CHAPTER 1: Alone

It had been one year. One Year since Aunt May was taken from the world and from him. One year since he refused Mephisto's offer to bring May back to life at the cost of his and Mary Jane's love. He wonders, why did she have to die because of a mistake that he made?

In the dingy, stale air of a motel room, the man known to the world as Peter Parker sat at the foot of his bed in a worn white tank top with blue boxers. His hair is unkempt; his face haggard and covered in a two-inch thick beard soaked in tears. His eyelids were clamped shut as mental images flashed in his mind as they had so many times before.

One year since Peter Parker revealed to the world that he was Spider-man and still he was haunted by it. The events replayed in his mind like dominos, one event leading directly to the next. Beginning with his fight against Titanium Man in Washington D.C. The struggle left nothing but rubble in its wake, people frantically running in every direction as the two collided at such a crucial time. The government was already considering to manage superhero activities within the United States. Every hero or "cape" would have to submit their identity in order to continue their activities.

It seemed that maybe after explaining the importance of a secret identity, Spider-Man could perhaps sway their decision if he was lucky. At the time, he wasn't sure if he was any help but any slight chance he gave the hero community vanished after the explosion in Stamford, Connecticut that resulted in over six-hundred deaths. It was a horrific sight for anyone to bear. The thick dust from destroyed buildings clouded the air like a grey fog. To make matters worse a school district was in the blast radius, so when people figured it was a super powered being responsible Spider-Man wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms next to Iron man.

After that things got heated really fast. The people themselves, outraged by the Stamford incident pushed for the registration act to become reality. He remembers what it was like, waiting in the pristine halls of the White House as Tony Stark spoke to the President himself. Whistling tunes to pass the time and observing the many pieces that decorated the sunlit hallway. As Tony returned from the Presidents quarters he wore a dark expression on his face. The President would sign the bill and Tony was tasked with rounding up the heroes who refused. Heroes, who time and time again risked their lives and in some cases died doing what they thought was right.

The super hero community was torn into two sides, those for registration and those opposed. Tony looked Peter in the eyes and asked him to stand by him for pro registration. What was he to say, he had already said he would lend Tony a hand if he needed it, but this? This would mean facing a man he respected and admired, Captain America. When Tony asked him to trust him with pro registration he would have to reveal his identity to the world and it wasn't great. People crowded him wherever he went, he had been sued for five million dollars in damages to the Daily Bugle done by villains and Mary Jane was almost shot while being mobbed by paparazzi. At that moment fear took him over. Damage that he tried to prevent by wearing the mask had happened like he always feared.

Peters folded hands covered his face as he continues to reflect. He went along with it all until half way through the battles he realized it was all wrong. When Tony showed him where the captured heroes were contained within the Negative Zone. A realm, where reality is twisted to the point where two weeks equals one hour on Earth. Seeing heroes, stuffed in personalized cages was not how a hero should be treated he thought which lead to his switching sides.

But no matter what Tony had done to his captives was nothing compared to what happened to Aunt May. An assassin hired by the Kingpin, Wilson Fisk meant to kill him had caught May instead. He remembers every ounce of blood that trickled down his arm as he held her. Bullets hailed from the motel walls, seeking to hit the target but none succeeded.

Wilson had paid for his mistake. Peter snuck into prison while Fisk was leaving and beat him in front of a room full of inmates. The kingpin of crime bleeding from his mouth and sore all over his body laid helpless and made an example off in the criminal world. Peter was in a dark place but that didn't compare to moving May from one hospital to another because he couldn't pay for her hospital care from his account or insurance due to pro registration looking for him and his frozen accounts. He had to forge a signature so that he could even transfer her. In the end he did get help from Jarvis, Starks butler but she still died.

Usually after this point Peter wonders what would have happened if he had said yes to Mephisto. He and Mary Jane would never have gotten married, would he even remember their marriage? Suddenly he thinks about how he could weight his marriage against his beloved Aunt. He couldn't say yes though Mary Jane agreed to it because it wasn't fair to ask such a thing.

"With great power, comes great responsibility." That's what Uncle Ben said to him all those years ago. A simple line of words that meant the world to Peter and made him the man he was today. Even at that moment those words held him in place from cracking under the weight of his choices. As he sat at the foot of the bed in a shabby, dark hotel room, how could he forget those words? His loss is great but when weighted against the families of other heroes affected by his decisions, how can he walk away?

Tears stream run his slumped face with the images Aunt May in the hospital bed and the cycle of Memories repeats again. The anger swells through his body at these thoughts. It had been a year since it all happened and he can't change that but he could do something in the present. He slowly lifts his slumped head slightly. He faces two chairs, each draped with rags formally known as costumes. The right chair is covered in black robes with only sinister white eyes and a twisted spider covering the chest area. Peter gritted his teeth, clamping them shut and balled his fist tight.

For a moment at the thought of revenge he wavered and turned his head with shut eyes. Peter then looked into the other chair covered in red, its golden colored parts glinted in what little light penetrated the ragged curtains. The tense grip lessened to a slight clasp to the torn red and gold as it somehow brings back Ben's words.

He knows he can't go back to the way things were, the red and blue was gone like a faded dream in the stream of time. Things had changed now and the spider must survive one way or another. Peter wipes the running tears from his eyes with his forearm and gradually comes to a stand. He steps closer to the two chairs, his unkempt hair covering his eyes. His heart pounds hard into his chest, knowing that what happens next will not be easy but nothing for him ever was. A fight for survival, like the many other times but the enemy would be different.

As Peter loomed closer to the two suits his right arm stretched out toward the black suit. "With great power comes great responsibility" plays in his head like it always does and he grips a fist full of the torn Iron Spider suit. Its silky soft texture made with cutting edge technology.

He gives a long steady exhale and says "It's ok Aunt May, Mary Jane. I'll make everything right this time."