Chapter 15: Road Not Taken

In which Eddie and V get a glimpse of what could have been.

Neither V nor Eddie knew what to expect, but the image shown on the screen was a familiar one: a forest clearing where Leslie and her former boyfriend had their date.

Then an object fell from the sky: no doubt the same space probe that had been carrying V.

But then things started to change from what they remembered. When the alternate version of V bonded to Leslie, they hadn't talked to her or asked her for help. Instead, it looked like they were trying to subdue her.

V shivered. Yes, they had been desperate to find a host after being unbonded for so long, but Leslie was innocent! She didn't deserve to be taken over like this!

Their struggle ended when Mordo appeared on the screen. This time, he had easily hypnotized Leslie and the alternate V didn't even try to protect her.

"She is your host!" V snarled at the screen. "Why aren't you helping her?!"

The only answer they received was Mordo claiming that as long as V obeyed him, he would reunite them with Eddie.

And it looked like they didn't care about anything else.

The next image was even more familiar: it was Eddie sitting in his cold cell in Ravencroft.

Mordo appeared to give him the same offer Eddie remembered, but the conversation didn't go the same way. The Eddie on screen seemed convinced that Mordo was a hallucination. He screamed and raved like a madman, looking both desperate and utterly deranged. And when Mordo finally got through to him, that Eddie agreed to work for him without a second thought.

"What is wrong with this guy?" Eddie asked in bewilderment. "Why is he acting like–"

He froze at the sudden realization. This was what Eddie himself had been like soon after V had been separated from him. He had been delirious and half-mad with desperation… But he had gotten better! He had calmed down and started to think.

It looked like this version of him hadn't done the same.

The scene shifted, showing hypnotized Leslie walking into Ravencroft as a visitor without anything resembling a disguise. She brought V to him, but it wasn't her decision. She was just a pawn.

And once she had done her job, she was abandoned without care.

"Don't leave her behind, you assholes!" Eddie shouted as on-screen Venom escaped from Ravencroft, leaving Leslie to be apprehended by the guards.

The screen shifted again, showing Leslie being interrogated for aiding and abetting a known criminal. No matter how much she tearfully tried to explain that she had been hypnotized and didn't have a choice, no one believed her.

She was brought to court, and even though she managed to avoid prison time, her name was dragged through the mud and her entire life was ruined.

V was afraid to ask, but they had to know. "What about Carnage? What happened to them?"

The screen showed Cameron running down the same grimy alley where they had first met him. But even though Leslie and V weren't there this time, the gang that attacked them was.

With no one else around, Cameron didn't try to resist, meekly giving over his wallet. But it looked like the gang wasn't satisfied with it, and they viciously beat him just because they wanted to.

He survived, but without a symbiote to heal his wounds, Cameron remained in the hospital for a long time. His health was never the same afterwards.

Then the screen changed to show Ravencroft again.

V watched, uncomprehending, as Leslie's ex-boyfriend walked into the prison with Carrie wrapped around him. His expression was just as blank as Leslie's had been, so he must've been hypnotized too. (Was Carrie hypnotized as well? V couldn't even imagine what it was like to be bonded to a host whose mind wasn't his own.)

They walked down the winding corridor, tossing aside the approaching guards, until they reached their destination.

Kasady's cell.

"No! NO!" V screamed when they finally realized what Mordo was planning.

Carrie, sweet innocent Carrie, being forced to bond with that psychopath?!

They couldn't watch this. They couldn't.

"Stop, please!"

Mercifully, the screen dissolved into static.

Madame Web didn't enjoy causing pain like this, but sometimes it was necessary to cut open the wound to draw out the poison. Only then would it be able to heal instead of fester.

"It didn't happen," she said gently. "That timeline no longer exists because both of you have made different choices. You changed their fates. You changed your own fate."

"We did?" they whispered, voices melding together. "We did something good?"

"You did. You made the right choice and the ripples from that decision will keep traveling further and further. You have changed so much…"

She snapped her fingers, shifting the viewscreen to another moment in the timeline that didn't exist.

On the screen, Eddie was lamenting his loss of humanity to Dr. Kafka on the roof of Ravencroft Sanitarium, while she tried to convince him to separate from the symbiote.

Madame Web scoffed inwardly. Humanity. Such a meaningless word to a being like her! How arrogant it was to assume that love and kindness were inherent to humans, when they were only one of the countless species that lived in this universe.

The Eddie on the screen fought desperately against the symbiote. There was no trace of harmony left between them, and every drop of love had burnt out into hate or turned into obsession.

Madame Web shifted the screen again, pointing it at the events that followed: Eddie agreeing to be split apart, then Dr. Connors removing the symbiote from him and trapping them inside a glass container.

Eddie stared at the screen and found himself unable to recognize the man it was showing.

Blaming V, his beloved symbiote, for everything? Separating from them over a simple disagreement? All because one woman, who just a day ago hadn't even believed in their existence, thought it would somehow help him?!

Eddie couldn't even imagine doing the same! He would never willingly separate from V! He'd rather die first!

In return, V couldn't believe that they would ever place their hate for Spider-Man above their love for Eddie. How could they treat their beloved host so callously?!

Eddie had accepted them, loved them, and they treasured him more than their own existence! But this– this creature on screen was acting just like the rest of their species!

It was nothing but a mockery of themself!

"This isn't us," they whispered. "This could never be us."

Madame Web smiled. "That's right. Because your love is so much stronger than your hate, you never became like them. And you never will."

Still, even with that assurance, they couldn't bring themselves to desynchronize. They hadn't transformed, but their minds had melded together until they were almost a single being. Being so in tune with each other made it easier to cope with the knowledge that in some other reality they wanted to be separated.

"And your choices matter more than you can imagine," Madame Web continued. "You have affected everyone around you: not just your friends, but your enemies as well. Watch."

The screen showed the alternate Kasady, the one who was wearing poor Carrie (they wanted to throw up from the sickening sight). Dormammu – mere image inside a giant crystal – was telling him that the teleporter alone wasn't enough: an equal amount of life force had to be exchanged in order to release him. And Kasady had eagerly agreed to fulfill that task, to drain the life from innocent people and set the demon free.

"But that timeline never came to be," Madame Web said. "This is what happened instead."

With a snap of her fingers, the image shifted.

Venom had never thought they would be so happy to see the corpse-like, flame-wreathed version of Kasady again.

"There, done," Inferno hissed, throwing the noticeably more battered interdimensional teleporter to Mordo. The flames around him grew, now that he no longer needed to stifle them to protect the device.

Mordo, who was flesh and blood for once, caught the teleporter with something akin to telekinesis and slowly lowered it down. "Careful, you fool! You have caused enough damage already!"

Inferno growled, rising higher into the air, "I've done what you asked. I'm finished here."

"Finished?!" Mordo repeated incredulously. "You don't get to decide when you're finished!"

"And you don't get to order me around!" Inferno snarled back.

"You are nothing but a servant and you will behave as such!" Mordo shouted.

Silence followed his words. Then Inferno threw a giant fireball at him. The only reason it didn't incinerate Mordo on the spot was a translucent green barrier that sprung up around him.

"What are you doing?!" Mordo cried.

Inferno cackled, "Teaching you a lesson in humility!"

His flames expanded, threatening to fill the entire room, when a sudden blast of energy from the demon's crystal hit him in the back.

"Enough squabbling," Dormammu ordered. "Your job isn't finished yet."

"Says you," Inferno scoffed. "I've done my part."

"This device isn't enough to set me free," Dormammu said, repeating his alternate's words. "Even after it is repaired and the portal opens, an equal amount of life force needs to be sent through before I can step into this world."

Inferno crossed his arms. "And I should care why exactly? You gave me the gem and I brought you the device, all fair and square."

"But did you not want to see what nightmares I can bring to this world?" Dormammu asked, his deep reverberating voice gaining an almost enticing tone.

Inferno pointed at Mordo, who was still cowering behind the barrier. "If it means being ordered around by that asshole, then no, thank you. All I want right now is to test how long that little glass cage of his can last against my power!"

"Then how about we strike another bargain?" Dormammu suggested.

"Master! Why are you negotiating with this ingrate?!" Mordo cried indignantly.

"Silence!" Dormammu snapped.

"That's right, little lapdog! Remember your place!" Inferno laughed. He floated down to stand in front of the crystal that held the demon's image. "Alright, I'm listening. If I agree to gather this energy for you, what am I gonna get in return?"

Dormammu smirked and his image disappeared, replaced with that of a middle-aged, seemingly ordinary black woman. Her long hair was styled into dreadlocks and she was wearing bland white clothes that looked like something fit for a hospital patient. The only mildly unusual thing about her was the scar across her left eye, the eye itself bright blue and artificial.

Inferno reached out, pressing his hand to the crystal, and slowly traced the image with his fingertips. The flames around him disappeared, flesh and skin growing back and prison clothes reforming from ashes, until he looked fully human again.

Then he abruptly jerked his hand away, and the fire returned, transforming him back into a hideous charred monstrosity.

"…She is gone," Inferno said.

His voice was flat and emotionless. It sounded like it was hiding pain.

"That's merely what they told you," Dormammu said, reappearing. "She is still alive."

"Then where is she?!" Inferno snarled. "Tell me!"

"I will, but only if you agree–"

Dormammu didn't even get to finish the sentence.

"Yes! I'll do anything you want! Just tell me where is my angel!" Inferno begged with pure desperation in his voice.

…Angel? Just who exactly was that woman?

Dormammu smirked, "Then we have a deal."

As the screen dissolved into static, Venom looked at Madame Web in askance.

"All will be revealed in time," she promised.

The screen came to life once again.

"Remember, Inferno," Dormammu said. "You cannot damage the bodies of those whose life energy you take. If the body dies, the energy will dissipate, and I will no longer be able to use it. So until you gather enough life force, I do not want you to waste time on pointless killing sprees."

Inferno waved him off, "Fine, whatever! Is that all?"

"That is all," Dormammu confirmed.

"Great! Then I'll start tomorrow!" Inferno announced.

"Tomorrow?!" Mordo sneered. "You would waste time–"

An arc of flames hit the barrier around him.

"Watch your fucking tongue!" Inferno hissed. "My angel has suffered enough! I will do nothing to help you until she is free once more!"

And then he flew away without another word.

Mordo finally dropped the barrier and stepped closer to the crystal. "Master, I don't understand… Why have you told him the location now, instead of waiting until he fulfills his end of the deal? No one can hold the power of that gem for long, and the love he feels will only cause him to burn out faster! What if the gem incinerates him before he can finish the job?!"

"Are you questioning my decisions?" Dormammu asked softly, but with an undercurrent of malice.

Mordo quickly raised his hands in surrender. "N-no, master! Of course not!"

"This would've been so much easier if you had managed to secure the cooperation of Brock and the symbiote like I had ordered you to," Dormammu said. "But you have failed, and now we have to work with a subpar pawn. Inferno is too volatile to control and he doesn't value his own life enough to be easily threatened. But this woman… She is his weakness. And we can make her into a leash through which Inferno can be controlled."

Venom blankly stared at the screen that was once again filled with static. "Love? That maniac? Really?!"

"Even the darkest of hearts can be capable of love," Madame Web replied. "Watch."

The screen cleared, showing a dark oppressive Victorian mansion. The sign in front of it read "St. Estes Reform School".

The image moved inside the building and showed a group of teenage boys beating another kid, who looked even younger and smaller than them. He was already bruised and covered in blood, but he couldn't get away: there were too many of them.

"Hey! Let him go!" a girl around their age shouted.

The boys all froze.

"It's the witch! The witch is here!" they frantically whispered among themselves.

"I said let him go!" the girl screamed.

Her voice rose into an inhumanly loud shriek that made Venom stumble back with a startled cry. The sheer force of the sound was enough to knock out the attackers, but their victim was left unharmed.

"…Are you an angel?" the kid whispered as the girl helped him stand up.

She giggled, "No, my name is Frances. And you're the new kid, right?"

The boy nodded. He wiped the blood dripping from his broken nose, then licked it off his hand. "I'm Cletus."

…This was Kasady?! It was hard to believe that a monster like him had been a child once.

"Does your blood really taste that good?" Frances asked skeptically.

"Better than the food here," Kasady replied.

The girl giggled again, "Gotta agree with you on that… Why did they go after you?"

"Because they found out what I did to get sent to this place."

Frances curiously tilted her head. "And what did you do?"

"I killed my mother and grandmother," Kasady said matter-of-factly.

Frances scrunched up her nose, looking completely undisturbed by the revelation. "Really? How did you do that? You're so tiny!"

She put one hand on top of her head, then moved it over Kasady's, showing that she was a couple inches taller than him.

Kasady jerked his shoulder in a half-shrug and licked off more blood.

When it became clear that no answer was coming, Frances asked, "Well, did they deserve it?"

"…No one has ever asked me that before," Kasady whispered, looking at Frances with something close to worship in his eyes. "You really are an angel."

The screen filled with static, then disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Apparently, the show was over.

Venom slowly exhaled, finding themselves at a loss for words. They never thought that a monster like Kasady was capable of genuinely caring about someone.

"What happened to Frances?" they finally asked. "And where is she now?"

"You don't need that information," Madame Web replied.

They frowned. "Then how are we going to stop Kasady from breaking her out?"

Madame Web smiled. "You don't."

"What?! But–"

"Some things are meant to happen. Frances Barrison must walk free."

"Why?!"

"Because she has a role to play, as do we all."

Madame Web waved her hand, and everything around them dissolved into purple smoke.

Venom shook their head, struggling to get their bearings. Being in Madame Web's strange realm felt like a waking dream, just this side of unreal. Just enough to leave them wondering whether it had truly happened.

It had been easier the last time: they had only been shown one event that took a few minutes at most. This time, it felt like hours of watching the past, the present, and the never-was.

And last time, they had the kids with them–

They gasped. The kids!

They grabbed their grocery bags and hurried back to Cameron's apartment.

When they ran back inside, for a moment, they stood in the doorway and simply looked at the kids.

Leslie was pacing around, trying to brush her messy hair (not locked in handcuffs, accused of something that wasn't her fault).

Cameron was lying on the couch, looking barely awake (not stuck in the hospital, suffering from the cruelty of others).

And Carrie was wrapped around him, diligently working on his injuries (not bonded to a monster, twisted beyond recognition).

They were alright. Tired, hungry, and miserable, but so much better than the alternative.

Venom rushed towards them and pulled all three of them into a hug, ignoring their confused flailing.

The kids were alright.

And Venom would do everything in their power to make sure that they stayed this way.