Chapter 13: Don't Worry

I am just sitting here in shock right now, because I managed to finish this right on time. And it is the longest chapter yet by a few hundred words. When I first started writing this, I had told myself I was going to post a new chapter every week, but I hadn't actually expected to succeed. I'm just in complete and utter shock.

And I managed to confuse you all! Although I must admit that NodMPortant came very close in their guess. It's pretty much the truth. Congratulations! You get a virtual thumbs up!

I did my best to tie up every loose end I found. But please let me know if you have any further questions, or spot something I missed.

So . . . without further ado . . .

Monkey huffed, almost a disbelieving laugh, but not quite. "Don't deny it. You know you enjoyed most of it. I know I would've enjoyed it."

"Yes, well, Helheim . . . I can't believe that worked."

Loki collapsed mere seconds after Set disappeared through the portal. It took a lot to exhaust a god. Hermes hadn't seen any deities exhaust themselves since Zeus had hosted that toga party a few years prior. Hermes knew that what Loki had done was huge, he just had no idea of what he had actually done.

And his tongue was still tied, so he couldn't even ask.

"That was crazy!" Coyote exclaimed. She rushed over to Loki, kneeling beside him. "What were you thinking?"

"Not much, to be honest," Loki replied weakly. "That's what happens when you're reading two teenagers' minds while trying to formulate a plan to save your skin." He lifted his head up to look at her. "Would you mind helping a handsome guy out?"

Coyote and Raven smiled. "Not at all!"

Coyote stood and went to Hermes, flexing her fingers. Raven skipped over to where Set had stood and began chanting a resonating mantra in a variety of Native American languages. Monkey stayed where he was, examining his fingernails. He nearly looked entirely unflappable, except his fur was nearly standing on end and his eyes were much wider than they usually were.

"That's just cruel!" Loki let his head fall back to the ground. "I just saved all of your lives!"

"Which you wouldn't have been able to do if we hadn't distracted Set so well," Coyote countered. She struggled a bit to keep Hermes still. "I mean, really, you could have given us a little warning. If Raven and I hadn't caught on so quickly Set would have killed us in worse ways than even you can imagine. Although . . ." She paused thoughtfully as she yanked Hermes' last bit of tongue out of the knot. "I suppose you did do a pretty good job of simulating the apocalypse. Set looked happy."

"Bleh." Hermes massaged his tongue. He had never had a dental procedure done in his life, but he was pretty sure this what it felt like to have your tongue numbed. "What 'oo you mean imula'e? Ih tha' wha' he 'id?"

"What's that, old chum?" Loki asked from his spot on the ground. "I didn't quite hear you."

Hermes usually ignored Loki when he got like this, but he just had to know. "I 'aid -"

"What happened here?"

Nick Fury limped to the front yard. His eye roved over the scene menacingly. White Tiger, Nova, Powerman, and Maria Hill were close behind. Their gaze was more flabbergasted than anything else.

Monkey straightened up. "I just saved the world."

"What?!" Loki, Coyote, and Hermes cried, though Hermes missed the 't' sound at the end.

"I brought you here at just the right moment, didn't I? You wouldn't have been able to do anything if I hadn't helped you out. Hence I saved the world." He lifted his chin smugly. "That's another title to add to the list: Saviour of the World. Or should it just be the Saviour? Ooh, maybe the Mightiest Hero?"

"Wonderful," Fury said dryly. "What did the rest of you witness? Where is Set now?"

Loki propped himself up on an elbow. "No need to worry anymore. Set is currently in the Sun."

Fury didn't even raise an eyebrow. "How long will that hold him?"

"A good few thousand years. Ra won't let him go until he's drained all of his extra magic. Although I hope Set hasn't gotten too powerful." Loki turned to Monkey. "Oh Great Hero, Mightiest on this Earth, will you ensure the safety of the world by alerting all the Head Gods of Set's location?"

"Never fear, I've got this." And Monkey cartwheeled away.

Loki snickered. "Wow, that was easy."

"So that's it?" White Tiger asked. "No more imminent apocalypse?"

"Well, that I need to check. There's a girl sneaking away behind that blue car. She can give you the answer."

Nova flew over and retrieved the girl in question. She thrashed in his grip until she was deposited in the middle of the lawn. Heavily lidded eyes watched everyone warily.

"Hi!" Loki said brightly. "The name's Loki. I just read your mind a few minutes ago. You gave me a really good idea of what the apocalypse should look like. You're an Augur, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"Can you See if what you Saw is still going to happen?"

"It's not. I can't See Apophis destroying the world at all, ever. It almost feels like it happened, but it didn't." She sounded almost horrified. "What did you do?"

Everyone stared at Loki expectantly. He smiled.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really enjoying the attention right now. Now I see why Thor likes to save the world so much. Okay, let me try being humble." He cleared his throat in the near-silence (Raven was still chanting to the side). "All I did was get into Set's mind. He foolishly let me in without putting up any barriers, amateur's mistake, so I began manipulating his senses so that he thought he experienced freeing Apophis and killing everyone. Then I had him deliver himself to Ra. Genius, am I right? I already thanked Delphi for the visuals. But I also need to thank the spider kid; I found the basis of the idea when I read his mind. Let's not forget I fleshed it out and implemented it though."

Sam's fists clenched. "Yeah? Well you're a bit late for that."

Loki got his other elbow up and twisted onto his stomach so he was in the archetypal girl pose with his head on his hands and his feet in the air. "Am I now?"

"You think? He's gone! You lost your little pet-project! But maybe you popped out of thin air after he was burned to a crisp!"

Ava's head tilted to the side. Her words weren't as savage as she had originally meant. "But they must have gotten here before. How else would he be able to read Pete's mind unless it was still . . . working?"

Sam's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "But I didn't see them, and I think I would have noticed them."

The team exchanged glances.

"Then how . . .?" Ava pressed, turning to Loki.

Loki blew some hair out of his face and blinked up at them. "Isn't that a good question? How? I'm actually wondering the same thing. I think Raven has the answer by now, so you can stop glaring at me now. Heroes aren't supposed to pick on a poor guy while he's down, right?"

The team stopped advancing to look at the woman in black who was now kneeling in the grass with her palms pressed into the earth. She stopped chanting on a finished cadence and took a breath. When she spoke, it wasn't the playful cackle she used when she first met the mortals.

"You're lucky I work fast. Just bear in mind that it was magic fire and I can only do so much about that. I need a second to coax him back into his normal form."

Raven closed her eyes. Her hands glowed a gentle green.

And then there was red and blue beneath her fingers.

"Pe-!" Sam and Luke began, but Ava shushed them both as they rushed forward.

"He's still alive guys! That means he still has a secret identity to keep!"

"But didn't you-?"

"Stop right there!" Raven screeched, spreading her arms out. "I healed him as best as I could, but he's still injured. There might be scarring in some areas."

Now that they had a closer look, they understood. There were patches of raw skin visible through patches of the suit that had been burned away. All in all he looked intact, much more intact than Sam had hoped for.

"He's okay?"

Raven nodded.

"So you protected him from the flames?"

She shook her head. "This boy deserves more props than Loki said. You were right that we arrived afterwards, even if it was just by seconds. He saved his own life. That's the only reason Loki was able to read his mind in the first place." Her black lips curled into a comforting smile. "If you're wondering how, it was through transmogrification. He transformed into a water bear shortly after Set started the flames. Quite smart of him."

Sam, Luke, and Ava continued to stare blankly at her.

"You know, a tardigrade? They're little microscopic organisms that are super durable. They can even live in space."

"Oh!" Luke exclaimed. "I remember he told me about them once! They can survive extreme temperatures! Sweet Christmas! Leave it to Spidey to use a weird science fact to save the world!" He clapped Sam and Ava on their shoulders. "Sam, go get May and Ironfist. They'll want to see this."

Laughing, Sam saluted him and flew off.

Ava sat down next to Peter. "Will he wake up soon?"

The reassuring smile never left Raven's lips. "It won't be too long. He would have been awake by now, but Anansi seems to have invited him for a conversation."

"Another one? I guess he wants to know what happened too."

Ah, my little Spider, I'm so glad that happened exactly the way it did. You did such an excellent job.

Peter blinked, looking around. He was back at the Great Web. What was that supposed to mean? Was he dead? He felt like he was probably still alive. He couldn't be sure though.

You are alive and well in both the earthly plane and this one.

Okay, that's good. I wasn't even sure what I was doing, let alone if I did it on time. Peter took a breath, grateful for it no matter the logistics behind the ether. So I'm just a little microscopic thing back there? I hope I don't get blown miles away on the wind or something. Will Set know that he didn't really kill me?

I'm afraid you're a bit behind the times. Set has been taken care of and you have been healed of most serious wounds and returned to your human form.

Really? Were the others able to stop him? Are they all right?

They are fine. There are a few bumps and cuts, but those are less than nothing compared to the alternative.

So Strange was right about the apocalypse thing. What did that have to do with me though?

Ah . . . There was a timber to Anansi's words that sounded almost apologetic. I must confess. I was a little more sure about my warnings than I let on. As I might have mentioned, you begin to see the patterns of life after a few millennia. But then it doesn't really take a genius to put the pieces together when a powerful being keeps hunting for powerful artifacts and whispering about his plans in his sleep. It's hard not to notice such things when you're always watching.

To be honest, I don't care how you figured it out. I'm just glad you were willing to lend a hand. Albeit a very vague one.

One can never be too careful when messing with Time. It's like that saying from earth, you might have heard it on your own earth: too many chefs spoil the stew. I've watched many of my Spiders try to twist Fate. Whenever they overthink things they always end up falling right into the path that leads to the future they're trying to prevent. Considering all of the people you would tell, I feared the same thing might happen to you.

I guess that makes sense. I'm pretty sure I've fallen for traps set up like that. A lot of them, now that I think about it. But how did you know that Set would go after me? Did you give me magic just to use me as bait?

Peter doubted it was a good idea to be angry at such a powerful being, but if that was true-

Of course not. I am not cruel. I knew Set had been eyeing my amulet for a few decades. He sensed its Radical Power. Though he didn't quite understand it, he knew it was perfect to defy the odds to free Apophis. I considered setting you to guard it, but then you began to unlock your own Radical Power and . . . well, I wouldn't say I got carried away, but I did put a lot of thought into this.

You mean you planned for this months ago?!

To some extent, yes.

So you gave me these powers to survive Set's attack?

Yes.

Even the language thing? I'm fairly certain Set wasn't speaking English.

I did say that magic can do unexpected things in Radicals. Although I must say it helped. Set might not have used something as simple as fire if you hadn't made him so furious.

And then . . . what? What stopped Set after that? I didn't miss an epic battle, did I?

Not at all. Loki took care of everything quite nicely. I must say he did better than I had hoped. I had expected him to start a fight with a large amount of collateral damage, but I suppose he was right when he said he was inspired by your thoughts.

Peter thought that if he had been in his physical body, he would have choked on his own breath, or perhaps fainted. Oh, okay, great, just give me a second to wrap my mind around that.

There will be plenty of time for that, young one. Your world should be safe for many more years to come. May I ask what you might have been thinking before I brought you here? I may see all, but I never had the ability to read minds.

I thought you were reading my mind right now.

No, we are conversing through thoughts now, that much is true, but neither of us is reading the mind of the other. The Great Web allows for Spiders' thoughts to be projected, resonated, and received. Anansi chuckled. By no fault of your own, you tend to project all of your thoughts. So what were you thinking that caught Loki's attention?

Peter tried to focus his thoughts on the question. Perhaps his aunt was right when she called him an open book.

I don't know. I wasn't really thinking coherently at the time. I kind of remember thinking how unfair it is, these prophecies. I know Asgard has a doomsday prophecy, and I've heard rumors of others at Shield. It just didn't seem fair, or even logical, that there should be so many ways the world will end. It's not like they can all really happen. One would destroy the world, and then what happens to the rest? They can't still happen, can they?

There was a deep silence on the Great Web. Peter wondered what Loki might have made of those thoughts. They didn't seem all that profound, just a critique. It wasn't like he really knew anything about prophecies. Movies made it seem like Time could only go one way. Although science proved that Time might be able to twist and turn. Maybe there was some way for Time to tie itself into a knot to allow all the right people to destroy the world as they wished.

That was a rather depressing thought.

That is not depressing at all! Anansi's not-voice sounded louder after the silence. Ah, I see it now! Very clever! Very clever indeed! The web shook slightly as an appreciative laugh filled the ether. My goodness, that sounds like something I might have come up with myself. I pick my Spiders carefully, but every so often even I am surprised by your ingenuity.

Um . . . thank you.

Peter hoped that someday he would better understand when he was being complimented and when he was being made fun of.

That was praise, and very high praise at that. I would have lost an entire universe if it wasn't for you. Now I suppose you would like to go home.

Peter tried very hard not to wonder if his thoughts were blushing.

Yes, please.

Farewell, Spider. I hope to watch your world for many years more. You have done well today.

Peter would have woken slowly, one stage at a time.

But then there was yelling, and he recognized the voice, and his eyes snapped open.

"Don't you DARE give me that!" May had her fists balled at her side. She stalked forward, looking ready to punch someone, but a shimmering barrier appeared and blocked her path. "If you'd been nearly as interested in my nephew as you said you were, you would have been able to stop all of this before it even happened! Disaster averted my foot! You were one wrong move away from the literal end of days!"

Peter began trying to push himself up, ignoring how sore and achy his entire body felt. He found he was in what was left of his living room. A myriad of various pillows had been placed beneath him to keep him away from the glass shard strewn floor. The sofa was upside down and stuck in one wall.

He was finding it hard to believe that there hadn't been an epic battle.

It almost could have been blamed on the mess, but the room was even more crowded than it had been earlier. Loki and the other gods had joined them. Peter supposed that was to be expected considering that Anansi had said Loki had saved the day. Speaking of Loki, he was the only other person lying on the floor. Only a blanket had been placed beneath him with a single pillow to support his head. Everyone else was standing, watching May. It appeared that she had tried to punch Loki. She was glaring at him shrewdly now.

"You already said you didn't save Peter. He saved himself. You might have saved the world, but Peter is my world, and you weren't here for him."

There was definitely a blush on Peter's face now.

"I won't argue with that," Loki replied in an appeasing tone. "I'm just saying that Set would have eventually noticed that he hadn't actually killed him. The kid saved himself, but I made sure he stayed safe. It's not like I'm taking credit for his life. I'm just the guy who saved the world, after all."

At this point Peter couldn't help but laugh. All eyes suddenly turned to him, but May was the first at his side. She hugged him gently.

"Oh, honey, I'm so glad you're all right! You are okay, right? Does anything hurt? I can get you a heating pad, or some water."

"I'm fine, just a bit achy. Were you just admonishing a god for being irresponsible?"

"Well, Mr. Fury is busy debriefing Dr. Strange. He's been awake for a few minutes. He might not have done much, but at least Strange was here to help."

May released him, and Peter looked up at everyone else. Everyone looked happy, if not downright amused. The bird-looking woman and the woman in fur were stifling back laughs. Hermes was doing a fairly good job of toning down his smile. All of Peter's teammates had taken off their masks and helmets. They looked relieved, if not a bit tired. Maria Hill came next to May. She smiled wryly.

"Let us know when you're going to escape death last minute, okay?"

"Sorry if I worried y—"

"Ah, ah," May interrupted him. "What did I tell you? When it comes to our lives, we ought to expect some trouble. But when you worry you make it double."

Peter felt a smile coming onto his own face. "Don't worry, b—"

"Be happy! Oh, I love that song!"

Everyone stared disbelievingly at Loki. Hermes sighed.

"Really, Loke? You just totally ruined the mood in here. I was already imagining the song starting to play for some end credits or something."

Peter shook his head. "There can't be end credits now. Something else is probably going to pop up by tomorrow."

May raised an eyebrow. "Not if I can help it. You're going to enjoy a nice long interlude before you go running off to save the world again."

"Aw, May!"

"Don't you 'aw, May' me! I just want your story to be as long as possible."

Everyone else began laughing quietly. Peter glared up at them. "May, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends and four immortal gods!"

"I think you can survive some embarrassment at this point. You'll live, and that's all that matters to me."

Danny nodded. "Those that go gold into the furnace will come out no worse."

Peter debated retorting that it was still torture, but decided not to.

He was alive when he could have been a shriveled husk by now.

The world was alive when it could have been a shriveled husk by now.

It was hard not to be happy.

It was hard not to feel like gold.

Fin!

. . . for now.

Thank you to all readers and reviewers! I'm glad to have entertained you!

If anyone is interested, I'm going to focus on posting some one-shots over the winter-break. Hopefully by the new year I'll have a massive buffer for my other stories. I've got plans for both Ultimate Spider-Man and MCU Spider-Man. Actual plans, not just flying by the seat of my pants. They'll be more serious and angsty than Anansesem, and probably a bit more logical too.