Disclaimer: I don't own The Amazing Spider-Man! Just my OC, "Madeline Beckett", and any other characters or plot lines I make up along the way!

Author's Note: ...

I'm not gonna bother with an excuse.

This shall be the final chapter, and then next chapter will be the epilogue, because god damn it, I need to end this story. I've been terrible enough as it is with updates for it. I've lost my inspiration for Spider-Man, but I owe it to you readers to finish this story.

Enjoy!

My trial.

It took me a second to think about what crime I had committed that I would need to be put on trial, but then I remembered my words to Peter just before I had fallen to my death.

"I'm not from here!" I had said. "You're not real! This world isn't real!"

In my melodramatic state, I had really thought that I was going to die. I hadn't even thought to think about the fact that I was sent into a comic book world by an omniscient presence, and that they couldn't have possibly let me die.

I mean, at least I hoped they wouldn't. The fact that I was still here was a good indicator.

"Madeline Elizabeth Beckett," Judge Walsh had started, and I scrambled to my feet when Eddie nudged me to do so. "You are standing here accused of breaking the most sacred law of the Guides: Law 1: telling your subject that you are from another world or that the world they are living in is not real. How do you plead?"

Was I supposed to say "guilty?" I technically was guilty. I looked over at Eddie and thankfully, when I reached out for our weird telepathy, I could feel the bond. "What do I say?!"

"Plead not guilty, and then we can make our case," Eddie said, and I turned to face the judge. "I plead not guilty, your Honour."

The courtroom became filled with whispers, which were silenced by Judge Walsh smacking his mallet on his stand. "The prosecution shall now make their case," he declared, and Blonde Madeline stepped forward.

"Your Honour, Madeline Beckett has been put into this world against her will, and then knowingly broke your most sacred law," she began, and she turned around to face the jury. "She told her subject, Peter Parker, that their world was not real." She turned back around to face the judge. "Such an irresponsible person should not be allowed back to serve Mr. Parker. She told the secret once, what would stop her from telling the secret again?"

I was about to stand up to defend myself, but Eddie grabbed my arm and pulled me back down. "You'll have your chance," he whispered under his breath.

"As my client has constantly been saying," Blonde Madeline continued. "People from Earth-One should not be brought into our world of Earth-Two, to serve as companions for our people. Their personalities are different from our own people, and we would be better off using our own people as guides."

If anything, at least I finally had a name to call this place. This place was Earth-Two, and my home dimension was Earth-One.

Then she turned around and faced me, and I felt a shiver run down my spine as I stared at myself, though not through a mirror. "The prosecution calls Madeline Beckett to the stands."

Trying not to shake, I stood up and walked over to the stands. Once I got up there, a man dressed in a police officer uniform came up to me. "Raise your right hand." I did so. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

Whenever I watched these court shows on tv, I felt overwhelmingly nervous for the tv characters, so you could imagine how I was feeling as it happened to me. "I swear," I declared.

"State your full name for the court," he said.

"Madeline Elizabeth Beckett," I said, and when he stepped away, I took that as a sign to lower my hand and sit down.

Blonde Madeline strolled over to me, her hands behind her back. "Little Miss Madeline," she started as she strolled over to me. "Can you please describe to the court what was going on in the moments before you found yourself in this courtroom?"

I gulped. "Harry Osbourne had dropped me from a high place in the sky and I fell through a clock tower. As Peter Parker and Harry Osborne fought, I tried to escape as fast as I could through the clock tower. When it became apparent that Peter couldn't save me, I told him that I loved him and fell down to the ground when his webbing broke. I was falling through the air, and I think I was gone before I had even hit the ground. The next thing I knew, I was here."

"And what had you told Peter right before you dropped?" Madeline asked.

"Objection!" Eddie declared as he stood up. He looked over at the judge. "Relevance!"

"I'll allow it," Judge Walsh said. He looked over at me. "Answer the question."

I gulped again as I looked between the judge and Blonde Madeline. "I told him that I loved him," I repeated.

"And what else did you tell him?" she prompted.

I looked down at my hands, then back up to Blonde Madeline. "I told him the truth."

"And what truth is that?"

"I told him..." I hesitated. "I told him what I believed was right, that I was in my rights to tell him."

"But what were your exact words, Miss Beckett?" Blonde Madeline asked.

I couldn't say them! If I said the words, then my case would be over. I'd have to go home. I would have this whole experience erased from my mind, but I'd be forced to walk around and live my life with this huge whole in my heart, a space where Peter should be. My soul would never be complete.

"Tell the truth," Eddie's voice in my mind said. "We can make it work."

I looked back at Blonde Madeline. "I said, 'I'm not from here. You're not real. This world isn't real'."

Whispers filled the court room, and a smirk grew on Blonde Madeline's lips. "So you told him the truth. Those words exactly." She looked over at the judge. "No further questions, your Honour."

With that, she walked back over to her table, and Eddie stood up and walked over to me. "Why did you tell Mr. Parker the truth, Miss Beckett?"

"I thought I was going to die!" I answered truthfully, and I could feel that same feeling I had had just before I plummetted to the ground ball up in my stomach. "I didn't know how death worked in this world. I assumed that if I died, I died. And I didn't want to die being a liar to the man that I love the most in the world. Just a little bit before that, he had found out that his parents had lied to him, and I couldn't bear the thought of being someone else in his life that was a liar."

"You did it out of love?" Eddie prompted.

I nodded. "I did it out of love. I thought I was going to die, I didn't think anything was going to happen. It really is the fault of the people who brought me here, who didn't give me a proper contract and informed me about what would happen in a scenario like that one. Besides, even if I had died, Peter wouldn't've have gotten anything out of me. I would have just died telling him that I wasn't from here, but he wouldn't have had any real explanation."

"Given the choice, would you do it again?" Eddie asked.

I gave it a moment, then shook my head. "No. Because if it meant that I got to stay with Peter, I'd lie to his face every day for the rest of my life. If it meant that I got to marry him, have babies with him, grow old with him, I'd take this secret to my grave."

Eddie nodded, then turned back to the judge. "No further questions, your Honour."

"Wait," I said. "Can I say something?"

Judge Walsh nodded for me to proceed. "I know what I did was wrong. It was so wrong of me. Even before I thought I was going to die, I wanted to tell Peter about who I was. It wasn't fair that he was supposed to trust me with his life and his future when I couldn't do the same. He trusts me, but in truth, he knows nothing about me. Maybe this law about never telling your client is wrong. Because how are they supposed to trust you with their life if they don't even know who you are?"

The question hung in the air heavily, and no one knew what to say. The jury were whispering things to each other, but I simply said, "Nothing further, your Honour", before I stepped off the stand and walked back over to Eddie.

"You really thought I was going to let you die?" Eddie demanded as we waited for the jury to make their decision.

"Look, you didn't tell me anything except that I had to guide Peter Parker," I told him. "If anything, I should be suing you." I bit my lip as I looked over to the judge's stand. Judge Walsh was currently with the jury. "Do you think they'll grant me a pardon? I did tell Peter everything."

"You told him because you thought you were going to die," Eddie thought. "He wouldn't have gotten a real explanation. He would wonder about it for the rest of his life, but he wouldn't know the truth. Besides, you stressed that you did it because you loved him." He shrugged. "The jury's a sucker for love."

"You know, Eddie," I started as I felt myself starting to get choked up. "I may joke about how much I don't like you, and how useless you are at guiding, and how lazy..." he laughed a little, and I managed to as well. "But I love you. You were the best guide I could've asked for, and I wouldn't want anybody else as my guide."

"You wanna know something, Maddie?" Eddie asked, and I nodded. "You were my very first client."

"What?" I said.

He nodded. "Yup. I had just finished guiding school, and I applied in the comic book field. They assigned me you."

"Is that why you didn't know anything, about how to help me?" I wondered.

He nodded again. "Yeah, actually. I was learning at the same time as you were. But I knew you were a natural, and once you completed your first major task so successfully, I was the talk of the guides. They called me the most successful rookie in the past ten years."

I smiled, but then that smile died. "And now here you are, with your first client sitting in a court room because I broke the law."

"Hey," Eddie said, grabbing me by the chin and lifting my chin up. "I wouldn't want anybody else."

I sniffled, and then pitched forward to give Eddie the biggest hug I had ever given him. "I love you too, Mads," Eddie said.

Just then, the jury and the judge flooded back into the room. Eddie and I separated, and we all rose to our feet as the judge settled down in his seat. Taking a minute (which I honestly believed was to build suspense), the judge finally declared, "The jury has found Madeline Elizabeth Beckett, guilty of breaking Law 1: informing your client that they are from Earth-One. Your punishment will be having your memories and experiences wiped and being sent back to Earth-One." The judge banged his mallet on his stand, and he and everyone else in the courtroom got up to leave.

I felt despair fill me as my eyes flooded with tears. Two officers came over and grabbed me by the arms, and I could see one of them grabbing a pair of handcuffs."N-no, please!" I pleaded as I looked over at Eddie. I couldn't leave Peter. I couldn't leave Gwen. I couldn't leave Eddie. I couldn't leave this place and forget about it.

Eddie immediately turned to the judge and declared, "I invoke my right to declare the 'Alternate Life' clause!"

Alternate life clause? What the heck was that?

Whatever it was, it stopped the judge and the jury and they turned to Eddie with renewed attention. "Are you sure you want to use it on your first client?"

Eddie didn't even hesitate. "Yes."

The judge sighed but sat back down. "The Guide has invoked his right to the 'Alternate Life' clause."

"What is that?" I asked.

"If a Guide has broken Law 1, their Guide has the right to invoke the 'Alternate Life' clause," he explained. "The jury is shown what the life of the client would be like without the client's guide, and if the client's life is significantly worse, then the guide is allowed to return to Earth-Two, with no repercussions. However, it is rarely invoked because once used, it can only be used once."

I looked over at Eddie. "You used your only 'Alternate Life' clause on me?" I asked, my tears threatening to spill over.

Eddie looked over to me and simply nodded. "It's you and me, kid."

Everyone got settled back in, and a tv was rolled into the courtroom. One of the courtroom officials held a remote in her hand as the judge declared, "We shall now see how the client Mr. Peter Parker's life would be without the guide in question, Ms. Madeline Beckett."

The courtroom official pressed a button on the tv, and the scenario played out.

And it was...really sad. Peter moped around by himself, he didn't talk to anyone, he was bullied even more relentlessly by Flash. Without me as the common denominator, Peter and Gwen didn't know each other at all. When Ben died, he had no one to turn to because of it. When he became Spider-Man, he almost lost a lot of his battles because he had no one to guide him, no one to comfort him, no one to be his friend.

And then they played the footage of me in his life. I never noticed how much Peter laughed and smiled when he was around me. How heroic, how amazing. I thought that knowing and loving Peter Parker had just changed my life; it turned out, I had changed his, too.

Once all the footage had played, the jury assembled to talk about my new verdict. It had taken everything in me not to start pacing about the length of the desk that Eddie and I were sitting at. Instead, I held onto Eddie's hand. It gave me comfort to know that he was there, that he supported me, that he believed in me so much.

After about fifteen minutes, the judge and the jury came out again, and the judge sat back down at his stand. He cleared his throat, and said, "The jury, having reviewed the requested 'Alternate Life' clause, has decided to grant Ms. Madeline Elizabeth Beckett a pardon. All charges against her are now dropped, and she may return to Earth-Two."

Happiness flooded me, and I immediately burst into tears as I turned around and hugged Eddie tightly. I could feel myself shaking as I sobbed into his shoulder, but then I came back out and asked, "What about Peter? I still told him that I was from another universe."

Judge Walsh looked at me. "You know, Ms. Beckett, never in all my years of working as a judge have I met a guide like yourself. Your connection with Mr. Parker...it is unlike anything I have ever seen. And your determination and willingness to do good shall serve you well." He nodded. "The jury has decided that what you said has some merit. When you return to Earth-Two, Peter will remember what you had said to him. You will be the first guide to tell your client the truth, and for the client to remember. You will be the guinea pig of this experiment-to see how well this goes. If you succeed, then perhaps we shall change the law."

"Oh my God," I cried as Eddie hugged me to his chest. "I can't believe this!"

Peter got to know who I was. Who I truly was. Who my family was, who my friends were. He got to know everything about me.

Eddie held me tightly to his chest. "I always knew you were gonna change things, kid."

It turned out, sending me back to Earth-Two was just as easy as taking me from there. I was given a special water to drink, and then I passed right out.

Because of my unfortunate circumstance right before my trial, Judge Walsh assured me that I would be fine. I would wake up in the hospital, because that was where Peter had taken my lifeless body in the hopes that doctors could save me. The story would be that it was a miracle that I had survived with such minimal damage. They healed most of my body, but to make it a little more believable, I retained a broken leg.

When I came to, a bright light invade my senses. It took me a second or two to adjust, but when I finally managed to get my eyes open fully, I saw that the four walls around me were white.

I looked beside me to see that I had IVs hooked up to me, and when I looked down, sure enough, there was a cast on my leg that was raised up to keep elevated.

Sheila laid beside me, her head on the bed as she dozed. Sara was in one of the other chairs, also napping. God knows how long I had been here, but I felt my heart pick up as I recognized Peter's backpack on one of the chairs in the corner. He was here. My love was here.

I reached my hand up slowly and ruffled Sheila's hair. She instantly shot her head up and immediately burst into tears as she took in my conscious face. "Madeline! Sweetie!" she reached forward and pulled me into a tight hug. "Thank God! Thank God!"

I relished in the hug as I hugged her back. She wasn't my real mom, but I had gotten used to her during my time here. And eventually, I loved her like my real mom. And now, she was going to really be my mother.

She pulled back and wiped at her tears. Sara had run over to my bed side, and Sheila lifted her up onto my bed so that she could hug me. "I missed you, Maddie."

I hugged her back tightly. I may not have my three older brothers anymore, but now I had a little sister. Instead of being the youngest, I was now the oldest. I had the responsibility of being the oldest siblings to Sara, but everything I learned, I had learned from the best: my own brothers. I would now pass on that wisdom and love and care to Sara.

Sheila pulled Sara off of me. "I'll go get the doctor!" she cried as she held Sara's hand, and the two of them ran out the door.

As soon as Sheila left, in ran David, Amy, Isobel, and Luke. David ran over to me and grabbed me into a hug, and I let him. I missed my own dad like crazy; no one could replace him. But I didn't want to not have a dad at all, and in a weird way, I liked David. I could get used to him being my dad and having Amy, Isobel, and Luke as my step-family.

"Thank God you're all right," David murmured as he kissed the top of my head.

"How long have I been here?" I asked.

"About three months," he responded. "After you fell from that clock tower, you've been in a nasty coma. Thank God, though. It could've been much worser than a broken leg."

"You'll have that cast at the wedding," Isobel mentioned. "Luckily, the colour of your cast matches the dress."

I actually laughed as Luke nudged her, giving her a pointed look to shut up.

Amy leaned over and hugged me. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said, and I actually allowed myself to be comforted by it.

"Thank you for being here," I told her sincerely, and she smiled at me.

Watching the four of them, I could see them becoming my family.

Just then, I heard the sound of sneakers hitting the ground as the person ran, and within a minute, Peter Parker was standing in the doorway of my hospital room.

For a moment, he had just stood there, staring at me as if I was a ghost. Then, Amy grabbed David's arm and began pushing him and her kids out of the door. "Let's give the two of them some privacy," she suggested as she pushed them out, and in that moment, I couldn't have been more grateful to her.

And then Peter was striding over to me and enveloping me into his arms. "I'm so sorry," he sobbed into my hair as he hugged me to his chest. "I shouldn't have let you come. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," I told him as I hugged him back. I never thought I was going to see him again, yet here I was, enveloped in the love of my life's arms.

He pulled back. "It's not okay. You almost died because you were with me."

"It's my job to be with you," I told him as I grabbed his arms. "It's my job and I love it. And I love you."

Peter cradled my face in his hands. He traced my eyebrows with his thumbs, before moving down and running his thumbs along the length of my cheekbones. "I love you, too," he said, and he said the words with such care, like he never thought he'd get to say them to me again, like he'd never hear them from me again. Then, he firmly gripped my face in his hands and crushed his lips to mine.

I savoured the feeling of his kiss, drinking it in. I clutched at his back before moving my hands up to his hair. We kissed like we thought we'd never kiss again, we kissed like it was our first kiss, like it was our last kiss.

Finally, when we separated for air, Peter leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, "I thought I lost you." He pulled back and looked at me properly. "I did lose you. I felt your pulse, you were gone." He shook his head. "And what was all that about, about this world not being real?"

I sucked in a deep breath. "Peter, do you love me?"

He answered without hesitation as he reached forward and grabbed my face again, running his hands along my face. "With all my heart."

I reached up as well, putting my hands on either side of his face. He had such a beautiful face, and I was the luckiest girl in the world to be able to admire it, hold it, kiss it. "Are you ready to hear what I have to tell you?" I asked, and I knew that depending on his answer, I was about to change his life, my life, and the possible future of the guides-forever.

He hesitated a little, but then nodded. "Yes. Tell me everything."

So I did.

TBC...

I'm so sorry for the huge gap! Again, I lost inspiration for Spider-Man, especially with the Andrew Garfield series flopping, but the next chapter shall be the last chapter of this story.

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