"I'M SORRY I LIED TO YOU."

There were only a few minutes left of my precious time with the boy. Though, with the fall of Electro and the escape of Peter and everything falling apart so quickly, I wasn't even sure that Inga had been successful - how she could handle all of her 'buyers' was beyond my imagination. She was certainly strong and wily, but they seemed to be monsters and even Inga seemed to be nervous about their interactions. However, my thoughts were not on that, but on the boy in front of me and the serious frown he wore as he stared at the ground we sat on.

He didn't answer my mutter for a second, keeping his gaze downwards before looking back up. "Is this all true? You...you were sent here to bring me to these agents so they can..."

"-Rip you up and put you together again?" the words poured like hot lava from my lips before I could stop myself, but it wasn't like it wasn't the truth. At that point, really, there wasn't any point in beating around the bush about who I was or what my original motives were. He knew it all, and the bitter tone that had hidden in sickly-sweet words before wasn't masked any longer. "Yes. Basically."

"So...you're not Emily. At all."

"No."

"What...what parts of it all were lies? I mean, sometimes your story didn't add up and I got confused but was it all a lie?"

I shook my head and looked at the clenched fists in my lap, "no, that's not...no. It was all made up. My name isn't Emily, I'm not a high school student, I'm not from Canada - and I, of course, was the chosen one sent here to bring you to them so they could do their experiments on you. I was supposed to make you believe I was Emily, but it wasn't true. None of it was, really."

Peter didn't say anything after my words for a minute, seemingly processing the thoughts for a while. When he did, his voice shook ever so slightly, as though he was fighting back a cry, "so when you came to my apartment, you were just trying to warn me, to protect me?"

"Yes, yeah that was the plan. A stupid one, but it was the idea."

"I'm sorry for not believing you."

"It's okay." 

It wasn't really 'okay', but my thought wasn't over the time wasted or on the fact that the boy - rightfully - didn't believe me at that point in time. Instead, I could only focus on the fact that I had succeeded and he could return home, safe and sound, and protect New York City from now on. In this sacred moment, it didn't matter my fate, but the fact that he would be okay, just like he deserved. I was alright sacrificing it all for that reason.

"So...what happens to you now?"

I shrugged, "I go back to Inga, and then back to Russia."

"I meant, what after?" The boy seemed worried about me, strangely enough, and watched me with a new anxiety shining through his eyes. "What will happen because you went against them and saved my life?"

I couldn't tell him the truth, the silent but clearly spoken truth that had followed me from day one. If he knew the real consequences of my actions there would be no way Peter would be okay - he cared too deeply for his own good, and for some reason, he thought of me as something worth fighting for. If he knew it all, he would hate me for the one good deed I had managed to accomplish, and it would ruin everything I had worked for. I couldn't tell him that I didn't know or the suspicions I had. It would surely break him, especially considering all the tragedy already endured.

So, instead of blurting out the real effect my crimes would have on the world I lived in, I simply sighed. "I go home - well if you want to call the Academy my home - and I live out my life and train to be the girl they wanted me to to be."

"Won't you be punished?"

I sighed, "maybe, yeah, but I've gone through it before - honestly, it's just a blur now, I barely feel it. After that, then I just...become whoever the hell Freya is supposed to be, in the end."

The boy frowned. "So, you're leaving forever, just like that? You won't be coming back?"

"I..." here was the tricky part of my fib; not composing it, but making myself and Peter believe it enough to let me leave in peace. It took every single bit of me to control my voice and the tremor from the tearful lie lurking behind it. "I don't know if I'll ever come back, but hey, if I do, I'll make sure I pay a little visit, give you hell for a couple hours. I'll be badass then, certified spy. Who knows what will happen to me?"

"You already are pretty badass, Em-Freya."

"You can call me Emily if it's easier. You don't have to...I don't know. Change that."

Peter, after another long pause, shuffled and swung his body around so he sat beside me in the cool grass, not terribly far from the compound where he almost died, but just enough to give us distance. "No, you know, you do look like a Freya, I guess. It's just weird to think about this. All this time, you were the exchange student from Romania, and now..."

"-I'm a ruthless villain and murderer?" I offered weakly. "Yeah, sort of throws people off, I get it. Partly why I didn't bring it up in passing conversation."

"You're not a bad person."

I didn't look at him for a while after that, simply directing my gaze outwards at the city around us. Time was running out quickly, but I didn't want to rush this goodbye; I wanted to stay in this moment forever, savour the sanity gifted upon me and the good things I received from it. I wanted to pretend to be Emily again, and go on a date with Peter, and eat gross pizza, and figure out why shopping was supposedly entertaining for girls, and fail tests and be a normal girl who didn't have a ticking time bomb growing larger and larger at every second. It was a selfish wish, one that was pointless, but one I still craved, nonetheless.

"You're crying."

As he spoke, I felt the tear drip down my cheek, and my shaking hand whisked it away. "Sorry, my eyes...they're allergic to grass or something."

The words were stupid, and almost made me laugh, but Peter didn't really react to them. Instead, slowly and cautiously, he sank closer to me and used a gentle hand to pat my back in a way that was awkward at first but slowly more genuine. His eyes held nothing but sincere concern, and it almost made things a million times harder to let go of. "Why are you crying?"

"I..." My eyes looked everywhere but his face; it would just make it harder to see the genuine concern radiated from his sweet eyes. "I just don't want to leave you, Peter. Believe it or not, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me, you're the only one that's ever truly cared about me as a person - even if, you know, it wasn't me you were looking at. Honestly, you've changed my life, if that's not too cheesy to say? If I hadn't known you, I'd still be killing people and being the monster they made me become."

He gave a little sigh as he sank his hand back into the grass, following my gaze outwards. "Just cause it wasn't your name doesn't mean it was you or what you wanted. You're a good person, Freya."

"I've killed more people in a month then you've saved in your entire career-"

"-because you had to. Because if you didn't, you were the dead one. You might consider yourself a monster, but what you did - you could have sent me to them to tear apart, but you risked your own life for mine. Bad people don't do that."

"But-"

"-no buts this time," he said, almost sternly. "Look, Freya or Emily, whichever one - thank you for saving my life and doing everything you've done for me. You might not see it but you are a good person, even if you've done a bad thing once or twice."

"I think it's been more than once or twice," I murmured, finally realising how close our faces had drifted together. "Try a thousand or so, and you'll be a bit closer."

"Stop trying to change the past, Freya - focus on what you just did. You did the right thing, and that's amazing. You should be happier."

A tiny smile painted my cheeks, despite the pain ripping apart my heart, "But I am happy. You're safe, that's all I've really wanted. Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"Can I..." he hesitated, staring right at me with the same innocent eagerness that had made me fall for him, "Can I kiss you?"

My answer was the soft press of my lips against his, clasping my hands on his cheek and shoulder and creating a bittersweet embrace that I would never get to experience after that moment. The boy was gentle and tasted of mint and happiness and the slightest metallic flavouring of blood - though that was probably from me - and held onto me as though I was a delicate flower in danger of flying away in a brisk wind. That brief moment in time, though all the others were flawed, was perfect, and I hated how much I loved it.

I parted and smiled at him, holding a bruised hand to his cheek. "You're an amazing guy, Peter Parker. You're going to do great things, okay? You won't give up on Spiderman, will you?"

"I couldn't - no, of course, I won't."

"Good, 'cause the world...the world needs a good guy like you." My voice cracked at the end as the gravity of our final moments began to lean down. "You're loved by so many people, Peter, so many. You're gonna go far and do so much, okay? You're going to be a wonderful, wonderful man - you already are amazing. The best I know."

It was still very dark, but it wasn't hard to see the sombre expression on his face as he realised where my words were heading. "Freya, I-"

"-Promise me you'll never hold back, that you'll be the guy I know you are and can be - you have to promise me that Peter Parker will always be the good guy I know he is, okay?"

"-I"

I pressed another frantic, more aggressive kiss on his lips and clasped at his hands as though they were a lifeline, staring straight at him. The looming figure stood in the distance, opposing Peter's gaze, and I silently pleaded for just a few more seconds of freedom before the sacrifice. "Please just promise me you'll move on from this, and you'll get over this - you'll live a good life, settle down, get a good wife who will treat you right, hell you'll have a few kids - you'll be normal."

Peter shook slightly as he held our embrace, and I saw a tear build in his own eyes. I was sure that my words were scaring him slightly, from how passionately frantic they were and how far they were speaking into the future - he seemed to realise why even without me explaining myself. "What? I can't - I can't promise you that - you mean so much to me, Freya. I can't just let this all go."

My breath caught in my throat, though not just from his obviously heartfelt words, but for the shadowy movement that caught in the light behind him. I couldn't make out what had happened or who it was, but I didn't need to; it was the sign I had been reluctantly waiting for, the signal telling me that time was slipping away and I needed to wrap this all up. My heart rose to my throat, and I concentrated on my words, focusing on the task at hand.

"Well, you - that doesn't matter much, anymore. I'm moving on and you need to too - promise me, Peter. Please?"

"I...I promise, I guess, but-"

"-Okay. Thank you." I stepped back and got to my feet with the boy quickly following suit. My hand lingered on his arm, taking in the boy in his fancy suit one last time before looking away. It was time; she would not wait any longer. "Goodbye, Peter."

"No!"

"No?"

He stepped closer and hugged me closer to his shaking frame, holding my face in a hand. "Not goodbye. We'll see each other again - when you're all done, we'll find each other, and we'll make things right. Goodbyes are forever. This isn't forever. I'll find you, someday."

I stumbled a bit and held back my tears, feeling my heart crumble to bits inside me. He held onto foolish hope, and I held my own, though we both knew that it was all a lie fabricated to hold us together for another moment. There wouldn't be another time, there wouldn't be a happy reunion - there wouldn't be anything like that. "Yeah, sure, okay. Okay, sure, we'll...we'll see each other again."

"Promise?"

My only answer was the final kiss we would share with one another, holding our tragic embrace tight before letting go of him one last time. With only mere moments left, I tried to scan his face into my mind, mentally freezing the brief seconds when everything was perfect so I could treasure it when everything fell apart. "Peter?"

He nodded.

"There will be a tiny bottle in your room - strange, yes, but I couldn't give it to you here, not without them finding out." I was relying on the promise Inga had given me for this part, and could only pray she followed my final unspoken wish. "You need to get home as fast as you can, don't let anyone see or stop you and don't bother talking to anyone, and you need to drink whatever is in that bottle, all of it. It'll, um, heal your wounds, make it all better - in the morning, it'll be like you had never been in a fight. I stole it from Inga, it's from - it's the best possible, really. You have to take it, okay?"

"I don't understand what - what's happening? What's in it?"

I smiled through my waves of grief, "my last gift to you." 

With those final words, I left him to stand alone in the grassy area, walking away into the darkness. I didn't look back or answer his pleas, for fear I wouldn't be able to take another step forward, and kept my head down to hide my tears. The only thing that was in my head was the picture of the boy standing alone, dressed in red and blue, watching me walk away while tears built up. My lips still stung from the kiss, and I touched them, almost cracking a sad smile at the already-passing memory of the embrace. It was one of the only moments I really wanted to keep close to me, and I replayed it over and over again in my head, the movement still falling in line with my steps.

I wouldn't know if he took the 'healing potion', but could only hope he would - there wasn't a way to tell, his words could be fibs and I would still have to leave him. Either way, however, I tried and I had saved his life; that was what mattered most to me in the end. Peter Parker was safe and I had been the saviour of the equation. A tiny smile poked my lips, though there was nothing happy about anything, and I tightened my arms around myself. I had been a hero, for once. It was a feeling sweet and one I'd miss.

A sharp pain hit my arm, and almost immediately, the effects of a tranquillizer dart began to fill my small frame. The fog soon clouded my brain and eyes and everything around me, making me fall and go limp in the cold grass, far away from Peter's gaze. Cold hands touched my face and body, ones I recognised but did not bother to shun. My eyes began to drift shut as they scooped me up and placed me down on something hard, but they still held tight to the light of the city around, almost unwilling to let the final look at a place I called home fade away. I didn't struggle in the hold, however; I embraced it, bringing my arms to my chest and allowing the bonds to clasp on my hands and ankles. I knew what was coming, but I did not fight it, for the idea of my punishment was not a hated thing anymore. My duty was done, and there were no other reasons for me to fight - my purpose in the world had ended.

Just as my eyes fell shut for the final time, the cold gaze of Inga's met mine, and I barely heard her words as the world spun around me, "it's done."

I smiled and sucked in one last breath of cold New York air before letting myself go.

Are you crying? Because I'm crying, just a little bit. Dearie me, I didn't mean it to be quite so tragic but despite the crappy writing, I'm not mad at it. 

Second to last chapter, then the epilogue, and then...it's done. Well, not really since there are three alternate endings, but damn, it feels like this is nearly the end of a whole adventure and it's only been a single book. I know this chapter may be a bit wordy, sorry about that, but everything is important [and sad] and all that. Again, sorry to end it on such a sad note, but it had to be like this. I'm afraid it won't get much better, but only two more chapters and you guys will finally see the end of Freya Knight's story. Don't worry, she's not dead yet, there are still two more chapters, my darlings.

Thank you for reading.