, right? You can always talk to me about anything."
"I love you too, mum."
She planted a kiss against the top of his wet hair. "Here, let's wrap this bath up."
After putting her kids to sleep and taking care of her own self, Gwen wore a far more comfortable white tank top and found herself sat alone in the couch within the darkness of her living room.
There was a lamp above the stand next to couch that allowed her some clear view as she read the many letters she was yet to check on.
Her guests were also already in bed,Mary Jane and Flash. Their daughter, Sarah, remained in the city they had been living in for the past years since they got married, with her mother. They were still in New York, giving her any kind of support she might need while her husband's funeral didn't arrive.
There were many letters that were meant to him, including quite a few from the children all over the world he had chosen to sponsor due to his involvement with orphanages. She couldn't bring herself to read them, it was meant for him. How would she even tell these children what had happened to him?
Gwen sighed heavily. She didn't want to cry again, she had been crying all the time since he passed, especially when she was alone to her own thoughts.
She found one letter that for some reason stood out among the others. It was from a life insurance agency. It had just arrived. She opened it and began to read its contents, before closing her eyes after understanding what she had in her hands.
"Oh, Peter… you… you never told me… but why?" She dropped the letter in the couch and brought her head into her hands, before moving them against her blonde hair.
He had planned this many years ago while he was still an Avenger and she was never even aware of it. Maybe if she knew, she would have talked him out of it.
It was like he really somehow expected that such a day would soon arrive.
Even after so many years together, he still had his secrets. She never ceased to discover one.
Someone then knocked gently on the main door.
Gwen looked up to said door, concerned. She eventually rose and slowly made her way towards the entrance. She could see the light coming from underneath the door.
She put her eye in front of the peephole and consequently greeted the visitor while she opened the door to him.
"Harry?"
"Hey, Gwen. Sorry for coming here this late, but I really need to talk to you."
"It's alright. You can come in." She moved out of his way and allowed him a free passage inside her apartment, before closing the door again. "Are you alright?"
"I should be the one asking you that." Harry replied, calmly.
Gwen shrugged her shoulders and walked past him, making her way towards the couch. He joined her. "We're dealing with it."
Harry dropped his chin slightly and nodded to himself. "I know." He continued, "If there's anything you need me to do, you can talk to me. I know that once I tried to hur-"
She interrupted him, "Thank you, Harry. I appreciate it."
It wasn't easy to talk about such night, most of the time she didn't want to.
He silenced for a brief minute and then looked up to her again. "The reason I am here, is because Elizabeth is danger."
"We… are always in danger, Harry. Haven't you seen?"
"It's different this time. It's Quentin… Quentin Back, he's involved in just about everything that led to Peter's death."
"What… are you saying?"
"The polarization, the task forces… Venom, he had his hands in all of it. I mean it."
"Wait a second…" Gwen frowned. "Wasn't he… also part of the Sinister Six?"
Harry sighed. "Yes, he was. But he always had his head pointed at something else, I already knew back then and it's no different here, Peter was just an obstacle. I don't know what he truly wants, but somehow Elizabeth might be the last tool he needs to achieve his goals. We now know what she's already capable of."
"How do you even... know all this?"
"H-He…. he came to me… when I was watching the riots. He wanted me to stay out of his way and walk away while I could."
"But you didn't."
"I didn't, Gwen." He continued, "We need to keep her safe… we need to keep all of you safe."
"Harry… I-I… I still need to say goodbye to my husband, their father. Right now, I just can't walk them away with me from here, so much has happened."
"It's not safe."
"We've been… basically on the run ever since we were even a family. I can't do this anymore, I need a moment of peace, I need to give them peace, starting tomorrow at the funeral. I didn't allow anyone to truly touch him, I didn't want to... I-I..." She continued, "I have… I have to accept that there's nothing I can do to bring him back, he's gone. We are all what's left. I need to take care of us now."
"I… I understand."
"Maybe after, we'll start again, I don't know where and how, but I want them to grow safer from all of this, to feel… like they're just children again…"
Quentin stood in front of the unfinished stone of Peter Parker's. He was yet to have his funeral. His own space was found besides Ben Parker's.
"You knew there was no other way." Quentin spoke. A second individual waited for him from behind. "You just happened to have what I needed, so you ultimately had to go. We all played our parts until we couldn't anymore."
Quentin looked over his shoulder. "You've been great, Warren. Helping me… you've done a lot."
"I couldn't have done anything else." He replied, adjusting his glasses over his nose. "You got everything you now need."
"Not just everything."
"The girl…" He continued, "I'm sorry I allowed her to get the better of me when I had her."
"We all make mistakes." Quentin replied, carefully. "She's now unprotected."
"Do you want me to… try to get her back?"
Quentin shook his head in response. "I'll do that myself. My intention is to be already out of this city, this world, the moment I have her."
"She would have to carry you two elsewhere."
"I'll persuade her."
Warren nodded, reluctantly. "There was this guy… he took her out of the fire after she overwhelmed me. He had… some gifts too. He also handled some of my crew before that. He might still be with her."
"My biggest concern was Spider-Man, or the man underneath the mask. With him gone, it shouldn't take too long." He sighed. "But you're also correct in this one, it might me interesting to have some leverage over them if things somehow goes south."
"So, this is it…? The end of the line?"
"For some of us, it is." Quentin placed his hand over his shoulder. "You do understand, right?"
Warren cleared his throat. He nodded. "You need all the help you can get, y-yes. How many have you… turned so far?"
"Almost enough."
"You think… you think I made them… spread faster?"
"You had a crucial role in this, Warren. I can guarantee you this. I just need a few more days to get them ready."
"Then Fiers, now long gone, was right about their potential."
"He was, and I will use it to reach my goal."
Warren sighed heavily. "I hope you find… your wife, Quentin."
Quentin nodded. He tightened his grip over Warren's shoulder and allowed the seed of his symbiote to leave his arm and reach for Warren. He watched the former scientist stare him back as the substance covered his entire figure until his expression was replaced with the dark and greenish color pattern of the symbiote.
He was now almost at full strength.
July 20th - 2014
"I don't want you to go there." Gwen warned.
"What if he breaks out of Ravencroft…?! It's not enough. Max already broke out once." Spider-Man paced on top of the building they were currently at. "There's not a single reason for me not to."
"There is, I'm telling you not to go there."
Peter ceased, turned on his shoulder and looked at her. He took his mask off and held it in his hand. His facial expression gave away the anger within him. "How can you even want that? He almost got you…"
"Can't you once in a lifetime just listen to me?" Gwen protested.
"I do listen to you, Gwen. But I don't agree with you this time."
"Don't you see what you are talking about? You want to go to his cell and…" Gwen stopped and cleared her throat. "After reaching for me at the clocktower… I saw you beat him into a blood pulp. Since when do you even do such things?"
"Since the people I care were almost lost to me."
"You know this is not you talking. This is not the… Peter Parker I knew."
Peter silenced. "I'm not sure the Peter Parker you know can keep you safe."
"But I don't have to be kept safe, Peter! I just want… I just want for things to be how they were before he flew to that damn power plant. I am okay now."
He shook his head and walked towards the edge of the building, looking over the city as the sun began to hide itself far away in the horizon.
She approached him. "Aren't we partners?"
Peter nodded. "We are, you know that."
"Then from now, we will figure things out together. This is one of them." She continued, "Please don't keep these thoughts in your head. You have so much good in you, and if I am to be part of your life… I don't want to see it go away."
He took her hand on his before turning to face her. "You are… right, Gwen. He… He can stay there, we move on."
Gwen placed the palm of her hand against his chest, over the symbol in the spandex. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"You know you can."
"What do you want… for this to be in the long run?"
He looked down to her hand. "I haven't really thought about that… but, I guess I'd like to be... a support for others. That's it."
"And I don't want to take that from you, Peter."
"What do you mean?"
"I… I love you, gosh - I love you so much." She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. "I don't you to change who you are… because of me, because of what could ever happen to me. I saw you in your edge these last days, just… I'm not powered like you are, I can't follow you all the time."
"I-I am sorry for what I said earlier, Gwen." He snaked his covered in spandex arms around her waist. "But I… I need you at my side, just as you are."
She sighed in his embrace. "You would already be giving up on this if you come with me to England."
"I won't. I will be with you, and there I'll try to do what I can for others without having to suit up." He kissed her forehead. "I want to grow old with you, Gwen. I want to swing-by as Spider-Man to our own porch with a box of pizza under my arm so that we can have dinner together.
She giggled and buried the side of her head against his chest. She smiled to herself. "I'd like that too."
He chuckled back, before taking a more serious expression once again. "And I if ever start to think of doing silly things… I want you to take me by my ear and talk some sense into to me again."
Gwen looked up to him again. "I don't think I'll ever have to."
Peter moved a lock of her golden hair behind her ear. "I love you, Gwendy. Always." He leaned in for the kiss.
May 31th - 2031
I want to grow old with you.
Gwen opened her eyes and saw the crowd sat in the line of chairs in front her. Her family could be seen in the front.
There weren't many people, just the closest friends they got to know, the ones who knew who her husband truly was. Vigilantes, family, friends, they were all there.
She inhaled deeply, standing in the altar in front of his closed coffin. A large close-up picture of Peter could be seen next to him. It was a picture taken from their wedding, he wore a black suit, his hair was shiny and he smiled in happiness.
Gwen cleared her throat. They were all waiting for her final speech. She focused in the wrapped piece of paper in her hands that were above the altar.
She couldn't find the strength to open it.
Gwen eventually let go of the paper, looked at the crowd and began, "Being in love with a superhero… it's wasn't as cool as it sounds. I know there are perks to such life, I truly do. Sometimes, when he took me up high above the city, where no else could ever dream to go, and he was holding me so closely, it was truly amazing." She paused, briefly. "But for such a long time it was also tough, I couldn't stop worrying about him. I had many sleepless night while he was out there in the streets, risking his life. It was a lot, and sometimes I thought I couldn't handle it, sometimes we broke up and got back together."
She saw her children sat near each other and next to her own mother. Elizabeth was the most transparent with her emotions. The twins couldn't fully grasp what the moment they were now living meant, but they felt it.
"Lately... I started to remember all the things I loved about him being, well, him. He was... so driven, and not to get rich, be famous or even completely change the world. He just wanted so badly to help people, to save people, to be a hero for those in need of one, something he didn't have in his childhood, but what really amazed me is that he had lost so much, been put through so much, the things he endured, it could break someone, but despite that, he always managed to make me laugh, this was a man that constantly carried the weight of the world in his shoulders, but somehow, he always managed to lift himself free, not only that, he lifted me with him, that was worth the risk."
Gwen felt a tear slid down her cheek and drop off her face. She wiped the trace of water with her thumb.
"He was an angel that fell to Earth, a beautiful and kind man. I feel empty and hurt… I know that the pain will forever be with me, and that I won't be able to see his reassuring smile ever again. Maybe one day I won't feel so much as I do now, these sensations will slowly fade, and I will be left with only the love he gave me in his life…" She looked at her children.
Elizabeth couldn't hold her tears back. Helen had her arm wrapped around her shoulder.
"...and the love he left on this world. May once told him that we can carry the memory of our loved ones and still let them go…" She closed her eyes, shortly.
Gwen finally looked to his picture in her side and allowed the tears to come off both her eyes. "Pete… I love you, I will love you until my last day here, and I'll also let you go, honey. You can rest now… with your family. I will miss you so much. I hope that you find comfort… peace… and safety in wherever that you might be, know that I love you so much, always."
She walked off the altar and approached his picture, brushing the side of her hand against his picture.
Thank you… for being my bugboy all this time…
Gwen followed the group of men that carried her husband's coffin towards the Parker's section in the cemetery. Ezekiel, Harry, Flash and Matt Murdock respectfully held him on their shoulders.
Elizabeth held her mother's hand and walked besides her.
They slowly lowered the coffin inside the open ground and allowed the rest of the people present at his funeral to gather in front of it. Gwen watched them take the dirt from the pile near the grave and throw over his coffin.
She was the last one to do such thing, and she was the one that most felt the impact by doing so. It confirmed the notion she had been fearing for the past hours, her lover was gone and indeed, there was nothing she could do about it.
Gwen took one final glance at his now covered grave and whispered her goodbyes that only him could hear.
Eventually, the place was emptied out and the only thing that remained was the humble family that had its majority already buried in the ground and reunited next to each other.
Some days passed, a few visitors appeared and paid their respects before leaving. The soothing wind brought many leafs on top of the graves and the rain installed itself over the city, leaving puddles in the grass that slowly appeared over the ground of the Parker's final resting area.
In the middle the stormy night, a hand slowly bursted out of the dirt, followed by another. Traces of the symbiote reached for the tip of his fingers and covered them slightly. His arms spread the hole in the ground wider.
He crawled his way out of the ground and once his face finally emerged, he took the deepest inhale he ever did in his previous life as his lungs were completely filled once again, he groaned and gasped afterwards.
Peter lied on his chest and over the messy ground, panting harshly. He still felt desperate for oxygen. His hair was wet due to the rain falling over him. He tried to let some words out, but his voice was weak and hoarse. He couldn't form a single sentence.
He rose his chin off the ground and faced the view in front of him, his head was trembling slightly and the same could be said for the rest of his body. He moved his hand forward into the ground as he tried to drag himself further and eventually he stood on his knee, only to fall down once again.
His body felt sore all around. His strength was minimum to none.
He spun around the ground and stood on his back, finally seeing what looked to be his very own grave near his feet. His breathing turned out even faster. The symbiote appeared in the sides of his cheek and reached for his eyes, until his very face was totally covered by the organism.
They were finally one.
A/N: I got to write probably one of the hardest chapters I ever did for this story, and I still wanted to write a few more scenes, especially a romantic train flashback involving Peter and Gwen, but I have no idea how much longer this would take me to complete. I tried to get inside some of the character's heads and explore how they would react to… well, you know. That was truly challenging as well, even more considering how much some of them have evolved through the story since we set off with the first chapter.
Everything that has happened so far will shape the conclusion as we head towards what will most likely be the final chapter in the story. How long this one will take to come out? Honestly, I'm not too sure. I want to end things well, after all it's been quite a journey. I'd want ending that I would enjoy as a reader too. I need to get this right. Family is a major recurring theme in this final storyline, so the last chapter will centered around that. It will also be rough for these characters.
I'll soon be entering vacation so I'll have a bit more tad time to work in the next chapter. It will be packed, that's for sure. I want to wish all of you another happy holidays! Rest, be at peace and enjoy these moments the best way you can.
If you want to discuss anything, just send me a message. I consider everything you drop there and at the review box. As usual, I'll keep my bio updated regarding the status of what will most likely be the final chapter.
Until the next chapter. Be well!