Us Against The World ｡ Peter Parker [2]

44 - Mending What's Broken

How do you tell somebody they might die so soon? How do you tell your best friend, somebody who you've grown up with, that they might not make it to graduation? How do you tell somebody you love that they die at the hands of the only boy they've ever loved? That's a question I'm still trying to answer. 

Horror mixed with confusion had filled Mary Jane's kind eyes with the truth that had slipped from my lips. She had blinked across at me, her mind trying to comprehend the awful story. The others had fallen deadly quiet, the moments ticking on. Before my friend could even open her mouth and actually say something, Ned was rambling on about how we could stop the outcome of my vision. Gwen had piped up next, declaring that it wasn't possible. She was convinced my powers were wrong. She kept on saying there was no way in the world that we could lose Mary Jane. Even I could not speak out loud and correct her. Thankfully, the actual hero in the room cleared his voice and spoke with such conviction. 

"We don't know what's gonna' happen, okay?" Peter Parker told the room. Despite the sadness in his eyes right now, his voice did not shake. He would be strong. He would be the leader we needed right now to go up against New Goblin. "We don't know what Harry's planning, only that he's behind the New Goblin mask and that he's no doubt got some evil plan against Spider-Man. Against me. We don't know that...the gravestone has anything to do with him. We're just assuming it might."

Ned nodded grimly. "Right, but we would be stupid not to consider that it's connected though. Harry's the only bad guy in the city right now and he's looking for revenge. So, put two and two together and well...we've got a vision to derail."

"How do you know the vision isn't just wrong? Surely, it could be a mistake." Gwen asked, biting down on her bottom lip. She was very new to our little bandit of teenagers fighting against all odds, which meant she was out of the loop on the powers discussion.

With a heavy heart the words sounded from my throat. "They've not been wrong yet."

Gwen bowed her head, "Oh." 

Painful silence echoed through Ned's bedroom once again. We awkwardly sat with our hands in our laps and our minds blurring with doubt. Even Ned, who always had something to say, had fallen short in that very moment. After what seemed like forever, Mary Jane finally glanced away from staring out the window. "Why does Harry want revenge on Spider-Man again?"

"He thinks I killed his father. Remember his crazy theory?" Peter whispered calmly, not wanting to break the quietness. "He thinks I had something to do with it at least. Which isn't really wrong, I was there that night but Norman Osborn died from his own hand. He killed himself. When I took his body back to the mansion, Harry saw me and thought the worst. That's why he wants revenge."

Pretty Gwen Stacy leaned forward on her hands. "Can't we just tell him that you didn't kill Norman? Wouldn't that solve everything?"

"We can try." Peter agreed.

It was my time to voice my own doubts. "We can tell Harry the truth, but I'm not sure how much good it will do. When we found his creepy villain lair, we found his father's Goblin serum. I think that's the thing that made Norman crazy." I thought back to Harry's strange behaviour lately. "I think maybe Harry's been using it too. That's why he's been acting weird. He's going mad, just like his father did in the end."

Ned let out a long whistle. "That makes sense."

"Well, even if he's using that weird serum thingy, we have to stop him. We have to try and convince him that revenge is not the way." Gwen started quietly, eyes landing back on Mary Jane. "We can't just let him scare us. We have to win. We can't let..." Her voice cut off, tears glistening in her eyes.