Breaking the Void

Chapter 41 - The Real World

5 Months Later

(Your POV):
All good things must come to an end. All dreams must end. But nothing can prepare you for waking up, for when reality sets back in.

I looked out at my classmates and their families as I gave my speech, suddenly hit with a wave of nerves. I was always so used to remaining in the background; giving a speech to hundreds of people was not something came easily to me. But looking down at Peter's face in the midst of our classmates' gave me the assurance I needed to keep going. Something about his bright and happy face, smiling up at me with encouragement made me forget the position I was in and the hundreds of other people listening to my words.

And I was still slightly annoyed with him having beat me out of valedictorian, even if it was only by 0.000037 points. It was the first time that the school had ever had to track so many decimals back, so at least I helped make history if I was not able to be valedictorian. Besides, I was happy for Peter, even if my plan all along had been to be where he was. It wasn't like I was going to need to brag being first in my class to anyone, it could at least be useful for him.

The truth was that I wasn't going to be going off to MIT with him in the fall like we had planned, I had resolved in my decision to leave him behind and with him my life as an assassin. Guilt told me to turn myself in to the Avengers, but I decided that I would fake my death, run away, and live in hiding that way I could protect Peter from ever finding out the truth.

I allowed my eyes to scan the audience as I concluded, relieved that I was almost done. It was a good thing that I finished when I did because my eyes landed on two people that I never would have anticipated attending my graduation. I mean, my parents never went to anything I was involved in, so what on earth were they doing here? The blood drained from my face, but quickly disguised it with a mask and descended from the stage, flashing a smile to Peter on my way down, thankful for his help in getting me through the speech.

But as I sat down, the horror set in. Peter was valedictorian, which meant that he too would have to give a speech. And of course I knew that already, we had spent the night before going over each other's speeches and reading them to one another, but I hadn't realized how dangerous it was going to be. Peter's name was in the program, my parents knew that I was pretending to be his girlfriend to get closer to the Avengers, and they had also seen Spider-Man without his mask on.

Perhaps they had forgotten his face? But remembering Spidercide made me believe otherwise. Peter hadn't changed much, but just maybe they wouldn't recognize him. I had to keep hope that my world wasn't about to him come crashing down upon me. But there was one thing I knew for certain, no matter what happened, I was going to protect Peter.

Peter was the last student to give a speech, after we had all received our diplomas. My parents hadn't seemed to recognize him when took to the stage to receive his, but I still watched them very carefully as he now mounted the stairs. It wasn't until he was about to open his mouth to speak that recognition washed over my mother's face, her jaw clenching and her eyes darting over to mine.

I quickly shifted my gaze to Peter and tried to give him an encouraging look as my heart began to race. They wouldn't try anything in the middle of a graduation, would they? I mean, it wasn't like they were in suits that concealed their faces so their identities would not be hidden. Not to mention that they enjoyed pawning off their dirty work to me. And the Avengers were seated only three rows in front of them, there was no way that they could get away with attacking Peter in this moment and they seemed to now that.

My mother turned to my father and whispered something in his ear, no doubt informing him of their daughter's betrayal, but they remained still after that, simply glaring at Peter up on stage with anger radiating from their bodies. But the minute that the applause began for the end of his speech, the snuck out of their aisle and I did the same, needing to know what they were up to.

I walked alongside of the graduation hall, my eyes never leaving my parents as my hand moved to grasp my watch so that I could switch into action at a moment's notice. They left the hall and turned around once they were out of earshot from the entrance, knowing that I had followed them. As soon as the doors to the hall closed behind me, my graduation robes were wrapped in my Shadow suit and I placed the helmet over my head.

"Did you really think that we wouldn't find out?!" My mother spat, needing no further context for me to understand her words.

"Well, to be fair, I wasn't aware that you were coming to my graduation and I did a pretty good job at concealing Peter's identity before this moment," I replied nonchalantly, despite the realization hitting me that I was going to have to choose Peter over my parents in this very moment.

"I cannot believe you! We knew that you had grown soft and there was something going on between you and Spider-Man, but this! You knew that Spider-Man was a threat and yet you decided to date him! And don't you dare tell us that you fell for him, you weak and pathetic excuse for our daughter! Do you know how many of our assets he killed?!"

I took in a deep breath, "actually, I do. Peter killed none of your insane monsters, I was the one who killed them all. I was actually impressed by Spidercide, I must say, but he knew who Spider-Man was and he knew my relationship with him so he had to be terminated."

Shock washed over their faces for a brief moment, but they were able to cover it up. My father raised his arm as he spoke, "well it is pointless to protect your little boyfriend any longer. It is long passed time that he was squashed."

My eyes widened as a missile launched from his wrist, aimed at the graduation hall. My body acted before my brain could comprehend it as I threw one of my daggers at the tiny missile, managing to hit it with the blade and causing it to explode prematurely. The force threw me to the ground harshly, and my mask cracked upon impact, but I didn't have time to waste a moment on the ground as I rode back to my feet and growled, "I will not let you hurt them."

All it took was two blades. Two small daggers and I was free from the chains of my parents. I must have caught them off guard, they had expected the blast to have done more damage to my body or perhaps the years of berating me for not being good enough caused them to underestimate me. But no longer.

They're bodies dropped to the ground and a pang erupted in my heart. They were my abusers, they used me to get what they wanted, but they were also my parents and I couldn't control the guilt that surged through me at taking their lives.

"Void!" A voice called out and I spun around to find Peter, his graduation robe long gone and his face covered with his Spider-Man mask standing a few feet away.

-

(A/N): Sorry that this chapter is mostly narration, but I managed to avoid having to write a salutatorian speech for my high school graduation so I wasn't about to write one now. And also plagiarism is a no-no so I wasn't going to just like copy one. But ooh the final chapter is up next! What do you think will happen?