For the next few months after her first visit to Dr. Beck, Cindy basically lived in the training room by herself. She received a note from Dr. Beck to give to her school to allow her to take all of her classes online so she'd never have to leave. Her family, of course, assumed she was just staying at the school dorms but that wasn't the case.
By this time, the room appeared completely different. No longer was it the cold, metallic, technological room as it was before. It had the appearance of a spider's comfy home. There was furniture made of webs, decorations on the ceiling, pieces of web art that she had created on her own, and other web versions of things that you'd find in a girl's room.
During her time alone in the room, Cindy found herself beginning to self-forgive. Her panic attacks became a rarity and she was able to often push away those feelings of Eren's death being her fault. She often felt bad for Harry since she'd often pushed him away shortly after Eren's death. She wanted to call him, but he cut off all communications when he went on his trip.
She went from seeing Dr. Beck weekly to once or twice a month online. During this time, the two of them formed a sort of friendship outside of their client-based meetings. Cindy would often text him asking quick questions about mental health and he would give advice whenever he wasn't busy.
Being close to clients was actually something Dr. Beck strived for. Although therapists aren't supposed to do that, he believed it allowed clients to be more comfortable and open up to him more, which was a win in his book.
Due to their closeness, when Cindy was invited to his house party, she was more than comfortable showing up. The attire was formal and the theme was white, apparently, he wanted to privately show off something to his guests. Cindy chose to wear an elegant white dress to the event, feeling excited to finally be comfortable with leaving the house casually again.
On the day of the party, Cindy found herself at the front door of Dr. Beck's penthouse. At this point, the noise in her head was still there, however, she barely noticed it. She rang the doorbell and waited patiently for Dr. Beck to open it.
"Cindy! Welcome! Come on in." Dr. Beck gestured for her to enter the room as he welcomed her in. He was wearing an all-white suit since the party called for everyone to match that color.
"Hi, Dr. Beck." Cindy smiled as she started toward the inside of the mansion. As she enters his home, she looked at the interior with astonishment. The walls were spotless and white, giving off a sterile feeling.
"Please. Outside of the office, you can call me Quentin." Quentin Beck gave her a warm and welcoming smile as he spoke, making her feel at home.
He then led her to the main area of the penthouse. In this area, there were about a hundred people wearing white and standing around, socializing with each other. There were drinks and snacks all over the room, enough for everyone to eat and drink to their heart's content about three times over.
For the next few hours, they all partied together until they were all disrupted by Dr. Beck walking into the room with a strange green and yellow skin-tight costume. Hanging from his back was a purple cape.
Cindy's Silk-Sense began to tingle, this time it was actual danger. She could tell by his outfit that something bad is about to happen. Not wanting to do anything rash, since she trusted him, she began inching her way toward the exit in case she needed to escape and change into her makeshift webbed costume.
"Good evening, everyone! I hope you're all having a good time. Thank you all for coming." Dr. Beck stood in front of everyone in his strange costume with his arms behind his back.
"I'm so fortunate to be surrounded by such great people in my life, whether it be colleagues, childhood friends, clients turned friends, and family. My bonds with the people who I care about have caused me to want to create something that helps them and the world. Seeing the people I care about suffer because of things out of their control is the main reason why I entered into my profession."
"Raise your hand if you've ever wished that you could go back and change something about your past. Saving a loved one, changing your career, repairing a failed relationship, or anything of that nature." Dr. Beck raised his hand as he spoke, making others comfortable enough to raise their hands too.
Almost everyone single person's hand in the room shot up, including Cindy Moon's. Getting the reaction he predicted, Dr. Beck continued to speak.
"Me too. Maybe my ex-girlfriend would give me the time of day again." He laughed a little, triggering a few people in the crowd to laugh with him. "Anyway, what I want to do is give everyone the opportunity to relive those moments that they regret and fix them for themselves. If that's not what they want, then they can simply just create a version of their life in their mind and live that way. I have created something that allows for that to happen."
He pulled his other hand from behind his back, showing a green vial. It looks similar to the Green Goblin's Globulin Green serum, causing Cindy to immediately become more alert. She continued slowly attempting to make her way out of the room, without looking suspicious.
"The is what I call Adam Gas. When a person breathes in this gas they fall asleep, similar to when under anesthesia. As they sleep, they are able to dream infinitely about the life that they wanted. It basically gives us all a world where we live our greatest dreams."
The crowd looked skeptical. Cindy, letting her curiosity get the best of her, raised her hand and Dr. Beck points at her. "Yes, Cindy?"
"That sounds great. It really does. But what if, for example, you use it to bring someone back in your dreamโฆ That person isn't really there with you, right? So isn't it pointless?"
"Hmmโฆ" The doctor rubbed his chin. This question wasn't one that he had really thought about because to him, it was as if the person was really there for him. "Well, you don't know that it's 'fake', for lack of a better word. To you, it is real."
"How about I just show you all." As he said this, all of the doors and the windows become covered by impenetrable metal shields. People's faces began to panic but Dr. Beck attempted to calm them down.
"Don't worry everyone, this just makes sure the gas doesn't escape. I will wake you all up after five minutes just so that way you can experience it and let me know what you think." This was a lie, he didn't plan on waking any of these people up once they fell under. They would act as his test subjects before he commenced his true plan.
"That's what the purpose of this suit is. I'll remain awake so I can wake you all up! Okay?" Dr. Beck put what looked like a glass fishbowl helmet on his head before speaking once more in a muffled voice.
"I'll see you all very soon. Dream on!" Immediately, green gas began to fill the room. Cindy's brain began thinking at a million miles per hour about what she could do to escape, but none of them would have worked. Making a mask quickly with her webs would not only show everyone her identity, but it likely wouldn't work in time, and those odds were not worth the risk. If she chose to fight and she fell asleep, there was no telling what would happen to her afterward.
Before she could make a choice, Cindy fell asleep, falling down on the ground with the rest of Dr. Beck's guests.
Cindy's mind and body felt as if they were falling infinitely through a tunnel of reflections. As she plummeted, a million other Cindy Moons, dressed as Silk, fell alongside her. She appeared unconscious, along with her reflections as she fell face-first into the crystal clear water below her.
Her face hit the water, causing her to wake up and open her eyes as she slowly sunk to the bottom. After sinking for a few seconds, she felt her feet hit the bottom of the body of water. This confused her. She was just sinking upside down, but then she was right-side up at the bottom of it all.
A stream of sunlight began to shine above her, causing an infinite sea of mirrors to form in front of her. In her reflection, she saw her superhero self with a pained expression. She looked at her for a few seconds before taking a step toward herself.
As she stepped forward, more mirrors began to form in a circle around her. In each mirror, there was a different reflection of the following people: Eren, Harry, her parents, Albert Moon, Cindy Moon, and Silk. Each reflection stared back at her, copying her every movement with various pained expressions.
Cindy looked over to see both Eren and her brother side by side, both looking at her in disappointment.
"Albert? Eren?" Cindy reached out to them, prompting them both to turn around and begin walking away into the infinite nothingness. "Wait!" Cindy ran forward with her hands reaching for the two of them. As her hands touched one of the mirrors, she was transported through the mirror and into another random location.
She was disoriented, but she found herself lying on her back on top of the ocean, staring at the moon. This was the same moon that she saw on the night of her final night with Eren. She leaned up to see Eren standing in the middle of the ocean-facing away from her with his hands in his pockets.
Cindy stood up in the water and began sprinting over to Eren, reaching out to them as she screamed his name. "Eren! I'm here! Eren!"
Tears began to fall from her face, causing one of the tears to hit the water and create a ripple effect. As she approached her lost lover, the ripple effect made her lose balance and sink into the water before falling at full speed for what felt like a whole minute.
She fell and landed feet first, finding herself at the front door of her apartment building. The world seemed normal at this point, but she could sense that something was off. Her Silk-Sense began going crazy, just as she grabbed the door handle and turned it, only to be sent back by an explosion. As the explosion hit her face, she could hear the Green Goblin's disgusting cackle in the distance.
Now flying backward, she felt herself falling horizontally through the city until her back crashed through a glass mirror, causing shards to fall near her face and showing the reflections of her disappointed family members.
"You let him die!"
"Why weren't you there for him!?"
"Why weren't you there for me?" Her brother's reflection in a single tiny shard began to fade away as it spoke to her one final time.
Cindy's back hit the concrete, knocking the wind out of her and causing her vision to blur. As it cleared, she saw Harry standing over her with a disappointed glare.
"He's gonna kill himself because of youโฆ" Harry scolded her, wearing the all-black costume he was wearing the moment Spider-Man died.
"No, Harry I'm-"
"Goodbye Cindy." Eren's voice spoke to her through her ear as it did just before he sacrificed himself.
"Eren!?"
๐ฝ๐๐๐!
The explosion that killed Spider-Man could be seen in the distance, picking up the water in the ocean and causing a tsunami to form over the city. The massive wave was taller than any of the skyscrapers in the city. Slowly, it began to get closer to both Cindy and Harry, destroying all of the buildings it came into contact with.
Just before the water hit them, Cindy closed her eyes, allowing the water to take her away. The water froze her body, sending her paralyzed self into a new domain of nothingness.
She opened her eyes to find herself inside a pure white dimension that appears to be filled with infinite light. She stood on her feet and looked around the emptiness until she felt as if it suffocated her. She began sprinting full speed through it in an attempt to escape, however, a voice calling her name stopped her.
She turned around to see a single mirror. The inside of the mirror appeared to be pitch black. Cindy approached it slowly, only to find the reflection of her alter ego, Silk, on the other side. Her reflection copied her every move as she approached, the only difference being the grimace on her face.
"Silk?" Cindy asked. Her brain couldn't even comprehend what she was seeing.
"Cindy." The reflection responded coldly, staring back at herself with pure hatred. "Why didn't you let me kill him? Why are you a coward? He killed Albert! You're pathetic. Fix it." The reflection began to fade, causing Cindy to begin sprinting toward her fading self.
"Fix it? What do you mean?" Cindy reached for the mirror and put her hand through it, allowing it to suck her into another random place.
"Good evening, Ms. Moon." Dr. Beck's voice woke her up from her slumber. As she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a couch inside Dr. Beck's office. She leaned up in a panic before asking him a question frantically.
"Where am I? Was that real!?" Her breathing was sporadic, she couldn't tell if this was another one of her panic attacks or if the thing that happened at his party was reality.
"Was what real, Ms. Moon?" Dr. Beck looked at her with a confused, yet curious expression as he pushed up his glasses. The reflection of the light from the ceiling blocked his eyes from her view, giving him a lifeless appearance.
"I was fallingโฆ and there were mirrors. I saw myself. Albert. Eren." Cindy began speaking incoherently, trying to piece together her nightmare.
"Do you want to go back, Cindy?" Dr. Beck interrupted her.
"Go back?" She looks up at him in fear, knowing that something about him wasn't right.
Dr. Beck gestures toward the front door of his office without saying a word, prompting it to open on its own. Cindy slowly turned toward the door to look at it before quickly looking back at the doctor.
He was gone. She was now all alone in the fake office.
Having nowhere else to go, Cindy stood up and walked through the door and into the pitch-black darkness. As she walked into the room, the door slammed behind her, causing her to flinch in fear.
Looking forward as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see the main entrance to Dr. Beck's penthouse, however, this version of it was completely different. It was all black, stained with blood, and she could hear the sounds of people whispering in the darkness.
"Hello?"
"AHAHAHA!" The Green Goblin's cackle could be heard in the darkness, prompting Cindy to sprint into it blindly.
Everything was pitch black until she found herself inside the main room where the party was being held. She began to walk slowly as she saw herself and all of the others knocked out on the floor in front of her. She approached her own body, extending her hand toward her face. Before her fingers can make contact, Silk appeared behind her, wrapping her arms around her before speaking into Cindy's ear slyly.
"Wait. Wouldn't you want revenge first? He's in here." This stopped Cindy in her tracks. She turned around to look at Silk so she could question her, but she was gone.
"HAHAHAHAAAA!" The Goblin's laugh shot out from the darkness once again, prompting Cindy to continue her journey into the haunted mansion.
She walked aimlessly through a dark hallway as the laughter continued until she found herself in front of a door. She hesitated for a second before grabbing the door handle, turning it slowly, and opening the door.
It was nearly pitch black on both the inside and outside of the room. The only one of Cindy's senses that can sense anything was her hearing as the door creaked due to her opening it.
She walked into the room and continued walking for a few feet before the room is immediately filled with light.
The entire room was massive, it seems infinite. She can see that the entire room was filled with mirrors, continuing the motif from earlier on in her hallucination. She looked down to see that she appeared to be standing on water and there was a reflection of Silk staring back at her from beneath the water.
From the hundreds of mirrors inside of the room, distorted and disfigured versions of Spider-Man begin to step out into the room like flesh-hungry monsters. She could hear the sounds of his soft flesh and deteriorating bones as each version of him began to crowd around her like zombies.
The ceiling and the walls began to close inward toward Cindy as the zombies got closer to her. As if she had sleep paralysis, Cindy couldn't bring herself to move. Silk laughed as she watched her other self freeze like a deer in headlights before teasing her. "This is your doing. His corpse's blood is on your hands, Cindy! You can prevent this though if you kill the Goblin."
The walls continued to close in and the ceiling was now at head height, crushing the tall undead versions of her partner. Their snapping bones sent chills down Cindy's spine as they continued to get closer as if nothing was happening.
She had nowhere to run. The only thing she could do was allow the zombies to get a hold of her and push her to the ground. They began to dogpile onto her, not allowing her to escape. From the pile, she reached her hand out of the center, hoping someone could save her.
Suddenly, she felt a hand grab her and pull her up through the horde. As she was freed from the corpses of Spider-Man, Silk looked down at her with a devilish smile. Her eyes glowed yellow and her mask was off, showing her devious grin with sharp teeth.
Cindy, with her back on the ground, looked around the room and saw that she was inside the museum where she fought the Green Goblin. Both Eren and Harry stood over the unconscious body of the Green Goblin.
Silk, still holding her hand, pulled her up and led her over toward the murderer of her little brother and boyfriend. She took the blade from Harry's hand and handed it over to Cindy. Cindy looked down at the weapon in her hand blankly. Silk stared at her face with crazy eyes before nudging her closer toward the unconscious villain.
Both Eren and Harry looked down at Cindy with yellow eyes and devilish smiles of their own.
"Do it." Eren's voice told her darkly.
"Kill my father." Harry demands her. "Now we can finally save our friend."
"Do it, Cindy." Silk wrapped her arms around Cindy's neck from behind as she whispered in her ear. Silk then grabbed Cindy's right hand before grabbing her left hand and putting them together to hold the weapon tightly.
Cindy, now moving on her own, lifted the blade up in the air, preparing to stab downward onto the Goblin. Silk whispered in her ear one last time to persuade her to proceed.
"Do it!"
๐๐๐๐๐!
"AAAAAAH!" Both Cindy and Silk cried out simultaneously as Cindy stabbed herself in the lower torso with the blade, sending it through both her own body and Silk's.
"What are you doing!? Are you stupid? You could have fixed it!?" Her evil self scolded her violently as they both began bleeding out. Cindy smiled sadly before speaking to her other self.
"No, I need to accept what happened. Playing pretend won't fix the past. As Harry said, we need to move on. Eren sacrificed himself so we can be here. So we can save everyone in his absence. I need to-" Cindy's voice cut off as her brain felt as if it were being transported through dimensions.
"Stop him." Cindy woke up inside Dr. Beck's home, for real this time. In her hand, she held a knife that she made with webs as it impaled her body. Due to her having the weapon in her hand during her dream, she was able to replicate it and somehow form it in reality. Causing damage to herself seemed to have woken her up from her dream.
'Just like that Naruto episode...' She thought to herself.
She pulled the blade out of her body before webbing her wound and looking around at everyone else around her. They were all asleep, however, she could tell that their dreams were peaceful based on the soft smiles on their faces.
'So only I was the one experiencing a nightmare?' Cindy thought to herself, looking around the room for Dr. Beck.
She stood up on her feet and limped over toward an open window of his penthouse. She looked outside of it to see that there was now a green fog covering the lower levels of the city. Only tall buildings, such as penthouses and skyscrapers, were safe from the gas, but it was rising.
She could barely see through it, but she can see that the streets below were completely empty aside from the unconscious bodies on the ground and in vehicles.
"No way..." Cindy whispered to herself as she viewed the dead city from above.
Knowing that she was the only one who could fix this, Silk created a mask for herself using her webs, allowing her to breathe without worry.
She exited his penthouse from the window and began swinging through the city, hoping that she could find Dr. Beck and put an end to his false reality.