[ the writer's note is wild, just a heads up. alright, on with the chapter! ]

- T&B -

'Mr. Stark, uh, the thing got away,' Peter's breathless voice echoed into the comms. 'Sorry.'

'It's okay, Peter,' Wanda answered for the team, looking around the room slowly. 'Get back up here.'

Tony and Bruce were too much into the remedial stratagems to even acknowledge his comment, Tony affected by the morose condition the most. Bruce couldn't deny the utmost sense of loss that evaded them, the fact that even confinement 14B could do nothing to fight off her consciousness. Laura's limp body remained unmoving, her former symbiote disappearing under her skin and ceasing so. Her eyes were shut with no more movements, Tony hovering near her and a finger near her collarbone to feel a heartbeat.

A small red light traversed past the lifeline on the monitor. Ironically, Eddie swift footsteps carried him to besides Banner and leering into the glass. He was breathing heavily, muttering lowly under his breath. Banner saw this and immediately realized that this was the means of communication with his symbiote.

'She's got a pulse. Vision, light her up,' Tony commanded after a long silence, only four breaths repercussing through the room. 'Banner, fire up the chips.'

'Tony - ' Bruce started but Tony shot him the most dangerous look at him, willing the doctor to do as he says. He gulped, dragging the control on the fiber screen to restart the chips and the eleven microreactors coming back online. Tony braced himself, shooting a quick glance to the captured deadly symbiote wondering why he didn't allow Wanda to destroy it. It was right there. He could do it - he could take a shot at it and blow it to hell. But something was stopping and he ought to find out why.

'Vision?' Tony looked at the ultrabot who had collapsed into silence beside Wanda. The witch rubbed a hand along his hand to comfort him, his gaze away from Laura's body.

'I'm sorry, Mr. Stark,' Vision apologized, 'The numbers don't add up. I will hurt her this time.'

Banner watched as the reactor in her chest glowed a bright blue, electric signals interfacing with her nervous system and lighting her body up with a warm blue glow. From above, Tony spotted the thick mass of symbiote near her chest that had managed to clamp onto her spinal bones and connect to her mind. Tony almost let out a cry of joy when her eyelids started to move; quicker than usual.

Eddie started to spur, a flicker of hope igniting his features as he peered forward at her twitching fingers. A sullen breath left his system when her eyes snapped open to the ceiling and heaving out in pants. 

'Banner, cut the cords,' Tony murmured as Laura twisted her gaze to the man who spoke, watching him suspiciously. Behind him, Bruce had instantly brought down the effective charge, Eddie felt his soul leave his body when a confused glance flit past her face, her eyebrows furrowing.

She's recollecting. 

He sighed at the expense of his symbiote. He thought she had lost her sight to everything. He observed Laura's metamorphosed features, the skin stretched across her face in a fragile manner and her every movement making him afraid that she was going to snap. Her eyes - that was the confusing part - had morphed into a stormy gray, leaving the brown around the fringes of her iris. 

'Why are you looking at me like - holy cow, that's the Scarlet Witch.' 

Tony let out a desolate chuckle, shaking his head. Eddie joined in, craning his head down to shake off tension with Banner patting Eddie's shoulder to ease away stress. Banner too was in a mood of ecstatic, a genuine smile lighting his features. Except for Wanda.

Wanda was pensive as she set her glowing red eyes on the awakening woman, reading her thoughts. Banner saw this, knowing something somewhere had effectively gone wrong, instantly ceasing his celebratory mood.

'Welcome back to the land of the living, Sharp,' Tony remarked, squeezing Laura's shoulder gently. 'You gave us a good scare.'

'Never felt better,' Laura said, her voice getting scratchier by the second. She sat up straighter as if she had heard something far away. 'Wait, Sin's back?'

'Desperate times, desperate measures,' Tony mused and let go of her. He looked behind his shoulder to nod at Banner. 'How're we looking, Bruce?'

'Her body's stabilized,' he answered, delivering great news solemnly. 'The organism has achieved complete symbiosis so positively, she's good to go.'

'The eyes... have we got something?' 

'Theoretically speaking,' Banner explained in a whir, 'when the symbiote was lobotomizing her, it sort of manifested itself in her every aspect. So it won't be new if it has erased some of her core memories which I don't think has happened and which leads us to the coloration of her eyes. It had managed to expose itself before we stopped it.'

'So,' Tony drawled, 'it's a mark it left on her.'

'Essentially. But we'll run some tests and see how we can go about it.'

Tony nodded gratefully at his fellow companion who tried to return the smile. He joined Vision's side as they turned to exit the containment chamber and Tony's gaze met Eddie's. He nodded at Eddie to give him the green light.

'She's all yours, Brock.'

As soon as Laura heard the familiar name, she traced Tony's gaze to behind the glass walls of the room where Eddie stood. Instantly, guilt colored her features and a tough swallow sticking in her throat. Eddie crossed the doors to the containment, his hands forming fists in his pockets. God, her eyes were haunting. 

'I know you,' she whispered, she pressed her fingers to her temples to soothe pricking pain. Eddie felt his heart dip tremendously when those words left her lips, rooting him on spot. The confusion was back and this time, he was positive she had forgotten him. 

It's a memory lock, Eddie. Her symbiote is correcting it. Give her a minute.

'Laura,' he murmured and moving closer, reaching her in long strides. He was quick to take her hands into his, rubbing it with his thumbs. 'It's me. Eddie.'

She nodded, her lips parting to leave a sigh. Her eyebrows moved as if millions of facts were being rammed at her in a second and her gaze finally merging with his. 

'Eddie. Ed. Eddie Brock. I remember, we - ' she gulped. 'We're together, right?'

He chuckled with relief, cupping her cheek. 'Yeah, we are.'

Her fingers were treading past his arms, watching as it glided with hers so flawlessly and how her slender fingers fit like a puzzle piece between his calloused hands. The crevices between his collarbone, the creasing neck, and the stubble that sprouted along his strong jaw - all of them brought back some part of herself that was linked with his. 

She could vividly remember her lips caressing every indentation of his face, how she had smiled when he had lithely tucked a tress behind her ear and pulled her in for a sweet kiss. She was brought back to a scene in their bed when she was using her phone to capture a memory where Eddie had his lips over her cheek, answering her promising questions to the camera as evidence. He commented on how some were absurd and how he would never give up on what he loves.

Her Eddie.

There was one night when a huge revelation which shook the core of their relationship but she was stubborn to work past it. His symbiote; another part of him, alias and friend he couldn't let go. She reminisced how it important it was to him, and how she made it her priority to make him comfortable under his own skin. She willed herself through her past, wanting to begin a new future with Eddie.

A new chapter. 

'Ed,' she repeated relievedly, leaning forward to loop her arms around his midsection, tightly. She inhaled his scent deeply, driving her nose into his skin. This was her home, how could she forget where she belonged?

'I remember you,' she said, getting up on her knees over the bed to hold his face in her hands. 'I do! We moved in together and you-you're never clean with anything and you always speak loudly - '

Eddie didn't let her finish her rambling how much ever he loved it, leaning forward to press a kiss to her lips. She laughed out loud into the kiss, happiness slipping from every one of her pores as she reunited with him.

'Ah, I did some stupid stuff before this, didn't I? I screwed up bad.'

Yes, she had. Eddie remembered when he saw the biased and controversial clause about how Venom was not the one behind the chaos and exposing Dr. Kafka in the process, his mind falling apart at his name being plastered across the front page article. He knew it was both pro and con since this would be everywhere and he would have to be the one to handle it. 

'Yeah,' he spoke it her neck, blowing breaths into her hair. 'We'll work it out.'

'Sounds great.'

A quiet knock echoed through the room, breaking the lovers apart. Wanda had waved at them slowly, grinning at the couple who stood apart with sheepish smiles.

'Sorry to break up the reunion but,' Wanda shot her stare directly at Laura. 'Can I speak with you in private?'

- ♣ -

'I looked into your dream,'  the witch started, a thumb prodding her chin as she speculated Laura's stance. The young woman was uncomfortable to be put on the spot by a teenager, a powerful one at that. The voice in her head was swirling with a weird hunger, craving for anything that had a heartbeat. But Laura had effectively silenced it for later.

'That's funny because I only remembered infinite pain,' the sharp-mouthed woman retorted. Her eyes were guarded, her lips moving quickly to communicate with her symbiote about calming down.

'I know you know it,' Wanda revealed that the woman was playing dumb. 'Something very important. And related to the Starks.'

'I can't entirely retrieve it,' she whispered after a short pause, her breath hitching at the sound of the contentious last name. 'I think my mother had something to do with them.'

'Do you really not remember?' Wanda asked, projecting herself into her thoughts and seeing the blankness of a clean slate. So she really was oblivious to the circumstances. Wanda shook her head, inhaling deeply.

'Your mother loved Howard Stark,' she confessed, Laura's gaze snapping to hers. 'Then your father came in and Howard met Maria. But they were still close. The night you and your mother left the estate, that was the night she reconciled with the Starks. You've met Tony before, Laura. He knew you. That was the night - ' she held back her tongue, removing her gaze from Laura's intent ones. 

'The night what?' 

Bad things. Bad things always followed the limitless.

'The night their accident happened.'

- ♣ -

[ please, read, took me a while to put this down in writing. pwetty pwease? (bats brown eyes with clasped knuckles) ]

[ LONG IMPORTANT PLOTHOLES UNVEILED and a LITTLE SPOILER  if you read close... dun dun dunnn!! I know you guys are wondering how our sweetie Laura seemed to remember Tony and Sin but forgot Eddie so let me help you hash it out. see, memory locks or hypnotic locks are used by Klyntar species to sort of keep away certain memories they don't want their host to remember. so when the ~*le gasp*~ symbiote (death X0 ) manifested into Laura, it locked the most important of hers - Eddie Brock! and when sin was accepted back into her system, it extracted these memories at *a painful price* which you will see in the coming chapter(s) which makes Sin more compliant to evil (so fucked). Like Tel-Kar of the Kree (Carol Danvers is a Kree being too, her mother was a Kree :P ) if you remember, his powers diminished after he unlocked the hypnotic memories of Venom. If you must know, the Kree have special powers which are used but if you see closely, Tel-Kar never had powers! that's because of the memory locks act in turn to the one who unlocks it! 

next off, Stark tautologies. exactly why this is in here - it's pretty necessary. we have a story arc between Laura, mommy Cathy and Starks which means that this might be the beginning of a . . . part three maybe? Starks are important, peter and tony will play huge roles. we might have ahem, Captain Marvel coming in given she comes in Venomverse, too. i've been giving part three a lot of thought, whether I should do it or not because of A4 coming up, I want to explore the possibilities of quantum leaps, time travel - give you insight for A: Endgame. venomverse does handle time jumps, I want to give it a go! do you think I should - please let me know :D

I really hope this clears it out, I really hate plotholes. now let me share with you some shit that cracked me the fuck up -

*sis snapped* alright, thanks! ]

[ w/n: kudos, my loves, let me know what you think of this one! I can't get enough of Emmy Rossum as Laura, ugh, she's perfect :) also, who loves the new cover? ]