A/N: Spoiler Alert! If you haven't watched the movie, please watch it first. Spoilers ahead.

I had always wanted to write a spider-verse fic, but hadn't given much thought about it. But then I watched this incredible movie, and I felt compelled to write one anyway. I got so into it that I just couldn't live without this, and the characters in the movie. I don't think I have enough words to describe this movie, but it was beautiful, wonderful, incredible... Only those who have watched it can appreciate its beauty.

Anyways, we all have a lot of questions, hopes and expectations about the sequels and spin-offs, and I have tried to incorporate some of those into my own fic, along with my own ideas for a spider-verse story. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1: Sunflower

Young and old, the crowd of people around Peter Parker's grave never ended. The ever grateful were always seen sending their love and prayers to their beloved, departed hero. In most of the hearts of New York, Spider-Man had attained a special place, a place that would eternally be preserved.

In the days following his death, the city had turned to gloom. Spider-Man was gone forever, and so were the sense of safety and hope. People no longer walked the streets carefree anymore. Dragged with their every step and movement was the nagging feeling of doubt and uncertainty. And most of all, fear.

And then, as if a blessing sent from heaven, news and talks spread about strange, spider-themed heroes sighted in and around Queens and Brooklyn. These weren't crazy fans in cosplay. Rumors had spread that even what looked like a pig in spider gear was seen with these weirdos, battling some of the city's deadliest villains. Nobody believed these rumors, until footage from several sources confirmed the same.

And just as they had appeared, they disappeared. It would forever remain a mystery as to who they were, and what had taken place that night when the sky had almost blown itself apart.

But one of them stayed behind. People weren't exactly sure if he had stayed behind, or if this was a new guy, but he could be sighted frequently patrolling the skies of the city, most of his movements being centred in and around Brooklyn. This wasn't Peter Parker. It could never be. This one was much younger, bringing back to many people their memories of when the original Spider-Man had been first sighted. It was all that people needed to bring back their hopes and joy. New York had a Spider-Man again.

Children were out on the streets once more, and everything seemed to return to normal. Miles Morales was more than glad about it.

Today the sun shone brightly in the morning sky. The last traces of rain had disappeared and the smell of earth and soft grass filled the air. A kid walked past with his mother, just having visited Mr. Parker's grave with a whole bunch of flowers. The place was always overflowing with flowers and letters. People wrote their thoughts and prayers and placed them, sealed in envelopes, before Spider-Man's grave. Miles had no idea where the letters ended up later, but they never stopped coming.

As the place cleared, Miles walked up to the grave. Despite all, it wasn't in the least bit littered. Everything looked so much in place.

As for himself, Miles had come with a fresh cutting of sunflowers his mother had bought him. He put them among the others, and sat down on the grass.

"Hey Mr. Parker," he said to the stone which had Peter Parker's name engraved in it. "Hope you are doing well. Wherever you are." He looked around to see if there was anyone near enough to hear him. Finding no one, he relaxed. "Time for the updates I guess?" Miles looked at the grave stone as if waiting for it to reply. But nothing happened. "Very well," Miles said, "The city's safe, for now. The police is doing a great job these days, and the crimes are minimal." Miles sighed. "I just wish I could say to you that the crimes are no longer there. But that won't be the case, will it? I just want you to know that… we miss you. We all miss you. And if you are out there, somewhere, watching over us, maybe you can relax. I'm here. You can count on me."

Miles stood up. It was time to go. He didn't have much to say, but his obligations would always end him up here, even if there was just a word or two to offer. At the last minute, before turning around, he said, "Hope you are proud of me. I just wish I had known you better."

Something made him smile. He remembered that night, standing before the grave, utterly helpless and sorry, feeling that he couldn't do it alone. He'd thought he couldn't save the city alone. He needed Peter Parker. And as if by God's grace, Peter Parker he had found. Or more precisely, Peter Parker had found him. "You know what?" Miles said, "I think you would have made a good teacher."

The moon shone high and bright in the night sky, casting its cold, gray light over every corner of the city. There were no stars tonight.

A light wind blew over the streets, whistling its eerie, threatening song, warning of something unpleasant ahead. The dry leaves strewn over the pavement rattled, and from out of nowhere, a rat scurried its way through the wet streets into the sewer. A car with bright headlights raced past, causing the puddles of water on the broken road to ripple. Other than that, and the bats which hung upside-down on the ash tree at the corner of the road that led to the woods, there was no other sign of life tonight. Everyone had decided to stay indoors.

A man dressed in dark gear and a black trench coat came crashing down onto the pavement. As soon as he hit the ground, the wind blew harder near him. His hat lay beside, torn in half.

The man stood up. His face was hidden under a mask. There were goggles for his eyes.

Right then, there was another thump and a huge figure landed on his feet, almost cracking open the concrete footpath. He had long hair tied behind him, and was dressed in a rather traditional way, something akin to suits of the eighteenth century gentlemen. He was bulky and gigantic. His arms must have weighed about a ton. But there was something odd about him: he had colour.

Spider-Man knew immediately. This person, if he was colourful, like the Rubik's Cube Miles Morales had given him, did not belong to this world. And judging by the damage and injuries he had inflicted on Spider-Man, it was certain that the latter was no match for him. This wasn't a regular villain that crawled through the streets, and Spider-Man somehow felt, in the back of his mind, that he was in grave trouble.

The pain shot up in his chest as he reached for his pistols. "You aren't from around here." he said to the man. There was nothing he could do right now. He couldn't run. He might have fractured a bone. The man had seen to that.

"No," the man said after a pause, his face dead cold, revealing nothing, eyes looking greedily at Spider-Man.

"Wasn't a question," Spider-Man said and pulled out his guns. Before the man could even move a muscle, he fired blindly at him. Multiple rounds. But he already knew that it was useless. Something in him had been suggesting that. The man was bleeding all over, but he had hardly flinched. His huge frame loomed over Spider-Man, encasing him in his large shadow.

And then, with one swift movement, he leaped at Spider-Man and caught him by the neck, choking him.

"What do you want?" Spider-Man managed to say.

The man licked his lips and smiled, revealing long and pointed, vampire-like teeth. "All that my needs require is a totem like you."

Miles sat back on his chair and admired his work. Another hour of finishing touches, and the poster of Spider-Gwen would adorn yet another wall of his room in his parents' house. Only yesterday he had completed a life-sized sketch of Spider-Ham (which wasn't much big, since Spider-Ham hardly reached up to his waist), which was now on the wall opposite the foot of his bed, somewhere under which, safely hidden in a carton, was Ham's present to Miles: His hammer. It had never fit any of Miles' pockets.

Speaking of them, Miles really missed their company. Sometimes he really wished they could all meet again, perhaps, go on an adventure. Hiking, for instance? It would really be an adventure, except that it wasn't possible, since the collider was now destroyed, and nobody in their right minds would ever think of reconstructing it again. Only except, maybe, Gwen. Miles had no idea how she had done it, although she couldn't completely leave her dimension. She had said something about a prototype collider which wasn't effective enough in transporting anything at all. Just, maybe, open a slit wide enough to only look through into other dimensions, but that was two months ago, and Miles had not seen or heard of her since.

Miles knew thinking of them wouldn't help, until Gwen could manage to break through the dimensional gate to see him one more time, and so he dismissed the thought. But memories of Gwen Stacy still haunted him. He would often wonder if she had already forgotten him, the promise of their friendship disintegrated... inevitably broken.

"Miles!" a familiar voice bounced off the walls of the room, and Miles, startled, fell butt-first onto the ground.

As if an answer to his question, the room illuminated and a spiral of brilliant light grew wider and wider before him. It was broad daylight but Miles had to shield his eyes.

A figure appeared from within the spiral. Gwen Stacy.

"Miles," she said, beaming at him, "Got a minute?"

"That's a twenty-third, Miguel."

"Great," Miguel said, looking up from his work, "And who do we have here Lyla? What's the background story?"

Lyla, Miguel's holographic assistant, scowled, putting her virtual hands on her virtual hips, looking like a primary school teacher reprimanding her student for not doing homework. "You know I only search up and find universes, Miguel. Reading history is your work."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine. But show me. Is it a Peter Parker, or is it some Bruce Banner this time?"

The multitude of the huge screens showed a planet similar to Miguel's earth, and zoomed in on New York of that dimension. The screen went blank for a second, and then it lit up again, this time focusing on a young man, who was surely in his early or mid-twenties. He had brown hair, and little elongated but quite a good-looking face. Now he wore a black, half sleeved t-shirt over a white, full sleeved one. His trousers were violet.

The screen went crazy and went back to an instant where the man was entering the foyer of an enormous building. He took out an ID and the screen zoomed in on it.

"Peter Parker," Miguel read, "ESU. And that would be?"

"Empire State University, Miguel. Do read the history books."

Miguel rolled his eyes. "Whatever. And this is Spider-Man?

The screen went crazy all over again, a blur of different colors, and stopped at a view which showed Peter Parker packing something in a suitcase. It was the Spider-Man suit. The screen went blank again.

The next view showed him throwing the case into the river. Peter Parker stayed there for another second, and then turned around and walked away, not looking back.

"Wait," Miguel said, leaning towards the screen, his hands resting on the control panels. "Did he... did he just throw away his suit, Lyla?"

"It appears so," Lyla said.

"So how did you mange to bring me here?" Miles said to Gwen as they walked out of her neighborhood.

"I did some real meddling of my own," Gwen said proudly.

"Really?" Miles said, his disbelief clear in his voice.

"Yeah, I just needed more power, and I have been charging the thing since last month. It's not that difficult, you know? It's just the size of a pen. The prototype Collider." Gwen stretched her thumb and index fingers, as if holding a pen by its ends. "Didn't know it would end up bringing you here."

"And what about the other dimensions?"

She shook her head and shrugged. "No. I still can't. I think this was a prototype of the Collider Doc built which they had used the first time. The one which brought me. I think it only connects your world to mine. Technical faults, or was it intention, I don't know. Remember I was the first one to arrive?"

"Yeah," Miles said, his slight, temporary hope of seeing the others drowning once again.

"So what do you think of my New York?"

"It's a lot like mine," Miles said, looking around, turning his head from side to side. Even though he knew it, he was quite surprised and intrigued by the resemblance between the two worlds. It was as if he was walking in his own New York, re-painted, though. "Except maybe that you've got a lot of green and yellow here. And pink."

Gwen laughed. "Anything else?"

Miles thought for a minute. "The cars look pretty much the same. I even recognize some of the buildings and shops. That mall," Miles pointed at a huge mall across the street, "I have it on my Earth too. Only that the stairs to the entrance are gray and not green."

Gwen laughed again. "Does the Gwen Stacy of your world not have blond hair?" she asked.

Miles turned to look at her, amazed he had never had the thought earlier. "I don't even know if there's a Gwen Stacy on my Earth," he said, already welcoming the idea. "But thanks. I'll try looking around for her."

Walking beside her, Miles felt a hint of shyness crawling in, tickling his sensations. This was the moment he had been daydreaming for weeks, reminding himself from time to time that it would never come, but here she was, walking right beside him, when he had been wondering if she had remembered him at all. But there were other questions pulling his leg. Questions he dared not ask, but was desperate to know.

"Gwen?" he said, his heart beating a thousand times every second.

"Yeah." Her voice, as always, was casual and open. Miles always felt she had a welcoming air around her, and that was what allowed him to even dare to ask.

Miles looked away from her, deciding not to look even straight ahead. "Do you… did you ever have a… boyfriend? Do you?"

"I don't remember," she said, her voice funny, and then she laughed. "But why? Do you have a girlfriend?"

Miles shook his head. "No. I mean, I did have a lot of crushes."

"Oh, and what about now?"

Miles shook his head harder than he would usually do. "No," he lied. He tried to keep his voice as steady as possible. "What about you?"

"Yeah," Gwen said, her voice sounding as if she was counting down a long list of all the hearts she had broken. "I had quite a few, but unfortunately they all turned out to be jerks, and I lost interest. But that was ages ago." Gwen laughed to herself.

But Miles felt fortunate about that. He was constantly aware of how close he was to her. He could feel her, at the back of his eye; her lithe figure, her perfect body with her perfect dancer's legs, swiftly moving back and forth, keeping pace with his own. Suddenly Miles was tempted to…

Miles' eyes fell on the gift and flower shop across the street opposite him. He felt for his pockets, and his fingers brushed against what he knew was some cash he had kept for buying hot dogs from his favorite stall.

"-and I was like 'no', please I don't want to, but he was still after me, and one day…" Gwen was saying.

"I'll be right back," Miles said, patting her on the shoulder. It was a nice shoulder.

Gwen stopped blabbering. "Wait, Miles? Where are you going?"

Miles turned to her, already on the other side of the street. "Just a minute. I'll be right back. Just stay there!"

"Are you sure you can go dimension-hopping once again?" Lyla asked.

"I think so," Miguel said, welding a grain of a computer chip into what looked like a watch. "Although I'm pretty sure there'll be complications. This thing's battery will drain out before I can open fifty portals." He sighed, "Two months, Lyla. Two months and sixty gizmos. Not much improvement. I just don't know how I'm gonna do it."

"Relax, Miguel. You've done a lot. Besides, look at this. I've found another universe."

Miguel looked up from his desk. "And tell me about it. I don't have the time to go through the history."

"Uh, here we go again, lazy genius."

"No seriously," Miguel's voice shot up, "What do you think of me? Some kind of multi-tasking robot? No! I'm only a scientist! Respect that, Lyla!"

"You're such a child."

"Stop complaining and tell me nitwit!"

Lyla huffed. "The person you are looking for is a boy named Pavitr Prabhakar. Genius, prodigy, studious. He's Indian. This is not even New York you're looking at. It's Mumbai."

Miguel put down his equipment, stood, and walked over to the screens. He took a good look at the picture. "A Spider-Man from another country. Now that's interesting!" He hurried back to his desk, opened a metallic box, and pulled out a watch-like device. He strapped it on to his wrist. "I'm gonna go to this universe first. Say hello. Then I'm gonna go to the other and ask Peter Parker why his suit is on the bottom of the river."

"Such childish desires!"

"Shut up."

"Do you remember what had happened the last time you crossed the dimension barrier?" Lyla asked, laughing to herself. "Your over-excitement brings you down at times."

"Relax Lyla, not every Spider-Man is an arrogant ass-ed, accusing pointer who only points at others."

"You're excited!"

"No am not. I'm just enthusiastic."

"As you wish, Miguel," Lyla droned, which was intentional. Miguel pressed down some buttons and tapped on the display of his watch, and was about to twist the dial, when Lyla gasped. It was something she hardly did, although Miguel remembered he had intended her to be as human as possible. And that did bring some complications at times. "Miguel!" she called, "Wait! Look at this!" Her voice was a promise of urgency.

"What is it?" he said, and hurried back to the screens.

But then what he saw caught his breath.

"You bought me sunflowers?" Gwen smiled.

Miles turned red in his face. Uncontrollably.

When she turned to him, he was looking at her. He looked funny, though. "What?" she asked, perplexed.

"Your hair," he said, pointing at her head. "It's growing." Miles would have slapped himself right then and there. He hardly knew what to speak, and secretly, he was wondering what Gwen must be thinking of him.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Duh! Doesn't hair grow in your universe?" she asked.

Miles blushed even more. "It does."

"By the way," Gwen said, changing the subject, "Do you know that you bought me flowers with my money?"

Miles stopped dead. He hadn't realized it earlier. When he had gone to the flower shop, he had felt lucky for having some cash with himself. But only when he was about to pay, he had realized that the currency in this dimension could look different. Which it actually did. So he had run back to Gwen, borrowing a dollar from her. And now Gwen had to tease him about it.

"I promise I'll return it to you."

Gwen chuckled. "You don't need to."

Miles shook his head. "Some day I will. I promise."

"You don't need to."

"I'll pay you back a bit more. As in interest."

"Miles!"

Miles shut his half-open mouth and turned to look at her. "What?"

"You don't need to," Gwen insisted, stopping to look at him. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Just promise me one thing."

"Anything," Miles said, pinching the skin of his neck.

"Promise me you'll never break our friendship. Never. Ever."

Miles shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Why would I? But," he raised his finger, "I'll pay you back. Sure. Some other time, maybe. But… wait. What time is it, anyway?" Miles pulled back his sleeve to look at his watch. And he gasped. It was a quarter past one, and his parents must have been frantic searching for him.

"Gwen," he said to her, who was looking at him, real confused, "I gotta go. My parents must be back, and it's lunch time. I really need to get going."

"Okay," Gwen said, already increasing the pace of her strides, "Let's get you home."

Miguel saw it.

He saw a thin man with long hair brushed neatly backwards. He wore a dark overcoat which ran down to his knees, engulfing a lot of his lean frame. He was dressed more or less in an old fashioned way. Very, very old fashioned way. Something like in the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries maybe. Miguel could not tell. He wasn't very good at history. He could only guess.

The man was dragging a Spider-Man behind him. Miguel didn't recognize this one. He was from an altogether new dimension which he had just now come across. The Spider-Man of that world looked thoroughly beaten. Injured. Broken. The man dragged him atop a damaged car so that the people could see them.

And then...

Miguel would never forget the next thing he saw. The man brought his face close to Spider-Man's head, and… bit down his skull. There was a brilliant, blinding flash. When Miguel could see again, the Spider-Man didn't look like a Spider-Man anymore. What was left could hardly even be called a corpse. It looked as if all the blood and matter had been drained out of him.

The man threw the body at the crowd of the horrified onlookers. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and hopped down the car. Casually walking away from the people, he vanished into thin air.

They stood before the spiraling bright light.

"So, see you around, I guess" Gwen said, looking timid for the first time.

"Sure," Miles smiled at her. It was easier to look at her when she wasn't looking at him. "I'll let you know my routine, and we can be together."

"Be together?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"Sure," Miles said, clearly missing her emphasis. He stepped into the portal. "I bet it'll be sooner. Right?"

"I'll try," Gwen said, looking down, shuffling her feet. "I'll have to keep this thing charging daily, then. And, can you make me another promise?"

Miles straightened up. "Anything." He was tempted to say "Anything dear" but knew better. "What is it?" he asked.

"If you meet the other Gwen… the Gwen of your world, just don't… you won't forget me, will you?"

Miles was more than glad to hear her say that. But he feigned surprise and blinked, trying to make his reaction as natural as he could. "Huh?"

Gwen blushed. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Pretend I didn't say that. Just forget it."

Miles smirked. "I heard it," he said and Gwen looked away. "And that's totally ridiculous, Gwen. How am I supposed to forget you?"

Gwen shrugged. "Just a thought," she said, avoiding his gaze.

"But, just one more thing, Gwen. When I reach my world, where am I going to end up? I mean, where am I gonna step into, when I… step out of the portal?"

A mischievous smile lit up Gwen's face as she looked up. "Somewhere where you won't land upon top of somebody. Now hurry, before the power runs out."

When Miles stepped out of the light, presumably in the other universe, his universe, the first thing he saw was himself. It was another second before he realized that he was staring at his own reflection. In the mirror. The mirror of his bathroom. Gwen was clever. The best place was his bathroom, because his parents wouldn't, by any chance, be here.

He opened the tap and put his hands under the warm water, getting ready for lunch, smiling at himself in the mirror, imagining it was Gwen on the other side instead of him.

"Hey Gwen," he said, "Would you like to go out for dinner?" He wondered how Uncle Aaron would have taught him to do it. He put soap in his palm. "I'll… wear a tux. What about you?" He beamed at the mirror, showing his teeth. "Call me soon, okay?" Too creepy, he thought, she'll probably run away if I talk to her like that.

It was only when he turned to leave the bathroom did he realize why her smile had been so mischievous. He should have thought about it the second he had stepped in.

No one used the bathroom except him. Ganke would, when he stayed over, but he wasn't here this weekend. How silly!

Miles was locked in his own bathroom from the outside.

People still talked about them.

Two months could have passed, but people's thoughts still wandered back to the day when the five heroes were spotted. That was all they talked about. Even now. Because they were never spotted again.

The coffee had run cold, long forgotten on the small glass table beside the couch. The fire was still running in the hearth. That, along with the photo of her and Peter burned MJ's eyes, causing tears to flow down.

Evenings were especially painful. They amplified emotions. She stared at the picture of the five mysterious heroes. People did call them "heroes". The footage was all over the news. It was viral over social media and even You Tube. MJ had taken a screen shot of the part which showed them fighting a gang of villains right outside the house she was in right now.

May knew them. She had met them, and she had helped them. People had lined up outside their house. For the first two weeks, media personnels crowded their porch and their living room. With time, their visits ceased, after May's repeated answer to them: she didn't know who those people were, and how they had ended up in her place. The old Spider-Man's place.

But MJ knew all too well how it had actually been. May had told her. May had told her everything, except who they were. Who they really were under the mask. And MJ didn't bother asking. She was too scared about the possibility that the Spider-Man who's costume looked so much like her very own husband's wasn't Peter.

She should have known. As soon as she had returned from Fisk's gathering and saw the news, the thought had occurred to her almost instantaneously. The two costumed people -the Spider-Man and the girl dressed in the white Spider suit- she had met earlier were in the footage.

When May had confronted her about who they actually were, and what those earthquakes were actually about, her hopes had intensified. The voice of the waiter, the pose, the gestures… it resembled so remarkably that of her very own Peter's.

Ever since, MJ had been restless. Sleepless. She couldn't take it anymore. Today she would talk to May. No matter what the answer was.

The door opened and May walked in. In her hand she held her own mug of coffee. She sat down beside her. Turned on the television.

MJ fought to keep her voice steady. "May," she managed.

"Yes dear," May said, cradling her mug as steam rose.

"I… I wanted to know." She showed the screen of her phone to May, zooming in on the portion of the picture which had Spider-Man. The one that resembled her late husband.

The look of cool and compose faded from May's face. She turned to look at MJ, her eyes a hue of comforting yet broken blue. "What is it?" she merely whispered the words.

Tears rolled down MJ's cheeks once again, only this time, she sobbed. And then she cried. Cried like she did when she had lost her mother. Like a child who lost a very precious toy and knew it would never be found again.

May put her mug on the floor and pulled MJ into a hug. God alone knew what this lady had to go through. Maybe after everything that she had lost, her husband, her own parents, any other known relative, the loss of her nephew, her only son, although the biggest shock in her life, was something she could handle well with her outer appearance. She rubbed MJ's back. "What is it my child?" May said very kindly, although she knew what it was all about.

MJ sobbed, clutching at May's sweater tightly. "Was it… was it him?" She had spoken the words as if she were casting a dangerous spell.

May stroke her head, a shock of red that Peter had so much daydreamed about in his childhood. "Yes," she said. "It was him. It was Peter. Peter Benjamin Parker. He…" Now it was May who had tears in her eyes, "He was just like our Peter. He talked like him. He looked like him. Only that… he was… older. And in pain. So much in pain." May wiped the tears away from MJ's face. "I looked at him and knew. He was… he was looking at your picture, Mary. Your picture at the workshop. And I knew at once what was going through him." May swallowed and took in a deep breath. "No matter where he is, Mary Jane, he'll always love you. Always." Her voice cracked up at the last word, and she decided she wouldn't speak anymore.

MJ thought about the encounter she had had in Fisk's gathering. It was by no chance a coincidence. A small smile gradually spread in her face. "I met him."

Note: I hope you could figure out which Spidey I had written about, when Miguel found out that he had disposed his suit into the river...or sea. I'm talking about the Empire State University Peter Parker here. Yes, it was the Spider-Man of Earth-760207. Google it if you still haven't found out. This Spider-Man featured in "The New Animated Series" back in the early 2000s.

Also, please leave a review if you liked the story. I'll be forever grateful. I'll be back with the next chapter soon.