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025. the fall
𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓 𝐌𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 — to truly let herself go, free of the safety net her powers provided. To surrender to gravity, feel the cold wind whip against her face, and then meet the unyielding ground below. She thought of it as an abstract curiosity, one that lived quietly in the corners of her mind, a fleeting daydream rather than a reality she’d ever face.
But fantasies have a way of becoming nightmares when you least expect them.
She never imagined the day would come so soon or so suddenly.
It all started so innocently, a moment of normalcy amidst the chaos. She stood on the scaffolding with Ned and MJ, her lips curving into a soft smile as Ned animatedly described his newfound ability to create portals. His excitement was infectious, and Ingrid found herself nodding along, fascinated despite the underlying anxiety she carried in this unpredictable battlefield.
Still, her attention wavered, her gaze constantly darting through the chaos, searching. Always searching. She didn’t see him, but she didn’t need to. Peter’s voice cut through the noise like a lifeline — urgent, panicked, and unmistakably him.
“Strange, no!”
The explosion that followed came too quickly for her to process.
The scaffolding beneath her feet groaned ominously, and before she could react, it gave way entirely. For a heart-stopping moment, Ingrid felt nothing but the sickening lurch of weightlessness.
She was falling.
Her stomach plummeted as the air roared in her ears, the world tilting and spinning. She barely registered Ned and MJ’s startled cries or the shouts of others lost in the chaos. Her mind raced, but not with fear. Instead, she thought of them — Ned, MJ, Peter. Were they safe? Were they okay? She clung to the hope that they were, even as helplessness gripped her. She couldn’t save them.
She couldn’t save herself.
Ingrid’s breath hitched as she caught a flash of red above her. A blur of motion streaking toward her. And then, through the disorienting rush of air and her own frenzied thoughts, she saw him.
Peter.
His brown eyes locked on hers for a split second, filled with determination and fear. He was diving after her with everything he had. She could see it in the desperate angle of his body, the way his arms stretched toward her like he could catch her by sheer willpower alone.
For a moment, a strange calm settled over her. If this was how it ended, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She wasn’t alone.
The wind screamed around her, her hair whipping wildly as the ground raced to meet her. Peter’s outstretched hand came heartbreakingly close, but not close enough. She watched the gap between them grow wider, felt the inevitability of her fall.
