Warning: Spiderman 3 spoilers!
Free Fall
Epilogue
It was a cruel twist of fate, really. Harry was sitting in a balcony seat watching Mary Jane Watson's Broadway debut all because Kenzie had requested MJ sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the funeral. Who knew there would be a vocal scout at the church? But it wasn't only MJ he was watching that night. Peter had showed up, orchestra seat, center stage. He figured Pete would be there tonight which is why Harry chose to sit up in the balcony. Without the filter of Kenzie anymore, Peter had returned to being the man who killed his father.
All the work that he had done in his father's lab was finished. After Kenzie's death he had thrown himself into finishing the equipment. Starved for some kind of companionship now, he had locked the iPod in the desk and returned to doing what his father had told him. There were times, like this, when Peter and MJ were around that it almost felt as if he would turn to the side and Kenzie would be sitting next to him.
Be strong, Harry.
And he would. Tonight was the night that Spiderman would pay for his crimes. He had taken not only his father but also his wife. It was going to end now.
Penny Marko woke up hearing her mother shouting at someone. The last time her mother had shouted had been when the phone rang and they were informed of Kenzie's death. Her mom didn't have many friends, which was something Penny never fully understood, but Kenzie had been one of them. Penny crept from her bed and peeked out of the bedroom door to see what was going on.
A man's voice responded to her mother's outraged one and Penny caught a glimpse of her dad. From the sounds of it, he shouldn't be there or at least that's what her mom was telling him. Why shouldn't he be there? This was his home too, wasn't it? But her mother was being stubborn and it looked like he might leave. She didn't want him to leave, not when she had so much to tell him. She wanted to tell him that she was getting better, slowly but surely, and that she had lost her baby teeth while he was gone and Kenzie…she wanted to tell him about Kenzie.
Realizing she had only a small amount of time, Penny grabbed the framed photo of her and her mom and pulled out the photograph. She opened up her crayon box and pulled out her craft scissors and carefully cut out the faces of her and her mom. After that was done, she pulled the locket over her head and popped out the picture of Kenzie and her mom and replaced them with her pictures. Her mom would probably be very angry with her for cutting up the picture and giving away the locket but Kenzie had given it to her for a reason. To remind her to be strong and that she could get better. Perhaps that was all her Dad needed, was a reminder to be strong.
Peter held his breath for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night. Sore from the fight with Harry, he did his best to hide the pain. The doctors had told him that Harry had suffered short term memory loss and Peter wondered just how far back the loss went. One thing that made him relax somewhat was the easy going smile Harry had his face.
"Hey buddy."
Peter smiled. "Hey."
"I hit my head."
"Yeah." And he waited as the inevitable sank in. He didn't want to be the one that had tell him that his young vibrant wife had died suddenly. He prayed to whoever was listening, that all memories of Kenzie had been washed away. Peter never wanted to see that kind of pain on his friend's face ever again.
"I'm having a hard time remembering," Harry was saying, "My dad's dead, isn't he?"
His dad, not Kenzie. "Yeah." Surely this was the merciful thing to do right now, wasn't it?
MJ didn't know what she was doing anymore. Peter had changed and so had Harry. After the incident in the Bronx apartment where Harry had blamed Peter for Kenzie's death, she wasn't sure if any of them could be friends again. But then that odd accident had returned Harry back to them…and something was driving Peter away. That was why she called Harry. That was why she was in his kitchen right now, listening to the oldies and helping him cook dinner.
She remembered times when all four of them would crowd into this kitchen, blast music and cook. Kenzie was a fantastic cook. Peter had said he didn't think it was a good idea to remind Harry of Kenzie so they had taken down all pictures of her before Harry returned from the hospital. But she wondered if he was right in that decision. What if it was better that Harry remember Kenzie?
One of her favorite memories of Kenzie was when she would convince Harry to dance with her in the kitchen. Maybe if she tried to recreate that it would jog Harry's memory of her. Kenzie's advice on dancing was always just go with the music, move your feet and you can't go wrong. So that was all MJ did and hoped Kenzie was watching, enjoying the show and realizing just how much she was missed.
Bernard was certain he was going senile. That had to be the reason. Ever since Kenzie's death, he had seen her everywhere in the penthouse. Then she had started talking to him and he thought he was losing his mind as well as his wits. And tonight, it seemed as if the whole world was crumbling around him without any sign of stopping.
He had heard the fight go on between Peter and Harry and as was usual, he went down when all was silent again to pick up the pieces. It wasn't a butler's job to interfere with the business of his employer's but it also wasn't his job to love them either. He had worked for the Osborns since Norman had been Harry's age. It was only natural to love them like the family they were but to show no outward sign of it.
But Kenzie was being insistent this night. The only time she had quieted was the time it took him to assess the damage to Harry's face from what looked like one of those pumpkin bombs. But once he was dismissed by his master, Kenzie launched into her tiresome tirade.
"You have to tell him, Bernard. He has a right to know what happened to his father, what really happened."
"And why don't you tell him?" It was the first time he had ever spoken in contradiction to any of his superiors but he highly doubted this counted as disrespect as she was dead.
"I can't tell him," she said sadly. "His father has me so completely blocked from Harry's conscious. He couldn't see or hear me even if he wanted. Now is the time to tell him the truth."
Bernard thought about how to argue with her but couldn't come up with any reliable logic to counter her statement. Norman could be a force to be reckoned with, who's to say he wasn't even more so after death? So many strange things had happened in this house, who's to say what was real or logically anymore. Perhaps it was time to tell Harry everything. It was time for him to know the circumstances of his father's death and how much Bernard loved him.
"I loved you, too," the butler said, turning towards where Kenzie was only to find she had disappeared from view.
Kenzie stood on the skeleton of the building in the predawn hours. She had watched it all, the fight and the kill and now she waited. She didn't think that she and Harry would be reunited so soon after her death. She had missed him desperately but had wanted him to find some kind of happiness in this life. She had watched him every step of the way that led him here and grieved along with MJ and Peter. At least, they would be together again.
"I never saw it ending this way."
Kenzie turned to see Norman Osborn standing next to her, quietly regarding the scene in front of him. "I'll fight you for him. You will not continue to hold him in death."
He turned surprised eyes towards her. "You really are formidable."
"You haven't seen anything yet."
A small smile crept across his face. "I've seen enough."
Kenzie's hackles eased slightly. "What do you mean?"
"I'm not going to be around anymore."
"Why? Where are you going?"
He sighed. "I'll just fade away. You've done something that I couldn't do, in life or death."
"What's that?"
He turned to look at her again and there was such sadness in his eyes, Kenzie almost reached out to hug him. Almost. But he simply said, "You loved him."
Kenzie blinked in surprise and when it was over, he had completely disappeared from sight.
Peter and MJ had gone to the Osborn penthouse on the request of Bernard. He had decided to stay with the house and whatever new tenants might come with it. But he had set aside a few things for his late master's friends. Kenzie's prized panda tiles went to MJ, who now stood cradling them against her chest and crying in the corner of the elevator. Peter kept turning over the leather bound diary of Harry's in his hand. He didn't know why it surprised him that Harry had kept a journal. Despite his businessman persona, Harry had always been creative in many different areas.
"Have you read it yet?"
Peter turned towards MJ. "No. I don't know if I should."
"Bernard said to read the last entry at least."
Peter took a deep breath and found the last entry half-way through the book. The artistic irony was not lost on him…a half-filled journal for a half-lived life. He read through the last paragraph in the journal and had no idea how in the world he was going to read it to MJ. He had never read a more emotional tribute to love in all the poetry books he had read to impress MJ. Clearing his throat, he started to read.
"'I remember my wife in white. I remember her walking toward me on our wedding day, a bouquet of red flowers in her hand, and I remember her turning away from me in anger, her body stiff as a stone. I remember the sound of her breath as she slept. I remember the way her body felt in my arms. I remember, always I remember, that she brought solace to my life as well as grief. That for every dark moment we shared between us, there was a moment of such brightness I almost could not bear to look at it head-on. I try to remember the woman she was and not the woman I have built out of spare parts to comfort me in my mourning. And I find, more and more, as the days go by and the balm of my forgiveness washes over the cracked and parched surface of my heart, I find that remembering her as she was is a gift I can give us both.'"
The End
Author's Note: Okay, dialogue is from the movie and therefore belongs to those who own the movie. Harry's final statement is taken directly from the book "The Dogs of Babel." Fantastic book and a huge inspiration to this story.
Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing this story! You can not believe how sad I am to see it come to an end. I will seriously miss you all. But I do have another story idea for Spiderman so keep your eyes peeled. It's been so much fun writing this story and reading your reviews! hugs to everyone