( TW: unintentional self-h*rm, blood, depression, graphic depictions of a dead body, panic attack, mild violence )

Fifteen Minutes Later
Christina's POV

"Miss Johnson!"

The brunette groaned out of pure exhaustion, her eyelids fluttering open and closed as her lips parted slightly.

"Christina!"

"Miss!"

She then slowly opened her eyes and stared upward, her vision extremely blurry as she struggled to regain consciousness. At first, all she could hear were unfamiliar voices but she was unable to turn her head since every inch of her body ached with agonizing pain. When she tried to move, she whimpered from the flare of soreness it brought and squeezed her eyes shut once more.

"CHRISTINA, HELP ME!!!"

Christina gasped loudly as she sat upright, clawing at her chest and feeling her heart rate speeding at an all-time high. Her eyes were wide with utter fear as she looked all around her frantically, every inch of her trembling terribly.

"Miss Johnson, hey, hey," a kind female voice spoke up from next to her, making the younger woman look in her direction with utter confusion written on her face.

That was when her vision finally refocused itself and she was fully back in reality. The woman sitting next to her with her hands on her arms to keep her from thrashing about was a paramedic not too much older than her. Christina then sighed with relief once she saw that she was sitting in the back of an ambulance and that she was being tended to from what happened inside the brick building in front of her.

"Ma'am..." she spoke up gently, timidly. "I'm sorry for scaring you...."

"No, don't be," the paramedic said with a caring smile.

Christina then winced as a sharp sting of pain erupted in the back of her head, and she instinctively reached her hand back there. "Ah!" she cried out quietly. "Oh, what happened...?"

"You hit your head on the wall inside, Miss," the polite woman said. "You were bleeding back there but it was nothing terrible. There's a small bandage there. But you may have a slight moderate concussion."

The brunette sighed with slight irritation as she lowered her head in an attempt to relieve the pain in her skull. But, when that didn't work, she just proceeded to carefully step off the back of the ambulance. She did wobble a little and confirmed that the paramedic was right with what she said, which made her panic a little.

"Easy, Miss," the older woman said and grabbed her arms again to stabilize her. "Don't get up too quickly next time. Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"No, I'll be fine," Christina replied, her voice cracking a little bit. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Yes, everyone else is fine, albeit a few injuries..." the paramedic mumbled in a gentle tone. "Well... mostly everyone...."

"What do you mean 'mostly?'" Christina slowly asked, her heart now palpitating from pure dread.

"I'm ruined!"

The brunette gently turned her head to look at an immensely frustrated Harry, who was covered head to toe in soot and ashes. There was a grave and furious expression on his face as he sighed heavily, trying his best to contain the true amount of anger he felt.

Knowing what her friend was talking about, Christina rolled her eyes into the back of her head, groaning again from the pain that was there.

"I have nothing left... except Spider-Man..." Harry snarled to himself, narrowing his eyes.

"Harry, enough..." Christina mumbled in an annoyed tone. "We're alive, be happy about that...."

"He saved your life, sir," Harry's co-worker told him in a professional tone.

"He humiliated me by touching me," he replied in a rageful tone, shuddering at the memory of what happened mere minutes ago.

"HARRY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Christina snapped, screaming in his face angrily. "HE SAVED YOUR DAMN LIFE, SO BE GRATEFUL FOR ONCE!"

Harry spun to face his friend with raised eyebrows, and he even stepped forward to give the hurt woman a piece of his mind. But, before he could, his co-worker placed his hands on his shoulder to guide him away from the chaos surrounding them.

"Mr. Osborn, the press will be here soon," he said politely. "I suggest we move on." He then turned to Christina with a tight smile on his face. "My apologies, Miss."

"What was he doing here, anyway?" Harry grumbled as he was led to his business car, slipping sunglasses over his eyes.

Christina hatefully stared after the vehicle as it drove off, incredibly fed up with Harry's attitude over the whole Spider-Man thing. This was especially due to her not believing whatsoever that the hero killed her friend's father, and it was getting to the point that she was glad that Norman was dead; but this was only because she didn't want to hear him have to hear his son act like a fucking child. He was twenty-one years old, for God's sake! When was he going to grow up and get out of that mentality?!

"Miss Johnson?" the female paramedic spoke up from behind her.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to advise you that, if you don't want to be in the hospital, you should rest for a day or two until that concussion starts healing," she said gently. "Try to avoid dizziness and nausea, while you're at it."

"I will," Christina murmured, not looking at her. "Thank you."

As she tried to walk away from the scene, Christina then saw a stretcher being placed onto the ground and she saw a familiar person laying on it; the person was definitely dead and had gigantic glass shards sticking out of her face. Now, however, her eyes were closed and her mouth had been situated to where it wasn't in a frozen scream.

Her eyes filled with tears as the rest of Rosie's body was covered with a white sheet and was wheeled to a coroner's van. She quickly looked away so as to not break down into hysterical sobs again, wiping a spare tear away as she marched forward, her destination unknown.

Out of nowhere, though, all sound faded as she felt her breathing contract; Christina grabbed for a nearby telephone and grasped at her chest like she was trying to rip her lungs out. Oxygen entered and left her in ragged gasps as she grew dizzy, whimpering from the emotional agony she felt in her heart.

"HELP ME, CHRIS! HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"

No, no, no, no, she thought desperately, trying to stop it.

"DON'T LET HIM HURT ME, PLEASE!"

Stop it. Please... Please just fucking stop. Let it end....

"CHRISTINA!!!"

"STOP IT!!" she bellowed, the real world quickly returning to her conscious state as she stared around, feeling stares burning into her back.

"Chris?!"

Christina spun around to see a frantic Peter jogging over to her, and she wasn't able to speak for a moment as he pulled her into a protective hug. She was tempted to pull away from said embrace but, because she felt safe for a brief moment, she instantly hugged him back and rested her head against his chest. She could hear his quick heartbeat as she did this...

"Oh, my God, are you okay?" Peter asked her out of pure worry, carefully backing away so as to not hurt her more. "Are you injured...?"

"Peter...?" Christina mumbled out of pure puzzlement, squinting her eyes to try and figure this person out completely. "Where the hell were you?"

Her friend's facial expression morphed to one of confusion and slight surprise as he tilted his head. "What?"

"I said... where were you when that was happening?" Christina asked in a much harsher tone, demanding answers from him right there and then.

"Oh shit, Christina?!"

"Sid, watch your language!"

The brunette turned to see a concerned Sidney and Allyson speedwalking in her direction and the wind was nearly knocked out of her as her little sister hugged her tightly. She didn't hesitate to return the embrace for just a moment but she pulled away out of bewilderment and stared at the younger girl.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her out of pure confusion.

"We saw what happened here on the news and we came right away," Sidney briefly explained before checking the older woman for injuries. "Are you alright?"

Fucking great, Christina thought. Press.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered. "Just a small concussion. Look, we have to get out of here before we get swarmed."

"Are you sure you're alright, Chris?" Peter asked her from behind, placing a caring hand on her back to offer comfort.

"I'm sure," Christina said in a somewhat irritated manner. "I'll talk to you later. But I need to leave before –"

But she wasn't quick enough to leave.

In a matter of milliseconds, a few dozen reporters had spotted her and were running in her direction. Before she could make her escape, they were all over her, demanding answers about what had happened inside the building Octavius's experiment had taken place. The sight of them shoving microphones into her face brought her back to the night of Margaret's death, when they had done the exact same thing.

"Christina, tell us what happened inside!"

"Miss Johnson, can you explain if there's any connection between this and the crimes committed by the Green Goblin two years ago?"

"Christina, do you feel safe around Oscorp Industries?!"

"Melissa Prescott, Channel 4 News!"

That last voice in particular caught Christina's attention as a female reporter reached the front of the crowd and kindly stuck her microphone out to her. This woman had shiny black hair that reached her waist and had the kind of fake smile that said, "I'm more important than anyone else around here," or, "Just talk to me, it'll all be okay... until I publicly ruin your image all over the world."

Her cold green eyes held manipulation in them and the conniving expression in them made a disgusted look twist itself onto Christina's face.

"As a firsthand witness to this disastrous event, do you think it could cause more pain to arrive after your mother's murder?" the reporter asked with a nasty grin that tried so desperately to search for clues that it seemed as though she were a copycat of the Mystery Gang from Scooby Doo.

"Excuse me?" Christina replied in a low voice, sneering at the taller woman as her blood began to boil.

"She's not answering any questions," Peter said in an annoyed tone, shoving the microphone away from Christina. "Just leave her alone!"

"No, Pete, let her talk," Christina mumbled quietly as she stared daggers into the reporter's soul.

Let's see how much worse she can get, she thought.

Melissa smiled desperately as she raised her microphone again. "Do you think your grief over Margaret Johnson's untimely murder caused you to finally snap and work with Otto Octavius to make this happen?"

Christina's eyebrows raised in both amusement and utter rage. That was one hundred percent not what she was expecting....

Suddenly, Sidney's left fist came flying towards Melissa in an attempt to violently punch her for saying that to her sister. Everyone around her, including the reporters, gasped but Melissa was able to dodge the attack with a smooth movement to the right.

The older woman smirked at the girl as she moved back to being upright, absolute smugness written on her face. "Nice try, sweetie," she taunted playfully. "But I've done this dance before."

Her face was then met by Christina's right fist colliding into her left cheek, and she tumbled backwards and into her cameraman's arms.

Despite nearly losing her balance, the brunette grinned with satisfaction at what she had just done. "You stay the fuck away from me," she growled at her before turning to Peter, not missing the utter surprise and admiration on his face at what she had just had huge courage to do. "I'll see you later, Pete."

She then walked to Allyson's car with both her and Sidney, all while her stepmother was asking her daughter where she could have possibly learned how to punch someone.

"I learned from Dad," the younger girl proudly said, despite having missed her initial attack on that bitch of a woman.

That's one good thing Michael's done, Christina thought.

_____

Twenty Minutes Later

The brunette had her head gently resting on the top of the passenger seat as she stared out the window, being careful not to move too much as her punching that reporter had caused a new wave of lightheadedness to arrive. The entire car ride back to her apartment had been completely silent as she tried to process what had just occurred over the course of ten minutes not too long ago. No tears could show up now, and it was as though they refused to help her this time.

Crying always helped her case but, when tears couldn't come out, that was when Christina knew she was really hurting....

She wasn't aware of Sidney throwing concerned glances in her direction, mostly because she was worried that her older sister wasn't talking to either of them.

She's in that phase again, the young girl thought.

"Are you sure you're alright, Christina?" Allyson gently asked from the driver's seat as she pulled into the parking lot of her stepdaughter's apartment.

"Yes," the younger woman mumbled in a monotone voice, staring straight ahead now.

The vehicle pulled up to a drop-off area where people constantly picked up friends or relatives, and Christina didn't hesitate to get out of the car so she wouldn't have to be near her anymore. Sidney climbed out of the back door moments later and went to follow her sister, staying by her side in case she grew dizzy again.

Meanwhile, Allyson stared after the two girls with a small frown on her face. Based on how Christina had looked when she had shown up to get her thanks to Sidney informing her of what happened, she seemed to be going through exactly what she had been through months ago... but this was a whole new version of that. A surge of distress rose within the middle-aged woman and, despite knowing it shouldn't have been her place, she shut off her car and stepped out.

Following her daughter and stepdaughter, she called out to Christina to get her attention. When she noticed her trying to walk faster, she spoke up once again.

"Christina, I just want to talk to you!" she shouted in a careful tone, her mouth still frozen in a deep frown.

"Trust me, you're the last person I should be talking about this to," Christina retorted in a snappy tone, majorly rolling her eyes.

"I'm not so sure about that," Allyson said in a more gentle tone.

Christina suddenly whipped around and got in her stepmother's face, her features warped into an expression of fury as her blue eyes flared with white-hot anger. "WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, LADY?!" she screeched.

The two people surrounding her froze in place as they stared at her in a deeply disturbed state. Sidney, in particular, was looking at her oldest sibling with wide brown eyes as she took two to three steps back. Now the young girl was terrified of Christina and this wasn't the first time this happened; she was aware that the older woman could be the sweetest sister but, whenever she was truly pissed off, it was time to keep your distance.

"I'll... just go inside..." she mumbled timidly before turning around and speedwalking towards the building's front doors.

Allyson, having recovered from the shock of Christina's outburst, regained her composure and looked down at her. "I just want to help you..." she murmured to her, making sure to tread this conversation lightly.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I don't want to be around you?!" Christina fired back with a deathly glare. "After you took Michael from my family, the last thing I ever want to do is be near you or even speak to you. So, just please leave me alone!"

The taller woman had finally had enough, as she also started growing angry. This was the last time she would be hearing those words from her stepdaughter or her friends, and she was going to have to put her foot down. "You know what?!" she shouted. "No! I'm sick of you saying that!"

"What?" the brunette snapped back bitterly, staring up at her, surprised that she was defending herself.

"The last thing I would have ever done was take your father away from you!" Allyson yelled at her, tears filling her brown eyes. "I wasn't even aware you or your mother existed when I had that affair with him. If I learned about you two before I was pregnant with Sidney, I would have left the relationship straight away! But I didn't learn about you two until she was three and, at that point, he had proposed to me. I didn't even know he was already married...."

"Then why didn't you leave?!" Christina cried out as a few tears began to finally fall.

"I didn't want to raise Sidney alone," Allyson defended. "And I know that's a shitty excuse, but it's the truth. I kind of fucking hate your father right now.... Look, I know it may not seem like I care, but I do. I just want to help you, Christina..."

Christina just stared at her stepmother for close to twenty seconds without saying a single word, extremely close to driving her fist across her face like she had done when she had punched that bitchy reporter. But, at the same time, her outlook on her was finally clearing up a bit and she could begin to see the true kindness this woman actually had in her heart. She may have been a little too harsh on her, mainly because of what Michael had done to her.

A part of her wanted to let her grudge go and just apologize to her, but she wasn't able to bring herself to....

Christina was closing herself off again.

"I don't need your help..." she muttered in a saddened tone, slowly beginning to break in front of Allyson. "And I don't want your help. I don't need or want anyone's help... I'm not gonna be a burden on anyone ever again."

And, with that, the brunette stomped to the entrance doors of the apartment, leaving her stepmother on the sidewalk with tears brimming her own eyes.

Allyson wanted to go after her and apologize for everything she had indirectly caused, as she had been aware of herself not being fully in the right. She wanted to comfort the younger woman but she knew that wouldn't be allowed, as Christina despised her. So, instead of doing so, she turned around and slowly paced back to her car.

_____

It seemed as though Sidney had unlocked the apartment door with her emergency spare key, since Christina could push it open with relative ease. Entering the front room, she glanced over at her younger sister with despair in her eyes as she tried to fight even more waves of tears.

She wasn't able to miss the young girl's endearing eyes that were filled with fret for the older woman, and that gaze was enough to bring about more pain to her already struggling lungs. A sob tried to escape from her but she was unable to allow it as she just stared at the eleven-year-old girl.

"Go to your room..." she murmured in a broken tone, her voice subtly cracking. "Please..."

"Chris, I can help..." Sidney replied as she carefully stood up from the couch.

"Please go to your room, Sid..." Christina protested with a distressed expression on her face. "And don't come out... until I tell you it's okay. And... put on your headphones...."

The young girl wanted to backfire with a simple "No" and comfort her sister but she knew that, if she did that, there would be major consequences. She knew Christina didn't want her to see her in this kind of scenario and she wanted to respect her wishes. So she went straight for her bedroom and shut the door, leaving the older woman all alone in her living room.

Christina didn't hesitate to make her way to the bathroom that was next to her own room and she reached for the medicine cabinet. Opening the small door, she instantly grabbed the prescription bottle with the tablets that controlled her anxiety. She struggled to open it and, when she did, the pills spilled out of it; some of them went right down the drain, which made her groan in complete frustration and she threw the bottle across the room, watching it land in the bathtub.

She then lifted her head up and stared at the reflection that met her stare, and she felt herself breaking apart ever so slowly. Her heart was palpitating so quickly that she thought it would tear itself out of her chest and put a painful end to her existence.

"Just let it be over..." she whimpered to herself, tears falling down her cheeks again.

It'll never be over, little girl...

The snarl caught her attention and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to battle its influence. It was a voice she knew all too well and one she constantly heard in her nightmares, one she always wanted to get rid of. But, whenever she was under extreme stress and agony, she would always hear it.

"Fuck you..." she whispered to herself, grabbing at her head in an attempt to stop the voice from taunting her.

You can't run from what happened, Christina. I'm just trying to tell you that...

"Let me run away from it... please... I've had enough...."

You'll never be able to move on from what happened to your precious mommy dearest....

"Enough!" Christina cried out softly, staring into the mirror and picturing the Green Goblin's gaze piercing into her heart. "I didn't do anything..."

That's just it. You did nothing. You didn't save her. And now you can't stop hearing her pathetic screams...

"No..."

You can't ignore the thought of how you could have helped her.

"Please..."

And it's all your fault.

"NO!" Christina howled, raising her fists and slamming them against the glass, unaware of how the mirror began to crack and shatter and how a few shards pierced the flesh of her palms. "STOP IT! FUCK YOU! DAMN IT!"

Delirious sobs escaped her as she bawled her eyes out, completely destroying the medicine cabinet mirror with her bare hands. She didn't stop until her thoughts finally ended their taunting....

_____

Sidney's POV

The young girl hadn't put on her headphones and she could hear everything through the wall, her face having fallen due to the screams emanating from the bathroom. She was also able to hear the sound of glass shattering and she assumed Christina was taking an object to the mirror and getting her rage and sadness out.

Sidney had heard about the death of Otto Octavius's wife over the news while she was at her parents' home; she didn't know who either of them had been but, once she saw that Christina had been there, she felt automatic sympathy for her since she assumed that she was a witness to the tragedy. When the reporter she had nearly punched had confirmed it, however, she had wanted to pull her sister into a hug and comfort her. But, based on her emotional state, she knew the brunette wouldn't have wanted that.

Now, the younger sibling wasn't able to cry as no tears were willing to arrive; however, she felt like cracking and going to see what was going on despite Christina's wishes. She was wondering why she was taking her anger out on the medicine cabinet mirror, but a part of her didn't really want to know why.

She had been proud of her mother when she tried to reach out to Christina, as she never thought the day would come. In fact, Sidney was pondering over whether she should forgive her for her past antics right now or some other time; on one hand, Sidney was happy that Allyson had finally shown that she actually cared for her stepdaughter and didn't intend on ignoring her like she was nothing. On the other hand, she had chosen to try and offer solace at the worst possible time, as Christina had been beyond pissed.

As she heard the screaming in the bathroom come to a stop, Sidney quickly went back to her bed like nothing had happened and put her headphones over her ears. She was about to press Play on her Walkman but a knock on her bedroom door stopped that from happening, and she slowly lifted her head up.

"Come in..." she called out in a slightly trembling voice.

The door slowly opened a little and a distraught Christina timidly stepped into the room, breathing raggedly but it seemed as though she was finally calm. The older woman blinked a few times as she looked at Sidney with an apologetic gaze. "You can come out now..." she murmured gently, the tears finally gone from her eyes.

Sidney carefully nodded as she removed her headphones and stood up. She took a single step closer to her and was about to ask if she was okay now but, after looking down for a moment, her eyes widened at what she saw. "Chris..." she whimpered out of panic.

"What?" Christina mumbled, now looking down at her hands.

The first thing the young woman saw was blood seeping out of a small cut on her right hand from where she had broken the mirror. She hadn't even been aware of the pain it had brought her, and it was now stinging from how much it burned. She hissed through her teeth as she placed her uninjured hand over the cut that was two inches long. "Ah, shit..." she whispered, preventing any further bleeding. "Can... Can you get the first-aid kit?"

Sidney's head bobbed up and down as she darted to the bathroom to grab said kit, instantly seeing that there were only a few remnants of the mirror left on the medicine cabinet. The rest of the glass was in the sink or on the floor.

Boy, was she glad she was still wearing shoes right now.

She brought the kit into her room and instructed Christina to sit on her bed, which she obeyed. The young girl, knowing the simplicity of first-aid thanks to Allyson, grabbed some gauze and medical tape, along with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and proceeded to clean up the wound on her sister's hand.

Christina barely felt any of the pain but was glad it was minimal and nothing worse than it could have been. Regardless, she felt guilty for scaring her younger sibling as she watched what she was doing with intrigue in her eyes. She knew she shouldn't have done what she did and should have allowed her to talk to her, that way it would have gotten better.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered. "I didn't mean to upset you if I did."

"Well, you did," Sidney said, done with the sugarcoating as she finished placing the gauze on the cut. "You could have talked to me, Chris."

"I know..." the brunette replied with a frown. "I wasn't thinking straight. It must've been the concussion."

"Oh, enough with that horseshit!" Sidney broke as she stood up, rubbing her temples to figure out what exactly to say to her sister.

"What are you talking about?" Christina tried to defend, her eyebrows raised.

"It's not the concussion doing this," the young girl said, her eyes filling with tears. "It's you! Don't take this the wrong way, but have you ever thought about finally fucking seeking therapy? Because what you've just done to yourself is not helping your case!"

"I'm aware of that," the brunette murmured, not feeling any worse but actually understanding Sidney's words. "I've considered it..."

"Then please do that!" Sidney cried out, a tear falling down her right cheek. "I'm tired of having to pick up the damn pieces every time something goes wrong. I want to help you, I really do, but you need to start helping yourself first, Chris! If you don't, it's just going to get worse and I'm... we're gonna end up losing you...."

Christina got up and pulled her crying sister into a reassuring hug. "Hey, don't get upset, please..." she whispered soothingly. "Look, I'm sorry. I'll seek therapy, okay? I think I went too far this time."

"Yeah, you really did," Sidney muttered sarcastically, stifling a chuckle of amusement. "Just... please promise that you'll actually go through with getting help this time... and that you're not lying to me."

"I promise..." Christina responded.

And she meant it.

A/N: i'm sorry if this chapter was too sad for you guys.

YET AGAIN, it's gonna get worse soon...😐

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter?

christina needs therapy at this point. our poor girl is breaking...🙁

ALSO, if anyone even thinks of criticizing christina for doing what she does in this chapter, try to understand her situation! she just witnessed the death of someone and it reminded her of her mother's death. OBVIOUSLY SHE IS GOING TO LASH OUT AND BECOME MORE DEPRESSED! i did that MANY times when my father died, so try to be sympathetic or at least understand!

what did you think of her finally standing up to harry and telling him to shut up about spider-man?

and also the scene of sidney trying to punch the news reporter and christina succeeding?

and... the ending of the chapter? personally, i feel bad for allyson, as she only has good intentions and tries to help christina, but she won't let her...

predictions for the next chapter? let me know!

be looking forward to the next chapter... and grab some tissues...

-denbroughswife