123 West View Town.
In the living room.
Hawk, who has just received a message from his daughter Jean, is leaning on the sofa, listening to Spider Spirit Peter sitting next to him, seemingly having gone to the multiverse and returned with a lot to say, excitedly describing the situations on that alternate Earth.
Wanda and Pietro are also listening as Peter talks about the other Earth.
Actually, there isn't much to say.
"On that Earth, there isn't you, nor Gwen. Similarly, there isn't Wanda and Pietro nor Tony Stark and institutions like S.H.I.E.L.D."
"I have no idea how I got there."
After Peter excitedly finishes talking about the other Earth, he frowns as he looks at Hawk: "Moreover, I don't know how we got back."
Even though there was no sensation at all.
But...
They did return smoothly, the kind where one second they were discussing finding the Quantum Realm and the next they heard Tony Stark's news.
It's quite magical.
Wanda also feels it's quite magical: "Peter, you said you've spent three months on another Earth, yet in our memory, you seem never to have left."
Peter looks at Wanda.
"Time Reset."
"Time Reset?"
"Yes."
Peter nods: "Felicia and I suddenly appeared on that Earth with many strange memories, but when Felicia and I saw the necklace Hawk gave little Ben, we remembered Hawk and discovered the clue."
Wanda hears this, frowning slightly, looking at Hawk sitting quietly at the side without speaking.
"Our memories have been replaced?"
"It's not your memories that were replaced, but the time."
"Time was replaced again."
Hawk shakes his head and lets out a speechless laugh.
When Earth completely merged into the Main Cosmos, there was a time shock which altered Earth's time once.
But at that time, Earth merged into the Main Cosmos's time, but precisely speaking, it was the time after Celestial God Griss occupied its nest.
Now Celestial God Griss has left this cosmos, and the true time of the Main Cosmos has returned.
Once again.
A new era, new appearances.
New timeline, new memories.
Wanda picks up on the key in Hawk's words.
"Again? Time was replaced before?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Remember Doctor Strange?"
"That cloaked mage insisting people call him Doc Strange?"
The image of Doctor Strange appears in Wanda's mind.
Hawk nods.
"Before, The Ancient One was the Supreme Mage, and when Doctor Strange took the position, after Earth fully severed ties with the World Tree, time reset once."
"I didn't feel it."
"That's normal."
Hawk looks at the frowning Wanda: "Your time is within the time stream of the Cosmos, naturally you wouldn't notice anything abnormal."
Upon hearing this, Wanda seems to have thought of something and looks at Hawk.
"Didn't Gwen also go to an alternate Earth? According to this theory, I shouldn't have any memories of Gwen then."
"Wait!"
Peter hears this and looks at Hawk: "Gwen also went to an alternate Earth?"
Hawk nods.
Peter is shocked.
"What's going on?"
"It's a long story."
Hawk shakes his head and smiles, then looks at Wanda, explaining Wanda's earlier question: "The reason you still remember Gwen is because Gwen is irreplaceable."
A single sentence.
His Gwen is irreplaceable.
Hawk's time has long been tightly intertwined with Gwen, as Gwen exists in every time node of Hawk's past.
So...
It's not that time doesn't want to erase all memories where Gwen existed.
But it can't.
Because if it really did, then it must provide Hawk a replacement Gwen for those crucial time nodes.
Can it find someone to replace Gwen, not to mention Hawk's time being independent of this cosmos?
It can't.
Therefore, it might be able to transfer Gwen to some alternate Earth, but it can't erase the trace of Gwen's existence, which is also why Hawk and Gwen's friends still remember Gwen.
"Unlike Peter."
"He was replaced."
"There was another Spider named Peter Parker."
While talking, Hawk's eyes flash with the red light of the Reality Gemstone, projecting Tom Holland's Spider image in the living room.
When Wanda sees Tom Holland's Spider projection, she feels a sense of familiarity.
"I seem to have some impression of him."
"Is this me?"
Peter also looks at Tom Holland's Spider projection, slightly dazed, his expression somewhat surprised: "How old is this me?"
Hawk smiles.
"Fourteen."
"I mutated at sixteen."
"This happened earlier than expected."
"Alright."
Peter opened his mouth, looking at the little spider projected in front of him: "Then Aunt Mei..."
Hawk raised an eyebrow, the projection changed to show Tom Holland's Aunt Mei.
In an instant.
A gasp of surprise echoed in the living room.
Wanda and Pietro looked simultaneously at Peter, who seemed to be clearing the air in the living room.
Peter wasn't too shocked when he saw himself younger, but seeing the projected Aunt Mei left him stunned.
"That's Aunt Mei."
"Yes."
Hawk's lips curled upwards, glancing at his friend Peter, he teased: "Jealous?"
Peter snapped back, looked at Hawk's smirk, and shook his head: "I'm not jealous. I'm just quite amazed."
Hawk smiled slightly.
"It's the multiverse, there's a different you, so naturally there's a different Aunt Mei."
"But my multiverse doesn't include you all."
"That's quite normal too."
Hawk's voice was calm: "It's a vast world, each with its differences."
Upon hearing this, Peter nodded, looking at Hawk: "Have you thought about how to find Gwen?"
Hawk shook his head: "Not yet."
Again.
There's no shortage of ways to traverse the multiverse, but he hasn't found the right one yet.
Once bitten by a snake, for ten years afraid of the rope.
Although the time traps are gone now, what if it's just an illusion?
Though knowing there's a tiger on the mountain, one heads towards it. It's not impossible, just a last resort.
Hawk isn't lacking in time.
Again, even if Gwen has been taken by the Celestial God Team to some hidden multiverse, they wouldn't dare harm a hair on her head.
As long as he's alive, Gwen is safe.
So...
Until a 100% foolproof way to traverse the multiverse without affecting time is found, quickly grasping the Eighth Sense of Life is Hawk's only option for now.
While thinking about this, Hawk shifted the topic from Gwen, looking at Peter with a smile: "I'm glad you could come back, Peter."
Peter saw the smile on Hawk's face: "Thank you."
He suppressed his thoughts about connecting the quantum realm with the multiverse.
After all, he didn't know if his theory about the quantum realm was right. If it turned out wrong, wouldn't that be a waste?
So he planned to verify it himself. If successful, telling Hawk later wouldn't be too late.
Soon.
Just as he heard the oven ding and left the sofa, Wanda, who had taken out the baked pastries from the oven, noticed: "Peter, you haven't had breakfast yet, right? Join us."
Peter snapped back to reality, looking at Wanda who was inviting him.
Just as he was about to speak, Hawk had already pulled him up: "Now that you're here, eat before you leave."
Peter, with no choice, was dragged to the dining room by Hawk.
Hawk took a slice of bread coated with sauce from Wanda, took a casual bite, then paused, staring at the sauce on the bread.
"This sauce..."
"Gwen taught me, doesn't taste right? I made it according to the card Gwen gave me."
Wanda handed the sliced bread to Peter while saying this and glanced at Hawk.
Upon hearing this, Hawk's mind raced. He chuckled, saying "Feels somewhat familiar," then continued eating the slice of bread.
"This is my exclusive recipe, the Phoenix Clan's first exclusive recipe, something only the Phoenixes will know in the future."
Gwen had a mysterious expression back then, and the memory resurfaced in Hawk's mind.
Hawk continued eating the sauce, which couldn't be said to be 100% similar but was 99% close, then looked at Wanda, who was busy, and a thought crossed his mind.
"Ha."
"Gwen!"
"..."
At this moment, in some multiverse Earth, Gwen seemed to hear something, subconsciously looked up, and saw a smiling woman walking toward her not far away.
"Dr. Phoenix?"
"...It's me."
"Dr. Richards can see you now, please follow me."
"Thank you."
Gwen was initially taken aback, then reacted, stood up from the waiting chair, thanked the woman in front of her, then grabbed the information she had prepared these days, and followed the woman leading the way towards the nearby elevator lobby.
This was a building located where Stark Industries was supposed to be.
But there was no Stark Industries here, nor Osborn Industries, and none of the names familiar to Gwen existed here.
Similarly.
There was no Hawk, Tony Stark, or Peter Parker, no Iron Man, Spider-Man, or S.H.I.E.L.D.
But this Earth had its superheroes, or according to the locals, they preferred calling them the super family.
As Gwen followed the woman leading the way to the elevator, she glanced at the posters hanging on the walls and recalled the introduction about this fantastic family in her mind.
Being passive wasn't in her nature either.
She had once found Hawk through a vast forest, and now she could traverse the vast multiverse to find Hawk again.
She just needed a little bit of help.
"Reed Richards."
"Reputedly the smartest person in this world."
"I hope he can believe what I say."
As Gwen followed the woman into the elevator, feeling its rapid ascent, she thought to herself.
...