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[The Other Side]
"Okay, so I need you to run me through this again." Said Aspen, as she and Athena walked through the Other Side's version of Central Park. "There's not much to it, Aspen." Athena said, as she let out a faint chuckle. "No, no. This is huge. Well, besides the fact that we're dead, this is the biggest news ever. My best friend has feelings for my childhood best friend. I know we got off to a rocky start before, but trust me when I say I'm happy for both you and Peter. You two just have to figure your situation out by the time we get brought back to life." Aspen then said to her.
Athena opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it. Aspen folded her arms over her chest, as she walked in front of Athena and looked at her in a rather confused manner. "What's up?" Asked Aspen. "The sky." Athena responded. Aspen scoffed, as she shook her head. "Clever, but you know what I meant." Aspen told her. "I don't know. I feel like my feelings for Peter could end up getting one of us killed." Athena stated, as she fidgeted with her pendant.
"I don't think that's true. You're both Avengers, and have proven to be able to take care of yourselves. Minus this. This was all Thanos." Aspen shook her head. "I wouldn't put it past the universe to screw me over like that." Athena murmured. Aspen sighed as she was pretty aware of Athena's traumatic past, and didn't want history to repeat itself for Athena Maximoff. "That's not going to happen. You know Peter would never hurt you, Athena." Aspen reminded her. "Yes, I know. I just feel like I'll be the one hurting him..." Athena trailed off.
"I'm going to need more context please and thank you." Aspen hummed, as they continued to walk around the park. "It's just that..." Athena sighed, as she inhaled then exhaled profoundly. "People I care about have a tendency to die on me." Athena told her, as her tone has more guilt than anything. "That's not true." Aspen shook her head. "My parents, Pietro, Vision, Natasha, even Loki. Not to mention how my best friends are also dead, yes dead here with me, but still dead. I don't want to be brought back to life only to lose the people I care about." Athena said to her.
Athena stared down at Aspen's dead body. A sudden wave of several emotions flooded her. It was like everything about past people she'd lost, all that sadness and guilt, it came back to her. Athena got up and shook her head, as she ended up trying to focus on anything but the fact that Aspen was actually dead. The sound of a gunshot was heard, and that seemed to snap Athena back into reality. Before Athena could turn around, Peter had been covering her eyes with his hand. Peter knew if she'd seen Caroline was shot there would be even more of the worst kind of deja vu from Pietro Maximoff.
"Peter," Athena said, as he removed his hand from her face. Athena didn't get a chance to turn around, as Peter held the side of her face, and made sure she remained making eye contact with him. "It's okay. You're okay." Peter said to a quieter volume, as it was clear that too loud of a volume could scare Athena in her current state. Tears began to fill her eyes, as she knew Aspen was gone. "People I care about have a tendency to die on me." Athena murmured quietly, as she refused to believe Aspen was truly dead. "No. This isn't happening. No, this isn't happening again." Athena shook her head, as she tried not to burst into tears.
