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The rocket exploded with a bang. Eddie's eyes were wide open. Around him, fire burning down everything in its path. Burning Venom. Eddie felt his symbiote slip from his body, slip from his grasp.
Goodbye Eddie
Embers were burning on his skin but he could only feel the growing cold in his chest. As he felt further down, his eyes stayed fixated on where he had last seen the alien. There had been so many times that he had wished the parisite gone. But now, at this moment, something felt very wrong about the thought of losing that stupid goo. 'Please Venom,' he thought, 'don't leave me.' It was a pitiful plea without an answer. The cold grew deeper and Eddie hit the water. Air escaped his lungs and a feeling of dread entered his body. His primal instincts took over and made him gasp for air when he reached the water's surface. A very good swimmer he was not, but he could keep his body afloat while he searched the sky. 'Come on, Venom,' he said between his teeth. 'Come on you parasite. Don't be dead. The world needs you.' That last part wasn't true. Eddie needed Venom, the world did not per se. It was a weird realisation. He first would have thought his symbiote was a sort of drug. That he got addicted to the power. But the growing cold in his chest told him otherwise. Although he could also get into hypothermia at the moment. In the back of his mind, Eddie knew he should swim to the shore, tell Annie he was okay. Only he couldn't. He needed to find his symbiote because if he didn't, the cold would not go away.
He waited minutes maybe even close to an hour until his muscles started to protest, making it harder to stay above the water. With the growing cold feeling, he made his way to the shore where Annie found him. She wrapped a blanket around him and said words that didn't quite land. Except for one question.
'Where's Venom?' She said it almost like a whisper as if she was talking to herself and did not want Eddie to hear the words.
'He is gone,' Eddie said. His eyes weary still looking at the place he had last seen the parasite. 'He's gone,' he repeated to himself to let it sink in. The cold in his chest grew and he let his head fall into his hands. 'He burned to protect me.' His voice cracked and he took a sharp breath of air. 'He protected me and what did I do? I called him a parasite.' Annie rubbed his back soothingly in response.
'You shouldn't blame yourself,' she said eventually. 'And I guess he doesn't mind if he knew that you regret calling him that.'
'Well yeah, no way of checking that,' Eddie said in a pitched voice and shuddered. 'I just wished-' He could not say it out loud and just looked for signs again and again.
'Are you going to be okay?'
'No.' Annie sighed.
'Do you need a ride home?' Eddie shook his head and she sighed again.
'Okay then,' she said, stood up but stopped before leaving. 'You can return the blanket later. Please take care of yourself, Eddie.' He could only nod and wrapped the blanket closer around him. Annie's footsteps disappeared and silence fell. He did not realise he hated the silence until it made him experience the cold more painfully than before.
'Where are you, you stupid parasite?' he muttered. 'Come on man... what happened to "we"?' Eddie rubbed away his tears, but they kept coming. He felt so cold, so alone. He just wanted his symbiote to be back on his skin. Just for a moment, just to hear his voice. He walked to the water again, sat next to the rippling surface and stared. He stared so hard his eyes hurt, but that hurt could also be caused by the many many tears dripping down his face. With so many tears it was hard to see, but the night had its part as well on that front. Eddie thought for a moment, a small moment, that he saw something in the water. He lunged forward, almost falling face front, and stared again. His nose touched the water's surface while he squinted his eyes.
Eddie
His heart was beating wildly as he put his hand in the water. Black liquid wrapped around his arm and he fell on his back.
'Venom, you're-you're alive!' was all he could mutter and suddenly a small blob lay in his arms. He hugged it and more tears were shed. This time those tears were wiped away by his symbiote. Eddie smiled and planted a small kiss on the supposed-to-be head of the alien. 'Don't ever leave me like that,' Eddie said and only heard a soft purr in response. He noticed the cold was gone and replaced by warmth. That warmth was Venom, his symbiote, the one he'd never want to lose again.