Okay...here we go. The last chapter. I hope you guys are okay with how I ended it :)

I don't own these guys, or the lyrics to Facade.

At the end of the day,

They don't mean what they say

They don't say what they mean,

They don't ever come clean.

And the answer

Is it's all a facade

...

Man is not one, but two!

He is evil and good

And he walks the fine line

We'd all cross if we could

It's a nightmare we can never discard

So we stay on our guard,

Though we love the facade

What's behind the facade?

Look behind The Facade.

Peter swung through the streets, eternally grateful to Tony Stark for fixing his web shooters. As Peter had promised Karen, he told the billionaire what had happened, and while Stark raised his eyebrows slightly when the kid explained what had happened, he (thankfully) didn't lecture Peter.

Images of what happened kept flashing through Peter's mind, and he growled in frustration. J3 News had covered what had happened at the mansion, and since the explosive devices were the same that the Goblin had used, they were able to put two and two together, though no one knew why the Goblin had attacked the Osborn mansion. Jameson was also trying his hardest to convince the public that Spider-Man was working with the Goblin, and had been at the manor as well, therefore he was "A menace to our society," though not many people seemed to be taking much stock in the accusations.

When Jameson wasn't throwing verbal rocks at Spider-Man, he actually did a decent job reporting the news. According to him, Norman Osborn hadn't been seen anywhere, and people were starting to wonder if something had happened to the CEO.

"Something happened alright," Peter thought to himself. "Just not something that anyone would think of, or even believe."

Every night since the attack, the news had been covering the progress of the story, and every night, it was always the same. They had no idea why the Goblin attacked the mansion, or what made him leave, and they had absolutely no clue as to where the CEO could possibly be. People were beginning to wonder if he'd been captured by the Goblin and was being held somewhere for ransom, but the police were insistent that they didn't think that was the case. Peter agreed with them, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the cops had a legitimate reason for not believing that Osborn had been kidnapped, and he was curious to see what their reasoning was.

"Incoming call from: Harry Osborn," Karen announced, disrupting Peter's thoughts. His heart leapt; It had been almost a week since the fight at the Osborn mansion, and Peter hadn't seen his friend at all. He hadn't shown up to school, he hadn't answered any of Peter's calls, and one day when Peter actually stopped by the mansion while it was under repairs, the butler told him that Harry didn't want to be disturbed.

Immediately, Peter grabbed hold of a nearby fire escape and swung around, sitting on the steps as he answered the call.

"Harry?"

"Hey Pete," came his friend's tired, and slightly upset-sounding reply.

"What's goin' on, are you okay?"

"I've been better. Listen, could you stop by the house?"

Peter glanced at his watch; it was a little after 5:30, and he knew May wasn't going to be home until 8 or later, so he replied, "Yeah, I can be there in like, thirty minutes. What's up?"

"I'd rather wait until you get here," Harry said.

"Okay," Peter replied. "Need me to pick anything up?"

"No, I'm good," Harry assured his friend. "Thanks though. I'll see you in a few."

"See ya."

After the phone call ended, Peter sat on the fire escape for a few more minutes, wondering what Harry was thinking.

0-0-0

"Mister Parker, welcome," the butler said as he answered the door, stepping aside to let the young man in. As Peter passed under the large doorframe, he had to sidestep the large ladder and sheet of plastic hanging down. "Apologies for the mess," Stanley continued, leading Peter towards the dining room. "As you've probably heard, we had a bit of a...forced renovation," he added.

"It's fine," Peter replied, stepping over some wood that had been left on the floor. As Peter followed the butler into the dining room, he noticed Harry, who stood up from where he was sitting at the table. "Hey Pete," the other teenager said, walking forward and grabbing his friend in a tight hug. After a stunned moment, Peter returned the gesture. "Thanks for coming," Harry added as he took a step back. He sat back down in the seat that he'd vacated when Peter walked in, then gestured for his friend to take another chair.

As Peter settled down, he studied his friend's face. The young Osborn looked tired; he had dark circles under his eyes, and his face looked slightly less filled out than it had the last time Peter had seen him. "Harry, what's goin' on?" Peter asked.

"A lot," replied Harry with an empty chuckle. "There's so much going on, I don't even know where to start. Tessa's dead," he added, making Peter flinch slightly. "Her injuries were too severe, and she passed away last night."

"I'm so sorry," Peter said, to which Harry replied with a shrug.

"I mean, it's not like I knew her or anything," he said.

"What about the others?" Peter asked. J3 had covered what had happened at the hospital, so the world knew about the attack on the doctor.

Harry shook his head. "They're both alive, and Tristin is awake, but he says he can't remember anything. The doctor woke up briefly, and all he could say was that a masked man attacked him, and since we all already know that's what happened…"

"It doesn't really give anyone much to go on," Peter finished.

"Exactly."

There was a slightly awkward silence, then Peter looked around, deciding to change the subject. "So...you've had a busy week," he commented. "What really happened?" he asked, even though he already knew. "J3's been covering it, but I sometimes find it really hard to believe anything Jameson has to say."

"No kidding," Harry said with a chuckle. "Uh, there was...there was a fight," he finally replied.

"A fight?"

"Uh huh. Spider-Man and that, um...Green Ghoul guy, or something like that," Harry explained.

"Green Goblin?"

"Yeah, him. Anyway, the Goblin attacked the house, but Spider-Man was able to get us all out before anyone got hurt. It's a long story, and I'll have to tell you another time. That's not why I asked you to come over," he said. "This is."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone, unlocking it before handing it over to Peter. When Peter accepted the device, he realized that it was opened to the phone's voicemail system, and the message at the top sent a small shiver through Peter's body. The most recent message was from just a day after the incident at the Osborn Mansion, but the fact that the name the message was from was "Dad" was what stunned Peter. He looked at his friend, who motioned for him to listen to what the message had to say. The high schooler clicked on the message and put the phone up to his ear, listening to what Norman Osborn had to say.

"Harry. Harry, I'm so...I'm so sorry. I have to...I have to leave for a little while, but I promise you, I will be back. This is for your safety, son. Know that I wouldn't do this unless I felt like I had no other choice. There's...something that I have to take care of, and I can't do that without putting you in danger. I promise you that as soon as I do get rid of it, I will come home. You have my word, and you know that I've never made a promise that I haven't kept.

I know I don't say this nearly enough, Harry, but I...I love you. I love you, son, more than you'll ever know, and that's why I have to leave. If I stayed, I would only be putting you in harms way, and if anything ever happened to you, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. I have to go now, but I'll try and get ahold of you when I can. Goodbye, son. Stay safe."

The message ended after that, and when Peter looked over at Harry, he could see the shining of tears threatening to escape his friend's eyes. "Harry, man. I'm so, so sorry," Peter said, not sure how to respond to his friend's trouble.

"I mean...if he really did love me, why didn't he just tell me what's going on? We could have worked through whatever it was together," Harry said, trying to hold back in the anger in his voice, though Peter could hear his friend's voice shaking with the effort. Or maybe it was the effort of holding back the tears.

"Have you tried finding him?" Peter asked quietly. Harry nodded, but Peter could tell by his friend's expression that their search hadn't been successful.

"Whatever he'd doing, he's on his own," Harry replied bitterly. "We can't get a trace on his cell phone, no one's seen him, and he hasn't gotten ahold of any of us since this call."

"So...what are you going to do?"

Harry took in a deep breath. "I...one of my aunts, my mom's only sibling, is coming in from Colorado; she's my legal guardian in dad's trust if anything was to happen to him, and since it's been a week, the lawyers have decided that I need someone to look after me, at least for a little while."

"Is this why the cops are saying they don't think there was any sort of foul play?" Peter asked as he handed back his friend's phone. Harry nodded again.

"We showed the message to them, and they're the ones that tried tracing his phone. They promised to keep us in the loop, at least for the critical points of the case, as long as we promised to do the same to them."

Peter nodded, not sure of what to say. He looked over at his friend, and finally asked a question. "Why are you telling me?"

Harry ducked his head a little, as if he were ashamed of his answer. "I...I had to tell someone, and you're the only friend I've got, Pete. I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather tell, and...I dunno, I guess that's it," he finished. "Sorry," he added. "That was really sappy. I don't know what's going on with me lately. First I ask you about Spider-Man, now this, I'm really sorry, man. It's not fair for me to keep dragging you into my stupid family matters, and-"

"Harry," Peter interrupted. The young Osborn looked at Peter, shutting his mouth as Peter continued. "Don't ever feel bad about coming to me if you need help," he insisted. "That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

"I guess…" Harry said quietly. "Thanks, man," he finally said.

"Anytime. Do you guys need help with anything?" Peter asked as he looked around, gesturing at the house.

"Oh, no. We've got everything covered, and the crew said it's only gonna take a few more days to get everything done. They've been working basically 24/7."

"Wish we could get some of them working on all the construction around the city," Peter joked, glad to see a smile crack on Harry's face. "That would be nice, wouldn't it?"

The two of them chuckled for a moment, then Peter looked down at his watch.

"You need to get going?" Harry asked.

"Probably," Peter replied apologetically. "May gets home in a little bit, and it's my turn to cook dinner tonight," he explained.

"No worries," Harry said as the two of them stood up and began walking towards the front door. "Thanks again for stopping by, Pete. It...it means a lot."

"Sure, Harry. Let me know if you need anything else," Peter said as they reached the door and he grabbed the handle.

"Will do. I'll probably be back at school sometime next week," Harry added.

"You sure you're gonna be okay?" Peter asked. He'd been wondering if Harry would even be coming back to Midtown Tech, or if he was going to go back to being homeschooled.

"Yeah," Harry replied. "I like it there. Besides, it'll be a good way for me to get out of the house, and hopefully have a bit of a distraction from all this," he added, gesturing around him. "And just wait till you meet my aunt. You'll figure out that you'd want to get away from her too," he said in a conspiratorial whisper, making Peter laugh again. "Anyway," Harry said, giving Peter another hug. "Thanks again for coming by."

"Anytime. I'll see you at school."

"Hey, do you need a ride back to your apartment?" Harry suddenly asked as he realized how dark it was, and when he realized his friend had probably walked and caught the train.

"No, I'm good," Peter assured Harry. "I don't mind the walk."

"It's no problem," Harry said. "Stanley can drive you wherever you need to go."

"Seriously, I'll be good," Peter replied. "Thanks, though."

Harry looked slightly skeptical, but he finally nodded. "Okay, if you're sure."

"I'm sure," Peter promised. He walked out the door and down the large front steps, turning and waving at Harry, who was still standing in the doorway. As the high schooler continued walking away, his head felt like it was spinning with the new information he'd just gotten. He knew that he couldn't do much of anything for Osborn at the moment; that would have to be done by the police, though Peter knew that if Osborn didn't want to be found, it would be difficult to find him. He just hoped that if Osborn did come back, it would be as Harry's father, and not as the Green Goblin.

So...there it is... what do you all think?

If you enjoyed the story, please feel free to leave a comment, or if you have constructive criticism on how you think I can improve, feel free to leave that in the comments as well.

Thanks again so much for reading! It means a lot to me :)