HOME | DD

Description
I do not own Marvel or the cultural deities featured.
The only one i own is Phobis.

My Marvel HC:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Phobis:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Karn:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Uttu:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
The Gatekeeper:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Anansi:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Arachne:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Jorōgumo:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Null:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Temple Maps:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

TotG Travel Map:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

----------

If you don't like this or are disinterested, all you have to do is leave.
I am not accepting criticism.
This has been weeks worth of effort done 95% by me all alone, with several VERY important details added to it by FursonaKittenMittens , my mate.
To disrespect my work is to also disrespect my mate's work, and i'm not okay with that.

Be warned that this is very long and elaborate.
I apologize!
But please, if you do read, enjoy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Character Key:

Tony Stark

Peter Parker

Steve Rogers

Stephen Strange

Wanda Maximoff

Wade Wilson

Riley Jones (OC)

Han Sharma (OC)

Awhina Tuhaka (OC)

Harlow Miller (OC)

Timeline:

The setting is in early Summer.
Peter is 22, and Riley is 15.
She is about to turn 16 in July, and in August Peter will turn 23.
Harlow is 18.
Wade and Peter have been together for a solid two years now, and Wade was allowed to move in and live at the A-facility when Peter was 21.

----------------------------------------------

~~Attack on Reality~~

Null, the Living Darkness, finally got his wish.
Traveling through different dimensions one at a time brought him no closer to the heavily-guarded Loomworld, but finally, the vengeful spirit had a clever idea.
Null made a brazen attempt to move through five different dimensions all at once, locking himself between his place of action, and five different realities.
He figured if this destroyed him, then his suffering would finally end.
But if he succeeded, he hoped it would achieve his goal, and it did.

By trying to move through five dimensions at once, and staying locked into this for so long, Null managed to break a thread in the Web of Life.
When Karn moved to fix it, Null saw him, and saw his way in.
The spirit grabbed Karn and pulled his way into the Loomworld, infiltrating in the hopes to overthrow the arachnid gods and take control of the Web of Life.
A great brawl broke out between the gods and the spirit; Null was very strong, and while it wasn't evident what he wanted, the deities knew they had to stop him before he could tear the Web apart.

Phobis and the others took Null on, buying time for Karn to use Null's own desires against him.
Karn severed the thread of reality which contained Null, which happened to be the Loomworld.
Karn sent the Loomworld into its own pocket dimension, disguising it from the multiverse, leaving everything Phobis had united eons ago to the elements and to fate.
But Null got wise, and as Karn was separating the threads, Null attacked him.
With the others trying to stop Null, everyone was thrust into a yet smaller, tighter pocket dimension in the lower Astral Plane, stranded from the Web of Life, and from all the realities.
Together, Phobis, Arachne, Anansi, and the Gatekeeper managed to subdue and restrain Null, but not destroy him.
The gods did not possess the Light necessary to be able to cleanse and remove him, and so they held him in a stasis in the pocket dimension.

Stranded and in dire need of getting everything back in line, the gods knew their only way home was through the mortal world.
They chose Earth-616, the very world they had all been born of.
They contacted Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of this Earth, in a vision.
Strange astral projected to meet with them, able to peek into their pocket dimension and see what and who was talking to him, and see Null.
He'd read about the Web and the arachnid gods before, but finally seeing the beings who protected all of reality was sobering.
The gods explained that in order to get to Earth from the pocket dimension, they would need a charged altar with which to enter the body of a mortal, which would be used as a vessel.
The Gatekeeper explained that Peter Parker had the highest chance of withstanding their presence, and told Strange that he was the one they needed.
After all, Gatekeeper said, Peter was the one they had most recently blessed with arachnid gifts.
They needed to use Peter as a vessel to be taken around the world and be transported to their respective altars, where they would leave Peter's body one by one and find their way back to the Loomworld.
Their final request was that Phobis be the last to go home, as she would be needed on Earth to help fight Null, which Karn planned on releasing once everyone else was returned to the Loomworld, all in the hopes that Strange and his fellow mortal allies could defeat the spirit using their unique spells and Light.
Strange promised he would do his best, and got right to work.

~~Recruitment~~

Being able to travel anywhere at a given time has its advantages, such as being able to travel anywhere at a given time.
Yes, that was written that way on purpose, because the author thinks she's funny.
Strange went to Nepal and informed his order of what was happening and what needed to be done.
Riley, his very young student of roughly six months, was also informed, because it affected her just as much as everyone else.
After Wong and the remaining wizards of Kamar-Taj were up to speed, Strange asked them to begin working on a super-charged altar, and so they did.
The altar required a circular space for the vessel (Peter) to lie down, surrounded by magically charged, enormous quartz crystals, as crystals are the purest and most reliable form of spell charging.
The wizards were fast to go around the world, moving through portals, finding and taking large crystals back to Kamar-Taj.

As the Order got to work, Strange appeared uninvited (as usual) to the A-facility.
He got right to the nitty gritty, asking Tony to gather everyone so he could explain the situation at hand.
He told them everything briefly, including that the deities needed a vessel for the travels.
As to be expected, Tony thought everything Strange said was insane, and everyone else was merely a tad stunned.
Understanding their confusion and reluctance, Strange tiredly informed them that the vessel needed for this task was Peter.

---

"Me?"

    "Yes, you.
I'm going to make a daring assumption here and say you probably aren't aware of this, but you were chosen by these beings when you got your powers.
They sent the spider that bit you, they gave you your gifts.
Now, they need you.
Everyone does."

---

Tony came to Peter's defense, irritated at the thought of Peter having to participate in some "voodoo ritual."
Strange pointed out that during the Infinity War, Tony had trusted him, to which Tony answered, "Yeah, that was when you were asking my kid here to help fight a big purple alien, not take seven weird magic spider aliens into his body."
While resisting the urge to unleash his Big Attitude on Tony, Strange calmly said that it was up to Peter alone to decide what he wanted to do.
Peter politely, albeit nervously remarked that he found this whole thing to be weird and confusing.
Although he had emphasized in the past that he had no reason to ever doubt Strange, he felt he needed a little more solid evidence of everything going on, and needed more information on what would be needed of him.
Strange felt the best solution was to expose Peter to the astral world for the first time.
He insisted that he sit down, and the younger man obeyed hesitantly.
Strange opened Peter's Third Eye and sent the young mutant's astral body out of him and into the pocket dimension to speak to the deities themselves.

Understandably, Peter was overwhelmed and terrified during the experience, especially when coming face to face with the gods and their prisoner, Null.
But they all met him with kindness and humility, and asked personally for his help.
They promised that if he submitted to their will, they would take care of his body and keep him safe.
Peter asked if they really were the ones to give him his powers, and the Gatekeeper said yes, that they were the one who specifically chose him.
Peter wasn't there for long, as Strange soon brought him back to his body.
When he woke up, Peter frightfully recounted what he saw, and no one around could deny its truth.
Tony, still unhappy, relented, but demanded to know more about the situation.

Strange told them that the Order was working on an altar, and that it would be best to spend seven full days preparing Peter for the traumatic task of taking on seven super-powerful deities into his person.
He said he needed to take him to Kamar-Taj and keep him there, and that that was where he would receive the gods.
With potential danger lurking due to no one being with the Web of Life, he advised everyone to stay on their toes and be ready to help them defend reality at a moment's notice.
Peter stiffly agreed to join this fight and do as was needed at him.
Wade was the second-least thrilled, but chose to be supportive of Peter's choices.

~~Preparation~~

Peter packed a bag with a few changes of clothes in it, some essentials, and his suit.
He was taken through a portal to Kamar-Taj and shown his room, where he would be spending a lot of time for the first few days.
Unfortunately, no one else was allowed to go with him, and he had to surrender his phone and any electronics for the cleansing process.
No distractions.
But being sympathetic to Tony, May, Wade and everyone else's concern, Strange promised to keep them posted on his condition over the impending week.

After getting permission from Riley's father, Strange took his pupil with him soon after getting Peter to his room, as he felt this would be a good experience for her.
By this point, it was nighttime in Nepal, which was a steadfast promise to some ruined sleep schedules.
Riley, Strange and Peter would be pulling an all-nighter together, and would then have to endure being awake the next day.

---

    "We live in physical bodies.
This form of ours can handle a lot, but it's really only made for one spirit; our own.
We can have some spiritual symbiotes, parasites, even guests, but to embody a deity, let alone seven...
This is going to require work.

Because of your influence by them already, with the right preparation you'll be able to handle it.
But I must warn you, the first few days of this are going to be unpleasant, simply because you're not really a spiritual person.
You've never been cleansed, and today you experienced going outside your body for the very first time.
You're going to be tired, hurting, probably terrified...pretty miserable, really.
Full disclosure...
It's going to suck.
Then, once you've gotten all the negativity out of your system, things will improve.
I can promise you that, too.
Do you trust me?"

---

Peter chose to stay in the game.
Riley was offered to stay with them through the night and observe the situation, even though watching Peter suffer may be taxing to watch.
She bravely agreed, wanting to participate and maybe even help any way she could.

~~Day 1-~~

After having as much explained to Peter as possible without his head exploding, they got right to work.
Strange started simple by offering Peter a small bowl of a mysterious soup.
The soup, as Strange explained, contained peyote.
He confirmed that yes, peyote is hallucinogenic, but that it is a wonderful tool for beginners to cleanse their bodies of negativity and be shown what they need to deal with during tough times.
He apologized for using something so strong as a first means, but they were pressed for time.
It was after that little explanation that Strange handed Peter a bucket.

---

"What's this for?"

    "Just give it a minute."

---

That remark made Peter's sense's spike, and he suddenly was able to grasp just what a nightmare the cleansing was going to be.
After a few minutes of sitting with a mild high, Peter began to feel very strong discomfort, and inevitably threw up into the bucket.

---

"I d-on't think my b-ody l-ikes the p-eyote..."

    "Your body likes the peyote just fine; the peyote doesn't like the state of your spirit."

---

Throughout the slow, off-and-on process of vomiting, Strange explained to Peter that this was the cactus's way of bringing bad emotions and energy to the surface.
His body was expelling it physically, as this is often the first step of cleansing.

After he finished throwing up, Peter felt a little better and began to relax.
Strange and Riley stayed close, keeping in his room with him.
Strange went back and forth through different parts of the building, seeing how progress was being made and of course, keeping tabs on the New York Sanctum.

Two hours after the consumption of peyote, Peter began to experience the peak of hallucinations.
Dream-like visions crossed through his mind, mostly pertaining to the spider that bit him.
He hallucinated that the little spider was in the room off and on.
For the next several hours, the visions began altering from bizarre and somewhat pleasant to bad and frightening.
There came another point where he was nauseated, vomited, and experienced a "bad trip."
He saw dark figures and demonic faces filling the room and comging towards him, experienced senseless fear, and even paranoia regarding his powers and if he truly deserved them, or if he could handle being chosen to have them.
Needless to say, his crying, rambling, sweating and puking was a tad distressing for Riley to watch, and so Strange would dismiss her off and on and give her breaks.

It takes twelve hours for the effects of peyote to leave the system, and so the visions and their intensity died down over the hours.
Understandably, all three people were very tired by the time it was over -- none more so than Peter.
Strange allowed him to sleep for a couple of hours, but later came back and woke him so that his sleep schedule would not lose track.
He had to keep himself awake, too, and Riley.
Of them all, the latter was the least used to so much strain, but she endured.

Peter was offered water and crackers, something light on his stomach.
He was informed also that his diet would be different during the cleansing, and probably for a little while after the journey, because his body would need specific foods to heal up the fastest.
Peter told Strange and Riley some of what he saw during his trip.
Strange reminded him that this was just the start, and that as awful as it was, he would be grateful he did it when it was over.

A bit of rest, and Strange prepared Peter to have each of his chakra gates stretched wide.
He was to have one gate stretched every day; seven days, seven gates, seven deities.
Because Peter was cleansing at the same time of this, it meant his response to each stretching would be heightened.
The Root chakra, the first gate and the one located at the base of the tailbone, was first to go.

Because Peter is not a spiritual person, Strange knew he didn't have time to teach Peter to activate these gates himself.
He taught him how to sit and cross his legs, make the hand signs and rest them on his knees, close his eyes and focus on a small black square in his mind.
After this, with Peter's consent, Strange was able to do the rest of the work for him.
He (without touching Peter) focused on and activated his Root chakra, widening it for the first time.
Characteristically, this caused some pain in Peter's tailbone, and he felt his spider senses rise in regards to the situation.
His body felt great euphoria at the stretching of the gate, which was enough to distract from the throbbing in his tailbone, and the sense of impending doom.
Stretching a gate is enough for it to cleanse itself and help the body by giving a rush of new energy, hence the good feelings.
Riley was there to witness this, too, and she found it admittedly weird to watch him writhe on the floor in ecstasy.
Although, she said, it was better than watching him throw up and cry.
"Just wait," Strange said to her.

With his Root stretched, Strange informed him that each gate would close back up most of the way on its own with time.
Red energy pulsed through him, and it caused Peter to be far more prone to fear and primitive actions.
He found himself feeling unsafe on the ground, so he built a large hammock web in the upper corner of his room and clung to it, staying off the floor.
He napped.

Strange told him around midday that he no longer needed peyote, that he could handle more raw, supernatural methods of drawing out his negativity.
Still hanging in his web, Peter was very afraid of this, but knew he needed to stick with it.

---

"Did you have to go through this to get where you are?
I mean -- oh god, did Riley have to do all this??"

    "No, because neither of us had to take seven giant gods that control reality into our bodies."

"Nh...
O-okay...but I'm staying up here..."

    "I can work with that."

---

Strange used a negative spell on Peter to draw out the troubles of his mind and heart, which he pledged he would be using for the next couple of days.
The spell did cause some tripping (bad ones, due to the nature of it), but not as strong as before.
Mostly, and in tune with his poor Root, Peter experienced pain, fear, anxiety, guilt, and spent the next few hours crying off and on, rocking in his web.
No more vomiting, but he did sweat a lot.
Strange stayed with him, inviting Riley to see a little of what the spell was doing to Peter.
When nighttime finally came about, Strange introduced a scared, miserable mutant vessel-to-be to one of his fellow masters, miss Awhina (uh-fee-nuh) Tuhaka, a woman from New Zealand who'd trained under the Ancient One.
They told him that she was going to be in charge of the bulk of his guidance and caretaking from then on, but that he would still be seeing Strange and Riley.
Awhina tried to coax Peter down from his web and get into bed, but he shook and announced he didn't want to be on the ground.
They allowed him to stay up there, and left him to get some rest.
Finally, the trio were all allowed to sleep.
Strange called Tony and told him briefly what had happened, and then went to bed.

~~Day 2~~

Peter did not sleep soundly.
After being awake for over 24 hours, he truly hoped he would sleep hard and wake up ready to start over, but the night was plagued with bad dreams, night sweats, terrors, and a deep longing for his family.
The majority of his terrors and bad dreams dealt with the deepest intensity of his trauma, ranging from Ben's death to the fight with Vulture, to the Infinity War.

In the morning, Awhina brought him a breakfast of various fruits, and finally convinced him to come down from the web.
Descending, Peter told Awhina she didn't have to bring him food, but she insisted that he would've most likely had a difficult time making it out for breakfast.
After eating, she took him out and walked around with him a bit in an attempt to get some fresh air, but the very exhausted Peter eventually had to be escorted back to his room to lie down.

When Strange visited a couple hours later, Peter asked if it was okay for him to nap.
Strange said that it was not only okay, but encouraged, as he would need it.
But in showing up, the Sorcerer Supreme told Peter it was time to stretch his Sacral chakra.

---

"What's this one about?"

    "The Sacral is the next one up after Root, so it relates to baser urges.
You may find yourself more prone to anger, more inclined to act on impulse, and, well...
Not to be inappropriate, but this gate is located around the genital area, so you can guess some of the other side effects."

"...Oh..."

    "Should you feel a need to "respond" to those instincts, might I please suggest...locking the door--"

"YEAH, yeah, yeah, of -- of course..."

    "No judgment."

"Mm-hm."

    "Kay."

---

Like the day before, Peter sat with crossed legs, assumed the hand position, meditated briefly, and Strange activated the Sacral gate.
Although he was not thrilled to admit it, stretching that one felt almost ten times better than stretching the Root, and thus Peter was again writhing on the floor.
It was awkward, but some things just can't be helped.
He put his back to Strange to hide any "side effects."
Like he said, there was no judgment, and with this it was easy to understand why Strange hadn't invited Riley to watch this particular exercise.

After the ecstasy wore off, Strange gave Peter time to rest and nap...or whatever he needed...and promised to return in a couple of hours.
Again, Awhina brought him food; fruit again, but with a plain boiled egg and baked chicken with sage for protein.
Each time she brought him food, Peter felt terrible, especially given how good it looked.
"It's not like I cook it," she retorted, amused by his humility.
She assured him that within a couple of days, he would be able to join them and eat like a person instead of a prisoner.
"I feel a little more special than a prisoner right now," he answered.

After eating, Strange returned to use the same spell on him as the day before.
It had the same effects; fear, misery, sweating, bad trips.
The difference was, thanks to his stretched Sacral and still-wide Root, Peter experienced a lot more anger.
Old-held grudges found their way to the surface, as did a forgotten bit of scorn Peter felt over his parents having chosen their work over him so often before they died.
Things he thought he had let go of re-appeared, letting him know that he still had issues with it.
Agitated and tired, and angry about his fear and even this whole process, he told Strange he needed to be alone.
The wizard understood, and left him be.

Peter spent the next few hours crying and sweating out his anger.
He wanted to take out his bad feelings physically, even at one point challenging one of the scary figures he imagined was there before said figure disappeared.
But he had enough sense to respect the space he was in, so instead of destroying anything that wasn't his, he removed his shirt and ripped it apart with his bare hands.
As evening came, Awhina checked on him, and saw the shirtless young man, still exhausted, hanging upside down from the ceiling by one web thread, still tearing the shirt into small pieces slowly.
He appeared ill, almost.
The woman asked him what he was feeling and experiencing, and Peter irritably told the truth.
Without thinking much about it, he vaguely mentioned the anger over the situation, his parents, and even anger at himself for "letting" his uncle die.
He was angry that the gods chose him of all people for this task, that it was unfair that he'd suffered so much before and now had to endure this, even if it was the right thing to do.
He was angry that he didn't understand why they gave him these powers, and angry that his getting them wasn't more scientific.
Awhina assured him that all his feelings, anger and irritation were valid, and that it was good that he was honest about it now.
Peter began to cry and said, "I hate this."
His company offered her understanding.
She came back a little while later with dinner, which Peter only nibbled at.

He ended up feeling dreadful well into the night.
His groans and cries could be heard from outside the bedroom.
Even though it was past bedtime, Riley offered to go try and console him.
Strange allowed it.
Riley came in cautiously to find Peter curled up on the floor of the room, still shirtless, legs pulled into his chest.
He looked far more sick now than earlier, and was still sweating.
He was so miserable he didn't even think or care about how gross he was getting, and no one else really thought much of it.
This was anticipated.
When Riley came in, she brought a little pail of water and rag, and lightly dabbed Peter's face with it.
He wasn't angry now so much as he was just miserable and out of it, not even certain if Riley was really there.
She petted his hair, talked to him.
Peter managed small ways to express his gratitude.
He cried for Tony, and May, and Steve, and Wade, and even Happy once.
Riley gingerly told him that he would be back home soon enough.
Try as she might, after some short time spent with him, she couldn't convince him to get up and into bed.
He was too weak to move as it was, so she brought his pillow to him and lay it under his head, covered him with the blanket, and left him to get some sleep.

Like the night before, he had nightmares and trouble sleeping, but it was more successful, and each bout of sleep he got was heavier.

~~Day 3~~

In the morning, the spell had again worn off, leaving him drained.
Now, Peter was a tad embarrassed about his behavior, and disappointed in himself for tearing up one of his comfortable shirts.
He was also becoming cognizant of how unhygienic he was, and Strange told him it was best to wait to clean himself up.
Peter changed his clothes (now donning a different shirt), and was again brought breakfast.
This time, it had been Strange to offer him food, which he was more keen on eating.

Peter confessed the nature of his anger to Strange.
The latter told him that this was good, and that all of those little grudges clearly had a place in his heart.
Strange spent the morning helping him tackle each one individually.

---

    "I don't expect you to just stop being angry.
The most important thing for you to do now is accept that you're upset about these things.
Let them be there, let them exist, don't be ashamed of them.
Don't be ashamed to be upset about feeling abandoned, or questioning the whole entire universe.
You're special, yes, but you're still only human."

---

He encouraged a meditation exercise.
Talking Peter through it, Strange helped him come to grips with this anger, and accept it.
When he finally opened his eyes again, it was clear that some weight had been taken off his shoulders.
Feeling better, he proclaimed that he was genuinely okay with the fact that he had some grudges, and understood that those could be worked on in time, with patience.
Approving of this, the wizard went to work on stretching the next gate.

Strange stretched Peter's Navel chakra, which sent a more pleasant, calm, warm ecstasy through him.
Rather than writhe around, Peter simply laid back and stretched, feeling as though he were basking in the sun, soaking up the heat on a cool day.
The Navel chakra deals with self-esteem, confidence, power, and grounding.

An hour after this, Strange used the Negativity spell again.
This time, Peter's misery was centered around elements regarding the Navel, and with that came a host of guilt.
He tired out very quickly, attempting to nap.
He shivered, sweated, and openly said "I'm sorry" for no apparent reason.
There was a deep fear of failing this mission, of not being good enough, and potentially dying from the strain.
He became delirious, if not a little overheated.
Riley spent some time with him during this process, trying to keep him cool and let him know he wasn't alone.

Barely conscious and deeply upset, Peter at one point began to cry for his uncle.
Not knowing entirely what to do, Riley went out and retrieved Awhina and brought her to him.
After listening to Peter's pleas, she asked who Ben was, and Riley informed the witch that that was his uncle who died several years ago.
Understanding now what was happening, and sensing this was the most important phase of his cleansing, Awhina kindly encouraged Peter to "go find Ben."
She gently pushed his astral form out of his body, and again encouraged him to find Ben.

Peter traveled to the Astral plane, a little more calm and focused here, but still sad and distressed.
He called out for his uncle only once, and there he was.
They embraced, and Peter told him he missed him.
Ben told his nephew that he had no sensation of sorrow, because he was always with the ones he loved, and that he now had the wisdoms and Light of the afterlife.
Peter apologized to Ben for not doing anything to stop the robbery or being swift enough to protect him.
As he expected, Ben never once had any hard feelings about that, even when he learned through death that his little boy had been gifted with immense power.
If anything, Ben told Peter that it was okay if he felt a little guilty, so long as he understood without a doubt that what happened was not his fault, and that Peter's choice in that high-stress moment not to reveal his new powers was the smart thing to do.
Being held by Ben, Peter let it sink in, relieved to hear those words from the man himself.
It eased him.
He accepted that he had a thread of guilt left from the event, but the majority of it that he'd had in regards to it greatly diminished.
With this, he also managed to release the anger at himself for not being able to help or prevent it, which was another major relief.

The visit came to a close when Ben asked Peter to tell May that he loved her, and was glad that she had moved on and was happy with someone.
He knew he wasn't forgotten, and he knew that he wasn't replaced.
A kiss on the head, a pat on the back.
Peter let Ben go, and returned to his body.
When he woke, he was still very dizzy and shaken from the spell, but he had the consciousness to thank his company in a hoarse voice before passing out for a little while.

He was visited by Riley, Strange and Awhina throughout the day and into the night, too knocked out to properly eat or do much of anything.
He was encouraged, whimpering out the last bits of bad energy and unrest in his soul.
When he fell asleep, he rested harder and more steadily than the night before, save for dreams about being separated from his family and concerns over the future.

~~Day 4~~

In the morning, no one came to him.
After a little while of waiting, tired Peter Parker exited his room cautiously, and wandered out into the building.
Following the smell of food, he shyly made it to the dining area, where everyone was eating together.
They welcomed him, glad to see he'd found his way; forcing him to do so was intentional, and gave some confidence back to him, which his Navel chakra was in desperate need of.
He was happy to join the others, sitting next to his little pal, Riley.

Strange congratulated Peter on surviving the first three days, and informed him that he had one last tiny Negativity ritual to go through, but that it would be far less taxing than the previous ones.
After breakfast, Peter was invited to a different room, where the remaining wizards formed a bed of sage.
Peter laid in the sage, and the masters (and Riley, as part of her training), gently drew the last bits of negativity out of him using silent prayer and unseen Light.
The sage pulled it out, and the wizards pushed it away.
After ten minutes, Peter felt very relaxed, and completely relieved of all his pain.
For a while, anyway.
He thanked everyone for all they'd done, and apologized for potentially being a burden.

Even though he was physically weak, Peter felt the pull and the motivation to try and stay up and active.
He explored the building, and even went outside.
He was disappointed to learn that he still wasn't allowed to talk to his family, but he accepted it.
After a short while, he was finally allowed to shower.
He felt much better afterwards.

After the shower, Strange stretched Peter's Heart chakra, which deals with emotions.
Like the first two, this one left him writhing, but it gave him a dose of energy and joy.
He got a little chatty about all his different moods and how he felt about the experience so far, told Awhina about visiting his uncle, and then eventually took a nap.
He joined everyone for lunch, where he was offered a nice herbal tea blend for his gates and to help his body heal.
It tasted gross, but he was polite and finished it.
With so much happiness in his heart, he felt cuddly and a little clingy, but alas, there was no one with which to cuddle.
So he just hugged his pillow as the evening drew in, ate dinner with everyone, watched the sun set and appreciated the outdoors, and then went to bed, holding his pillow tight as he drifted off, thinking of his loved ones' arms around him.

~~Day 5~~

He slept more soundly, save for some stress dreams about the upcoming journey.
Breakfast with everyone, shower, and then Strange took Peter to the library to see Wong and read about the gods he would very soon be accepting.
This was Peter's chance to finally be fed some more in-depth information, which raised as many questions as it answered.
He grew a more intimate understanding about them, admittedly fascinated by the concept of the multiverse and the fact that spider gods were mostly responsible for holding it all together.
He confessed that he felt very unworthy to be their vessel, to have ever been chosen at all.
Strange told him that given the Gatekeeper had picked him, they must've had a good reason for it.

After the studying, Strange stretched Peter's Throat chakra.
More writhing, and this time, Peter was gonna talk about it.
The gate of communication encourages the subject to talk and sing and be far more vocal about what's on their mind.
As such, Peter's ability to properly articulate his thoughts heightened.
He was chatty all day, to the point of almost being annoying, but everyone tolerated it.
He apologized for being hyper and gabby, and felt that there might be a more functional way for him to release the energy.
He found some space by himself and sang.
And sang, and sang, and sang some more.

Lunch time, more talking, some laughing but mostly talking, some more singing, and then a little meditative therapy with burning sage.
He was then offered another herbal tea with raw, real honey in it to help his throat, which was a little sore from all the talking.
After dinner, Peter was encouraged to wear himself out through a little exercise to ensure that he sleep well.
He would need it.

~~Day 6~~

He slept well, but dreamt about Marcus.
He dreamt that he was holding a healthy Marcus in his arms and swinging in a web hammock with him, singing to him in an ethereal plane.
Peter awoke feeling peaceful, if not a little sad.

After breakfast, Strange got right to work stretching Peter's Third Eye.
This left him feeling good; he even described it as feeling like "a flower had bloomed" in his forehead.
Strange told him that that's basically what happens when the sixth gate gets a good stretch.

With all the spiritual exposure Peter had been through, he spent the day seeing weird things.
People looked a tad different to him between blinks, he thought he saw things moving that others did not, and he recounted feeling as though something had touched him a couple of times.
He also heard someone call his name several times throughout the day, but every time he answered it, there was no one there.
Or, whoever he was with told him they had not said anything.
Awhina educated Peter about the Eye, explaining that it makes the subject very sensitive to the spirit world.
It's the most dangerous gate, if not the most powerful.
What Peter was describing was spiritual activity that goes on all the time, unnoticed, but he was noticing it because his Eye was stretched.
Not to mention, spirits are drawn to people with an active Third Eye.
She warned him to expect vivid dreams when he slept later.

As the day went on, Peter began to feel a little more nervous about the upcoming events.
Strange told Peter that once the gods possessed him, he himself would most likely go fully unconscious and not be present for any of the adventure.
This was frightening to Peter, understandably.
In order to help him unwind, after dinner, Strange suggested he take a spiritual bath.
A warm, relaxing bath using lavender, flower petals, and a few other mild, non-conflicting things would be good for his mind and even his body.
He agreed to this.
Strange encouraged him to stay in there for as long as he felt was necessary, so he did.
And yes, he was completely alone for all of it.
After the bath, Peter got a little more reassurance out of Strange, and went to bed.
As promised, his dreams were intense.
Not bad, but very colorful and story-like,
He woke up three times during the night simply from all the stimulation, and had trouble getting back to sleep.

~~Day 7~~

This was the last and most important day for cleansing.
He was to have his Crown stretched, and then spend the day resting and meditating.
So he had breakfast, and again, Strange got right to it.

Fittingly enough, the Crown chakra is responsible for communication with the gods.
All gods.
Stretching this gate gave Peter euphoria, but mostly a sense of awake-ness and purpose.
Strange took the time to properly educate him about it.

After lunch, Peter was instructed to meditate.
After being taught how by Han Sharma and then left to his own peace for a little while, Peter unexpectedly astral projected.
But this was actually of his intent; he felt he needed to see the arachnid gods again and talk to them for some ultimate peace before consenting once and for all to be their vessel.

He dreamed his way into their pocket dimension, surprising them with his visit.
Upon arrival, he asked what they were going to do to him and how this was going to work.
They answered Peter in their own words, taking their time to explain.
They told him that while in his body, Peter himself would sleep through the journey, but that they would treat his vessel like one of their own temples; with respect and dignity, to the best of their ability.
They told him that he would, yes, survive this, and with far more grace than the average person.

Next, Peter asked the Gatekeeper why they chose him.
With their terrifying voice, the Gatekeeper told the young mutant that he was chosen because of his heart.
They had seen Peter's anger and hurt over the bullying at school, but they could sense that Peter's heart was pure enough, and his mind strong enough that even with super powers, he would not abuse them to avenge himself.
The Gatekeeper told Peter that they only choose people once in several decades, sometimes centuries, and that Peter had been the first in 211 years.
On his Earth, anyway.
Whenever the Gatekeeper chose someone, it was someone they always deemed to be the best of their generation -- or to become it.

Moved, Peter knelt before them, thanking them over and over again and expressing his gratitude while also swearing he didn't see what they saw.
But Phobis told him to stand, and take pride even with his humility, because he was special before he was given his powers; that was the whole point of taking such time to choose a recipient.

Finally, before Peter left, he asked the gods if his powers came from science or magic.
Karn told him that it was both, that magic and science go hand in hand.
With Strange having told Peter this once before, he smiled, and felt at peace enough to return to his body.

When he woke up, the first person Peter saw as a concerned Riley.
He leaped up and ran to tell Strange what he saw, bringing Riley with him.
Strange was impressed with his traveling and happy for him to have made peace.

Throughout the day, Peter was encouraged to snack on honeydew melon and cantaloupe to power his Crown and give him an extra energy boost.
He went through a deep meditation before bed, and was given a strong tea to help him get to sleep easily and stay asleep.
It all worked.

~~Meanwhile~~

During the cleansing process, over the course of the week, Strange kept tabs with the Avengers, letting them all know how Peter was doing and what to expect.
He requested some of them to accompany the Order on their journey.
During this time, he also came to the realization that due to all the energy Peter was about to take in, it would be extremely unsafe for him to go through their sling ring portals.
This meant they would have to travel by flight.
Exasperated but willing to help, with a resounding "of course," Tony offered them to go in a large stealth craft called the Scuttler, gifted to him by Nick Fury some time after the events of Endgame.
Strange liked the sound of that.

Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Wade agreed to go while everyone else was to stay at the facility and remain doing their jobs there.
Tony asked several pilots to come with them as well to take turns steering the Scuttler.
Three of them agreed, and were given ample time to plan for the adventure.
Everyone made arrangements and planned to be gone for up to two weeks, even though Strange assured them it most likely wouldn't take nearly that much time.

All his closest friends missed him of course, but none took the separation from Peter so hard as Wade did.
The merc may have been used to going on missions or being separated from his love due to work, but this was a different, more pressing circumstance.
Most distressing of all, he couldn't be in touch with him whatsoever.
Wade became very depressed, not even showering until the night before their mission began.
He was briefly comforted by Harlow, who brought him a stuffed Spiderman toy she'd found on an Avengers fan website.
This whole incident revealed that Wade definitely had dependency issues, and had some very strong feelings of uncertainty that would need to be tackled in the future.

The night Harlow comforted Wade also happened to be the morning of Peter's seventh day of cleansing.
Strange called Tony and told him that everyone needed to be ready by the next evening, because that was when it would begin.
Tony convinced Wade to shower and get cleaned up, which wasn't hard given Wade became excited at the thought of seeing his boyfriend again.
Strange advised them to pull an all-nighter if possible and sleep during the day, because that following evening it would be D-Day morning in Nepal.
The four of them understood and did their best to stay up and wear themselves out.

~~The Vessel~~

On the 8th morning, Peter woke rested and ready to go.
He ate, showered, and was advised to put on his suit and wear it during the trip in case the gods needed to fight.
So he did, and brought his bag out to the main room, as it was to come with him during the travels.
After all, no one expected him to go days on end without showering, changing or taking care of himself; it was just up to his "guests" to do it for him.
Meanwhile, it was early evening on Earth, and the Avengers (and Wade) woke up and got ready.

The crystals and the altar were fully charged.
When Peter was led to the chamber, he sensed the deities' energy thriving through the large gemstones, ready to escape the pocket dimension.
With an active Crown and Eye, he could hear them whisper, and could sense them.
Feeling confident that things would work out, and daringly putting his faith in the Order and the mysterious beings, Peter was brought to the center of the circle, where he lied down.
After a moment for him to relax, when he was ready, the masters did a spell and incantation to stabilize Peter and open him up to the deities.
Riley watched.
As this was done, Peter lost consciousness almost immediately.
The spider gods came into his body one by one through the crystals, their energy sparking and visible to everyone there.
It was a brilliant, if not a frightening display.
Once all seven of them were inside Peter, the masters finished the spell, and everything calmed down again.

There was a long silence.
Everyone waited, all things quiet as the gods adjusted to Their earthly body that all of Them had to share.
After a couple of minutes, Peter's eyes opened, and it was clear by the glowing energy and colors in them that Peter was no longer home.
They needed time to adjust to Their new feet and perception, and the feeling of being in a physical, flesh body on the mortal plane.
The masters helped Them to stand, asked questions and made sure there was proper communication.
With all of Peter's gates having been stretched, his soul cleansed and his body rested, They communicated that They felt good.
Their voices overlapped, but They did say that They would be able to take turns as necessary.
Seeing that everything was a success, Strange got to work.

The Sorcerer Supreme motioned to take Riley home, but the ultra-shy teen surprised her teacher by asking if she could go with them.

---

        "Are you sure?"

"I think so..."

        "..."

"Yes!
I'm sure."

---

Impressed with his student, Strange agreed to let her come.
She used a portal to get home and tell her father, who reluctantly agreed to let his daughter go.

In the meantime, Strange arrived at the facility to gather his team.
The team and the pilots got in the Scuttler.
Strange opened a massive portal to enable the aircraft to get through and be walked to a landing zone in Nepal.
Once at the landing zone and out of America all together, Strange took them to Kamar-Taj to see Peter.
When Wade saw his boyfriend, he was nervous but happy, and tried to talk to him.
When the gods rose to Their feet and approached Wade, they studied him.
Their seven overlapped voices, mostly overpowering Peter's voice, coldly stated "Your mate is sleeping," before passing him up all together.
It hurt, to say the least.
Tony, meanwhile, was chilled to the bone when he heard them speak, but managed to brush it off.

~~The Journey Begins~~

Tony, Steve, Wanda, Wade, Strange, Riley, Awhina, Han, the gods and the three pilots got on the Scuttler and set their course for Japan.
The Scuttler, named for its ability to crawl or "scuttle" as needed, is a large, luxurious aircraft with a nice main interior, large cockpit, and ten rooms for individuals to stay in as needed.
And of course, there are a couple of restrooms, but no shower.
Not nearly as large as Fury's super-aircraft, but definitely larger than your average jet and far more technologically advanced.
It runs on a consistent charge from its very own arc reactor.
As soon as they got in the air, the Scuttler was set to "invisibility."

Learning that the flight to the first destination would take roughly sixteen hours, nobody was happy to hear that.
Moreover, the gods mentioned that without anyone in the pocket dimension to keep tabs on Null, he stood a chance of influencing some of his darkness on the world, hence why it was best to bring a few Avengers.
Their spell was strong, They said, but it wouldn't hold forever.
The faster everyone got home, the better.

Due to the pressing need to save time while being efficient, it was agreed that Jorōgumo be taken home first, as her home was the furthest off the grid from the rest of the action.
Besides Karn's, anyway.
Not long into their journey, Tony revealed that he had developed a solid black stealth suit for Peter to wear during the mission.
The gods questioned him, to which Ironman drily explained that he's paranoid and has trust issues, and would really rather his son be as camouflaged as possible.
If "seven weird alien spiders" were going to parade around in Peter's body, Tony expected them to take the utmost care of it.
"And if you don't like that," he said curtly, "then screw you."
After a minute of tense silence, They smiled and expressed amusement, but agreed that They should take care of Peter.

Not having much shame due to Their higher power, the gods pushed the button on the blue suit, loosening it right there in the main room, in front of everyone.
They were confused when everyone suddenly jumped and a chorus of "whoooaa" rolled through the aircraft.
Wade covered Riley's eyes, even though she was looking away anyway.
They told Them that it would really be best to get dressed in Their room, that it was impolite both to Peter and everyone around Them to just disrobe unexpectedly.
With a shrug and lack of caring for the sentiment, They were guided by Strange back to Their room to put on the stealth suit.
Once They were gone, Steve looked at Tony and asked, "Was that an Aquaman reference...?" Tony sorely replied with "Well the kid's not here; someone has to make crappy pop culture quips."
Steve thought it was funny.

~~Trial of Jorōgumo~~

When the gods emerged in the new suit (mask off), Strange asked to speak to Jorōgumo.
After a moment of effort, the other deities peeled back, allowing the seductress to function at the forefront.
Peter's eyes turned pink with her in command.
He asked her if she knew how to get to her temple, to which she replied "Yes, but we have to be in Shizuoka."
The goddess explained that she had been all over Japan and was used to being on the ground, but she was not accustomed to such a limited, fragile form.

The long flight was spent with everyone watching movies, meditating, discussing their circumstances, and with Wade pouting.
Jorōgumo proved to be the most restless deity, having a hard time staying still.
She was also the most disturbing in that she had the creepy habit of trying to flirt with every male on the plane.
She was particularly drawn to Wade, given he was Peter's mate, and tried multiple times to seduce him.
Try as she might, Jorōgumo could not persuade anyone to lay with her.
Unlike her casual nature, she didn't plan on killing anybody; she was just being playful and looking for some stress release.
But, as to be expected, everyone was simply creeped out; the enchantress couldn't even get near Tony, and for good reason.
Wade hated her.

She was annoyed by hunger, and more irritable yet by tiredness.
The suit was a little constricting at times, her hair wouldn't stay put; all the petty little annoyances built up on her.
And although hunger was annoying, she had no trouble eating, for she did it all the time.
Strange encouraged her to eat protein and fruit to keep up Peter's strength.
Protein in particular enabled him to make webs at a fully functioning rate.
"Yes, yes," she retorted.
And of course, she took each bite as awkwardly as possibly, most specifically in front of Wade.

Besides annoying everyone, Jorōgumo entertained herself by talking to the others, asking questions about things and expressing her interest in the fact that she was in the air.
When it came time that everyone wanted to get a little sleep, and the pilot needed to switch, the youngest deity headed to her room and locked the door.
Being in a man's body, she felt it was like a sick fantasy come true.
With the other gods resting, she decided to take advantage of her time in the unwitting vessel, even propping herself in front of a mirror to enjoy the view (given she's attracted to men and all).

When everyone got up and came back out, Jorōgumo boasted vaguely to Wade about her decision, which infuriated the merc.
But as it was, there was really nothing he could do; the gods had different standards than mortals, and Jorōgumo in particular had an appetite that couldn't be matched.

Finally, they landed in the Shizuoka Prefecture.
Wearing the mask for the suit, Jorōgumo nervously led the group to the Jōren Falls where her cave was located.
She confessed she'd never led mortals to her cave that came back from it alive, but she was willing to make an exception in exchange for their bravery and nobility.
They watched within her cave as Jorōgumo waltzed to the altar of her temple, laid in the center, and closed her eyes.
Moments later, a rush of pink energy pulled from Peter's body, ascending and vanishing in seconds.
When the gods came to and picked Themselves up off the temple floor, They told Strange that Jorōgumo was in a sort of limbo now.
With the Web of Life being severed from the multiverse, no one would be able to enter the Loomworld until Karn was taken to his temple.
And so, he was the next to go.

---to be continued---

Description
I do not own Marvel or the cultural deities featured.
The only one i own is Phobis.

My Marvel HC:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Phobis:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Karn:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Uttu:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
The Gatekeeper:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Anansi:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Arachne:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…
Jorōgumo:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Null:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

Temple Maps:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

TotG Travel Map:
www.deviantart.com/foxdragonlo…

----------

If you don't like this or are disinterested, all you have to do is leave.
I am not accepting criticism.
This has been weeks worth of effort done 95% by me all alone, with several VERY important details added to it by FursonaKittenMittens , my mate.
To disrespect my work is to also disrespect my mate's work, and i'm not okay with that.

Be warned that this is very long and elaborate.
I apologize!
But please, if you do read, enjoy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Character Key:

Tony Stark

Peter Parker

Steve Rogers

Stephen Strange

Wanda Maximoff

Wade Wilson

Riley Jones (OC)

Han Sharma (OC)

Awhina Tuhaka (OC)

Harlow Miller (OC)

Timeline:

The setting is in early Summer.
Peter is 22, and Riley is 15.
She is about to turn 16 in July, and in August Peter will turn 23.
Harlow is 18.
Wade and Peter have been together for a solid two years now, and Wade was allowed to move in and live at the A-facility when Peter was 21.

----------------------------------------------

~~Attack on Reality~~

Null, the Living Darkness, finally got his wish.
Traveling through different dimensions one at a time brought him no closer to the heavily-guarded Loomworld, but finally, the vengeful spirit had a clever idea.
Null made a brazen attempt to move through five different dimensions all at once, locking himself between his place of action, and five different realities.
He figured if this destroyed him, then his suffering would finally end.
But if he succeeded, he hoped it would achieve his goal, and it did.

By trying to move through five dimensions at once, and staying locked into this for so long, Null managed to break a thread in the Web of Life.
When Karn moved to fix it, Null saw him, and saw his way in.
The spirit grabbed Karn and pulled his way into the Loomworld, infiltrating in the hopes to overthrow the arachnid gods and take control of the Web of Life.
A great brawl broke out between the gods and the spirit; Null was very strong, and while it wasn't evident what he wanted, the deities knew they had to stop him before he could tear the Web apart.

Phobis and the others took Null on, buying time for Karn to use Null's own desires against him.
Karn severed the thread of reality which contained Null, which happened to be the Loomworld.
Karn sent the Loomworld into its own pocket dimension, disguising it from the multiverse, leaving everything Phobis had united eons ago to the elements and to fate.
But Null got wise, and as Karn was separating the threads, Null attacked him.
With the others trying to stop Null, everyone was thrust into a yet smaller, tighter pocket dimension in the lower Astral Plane, stranded from the Web of Life, and from all the realities.
Together, Phobis, Arachne, Anansi, and the Gatekeeper managed to subdue and restrain Null, but not destroy him.
The gods did not possess the Light necessary to be able to cleanse and remove him, and so they held him in a stasis in the pocket dimension.

Stranded and in dire need of getting everything back in line, the gods knew their only way home was through the mortal world.
They chose Earth-616, the very world they had all been born of.
They contacted Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of this Earth, in a vision.
Strange astral projected to meet with them, able to peek into their pocket dimension and see what and who was talking to him, and see Null.
He'd read about the Web and the arachnid gods before, but finally seeing the beings who protected all of reality was sobering.
The gods explained that in order to get to Earth from the pocket dimension, they would need a charged altar with which to enter the body of a mortal, which would be used as a vessel.
The Gatekeeper explained that Peter Parker had the highest chance of withstanding their presence, and told Strange that he was the one they needed.
After all, Gatekeeper said, Peter was the one they had most recently blessed with arachnid gifts.
They needed to use Peter as a vessel to be taken around the world and be transported to their respective altars, where they would leave Peter's body one by one and find their way back to the Loomworld.
Their final request was that Phobis be the last to go home, as she would be needed on Earth to help fight Null, which Karn planned on releasing once everyone else was returned to the Loomworld, all in the hopes that Strange and his fellow mortal allies could defeat the spirit using their unique spells and Light.
Strange promised he would do his best, and got right to work.

~~Recruitment~~

Being able to travel anywhere at a given time has its advantages, such as being able to travel anywhere at a given time.
Yes, that was written that way on purpose, because the author thinks she's funny.
Strange went to Nepal and informed his order of what was happening and what needed to be done.
Riley, his very young student of roughly six months, was also informed, because it affected her just as much as everyone else.
After Wong and the remaining wizards of Kamar-Taj were up to speed, Strange asked them to begin working on a super-charged altar, and so they did.
The altar required a circular space for the vessel (Peter) to lie down, surrounded by magically charged, enormous quartz crystals, as crystals are the purest and most reliable form of spell charging.
The wizards were fast to go around the world, moving through portals, finding and taking large crystals back to Kamar-Taj.

As the Order got to work, Strange appeared uninvited (as usual) to the A-facility.
He got right to the nitty gritty, asking Tony to gather everyone so he could explain the situation at hand.
He told them everything briefly, including that the deities needed a vessel for the travels.
As to be expected, Tony thought everything Strange said was insane, and everyone else was merely a tad stunned.
Understanding their confusion and reluctance, Strange tiredly informed them that the vessel needed for this task was Peter.

---

"Me?"

    "Yes, you.
I'm going to make a daring assumption here and say you probably aren't aware of this, but you were chosen by these beings when you got your powers.
They sent the spider that bit you, they gave you your gifts.
Now, they need you.
Everyone does."

---

Tony came to Peter's defense, irritated at the thought of Peter having to participate in some "voodoo ritual."
Strange pointed out that during the Infinity War, Tony had trusted him, to which Tony answered, "Yeah, that was when you were asking my kid here to help fight a big purple alien, not take seven weird magic spider aliens into his body."
While resisting the urge to unleash his Big Attitude on Tony, Strange calmly said that it was up to Peter alone to decide what he wanted to do.
Peter politely, albeit nervously remarked that he found this whole thing to be weird and confusing.
Although he had emphasized in the past that he had no reason to ever doubt Strange, he felt he needed a little more solid evidence of everything going on, and needed more information on what would be needed of him.
Strange felt the best solution was to expose Peter to the astral world for the first time.
He insisted that he sit down, and the younger man obeyed hesitantly.
Strange opened Peter's Third Eye and sent the young mutant's astral body out of him and into the pocket dimension to speak to the deities themselves.

Understandably, Peter was overwhelmed and terrified during the experience, especially when coming face to face with the gods and their prisoner, Null.
But they all met him with kindness and humility, and asked personally for his help.
They promised that if he submitted to their will, they would take care of his body and keep him safe.
Peter asked if they really were the ones to give him his powers, and the Gatekeeper said yes, that they were the one who specifically chose him.
Peter wasn't there for long, as Strange soon brought him back to his body.
When he woke up, Peter frightfully recounted what he saw, and no one around could deny its truth.
Tony, still unhappy, relented, but demanded to know more about the situation.

Strange told them that the Order was working on an altar, and that it would be best to spend seven full days preparing Peter for the traumatic task of taking on seven super-powerful deities into his person.
He said he needed to take him to Kamar-Taj and keep him there, and that that was where he would receive the gods.
With potential danger lurking due to no one being with the Web of Life, he advised everyone to stay on their toes and be ready to help them defend reality at a moment's notice.
Peter stiffly agreed to join this fight and do as was needed at him.
Wade was the second-least thrilled, but chose to be supportive of Peter's choices.

~~Preparation~~

Peter packed a bag with a few changes of clothes in it, some essentials, and his suit.
He was taken through a portal to Kamar-Taj and shown his room, where he would be spending a lot of time for the first few days.
Unfortunately, no one else was allowed to go with him, and he had to surrender his phone and any electronics for the cleansing process.
No distractions.
But being sympathetic to Tony, May, Wade and everyone else's concern, Strange promised to keep them posted on his condition over the impending week.

After getting permission from Riley's father, Strange took his pupil with him soon after getting Peter to his room, as he felt this would be a good experience for her.
By this point, it was nighttime in Nepal, which was a steadfast promise to some ruined sleep schedules.
Riley, Strange and Peter would be pulling an all-nighter together, and would then have to endure being awake the next day.

---

    "We live in physical bodies.
This form of ours can handle a lot, but it's really only made for one spirit; our own.
We can have some spiritual symbiotes, parasites, even guests, but to embody a deity, let alone seven...
This is going to require work.

Because of your influence by them already, with the right preparation you'll be able to handle it.
But I must warn you, the first few days of this are going to be unpleasant, simply because you're not really a spiritual person.
You've never been cleansed, and today you experienced going outside your body for the very first time.
You're going to be tired, hurting, probably terrified...pretty miserable, really.
Full disclosure...
It's going to suck.
Then, once you've gotten all the negativity out of your system, things will improve.
I can promise you that, too.
Do you trust me?"

---

Peter chose to stay in the game.
Riley was offered to stay with them through the night and observe the situation, even though watching Peter suffer may be taxing to watch.
She bravely agreed, wanting to participate and maybe even help any way she could.

~~Day 1-~~

After having as much explained to Peter as possible without his head exploding, they got right to work.
Strange started simple by offering Peter a small bowl of a mysterious soup.
The soup, as Strange explained, contained peyote.
He confirmed that yes, peyote is hallucinogenic, but that it is a wonderful tool for beginners to cleanse their bodies of negativity and be shown what they need to deal with during tough times.
He apologized for using something so strong as a first means, but they were pressed for time.
It was after that little explanation that Strange handed Peter a bucket.

---

"What's this for?"

    "Just give it a minute."

---

That remark made Peter's sense's spike, and he suddenly was able to grasp just what a nightmare the cleansing was going to be.
After a few minutes of sitting with a mild high, Peter began to feel very strong discomfort, and inevitably threw up into the bucket.

---

"I d-on't think my b-ody l-ikes the p-eyote..."

    "Your body likes the peyote just fine; the peyote doesn't like the state of your spirit."

---

Throughout the slow, off-and-on process of vomiting, Strange explained to Peter that this was the cactus's way of bringing bad emotions and energy to the surface.
His body was expelling it physically, as this is often the first step of cleansing.

After he finished throwing up, Peter felt a little better and began to relax.
Strange and Riley stayed close, keeping in his room with him.
Strange went back and forth through different parts of the building, seeing how progress was being made and of course, keeping tabs on the New York Sanctum.

Two hours after the consumption of peyote, Peter began to experience the peak of hallucinations.
Dream-like visions crossed through his mind, mostly pertaining to the spider that bit him.
He hallucinated that the little spider was in the room off and on.
For the next several hours, the visions began altering from bizarre and somewhat pleasant to bad and frightening.
There came another point where he was nauseated, vomited, and experienced a "bad trip."
He saw dark figures and demonic faces filling the room and comging towards him, experienced senseless fear, and even paranoia regarding his powers and if he truly deserved them, or if he could handle being chosen to have them.
Needless to say, his crying, rambling, sweating and puking was a tad distressing for Riley to watch, and so Strange would dismiss her off and on and give her breaks.

It takes twelve hours for the effects of peyote to leave the system, and so the visions and their intensity died down over the hours.
Understandably, all three people were very tired by the time it was over -- none more so than Peter.
Strange allowed him to sleep for a couple of hours, but later came back and woke him so that his sleep schedule would not lose track.
He had to keep himself awake, too, and Riley.
Of them all, the latter was the least used to so much strain, but she endured.

Peter was offered water and crackers, something light on his stomach.
He was informed also that his diet would be different during the cleansing, and probably for a little while after the journey, because his body would need specific foods to heal up the fastest.
Peter told Strange and Riley some of what he saw during his trip.
Strange reminded him that this was just the start, and that as awful as it was, he would be grateful he did it when it was over.

A bit of rest, and Strange prepared Peter to have each of his chakra gates stretched wide.
He was to have one gate stretched every day; seven days, seven gates, seven deities.
Because Peter was cleansing at the same time of this, it meant his response to each stretching would be heightened.
The Root chakra, the first gate and the one located at the base of the tailbone, was first to go.

Because Peter is not a spiritual person, Strange knew he didn't have time to teach Peter to activate these gates himself.
He taught him how to sit and cross his legs, make the hand signs and rest them on his knees, close his eyes and focus on a small black square in his mind.
After this, with Peter's consent, Strange was able to do the rest of the work for him.
He (without touching Peter) focused on and activated his Root chakra, widening it for the first time.
Characteristically, this caused some pain in Peter's tailbone, and he felt his spider senses rise in regards to the situation.
His body felt great euphoria at the stretching of the gate, which was enough to distract from the throbbing in his tailbone, and the sense of impending doom.
Stretching a gate is enough for it to cleanse itself and help the body by giving a rush of new energy, hence the good feelings.
Riley was there to witness this, too, and she found it admittedly weird to watch him writhe on the floor in ecstasy.
Although, she said, it was better than watching him throw up and cry.
"Just wait," Strange said to her.

With his Root stretched, Strange informed him that each gate would close back up most of the way on its own with time.
Red energy pulsed through him, and it caused Peter to be far more prone to fear and primitive actions.
He found himself feeling unsafe on the ground, so he built a large hammock web in the upper corner of his room and clung to it, staying off the floor.
He napped.

Strange told him around midday that he no longer needed peyote, that he could handle more raw, supernatural methods of drawing out his negativity.
Still hanging in his web, Peter was very afraid of this, but knew he needed to stick with it.

---

"Did you have to go through this to get where you are?
I mean -- oh god, did Riley have to do all this??"

    "No, because neither of us had to take seven giant gods that control reality into our bodies."

"Nh...
O-okay...but I'm staying up here..."

    "I can work with that."

---

Strange used a negative spell on Peter to draw out the troubles of his mind and heart, which he pledged he would be using for the next couple of days.
The spell did cause some tripping (bad ones, due to the nature of it), but not as strong as before.
Mostly, and in tune with his poor Root, Peter experienced pain, fear, anxiety, guilt, and spent the next few hours crying off and on, rocking in his web.
No more vomiting, but he did sweat a lot.
Strange stayed with him, inviting Riley to see a little of what the spell was doing to Peter.
When nighttime finally came about, Strange introduced a scared, miserable mutant vessel-to-be to one of his fellow masters, miss Awhina (uh-fee-nuh) Tuhaka, a woman from New Zealand who'd trained under the Ancient One.
They told him that she was going to be in charge of the bulk of his guidance and caretaking from then on, but that he would still be seeing Strange and Riley.
Awhina tried to coax Peter down from his web and get into bed, but he shook and announced he didn't want to be on the ground.
They allowed him to stay up there, and left him to get some rest.
Finally, the trio were all allowed to sleep.
Strange called Tony and told him briefly what had happened, and then went to bed.

~~Day 2~~

Peter did not sleep soundly.
After being awake for over 24 hours, he truly hoped he would sleep hard and wake up ready to start over, but the night was plagued with bad dreams, night sweats, terrors, and a deep longing for his family.
The majority of his terrors and bad dreams dealt with the deepest intensity of his trauma, ranging from Ben's death to the fight with Vulture, to the Infinity War.

In the morning, Awhina brought him a breakfast of various fruits, and finally convinced him to come down from the web.
Descending, Peter told Awhina she didn't have to bring him food, but she insisted that he would've most likely had a difficult time making it out for breakfast.
After eating, she took him out and walked around with him a bit in an attempt to get some fresh air, but the very exhausted Peter eventually had to be escorted back to his room to lie down.

When Strange visited a couple hours later, Peter asked if it was okay for him to nap.
Strange said that it was not only okay, but encouraged, as he would need it.
But in showing up, the Sorcerer Supreme told Peter it was time to stretch his Sacral chakra.

---

"What's this one about?"

    "The Sacral is the next one up after Root, so it relates to baser urges.
You may find yourself more prone to anger, more inclined to act on impulse, and, well...
Not to be inappropriate, but this gate is located around the genital area, so you can guess some of the other side effects."

"...Oh..."

    "Should you feel a need to "respond" to those instincts, might I please suggest...locking the door--"

"YEAH, yeah, yeah, of -- of course..."

    "No judgment."

"Mm-hm."

    "Kay."

---

Like the day before, Peter sat with crossed legs, assumed the hand position, meditated briefly, and Strange activated the Sacral gate.
Although he was not thrilled to admit it, stretching that one felt almost ten times better than stretching the Root, and thus Peter was again writhing on the floor.
It was awkward, but some things just can't be helped.
He put his back to Strange to hide any "side effects."
Like he said, there was no judgment, and with this it was easy to understand why Strange hadn't invited Riley to watch this particular exercise.

After the ecstasy wore off, Strange gave Peter time to rest and nap...or whatever he needed...and promised to return in a couple of hours.
Again, Awhina brought him food; fruit again, but with a plain boiled egg and baked chicken with sage for protein.
Each time she brought him food, Peter felt terrible, especially given how good it looked.
"It's not like I cook it," she retorted, amused by his humility.
She assured him that within a couple of days, he would be able to join them and eat like a person instead of a prisoner.
"I feel a little more special than a prisoner right now," he answered.

After eating, Strange returned to use the same spell on him as the day before.
It had the same effects; fear, misery, sweating, bad trips.
The difference was, thanks to his stretched Sacral and still-wide Root, Peter experienced a lot more anger.
Old-held grudges found their way to the surface, as did a forgotten bit of scorn Peter felt over his parents having chosen their work over him so often before they died.
Things he thought he had let go of re-appeared, letting him know that he still had issues with it.
Agitated and tired, and angry about his fear and even this whole process, he told Strange he needed to be alone.
The wizard understood, and left him be.

Peter spent the next few hours crying and sweating out his anger.
He wanted to take out his bad feelings physically, even at one point challenging one of the scary figures he imagined was there before said figure disappeared.
But he had enough sense to respect the space he was in, so instead of destroying anything that wasn't his, he removed his shirt and ripped it apart with his bare hands.
As evening came, Awhina checked on him, and saw the shirtless young man, still exhausted, hanging upside down from the ceiling by one web thread, still tearing the shirt into small pieces slowly.
He appeared ill, almost.
The woman asked him what he was feeling and experiencing, and Peter irritably told the truth.
Without thinking much about it, he vaguely mentioned the anger over the situation, his parents, and even anger at himself for "letting" his uncle die.
He was angry that the gods chose him of all people for this task, that it was unfair that he'd suffered so much before and now had to endure this, even if it was the right thing to do.
He was angry that he didn't understand why they gave him these powers, and angry that his getting them wasn't more scientific.
Awhina assured him that all his feelings, anger and irritation were valid, and that it was good that he was honest about it now.
Peter began to cry and said, "I hate this."
His company offered her understanding.
She came back a little while later with dinner, which Peter only nibbled at.

He ended up feeling dreadful well into the night.
His groans and cries could be heard from outside the bedroom.
Even though it was past bedtime, Riley offered to go try and console him.
Strange allowed it.
Riley came in cautiously to find Peter curled up on the floor of the room, still shirtless, legs pulled into his chest.
He looked far more sick now than earlier, and was still sweating.
He was so miserable he didn't even think or care about how gross he was getting, and no one else really thought much of it.
This was anticipated.
When Riley came in, she brought a little pail of water and rag, and lightly dabbed Peter's face with it.
He wasn't angry now so much as he was just miserable and out of it, not even certain if Riley was really there.
She petted his hair, talked to him.
Peter managed small ways to express his gratitude.
He cried for Tony, and May, and Steve, and Wade, and even Happy once.
Riley gingerly told him that he would be back home soon enough.
Try as she might, after some short time spent with him, she couldn't convince him to get up and into bed.
He was too weak to move as it was, so she brought his pillow to him and lay it under his head, covered him with the blanket, and left him to get some sleep.

Like the night before, he had nightmares and trouble sleeping, but it was more successful, and each bout of sleep he got was heavier.

~~Day 3~~

In the morning, the spell had again worn off, leaving him drained.
Now, Peter was a tad embarrassed about his behavior, and disappointed in himself for tearing up one of his comfortable shirts.
He was also becoming cognizant of how unhygienic he was, and Strange told him it was best to wait to clean himself up.
Peter changed his clothes (now donning a different shirt), and was again brought breakfast.
This time, it had been Strange to offer him food, which he was more keen on eating.

Peter confessed the nature of his anger to Strange.
The latter told him that this was good, and that all of those little grudges clearly had a place in his heart.
Strange spent the morning helping him tackle each one individually.

---

    "I don't expect you to just stop being angry.
The most important thing for you to do now is accept that you're upset about these things.
Let them be there, let them exist, don't be ashamed of them.
Don't be ashamed to be upset about feeling abandoned, or questioning the whole entire universe.
You're special, yes, but you're still only human."

---

He encouraged a meditation exercise.
Talking Peter through it, Strange helped him come to grips with this anger, and accept it.
When he finally opened his eyes again, it was clear that some weight had been taken off his shoulders.
Feeling better, he proclaimed that he was genuinely okay with the fact that he had some grudges, and understood that those could be worked on in time, with patience.
Approving of this, the wizard went to work on stretching the next gate.

Strange stretched Peter's Navel chakra, which sent a more pleasant, calm, warm ecstasy through him.
Rather than writhe around, Peter simply laid back and stretched, feeling as though he were basking in the sun, soaking up the heat on a cool day.
The Navel chakra deals with self-esteem, confidence, power, and grounding.

An hour after this, Strange used the Negativity spell again.
This time, Peter's misery was centered around elements regarding the Navel, and with that came a host of guilt.
He tired out very quickly, attempting to nap.
He shivered, sweated, and openly said "I'm sorry" for no apparent reason.
There was a deep fear of failing this mission, of not being good enough, and potentially dying from the strain.
He became delirious, if not a little overheated.
Riley spent some time with him during this process, trying to keep him cool and let him know he wasn't alone.

Barely conscious and deeply upset, Peter at one point began to cry for his uncle.
Not knowing entirely what to do, Riley went out and retrieved Awhina and brought her to him.
After listening to Peter's pleas, she asked who Ben was, and Riley informed the witch that that was his uncle who died several years ago.
Understanding now what was happening, and sensing this was the most important phase of his cleansing, Awhina kindly encouraged Peter to "go find Ben."
She gently pushed his astral form out of his body, and again encouraged him to find Ben.

Peter traveled to the Astral plane, a little more calm and focused here, but still sad and distressed.
He called out for his uncle only once, and there he was.
They embraced, and Peter told him he missed him.
Ben told his nephew that he had no sensation of sorrow, because he was always with the ones he loved, and that he now had the wisdoms and Light of the afterlife.
Peter apologized to Ben for not doing anything to stop the robbery or being swift enough to protect him.
As he expected, Ben never once had any hard feelings about that, even when he learned through death that his little boy had been gifted with immense power.
If anything, Ben told Peter that it was okay if he felt a little guilty, so long as he understood without a doubt that what happened was not his fault, and that Peter's choice in that high-stress moment not to reveal his new powers was the smart thing to do.
Being held by Ben, Peter let it sink in, relieved to hear those words from the man himself.
It eased him.
He accepted that he had a thread of guilt left from the event, but the majority of it that he'd had in regards to it greatly diminished.
With this, he also managed to release the anger at himself for not being able to help or prevent it, which was another major relief.

The visit came to a close when Ben asked Peter to tell May that he loved her, and was glad that she had moved on and was happy with someone.
He knew he wasn't forgotten, and he knew that he wasn't replaced.
A kiss on the head, a pat on the back.
Peter let Ben go, and returned to his body.
When he woke, he was still very dizzy and shaken from the spell, but he had the consciousness to thank his company in a hoarse voice before passing out for a little while.

He was visited by Riley, Strange and Awhina throughout the day and into the night, too knocked out to properly eat or do much of anything.
He was encouraged, whimpering out the last bits of bad energy and unrest in his soul.
When he fell asleep, he rested harder and more steadily than the night before, save for dreams about being separated from his family and concerns over the future.

~~Day 4~~

In the morning, no one came to him.
After a little while of waiting, tired Peter Parker exited his room cautiously, and wandered out into the building.
Following the smell of food, he shyly made it to the dining area, where everyone was eating together.
They welcomed him, glad to see he'd found his way; forcing him to do so was intentional, and gave some confidence back to him, which his Navel chakra was in desperate need of.
He was happy to join the others, sitting next to his little pal, Riley.

Strange congratulated Peter on surviving the first three days, and informed him that he had one last tiny Negativity ritual to go through, but that it would be far less taxing than the previous ones.
After breakfast, Peter was invited to a different room, where the remaining wizards formed a bed of sage.
Peter laid in the sage, and the masters (and Riley, as part of her training), gently drew the last bits of negativity out of him using silent prayer and unseen Light.
The sage pulled it out, and the wizards pushed it away.
After ten minutes, Peter felt very relaxed, and completely relieved of all his pain.
For a while, anyway.
He thanked everyone for all they'd done, and apologized for potentially being a burden.

Even though he was physically weak, Peter felt the pull and the motivation to try and stay up and active.
He explored the building, and even went outside.
He was disappointed to learn that he still wasn't allowed to talk to his family, but he accepted it.
After a short while, he was finally allowed to shower.
He felt much better afterwards.

After the shower, Strange stretched Peter's Heart chakra, which deals with emotions.
Like the first two, this one left him writhing, but it gave him a dose of energy and joy.
He got a little chatty about all his different moods and how he felt about the experience so far, told Awhina about visiting his uncle, and then eventually took a nap.
He joined everyone for lunch, where he was offered a nice herbal tea blend for his gates and to help his body heal.
It tasted gross, but he was polite and finished it.
With so much happiness in his heart, he felt cuddly and a little clingy, but alas, there was no one with which to cuddle.
So he just hugged his pillow as the evening drew in, ate dinner with everyone, watched the sun set and appreciated the outdoors, and then went to bed, holding his pillow tight as he drifted off, thinking of his loved ones' arms around him.

~~Day 5~~

He slept more soundly, save for some stress dreams about the upcoming journey.
Breakfast with everyone, shower, and then Strange took Peter to the library to see Wong and read about the gods he would very soon be accepting.
This was Peter's chance to finally be fed some more in-depth information, which raised as many questions as it answered.
He grew a more intimate understanding about them, admittedly fascinated by the concept of the multiverse and the fact that spider gods were mostly responsible for holding it all together.
He confessed that he felt very unworthy to be their vessel, to have ever been chosen at all.
Strange told him that given the Gatekeeper had picked him, they must've had a good reason for it.

After the studying, Strange stretched Peter's Throat chakra.
More writhing, and this time, Peter was gonna talk about it.
The gate of communication encourages the subject to talk and sing and be far more vocal about what's on their mind.
As such, Peter's ability to properly articulate his thoughts heightened.
He was chatty all day, to the point of almost being annoying, but everyone tolerated it.
He apologized for being hyper and gabby, and felt that there might be a more functional way for him to release the energy.
He found some space by himself and sang.
And sang, and sang, and sang some more.

Lunch time, more talking, some laughing but mostly talking, some more singing, and then a little meditative therapy with burning sage.
He was then offered another herbal tea with raw, real honey in it to help his throat, which was a little sore from all the talking.
After dinner, Peter was encouraged to wear himself out through a little exercise to ensure that he sleep well.
He would need it.

~~Day 6~~

He slept well, but dreamt about Marcus.
He dreamt that he was holding a healthy Marcus in his arms and swinging in a web hammock with him, singing to him in an ethereal plane.
Peter awoke feeling peaceful, if not a little sad.

After breakfast, Strange got right to work stretching Peter's Third Eye.
This left him feeling good; he even described it as feeling like "a flower had bloomed" in his forehead.
Strange told him that that's basically what happens when the sixth gate gets a good stretch.

With all the spiritual exposure Peter had been through, he spent the day seeing weird things.
People looked a tad different to him between blinks, he thought he saw things moving that others did not, and he recounted feeling as though something had touched him a couple of times.
He also heard someone call his name several times throughout the day, but every time he answered it, there was no one there.
Or, whoever he was with told him they had not said anything.
Awhina educated Peter about the Eye, explaining that it makes the subject very sensitive to the spirit world.
It's the most dangerous gate, if not the most powerful.
What Peter was describing was spiritual activity that goes on all the time, unnoticed, but he was noticing it because his Eye was stretched.
Not to mention, spirits are drawn to people with an active Third Eye.
She warned him to expect vivid dreams when he slept later.

As the day went on, Peter began to feel a little more nervous about the upcoming events.
Strange told Peter that once the gods possessed him, he himself would most likely go fully unconscious and not be present for any of the adventure.
This was frightening to Peter, understandably.
In order to help him unwind, after dinner, Strange suggested he take a spiritual bath.
A warm, relaxing bath using lavender, flower petals, and a few other mild, non-conflicting things would be good for his mind and even his body.
He agreed to this.
Strange encouraged him to stay in there for as long as he felt was necessary, so he did.
And yes, he was completely alone for all of it.
After the bath, Peter got a little more reassurance out of Strange, and went to bed.
As promised, his dreams were intense.
Not bad, but very colorful and story-like,
He woke up three times during the night simply from all the stimulation, and had trouble getting back to sleep.

~~Day 7~~

This was the last and most important day for cleansing.
He was to have his Crown stretched, and then spend the day resting and meditating.
So he had breakfast, and again, Strange got right to it.

Fittingly enough, the Crown chakra is responsible for communication with the gods.
All gods.
Stretching this gate gave Peter euphoria, but mostly a sense of awake-ness and purpose.
Strange took the time to properly educate him about it.

After lunch, Peter was instructed to meditate.
After being taught how by Han Sharma and then left to his own peace for a little while, Peter unexpectedly astral projected.
But this was actually of his intent; he felt he needed to see the arachnid gods again and talk to them for some ultimate peace before consenting once and for all to be their vessel.

He dreamed his way into their pocket dimension, surprising them with his visit.
Upon arrival, he asked what they were going to do to him and how this was going to work.
They answered Peter in their own words, taking their time to explain.
They told him that while in his body, Peter himself would sleep through the journey, but that they would treat his vessel like one of their own temples; with respect and dignity, to the best of their ability.
They told him that he would, yes, survive this, and with far more grace than the average person.

Next, Peter asked the Gatekeeper why they chose him.
With their terrifying voice, the Gatekeeper told the young mutant that he was chosen because of his heart.
They had seen Peter's anger and hurt over the bullying at school, but they could sense that Peter's heart was pure enough, and his mind strong enough that even with super powers, he would not abuse them to avenge himself.
The Gatekeeper told Peter that they only choose people once in several decades, sometimes centuries, and that Peter had been the first in 211 years.
On his Earth, anyway.
Whenever the Gatekeeper chose someone, it was someone they always deemed to be the best of their generation -- or to become it.

Moved, Peter knelt before them, thanking them over and over again and expressing his gratitude while also swearing he didn't see what they saw.
But Phobis told him to stand, and take pride even with his humility, because he was special before he was given his powers; that was the whole point of taking such time to choose a recipient.

Finally, before Peter left, he asked the gods if his powers came from science or magic.
Karn told him that it was both, that magic and science go hand in hand.
With Strange having told Peter this once before, he smiled, and felt at peace enough to return to his body.

When he woke up, the first person Peter saw as a concerned Riley.
He leaped up and ran to tell Strange what he saw, bringing Riley with him.
Strange was impressed with his traveling and happy for him to have made peace.

Throughout the day, Peter was encouraged to snack on honeydew melon and cantaloupe to power his Crown and give him an extra energy boost.
He went through a deep meditation before bed, and was given a strong tea to help him get to sleep easily and stay asleep.
It all worked.

~~Meanwhile~~

During the cleansing process, over the course of the week, Strange kept tabs with the Avengers, letting them all know how Peter was doing and what to expect.
He requested some of them to accompany the Order on their journey.
During this time, he also came to the realization that due to all the energy Peter was about to take in, it would be extremely unsafe for him to go through their sling ring portals.
This meant they would have to travel by flight.
Exasperated but willing to help, with a resounding "of course," Tony offered them to go in a large stealth craft called the Scuttler, gifted to him by Nick Fury some time after the events of Endgame.
Strange liked the sound of that.

Tony, Steve, Wanda, and Wade agreed to go while everyone else was to stay at the facility and remain doing their jobs there.
Tony asked several pilots to come with them as well to take turns steering the Scuttler.
Three of them agreed, and were given ample time to plan for the adventure.
Everyone made arrangements and planned to be gone for up to two weeks, even though Strange assured them it most likely wouldn't take nearly that much time.

All his closest friends missed him of course, but none took the separation from Peter so hard as Wade did.
The merc may have been used to going on missions or being separated from his love due to work, but this was a different, more pressing circumstance.
Most distressing of all, he couldn't be in touch with him whatsoever.
Wade became very depressed, not even showering until the night before their mission began.
He was briefly comforted by Harlow, who brought him a stuffed Spiderman toy she'd found on an Avengers fan website.
This whole incident revealed that Wade definitely had dependency issues, and had some very strong feelings of uncertainty that would need to be tackled in the future.

The night Harlow comforted Wade also happened to be the morning of Peter's seventh day of cleansing.
Strange called Tony and told him that everyone needed to be ready by the next evening, because that was when it would begin.
Tony convinced Wade to shower and get cleaned up, which wasn't hard given Wade became excited at the thought of seeing his boyfriend again.
Strange advised them to pull an all-nighter if possible and sleep during the day, because that following evening it would be D-Day morning in Nepal.
The four of them understood and did their best to stay up and wear themselves out.

~~The Vessel~~

On the 8th morning, Peter woke rested and ready to go.
He ate, showered, and was advised to put on his suit and wear it during the trip in case the gods needed to fight.
So he did, and brought his bag out to the main room, as it was to come with him during the travels.
After all, no one expected him to go days on end without showering, changing or taking care of himself; it was just up to his "guests" to do it for him.
Meanwhile, it was early evening on Earth, and the Avengers (and Wade) woke up and got ready.

The crystals and the altar were fully charged.
When Peter was led to the chamber, he sensed the deities' energy thriving through the large gemstones, ready to escape the pocket dimension.
With an active Crown and Eye, he could hear them whisper, and could sense them.
Feeling confident that things would work out, and daringly putting his faith in the Order and the mysterious beings, Peter was brought to the center of the circle, where he lied down.
After a moment for him to relax, when he was ready, the masters did a spell and incantation to stabilize Peter and open him up to the deities.
Riley watched.
As this was done, Peter lost consciousness almost immediately.
The spider gods came into his body one by one through the crystals, their energy sparking and visible to everyone there.
It was a brilliant, if not a frightening display.
Once all seven of them were inside Peter, the masters finished the spell, and everything calmed down again.

There was a long silence.
Everyone waited, all things quiet as the gods adjusted to Their earthly body that all of Them had to share.
After a couple of minutes, Peter's eyes opened, and it was clear by the glowing energy and colors in them that Peter was no longer home.
They needed time to adjust to Their new feet and perception, and the feeling of being in a physical, flesh body on the mortal plane.
The masters helped Them to stand, asked questions and made sure there was proper communication.
With all of Peter's gates having been stretched, his soul cleansed and his body rested, They communicated that They felt good.
Their voices overlapped, but They did say that They would be able to take turns as necessary.
Seeing that everything was a success, Strange got to work.

The Sorcerer Supreme motioned to take Riley home, but the ultra-shy teen surprised her teacher by asking if she could go with them.

---

        "Are you sure?"

"I think so..."

        "..."

"Yes!
I'm sure."

---

Impressed with his student, Strange agreed to let her come.
She used a portal to get home and tell her father, who reluctantly agreed to let his daughter go.

In the meantime, Strange arrived at the facility to gather his team.
The team and the pilots got in the Scuttler.
Strange opened a massive portal to enable the aircraft to get through and be walked to a landing zone in Nepal.
Once at the landing zone and out of America all together, Strange took them to Kamar-Taj to see Peter.
When Wade saw his boyfriend, he was nervous but happy, and tried to talk to him.
When the gods rose to Their feet and approached Wade, they studied him.
Their seven overlapped voices, mostly overpowering Peter's voice, coldly stated "Your mate is sleeping," before passing him up all together.
It hurt, to say the least.
Tony, meanwhile, was chilled to the bone when he heard them speak, but managed to brush it off.

~~The Journey Begins~~

Tony, Steve, Wanda, Wade, Strange, Riley, Awhina, Han, the gods and the three pilots got on the Scuttler and set their course for Japan.
The Scuttler, named for its ability to crawl or "scuttle" as needed, is a large, luxurious aircraft with a nice main interior, large cockpit, and ten rooms for individuals to stay in as needed.
And of course, there are a couple of restrooms, but no shower.
Not nearly as large as Fury's super-aircraft, but definitely larger than your average jet and far more technologically advanced.
It runs on a consistent charge from its very own arc reactor.
As soon as they got in the air, the Scuttler was set to "invisibility."

Learning that the flight to the first destination would take roughly sixteen hours, nobody was happy to hear that.
Moreover, the gods mentioned that without anyone in the pocket dimension to keep tabs on Null, he stood a chance of influencing some of his darkness on the world, hence why it was best to bring a few Avengers.
Their spell was strong, They said, but it wouldn't hold forever.
The faster everyone got home, the better.

Due to the pressing need to save time while being efficient, it was agreed that Jorōgumo be taken home first, as her home was the furthest off the grid from the rest of the action.
Besides Karn's, anyway.
Not long into their journey, Tony revealed that he had developed a solid black stealth suit for Peter to wear during the mission.
The gods questioned him, to which Ironman drily explained that he's paranoid and has trust issues, and would really rather his son be as camouflaged as possible.
If "seven weird alien spiders" were going to parade around in Peter's body, Tony expected them to take the utmost care of it.
"And if you don't like that," he said curtly, "then screw you."
After a minute of tense silence, They smiled and expressed amusement, but agreed that They should take care of Peter.

Not having much shame due to Their higher power, the gods pushed the button on the blue suit, loosening it right there in the main room, in front of everyone.
They were confused when everyone suddenly jumped and a chorus of "whoooaa" rolled through the aircraft.
Wade covered Riley's eyes, even though she was looking away anyway.
They told Them that it would really be best to get dressed in Their room, that it was impolite both to Peter and everyone around Them to just disrobe unexpectedly.
With a shrug and lack of caring for the sentiment, They were guided by Strange back to Their room to put on the stealth suit.
Once They were gone, Steve looked at Tony and asked, "Was that an Aquaman reference...?" Tony sorely replied with "Well the kid's not here; someone has to make crappy pop culture quips."
Steve thought it was funny.

~~Trial of Jorōgumo~~

When the gods emerged in the new suit (mask off), Strange asked to speak to Jorōgumo.
After a moment of effort, the other deities peeled back, allowing the seductress to function at the forefront.
Peter's eyes turned pink with her in command.
He asked her if she knew how to get to her temple, to which she replied "Yes, but we have to be in Shizuoka."
The goddess explained that she had been all over Japan and was used to being on the ground, but she was not accustomed to such a limited, fragile form.

The long flight was spent with everyone watching movies, meditating, discussing their circumstances, and with Wade pouting.
Jorōgumo proved to be the most restless deity, having a hard time staying still.
She was also the most disturbing in that she had the creepy habit of trying to flirt with every male on the plane.
She was particularly drawn to Wade, given he was Peter's mate, and tried multiple times to seduce him.
Try as she might, Jorōgumo could not persuade anyone to lay with her.
Unlike her casual nature, she didn't plan on killing anybody; she was just being playful and looking for some stress release.
But, as to be expected, everyone was simply creeped out; the enchantress couldn't even get near Tony, and for good reason.
Wade hated her.

She was annoyed by hunger, and more irritable yet by tiredness.
The suit was a little constricting at times, her hair wouldn't stay put; all the petty little annoyances built up on her.
And although hunger was annoying, she had no trouble eating, for she did it all the time.
Strange encouraged her to eat protein and fruit to keep up Peter's strength.
Protein in particular enabled him to make webs at a fully functioning rate.
"Yes, yes," she retorted.
And of course, she took each bite as awkwardly as possibly, most specifically in front of Wade.

Besides annoying everyone, Jorōgumo entertained herself by talking to the others, asking questions about things and expressing her interest in the fact that she was in the air.
When it came time that everyone wanted to get a little sleep, and the pilot needed to switch, the youngest deity headed to her room and locked the door.
Being in a man's body, she felt it was like a sick fantasy come true.
With the other gods resting, she decided to take advantage of her time in the unwitting vessel, even propping herself in front of a mirror to enjoy the view (given she's attracted to men and all).

When everyone got up and came back out, Jorōgumo boasted vaguely to Wade about her decision, which infuriated the merc.
But as it was, there was really nothing he could do; the gods had different standards than mortals, and Jorōgumo in particular had an appetite that couldn't be matched.

Finally, they landed in the Shizuoka Prefecture.
Wearing the mask for the suit, Jorōgumo nervously led the group to the Jōren Falls where her cave was located.
She confessed she'd never led mortals to her cave that came back from it alive, but she was willing to make an exception in exchange for their bravery and nobility.
They watched within her cave as Jorōgumo waltzed to the altar of her temple, laid in the center, and closed her eyes.
Moments later, a rush of pink energy pulled from Peter's body, ascending and vanishing in seconds.
When the gods came to and picked Themselves up off the temple floor, They told Strange that Jorōgumo was in a sort of limbo now.
With the Web of Life being severed from the multiverse, no one would be able to enter the Loomworld until Karn was taken to his temple.
And so, he was the next to go.

---to be continued---