Peter Parker, spider problems

In which we see Amy again.

|Warning: brief profanity|

With Peter.

Peter ran as fast as he could, as fast as his legs could carry him- he could barely hear anything over the blood that was pumping violently in his ears. He didn't care what people would think if they saw him, it didn't matter, because the only thing he could think about right then was 'Please don't let them get hurt, please please please please'. It was his fault, it was all his fault— he hadn't been there to protect him and they were going to get hurt because of him.

Peter thrust out his legs to skid across the pavement and slow himself down as he hurled himself around a corner, but unfortunately due to his uncoordinated and shaking body, he fell over. Hard. The entirety of his left ankle and up was covered in a friction burn as where he had only intended for his shoes to slide, instead his whole left side was now burning in pain sideways, partially on the road and partially with his upper half clinging to the curb.

Despite the stinging pain that had now spread throughout the side of his body and the sour tears Peter could now feel rolling down his cheeks, Peter pushed himself up. Albeit, not without trouble, but eventually he was right-side-up again. He limped at an unhealthily fast pace, every stride causing a burning flash of pain.

He wasn't paying attention to all of the looks he was receiving from a large majority of the passersby, there were more important things to worry about. He couldn't describe them all in one word, because of the large variety of them he was receiving. Some disturbed, some worried and concerned, others curious or disapproving.

All of them went ignored though, as Peter fought hard to start picking back up momentum. His small build was not on his side, but he made up for it with super-natural speed. The speed he'd always been so careful about hiding from the public, but such notions had been long since disregarded. Peter didn't care what his body was doing so long as he got there faster. The words of Finely, one of the kids from the orphanage, were now echoing in his mind, words that would likely fuel his nightmares for a while to come.

Or maybe it wouldn't be the words, maybe it would just be the way they said them, the desperation. The well-hidden fear that had grown to be almost untraceable after years of moving around from foster home to foster home, orphanages, and 'families', Peter wondered how long it had been since the last time Finley had actually sounded scared. But the quiet urgency that was dripping from their voice horrified him, because really, deep down, Peter knew it had been inevitable.

He never should have agreed to leave those kids alone.

It was still around mid-afternoon, but it felt like it should have been darker. Like it should have been raining or at the very least cloudy- but instead, it was bright and, well not sunny perse, but it wasn't dark or cloudy either. No, Peter thought bitterly, it was all happening in unconstrained daylight and still, no one could- would help. Or at the very least it seemed that way. Like the world was mocking him, but that was a rather self-centered thought. That the world might even acknowledge someone like him, so insignificant and pathetic.

As he got into the dumpier bits of the city, still running as fast as was mutantly possible, with sparse-ish population and dark alleyways with less-than-desirable activities going on within, he knew it would only be so long before the damp run-down building would enter his line of sight. And so it did eventually draw closer, unfortunately at an unexpected and alarming speed.

By the time he reached his destination, he was going too fast to stop and ended up skidding into the hedges as well as the brick wall behind them that resided in front of the building. Damn that hurt. His eyes shut tight wincing in pain, feeling completely and utterly overwhelmed. Peter lay in the dirt there for several moments, on the ground and breathing heavily- gasping now that he noticed. He shook with adrenaline, paused in a moment of disbelief and quite possibly horror. Like this was all some sick kind of an alternate reality.