FIREWEAVER | A Spiderverse Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Two

     "Wake up, Esmita."

Esme blinked her eyes open, though the world didn't look any brighter than before. It was dark. She was lying down on something soft, her hair being combed back by several plush things. Fingers?

"Where... where am I?" her throat felt like a dusty compartment neglected for weeks.

"In the warehouse, you fell asleep. Come on, it's Saturday- we should be spending it doing something fun." His voice wrapped around her like a tight hug, her skin fluttering with the machinations of her heart. She smiled. Oh how lovely it was to wake up in his arms- wait.

She quickly sat up, blinking rapidly to take in the form she had been laying against- taking in his face. This couldn't be real. He couldn't be real.

"G-Gavin? Is it really you?" She reached out, trying to grab any bit of him to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

None of this was right. The last thing she remembered was that she was... wait. Why couldn't she remember? She knew she was somewhere else. Someplace else. With other people- bad people. And Gavin... why was she so shocked to see him?

"It's okay Esme, it's going to be okay. You're here." He spoke but his voice sounded dislocated. Distant. Robotic, almost.

His face was foreign too, only a vague inclination of what Gavin was supposed to look like. Basic blue eyes and fair skin, but not mirrorballs nor cream puffs.

"You're here." He repeated, but his words sounded dislodged. Felt like bullets that vindicated her doubts.

His face began to swirl as she backed up from him. This wasn't right. This wasn't her Gavin. Not her coffee boy. As much as she wished it was, she could never forget what happened. She could never lie to herself no matter how badly she needed to. Or delude herself to think this was a phantom.

Because the honest truth was that Gavin was dead.

Esmerelda gasped awake, coughing and feeling her hot breath bounce back onto her skin. Her arms were held behind her while she sat on something cold. She adjusted to the harsh light, blinkng as rapidly as she pieced together that she was in a lab room, restrained to a metal chair.

A woman stood with her back turned to her, tapping a finger against the silver tip of the yellow filled syringe, a drop seeping from the needle. Ophelia.

"Did you like my hallucinogen? That was just the beta formula, a weaker dose- but I thought I'd prep on you before I tested the final version on your spider friend. He seems to have a higher tolerance than you though, I've assessed his self-healing is more advanced than yours."

Esme narrowed her eyes, glaring at her.

"I'm curious to see what those eyes look like behind the visors, for someone with such intense expressions." Ophelia chuckled. "It would have been delightful to see what they would have looked like as you screamed that boy's name. What was it... Gavin?"

She clenched her fists, lunging forward to punch her stupid face only for a sharp pain to jolt up her arm as her restraints bit into her wrists.

"Careful with that temper, hot head. I haven't even begun the worst yet." Ophelia approached her and gripped her arm, stabbing the needle into her shoulder and injecting the liquid.

Esme gasped in pain. "You'll regret this! You pendeja!"

Ophelia just laughed, watching her with a gleam in her eyes. Esme fought to keep her eyes open- she really did, but the room was already becoming vignette. The hallucinogen worked faster than anything Esme anticipated, black eyes forming in the walls and wide mouths gaping at her in screams. She shook her head, her eyes feeling like bleach.