Author's Note: Okay you guys, this is gonna sort of be a weird chapter. Weird, but necessary. In it I have hidden a few easter eggs, so to speak, and I challenge you to pick them out as you read through. Happy Reading!

"Read pages 214 through 224 in your textbooks tonight, and be ready to discuss in class tomorrow." Mr. McGregor told his students. He had to speak loud in order to be heard over the chaotic noise that followed the final bell.

Students filed quickly out of the classroom and into the already over-crowded hallway beyond. Gwen Stacy was among the first few to exit the room. For once she was actually glad to be out of school for the day.

Usually, Gwen enjoyed sitting through Mr. McGregor's Intro to Psychology course, but not today. She couldn't stop thinking about Peter, and the injuries he was still recovering from. She knew that he was currently back at his own house, having finally been released from the hospital, and that tonight he would be all alone while his Aunt May was at work.

She made a quick stop by her locker, and then made her way out of the building and down the street to the bus stop. As she walked the block and a half from the schoolyard to the bus stop, she used her cell phone to send Peter a text.

Peter. I'm cming ovr, almost at bs stp. Be ther in 20. Gwen

Darkness. Overwhelming, engulfing darkness. No where to go, no where to run. It was everywhere. Peter felt the ever-pressing, black nothingness close in around him. It was suffocating, and threatened to end him.

"No! No, stop! Nooooo!" Peter screamed blindly.

Then there was light. Illuminating, pale light that seemed to pour in from everywhere. eHe It was both comforting, and unsettling to him. "Where am I? What's going on?"

He could hear sounds. They were familiar sounds, like voices, that belonged to faces masked by fog. He knew what they were, and yet he could not, for the life of him, make any sense of them whatsoever.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss. If there's anything we can do…please, let us know."

A heavy weight tugged at Peter's heart, and made it extremely hard for him to breathe. He tried to understand the reason for the sudden agonizing pain that twisted his insides so wretchedly tight.

"Why-Why did this happen? Haven't I suffered enough?"

The sounds grew louder until they seemed almost thunderous in his ears, and became too unbearable to tolerate. "What do you want from me!"

"…Promise me…You'll leave Gwen out of it…"

Peter snapped to attention. All of the other voices seemed to fade out at once. "Captain Stacy, sir?"

A dreary, overcast sky loomed overhead, and threatened to rain down mercilessly upon his head. The voices were clearer than they had been before, and Peter could finally see where he was.

He was in a cemetery, and he recognized most of the people that stood around him. He noticed that, while everyone else was dressed appropriately for a funeral, he was not. He was dressed in his grungy, old street clothes. A strange thing, indeed.

He spotted his Aunt May just across the way. She was talking with Gwen's Mother, who seemed inconsolable at the moment. He decided to approach them.

"Why-Why did this happen? Haven't I suffered enough?" Mrs. Stacy sobbed.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss. If there's anything we can do…please, let us know." Aunt May replied, as she gently rubbed the grieving woman's trembling hands in her own. "She was such a sweet girl. She will be missed."

Peter stopped just feet from where Aunt May and Mrs. Stacy stood. The words he'd just heard seemed to paralyze him with such dread, as he could not accurately describe with words.

He had thought this was all about Captain Stacy—could he have been wrong? Was it possible they were talking about Gwen? No, no it couldn't be.

"Excuse me," Peter said, and he had to swallow a lump that formed in his throat. "I couldn't help overhear…has something happened to Gw-?"

The two women turned to face Peter, and almost immediately Gwen's Mother loses it. Her eyes are dark, and menacing as she glares crossly at Peter.

"Peter?" Aunt May said, almost in surprise at the sight of her nephew.

"You!" Mrs. Stacy roared angrily. "You! This-This is all your fault! You did this!" the angry, grieving woman marched towards Peter as she spoke.

"Mrs. Stacy, I-"

"We trusted you. She trusted you!" Mrs. Stacy continued. "And for what! Look where it got her!"

Peter stumbled backwards, away from Mrs. Stacy, and wound up bumping into someone standing behind him. He spun around at once to apologize, and froze.

"S-Sorry, I didn't mean t-" Peter stared, wide-eyed, at the beautiful blond. "Gwen!" He was no longer in the cemetery, but instead stood high atop a stone tower which overlooked a churning, body of water below.

Her face was twisted up into a look of panic and fear. "Peter," Her voice shook as she spoke, and she shifted nervously as if something were after her. "He's after me."

"Gwen, I don't understand. What's going on?" Peter asked.

"Please, don't let him get me…not again." Gwen begged. "Last time was an accident. I know you didn't mean for it to happen…you couldn't have." She rambled on uncontrollably as tears streaked down her delicate cheeks.

"Gwen, you're safe. You're safe okay. It's gonna be alright, I promise." Peter said, as he gently cupped her left cheek with his hand.

A look of horror passed over Gwen's face then, and she pulled back away from Peter's grasp. "No. No. I don't believe you." She said, as she shook her head fearfully.

"Why not…Gwen please-"

"No, stay away." Gwen cried. A shadow appeared behind her as she backed away, and it seemed to loom ominously up over her slender figure.

Peter noticed the shadow, and a sudden surge of fear and adrenaline pumped through him like a bolt of lightning from the sky. He had to act, and fast. "Gwen, behind you!" Before he could move to help her, though, it was too late.

Gwen tried to turn around. "Wha…Uunngh." Her eyes clamped shut as pain shot all through her body in just the blink of an eye. She fell forward as every ounce of strength seemed to leave her body all at once.

Peter rushed forward, and caught the falling Gwen in his arms. "I've got you!" He gently lowered the two of them to the ground, and held her carefully cross his lap. "Gwen…Gwen,"

Gwen let go of a tired sniffle, but didn't open her eyes to look up at him. "I thought…I thought you loved me." She whispered quietly, and then there was silence.

"What…I-I do. Gwen. Gwen!" He gave her body a light shake, but nothing happened. "No. No, no, no, no, no." he cried as he checked for a pulse. "Gwen, no. Don't do this to me—Don't-"

A wicked laugh reached Peter's ears, and he looked up instantly and saw the shadowy figure staring down at him. The shadow almost seemed to sneer at him.

Anger filled Peter's eyes as he glared back at the shadow. "You!" Peter roared angrily, and the next thing he knew he was standing once more, clad in his blue and red Spider suit, ready to challenge the evil shadow. "Murderer!"

"She's dead! She's dead, and you killed her!" Peter thundered, as his whole body seemed to seethe with blistering rage.

"No…not me." The shadow hissed in an unmistakable mocking tone. "But I know who…I can show you."

Peter lunged forward, and grabbed the shadow. He reached up then, and grabbed for the shadow's head as if it were wearing a mask of some sort. "Just who the hell are you!" Peter demanded, as he yanked upward on the shadow's mask.

Everything was white again, and Peter found himself standing in front of a tall mirror. His face had nicks and scrapes all over it, and his hair was soaked with sweat and matted to his head. He noticed that he now held his own mask in his right hand, and when he looked up he found himself staring at a grinning reflection of himself in the mirror.

"I-I don't understand." Peter stammered, unable to process what he was seeing in front of him.

His reflection gave an evil chuckle as it stared right back at him. "Oh, come now." It hissed with a thin smirk. "Its not that difficult. You wanted to know my identity."

Peter shook his head from side to side, as a dark realization settled over him. "No, no." Peter said, as he shook his head in frustration. "No."

"Yeessss." The reflection hissed delightedly. "I'm You."

Peter clenched his fists angrily. "No, I would never-" he started.

The reflection laughed at Peter's agony and frustration. "You…killed…Gw-"

Peter slammed his fist hard, and without warning, into the mirror. "Nooooooo!" He roared out of desperation and sorrow. The mirror shattered into millions of tiny pieces before him.

…Peter….Peter…..Peter…Peter….

Gwen shook Peter gently. "Peter…Peter, wake up."

Peter was tossing gently in his bed where he'd fallen asleep earlier. Even in his sleep, his face was contorted into a look of agony. "Gw-Gwen….Gwen, no…..I'm sorry. Gwen!"

"Peter!" Gwen gave her boyfriend one last hard shake, and it did the trick.

Peter opened his eyes, and then sat bolt upright in bed. He soon wished that he hadn't moved at all, as every sore muscle in his body suddenly screamed in unison. "Oouuch." Peter groaned.

"Sorry." Gwen apologized. She reached for the medicine bottle on the nearby nightstand. She unscrewed the lid, and tapped out one whole pill into the palm of her hand. "Here, this'll help the pain. It's past time for your next dose anyway."

"Gwen," Peter said, as he blinked the sleep away from his eyes. "What are you…doing here?" he asked, still somewhat groggy, as he accepted the pain pill from the blonde.

Gwen shook her head as she replaced the medicine bottle, and then picked up the glass and pitcher next to it. "Of course you didn't get my text…you were asleep." She said, more to herself than to Peter.

…TBC…