Morning sun slanted through Midtown High's windows, casting long shadows across empty hallways. Esdeath arrived early, as had become her habit—partly to avoid the crush of students, partly to enjoy the quiet before chaos descended.
Her footsteps echoed against the linoleum as she navigated toward her locker, leather jacket draped casually over one shoulder.
The night's violence felt distant now, tucked away like a bad dream. School had become her sanctuary of normalcy, a place where ice powers and reincarnation didn't exist.
She spotted Peter and Gwen huddled by their lockers, heads bent close together over something. Peter's wild bedhead stuck up at impossible angles, while Gwen's neat blonde ponytail practically screamed organization. Opposites in every way, yet somehow perfectly matched.
"Morning, nerds," Esdeath called, approaching with a lazy smile. "Plotting world domination or just copying homework?"
Peter jumped slightly—always so twitchy—while Gwen just laughed.
"Bold of you to assume we'd let you in on our evil plans," Gwen quipped, shutting her locker with a metallic clang. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence before the bell for once."
"What can I say? Woke up feeling sociable." Esdeath leaned against the lockers. "Scary, right?"
"Terrifying," Peter agreed with a crooked smile.
"That's not even anatomically possible," Esdeath whispered, pointing at Peter's notebook doodle of what was supposedly a frog dissection. "Unless frogs suddenly grew a third lung overnight."
They sat in biology, supposedly working on lab reports. The teacher had stepped out moments before, triggering the inevitable wave of whispers and note-passing.
Peter huffed defensively. "It's artistic interpretation."
"It's a disaster," Esdeath countered, fighting a smile. "Even the frog looks embarrassed to be drawn that way."
Gwen snorted, quickly covering her mouth. "You two are going to get us detention."
"Worth it," Esdeath said, flicking her pencil between her fingers with practiced ease. "Besides, Parker needs artistic criticism. It's for his own good."
Peter rolled his eyes dramatically. "Thanks so much. Next time I need my ego crushed, I'll know who to call."
"Always happy to help," Esdeath replied sweetly.
The cafeteria buzzed with typical lunchtime energy—shouted conversations, clattering trays, the underlying hum of adolescent social dynamics. Esdeath picked at her fries, half-listening to Peter's rambling explanation of some science documentary he'd watched the night before.
"—and then the neutron stars just collided and—" Peter paused mid-sentence, noticing Gwen practically vibrating with excitement beside him. "What? You look like you're about to explode."
"I wasn't going to say anything until it was official, but..." Gwen's face broke into a brilliant smile. "I got the internship at Oscorp! I just found out this morning!"
Peter's eyes widened. "No way! The competitive research program? That's amazing!"
"Dr. Connors himself approved my application," Gwen continued, words tumbling out rapidly. "I start next week in the genetics division."
Esdeath's fork froze halfway to her mouth. The cafeteria noise faded to a dull roar as that single word echoed in her mind.
Oscorp.
The fork lowered slowly back to her tray.
"That's... impressive," she managed, voice carefully neutral while her mind raced through implications. Genetic spiders. Cross-species experiments. Green Goblin. And Gwen—falling, falling from a bridge.
Peter was firing questions at machine-gun pace. "Will you get to see the restricted labs? What about the cross-species genetics program? Do you think Norman Osborn actually shows up?"
Esdeath watched Gwen's animated responses, a cold knot forming in her stomach. The timeline was activating. Events were aligning. The butterfly effect of her presence hadn't changed this fundamental cornerstone.
"Earth to Esdeath?" Gwen waved a hand in front of her face. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I'm fine," Esdeath replied, forcing a smile. "Just... impressed. That's a big deal."
It was more than a big deal. It was the beginning of the end.
"So what will you actually be doing there?" Esdeath asked, keeping her tone casually curious. "Besides wearing a fancy lab coat and looking important."
Gwen's eyes lit up. "Mostly assisting with data collection at first. Dr. Connors is brilliant—he's working on revolutionary genetic therapies. Cross-species genetics, if you can believe it."
"Cross-species?" Esdeath raised an eyebrow. "Like... splicing animal DNA with humans?"
"That's oversimplifying it," Gwen said, "but essentially yes. Imagine being able to adapt animal traits to heal human conditions. Lizards can regrow limbs—what if humans could too?"
Peter leaned forward, elbows on the table. "When do you start?"
"Monday after school. Three days a week plus weekends."
"You should totally sneak me in sometime," Peter said, his voice dropping conspiratorially. "I'd give anything to see those labs."
Esdeath watched him carefully. The excitement in his eyes wasn't just academic curiosity. There was something deeper—a hunger, a need to be part of something bigger. The invisible threads of destiny were already wrapping around him, drawing him toward the spider that would change everything.
"Pretty sure industrial espionage violates the intern handbook," Gwen laughed, but her eyes softened when they met Peter's. "But I'll tell you everything. Promise."
Esdeath observed the exchange silently. The pieces were falling into place exactly as they should—Gwen at Oscorp, Peter's fascination, the inevitable field trip that would follow. A choreographed dance of fate she'd only ever witnessed through comic panels and movie screens.
Now it was happening right in front of her.
The hallway between classes bustled with students, but somehow Peter materialized beside her locker, camera dangling from his neck.
"Hey," he said, fidgeting with his camera strap. "You got quiet at lunch. Everything okay?"
Esdeath shrugged, swapping textbooks. "Just thinking."
"About?"
"About how Oscorp has the shadiest reputation in New York," she said, closing her locker. "My uncle says Norman Osborn would sell his own mother if it boosted quarterly profits."
Peter laughed. "Come on, they're the leading biotech company in the country."
"Just be careful if you ever go there," Esdeath said, her voice dropping. "Those places... they create things they can't control."
"You sound like a conspiracy theorist," Peter teased.
"Maybe." She met his eyes directly. "Or maybe I've just seen how these stories end."
His smile faltered slightly. "It's just a company, Esdeath."
"So was Umbrella Corporation," she muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing. Video game reference." She forced a smile. "Just watch yourself, Parker. That's all I'm saying."
Afternoon sunlight stretched Esdeath's shadow long across the sidewalk as she walked home alone. Her thoughts circled like restless predators.
She couldn't stop what was coming. Peter Parker was meant to be Spider-Man. The universe demanded it. Every timeline, every reality—it was fundamental, like gravity.
Interfering might create something worse. Butterfly effects rippling outward, creating disasters she couldn't predict.
But knowing what she did—the pain awaiting him, the losses he would suffer—could she really just stand aside?
Esdeath kicked a stray can, sending it clattering down the street. She'd been focused so much on her own path, her own powers, her own future. Now the world was expanding, reminding her that she wasn't the only player on this board.
If Peter was destined for greatness and suffering, she couldn't stop it. But maybe—just maybe—she could help him survive it.
"Damn it, Parker," she whispered to the empty street. "Of all the people to care about, why did it have to be you?"
Esdeath stood motionless on the rooftop, wind whipping her hair across her face. The city sprawled before her, a constellation of lights and shadows, but her eyes fixed on one building alone—Oscorp Tower, its distinctive architecture piercing the night sky like a modern obelisk. From this distance, the green-tinted windows glowed with an almost radioactive intensity.
Behind those windows, the future incubated in petri dishes and test tubes. Behind those windows, destiny waited in eight legs and enhanced DNA.
"Spider-Man," she whispered, the word carried away by the wind.
Her fingers curled into fists, ice crystals forming and dissolving between her knuckles as she breathed. The original Esdeath would have scoffed at her hesitation—would have simply eliminated any perceived threats or reshaped events through sheer force. But that wasn't who she was now.
This wasn't about control. It was about responsibility.
She closed her eyes, feeling the city's rhythm beneath her—the vibrations of subway trains, the distant wail of sirens, the steady hum of eight million lives intersecting. Somewhere out there, Peter Parker slept, unaware of how his world would soon shatter and reform.
"I can't stop what's coming," she said to the empty air. "But I'll be there when you fall."
The declaration settled something inside her. A purpose beyond her own survival and power. A commitment.
Ice spread from her feet, coating the rooftop in delicate fractals that caught the city lights. She didn't try to control it this time—let it flow, let it express what she couldn't articulate.
A promise written in frost.
Monday afternoon found Esdeath leaning against a lamppost across from Oscorp's main entrance, hood pulled low over her face. Students streamed past, oblivious to her vigil. She checked her phone—4:15 PM. Gwen's orientation would be starting soon.
Five minutes later, Gwen appeared, blonde ponytail bouncing as she hurried toward the revolving doors. She looked smaller somehow against the massive glass facade, just a teenager stepping into something far bigger than herself.
Esdeath watched silently as Gwen vanished into the building, swallowed by the gleaming corporate maw. The air felt heavier suddenly, charged with significance. A soft, cold touch against her cheek made her blink—the first snowflake of an unexpected flurry, melting instantly against her skin.
"It's starting," she whispered, turning away from Oscorp Tower with resolution hardening in her chest.
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