Spider-Man. The House Of Venom

In a fit of restlessness, Felicia grumbled as Peter turned over again. He had been having some kind of weird dream, and not the kind that lead to sexy times when he woke up. He was covered in a sheen of sweat and even shaking him, he wasn't rousing.

She gave up. A nightmare was normal for the kind of things they had been doing, and she had her fair share of them. Once he accepted what he had done, or maybe saw a shrink, they would vanish.

For now though, so she could get some sleep, she grabbed her clothes and headed back to her own home. Sometimes it was not a good idea to be in the bed of someone waking from a bad dream. Especially if that person had powers and could cut you in half before they realised what they had done.

Even as she closed the door, Peter moaned in his sleep.

We see you monster. Know your fate, know our suffering.

⁂

Black, inky black. Hunger, pain, hatred. He dreamt of nothing. Of a never-ending sphere of darkness that covered a single point of beautiful light.

He hated it, in his dream the light made him think of everything pure, of love of life of wonder. The universe had been born in the before time, when he knew nothing. He was created with his sisters, Life and Death, and it was their turn to fill the void. As their Purpose filled the new universe they fractured and became lesser. New smaller creatures were born from their corpses, six imperfect beings born to fulfil their own Purpose. Space, Time, Mind, Soul, Power, and Reality.

He hated them. They made him feel empty, feel angry, feel that his life was an injustice. He was condemned to live in the shadow, to feel nothing but the desire to consume, to feed from the decay around him. He was Oblivion, the darkness in the void, the end of all things, and so he named himself Null.

He would have his revenge. He would kill and eat until the light was extinguished.

He would find who made the light and he would smother them in his darkness, and then he would consume them all.

He felt a tendril expand, greater than a galaxy, claw and tear into another speck of light. One would not be enough, there would never be an end to this gnawing pain he called hunger.

He had no idea why he did these things, only that he needed to. A hunger greater than anything he had ever felt gnawed at him, and if he did not feast, he would go mad.

So he waited. He waited until the creations of the light-bringers were alone. The small fragile things mapped a rock. It was his web, to trap them., mapping a strange rock he had made to catch one of them until it was too late and his prey was caught.

They had received a startling and unexplainable message. A single planet, checked and passed on as uninhabitable, had started to produce life. A single organism, a thick slime creature with no apparent purpose had appeared. The smaller creatures they used as scouts and gatherers had failed to return.

As more were sent, reports started to come back. The creatures would take them over, coat them in a strange skin and attack their colleagues. However, once they returned with greater numbers there was nothing. No bodies, no indication of an attack. All there was, was a barren rock world, devoid of life. And then the messages, as before, would report an attack, and once again, as before they would stop.

As the casualty list grew it came to the Celestials themselves to identify and judge this threat. But when they got to the planet and conformed to its physical laws, even they were attacked.

Before they could find and identify the strange creature it attacked. Even they felt confused as the creature could harm them. Not only cause them injury but it seemed able to absorb and control whatever energy they threw at them. In their confusion, the first of their kind fell.

Why? Asked Space as the blackness tore through his chest. He had never felt pain before as the thick blue fluid that ran through his body splashed on the ground. He was a Celestial. He was one of the creators. He could not understand what was happening. He was not a lowly creature that could die.

Mind refused to speak. Space had no idea if it was even still Mind as the creature coated him. He had no idea what was happening at all

As the creature coated Mind, his arm stretched into a long spike and it pierced through the chest of his brother. As it spread and obliterated his from the insides all he could do was ask,

Why? Space asked again. He had no internal structure to process matter into energy, but he felt the creature draining him.

But Mind could either not answer or refused to. As Space lay dying, his blood pooled on the ground and the creature known as Mind bent forwards and began to eat. It created a razor-filled sharp-toothed maw to crunch through the thick armoured plates. Once the flesh was gone, the creature reared back and screeched into the void,

It had a mind now, it knew what the hunger was, and it knew it needed more flesh. It would use this one as bait. They would come to investigate the death of one of their kind.

⁂

Another mind touched the dream and turned in a restless fit. It was different for her. This wasn’t a nightmare, just a dream of what was, of what she once was. Jean Grey stirred in her sleep, ignoring the muffled complaints of her roommates.

⁂

She was on her twentieth life, and they had all been glorious. It was a shame that at first the lesser creatures kept exploding. She was bored waiting, but once she found a few hardier species she adapted into one of them with no issues.

She had no idea what they were called but that was part of the experience for her. Once she slipped in, she obliterated whatever memories and life the creature once had. She lived among them, taking in everything she could before the flesh prison failed and she moved on. She had thoughts of possessing a youngling and living a full life as the creature. It would be simple enough to lock away most of her powers, just leaving enough to defend herself if needed.

Not that sometimes it mattered. Her younger siblings took great pride in their work but also hated failures. On several occasions, she had just incarnated and then the next minute, they were gone. They had called the Purple one, she couldn't remember their names, to obliterate them.

Some built. Some created new spheres of life, and she would always find the most interesting ones and play with them. It was her duty, her purpose to fill the sphere with life. Even if sometimes that meant watching them vanish.

Death was a part of life, and as she took in more and more she realised that there was no cruelty in their actions. They fought and argued. One life form created would upset their delicate balance, and it would be culled.

Sometimes creatures required further study. So they called the Blue one who sealed off the entire space and then the Red one pinched it off. It was sealed away like a bubble, creating a minuscule corridor only he could open.

It was fascinating for her. Life bloomed in all shapes and forms. Animals, birds, insects, slime, rocks, machines, any conceivable form. Liquid metals lived and created baby alloys. Living planets took breaths every hundred thousand years and each one was amazing. Even full of joy at their creation eventually, each one died. Her sister made sure there was always an end, but it was her brother she worried about.

Death was everywhere. Large creatures ate smaller creatures to live. Planets were battered by rocks that whizzed through the cosmos. From the largest creature to the smallest lifeform, it was everywhere. And it ended every nanosecond in every part of the universe but it was always reborn.

A planet smashed to pieces might deposit material on another. The right chemicals at the right time sparked a flurry of activity that created new life. Nothing ever truly ended.

Null was absent in the universe. Nothing truly stopped ending, only moving from one form to another. If she was being honest with herself, she was worried. They were given form for a Purpose. They were tasked with a Purpose, and for one of them to ignore that was unthinkable.

She couldn't even enter the space he had taken for himself. The inky black void existed in a sphere around the ever-expanding universe. Space and Time moved everywhere except there. In fact, it was so close to the cosmic boundary that she wondered if any of their Purpose would work. His realm was as alien to her as his Purpose was.

She had even once tried to pierce his veil and found the flesh prison she was inhabiting simply stopped. Its form turned to ash before vanishing completely. She hadn’t tried to repeat her experiment, feeling the pull upon her own essence.

She had to laugh to herself, none of them was truly alive. She could feel the cosmic energy that made them up and it was only a glimmer of a thought. There was only their Purpose, and nothing more. As the incarnation of Life, she knew that better than any of them. Fleeting energy that one day would fade and be extinguished. Only after they had fulfilled their Purpose. Null’s barrier was too early, too dangerous, even to her.

Which was why when the first taste of death blasted through her she shuddered and fell to her knees. She had felt it even in the flesh prison she had taken over. A massive jolt of energy had swept through her, shaking her Purpose to its core.

A new rebirth would take place, eventually. No one could destroy a being so powerful without consequences. The flesh prison leaked and shuddered its own final breath. As she floated free she had to find out what had happened. The loss of Life on such a scale would tip the delicate balance each of them was created to maintain.

⁂

Trapped, chained and weakened, the last of the dreamers was captured. Her chains, designed to weaken and contain her power, also amplified it. They drained it to another realm but in doing so stretched them out through the cosmos. She brushed the dream and was drawn into the nightmare. She cried out in a fitful slumber, unable to free herself from the visions.

⁂

As Life had felt the Celestial die, so had Death. She flew into a panic. To destroy one of the Celestials was to change the cosmic balance. To eradicate one was to lessen the universe. If the feelings she was getting were right then Null had figured out a way to destroy the Infinity Stones. If he could absorb them back into himself, then he could end the Gems as well.

That idiot. If he manages, he’ll destroy the universe.

Death knew their power was weakened as their Purpose flowed into the universe. Death was her domain but death only existed as long as the Death Infinity Gem did. If the Oblivion Gem reabsorbed the lesser stones their Purpose would end. Space, Time, Mind, Soul, Power, and Reality would cease to exist along with them.

She could blame Oblivion, or Null as he named himself, for this problem, but it was his nature. She sought out death. Life sought out the next life. Null sought to end all things. He was acting within his Purpose, he was just too impatient as the universe had only begun.

Landing on the planet she spied the slick black creature devouring its meal.

A Celestial? And as her senses reached out she knew it was Mind feasting on the body of Space.

Null? She asked and the creature hissed at her. She could feel his power though, whatever the black coating was it was Null’s form in this world. What have you done to yourself?

He had created a form for himself to corrupt and devour the energy from the stones. He could now absorb them and if she didn't stop him, then not just the six stones were in danger but herself and Life. If he managed to destroy each of them who knew what other havoc he could reap on the multiverse.

Null, please stop.

As the creature opened its maw and the leg of Space was crushed and eaten she knew she had no choice.

Stop or I will stop you.

The creature hissed at her and tendrils escaped from its form, inky black against the night sky,

Feed, only hunger of the void, was all it said.

Ignoring his meal the creature sprang at her. Surprised it would attack her, she batted away several of its inky tendrils. She was not used to combat in this form and several latched around her arms, pulling them apart. She screamed in agony as it bit down on her shoulder. It tore at her flesh, ripping out chucks and screeching as it swallowed them. She coughed as blood filled her throat and her limbs became weak and heavy.

As the Null creature tore chunks away from her arm, it screeched in pain. A bright flare of light tore through him, gathered over the wound and sealed it shut,

We were born in the fires of creation Null, I am the remains of that fire, and its power is mine to command.

Life, covered in a bright aura of burning starlight floated down to the planet's surface. Her hair was a bright crimson glowing fire and her body was wreathed in flowing energy.

Your Purpose is to wait and to be the final ending of this universe. Why so impatient brother? Why so desperate? There is no time for us, the purpose of time is only for lesser creatures, not for the three.

Null hissed. They create and I feel pain. They take from my void and it howls as it is filled. I only feel hunger. I only feel the need to consume and return to the peace of nothingness. Existence is pain, my life is pain.

Then stay in your realm, spread out and become nothing, and wait, you do not need to do this, there is no conflict here.

NO! Null hissed and launched himself at Life she batted him away with a fire-coated hand,

You cannot combat the fires of creation Null. Not even the Power stone is strong enough to, but she paused and tilted her head. The fires dimmed as she grasped at her head and screamed.

But we can, we can take from the yellow one and take its power, as we took from grey and now death and mind are ours. As Mind's eyes pulsed yellow, Life held her head and writhed in pain,

We let you feel your antithesis. You feel death, you feel their deaths. All their suffering before the night claims them.

As the fires dimmed Null stalked over to her, and now we feast upon you and snuff out the fires of creation.

Life screamed again, as his tendrils latched on and his maw carved a chunk from her flesh. She struggled feebly to release herself but the mental and physical pain was too much. The fire surrounding her faded as the life drained from her. As his jaws clamped on her throat and tore at it, his body was ripped from her and thrown across the rocky landscape.

Sister, I am so sorry. As Death touched her paling flesh Life nodded. As her form faded and its essence poured into the rocks Death stood and screamed into the night.

⁂

Jean screamed as she felt herself being torn to pieces. The dream was so real. She bolted upright, screaming, and the mansion shook as it echoed her pain.

A stronger mind reached out, blanketing her thoughts, erasing the fevered nightmare from her. Charles sat in his own bed, clutching at his chest as the power required tore from him and his heart strained to contain both his own and her power.

Touching a wall panel, “Hank, sorry for the early wakeup call but I’m afraid Jean and I both require medical attention.”

He lay back down, wishing away the pain in his chest. If he was a younger man he would cope, but at almost eighty, if Jean lost control, he knew he wouldn’t survive.