Work Text:
Peter three knew the second he disappeared from Peter One’s reality that something was different. The first switch between realities had been jarring but this one felt different. The time he spent in the temporal space between realities felt longer somehow. Like the multiverse was trying to figure out what to do with the changes to the people it was transporting. Peter shook his head (his metaphorical head, at this moment in time he wasn’t entirely sure he had a physical form), that was ridiculous, the multiverse didn’t care about timelines and villain redemption arcs. It was going to drop him right back into his room surrounded by photos of his dead girlfriend so that he could contemplate the fact that there was in fact a multiverse, at least two other (amazing) versions of himself, and a girlfriend of Peter Parker that he had managed to save.
The multiverse, however, did apparently care, because the second Peter began to feel himself rematerialize in his own reality it became apparent that he’d been right. Something had changed. For starters he was lying down on what felt like broken concrete, he had been sitting on his bed during the first reality shift. Secondly he could hear the demonic laughter of his incarcerated best friend floating through the air. He’d heard Harry’s laughter in his dreams every night for months after Gwen’s death but it felt significantly less dreamlike right now. Like significantly less dreamlike. In fact it sounded as though it was coming nearer and nearer to Peter. If it was in fact not a dream, future Peter probably would not thank present Peter for lying on the ground with his eyes closed while Harry got closer to attacking him. Unfortunately when Peter opened his eyes he realised that although he was back in his own reality, he wasn’t quite there. An attempt to wiggle his fingers resulted in absolutely no movement. Peter stared at the dark sky above him in frustration before he finally felt his body come into actual contact with the ground. He flew to his feet the moment he felt the feeling return to them before staring around in panic. A cold feeling flooded his body when he realised where Dr Strange’s spell had left him. He was standing in the destroyed electricity compound about ten feet from Max’s dead body. Peter’s eyes caught on him for a second. Dread filled his body. It hadn’t worked. None of it had worked. Max was still dead and-and-Suddenly it occurred to Peter that if this was the moment Max had died then Gwen was still here. Peter held his breath, Gwen might be still alive. Peter whirled around to where Gwen had been standing the last time, before- before Harry had grabbed her. He froze the moment his eyes came to rest on the opposite side of the compound.
She was there. She was standing right there. In front of him. His Gwen. Her eyes were wide and she was staring at a dark form in front of her in alarm, but she was there. Peter could hear her heartbeat. Her wonderful, wonderful breathing. His eyes raked over her face. For a moment she was all he could see. Until Harry stepped in front of her. He was smiling the same maniacal smile that had haunted Peter every time he closed his eyes for months. Harry was saying something but Peter couldn’t hear him over the rushing sound in his ears. It was happening again. It was happening again. And he wasn’t doing anything different. Why wasn’t he doing anything different?!
“GWEN YOU NEED TO RUN” Peter felt his voice wrench from his throat. Even he could hear the desperation that rippled through his words. He saw Gwen's eyes widen at the sound and she stepped backwards. Harry’s smile soured and his face contorted into a disturbed grin. Peter registered the change in Harry’s heartbeat that indicated he was about to move. So Peter moved first. He lunged at Harry just as Harry turned to Gwen. Peter’s webs caught the edge of Harry’s board. The board, he realised, was similar to the one Peter Two’s Green Goblin had been riding. Peter calculated that if he could somehow access the mechanism that Peter Two had used to blow that board up, he could disable Harry’s board and stop him from flying Gwen to the clock tower. Peter webbed the front of the board but he was distracted by the sound of Gwen’s scream. Peter twisted his head towards her and saw Harry’s outstretched arm grasping at her waist. He shot a web at Harry’s arm desperately.
“GWEN GO NOW GO NOW” Peter was screaming now. His voice broke on the last word as he wrenched Harry’s arm backwards. Harry swung violently with the force of Peter’s web and he turned to him angrily. He glanced at Peter’s left arm gripping his board and then smirked. Peter turned his attention from Gwen back to Harry. His eyes widened, Harry had realised how unstable his hold was on the board and in the moment that Peter was distracted by Gwen he had aimed a kick at his head. Peter saw Harry’s foot move towards him a split second too late and felt his hold on the board slip. He tumbled through the air haphazardly before crashing into the broken concrete below Harry.
“Good try Peter” Harry spat. Peter twisted around desperately and threw himself in Gwens direction at the same time that Harry dived for her.
“PETER” Gwen screamed. Peter watched in horror as Harry’s arms wrapped around his girlfriend and he pulled her into the air.
“GWEN” Peter yelled. He pulled himself upright and leaped into the air in pursuit of Gwen. He knew exactly where Harry was bringing her this time but it wasn’t much use, he wasn’t as fast as Harry’s board. He could hear Harry laughing loudly at Gwen’s voice. She sounded calm but Peter knew she was starting to panic. If she knew what was about to happen she’d be panicking a lot more. Peter felt sick at the thought.
“HARRY PLEASE, STOP THIS” Peter shouted through the rushing wind. He knew Harry could hear him. The laughing stopped for the briefest of seconds.
“PLEASE SHE HASN’T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU. IT WAS ME IT WAS ALL ME.” Peter thought he saw Harry falter for a second. They were almost at the clock tower. Peter practically threw himself towards the roof. Harry was circling above him, holding Gwen.
“HARRY STOP THIS RIGHT NOW, THIS-THIS ISN’T YOU. THIS IS NOT YOU. HARRY PUT HER DOWN.” Peter found himself repeating the same words he’d screamed last time. He gestured at Harry wildly. Harry grimaced and turned to Gwen. Peter could hear her clearly now.
“Harry.” Gwen spoke firmly and shook her head at Harry.
“HARRY IS DEAD.” Harry growled at Gwen. Peter felt panic fill his mind.
“HARRY! THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME! YOU WANNA FIGHT? FIGHT ME LET HER GO.” Peter was desperate but he suddenly remembered what Harry had done the last time he’d said ‘let her go’. “PLEASE HARRY PLEASE GOD DON’T HURT HER.” Peter corrected himself frantically.
“Okay” Harry growled, “I won’t hurt her. The ground might though.”
Peter felt dread fill his body at Harry’s words. He leapt upwards as Harry let go of Gwen anyway.
“NO” Peter shouted. Nothing he did was changing anything. Gwen was freefalling through the air the same way she had last time. It was like the events of the night were locked into place.
He reached her but felt no relief as he wrapped his arms around her. You caught her like this last time too, his mind reminded him. Peter shook his head desperately. There was still time. The two of them crashed through the roof of the clock tower and landed on the metal walkway behind the clock face. Peter gasped for air and hugged Gwen to him. She was breathing heavily and her face was chalk white.
“You’re okay, you’re gonna be okay” Peter tried to reassure her. She shook her head and her face crumpled. Peter knew in that moment that his terror was matched only by Gwens. He suddenly remembered that Harry had thrown a bomb down at them last time. He hastily tried to stand without letting go of Gwen before Harry threw it but he wasn’t fast enough and the small orange ball fell by his foot. Just like last time. Peter kicked at it but it ricocheted off one of the support beams in the tower and exploded near them. Peter felt the force wrench Gwen out of his arms. She tumbled off the edge of the platform and Peter lunged for her. He grabbed her arm and frantically pulled her upwards. He’d put her down last time and he wasn’t doing that again.
“It’s okay I have you, I have you.” Just as Peter pulled Gwen to him again, Harry crashed into them. Peter shot a web at Harry’s face and used the momentary distraction to place Gwen onto one of the platforms circling the edge of the clocktower.
“Stay here, it’s gonna be okay” Gwen nodded and Peter webbed one of her hands to the wall just in case. He turned and launched towards Harry. The two of them crashed around the clock tower violently. Harry slammed Peter against a wall and Peter kicked Harry’s board out from beneath his feet. Harry laughed in Peter’s face before slamming his fist into Peter’s nose. Peter’s vision swam and he spat blood out of his mouth. He tried to grab Harry but Harry turned and jumped over to Gwen. Gwen shook her head in terror as Harry pulled a knife from his pocket. He turned and grinned at Peter. Peter shot a web towards the knife but Harry had managed to cut through the web that was keeping Gwen attached to the wall. Peter swung wildly across the chasm and ploughed into Harry. He tried to web Gwen to the wall again but Harry stepped backwards and nudged Gwen from the platform with a hard shove from his elbow. She managed to grab hold of the platform as she fell but Harry growled and stamped firmly on her fingers. Peter felt a surge of rage fill him and he threw Harry from the platform. He looked down to where he knew the gears of the clock were and saw Gwen standing up unsteadily. He shot a web to her hands and started to pull her up but Harry hadn’t fallen very far and within a moment he was slamming punches into Peter again. Pain splintered through Peter’s ribs and Peter grimaced. His pain didn’t matter right now. Peter tried to ignore Harry’s punches and continue pulling Gwen up, he knew what had happened the last time he left her hanging from the gears. Harry however had figured out what Peter was doing. He slammed a button on his wrist and his broken board began to move again. Harry grabbed it and slammed it downwards. It crashed past Gwen and broke the remaining gears below her. Gwen was now hanging in midair. Peter had never seen her look so terrified. Gwen was staring up at Peter was shaking with desperation. He pulled Gwen up more frantically before Harry jumped on top of him. The gears of the clock were beginning to move and Peter slammed his foot into them. Harry had his hands around Peter’s throat but Peter didn’t care.
“GWEN YOU NEED TO SWING. SWING YOURSELF TO THE SIDE OF THE TOWER” Peter managed to yell. Despite everything, he was in the exact same position he had been last time and Gwen was going to fall. Harry was tightening his grip on Peter’s throat. An image of Gwen’s broken body hanging from his web shot through Peter’s mind. He couldn’t let it happen again. He just couldn’t. Gwen deserved a life. She did not deserve to die right when her life was about to start because some rich idiot was angry at his friend.
“Harry, Harry please I’m begging you please let me save her” Peter gasped out. Harry met Peter’s gaze coldly.
“No.” Harry slammed his foot into Peter’s. It was enough to dislodge the gear. Peter stared at Harry in shock and twisted around. His mind went into tunnel mode and all he could think was it’s happening again. I really couldn’t stop it and now she’s going to die.
Peter threw himself over the edge of the platform just in time to see his web snap. Gwen was hurtling downwards. Peter thought back to how he had caught MJ. He had pushed himself from the statue of liberty instead of just webbing her. So he did the same thing here. Using the platform Harry was lying on as a launching pad, Peter threw himself towards Gwen. She met his gaze and Peter realised that he was still too far away from her. He’d gotten a second chance to save the love of his life and he was going to watch her break against the ground for a second time.
Max was pretty sure he was dead. In fact he was nearly one hundred percent certain. He could feel electricity rushing through him again so surely that meant he was in heaven. He cracked his eyes open slowly, ready to meet his maker, but when he opened them he was met with the sight of broken electricity towers. That was not what he had expected when he thought of heaven. Maybe he wasn’t dead after all. Slowly Max sat up. He stared down at his hands, he was still in the new body from the other reality but apparently his powers hadn’t entirely disappeared, small lines of electricity bounced around his fingers. He looked around carefully. There were voices and the sounds of fighting coming from behind him. Max stared behind him wearily. It was the spider kid, some guy who looked like a goblin and-Gwen. Max was sure Peter had said she’d died, but there she was, alive and looking terrified out of her mind. Before Max had a chance to decipher what this meant, the goblin dude lunged for Gwen and lifted her into the air. Parker leaped frantically after them. Max could read the desperation in Peter’s body and suddenly it clicked, this must be the night both he and Gwen were supposed to die. Max stared after them and then stood up. Gwen and Peter were both kids, neither of them deserved what was about to happen. Max glanced around for the quickest way to follow them. His eyes fell on the van Gwen had crashed into him earlier. He leapt into the driver's seat and shot a bolt of electricity at the engine. The car whirred into life. Max slammed on the gas and headed in the direction Peter and Gwen had flown.
Thankfully due to the brief blackout, most of the cars in New York were empty of their passengers and drivers, meaning Max was free to plough through them in his attempt to race after Gwen Stacy and her careless boyfriend. He managed to successfully track them to a clock tower three blocks away. Max pulled up just in time to see Peter and Gwen crash through the roof. He hurtled out of the van and towards the entrance just as something exploded behind the clock face. Max frowned and abandoned his attempt to reach the entrance. Instead he opted for the always efficient method of blasting a hole in the wall. He tutted to himself.
“I better not meet my second death trying to save a teenager,” Max muttered.
He stepped through the Max sized hole in the wall into a minefield. Pieces of gears were hurtling through the air and he could see Peter and the Goblin crashing around the top of the clock tower. Gwen was standing on one of the few remaining gears and one of Peter’s webs was holding her up. Max frowned and made a dash for a ladder on the side of the clock tower. Maybe he could run to her up while the other two were fighting and pull her to safety.
Unfortunately this plan was foiled by the Goblins' successful attempt to dislodge Gwen from the gear. Max watched in horror as the web that was stopping Gwen from falling to her death got closer and closer to being sliced by the moving gears of the clock tower. He tried to send a bolt of electricity through the tower to stop the movement but the clock was moving purely mechanically. Max cursed under his breath and stared upwards in despair. He felt as though he was watching in slow motion as the web split and Gwen began to fall. He could see Peter launch himself towards Gwen the way he had in the other fight when he caught the MJ girl, but even Max could tell that Peter was too far away. Max watched as Gwen got closer and closer to him and weighed his options. He hadn’t come all this way just to watch her break her back in a broken clock tower. So, Max did the logical thing and jumped from his very safe spot on the ladder towards the very unsafe girl plummeting to her death.
Max crashed (successfully?) into Gwen and wrapped his arms around her. He closed his eyes and spun them in midair so that she was on top of him. At least this way he could take most of the impact from the fall. Max closed his eyes and prepared for whatever was about to happen next.
Peter stared in shock as someone who looked very like Max launched themselves from the side of the clock tower and caught Gwen. They continued to hurtle towards the ground but they appeared to be going slightly slower. Peter was definitely getting closer to them. The two of them spun in midair until Gwen was no longer on the bottom. Peter frantically shot a web towards her and it lodged onto her back. Gwen turned to look up at him and Peter met the other figure’s gaze. It was Max. Peter felt a spark of hope ignite in him. The Peter’s plan had worked. He was alive and he was helping Gwen. The events of tonight were not locked into place. Gwen didn’t have to die. Peter stared at Max in shocked relief. Max stared back and mouthed something when he realised he had Peter’s attention. Peter frowned and Max shouted upwards.
“I’M GOING TO THROW HER KID, AND YOU NEED TO CATCH HER”
Peter’s eyes widened as Max pushed Gwen upwards. Gwen spun towards Peter and Peter reached out desperately for her. His arms wrapped around her and he shot a web out to the side of the tower just in time to see Max fill the ground with electricity to somehow break his fall. Peter and Gwen smacked roughly into the side of the tower and Peter lowered them carefully onto one of the remaining platforms on the side of the clock tower. He held Gwen as close to him as possible. His eyes filled with tears when he felt her hug him back. She was shaking and Peter could tell that she was sobbing into his shoulder. Peter felt himself sob in relief. He was hugging Gwen and she was alive. She was alive. Peter couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. He ran a hand through her hair and tried to hold her even closer to him.
“Hey-hey it’s okay, I told you it was going to be okay” Peter murmured to Gwen. She didn’t reply but he felt her hug him tighter. After a moment she pulled back and looked at him. Her eyes were red and her hair was tangled but Peter thought she had never looked more beautiful.
“You didn’t have to-catch me quite so-last minute-you know” Gwen’s words were broken by sobs but Peter could tell she was trying to make a joke. He laughed quietly.
“Well you didn’t have to give me a visual analogy of you falling for me” Peter joked back. His chest was still heaving with relieved sobs but he would do anything to make Gwen smile. Gwen smacked him in the arm gently.
“You’re an idiot Peter Parker”
“I know I’ve been to-” Peter was interrupted by Gwen carefully pulling his face down to kiss her. After a moment she broke away.
“Can we please go home now?” Gwen murmured. Peter nodded and hugged her to him gently. He swung them towards the floor of the clock tower where Max was sitting against the wall. Peter met his gaze and mouthed 'thank you'. Max nodded and tilted his head in Gwen’s direction. He mouthed 'make sure she’s okay' at Peter and Peter smiled slightly. He was going to spend the rest of his life making sure that Gwen Stacy was okay.