Chapter Text
"what If everyone forgot who I am?" Dr stranges face shifted. "It wouldn't work. Your very existence is tearing this universe apart. I need to send you somewhere, somewhere where Peter Parker doesn't already exist." Peters heart dropped. The thought of leaving this universe, the only one he's ever known, the one with his best friends and his favorite Bodega and even his parents, even if the only thing left of them was their grave stones, made something twist and turn deep in his gut, but he knew this was the only way to save them, to save everyone. With a deep, shaking breath he agreed. "Okay, send me away." Dr strange looked at him with a sad, sympathetic look as he started the spell. a flash of light made peter shut his eyes tightly, and then he felt his body being taken apart, slowly turning to dust as his healing factor tried to fight against it.
He was drowning. He was in a pool of thick, green water and he couldn't get out. Everything ached and burned and he was trying to claw his way out but every time his arm reached out, there was more liquid. he cried, he tried to yell but he just swallowed more liquid until his eyes fell shut once again and he was sinking.
He woke up again, still in the pool, still drowning. He didn't know it could hurt worse than the first time, but it somehow did. He wondered for a moment if the spell had back fired and Dr strange ended up putting him in an alternate hell. but he knew he wouldn't have done that, he knew how powerful Dr strange was and he knew he would never. So he clawed at the thick liquid again. And again and again. He wasn't even sure if he was moving anymore but he knew he had to try. For aunt May, for mr Stark, for uncle ben. For everyone who died because they loved him, he knew he couldn't join them yet, No. No matter how much he wanted to right now, he knew where ever they were, the last thing they would want is for him to join them now. No. He has to get out. He has to make it out, No matter how much he wants to give up, he owes it to them to survive.
After what felt like hours clawing and swimming through the thick, disgusting slime peter finally felt his hand break the surface. He could finally feel the cold draft of the wind. By the time his head managed to break the surface, he was gasping and heaving as he dragged his tired body onto the surface of what felt and looked like a cave. He wanted to scream but he was too busy coughing up bright green liquid. For a moment, he almost wished he hadn't made it out.
Everything ached. he felt like he just woke up from a five year coma. he felt weirdly small, not just malnourished but short. Far shorter then his normal 17 year old body was. It was hard to see in the dark of the cave. He needed to get out and find out where on earth he was, if he was even still on earth, that is. With a reluctant sigh, he grabbed onto the wall and pulled himself up, shivering as the cool, damp air hit his still drenched body. He has never been more grateful that he always wore civilian clothes under his suit.
His suit was clearly offline and probably very broken so it took a second to pry off. The clothes underneath were still damp, but not as bad. They were a lot bigger on him then he remembered. So either he is a lot more malnourished then he thought, or he might be in a younger body then his universe. He prayed it was the former as he slowly walked around the cave, attempting to find a way out. The last thing he needed was for CPS to be on his trail. Eventually he found a short, metal door along one of the walls, so with all the strength he had at the moment, he grabbed on to the handle and pulled.
The door flung open. He quickly stepped back, it was clear through that door were sewers as he could smell the fowl stench of the liquid and could hear the quiet scuttling of hundreds of small, rat like feet. He knew this was his only way out, so he took a deep breath, stepped through the door and jumped on the ceiling. He could hear his inner spider begging him to hide up in the highest corner possible, sit in the corner and build a web and wait for something to come to him. But he knew that wouldn't work here, so he settled for crawling on the ceiling, using only his spider sense and hearing to guide him to the closest way out.
It didn't take too long to find a sewer cover. He carefully put both his hands on the cover, using only his legs to hold himself onto the ceiling as he pushed it open and gently threw it away. He crawled out of the hole and immediately wanted to go back in. His spider sense was going heywire, screaming at him from every which way to watch his back, it was very clear to peter, where ever he was, it was not his new york, nor was it as friendly.
Despite his spider sense screaming, he quickly stood up, placing the sewer cover back on and tiredly wondering towards the sidewalk. It was likely afternoon, though it was difficult to tell with the thick clouds blocking the sky. he didn't sense it would be a good idea to approach a stranger to ask, if the disgusted sideways glances they gave to him were anything to go by. Still, he kept walking, he figured his best bet at the moment was to find a library so he could maybe try to wash the green goop out of his hair, and use a computer to create himself an identity here. Wherever "here" was.
After about 15 minutes of walking, a tall, large building with a "gotham public library" sign came into view. The building looked like it was from an old vampire movie, with actual BOOM perching upon the rooftop. He assumed gotham was the city he was in. He quickly walked to the door, hoping the building was still open. Thankfully, the door easily opened after a small tug, there weren't many people inside, save for an older man at one of the computers and a red headed woman behind the desk. For some reason, when she looked up at the door and her gaze landed on him, he felt his spider sense prick up, she wasn't going to hurt him, but it certainly wasn't because she couldn't.
He Managed a small smile and walked up to the desk, she offered him a soft, obviously concerned smile. she was staring at him with big, shocked eyes, which wasn't surprising, his hair probably looked like a huge, knoted nest at the moment. But before she had the opportunity to ask about it, peter spoke up for the first time since telling Dr strange to send him to a new, completely foreign universe. "Do you know where the bathroom is?" His voice came out a lot younger then he was expecting, cracking from the clear lack of use.
She quickly nodded, handing over a key. "Down that hall, to the right." She spoke softly, like you would to a small, scared animal. Normally, he would've been annoyed by this, but considering that he was clearly younger then normal, and looked like a drowned rat he couldn't blame her. So instead he just forced a smile and took the key, heading to the bathroom.
The second he stepped in front of the mirror, his breath caught in his throat. His eyes had lost their deep, calming brown. They were instead replaced with a bright, toxic green. He couldn't breathe. The one thing connecting him to his home, to his parents, to his History, was taken. He had no idea why switching universes would change his eye color but it made him feel sick. He no longer shared the same eye color as his mom, the only thing he had left of her was ripped away and he doubts he'll ever get it back.
Before he could allow the panic in his chest to rise further, he reached down, turning on the faucet so hard he could've sworn he heard a snap somewhere in the inside of it, he's just glad he didn't rip it off this time. After a moment of running his hands under the water until it got as warm as it would get, he stuck his head under, pulling at the coated strands of hair as he tried his best to detangle the knotted mess that was currently atop his head.
After a few minutes, he twisted the faucet off and began drying his hair with the shitty brown paper towels that you're supposed to use to dry your hands. After it was as dry as he was going to get it, he looked back into the mirror, shocked to see a white streak in the front of his head. It made him feel like a skunk. But, as weird as it was, he was just glad it was only a streak and not his entire head. The rest of his hair was still a deep brown and for that, he was thankful.
After a moment of just thinking and looking about his surroundings, his hearing focuses in on another heartbeat entering the library. It wasn't just any heartbeat, no. It was fast, like a hummingbird. His voice only seemed slightly panicked as he talked to the librarian that had given him the bathroom key, it sounded like they were talking about him.
He sighed, realizing it would be very unlikely he would be able to go on the computers today if the woman had called cps. He needed to get out before they started asking questions. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, only slightly relieved to see the man was clearly a cop and not a social worker. He could lose a cop trail, no biggie. Most of them were too stupid to look in the most obvious places for him.
When the cop lied his gaze on Peter, his eyes shot open, like he'd seen a ghost or something. Peter tried to ignore him as best he could, feigning ignorance as he quickly walked towards the librarian, this time reading her name plate, "Barbara". He smiled as best he could in his panic in exhaustion, dropping the key off on the desk before turning around, intending to get out of there as fast as possible without looking suspicious.
When he felt a hand clamp onto his wrist, his spider sense took over, throwing the man off of him. His heart jumped at what he'd just done, at what he'd revealed. He had no clue how this universe treated mutants. If they even existed here, or maybe he was the only one? He doubts they don't, but you never know. He knows there's security cameras in here, he felt them the moment he walked in.
Security cameras that just caught a malnourished child slamming a grown cop a good meter across the floor. Said cop was looking at him with the most bewildered look ever, not even daring to move. So was the nice librarian. His breathing quickened as he realized what he truly just did. He is so so screwed.
Without a second thought he turned back on his heels and ran. He put every ounce of energy he had into sprinting, hoping and praying he wasn't being followed, he didn't have time to look back.
He ran and ran and ran until he was at least halfway through the city, the sun was almost completely set but he didn't care, he just needed to find a stable enough abandoned building to break into so he could finally crash and attempt to sleep off whatever nightmare he had gotten himself into.
He slowed down, exhausted eating away at him as his body felt harder and harder to move, his mind fogging with the exhaustion. His spider sense was still pricking up at every little thing. A too dark alley, a weird sound, someone walking on the other side of the street. He kept walking, trying to find an unoccupied building that wasn't falling apart that bad.
It was when he swore he was almost there, he could see one in the distance that he didn't hear anything in, he collided with something. He didn't even try to stop himself from falling, he was just so tired. He looked up, exhausted, to find a person towering over him. A brick wall of a Man, staring down at him through his weird red helmet.
This place had vigilantes too. Fucking great. He could hear the man saying something to him, but his ears were ringing again, he was too exhausted to fight, to run, to do anything but collapse right there. It felt like all his energy was sucked out of him. Maybe he was okay with this being the end, he thought as he closed his eyes, head falling against the pavement as he slipped into unconsciousness.
DICK'S POV
Dick was bored, he had been sitting at the station all day, filling out paperwork for a case he was working on, when his phone started ringing. He yanked it out of his pocket with a heavy sigh, dropping his pen as he answered the call "Officer Dick Grayson speaking, what do you want?" "Dick. You need to get done here now."
Barbara insisted, sounding more concerned than he's almost ever heard her. "Why? What's wrong?" He shot up, grabbing his jacket and keys as he yanked open his office door, quickly making it for the front door. Barbara never sounded this concerned, whatever's happening, it's bad.
"There's a kid here, Dick. I swear he looks just like you, he could be your clone. And he's been through the pits. He just walked in here with the pit liquid still in his hair, his eyes are bright green." Dicks eyes widened. A potential clone? Of him? Fresh from the pits? Gods, he wished this day stayed dull and boring. "Oh my God, okay. I'll be there in five. Where is he at the moment?"
"He's in one of the bathrooms." "Okay. Okay, yeah, holy shit. We can work with this. Have you scanned his face or anything yet? Do you have his name? Anything?" Dick yammered on, getting into his car and quickly shoving the key in, turning it on and speeding out of there. "I ran his face and literally nothing came up. Not even his name. He's like a ghost!"
"Oh, well, that's reassuring." Dick snapped back, already nearing the library. "I'm here, try to keep him there if he comes out before I get inside." And with that, he hung up, Left with nothing but the sound of the engine and his own drumming heart.
He was unbuckling his seat belt as soon as he parked, practicing flying out of the car before slamming it shut and locking it quickly, sprinting inside. He headed towards the red head, she didn't look too stressed so the kid must've not left yet. "So, have you found anything else? Any idea where the kid came from?" Babs sighed, clearly stressed. "No, absolutely nothing. He just walked in here looking as if he literally just climbed his way out of the pits and went to the bathroom. He's been in there for like 10 minutes already."
As if on que, the bathroom swung open, revealing the now slightly cleaner boy. He couldn't have been older then 13, 5' nothing and maybe 95 pounds. Dick felt like he was in a fun house mirror room, looking directly into the eyes of his past. Barbara was not joking when she said he looked like a clone. But the facial features are where the resemblance ended. His eyes were a vibrant, bright green, and his hair had a white stripe, same as dicks brother.
He knew he was openly staring but he just couldn't help it. They looked so alike. Where did this kid come from. He tensed slightly as the kid walked closer, dropping the key and turning around. Before he could leave, dick quickly grabbed his wrist, trying to get his attention. "Hey, kid, what's your name?" And then he was on the ground.
Dick. Grayson. Nightwing. Was just body slammed by a malnourished child. He didn't know what to even do with that information. He couldn't really blame the kid, he looked scared and so exhausted, like he just fought a war. It was clear this kid was likely a meta, which was even more concerning. Where did he come from?
Before Grayson could stop buffering and stand back up, the kid was sprinting. The door was open and he was out in seconds. Dick shot up, chasing after him but the kid was too fast. He genuinely considered the possibility of him being a speedster for a moment, he was flying through the sidewalk, way faster than any regular human could. So, definitely a meta then.
And the kid was running towards crime Alley. Damnit, he needed to call Jason. They may not be on the best terms, but Jason's good with kids. If anyone can help, it's him.
JASON'S POV
it was a shitty day. It rained earlier and he's already had to stop at least three asshole criminals, he didn't even start an hour ago. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his phone started ringing, it was Dick, which would be worrying, if he wasn't already so damn annoyed. He reluctantly answered, putting the phone up to his ear as he kept walking. "What do you want, Dickie?" "Jason, this is serious. We have a problem and it's coming your way." Dick sounded serious. It was clear whatever's going on, it was urgent. "What happened? What's coming my way?" Jason questioned, walking faster now. "A kid, he's been through the Pits recently. He looks almost like a clone of me, Jason! Babs can't find any information on him but he's definitely a meta, he body slammed me because I grabbed his wrist. He's running towards crime Alley right now." Jason tensed up at the mentions of the pits. Another child. Someone threw a child in the pits. Jason had to stop himself from punching something, that wouldn't make this situation better. He had to find this kid.
"Okay. I'll keep an eye out." He gritted out, hanging up.
Right as he hung up, something, or, well, someone collided with him. He barely felt it, the kid was on the ground, staring up at him and oh my god this was the kid. Looking into those bright green eyes made him freeze. He watched as the kid, the kid who looked far too much like his brother collapsed. Staring up at him with fear before his eyes slid close and his head hit the sidewalk. "Shit!" Jason gasped dropping down on one knee to inspect the child, hoping he wasn't hurt, he gently slid his arms under the kid, one under his back, one under his knees. He lifted him as gently as possible, his heart sinking as he realized how truly light this poor kid was. If he couldn't feel the kids pulse, he would think he died.
He needed to get him to a safe house, as soon as possible. This kid needed to be safe and he needed to rest. Thankfully, his closest one was only a block or two away. He started walking, as gently as he could as to not wake the child In his arms.
As soon as he made it to the front door, he gently shifted the child in his arms to hold him with just one arm, his large hand spaying holding under his thighs as the rest of his arm wraps up his side, holding him against his chest. The kid shifts at the movement, groaning softly. "Shh you're okay. Go back to sleep kiddo. You keep to rest." Jason whispers, fishing around in his pockets for the key to this apartment, gently rocking side to side like he was trying to soothe a fussy baby. and for some reason, it worked. His eyes fell shut again as his head lulled onto Jason's chest, mumbling quietly about one thing or another as he fell back asleep. Jason's heart tugged at that, something about a child deciding he was the safest option at the moment, made him feel weirdly proud.
PETERS POV
Peter felt small. Like he was a kid again, pretending to be asleep so uncle ben would carry him inside, like he always did. There was a part of his brain yelling that this wasn't uncle ben and that this was a stranger, but peter couldn't bring himself to accept it. His hold felt just like his uncle. If this wasn't him, then who was this?
He tried to open his eyes, looking up at the man carrying him like he was a toddler but the man quickly shushed him, rocking side to side while telling him he needed rest. He sounded so much like Uncle Ben, peter just accepted it, falling back against his chest, letting the man hold him and rock him like a toddler. He hasn't been held in so long, he didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to leave what his tired brain told him was his uncle's strong hold. Even his spider sense was quiet for the first time since he entered this universe.
JASONS POV
he finally managed to unlock the door and get it open, he stepped inside quickly. After a moment, he hesitantly flicked the light switch on, filling the apartment with dim, warm lighting. He was still swaying back and forth, very mindful of the kid in his arms. He quietly made his way to the couch, sitting down on it with the kid in his lap, laying fully against him. He carefully slid his phone out of his pocket, texting dick.
Littleredhood: I have the kid. He's unconscious but safe. We're in my apartment.
Dickwing: oh thank God. Which apartment? How did you find him? Where was he? Is he okay?
Littleredhood:calm down. He's fine. No physical injury as far as I can see. You're not coming over until he wakes up and has the mental compacity for you. Don't want you to crowd him.
Dickwing: I'm not gonna crowd him! I'm one person!
Littleredhood: you have the energy of ten. Wait.
[Picture]
Dick opened the picture quickly, his gaze softening as he saw his little brother with the kid. he had to admit, he looked a lot cuter when the kid wasn't throwing him to the ground. He looked weirdly peaceful, almost like he wasn't being technically kidnapped by a crime lord.