"Famine…" Death tried to keep his cool even as the foundation of an abandoned church right next to them toppled over as soon as the volley of canons shot through it mercilessly. The wolf's dead eyed stare lingered at the group of soldiers unfortunate enough to be stationed there. Out of the nine people, two were able to crawl away with fractured ribs, bruises and a mild concussion, one had his legs completely shattered and six were buried beneath the rubble.
It wasn't a pleasant sight.
War never is.
What's worse, the people crushed under the rocks were still moaning in pain, perhaps wondering why they were still partly alive even after all that.
"This was unprecedented!" Famine panicked from beside him, a couple of feathers immediately going loose due to emotional stress. "Believe me! This was not the place I chose to manifest!"
Death slides out a sickle from his belt, motioning for the harpy to move and not waste time yapping in his ear about how she completely failed to teleport them to their planned destination. This wasn't technically the worst place to land on earth, definitely not. Although, it would be nice if it were around a beach where no one was constantly dying and he wouldn't have to worry about the effects of his sickness and the consequences of his absence.
The wolf grunts as he lets go of his hold on the panicked immortal and staggers toward the bloody debris. He calls for his powers with all his strength, his lone sickle radiating a powerful, menacing red glow, and the ground he stood on quickly cracked open.
"Death!" Famine worriedly called out for him. "You'll tire yourself out!"
He didn't care in the slightest. All those souls calling out for him weighed like an unfathomable nightmare. This was his cross to bear, with or without being indisposed because of his condition.
He narrowed his eyes as he concentrated and for a second, his illness took a seat back as he was discharging an incredible amount of power. His weapon gleamed brighter, the blade reflecting the faces of numerous lost souls in one single glimpse.
"Descansarás…" He uttered, voice racing past the skies like loud thunder. Lightning flashes in hot pursuit and then the world unfolds into the afterlife.
Everything looked like it had less opacity with colors swirling in ashen gray or moldy green. Famine wearily watches him as he rapidly turns into his previous forms, one was a middle-aged man with a skeletal jaw, another was a being with dark heavy wings, one more was composed of all shadows with intense ruby eyes, and so forth. It all lapsed as he turned his weapon in his hand before raising it up to the skies.
"Porque la muerte os concederá la paz eterna!"
The souls all moved, their forms exploding into balls of light as they finally passed away from the material world. Reality shakes and it was as if somebody had yanked out the world from under his feet. Death collapses instantly, head grazing the ashen dirt and his sickle skidding away from his open claw.
Famine was quickly over him.
Another blast of lightning sparked across the sky and this time, it rattled across the battlefield, the sound piercing the harpy's hearing like a loud battle cry.
Images spurred in her mind like someone had sprayed blood with the memories of fallen soldiers dying heroically in battle, and she knew then why she and Death had ended up in this particular place.
There was an armored carriage demolishing a few soldiers in the field, flattening each of them like an iron across fabric. Only the picture, in reality, is much, much more gruesome. The flag billowing in the wind bore the frightening symbol of a skull with octopus legs along with distinct serpentine creatures eagerly piloting it.
It turned their way, and while Famine wasn't particularly worried nor was the idea of defending a passed-out Death from being run over, the iron wagon was flipped unceremoniously and tossed aside like someone would throw a crumpled piece of paper into the trash bin.
Fire burst from the wreckage and his figure loomed in the menacing shadow.
Despite his casual slang, the wild boar's voice rumbled like a bloodthirsty and tired God.
"What's up, baby sis? Here to get your hands dirty?" He swung his signature morning star back on his shoulder, his second favorite weapon, a shaft with a spiked ball mounted on top and dripping with none other than the entrails of his enemies.
"...War."
"Big bad wolf doesn't look too good," The boar whistled, his lone functioning eye staring his brethren down. "Is he still method-acting the grandma bit? I'm pretty sure Riding Hood moved on with her life."
"Did you mess with us on our way here?" Famine pressed, watching him archly.
Her brother had perfected the definition of a savage, in the most literal way possible. Unlike them, War had lovingly embraced his injuries. Varying weapons had particularly stuck on him like a porcupine, as the oaf would like to describe it, his iron throne. Three arrows pierced his right shoulder, with the other two on his back. Huge and sharp war elephant tusks sprouted on his side with ropes tying the tip across his chest and shoulder to keep them in reign. Only one eye drowned in the wine-colored red while his left was permanently blind white.
Death had suggested for him to wear an eyepatch once when the boar refused to heal it, but War took it as an insult, thinking that it meant to hide his injury, and almost clubbed the wolf in the head for it. Pestilence had a good laugh over their bloody fight while she, herself, was too worried at the sight of ichor leaking through the wolf's fur by the end.
It was nothing serious, of course.
From one immortal to another.
But that was back then before Death was infected by an estranged sickness.
"Do you think I'm that productive to elaborate a plan without harboring an agenda?"
Famine scoffs. "As if you have an agenda that doesn't consist of conflict and warfare."
"Exactly!" War shares a hearty laugh. "Non-war stuff just makes me lazy, you know?" His shoulders sagged at the thought of mundane things. "Like, what else do you do in your spare time without gutting someone on the battlefield?"
"Starving a region to a point the people rebel against the rich," Famine quickly replied before gently adding, "And I suppose…flying? Flying helps me calm down."
"Cute, but I can't relate," The boar fake yawned and poked Death with his foot, trying to stir him awake. The wolf didn't budge. "Welp. He's out like a light. Anywho—"
"Wait!" Famine flexed her wings agitatedly as War walked away. "Where are you going?!"
"There are some Hydra soldiers regrowing back limbs and I'm off to chop some more!" War declared happily. "Ah, before I forget. Stay where I can see both of you," He points to his lone eye before tipping it back at them. "Life called and apparently," He slams the morning star on the ground, creating a mini crater upon impact. "I'm appointed as the babysitter!"
The harpy's face became chalky white.
So her suspicions were true. Life was somewhat indisposed by the way they just randomly became quiet.
What of the locust then? Was that still a problem? How on Eternity are they going to put a stop to it? What of Death? And what of Pestilence possibly going off the rails during her mission? She did not have the patience to deal with that. And War…
The boar unleashed his godly spear, his most ferocious and deadly weapon. Famine could do little to no effort and warn him not to overdo it when the tip extended far enough across the horizon, splitting a mountain in half as it caused a tremendous landslide over an advancing army.
War let out a boisterous laugh.
That buffoon was having the time of his life while the world crumbled around him.
If it weren't for the fact that she had certain responsibilities to avoid waking Apocalypse, Famine would have loved nothing more than to collapse right next to Death.
She tries not to think of Pestilence going berserk in the future while she's left with the not-so-competent boar and the unconscious wolf.
Was it too early to give up?
"Just shout if you need anything, kay?" War sets his morning star loose like a string of bolas, it whirled like a deathly wrecking ball demolishing several parties in its wake.
Famine decides then, that time, was in fact, relative, and calling it quits is never too early.
Kitty wasn't feeling too well all of a sudden.
She wasn't always a paranoid freak, not really. She was used to silence and being alone. She's already at a point where she doesn't regularly glare from behind and expects someone lurking dangerously, ready to gut her. Not when she was surrounded by an overbearingly positive dog who trusts anyone he meets and her one lone companion that occasionally makes her chest flutter.
The three of them have each other's back from now on, and despite the platitudinous name, Kitty finds herself not minding it.
She and Puss were slowly working it out until Venom came into the picture like a hellspawn arriving on earth. She wasn't as bugged by someone's eccentricity before, aside from her first meeting with Perrito and his burst of innocence seemed too good to be true, but the alien was a much stronger competitor.
Venom was…for better or worse, a complete enigma Kitty couldn't understand nor wanted to tolerate. At first.
They were overly protective of Puss from the start, and unusually so. But all that is because of their nature to bond with someone, and as Doctor Octavius pointed out, their species were dependent to latch themselves to a host in order to survive. Which is, yikes on Puss' part. Kitty thinks it's too invasive to have someone be a part of your body and mind just like that. She's surprised Puss wasn't suspicious before. She knew if she was the one in his place, she would have lost it within a few minutes.
Of course, the thing gave him superhuman attributes. She could always blame the power trip they gave to the ex-legend. Did Puss want to be the fearless hero again?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Kitty always considered him finding a balance between what he learned from the deadly wolf and his interest in risky adventures. Then again, a day before he was very eager to push Venom off to Octavius back at the fiesta. But considering the heinous events that transpired and what Kitty wouldn't admit out loud, was how she secretly owes the symbiote for saving Puss' life, which happened more than once, simply too many for her liking.
There was very little she could do against fatal poisoning after all.
Was fate playing with them by sending an emotionally clingy alien and probably stirring his partly dormant attributes as a risky adventurer again? At first, it was the wolf, and neither she nor Perrito knew that Death was hunting him down behind the shadows during the quest.
Both Venom and the Grim Reaper were giving her a headache lately.
What does it all mean? Was Puss meant to die? Was he meant to live longer? Or was this just an entertaining soap opera for an omniscient being watching over their lives like a theater play? Who does she need to fight to keep Puss safe and protected?
She wasn't even married to the idiot yet and she was already trying not to imagine herself planning his funeral in the future.
Puss is down to his last life after all. She didn't want to think of even outliving him.
But she will, eventually.
Kitty sighed.
She places a plate on top of Perrito's bowl to contain the heat so it would still be warm when they both get back, when she notices the fur on her hand immediately stood straight. She rubs it agitatedly, wondering why the temperature in the room feels so much hotter. The image of her bowl and the tender-looking chickens sloshed agonizingly slowly in her perception. She managed to blink once only to find a swarm of flies dipping themselves in her meal the next second.
Her head begins to spin.
She wanted to puke.
Something crashes against the window.
Kitty froze when a silhouette of a human having multiple arms clawed against the glass, dark red blood smeared against it as it tried to pry it open.
What the hell?
"Softpaws…" It drawled in its raspy and sickening voice, huffing its breath and causing the window to fog. "I know you want to hand them over…"
"...w-what?" She tensed as a single crack emerged from the glass.
As if her troubled thoughts were answered, the string of words chilled her to her core.
"Venom…" The creature uttered with an eerie ghost of a smile. "You want to save him? Your beloved? Then give me Venom."
Kitty stood up with her sword just in time for the window to break open.
"You want to do what?!" Perrito gasped, betrayed by Venom's proposition. "Team Friendship is a fantastic name!"
"But it doesn't strike fear into the hearts of our enemies! Tell me," they swiped the wanted poster that was nailed just outside the inn. "When people say it out loud, what do you think they think of us? "
The dog tilts his head in an adorable way.
"That's easy! They're picturing a perfect image of the iron bond these three best friends hold," he points to himself and toward the two felines in their outdated pose, a tad bit awkward considering that the paper was wrinkled. "I know it's corny, but it's intentional! A name like this would make enemies underestimate us and BAM! "
Perrito punches a hole through the poster too eagerly, surprising the symbiote for a brief second.
"Team Friendship gets the upper hand! " After realizing what he's done, the dog quickly pulls back his fist and winces, smiling shyly over the mini destruction he'd caused. "Ah, sorry! I got too excited there! I swear, I'm not this violent. Ha-ha!"
"And why not? You should be this violent!" Venom declared, slapping the abused poster with an open hole torn in the middle. "There is so much potential here! Have you ever thought about doing something malicious to your low-life owners by any chance?"
"Uhm…not really? No?" Perrito grimaces. It was always uncomfortable for him whenever the idea of inflicting pain, even to those who didn't treat him quite as well was offered as a suggestion for him. "I don't really find it worth it. There is just…so much to life than just revenge, you know?"
"Certainly so much potential for a better name than team deck-us-in-the-face-companionship," Venom blurted out with a pained look. "We vote to change it!"
"Okay," the dog nodded carefully. "I appreciate your democratic approach to changing it! Buuut— "
"But what?" The symbiote taps their foot impatiently.
"As the team's PR manager, I'm currently too satisfied for a name change. Case closed!"
"And who let you become this…PR handler?" Venom scratches their head, partly puzzled by the term. "And what even is that?! Are you making up names so that your pathetic title would stick?"
"Tell you what," Perrito pushes them forward gently, noticing that Venom's booming voice was scaring a couple of people just casually hanging outside the inn. "We can ask Kitty about it and if she agrees, we wait for Puss to come back and we all vote on it."
"Doubt Softpaws would agree with us. She's been a pain to deal with!" Venom crossed their arms with a huff. "We offered her kindness and she spat in our face."
"Kitty would never spit on anyone!" Perrito paused, going over it briefly and with the look Venom gave him, considered his next words for a while. "On second thought, she wouldn't necessarily spit on someone for no good reason."
"She is petty and jealous! This, we tell you!"
The canine can't help but laugh at the accusation.
"Why would she be jealous?" Perrito wipes a tear from his eyes at this. "You're unintentionally hilarious sometimes, Venom. I think you're a natural comedian at heart!"
"We prefer brains," The symbiote hisses out. "And you think of us as a clown? Would you find it funny if our blade went through you before you could even blink?"
As a demonstration, the cat's dark-coated rapier tipped Perrito's chin dangerously.
"We find it easy to end you in one single stroke."
Venom's voice growled deeper, carrying on their threat intending to intimidate the canine only for the dog to gleam brightly at them.
"You're a lot sneakier than Kitty! Where'd you get the practice?"
The alien groaned when all it did was make him wag his tail. Has the dog not learned the meaning of fear? Was he able to build immunity to it after his tragic past? Was that why he was so hopelessly optimistic all the time?
"Perhaps Softpaws allowed us to come with you for torture purposes," Venom deadpanned, hanging their blade back on their belt.
"Oh, don't be so down! If you didn't then I would never know that you loved chocolate!" Perrito eagerly shakes the remaining tablea packets the intern gave them before. "I can't wait to heat these bad boys up and stir some marshmallows. I'm sure you'll love it even more!"
"Maybe we'll tolerate it, " Venom huffed, uncaring.
Then again, why should they tolerate the dog's antics in the first place? They were a warrior from Klyntar, everything about them was harsh and bold. Why should they care about an estranged dog that got abandoned by his caretaker? Surely, they didn't consider him as important as Boots. The same goes with Softpaws.
Boots was their only priority.
As they took a turn, one of the people living next to their room was strolling in the same aisle and accidentally bumped against the dog, unintentionally kicking him right in the stomach. Perrito made a sound a lot like a pained whine and before the person could apologize, he was slammed against the wall, his mouth covered behind a mass of inky black.
Venom didn't budge one bit, not even when Perrito gasped in horror right beside them.
"You dare do that to our companion?" The symbiote growled.
"Mmm—Mmmm!" The person was desperately shaking his head but was unable to move and speak over the thing that clamped his lips shut.
"I'm sure it was an accident!" Perrito reasoned, looking back and forth between the alien and the terrified person. "Venom! He didn't mean it!"
"He had a perfectly good reaction time not to crash into you!" They pulled him close, the black mass spreading across the person's body in order to immobilize him. "How about in exchange we crush and pulverize your bones? Wouldn't that be nice?"
The person paled at the sight of their monstrous teeth until a piercing noise caused them to let him go.
DING!
Venom screeches, tendrils receding back beneath their skin as they flailed at the sudden sound.
DING! DING!
They held their head in their hands as if it was being crushed right at that moment. Venom peeked one eye open and found Perrito hastily commanding the person to run for his life while they were indisposed.
"You… " Venom zeroed in on the bell the dog kept ringing. They didn't understand why they would feel betrayed even though Perrito wasn't someone they deem familiar enough to care about. "Why would you— "
"I am so sorry!" The dog cried out apologetically, his baby blue eyes tearing up as he punched another sound against the bell and Venom wailed. "But I can't let you just torture that poor guy!"
"He deserves to be tortured!" Venom grunted, reaching a hand to where the person disappeared. "If we let some randomness with one of us then Team Friendship might look like a bunch of pushovers!"
"Venom, do you secretly like the name?" Perrito asked, intrigued and straying away from the topic at hand.
"No! "
"It gets to you eventually!" the dog chuckled. "And it rolls on the tongue pretty quick, right?"
"We demand you to stop making that noise!"
"Only if you won't go after that person!" Perrito defended, threatening to press the bell when met by Venom's harsh gaze. "Look, I appreciate you standing up for me—"
"We werenot!"
"—but going about this is just too much! What would Puss think when he comes back and everyone is suddenly afraid of him?" the dog waited for an answer, staring intently at the alien's disgruntled expression. "I know you mean well, but maybe," he tries to sound more gentle, not wanting to appear like someone manipulative as he gets his point across. "Maybe you could tone down the whole eating and manhandling people kind of thing?"
"Do we look like a pet that you wish to tame?" Venom spat harshly, their tone offended.
"...n-no! Never!" He realizes that perhaps the symbiote often takes things too literally, in which case, most of the time. Dealing with Puss and Kitty seemed pretty tame compared to this, but the one thing Perrito does appreciate about them is their limit to who they considered important to Puss. At least, that's what he believes, since he wasn't threatened to be eaten yet nor was his brain brought to the menu. "Being protective is okay, considering you'd protected Puss from several bad people these last two days."
"Yes," Their glare only narrowed. "Even now, we are making sure his vitals are completely responsive and working after several murder attempts."
"And that's incredible! Thank you for that!" Perrito was genuine about that compliment. "But not all people are out to get you or Puss! The commander that let us stay in this inn meant well, so did the intern who gave us these packets and I'm pretty sure the person who bumped into me was just a complete accident!"
Venom scoffed.
"...he was terrified."
"He should be. Everyone should be."
Perrito knows they're quick enough to grab the bell if they wanted but he also desired to earn their trust in exchange. He kept the bell at bay.
"Maybe you could find a balance between fear and intimidation?" the dog suggested. "Puss likes having attention."
"All the wrong attention," Venom muttered with a slight hiss, and it certainly didn't escape Perrito's notice of the tinge of underlying jealousy beneath.
"Yes, well…he does have a celebrity status after all," the dog gently explained, he watches for a few quiet moments of Venom glaring down at the floor, their hand itching to touch the handle of their blade but not really willing to follow through with it.
Ah. Perrito sees it now.
Perhaps it was because violence was the only outlet for their emotion.
"Look, Venom. I'm really sorry about the bell," He truly was, but he was also looking out for the person who just so happened to be caught at the wrong time. "You must have been hurt when I brought it with me, huh?"
"...why would we be hurt?" their tone came out quieter than usual but there was still a bite to it. "You expect us to extend our priorities to you? Boots is the only one that matters."
Perrito couldn't help but think how they must have felt when the three of them were willing to give them away to Octavius just a day before. Venom was a stranger to this world. They came from outer space and being reminded of that fact makes Perrito all the more guilty. Were they not patient enough with them? Venom's nature in lashing out was probably because they were new to their surroundings and saw everything as a threat, except maybe for Puss and extension, Team friendship.
Sure, they were rather hostile before in the woods but they seemed to mellow down, even just a little after a day or two.
The dog suddenly feels ashamed of himself.
"You're right. I'm sure Puss will be grateful for all the things that you've done for him," Perrito doesn't want to push them and their feelings out in the open. Whatever Venom's relationship with Puss and how they see them, that's between the symbiote and the cat. But they also need to be reminded that certain people shouldn't get hurt in the process, their heart was in the right place, they just needed some guidance. "You know, I never really asked you how you felt after crash landing here."
"There's nothing to tell," Venom sounded harsher and more protective for some reason. "Us coming here is none of your business."
"And I respect that," Perrito nodded, raising a paw in return. "It's just that we failed to take into account that everything here must be new to you! Especially the people and the surroundings."
"The knowledge of our hosts is enough," Venom huffed, crossing their arms. "We weren't born yesterday."
"Oh, so what Puss knows extends to you?"
"... only if he allows us," the symbiote replied more gently. " We've… considered his feelings on the matter and we chose to respect his decisions."
"Aww! It's nice of you to ask for consent! It'd be extremely worrying if you didn't."
"Hmph,"
"When does Puss come back anyway?"
"... not long, now."
Perrito tries not to appear excited. While he couldn't wait for Puss to come back, it would be extremely rude to look partly happy at the prospect of Venom taking a back seat. They bonded for a short time and the dog feels ill-tarnishing that image over a situation where they couldn't directly interact.
"Okay! Tell him to take all the time he needs! In the meantime, why don't I heat you up with some hot chocolate? I did promise you one with a side of soft marshmallows," Perrito urged them to move and smoothly continued the flow of conversation then. There was no need to be awkward and giddy for Puss' return and despite their lively and rather intense personality, Venom was fine company to be with. As fine as the chatter of human brains and gut-wrenching battle strategies are thrown into the mix, that is.
Perrito was expecting a slightly riled-up Kitty who would have told him to come back much earlier now that his chicken broth was cold, what he didn't anticipate was their window broken, their little dining table upturned, and their bowls smashed to pieces.
The lingering cold silence of their room was deadly, and so was the smeared blood gushing on the wooden floor.
It was fresh and it had a putrid scent, the tinge of iron so sickening that Perrito could imagine him tasting it on his tongue.
Right next to it, there was a sword without its owner.
Venom pushed him behind them and unsheathed their dark rapier, teeth clenching as they growled, "He was here."
Perrito couldn't even ask who they were, his mind frozen in absolute shock.
"...Kitty. Is Kitty—" He tried to look away from the blood but even his eyes were drawn to it like an unnerving spectacle. A tendril grabbed the sword from the floor and Venom was quick to lick it in order to track the origin of the scent.
"Venom!" Perrito finally breaks, paw grabbing them by the cloak. "Can we find her? Is she still—"
"That damn wolf," Came their begrudging reply, their grip on the hilt so intense it almost broke Kitty's sword. "His scent. This is his scent. He's behind this!"
AN: I just realized that the link to the drawing did NOT work when I typed here in fanfic docs. God. Anyways, I actually do drawings for the chapters in some scenes. Usually, it works much better on Ao3 where this story is also posted. Same story Title and User name of course, if you guys want to check me out there. Puss in Black by PinkMuseSundays. Also, I have an art account as a back up for those drawings.
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arthdoesart on Tumblr and Twitter - Oh, I forgot. It's called X now. lmfao.