Moving forward

Once again, it was another solemn afternoon in New York on a day that should've been filled with joy and celebration.

Eren Parker, Cindy Moon, Harry Osborn, and their peers stood amongst Dr. Curt Connors's colleagues and family as his casket was lowered into his grave. Yet again, Eren felt as if he had lost a friend and a father figure to him.

He stayed strong during the funeral, failing to hold back tears but maintaining his composure, as that's what Curt would have wanted. He respected the man's decision to take his own life, he figured it was better than him suffering in his own mind for the rest of his life, he just wished there was something he could've done to prevent it.

Curt Connors wasn't the only one who took his life as a result of the Connors Procedure, nearly eighty percent of all people who were transformed into lizards took their own life sometime after they were returned to their human forms due to the unbearable trauma.

They couldn't bear to live with the memories of murdering the people they loved or taking the lives of the innocent.

As the casket continued to lower, Eren's tears continued, but his best friends stood by his side. Cindy's warm hands embraced his and Harry's hand rested on his shoulder. When the funeral ended, the two of them stood by Eren as everyone else began to clear out, giving him the time he needed to grieve.

"Harry, it's time for us to go." Norman, his father, told him. Reluctantly, Harry looked over at Eren and Eren nodded. "Thank you." He told his friend. "I'll see you later."

"See you later, Eren." Harry said before walking away with his father back to their car, leaving Cindy and Eren alone at Dr. Connors's grave.

The two were silent for a few seconds, still holding each other's hands as they looked at Curt's resting place. Cindy wanted to say something to Eren, but she couldn't find the right things to say. It'd been hard for her to talk to him ever since prom night, so much had happened in such a short amount of time, and she didn't know what would be appropriate to bring up with him.

Their peers losing their lives.

Him revealing himself to be Spider-Man.

Eren finding his own teacher dead in his home.

And having the weight of all of this on his shoulders, made the whole situation hard to discuss.

However, despite all of this, there was no need for her to push Eren to open up anymore, as he was ready to do so of his own volition. Staring blankly at his teacher's grave, the boy began to speak.

"I'm sorry for hiding who I really was from you for so long, Cindy." Eren said quietly. Cindy said nothing, continuing to look down at Curt's resting place. "When I told you that I was afraid to have you get involved with me, this is what I meant. I didn't want Spider-Man to be the reason why I lost you, Harry, or anyone. But I understand now that you can't protect everyone, no matter how hard you try."

"It must be hard." Cindy told him. "Being Spider-Man, having the weight of the world on your shoulders, the weight of responsibility."

Eren nodded, it was as if she read his mind.

"You know, originally, I never wanted any of this. To be a hero, an idol, someone that kids worship and look up to. I just wanted revenge for my mother's killer, but when I saw innocent people getting hurt, something came over me and I felt like I had to do something about it. So I did, I stepped up when no one else would and I started saving people."

"You made the right decision, Eren." Cindy told him, rubbing his arm with her hand as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I think I did, but I would often still wonder if that was true. If I was never bitten by that spider..." As those words left Eren's mouth, Cindy's eyes widened slightly. She was curious if the source of his power was a spider bite, similar to how she was bitten by a spider and started noticing strange things happening to her body. "... I wondered how different things would have been. I wish I could see that life of mine, somehow. Just out of curiosity."

"But, I learned a lot on prom night. Before that night, I wanted to save every single last person in the world. I saw it as my responsibility to do so because I was the only one out there with these powers. When I saw all of our classmates dying, seeing that I couldn't save them all was detrimental to me. I felt like a failure, it was even worse when I went outside and saw the streets littered with corpses."

"There was a woman, she looked to be several months pregnant. She told me that I can't be everywhere at once and I can't save everyone. She said she was proud of me for saving so many people as Spider-Man. That's when I realized that I wasn't cursed with the burden of having these powers, I was gifted the opportunity to stop bad things from happening that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to. Saving just one person is better than saving zero. I still want to save everyone, I truly do, but I've accepted the fact that this isn't realistic in our world."

"Later that night, I fought and saved Dr. Connors and he could tell that I was taking on the burden that was thrown at me by his own mistake. He told me that it was his burden, not mine. He told me he was proud of me and to never quit being Spider-Man. And you know what, it made me realize that I can't take credit for the bad things that happen in the world. What Dr. Connors did was an accident, but when it comes to people who purposely harm others, I understand now that I can't take responsibility for their actions, I can only do my best to prevent their actions from harming more people."

"I wish I could thank Dr. Connors one last time for everything he's taught me, even after his death. Despite not being able to physically tell him, I'll show him by doing everything I can as Spider-Man to protect as many people as possible, even if it costs me my life."

"I hope it never comes to that..." Cindy said. "You losing your life, I mean."

"Yeah, me too." Eren told her softly. As if the universe timed things perfectly, Eren Parker's crime monitoring app went off, telling Spider-Man that it was time to clock in. "Ah." Eren uttered, holding up his phone to Cindy Moon. "Duty calls. You need a lift or..."

Cindy laughed slightly. "No, it's okay, I can walk. Go get 'em, Spider-Man." She said with a bit of enthusiasm, though it was clear that the whole situation was depressing to her.

"Yes ma'am." The hero said, saluting to her before his body became enveloped with his Spider-Matter costume, taking the form of the red and black costume, along with the blue aura of his Ultimate Godspeed form.

In a flash, the hero took off, leaving Cindy Moon and a blue streak behind him. As Cindy watched the blue streak fade, she looked down at her own palms and began expelling webs from her fingertips, creating an incredibly detailed rose, one with such detail that it almost looked 3D printed. "I want to use my powers to save people too, but why am I so afraid..." She whispered to herself, feeling uncertain as to what the next step in her life should be.

𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵...

Valeria Richards, the youngest child of Reed and Sue Richards, thrashed about in her bed as she began having a nightmare.

"All hope lies in Doom." A booming, demonic voice told her as images flashed in her mind. They were moving so fast, it was impossible for her to even begin to comprehend them.

"All hope lies in Doom." The voice repeated before raising its voice loudly, so loud that her ears felt as if they were ready to explode.

"ALL."

"HOPE."

"LIES."

"IN."

"DOOM."

Valeria's eyes shot open and she leaned up out of her bed in a panic. Breathing heavily, she looked around her pitch-black bedroom. Once again, she had the same nightmare she'd been having for the last few weeks, each time becoming more immersive and life-like. "What is Doom?" The ten-year-old asked herself, rubbing her head as she could feel a migraine coming on.

Meanwhile, across the planet in a country known as Latveria, a hooded figure sat on a throne with his arms interlocked in front of his chin. In front of his throne was a green robot, kneeling down in front of the man as if he were his ruler. "My lord, we have delivered the message to King T'Challa and are awaiting his response to your demands."

"Splendid, I expect nothing more than compliance from the Wakandan." The hooded figure said in a regal, stern voice as he slowly rose from his throne and began stepping down from it, unhurriedly approaching the light in the center of the room and walking past his minion.

"And if he does not, my lord?" The minion asked, still kneeling before the throne despite his master no longer resting upon it.

The man laughed, stepping into the light and revealing a metallic mask, covered by a green hooded cloak that draped down to his feet. Through his mask, his eyes were visible, as was the skin around them that appeared to be somewhat damaged. His body was completely covered in titanium armor, which was also covered by his green cloak, matching his mask. "Then he and his people shall face the righteousness of Doom!" He said triumphantly, walking out of his throne room and leaving the kneeling minion behind.