One More Day pt. 2

"Rachael...what happened? Are you okay?" Peter asks concerned.

"Fine, how's May?" Rachael asks running over to him.

"Unchanged. Still no brain activity, Dr. Fine is doing everything he can to stall, but unless we can provide insurance or ability to pay there is nothing he can do but move her to the charity ward." Peter sighs. "I can't stand it, Rachael. I can't stand that she was there for me when I was growing up, but I can't be there for her when she needs me."

"It's not your fault, tiger. There is nothing you can do." Rachael sighs.

"I'm assuming your dad said no." Peter sighs. Rachael nods looking down. "The problem is we don't have any money, and we need to get some fast. So I'll go out and get it, one way or another."

"Peter, no...you can't..." Rachael says softly.

"It's May, Rachael. I'll do whatever is necessary to save her life. I'm already a wanted criminal, so what's the difference? I'd sell my soul if I thought it would help her." Peter says angrily.

"That may not be necessary." A familiar male voice says from behind them as they turn towards him.

"Happy? What are you-" Peter questions.

"It's been brought to my attention that my "cousin" May Morgan, from Blackpool, has been admitted into this hospital." Happy sighs not wanting to show that he actually wanted to help, keeping his I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Here facade going. "I got here as soon as I heard the news. She will, of course only receive the finest care."

"That may be a problem sir, you see-" The doctor says walking back over to them with a nurse.

"My personal account has just been deposited over two million dollars. I think this will cover everything." Happy says smugly sticking a check in the man's face.

"I...of course." The doctor says in shock. "Nurse, would you escort Mr. ..."

"Hogan."

"-Mr. Hogan to accounting?" The doctor says inspecting the check.

"Of course! Right this way sir." The nurse smiles leading Happy away.

"I'm not sure how you two managed to pull that off, but...well done." The doctor says patting Peter on the back.

"Thanks though I know I won't be able to go back a second time...for anything..." Rachael says.

"Not necessary, we can make her last days as comfortable as-" The doctor says calmly.

"They're not her last days, we've got her stabilized, so now I can..." Peter says his anger building up.

"Son, listen to me..." The doctor sighs. "You have to accept the facts, in her condition. There's no coming back. The hardest part of my job is making family members understand that there is nothing more anyone can do, that their loved ones are going to die, but-"

"Sorry, but I don't buy it." Peter says.

"Son, there's nothing humanly possible to stop her from dying." The doctor says.

"Maybe, not in the world you live in, Doc...but in the crowd we hang out with...I'll find somebody. Count on it. C'mon Rachael." Peter says grabbing Rachael by the arm starting to quickly drag her off towards the roof.

"He doesn't believe me. It doesn't matter. It's not going to stop me. Nothing's going to stop me. I won't stop, I won't rest, I'll take any chance, pay any price. I'll find a way to save May even if it means storming the gates of Hell itself. Nothing is going to stop me from saving her. Nothing." Peter thinks leading Rachael out into the roof starting to strip, pulling his suit of of his bag. Rachael does the same changing into hers quickly and waiting from Peter on the edge of the building. He slipped his mask on grabbing her by the waist and jumping off, swinging away.

—

They landed on the front porch of the New York Sanctum, reaching out to ring the doorbell.

"No need to ring the doorbell. I felt you two coming from six blocks back." Stephen's voice seems to come from no where in particular.

"We have to see you, Doc. It's a matter of life or death." Peter says.

"It is never anything less that brings someone to my door. Step forward, then, enter the sanctum sanctorum."

—

"-And the doctors say there is nothing they can do." Rachael says finishing up her explanation of why they are there.

"But, there has to be a way to help her. I'll go anywhere, do anything I have to, if it'll save her life. You're a sorcerer supreme, There has to be something you can do." Peter says.

"Long ago, my hands were shattered in an accident, rendered useless for someone who wished to be a doctor, a surgeon, a healer. I searched the world for someone who could fix them. My quest took me to the Himalayas, where I met a woman who I would one day call master. She told me that there are limits even what a sorcerer supreme can do. She could not fix my hands, but she gave me a purpose and a chance to save lives. Had she have just healed me there would be no one to stand in between the forces of darkness and light." Stephen says.

"If you're saying that her death is apart of some bigger plan forget it." Peter growls clenching his fists. Rachael put her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.

"From what the doctor's told you there is nothing anyone can-" Stephen sighs.

"She's not going to die. She's not going to die!" Peter shouts.

"We all die, Peter." Stephen counters softly.

"Yeah, But not like this. If she dies years from now in her bed from old age that's one thing." Peter grumbles.

"Will it not be just as painful whenever it happens? What makes this different?" Stephen asks.

"It's because it won't be my fault!" Peter yells. "She took a bullet intended for me, Stephen. If I'd moved just a second faster, if I'd seen- I can't let her die like this, not when it's my fault. I can't live with that- I can't...God...God...For God's sake, Stephen...help me...please help me..."

Rachael slipped her hand into his squeezing it supportively. Stephen sighs, starting to do some wizard shit to try to help them out.

"I spoke the truth when I said there was nothing I could do. I think there is nothing anyone can do. But you must know for yourself, and you don't not have long to search, only days, perhaps hours. The hands of the dead were created fifteen centuries ago. They allow one to enter the tides of time and space, travel the world in the blink of an eye. Even be in several places at once." Stephen says making strange motions in the air starting to cast a spell.

" Space and time? What if we can go back and stop her from being shot or-" Rachael asks.

"No, the hands offer great power, but also great temptation. Some things are not meant to be touched by mortals. So I will invoke them only once. To send you many places in this time, rather than into another." Stephen explains.

"Audite mihi ancient phasmatis, quod succurro is turbatus animus." Stephen says waving his hands around in different shapes, aiming his spell at Rachael and Peter. "Go now, and you may find what you need..."

Suddenly they were everywhere at once yet nowhere at all. Here and there, all at once. They talked to everyone ranging from Reed Richards to Doctor Doom, each time turning up empty. The answer always the same, there is nothing they can do. The same answer, over and over again.

They finally retuned to the sanctum, barely able to stand. The spell had taken all of their energy. "Woah, can barely stand..." Rachael mumbles.

"Human consciousness can only be stretched so thin before mind and body snap. Were you able to find what you needed?" Stephen asks.

"No, not one of them could do anything." Peter sighs.

"Then perhaps it's what you needed to hear. And something else. The cycle of life is essential to the very core of existence. To the survival of the universe. To fight that cycle...is to fight the forces of creation itself. And that power...is not within your grasp, or mine." Stephen sighs turning away from them.

"I may not be a sorcerer supreme but Doc and I have one thing in common. Even amateur scientists have to learn chemistry or biology which both require one little thing. A more-than-passing familiarity with Latin." Peter says attempting the same spell motions Strange has done earlier. "Audite mihi ancient phasmatis, quod succurro is turbatus animus."

"Peter...No!" Stephen yells turning back around. Rachael grabbed Peter's shoulder to try to stop him but got herself caught up in the spell transporting them back a few hours to when May was shot.

They both appeared in a apartment building across from May's, finding a man aiming a gun out the window. Rachael and Peter were glowing slightly and were floating above the ground almost as if they weren't really there.

"Where are we? What are we?" Peter asks rhetorically. "There he is, the one who shot May."

Rachael looked out the window. "There we are, May and I. Right in the line of fire. You should be showing up at any second."

"Only have one chance to take him out." Peter says going to punch the assassin, his fist going through his head. "I can't touch him. He can't even feel me..." He flew out the window seeing himself on the street below floating down to him.

"Peter! Stop, you can't fix this..." Rachael grumbles flying after him. Peter tried to warn his past self who could sense something was off but couldn't place his finger on it. "Peter!"

He turned around seeing strange venom like interdimensional beings coming after them angrily. Rachael tried to attack them but she just phased through them while they attacked her, the creatures able to physically harm her. "No, stop don't go in there!" Peter shouts at his past self drawing his attention away from the current problem. The strange beings over powered Rachael with ease a few of them were coming after Peter now. "No! No...you won't stop me! I'm coming May. I won't let them hurt you."

Peter flew into the apartment, looking around at the scene he couldn't change.

"So how'd it go?" Past Rachael asked concerned.

"Fine...I️-" Peter stops himself looking around confused, the way he always does when his spider-sense goes off.

"Peter, is something-" Rachael asks.

"Somethings wrong...Down!" Peter yells grabbing Rachael by the waist throwing them down towards the floor to take cover, but May wasn't so luck. Bullets fired upon the scene one hitting straight through May's abdomen. "No!"

"No! No...I can't go through this again...I can't...Rachael?" Peter asks falling to his knees, finally looking around unable to find the current version of his wife. The interdenominational beings appeared again going after him. Before a familiar cloak and spell like mist appeared around him.

"By the All-Seeing Eye of Agomotto, begone!" Strange shouts picking up Peter's weak non-material self up, protecting him from the creatures.