An Impossible Reunion
“Is there anything you can remember me telling you about how I managed to get everyone to remember me?” Peter asked excitedly. “Anything at all?”
“Yes, actually. You never fully explained it because we were always so swamped with work and you were going to MIT and new villains were popping up like daisies, but you did tell me a bit of it. You somehow reversed the spell Stephen performed that made everyone forget you and then it was recast to make everyone forget Mysterio’s video instead. The battles with him still existed, but he was condemned as a villain and your identity remained a secret.” Tony explained, squinting as he thought back to the conversation with his version of Peter.
“Great.” Peter 2 said. “So we just need to figure out how to reverse the spell and find someone new to cast the second spell.”
“What about that other magical dude?” Peter 3 asked. “What was his name? Wong?”
“We can’t go to him, something is wrong with Strange and we think that Wong might be affected too. It’s too risky to go to him for anything.” Peter replied, massaging his temples and wracking his brain for other options.
Across the apartment he heard the front door swing open. Gwen. “Peter?” She called out and Peter 3 went stiff as a board, immediately recognizing that voice. “Are you here? I’m home.” He heard as she set her keys down on the countertop and slid off her jacket, hanging it on the rack. “I think I’ve found something that could help us.” She kicked off her shoes and crossed to the fridge, shuffling through for something edible. “It’s not a sure bet and its a hell of a long shot but it’s something.” There was a sizzle as she popped the tab off one of the sodas from the fridge. “I swear to God if you’re not here and I’ve been talking to myself then I’m going to throw something at your head when you get back.” He heard her down the hall, opening his bedroom door, to find it empty.
Finally he found his voice, “Gwen, I’m in here.”
She opened the door and backed into the room, balancing several books, the coke and a box of pizza in her arms. “Honestly Peter! I knew you could hear me! I thought I was-” She turned and her words cut off abruptly when her gaze fell upon Peter 3. Her jaw went slack and she stared at him for a long moment, tears pooling in her eyes. “Peter.” She said, her voice barely audible, even with his enhanced hearing.
“Gwen.” Peter 3 whispered in awe and shock and- he was standing and rushing to her as the soda, books and pizza all tumbled from her arms. Peter 2 shot out his webs and caught up the pizza and soda before they could hit the ground. And then Peter 3 and Gwen were tumbling into each other’s arms, both of them sobbing and burying their faces into the others shoulders. “You’re alive, you’re alive and you’re here- how?”
“I’m alive?” Gwen muttered through her sniffles. “You’re alive! I thought I would never see you again! But… you’re… you’re here.”
Peter looked away. He felt like he was intruding on something intimate and deeply private. Even though it was taking place in his own apartment, he felt the sudden need to leave and give them some space. He rose and backed from the room, Tony and Peter 2 following close behind and he gently closed the door behind them.
Peter was glad to see that Peter 2 had brought the pizza along with him. They sat around the table munching on it. “So I take it they know each other?” Tony asked.
“Sort of.” Peter replied. “They’re from realities that are very similar to one another. Like mine and yours.” He gestured to Tony. “Our realities have gone nearly the same, up to the point where you died in my reality and survived in yours. It’s like our realities were one and then they split off into two at that moment. Those two existed in the same reality up to the point where the spider bite occurred and Spider-Man was born. In Gwen’s reality she was bitten by the spider and in Peter 3’s reality he was bitten. So technically speaking they’ve never met one another, but they’re very nearly the same people to each other. In both realities they fell in love with one another and then the other died to Harry Osborne.
“For Gwen that happened three weeks before she got here… so seven weeks ago now. She never really finished mourning him. She’s been distracting herself with school and trying to find a solution to this whole debacle. She comes out Spider-ing with me every night. We study for school and research possible solutions every day. She hasn’t allowed herself a single moment.”
“Their relationship wasn’t all that long ago for Peter 3 either.” Peter 2 remarked, biting into a slice of pizza and chewing leisurely. “I think he said it was seven months ago, maybe six, but definitely less than a year.”
“Do you know if Peter 3 got revenge for Gwen’s death in his reality? From what he said to us at the Statue of Liberty, it seemed as though he might have killed Harry for what he did.” Peter asked, remembering what Peter 3 had said about how he had stopped pulling his punches. Punches from any of them at full strength could mean immediate death.
Peter 2 nodded. “I’m pretty sure he killed Harry, though not entirely out of revenge. Harry was breaking terrorists out of prisons and giving them full access to highly weaponized technological body suits that were wreaking havoc on the pedestrians. The only way to stop him was to kill him.”
“Gwen killed Harry too. In the middle of Times Square. Everyone saw. It was recorded too. They thought she was responsible for Peter 3- or I guess he would be Peter 4… Peter 3.5?- they thought she was responsible for his death too. He was covered in webs when the NYPD found him, so they thought she had killed him like she’d killed Harry. She fled here.” Peter explained.
Peter 2 sighed and said, “This is why you’re the best of us, Peter. We find ways to kill those who have hurt us. But you- you take the man who killed your aunt and cure him anyways.”
Peter examined his slice of pizza thoroughly, from the slight burning at the very edges of the crust to the melty bits of cheese that were beginning to slide off the edges of where Peter had already taken several bites. He still refused to look up when he said, “The only reason the Green Goblin isn’t dead right now is because the two of you stopped me from killing him. I would’ve killed him if you hadn’t stepped in to stop me.”
“I don’t think so. I think you would’ve gotten close to killing him, yes, but I don’t think you would’ve gone through with it in the end. It isn’t who you are.” Peter 2 said. “I hope it isn’t ever who you become. Peter looked up in time to see Peter 2 turning his gaze on Tony who was looking right at Peter with a stunned expression. “Unless of course it is someone like Thanos, where death truly is the only option that will save people from dying.”
“You lost your aunt.” Tony said softly. It wasn’t a question but Peter still nodded. “The Green Goblin killed her?” Another nod. “He doesn’t exist in my reality.”
“He doesn’t really exist in this reality either.” Peter said. “He came from Peter 2’s reality. When the spell went wrong the first time.”
“The first time? In my reality there was only the one time. Strange preformed the spell and everyone forgot you and it took you years to undo it.” Tony said.
“That isn’t what happened here.” Peter said. “Here Strange started the spell and I freaked out and started messing with it while he was casting it. It went all haywire and villains who knew Spider-Man was Peter Parker started coming into this reality from other ones and then Spider-Man’s started coming through too, that’s how I met Peter 2 and Peter 3. To send the other Peter’s and the villains home to their realities and to keep reality from breaking apart we had to recast the spell as it was already intended. That’s how I ended up with this mess.”
“But how did Gwen get here?” Peter 2 asked. “If she was Spider-Man, she never would have known a Peter Parker to be Spider-Man, so she never should have been brought here.”
“I’m not sure about that. I don’t entirely understand how the spell works, but I’m sure there’s some explanation.” Peter said with a shrug.
“Or there might be something she isn’t telling you.” Tony said offhandedly.
“What if her Peter Parker was Spider-Man and she tried to take his powers for herself but it killed him.” Peter 2 said.
The idea sounded ridiculous to Peter, but the more he thought about it… she had been rather dodgy about how she’d gotten here… and her blatant dismissal of the reality she’d left behind… and the cops had thought she had killed Peter 3.5. “Holy shit.” He muttered.