My creativity demons are on crack.
Jun. 10th, 2003 03:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandolinSo I'm getting caught up on Spider-Girl before it gets cancelled a third time *sigh* ... and for some reason, issue #59 woke the demons up.
Notes: This takes place during SG #59 and refers to a few issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but you only need a basic knowledge to get by. Blame the demons. They said "hey, let's write this!" for the first time in months, and I obliged. I'll revise it later.
If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Spider-Girl, people. After a second save from cancellation, I'm going to be so sad if it only lasts six more issues.
Untitled
by Mandolin
Most fathers would be relieved.
Peter Parker is not like most fathers.
His son has been born healthy. His wife is fine - better than fine, judging by the way she's been bickering with the nurse. For such a difficult pregnancy, the delivery was relatively simple. "Relatively" is the operative word. Judging by the screaming and the way she nearly broke his hand, Mary Jane would never call the last three hours "simple." But it could have been worse. It could have been so much worse.
It wasn't.
He should be happy. But this only makes him feel guilty.
At least Mary Jane understands what's wrong, knows why he's huddled out in the hallway. The nurses, however, have been giving him strange looks for the past few minutes, wondering why a new father whose wife and son are so healthy looks like his life is over.
How can he explain to them?
How do you tell someone that you may just have gained a son at the cost of a daughter?
"No! I'm fine! Go help her! Go help May!"
MJ told him to go. Again and again. When the first images of the battle hit their television screen. When the contractions first hit. Even when they were wheeling her into the hospital, she was urging him to go, to help their daughter when no one else could. He should have listened to her, should have understood what she did - that she would be all right.
But he couldn't leave.
He couldn't shake the fear that it would happen again. If he looked away for a moment, if he so much as blinked... could their second child have been snatched away as well? Could they have been tricked a second time?
He promised himself, years ago, that if they had any more children he would be there to see it. To make sure that the next child they brought into this world would stay with them, instead of being stolen by a lunatic under the pretense of a miscarriage.
Now that promise seems hollow.
The news feed cut off an hour ago, when a girder fell on a news truck and the remaining journalists decided to cut and run. Just before the girder hit, the camera zoomed in on Seth, shoving away chunks of concrete like grains of sand as he rose from the rubble. And as he got up again, Spider-Girl launched herself at him again, throwing herself at the killing machine that was five times her size.
Peter closes his eyes, trying to block out his fears, but those last few seconds of footage keep replaying in his mind. He remembers seeing how torn-up the costume was already, flinching as he realizes what kind of injuries the frayed fabric was covering up. He knows from experience just what that state of disrepair means to the person beneath the costume. He remembers pleading with the television screen in a hushed whisper, begging his little girl to run. The retired superhero in him knows what she was up to, that she had to keep Seth busy so the others could escape. The father in him knows that she had every opportunity to escape.
Over and over again, he keeps seeing the impact. Spider-Girl slams into Seth, pounding on him even as the monster grabs her. His daughter is tossed about like a marionette on strings, jerky and out-of-control but still tense - still trying to match that bastard punch for punch. Peter can see just how hard Seth is hitting her, can remember what someone of that strength can do. He remembers fighting opponents who were too strong for him, remembers how it took all his strength just to keep going until backup arrived - or until he got lucky and escaped.
May didn't even consider escape as an option.
An hour has passed since then. In a battle like that, it could have been decided in the space of a minute. Seth was only toying with May, Peter knows; what would happen if he tired of playing around and just decided to end it?
What if he'd gone to help her when he could?
What if he's already too late?
Why the hell didn't she just RUN?
He slumps against the wall, covering his eyes, unable to stop the tears. He knows the answer to that last one, knows he would have done the same. May is as stubborn as her old man, and as strong as her namesake. Aunt May never backed down when it came to her family, to those she cared about...
Oh, God.
Now he understands.
He thought he understood when May first insisted on wearing the damned costume, when Spider-Girl made her first appearance over New York City. All the nights she snuck out with or without his blessing, the amount of times she risked her life and he worried at home - he thought he knew then what his aunt went through, in those last few years when she knew the truth. But even then, he hadn't been helpless to do anything. He hadn't truly faced the prospect of losing her to the villains she fought - as inexperienced as she was, most of the villains she'd encountered were in her range. But now... but this...
This is what Aunt May went through. What he put her through those last years, once she knew the truth.
Peter wants to jump up, to run out of there, to change into his old costume and make a break for the scene of the battle. But he can't do that. This is May's fight. There's nothing he can do now. He's completely drained, his energy spent, unable to move. He's never been so terrified - and so proud - at the same time.
Dammit, why aren't any of the news stations picking the story up?
"Daddy?"
...and the brain couldn't remember the rest of the scene.
BTW, is it just me, or has fanfiction.net been down all day?
Notes: This takes place during SG #59 and refers to a few issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but you only need a basic knowledge to get by. Blame the demons. They said "hey, let's write this!" for the first time in months, and I obliged. I'll revise it later.
If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Spider-Girl, people. After a second save from cancellation, I'm going to be so sad if it only lasts six more issues.
Untitled
by Mandolin
Most fathers would be relieved.
Peter Parker is not like most fathers.
His son has been born healthy. His wife is fine - better than fine, judging by the way she's been bickering with the nurse. For such a difficult pregnancy, the delivery was relatively simple. "Relatively" is the operative word. Judging by the screaming and the way she nearly broke his hand, Mary Jane would never call the last three hours "simple." But it could have been worse. It could have been so much worse.
It wasn't.
He should be happy. But this only makes him feel guilty.
At least Mary Jane understands what's wrong, knows why he's huddled out in the hallway. The nurses, however, have been giving him strange looks for the past few minutes, wondering why a new father whose wife and son are so healthy looks like his life is over.
How can he explain to them?
How do you tell someone that you may just have gained a son at the cost of a daughter?
"No! I'm fine! Go help her! Go help May!"
MJ told him to go. Again and again. When the first images of the battle hit their television screen. When the contractions first hit. Even when they were wheeling her into the hospital, she was urging him to go, to help their daughter when no one else could. He should have listened to her, should have understood what she did - that she would be all right.
But he couldn't leave.
He couldn't shake the fear that it would happen again. If he looked away for a moment, if he so much as blinked... could their second child have been snatched away as well? Could they have been tricked a second time?
He promised himself, years ago, that if they had any more children he would be there to see it. To make sure that the next child they brought into this world would stay with them, instead of being stolen by a lunatic under the pretense of a miscarriage.
Now that promise seems hollow.
The news feed cut off an hour ago, when a girder fell on a news truck and the remaining journalists decided to cut and run. Just before the girder hit, the camera zoomed in on Seth, shoving away chunks of concrete like grains of sand as he rose from the rubble. And as he got up again, Spider-Girl launched herself at him again, throwing herself at the killing machine that was five times her size.
Peter closes his eyes, trying to block out his fears, but those last few seconds of footage keep replaying in his mind. He remembers seeing how torn-up the costume was already, flinching as he realizes what kind of injuries the frayed fabric was covering up. He knows from experience just what that state of disrepair means to the person beneath the costume. He remembers pleading with the television screen in a hushed whisper, begging his little girl to run. The retired superhero in him knows what she was up to, that she had to keep Seth busy so the others could escape. The father in him knows that she had every opportunity to escape.
Over and over again, he keeps seeing the impact. Spider-Girl slams into Seth, pounding on him even as the monster grabs her. His daughter is tossed about like a marionette on strings, jerky and out-of-control but still tense - still trying to match that bastard punch for punch. Peter can see just how hard Seth is hitting her, can remember what someone of that strength can do. He remembers fighting opponents who were too strong for him, remembers how it took all his strength just to keep going until backup arrived - or until he got lucky and escaped.
May didn't even consider escape as an option.
An hour has passed since then. In a battle like that, it could have been decided in the space of a minute. Seth was only toying with May, Peter knows; what would happen if he tired of playing around and just decided to end it?
What if he'd gone to help her when he could?
What if he's already too late?
Why the hell didn't she just RUN?
He slumps against the wall, covering his eyes, unable to stop the tears. He knows the answer to that last one, knows he would have done the same. May is as stubborn as her old man, and as strong as her namesake. Aunt May never backed down when it came to her family, to those she cared about...
Oh, God.
Now he understands.
He thought he understood when May first insisted on wearing the damned costume, when Spider-Girl made her first appearance over New York City. All the nights she snuck out with or without his blessing, the amount of times she risked her life and he worried at home - he thought he knew then what his aunt went through, in those last few years when she knew the truth. But even then, he hadn't been helpless to do anything. He hadn't truly faced the prospect of losing her to the villains she fought - as inexperienced as she was, most of the villains she'd encountered were in her range. But now... but this...
This is what Aunt May went through. What he put her through those last years, once she knew the truth.
Peter wants to jump up, to run out of there, to change into his old costume and make a break for the scene of the battle. But he can't do that. This is May's fight. There's nothing he can do now. He's completely drained, his energy spent, unable to move. He's never been so terrified - and so proud - at the same time.
Dammit, why aren't any of the news stations picking the story up?
"Daddy?"
...and the brain couldn't remember the rest of the scene.
BTW, is it just me, or has fanfiction.net been down all day?
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-10 06:09 pm (UTC)I can't wait for more! Yay!
-Soku