If you look beyond the flames

Miles doesn’t remember much of how he got into this mess, only that Miguel had finally decided to send him out on a solo mission after months of Miles begging him to. He remembers how happy he was when Miguel had finally decided to trust him, his excitement when he had stepped through the portal, and his determination when he faced the anomaly. But now, he regretted it all. If he hadn’t even brought the topic up, he wouldn’t be in this situation right now, but he’s facing the consequences for it. Smoke burned his nose and eyes as he tried to breathe, struggling to keep his feet on the edge of the cliff so he didn’t have to hang above the rapidly churning river below, much rather willing to suffocate then die beneath the water where he wouldn’t be found until he was nothing but bones. He tried to fight back with what remaining strength he had, but was quickly shut down as the anomaly tightened its grip around his throat, raising the other hand to extract long, sharp claws. Just then, Miles felt like a new Spider-Man again, the Prowler holding him at the edge of the roof, seconds away from killing him until Miles had raised one shaky hand and pulled his mask up, watching his uncles eyes widen with fear as he met his nephews gaze.

He wished he could do the same thing he did then to save himself now, but this creature wasn’t his uncle, and he wasn’t 13 anymore. He had to act like any other Spider-Man and fight ba-

Pain shot through his body as the anomaly ripped through his throat, blood quickly welling out and pouring onto the ground below him. If he was struggling to breath then, he was definitely struggling now, tears filling his eyes as a warm metallic liquid filled his mouth and slowly trickled out. Then, he was let go, wind hitting his back and irritating his burns from the flames as he fell, coming to an abrupt stop as the water swallowed him whole, harshly pulling him along with the current. Miles heard the distant, muffled sound of thundering footsteps and then a thud, quickly being able to guess that back-up had finally come and captured the monster just in time before it escaped, but not in time to save him. Did they even know he was drowning right now? Being hit left and right with rocks and strong gusts of water? The last thing he did was pull himself up and raise a shaky, weak hand up above the water, before he went unconscious and was pulled back under again, his pain ebbing away and replaced by calm as he breathed the river into his lungs.

….

Peter ran through the burning forest, leaving the rest of the team behind to deal with the anomaly themselves. He had to find Miles, he couldn’t let him get hurt, if he wasn’t already. He ignored the sound of one of them shouting his name, urging him to get out of the fire before he gets hurt, he just kept running. He ran, no matter how much his legs ached and his lungs hurt or how hard he began to gasp for air, the smoke burned his eyes but he continued on until he found spots of blood dotting the grass below. Panic spiked through him, and he followed the trail of crimson, only stopping when it came to the end of a cliff, a river running rapidly below, eating anything that fell into it. Peters eyes widened when he saw the thin trace of blood running through it, followed with a hand trying to swim above the surface, struggling against the current, before getting pulled back under again.

That was Miles, he could just tell. Peter was not going to let him be taken by the current, and so he dove into the water, ignoring how it tried to pull him farther down, he wasn’t going to let Miles drown, he had to find him. He searched the icy water, half-swimming and half-pulled by the river, not giving up until he would see the familiar black and red suit. Peter resurfaced, but only for a moment, so he could breathe in, before going back under once more, gaze finally resting on the color of red in the distance. He swam as hard as he could, until he was finally able to reach out and grab Miles, using all the energy he had to pull against the current and out to shore. As soon as they both resurfaced, the others were looking for them, swinging in the distance as they frantically searched for the two. Peter knew they were close enough to spot them soon, so he just laid Miles down and tried to wake him, gaze filling with pure fear as he took in the teens condition. His throat slit open, blood mixing with the water, a burn on the right side of his face that only seemed to cover the area surrounding his eye, and multiple other burns that luckily weren’t as bad as the one on his face.

He quickly noticed how he wasn’t breathing, and so he quickly began performing CPR. Hands placed carefully over Miles heart, pushing down to try and get it beating again. Fear seeming to consume him as he continued, his mind running with thoughts of Miles not surviving this after all, or how much pain he would be in if he did. His vision became blurry with tears, but he didn’t stop for one second, hearing Miguel and the others quickly rush over as they seemed to have finally noticed them, but he didn’t pay any attention to them as he finally heard a gasp come from Miles, followed by him turning over to cough up a large amount of water that he had breathed in when he was in the river. Peter quickly picked him up, bolting through the portal back to HQ as soon as it was opened.