Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keeping the city safe from crime from the shadows is what she did best. Out of sight and out of mind, until a threat came her way. Only then did she attack and show herself to the world.

To recap one last time, let's take it back a couple years ago, on her 12th birthday.

After her dad was taken down by an assassin, no doubt by some shocking lunatic from Alchemax, Gabriella had the genius idea to sneak into his lab to try and find evidence of the murder relating to the corrupt company, if she could prove that they were the cause for so much unnecessary bloodshed, then maybe she could actually tear down their whole operation!

Of course, she was being naive, being the literal child she was. She was quick to be caught, and was promptly shot at before she could even defend her case. Honestly it was a miracle she didn’t die right there and then. As she desperately took cover though, a stray bullet managed to shatter a piece of what she could only imagine to be delicate machinery, causing the whole room to blare its warning lights, dipping everyone into a world of scarlet. 

Before Gabriella could even wonder why, a huge blast from directly behind her had her body flying against the wall. 

A lot of what came next was a blur.

In a matter of seconds, she had grown fangs, claws, and apparently red eyes from all the ‘demon!’ comments she was getting from the security flooding in. She was also very strong all of a sudden, allowing her to lift up broken machine parts as shields. She promptly then escaped via throwing herself out of a window after way too many people ran into the room, and proceeded to survive a 78 story drop, getting up with only a scratch on her knee. Thankfully, she had fallen into a self-sustaining garden, jam packed with trees and fauna that covered her steps as she made her way back home. 

Back in the comforts of her own room, she explored her new abilities with curiosity. Webs from her wrists were definitely something to get used to, but night vision was a nice touch. She could only wonder what her father had been trying to research before he passed for her to become this freak of nature.

Ever since then, she’s been using her new strengths to slowly chip away at Alchemax. Using a costume she was gifted by her dad for the day-of-the-dead festival they went to, she covered her identity. She had become Nevua York’s second Spider-person. At least while she was working anyway.

When the mask was off, she’d do her best to keep a regular high-school lifestyle. She wasn’t too great with friends anymore though. Described as a recluse by others, she’d always just go to lessons and ace everything, before going straight back home to work. There was no more time for after-school lunch get togethers, or clubs anymore, despite her coaches constantly asking her to return to soccer practice. It was too risky, especially when her fangs would annoyingly show every time she spoke. Not to mention a waste of time.

She hated how her ‘friends’ from before all just looked at her in pity every time she passed them in the hall, or whenever her teacher would pull her aside to ask if she was doing alright at home. Yet found herself longing to join her classmates as they walked home with smiles on their faces. 

As much as she would give to go back however, Gabriella had a job to do now. Alchemax had to pay for everything they were doing and no one else seemed to be taking up the challenge.

Every time she returned home, it was empty. Void of any life. Only a picture of her and dad on the wall sharing an ounce of colour in the home. 

She had to keep working. 

Nothing else really mattered. 

It wasn’t like she had much of a choice anyway, since she did receive a little money from whoever people she’d save. Eventually, her parents' insurance was going to run out, and she’d be permanently on the streets, so she needed to do her best to save up until then. 

Gabriella woke up to another day in Nueva York, not really ready to fight for the city that seemed to hate her, but getting up anyways. 

-

“Gwen, you’re on Earth-1o42.” Miguel commanded, throwing out each one of the spider gang’s assignment documents. 

“We’re mixing up letters in the numbers now? I only JUST got used to what the thousands mean.” Miles rolled his eyes, looking at his own assignment written on a piece of paper to go and fight a small goblin variant on Earth-4S19TV. 

Miguel simply huffed, before starting to walk out of the meeting room. 

“Scram. Be back before dark.” He gruffed, as he reached the door. Peter couldn’t help but snicker at how much he sounded like their dad these days. 

“Yes boss.” Peni saluted, already typing in her given coordinates into her watch. 

“Meet back up in the cafeteria later guys?” Gwen asked as she usually did after these meetings.

A chorus of ‘yessir’s and ‘see you there’s rang out, before she stepped into her own portal. Dial set to Earth-1o42.

Gwen had been paired with Jess for the mission, and so the young spider dutifully waited at the top of the very high skyscraper she appeared on for her partner to arrive. 

That was until she spotted the villain that alerted them to this dimension. 

A goblin variant, a huge one at that, was on its way towards Gwen with massive wings that looked as though it belonged to a dragon. She jumped back just in time for it to soar past her with deadly speed, flying higher up in the air for no one to catch it, until it was completely hidden from view, covered by thick clouds that threatened to rain, but left the ground dry.

“Well…” Gwen breathed, still looking up with narrow eyes. 

She contemplated trying to get up there, but was stumped after realising that she was on the highest building in the city of high buildings, and that there were no other places for her to latch her webs onto as a sling. Well- there was a weird tower/tube in the distance that seemed to reach into the clouds, but it was way too far to even consider it into a plan. Her ‘planning’ was suddenly cut short however by a figure shooting up from where the goblin had flown up from. 

This dimension’s spider!

They shot through the sky like a bullet as Gwen also lost sight of them in the dark clouds. She began to worry slightly as seconds began to pass with no indication of anything happening, but she didn’t need to wait long as both the Goblin and the spider were now plummeting down from the sky, the beast now somehow unconscious and the spider-woman holding onto it for dear life. 

“Hold on!” Gwen yelled out, shooting out her own webs to grab the goblin, steering it closer to land where she was instead of falling all the way down towards the city. 

With a heavy landing that surprisingly didn’t even shake the futuristic building they were on, Gwen finally had a good view of the spider who had single handedly taken down the variant she and Jess were meant to get. 

“Those were some cool moves you did there! I almost didn’t see you shoot past me, you were just so fast and-“ the words on her tongue died as her brain caught up to what she was seeing. 

A spider-woman with a blue and red suit, in a futuristic city, with claws and organic red webs…

“Holy shit-“ Gwen breathed as the spider-woman stood to full height, which was surprisingly the same height as herself. 

The suit’s pattern was strikingly similar to Miguel’s, it even had smaller versions of those weird daggers he had on his elbows. Maybe she was like- Miguel’s genderbent teen variant???

The whole time, the girl was silent, not even turning to look at Gwen. As though she weren’t even there. She stepped off of the goblin’s back, just in time to get caught in a glitch, catching her completely off guard and sending her stumbling over its arm. Gwen was quick to rush to her side and catch her however, raising her back up to her feet again holding an arm. 

“Let me help you with that.” She smiled, swiftly throwing a cage goober onto the Goblin, encasing it in that familiar red force field. 

The other spider looked up at her wordlessly, before taking a few steps back to keep distance.

“Who are you?” She finally spoke, revealing her voice. Her words came out soft, almost shy, betraying her guarded stance. 

“Gwen Stacy!” She beamed once more with a hand out for a handshake, to which the girl just looked at it, as if it were an alien. “From another universe.” She added as subtext.

“Should’ve known…” The girl muttered, eyes narrowing in that same way that Miguel always did whenever he’d sigh. “Your fanclub new or somethin’? I haven’t seen a Gwen fan in a while.” 

“Fanclu- huh?” Gwen tilted her head, letting her hand fall as she watched the spider-girl began inspecting the glowing red cage. 

“Y’know.” She motioned lazily with one hand. “Like the Thor diehards.” 

Gwen very clearly didn’t know, getting the girl's attention.

“You… haven’t noticed those people dressing up like Thor running around?” She turned to face Gwen more properly. “Church of thor? Never heard of em’?”

“Uh… no?” Gwen shrugged. “I only just got here.”

The spider-girl stared at her confused, though before Gwen could ask who she was, Jess finally decided to show up, ripping open a beam of light beside her. Her form slipped through with speed as she sped past Gwen on her motorbike, stopping to park between her and the other spider girl.

“You’re late.” Gwen deadpanned with her arms crossed.

“Sorry, my baby wouldn’t go to sleep, and baby daddy wasn’t doing much to help.” Jess sighed in irritation, throwing out her bike stand before getting off and turning to the new girl. “Sorry for the intrusion, but we’ll be taking that-” Similarly to Gwen a second ago, her words came to a halt as she eyed the girl’s uncanny resemblance to their boss.

“What the shock…” The girl breathed with wide eyes, most likely to the portal that Jess arrived in. “Where… where did you just come from???” 

“The name’s Jess.” The woman introduced, recovering from her own bewilderment quite quickly. She walked over to the girl to inspect her closer. “The multiverse never fails to surprise me. What’s your name?” She chuckled at the sight of the small girl inspecting her too with perplexed eyes. 

“None of your business.” She huffed defiantly, only amusing Jess further.

“Jess, is she like…” Gwen muttered to her mentor’s direction, pausing to try and find her words. “Is she a kid version of Miguel O’hara or something?”

That had the new spider’s attention in an instant, and before Gwen knew it, she was held by the front of her suit and dangled over the edge of the building by the girl before she could dodge.

“Miguel- You said Miguel!” She growled, crimson eyes glowing brighter through her mask. 

“What the hell man!” Gwen sputtered, trying to stabilise herself in the girl’s grip by holding onto her arm. “Sorry, your costume is just- ugh- real similar to our boss’s disguise!” She tried to reason. Little did the spider-girl know, she was only making it more clear in Gwen’s head that she was Miguel O’hara 2.0.

“What the hell are you talking about! Where did you guys come from?!”

“I can’t believe it…” Jess spoke, barely above a whisper as she continued to just look at the two. Honestly, even if Gwen were dropped, she could easily just climb back up, but what was more important was that Jess was pretty sure she knew who was under the mask, and it wasn’t good. “You’re…”

Despite Jess speaking quietly, the girl’s head still whipped around suddenly to glare at her too. After a second, she pulled Gwen off the ledge and threw her to Jess’s feet instead with a grunt. 

Before the two could speak, the girl ripped off her mask and glared at them in anger and confusion. 

“You said Miguel O’hara.” She hissed, exposing her fangs. She hasn’t said his name out loud in so long. “How do you know that name?!” 

Even to Alchemax, she’s found out that most of the employees weren’t even aware of her father’s death being by their own grubby hands. Shock- only a handful of villains that came from them knew. Who were these people???

Gwen rose to her feet once more and turned to her mentor for guidance on what the hell they should do in this situation. 

With the mask off, her heart dropped at the sight of her. 

Gabriella O’hara.

Miguel’s daughter was this universe’s spider-woman…

She looked a little older than she did in the few pictures she’s seen of her on Miguel’s desk, but her face was definitely the same. Her fluffy brown hair swayed in the wind beautifully, and Gwen couldn't help but feel her heart squeeze at the fact that she wore the same costume as that hard boiled egg.

There was a reason she seemed so pissed at the mention of her dad’s name however, and Gwen couldn’t help but remember the fact that in the dimension that Miguel accidentally destroyed, his original variant was killed. It must have been a similar case in this dimension. 

“Just… hear us out, alright?” Jess spoke up, pulling Gwen to move behind her instead. “You’re Gabriella, right?” 

That had the girl’s eyes widen in shock, and Gwen couldn’t help but see the fear in her stance. 

Gabriella was so sure that she had been careful in hiding her identity. She barely spoke to other people while she fought monsters that popped up, even with her mask off, most would struggle to recognise her among the billions of people living in this overcrowded city. The fact that these random strangers in spider masks somehow knew not only her name, but her father’s name too, made her feel uneasy. If Alchemax had started to make spider people (it wasn’t too unbelievable, radioactive spiders had to come from somewhere afterall) then she was so shocking screwed if they knew her name already.

“We weren’t lying about being from another universe!” Gwen piped up, seeing her begin to panic in her spiralling thoughts. “We’re not some ‘fan club’ for spider man, we’re actual spider-women from other universes!” She tried to explain, despite how ludicrous she sounded.

“Why would I trust you!” Gabriella snapped, stepping back. Dangerously close to the ledge. 

Jess and Gwen gave each other a look, both of them as unsure as the other, before turning back to the girl who could jump off the building and escape at any moment.

With a sigh, Gwen pulled a hand up to remove her own mask.

“Look- If you would just listen to us, we can explain everything.” Gwen reasoned, voice stern and level in a way that she would imagine Jess using. Thankfully that in the combination of her mask off seemed to stop Gabriella in her tracks, hopefully long enough for them to tell her that she needed to come with them. “We’re here to take care of ‘anomalies’ that appear in the wrong dimensions, like this guy. He’s not from this world, and the longer he’s here for then-” 

As if to prove her point, the building under them buckled and glitched, bringing the three tumbling to their knees as its color shifted and flashed, until its structure stabilised once more. The glitch had changed its matter into something more old fashioned for this world’s time, the floor underneath them now simple steel roofing that you’d typically see on old factory warehouses back in Miles’s dimension. 

Gabriella could only gape at the sudden change. She’s seen Alchemax’s bad guys do a lot of damage in many different ways, but this was very strange, and she hated that it actually made sense with Gwen’s explanation. But if she was actually telling the truth, and that they were actually spider-women from other universes, then what did that have to do with her dad? He wasn't a spider man. Not… in this world anyways. 

Gwen had said that she had a similar costume… dad did have a matching day-of-the-dead outfit from what she remembered.

Did that mean…

“You just need to take him out of this world right?” She muttered, grabbing the beast through the red forcefield by its nape with one hand. “I’m coming with you.”

Even if these guys were bluffing, she’s been captured before, she’d know how to claw her way out. She just needed to make sure that they were bluffing.

“Huh?” Is all Gwen could say, hand around her upper chest where Gab had held her just moments before.

“I- I need to see it for myself.” She spoke hesitantly, as if to try and convince herself. “This ‘multiverse’ of yours…”

The other two blinked at surprise at her sudden shift, but recovered quickly with thankful smiles as the older one of the two quickly opened a portal, once again overwhelming Gabriella’s vision with its bright colours. 

“Sorry, the journey isn’t fun for first timers.” Gwen huffed, turning back to face the new recruit. “I can hold the goblin instead if you’d like?” 

“I can hold it.” Gabriella hissed stubbornly. Honestly, the resemblance to her dad was only getting clearer with every notion. That’s probably why Gwen wasn’t getting as pissed as she would have been at her being so rude.

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged, moving into the portal. “Good luck landing on your feet!” Was all she said as she disappeared, leaving her on the roof with Jess (and the goblin but this ain’t about him).

“Go ahead, I need to be last since I opened the portal.” Jess lied. Even if they were trying to gain the kid’s trust, they still had another mission to handle, that being the Goblin’s capture. 

“I’ll give you space, but you might want to put your mask back on.”

Chapter Text

Begrudgingly, Gabriella pulled her mask back on, before hesitantly walking through the very bright portal before her, the caged Goblin secured in one hand. 

Almost instantly however, she had let go of the beast at the sudden forces pushing her around violently, sort of like she were falling, except with a lot more force everywhere. The air in her lungs escaped her in a gasp as she squinted her eyes to see her destination, which seemed to be a blinding bright white light, approaching her at lightning speed.

After what seemed to be an eternity and just a nanosecond at the same time, Gabriella was finally met with solid ground. Literally. And way too quickly. 

Before she could reorient herself to the sudden change in gravity, the ground had hit her body at full force, knocking the wind out of her chest. 

“Ah shi-“ Gwen cursed, immediately kneeling to Gabriella’s side. “Forgot about the uh… whole ‘no-spider sense’ thing.” She muttered apologies as she assisted the new spider to her feet. 

Gabriella groaned as she held her head, the world spun around her as she found her footing once more, and she honestly couldn’t be bothered to even ask what the hell ‘spider sense’ was when she was greeted with an absolutely ridiculous scene. 

All around them were men and women in suits, all spider themed in some way. Last time she saw this many ‘spider-people’ was at the last spider convention a year ago which she remembered attending in costume, before having to save everyone from Doctor Inkling from his shocking metal tentacles. She just wanted to have one day where she could actually lay back and enjoy a con, of course that octopus freak had to come in and take that from her too.

“Welcome to the Spider Society!” Gwen chuckled as Gabriella gaped at the sight of an actual shocking dinosaur walking in the distance, alongside a sentient car? Was that a talking ice pop???

“So these are all…” Gabriella started, shaking her head and turning to Gwen.

“Yep. All spider people from different dimensions.” She hummed, taking a second to wave at a passing spider-man. 

That particular person looked strikingly similar to the Peter Parker legend that Gabriella knew to be long gone. Suddenly everything was starting to become believable now that everything was starting to sink in. 

“Here,” Gwen attempted to grab Gabriella’s arm, but she pulled away defensively with a glare, only dropping her scowl when she saw that the girl was simply trying to give her a wristband. The annoying paper type that needs another person to put it on or it’ll end up crooked. Its print reading; ‘DAY PASS’ 

“You’re gonna need it if you don’t wanna glitch out like the Goblin.”

“I won’t be here lon-”

And because the universe loved to side with her so much, she glitched.

Her entire body tensed as every cell in her body seemed to want to jump off a cliff simultaneously. Visions of worlds she couldn’t even comprehend flashed before her eyes as each slight  movement bought her a wave of pure pain, shocking her system into keeling over and falling to the floor. Her limbs twisted in ways they really shouldn't be moving and she could see her fingertips disintegrate slightly. Her cry of pain didn’t even sound real either, her yell sounding more like a corrupted audio file that had been run over, twice. Very concerning stuff really.

Thankfully, as soon as it happened, it went. Probably due to Gwen swooping in for the rescue, the paper band now firmly placed on her right wrist.

“Not pleasant, is it?” She asked rhetorically as she stared blank faced at the spider glaring at her on the floor.

With another groan and curse, she brought her to her feet once more. Everyone around the two not even batting an eye at the scene. They’ve probably seen the same thing happen like- 5 times already that day.

“Uh… where’s-“ Gabriella muttered absently as she noted that the woman who was with them before, Jess, wasn’t with them anymore. Neither was the Goblin. 

“Oh, Jess must have brought the goblin to the go-home machine already.” Gwen looked around too, but shrugged unconcerned. “We usually take villains to this machine as soon as we can before they cause too much trouble.”

“Oh… ok.” Gabriella mumbled, beginning to regret her decision to join them- 

no. 

She wanted to- she NEEDED to see if this was all a ruse. A cruel trick to mess with her head again. And the only way to do that, was to see their Boss, who apparently was ‘Miguel O’hara’.

This wasn’t a personal thing. No.

She just needed to confirm.

Gabriella followed Gwen into what she called ‘the Lobby’. A huge space consisting of beams and walls that were definitely not meant for anyone obeying the laws of gravity. There were more ‘spider-people’ here than in the entrance way too. It was… overwhelming to say the least. Gab couldn’t even really pay attention to the girl leading her thanks to all of the ruckus happening around her, making her let out a grunt before she could stifle it.

Gwen turned back and seemed to get the message, and looked around to find the quickest way out of the room, which seemed to be at another entry/exit way on another beam. So, she nodded to Gabriella, before shooting a web and swinging over to the relatively empty exit. As she followed, her bright red webs seemed to catch a few spider’s attention as she swung. She ignored the staring.

“That’s better.” Gwen breathed, noting the empty beam they stood on. “C’mon, I’ll show you where we send the villains we capture.” She smiled. 

The two were relatively quiet as they walked. For Gab, it was mostly out of being in absolute awe of the whole place. She’s seen maga corporation HQ’s before, but none of them held as much ‘life’ as this one. Everyone seemed to be pretty laid back, swinging around and chatting freely as though this were their home. It was… not something she was used to seeing back in her world. 

For Gwen however, her mind was going absolutely haywire as she scrambled on what the hell to do with this new recruit, who was also her Boss’s dead daughter. She didn’t even say she wanted to join yet! What was she going to do- Walk up to the big man upstairs and go- ‘Hey Migs! I found your dead daughter in another dimension who is actually very much alive! But it’s chill because she’s spider woman!’

There was no way. 

She wanted to live, thank you very much.

Still though, she had to meet Miguel one way or another, like anyone who was new to the whole ‘multiverse’ situation.

Gwen spared a quick look to the girl behind her, and caught her staring in awe at one of the spider-bots crawling on the ceiling, carrying cargo on its back. She tried to imagine herself in her shoes; new to the world of the spider-verse, and finding out that the person in charge of the whole thing was someone she loves, but one she’s already long accepted as dead.

Peter.

Her best friend.

Not your average spider-Peter.

Her Peter, the kid without powers that she loved to invite over and have movie nights with.

Her heart ached at the thought.

If she found out that in another universe, he was some sort of mastermind leading an entire spider-army, she’d also want to find out if what she heard was true or not, even if it did sound so far-fetched.

“Down that way is the way-back machine, but up this way is Migu-” Gwen caught her tongue before she could finish that name. “I mean- our Boss’s office is this way.” She wasn’t sure why she was avoiding his name now when they both knew who she was talking about, but the way Gabriella’s eyes would snap to her at the slightest indication of his name made her nervous ok?

The two went back to walking in silence as Gwen made her way out of the villain-holding hall/waiting room, and in the direction of Miguel’s office. Her heart pounded in her chest as she anticipated what on earth would happen between the two.

“Uh… hey Gwen?” A small voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Gwen turned back to see Gabriella stand sheepish behind her, eyes trained to the floor. “I’m- sorry for earlier.”

“What for?” She smiled with a tilt of her head.

“For- uh- threatening to throw you off a building.” Gabriella winced, clearly very remorseful after realising that both Gwen and Jess were clearly not bad guys as she originally believed. “-and also throwing you on the ground.”

“Ah- you’re fine, don’t worry.” Gwen chuckled, holding her hands up in reassurance. “I get it, trust me. Also that wasn’t the worst reaction I've seen to being told that the multiverse exists.” She murmured with a dry smirk, remembering all the times she’s been mistaken for a villain by so many other spider variants. 

“Still though… I was kind of a shocking asshole.” Gabriella smiled shyly, warming Gwen’s heart as she could see the uncanny resemblance with Miguel’s framed picture of her. 

“Apology accepted then.” She smiled back. “So, how are you taking it all? I know it’s a lot to handle all at once, but trust, It’s nice once you get comfortable.” 

“I… don’t know.” Gabriella answered honestly, eyes flying around random spots in the hallway where more small spider-bots roamed. “I think- I believe you now. But-” The girl paused, stopping in her steps as she held her head down.

Gwen stopped too and patiently waited for her to find her words.

“You said Miguel O’hara was your boss.” She breathed, expressing her doubts in Gwen’s story.

“I did, yes.” The ghost confirmed.

“From another universe.”

“...Correct.”

“That’s…”

After it was clear that Gabriella wasn’t sure what to say, Gwen walked up to her and grabbed one of her hands, holding it between both of hers gently. 

“It’s a lot. I get it.” She smiled warmly as Gab stared at her with tired eyes, brimming with both hope and aged grief. “I’ll be right here when we see him. Just say the word and we’ll go back to your world again, but I’ll be here the whole time.” She squeezed her hand.

She wasn’t used to being… helped really. This was nice.

Gabriella took a breath and finally sent a small smile back to the girl. 

Wordlessly, the two started walking again, this time with Gwen holding Gab’s hand almost protectively as they approached the office.

Honestly, the whole journey there, Gabriella didn’t even register that she might be able to see her dad again, but now it was happening. And she didn’t know what to do. Gwen holding her hand was nice. If she wasn’t basically dragging her then she’s pretty sure she would just end up standing there dumb like a statue. This was happening now though. She was going to meet her dad- no- her dad’s doppelganger from another world.

Dad was dead. This wasn’t her dad. She had to remember that.

She just needed to not think about it. She just needed to confirm, and leave.

“lord give me strength.” Gwen muttered as they stepped into the room, earning a small look of confusion by the girl beside her.

As the two took a step in however, they were greeted by a different person, one that wore a ratty bright pink bath robe over a spider suit that looked a little too small for someone his size. Another Peter Parker dopple.

“Peter!” Gwen sighed in relief at the familiar face. She was prepping herself for this odd family reunion by herself but company was definitely needed. 

“Hey kiddo!” He waved, walking over to the two. “You’re back early.” 

“Yeah, uh, was an easy job this time.” She chuckled nervously. 

“Same here.” He smiled. “Get this- my scorpion variant was the Lego version! How crazy is that! I almost stepped on him when I got there.”

“Oh wow that's actually pretty wild.” Gwen chuffed with a smirk. “Anyways- I found the spider-variant from the world too!” Her smile appeared as more of a wince as she used her free hand to motion to the girl beside her. 

Peter’s relaxed smile immediately dropped at the sight of her, no doubt putting the pieces together in his head.

Gabriella simply stood there awkwardly as Peter inspected her with wide eyes. 

“No way…” Is what he managed to croak out before.

“How does everyone know who I am in this dimension?” Gab muttered to Gwen with a frown. “Is there- another ‘me’ here or somethin’?”

“Uh- not exactly-“

Before Gwen could elaborate however, the soft hum of the platform behind them lowering caught him off guard. 

Gabriella’s nerves weren’t comforted by the looks the two other spiders sent to each other, as if they were bracing for impact. She could also feel Gwen’s heart beat quicken from her palm. 

She was scared.

“Heyyyy Miguel! Long time no see!” Peter fake chuckled as he bounced on his feet nervously. 

“I thought I gave you two missions.” He gruffed. 

Gabriella froze on the spot upon hearing his voice. Hands clamming up and eyes wide. Gwen seemed to notice and looked back, but Gab wasn’t paying attention to her anymore, she couldn’t. That voice was exactly how she remembered it. 

Gwen squeezed her hand once more.

“We uh- finished pretty quickly!” She called out, also adding very fake sounding coughs and awkward pauses. 

“Where’s your spider, Peter?” Miguel asked, already tired of their presence without even turning to look at them. Even without spider-sense, he could count how many figures there were in the room through the vibrations on the floor. And there were only three. 

Probably another Peter variant… Again.

“Oh. Well I couldn’t find him.” 

“Of course- mierda of course you couldn’t find him.” Miguel cursed, back still turned as he let out a deep sigh. His platform was fully lowered now, allowing the three to see his visible stress in all its glory.

Behind him, Gabriella found herself stepping forwards unconsciously. Passing Peter and letting go of Gwen’s hand. 

“At least tell me you bought something to note, Gwe-“ Miguel turned to the three, finally seeing who his young spider had bought in. 

It was a… small girl version of himself?

No wait- he recognised that suit. 

Not because it was basically a carbon copy of his own, except smaller, but because that was the exact same suit he had bought a certain someone years ago.

“Dad?” Gab breathed out. All rational thoughts lost to the wind as she saw his face. 

It was actually him. Sure, he had red eyes now, and was definitely a lot bulkier, but it was actually him. She would recognise that voice from a mile away.

Miguel, on the other hand, stood frozen on the spot. Gone were the two spiders he was ready to yell at, all he saw in his vision was her. 

Realising he might not recognise her (as if), Gab reached up to slowly take off her mask. 

Miguel could only stand there and watch with a heavy heart that had long since abandoned hope for itself. Yet she was right there. Staring at him with those- those big eyes that would always make him crumble. 

She was different from the other Gabriella. Her eyes were a shade of crimson he didn’t recognise on her, and he could see the faintest hint of fangs in her mouth. She was also a lot taller than what he remembered. She was all grown up.

“Mi hija…” is all that slipped out of his lungs as she walked closer, stepping up onto the platform. 

She could see the grief in the way he looked at her, and that was all she needed to understand why Gwen was being so understanding. 

This Miguel… lost his daughter.

And she lost her dad.

It wasn’t until Gabriella was directly in front of Miguel, that he moved closer. Very hesitantly. His hands slowly rose and cupped her cheek, as though she were as fragile as a flower, and that’s all it took for her tears to start falling. His hand was warm, so warm. She couldn’t even find it in herself to fully cry. She just stood there, closing her eyes to lean into the touch and letting the tears roll down her cheek.

“You’ve grown so much.” He mumbled, face softening as he traced every detail in her face with his gaze, soaking it in and ingraining it in his memory. 

His heart ached, and everything inside him was screaming at him that this was wrong, as if being around her would absolutely destroy all the work he was doing in stabilising the multiverse. However, she was a spider in her dimension. She was fine being here. She was actually safe.

“I-” She hiccuped, throat closing as she opened her eyes once more to see him once more. “I’ve missed you… so much.” Despite feeling herself crack under his warm touch with each passing second, she found herself feeling the happiest she’s been in so long. 

Neither of them were the person they missed so dearly, but they didn’t care. Sue them for being a little selfish, just for that moment.

Deep down, Miguel knew something like this would happen eventually, that he’d meet her again. Maybe across the street during a mission maybe, or catching a fleeting glance of her figure moving across a soccer field as he’d fight off whatever monster wanted to dare and try and wreck her game, but not like this. 

Her presence was stable, confirmed by the day-pass band on her wrist. 

She wasn’t going to fade away again.

There had been so many nights where he’d relive his failure over and over again, trying to find any way to save her and continuously screwing it up every time. He never thought he’d see her look up at him with anything other than dread ever again. 

With gentle arms, the two finally embraced, filling the holes in their hearts if only at that moment. It just felt right. She fit perfectly in his arms and he did in hers. 

Gabriella found herself completely shattering in his hold, her sniffles quickly turning into choked sobs as she buried her face into his shoulder. She wasn’t lying when she said missed him so so much. Not a day passed when she didn’t think of what life would be like if his room wasn’t cold and empty, if Alchemax didn’t get their filthy hands on him, if she didn’t ask him to buy that stupid chocolate cake for her that day.

Maybe she’d smile again, join the soccer team, have lunch with friends.

That wasn’t the reality however. 

But… this was nice.