Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

The Midtown Prom Incident, Part II || Gwen Stacy

"Truth ain't gonna change the way you lie, youth ain't gonna change the way you die"

-Dear Rosemary, the Foo Fighters

So many things had just happened, and yet they'd all happened so quickly.

First, there'd been the commotion in the gymnasium. Once Peter had crashed through the wall, Gwen had sprinted out, heading towards the bathroom stalls and praying that she'd forgotten to take her suit out of her backpack the other day. Thankfully, it was in there, and she'd changed as fast as she could before dashing back to clean up this mess she'd let get out of hand.

Second, there was the fighting itself: any hopes of reasoning with Peter seemed to be gone, and he was anticipating her attempts to hit his jaw or stomach. It was so much more difficult to get in solid hits on Peter this time around.

Third, there was Owen bursting onto the scene. The absolute last thing that she'd needed was for the guy she liked to get wrapped up in all of this insanity, yet it happened before her eyes. It had distracted her and allowed Peter to get a nasty hit in on her, and now Gwen had three searing gashes on her arm.

Fourth, was the scene before her: Owen's limp body laying still on the ground, with Peter curiously hovering above it, unable to process that Gwen's prom date was dead.

Her head felt like it was about to explode. A scream began to surge from Gwen's lungs but got caught in her throat before she could let it out. The blonde's legs gave way, and she fell to her knees in slack-jawed disbelief.

No... no, he's just... dazed... Gwen tried telling herself, feeling everything shaking all at once. ...He's not... he's not...

...He can't be dead.

"O... Owen..." Gwen croaked, tears beginning to flow behind the mask as her weak words fell upon dead ears. "...Owen..." She said, more urgently as her stomach twisted into knots, sending her onto her hands to hold herself off the floor. The only response was a rumble from Peter's throat as the lizard nudged Owen's body with his snout. No response.

"OWEN!!" Gwen cried out, the force of the scream feeling like it was shredding her throat.

No response.

A weight, one unlike anything she'd ever felt, began to bear down on her shoulders. Gwen felt like she was about to melt into the ground as the reality of the situation set in: she'd tried too hard to balance everything, to give equal amounts of time to everything when there was something far too pressing at hand. And her foolish decision to spurn her responsibility of taking Peter down had put the lives of everyone at prom in danger, and ripped away Owen Octavius, along with whatever happiness he'd been trending towards alongside Gwen.

The remorseless lizard's footsteps reached her ears as she sobbed, along with the trembling of the floors with every step that Peter took. Gwen lifted her head, her blurry vision distorting everything she saw as Peter stared her down, letting out a horrific roar.

Owen is dead. The words ran through Gwen's mind over and over again. Owen is dead Owen is dead Owen is dead Owen is dead...

...And it's all my fault.

She kept looking up as Peter continued his slow advance, the lizard seemed prepared to put the spider-powered teen out of her misery. Once he was close enough, he roared again, the force of the sound rushing against Gwen's mask like wind on a stormy day.

But all she could think about was that one moment that had happened less than a minute ago... Peter's massive claws grabbing Owen and slamming him into the ground.