Of The Twilight Hours
Sequel to 'Midnight is Meant to Be'
Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel/Stan Lee's creations, only the scenario and original characters in this story.
Horror: Thanks to Jodi M, I realised I can't spell! I can, I checked my earlier chapters, but because I've quick fired out the last few chapters at a stupid time of the morning there are so many spelling and Grammar mistakes I am embarrassed! I'll try to get back to how it used to be, Felicia instead of Felecia…
"What the hell?" Felicia broke the silence, both faces conveying shock at the news.
"How the, they were both alive, we didn't kill them!" Peter said in subtle astonishment, his voice a mix of thought and exclamation.
"How do you know we didn't? You buried Rhino under a building!" She turned sharply to Peter.
"Oh please, I've done worse to him in the past! Remember when I told you that builder knocked him out with a wrecking ball? The guy's a tank; it wasn't me that killed him! Or Shocker!" Peter knew something as minor café on his back wasn't enough to even cause a headache when he woke up, the death of both Rhino and Shocker was too quick, that fact it was only those two who had escaped that had been found dead wasn't a coincidence.
The news cackled in the wake of Peter's defence.
"The police are now asking Spiderman and Black Cat to come in for questioning, these deaths are being treated as suspicious," The caster continued. "More on this later, back to you Diane"
"They think we're murderers?" Felicia cried out, "We didn't kill anybody!" Peter reached out and gripped her wrist.
"Hey. Hey I know we didn't, they said they haven't yet released their cause of death to the media yet; once they do we'll be cleared. Bugle's gonna have a field day with this though"
"I can't believe this, I mean I wouldn't wish anybody dead but these two almost killed a café full of civilians and us last night, I would just bury them and shut the book" Felicia said in bewilderment.
"I know what you mean but that's not how it works, and besides who ever can kill Rhino might prove a bigger problem than the two of them ever could" Peter sensed something about this whole think stank.
"What a great start to the day!" Felicia's sarcasm tickled his ears as she rose from the bed, "better get a move on to the theatre before you distract me again". She disappeared into the bathroom and Peter rolled to sit on the side of the bed. Today he had to go to work, and then go on patrol; it was going to be another busy day.
Mary Jane approached the back row of the theatre from its stage, her rehearsal was over and now she could either sit at watch the new male lead rush through his lines or get looking for an apartment. The latter was almost instantly chosen, but just as MJ was going to bypass the last row of seats Felicia walked in, smiling upon recognition of her friend.
"Hey Red! How much have I missed? I got 'distracted' again" The blonde smiled, it was well known to MJ exactly what it took to distract her friend.
"You guys never stop do you? Oh you haven't missed much, I just ran through a few scenes, nothing major" You can interview the new lead, its his second day" Mary Jane sounded hopeful, but with only a few days until opening it might crash and burn. After Johnny Storm got fired in the wake of her original leading man being killed, there wasn't much room for error; third time lucky was what the director was counting on.
"Hey, he's pretty cute Red, and you get to make out with him?" Felicia was always straight to the point with men.
"Yep, and you don't" She smirked, the blonde expressing over the top hurt at such a thing.
"Ow, my pride!" she laughed, "Were you going already? I thought we could chat whilst I wait for cutie to finish up?" MJ could spare a few minutes, and so sat down next to her friend on the back row.
"So how's life with Mr. Motivator?" Felicia was well aware of the fact Mary Jane was disillusioned with her boyfriend.
"I'm going apartment hunting after this, finally getting out" She sighed, "I don't think he sees there is anything wrong though, I feel kind of guilty"
Felicia's brow wrinkled at this. "Red the guy is a loser, famous or not. I know that you've been having a hard time finding somewhere to go, or else I trust you would have dropped this guy a long time ago"
"At least its finally happening, I can finally have my life back" Mary Jane perked up, "Your right, if he can't see that I'm not happy he's not even worth my guilt. I mean I wasn't ever really that interested in him, I had ulterior motives for dating a rich famous guy, I guess that makes me cheap"
"Hell no, I mean you haven't slept with they guy have you so what's the big deal? I myself would have gone insane after 8 months on the shelf, but hey, that's me all over" Felicia's humour always cheered Mary Jane up, it was one of the reasons they had quickly become friends when the reporter began to interview the actress. " What ulterior motives then? Career climbing or what?"
"Hey, I'm not that bad! It was a guy, isn't it always a guy" at this Mary Jane blushed, and Felicia's interest was aroused, "I was introduced to John by my friend Liz originally, he was cute and charming, but I had eyes for somebody else, somebody who kept turning me down. I was going to use John to make him jealous, but then one night I was suddenly, you know, feeling courageous and snagged him, thing is he found out about John and thought I was going to keep them both" MJ's face suddenly dropped, "It turned out he loved me as much as I loved him, but he thought I was just using him"
"Boy that sucks Red" Felicia pouted at the idea of this still upsetting her friend; he must have been a hell of a catch to leave such a scar. "I won't pry anymore, but once you're free from Johnny boy you'll be back to your old self and you'll find a guy who actually notices you exist"
"I hope your right, I mean I've spent so long just going along with life, I feel almost dirty, I was so upset over him I just fell in with John, days blurred into weeks an I've ended up here" Mary Jane rubbed the back of her neck as she spoke, "Its taken this long to get over him, and yet all I can think about is trying to find him again. I know it won't happen but I just have to try you know?"
"Yeah I know what you mean, A decent guy is hard to find, I don't think there are enough to go around" Felicia looked up, The director was storming off stage and the bewildered look on the new male lead's face told her it was time to bag her interview.
"I think he's finished, I'll let you go" Felicia stood up, walking a few paces down towards the stage before turning to wave her friend goodbye
"Catch you later Red"
"Yeah see you at the last rehearsal right?" MJ approached the exit.
"Sure thing" Felicia replied as she head towards the stage, Mary Jane had the rest of the day off, and she wasn't going to waste a minute.
Sat in the park Mary Jane listened to the children play as she looked down at her cell phone, it was a simple device, but she had suddenly forgotten how to use it. After so long dreaming of him, it was too easy to just press a button or two and hear his voice, there had to be a trick to it, something would go wrong. But if the day was constant, he would answer and proclaim her undying love to her. So far so good, but she wasn't ready for this.
This morning she had managed to avoid John because he fell asleep again, and then found Peter's number. Arriving late to rehearsal Mary Jane wasn't even abused, the new male lead soaking up all the director's abuse. Felicia arrived and cheered her up, then Mary Jane had found the perfect apartment in only the second place she had looked. It was far from John's penthouse but it was warm and small, hardwood flooring and a balcony. It would be quite expensive, but with the photo shoot she was going to do it should all work out nicely, or so she hoped. She had smiled ear to ear when she had been told she could move in as soon as she was ready, now all that stood in her way was the deposit. That and one more thing, breaking it off with John Jameson, the guy who she had spent the last 8 months with, only to wake up and realise that she had never really wanted to be with him, just not to be alone.
It was a silly thing to do, but after everything went so right that wet night, when everything felt so good only for it to crack before her eyes, the mirror shattered, and all she saw was herself, fragmented and scattered.
She had to admit, that being so strong all her life, she had only ever let one person in, Peter Parker, and when that one person looked at her in disgust it broke her more than she could cope with. John was just there, and she effortlessly fell into the routine of being his platonic girlfriend, it helped keep her from slipping away into the dark, from the truth. Now she had to end the façade, and although she couldn't wait to be free, it pained her to have to break this to John when he didn't even seem to realise she was far from happy. How to bring up the topic that your leaving him when he thinks everything is better than okay, but none the less it had to be done.
As the day started to dim, the attractive redhead started to walk towards the park entrance, her phone had credit, she had an apartment lined up, all she needed to do was finish John, pack her bags and leave, then in a few days it was opening night and all this would be behind her. Then she could get the courage up to call Peter, despite her fears about him hanging up straight away she had to do it, conquer her fears.
As the troubled actress crossed the road outside the park, she walked unaware of the three shadows that had just begun to stalk her.
This is the big ten, and so I tried to make it a good one, purely character building though, please let me know what you think! As that little review counter grows so does my enthusiasm!