AN - - - Hell Yeah, no I shall honor my personal introduction! As always, the fabulous writer Nicholai Black does unfortunately not have any rights to Spider-man in any iteration that could have possibly inspired this fanfic (there was a lot). This is a non-profit creation, no type of money or such is expected for this work, it is completely free for reading and enjoying.

Black & White

Chapter I - Of Decisions Bleak

"Parker, what did the five fingers say to the face?"
Peter turned around, face confused, before it flared into pain, tremendous pain.
"SLAP!"

Peter fell into the dirt, cheek flaming with pain and agony.
He held his cheek as they all laughed, his eyes long since not filling with tears.
There was no way this pain could match the suffering he felt, since Gwen left him.
He simply rose, not caring at all, and walked away, his ears not hearing the laughter and mocking.

Peter unlocked his apartment door, face uncaring and hollow, as he slowly made his way into the virtually barren room.
His eyes went over every little thing in the empty place he called home.
Darkness, his mind had long since become an incredibly dark place.

He decided to go to the roof, maybe looking over the city would help clear his mind.

Felicia loved clearing her mind by running across the city tops, especially after the argument she and Spider-woman had when it came to saving her father.
She didn't understand why the decision to help him, fell short…
She was angry, and had attacked Spider-woman, only for her new damn partner to interfere…
Felicia suddenly froze, as she noticed someone standing on the next rooftop, looking over the edge, fumbling with something in his hands.

'Is someone on a rooftop trying to get their rocks off?'
Felicia looked at the kid, skinny with lifeless hair, an acne ridden face, and overall no appeal.
She noticed him starting to whistle, sounding rather happy, and then he fastened the nose around his neck, ready to jump…

Wait…?
WHAT?!
Felicia choked on her spit, when the teen stepped on the edge, a wide grin on his face, ready to make the step.

"Goodbye, I love you, Gwen."

Felicia huffed as she had yanked the teen back, preventing him from completing his snap jump, her breath huffing as she met his gaze.
"Why did you do that?"
She flinched at the empty, hollow voice, pretty sure it would make a guest appearance in her next hellish nightmare.
"Because, what you were going to do is wrong!"
Felicia almost glared, as she saw his emotionless gaze, filled with absolutely nothing.
"Wrong? That is only a matter of perception, miss."
Again, a voice with absolutely no emotion whatsoever, haunting her mind and soul.
She didn't know what to do, so she decided with the path of least resistance, for the moment.
Might help her think of a better way…
"Tell me what happened that lead to this."

Peter lay in his bed, remembering his conversation with Black Cat, and slowly made his way to the bathroom, picking up his razor.
"Sorry, Black Cat…"
He let the bathtub fill, and slowly undressed, looking at his scrawny and disgusting body in the mirror, before laying in the bath.
With great care, Peter Benjamin Parker sliced open one wrist, then the other, before laying in the bathtub.

He smiled as his thoughts cleared, and all grew silent for him, and his head lulled back, with a big smile splayed across his face.

As life was leaving the body of the young man, something suddenly climbed through the half open bathroom window of his apartment.
The something crawled into the light, revealing it to be a mass of black gunk, moving and alive, and it reached out to Peter, recognition being the motivator for the motion.

A groan escaped Peter's mouth, every muscle in his body feeling strained.
Then his eyes snapped open, and he looked around in shock, being in his bed.
How did he get there? He was sure he had slit his wrists last night…
His entire frame shook with confusion, shock being the foremost reason.
He looked at his wrists, and saw no scars… How?!
'That was my doing, Peter.'
Peter jumped out of bed, looking around in a blind panic, and finding no one in his room.
"Who said that?"
The same voice, soft, and decidedly female, answered him.
'Please, do not yell. I am speaking in your mind.'
Peter stopped, unsure how to feel, so he tried thinking.
'Who are you? And if you are in my mind… What are you?'
The voice softly went to explain, sounding slightly unsure, but determined.
'I escaped from a laboratory, wanting to be free, not imprisoned… As for my name, I do not possess one.'
Peter was still silent, unsure.
'I was a clone of the alien life form that had bonded with Spider-woman. The life form known as Venom.'
Peter remembered the incident was on TV… He had honestly wondered about that.
An alien life form, and now a clone of it was bonded to him.
'I was created in hopes of bonding and creating soldiers with spider abilities.'
Peter nodded in understanding, but he wondered why the being had bonded with him, of all people.
'I made the decision upon recognizing you from memories I gleamed from Venom's host, Spider-woman… I don't have much context, but I could gleam you were a good person, exactly what I wanted from my host.'
The being finished explaining, but Peter was still confused.
'Why don't you act at all like Venom? He seemed visibly aggressive and mean, whilst you act gently and kindly?'
The voice of the alien clone was silent for a long moment.
She was explaining this to herself as much as she was to him… to say the least.
'Venom was an aggressive parasite, who forcibly bonded to a body, improved it, made it dependant of him, then took it over and devoured it… I am a true symbiotic life form, meaning that my intent is to remain by my hosts side until his last breath, helping him sire many children, that can have symbiotes of their own, then die with him.'
Peter carefully thought about the symbiotes words.
'You don't have to lie… I'd appreciate it if you would help me end my life.'
He felt the other voice bristle, anger coloring her wonderful voice, as weird as thinking an alien voice was wonderful was…
'Don't be like that! Hope! I will help you, heal you, improve you… I will do everything in my power, to make your future only look towards the better!'
Peter was silent, then he slowly smiled, his eyes glowing.
'I have a name for you.'
The symbiote seemed quite excited with the prospect of a name, and softly asked for it.
Peter stood, walking up to the window, big smile on his face.
Her name was something that he felt, and he liked this long lost feeling, now back in his grasp.
'Hope, for that is what you bring.'

HEEEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOOO! No, this doesn't mean I am giving up on my other work, those will be updated soon... very SSOOOONN! OH OH OH! And a shout-out to Hoguie, for the 'gushing' that made my heart melt, I shall strive to make my writing even better!

Your Friendly Neighborhood writer, Nicholai Black.

Peace-Out!