Death (USM)

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Things to know: This is a reality where the team doesn't know Peter's identity.

Death. A subject that wasn't foreign to Peter Parker. He was surrounded by it his entire life. Yet, why did it sting so much? Aunt May was dying. Not by the hands of a supervillian, or just some mugger. By the hands of a greater evil, cancer. The team didn't know, how could he expect himself to tell them when he couldn't even face it himself? So now, as Peter sat next to May while she slept in the hospital bed, he cursed himself. Cursed himself for being a coward, for being weak.

The worst part about this, besides May dying, was the fact that no one was there to comfort him. Fury knew but that man was never good at comfort. He grasped May's hand in his, squeezing gently. "I love you, May."

And then she flatlined.

Now you would expect Peter to feel sad, maybe even angry at the universe for taking her so soon, but he just felt empty. He felt nothing as he was escorted out of the room. He felt nothing as he heard them use the defibrillators. He felt nothing as the doctor came back, claiming to have bad news. As the doctor told him what he already knew, he felt nothing. Then, as he repeated the phrase the doctor had said over and over in his mind, reality hit him like a train. He didn't notice that he had fallen to his knees until after he noticed the tears falling down his face. It was almost as if his hope had died along with his aunt. He shakily stood up and walked home, grief the only thing he felt. He walked into the house and shut the door, shutting himself from the outside world.

No one could see how broken he was when he was alone.

He felt his world crashing down, he was the last Parker. Everyone else had died off. He walked into his room and layed down on his bed. Everything reminded him of May. He sobbed himself to sleep, not caring if the neighbors could hear.

---

He woke up the next day and put on his suit. He swung to the helicarrier. Not sure if he was up to making jokes and training. He felt lonely, but wanted to be alone.

Before he knew it, he was outside the training room. Nothing had it's usual brightness, everything looked dull, everything felt dull. "Yo Webs, you just going to stand there?" He turned around and saw Nova. "Since when were you late? That's my thing!"

Peter only shrugged in response and walked in. Nova was confused. That wasn't like Spidey at all. He quickly walked in and ran up to the rest of the team. "What's up with him?" He asked as he gestured to Peter who was sitting on the floor, waiting for training to begin.

"What do you mean?" Tiger asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I don't know, he just seems...off?" Nova questioned if he was just reading into it too much.

"His aura is different then usual." Danny spoke up. "This one is darker."

"You don't think it's an imposter do you?" Luke asked, alarmed.

"Alright, training is about to begin. Get into position." Fury's voice interrupted all conversation in the room. Spidey got up and walked to his position. "And Spiderman? I still expect a good performance out of you. Okay?" Spidey nodded before getting into fighting position. The team was beyond puzzled. What did Fury mean? Did something happen to the arachnied themed hero?

Before they knew it the simulation began and they were standing in front of Green Goblin. "Oh? Spiderman and friends! How fun." He spoke in a low voice.

"Why are we always considered to be just 'Spidey's friends'? We're a team Gobi!" Nova rolled his eyes. He glanced at Spidey and frowned when he realized he got no response.

Goblin lunged at Spidey. Spidey had already sensed it coming and jumped to the side. Fury's voice rang over the intercom. "This is designed to be as realistic as possible. We have noticed that Goblin usually focuses on Spiderman and does his best to avoid the rest of you. Spidey jumped up and did a 360 kick into Goblin's head. The Goblin stumbled right into a punch from Nova. Luke jumped up on Goblin and put him in a choke hold. Tiger gave him a butterfly kick and scratched him in the face. The finishing blow was Danny using his iron fist to punch him in the gut. The Goblin fell to his knees and face planted on the floor, defeated.

"That was easier than usual." Tiger noted. "What's up with that?"

"For the benefit of Spiderman, obviously." Fury replied. Spidey gave a thankful nod.

"So our training is reduced because for some reason his is reduced? That's not fair!" Tiger protested.

"Wait, you didn't tell them?" Fury asked Spiderman. Spidey sighed.

"I couldn't." Spidey spoke up for the first time that day. "If I could not face the truth, how could I tell anyone else?"

"Well, of you must know in order to feel justice for this. Spiderman's aunt passed away last night." Fury told them in his usual monotone voice.

"So? His poor aunt, I guess. Man up, Webs!" Nova yelled. Spiderman cried boiling hot tears underneath the mask.

"His aunt was his last living relative." Fury snapped. All anger left the room, only to be replaced with shock. "Not something to simply get over." Nova felt beyond guilty.

"I didn't--" He tried to apologize.

"Save it." Spidey replied. His voice was raw with tears. Something the team was not used to hearing from Spidey. "I think I'll head home." He swung away.

---

Peter was never the same, he was colder, sadder. No more jokes, no more comebacks. Only stoic silence.

Because death makes its round, and everyone suffers.

A/N:

I'm not sure if I like this one. It's not really interesting. Kinda cliche, actually. I might get rid of this one.

*

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