Showing Her The Ropes

Chapter 9: Have A Little Faith

Harry Osborn. A name that had somehow slipped Gwen's mind up until Peter had mentioned it. Suddenly, everything that had happened that night at the clock tower came rushing back. But there was one thing that he had never explained to her.

"What do you mean?" She questioned.

"Those things he did… Becoming the Green Goblin… All of it was my fault." He admitted.

"Your fault, how? Peter, don't say that! The only person responsible for Harry's actions is Harry. Not you." She corrected him.

"No… You say that now because you don't know the full story." He refused.

"So tell me!" She pleaded, raising her voice despite not intending to.

Taken aback by her sudden tone of voice, a frown emerged onto his face and he stood up instantly.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think any less of me!" He snapped.

"I… Peter, I didn't mean to raise my voice, I'm sorry and as for thinking less of you, I could never. It is impossible for me to think any less of you because I love you too damn much!" She informed him.

"Oh. I'm sorry Gwen, I thought that you were getting annoyed with me." He said, lowering his voice to its usual volume.

"Please just tell me… Tell me what it is that you think would make me change my mind about you." She requested again.

"Back before any of the madness, when Harry's father died and he took over at Oscorp, I learned that Harry was dying. He found out about my photography of Spider-man and just assumed that I knew him. So he asked me to bring Spider-man to him. After hearing his request, I couldn't do it but my conscience got the better of me and I went to see him, not as Peter but as Spider-man. He and I had a conversation and he started begging me for my blood, but I explained to him that I couldn't risk it; I mean what if it killed him quicker, I could never live with myself if that happened. As expected, he got mad and accused me of letting him die. I left and then he resorted to extreme measures, causing him to become what he is now." Peter explained, saying each word as though he was reliving those moments inside his head as he spoke.

Gwen stood up after he had finished speaking and took both his hands into her own. Despite how awful she felt for him, now knowing the whole truth behind his pain, she gave him a weak smile. 

"You were just doing what you thought was right and Harry, rather than accepting that, chose to do these extreme things. That is not your fault. You are not responsible for how immature the boy is. So don't you dare put that on yourself." She corrected him.

"Yeah, but then I used my blood to save your life… And I don't regret that. I love you and would do anything to keep you safe. But I can't help thinking, what if my blood would have cured him? I mean it healed you, so is there any reason to believe that it wouldn't have worked on Harry." He questioned, more to himself than to her.

"Actually, there is. What you healed me from was a broken neck, and what Harry was suffering from is an incurable genetic disease. I mean yeah, it worked on me because I was injured, not plagued with illness. Your venom infected blood may have healing powers but I highly doubt it can cure that level of disease. If that were the case then Oscorp would know about it already just by the tests that they have run." She pointed out.

Thinking about it for a moment, Peter realised that there was a high possibility that she was right about that. After all, she did used to work at Oscorp which meant that she would know a lot about the tests they ran. Taking a deep breath, he found the weight around his shoulders had lifted slightly and his head felt a lot clearer now that he had opened up to her.