Rift (Spider-Man fanfic)

Chapter 5: Attack

    I look up at the new high school and instantly feel a pang of anxiety. High school wasn't horrible for me, but I'm still not excited about having to go back for now. Peter notices my uneasy expression.

    He places his hand on my upper back in comfort. "It'll be fine. I can introduce you to my friends, and it's like Mr. Stark said. When you're with me, you're basically invisible." He jokes. I smile at his words. His trying to make me feel better worked better than what he actually said.

    We walk into the school, and some short kid immediately notices Peter. So much for going unseen. "Hey, Penis Parker is walking with an actual girl! But we all know he's paying her." He says as he walks by, and I remember from the movies that his name if Flash Thompson. I immediately want to fight back, but Peter pulls my arm slightly closer to him.

    "Don't listen to him, he only does it to get a reaction." He's way more reserved here than he is at home. Makes sense, though.

    "Maybe, but I doubt Flash knows what it's like to get punched by a girl and I'd love to be the one to do that for him." I say keeping my eyes on Flash, and Peter doesn't even blink at the fact that I already know his name.

    Peter smiles, and moves his hand to where it was before on my back. The small gesture makes me blush. We move on and go to my locker which was coincidentally placed right next to Peter's. I recognize Jacob waiting for him. I remind myself that here, he's Ned. Ned sees Peter, then glances over to me in surprise.

    Peter and Ned do that secret handshake together. Ned speaks in a muffled voice, as if that would make only Peter understand him. "Dude, you know theres a girl that's walking with you, right? I'm not imagining things?" I silently laugh to myself.

    "Yeah, I know. Diana, this is-"

    I cut him off. "Ned. It's nice to meet you." I stick out my hand. He smiles awkwardly at me, and it's hard to tell why.

    "It's, uh, nice to meet you too." I see MJ out of the corner of my eye, and get really excited. I know it's technically not Zendaya but this is still super cool. She spots Peter and Ned, and comes over to us.

    "What's up, dorks?" She greets them in such a kind way. She looks at me. "Who are you?"

    "I'm Diana, a friend of Peter's."

    "Cool." She says. She reminds Ned that she needed to borrow his notes, then looked back at me. "Since when did Peter have friends other than Ned? And I've never seen you before. Where are you from?"

    Peter stares at her like he did when he saw me at Stark Tower, even though her questions are completely normal. "I've always lived in queens, but I've been homeschooled. I met Peter a few days ago, but we only got to know each other yesterday when we were picking up Chinese food from the same restaurant." MJ nods. 

    Peter leans into my ear and speaks quietly so only I could hear him. The breath from his hushed voice sends chills down my spine. "Hey, just so you know, they know my secret. It was a great cover story, but they don't need it."

    "Oh, ok. Is there anyone else that knows besides MJ and Ned?" I whisper back.

    "And the Avengers." He says as if I could never guess that.

    I giggle a bit. "Yeah, I think that was given." He blushes.

    He looks back toward his friends and still speaks only slightly louder than before. "She knows guys. We can talk about it later." 

    "Okay." They simultaneously say. They look at each other for only a second before MJ punches Ned in the arm and leaves without another word. As we watch them walk away, I get a pain that can only be described as being punched in the brain. I groan and squeeze my eyes shut. I put both of my hands on my head and remind myself that this is just a random headache and it will be over soon. The pounding intensifies. 

     "Diana! Are you okay?" A tear falls down my cheek. Both my hands still on my head, Peter grabs my elbow and guides me through the crowd to a quieter area. The pain subsides and I let out a breath, lowering my arms and opening my eyes. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? I have this water for you." He hands me a water bottle, and I thank him. "What happened?" He asks as I take a sip. 

    "I have no clue. All I know is that it felt like the worst headache of my life." 

    "At least your okay now."

    "Yeah. Thanks." The bell rings, and we head to our first period class. 

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    It's the last class of the day, and things have been running smoothly. I've gotten to know MJ and Ned better as well as meet some other kids I think I could be friends with. But that doesn't make the thought of going home any less appealing. Not home, Peter's home, I remind myself. I focus on the teacher again, trying to scribble out everything she's saying. My head starts banging again, but it's so much worse than the first time (somehow.) Peter looks at me worried, then the teacher notices.

    "Diana, is everything alright? Do you need to go to the nurse?" Before I get the chance to say 'No thanks, she'll just give me an ice pack for my aneurysm' we hear a loud bang. Then alarms go off. Kids start freaking out. Multiple teachers are trying to yell over the chaos to be heard, but no one listens. Peter disappears. The shooting, burning pain in my head intensifies to the point of making me scream. No one even looks in my direction. I close my eyes and lay my head in my arms on the desk.

    I hear more commotion out in the hallway, but it begins to sound violent. I hear police sirens and gunshots, and panic sets in. I suddenly realize how similar this feeling, and this fear, is to when I passed out and woke up here. Maybe this could be my way out. If I go unconscious, I could wake up in my own bed. From this nightmare. Or dream. I don't know what this is. I start sobbing. Then everything is silent around me. I can't hear anything other than my breath, my cries, my heartbeat sending pain through me with every pulse, and footsteps. Wait, footsteps?

    "There you are." A scratchy voice says. The throbbing immediately stops, as if it were never there. "Had to tear this place apart to find ya." I slowly bring up my tear-stained face and see him through blurry vision. He has a pale face, red eyes, and a face to terrifying to be human. He wears a red-orange cape and hood, the same fabric being worn on his torso. His arms and legs are scaly and blue, and I wonder if it's clothes or his skin. Anything is possible in a world like this. (A/N: Picture above.)

    "Who are you?" I ask trying to steady my voice to mask how terrified I am. I don't think it works.

    He slowly walks toward me and roughly grips my chin, pulling my face up. He brings his face close to mine. "I'm your worst nightmare. All your other nightmares are dreams compared to the suffering I'm gonna cause you." He threatens. My eyes widen in fear. He grabs me by the throat and drags me with him outside. I claw at his hands and gasp for air, but I can feel the life draining from me. I don't think he'll kill me, but I'm doing everything I can to stay awake despite the possibility of being able to go home if I pass out.

    It gets harder and harder to stay awake as his grip gets tighter and tighter. He gets onto a hover-board type thing that reminds me of the Green Goblin, and he starts to use it to fly up. Just when I think he is going to kill me, and I close my eyes awaiting my fate, he lets go all together and I fall to the ground coughing. I touch my own neck, trembling. I look up to see Hobgoblin fighting Spiderman, both of them struggling to get to me. I don't bother trying to stand up.

    Then the world goes black.