In which Peter Parker meets a female version of himself and is torn between universes. [COMPLETED]
Petra Parker is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Girl. No one knows her identity, or that she was bitten by a radioactive spider, or that she could...
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His smile was the one thing that made Petra sure she would see Peter once again. She just had this feeling... that they would meet, for something in her life would surely be amiss if they didn't. After they parted that day, Petra made sure to grab the little piece of newsprint with Peter's face and gaze at it, just in case the boy suddenly jumped out of the image and appeared next to her.
She kept that crumpled, wet and stained picture of Peter ever since she found it in the paper on her first day there. For some reason she felt it was important to keep it, and it came back with her to her universe.
Petra would sometimes sit and wonder if Peter would one day just walk through her door, and grin that lovely intoxicating grin and make all her worries fade away. But days passed, then weeks, and ever so slowly, weeks dragged on into months and so on. Time kept moving steadily forward, and Peter never showed up at her door. She hadn't really expected it, but hope had never truly been lost.
Now it seemed as if it was.
It was because of him that Petra was here now, standing blankly in front of her mirror with a bowl of bleach and a hair brush dangling nervously in the air.
She looked at herself in the mirror and imagined she was looking into Peter's eyes once more, and that he was staring back with a cheeky little grin and his gorgeous wide eyes open with excitement.
She imagined he was looking at her like he used to when they were together.
Sighing, Petra dipped the hair brush into the bleach and held it back up to her head. She smiled to herself before plastering it onto her hair. A loud breath of relief followed. She did it. She put bleach on her hair.
The one thing her Aunt May told her never to do.
Don't ever change your hair, Petey. Don't ever change yourself for anyone else, gorgeous.
"Sorry, May.." Petra muttered and continued applying the bleach. "But this is for me."
After thirty more stressful and messy minutes, Petra finally completed her hair. She swiveled back to look at the mirror and laughed at her white, soaked and crumpled mess of blonde that was wrapped in tin foil.
She washed bleach out of her eye before turning back to her phone. Some song was playing that she didn't like, so, squinting, Petra pressed a glove-covered finger on the skip button.
The next song was titled, "Let Her Go."
"Well, you only need the light when it's burning low.." the song began.
Petra bobbed her head to the tune and settled back down to wait for her hair.
"Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.."
She raised the picture of Peter to her eyes and smiled sadly at it. "I'm blonde now, Peter. Can't wait for you to see me."
"Only know you love her when you let her go."
"And you let her go."
The bathtub faucet drowned out the song as Petra washed out her hair, but it kept playing, kept moving on.
"You see her when you close your eyes.."
Petra had framed the photo of Peter and placed it at the bottom of her mirror so he could "watch" her as she dyed her hair.
"Maybe one day, you'll understand why."
Groaning, Petra flopped back into her seat and began drying out her bright blonde strands of hair. By now the tune was familiar in her head, and she couldn't help but hum along to the words.
"Well, you see her when you fall asleep, but never to touch and never to keep."
Petra lifted up the picture of Peter. "What do ya think?" She grinned and tilted her head. "Okay..!"
Her hair was bright blonde, and didn't lose its shine, but made her feel... different. Much different.
"Cause you loved her too much and you dived too deep."
She felt new, and alive...and happy. The new look suited her, and with this lightness, Petra felt a heavy burden be lifted off her shoulders. A sorrow disappeared along with the old look. She was different now, and that was okay.
"Well, you only need the light when it's burning low.." the chorus continued, and this time Petra sang along.
"Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.." she sang, smiling at the mirror and admiring her hair.
"Only know you love her when you let her go."
Petra set the image of Peter to the side and posed for her reflection. She moved her hair side to side, growing increasingly happy as excited butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
Peter was set aside, and Petra had moved on. She was a new person, and put the past behind her. While she gazing contently at herself, the song finished its words. Its tale was told, and the story had turned to the last page.
