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Lost and Stolen Memories
Mar. 3rd, 2015 09:38 pmIt was getting late in winter; the city had melted after the thick freeze of snowfall, but the air was still crisp, cold. Ben was glad for the hoodie to help retain his body heat as he swung between the buildings.
It really was like riding a bike, he considered. Picking up the talent as easily as if he'd never stopped. Swinging across New York was really like nothing else in the world to clear the head.
He landed on the edge of a building in Midtown and gazed down at the activity below, and his mind raced.
If only, he considered, dealing with being a superhero were as easy as webslinging again.
Helping people was the easy part. But there were always consequences. Whether he acted or not.
With great power, and all that.
Peter's latest news had hit him in a very strange place. He'd told Ben all about his cross-dimensional adventure, how he'd met Spider-Men and -Women from all over the multiverse. And how one of them had come back with him, how she was stuck here for a while.
And how it was Gwen.
It wasn't his Gwen. Not that he'd ever actually had a relationship with Gwen. He had the memories, but they were Peter's. Borrowed. Stolen, really.
But that didn't change the fact that he remembered. The first kiss. The long talks. The gentle touches that led... He pushed it out of his mind. Those weren't his memories. He didn't have a right to them. And that Gwen was dead. And nothing -- not even mad Dr. Warren -- could change that or bring her back.
Peter found happiness in MJ eventually. Ben... had dated, certainly, but it never went all that well. Jessica, for example. Which had ended... disastrously.
Ben sighed and ran a hand over his masked face. Here was Gwen -- a version of Gwen from another world -- and he couldn't help but consider romantic thoughts. What right did he have to even consider... anything of the sort? This isn't really Gwen, and he wasn't really Peter. He had stolen memories of a different Gwen.
Memories of love, yes. But they weren't his memories. And even if they were, this wasn't the same Gwen.
He groaned, letting out a frustrated sigh. Why did being a superhero have to get so complicated?
It really was like riding a bike, he considered. Picking up the talent as easily as if he'd never stopped. Swinging across New York was really like nothing else in the world to clear the head.
He landed on the edge of a building in Midtown and gazed down at the activity below, and his mind raced.
If only, he considered, dealing with being a superhero were as easy as webslinging again.
Helping people was the easy part. But there were always consequences. Whether he acted or not.
With great power, and all that.
Peter's latest news had hit him in a very strange place. He'd told Ben all about his cross-dimensional adventure, how he'd met Spider-Men and -Women from all over the multiverse. And how one of them had come back with him, how she was stuck here for a while.
And how it was Gwen.
It wasn't his Gwen. Not that he'd ever actually had a relationship with Gwen. He had the memories, but they were Peter's. Borrowed. Stolen, really.
But that didn't change the fact that he remembered. The first kiss. The long talks. The gentle touches that led... He pushed it out of his mind. Those weren't his memories. He didn't have a right to them. And that Gwen was dead. And nothing -- not even mad Dr. Warren -- could change that or bring her back.
Peter found happiness in MJ eventually. Ben... had dated, certainly, but it never went all that well. Jessica, for example. Which had ended... disastrously.
Ben sighed and ran a hand over his masked face. Here was Gwen -- a version of Gwen from another world -- and he couldn't help but consider romantic thoughts. What right did he have to even consider... anything of the sort? This isn't really Gwen, and he wasn't really Peter. He had stolen memories of a different Gwen.
Memories of love, yes. But they weren't his memories. And even if they were, this wasn't the same Gwen.
He groaned, letting out a frustrated sigh. Why did being a superhero have to get so complicated?
