"The gun fight was started by a group of seven young men after arguing drunk on the street. The incident had damaged the bar nearby and cost two unfortunate death of pedestrians. The group quickly scattered after the bloodshed. Police are still tracking... "
"Sheesh, kids these days are some real pieces of work." Eddie Brock said while absently watching the news, too busy fighting for the last KitKat with his alien parasite.
Not a parasite!
The symbiote roared in good nature before snatching the sweet away with a tendril.
You said asshole human were created by asshole parents, their parents must be extra stupid assholes.
"Yup, well let's hope Anne and Dan's won't have a kid to turn out like those idiots." Eddie concluded before flipped the channel to the reality show Venom had been obsessed with lately.
We think Annie and Dan will be great parents.
The comment brought a chuckle out of the human, his alien partner has become far too mellow for a head-eating alien has any right to be.
"Yeah they will, and we'll be the coolest uncle on earth." Eddie said with a huge grin while stroking the symbiote's tiny head, settling more comfortably on the couch as the show began. Venom purred at the affectionate motion, creating images of them floating out of Eddie's chest, making silly faces at the cackling baby in Anne's arm with Dan snapping pictures by the side. Making Eddie smiled warmly.
Annie and Dan had gotten married four months ago, with a luxury party which actually made Venom felt he's too full of chocolate. Last week, they had told Eddie they were expecting a baby. Venom was bouncing inside excitingly as Eddie explained the concept of being uncle and the couple planing another family trip with them.
Eddie is grateful of the pair taking him in as their own family.
Feeling the human's shared happiness, Venom thought staying on this planet with Eddie was the best decision in his timeless life.
It wasn't until Annie and Dan never show up for their Friday movie night did they find out who the victims on the news were.
The funeral was a massive affair, the whole place was crowded with fellow doctors and lawyers, making Eddie realized just how many friends and families Annie and Dan had.
While he only had the two of them.
Venom stayed quiet throughout the ceremony, but Eddie could feel their shared emotion. The grief and pain sweeping through their body like a tsunami, threatening to knock him off of his feet.
He didn't notice the tears streaming down his face were tinged with a slimmer of blackness.
It's the first time the symbiote experienced losing loved ones. And they were not handling it well at all. They were familiar with death, but never on the accepting side of it. The reality of not seeing Annie and Dan ever again, that their lives and the unborn offspring were wasted for good, that he and Eddie could never be the coolest uncle, never got to have family trips again. It feels like being burned alive by a freezing fire called despair.
All the fantasy gone because some lowlife no-good pests.
They left the cemetery without placing flower or paying respect.
They have more important job to do.
Eddie Brock is a smart man, more than most people gave him credit to. He spent hours making plans for the interviews, researching people's background and digging for evidence. Covering every little detail before heading out to make a good story.
It's almost terrifying when he put those skills into finding personal infos, avoiding traffic camera and destroying evidence.
Seven men in their mid and late twenties got into a gun fight for who gets to take a girl out, costing two wonderful human beings and their unborn child in the process.
Seven pathetically stupid fuckers Eddie Brock firmly believed don't deserve existing.
Besides, he hadn't let Venom feast for several weeks anyway.
They found the first two under a bridge, smoking and drinking and talking about stealing cars and picking up chicks.
They didn't even know what hit them before ending up headless on the ground.
Eddie had considered not letting Venom eat those filthy brains, afraid of contaminating the symbiote or something. Sure they had consumed far worse human beings, but these are people who killed Annie and Dan.
In the end Eddie decided the two bodies don't deserve the effort of cleaning up, and trusted Venom's digest system before consuming the decapitated bodies anyway.
Two down, five to go, V.
The symbiote purred inside the human's chest.
The police found the next two before them.
But Eddie Brock is a man of his word. He'll take what he vowed to take, even if they're hiding behind some useless bars.
Where did you learn this.
The symbiote asked, watching his host mixing the chemistries and filling them into the small vials.
"The internet has a lot to give other than YouTube, V." Eddie said before capping the finished mixing. Packing them carefully before put on a black hoodie and walking into the night.
Eddie had to marveled at the black tendrils capabilities as they swiftly cut the light in the police station through the vent on the ceiling. Thus nobody had any idea how two small glass vials filled with deadly chemicals ended up in two captive men's mouths without a trace of breaking in.
Eddie.
"Yeah buddy?" Eddie mumbled the reply while typing away on his laptop searching for the remaining gangs.
We didn't eat them.
"Yeah well breaking into police station is too much risk, I'll have three more to make it up for ya, how does that sounds?"
But... we didn't eat them for fuel, took their lives bypassing policeman's watch. It's called... murder, right?
Eddie's fingers stopped at the word.
"Are you calling us a murderer, V?" The symbiote didn't reply, instead cowered a bit into the human from the suddenly cold tone.
"It's called revenge, buddy. They took something precious from us so we make them pay, that's how this world works and there's nothing wrong with that."
The uncertainty he felt inside told Eddie the symbiote still had it's doubt, so he created images of Anne and Dan's wedding party, their Friday movie night every week, the smell of Dan bringing them chicken soup when they went down with a flu, the taste of that huge chocolate cake Anne had bought for their birthday. The picture they took by the grand canyon as a happy little family.
The pain and grief exploded inside were as much Venom's as his own. Eddie let them mixed up, strengthened, then wrapping the bundle of emotions up with a string of pure hatred.
"These are what we lost, what a bunch of idiots took away from us. We are not doing this for fuel or because we are murderer, we are doing this to bring Annie and Dan justice. Understood?" When he felt an abstract form of nod inside his body, Eddie wiped his again tear drenched face and went back to his laptop.
Their next targets had come up.
For Venom, his host's mood feels like the weather when he stayed inside Eddie's body.
Eddie Brock is a free spirited soul with a pure intention to make the world a better place. On a normal day Eddie feels like a warm sunny day on a freshly green field, with enthusiastic breeze and sparkling light when he was working on a dedicated story. Venom loved those pleasant feeling with Eddie.
Those feeling never appear again after the funeral.
For the past month, staying inside Eddie almost feel painful to Venom. The once lively field was replaced by dead grass and branches, the warm sun was forever gone, instead a permanent rain took over the place. The rain drop so cold and sharp it almost feel like bullets punching through their consciousness.
Venom feels tremendous sorrow and agony after losing their second favorite humans. He gets the concept of the revenge. He's furious at those worthless humans who took Annie and Dane away as well. Wanted to shredded them to pieces with his teeth.
But as Eddie was watching the two men struggle for breathe before perished in their cell, Venom felt an emotion bubbled inside his host, satisfaction. The Eddie that only allowed them to eat people once a month, told him to make it quick and don't make them suffer, that Eddie was enjoying murder people.
Venom thought revenge was an act of fixing Eddie's heart. A heart that feels like a hollowed out bottle. Venom thought ending those hateful lives acted as filling Eddie's heart again. He might be a bit lost on the way, but when the revenge is completed, his Eddie will be whole again.
So he didn't hesitate when they broke into the next man's house at night.
Didn't feel sorry for leaving a remade bed after devouring its previous owner.
Didn't feel remorse when they found the next man in his apartment.
He did feel something when the man's wife, an innocent woman, tried to defend her husband.
But before Venom had realized what the feeling was, Eddie had swung their huge arm, smashing the woman against the wall in a crimson splatter.
That's when Venom realized Eddie is not trying to fill the empty bottle, he's breaking it pieces by pieces.
The woman didn't deserve it!
"She's stupid enough to defend a murderous asshole, that made her a bad guy too!" Eddie shouted into his empty kitchen, he didn't understand what had gotten into his symbiote. They only had one last motherfucker to take down, which should make them ecstasy.
So why are they suddenly arguing, for the first time in several years, now?
She's just defending what's important to her! just like Dan would do for An...
"Shut the fuck up! Don't you dare compare them together! Get out of here, what's fucking wrong with you?"
Venom formed a head through Eddie's shoulder, that's when he realized it's the first time he actually see Eddie after their revenge started. His host was almost unrecognizable, disheveled hair and beard covering a too thin face, black bags hung under two dulled eyes, devoid of any life and hope. Was he really looking at his Eddie?
"Listen here, I've seen the footage and report. They were walking home from a restaurant when the gun fight started, Dan rushed in trying to pull a fallen woman out of the way, putting himself in the line of fire. Anne was shouting for help and calling the police, those fuckers saw it and decided to take her out as well. All they did was trying to help some stranger they passed by and got themselves killed. Some human are just this high level on being shitty. Are you trying to defend them from me?"
"We could've wound her. She's not our target."
"What did I just say..."
"You don't feel sorry anymore."
That did stopped Eddie's outburst. He realized he had always feel a slight empathy killing or eating a human before. No matter it's a rapist or murderer, getting your head bitten off by a huge black monster was pretty damn horrible and deserve some kind of sympathy. That's what he thought before Annie and Dan were ripped from his life.
But with the last six man and one woman, he felt... nothing but satisfaction and enjoyment.
"We felt empathy seeing that woman, it reminded us you said human would sacrifice themselves protecting loved ones. But it didn't come from you..." Venom said, hovering close to Eddie's stunned face.
"...You don't feel empathy for lives anymore, Eddie. Annie and Dan would not approve this."
Eddie didn't talk back, because the symbiotic was right. Anne Lewis would be ripping him a new one with Dan shaking his head in disappointment if they see him right now.
Except they were gone. Murdered for nothing.
Having tried to make the world a better place, Eddie Brock hadn't expect the universe's way of repay him would be taking two of the most precious people away from him. A part of his brain was broken on the funeral, he couldn't accept it. Couldn't accept losing Annie and Dan after he managed to become a successful reporter to be equal with them. Couldn't accept the baby they had tried for so long didn't get a chance to see the world. Couldn't accept his strong symbiote was crying inside of him because of this unfair world…
A world that will always stay ugly and dirty no matter how hard he tried.
So he changed. The weak and optimistic Eddie Brock was locked away. This new one thrived on hatred and power. He couldn't afford any trace of sympathy if he really want to make a difference, eliminate the bad, keep the good, stop caring about all the grey spaces in between. He had thought Venom, his powerful alien partner, the only remaining one he cared for in this world, would approve this new Eddie Brock.
Only he had taught the symbiote too well through all the years.
"We find the last one, give him to the policeman. You said policeman brought justice. Complete the revenge."
Venom said in front of him, the deep tone almost pleading that broke his heart in a whole different way, the locked away Eddie Brock was crying to be let out, to comfort his other half.
"Please Eddie, stop destroying yourself. We miss you."
And a face jumped up on his laptop, a face that brought all the pain, grief and hatred back in ten fold.
"No, This is the one who put the bullet in Annie." Eddie said coldly, closing all the emotions off once again.
"We give him the same ending, finish what we started. After that we can stop, we will be us again."
Eddie, please. You can't...
"No." Tucking the gun he got through black market into the back of his jeans, Eddie headed out of his shabby apartment into the cold night. And Venom felt the bottle cracked a little bit more.
"We can do whatever we want."
Finding the last man was almost as easy as the previous six, killing him proved to be a bit of problem.
Upon waking the sleeping man in his motel room, Eddie had ordered Venom to finish the job. Instead of coming out and devouring the man's head, the symbiote had stayed stubbornly silent inside the human's chest.
Somehow, deep down Venom knew if Eddie killed this last man, the kind and warm Eddie he loved will be gone forever.
The asshole used the moment the stranger was shouting at himself to get away. But he was fat and slow, the man easily cut his escape route and knocked him down with a hard right hook.
"You help me do this, or stay out of my way V." Eddie spat as he straddled the fat man on the floor, driving his fist into the ugly face again and again. He felt the cheek bone broke, the teeth flying off, an eyeball popping out, yet he didn't stop.
Until Venom physically stopped his swinging arm.
It should be enough, Eddie. Let's hand him to police and go home.
Venom felt it. With every punch, the bottle shattered a little more. The old Eddie was slipping away, but it's not too late. Eddie taught them to love, he could taught Eddie the same this time. Save his host from himself. Spare the man, bring Eddie home, clean up, get a proper meal, find someone to love again…
But the fat man had to chose that moment to heave up, sending Eddie to the ground, Venom losing control of Eddie's arm momentarily as the fat man made a last attempt to the hotel door.
A gunshot rang out, and the bottle shattered completely.
Numbness, that's all Eddie could feel.
He had convinced himself, or rather lied to himself, that he was doing the right thing. That after all seven lowlifes responsible for Annie and Dan's death were destroyed, he would feel satisfied, justice, redemption.
But deep down he knew it was bullshit. He's a reporter for god's sake, he's seen plenty of horrified things human are capable of after traumatic event. There's no such thing as revenge, just the difference of finding a reasonable outlet or a violent one. He's gotten so drunk of the symbiote's power through the years, that he's sunken so low to use that power to his own desire.
A power he had vowed only use to destroy the very thing he had become.
Kneeling on the floor and staring at the fat man's body, the back of his head blown to mushy parts, just like Anne's in the grainy street footage. Only this time he had become the lowlife pulling the trigger to take another defenseless life.
We are sorry Eddie.
Venom gently spread a layer of warm ink, covering Eddie's shaking body in a sad attempt of comfort. The man's broken sob was the only sound in the dead silence of the motel room.
The police never found the gangs from the incident, except for the two that got poisoned in their very own station. The other five had simply dropped out of earth, after several weeks Lewis' relatives stopped asking for update, seemly accepted the other five associates had fled from the country or threw themselves into the ocean. Things went back to normal for a part of San Fransisco. Old scars faded for some while new wounds opened for others, but the world never stopped for anyone.
It was a night in spring when Eddie went to the cemetery. The nightly wind felt cool and comfortable on his face. He took a slow walk around the garden, taking in the beautiful flowers blossoming around the place, raising his head to gaze at the starry sky. Taking in all the things he had forgotten about the world for the past month.
It's Beautiful
"It is."
Eddie finally sat down in front of the Lewis' headstone. Adding a bouquet of black rose into the collection of gifts and flowers already there. Lying back down into the grass, Eddie stared at the sky full of shiny dots, and just relaxed. Two minds thinking about everything they've being through these last few months, all the tears, blood, shouting. And the final solution they had come up together. For awhile, none of them said a word. Savoring the cool wind of the night and contemplating their next move.
"I'm not forcing anything on you, you know."
We decided together. What Eddie want is what we want.
They both knew what the outcome would be if Venom did what Eddie had asked. Both knew the weight of this decision and the reason why they would come to this conclusion together. Venom draping over Eddie like a thin blanket, which Eddie had learned years ago was Venom's way of hug. Eddie holding the blackness close, together they blended into the darkness of night like they were parts of tiny stars in the infinity universe.
They held each other until it's time.
"Remember what we swore to do after the rocket?"
Eat the bad guys. Protect the weak ones.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry V, for all of this. So sorry."
We are venom, we are one. There's no need of apologies between us.
"No, seriously. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough, you deserve better..."
Eddie is perfect. There are flaws, but perfect for us.
"...I love you, buddy."
We love Eddie too.
He held his symbiote close to his chest, then closed his eyes.
Ms. Chen placed a huge bouquet on Mr and Ms. Lewis' headstone. Though never met in person, she knew from Eddie that they were close family friends. She remembered how broken and haggard the younger man looked when he walked into the store after the funeral a few months ago.
And that was the last time she saw Eddie Brock and his little parasite.
The news said a relative of Lewis' found the body one morning, the man had simply looked asleep by the headstone. The autopsy had determined the cause as heart attack. People had easily accept the sad story, since it was pretty well known the famous reporter was a good friend of the Lewis family. Death by heartbreak was a popular phrase, after all.
Except for the mysterious cold black substance that covered the grass beneath the body. Nobody had found an explanation yet.
The Asian woman moved to the smaller headstone beside. Eddie Brock was a good man, witty and reckless as he sometimes seemed, but deep down he had a kind heart bigger than anyone, eager to make the ugly world a better place.
"Thanks for scaring the thugs away for good. But honestly I would rather take them back if that could make me see that huge mouth of yours again."
Ms. Chen said softly, though nobody heard her or knew the meaning in the empty cemetery. It was a peaceful day, the soft breeze bringing colorful petals into the air from time to time. Like little fairies, they danced in the air as if appeasing all the souls and stories that were buried here.
Placed under Eddie Brock's headstone, was a small bundle of Hyssop and a box of chocolate bar.
Author's Note: Any thoughts and feedback are welcome. There's an epilogue in progress, please let me know if you're interested.