Current Timeline
<@Illyana> Illyana finally got up her nerve to go visit Eddie. Pietro had warned her that he wasn't himself. Who better to help him than his close friend? She found her favorite rolly chair and teleported it and herself to the outside of the containment rooms. "Eddie?" She glanced around before rolling herself toward the right room.
<Eddie> With a start, Eddie awoke, looking left and right with a panic as he realized he was on the celling. He was lying down on the celling.
<Eddie> There was a little yelp followed with a grunt of pain as the web-like strands from his back detached from their perch, causing him to land with a bump on his side. He rolled onto his back and groaned a little, stretching as he sat up to see who his new visitor was. "....oh. I-it's....you."
<@Illyana> Illyana winced a bit. "Are you ok? I'm sorry... I didn't mean to wake you up. I can come back later..."
<Eddie> 'No, stay! Explain to us all about your hypocritical dislike for killers...', Eddie glanced over his shoulder; that was uncalled for. Probably. He stood up, "Nah, it's fine....only delaying the inevitable awkwardness of this conversation, right?", he approached the window and paused, "....you are Illyana, right?"
<@Illyana> A sad look crossed over Illyana's face. She moved herself closer to the window and placed her hand on it. "It's me. But... you don't remember me. Do you?"
<Eddie> "....I won't lie, I...vaguely recall your name, the fact you're with Pietro....something about comics and...", Eddie made a circular motion with his hand, as if trying to slowly urge on the cognitive process, "...n-not much else. The erm...other guy in here seems to know a mite bit more.", he tapped his head.
<Eddie> 'Oh, the stories we could sing about Illyana....she could have been ours...but we were too weak. We were always too weak...', he shuddered a little, rubbing his eyes.
<@Illyana> "It will come back to you." She hoped. "I know it must be so frustrating for you. Especially because you are trapped in here."
<Eddie> "We're hardly trapped.", Eddie looked up, a darkness seeming to cloak his eyes as he spoke the mirthless sentence. He was silent for a moment before pacing around the containment room. "I'm ah....I'm just still trying to get my head in check. They keep saying I'll regain control of my powers and stuff but....well..."
<@Illyana> "I know you will." She told him with some confidence. "I know you. You're strong and you want to be a hero. I know you'll regain control." She smiled warmly at him, letting her hand fall to her stomach.
<Eddie> Eddie's eyes followed Illyana's hand, "...you're pregnant, right?"
<@Illyana> "With twins," she confirmed. "And they will need their Uncle Eddie, so you have to remember." She gave him another smile.
<Eddie> 'So, a gullible fool and a murderous sociopath have children? Aww, they're so cute, don't we agree?', Eddie sighed, frustrated at something intangible, he turned around as if to confront someone, "If you're just gonna be a bitch, then be quiet...", he whispered to himself.
<@Illyana> "I... I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help." Illyana was surprised by his sudden rage.
<Eddie> "No, not you.", he turned around and stressed, "Christ, I wish you could hear this thing, too.", 'Oh, if you want us to talk, we can talk...'
<Eddie> Eddie gripped his head, wincing a little, "See? We can talk, too. It's very easy; you're not so important to us.", he looked back up at Illyana with eyes a little too wild to be recognized as the same person, "Hello, Illyana. Do you remember us? We're the better half..."
<@Illyana> Her heart broke for Eddie. "Hello, Venom." She hadn't done her psych rotations yet. What was she supposed to do with the other voice? She winced at a kick to her kidney. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all.
<Eddie> "That name is so fitting...", he stalked over to the glass like a marionette and rested his forehead on it, smiling at the girl, a hint of malice lining his 'happiness'. "We're just...very, very upset. And...we want to punish the people who hurt us....you understand that, don't you?"
<@Illyana> "Of course I understand that. It's natural to want justice; however, we all know that hurting them won't undo what they did to you, as much as I wish it would."
<Eddie> 'Eddie' laughed, a cruel laugh, insulting to hear, "Says the wife of a professional throat-cutter? Hilarious...", he pushed himself away from the window and stretched, "We sometimes wonder if we could sleep at night....if there was blood on our hands.", he seemed to stare into the hazy reflection of himself on the metal interior of the room.
<Eddie> "Is it easy? To look at him?"
<@Illyana> "I do not condone or support what he did, and even though I understand his reasons, that doesn't justify the ends. But it's complicated." She rubbed her forehead a bit. How did she explain that marriage and the twins were the main reasons she had stayed and worked every day to forgive him. "I have to work every day to forgive him for what he did."
<Eddie> "Then that's a 'no', hm?", he snickered, 'That isn't fair. I have to admit, it was hard for me to look past it too, but I understand...', his face darkened as he approached the wall adjacent to the window and slammed his head against it three times.
<Eddie> With another laugh that turned into a pained sound, Eddie fell to his knees and looked over his shoulder, "....I don't want to live like this.", he said, in a trembling voice.
<@Illyana> Illyana didn't really think about the repercussions of her action before she teleported to Eddie's side, reaching out her hand for his shoulder. "Eddie..."
<Eddie> Protesting by shying away, Eddie leaned on the wall, almost as if trying to avoid being near her, "Y-you should just stay away from me. Everyone thinks I'm insane: do you know what it's like for everyone to think you're pretending?", he closed his eyes tightly, "Why do I even try? I've lost so much, and what do I have to show for it?"
<Eddie> "We're supposed to be best friends and I don't even remember you!", he blurted out, "Why? Why can't I just go back to how I was?"
<@Illyana> Illyana settled down against the wall near him, but far enough to give him some space. "I don't know why. It's not fair. None of it is. But I'm not about to lose you again." She shifted to get comfortable. "You aren't insane. You try because you haven't lost everything. Heroes sometimes do lose everything. It isn't fair... but just think of Batman. He watched his parents get murdered in front of him."
<@Illyana> "But he came back and he fought to make things better. That's what heroes do. That's what you do. You make things better for other people because you are so caring and selfless."
<Eddie> "Or because I'm an egotistical jackass who puts on a mask because he can't face being the hopeless, aimless wreck that he is?", Eddie spat, back against the wall, looking away from her, "This isn't a comic book: it's real life. And it's not going to get better for me. it never does.",
<@Illyana> "But it did get better. You had a great thing going. But something bad happened to you. It isn't fair and it isn't right. They shouldn't have taken your mind away from you. But giving up isn't going to make anything better either."
<Eddie> Eddie stood up, gritting his teeth and just screaming out at the top of his lungs. "I AM SICK OF FIGHTING!", he roared, voice cracking as he slammed a human fist into the window over and over again, hearing the bone snap as his strength was forced into his arm more and more with each swing, "IT'S NOT FAIR AND I'M SICK OF BEING ALIVE!", he slipped onto his knees and started to cry.
<Eddie> "I'm so sick of being alive!", he managed, voice-box burning as the tears came in floods. His hand fell limp to one side.
<@Illyana> He was too far away to crawl to, but Illyana teleported to his side again. She took the hand that he hadn't slammed into the wall into her hand. She didn't say anything to him, but instead just let him cry.
<Eddie> Eddie leaned on Illyana's shoulder as the emotions took him. The pain in his right hand seemed nothing compared to the hole he felt growing in his soul with every sob. For minuets that felt like hours, he just cried, until his eyes felt like they were burning and the tears finally stopped.
<Eddie> As if waiting for this, his right hand twisted and re-aligned, crunching back into place as his healing factor repaired the breaks and bruising. Eddie's bloodshot eyes fell to it, "...why me, Illy? Why do I even....anything?"
<@Illyana> "I wish I had an answer for you." She told him gently. "I wish that more than anything except that I could make it better for you."
<Eddie> He curled up against Illyana, closing his eyes and thinking as hard as his weary, emotionally drained mind could manage, "....w-we...were good friends before. You bought all my comic books. You believed in me when everyone else didn't.", Eddie rubbed his cheek against her shoulder a little, "....I told you I loved you, didn't I?"
<@Illyana> "Yeah." She choked out through her own tears. "You did. And I still love you too." Though not in the way he wanted. That also wasn't fair, but she really didn't want to think about that. She just wanted him to stop hating life.
<Eddie> "I-In a way, I guess I do, too. Love you, I mean.", Eddie put his arm around her, "...w-why are you always here? Why me? Why do you care?", he thought back to Liza running away, "....everyone else is scared of me..."
<@Illyana> Illyana rested her head against him. "You're always there for me too, Eddie. Even when you think I made stupid decisions. You are always there for me. That's what you do for people you care about. You are there for them. And I trust you. You'd never hurt me, Eddie." Though bets were still on about Venom. She just hoped she stayed on his good side.
<Eddie> 'But you can't keep us locked away forever. Sooner or later, we are going to come out. And we are going to be very, very upset with some very mean people...'
<Eddie> Without a word, Eddie moved himself to better....essentially cuddle Illyana. "....I'm sorry.", he whispered.
<@Illyana> "You don't have anything to be sorry about. Just don't give up... please." She looked up at him with a sad face.
<Eddie> Looking into her eyes, Eddie felt a flicker of warmth in his chest, nodding a little, "I'll try.", he managed, "It's just so difficult sometimes..."
<@Illyana> "You don't have to do this alone though," Illyana assured him. "I'm always here for you, even though you don't really remember me."
<Eddie> "I can't fight this forever.", he sighed, "I can't. I've buried this part of me too long, and I can't keep fighting it."
<@Illyana> "There has to be another way... I just don't know how." She sighed and looked down at her stomach again. "There has to be though."
<Eddie> Eddie followed her gaze, placing a gentle hand on her bump, "....you said 'Uncle Eddie' before.", he reminded her, smiling weakly, "Did you mean that?"
<@Illyana> Illyana smiled back at him and moved his hand a bit to the kicker. "Absolutely."
<Eddie> "Heh...this one's a little bit of a fighter himself, huh?", he grinned, hand tensing ever so slightly against her. "....i-it's....it feels so strange."
<@Illyana> She giggled at him a little. "That's what all the guys say. That one is my kicker. He or she is always moving. The quiet one is over here." She showed him with her own hand. "I bet this one is ready to get out of there and get some space."
<Eddie> Eddie's hand shied away, "...there's just something scary I feel with children and stuff.", he confessed, "I...remember that my Mother...she died when I was born, m-my Dad told me. And...", he struggled to recall the details, "...she just didn't have the strength after giving birth to me. She....", he clenched a fist as the emotions rose up as if he was hearing it all over again.
<@Illyana> "Eddie... I'm so sorry." She hugged him. "I... hadn't even thought of something happening to me. I've been so focused on making sure they stay in there long enough. I forgot that things can happen to me too."
<Eddie> "No, no: nothing will happen. Nothing will go wrong.", Eddie held her, "My mother was just....she was very sick, my Dad couldn't use the hospital because they wouldn't allow mutants there.", he squeezed her a little, "It's fine. It'll be all right."
<@Illyana> "If anything ever does... I know it won't, but if it does... you have to make sure they are taken care of."
<Eddie> Eddie blinked at that, "...I...what?"
<@Illyana> "You're the only person I trust as much as Pietro to make sure they are ok. And you'll be the coolest uncle ever." She gave him a brilliant smile.
<Eddie> "N-no, that's not fair. I-I can't promise....", he stammered, unable to finish his sentence. Something inside him seemed to click, as if one side of him was just pain and hate, and this side, the other, needed to be better than it suddenly. "W-what if I...."
<@Illyana> "You wouldn't." She took his hand again. "They are important to you too. And they'd need you more than ever if something were to happen to me. And you could help them like nobody else could."
<Eddie> Eddie's hand shook a little in hers, "....I j-...", he tried, just staring at their hands and then looking into her eyes again. He couldn't find any words, instead just looking at her through a humble pair of teardrops that slid down his cheeks.
<@Illyana> Illyana rested her head against his shoulder again. That was close enough. She'd take it. "Thank you, Eddie." She whispered to him.
<Eddie> With another soft smile, his head leaned on hers, too. Feeling there were no more words left to say, Eddie just sat with her, feeling warmer for having someone who genuinely cared so much for him. And in that moment, he really felt that somehow, some way, he'd be able to do this.