Never Going To Be Apart Again

13. We're Here For You

Michael was having a battle within his own mind and as he lost each fight personally, it always took its toll on him both physically and mentally. The nightmares would keep him up all night, leaving him exhausted and disoriented, and the lack of sleep caused Michael to have trouble telling what was real and what was not. And it didn't help that he didn't tell his friends about his situation and that only served to make things worse as it forced Michael to deal with this on his own.

And this was only the beginning...

Michael laid down on his bed to sleep, and this time, he didn't seem afraid. You see, his nightmares had been somewhat formulaic recently. Michael would appear in the same house with the same people that he loved so much, and Carnage would chase him through the same city before catching and killing Michael. The dreams had gotten to the point where they became redundant and repetitive, and Michael couldn't muster the energy to be scared. He began to feel as though he was finally free from this terror, oh how wrong he was.

When he fell asleep and appeared in his dreamscape, Michael noticed that he wasn't on the building's of New York but rather on a futuristic platform and trapped under a cage. The evil known as Carnage appeared next to him, laughing. "Did you think that you could escape from me? We're just getting started and I've decided to bring someone new to play with us."

The monster snapped its fingers and Michael stared in horror as Garou appeared in front of him, tied down onto a metal table; the evil Carnage laughed and smiled as the usual strong-willed former hero hunter struggled to break free as tears rolled down Michael's face. "We're gonna play 'Doctor'. Our friend here is in need of surgery"

Carnage then walked over towards Garou as Michael watched in horror as he slit Garou open from his torso to his stomach and began pulling his organs out one by one; Michael couldn't look away as he watched his friend being slowly disemboweled, screaming in pain. After a few minutes, Garou finally died. Carnage looked at Michael with that same grin and said, "Are you still bored, Michael?"

"Spider-man awakens from his nap..." taunted a voice and Michael was wide eyed to see a red and black symbiotic figure. He knew who it was; none other than Carnage.

"Carnage... What happened? If you were wanting skin tips then you could have called my agent first before kidnapping me..." Michael snarked as Carnage shook his head grinning.

"Way of words Spider-man; going to be much more fun than Thor. You know people always thought that I had a special relationship with him; yin and yang and two sides of the same coin... In truth; I quickly grew bored of him and only focused on him due to him being the best choice. The guy just didn't have a sense of humor and though he now sits atop of Asgard along with the rest of the Squadron; he is still but a demi-god who acts like a true god. But you; a god who acts like a mortal. Your strength and power; protecting the feeble mortals of this city when you could be so much more. The millions of people in this city look to these gods with them caring very little about those that worship them and depend on them for protection. Imagine what we could create together..." Carnage told Michael and he shook his head as he got up and lunged at Carnage only for him to be sidestepped by him and then practically power bombed by Carnage in a wrestling move.

Michael forced himself to get up grunting; "I will never join you Carnage; you're a maniac..." Michael told him as the Carnage just shrugged.

"To each their own but I know what it is that it would take to turn someone like you into someone like me... All it takes is one bad day..." Carnage remarked as he used his tendrils making them travel to different directions as he found what he needed, the tendrils came back immediately as they held May.

Carnage then quickly threw May off the bridge and Michael then quickly shot out a web at her midriff to catch her and used his strength to pull her in.

"May... I got you... You're okay... May... Are you awake..." Michael quickly told May as her eyes were closed and he couldn't feel a pulse. "No May... Please wake up..." Michael pleaded with years in his eyes as on the platform the Carnage landed and then got off.