As Victor approached the school carrying Wednesday, he found Enid pacing anxiously back and forth at the school gate, gnawing on her nails like a little wolf trapped in a cage.
"Oh my god! Victor! Wednesday!"
Seeing the two figures, Enid rushed over immediately, her blonde hair flying behind her.
"So glad you're okay!"
Seeing Enid approach, Wednesday subconsciously wanted to loosen her arms around Victor's neck, but the movement halted halfway.
She seemed to weigh the pros and cons of "maintaining Gothic detachment" versus "falling into the mud from Victor's arms," and finally, "extremely reluctantly"... tightened her hold slightly.
When Enid got close, her steps halted abruptly, the joy on her face quickly replaced by worry.
The scene before her made her gasp—both were covered in mud and dead leaves, and the dried blood on Victor's ear was particularly glaring in the twilight.
"Hey, Enid!"
Victor's voice was unusually loud, carrying an overly brilliant smile.
"Guess what? We won! Those Plague Doctors are no big deal!"
He tried to cover his wretched state with his usual madness, but his trembling arms and pale face betrayed him.
Enid's gaze locked dead on Victor's ear, her voice trembling:
"V-Victor... your ear..."
She reached out carefully, fingertips lightly touching the darkened bloodstain, and teardrops the size of beans welled up instantly.
"Oh, I should have gone with you... does it hurt?"
Although he couldn't hear what Enid was saying, Victor could guess.
"Don't worry, it's fine!" Victor comforted clumsily, simultaneously adjusting his carrying posture with difficulty.
"Once that sleepyhead Venom wakes up, the eardrum will be fixed in minutes! Just temporarily can't hear, that's all."
Hearing that Venom was also seriously injured, Enid's body trembled visibly.
She simply couldn't imagine what kind of fierce battle they had gone through.
"Today is a good day for me, Enid."
Victor tried to change the subject, his voice hoarse from exhaustion.
"Come on, give me a hand. Wednesday looks light, but carrying her all this way has exhausted me."
This sentence made Wednesday's arms around his neck tighten quietly, fingertips pinching his ear warningly—Miss Addams had taught herself a new skill without a teacher.
"Uh, I mean..." Victor quickly corrected himself, "this chocolate cake in her hand is quite heavy, can you help hold it?"
"Of course!"
Enid quickly took the cake box, the rich sweet scent forming a weird contrast with her heavy mood at the moment.
The road back to the dorm was unusually quiet.
Victor lacked his usual chatter; there were only heavy footsteps and slightly rapid breathing.
This abnormal silence made both Enid and Wednesday uncomfortable—a quiet Victor Black was more unsettling than any noise.
Finally arriving at the dorm, Victor carefully placed Wednesday on her bed covered in black silk, his movements gentle enough to be cherishing.
He turned to look at Enid, then at Wednesday, and spoke suddenly, his voice low and serious:
"Enid, Wednesday... you know? I'm really lucky to have friends like you."
Both girls froze. This was the first time they had seen such... soft Victor.
"After escaping from the lab..."
He continued, his gaze somewhat distant.
"Venom and I were really lawless, did a lot of bastard things. Robbed candy stores, blew up chocolate factory assembly lines..."
"If I hadn't met Dracula who took me back to Hotel Transylvania, I might have really turned into a complete anti-social villain."
He smiled, a rare warmth in that smile:
"Although Dracula yelled all day about throwing me out of the hotel, he still took me in. Mavis always secretly saved an extra portion of blood pudding for me."
"Jonathan dragged me to listen to that noisy 'earth-high' music, little Dennis... that kid always pestered me to tell him fairy tales."
"Later I came here and met you guys." His gaze flowed between Enid and Wednesday. "My luck for this lifetime has probably all been used here."
"It was the nagging of the Dracula family that kept me from becoming a villain; it was little Dennis growing fangs to protect his friend that gave me the courage to step out of Transylvania."
"It was your smile and chocolate, Enid, that pulled me back from the edge of nightmares time and again..."
He looked at Wednesday, his eyes complex and gentle:
"It was you, Wednesday... who forced me to face my fear in the harshest way, yet let me know someone was worth becoming brave for."
"Thank you." He said softly, his smile tired but sincere. "Really very... very happy to have met you."
After speaking, he closed his eyes and fell backward onto his simple little bed with a smile, as if having completed all his missions.
"Oh, Victor! No! No!"
The color drained instantly from Enid's face.
Wednesday also propped herself up abruptly, panic appearing on her pale face for the first time—
This scene looked too much like a deathbed farewell.
Just then, Victor suddenly sat bolt upright and added:
"By the way, I'm not dead, just dying of exhaustion. Need sleep urgently now. Wish us all sweet dreams tonight..."
He showed a familiar sly smile, hinting at a successful prank:
"Of course, my dream will definitely be sweeter than yours, because I still have the thought of a whole chocolate cake. Goodnight."
With that, he fell down again and fell into a deep sleep almost instantly, leaving the shaken Enid and complex-faced Wednesday staring at each other in the dim dorm.
Enid remained in the posture of having panicked and lunged forward, tears hanging precariously on her eyelashes.
Wednesday had sat up, recovering her usual cold mask, but a careful look revealed her knuckles, hands folded on her lap, were slightly white.
"This... idiot!"
Enid cursed softly with a crying tone, wiping away tears messily, heart still pounding madly.
She approached carefully, extending a trembling finger under Victor's nose. Feeling the warm, steady breathing, she let out a long sigh of relief, legs going weak, almost sitting on the floor.
"He is just asleep."
Wednesday's voice sounded, steady and waveless, as if the moment of panic just now never happened.
But she didn't look at Enid. Her dark eyes remained on Victor's sleeping face, looking at the darkened bloodstain by his ear and the deep exhaustion between his brows.
"I know... I was just... scared to death..."
Enid sniffled, emotions slowly calming, worry surging up again.
"He looks terrible. And Venom... is he really okay?"
"Venom requires chocolate for self-repair."
Wednesday's gaze swept over the chocolate cake placed on the table by Enid.
"Theoretically, this chocolate cake should provide the necessary energy."
Enid looked at the cake immediately, eyes becoming determined:
"Then what are we waiting for! I'll feed Victor, gotta let Venom get better fast!"
She moved to open the cake box as she spoke.
"Wait."
Wednesday stopped her.
"Feeding it to Victor will most likely only enter Victor's own stomach for basic metabolism, unable to reach the symbiote efficiently. A more... direct method is needed."
Enid paused, not quite understanding.
Wednesday had already risen, taken the cake box, and opened it. The rich sweet scent of chocolate filled the air instantly.
She took a small knife from the cutlery box and neatly cut a huge piece—taking up almost three-quarters of the entire cake.
Then, under Enid's surprised gaze, she walked to Victor's bed, and without any hesitation, precisely...
Smeared that huge piece of cake onto Victor's half-open mouth and cheek.
The action was crisp, even carrying a hint of unquestionable roughness.
"Whoa!"
Enid gasped softly, covering her mouth. This way of waking someone was too... Wednesday.
Dark, viscous chocolate sauce and cake sponge covered almost the lower half of Victor's face, some crumbs falling into the hollow of his neck.
The effect was immediate.
Almost the second the cake touched his skin, the black symbiotic matter on Victor's face squirmed violently!
Like a swarm of starving tiny black tentacles, they devoured the chocolate on his face madly, with astonishing speed.
"Mmm... hmm..."
Victor smacked his lips unconsciously in his sleep, brows relaxing, even showing a satisfied goofy grin, but didn't wake up.
Within seconds, the cake on his face was cleaned up completely, not even sparing the crumbs on his neck. His skin was as clean as new, as if nothing had happened.
Then, the layer of black matter slowly retracted into his body.
(Thanks, and, goodnight...)
An extremely faint voice, like sleep-talking, sounded in Wednesday's mind. It was Venom.
Outside the window, night fell completely.