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We are going to save him.
It’s all he had to say to convince his new host.
It’s an interesting thought that this body was once Eddie’s partner. Venom doesn’t think he deliberately found Anne. It was more like an accident. An accident that fits his plan. He remembered her scent, and luckily this Papillon saw her before.
Relax.
“Oh god,” She says. Her body quality is better than his previous hosts even though it is still no match for Eddie. She walks into the elevator while checking the surveillance cameras. “You are talking to me.”
Of course. How else do you think I communicate with him?
“Right, I shouldn’t be too surprised. I’m just not used to having a voice inside my head,” She answers. She breathes in and out, adjusting her facial expression. “You said he’s taken away by Life Foundation. What should we do?”
Interesting. She believed Venom was hurting Eddie just a moment ago but now she’s his ally when their interests align; the human mind has been intriguing. Venom watches how Anne processes the news in her head, piece by piece with precision: Venom is dangerous, but Eddie is in serious trouble. I can’t rescue Eddie by myself, but Venom can. Ignore Venom’s risk for now, Eddie’s safety comes first.
He thinks he probably needs to appreciate Anne’s ability to remain calm. It’s not like he can’t hear her panicking voice and the screams suppressed deep inside her: Is he telling the truth? He’s lying. He’s killing Eddie. Am I going to die? Eddie. Danger. Plan. Trust. Danger, danger, danger, danger-
Venom decides to exit that part of her subconsciousness.
She has handled herself pretty well so far. Maybe there is a crazy train of thought going on in her head right now but she lets nothing show on the outside. It seems Eddie Brock has a decent taste in choosing his partners.
First, you can try not to talk to yourself.
“Oh.” She gives it a moment and tries again. [Oh.]
Good job.
Watching her way of thinking briefly reminds Venom of Eddie, whose acceptance of Venom has little to do with logic, unlike Anne, and everything to do with sensibility. His destined host accepted him with a bit of fearless curiosity, impulses, and an amazingly vast understanding.
Which makes Venom almost incapable of believing some of the bold things he saw Eddie did in his mind. His host is a natural cooperator, who recognizes and understands and is willing to seek common grounds without compromising his core. Maybe that’s why he gets along with Venom. He has the ability to accept, the will to fight. He is the density Venom needs.
These thoughts only make their separation more insufferable. His host should’ve realized by now that they are one inseparable being. Did Eddie not feel how good their bonding was? Venom is pretty sure he felt just as much as he did. But then everything was ruined by one stupid, tiny mistake! If he could just explain to him that he cherishes their body too, he’s certain he would be welcomed back again.
After all, Eddie now knows what it feels to be whole.
And Venom will put them back in sync very soon.
They exit from the back of the hospital. Anne’s steps rushed but steady, parting the crowd. She takes out her key and starts the car promptly and then what she feels is a web of tendrils looking for their way around her arm as she lays her hands on the steering wheel.
She blinks at the sudden development of events.
I will drive.
“Oh, okay.” Anne surprisedly stares at her, or should we say Venom’s, hand holding the wheel. “Not that I’m doubting you, but you know, we humans have these traffic rules.”
I’m in your head. We share all knowledge. Venom then adds, I can even drive faster than you.
“Okay. But to be fair I can drive pretty fas-”
Her words were cut off by a sudden press on the accelerator pedal and she watches her Jeep switching into another lane followed by a sharp turn heading towards the highway.
“Watch out!” Anne raises her voice.
Your boyfriend is going to die any minute.
“I’m not saying I’m not worried. But getting us killed on the road won’t help anyone!”
A car crush won’t kill us, Anne. Besides, I won’t let it happen.
“It won’t kill you maybe, but don’t forget I’m a human.”
Not anymore.
“What?”
We bonded. Your body is in a different state right now.
“What?” She repeats.
To put it short, I enhanced you, Venom says while running a red light before a Santana in his rear-view mirror can honk at him.
“You just ran a red light.”
And we’ve got more traffic rules to break.
The Jeep then pulls another sharp turn. Despite how nervous Anne feels about Venom’s driving, she has more time on her hands now. To think about her situation.
Venom feels her adrenaline level dropping. She adjusts her sitting position and tries to concentrate on her thinking only. She bites her lower lip before opening up again.
“So, what you said about my body being in another state...” She finishes her sentence hesitantly, “Does that explain why Eddie looked like that in that building?”
You saw me in that building.
“Sorry, what?”
We are a symbiosis now. We choose how we want to be seen. We can be you, or me, or partial you and partial me, like right now with your body and my limbs.
Venom replays that piece of memory in her head. She shivers a bit. “So that was you. And you said I could look like that too?”
Yes. You want to try?
“No! No, I mean, at least not here.” She lowers her voice. “That will freak people out.”
I will need to borrow you completely to get Eddie back. We don’t stand a chance in this state.
“I know. I know,” she answers. “Just wait till we get there.”
I agree.
They remain silent for the next while and the Jeep keeps going fast under the streetlights. Venom is intrigued to see his profile being updated in Anne’s rational mind. It’s a whole page now.
Alien life. ‘Jelly’. Black. Monster form. Need to bond with humans. (Note: with Eddie, precisely) Weakness fire. Weakness sound frequency between 4k and 6k Hz. Highly dangerous (Update: Hostility Unknown)
Venom, who is studying about himself, apparently, didn’t expect Anne to suddenly decide to talk.
“He is not my boyfriend,” she says.
What?
“Eddie. You said he’s my boyfriend.” She fails to put on a smile. “He’s not.”
Okay.
“He used to be. But not anymore.” Anne continues to explain, “I don’t know how you define partner, but we humans normally won’t just have one partner throughout life.”
I understand your culture.
“So…” She forces a smile. “That’s it.” No comment from Venom. Anne puffs a sigh looking away. “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about this. It’s not like this stuff is important.”
No, I understand, Venom says. He sees a warm orange color covering her memory, very much like what he saw in Maria’s mind. It then slowly turns blue and Eddie’s face disappears. You still have feelings for him.
“What? No.”
Then why did you agree to help me find him?
This time Anne chills out and even lets out a laugh.
“Oh no, Venom, it’s not what you think.” She glances at the rear-view mirror. “Human emotions are complicated. I do care about him, but that’s not love.”
I understand human emotions, Venom adds, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice. Your emotion system is very understandable. Feelings are just colors.
“What do you mean?”
I mean actual colors.
Anne looks into the mirror puzzledly. “Since I have no idea what you see in our heads, so I won’t doubt you on that. But nevertheless, I think you should know that feeling is a very delicate thing to us. Love, for example, is just one big category of very similar emotions. You can love your family, your friends, your partner, and these are not the same kind of feelings.”
“I care about Eddie, and sure, you could say I love him if you want to, but it’s not- not what I feel when I am with Den. With Eddie, the romantic feelings had gone for me when I ended our relationship. We had our moments but I guess some things just can’t be fixed. But you see, even if I don’t love him as a partner anymore, I still care about him as a friend.”
Friend.
“Yes. Friend. I still admire some of his qualities and I still feel close to him because of what we’ve been through together. Maybe you can think of my relationships as a circle for which I'm the center, and the person standing closest to me is my partner, and then my family and my friends.”
“All relationships demand sharing and understanding. Think about the vastness of the things you will share with your partner if not your entire life, on so many aspects like life styles, morality, philosophy, interests, and even your sleep cycle, and above all that it’s the compromise you are willing to make for the other person. And in comparison, a friendship is not that strict on both parties and it can build on the simplest things like hobbies or tastes or political views without having to share every aspect of life especially those that cause argument. Like the situation I have with Eddie right now. I found that he’s not a good partner for me, but I am still happy to have him as a friend.”
You classify people.
“You could say that.” Anne laughs.
Venom watches this piece of memory pop into her head after her speech.
She was just a paralegal when she met Eddie who was a reporter covering her case. Her boss assigned her to “block” that reporter and make him go away, and she guessed she did block that reporter, but in another sense, she failed to do that completely. Eddie Brock went into her life. That enthusiastic and righteous reporter undoubtedly caught her attention by his morning coffee and flowers and midnight motorcycle adventures.
Anne Weying and Eddie Brock are different. Different career choices and different life values. “We complete each other,” was what Anne thought at the time. Eddie completed the part of her that always wanted to feel adventure and rebellion. Eddie was charismatic and kind with a heart that loved her completely under his shy skin. They came to San Francisco together from New York, and she secretly thought that Eddie would be happier here. He was the sunshine of California and the courage of the never-ending Highway One; they fitted like two matching jigsaw puzzles.
This piece of memory is filled with the brightest golden color. The light is so alluring that even Venom feels a strange fluffiness, like they are not on their way to the Life Foundation right now but to some certain and unquestionable joy and happiness.
That feeling makes him either want to cringe, or destroy something. He hovers over Anne’s chest impatiently.
What was that?
“What was that?”
This feeling. What does it mean?
“I have no idea what you are saying, buddy.” She raises her head up.
I am watching your memory of Eddie Brock and I can feel this thing. It’s unusual, like being weightless.
He replays the memory in Anne’s mind. It is quickly covered with a foggy blue.
“Oh. I guess it was my… feelings from the past,” Anne slowly answers. Venom feels a coldness inside her chest along with some pain and bitter sweet joy which was not what he felt before. “See, I loved Eddie. And even if I’ve let go of my feelings, they- they still existed.”
She looks at herself in the rear-view mirror. Venom realizes it’s her way of talking to him.
“Then what you are feeling might as well be…” She hesitates on the word next. “Love.”
IT’S NOT!
Anne flinches at Venom’s sudden explosion. “Jeez! lower your voice.”
That’s not it, Venom hisses. He circles around Anne’s head and orders, Show me more.
“More of what?”
THAT FEELING! Venom roars. MORE EDDIE BROCK!
“Frankly, I don’t even know how you can yell like this in my head.” She tries to think of the pieces and bits of the moments she had with Eddie, and Venom immediately dives into them.
It’s a date.
They drove eight hours to Yosemite National Park and planned on camping for three days. They followed CA-120. The waterfalls and lakes on the first day, the hiking in the Valley on the second day, the Tuolumne Meadows on the third day. The warm colors fill Anne’s chest, and Venom’s idea of a chest.
In the morning they planned on going back, they went to a small church first. Venom could sense Anne’s nervousness. They didn’t stay in the church for too long and when they were about to get into the car, Eddie stopped Anne.
“Anne Weying,” he said, fingers twitchily clinging onto the pocket outline of his jeans. He took out a small box from his upper shirt. Anne turned around in surprise.
Venom read her emotions. Nervous, anticipation, disbelief, happy, and-
“Will you marry me?”
The golden rays of light burst out.
They wrapped around Anne’s limbs over and over with a powerful yet harmless heat. Like a guarantee for safety, home, comfort, love, commitment… He heard Anne’s sharp breath, the messy thoughts, and then a specific emotion that trumped all others.
[If you think love is not what you feel, then I can only think of the other answer,] Anne quietly says in her mind.
“Yes!” Anne runs towards Eddie.
[What you feel is being loved.]
Being loved by Eddie Brock.
Venom obsessively hangs around the idea.
Being loved is this golden, itchy thing. It makes him feel like he can fly into the sky until he reaches the end of the sun.
In Anne’s memory, they bent like two spoons facing each other on the bed. Fingers intertwined with paired rings on their fingers. He watches Eddie through Anne’s eyes. He sees his host’s eyes and hairs and temples. He can even see the peach fuzz and a tiny mole and dark spots on his face. Eddie holds her gaze which makes Venom feel like he is looking at him. He sees his eyelashes and the blood vessels and the dark circles and a bit of wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. He sees his pupil and iris. There’s a feeling inside Anne and another inside Eddie’s eyes. The latter is something soft but firm, like the orange in Mara’s memory, but only more intense and powerful. It’s like a comet or the explosion of a star, like a fire that can never hurt him, or the warmness in the deepest ocean.
It’s the love Edward Brock has towards Anne Weying.
Only God knows how much Venom wants to own it right now.
He now understands the weightlessness better. The warmness inside Anne’s memory attracts him, reminding him of the bond he has with Eddie and the invincibility that comes after, but only this feels better than that.
He feels Eddie is closer to him, not only physical but spiritual, like they can never be parted by time and space ever again, like a part of him will always belong to Eddie and a part of Eddie will always belong to him.
Love and being loved. That is magic or some sort of secret human technology. Two colors fade into one. And this is so going into his wish list.
After he recovers from the dizziness, another question pops into his head.
- But how can he obtain it?
Eddie is his destined host. They will be inseparable and share their lives together. He will know everything about Eddie. He will know his secrets and his past and his thoughts and hobbies. This qualifies for a partnership described by Anne. No, what they will have with each other is more than a partnership. They will be a symbiosis and losing each other will incomplete them – they are simply two sides of a coin.
And they can’t find a replacement for each other, unlike humans do.
If humans love their partners, then he will undoubtedly be loved by Eddie. But did he though? Venom tries to remember their bonding and the excitement and adrenaline they brought out of each other. Eddie didn’t hate his existence. He helped Eddie climb the Network building and saved his life twice. He made Eddie strong and made them strong and Eddie of course should love him.
Meanwhile, Venom can’t help but realize this is not the same as what he felt in Anne’s memory.
It’s not strong enough. It’s probably even weaker than the warm feelings in Maria’s memory.
Eddie accepts him, but acceptance is not Venom’s goal and not to mention that they still need to clear the misunderstanding first.
Venom frustratedly howls inside Anne’s head who seems to be used to it by now.
How? He asks, voice echoing inside their mind. How did you do it?
“You mean me and him?” she asks.
Yes!
“Well, first, it was fate and the goodness we saw in each other, and then, I think it’s just time and patience,” Anne explains. “It’s like trying to fit two unmatching puzzle pieces together. It just takes a lot of addition and subtraction to make it work.”
We got time! Venom keeps roaring, And fate!
“We?” Anne asks before realizing what Venom is talking about. She opens up carefully next, “You are talking about you… and Eddie?”
Eddie!
Something passes through Anne’s mind that Venom can’t read well; it’s like a stream of warmness mixed with surprise, and the memories related to it are babies, puppies, and daisies. The corners of her lips are lifted but she soon recovers. “What do you want to know, Venom?”
How to be loved by him.
Anne almost fails to keep down her second smile. She is clearly pleased with this question. “You hope Eddie loves you?”
Yes. That feeling is incredible! Now tell me how I can have it.
Drooling babies, blue-eyed puppies, quivering daisies. What do they have to do with what Venom just said? And why does she think this is interesting? Anne adjusts her sitting and glances at the rear-view mirror.
“If you were to ask me, I’d say that at least Eddie doesn’t hate you,” she answers. “I know him and judging by how he talks about you in my car earlier, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate you.”
Of course he doesn’t hate me. Venom sounds certain. Tell me something useful.
“Okay.” She shrugs. “But first, you will need to answer the question we asked in the hospital earlier. Are you making Eddie ill or weak? Will he die because of you?”
No and no. I’m not saying that doctor is stupid but your medical knowledge is stupid. I can fix him. It’s what symbiosis does. I can fix him very easily. And if he dies, I can’t live either. I’m not suicidal, trust me.
“If that’s true, it does explain some things. But I’m not trusting your words until we get him back and do a complete body check.”
Suit yourself. Venom sneers. You will find him alive and healthy and not getting cancer his entire life.
“Okay, then the thing is…” she continues after the pause, “I don’t think I can tell you how to make Eddie love you, because even us humans don’t know exactly how love works, but maybe I can tell you how to make Eddie like you better.”
Explain.
“If you want someone to love you, then you need to be able to look at things his way. Respect what he respects, understand what he understands, love what he loves. As for Eddie, he has a very strong sense of morality. He loves this world and he always wants to do the right thing. I guess that’s the most important thing in his life.” She looks forward, not pretending to hide the sadness in her smile. “And in fact, that is why we couldn’t work as a couple. We feel things very differently.”
Respect, Venom repeats.
He tries to recall who Eddie cares about and what he likes. A dying plant, a shop owner downstairs, the now dead Maria, Anne, and those kind and innocent humans. He recalls the energy Eddie possesses in his body, like he is always ready to jump out and protect the world.
His host has belief, which happens to be Venom’s source of power too.
But can he see the world like Eddie does?
The plant. Sure, Venom can keep it alive. Maria. Nothing he can do about that. The shop owner downstairs. He doesn’t see what the problem is. It could be that guy who threatens her for money. Easy. Anne. Okay, he’s putting her in danger for sure, but he will make her leave once they find Eddie. And for last one which happens to be the most important one-
Eddie loves this world.
They just passed the golden bridge. Venom looks at the views in Los Angeles at night.
He sees car lights, streets, the laughter and conversations on the streets. He sees plants, animals, humans, coexisting on this planet in a complex way.
This is where Eddie Brock lives. If Riot comes back to Earth with their armies, everything he sees in front of him will cease to exist.
“Yes. I know it may be hard for you since you are… not from this world. But if you are staying, I mean with Eddie, then you may as well try to like this place.” She jokingly continues, “The concept of respect is simple. If he likes a flower, then don’t step on it. If he likes the sun, then enjoy the sunlight with him. Those small things.”
“Eddie will respond to you. If he senses your respect and care for the things he respects and cares for, he will show you the same feelings as you’ve shown him.”
He will love me.
“Can’t make that promise.” Anne laughs. “But yeah, love, or something similar.”
Like what he likes, Venom concludes, and If he likes this world, I should be able to let him keep it.
“I guess?” Anne replies. “But I don’t see why you have to worry about that. The situation seems bad with the Life Foundation right now, but it’s not like it is the end of the world tomorrow.”
Venom is quiet.
They almost reach their destination. He sees the firey lights and the rockets ready to be launched.
Nothing will be here after tomorrow.
Venom gazes forward, the Jeep going faster.
He just made a decision.
You are right, Venom says. I think I've started to like it here.
After they get out of the car, Venom takes control of her body. They run in the woods at night like a shadow. Anne has more agility than Eddie and that will make up for her strength in battle.
I’ve got an idea, Venom says to Anne.
[What is it?]
We will go kiss him later.
[Eddie?]
It will help me transfer faster, is what Venom says.
Anne’s thoughts flicker.
[Sure,] She replies. [I don’t see why not.]