Chapter 3 - I am Spider Tobey

‘Huh, what’s happening?’ I thought, feeling someone pulling me by the head through a narrow passage. Then it hit me—I was being born. The hands belonged to the doctor.

[Beep Attention, host. Using the scanner, it has been detected that the host is currently undergoing a C-section. It is recommended that the host relax to facilitate the process.]

A voice echoed in my head. Realizing it was the AI chip, I decided to follow its advice. I was also surprised that it was a C-section—after all, I had never seen this happen in a fanfic.

Soon, I felt myself being completely pulled out from the narrow passage—the incision in my new mother’s belly. A slight pain arose, but before I could fully process it, the AI chip proved its usefulness once again.

[Beep The host is highly recommended to cry immediately to clear the respiratory tract, which is still filled with amniotic fluid. This is the cause of the mild pain and discomfort the host is experiencing.]

“WAAAAH!” I didn’t think twice before screaming with all my might, successfully avoiding a slap on my wrinkled little butt—something I was 100% sure I would have received if I hadn’t cried.

‘Hey, AI, how do you know all these things? Shouldn’t you be blank? After all, I haven’t given the command to scan my memories yet.’ I asked, as this question had been weighing on my mind. It was better to understand how my wishes worked.

[Beep The host received a "Dummy’s Guide to Acting Like a Healthy and Smart Baby and Child," which was directly integrated into the database. I am acting to assist the host to the best of my abilities.]

The AI faithfully answered my question.

As this conversation was taking place, I felt myself being carried and placed into someone’s arms. A warmth and comfort enveloped me, like being in my mother’s embrace… wait, it must be exactly that, haha.

Soon, I heard voices speaking, but I couldn’t make out the words properly. It must have been due to sensory sensitivity and the environmental difference between being inside and outside the womb.

‘Hey, AI, can you understand what they’re saying?’ I asked in my head.

[Beep Affirmative. Would you like the sounds to be played through the soul link?]

The AI asked.

Guessing that "playing through the soul link" meant the AI speaking directly to me—

“Yes, please,” I said.

[Beep Playing.]

Right after that, I started hearing the conversations around me clearly.

“...car accident. I know I won’t make it, May. Richard has already gone ahead of me… all that’s left is you, May. I beg you, please take care of little Pete. I know you and Ben will be the best for him.”

Hearing my new mother’s exhausted and pleading voice, my chest tightened. I had assumed I would have my parents for at least five years before a plane crash, but it seemed this wasn’t the universe I thought it was. After all, Peter Parker’s parents were never properly mentioned in Tobey’s version.

“Mary, please, don’t leave us. Everything will be okay, just hold on… sob sob.”

I heard the distressed, tearful voice of a woman nearby. My mother ignored her and instead focused her gaze on me.

“I’m sorry, little Pete. It looks like Mommy won’t be able to stay with you… to watch you grow… to meet the special person you’ll bring home… to see you become the great man I know you’ll be, hehe… sob sob... It seems… I don’t have much time left, little Pete. Remember, to be a great man, you don’t need to do great things. Just eat your vegetables, make friends, love… sob sob… cry, be happy… To be a great man, all you need to do is grow up, because in my heart, I already know you’ll be amazing… sob sob… I love you, my son.”

As my mother spoke her final, love-filled, sorrowful words, I felt her presence fade. Her once-warm body no longer radiated that same heat. I knew, in that moment, that she was gone.

At the same time, emotions connected to my past life’s death, which had apparently been suppressed, came crashing down all at once.

“Waaah…”

I wasn’t sure if it was my body, my mind, or both, but at that moment, all I could do was cry bitterly. Cry for my new parents. Cry for my family in my past world. Cry for my death. Cry for my life. Cry just to cry.

And eventually, my tiny body couldn’t take it anymore, and I simply passed out.

That was the story of my rebirth. And from now on, this is the story of my new beginning.