Blood and Cats

(September 2011- 9:25 AM)

-Three Weeks after the Battle of Harlem-

It was a relatively normal day in the streets of New York, well, as normal as it could be after two seemingly unbeatable monsters and a deranged superhero leveled half a city block in their fight.

The three who took part in the fight were propelled into nationwide notoriety by news broadcasts, websites and online articles, amateur videos and pictures, and the media.

The two victors of that fight gained popularity among the public as the raging green behemoth Hulk for The Hulk, and The Ghost of Harlem-Bloodborne for Peter, due to videos of him coming back from being seemingly punched into paste circling the net, both seen as either misjudged heroes or monsters that look human.

After the battle that shook the city that night, the Battle of Harlem as they coined it, the City was finally awake to a new kind of feeling, a foreboding terror for some; a debilitating sense of fear and powerlessness for the unknown, the weird and unexplained, or inspiring awe and wonder for others, feeling that the wired and unexplained made the world much more mysterious and magical like they were living in a world of fairy tales.

Only it was real.

But for others, this wasn't new, it was only a matter of time till the world knew what they already become accustomed to, because everything was here since the beginning of time, just lurking around the corner, hidden in plain sight, by the many people, groups and beings that called those corners home.

After all, since the discovery of mutants and the sudden increase of vigilantes, these super-powered humans that the public has taken a shine to, calling them heroes that took the laws into their own hands, battling others like them, the villains who took the law and threw it aside in pursuit of their own goals for wealth and power.

Some of those heroes even became well-known celebrities that walked a blurred line between their acts of heroism and their civilian life. They took humans to new levels of discovery and development that most thought to be science fiction, such as the Power family known as the Fantastic Four in their Baxter building and the billionaire Tony Stark with his Iron Man Alter Ego and Stark Industries just to name a few.

For the many who knew; they were sure that it was only going to be a short while, a phase for the world before all this becomes a common experience, a new norm like yesterday's news.

It was a shock now, but how long can those feelings realistically last, after all, humans weren't known for their remarkably long attention spans but for their ability to adapt to various situations, life-threatening or otherwise and they would adapt to this in time, trivializing this event for their own pursuits.

But none of that mattered to the casually dressed teen making his way through the city, a small box tucked under his left arm and a bundle of fresh flowers held in the right hand with his bag pack hanging lazily over his left shoulder.

Walking down a bustling street lost in thought.

He had more important things to worry about, only his train of thought was broken when harshly pulled back by his right arm.

*Beeeeep*

Peter blinked in surprise at the noise.

" Hey watch where you're going kid, I'm driving here" a harsh voice shouted out as a car zipped by.

Turns out he was so lost in thought he didn't even notice the traffic light change.

" Whoa…easy there, earth to muscles, you really gotta watch your surroundings" a feminine voice spoke in a teasing tone getting his attention.

Finally, he noticed the one who pulled him, pale blond hair and pale skin, a cute angular face with deep blue eyes. A teen no older than him, dressed in a leather jacket, white tank top under a cut-through white T-shirt, and blue jeans that hugged her figure.

She was a looker, that much Peter was sure.

But as fast as those thoughts came, they left, as a new set of voices called out for the sidewalk.

" Felicity! Come on, we gotta go" Following the voice to one Liz Allen sitting in a flashy car with Flash in the driver's seat.

"Yo is that Penis Parker!" Flash called out, Liz slapped him on the shoulder and whispered something that seemed to oddly make the teen hold up against whatever shenanigan he was planning to pull.

An odd look was shared by the two.

'Great…' Peter sighed internally and chose to nod at the girl with a light smile, if that was the crowd she was with, it was best to walk away now.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?, that's OK, I like em silent and broody too" she chuckled as she walked away.

'Nope, not to you, don't feel like it' Peter thought.

"See you around muscles" The teen winked at Peter as she made her way over to them.

'Yeah...Nope, probably best to stay clear of whatever complication that was, I don't need any of that right now.' Peter thought as he resumed his walk towards the hospital.

…..

Peter Pushed the door into his Aunt's room open, smiling at an old nurse as he passed.

"Still here Jane".

"Sigh, don't remind me, Peter, this is my last round, Oh that's sweet, you brought her some more flowers, the last ones you brought in are still fresh you know, honestly your such a sweet child, sigh…I wished my kids were this caring, ungrateful brat is what they are. Honestly, you waste your life taking care of them, and when they finally grow up, they run off to college and leave you…".

The nurse went on as she did her duties, checking May here and there and filling her chart, this was a common occurrence, it was almost routine now, Peter would come either in the mornings or noon and would chat with the nurses then spend an hour or more with his Aunt, telling him about his day or anything that came to mind, then he would leave.

…..

It wasn't long before he was left alone with his Aunt, this was the opportunity he was looking for.

Peter spent some time thinking things over since the creation of the shard

He opened the box to reveal the contents inside, reaching in to pull out a small, malnourished street cat with dark orange fur, it looked far too sickly to be a house cat or pet.

Peter picked it up from the animal shelter a few days ago and took care of it for this moment, he held it close and gave it a few pats, the cat purred in delight, hinting that maybe it did have an owner before, seeing how it didn't shy away from human contact.

" Now then, I've got a very important job for you Garfield, this is my Aunt May, and you're going to be watching over her from now on" the cat simply nuzzled into Peter's palm affectionately.

He placed it beside his Aunt before closing the blinds and reaching into his bag and bringing out a few more things, what seemed to be a dead bird, a pigeon he killed just outside just before entering, and a lizard that tried to struggle in his grip.

Peter placed them both on the bed.

"Nope, that's not for you, sheesh, how are you still hungry after eating two whole cans of cat food…I really am sorry for what's about to happen to you now Gar" He smiled as he held the cat back from eating the bird.

" But don't worry gar, after this, you won't be hungry anymore, and no one will be able to hurt you, you'd like that wouldn't you, who's a good kitty, Who's a good boy, you are, yes you are…" Peter played with the cat for a few minutes before setting it down and glancing back at his Aunt.

"Hey there, you're looking better each day you know, the doctor says you have a chance of waking up, but I know that's a load of bull, you could see it on her face." He spoke softly, as wiped her forehead clean of sweat with a warm wet wipe.

" But don't worry, we don't need them, I can save you, I will save you, But… you might not like this, and I can't wake you up, not yet. This world is too dangerous for you now, the people who hurt you and Uncle Ben are still out there. If you come back now, they might come for you... I was, god I don't know what I was thinking, I almost made things worse for everyone."

He was rash before, he had a solution and almost threw all constraints out the window for his selfish desire to cure his aunt with little regard to the consequence of his actions and what outcomes that followed would cost his aunt.

He would have done it too, if it wasn't for the night staff who came in to check on her. (A/N: I'm looking at you, yes you reader, know that I took all your votes into consideration and decided to meet you in the middle)

"And here I thought I was getting better, I swore I wouldn't be reckless but when I had something that could change everything, what did I do, just toss everything out the window? I am so sorry Aunt May, Don't mind just Peter being stupid old Peter again." He smiled when her fingers twitched a bit, tossing the wipe into a bin and then placing some of the flowers he brought into the vase by her bed.

"I want to save you, God knows how much I want to do it, just wake you up and heal you, consequences be damned, we would smile, cry and laugh over this, cry over Uncle Ben together, and joke about his moments, have a movie night with Chinese take-outs then cry some more in our rooms in silence…sob… cause we didn't want the other to know how much it really hurt…or maybe that's just me..haha..sob…man. I miss you so much Aunt May, sniff, I miss Uncle Ben, I miss everything…sniff…sob….sniff…" He broke into small sobs as everything from the past slowly came slipping in.

"Sniff…sigh…but things have changed now, and I can't let you see me yet, I have to figure myself out first, and make it safe too" He wiped his tears, his expression breaking from that look of sadness to one of resolute conviction.

" There are some things I have to do, some people I have to deal with, and I can't promise that I can keep you safe if I wake you or how you would react and what you would do about what I did to you to wake, or how much it would change everything for us, I can't take your freedom from you for my own selfish needs, I love you too much for that. But I also can't let you go because the doctors can't save you, and I don't have the strength to wait for you to heal and wake up or die naturally, I love you too much for that too, and maybe I am a little too selfish to leave in a world alone, your the only one I have left in this world Aunt May, just you and me against the world…" He picked Garfield the cat resting by the bed and placed him on May's stomach.

"When you finally wake up, I'll make damn sure the world can't touch a hair on your head, and all those who hurt us will be gone, I don't know how you'll feel about what I need to do to ensure that safety, and I know eventually you will find out about everything, but whether you choose to hate me for my actions or choose to never see me again or disown me for my choices, I will accept everything you throw at me. As long as you're ok, it's hey ok to me." His eyes took an empty gleam as raised his hands, opening his palm to reveal a glowing blue shard.

"You know I realized something while I was thinking things over."

Blood flowed around his palm, then onto the shard, causing it to glow with a pulsating blue and lightly float centimeters above his palm.

Cracks started to form over the shard.

"I realized that I don't need your love or care to keep you safe, that you can despise me if you want, it will hurt like a mother fucker sure, that's alright, I can take it, better you slap me with a warm palm then me clinging desperately to a cold one, as long as your safe and alive nothing else matters…I can't do this alone, live here alone, I've got no one else, I just need someone here with me, anyone, so please, bear with your stupid selfish idiot teenage son, Please just, stay with me a little longer." Peter begged in a tone filled with half sorrow and guilt, knowing that with this, regardless of how he went about waking his aunt, his actions now changed everything for them.

Slowly the shard split into, a small spherical shape one pulsing white and another pulsing bright blue, a much bigger, diamond that glowed in a pulsating blue.

{Shard_Altered}

The familiar feeling of information flooding his thoughts ran through him.

{

Branch of Sin Shard, Altered-Fractured Shard

Primary Shard(white)

Special attribute added by Original Sin

Seed - This shard will remain dormant within a host until certain conditions a met.

Intended Holder: May Parker

Abnormal Specialized Sin Shard - Curse Of Virtue

Branch: Love

Branch Power: Blood Beast Familiar

-Seed seal Conditions

-Host must be near death.

-Throw Original Sin Shard hosts will.

-Though Host Acceptance and self-actualization

Special Ability Granted by her cursed virtue:

Beast of Loving Demise ( Altered by Holder of Original Sin)

- Host has a familiar that acts on its behalf and its protection and shares a link with this familiar through a secondary shard

- The familiar will take some of the host's physical pain when they exceed a certain pain threshold and extend an aura of care and relief that alleviates them from stress, depression, and other such negative alignments

-Holder is exempt from the loyalty mania rule that other shard holders are bound to

-The shard will heal the host body by amplifying its natural healing ability over time keeping it in a docile state until its host wakes or the original sin will it.

-Other abilities sealed until awakening

...

Fractured Brunch of Sin

Secondary Shard(Blue)

Intended Holder: Garfield The Cat

Link Shared:

-May Parker (Charge - Temporary until seed awakens)

-Peter Parker (Master)

Branch Power: Beast of Loving Demise

-Size shifting relative to blood or biomass consumed

- Shapeshifting relative to organisms consumed

- Increased intelligence

Forms gained: Pigeon, Lizard, cat, fly

- Able to create blood blade constructs from his body and shoot each strand of his fur as sharp thin projectiles each with the ability to infect a biological life form and corrupt their blood, allowing it to manipulate the blood as if it were his own

- Bound to Primary Fractured sin Shard

-its body is comprised entirely of organic matter and blood with no bone, muscle, or organs, the shard itself acting as its brain, thus allowing it to shapeshift and making it impervious to physical harm

-It can heal others by repairing the damage done to them by adding its biomass to repair them, the cells automatically replicate and amplify the subject's natural healing process.

- It can share its senses with those it shares a link to, through this link Garfield can feel when they are in pain and be aware of their locations

-Other Abilities sealed until seed awakening

Trait Gained: The beast of loving demise

Due to its branch as a cursed virtue of love, the cat Garfield is now extremely possessive about those it shares a link with or those he later comes to like, and upon the death of all of its loved ones, it will seek to destroy the world so everyone can be with its loved ones in death.

}

'It's done' Peter thought with relief.

He moved his palm over his Aunt and the cat resting on her stomach, slowly the two shards glowing underneath it. The cat came up to play with it.

" Sorry Garfield but this is gonna hurt" Peter apologized before flexing his palm, the white shard flew down and dug into the center of May's chest, cutting throw the flesh and leaving a small bleeding surgical mark on her chest, one that closed as soon as the shard was in.

The other shot into Garfield's chest, knocking the cut out faster than it could make a sound.

May jerked upwards, shaking lightly as a bright light spread throughout her veins, throughout her body before slaking back in relative calm.

The same could not be said for the cat who floated up higher, its body creaking and convulsing, blood poured out of every orifice as its body was squashed into and crushed, its organs liquidizing with everything else, two blood tendrils shot at the bird and the lizard pulling them into the mass of flesh, one tendril even shot out to reach of a fly resting on the walls.

All of it combined into a floating ball-sized mesh of fleshy biomass and blood.

It pulsed blue for a while before the mass shifted lightly, as it slowly fell back on the bed, from shifting into looking like the same dark orange-furred cat form before.

The cat stood up in a disorienting stumble, Peter watched as it stood up slowly until it was looking up at him with large intelligent eyes, a striking contrast to the look it had before.

"OK that's pretty cool," Peter said reaching down to pet the cat, Peter could feel the cat now, as cats were instinctual beings like many other animals, as such the cat was communicating through intent rather than words.

Peter could feel it, the cat's intent, it was confused at Peter, at what it was, yet it understood everything else, why it was here, who there was, and what it was tasked to do now, as is the nature of the shards granted by Peter. All holders have an instinctual understanding of the powers their shards granted them but that was it, everything else was plain trial and error.

The cat twitched again, before liquefying and reshaping into a bird, flying onto Peter's shoulders.

Once more Peter felt its intent, it was one of protection and care and gratefulness for chasing away the hunger it felt.

" You know what you have to do now, stay here and protect her, huh so you can understand too" Peter smiled, patting it lightly as the bird surprisingly nodded in response.

"We have to go see and test out what you can do some time, for now just wait here" The bird nodded once again before flying up and tapping Peter's head with his beak then heading to stay perched by the window leaving Peter alone with his aunt.

Peter glanced back at his Aunt, before gently leaning over, giving her a peck on her forehead.

"Rest for now, Aunt May, hopefully, no, i promise you by the time you wake up, everything will be better" With that the teen picked up his back and made his way out of the room.

{Integration 38%}

-Chapter End-

So I'd like to thank the readers whose very insightful comments helped me rethink a few things.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to give me some food for my fiction