Mha: The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol.1

Separation Anxiety

SNAP!

The crowd's chanting continued, yet all was silent inside Taeko's mind, with the only noise he could hear being his muffled sobs and dissociative ringing in his ears. His arms still held onto Kaina, afraid that letting go would cause the reality of the situation to strike him even harder. For once, his body was unable to hold the crushing weight of guilt, as before he always had a way to pick himself up after a failure. Taeko slowly rocked and forth, unable to think properly, seeing fit to cradle her as if she were just sleeping.

SNAP!

The gruesome reminder of the outcome of his failure returned once another trickle of blood ran down her nose, forcing him to shut his eyes behind his mask. All Taeko could think about were shared memories that cruelly taunted him with the woman he lost. Her life was in his hands, she trusted him to save her, but his arrogance took her future away. The very place Taeko reunited with Kaina, was the very place he lost her.

SNAP!

"I saved you..." Taeko mumbled, hoping that this entire situation was a nightmare or an illusion. Not even an hour ago they were planning to travel the world together and leave the violence behind, now Taeko was the only one who remained with the pain of a stolen future. Her voice remained ever-present in his mind, and the smile she gave him whenever they spoke served as an open wound that wouldn't ever heal. All the promises and declarations of love Taeko wanted to give Kaina were now lost. The promise of saving Kaina from her tormented life was broken. After years of separation and torture, their reunion ended swiftly in one night, all because of one man.

Spider-Man was a murderer.

SNAP!

Taeko Bi-Han murdered the woman he loved.

SNAP!

"Kaina...I'm sorry." Taeko whispered, shuddering as his lips trembled, even uttering her name nearly causing him to stumble over and sob. He lifted one knee up, finding minimal energy and motivation to stand up, doing so brought an uproar from the crowd, with the loud voices disturbing Jeannine enough to wake up from her state of unconsciousness. The crowd joined Taeko in his acceptance of guilt, wickedly placing the sudden death upon his shoulders, throwing insults about how everyone close to him ended up dead.

Kaina's head rolled backward, bringing Taeko to move his hand underneath it to carefully hold her neck still, allowing himself to keep looking at her. Thousands of villains had joined in and dragged down Taeko further into his silent grief with waves of screams and slander, trying to goad him into lashing out against Noritaka. The crimson villain watched from high above on his glider, grinning evilly as the crowd continued to mock one person alone, prompting him to belt out one thing that toppled Taeko back onto the floor.

"You love sick fool! She was dead before she hit the water!" Noritaka's glider sputtered out a few flames from the engine, pushing him toward the opposite side of the island. "Don't take too long to cry, I've got a trick or two up my sleeve, meet me at your second favorite job, toodles!" With those words, Noritaka began to fly towards the mainland of Mustafa, leaving Taeko to watch him leave with puffy red eyes.

Jeannine shakily stood up, making her way out of the broken wall into the cheering crowd. The first sight she saw was Rhino, beaten and seemingly knocked out for a while, Initially leading her to believe that the villains were routing for Taeko. However, when her eyes landed on Taeko, she assumed the worst when noticing the unmoving woman in his arms. The endless waves of taunting informed Jeannine of what happened before she even had time to process anything, but she ran forward to meet Taeko across the arena.