“May?”
“Ned!” The door is thrown open and Aunt May wraps Ned in a tight hug. “Thank god you’re okay. I was so worried, with the alien ship and all those car crashes that happened. Come in, come in.” Aunt May leads Ned into the apartment and the pair sit down on the couch. He notices there’s a rather large stain on her shirt, but he guesses that’s better than what happened to everyone else.
“All those car crashes?” Ned asks. He knows why they happened, half the drivers on the road turned into dust, letting the cars go anywhere they like. But does May know? She’s been at home sick, there’s a chance she didn’t see anyone disappear like he did. It was horrifying, one minute he was asking MJ why she had eaten toast at Liz’s party and the next? She was turning into ash. He didn’t know what to do and since he was closer to May’s apartment than his own home, he came here.
“Didn’t see you them on your way in? I was eating some soup when I heard this crash! Scared me so bad I spilled my soup all over myself. I looked out the window and the road was a mess, there must have twenty wrecks on the road.”
“No, I saw that. But did you see the people?”
“People? Wait. Ned, where’s Peter?”
Ned decides to ignore the question about Peter for the moment. He needs to make sure May knows what’s going on. “The car crashes happened because the drivers disappeared.”
“What?” This is obviously the first she’s heard of this.
“May, all those people turned into ash,” Ned explains.
May closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose with her hand. “Ned, this is an awful joke. Where is -”
“Here!” Ned turns on the tv and goes to the local news channel.
“ - not call 911 unless someone is actually hurt. If you are calling because someone near you disappeared - do not call. Investigators are looking into it and the authorities have been informed.” Ned flips to another station. “Thousands of people suddenly disappeared from their cars along several of the interstates, just moments ago. We are looking for possible caus-” “We have a clip from earlier when one of our reporters was on sixth street discussing an earlier robbery when this happened. Be warned, this is,” the newscaster takes a breath, “horrifying.” The clip shows a man, Ned recognizes him, he thinks his name is Frank something or other, talking when a car suddenly crashes behind him. The reporter spins around to look and then starts to scream as he begins to turn to ash. He drops the microphone as he disappears into ash. The camera begins to swivel around, capturing about twenty people disappear as well and the subsequent screaming. Ned turns off the tv.
May doesn’t begin to scream or freak out or sob openly like many people would instead. Instead, she turns to him and immediately demands “Ned. Where is Peter?”
“I - I -” Ned stammers. May grabs Ned’s hands and looks intently into his eyes.
“Ned. You need to tell me. Please, I know he’s Spider-Man. So please -”
“You know he’s -?!”
“Ned! Peter. Where is he?” Her voice is a bit choked up. She’s obviously is starting to think the worst.
“May, I - I don’t know. I’m sorry. We were on the bus when we saw that alien ship and I distracted everyone so he could sneak off the bus and go be Spider-Man. He was on the news, I saw him being taken up by some beam or something and Iron Man went up too and I, I don’t know anything else. I’m sorry.” May covers her mouth with her hands in shock.
“Oh god, my Peter, my sweet boy…” And then she begins to cry. “Ned, oh, come here.” She wraps her arms around him and Ned starts crying too. It's all so much, he has no idea if his best friend is dead or alive, or even on Earth. They've been close for so long and Ned honestly doesn't know what life will be like without him.
May unwraps herself from him and wipes her face, sniffling. “Ned, are your parents okay?”
Ned had been so concerned about Peter and just going somewhere he felt safe that he’d completely forgotten about his own family. “Uh, I don't know, I should, um, call them.” He takes out his phone and calls his mom. She answers immediately.
“Ned, oh thank God! I've been worried sick. Your father he, he just turned to ash right in front of me.”
“Dad is dead?!” Ned can't believe it. First Peter, now his dad.
“I'm so glad you're okay. Come home, please, I - no! It's happening to me! Ned, I love -!” The phone clatters to the ground and he hears his mom’s scream. The phone goes silent, he just hears background noise of the apartment.
“Ned?” Aunt May puts her hand on his arm. “Did she - is she gone?” He nods. “I'm so sorry.” She pulls him into another hug and doesn't let go this time.
“They're all gone,” he whispers. “I don't know what I'm going to do.” Tears start streaming down his face and he sobs into her arms.
“Oh, Ned.” She runs her hand through his hair, trying her best to soothe the broken boy. “You can stay with me.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“I don’t know, dear. I wish I did, but I don’t. We’ll figure it out. Just know I’ll always be here for you.”
Ned felt himself be hugged closer to May, his feelings of despair being if only dulled for the moment as he anchors himself in Aunt May’s loving arms.