Over my heels and fallin' on my head

Miles' reunion with Gwen wasn't quite what he'd expected. He imagined a tearful reunion with a long hug and perhaps a kiss (let a man dream!). He'd been in the middle of bargaining with the Prowler, who also happened to be him but... different? When a whole group of spider-people, with Gwen in the lead, had busted through the window, poised for battle.

Oh, this ought to be fun.

After the initial shock and joy of seeing her, and all of the familiar faces, he realized what this would look like. He, very politely and calmly, explained to the Prowler that these were his friends and that he definitely shouldn't kill them, before slipping out of the chains he'd broken a few moments earlier and pulling Gwen aside to a seperate room.

There they were now, standing a few paces from each other, the air thick with anticipation. "Soo?" Gwen breaks the tense silence, watching Miles with her head tipped to the side. She opened her arms slightly, offering a hug.

Miles shakes his head. She makes a confused face, yet says nothing. He takes in a breath, steering his thoughts into the direction he wanted them to go in. "Gwen." He starts, huffing slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Gwen blinks. "Breaking you out."

Miles nods. Of course she was, what was he thinking? For all she knew, he could've been dead already. "Okay, fair enough. How did you find me?" he asks, squinting at her slightly. It had only taken her an hour, tops.

Gwen smiles, it's bashful yet mischevious on her face. "I have my ways," she shrugs, feigning a nonchalant attitude.

"Right..." Miles sighs again, "I'm.. I could've saved myself. I mean, I was in the middle of bargaining with him when you busted inside. He probably thinks I had that planned. Now, we can't get him on our team! He could be a huge asset!"

Gwen's eyes widen. "On our team? You want to put the Prowler on a team full of Spider-people?! Are you insane?" she laughs, though it's void of any joy, moreso a few surprised and empty chuckles.

Miles grumbles. "Look, I know, but he could help us beat the Spot! And he seems like a cool dude... if he wasn't trying to kill me a few minutes ago."

Gwen laughs again, that odd empty laugh. "Maybe having a hotter, cooler version of yourself boosts your ego or something, but it creeps me out. Not only that, but how can you trust him? You just said he tried to kill you!"

Miles' brain had stopped the second she said the word 'hotter' and he had therefore not heard or registered any of the smart points she'd said a mere moments after. "Did you call him hot?" he deadpans, lifting his brows in disbelief.

Gwen stops mid-gesture, staring at him. "That's what you care about? Did you not hear anything else that I said?" she pauses, then adds "And you know that's not what I meant."

Miles waves his hand quickly, trying to regain control of his now derailed thoughts. He huffs for the third time, turning away from Gwen. Maybe it would all be easier if her blue eyes weren't pinning him down (why was he thinking about her eyes?). "I just... I don't understand why you came. I just want to go and save my dad, and you know that. Why'd you come?"

Gwen stays silent for a moment. "Miguel kicked me out of the Spider Society. I thought if I brought you back, and some other Spiders, he'd change his mind, and we would all fight the Spot. We-"

"No. Not we. You." Miles doesn't mean for his words to sound this harsh, but he hears Gwen suck in a breath of surprise. "I'm not coming with you. Not back there. I'm going back to my universe, and I'm gonna save my dad, and then you'll deal with the Spot on your own."

Gwen shuffles. He doesn't see her, but he hears her moving around. "Miles. We can't fight the Spot without Miguel, and we can't defeat him without you. You need to come with us."

Miles whips around, slamming his hand onto a near-by crate. Gwen flinches, her eyes widening. "I said I'm not fighting with you. I'm not fighting period."

"Wh-" she stammers, looking at Miles, eyes flicking back and forth, as if looking for answers. "I know Miguel is hard to work with, but he-"

"Gwen, you don't understand!" Miles cuts her off. "I made a promise to my mom, and I can't say what it was, but I cannot work with Miguel. Besides, did you not hear him? I'm an anomaly! I'm not supposed to be Spider-man! I could be dangerous, I could ruin your chances of winning! I-"

"Miles, stop! You don't actually believe him, do you?" Gwen snaps. Their volume levels were rising by the second.

"Well, you seemed to believe him just fine! You lied to me. You let him trap me and not let me save my dad! You knew and you let him!" Miles shouts, his voice quivering. He can't bring himself to care if the others hear him, they were probably snooping at the door listening since they first started talking anyway. "No one helped me! No one!"

That was a lie. Hobie had helped him break the forcefield, but Miles didn't want Gwen to know that. Not yet.

"Miles, I don't understand, why are you acting like this?" Gwen gestures vaguely toward him, brows furrowed with confusion, anger and... hurt.

Miles can't stop the words that fall from his mouth. "Because you BETRAYED me, Gwen!"

Silence falls. She stares at him, dumb founded, and Miles can't tell if the emotion in her eyes is disbelief or grief. He sighs, looking at his feet and squeezing his hand into a fist. He tries to say something, yet nothing comes out. Instead, he just swings the door open and rushes out, shoves past Hobie who'd leaned against the wall, hurries past his friends, past Peter, past the Prowler and Uncle Aaron. He crosses the door that leads to the roof top. He leaves it wide open and just stands there, staring into the horizon of this fucked up version of his universe. He screams, kicking the nearest object as hard as he can.

"You okay, kid?" Peter asks quietly, placing a soothing hand on Miles' shoulder. "I heard you and Gwen arguing. Well, to be fair, we all did."

Miles hugs him. Peter doesn't question it, returning the hug and moving Mayday out of the way. Miles buries his face into Peter's chest, rubbing the tears involountarily spilling from his eyes into the man's shirt. "I missed you," Miles mumbles.

Peter smiles. At least Miles thinks he does, because he places his hand on Miles' head and sighs. "Missed you too. But I just wanted to tell you this: you don't have to fight with us if you don't want to. I know Gwen made it sound like you had to, and when you're Spider-man, you feel forced to do a lot of things you don't wanna do. However-" he pauses a moment, "in this case, you don't need to. We have thousands of Spider-people in the society we can call. Gwen just wants you to come with us so she feels less alone."

Miles lifts his head from Peter's chest, looking at him. He sniffs. "Doesn't she have Hobie?"

Peter snickers. Miles isn't sure what it means. "C'mon Miles, don't be stupid." He ruffles Miles' hair, stepping away from the boy and turning toward the still wide open door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miles tilts his head.

Peter turns around with a look on his face that says 'Really, Miles?' yet he just shrugs and says "You'll figure it out soon enough," before walking back inside, where Miles saw the looming figure of the Prowler.

Miles waits a moment before entering, taking in a deep breath and roughly rubbing his still-wet cheeks. He strides back inside, only to be met by worried stares from all of the other Spiders, spare Gwen and Hobie. Speaking of them, Miles can hear Gwen's yelling from behind the door to the room he'd been in previously. Was it really that easy to hear them?

"I just don't understand! He's acting so different Hobie! It's scaring me!" she yells, and Miles pictures her with her hands in her hair, pacing wildly around the room, guilt flashing in her eyes. Or maybe she was angrily screaming, poking his chest and gesturing wildly, eyes burning with rage. A hand finds its place on his shoulder.

"Gwen, cut 'im some slack. He's scared too. He just wants to save 'is dad, and he just learned that he's an anomaly from one of the scariest people in the universe and he was bargaining his life in front of a guy that looks exactly like him! I mean, bloody 'ell, I'd be pre'y scared too." Hobie replies, voice soft despite his thick accent. Gwen doesn't shoot back a response like she'd done with Miles. She replies something too quiet for him to hear. The door then opens, and Miles turns away, feigning a smile toward Pavitr, who nods his head intently.

Gwen lets Hobie stand between her and Miles, yet Miles doesn't stay long. He walks over to the Prowler. "Uh... hey, sorry about this... I swear it wasn't planned," he chuckles awkwardly. The Prowler lifts his head from staring at his huge mechanical hand. His eyes narrow on Miles. "But I'm gonna run, heh, I have uh.. to y'know.. save my dad."

The Prowler makes a noise akin to disgust. "Have fun with that," he practically spits.

Miles lifts his hand, balls it up into a fist, then sighs. "I'm sorry. Goodbye," he offers a weak smile. To his surprise, the Prowler returns it with a cordial nod. Not a smile, but it works.

Miles turns around and takes another breath, wiggling his shoulders to ease the tension. "So... can any of you guys lend me a watch?"

Hobie snickers, tossing him a watch. It looks homemade, and a big H signs it. Safe to assume that he had made it himself. Mile smiles at him, then heads outside. Hobie follows him first, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know you don't wanna fight, and I respect you, but... don't do it for us. Do it for somefin' you care about. If, and I only mean if, you change your mind... your help would be welcome. I'll send you a message when we fight him, a'ight?"

Miles nods, placing the watch on his wrist. Hobie smiles.

"Good luck savin' your dad, ma'e," Hobie concludes, then steps away to give Miles space.

Miles watches him, Peter, Pavitr and the rest of the Spiders (he doesn't pay too much mind to Gwen who'd leaned against Hobie and took great care of avoiding his eyes). He taps in the coordinates to his universe, which he knew from eaves dropping into someone's conversation in his short stay at Miguel O'Hara's HQ. A colorful portal opens and he jumps in, with no hesitation. Maybe it's his imagination, but he swears that Gwen whispers "Goodbye Miles." as the portal closes behind him.

He arrives in his universe unscathed, yet finds something much, /much/ worse. He'd landed on top of an old warehouse, to give himself time to figure out an excuse to give his parents. However, as he looks down, he finds... him. He'd turned into a black hole of some sort and the only indication he was still the Spot being scribbled white blobs on his body. He seemed to be looking around, swallowing everything in his path. Miles swallows. He fiddles with his watch, trying to figure out if there was some sort of inter-dimensional call system. He finds something like that and tries to call Hobie, who was also the only option.

"Miles? You good?" Hobie responds almost immediately.

Miles keeps an eye on the Spot, who was still below in the street, cooing out 'Spider-man.. where are you?' at regular intervals. "Uh... I have a bit of a problem. See, the Spot is in already in my universe, and I still need to set the record straight with my parents."

Hobie stays silent for a moment, yet Miles can hear the other Spiders speaking worriedly in the background. "Okay. Go find your parents, we'll join you."

"Okay," Miles nods, wincing at how his voice quivers.

"Stay safe," Hobie says before hanging up. His voice sounds much softer than it had a few moments ago.

Miles lets his wrist fall down to below his waist, lifting his chin and looking up at the sky. There's no stars. There's never any stars anymore. He bites his lip, screwing his eyes shut. A stray tear rolls down his cheek. He rubs it away in a rough motion, then sighs. Step one: find his parents. He webs to another building, starting to find his way home. It takes him much longer than it usually would, since he often had to stop and rub away tears or control his breathing. He'd never had that much trouble with anxiety, but right now his heart was hammering in his chest and showed no signs of stopping. He goes to go through his bedroom window, yet he finds a Spider poised on the opposite building watching it. Miles sighs, going invisible, and quickly slipping through the open window before moving into the living room because his door was open for some reason. It's only when he's out of sight that he drops onto the floor and rips off his mask.

"Miles?"

Apparently he's visible now, because his mom is staring at him, eyes wide and glistening with tears. Miles' lip quivers. She exhales, dropping the cloth she was holding and gripping Miles into a hug, cooing soothing words in Spanish. Miles sniffs, burying his head in the crook of her shoulder. He curses his suit for not being able to feel the texture of her shirt with his fingers. "Oh, Miles. I was so worried about you. Where have you been?" she pulls away, cupping his cheek with her hand, brows knitting as she sees his tear stained cheeks. "Oh mi amor. Todo va bien. You're okay."

Miles smiles weakly. "I'm sorry. I should've sent you a message," he sniffs, pressing his forehead against his mother's.

She chuckles. "Yes, you definitely should've. I'm so glad you're back. You know, that girl that was at the party with you, Wenda or Gwenda.. whatever her name is. She stopped by, wearing your sweater, and she told us that you were in danger and that she would find you. I was so-"

"She came?" Miles asks, taking his mother's hand in his and moving it away from his cheek. "Like... here?"

Rio furrows her brows. "Yes, Miles, I just told you! Are you listening?"

Miles waves her off slightly. "Yes, I am, I just... I had a fight with her. I'll apologize later, it's fine."

"Is that why you're so upset?" Rio asks, searching Miles' eyes.

"Yeah.. kind of. There's other stuff too, but-"

Rio places her free hand on her hip, gasping. "Did she break your heart?"

Miles blinks. "No, I think I broke her heart..."

"Tell me what happened."

"It's a long story," Miles rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, suddenly uncomfortable in his spider suit (which his mom still hasn't noticed he was wearing).

"I don't care, Miles, I want to know everything!"

"¡Mamá! It's fine! I'll tell you later, I promise."

Rio squints, letting go of his hand and crossing her arms over her chest. She looks him up and down multiple times. Frustration slowly fizzles out to confusion. "What are you wearing?"

Miles sighs. "You might want to sit down. Is dad home?"

Rio nods. "In his office... ruminating. Jeff! Your son wants to talk to you!" she yells, leaning back slightly to get a look at the door to his father's office, who suddenly appears behind her. He looks confused at first, then relieved when he sees Miles, then confused again when he sees the suit.

"What are you wearing?" Jeff asks, brows furrowed.

"See? That's what I asked him. It's really-" Rio starts.

Miles rolls his eyes. "Mom. Let me explain." He pauses, looking at his father in the eyes. "I'm... Spider-man."

Now that the words were out, it felt as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He can breathe easier, and he doesn't find the looming reaction of his father quite as scary. He stands stiffly before his parents, slowly waving his arms to showcase the suit, which felt extremely tight all of the sudden. His parents look at him, eyes narrowed. His mother looks a little skeptical, yet understanding starts to bloom in his father's eyes. The sudden, awkward interactions with Spider-man he'd held in the past suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Wait-" his father begins, holding a hand up so Miles wouldn't interrupt, "so.. that discussion I had with Spider-man after he failed to catch that weird lookin' bad guy... that was you?" Miles nods slowly, an awkward smile spreading on his lips. "Okay, yeah, that makes sense." Luckily, his father doesn't mention the 'Get off the kid's ass' part. He'd never hear the end of it if his mother knew about that.

Rio sighs. "Well, whatever you decide to become, Spider-man or not, we'll always be proud of you."

Miles blinks, astonishment washing over his features. "You're not mad at me?"

Rio shakes her head. "Why would we be mad?"

Before Miles can reply, his watch beeps loudly, blaring into his ears. He fumbles, apologizing profusely to his parents before picking up Hobie's call. "What?" he hisses into the speaker, or at least where he assumed it would be. His father shakes his head with a sigh while his mother smiles fondly.

"Did you find your parents?" Hobie asks. His voice sounds a little distant, and voices yell in the background.

Miles rolls his eyes. "Yes. They can hear you."

"Oh. 'ello Miles' parents!"

Rio squints at Miles. "Who is this? Why does he sound like that?"

Hobie speaks before Miles can reply. "I'm Bri'ish, lady! Don't insult my accent!"

Rio lifts her finger, opening her mouth to snap back, yet Miles beats her to it. "Okay, okay. Where are you guys?"

"Uh..." Hobie speaks but his voice sounds muffled, as if he'd placed his hand over the speaker. "Gwen says Williamsburg Bank."

Miles makes a face. Great. He'd have to face Gwen for the first time after yelling at her at the location where the two had last shared a deep talk. Where, in said deep talk, Miles had hinted to them becoming a couple, because there's a 'first time for everything'. He lifts his head, stares across the room for a bit, sighs, then lifts his wrist closer to his mouth. "Kay. I'll be there." He hangs up. He turns to his parents with an apologetic smile. "I gotta run, Spider-man buisness."

Rio smiles. "Have fun. Stay safe. And, please, come home..." She smiles, stepping closer to Miles. She traces his jaw with her finger, lifting his head ever so slightly. "Remember your promise."

Miles nods firmly, then looks over to his father. The man only shrugs. "What your mom said. And looking forward to seeing you in action."

Miles wants to reply, yet he says nothing more. He just puts on his mask, waves to his parents, then bolts out through his room. He webs away, swinging toward the Bank building. He manages to get there in a little more than 5 minutes, instead of the usual 10 minutes. He swings to meet the others, landing on the same spot where he'd spoken to Gwen, but this time he was upright and alone. Hobie turns and smiles at him, immediately offering a high five. Miles returns it gladly. Peter hugs him, Pavitr fist bumps and Gwen... well, she's leaned against a wall staring into the horizon. Miles wants to talk to her, yet he assumes it's better if he leaves her alone.

After Hobie quickly tells him the plan, assigning pairs and essentially taking the lead because neither Miles nor Gwen were in the position to lead, (why it would've been them? Miles doesn't know) they swing off of the building, keeping height to try and find where the Spot had gone. Every once in a while, Miles would spot a moving blob of red and blue light, and he'd wonder if his father was in there, surging into danger just like he was. Except his father was not Spider-man, and he didn't know what lay ahead. Miles swears that no matter what, he wouldn't let his dad die.

Pavitr pulls him out of that bitter promise by shouting that he could see the Spot straight ahead. In fact, if Miles hadn't been staring at a cop car below, he would've noticed it very easily. He doesn't say anything, only speeds up and inadvertently takes the lead. He lands on a building close enough to where the Spot was destroying an office building, presumably in search of Miles. He quickly scopes out the scene, makes sure no civilians are too close to the Spot, and poises himself to swing. Hobie says something behind him along the lines of 'Miles, what are you doing? This isn't the plan!". But Miles doesn't listen, or rather doesn't hear him. He webs, swinging in front of the Spot.

"Hey buddy! Nice to see you again, huh?" he shouts as he passes behind him.

The Spot whips around. "Ah, Spider-man finally decides to join the party!"

Before Miles can reply with a quip, the other Spiders are swinging in as well, attempting to gives kicks or punches, yet nothing lands. It's almost like the Spot isn't in a physical form anymore. Miles attempts a few tricks himself, yet after figuring out that it's useless, he switches to getting civilians out of the way. He scours the cops on scene, searching for his father in the crowd. He doesn't find him. After getting a group of kids out of the way, he hears a scream. A scream he knows too well. He whips around, only to find the Spot dangling Gwen by her foot in one hand and his... shit.

"So, Spider-man, are we picking favorites now?" the Spot coos, leaning down to look at him, dangerously gripping his father in his fist. Since when had the Spot gotten so big? Miles falters, frozen in place, in an awkward pose that's in between 'poised to jump into action' and 'ready to run away'. His heart thunders in his ears and hammers in his chest. His breath is getting irregular. God, why did this have to happen now? Gwen is yelling incoherent jumbles of words, or maybe they're very clear but Miles' brain just won't register them. He tries to stand up straight, his knees buckle, he stumbles to the side and bumps into a police officer. The officer speaks to him but he doesn't hear anything. He grips his chest. God, I'm gonna throw up, he thinks, and maybe he says it out loud because the officer gives him a look. "Having a little trouble down there?" the Spot snickers.

Miles opens his mouth to snap back, but the only thing that comes out is a dry gagging sound. He falls forward onto his knees, lifts his mask over his nose and vomits all over the floor. Get up. Get up, you look stupid. What will people think? Spider-man doesn't have anxiety. Then, the revving of a motorcycle screeches in his ears, almost painfully so. He groans, lifting himself up and lowering his mask. He finds himself face first with Miguel O'Hara, who also happens to be lunging at him, fangs exposed. If Miles were a cat, his fur would've puffed out and he would've arched his back. Obviously, Miles isn't a cat, so he runs. He runs away, alarm bells ringing in his brain. If he was gonna die, it was now.

He webs up to a building and runs, the sound of his footsteps ringing in his brain. His heart only hammers faster and faster, so fast he's afraid he'll actually die of a heart attack instead of by Miguel's claws. He's thrown onto the concrete floor, and he barely has time to turn around to defend himself. Miguel yells incoherent words, and the only thing Miles registers is the flashing of his fangs and claws. Miles pants, breath growing ragged. Miguel manages to land a few blows, leaving stinging scratches across his body. Miles swallows, slips away, tries to run, but he just collapses onto the floor. "I'm sorry!" he pleads. "I'm sorry, Miguel! I know I'm an anomaly! I should've stayed at your HQ. I'm sorry!" he sobs, expecting another blow.

Instead of an agonizing slash across his back or a punch in the face, a gentle hand rests on his shoulder. He tries to scramble away, yet when he turns around, a (blurry, thanks to his tear filled eyes) Peter looks at him. "Hey, Miles. You're okay. Just... calm down." Miles blinks, too shaken to reply. He lets Peter guide him to his feet, help him breathe, help him slow his heart and settle his thoughts. The hands cradling his shoulders are gentle, offering just enough pressure to keep him grounded.

Miles drops his head down. "I failed," he croaks miserably, voice still thick with tears.

"You didn't fail, Miles," Peter replies softly, "it happens to the best of us. You just had a little scare, and that's alright. Even Spider-man's allowed to be scared. And I saw the way Miguel was running after you. If I were you, I would've run too."

Miles swallows. He straightens himself, with a little pat on the back from Peter. Miles sighs. "We should get back to the fight."

Peter shakes his head gently. "Take a minute. Wait until you're absolutely sure you can go. We don't want you fainting in battle, right?"

"Right," Miles nods, yet it's easier said than done. It takes every muscle, every cell, every atom in his body not to throw himself at the hands of the Spot. His dad was in danger. Gwen was in danger. He would do anything to save them, and his father knew that, but Gwen didn't. She probably viewed his running away as a way to escape the situation, as a way to not have to choose between her or his father, because he already knew the answer and the answer wasn't her. That couldn't be farther from the truth. If he had the choice, he would throw himself into a pit of raging Prowlers (probably not the best villian to pick, considering his last encounter with one) just to prove to her he would do it, if she asked. He would break his own arm saving her. He would do anything.

Peter rubs his back soothingly. Miles snaps out of his reverie with newfound energy. His muscles buzzed with anticipation, and with his system cleared, he felt lighter. He takes in a breath, smiles at Peter, before taking a step back and throwing himself back into battle. It takes him a little while to get back to the scene, considering he'd run for his life and run as fast as possible, yet he still manages to get there relatively fast. But...

He's too late. The Spot has vanished, which is good, but now another building had collapsed and there was a huge hole in the street. He lands in a cluster of officers, who are helping civilians into a safer environment. He searches the faces and finds him. His dad is crouched over a pale-faced mother and her sobbing child, presumably comforting them. He races over, throwing himself at his father. His dad huffs with surprise, then chuckles awkwardly. He leans closer to Miles and whispers something, which Miles doesn't quite catch. Miles lets go and turns to the mother, who's gently urging her child to turn around to face him. Once the child is facing him and their eyes are wide and wonderstruck, Miles smiles. "Take care of your mom for me, alright?" he asks, crouching and offering a fist bump. He's met with a hug instead, which he returns happily.

After the endearing encounter and a quick check-up with his father, he turns around to look for the others. An officer gestures him over. "The other Spider-men were in the building when it collapsed. We managed to get most of them out, but there's still two we haven't found." The officer shows him two rather blurry pictures of them, probably taken at the scene by a fan. The first is Hobie, who'd somehow posed for the picture, and the other was... Gwen. "The others are over there." The officer concludes by pointing him over to a huddle of Spiders, circled by other officers and fans.

"I'll go talk to them," Miles nods, "and I'll find the two missing Spiders." He salutes the officer, like his father had taught him, before running off to the other Spiders. Pavitr sees him first, crying out with relief.

"Miles! Oh, thank God!" he lets out a jumbled mess of words, presumably in Hindi, before grabbing Miles by the shoulders. "Gwen is still stuck in there! Hobie's probably looking for her, and he's not responding on his watch. Please, Miles, go find them. The officers won't let me leave!"

Miles can't help but grin under his mask. "Yes, Pav, I'll find 'em. Stay here and comfort the others, okay?" Pav nods, and Miles trots over to Peter who was having a passionate discussion with a lady sat on a motorcycle. "Peter! Thank you, thank you so much," he almost-whines, grabbing the man's arm.

Peter looks at him, a little confused at first, then waves him off with his free hand. "Yeah, whatever. It was nothing. Now go find Gwen, go!" he urges, tapping Miles' shoulder. Miles can't help but smile. His mom would've definitely done that.

He turns toward the ruins, then webs over. He lands on the rubble, arms outstretched to keep his balance. He looks around, trying to figure out who to look for first. He walks around for a little, overturning rocks. This proves to be a much more difficult task than he'd imagined; the two could be deep under the rubble, suffocating or getting crushed under the weight. He sighs. Luckily, his nerves are under control so far. If this keeps up, though, they'll break soon enough.

It doesn't take him that long to find Hobie, considering he's yelling out insults and rummaging under the rocks. Miles helps him out, dusts him off a little, sighing with relief. "Oh, it's you. Thought it was one of those pigs. Where's Gwen?" Hobie asks, cradling the back of Miles' head with his hand.

Miles shrugs. "I'll find her though, I promise. Go down there and talk to Pav, his nerves are all over the place."

Hobie looks like he's going to reply, but he says nothing. Miles watches him scale down the rocks and he swears he hears Pavitr yell out. He sighs, continuing his search.

It takes him a while to find anything good. He finds a scrap of cloth that belongs to her suit, which he clutches in his fist and almost breaks down crying right then. He scales down to an overhang, which looks like it's about to crumble. He looks in and almost chokes. Gwen lays there, unmoving.

"Gwen! No, no no no.." Miles rushes to her side, quickly looking at her wounds. There's a gash where the cloth is missing, and crimson slowly spreads across her mask. Small cuts and scratches are sprinkled across her body as well. His mind races with all the scenes in the comics he'd read, all the scenes of Gwen Stacy... dying. Maybe fate had finally caught up to him. He fumbles, trying to figure out what to do first. "Gwen, Gwen! Can you hear me?" he calls, pressing his hand against her chest. Sure enough, her heart is still beating and she's breathing. He takes a breath. Focus, Miles.

He starts off by removing her mask. A huge gash bleeds steadily on her temple, probably caused by her falling, which would also explain the unconciousness. He presses the cloth against the gash, wishing his mother were here. He shakes his head. Instead of wishing, he needed to act. He takes in a long breath. He removes his mask and rips off a piece at the back. He crumples it and presses it against her temple, slipping an arm under her neck and slowly lifting her. He presses the cloth against his chest, making sure it'd stay put. He then uses his spare arm to take her legs. He heaves her up, kicking up his ripped mask into the air. He catches it between his teeth, and begins the risky path back to the others.

It takes him much longer then it should've. Mainly because he took great care of not jostling Gwen too much, and making sure the cloth against her gashes was actually soaking up the blood instead of just being there for decoration. He also realized halfway through that she should probably have her mask on, so he had to put her back down and put it back on, while keeping the ripped piece of his mask pressed against her (still bleeding) temple. After that was done, he picked her up again and continued his path. This time, he took his time by cooing soothing words that were supposed to serve the purpose of comforting her, yet also comforted him.

When he finally crested the top of the boulders and saw the police, ambulances and Spiders still waiting, a wave of relief washed over him. "See? We're almost there," he chuckles, adjusting his grip on her and lodging his mask in his fist. "We're gonna make it." He could put it on, yet it didn't change much. Besides, he wanted everyone to know he saved Gwen, screw revealing he was Spider-man. People start noticing him, and he manages to make out dumb founded expressions. He pays no mind to them, headed straight to the nearest ambulance. In the relief, he miss steps and trips over a jutting piece of metal. He almost falls face first, narrowly steading himself. He exhales loudly, feeling his legs start to shake.

He makes it to solid ground a few minutes later and collapses onto his knees. He presses Gwen against his chest, tears blurring his eyes. He'd made it. "We made it. You're safe," he whispers, hiding his face in the crook of her neck. He sobs a few times, paying no mind to the people starting to surround him.

"Miles?"

A faint voice croaks out his name. He lifts his head, looking over to Gwen's face. She'd lifted her head, eyes (or rather the eyes of her mask) squinted. Miles grins, nodding his head a little, then presses his forehead to her cheek. She sighs, lifting an arm to wrap it around his torso, shifting in his arms. He lets her, sniffing quietly against her. He clutches her desperately, and she cradles him gently, hands pressed against his back.

She's alive, and that's all that matters.