The Sapphire Soldier

Together

I walked out into the hallway and found Peter waiting for me.

For a second, neither of us said anything. He simply looked at me, gave me a small nod, and I returned it before we started walking toward the hospital doors together.

The moment the doors opened, the sound hit us.

Cheers.

Not the cautious kind. Not the confused murmurs we'd grown used to whenever people saw us. These were loud, genuine cheers rolling through the entire crowd gathered outside.

"It's Spider-Man!"
"Look! Sapphire's with him!"
"They're okay!"

Peter stopped for half a second, completely caught off guard.

I followed his gaze upward. And then I saw Frank.

He was standing in one of the hospital windows, wearing his gloves and mask, awkwardly waving at the crowd like he had no idea what he was doing.

I couldn't help but laugh.

In the window beside him, I used my powers to shape a small hand out of blue energy. It floated beside the glass, waved dramatically, then a collection of objects on the windowsill rearranged themselves into one simple word.

HI

Peter stared at it. Then he looked at me. "Did you do that?"

I smiled innocently. "Maybe."

He laughed, shaking his head as we started walking farther into the crowd.

People reached out toward us, calling our names, holding up signs, flowers, pictures. Some had homemade drawings of Spider-Man. Others had drawn Sapphire beside him. Children sat on their parents' shoulders, pointing excitedly like they couldn't believe we were actually standing right there.

Peter looked around at all of them, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

Watching him smile made something inside me ache.

Because I remembered another crowd. Another day. Another version of us.

The day the world found out who we were.

I remembered the shouting. The cameras. The accusations. The way people who had once cheered for us suddenly looked at us like we were monsters. I remembered standing beside Peter while strangers screamed things at us I still couldn't bring myself to repeat. I remembered wondering how something could change so quickly.

One second we were heroes. The next, we were something people wanted gone.

And now we were standing in almost the exact same kind of crowd.

Only this time they weren't screaming because they hated us. They were screaming because they were happy we were alive.

I looked over at Peter. He was watching a little boy sitting on his father's shoulders, practically vibrating with excitement, lifting his hands to make a little web-shooting gesture at Peter.

Peter's smile widened. He lifted his own hand and made the same gesture back. The kid's whole face lit up.

I smiled. "You know," I said quietly, leaning closer so only he could hear, "we could've walked out of there completely unseen with my powers."

Peter looked at me. "Why didn't we?"

I glanced back toward the hospital window where Frank was still waving like an idiot. "I wanted Frank to have his moment."

Peter followed my gaze and laughed. "Yeah. I think he's enjoying himself."

"He'll deny it."

"Absolutely."