"Who gave you what?"
Kitty wasn't sure which was a more terrifying prospect, the green-winged beast with a strap of bombs on its disposal, or Puss potentially letting himself get hijacked by what she thinks is an evil secret imp muppet.
Venom ignored her, walking past her disgruntled expression like a diva marching on stage. The feline blinked several times, assessing the particular direction the bastard was walking, and immediately went after him like the wind. She opted to grab them by the shoulder but all she got in return was her blade against her neck.
"Do not touch us with your filthy hands—"
Kitty leans back and quickly does a majestic kick that disarms the body hijacker, her sword falling on the floor. She presses an arm instantly on their neck and shoves them against the wall, one paw on their shoulder to keep them in place. She knows they won't budge for long, but she was far from being a pushover.
"You mean to tell me that Puss willingly handed his body over to you?" She interrogated, leaning closely to their glaring face with her ears pressed behind her. "You really expect me to believe that?"
"No, not really," Venom rolled the cat's bright green eyes. "We do not care for your opinion. "
"I particularly don't care about your opinion either!"
"Great! Our feelings are mutual!" The symbiote head butts her so hard that Kitty begins to see stars. She staggered back, paws clutching her forehead. It felt like Puss had hit her with a guitar all over again.
"Vete a la mierda… " She groaned, feeling the bump on her head. Kitty slits her cerulean eyes dangerously. "What is your problem with me?!"
"Existing," Venom deadpans, casually wiping off strands of black fur from their clothes.
"Maybe we should have handed you to the doctor, after all." Kitty huffs, arms folding on her chest. "I can't believe I was having second thoughts about it. Puss was very eager to hand you over to him—"
"Boots would never!" Venom snarled, digging their heels so harshly into the ground, it almost cracked when they whirled to face the conniving thief. "Boots would have died without Venom! An arrow to the back, a fall from the sky, poison in his systems! Fractured lungs! All his lives are gone! It is we who keep him alive! You would never even have Boots if it weren't for us!"
Kitty looks slightly taken aback by their genuine anger, having not expected to poke a beehive with her choice of words.
"This cat is a Legend," Venom points to the body he was inhabiting. "And they deserve to feel one! Boots would never need to worry about dying with Venom by his side! Every bone, every muscle, every nerve—we would make it that he escapes unscathed! Only Venom can do that!"
"But did he ask for it?" Kitty argued, her voice sounding strained. She looked them up and down carefully. "Sounds to me you're making incredibly drastic decisions for him."
"We are doing what's right," The symbiote hisses loudly. "We are his survival, his protector—we are the reason why you are still able to hold him in your arms! Without us, Boots would be nothing! Long dead!"
"And you think he doesn't know that?!" The cat snapped back just as intensely. "You think you know what's best for him because—what? You can pry open his head to your liking? Take control of his body so easily? Because you're so powerful and above him and everyone else then that makes you have the right to control his life?!"
Kitty was close enough to jab a finger at each punctuation on their chest.
"You. Know. Nothing."
Venom swatted her hand away. The two locked eyes then—both green and blue are just as hateful.
"We know everything to keep him alive!"
"But apparently not enough why he decided not to be the Legend anymore."
Kitty spat cruelly on their face. She wanted to laugh bitterly as well, to make them understand just how surface-level their idea of Puss was. But suddenly, there was a shift in their behavior, a subtle hint of confusion reflected in those green eyes told her that perhaps there was a deeper part of them that needed elaboration.
"Why not? Being a Legend sounds fun," Venom supplied after a beat of silence. "Venom can make it work."
"Sorry to break it to you, but the last thing Puss needs is his ego back." Kitty massages the bridge of her nose, holding back the pain that radiated from a growing headache, the head butt, and sleep deprivation. "Yeah, being a Legend is fun until you manage to attract all the wrong attention, like eternal deities finding you incredibly disrespectful for toying away eight of your former lives."
"That's it? That's hardly his fault," The symbiote pouted. "Maybe someGods should just accept how incredible our Boots is. "
"Asshole and jerk are more like it," Kitty corrected. "Why do you think he changed aside from le Muerte chasing him to the ends of the earth?"
"We will make sure that the wolf will perish," Venom stated proudly, manifesting Puss' rapier from the shadows of their cloak. Kitty can't help but arch a brow at that and their statement. "He will rue the day he decided to traumatize Boots! Venom will make sure to traumatize him back."
That was a weird motive, but okay.
Kitty shakes her head at them as if disappointed. "No, you don't get it."
"What's not to get? " The way they tilted their head to the side was slightly adorable and Kitty fought the urge not to imagine herself pinching their cheeks.
They're just using his face.
And bits of his voice.
Puss was the one she was attracted to.
"We are exacting revengeor do you need further elaboration?"
"What I'm saying is," She breathes in deeply, hands clasped together before gesturing to them. "Puss was a grade-A level jerk that couldn't maintain long-lasting relationships, not that I blame him," She looks away to the side, remembering her own moments. "Don't get me wrong, he has a kind heart and everything he did was mostly for the people. He's an adventurer first and foremost, and having nine lives as a cat sort of boosted his head and made him forget for a second that everyone can…you know? Die. Eventually."
"Eventually," Venom scoffed.
"I won't laugh if I were you," Kitty warned them. "There's a pesky sensitive wolf who hates the idea of people finding death humorous. "
"Yeah? " They had the audacity to stamp Puss' rapier on the ground, leaning on top of the hilt with one arm and casually inspecting their nails on the other. "We don't see him. "
"Yet," Kitty added, glaring at them. "We didn't see him either during the quest for the last wish until we heard his annoying tune," She marches closely to the body-inhabiting alien. " Muerte passed through a deadly wall of cosmic energy that reduced people into dust just to get to Puss!"
"Well, we crash landed through a planet's atmosphere unscathed," Venom quickly pointed out, leaning their entire weight heavily on the blade's hilt. "Doubt the wolf has ever been to another planet. We are immune to the horrors of space and darkness, our creator, the King in Black, formed us from his own image!"
They pried Puss' rapier from the ground, swinging it with the insane articulated speed that carved a very detailed image of a monstrous figure with long hair, holding a very intimidating sword that beheaded someone against the concrete floor. Kitty watches it warily, not knowing what to make of it.
"He once had a sword that decapitated a celestial and it wasn't even finished being made!"
Venom proclaimed proudly, admiring their work for a while. "And it certainly wasn't the last celestial he killed! It was one of the first!"
Her cerulean eyes immediately grew cold. "Wait—Is that why you're here? To kill off celestial beings?"
Venom blinked as if they were caught off guard for the first time. Their silence only provided her with a tremendous amount of uneasiness and an unsettling feeling of being watched. Kitty waited, her paws itching to fetch her blade, eager to protect herself more than ever from the alien inhabiting Puss' body. The idea of getting rid of them suddenly seemed more appealing by the second.
"No—we— " She stared as they struggled to come up with the proper words to douse the flame of paranoia growing from within her.
"I don't know what your game is," Kitty starts, backing away from them, eyes calculating. "Whatever it is, you leave Puss out of it!"
"You cannot separate us, " Venom argued, feeling threatened by the idea of leaving behind the orange cat. "We chose him and you have no place telling us what not and what to do! Our symbiosis is none of your business!"
"I make it my business if the very cat, one of the few people I care about, is in DANGER!" The black feline spat, lunging dangerously at the alien and throwing her hands around the collar of their cloak. She gripped it too tightly, not caring if it was close to choking them. "You give me another reason—another slip up—another mistake that implies hurting Puss in any way and I will make it my business to extract every fiber of your being out of his skin! I don't care if you're more powerful than me! You don't get to mess with the people I care about! NOT EVER!"
It was the loudest voice Kitty had ever mustered. It's been a while since she's been angered this much, reduced to trembling from her own manifested rage, and it was directed at an alien stranger no less.
"Let. Us. Go, " Venom threatened, but even they didn't seem eager to push her temper. "We believe thatwe communicated badly."
"Oh? Did you?" Kitty pushed them away for good measure. "Take someone else to kill off the Gods! Puss does not deserve to get his hands dirty for you and whatever hellish pit your creator is dwelling in. He's already got enough on his plate and if you want to add more problems, go bond over someone that's suicidal."
"You are always fast to assume the worst of us, Softpaws, " Hearing her name being uttered made her skin crawl. She tries not to lunge at them again, preferring to hear them out this time. "We find it incredibly unappealing. "
"What's appealing is me punching you in the face," Kitty fired back. "Except for the fact that it's Puss that's going to end up with a black eye and the whole point of me defending him would be for nothing if he becomes my punching bag."
"You can give him the worst black eye and we will heal it in an instant, " Venom retorted, pointing devilishly to the cat's bright emerald eyes. "Nothing can get past our healing factor! It is superior in every way! "
"Is that so?"
A new voice, unfamiliar to them, echoed from the shadows.
Kitty immediately jumped on guard, retrieving her sword from several feet away and leveling it in every direction. Venom, on the other hand, moved slower but they perked up at the opportunity for a fight, throwing their cloak dramatically as they twirl their sword in preparation.
Kitty suppresses a groan.
"Who speaks? " The symbiote asked aloud, eyes skimming to every corner.
"If I tell you who I am already, wouldn't that just ruin the fun?"
She catches sight of bright green smoke unfurling deeper inside the infrastructure. It vanished quietly just as a stream of fire ignited in its place. It surrounded them in a circle. There were bright lights hanging above their heads as if they were performing in a circus.
Kitty was startled by Venom's sudden hissing, and seeing that they were wearing Puss' body, she had the impulse to stand over them protectively until she remembered who was in control.
"What's wrong?" She asked, confused by their behavior and the sudden change of scenery around them.
Venom tugs on their cloak and hastily covers their front like a shield, the raspier poking through the fabric like a carefully aimed musket.
"Nothing." Kitty regards them carefully. "It's nothing."
The black feline inches closer so they would be standing back to back, but not close enough to touch. She stayed there, keeping them protected because, by the end of the day, it was still Puss' body. She won't allow any harm to come to him no matter who was piloting it.
"Doesn't sound like nothing to me," She murmured, expecting an elaboration until her eyes quickly grew wide like saucers when she spotted an ax the size of a horizontal door coming out of nowhere. It reminded her of a booby trap that lunges at the culprit as it came swinging at them from the walls, intending to slice them like bread and cheese.
Kitty was quick to avoid that fate, leaping just in time before it ran through her like a speedy carriage while Venom stayed rooted in place. They relied on their strength to stop it, aiming for their rapier to meet the ax only for it to go through them like a ghost.
"What the— "
Even Kitty blinked in surprise. It came back swinging at the symbiote for a second time, phasing through the legend like a mist.
"An illusion?" Venom realized, lowering their stance after the danger didn't seem that threatening.
Kitty narrows her eyes.
Tricks? What's going on here?
"I had you there in the first half, didn't I?" The voice commented, followed by the nasty glow of orange eyes from faces carved on wooden logs, frozen mid screams from their wide gaping mouths started spewing out spike needles toward their direction. Kitty had half a mind to try if this was an illusion as well until one particularly hit Venom on the back and on the shoulder.
"Now this is just gettingridiculous, " The symbiote spat, unbothered by the injury and slicing the volley of needles that was coming their way. "Healing factor or not, this is annoying as hell!"
They sounded about completely done for the day. Of course, it only fueled their pent-up rage as they discarded a line of spikes in one swift motion of their sword.
Kitty weaved around in order not to get hit, her eyes and ears particularly looking out for the source of the voice. She made it to an area where it was impossible to hit her.
"Show yourself, cobarde! "
All she got in return was a laugh.
Venom shot a web of black mass covering the holes that were shooting an onslaught of projectiles. The chaos stopped momentarily.
"There! That should do it!" They grinned at Kitty's direction in confidence. "You keeping up, Softpaws?"
"Ugh," It was like dealing with an earlier version of Puss, only this time they were slightly validated because, unlike her friend, they were indeed somehow invulnerable to physical attacks.
That didn't mean Kitty didn't find them just as infuriating.
"I'm not the one who got hit in the shoulder and from behind," She motioned with her eyes toward the spikes poking out from said location. "And can you please be more careful? Puss does not need a ticket to the afterlife!"
Venom only 'tsked' at her.
"This is nothing but a scratch!" The cat's black outfit puffed out like how a puffer fish would when doing their defense mechanism, swiftly flicking away the needle spikes in the air, one in particular ricocheted and sailed past Kitty's head, narrowly avoiding an ear and snipping a few strands of her fur.
She barely ducked in time too, looking behind her as it nailed against a wall.
"Watch it, pendejo! " She pointed her sword at them, flabbergasted by their action.
"Oops. We didn't see you there." Said by someone who clearly saw her there.
The nerve of that alien.
They didn't get to tear each other's hair out like she imagined the next second would be. The duo strained their eyes against the ridiculously bright lights hanging above their heads. It all streamed together on top of the ginger cat, casting light on them as if they were the star of the show. Sounds of what she thinks is from a live general audience erupted from all corners, clapping excitedly with hoots, hollers, and multiple cheers.
"Glad to see both of you enjoying the live-generated interactive show! I didn't want to be a buzz kill, but I'm afraid we have to wrap this up quickly!"
Four clouds of lime green smoke exploded out from the blue, surrounding Venom in a circle. Coming out from the fumes are men with an extravagant maroon cape along with a peculiar transparent dome helmet. To Kitty, it looked like a very large magic orb or a very funny-looking fish bowl empty of both said fish and water. Whichever of the two works is a fine description.
"I believe you've met my friend, Chameleon!" They all said at the same time, a weird echo to their voice repressed inside their helmet. They levitated an inch in the air as they regarded Venom with annoying interest. "And unless you don't wanna be torn apart by my other other friend, which people now call the Goblin," They make an effort by placing the back of their hand near their face as if sharing a dirty little secret. "Very temperamental. Would rip your limbs off if you give the wrong look. Wouldn't recommend by the way!"
They all share a menacing laugh together.
"You either give up your super suit to us, or we make you and your friends' lives a living hell. Whichever works! Your struggle to pick! Not mine! Ha-ha-ha!"
Puss' dark rapier swung in a murderous downward arch, going over from the top of their helmet and sliding down to their hips. One of the images of the men shattered on the ground like broken glass, shards clattering everywhere.
"The only struggle here is between my blade and your funny-looking fish tank of a head! " Venom danced with slaughtering intent, preparing to pierce its blade at another dome helmet only for it to pass through emerald smoke.
"Damnit. "
"I didn't remember the legendary Puss in boots being this immoral and eager to kill people," Someone popped behind him then. "So I'm assuming you're the popular alien with incredible healing powers that's taken control. What do you say, pal? Up to join the Terror Four? It certainly sounds better than Team Friendship."
He was met by a blade grazing across his neck and shoulder, the image fizzling as the black sword went past it.
"We got chocolate cookies for new recruits unless you prefer raisins." The man offered, sounding unbothered.
"We prefer your corpseand the blood of your comrades! "
Venom flipped in the air, whisking Pan's sword from the shadow of their cape. They lunged with both blades in an X between the man's neck before slicing sideways. All they got in return was a hot flash of light as an explosion, momentarily blinding their sight.
"Welp. I tried. Really," One figure was at least solid enough from the group made of smoke as he grabbed the staggering cat by the cape. "Can't say this wasn't fun. You almost had my head there! Not gonna lie!"
His laugh was cut short by another blade slicing the air and penetrating his dome helmet. Water immediately leaked out from his protected bowl, the weapon stuck in place. The man rambles a string of curses as he lets go of the cat's fabric, dreading in panic as he hurriedly decides whether to pry the blade out or not risk his helmet cracking even further. Something tangled with his feet then, causing him to stumble and land on his back on the ground. A boot was placed on top of his head and a figure of another cat messing around with the blade, threatening to break it open.
"Move another muscle and that's it for your head," Kitty warned, peering at him down dangerously, a finger tapping the hilt of her sword. She watches as the crevices of the glass spread across dangerously. There was a bubbling noise that came from the crack along with water spurting out like a stream, like a garbled voice in the middle of a long angry rant.
"—God—Dammit!" An angry-looking goldfish swam in the middle, its tail aggressively swaying from behind them. "Alright, calm your horses! Let's just—let's just talk—"
Kitty pressed the tip of her sword further, causing the fish to send rude offensive gestures with his fins.
"Hey—Hey—What did I say?! I'm running out of oxygen and water here!"
"How did you know about the alien that attached themselves to Puss?" She asked the panicked but mostly pissed-off goldfish. "And did you really have to set fire to Otto's camp?"
"We needed a distraction, obviously," He rolled his eyes at her. "And I'm no rat!" He points a menacing fin toward Kitty's face. "You may put me through the wringer here, but listen, lady, I'm a tough nut to—"
She pressed her boots with pressure, enlarging the sickening traces of cracks around the glass bowl.
"Petey! It was Petey!" He finally cried, watching desperately as more water leaked out. "Both he and Gaston were conspiring against the Doctor, okay?! They were only in it for his gizmos!"
"And they were working for Chameleon? This whole time?"
"...No,"
Kitty pushes her sword even deeper.
"I—I mean yes! Obviously!" The fish rushes out. "A word of advice when interrogating! make sure your captive has enough oxygen left, otherwise, the only thing you're getting from me is my last breath, miss hairball!"
Kitty lets go of the hilt, resting an arm on her leg that keeps the glass dome in place. She stared at him for a while, contemplating.
"What? Is there something on my face or something?" the fish barked irritatingly.
"You sound and look familiar," Kitty rests a finger under her chin, wracking her head open for a particular image of someone. Her eyes immediately lit up as she snapped her fingers. "You're that hack who riles up the crowd with your illusionary fairy tales! I remember now!"
"You just remembered?" He sounded offended, the fin on his back drooping. "I was a hotshot! Certainly far from being a hack! My tricks are authentic and the audience buys them spectacularly! Every time!"
"You were Magicman!" The cat guessed, tapping a finger on his bowl. "I remember stealing several props from your stage."
"First off, how dare you," The fish points an accusing fin her away.
Kitty only shrugs.
"They're worth three zeroes, you know."
"As it should! My stuff is the real deal and I know how to sell it! And Secondly," He spreads his fins to the side, giving the cat a wide cocky grin. "The name's Mysterio! I don't do solo acts anymore. I have partnerships now."
"Yeah, I noticed," Kitty replied dryly, her face going sour. "Not particularly a fan of your partnerships trying to whisk away a dear friend of mine."
"Only a friend?" The fish teased, a cruel smirk on his face. "I heard the Legendary Puss in boots was previously engaged to the infamous Kitty Soft—"
The tip of her blade snuck in with only a few inches away from the small chatty goldfish.
"Ah—I struck something there, didn't I?" He chuckled under her firm gaze when a black rippling ink stamped on top of his glass bowl, swiftly dragging him away with immense strength and causing Softpaws to stumble and trip after him. He wasn't prepared to be greeted by a row of nasty, sharp, monstrous teeth flexing wide open in an enormous jaw, big enough to swallow his glass fishbowl whole.
Kitty tackled Venom just in time before the goldfish had taken a quick route to Puss' stomach. They rolled on the ground and eventually, she managed to pin him below her.
"I was extracting that faenar for information! Mind you!"
"It's time that we feasted upon the enemy's bones, mind you." Venom let out his tongue that messily swiped at Kitty's face, causing her to recoil in disgust and giving them an opportunity to escape her rather weak hold on them. "Now, where were we?"
He flicks his two swords to the side, running in a blur after the man with a fishbowl for a head, Kitty's weapon still stuck awkwardly on top of it. Mysterio was stumbling in his steps after the two cats were busy for a while, a mechanical hand covering the sickening cracks where his water was leaking. He looked back at the sound of hurried footsteps and caught sight of a bloodthirsty possessed legend chasing after him with dual blades.
"The fun's just begun!" Venom roared, their tongue lashing in the wind as they leaped into the air to cut the short distance between them.
"I do not get paid enough for this," Beck muttered under his breath, quick enough to throw an extra Goblin bomb that he's been hiding and waiting to use as a last resort. The creature could heal itself, why not? Right?
The explosion and the remaining tricks of lime green smoke covered his tracks greatly. The fish didn't look back for any details that pertained to the symbiote accidentally clashing horribly from the erupting flames of a miniature bomb.
Kitty was in the middle of swiping away spittle from her fur when she heard the excruciating sound of an explosion going off. She turns just in time to see the symbiote screeching in pain, a loud and terrifying yell emanating past their frightened lips.
While the fire wasn't as bad as the one that spread across a particular location in town, she was careful to avoid a bush-size version of it burning down to a simmer. She slowed her run as she was getting closer to the pained individual. Seeing the mesh of rippling black material losing its solid form from the heat of the flames made her flinch.
It truly did look like they were suffering.
There was no water around.
Just her luck.
From the corner of her eyes, she spotted what she thought were a few alcohol barrels, most of them empty. But upon hearing the symbiote letting out agonizing screams mixed with Puss' voice, her heart almost lurched. She runs as if she was the one on fire, finding a suitable amount of alcohol from an empty barrel and immediately dousing everything on the other cat, hoping it was enough to put out the flames coating their skin.
Please. Please. Please.
Black tendrils helped scoop enough liquid from the barrel held by Kitty's hands, quickly prying it away from her grasp and scavenging every drop to douse themselves with it. She watches intently, the sound of their ragged breath was outmatched by her beating heart.
Would this affect their healing factor?
Would Puss suffer from this?
That didn't seem fair, gato wasn't even aware of what had happened—
Venom threw away the barrel, it soared past Kitty's head and broke upon impact from behind her. She didn't even flinch, eyes and body unmoving from the sudden shock.
If something were to happen to them, Puss was the one to take the brunt of it all.
He had one life yet.
It couldn't just easily slip away like this. Perhaps she got too comfortable with the symbiote's invulnerability.
" ...Is there more?" Their tone sounded dry like their mouth was parched or something.
Kitty takes a while to respond, her beating heart barely slowing down, exhaustion and panic bending her to their whims. She manages a weak nod.
"Where?" Venom apparently didn't wait for her to answer, running on all four legs the second they spotted the other barrels.
Kitty's knees give out. She drops to the floor, barely turning behind to see if the spared alcohol was enough for them to continue healing Puss.
It has to. It has to. It has to.
She heard a loud thud as Venom dumped the other two barrels, sighing tiredly then.
"Too close," They mouthed, sounding wearer. "Too close withfire."
Fire.
Was that their weakness?
There was a heavy moment where Kitty was caught between laughing madly or breaking down messily in tears. How did they go from annoying banter to an existential crisis of their failure to protect Puss from a point-blank explosion?
The stress, the deprivation, and never-ending close encounters with death, particularly to Puss, were slowly—finally getting to her. She didn't even notice that she was trembling.
"How can you be so reckless…" Kitty murmured quietly to them. She doubted the thing could sympathize with what she was feeling, to what they were bringing to Puss by occasionally channeling his earlier days as a legend. Invulnerable their ass.
"We are not reckless," Venom argued timidly, the memory of them flailing from the fire mere seconds ago had made them slightly humble and less cocky. "We were only going after the man that attacked us— "
"Why didn't you tell me you were weak to fire?!" Kitty burst out madly, jumping to her feet as her eyes were set ablaze. "You ran straight ahead to an explosion?!" She swipes a hand across the simmering flames around them. "And for what? Why would you do that?!"
"We calculated wrong," Venom reasoned out but there was something in their posture that told her that they were a bit childish in response. "We're usually faster. Much more faster! Our reaction time could have had us—"
"Eaten by the flames completely!" Kitty finishes, hands grasping her head in frustration as she paces back and forth. "And how else am I gonna know that fire is your weakness? Do you see any water just lying around in a corner somewhere?!"
"There was water from the fish's bowl," The symbiote pointed out unhelpfully.
Kitty seethes.
"Did you know what you just did?" She marches to them dangerously, her bright blue eyes burning a specific definition of loathing. "Not only did you put yourself in danger—" She punched their chest, not enough to hurt but to express and channel her pain. "—You endangered Puss as well!"
"We would never let Boots— "
"Tell me, VENOM!"
She grabs them again by the cloak, but this time her eyes were shiny with frustrated tears. Not only was that shocking but having their name uttered by her lips out of genuine pain struck them the wrong way.
It hurt.
"When you were on fire, what were the chances of Puss being affected by it? What would happen to him if you couldn't heal him by what you just caused?"
Suddenly, Venom wanted to cower away for the first time. The hate and suffering in her eyes were too much for them to look at. Too much to bear. Their hands moved to make Kitty let them go but stopped midway.
"Was being powerful and annihilating Gods just talk?" The cat croaked out, tightening her hold on them. If she had super strength, no doubt she would have lifted them off the ground by now. "What gave you the right to throw him back to this reckless life? He changed!"
She lets them go as she desperately blinks back tears. The cat's throat bobs as Venom is left speechless…and surprisingly heartbroken for scaring his significant other this bad. They didn't anticipate this reaction from her, more used to riling them up and initiating a sort of fun rivalry and harmless banter. And right now, she was moments away from a total breakdown.
Boots would hate them for causing the cat so much distress.
What's worse was he trusted them to keep Softpaws safe. Technically, she is, being alive and breathing and all.
Emotionally speaking, this is where Venom royally screwed up.
Her breakdown was one thing, but burying her face and letting out a soft sob in their chest was another. They stood there, frozen in place as the cat's sniffles vibrated into their entire being. What should they do? Comfort her? Why would they do that? Softpaws hated them. But why was she openly breaking down in front of them? Grabbing their shoulders to stabilize balance and hanging on for dear life?
Does she take comfort because they inhabit Boot's body?
Venom raises a paw to pat her on the back.
They had second thoughts.
Softpaws would definitely scratch out their eyes if they did. The mixed signals are confusing.
"I can't believe I fell for your invulnerability crap…" She muttered on their chest, swiftly detaching herself away from them faster than they could blink.
Venom didn't move.
Venom refuses to move.
They watch her quietly as she walks to fetch her sword left behind by the talking goldfish. At least that was still there. They wondered if Softpaws was thinking of stabbing them the next second.
Her eyes were puffy red and didn't particularly meet his puzzled gaze in return.
Venom tries to think of something to say.
There was nothing to say.
"I am going back to Perrito," She broke the awkward field of silence, looking at them then as if they just called her savage, lighthearted, and none of the heavy and painful meaning happening just now. "You follow closely behind me and away from the fire. Got it?"
Venom opened their mouth but she turned before they could utter a word. Her pace was slow enough for them to follow, so there was that to understand.
The symbiote made sure to linger at least three steps behind her, feeling worn out and confused by Kitty's outburst.
And instead of riling her nerves, they decided to be quiet for once.