The smashing of the glass could've been heard for miles. Heartbeats, gasps for air, and sheer terror could only be heard between the two of them.
They were falling.
Their eyes met and a million feelings passed from one to the other. Love. Fear. Anger...and others. It was a moment only two people who understood everything about each other could share.
Peter could hear the Green Goblin's cackles behind them. He knew he had to get Gwen to safety. If he couldn't keep his promises to her father to leave her alone, he could at least keep her alive. He slung a web over her wrist and attached it to one of the catwalks stretching across the inside of the clock. She swung herself to another catwalk beneath her. A breath of relief left her mouth. For a moment she had believed that it was truly over.
Then, she realized that this fight wasn't over and that was the real problem in this whole mess. Harry ...err, the Goblin was still a threat and could hurt Peter. Her Peter. She had to help. She glanced around wildly, searching for Peter and the Goblin. They were sparring a little ways under her. She ran to the stairs that wrapped around the clock tower and dashed down them.
"Peter!" she screamed, "I'm coming!"
Peter's neck snapped towards the sound of a determind Gwen. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He saved her! She was supposed to stay safe! He had saved her, hadn't he?
"Gwen, NO! Stay where you are!" he yelled as he slung another web at his ex-best friend's floating form. The Goblin laughed maliciously and moved his hoverboard out of the way. It seemed impossible to defeat the damned villian with his ability to fly.
Gwen was approaching the two men at an alarming pace. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, or perhaps just stupidity...perhaps love. Whatever it was that drew her closer and closer to danger didn't matter. The Goblin noticed Gwen and flew near her. Peter saw this movement and sprang into action, his spider-sense tingling. He gracefully flipped and shot a web, somehow entangling the Goblin. But...he was a moment too late...
The Goblin's board had hit Gwen's torso and sent her hurtling down the center of the clock tower. She screamed. Peter attached the Goblin's writhing body to a gear of the clock and then let go. He fell after Gwen. He could see her face. She had an expression of true horror. Her eyes were watering. Clock gears fell all around her. Peter, in a desperate effort to slow the fall and maybe save her life, shot a web around her waist. She arched in an unnatural position and her head smacked off the ground, as Peter had again been too late.
He dropped next to her body quickly. He was sure she was only unconscious, abolutely positive of the idea. He picked her head up and cradled it in his arms. He then whipped his mask off.
"C'mon, Gwenny, wake up." he whispered. She was unresponsive.
He shook her body gently causing her head to fall back out of his arms.
"It's okay to wake up now...you're safe." Peter was growing anxious. He had to see her beautiful blue eyes again. He cradled her head once more and shook a bit harder.
"Gwen. Wake up."
No response.
"I saved you, do you hear me? I saved you. You can wake up now."
Still nothing.
"Sweetie, just let me see your eyes. Just open them!"
The silence was almost sickening to handle.
"You're not dead! You can't be dead! I don't want you to be dead!"
It was getting harder for him to breathe. He choked suddenly and the tears started. Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, was crying. The hero was broken. Shattered, if you will. He kept shaking her body. He was screaming at her to wake up.
And then he heard it.
A horrid laugh. The worst sound Peter had ever heard...even worse than the sound of the gunshot that killed his uncle. Even worse than the sound of his mother and father saying goodbye. Even worse than the deafening crack he had just heard as his girlfriend's skull had smacked against the ground. Even worse than the tortorous silence that followed.
"I told you that you would regret your decision, Parker."
That voice.
That nauseating, menacing voice. The voice of Harry Osborn...the Green Goblin.
Peter gently let Gwen's body drop to the ground fully. He stood and turned around.
"You bastard. You did it on purpose! You knew I couldn't save her and defeat you!" he yelled, every vein in his body coursing with hate for that ..that murderer!
The Goblin appeared in front of him. He had somehow untangled himself from the web and relocated his board. The sickening monster laughed again. "That's the point, Pete. I lost my world...you lose yours. Let's call it even, shall we?"
"We most definitely will not." Peter sneered. He advanced towards the villian, his arms hanging by his sides.
"Gwenny, wake up, Gwenny!" The Goblin mocked, laughing yet again.
Peter rushed forward faster, in a rage. He knocked the Goblin off his board and it took off, the machinary confused from having no human weight upon it.
"Fight me like a real man would, Harry." Peter said, standing over his old friend.
The Goblin smirked. "That might be a problem as I'm not exactly a man anymore."
Peter swung his fist and hit the Goblin on his jaw. The monster shook his head before punching Peter in his stomach. Peter stumbled back and tripped over some debris. He fell to the ground.
"So, this is the big, bad Spider-Man that I've heard so much about! Such a tough guy! Not only does he cry over a stupid girl, but he also trips and falls over...what is that? A tin can?" The Goblin errupted into another fit of laughter.
"She was anything but stupid! She was intelligent and beautiful and breathtaking and..." Peter trailed off, fearing he might burst into tears again.
The Goblin yawned dramatically. "Save it for someone who cares, Parker. Can we hurry this up? I kind of have to kill you now."
"Shut up." Peter stood up and walked towards his enemy. He spun a quick web and knocked the Goblin off his feet. He kept shooting webs, covering nearly every inch of the monster's body except his face. He then attached the web to a catwalk that was a bit above them, letting the Goblin hang in the air.
"Oh, wow! Caught me in your web, have you?" The villian actually had the nerve to keep laughing.
"It's actually more effective than you think, Harry." Peter said, his spider-sense tingling.
"Yeah, this will really hurt me!" The Goblin replied sarcastically.
Peter shook his head. "That wont'...but this will."
He ducked as the Goblin's hoverboard flew over his head. It flew at an extremely fast speed...straight into the Goblin's chest, nailing him to the clock tower's wall. The Goblin screamed before his head flopped forward. He was dead.
Peter let out a breath he'd been holding in.
Was it really over?
Police sirens screeched in the distance and Peter knew he'd have to be out of there before they got here. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing Gwen's body carted away.
Before he left, he returned to the spot where his one, true love laid. She looked so ... peaceful. She was gone and Peter realized that this was the only way that she would be safe. If she had still been alive, she would've been constantly at risk. And Peter couldn't let that happen to her. Still, nothing could numb the pain of her absence. Nothing would ever be okay. He dropped to his knees beside her body. He stroked her hair for one last time, kissed her forehead, and said one last 'I love you'.
He stood, grabbed his mask, and began to walk away.
"I'm so sorry."
