chapter fifty-two
the night nina hart died

    AN UNEASY FEELING was in the air. One not any breath could quite understand. In every universe, a fog settled━foreboding a presence that hung heavy in the multiverse that told them: something was coming. Something wasn't right. Little did they know, the multiverse was starting to fall apart━and its one constant leaked through; dripping slowly through the cracked walls of each dam into each time stream. One by one ... by one ... by one. It passed through; gradual. Falling and falling until it settled in the eerie smoke that hovered in yet another world.

    Nina Hart walked out of the control building, rushing over to where Peter lied in the midst of the rubble. Max was nowhere in sight. There was not even a dead body; he had just disappeared into nothing. Spider-Man groaned, clutching his side as he rolled over; his suit smoked. Nina gasped and ran over, quickly blinking away the sudden drop of rain that struck her cheek. 

    "Pete?" she ran to him, concerned. She stopped just by him, eyeing his burnt suit as he struggled to get up. She reached out, but was hesitant, not too sure whether he had completely absorbed the shock or not. "You okay?"

    "Yep," he managed, shaking his head. "Yep. I'm great..."

    There was a chime above them; it rang out. Nina glanced upwards and frowned at the time shown on the old clock tower that still stood on the ground of OSCORP's power grid. The hand moved past eleven.

    She sighed and turned her attention back to Peter. "We did it," she told him. 

    He chuckled, nodding as he stood up straight. He stretched out his arms and shook out the rest of his limbs. "You bet we did! Oh!" Peter felt his chest, as if double-checking he was still alive. "That was intense..."

    Nina nodded. "Yeah," she muttered, "tell me about it..."

    Her voice trailed off when a chilling sound echoed in the night air. Peter stood on edge. Nina thought she had imagined it; some random bird or plane passing over ... but then, she heard it again. And she couldn't mistake it for anything else this time. A laugh ... a bone-chilling, haunting laugh.

    She frowned, keeping an eye on Peter as he glanced up and around. She went to say something but he quickly held an arm out, stopping her as he listened. Her fear started to return.

    "Nina..." he murmured. "Nina, get back ... get back right now..."

    Nina was too scared to object, shuffling back towards the doors of the control building. Peter stood in front of her, and she followed his gaze upwards to where something emerged from the dark━it veered around the clock tower ... and it laughed yet again. It came closer and once it met the light, Nina saw a figure flying━except it wasn't flying. The figure stood on a sharp, winged hover-board that glowed a power of ghastly green. Standing on it, was a creature in a nightmarish suit. She only caught a glimpse of it before the figure shot away.

    She spun around, following the sound of the stranger's laughter━high-pitched, childish ... unnatural. It wrapped around the broken power grids and Nina lost sight of it.

    Peter shuffled towards her, keeping his hand out, "Nina━stay there..."

    The glider returned. It swooped down low and Nina raced backwards further, nearly stumbling as it slowed and pulled to hover right in front of Peter━blocking the path between them. Nina frowned, seeing a man that was not a stranger at all. He was almost unrecognisable; his skin horrific with what looked to be sickly green scales that crawled up his neck and boils that festered on his forehead. His teeth were yellowed and cracked, his eyes wild and crazed. He looked like some goblin, dressed in a strange, green armour-plated suit ... she almost didn't recognise him, but she did: it was Harry Osborn.

    Even with his mask on, Nina knew Peter was shocked at the sight of his old best friend ... of how horrible he looked.

    The smile Harry made was not a friendly one━it was cold and it was chilling; gruesome, even. A wide, insane smile that did not belong to him. He glanced behind him at Nina and she shuffled back further, terrified of the very sight. She watched his smile falter and his head tilt━Harry was animalistic as he set his eyes upon her ... slowly, he glanced back at Spider-Man, and then her, and then finally back onto Peter ... 

    Nina's heart pounded. Spider-Man shook his head, careful and wary ... but it was too late. Harry had made the connection.

    He looked down at his feet. Nina saw him clench his hands; he crouched lower on his glider━his shoulders tensed and so did his jaw. Then, Harry Osborn began to laugh once more.

    It was soft. Then it grew━chuckles that got louder and louder until they were high in his throat; they rang in Nina's ears. Louder and louder, and then he was hysterical. He spun to Peter so suddenly it made him jump. 

    Harry Osborn grinned━a horrible grin filled with pain, and bitterness; betrayal and hysterical, crazed irony that finally turned into something fully evil that the man that was here no long was Harry Osborn. Instead, he had become something else: a monster. 

    "Peter..." he hissed through his devilish smile. Peter shuffled anxiously on his feet, shocked to silence. The goblin monster━a Green Goblin━veered even closer to his old friend, frothing with pure hatred. "When you said Spider-Man said no, you meant you━" he heaved deep breathes through gritted teeth, "━said━no!"

    Spider-Man took a fearful step forward, "H━Harry..." he breathed, horrified. "What━what did you do?"

    Harry Osborn chuckled lowly, "What you made me do. You ... You were my friend ... and you betrayed me!" he then yelled and his voice rang out into the night. 

    Peter shook his head. He was growing frantic. "No," he tried to tell him. "No, no, Harry━I was tying to protect you!"

    "LOOK AT ME!" The Green Goblin laughed, his voice cracking high.

    "H━Hey━" Spider-Man stepped closer. Nina had never heard him sound so scared. "It's ... it's going to be okay. This is going to be all right."

    Harry shook his head. He hissed yet again, baring his teeth. "You don't give people hope," he said. "You take it away."

    "No. No, Harry..."

    The Green Goblin leaned forward on his glider and promised: "I'm gonna away yours..."

    Peter realised. His wide-eyed lenses locked onto Nina across the Green Goblin's shoulder. 

    She realised too late. The Green Goblin turned.

    "No!" cried Spider-Man. "NO━NINA, RUN━!"

    Nina trembled in her shoes. Her knees quivered. She saw the Green Goblin charge her and she stumbled. She turned. She screamed as she tried to run━run for her life━

    Arms grabbed her by the waist and she screamed louder when her feet left the ground. Her stomach jolted━up, they went. Up, up, up━The Green Goblin snatched Nina Hart from the ground and took her with him into the dark night.

    "NO!" Peter yelled. He leapt up into the air with them━his webs caught the top of the building and he swung upwards with a pounding heart. "HARRY━!"

    The ground grew further and further away. Nina screamed for Harry to let her go, pushing against his gripping hold around her. His breath smelt━his skin smelt ... it was rotting. He was rotting away. 

    "NINA!" Spider-Man cried, swinging after them in a desperate chase across the power grid. Nina heard the Green Goblin's laugh high-pitched and piercing right in her ears. She sobbed, slamming her hands against his chest. She screamed Peter's name━Up, up and up they went. 

    The world around Nina Hart was a blurred haze around her of lights and green smoke. Her coat and her dress billowed; her hair flew into her face. She cursed Harry's name and tried to kick him, but as they got further away from the ground, she started to realise that if he dropped her ... if she fell ... it was going to be a very long way down. 

    Nina froze, her heart a choking lump in her throat. She managed to glance over the Green Goblin's shoulder to meet Peter's stare just feet away. He swung to her━he cried out at each web he struck ... just seconds too short. "HARRY!" he pleaded. "HARRY, PUT HER DOWN!"

    The Green Goblin cackled and Nina's stomach jolted━they both shot upwards in a steep arch and her scream was so raw with terror it rattled Peter Parker's bones. He pushed off the side of the clock tower. He swung around it━up and up and up and up he went. Around and around and around. He raced against time. He raced against the setting moon. He raced against the pounding pace of his heart. 

    He raced against the Universe.

    "HARRY!" his voice was lost in the wind. He ran up the side of the clock tower and somersaulted to the very top of it. He couldn't go any further. The Green Goblin went up and up, taking Nina Hart with him until they were small dots in the clouds. "NINA━!" Spider-Man jumped. He yelled in fury as he tried to catch the ends of the glider with his webs, but they missed by miles. "HANG ON!"

    It was useless, but he did not stop. He did not give up. 

    "Put me down!" Nina sobbed to the Green Goblin. She hit his chest again, wanting his laughter to stop. "Put me down, Harry! Put me down!"

    "Harry, stop this right now!" shouted Peter from the top of the tower. "Stop! This isn't you, Harry! This is━This is not you! Harry, put her down!"

    "Please!" Nina cried. She begged for her life. She begged for it and she pleaded━this fear so unimaginable crawling up inside her she couldn't explain. A feeling of nothing except the end. "Harry━"

    "Harry is dead!" snapped the Green Goblin and her voice fell away. Nina realised she was living a nightmare ... no ... she relived a nightmare as she stared at the vicious look in the Goblin's eyes right now. 

    And she knew how that nightmare went ... she knew what happened. 

    Breathing heavily, she glanced down at Peter desperately shouting at Harry on the clocktower below. 

    "HARRY!" he bellowed, panicked. "HARRY, THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME! YOU WANT TO FIGHT? FIGHT ME! BUT LET HER GO! LET HER GO, RIGHT NOW!"

    The Green Goblin's chuckles softened to a terrible growl. He eyed Nina out of the corner of his dilated eyes━they glinted with malicious intent ... malicious mirth. He nodded. He smiled at her. "Okay," he said in a usually calm voice. "Okay ..."

    And then he let her go. 

    Nina gasped. Her scream hitched in her chest and she could not cry out as the wind tunnelled around her. Her eyes were wide, staring up at the Goblin's laughing figure above━he waved goodbye to her ... getting smaller ... and smaller ... and smaller ...

    "NO━!" Spider-Man crouched and jumped. He leapt off the clock tower as far as he possibly could. He stretched his arms up to her, rising higher as she fell down faster. 

    The wind rushed in her ears. She could not ear anything else except it━a whistle and a taunting tune. Nina stared up at the full moon nearing the centre of the sky ... the clock was ticking close to midnight. She wondered whether it was counting down ... ticking close to her final night.

    A bruising impact hit her back. Arms latched tight around her and she spun. Winded, her legs entangled with Peter's as the two of them fell together down to the clock tower. He held her head into his chest as they hit the glass━

    The roof of the tower shattered and they dropped right though. 

    Nina closed her eyes tight. Her whole body jolted painfully when they hit the catwalk. Peter groaned; she heard a horrible sound as he took the entire impact for her. 

    "Nina?" he called her name as he felt her tremble on his chest. She did not look at him. "Nina, Nina━You okay?"

    She broke into tears and she shook her head. She couldn't find the ability to speak. Peter held her painfully tight. "I got you," he tried to reassure her. "I got you. I caught you━you're okay, you're alive━" his hairs stood on end.

    Something dropped onto the catwalk beside him. He glanced over. Spider-Man frowned at the little round object━the size of a baseball. It started to glow a bright orange ... a high-pitch sound rang in the silence of the tower. 

    Spider-Man launched them sideways. He tucked her in tight and Nina couldn't even scream when the catwalk exploded into flames. It jolted apart━they tilted dangerously down━

    Nina slipped. She shrieked━

    Peter yelled out, reaching wildly for her wrist. His fingers latched around it, just managing to grab onto the edge. "It's okay! It's okay!" he told her, breathless. Webs replaced the fingers around her wrist. "I got you, baby━I got you━" Nina felt her feet touch something solid. She glanced down and found them placed onto a still, large iron cog. "I'm gonna put you down right here, okay?"

    She nodded. As soon as he let go of the web, her knees collapsed. Nina fell to all fours━and no thought hit her; nothing could fill her mind. She watched her fingers shake and felt her stomach twist ... she glanced through the holes of the metal cog by her knee and forced herself to look away as her vision tunnelled. 

    Nina craned her neck above. The Green Goblin crashed through the glass ceiling after them. Spider-Man spun out of his way and the two of them went around and around in a circle; cat and mouse, they played━a dangerous game of cat and mouse. 

    They moved so fast she could barely keep up. Peter dashed here and he dashed there━Harry followed with furious growls and his glider was surprisingly agile in such a small space. Spider-Man leapt back and forth, up and down, side-to-side; as he did, he attached webs from one point to another. Again and again━he repeated his steps around and around, up and down, side-to-side; he entrapped the two of them in the ceiling above, keeping Nina protected in a web so strong that not even the Green Goblin's glider could break even if he tried ... and he did. 

    He slammed right down into the metal above her and Nina gasped. She ducked her head down as some pieces fell right past her and into the endless depth below. She watched them shatter and crumple with horrible sounds when they hit the bottom. 

    Spider-Man started to expand his web upwards and between; threading and weaving the pathways he and the Goblin took. Until he was caught and the two of them hit the side of the tower━

    The entire building shuddered. Nina squealed when she felt the small platform she was on jolt. The cog dropped an inch. Her eyes widened and she held on, tight, when it moved━the gears clicked and hired, until they jolted still yet again as the clock ticked over another minute.

    Nina eyed the scaffold her gear was connected to and bile rose up her throat to see it hanging on a very thin dangerous thread━the bolts had fallen out, and it was pure luck that the entire gear hadn't fallen all the way down the first time. It groaned yet again. 

    A horrible realisation hit her. She gasped and got onto her feet━she wobbled and she swayed dangerously but she didn't think any more━She jumped down onto the next just in time. She grabbed the edge of the gear, smaller this time and watched the one she had just been on collapse down into the abyss. 

    The entire mechanism around her made a pained sound. It creaked and it groaned ... another dangerous shudder from above━more bolts sprung out from the scaffold. Nina had to get off this thing ... but where could she go? 

    Above, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fought viciously━ruthlessly. They tunnelled and they wrestled; Peter tried to slow his old friend down, grappling onto his shoulders and the glider went haywire━the both of them spiralled in a dangerous circle in the small, narrow tunnel space. Spider-Man webbed a thick thread between his hands and tugged it back, tight, against the Goblin's neck and he gasped, scratching at the grip━they slammed so hard into the side of the building, the bricks crumbled and Peter was lodged two centimetres deep inside. 

    The rubble cascaded down. Nina rushed dangerously to the edge of the small gear to avoid being hit. She shrieked to herself as she nearly lost her balance━she groped for the scaffold beside her and it swayed for a moment until it stabilised. 

    Spider-Man pushed off he wall and kicked the Green Goblin sideways. He latched two webs above and swung back around━his next strike sent Harry flying off his glider and he fell, hitting the catwalk just above Nina's head. 

    She glanced up at the sound, and her eyes widened in terror to see the Green Goblin's glider drop with him. She screamed, hiding her head into her arms━she had nowhere to go when it landed into the scaffold; it cut right through it and the entire thing broke ... including the gears under her feet. 

    Nina cried out amongst the falling iron and debris. Her arms flailed, but she had nothing to hold on to━she was falling and falling, like everything else. 

    Peter landed down onto the remaining gears and shouted her name, extending a frantic web downwards━

    It found her just in time. Nina gasped as her entire body shook━every joint jarred and the pain ached all the way through her arms, her chest and her legs. But she hung there ... she hung there as everything below crashed to the ground so far away, she could not see the bottom ... it was shrouded in blurred moonlight. Nina could hear her heart in her ears, it was the only thing she heard. She stretched her fingers to grab onto Peter's web, locking his unblinking stare above as he pulled her upwards. He rushed━one hand after the other. Nina yelped as she was tugged closer. She tucked her knees up when she swung a little too far━a little too close to the side of the tower. 

    But she was almost there. She was so close━

    A shadow loomed above Spider-Man. She gasped, "Look out━!" 

    The Green Goblin grabbed Peter by the shoulders. He exclaimed and the both of them tumbled to the side. Nina swung once again and her heart dropped when the web lodged into the corner of the gears cogs ... and for a horrifying moment, she thought it would snap.

    Spider-Man kept a tight grip on his web━her life-line; the one thing keeping her from dropping to her death as he and the Green Goblin grappled once again. Peter's back hit the gear, hard and Nina yelped━she dropped two inches. 

    The Green Goblin laughed and pressed his heel down onto Spider-Man's wrist. He heard her shriek━she dropped another three inches. Peter gritted his teeth and forcefully spun them around; the gear locked and the web caught itself in the hairline gap between the cog adjacent. Another inch. 

    Nina eyed it with a petrified breath. If the cog moved two more minute to midnight... the web would most definitely snap. 

    Spider-Man trapped the Green Goblin's hand to the cog above and slammed his head against Harry's own. Nina felt as if she started to hear the seconds. Tick tock ... tick tock .. tick tock ...

    Peter flung a long stretch of web up over Harry's shoulder━he tugged his arm to his right; around and around he wrapped it, tightening over and over until it squeezed the Green Goblin's neck. 

    Tick tock ... tick tock ... tick tock ...

    Another minute struck. The cogs above snapped to one minute to midnight; the Green Goblin made a strangled gasp he was pulled backwards by his neck━and yet he could not move. He could not struggle. His hands were trapped, and he was being choked━strangled━at each second closer to tomorrow. 

    Tick tock ... tick tock━Peter gritted his teeth and lodged his foot into the gap between the gears━he kept them still as they rolled to midnight; they stopped, inches, from snapping her web into two. 

    Nina trembled with the gears as they strained, they fought against his strength ... they were desperate to meet together at the very top; they must meet at the very top ...

    She started to slowly understand. 

    Nina started to realise what was happening ... 

    A tear fell down her cheek. 

    She shot her stare up to Spider-Man and whimpered out a final cry, "Peter━"

    The gears broke. His foot fell away. Harry shot up to the roof of the tower. The hands ticked over━

    And the web snapped. 

    Nina's gasp was lost in the air. 

    The clock spiralled, and yet time ... time seemed to slow down. It tunnelled into one, specific moment━one specific memory that will never be taken away; changing it into something so painstakingly long ... and yet so very fast that not even seconds into the morning did it pass by. The future was his spinning wheel━the future was falling away, dropping down further and further ... his future was ticking away, faster and faster and faster━leaving him before he could even take a breath.

    Nina Hart fell ...

    And she knew Peter Parker would not catch her in time.

    But she watched him try. She saw him dive down through the falling rubble━Her Spider-Man in his red and blue suit; her superhero ... her Peter Parker, and she wished she could see his face━one last time. 

    Time skipped━it skipped like a record and scratched Peter's ears. He was a single song behind━a single second; forced to view it all in a moment of time nearly frozen, as if he wasn't even truly there ... watching from above as he raced against the very laws of the world to save Nina Hart's life. 

    His web spiralled down after her. It slipped through the broken cogs and metal; the falling scaffold and the rubble. It reached for her with fingers that stretched from the depths of his heart ... they called out to her, they cried for her, they screamed her name ...

    And it was silent. It was so silent. 

    She stared into those unblinking lenses, and she knew what colour the eyes that were behind them. Nina Hart closed her own, and the last thing she saw was Peter Parker's smile━

    His web caught her waist, Spider-Man grabbed a remaining bar of scaffold━but all he could hear in the deafening silence was a horrific, bone-chilling, heart-shattering snap. 

    Nina Hart's body bounced off the stone-brick floor. And there, she stayed.

    She swayed in a frozen arch that did not move ... like a dead spider dangling with its legs locked from a long, thin stretch of its final silk. 

    Peter hung there for a moment longer. He stared down the narrow passageway, holding his breath. He quickly attached the web to the pole and leapt down. 

    He landed at her side. His breath trembled; he hovered there, watching the way she just swung and yet nothing about her moved; she did not blink, her chest did not shudder, her fingers did not flinch ... 

    Peter reached up and pulled his mask from his head, as if staring at her without it would somehow help him determine ... what?

    "Nina?" he whispered, terrified of the answer. 

    She did not respond. 

    Peter Parker treaded careful steps towards her. She was so rigid ... so still ... Peter has never seen someone so tense and rigid and ... Even his Uncle Ben was not ...

    "Nina?" Peter breathed her name once more. He waited. Her eyes did not open. Her head did not turn. It just hung there, bent back in such a way ... was it normal?

    He knelt and took her into his arms. It did not feel right how she slumped into them━how she did not turn to his chest, how she did not look up at him and smile; how nothing━not even his warmth━could stir her from this slumber. 

    He pulled the web away from her and let it hang; he turned her away from it, holding her up closer to his chest. Her head rested in the crook of his elbow. 

    She did not blink.

    "Nina?" croaked Peter Parker. He reached out to cup her cheek. Her head lolled towards him, limp and lifeless. His heart jolted with a fear he did not yet understand. "H━Hey," he whispered to her, tender. "Hey ... Nina?" he coaxed her awake. "Hey, baby ... Baby, you're okay ..."

    A lump formed in his throat━this strange part of him that did not seem to even be present, could not comprehend━couldn't not even think as to why he felt the need to cry. 

    "Hey," he said, forcing his voice louder from his throat. He gently shook her. "Hey━Nina?" Peter hitched back a sob. "H━hey ... hey━" slowly, he sat down, not once letting her go. He cradled Nina Hart, gazing at her eyes that would not open. She leant against him in a limp sleep━so peaceful, so gentle ... like she was dreaming, and she dreamt forever. 

    Peter started to cry. "Nina!" he called her. Desperate, he tried to reach her beyond what was possible, hoping that somehow━maybe━some miracle would allow his voice to bring her back. His breaths were short, they grew heavy. He shook his head. "No, no, no, no━" he pulled her closer. "You're okay," he told her, as tears fell down his cheeks. They landed onto her own, and they rolled down ... and it was almost as if she, too, cried for him. "You're okay, baby..." his voice broke. 

    Peter Parker hugged Nina Hart close. His heart pounded as part of it was ripped away forever, broken into two with no chance of ever coming back together. He brushed her hair off her face━her beautiful face, and yet there was no smile. There was no colour in her cheeks ... no life left to the one girl who always had the most life in this world.

    "Nina━" Peter's words were choked with his tears; they overwhelmed him. He could not even cry ... he was lost for sound, trapped in this horrible, painful and silent scream that begged for someone to hear ... and yet the clocktower was void of any noise at all.

    He was alone. He was alone, holding the girl he loved━and his promise was albeit stale in the midnight morning. It ticked over into the second minute of the next day ... the first day Peter Parker will have without Nina Hart at his side.

    "Please!" he sobbed. "Stay with me," he whispered to her. "Stay with me, stay with me, Nina━come on. Don't play with me ... Stay with me. Stay with me." He shook her lightly. "You stay with me ..."

    But she was gone. Nina was long gone.

    "Nina...?" he called to her once again, his voice a heartbroken whisper. 

    He caressed her cheek ... Peter Parker broke down. He pulled his knees up and hugged his girl close. He rocked her back and forth━and his forehead met hers; and it was so cold to the touch. 

    "Please," he begged to her one last time. He remembered their promise: where you go, I go ... and he has never felt more ripped from his life, from everything he was supposed to be ... from who he was ... than to have his life ripped away from him. "I can't━" Peter Parker hiccuped back his sobs. He shook his head against her touch, realising it will never comfort him again. 

    He will never see her eyes, her smile, hear her voice ... her laugh again.

    Nina Hart was dead. 

    "I can't do this without you," he whispered to her forehead. 

     Nina Hart was dead, and Peter Parker had been the one that killed her. 

    He took a deep breath, this sudden feeling swelling up like toxic gas in his chest. Spider-Man took one more look at her lifeless body in his arms and he couldn't handle it anymore. He gazed up at the moon that was slowly drifting past the shattered roof of the clocktower━

    And he screamed. 

    He screamed a raw cry of rage, for this was the night Nina Hart died. 

*ೃ༄

    a/n: believe me, this hurt to write. I joke about it, but srsly, this hurt more than anything to write </3.

    can we please just ... just take a moment because I don't think I have - I wrote this and I still haven't fully comprehended that this version of Nina is gone ... I know she and Peter 3 were a favourite for a lot of you and ... and let's just take a moment to remember her best moments, your favourite moments - just everything about her character in this book. 

    I am just as broken as you guys are right now, and I cried writing this chapter; it took me a few goes to write it and now ... now I can't believe it's actually happened ... that this Nina is gone </3

    only one more chapter left of act two </3