I'm tired of this feeling,
i feel so alone

i need you right now, baby
won't you come home?

come home
willow

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

It was an odd sight seeing the midtown quartet, more like trio now, so silent and motionless. There was always something going on between the friend group, rather it be mischief or just a conversation-they were always rowdy. But at this moment, there was nothing they could do but to let it sink in that their best friend was missing.

Michelle's foot bounces with impatience, waiting for any of the two to catch her up to whatever the hell was going on, but all they did was just sit there like idiots. With a loud huff, she stands up from the recliner, staring the two boys down. "Are either of you going to explain what the hell is going on? What do you mean she's gone?" She demands for answers.

Ned spares his best friend a glance, wondering if he was in any shape to explain it short and clean. Peter just sat there, glaring a whole into the wall as he tried to put his thoughts together, trying to make sense of what was happening himself. "Pete?" The boy calls gently.

"I don't know." He shrugs, rubbing at his face in attempt to relax, to distract him from crying his frustration out in front of them- that'd be too embarrassing.

"She left after the first earthquake hit, apparently it was something dangerous enough to draw her out." Ned speaks up, hoping to shed some type of light on Michelle's confusion. "I tracked her suit to somewhere underground the substation, but after that last earthquake, she disappeared."

Michelle's brows furrow in thought, refusing to believe Y/n could just disappear out of thin air. Maybe her suit was damaged-offline-or somewhere deep enough there's no signal. There were too many variables to think of, none they could get absolute answers to unless they went to look for themselves.

But that would be dumb of them.

"We need to find her."

So dumb, that even Peter thought about it, and yet, Michelle couldn't oppose it. Not when her best friend is out there somewhere, most likely hurt. "Okay. I'm in."

Ned's mouth drops open, shocked to see how quick she was to jump on. "Wait, hold on! We aren't exactly mutated ourselves. We can't just waltz down there and face-off whatever she ran into." He panics, watching as Peter moves around the apartment, grabbing whatever he deemed useful.

Peter pauses, turning to him with a calculated look. "You could be the 'guy in the chair' again. Are you really going to skip out on this opportunity?" He asks, luring him into a trap.

Any reluctance Ned has dissipated within seconds, grabbing his stray backpack off the ground. "I'm in. But not just because I want to be the 'guy in the chair', but because I'm equally as worried about Y/n." Ned nods.

Michelle rolls her eyes before saying, "Whatever you gotta tell yourself."

With a roll of his eyes, Ned and Michelle watched as Peter rummaged through their supply closet, looking for any source of light. "I think half the city's power is still out, so not many people will be out there." He notes, clicking on a flashlight to check if it still worked.

Tossing the light to Ned, Michelle snorts as he fumbled with it repeatedly. "My hands are sweaty!" He defends himself, only fueling the fire of amusement.

Peter peeks out the window, seeing most of the city's power was still out, the streets emptied and rattled by the earthquake. There were a few flashing lights from the police cars, stationed to help and reroute the people. "If we hang low, we should be able to get past them." He calls over his shoulder, staring at something off in the distance with confused interest.

"This is a bad idea."

"Please. Like any of our ideas are good ideas." Michelle rolls his eyes, already standing by the door, ready to go. Ned nods in agreement, thinking back to the last time everyone thought it was a good idea to take May's car one night and drive aimlessly while she slept. Good times.

Looking over Peter's room once more, he finds what he's looking for hiding by his desk. Picking it up with a sadden smile, he pockets Y/n's phone before leaving his room and out the apartment.

It was a little too easy getting by the cops, too busy talking with a frantic woman who demanded answers about what's to be done about the damage to her car. With a casual walk by, they were free to roam the unusual emptied streets of Queens.

"It's almost freaky and calming at the same time." Ned says, looking around the city with mixed feelings. "It's like we're in the middle of an apocalypse." Michelle smiles, her imagination running wild. It might as well be in the world where Spider-Woman is missing.

"Wait." Peter sticks out his arm to stop the two from continuing, staring down the very thing he saw from his apartment's window. "Look at that." He points.

A few meters away, on the other side of the road, was a crooked lamp post-practically torn out of its foundation. Surrounding it was an abstract of shapes and psychedelic colors; it looked sharp to the touch. "What the hell is that?" Michelle mutters, itching to get a closer look.

With one, long last look, Peter turns to the two with worry. "We need to find Y/n. Fast."Wordlessly agreeing, the trio decide to run the rest of their way to the station, blissfully unaware as the lamppost glitches out of existence.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

It was obvious after what they've seen, their anxiety had dialed up, the silence that fell upon them yet again a telling sign. They all collectively decided on their own it was best to not comment about it.

"She's in there?" Michelle shines her flashlight down the empty track, standing in the spot where you once did. Ned nods his head, "Uh huh", swallowing the lump in his throat as he stares further down the tunnel; checking for creepy crawlers.

Peter was stuck in place, his imagination running wild about what they could find down this path-all possibilities that could have played out. Guiltily enough, none of them ended well. Always ending with you harmed, trapped, or held against your will. God, he hopes you were okay and that you were just lost.

"Well?" Peter and Ned hisses at the harsh light shone in their faces by none other than Michelle. "Are you just going to stand there like idiots, or are we going to find Y/n?"

Ned gives her a pointed look, clicking on his own flashlight. "Just so you know, that also makes you an idiot." Michelle snorts.

Peter lets out a long sigh, trying his best to mask his amusement. It was amazing that even in this situation, he could still find time to laugh or make fun. "Ned leads." He says, passing the boy with a teasing pat on the back.

"Huh?" Ned sounds in confusion, his face lighting up with amusement at the double-meaning, the significance of his words coming second. "Wait-"

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

"Look at this place!" Ned muses, slowly turning into a circle to get a look at the domed area, its perimeter covered in graffiti.

"You mean people come down here willingly?" Michelle cringes, kicking away the trash at her feet. "Why? Are you scared?" Ned teases. She didn't bother to answer verbally-but physically.

"You hit like a girl."

SMACK.

"Stop being misogynistic."

SMACK.

Peter rolls his eyes as they begin to harmlessly swat at each other, deciding to let them get it out of their system as he observes the colorful tags one-by-one. 'Y/n would have enjoyed this if she wasn't so busy', Peter thought with a frown, his heart growing heavy with the need of her to be by his side.

"Stop being a nerd."

SMACK.

'She would have also laughed her ass off at Michelle and Ned's usual antics', He grins, her laughter echoing in his ears.

"Stop being a-"

The duo jump at the heavy flashlight hitting the ground, their bickering coming to a startling stop as they hear Peter hiss out in irritation. "You okay, dude?" Ned asks, watching as he rubbed at his hand, the skin red and irritated.

"Yeah. Let's just keep going." Peter mumbled, looking around his feet before picking up his flashlight, continuing further down their path without another word.

[Somewhere in Greenwich Village]

A man's brow twitches with annoyance, a deep grumble stirring in the depths of his chest. "That's not right." He mumbles, peeking further into the endless outcomes of this current timeline.

With a long sigh, he lowers himself to the ground, opening his eyes to his mystic artifact hovering in front of him. "There's two of them." He says matter-of-factly, his tone tired and over it. His cloak's hem lifts upwards, shrugging with question.

"No matter. Something is out of place and it needs to be fixed." Strange states, twisting his sling ring into place, the cloak diving to wrap around his shoulders, much more excited to go on this journey than the sorcerer himself.

Creating a circled gesture, a spark of light comes to life as it forms a portal to his designated location. "Kids." He mutters under his breath, shaking his head in disbelief as he steps through the portal.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Peter stares up the tall gate, eyeing the opening above it with interest; questioning if he'd be able to slip through. The signs plastered all over it glared at him, warning him not to do exactly what he was thinking about doing. It was now or never.

"Maybe we should turn back." Ned winces, not believing he actually said it out loud. The boy looks at him with question, appalled that he'd want to turn around after they came so far.

"Why? We could be close!" Peter exclaims, looking to Michelle for some back up, only to see her tossing around the idea. "Et tu, Brutus?" He mumbles, frown prominent upon his face.

Michelle rolls her eyes, crossing her arms, pointedly avoiding his stare. "We don't know what could be down there, and there's no guarantee you can get the gate open for us." She says, becoming the voice of reason.

"It could be a simple turn mechanism!" Peter argues, not settling for going back home. He groans at their silence, rubbing his face with frustration. "What if Y/n's hurt? Do you really want to turn around knowing it's a possibility?" Peter felt terrible using your absence as leverage, but he needed to know if you were okay.

Ned looks down guiltily, images flashing across his mind that pull at his heart strings painfully.

Michelle looked like she wanted to punch him, but Peter could see the shift from reluctance to agreement. Without another word, he turned to the gate, slipping his foot into a gap, pushing himself off the ground.

"I hope you fall." Michelle says. She full-heartedly meant it. Peter falling on his ass would be a good laugh in these trying times. A real good one.

"Thanks, MJ."

The remaining two watched as Peter scaled up the gate at a decent pace, too engrossed with making sure he didn't slip or fall; both of them for different, obvious reasons.

Distracted enough, making them unaware of their surroundings, they didn't hear that little spark of magic behind them-that little spark becoming larger within seconds.

Strange stood in his portal, tiredly watching the kid climb up the gate, the others watching with no intent to stop him. God, is this what has become of him? From saving the world from Dormammu, to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, to babysitting children. What a life he's living.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He speaks, startling the three teens in front of him. His brows furrow. "Three. There's supposed to be four of you. Where's the other one?" He questions, stepping out of his portal.

His question was disregarded by Ned, who stared at him with childlike wonder and woe. "Woah. A wizard." Strange's brow twitches.

"I'm not a wizard. I'm-"

"You're totally a wizard." Michelle says, interrupting the poor man; probably adding a few more strands of gray hairs to his collection.

"No. I'm a Sorcerer. There's a difference-Hey, you!" Peter's movement stills, leg mid-air as he was about to climb over the gap. "What are you doing? Get down from there." The boy huffs, jumping down from the gate with quite the attitude.

With a huff of his own, Strange continues his short introduction. "My name is Dr. Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, and you-" he points to Peter accusingly, "-messed up the timeline, which you better hope doesn't destroy it."

His mouth gapes open, pointing to himself. "Me? I didn't do anything!" He exclaims, sounding like a child who in-fact did something and was trying to lie himself out of it.

"That bite says otherwise. Now, there's only three of you. Where's the fourth?" Strange asks, his patience running thin.

"That's kind of why we're here. And how'd you know about that?" Peter asks, his own suspicion contouring his face.

"It's kind of my job, kid. Now, assuming that Y/n isn't physically here, we've got some problems to discuss." Strange says, reopening the portal to Sanctum Sanctorum. "Get in."

Michelle watches the stupidity leak out of the two as they step forward with a shrug, immediately stopping them. "Are you idiots seriously thinking about going with him? He'd could be the reason Y/n's gone for all we know!" Michelle argues.

"I applaud you for using your brain, but we seriously don't have that much time. If I'm right about which timeline we're currently in, Y/n could be in a lot of trouble."

Michelle huffs, being the first to step forward, but of course not without giving an attitude. "Who died and made you Sorcerer Supreme?"

Strange deadpans. "The Ancient One, now get in before I change my mind and let the world as we know it crumble." Michelle cringes, mumbling a small 'sorry', before stepping through; the others following shortly.

"Awesome."

Strange rubs at his temple, already feeling a headache coming on. Herding and babysitting children were NOT in the job description. Turning to step through the portal, a tug from his cloak stops him from doing so-calling for his attention. "What is it now?"

The cloak animatedly points to something on the gate, something of great importance that would let them know where the timeline is heading. "Hm. Good catch." Strange compliments, motioning for the sentient cloak to follow him through. "Now to babysit." He sighs tiredly, before sealing the portal shut.

━━━━━━━━ 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑼𝑬𝑫
(march.4) I feel like this one is l4me and rushed, but blegh it is what it is. it'll most likely change later on anyways but I still hope you enjoyed!

edited: 4/19
words: 2534