The Harley Keener Villain Complex

Endings Beginnings part I

Here's the thing.

If anyone had asked him about it, he would have told them that he had always known it would end there. There and no place else, some sick cosmic joke about Karma he didn't quite buy. He had never allowed himself to hope for anything else the moment they had met. He didn't believe in fate, it was a twisted idea of inevitability that was meant to justify death and celebrate love that just felt right- Harley had always thought that was bullshit, but there was no denying that his life had really led up to that moment as the grand finale, the loudest crash and bang reeking of a dramatic redemption arc.

And really, he was fine with it, he didn't want to run from his death, he neither feared it nor thought much of it, he was alright. He had had years to accept that it was going to be how his life ended. He had known all along and he had accepted it, because he had no choice and wasting thoughts on what could have been rarely ever occurred to him.

He had always known he was playing with fire, unfortunately, he was an arsonist and he could not be stopped. The stinging reminder that he had not managed to say what he had wanted to say was fading into the back of his mind behind a wall of riddles he could not solve.

"Alright" he said calmly as waves of pain washed and crashed through him like a violent storm on a calm Saturday night "It's good finally meeting you. The real you, in person and not just your spirit." he noted as he moved his body into a vertical position and she mirrored his movement as they locked eyes, floating in the inbetween. She was pretty in a terrifying way and the aura around her had changed much, when they had first met she had insisted she was his friend and maybe she had been right all along. Her eyes were as terrifying as they were kind.

"You have changed so much since we first met. I must ask- after everything you went through- was it worth it?" she asked as she looked at him from near omniscient eyes which almost forced the memories through his mind. Everything. The pain. The suffering. The wins and the losses.

Feelings overcame him whilst he watched his life, the past few years and months. It was the first time he was granted memory in this strange realm

"Yea." he said uncertain as to whether he meant it when older memories were surrounding them. He saw Peter. Laughing at something that was probably incredibly stupid. His eyes were glistening with joy and hope and his curls were bouncing with the motion of his head, his entire body was vibrating whilst his smile was enough to brighten up worlds and in that moment he knew the truth. Clear as day. Clear as the night sky above Tony's lake house. "Yes. Yes, it was. All of it" she nodded, skeleton shining through her paper thin skin more with her movement making her look more terrifying and making her look more like who she was.

"Take my hand then. After all this time" she reached out with her skeletal hand for him to take as he felt brief despair at all the words he left unsaid before reaching out to take her hand.

The thing is that fate is a strange thing, not quite inevitable, not quite fake. Not quite a thing and yet somehow ever lasting and overreaching. Harley may not have believed in it but he couldn't deny how it had played into his life, or how his life effortlessly fit into its mould. Something along the day had gone terribly wrong, thrown him off course but it had been corrected with ease. And it was quiet poetic if he thought about it-

The best and worst time of his life started as it ended.

With Peter Parker.

3 years and 2 months prior.

Saturday, April first 2023.

It was very difficult to make Harley uncomfortable, to make him feel out of place even more so. Making him feel small was strenuous, insignificant was almost impossible. But there weren't many things in his life that were normal and of course, the day they met was the furthest from.