There was no way.
Absolutely no way.
Mary didn't notice his reaction and continued speaking.
"You also have a little cousin named Peter."
Ash froze.
"...Peter?"
"Yes," Mary nodded. "Peter Parker. He's about the same age as you. The two of you are very close."
Ash stared at her.
His mind immediately exploded with alarm bells.
Peter Parker.
As in Spider-Man Peter Parker.
That Peter Parker.
"So this really is Marvel..." he thought.
Ash suddenly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
On one hand, Marvel was amazing.
Superheroes.
Magic.
Advanced technology.
Space travel.
On the other hand...
Alien invasions.
Mad Titans.
Evil robots.
Multiversal disasters.
The survival rate for ordinary people wasn't exactly reassuring.
Meanwhile, Mary continued explaining things.
She told him about their family.
About their house.
About his school.
About some of his friends.
Ash listened carefully, memorizing everything.
Since he had none of the original Ash's memories, this information was extremely important.
After nearly half an hour, Mary finally stopped.
"Do any of those things sound familiar?" she asked hopefully.
Ash shook his head.
"Sorry."
A trace of disappointment appeared on her face, but she quickly forced a smile.
"It's okay. We'll take it one step at a time."
Ash nodded.
Internally, however, his attention was elsewhere.
Marvel.
He was really in Marvel.
And judging by Peter's age, this was long before any of the major events.
Long before Spider-Man became Spider-Man.
Long before the Avengers.
Long before most of the chaos.
Ash inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
At least he had time.
Enough time to grow stronger and more powerful so that he could live a peaceful life in this world as well.
'The only problem is that I'm too weak to influence the Traveller ability. If I activate it again, it will randomly transport me to another world,' he thought as he frowned slightly.
What if his next world turned out to be some boring version of Earth?
That would be a complete waste.
After all, according to the information Traveller had given him, he could exist in two worlds simultaneously.
His consciousness would be shared between both bodies, allowing him to live two lives at the same time.
The benefits were obvious.
If one body trained, both would grow stronger.
If one body learned a skill, the knowledge could be shared.
It was an absurdly powerful ability.
But it also came with risks.
The next world was completely random.
He could end up in a magical world filled with opportunities.
Or he could end up on a perfectly normal Earth with nothing special about it.
'Hopefully my luck isn't that bad,' Ash thought.
Then again, considering that he had died because he was staring at his phone while crossing the road, perhaps trusting his luck wasn't the best idea.
A few days passed.
Then a few weeks.
Throughout that time, Ash continued acting as though he had lost all of his memories.
To be fair, it wasn't even an act.
He genuinely didn't remember anything that belonged to the original Ash Parker.
The doctors performed all kinds of tests on him. They checked his memory, his reflexes, his speech, and his overall health.
In the end, they came to a simple conclusion.
Ash Parker had suffered memory loss due to spending two years in a coma.
Other than that, he was perfectly healthy.
It was surprising, considering the condition he had been in before, but nobody complained about a miracle.
After nearly a month of observation, the doctors finally approved his discharge.
And so, Ash found himself sitting in the back seat of a car.
Beside him sat another boy around his age.
The boy had messy brown hair, large glasses, and an intelligent look in his eyes.
Peter Parker.
Ash glanced at him briefly before turning back toward the window.
Outside, New York passed by.
Cars filled the streets.
People walked along the sidewalks.
Tall buildings rose into the sky.
It looked like an ordinary city.
At least on the surface.
From time to time, Ash could feel someone looking at him.
Sometimes it was Peter.
Sometimes it was Mary.
Sometimes it was Richard through the rearview mirror.
They were all worried about him.
Especially Peter.
The boy kept sneaking glances at him every few minutes.
Ash couldn't really blame him.
According to Mary, the original Ash and Peter had been very close before the accident.
Now Ash barely spoke and didn't remember anything.
It would be strange if Peter wasn't worried.
"Hey, Ash."
Ash turned toward him.
"What?"
Peter hesitated.
"Do you really not remember anything?"
Ash shook his head.
"No."
Peter looked disappointed.
"Oh."
The car fell silent again.
A few minutes later, they passed by a small park.
Mary immediately pointed toward it.
"Ash, do you remember that place? You and Peter used to play there almost every weekend."
Ash looked at the park.
Then he shook his head.
"No."
The smile on Mary's face weakened slightly.
A little later, Richard pointed toward a toy store.
"You used to beg us to take you there every month."
Ash looked at it.
Nothing.
"No."
The disappointment in the car grew a little stronger.
Peter lowered his head.
Mary forced a smile and tried again.
"This street should look familiar."
Ash looked.
Once again, nothing happened.
"No."
The car became quiet.
Ash felt a little guilty.
Not because he was lying.
But because he could see how much they wanted him to remember.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.
He wasn't the original Ash.
No amount of looking at old places would change that.
Peter suddenly spoke up.
"Will your memories ever come back?"
Ash looked at him.
For a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
Then he shrugged.
"Maybe."
Peter nodded quietly.
Neither of them spoke again.
Meanwhile, Ash turned his attention back to the city outside the window.
His eyes scanned every building and every street.
This was Marvel.
The real Marvel.
Somewhere out there were superheroes, mutants, aliens, and countless other things.
And sooner or later, he intended to find out exactly what kind of Marvel universe he had landed in.
Because depending on the answer...
His future could be either very good or very, very dangerous.