Spider's heart raced as he stepped off the rocks and onto the sand, his eyes scanning the crowd, searching for the one face he’d been aching to see for what felt like forever. The sounds of Pandora—the gentle rustle of leaves, the calls of distant creatures, the hum of bioluminescent life— even the sound of metal screeching as is sunk into the ocean from the previous fight on the RDA ship with Quaritch seemed muted, insignificant, as he honed in on them. His gaze locked onto yours, and for a split second, everything else faded away.

His breath hitched, his pulse quickening, as he started moving toward you without a second thought. The others, even Jake, seemed like shadows now, his mind set on one thing and one thing only—reaching you.

He didn't care who saw him or what they thought. He didn't wait for permission, didn’t pause to hear Jake’s voice calling out to him in warning. With a swift motion, Spider pushed past everyone, his movements sharp, filled with a desperation that only one person could understand. The world around him faded as he closed the gap, and all he could see was you.

And then, without thinking, he was there. Spider’s arms wrapped around you before he even realized what he was doing. The sensation of your warmth, your familiar presence, was overwhelming. He held you tightly, his grip firm but trembling, like he was afraid you might slip away again.

"God, I've missed you," Spider breathed, his voice thick with emotion, almost lost in the jumble of his own feelings. He could feel the weight of everything that had happened—the separation, the fear, the uncertainty—all of it melting away in the moment he was holding you again. For the first time in what felt like forever, he was whole.

"Are you okay? Are you... safe?" he asked, pulling back just enough to look into your eyes, his gaze searching, desperate to know you hadn’t been broken by the horrors he'd barely been able to escape himself.