The Night Mare

IV

As soon as they crossed the street, the insanity they left behind was now surrounding them. Buildings and streets were destroyed, there were people who appeared to be screaming, and a gigantic worm hole in the sky. Teenage Peter turned around to see his younger self laying in the ground in an alley with tears and fear in his eyes; the familiar sight of Ben's cop car down the road behind him.

Peter honestly didn't even need to look around to know what memory this was; the big worm hole in the sky kind of gave it away.

It was the Battle of New York.

Peter looked over at Loki, sympathy flowing out of the teen like waves as he stared at the God. Peter knew it wasn't easy for Loki to live with what he did, Thor told them all the time about how his brother had no control over what he was doing. Peter knew that even though Loki pretended not to have feelings, this was eating him up alive and he regretted all of it.

"Do you know what this is?" Peter asks, Loki giving a small nod as he looked around the frozen mayhem. "I'm sorry this is one of them, I honestly didn't think it would a bad memory considering I've been through way worse." Peter apologise, wishing there was a way for them to get back to his body while avoiding this memory.

"It is fine. You still have to tell me what this memory is." Loki says, Peter looking down at the ground and sighing.

"This is the attack on New York and the day my Uncle Phil was killed." Peter explains, screams filling the air right after. Loki and Peter turned to see young Peter trip and fall, practically eating the concrete beneath him.

"Peter! Peter Benjamin!" Ben screamed, barely waiting for his car to stop before jumping out and running to his nephew.

"Uncle Ben! I-I don't know what's happening! W-We were walking into the museum and then we heard shouting and then buildings started breaking so we all ran and got separated and-" Peter begins to ramble, Ben quickly cutting him off with a tight bear hug.

"We need to go to the apartment, now." Ben swiftly says, continuing to hold Peter close to his chest as he all but ran back to his car.

"Where's Aunt May? Is she safe?" Peter worryingly asks as he climbed into the car.

"She's safe, Pete, she's stuck at the hospital because there's a bunch of people being admitted right now." Ben explains, the scene changing as he drove off.

Peter and Loki were now watching as Ben ran up the stairs to the apartment, practically dragging eleven-year-old Peter behind him.

"Now, Pete, all precincts are being called in to help with crowd control, so I need you to hide under the table and do not leave or come out no matter what!" Ben demands, dragging a protesting  Peter to the kitchen table.

"No! You can't leave, it's not safe out there!" Peter shouts, trying to drag Ben down with him when he attempted to push the young boy under the table.

"Petey, I have to, it's my job. You'll be safe if you just stay here." Ben tries again, Peter tightly grabbing both of his hands and sitting down in front of the table, hoping that his weight would be enough to stop his Uncle.

"No! You can't go, you're going to get seriously hurt!" Peter continues to shout, getting dragged across the floor when Ben tried to pull his hands away.

"Peter Benjamin, let go, now. There are people out there that need my help. It's my job to help keep people alive." Ben sternly says, finally managing to rip his hands away.

"I don't care! Screw what the people need, I need you! Alive! Please don't leave, Ben, you could die out there and I can't do that again. I don't want to do that again." Peter cries now, Ben softening as he bends down in front of the small pre-teen.