31 Moving Forward Part 8 (Edited)

-Hell's Kitchen-

 'No. No no no no no no no no no no…' His thoughts repeated the word over and over as if doing so would make it true.

"No…You can't be…" Peter whispered to himself, a part of him refused to accept that this person and his friend were one and the same. His hands fell limp at his sides as stood still watching Spider-wo-Gwen intently. His mind growing numb from a new wave of emotional and mental turmoil brought about by his sudden realization.

"Peter wai-grk!" Peter's bandages acted before Gwen could even twitch, moving on their own accord as they warped around her form tightly. One of the bandages wrapped around her throat to prevent her from further speaking.

"You can't be her, that isn't possible. No, that shouldn't be - this, this isn't how it- you just can't be her, right?" At this point, Peter wasn't addressing Gwen anymore. He was mumbling to himself as if doing so would make it true, he couldn't bring himself to face the reality of the current situation anymore.

"If, if you were, then - then you-" Peter left the rest unsaid.

With an unfocused gaze, he ran his fingers through his hair attempting to soothe his growing migraine

"That shouldn't be possible, I mean Gwen would tell me if she were you -if she were spider-woman. We're friends - more than friends - She wouldn't keep something like this from me, right?" He let the question hang in the air for a while suddenly feeling at a loss on what to do. 

"Would she? Wouldn't.. you?" Events started to fall into place in his memory. Moments in the past he glazed over started to make sense, her recent rise in popularity, her unexplained disappearance. Pieces of a puzzle he never knew existed started to take shape in his mind.

 He turned to look at Spider-woman held up in the air by his bandages. He didn't recall willing them to do anything; maybe they acted on his feelings or something - he was too distracted to care. 

 Peter watched the spider-themed hero struggle for a few moments, unsure of how to proceed, he knew for a fact that his technopathy was as accurate as any complex supercomputer could be, maybe even more so. But the reality of it hit differently.

It dawned on him like a bullet train ramming into him at the speed of sound, this was it, Peter realized.

This was real.

Whether he liked it or not this was reality, he could either deal with it now or bitch about it like a coward and reject it. His incarnation ability whispered sweet nothings in his thoughts, he could feel it itching in the back of his mind, attempting to influence his actions and Peter allowed it without any resistance. 

His eyes glazed over and with shifting steps, he walked towards the spider-themed hero. Every fiber of his being hoped that once he pulled back the mask a stranger's face would greet him.

His hands left reached up and pulled the mask back revealing with the dread the face that it hid.

Bright blond hair held back by a black hair clip gleamed in the moonlight and attached to a soft creamy pale complexion. A pair of familiar sky-blue eyes widened in confusion, horror, and regret, silently pleading as they stared into his brown ones. Her face was bruised and beaten from the battle they just fought, twitching and strained as she struggled to breathe. Her lips were pink, the edges purple and bleeding as well.

"It's you" Peter sighed, unsure if it was one of dread or relief. It was neither, he couldn't describe the sensation that washed over him at that moment. It felt odd like some weight just lifted itself off his shoulders. This whole thing felt so messed up, it was like a bad movie.

One big tragic comedy. A comedy about a boy who strives to be a hero only to lose it all and find out the real hero was next to him all along. That he was a background character in someone else's story. Why didn't he see it before, maybe he just didn't want to, maybe he just couldn't accept it.

 If only she told him…. If only…

Against all odds, he felt the edges of his lips rise. A smile tore away though, blooming on his face. His shoulders twitched uncontrollably before a full-blown historical laughter filled the night.

"HmmhmhmhmhmmhahahahahhaahahahahaHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAAHAHAH" Peter raised his hand to cover his lips, attempting to stop himself from laughing.

The bandages unwrapped themselves like uncoiling snakes dropping Gwen unceremoniously on the crane's metal arm. Gwen took long deep breaths relishing the feeling of oxygen filling her lungs again. She pushed herself up and faced with trepidation. Peter fell on his back laughing all the way.

...….

For the umpteenth time in her life, Gwen Stacy found herself in a peculiar situation involving one Peter Parker.

The last time they met she thought something was wrong with him and he may or may not have dumped her as a friend.

Before that was the whole lizard incident where she almost killed him, then there was the hospital thing, then the classroom shebang. She was honestly starting to wonder if their lives intertwined like some bizarre tragic comedy with them as the punchline or something.

Cause now it's been blown up to a whole new level of crazy.

She came tonight expecting some common thugs or a shoot-out gone wrong after eavesdropping on police chatter from the radio she borrowed from her dad only to find her estranged mentor fighting some weirdo with a mummy fetish. Then said weirdo took out her mentor and almost killed her before everything went to shit.

Now here she sat, silently observing her best friend laughing hysterically to himself in uncontrollable amusement. Peter laid on his back, his eyes closed with his arms holding his stomach as his laughter filled the night sky. His body trembling with barely contained mirth and irony.

Gwen watched him all the while, riddled with guilt and remorse, unsure of what to do or how to react so she sat there in silence and shock.

....

A few seconds passed before Peter calmed down and pushed himself up.

"Peter? please, I can explain everything." Gwen tried to plead with the distraught teen. But he just kept giggling to himself lost in his own internal musing.

"Peter? Are you ok?" Gwen's voice chimed in. He looked back to find her watching him, her eyes filled with concern with her knees held close to her chest in a fetal posture. She watched him intently.

"No, not at all, I mean it's pretty funny don't you find this funny? Hmhmhmmhmm. Spider-woman and the notorious Lizard-man eater, a vigilante hero and a notorious-wanted villain were secretly best friends without even realizing it, sounds like a plot for one tragic hero origin story don't you think.. hahaha-Spider-woman, hehehe" Peter giggled to himself as he held Gwen's gaze. She stared at him incredulously for a moment.

A smile then wormed its way into her expression, one that quickly escalated into a giggle then she joined him in his laughing feat, it was infectious, and it reminded her of better days.

"Hmmhmmhmmhmmm-Pete..hmhmhahaAhahahahahahahahhahahaha".

"Haahahahaahhahhahaahaha".

"Hhmhmmhmahahahahahahaa, only you Peter, hahahahaaha, leave it to you to joke about something like this, ahahhaaha"

"Riight? Hahhehehahahahha"

Soon their laughing feet faded into an eerie comfortable silence. Both wiped away tears from the laughter or something else that was left unsaid. They observed each other with unguarded postures. No longer the enemies they were behind the mask but simply Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Peter stood up first and dusted himself, Gwen remained silted, opting to wait for him to take the lead.

Peter walked over and sat at the edge of the iron crane looking out into the city and Gwen joined him, neither of them made any attempt to break that silence for a while.

" You knew…" Peter began. Neither of them looked at the other, they found what little comfort they could simply by being in each other's presence. " That time at the cafe, you knew who I was, what I did, what you did…Why didn't you tell me?"

"….I…I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to approach the whole thing. What was I going to say 'Hey Peter I'm Spider -woman and yes I did almost kill you and on that note why did you transform yourself into a giant lizard.' I mean Peter at that time you just lost your uncle and Aunt May was…sigh…Look I'm sorry… it just didn't seem like the right time and before I knew it we were already drifting apart. I thought that maybe it was better that way, to just leave the past behind us and move on…" Gwen replied softly, her voice trembling slightly as she thought over the events that led them both here. Peter turned to her feeling his temper rising.

 "Leave the past behind us? What kind of bullshit reasoning is that? Do you have any idea what you did to me? How everything went to shit after that! And you were what? You were going to just move on! Leave it all behind. Forget! How could you do that to me? We were best friends for Christ's sake!" Peter's tone was rising intently as he spoke.

"What was I supposed to do!? What did you expect me to do" Gwen's met him with the same intensity, never one to back down from anything. "There's no rule book for this stuff OK! I did what I thought was the best for both of us! And Don't act like it's all my fault. You're the one who went ahead and turned himself into some lizard mutant man-eating monster. How was I supposed to know it was YOU!?" 

"That doesn't change what you did. I thought heroes were supposed to save people not mindlessly beat them to kingdom come, I couldn't control what I was doing, I begged you that night stuck in there like some backseat passenger, I asked you over and over and over again to help me! Your goddamn spider-woman! Why didn't you save me?!"

"Because I thought you killed my Dad!"

"Well, you killed ME!"

 Gwen flinched back as if physically struck. Her widen in horror. Both teenagers were so lost in their argument they hardly noticed that they were on their feet screaming in each other faces.

"Wh-What?" Gwen choked out the question. Her voice trembling as her body suddenly fell limb.

"You didn't think some half-baked defective super serum would actually save me after what happened did you?" Peter asked, his eyes suddenly grew cold, and as the center of his pupils brightened with a soft neon blue glow. A dark sickening feeling settled in his stomach - his outburst faded as his voice lowered into its dull apathetic pitch. Something dark and twisted took root in his psyche whispering in his ear. Although it went unnoticed by the two teens, the black miasma around Peter's bandages thickened to a degree. The shadow of an invisible silhouette shaped behind Peter, drawing close to his ear.

His fool's mask was already slipping into place to internalize his involuntary physical and emotional response before he even realized it. Technopathy chimed in to outline Gwen's emotional state and bio-rhythm.

 '[Emotional assessment - Stress *%, Anxiety*%, Fear*%, Tension*%, Shock*%, hysteria *%] [Biological assessment - Heat-rate 115bpm -rising, temperature 95°F (35°C)] [Conditional Assessment - Intense Shock *%, Fear*%, Guilt*%, Remorse*%…]'

"Oh, it worked, just not in the way you'd expect" Peter tilted his head with a forlorn smirk, almost cruel from Gwen's perspective. " I healed alright, My broken bones twisted back into place, cracked and shattered as they were, my torn muscles, tendons, and flesh knitted themselves together and I felt every goddamn microsecond of it." Peter held Gwen's gaze stoically as her expression slowly morphed into one of horror when the realization of what Peter was saying set in.

"Stop…" Gwen whispered, her fist clenching into a ball.

"I laid there for what felt like hours like that you know. Squirming in that alley like some road-killed animal. It repeated over and over and over again because that defective serum was wearing off but my body was too broken for the transformation back into a human."

"Stop it" Gwen repeated, her face fell as her hands tightened and her shoulders trembled.

" My lung hurt as my ribs were forcefully extracted in some half-ass attempt by my body to heal me, my skin was burning from overexposure because the serum kept replacing human skin with fresh scales and repeating the possess over and over again, it burned me through the nervous system when exposed to the environment prematurely. It hurt to even breathe" Peter knew what he was doing, but he found himself unable to stop himself.

"Stop it…Peter, please.." Gwen was whispering to the teen now.

"And you wanna know what I was thinking. That whole time while I was lying there. Dying. Why didn't you just finish the job? I hated you for that, not Gwen but Spider-woman. I looked up to Spider Woman, I wanted to be like you. But for all my efforts. I died in that alley." It was a sickening form of pleasure.

 Maybe it was a fit of jealousy that edged him on - how could she have it all while he lost it? Maybe it was the feeling of inadequacy - why did she have powers and popularity when his attempts ended in tragedy? Why could she have it all and not him? Why wasn't it him? It was petty but he found himself unable to stop, unwilling to stop until he dragged her down to his level, to feel as he felt. As terrible as that was.

It was unfair, then again the world was hardly fair to anybody, in the way it was fair in that regard. But Peter was too blinded by his own self to see that.

"…." Gwen trembled in silence.

"And then I came back, thanks to you I guess. I may have deserved it to from what I heard. Good riddance right? The hero wins and the bad lizard man-eater dies. All in a day's work for Spider-woman. My hero… I worshiped you after you saved me, it may have not meant much to you but it meant the world to me, to know a hero knew my name, and would have given anything to be like you. But you knew that already. Was it all just some kind of joke to you? Did your new best friends know about it? maybe laughed about it behind my back when I geeked out about Spider Woman. Poor pitiful nerdy penis parker. I'm sure MJ did. Maybe I wasn't besties enough for you to tell me who you were, right?."

"….."

" But hey, you killing me had its perks. I got powers just like you, a would-be hero and what did that cost me? Care to guess... It cost me everything-" A white-gloved fist met Peter's face before he could finish. He knew it was coming but ignored it anyway.

*Boom*

Peter's body slammed against that iron bar at the towering peak of the crane.

"Ah, there you are Spider-woman. I was wondering where you've been hiding." Peter spoke his he picked himself up. He spit out a loose tooth only to jerk slightly at the taste in his mouth.

This blood wasn't his. It tasted odd, like ash and rust, it burned in his throat. It was her blood.

She nicked herself as she punched out his k-nine tooth. For a moment he felt something shift in his being, as if a fundamental piece to root in his being but he ignored it.

"Come to play again-" Peter was all but ready to taunt Gwen but stopped short when he saw her. She had tears streaming down her face but her eyes held nothing but rage.

 Her hands swung at her side, her fists clenched and bleeding as she marched up to him. She picked him up by the collar and slammed him against the metal foundation of the crane tower.

*Clang*

Peter was sure the enraged teen would hit him again but she didn't she kept her hands on his collar and then hesitantly leaned her head against his chest.

"….."

" I get it alright. I get it… So just stop…please…I'm sorry…" Gwen sobbed into Peter's chest silently as the teen stared down at her with a passive expression. Unable to and unwilling to express himself in fear of what he had just done.

'What did you do? Peter you fucking idiot….' He thought to himself but Peter didn't allow any of what he felt to slip past his mask.

A fool and a coward. The moniker of his ability mask of the fool- a fool bluff suddenly made sense with an ironic twist that was neither funny not clever. His actions made him feel worse, like scum of the earth not that he'd show it with the mask in effect.

"It wasn't easy for me to you know…. Do you think I wanted all this, that I wanted to be some goddamn hero….It was all just one big accident. A god damn cosmic joke." Gwen huffed out in between her sobs. She shoved him back then pulled her fist back to punch him again.

" Do you think it was easy for me to watch you like that?! Do you think it was easy to watch some reptile monster tear into my dad and slaughter his friends?!"

*Boom"

A microshock wave rattled the cage as Peter caught her fist. She pulled back her free hand for another punch

*Boom*

"Do you think I was fine after I found out?! You weren't the only one hurting..arkk Dammit.. let go!" She struggled to pull her fists out of Peter's grasp. " I was hurting too. I cared for Uncle Ben and Aunt May too. I lo- I cared for you too. But you were just so caught up in your damn research project.. you hardly gave me any chance to talk about anything…I really tried you know… You pushed me away first…" She slowly stopped trying to pry her hands free as her voice lowered in tone.

" Watching you tore me apart Peter, and it got worse cause I couldn't do anything about it…" Gwen was unable to look at Peter or hold his gaze. His gaze seemed just as it did back at the cafe, cold and lifeless.

Peter released and Gwen took a step back before her knees gave in.

"I didn't know-" she clutched her bleed hand, staring at it hazily " I didn't know what happened to you...I thought…I…I…-m" She paused when Peter crouched low before pulling her mask over her face then finger flickering her in one smooth motion- too fast for her to react.

*Crack"

It was a very hard flick.

Peter waited for her reaction. He had to hand it to his Technopathy, he was at a loss at what to do when she began balling her soul out, it was the most likely outcome but expecting it and experiencing it were two different things. Thankful his technopathy schemed through psychology 101 and came up with a very effective conflict resolution to help him. Although all external responses were internalized, his internal ones were rationalized to some degree due to his ability to induce apathy from losing his humanity. It didn't take more than a few moments for his machine brain - the part of him that was all machine without the human element - to form hypotheses and relate it to him as a solution for his internal conflict in the present.

In a sentence it spelled; He forgave her but he was being a jealous bitch about it.

It wasn't that he coveted her power or anything it was something more simple than that. He just envied her position when compared to his. She just had the better half of the stick, she had powers, was popular, smart, social, well-liked, a rising celebrity, was a hero, and her family was all alive and loved her for her.

Envy was a ruthless bitch that bit you in deep and loved to flavor her inflicted wounds with salt.

But he squished his feelings like a bug under his heel. He had his own shit to deal with, such emotions would do him no good here. But yet they lingered like the damn mind killers they were.

"OW, fuck, Dammit Peter. What the hell?" Gwen's head jerked back and she almost flipped to her feet.

"I get it alright…" Peter let out a frustrated sigh. "So just stop… Please…Gwen " He said repeating the same words she said to him moments ago.

" and for what it's worth, I forgive you for everything and I'm sorry too for the shit I put you through…Actually, I'll be honest with you, I already forgave you the moment I found out who you were but... I was just being a bitch about it, I kinda wanted you to feel like shit a little for a while, it was partly to release some pent-up stress and jealousy for all that time you got popular and maybe the fact that you got powers before me kinda add fuel to the flame so yeah… Sorry…I mean I didn't really expect you to cry about it, my petty act of vengeance may have gotten out of hand…so yeah…sorry" Peter finished in a deadpan tone as if this was the answer to all his problems - if he could punch his machine self he would. He glanced around at various things- at anything other than the spider-themed hero.

The silence that followed was deafening. Nether spoke as Gwen's bug-eyed visor widened to an insane degree.

"Gwen…Gwen…OOKAAY~…Seeing as you already apologized how about we let bygone's be bygone's… Let's end this here. Any more and we might rip each other apart. So I propose a fresh start, back to the basics, a renewal and reset what say you, hero?" Still silence, it was only prolonged by strange huffing sounds that were accompanied by the grinding of teeth.

"And don't take the mask off, please…I can't handle it when you like that... " Peter stood up and continued to look away from the spider-themed hero.

" Have some dignity woman, you're supposed to be some kinda kick-ass hero" the teen joked in an attempt to lighten the mode.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!" In an explosion of motion, Peter had to dodge a fist sailing once for his face.

"Language and Yes I am, dead serious." Peter quipped cheekily as he flipped out of range, weaving mid-air as two lines of webbing shot for him.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" The enraged Spider-woman screamed like a woman scorn shooting Peter.

"Obviously, I died. Don't tell me you're having a blond moment now. But you've come so far" Peter said. His cheeky smile was still in place as Spider-woman stumbled to a stop.

"Fuck. Jesus Peter, Why would just say that, god- there's something really wrong with you isn't there? And a dumb blond joke really " Gwen let out frustration as she turned her back to Peter, lifting her mask to clean her face. In all honesty, she quickly realized what Peter was doing. He was tossing her an olive branch in his own weirder way. A chance to start over and from where she was standing they both needed it.

"To soon" he asked. He had to hand it to his Technopath,

"Way too soon" she replied.

"Meh, it's a passing thought, pun intended and all" She felt her lips twitch up into the ghost of a smile at his morbid sense of humour. He meant well but given the circumstances, strange as it was left her with strange feelings, not all of them were good.

"Dammit Peter, I swear, if you don't stop I will"

"Oh my, so quick to plan my demise. You sure work fast don't you Spider-woman" Gwen turned to stare at Peter hard.

"You know what!?" she huffed with found ire. "FUCK YOU PETER PARKER!"

"OH YEAH!" Peter replied in kind. " WELL FUCK YOU GWEN STACY!"

"YOU'RE BEING A BITCH RIGHT NOW!"

"TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!"

 A string of shouting matches began something strange, neither stopped nor backed down, spilling their guts out for the world to hear. The only consolation was that they were too high up for anyone to hear their conversation and Peter's technopathy cleared the area for any form of surveillance, it was why he felt so comfortable without his mask.

"YOU ASSHOLE, SELF-CENTERED, INSENSITIVE PIECE OF SHIT, YOU COULD HAVE JUST TALKED TO ME"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU! TELL YOUR SECRET?"

" I WAS TRYING TO PROTECT YOU!"

"PROTECT ME?! BITCH YOU KILLED ME!"

"I ALREADY APOLOGIZED, AND YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED SO WHY DO YOU KEEP BITCHING ABOUT IT"

They shouted all that they wanted to say but could never say to each other in any other circumstance.

"BECAUSE I CAN BITCH ALL I WAN! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT? KILL ME"

"YOU'RE NEVER GONNA LET THAT GO WILL YOU!" 

"TILL DEATH DO US PART MY DITZY ONE"

"FUCK YOU! GO DIE IN A DITCH!"

"YOU WISH BITCH AND I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR DAD!"

" I KNOW YOU ARE EINSTEIN! I'M SORRY ABOUT YOURS TOO!"

" IF YOU WERE THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW UP FOR THE FUNERAL"

" I WAS SCARED AND TOO DEPRESSED TO FACE YOU! I WATCHED IT FROM THE ROOF! I'M SORRY I WASN'T THERE"

"I HATE YOU! YOU KNOW THAT, YOU LEFT ME FOR THOSE RICH STUCK UP ASSHOLES."

" WELL TUFF LUCK BITCH, THOSE ASSHOLES ARE MY FRIENDS TOO. GROW UP NERD! YOU LEFT ME REMEMBER BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMN PRIDE, I REALLY TRIED"

"WHOSE THE INSENSITIVE PIECE OF SHIT NOW BUBBLE HEAD. BUT YOUR RIGHT, I COULDN'T HANDLE THINGS BACK THEN, I'M SORRY I PUSHED YOU AWAY. BUT STILL, I WAS YOUR BEST FRIEND YA KNOW, DUMB BLOND"

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU ACT LIKE IT? And Can we stop this…PLEASE, my throat can't take it anymore. COME OVER HERE AND LETS TALK!" Gwen finally huffed out in defeat of whatever this was.

"I'M SCARED FOR MY WELL-BEING!"

"PETER I SWEAR GOD!.'' 

" SHEESH, IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE YOU WANNA KILL ME!"

"PETER!!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming "

 A few seconds later Peter dropped in front of her in a show of acrobatic skill. As he stood up he found himself in an awkward situation. Neither knew what to say after spilling their guts out for the world to hear A soft comforting silence passed the two passed between the two as the wind picked up lightly, it suddenly dawned on Gwen that they were a few thousand feet up though she had no issue with the heights.

"I guess that's that then...huh?"

" Yeah…unless you have something you wanna-"

"No, no, that's ok, I'm ok now…you?"

"Oh I'm fine, after that I feel so refreshed, just peachy."

 They shared a soft amused laugh as they regarded each other with silent affection.

" So…" Peter began, his head tilting to the left in a calm manner. His technopathy was truly something else, he sent a mental thank you, and his machine-self replied in kind with a mental ping.

"So…" Gwen continued, suddenly seeming more like a teen than the superhero she was as she grasped her elbow anxiously with her free hand.

"What now?" Peter asked his tone even.

"We start fresh? I mean that's what you wanted right?" she asked her gaze shifting from Peter to the soles of her feet. She could look him in the eye this calm collected version of her friend was new to her. After the shit they went through it was worth a thousand therapy sessions.

Maybe the answer to all problems was that simple. Just shout out your thoughts for the world to hear.

" Are you saying you don't want -" Peter raised an eyebrow at Gwen in question.

"No no no, it's cool. I was just asking." Gwen shook her head lightly as she replied. Gesturing with her arms for added effect.

It was an odd sight, as the two teens fell back into their awkward selves, as if they were meeting for the first time.

Peter was about to say something before he paused. He tilted his head to the right and squinted intently at Gwen.

The spider-themed hero felt a sudden chill from Peter's gaze. It strangely wasn't an unpleasant feeling but it made her somewhat self-conscious. But that faded when She realized she still had her mask on, god knows what kind of weird expression she'd be having right now without it.

"What?" Gwen asked, shifting uncomfortably under Peter's gaze.

"You know this doesn't change much right" Peter stated. He took a calm step forward and smiled lightly at her. 

"What does that mean? Peter, we've just been through a literal tornado and back again, don't ruin this now. Whatever it is you have to say just say it. If we gonna go back to being friends again there should be at least some transparency between us, otherwise we'll just end up right where we started. "Gwen said, her head was held a little higher. She seemed to be oddly relieved and hopeful. 

"Then I'll just come out and say it then; I've killed people" Peter stated, he watched her reaction but opted to cancel his Technopathy. That would be quite frankly a terrible thing to do after what just transpired.

"Ok? We both know that you had no control over your actions. If you're worried about that then we can work through it somehow." Gwen replied, didn't like where this was going, after all that happened to get this far.

" You didn't let me finish, I'll be as forthcoming as I can so can you just hear me out until I'm done? What you want to do after that is up to you." Peter said. He walked over to the edge of the crane and turned to face her.

"Ok," Gwen could feel her gut twisting and it wasn't with pleasant feelings this time.

" You see, my Parents are alive and some very twisted assholes have them," Peter stated as if it was yesterday's news.

Gwen froze as she began to process what he was saying. But she remained silent and let him continue.

"In fact, these guys aren't your typical thugs or anything like that, you could say they're the worst of the worst. I told you I killed people, right I don't exactly plan on stopping anytime soon"

"Peter, I'm glad your parents are alive, I am, it's wonderful, I'm happy for you...but Peter, you realize what you're saying right now?" Gwen asked. Confusion and dread threatened to overshadow the good she felt for Peter. Something about the way he spoke made her uncomfortable, the nonchalant way in which he regarded the act of taking a life rubbed her the wrong way.

" I do, and I won't stop. I'll kill a few bad people to save my parents, that and the worst of society's trash too, rapists, murderers, and so on, and that includes anyone who gets in my way. I don't plan on stopping until I save them. When I lost Uncle Ben and Aunt May fell into her coma I thought I was alone in the world. But Then I discovered I'm not. I found them, my family and I will save them. But since we're patching things up now I thought it was best to let you know sooner rather than later. You are a hero and all, I don't think our chosen professions would do well together. Hero's and anti-hero's, it's an odd dynamic but it could work"

"I'm being as transparent as I can, so having said that what will you do now," Peter asked 

.....

Peter observed Gwen as she in turn observed him. His eyes unnerve her, yellow hue with a hint of electric blue hidden between the brown. Cold and uncaring, his expression was calm, and serene even as he said those words. She suddenly realized that whatever happened to Peter in that ally may have changed him beyond just giving him whatever abilities he had now.

It was in the way he moved, she didn't notice it before but now she did as clear as day. They say dying took a little piece of you with it whenever you come back from the brink. Whatever death took from Peter left something else behind.

The question that remained unanswered, one she didn't want to ask for obvious reasons was how was he still alive if he had died that night. What happened to him to make him like this?

For all she knew the version of her friend that she was familiar with died in that ally that night, whatever was left of him was different. Changed. His walks were different, moved differently, and talked differently.

She noticed it in the cafe but this was the nail in the proverbial coffin.

He moved like a predator. Talked low and monotonously, the same tone only shifting in variety with just enough surface emotion to seem normal but not enough to deeply convey anything. 

And above all, he was calm…always calm, never too much, never too little. Just enough energy to seem normal. Peter Parker was many things but calm wasn't one of them.

He was a chatterbox. Will it seemed he still was but this was a different kind of chatter. It was controlled, distinctive, and to the point at times like a machine before returning to his usual speech pattern.

After the roller coaster ride of emotions and other shit, they went through tonight who's to say how much of them has changed over the last few months. Maybe she just didn't have the bigger picture.

Maybe there was some way to understand what happened to him after all death changed people, and the changes were rarely ever a good change for the living.

If there was one thing she was relieved about it was that they were somehow, somehow getting back to the way they used to be. Everything that was said was true for both of them. It was a work in progress and given their lifestyle choice it wouldn't get easier but giving up wasn't in her vocabulary.

Any chance was still a chance. Better something than nothing at all.

IF peter changed then maybe if she could understand him better, maybe she could convince him, even help him, after all she was partly responsible for the shit he went through. This time she would do more than try, she would take it all the way to the finish line.

Maybe this time she could save him, even from himself.

" So what do you think?" She heard Peter ask, his voice disrupting her thoughts.

The image of him standing there over the ledge with his hands hanging lazily by his side drew her attention. He smiled almost politely- so unlike the Peter she knew- he asked her something but she was too lost in thought to hear, something twinkled at the edge of her vision, her spider sense went on high alert and it wasn't for Peter. This felt different, almost like a call for, a pull somewhere she wasn't sure.

"What?" She asked him.

'What happened to you Pete' was left unsaid. 

" I said if you don't mind being friends with a murderous vigilante who just kills the bad guy then I'm sure we can work something out. So? What do you think."

" I think we could-" she stopped shot and grabbed her head as her spider-sense buzzed wildly.

"OK, I'll bite. What now?" Peter asked aloud. He seemed to sense something was off too, as an invisible force anchored him in place.

Then the world twisted. Reality bent in on self as the buildings around them stretched far and wide. An array of lights with a multitude of colors lit up the night sky as cracks formed in the crevasse of reality, oddly bright-colored fissures bled into the world.

The crane twisted to throw both them of but her powers held her in place before a force violently pulled her from the crane. Peter reacted quickly to grab her with his bandages but missed her by an inch.

A rainbow-coloured hole tore its way through a fissure in reality and in a blink she was gone and everything shifted back into place. Peter stood there for a long minute before asking no one in particular.

" Was it something I said?"

This night was just full of surprises for the immortal teen. Can't he just have a normal night to go on a revenge-killing spree to pursue his plans of making a secret organization? is one night of plans going just right too much to ask.

" No, I don't think it was young Peter, and worry not your friend will return just fine, she is off on a journey of her own" An aged voice filled the air. Behind Peter, a hooded figure draped in Eastern-style robes floated down and hovered in front of him.

"What is this, surprise Peter Day or something? You, heroes just keep popping up. It's like an infestation, find one, draw 'em all." Peter regarded the new arrival with blatant disinterest, his mind still going over the event's just occurred before his mind did a double take after the sudden realization that this person just addressed him by name.

It took him a second later to realize his face was no longer bandaged. with a thought, the bandages coiled around his face much like living armor though in a way he supposed it was.

"OK! Someone up there must have it out for me today 'cause the constant surprise thing is getting really old really fast." Peter complained to whatever god was listening to it at the moment before moving his attention solely to the yellow-robed figure floating in the sky. 

"So stranger, mind telling me how it is you know this innocent, non-violent, completely unsuspecting lad known as Peter! , it'd be in your best interest to answer me, I'm not in a very civil mood right now" The black-clad teen waved his clenched fist in the air as if to emphasize his point. 

" how rude of me, I am the Ancient One it is a pleasure and an honor to meet you as well, Young Peter Parker- Error of Earth 65b"

-Chapter End-

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