Home Is Where The Heart Is (Peter Parker)

[25] I Hate Magic

As I plummet to the ground I try to catch myself with my powers but they just flicker on and off again, almost as if I had lost all progress in my recovery. I brace for impact but I feel someone catch me mid-air. I close my eyes in fear but as everything stops moving, I open them. There I see Peter 3's face and he holds me bridal style. I gasp for air as adrenaline surges through my body.

"Are you okay?" He asks me.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I say and notice tears forming in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

He purses his lips, overwhelmed with emotion and nods. I hear a loud crash as the shield collapses into the ocean beside us.

"Peter." I breathe and thrash my way out of Peter 3's arms.

Before I can get far, the cracks of the spell sound out and I look up. I have to find Ned and MJ.

"Ned! MJ!" I called out repeatedly.

I round a corner to where the two of them stood. I run into their arms and hug them tight. I pull away however when I hear Peter.

"Emma?!"

"Peter?!" I shout back and start running to his voice.

I look over the base of the statue where I see Peter on the shield at the water's edge.

"Peter! Hey!" I yell and wave.

"Are you okay?"

"We're okay."

I can feel the relief wash over him as the sun begins to crest the horizon. Peter turns to face Goblin as he sits upright, eyes narrowed. All he can see is red as he takes a fighting position. My heart breaks, this is not the Peter I know.

"Poor, Peter. Too weak to send me home to die."

"No. I just want to kill you myself." Peter angrily grumbles.

"Attaboy!"

                                                                           

Enraged, Peter rushes at Green Goblin -- they clash and Peter pummels him with a murderous intensity. Goblin breaks free and releases his arm blades, swinging them at Peter as they battle it out. Peter gets the upper hand, brutally beating Goblin back. I hear footsteps and look to my left at the two Spider-Men a few feet away from me. They look at each other, they have to do something.

I turn my head back to Peter's fight. He batters Goblin until he's down on his knees, a barrage of punches, Goblin collapses to the ground, spent. He lays into him to takes punch after punch after punch. I can't take my eyes away from him shocked at the sight of my boyfriend on the verge of killing someone. I hold my necklace, tight. Peter stops and turns around to where Goblin's glider lays. He grabs it and drifts towards him, murder in his eyes. He lifts the glider over his head, blades gleam in the sunlight. The grip on the necklace is tighter. He brings it down on Goblin when Peter 2 jumps between them, stopping him. I breathe a sigh of relief. Peter keeps pushing, but Peter 2 keeps holding him back.

Gradually, Peter relaxes. A wordless understanding between the two. Peter sets it down but as soon as he does, a blade goes through Peter 2. Goblin LITERALLY stabbed him in the back. Peter 2 collapses and a scary look returns to Peter's face as Peter 3 rushes forward with Goblin's cure. Goblin staggers upright, looking eager for more.

"She was there because of you. I may have struck the blow. But you..." He says and begin manically laughing. "You are the one that killed her."

He cackles with glee as Peter 3 throws the Goblin cure. Peter grabs it shanks Goblin in the neck with it. He staggers, shocked, and in pain as Peter injects him with his cure. Goblin falls back and then looks up with a sense of... recognition.

Peter 3 rushes over to Peter 2's aid. Peter joins them. I smile as I watch the three connect. Chaotic rumblings from above echo and I look up.

"There are people in the sky, I repeat there are people in the sky!" Ned exclaims.

I look back down to Peter, but he's not there. I search around for him and find him on top of Lady Liberty with Strange. After a while, Peter drops back down to the other two. They have a long conversation, but it ends with a hug between them. He swings up to us.

"You're okay!" I breathe and embrace him in a tight hug.

MJ and Ned join us, but Peter pulls back.

"Are you okay?" He asks, looking around at us.

"Yeah, we're okay." MJ says.

He looks back at me and notices a cut in my eyebrow.

"Oh my God, you're bleeding." He says and caresses my temple, inspecting the cut.

"No, I'm fine. I'm okay." I say and push his hands away from my face. "It's really you who I should be asking. You're covered in blood, love."

"Are you sure?" Peter asks, laughing.

"I'm fine. I promise."

"Okay, okay..."

"Um... can we go now?" MJ asks.

Peter looks around at us as if he's struggling to find words. He looks at me.

"You're gonna forget who I am." He says.

My heart leaps into my throat but then collapses into my stomach.

"What?" Ned asked.

"Forget who you are, what are you talking about?" I ask, my throat has a lump in it.

"It's okay. I'm gonna come and find you, and I'll explain everything. I'll make you remember me, and it will be like none of this ever happened. Okay?"

"Okay, but what if that doesn't work? What if-- What if that doesn't work? What if we can't remember you? I don't want to do that. I don't-- I don't want to do that." I say, now crying.

"Emma, hey hey hey. I know."

"But, what-- Is there not something we can do? We can't come up with, like, a plan or something, you know? There's always something we can do?"

Warm tears fall down my cheeks as Peter shakes his head.

"There's nothing we can do. But it'll be okay."

I try to catch my breath and Ned speaks.

"You promise?" He asks.

"Yeah, I promise."

The pair do their handshake. It's bittersweet but by the end of it Peter brings him into a hug.

"I'll come find you okay?" He says.

"I know you will."

Peter turns to MJ.

"You better. If you don't, I'm just gonna figure it out. I've done it before, I can do it again." She says and hugs him.

"I promise I'll fix this."

He pulls away from the hug and turns back to me.

"I really hate magic." I say.

"Yeah, me too."

I look at him, taking him in. Before I know it, the words slip out and I'm holding his face in my hands.

"I love you." I say.

"I love-"

I stop him there.

"Just wait. Wait and tell me when you see me again."

He pulls me into a kiss. I wish this moment could have lasted forever but as the magic cracks above us our lips part. I'm reluctant to let go of him, but I know I must. He backs away and jumps to the ledge. Before he webs away, he glances at the Statue of Liberty and then back at me. As I hold the black dahlia necklace around my neck I can already feel the spell hitting me, but I'm able to mouth out one last "I love you" before I forget the one piece of me that I loved the most.

Peter webs away and I burst into tears, harder than before. A blast of magic and the sky clears as my memories of us fade away... gone.