“How are you doing?”
The question came from far away, barely audible, as Eddie stared out across the harbor. His arms rested against the railing, hip cocked. Looking at Lady Liberty. He could almost imagine Venom’s voice in his head, telling him how beautiful she looked. She welcomed those who needed sanctuary. Venom would have been happy to see her.
Eddie felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, turning to look at the person behind him.
Anne smiled gently at him. She and Dan had come the moment his charges had been dropped, keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn’t do anything reckless. Well, Anne was doing all those things. Dan was sightseeing more than anything. Eddie didn’t blame him. He loved New York.
Venom would have, too.
“Eddie,” Anne said quietly, giving him a soft smile. “Are you okay?”
Eddie swallowed thickly, blinking back tears he hadn’t realized were in his eyes. His hands trembled. He let out a cough of a laugh and pulled back from her, skin tingling where her hand had been and not in the pleasant way it used to. He didn’t want to be touched. Didn’t want to be held. Not by Anne. Not by anyone.
“I’m fine,” Eddie replied, shrugging a shoulder. He took a step back, turning away from her, looking back at the Statue of Liberty again. He heard Anne sigh. She moved to stand next to him, leaning against the railing where he just was. She said nothing, but he knew she wanted to drill him. What had happened, where was Venom, why was he here, in New York of all places. What was he going to do now. Eddie didn’t know the answer to any of those questions. He thought she knew that, which was why she was standing. Waiting.
Eddie scrubbed a hand through his hair and down his face. He breathed out sharply. “He wanted to see a show. A Broadway show. I don’t know which one. But all he wanted was to see the Statue of Liberty and a fucking Broadway show.”
His voice cracked and he buried his face in his hands, letting a sob finally escape. It had been days since he realized Venom was gone for good, and this was the first time he was allowing himself to break. Anne reached for him and he stumbled back, putting his hands up.
“Don’t,” he choked out. “Please don’t. I’m- I’m sorry, I-“
“It’s okay,” Anne whispered. She let her hands drop to her sides. “It’s okay, Eddie. You don’t have to apologize. I can’t even…begin to understand what you’ve gone through. I’m- I’m so sorry.”
Eddie swiped at his face, tears tumbling down his cheeks even as he wiped them away. He shook his head. “We- We met this family. On the way to Las Vegas. They were looking for aliens and Venom and I found them. And there was this kid…he was scared. He didn’t want aliens to be real. I told him they weren’t, and Venom…he…” Eddie let out a weak laugh. “He told me I’d be a good father. I’ve never heard that before, not even from you.”
Anne looked away. Eddie swallowed. “I- I didn’t mean-“
“I know,” Anne replied. She looked away, pausing for a moment, before she murmured, “You were, though, weren’t you?”
Eddie’s breathing hitched. He tilted his head down. “We both were. We saved him. Together. I- I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking a lot about…”
“The two of you?” Anne asked. Eddie looked at her, breathing out shakily. He nodded slowly. Anne gave him a kind smile. “It must be really quiet now, huh?”
Too quiet. Eddie felt nausea roll in his stomach at the reminder that he was alone in his head. His thoughts were nothing but reminders that there was no one there to read them.
Venom was dead. That was all he could remember. Anything else was unimportant.
Eddie was alone. It was strange how to him, how alone he felt. When he and Anne had been together, it had been different. She hadn’t been in his head. Possibly, that had been the main route of their problems. Eddie had had plenty of relationships, though Anne was the one he had truly thought he would marry, and even she couldn’t come close to the intimacy he’d experienced with Venom.
“Yeah,” Eddie rasped out when he realized it had been too long since he’d spoken. “Yeah, it’s really quiet.”
Anne reached out again and this time Eddie let her. She squeezed his arm. “I have to go meet Dan, get him back to the hotel room. You…Will you be okay here by yourself? Or do you want to come with me? It’s okay either way.”
“I’ll be okay,” Eddie nodded, wiping away another tear. Anne gave him a look. He huffed out a laugh. “Really. I’ll be fine. You go make sure Dan’s okay. I’m sure seeing Hamilton for the first time is gonna ruin him.”
Anne laughed. She paused for a moment before launching forward, wrapping Eddie up in a hug. He froze for a moment before wrapping his arms around her. He pressed his face into her shoulder and shut his eyes. Anne rubbed his back slowly.
“You’ll be okay, Eddie. Eventually. Grief takes time. As much time as you need.”
Eddie held her close for a long moment before he pulled away. His hands were shaking but he shoved them in his pockets before she could see. Anne cleared her throat, pushing her hair behind her ear. She took a step back.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” She said.
Eddie nodded. She backed away from him, keeping her eyes on him, before she walked away. Eddie sighed softly and moved to a bench, taking a seat. Looking back at the Statue of Liberty. He pushed his hands into his jacket pocket, wrapping his jacket around himself more to stave off the chill of the fall air. He shut his eyes and tilted his head back, breathing in and out slowly.
“Hey, buddy,” Eddie whispered. There was a deafening silence in his head. His ears rang most of the time now with the lack of constant noise in his head. Everything was muted, muffled. When he looked around, it was like the world had lost its color. “Bought tickets to Wicked. You never told me which one you wanted to see, but I thought you might like that one. I got a seat toward the back so maybe you could come out. We could watch together.”
Eddie wiped his face, breathing out shakily. “I’m sorry, bud. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. But thank you for saving me.”
There was a whooshing sound, heat and light making Eddie open his eyes, turning suddenly toward a large orange portal that had opened next to him. He shot up, stepping back, and put his hands up. A man in a long red cape and a blue tunic stepped out of the portal, arms clasped behind his back, stepped forward through the portal.
“Jesus, uh-“ Eddie looked around for something, anything that would help him defend himself. There was a family of pigeons…he weighed the options, and decided the truth was better. “Hey, wizard guy. If you’re here to kill me or him or whatever, I’m just a guy now. The alien’s gone. So you can move right along, alright? Nothing to see here.”
The man looked at him, cocking an eyebrow. He tilted his head slightly. “Eddie Brock?”
“Yeah?” Eddie frowned.
“Right. I’m Doctor Stephen Strange. I’m from another dimension, one I believe you visited just a couple days ago.” The doctor took another step forward. Eddie took a step back.
“Uh, ye- yes, yes, I was in another universe or- dimension, whatever you want to call it,” Eddie said, putting his arms out. “But, as you can see, doc, I’m back where I belong. So we can move on and you can go back to your world, and everything’ll be fine.”
Doctor Strange put a hand up. “I’m not here to hurt you, Mr. Brock. You left something in my world. I’m just returning what’s yours.”
“What do you…?” Eddie frowned. Strange reached into his pocket. Eddie had the wild thought that he was going for a gun. As if he wasn’t an actual wizard. Eddie flinched as Strange pulled something out of his pocket.
A glass vial, similar to the ones in the lab they had destroyed. He felt his heart leap, his feet move forward as though compelled by an outside driving force, as his eyes landed on the substance in the vial. A black, stringy glob that was fighting against the glass. Leaping.
Toward Eddie.
“This belongs to you,” Strange looked at the vial. “You know, he made quite a bit of trouble in our world looking for you. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Eddie could barely hear him over the rush of blood in his ears. His knees felt weak. He reached a shaking hand out, nodding. “I- I do. I’m- Thank you for bringing him back to me. Thank you.”
Doctor Strange smiled a sad, knowing smile and passed the vial over. Eddie took it, fingers trembling. He watched as the glob immediately settled at the bottom. It was calm. He was calm.
“Word of advice,” Strange said quietly, taking a step back into the portal. Eddie looked up at him. “Stay out of my world.”
Then, the portal closed, swallowing him up. Eddie breathed out sharply. He looked at the vial, stumbling back to find the bench behind him. He sat down heavily, eyes on Venom. “Hey,” Eddie whispered. Venom reached a tendril out, pressing it against the glass where Eddie’s finger lay. “You got a wizard from another dimension threatening me. What’d you do while you were gone?”
Venom patted at the glass. Eddie laughed weakly, uncorking the vial. He put out his hand and tipped the vial so Venom tumbled out into his hand. Venom stretched himself across Eddie’s hand, hesitating for a moment. Eddie swallowed hard, nodding encouragingly. “Come on in.”
Venom did not hesitate any longer. The moment he got permission, he stretched and ran across Eddie’s entire body, circling him, before he stopped at Eddie’s heart and sunk in. Eddie felt his presence so quickly, so suddenly, the familiar embrace wrapping around his brain, that he gasped, pressing his head into his hands as tears sprang to his eyes.
“Eddie!” Venom shouted in his mind, so loud he felt it in his teeth, and Eddie let out a sob, tears sliding down his cheeks. “I am so happy to see you!”
Eddie couldn’t speak, relief and joy and a strange fear he couldn’t understand warring for first place in his mind. He shook his head. Venom paused, went quiet. Then, he murmured, “Oh. Oh, Eddie…I am sorry. I’m back now. I will not leave you again.”
“I know,” Eddie replied, voice cracking. “I’m sorry, too.”
Venom’s forehead pressed against Eddie’s, two tendrils reaching out to wrap around Eddie in a strange hug. Eddie let his hands fall away from his face, hands gripping Venom’s tendrils. Venom nudged his forehead against Eddie’s cheek.
They sat like that for a long time. Until Eddie could breathe normally. Until they were fully enmeshed again, two people occupying the same space.
Til death do we part.
Venom finally pulled his head away, turning to look at the Statue of Liberty. He huffed out a laugh. Eddie looked up at him. “What?”
“She’s beautiful,” Venom’s voice rumbled in Eddie’s ear. Eddie looked up at the statue. He smiled.
“She is.”
Venom tilted his head, then looked at Eddie, perking up. “You got tickets to see Wicked?!” Venom shouted. Eddie leaned back, letting out a laugh. Venom forced him to his feet and began walking them toward the theater, disappearing into Eddie’s back again. “We are going to be late, Eddie. We must move!”
“Yeah, alright, alright,” Eddie muttered, annoyed in tone of voice. But nobody could miss the relieved smile that lit up his eyes. “We’re moving, buddy.”