Here's a wip fic based on this where Spider befriends a curious little Symbiote and tries to navigate through life being the host to an alien parasite.
"You are restless," Tshaheyl's voice curled through his mind, an amused hum laced with concern. Spider exhaled through his nose. "Yeah, well, can you blame me?" he muttered, weaving between the thick tree roots. "You make me look like a lunatic."
Tshaheyl giggled, the sound vibrating through his skull like a pleased purr. "I do no such thing. You talk to me. They do not hear me. It is not my fault you have a weak excuse for subtlety, Little Spider."
Spider scowled. "Don't Little Spider me," he grumbled, reaching a clearing bathed in soft bioluminescent light. He crouched beside a stream, cupping water in his hands to peer into his reflection. The coolness was a relief against the heat of his frustration and annoyance.
Tshaheyl’s presence curled around him like an affectionate shadow, tendrils of warmth pulsing through his chest like a warm blanket. She was inside him, a part of him, and that meant she felt everything he did. The mental exhaustion. The frustration. The loneliness that had settled in his bones long before she arrived.
"You are worried about them," she mused, her tone shifting into something softer. "These...Sullys. You worry they will fear you."
Spider let out a slow breath, watching the water ripple beneath his reflection. "They're suspicious," he admitted. "Lo'ak especially. I think he caught me talking to you earlier, and Kiri's been staring at me."
Tshaheyl was quiet for a moment before replying, "You do not trust them? You will not tell them about me? You gave me a name and a home, and still you will not tell them. Why is that, Little Spider?"
Spider frowned, rubbing a hand through his hair. "It’s not about trust. It’s about safety. If they knew about you, they'd freak out. Neytiri would—" He stopped himself, jaw tightening. He didn’t want to think about her reaction. Neytiri barely tolerated him as it was. If she found out he was bonded to some strange, sentient parasite that thrived off consuming living things, she’d probably kill him on the spot.
I don't know where I'm going with this, but I wanted to try my hand at sci-fi/horror and came up with the idea of Eywa having enough and blessing Spider with the ability to turn humans into living plants or trees so that their bodies will restore what was destroyed by their bombs and fire. Spider keeps his power secret so that he'll have an easier time fulfilling Eywa's will without disruption or judgment. So far, he's doing a damn good job and with each successful death, grows stronger.
Here's just a teeny piece of what I have so far.
The first body wasn’t the worst.
Jake had seen enough death to be numb to it. But the more they found, the more that numbness cracked, replaced by something he'd forgotten.
Fear.
One soldier was still standing, his posture too rigid, too unnatural. His skin had gone pale, his veins blackened with something that pulsed beneath the surface like twisting roots. Thin green tendrils had erupted from his fingertips, curling toward the sunlight as if reaching for something unseen. His mouth was open in a frozen scream, but no sound would ever escape. His eyes, once human, had been overtaken by blooming petals as if the forest itself had bloomed through him.
Another body lay sprawled nearby, its flesh cracked open. Vines coiled through its ribcage, wrapping around the exposed bone, flowers sprouting where there should have been blood. A grotesque, living sculpture.
A warning.
Neytiri covered her mouth, her ears pinned back in horror. “This is not the work of Eywa,” she whispered, voice shaking.