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New York City was a strange place. No one told Gwen about the rules when it came to mysterious, glowing portals. She didn’t think there were any rules when it came to that.
One moment she had been chasing a petty criminal, swinging through an alleyway. The next? She was landing face-first on a kitchen table in some random apartment. She knew the white portions of her suit would be difficult to clean after this.
Gwen groaned loudly, clutching her head. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. Luckily, her identity was still concealed from the group of strangers who stared at her in surprise.
“That’s new,” she muttered.
A boy gulped, “I’m so sorry.”
Gwen shook her head. She was still unsure of what was happening. She rolled off the table and stared at the strangers. A boy and a girl, who both looked equally concerned and surprised. An older woman began shouting at the boy, most likely about her ruined kitchen set. (Gwen then noticed the broken glassware that she had seemingly ruined with her unexpected landing.)
Finally, her eyes landed on the last two people in the group. One was a man, who appeared to be in his forties, bundled up in a jacket. The other was much closer to her own age. Two things through her off about him. The first being that he wore a suit that was rather similar to her own, aside from the color scheme. The second? He looked exactly like—
“Peter?”
Gwen ripped her mask away. Upon revealing her blonde hair and startled eyes, the man let out a quiet gasp.
A million thoughts were running through Peter’s head. Gwen was dead—! No! Here she was, standing right in front of him, staring at him with as much surprise as he was feeling.
“Gwen?”
“What are you wearing—?”
“How are you here—?”
“You’re dead—!”
Both Gwen and Peter—no, this... stranger—froze. Upon hearing their shared exclamation, their shared claim of the other being deceased, neither of them knew what to think.
The others were silent. They had all been watching the exchange with confusion. It took a moment, but the girl with curly hair spoke up, “Who are you?”
Gwen tore her eyes away from... whoever this man was and focused her on attention on the pair of teenagers. The girl was glaring at her with suspicion while the boy looked as nervous as ever.
“Gwen,” the blonde said. “I’m Gwen Stacy.”
“And you’re—?”
The boy’s voice quietly trailed off as he gestured to Gwen’s suit. The ensemble consisted of a different color palette than the man’s red and blue. Gwen’s suit was (mostly) black, though some portions of the top were white while others were a bright pink, with intricate designs resembling a spider web.
“Spider-Woman?” answered Gwen, though her voice was filled with confusion. “A lot of people call me Ghost-Spider though... What is this? Who are you?”
“I’m Ned,” said the boy, before he gestured to the girl, “and this is MJ. We’re from Earth-616—”
Gwen interrupted, “Earth-616?”
“It’s a lot to explain,” said MJ, “but we’re looking for our friend... who is also Spider-Man.”
“We’ve been opening the wrong dimensions,” said Ned. “That’s why you’re here.”
“And those two are—?”
When Gwen turned her attention to the men, the older one offered her a small wave and nodded to confirm her suspicions. Obviously, each of these men were some other incarnation of Spider-Man (and, apparently, so was she). Gwen looked at the younger one, the one who looked just like her former friend.
“So, you’re not—?” she paused, but only for a moment. “So, you’re not my Peter?”
He shook his head, fiddling with the mask that he held in his hand, and replied, “No. That also means that you’re not my Gwen.”
Gwen felt tears rise to her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and tried to contain her sadness. She really hoped her friend, her Peter, had actually been okay. Not rotting away beneath the ground.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, taking a few seconds to observe him once more. “It’s— I— Well... I haven’t seen him in a long time and... you look just like him.”
This new Peter gave her a small smile. Gwen could tell he was also going through a moment of grief much like she was. He finally replied, “Don’t apologize. You look like my Gwen.”
There was a bitter silence, and everyone else in the room quietly mourned for two people they didn’t even know. Two people who were, quite obviously, dearly missed.
Gwen gazed out into New York City. This one was different than hers. For starters, the huge tower donning a bright red ‘A’ didn’t exist in her world. All this talk about dimensions and multiverses and magic spells was starting to take a toll.
“Weird, right?”
Gwen looked over her shoulder. Peter, the one who looked so much like her Peter, stood there with an awkward smile. He, like her, had been given a new outfit to wear. Rather than his suit, he now wore jeans and a tee shirt. His hands were shoved into his pockets as he approached her.
Even though Gwen had gone to the roof of Ned’s apartment to be alone, she didn’t mind this new Peter’s presence. (No matter how much he reminded her of her old friend.)
Gwen was lucky enough to be a similar size to MJ. She now donned a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie, both of which protected her from the chill of the city air. She leaned on her forearms against the roof’s barrier. It didn’t take long for the new Peter to join her.
“Really weird,” she breathed, eyes observing him for a moment, before she noticed he was doing the same to her. “I guess we’ve both had a rough time with each other, huh? Well... other version of each other.”
She couldn’t help noticing the tears that welled up in Peter’s eyes. He sniffled, and then he nodded, “Yeah... Yeah, I guess we have. It’s not easy seeing you, even though I know you’re not her. Her fate was much different in my universe.”
“Same,” she replied. “You’re not my Peter, but at the same time... it’s like he’s standing next to me again.”
Peter didn’t say anything. Gwen could see him wiping his eyes with the sleeves of his borrowed shirt. She was trying not to cry herself, though it seemed his emotional struggles ran far deeper than her own. While it was hard for her to see him, knowing he wasn’t who she hoped he was, she had grieved her own loss a long time ago.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked.
Peter was quiet again, but only for a moment, “I loved her a lot. She was so perfect, ya know? She was the one for me... She passed... It was... My friend, Harry, came and... I couldn’t save her in time.”
Gwen nodded sadly. Was that really her fate in another universe? Unsure of what to say, she reached out and placed her hand on top of his. Peter took in a deep breath at her touch. Though it made him sad, her gesture also brought him comfort as he wiped away his tears once more.
“What about your Peter?” he asked, staring at where their hands met.
“He was great. He was my best friend, actually,” smiled Gwen, though her happiness slowly faded away, “but after I became this, well, I don’t really know what happened. He just told me he wanted to be special, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. I found out he’d been doing some experiments and they... didn’t turn out the way he hoped...”
Gwen felt her own tears rising but continued, “He was in a really bad way, but I had to protect the city, ya know? I couldn’t let everyone get hurt, so... I did what I had to do...”
Peter nodded as though he understood. In reality, he didn’t. Her universe was so much different than his (and vice versa). Gwen wasn’t with him anymore. And, according to this girl who looked exactly like her, he had experienced a similar fate in her world.
Slowly, Peter flipped his hand over beneath hers. Palms connected. Gwen took in another deep breath at the feeling. And Peter finally gained the courage to intertwine their fingers. She may not be his Gwen, but for now, this was good enough. And this new Gwen felt the same way.
Gwen couldn’t be more confused at this point. Not only were there now three versions of Peter now, but Ned, MJ, and their Peter, who everyone was now calling ‘Peter One’ were trying their best to explain what happened. With all their talk of multiverses, portals, ‘mightiest heroes’, and some purple villain, Gwen could hardly keep up. (Not to mention all the villains from various universes suddenly appearing to wreak havoc.)
“So, let’s get this straight,” she said, cutting off Ned’s excited rambles, “you’re from here, which is called Earth-616?”
“Yep!” nodded Ned.
“And that one,” she said, pointed to the man they had dubbed ‘Peter Two’, “is from Earth-96283?”
“We think so,” muttered MJ.
“And he,” continued Gwen, gesturing to her—no, not her Peter, “is from Earth-120703?”
“Most likely,” said Peter One, beaming at her, probably happy she was finally semi-understanding the situation.
“Which one am I from?” she asked.
“You’re probably from Earth-65,” replied Peter One. “At least, we believe you are from the information you’ve given us. That’s our best guess.”
Gwen sat down, running a hand over her face. She examined everyone else in the room, her eyes lingering on Peter Two for just a moment longer. She reached out and grabbed a lab coat, slipping it on. Everyone watched as she took in a deep breath.
“Why are we just standing here?” she asked. “Are we gonna create the villains’ cures, or what?”
Gwen couldn’t believe stupid she had been. She always—always—made sure to secure her web-shooters. This time, though, danger had arrived much sooner than anyone had predicted. She, along with the three Spider-Men, MJ, and Ned, were trying their best to cure the several villains surrounding them.
The Green Goblin, who came from Peter Two’s universe, stood above her. He grinned menacingly. Everyone else was trying to defend themselves, trying to protect everything they held dear.
Gwen’s power hadn’t been enough. This villain had overpowered her when he took her by surprise. Her web-shooters had fallen off after casting a final piece of silk. She was left dangling from a scaffolding, holding on for her life.
She was alone.
“It’s alright,” the man sneered, reaching down to rip her mask away to reveal her identity. “At least one of us will be satisfied with your failures...”
Gwen didn’t have time to react. The Green Goblin had already tossed her mask away before kneeling down, easily cutting the single piece of silk that kept her from death.
Wind whipped around her. Everything suddenly felt different. Gwen had always been in control, always caught herself when she fell. This time was different. Time slowed and she felt herself go limp. There was nothing she could do.
She was going to die.
Gwen closed her eyes, and she waited for darkness to wrap around her. Instead, a pair of arms incased her, pulling her tightly against someone’s chest. She heard the thwip! of webs latching onto something as they continued to fall. Then a thud! as her back finally made contact with the ground, though the impact was much lighter than she expected.
She gasped for air, eyes still closed, as she lay on the hard ground. She felt a weight on top of her, her fists tightly clutching onto the back of someone’s clothing. She felt whoever had caught her pull away and place their palm against the back of her head.
“Gwen?”
She opened her eyes. Peter, the one she had grown closest too, stared at her with tear-filled eyes. She continued to hold onto the fabric of his suit, refusing to let go.
Peter’s lips quivered and tears began streaming down his cheeks. He then wrapped his arms even tighter around her, pulling Gwen as close as he possibly could. He shoved his face against her neck as he tried to conceal his desperate sobs.
Gwen returned his hug. Tears began falling from her eyes as well. She pressed herself against Peter’s body even further. Her fists held tighter, and she never wanted to let go of her savior.
“Are you okay?”
It took a moment for Gwen to realize he had spoken to her. His question was barely audible through his cries. She could feel his hand wrapped up within the strands of her hair.
“I’m okay.”