(Spiderman) The Amazing Story of Altered Fates: Chapter 6 – An Amazing New Future Part I

Chapter 6 – An Amazing New Future Part I

Before Peter could respond, they found themselves looking at past Peter standing in front of a headstone. The writing read, "May Parker. Beloved wife and mother. To believe is the greatest power one can have."

He knew he should have told them to write "aunt," but she was a mother to him when he had no other. She gave him a home, family, and love. And with her, all those things were now gone too.

Peter could hear two sets of footsteps around him, but he ignored them. It wasn’t unusual in a public cemetery like that.

Or at least he didn’t care until a familiar voice called gently, “Peter.”

Peter turned around slowly, unsure if he could believe it. But it was true.

In front of him stood Gwen Stacy in a long-sleeved black dress. Her expression was devastated, like he imagined his to be.

A few steps behind her stood George Stacy in a black suit. He, too, looked deeply sad.

But for now, Peter ignored the older man and turned to the blonde girl, asking emotionlessly—he felt so numb these days—“What are you doing here? I thought you should have been in London like four days ago.”

Gwen nodded slowly before responding, “I should have. But when I was at the airport, I heard the report of…” She glanced at the headstone to make her point before speaking to Peter again, “I couldn’t leave like that. I tried calling you and looking for you at the house. But everything went straight to voicemail, and you were never there.”

“Couldn’t see the point in either,” Peter shrugged carelessly.

Gwen got closer to him and frowned, “Look at yourself, Pete. Have you been sleeping at all? Dad told me about the increased Spider-Man activity. You need to take care of yourself now, not the mask.”

“What’s the point?” Peter asked in an angry tone.

The deep voice of George Stacy spoke next, now standing closest to both of them, “Do you think your aunt would want you to act this way?”

Peter glared at the man, “Well, it’s not like she is coming back. I’m alone now, and I will live as I see fit.”

Gwen had tears running down her cheeks, but she held a determined expression. She looped her arm through Peter’s and said firmly, “You are coming with us.” When Peter looked like he was about to protest, Gwen narrowed her eyes at him, and her tone grew harder, “That’s not up for debate, Pete.”

Peter thought about breaking free of her hold and standing his ground, but he was too weak both physically and emotionally. He missed Gwen’s soft touch and wasn’t ready to give it up just yet.

A few minutes later, George was driving the car while Gwen leaned on Peter in the back seat, tears still streaming from her closed eyes.

This time, the walls did a swirling effect to change the setting of the memory. Peter walked into the Stacys' living room with Gwen still clinging to his arm.

A moment after they entered, Helen noticed them. She wiped her hands with the towel she was holding before approaching them.

Helen gave Peter a soft look, “How are you, Peter?”

Before he could react, Gwen answered for him, “He is awful, Mom. He hasn’t slept in days. I’m taking him to my room so he can rest.”

For the first time, after a comment like that, she didn’t receive a word of complaint from her brothers or dad.

Once in her room, Gwen had Peter change his clothes to ones she had in her closet from… well, Peter didn’t want to think about that.

With both of them in fresh clothes—Gwen in a pair of comfy PJs replacing the black dress she was wearing—Peter lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. Gwen lay on her side and stared at Peter’s face. After a moment of silence, she spoke softly, “You should go to sleep, Pete. You look terrible.”

Peter ignored her words. Instead, he kept staring at the ceiling and asked dryly, “Why did you stay?”

Gwen blinked at him for a moment before answering, “I told you, I heard about what happened…”

Peter turned to her with narrow eyes and said in a sharp tone, “You know that’s not what I mean.”

Gwen looked at him with slight surprise before she responded sincerely, “I couldn’t leave you alone like that.”

Peter just kept staring into her large blue eyes and asked flatly, “What about your future?”

If he expected her to flinch, he was wrong. She narrowed her eyes back at him and replied, “I’m still planning to have that, Peter. I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Peter returned his stare upwards and asked the same question he did for the past few days, “So what’s the point of all this?”

A soft hand touched his cheek, turning his head back toward Gwen’s. Her face was somehow both firm and soft as she told him, “To make sure you know you are not alone.”

Peter averted his eyes to hide the tears that were gathering in them as he sadly retorted, “Until you leave for England, you mean.”

“She is not the only one who cares about you, kid.” The voice of George Stacy filled the room.

Both teens turned toward the door to see the man standing there with a soft expression Peter had never seen on him before.

When no response came, George went on to say, “You might not have noticed, but I have been calling you for the past two weeks. I even started following Spider-Man leads to catch up with you.”

Peter looked at the man confused and asked, “Why?”

The older man gave him a look that screamed “It’s obvious,” before saying, “I wanted to talk with you.”

Peter frowned. Two weeks. It was about the time he and Gwen broke up. What did her father want to say to him?

George seemed to read Peter’s expression as he began explaining, “I wanted to make sure you knew you can still talk and count on me if you needed something. Both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man.”

Gwen was beaming at her father while Peter lost the battle with his tears and let a few of them escape. He looked the man in his blue eyes, the same shade of blue he fell in love with, and choked out, “Thank you, sir.”

George took a few steps forward, patted Peter on the shoulder, and said, “It’s George, Peter. Call me George.” Then he turned to the door as he said, “Now, as long as there is no funny business here, I will leave you kids alone.”

Both Peter and Gwen were red as tomatoes after his comment. George chuckled. But just before he closed the door behind him, he said softly, “You are always welcome here, Peter. Stay as long as you want.”

And with that, the door was closed, and they were alone again.

Gwen noticed Peter was still silently crying. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him tightly against her. His face was soon hidden in her neck.

“You see, Pete? You are not alone; you don’t have to deal with everything by yourself. Even if I won’t be close by,” Gwen told him gently, her voice as sweet as he always remembered it.

For the past week, Peter had been thinking a lot about his choice to stay in New York. The city seemed darker now, or maybe it was just him. After everything with Harry and Aunt May… Maybe he needed a change in scenery.

Peter kept his face buried in her neck as he whispered, “Is it too late to change my mind?”

Gwen looked down at him, shocked, “What?”

Peter pulled his head back enough to look up at her and asked hopefully, “And maybe I can still change your mind?”

Gwen frowned at Peter and asked, “What are you talking about?”

Peter sat up and looked deep into her eyes as he begged, “Please, Gwen. I need you. I love you. Will you consider giving us another chance?”

Gwen’s hands landed softly on his cheeks as she held his head in place. Her eyes radiated love. “Peter, I never stopped loving you either. But nothing changed for me. If you are not willing to come with me to England, I don’t see a way we can be…”

“I will! I will follow you anywhere you say,” Peter cut in eagerly.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at him, “What about what you said before?”

Peter looked out the window into the afternoon sky before saying gravely, “After everything, I’m not the Spider-Man the city deserves. I need you more than they need me right now.”

Gwen looked at him for a long moment before a large smile spread across her face, and she said happily, “I would love for you to join me, Peter.”

Peter looked at her like she just told him Christmas would come twice a year. Gwen giggled, but then she pulled Peter down to lie next to her and whispered, “We will talk more later. Now it’s time to sleep, Bug-boy.”

Gwen gave him a small peck on his lips, and Peter, for the first time in over two weeks, fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Peter kept staring at the melting scene in front of him when he heard the voice of the man next to him saying, “That’s the difference.”

Peter turned to look at his own smiling face, a confused look in his own eyes.

The guy just smiled as he said, “You wondered what the difference between us was. That’s it.” He pointed his hand toward the sleeping couple melting away slowly.

“Gwen?” Peter asked flatly. He already knew it! He lost his Gwen and never managed to recover. That was the whole point.

His twin shook his head with a small sad smile as he spoke, “Support.”

Peter frowned and tried to retort to his other self, “Aunt May…”

Peter noticed that even if it was just for a moment, his mirror image looked wistful at the idea of Aunt May alive, but he quickly shook his head again and responded with, “She never knew the entire story, never knew the whole you. She knew just half of your life and could support just that half while the other remained neglected with your own dark thoughts.”

Peter realized that his twin was right. All this time, he had to deal with the guilt of Gwen’s death on his own because not even Aunt May knew he held her body as Gwen lost her life.

The guy gave him a sad smile before saying, “I think we can both use some cheering up now.”

When the scene solidified again, they were both looking at a huge open field. There were some trees around the edges of the field with beautiful green grass covering the entire ground. In the middle, there was a large fountain filled with water.

It wasn’t hard to guess where the park was located as the most prominent structure in the surrounding horizon was the Big Ben tower, which was a thick clue.

“We were living in London for almost two years at the time. And things were relatively great. Today is the four-year anniversary of our first kiss. Do you remember it?” asked the mirror Peter.

Peter remembered that magical and terrifying night on the roof of Gwen’s building where he told her the truth about Spider-Man and where they shared their first kiss. All things considered, it was simpler times.

They watched as Peter and Gwen began walking down the path into the park.

Their arms were linked, and they both looked content in their simple walk with the fresh air around them.

When they reached the fountain and Big Ben was in front of them, Peter made them stop. He reached his hand into the pocket of his jacket and began playing with something in it.

Gwen side-eyed Peter. A smirk appeared on her face as fast as it disappeared. “Do you remember what today is, Pete?” she asked innocently as she leaned on Peter.

Peter looked at her, surprised as to where the question came from, but he answered nonetheless, “Of course. Our first kiss.”

Gwen chuckled before looking up at him from his shoulder and replied, “Well, yeah. But I was talking about you telling me you are Spider-Man. How long were you running around in a mask before you told me?”

Peter let out an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his neck with the arm Gwen wasn’t leaning on as he replied quietly, “About a couple of weeks.”

Gwen gave Peter an amused look, “And how long did you think you could hide that from me?” When her eyes locked on the pocket his hand was in, Peter had no doubt she knew.

Peter leaned away from her as his face contorted into an exhausted expression, and he actually whined, “Oh come on. You know?”

Gwen took a step back, crossed her arms in front of her chest with a smirk on her face, and she asked smugly, “So what are you gonna do now, Bug-boy?”

Peter shrugged, pulled the box from his pocket, and went down on his knee in front of the blonde who just kept smirking.

Peter looked up at those beautiful blue eyes as he began speaking, “Gwen Stacy, you are the most beautiful and clever woman in the world. You can stun someone with your eyes just as you can with your words. I might have superpowers, but you kick a lot more ass than I ever do. What’s most important is that you are everything to me. When I was at my lowest and darkest, you put your entire life on hold to pull me back up. And when I was too stubborn to listen, you kicked my ass. I might be Spider-Man, but you will always be my superhero.”

By this point, the smirk fell from her face. She had two hands covering her gaping mouth, and her eyes were so wide the blue of her eyes looked like a sea reflecting the sun.

Peter opened the box in his hands to reveal a blue diamond that matched the shade of her eyes. The band was gold, as gold as her hair. Peter stared straight into her eyes and asked, “Gwen. My sunflower. Will you make me the luckiest man alive and agree to marry me?”

Gwen, in answer, pulled Peter to his feet and kissed him deeply.

Once they broke for air, Peter smiled goofily at her and said, “I will take that as a yes.”

Gwen smirked as Peter grabbed her left hand and, as he placed the ring on her fourth finger, she teased, “I knew there was a good reason you were second in our class.”

Peter just smiled at her as his eyes locked with hers, and he responded with, “As long as it’s second to you, I will love nothing more.”

Gwen shook her head with laughter, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said, “I love you, Bug-boy,” before leaning in for another kiss.

And as their kiss began to deepen again, the scene melted away.