Minor spoilers for the spider-Gwen comics in this chapter. Seriously though, if youhaven't read them yet, go do that, they are really good. I don't own any characters

Gwen didn't know how long she had sat on her knees, alone in Miles' uncle's place. It felt both forever and no time at all. It had been so perfect. She had found him almost immediately. And he wanted nothing to do with her. She couldn't blame him, but she couldn't give up either. Spider-woman doesn't give up. She wiped her eyes, and lifted her head. Margo stood just inside the window. It startled Gwen that she hadn't sensed anything.

"How long have you been there?" Gwen tried to keep her voice steady. She was weary of Margo. She didn't really know why, she just found it hard to trust the other girl.

"Not long enough for it to be awkward," Margo replied.

"I think it already is," Gwen sniffed, "let's go meet the others, I can explain what happened."

"You're not ready for that yet," Margo said as Gwen struggled to stand, her legs felt weak.

"I'm fine," Gwen stumbled, but Margo caught her. When Gwen tried to push away Margo held her in place.

"You're not fine Gwen. Look, I know you don't really like me. You might not even know why you don't like me. I have an idea, but you only invited me to this group because you knew I cared about Miles and wanted to help him." Margo helped lower Gwen so they were both sitting on the floor. "I'm not trying to get between you, I know he is yourâ your friend," Margo continued, "I just want to help you find him. But right now you are in no condition to go swinging." The two girls sat for a moment in silence, as Gwen continued to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Do you ever think about destiny?" Gwen asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"Like predetermined fate? That's a deep topic," Margo chuckled, but quickly grew silent when the joke didn't land. "I don't know Gwen. Before Miguel, I had never taken it seriously. I mean time travel is impossible, therefore our actions must have an effect on the world."

"There is this guy," Gwen began, "back in my universe. He is just a petty thief, calls himself the Bodega Bandit," Margo chuckled, "He never hurts people, he just tries to rob small bodega's. For the attention I guess. He had a little dog too." Margo watched her questioningly, but Gwen continued. "Every time I would catch him, and I would send him to the police. But he would always come back. It's like clock work, or at least it was. Before I left." Gwen stared at the floor. "Not much before I left, he was attacked when he tried to rob another store. I never found out what did it, but he wound up in the hospital. He wasn't a bad guy. Sure, he tried to rob people, but I had never realized how alone he was until I saw him in that hospital. I was his only visitor. You could probably say his only friend."

"I'm sorry," Margo said, "that is a terrible story. Did he get better?"

"I don't know. I left before he got out of the hospital," Gwen said. "Was he destined for that? Forgotten by his family? But society? To the point where he resorted to petty crime just to have interactions with people?"

"Gwen.. I..." Margo began, but Gwen cut her off.

"Miguel said that breaking the canon leads to the destruction of the universe. In every universe, that means I die. Or the universe dies."

"Gwen, I don't think I..."

"Do you know what it's like to watch yourself die?" Gwen interrupted again.

"No, but..."

"I have," she said simply, "stabbed through the stomach. Dropped from a bridge. Hurled down a clock tower. I'm the only one 'destined' to survive. At least that's what Miguel said. We can't break the canon," she said the last part as a whisper. "But I did," she looked at Margo, "I broke the canon, and I'm all the better for it. My dad is safe, and my universe is safe. At least safe from the canon."

"You're saying Miguel is wrong about the canon?"

"Yes. Miles was right the whole time. He told me once what Peter had told him when he first got his powers, 'Don't think about saving the world, focus on saving one person.'"

"Well then we need to go save your person," Margo gave the distraught girl a smile. "I think you're right. There is no destiny. So it's time to break the canon. Come on," she stood and offered Gwen a hand, "let's go save your 'friend'," she said with a wink.

Gwen gave her a quizzical look, but accepted her hand in standing. Margo immediately wrapped her in a hug. "Don't worry Gwen, we will find him."

"I know we will," Gwen returned Margo's smile. She couldn't understand why she hadn't liked her.

Peter liked to think he was a generally positive guy. That no matter how bad things got, there was always a ray of light at the end of the tunnel. Sure, he had his low moments. The deaths of Captain Stacy and Flash still weighed heavily on his heart. At the time he had blamed himself. If he hadn't been spider man, they would never have died. At least that's what he had thought for years. Then Miguel showed up, and told him it wasn't his fault. That it was all meant to have happened. If it had been anyone except Miguel, he probably would have laughed in their face. But it was Miguel. And suddenly, those deaths were no longer on him. It was fate. Sure fate sucked, but there was nothing he could have done about it. He had been there when Miguel destroyed a universe because he wanted to be with his daughter. Everything fit together. Except Miles.

He was supposed to be Miles' mentor. Granted, he hadn't wanted Miles to be treated as he was. He hadn't wanted it, but he had let it happen. That was on him, as surely as the suit on his back. He hadn't wanted Miles to ever have to deal with all this. He was safer back home, but now it was too late, and it was his fault that Miles was in this strange universe. He didn't know yet what he thought of Gwen saying she broke canon by saving her father. Maybe it was possible, or just a fluke, but he did know that Miles needed his help. "Don't think about saving the world. Focus on saving one person." His own words echoed in his mind as he thought. He was so caught up in his thoughts he almost missed Electro flying at him. Almost.

"Woah! Didn't anyone ever tell you no electronics past bed time?" Peter flipped out of the way as Electro shot past. They hung in mid-air, suspended between skyscrapers in the night sky. Electro's lightning arced off him in lime green bolts, highlighting his dark skin and curly hair. "Are you looking for the circus? I think they left town already! Probably left you behind on purpose!" Peter called out as he dodged another volley of lightning. He shot webs against both buildings lining the street below, and slingshotted himself toward Electro. He twisted in mid-air, green bolts nearly missing beneath him, and slammed his foot into Electro's jaw. Electro tumbled through the air for a moment before catching himself.

"Who sent you bug?" His voice was raspy, so much so it reminded Peter of those old smoking ads. "You one of Vulture's experiments?"

"So there is a Vulture here too? Two of you together, and the circus would make a fortune," Peter saw a flash of movement a second before two shapes slammed into Electro. Both Gwen and Margo hit hard, and Electro dropped like a rock. Electro stopped falling ten feet from the street. The three spiders swung between the buildings, blocking his path to the sky. Electro let out a grotesque scream, and lightning filled the air. It was all Peter could do to not get vaporized. When the lightning finally cleared, Electro was visible only as a small dot of light zipping away through the city.

"I had everything under control," Peter said, breathing hard. Margo and Gwen landed on the side of the building with him. The girls exchanged a look, as women often did. One day he would be able to read those looks.

"Miles isn't here," Gwen said, "well he was, but he left." Margo nodded, and Peter wondered just how much he had missed.

"He left? How could he leave?" It was at that moment that Gwen glitched. She fell toward the street below, but hung in the air as Margo caught her with a web. "Ok, question answered," Peter said with a chuckle. "If he has a watch now then he could be anywhere."

"Yes, but there is one place he will be for sure," Margo replied as she helped Gwen back onto the side of the building. We need to gather everyone up and get to Earth-1610." Gwen gave a nod, both girls looked to Peter. Sometimes he hated being the oldest.

"Then let's not waste time, you can be sure Miguel will already be there, and who knows where spot is."

"Margo you go ahead and start finding the others," Gwen said as another look passed between the girls.

"Got it, see you in a minute Drummer." Peter watched as Margo launched off the building, swinging off out of sight.

"Why do I feel like I just got called to the principles?" Peter laughed as Gwen gave him one of her signature disappointed glares.

"Peter, no matter what happens, this isn't just about finding Miles. We both know this, we put so much thought into finding him, we didn't consider what to do once we found him." Gwen spoke calmly, but Peter could feel her sadness, or was it fear? "What happened when Miguel broke the canon? He was never specific, but you were there. What happened?"

"Gwen," Peter sighed, it wasn't a happy memory. "Miguel kept that quiet for multiple reasons, it's not something that can just be forgotten, but anyone who was there won't want to talk about it."

"It doesn't matter, I need to know what happened so we can be prepared for any eventuality. The time for secrets is over." Gwen seemed to like being solemn, Peter thought. "I had a friend whose universe was built on anomalies. My father quit his job, and just look at this place, there isn't even a spider-man here." She turned to look at him, "what really happened Peter?"

Peter looked out at the city, even he had to admit it looked pretty bad, black smoke filled the sky and was illuminated by little fires as much as by city lights. "Ok, but you're not gonna like it," Peter began, and Gwen leaned against the building listening intently.

Prowler spun wildly. He was in a semi translucent tube, hurtling through a crazy nebula of light and silvery lines. His hand clutched the watch he had taken from the spider girl. The other Miles flew next to him, arguably more in control of his movement which infuriated Prowler. It didn't matter. What did matter was that they were hurtling to god knows where. They had been flying through the void for a few minutes, before Prowler saw a portal open ahead of them. The other Miles shot through first, and then Prowler was blinded by bright light. He heard a quick, "O shit," before he hit the ground hard on his left arm. He grunted as his eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, Miles lay sprawled nearby. Suddenly a masked face loomed over him. It was a silver mask, with metallic light blue lines that formed a spider-web over the face, and two large white eye pieces.

"Well," said Dusk-spider, "This is awkward."

Note: Chapter three is done. Once again I like it better with Gwen and Margo being allies instead of romantic rivals. And Miles and Prowler have been shot through the multiverse to end up with Dusk-spider. It will be interesting to see where this goes.