THE RUINS OF HOPE, p.parker

11┊HOPE LOST

THE BUILDING OF OSCORP SHUT DOWN.

Despite it's outside appearance that nobody was inside, two teenage geniuses huddled into a small enclosed space holding onto a smaller version of the antidote that would save an entire city. The ringing of the alarm after Gwen set it off vibrated in Imane's ear as she tried controlling her breathing from behind the blonde helping her save their city.

Overall, this was a very strange experience that most people wouldn't have seen coming and yet, most people don't get seizures that give them flashes of future and a picture of this exact moment in a flash of light.

Gwen sucked in a deep breath as a deep green scaley tail passed by the slightly open shutters in front of her, the girl behind her placed her hand over her mouth to quiet her breathing-- mentally hoping the creature wouldn't have superhuman hearing alongside its reptile form.

Imane's eye repeated the same horrifying image that had flashed in her mind only minutes before, watching the lizard let out a loud growl upon finding the two girls. Gwen let out a shrill scream.

The creature ripped the vent out of the wall and reached inside, causing the blonde to raise up her makeshift flame thrower and hope for the best. Conners seemed to pause in his tracks, a wave of recognition washing over his reptilian face.

Instead, he reached down to grab the Ganali out of the way and yet left his two students behind unharmed.

Imane liked to think Dr. Conners spared them because he was still there enough to recognize the people he spent the most time with.

Wishful thinking, she thought to herself.

Even as her and Gwen held hands all the way down the emergency staircase to the ground floor, she couldn't help but hold out hope that her predictions wouldn't come true. That captain Stacy wouldn't die in the arms of the masked hero he'd spent so long trying to catch. That Imane wouldn't find herself dressed in all black and standing under an umbrella as she watched Gwen's father get laid down into the ground forever.

Hope, she was holding out hope.

And God, she prayed she wouldn't regret it.

"Hey!" exclaimed the dreaded voice

"Dad!" Imane let Gwen slip her hand out of hers to run into her father's arms. "We have to get this Spider-Man."

"Get what?"

"The-The... Imane, show him." Gwen stammered, turning to the taller girl and motioning for her to give him the antidote.

But she didn't. She couldn't.

The eldest Morris daughter was stuck in place as she felt her heartstrings yanking tightly against her mind, to risk your death or the death of another, she couldn't do it. So, she remained in placed with the antidote clutched tightly in her hands and close to her chest.

"Imane...?" Gwen called out to her, her voice dropping to a whisper.

She shook her head, feeling her breath rise up to her throat. "I...I can't."

Captain Stacy pinched his eyebrows together. "It's okay, sweetie, just give me that and I'll bring it up to Spider-Man, no problem." He tried reassuring her, taking slow steps forward.

"No, no, you don't understand." Imane refused. The officer, now standing in front of her, placed his hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"No, I do. Peter Parker is a man of many masks and he's lucky to have two people willing to risk their lives for him." He grabbed the antidote out of Imane's hand in her moment of distraction and pushed her in the direction of another officer. "But I'm the one who gets paid for this, not you. I got this."

Imane fought against the other officer's grip, "No! You can't go, you'll-" She choked back a sob and gave up, helplessly watching him run head first into the building.

The other man directed the two girls into the backseat of the police car, unaware of the imminent danger that overhung Imane's head like a thunderous cloud, waiting erupt and strike the nearest person down to death. It was a cloud that dripped salty tears down Imane's chubby cheeks and an anxiety that couldn't be described.

Gwen placed her hand over Imane's shaking knee and turned her head towards her, concern splattered across her soft features. "Hey, are you okay? I know it's scary but my dad will get the antidote to...Spider-Man and save the city. It'll be okay."

Heavy lidded, bloodshot brown eyes met the glittering hopeful pair of blue ones.

"No...it won't." She took a deep breath. "They're gonna die."

The blonde pulled her hand away and tapped on the glass that separated the front and back seat of the car, catching the attention of the officer. "Hey, can we get a breather? We won't go anywhere, I swear."

With a sigh, the man stepped out of his vehicle to open the back door for them. Gwen rubbed Imane's back kindly and guided her out of the car.

She tried not to focus on the words the girl spoke of previously and that was the difference between them. Blondie held out hope. She believed in Spider-Man and she believed in her father. It was the only thing that kept her going ever since she was young. It was the only thing keeping her going now.

Her heart was filled with hope as her eyes sparkled under the blue antidote cascade over the midnight sky of New York City. She gasped and watched in a amazement alongside the officer, her hand reaching out to grab Imane and squeal out an "I told you so", only to be met with an empty space where the Morris girl was supposed to be.

In the midst of Gwen's amazement, Imane had felt her chest contracting within itself and a deep sense of dread overcoming her being.

It sent the newly eighteen year old running straight into the Oscorp building, faster than she had ever run in her entire life. She pumped her feet, forced her body forward and up the stairs of Oscorp despite the way her lungs begged for her to do otherwise. It was too late to give up.

The glimmer of hope that had developed upon seeing the blue dust fill the sky was slowly dimming as the void walls of a once bustling and virtuous company was shrouded in darkness. A scream echoed within that void and disrupted any happiness that had lingered behind from the antidote.

Imane huffed and puffed and dragged her legs to the sound of the broken and distraught voice, dreading the image that would replay once more in real time.

Here lied the body of George Stacy, father of three, husband and head police officer, dead in the arms of infamous vigilante titled Spider-Man; that would be what the newspapers say, she guessed.

In her eyes, however, it was the death of the innocence and childhood of a boy who would never be able to return to the person he was before this very moment. It was a death of life, though not physical.

And as Imane stumbled over to Peter's side and welcomed the way he sobbed into her arms, his hands stained with blood-- she had many realizations.

Spider-Man was no longer a part of Peter Parker, in this moment, they became one, shared the same grief and watched the life fade out of a mans eyes. Peter Parker was no longer the boy she met at "bring your kid to work day" or that chemistry class they both attended together, Peter Parker would grow be to someone else. A different man than the boy she'd known just hours before and the tip of a grand iceberg that would either keep him afloat, or send him drowning.

Iman Morris would also not be the same, but if she could keep even a sliver of hope alive for Peter, she would pretend hers wasn't lost under the blood of George Stacy.