Earth 1610

Chapter 28- Reunion

"Peter!" Miles exclaimed in surprise.

"AJ!" I shouted as I jumped down, noticing the teen behind her father.

"My twin!" she replied, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Oh, boy. Humbling reality Spiderman has arrived," Hobie remarked.

"Don't be afraid of my friend, Miguel. He just looks scary," Peter assured us. "He's got no bite." He hugged me after he hugged Miles.

"You sure?" I joked.

Peter looked at us proudly. "You two are growing up on me. You look great."

"You look—You look solid, y'know? You look good," Miles replied.

"Define solid," Peter joked.

"What happened?" Peter raised Miles's arms. "You bleeding from the armpits?"

"Peter, you-"

"Don't worry about the suit. We'll get you a new suit," Peter assured Miles.

A little girl fell into my arms, making AJ jump in surprise. She sighed in relief once she saw her face. She was adorable. Her blue eyes sparkled, and she had wild red hair. She was wearing some mismatched clothes. The best part was she could climb me like a spider. Was she Peter's?

"Wow. You look just like my mom." The girl smiled when she saw me and giggled a little bit. "I think you'd love to meet my brother." She tried to climb out of my arms, but I stopped her. "Slow down, mini Parker." I stroked her nose, lulling her to sleep like I do with PJ.

PJ. Peter Parker Junior, named in honor of my father. Mom had gotten pregnant shortly before Dad died and failed to realize it until she was gaining weight fast and the bump that she assumed was fat was sturdy. She was terrified that she hurt the baby when we found out, either when training with me or taking a sip of wine. Which she never did.

PJ was born perfectly healthy with tiny strands of blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. He was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. Grandaunt May was the first to hold him, but I got to hold him not long after. I vowed to protect him with my life shortly after that.

The little girl didn't fall asleep, but she did stay content in my arms.

Peter swung over to Miguel. "Miguel, look at this-"

"I'm trying to hold a serious adult conversation here," Miguel stated.

"You know, you're the only Spiderman who isn't funny. We're supposed to be funny," Peter commented.

"The fate of the multiverse-"

"You always lose me with that." Peter lolled his head back. "You say the fate of the multiverse, and my brain dies." He walked over to me and took Mayday from me. He took a large sniff. "You guys smell that? Mayday took a crap. Yep, she's a Parker." Peter swung out of the room.

"Miles, you disrupted a canon event," Miguel explained, making me raise an eyebrow.

"The kid wasn't thinking. That's not how he works," Peter reasoned.

"That's insulting," Miles commented.

Mayday landed in Hobie's arms. "Taking a crap on the establishment. I salute you."

"Wait, what are you upset about? We saved those people," I reasoned.

Miguel jumped down from the platform. "And that's the problem." He took a few steps toward us. "Lyla, do the thing?"

"Huh? What thing?" Lyla seemed frazzled, like she had a glitch.

"What-What do you mean what thing? The information-explainy thing," Miguel snapped.

"Okay."

The room darkened, and a single white light appeared. It floated down in front of us.

"What's this?" Miles asked.

"This is everything," Miguel admitted.

The orb was pushed into the ground and it sprouted, branching off in every direction.

"Can you be more specific?" I questioned.

"Can you not talk for a second?" Miguel retorted. Red webs appeared around us. "This here is all of us. All of our lives, woven together. A beautiful web of life and destiny."

"The Spiderverse," Miles concluded.

"Spiderverse? Oh, that's stupid. It's called the archno-humanoid-poly-multiverse," Miguel explained. "Which sounds stupid, too, I guess."

"Spiderverse is better," I commented.

"And these nodes where the lines merge?" Miles asked.

"They are the canon. Chapters that are a part of every spider story every time. Some good, some bad. Some very bad."

Miguel pulled down a sphere. It showed the most common canon event: losing the uncle that was your mentor. I saw my thirteen year old self, tears flooding out of my eyes as I let out an agonizing scream. Miles looked at me, and I hid my face from him as tears filled my eyes.

"This one, event ASN90, a police captain close to Spiderman dies saving a kid from falling rubble during a battle with an archnemesis."

The hologram showed a projection of a Spiderman holding the body of George Stacy.

Miles looked at Peter. "That happened to you?"

Peter kissed the top of Mayday's head, his back turned to Miles.

"And me," Jess added.

Miles looked at Hobie. "Hey, what of it?"

"That's how the story is supposed to go," Miguel reasoned. "Canon events are the connections that bind our lives together. But those connections can be broken. That's why anomalies are so dangerous. Inspector Singh's death was a canon event. You weren't supposed to be there and you weren't supposed to save you. That's why Gwen tried to stop you."

"I thought you were trying to save me," Miles commented.

"I was. I... I was doing both," Gwen admitted in a low voice.

"Now, Miles, because you changed the story, Pavitr's dimension is unraveling. And, to add to that, your Spiderwoman almost met the fate Inspector Singh would have had." Miguel showed Miles the rocks falling on top of me, then the two finding me a few moments later. "If we're lucky, we can stop it. We haven't always been lucky."

"That wasn't him. That was an event caused by the Spot," I protested.

"It's what happens when you break the canon," Miguel corrected me.

"How do you know?" Miles questioned.

"Because I broke it once myself," Miguel revealed. "I found a world where I had a family. Where I was happy. At least a version of me was. And that version of myself was killed. So I replaced him. I thought it was harmless. But I was wrong." The hologram showed the dimension collapsing, and Gabriella pixelating out of his arms. "Isn't that right, Peter?"

"Yeah," Peter whispered.

"Break enough canon, save enough captains... and we could lose everything," Miguel finished, the hologram collapsing.