A Different Path, A Different Life
Okay, so this is a rewrite of a story I wrote YEARS ago. When I first wrote A Different Path, A Different Life, I was a very, very new writer, such a greenhorn that I didn't even know there was supposed to be a new paragraph when a different person began speaking. My descriptions were terrible, and my characterization needed a lot of work.
I started getting into Venom again, seeing fan comics of the new movie(Haven't seen the new movie yet, waiting for it to come out on Netflix), and I wanted to give A Different Path, A Different Life a second chance, and I'm hoping this will be better. The symbiote and Eddie will still become good guys, Leslie will be still helping out the boys, and Cameron will still be there and be the same dorky guy he was in the original A Different Path, A Different Life, but there's going to be a lot of details changed.
Also, I mostly won't be bashing Spider-Man any more, though Eddie and the symbiote still feel like(and somewhat were) treated unfairly by him. But in Eddie's case, Spider-Man WAS trying to protect Dr. Connors, not hurt Eddie, and with the symbiote and Spider-Man, there was a SERIOUS lack of communication, trust, and clash of morals to the nth degree. So there might be some bashing of Spider-Man at the beginning due to Eddie and the symbiote being biased narrators and feeling hurt, but this will start to change as they learn how to forgive.
There might be some very mild bashing of Dr. Kafka(not treating her as a bitch) more just Eddie reacting much differently to what she says and does than he does in canon like getting annoyed that she treats him like he's deluded when in a world of super-powered good and bad guys and probes that go into different dimensions, his claims weren't exactly far fetched.
Needless to say, Eddie won't like her romantically. He won't hate her; he just doesn't really trust her.
As a warning, this WILL contain Eddie/Symbiote in somewhat of a romantic pairing. Eddie trusts and loves the symbiote more than anything and anyone in his life, and vice versa, and the bond will go from friendship to something much deeper. So if you don't like the ship, you might want to move onto another fic.
Also, if I mucked up on any detail like location, let me know so I can fix it immediately. Also, this story will contain elements from both the comics and the Animated Series. This is an AU of both. A different world, where different choices were made which changes the fate of Eddie and the symbiote as well as the symbiote who, in another world, would be Carnage.
Changes to Prologue: I went into a bit more detail, added more snark from Leslie, and went into more description on how it feels to be bonded with by a symbiote.
The chaos of New York City seemed so far away for Brad Adrian and Leslie Gesneria, a young couple fresh out of high school and enjoying their third date, relaxing on a picnic blanket under the stars in the woods outside the city; Brad stretched out with his head in his date's lap as they watched the stars. He hoped later in the night that there'd be some action.
And soon enough he got his wish, but it wasn't the type of action he wanted.
The couple jumped as a bright blue flash of light flew over their heads, closer than any shooting star.
"Hey, look!" Brad exclaimed, pointing up to the sky.
"I see it. What is that?" Leslie asked but before her boyfriend could answer, there was a loud explosion. Brad leapt to his feet and grabbed Leslie's hand, almost making her fall on her face as he ran in the direction the explosion had sounded.
"Um, shouldn't we be running AWAY from weird explosions?" Leslie asked but Brad didn't seem to be listening as he dragged her through the trees and towards a clearing.
"It landed right near here!" Brad told her, but Leslie could already tell this fact from the crater in the ground. "Let's see what it is! It might be worth something!"
"Or it could be very, very radioactive."
"Chill, Les, it's just a meteor. C'mon. Don't you want to see a space rock?" he asked.
Leslie sighed. "Okay, yes, I'll admit it. But we gotta be careful."
"Geez, quit worrying. It's just a rock." Brad picked up a stick and poked it.
But the object lying on the ground was no mere rock and Brad found this out the hard way. Gelationous black tentacles shot out from the charred greyish object and latched onto the stick. Both teenagers screamed as the creature started to wrap around Brad's hand.
Leslie, being the good-natured dumbass she was and worried for her date's safety, grabbed the ooze with her bare hands and tried to yank it off him. And it worked, but too well as the ooze quickly let him go, only to latch onto her tightly. She could feel it, cold and slimy, crawling up her arm. She screamed and struggled, but it wouldn't let go.
"Brad! Help!" she screamed.
But Brad didn't have the courage Leslie had. He started backing away, then ran for his life.
"Traitor!" she screamed, fighting back as the creature pulled itself out of the rock and wrapped itself around her body, cradling her, preventing any further movement but it surprisingly didn't hurt. She thought it might be the prelude to it dissolving her body or eating her brains or something. She kept screaming as it covered her from head to toe. Somehow, she could still breathe though, even as the ooze covered her mouth. For a second she couldn't see.
And then it all was gone.
She gasped, pressing her hands to her face, feeling only warm flesh. The black ooze had gone.
Had it even been there? Was it a hallucination? Had her so called boyfriend spiked her drink?
Or was it inside her and about to eat her internal organs?
Her heart raced. Cold sweat covered her body, making her shiver. And then she heard a small voice, slightly male sounding.
"No! Wait, I mean, yes on the first part, no on the second! I'm not going to hurt you! Look, I'm sorry I did this, but please...It's an emergency...I need help..."