𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 | 𝐏. 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑

chapter twenty-five: developing the cures

You, Michelle, and Ned arrived at the rooftop of Midtown Science & Technology to see a grieving Peter. "Peter..." Peter turned his head to the side to see you in a new pair of clothes and wearing Ned's jacket with a band-aid at the side of your head. "(Y/n)—" You immediately sat beside him and embraced him, cutting his sentence off.

Peter broke into tears as he leaned to your touch until he felt Michelle and Ned hugging him as well. Peter sobbed as he held your arms, lowering his head down. Ned felt a tear slip away from hearing his best friend crying while Michelle hugged Peter closer as she knew how much pain he was feeling.

"I'm so sorry..." You whispered, leaning your head to his as a tear rolled down from your eye. Peter paused for a moment when he sensed something causing him to lift his head up while Michelle and Ned pulled away. "Peter, there's..." You stuttered. "...there are some people here." You whispered.

"What?" You, Peter, Michelle, and Ned stood while Peter stepped in front, prepared to protect you and his friends. He looked up to see two people on top, looking down at him. The two other Peters jumped down, and Peter raised his arm. "Hey. Wait, wait, woah!"

The two Peters raised their hands. "Sorry..." The older Peter (TM) spoke up. "About May."

"Yeah." The other Peter (AG) spoke up as well. "Sorry. I got some understanding of what you're going through..."

Peter shook his head. "No, no. Please don't tell me that you know what I'm going through." He breathed heavily.

The other Peter (AG) nodded in understanding. "Okay."

"She's gone. It's all my fault. She died for nothing." You looked down as Peter continued talking. "So I'm gonna do what I should've done in the first place."

Peter was about to grab the ancient relic from Michelle, and the older Peter (TM) tried to stop him. "Peter..."

Peter shook his head. "Please, don't." He pleaded. "You don't belong here. Either of you, so I'm sending you home. Those other guys are from your worlds, right?"

The other Peter (AG) nodded wordlessly. "So you deal with it," Peter replied. "If they die, if you kill them... that's on you. It's not my problem. I don't care anymore. I'm done."

Peter stared at his two alternate versions of himself and sighed deeply. "I'm really sorry that I dragged you into this. But you have to go home now. Good luck."

Michelle moved the ancient relic away from Peter and shook her head. You placed your hand above Peter's shoulder and gave him a look, glancing at the two Peters.

"My Uncle Ben was killed." The older Peter (TM) stated. "It was my fault."

"I lost..." The other Peter (AG) spoke up, tears welling up his eyes. "I lost Gwen. My... she was my everything." He choked out. "I couldn't save her. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that."

The other Peter (AG) took a deep breath. "But I carried on. I tried to... tried to keep going. Tried to keep being the... friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, because I knew that's what she would have wanted. But..." He exhaled shakily. "At some point, I just... I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter. I just don't want you to end up like... like me."

"The night Ben died," The older Peter (TM) began. "I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted. It didn't make it better."

The older Peter (TM) shook his head as he thought for a moment. "It took me a long time to... learn to get through
that darkness."

"I wanna kill him," Peter confessed. "I wanna tear him apart. I can still hear her voice in my head." Peter began crying again as he held your hand tight. "Even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing. She told me that with great power..."