章 96: Farewell, friend.
A few days after Project V was supposedly on the loose, Harry spent almost all of his time following leads to track it down. Eren, Cindy, and Lily would of course help when they could, but the three of them also didn't let his obsession take over their lives. Eren's nonchalant attitude sort of rubbed off on the other two since he knew the future and all. He reassure them that it would all be fine. Cindy was quick to trust him, Lily was reluctant to, and Harry didn't believe a word he said.
Harry rarely slept, he rarely ate anything outside of his herbs, and he spent most of his time as the New Goblin. His friends were growing worried about him, especially Lily. She practically became an afterthought at this point due to Harry's obsession. He never called her unless it was about Project V. The only time she heard his voice was when she was taking the role of Seer for him.
Inversely, Eren and Cindy were closer than ever. The two of them were making breakfast together inside their tiny kitchen in their already small apartment. Cindy was making fried bread and eggs while Eren was making pancakes and bacon for them.
They both knew exactly what they were doing, they were just enjoying the time they had left, making up for the lost time in both the past and future in the present.
It wasn't long before the two of them were sitting across from each other, enjoying their breakfast together with smiles. "We should do this more often." Cindy told her partner sweetly, smiling at him before taking a bite of pancakes.
"Yeah, we should. Especially when we're married with an actual big kitchen." Eren fantasized though he knew this wasn't going to ever happen if this timeline would end like the others.
"Yeah... with our kids running around. They could help us too." Cindy fantasized as well, picturing her and Eren as middle-aged adults with multiple kids running around their future home. "You think they'd get our powers too?" Cindy asked.
"Hmm. Probably. The Future Foundation's kids got theirs before they turned twelve." Eren told her, taking a bite from his fried break.
"Oh, right. You did tell me about that. Reed and Sue have two kids, right?" she asked him.
"Yeah. Valeria and Franklin. You know, they call me Uncle Eren? It's pretty cute." Eren smiled softly as he remembered both Valeria and Franklin, hoping that the family was okay, especially Franklin wherever he was. "How many kids would you want?" Oddly enough, the two of them hadn't really brought up how many kids they wanted or what they wanted to name them.
Cindy thought about it for a second before giving her answer. "I would say one because kids are expensive but two is good so they won't be lonely." Eren smiled at her answer. "I agree. A boy and a girl would be cool."
Cindy nodded. "Yeah, that'll be amazing. Imagine we formed a little team with matching outfits like the Future Foundation. It'll be so cute."
Eren laughed. He thought it was a silly idea since he'd already done that, but he'd be down to do it again if she wanted to. "Yeah, it would be."
Eren's phone began to buzz, prompting him to look over and see that he received a message from Cameron, the young composer he saved that one time from jumping off a building. This was a message that he was expecting, though he dreaded it.
"I gotta go take care of something. I'll be back." Eren said as he got up and looked for his Spider-Matter costume. Once he put it on, it adjusted to his body and took the form of his red and blue costume before he climbed out of the skylight and headed straight for the hospital where Cameron was staying at.
𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬
Spider-Man knocked on the door frame of the boy's hospital room, seeing that he was attached to multiple machines to keep him alive. It wasn't visible, but Eren was in pain seeing the kid he saved all that time ago on the brink of death.
"Spider-Man!" Cameron was excited to see him. Spider-Man did tell him that he'd come running whenever he needed him, but part of Cameron thought that those were just words to seem nice.
"Hey, Cam." Spider-Man said as he walked over to the boy and kneeled beside his bedside. "Sorry about the whole disappearing off the face of the Earth thing. I accidentally traveled forward in time to put it simply. I'm also sorry about all this..." Once again, Eren found himself in a situation that he was not qualified for. He had no clue how to comfort someone who was dying of cancer.
"It's okay. It runs in the family, I knew I'd get it eventually. Thank you for being here." Cameron knew he didn't have much time left, but he wanted to thank Spider-Man one last time for what he did for him two years ago.
"Thank you for saving me. Thank you for stopping me from jumping." Cameron told him, smiling despite his body feeling weak.
Spider-Man smiled back at him, though it was hidden under his mask. "Yeah, of course. It is my job, right?"
Cameron nodded slightly. "It was because of you that I got to enjoy the last two years of my life. I made a lot of music, I made some fans, and I graduated high school and started college. I even had a girlfriend for a while, but once I was sick I broke things off with her."
"That's great to hear, man." Spider-Man told him. "I still need to catch up on the music that you released after I was gone. Sorry, I didn't have much time." Eren knew that Cameron had released some new songs, but he didn't want to listen to them since he knew Cameron was about to die. He just didn't want to think about it.
"That's okay. You know, I made one more song once I learned I was sick. I wanted you to be the first to hear it." Cameron told him, pointing over toward his phone on the nightstand. "1002 is my password. Go ahead and go to the files. It'll be the first one on the top."
Eren reached over, grabbed the boy's phone, and put in the password. He went to the files and found a song titled, 'Farewell'. Immediately, Eren began to tear up beneath his mask. He pressed play and placed the phone on the table.
Eren retracted his mask, allowing Cameron to see what the hero looked like in full for the first time. Cameron smiled, seeing that he and Spider-Man were in fact around the same age.
The song was similar to the first one Cameron showed the hero, starting off unhurriedly and somewhat solemnly as if someone was told some dreadful news. However, this time, there were glimmers of hope with each soft note from what sounded to be a piano. The hopeful piano was then followed by an equally as hopeful violin which was backed up by the reassuring sounds of celestial beings humming.
Once again, Eren could feel himself being moved by yet another one of Cameron's songs despite there being no vocals. His usage of each sound was masterful, somehow telling a story without saying a word.
He resonated with those heartbreaking notes at the beginning, however, like his friends, those optimistic notes from the piano picked him back up. Remembering who he was fighting for, remembering what he needed to sacrifice if he wanted to protect everyone.
Slowly, the song began to pick up with percussions and the divine humming continued, growing louder and louder until a familiar motif that played in the first song Cameron showed him made itself known once again, as those same three notes that repeated before they grew more intense along with the other sounds.
Both boys became overwhelmed by this feeling of hope, feeling exhilarated as if the two were about to take off and fly to the clouds. Before long, a prosperous brass made itself known alongside those divine voices shouting as if they were calling to the two boys, calling to Cameron as if they were ready to take him home.
The hums ended and the rest of the sounds turned sober as the song concluded.
This song told a story, once again the story of both Eren Parker and Cameron Elfman.
The story about two boys.
One wanted to pass the torch.
One wanted to save the world.
Both knew that their deaths were imminent, though one believed the other could keep going.
By the time the song ended, both boys had tears in their eyes. Cameron looked over, smiling to see that his music once again touched another person. "Spider-Man." Cameron spoke the hero's name. "Keep going for me, alright? Don't go dying on me again." Cameron laughed a little before his laugh turned into a cough.
"I promise, I will keep going." Spider-Man grabbed his hand and held onto it before activating Godspeed softly in that same hand. Just like how he could send what was in his brain into another's he could view what someone else was seeing in their own mind. He couldn't use Godspeed for traversal, but he could at least do party tricks like this. It was something he saw one of his other selves do in other timelines.
Cameron's life began flashing before his eyes. Growing up with his aunt, learning his first instrument, scoring the winning point for his middle school championship basketball game... it was all shown to Eren.
When time caught up with itself, Cameron's eyes closed and he finally passed on. However, Eren could still peer into the boy's mind. He saw Cameron enter the afterlife, not the ancestral plane, but whatever afterlife of whatever god he chose to believe in. There, Cameron saw not only his aunt but his parents too.
They were all waiting for him there, extending their arms to the boy as he ran into them, hugging all three of them. After such a long time, their family had been reunited.
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