AURORA WOKE UP.

To be more accurate, she appeared in the middle of her room, looking around frantically, not fully used to immediately standing in this form. She moved like she normally did, but she felt like she was pushing through water, but her body felt like it was made of air. An odd feeling, to say the least.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, nodding, "Okay."

She made her way over to her window, glad that she could move as fast as she usually did, passing through it without much fanfare, jumping to grab onto a tree and dropping down. Because of this form, she didn't have to worry about breaking any bones, though she had to wonder if she could get tired.

She looked down at the watch which she had put on in the morning, wanting it to be with her, and sighed when she realized it was frozen. Of course it was. Cursing, she looked around, biting her lip; she had been tracking him for a while at this point, hopefully he would actually stay true to his schedule.

Sure enough, after wandering down the street in search of a clock through a window, she saw a flash of red out of the corner her eye, swinging past, and she immediately took off running, following him close by.

She wondered if people could see her, as she had never tried to see if anyone could, but she disregarded all of them in favor of following him, surprised to find that her side wasn't hurting after sprinting after him for a few blocks at this point.

She cursed as he started to fade from view. Both of them were moving like a crow, not having to worry about obstacles, going in a directly straight line, but he had the advantage of having webs, while she did not, and she wasn't the fastest runner, nor the tallest person.

Sighing in frustration, she continued to run, but decided to scream, turning her voice shrill in the hopes he'd hear her over the roar of the wind. "Help!"

Of course, she winded up needing help, as a moment later, due to her inability to concentrate on it, she tripped over a pile of trashcans falling on the ground, hitting her head, crying out when she felt it.

So she could only move through solid objects when she wasn't thinking about it, though the pain might have just been synthesized adrenaline, as her side was aching like she had just run a marathon which wasn't too far from what she had done.

"Hey, are you okay?" Spider-Man asked, dropping down next to her, reaching out to touch her and help her up, only for his hands to pass through her, "What the hell—"

"You have to help me," she said quickly, jumping to her feet, nearly falling over again, Spider-Man once again trying to catch her, this time being successful. She grabbed her arms and shook him. "My name is Briar Rose Kaili, I need your help so I can wake up."

Spider-Man's white eyes blinked comically. "Ma'am, you're awake right now."

She frowned, blinking as well. "You don't sound as old as you usually do. How old are you?"

He stepped back, shaking his head and lowering his voice and thickening an accent, Queens, maybe. "I'm, uh, twenty—thirty-two. Uh, yes."

She took a step back as well, taking in his lithe frame, finding that he wasn't that much taller than herself, frowning even more. "No, you're not, there's no way, you have to—are you a kid?Your voice was too high, you haven't even hit puberty yet."

"Hey!" he exclaimed, his voice returning back to its usual level, "There's no need to be rude, I'm trying to help you out, Briar Rose!"

She froze. "Say my name again."

He shook his head, pointing at her. "Hey, I don't know you, you introduced yourself to me, I have no idea who you are, I made this mistake once, not again."

"Say my name again," she commanded, surprised by the force of her own words, "Listen to me, I'm going to die in three days if you don't help me. Don't say my name, I don't care, but I need your help."

Spider-Man paused, staring at her, his voice small when he spoke. "You-you're going to die?"

She bit her lip, nodding and glancing away, taking a deep breath. "It's a long story, but, yes. I'm a mutant, and this other mutant killed my parents and cursed me. I'm going to die on my sixteenth birthday, which is in three days, if you don't help me. Please, only non-mutants can help, and I don't think you're one of us."

Spider-Man just continued to stare. "You're right, I'm not. And—" he paused, catching himself, a hand over his mask where his mouth would probably be, before looking back at Briar Rose, "Am I really the only person who could help you? You don't have any non-mutant friends at school or something? Or are you homeschooled?"

"My godmothers wanted to homeschool me, but my parents didn't want that," she sighed, running a hand through her hair, wondering why she was answering him at all, "And I just found new friends, I couldn't lose them by telling them this."

Spider-Man's eyes turned down, frowning. "Friends wouldn't do that. Your friends wouldn't."

She forced herself to remain calm, the way she usually was when she wasn't under so much pressure. "No offense, but you don't know me, so you have no idea what my friends would think."

"Actually," Spider-Man said, sighing heavily before grabbing her arm and tugging her into an alley, pulling his mask off, "I do."

Aurora gasped, and Peter Parker covered her mouth, pulling her farther down the alley, and she couldn't even think to be afraid of what was happening, too focused on staring at Peter, shocked beyond belief.

"You're Spider-Man?" she hissed, "But he acts nothing like you, except, well, now."

"Yeah, we usually act a lot different, I got a lot better since last year, I even stopped myself before saying anything, but I didn't realize that one of my best friends was going to die," he breathed, holding onto her shoulders, "Briar, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you, Ned and Michelle, even Harry, I know you're scared of him, but he would have."

She couldn't help but laugh at that, her lips still tugging down on impulse. "I'm scared of his dad, not him. And Peter, I couldn't have known, you can't blame me for that."

"I'm not blaming you, but now I feel like I've failed, you only have three days, what do we even need to do?" he hissed, glancing back towards the mouth of the alley way, "Okay, wait, can we talk somewhere where I won't be found out, I can't let any more people find out who I am. I've already got," he paused, counting on his fingers, glancing up towards the sky, "Like, six. Well, four if we count people who weren't in on me getting this suit. Now plus you that's five? I don't—"

"Peter," she interrupted, "I will explain as much as I can, but first...I need to recruit one more person."

º º º

Phillip woke with a start, feeling as though someone was in his room. He shifted carefully, his heart pounding as he hoped and prayed that he wouldn't open his eyes to find a ghost standing at the foot of the bed like how those people in the paranormal TV shows had to.

He shifted, rubbing his face against his pillow, groaning softly. He wasn't having much of a time sleeping, and he had school tomorrow, which wasn't any help. He needed to get some sleep if he wanted to wake up Aurora—Briar Rose to him—on time whenever she decided to fall asleep.

"Phillip."

He froze, shivering; he couldn't have imagined that. He screwed his eyes shut, shaking his head and burying his face deeper in his pillow and huddling under his covers, pulling them to his neck, nearly pulling them fully over his head; if he couldn't feel the cold breeze coming from the spirit, maybe he could convince himself that there was no spirit at all.

Unfortunately, he heard another, more firm, "Phillip," and he broke into a cold sweat.

"Phillip," the voice hissed again, and he noticed that it sounded much more alive than he expected, much more clear, "Phillip, wake up."

He realized, with a start, that it was Aurora's voice, and he immediately sat up, not quite looking at the foot of his bed just yet, wondering if, possibly, he was just having an incredibly vivid dream. Reaching out, he pinched his arm and twisted. When he wasn't sure if he had felt it, he scratched harshly, shocked that he felt the sting.

Turning to look, he did a double take, wide eyed and staring at the familiar girl standing by his desk, staring at him.

"Briar Rose?" he cried, his voice much too loud, and she shushed him, rushing to his side, and he immediately pulled his covers up to his neck, shielding himself as he continued to stare.

"Yes," she whispered, crouching down, though she had paused for a moment to just take in his reaction with a slight smile, "It's me. Listen, I need your help."

He blinked before reaching down to scratch his arm again, furrowing his brow. "This is a really realistic dream, can you dream feeling pain?"

She scoffed and reached out, pinching his cheek and he hissed, reeling back. She held out her hand, raising her eyebrows towards it and he reached out warily, unsure of what she was going to do. He watched as he tried to touch her hand, only for his hand to phase right through it.

"What the hell?" he gasped, pulling back quickly, grabbing his hand, as if to make sure that he was still real.

"I'm going to die in three days, I need your help," she said quickly, keeping him from saying any more, "I'm a mutant and was cursed by this other mutant who killed my parents, and I'm sorry for even coming to you, but only non-mutants can help me, and I only thought to come to you, because you've been nothing but nice to me and woke me up, and I don't know why I went to you and not Peter, but please help me, I'm so scared."

Phillip stared at her for a moment, his mind whirling as he tried to process her words, staring at her in shock. She was breathing heavily, as if surprised by herself for rambling as much as Peter would, clutching her chest and furrowing her brows.

Finally, he said, "You want me to help you break a mutant-made curse?"

She nodded. "Yes. Please."

He couldn't help but snort at her added 'please,' shaking his head and glancing towards his room. This was by far the strangest thing that had ever happened to him, but by no means was it the worst. The worst would be when his parents finally split up and people started getting wind that he was the son of 'King Candy' himself.

"Phillip," Aurora whispered, breaking him out of his thoughts that so often plagued his mind, "Are you okay?"

He sniffed, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry about that. Are you okay, I don't think you should really be worrying about me right now."

She shrugged. "I guess it's easier just to worry about other people. I mean, I don't really know too much, so whenever I'm aware, I like to care. And I don't really know much about you anyways."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're pretty smart, I'd say you know some."

He had no idea how he was so casual with the girl who had somehow manifested herself into his room, stared at him while he slept, claimed to be a mutant who was cursed by another mutant, and was sitting incredibly close; she didn't smell like the flowery perfume she usually wore, which was probably a testament to how she had wound up in his room.

She shrugged. "I'm not super aware of what's going on in the real world, or even at school. Or why people give you such a hard time about your last name."

He glanced away then, shaking his head. "You seriously don't know?"

She shook her head as well. "No. Also," she motioned towards his head, "You cut your hair. It looks nice."

Phillip raised his hand to the back of his neck which was no longer covered with hair, not cut short and styled to always be out of his face; his mother's decision, not his own. He smiled at that, glad to get some validation, but it soon melted away when he remembered what was happening.

"Thanks. Uh, listen, I'll explain it to you tomorrow," he said, "Or maybe never, since I'll probably wake up and this'll all be a dream."

She huffed, pouting. "You're not gonna believe me, are you?"

He shook his head, settling back down on his bed, staring up at her. "Unless I get some proof during the day time when I've proven to myself that I'm awake, I'm chalking this up to a really intense fever dream."

She frowned down at him, looking incredibly put out. "You're incredibly difficult to work with, you know that?"

He shrugged, almost smirking at her; if this was a dream, which he was almost completely convinced that it was, he could afford to be a little cheeky. "Thanks, I take after my father."

She stomped her foot, hands clenched into fists at her sides. "Fine. Look, if I can prove to you that I'm telling the truth, will you help me? I just need a yes or a no for future reference when it's proven."

He shrugged, already closing his eyes, effectively dismissing her. "Sure thing."

With that, Aurora faded out of his room.

She would get him to listen; her life depended on it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

( 05.01.18 )

So it's been a hot minute since I updated this story, sorry about that ya'll, but we're jumping in and we're getting back in the swing of things, and I'm sorry this chapter was super super bad (don't even lie, it was cliche as hell and I hate it.)

But we're gonna get there, so please just stick with me, because it'll get better.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!