Michelle "MJ" Jones

I figured out how to walk normally as a spirit in this mini-universe. Under different circumstances, I would have been a little happy about that. But, as I walked a bit behind Clea, I couldn't find a single joy in that. I just walked in silence. As a soul, I probably weighed next to nothing, yet every step I took felt like my feet were made of some heavy stone or metal.

I wonder if this is what it felt like for a Death Row inmate when they take that last walk.

Eventually, we ended up at Midtown. Instead of floating to the roof like I did before, I decided to just walk through the door. I waited on the other side for Clea, who opened the door and walked in. I knew I was delaying the inevitable. But I needed extra time to keep myself together. So, I led her through the halls as I made my way towards the roof access.

"I take it this is a place of academia," Clea commented. I didn't know if she was legitimately curious or was just trying to make conversation. I decided to just roll with it.

"Yup," I replied. "This is Midtown School of Science and Technology… or Midtown High, as it's mostly known. Betty, Ned, and I go here. Peter used to go here until… you know."

"I see."

I was hoping she'd say more, but that was the end of that.

We reached the stairwell. Once again, I stepped through the door and waited for Clea to enter. As she stepped through, I took in a breath, held it for a moment, then let it out slowly. After that, I started walking up the staircase with Clea in tow. Things were silent once again, for the most part. The only thing that made a sound were our own footsteps. A part of me wondered what was going through Clea's head. I knew that, if she wanted to, she could have just opened a portal to the rooftop and had us walk through it. Maybe she understood how scared I was. Maybe she didn't mind walking. Either way, she didn't complain. Maybe that's why this walk – this walk I made so many times since my freshman year – seemed like it was miles long. Once we reached the top of the stairs, I stood there for some seconds. I took that moment to center myself. I looked over my shoulder, taking one more glance at Clea.

At that moment, the selfish side of me spoke up inside of my head. It was telling me how easy it could be to turn back and how I could just wait Mirror MJ out until she disappeared along with this very universe inside of me. I was tempted, too. But I knew myself. I knew I'd feel extremely guilty. I basically would have been leaving someone to die. And this someone is literally a part of me – a part of me that I wouldn't be able to get back. So, tempted as I was, I ignored the selfish voice in my head and looked forward.

I walked through the door and stepped out on to the roof. I looked forward to see Mirror MJ at the same spot that she… I… we… usually stood at. I swallowed a lump in my throat before I walked forward. I barely heard the sound of the door opening behind me as I moved. I kept on walking before I stopped some few feet short of her. If Mirror MJ noticed I was there, she didn't give any indication at first. I waited for some seconds. Just when I was about to say something, she spoke up.

"I'm not going to lie to you," Mirror MJ said. "I was a bit afraid you wouldn't show." She turned around and faced me. "A part of me figured you'd wait me out and let me perish with this world."

"There was a part of me that wanted to do that," I admitted. "I couldn't bring myself to do so."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

I sneered. "I think we both know the reasons for that."

She stared at me for some seconds. She then nodded. "Yeah, I guess we do." She grimaced. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

I glared at her. "You ask me this now? This very universe is literally disappearing as we speak, and you ask me this now?"

"I know it's kind of a stupid question, but I just felt compelled to ask, you know?"

I held back the sarcastic remark that was on the tip of my tongue. "…No, I'm not ready. But even if I had all the time in the world, I don't think I'd ever be ready. So let's just do this already."

"Do it, we shall," Clea said. I was almost startled by her voice. I nearly forgot she was on the roof with us. I turned around and looked at her as she walked up to us.

"What do we need to do?" Mirror MJ asked. "Do we have to sacrifice some animal to a god or something?"

Clea narrowed her eyes. I could tell she wasn't amused by that quip. "No. But if you could, I need both of you to sit down extremely close to each other."

I slowly turned around towards Mirror Me. She looked back at me. She gestured towards the ground. I nodded before I took a seat on the roof, sitting cross legged. She did the same, facing me while our knees touched.

"Okay, so what's next?" Mirror MJ asked, looking past me.

"A little patience," Clea responded. "This spells takes a bit of time to cast and a lot of focus." Something told me that last part was her politely asking us not to disturb her. As she said this, I saw a light surround Mirror MJ and I. We both looked around before we noticed a circular pattern underneath us. It reminded me of that circular thing I'd see on some Yu-Gi-Oh cards.

"It's finally happening," I whispered out. I was glad that I was separated from my body at the moment, because I knew that, otherwise, my stomach would have been churning.

"Yeah, we're finally doing this," Mirror MJ replied. I looked at her. She looked at me. She gave me a small, brief smile. "…So, what are your new friends like?"

I raised my eyebrows. "You mean Craig, Kitty, and the others?" She nodded. "They're an interesting bunch, to say the least. Kitty is very smart and she's like… both sisterly and motherly, if that makes sense. One moment, she could quite bubbly and fun-loving. The next moment, she's no-nonsense and willing to gut somebody for wronging her or someone close to her." The Valentine's Day Dance came to mind. I smirked. "She's also willing to call people out on their shit, as you already saw." I shook my head. "Then there's Craig. He's as much as a smartass as the Loser. He's a nice guy, but I feel like, half the time, he's joking to hide whatever pain he's carrying and he's a lot more sensitive than he lets on. Of course, there's Scott and Joanna. It's funny… they're definitely that stereotypical 'opposites-attract' type couple you'd see in a TV show or movie or read about in a book. Scott is stoic and serious while Joanna is more open about her emotions and can be a bit of a troll. Scott is… kind of a prude and Joanna is… not. Somehow, it works for them."

"I see." MJ tilted her head. "What about the friends we… I… have at Midtown? What about Flash?"

"He's still kind of a pill, but I think, slowly but surely, he's realizing that it's okay not to be a total jerk, which is great."

"Liz?"

"She's doing okay, last time I checked."

"And Ned and Betty? They're a thing again?"

"Yeah, they've been a thing since winter break. I guess they realized that maybe some days in Europe wasn't enough to actually figure things out." I smiled. "I'm happy for them."

"So am I." Mirror MJ paused for a moment. "So, you decided to get closer to people?"

"I figured I should give people a chance. I know I was still a bit gun shy after that one incident back in middle school – especially because of what that event led to – but, I decided to give it a go. I realized Flash ain't as bad as I thought he was. I found people who actually wanted to have a legitimate friendship… even though that came with people that wanted something more and had ulterior motives."

"That's good." She raised an eyebrow. "What about our folks?"

"They're in a healthier place. I… still harbor some resentment towards them, but they're a lot better than they were before."

She nodded at me. She then looked up at the sky. I looked up to see symbols I couldn't recognize appearing and reappearing above us.

"So what about Peter?" I asked. I looked at her. She looked at me a split second later. She didn't answer at first. She stared straight at me. I wasn't unnerved. I could practically see the gears turning in her head.

"I can't make any promises," she finally said. "I'll try to keep an open mind on my part when we become one again, though."

I nodded. I figured that was fair. "I guess I can't ask for much more."

"The spell is ready to be cast," Clea announced. I looked over my shoulder at her. She was looking at Mirror MJ and I with glowing eyes. "If you changed your mind, now would be a good time to say so."

I looked back at Mirror MJ. We stared at each other for a moment. It felt like a minute, though. I was trying to see if there were any signs of her having second thoughts. That small, selfish part of me was hoping that one of us would change our mind. If she did have second thoughts, I couldn't tell. I didn't think she would. Ignoring the part of me that wanted to walk away, I looked over my shoulder at Clea and nodded.

"We're ready," I said.

Clea nodded. "Then we shall begin."

I looked back at Mirror Me and nodded. "Catch you on the other side," I said.

"Likewise," she replied with a small smile.

Seconds later, my vision was filled with nothing but white light before it went black.

I would never forget the feeling of what happened afterwards. It was like I blacked out… but didn't. Everything was pitch black around me. I couldn't see anything. But I felt… everything. I was floating in some kind of space for a while. Slowly but surely, though, I felt myself being tugged into something and then… combined into it? It was a weirdest sensation. But I felt myself change. Flooding my mind were memories that I figured belonged to Mirror MJ. They clashed against my own. It was a rather funny feeling, having two different kinds of memories of one point in time, over and over again. As I melted into something new, I started to feel the emotions of my other half – love and disdain for Peter, hatred of Quentin Beck, the depression of being alone in an empty city…

…and the jealousy and envy towards me due to being able to live a life that was hers.

"I'm sorry," I said, not even thinking about whether or not I still had the ability to speak or if there was anyone able to even listen.

"So am I," Mirror MJ replied.

Those were the last words we said to each other.

Suddenly, I opened my eyes. I was looking up at a ceiling. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was. I was no longer in that mini-universe. I was back in Kamar-Taj, in my physical body. I sat up quickly. That was a mistake. I immediately felt lightheaded. I felt myself fall back. It was at that moment I remembered that I was lying on stone. Before I my head hit it, though, I felt myself getting caught.

"Don't move," I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Clea looking over me. Slowly, she lowered me until I was lying down again. "That spell tends to take a lot of the person it is cast on."

"…I see," I huffed out.

"Rest, MJ. I'll contact Ned to let him know what happened. Once you're properly rested up, I'll take you home myself."

I nodded. "Okay."

Clea patted me on my shoulder before she walked away. I stared up at the ceiling for some seconds. I started going over the memories in my head. I then stopped when I felt my head hurting. There was no point in trying to sort things out at the moment. Instead, I closed my eyes. After some time, I finally fell asleep.

I had a dream. It was a weird one. It started with Peter and I looked at each other from across a busy street. There was a certain look on his face. I couldn't tell what he was feeling at the moment. I just knew it was nothing good. He then looked up at the sky. I looked upward just in time to see some humanoid figure covered in fire streaking through the sky. I looked back over at Peter. Or at least, I tried to. He was no longer there.

"MJ, are you okay?" someone asked. I looked over to my right to see some guy standing next to me. His face was hazy, yet I felt a level of familiarity with him.

"I'm fine," I said. I shook my head. "Let's just go."

That was the end of it. When I woke up, I slowly looked around. I then sat up, remembering to do so slowly. I looked around once again. Clea was sitting nearby, having a cup of tea.

"Are you rested?" Clea asked.

"I think so," I replied, my voice sounding hoarse. I cleared my throat.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay, I think." I took in a breath. "I'm just ready to go home."

A few minutes later, I was ported to the roof my building. I made my way down to my apartment. As soon as I got in, my dad was on my case for being home late. I just stood there, not saying anything. What could I say? Absolutely nothing – at least, not without opening up a huge can of worms. I really didn't want that headache. After my dad was done, I went into the bathroom. After showering, I went to bed. I didn't go to sleep right away. I just looked up at the ceiling. I knew I had some decisions to make and feelings to sort out, especially when it came to The Loser. And I just knew that was going to take a long while. The resentment I carried towards him was very strong. A part of me felt bad for feeling that way, but it was what it was. He broke a promise to me, and a part of me was stranded all alone for months because of that.

A familiar fear started to creep up in the back of my head, one I thought I dealt with. Once again, I was afraid of how far Peter would go for the wellbeing of me as well as the others close to him. On the surface, it seems like a great trait to have. But last time, he was willing to do so against me and Ned's wishes. And I wasn't the type of person who believed that lightning didn't strike twice.

I didn't quite know it at the time. But, I was losing trust in Peter.

"I hate this," I muttered as I closed my eyes.