Warning, spoilers for Powerless!
Disclaimer - I don't own Heroes. Please Read and Review!
Limbo
"Ugh..."
Nathan blearily forced his eyes open, rubbing his head groggily. His body ached, his limbs felt strangely heavy and stiff and he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was very, very wrong. The dead silence echoed in his ears more painfully than giant loudspeakers emitting tasteless music from Peter's 'punk rock' phase would have done.
Wait...Peter?
His mind whirled in a flurry of rapid thoughts and images. Explosion. Peter missing. The Company. Ireland. The virus. Finding Peter. The press conference...
I was shot.
Nathan sprang to his feet with a jolt, clutching at his chest with horror. But when he looked down, there were no gaping, bleeding wounds that he had expected. In fact, he wasn't even wearing his own clothes. He curiously fingered the smooth, nondescript material that made up the plain grey shirt and trousers he was wearing before snapping back into reality.
Where the hell am I? Where is everyone? Where is Peter?
The unanswered questions burned in his mind, and sent a wave of pure nausea washing over Nathan.
Cautiously, he raised his head to survey his surroundings for the first time. But there was...nothing. He swept his increasingly desperate gaze around, but it was the same brilliant, blinding white blankness wherever he turned.
The colour drained out of his face as realisation dawned.
"I'm...dead." He choked the words out.
"Not quite!" A southern voice chirped with excitement.
Nathan spun around to face a pretty, red headed girl with what appeared to be genuine enthusiasm plastered onto her face. But she wasn't alone.
"DL? Simone? Issac?"
Nathan's mouth opened into a gasp of shock as he took in the group of people who had suddenly converged around him.
DL grinned crookedly. Issac Mendez twiddled with a pencil whilst sending nervous glances at a frowning Simone Deveaux. Chandra and Shanti Suresh smiled with their joined hands gently swaying. Eden McCain's dark eyes twinkled with amusement.
And it didn't stop there. Now, there were people stretching right off into the distance. And they were all wearing pure white.
Nathan recognised some of them, and he could tell that most of them were 'special'. With powers - like him. But that wasn't what they had in common. Dread crept into his veins.
"But...you're all dead!" Nathan whispered.
Everyone shrugged or nodded. Worryingly, no one batted an eyelid, or even seemed remotely bothered about the fact that they were dead.
"Either I'm dead, or totally delusional! I don't know which is worse!"
The red head giggled, and Nathan's brow furrowed in vexation.
"Sorry, I'm being rude. I'm Charlie Andrews. And you, Nathan Petrelli, are in Limbo."
"Limbo?" Nathan's voice was flat and disbelieving.
"It's a sort of in between place between life and death. Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll pull through! You have a massive fan base and you are way too popular to be killed off."
Charlie smiled reassuringly.
DL folded his arms across his chest.
"Don't count on it." He grumbled. "I had to go through the hassle of being shot by Linderman, then getting better and becoming a fire-fighter – only to be shot by some random skanky man in a club! Why the hell didn't I just phase through the bullet? It doesn't make sense!"
Charlie's expression darkened.
"At least your brain wasn't taken out by Sylar!"
A loud murmur of agreement ran through the crowd.
"How many of us had our heads ripped open by Sylar?" She demanded.
A huge number of hands flew up.
"And I didn't even get to say goodbye to Hiro properly..." Charlie sighed mournfully, moistness prickling her eyes.
"Wait – Hiro Nakamura?" Nathan questioned.
"Well, you were dying anyway!" DL spluttered.
Charlie gasped, unable to reply.
"Oh come on! I was shot by him!" Simone jabbed an accusing finger at a cringing Issac, "And he supposedly loved me!"
"But you always loved Peter!" Issac shot back.
"Peter?" But now Nathan's voice was totally drowned out by the increasing volume of the crowd.
"And in the end, I died a heroic death after being tortured for information by Sylar whilst being swallowed alive by my guilt and also coming to terms with my impending doom to save the world!" Issac defended.
Eden was smugly superior.
"Well I suppose I'm the true hero because I was the only one who killed myself so Sylar wouldn't get my power!" Satisfaction rang clear in her voice.
"Uh, you think if I could've killed myself to stop Sylar I wouldn't have done? Somehow I don't think Sylar getting radioactivity was a great thing, but I was sort of handcuffed and upside down with no weapons at the time." Ted Sprague frowned.
"Wait...so you're the guy Peter got that power from?" Nathan raised his eyebrows.
Brian Davis, Sylar's first victim narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like to point fingers or play the blame game...but its all Sylar's fault. So that must mean it's her fault for giving birth to him!"
The crowd turned to Virgina Gray, with hatred burning in their eyes. Some people clenched their firsts and flexed their muscles threateningly.
Virgina gulped nervously and threw her hands into the air.
"It's not my fault! He killed me too! And I practically disowned him anyway! He always was special..." She trailed off.
She coughed hastily. "If it wasn't for Dr Suresh and his 'evolutionary imperatives' this wouldn't have happened!"
"No." Chandra's voice was firm.
"I'll show you the real problem."
Instantly, everyone appeared where Dr Suresh was standing with a grim expression on his face.
He gestured sadly to the mayhem in front of him.
If Nathan thought the crowd was big, and that suddenly appearing in what seemed to be a different area of this 'limbo' was weird, nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.
Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people babbled, screamed and cried hysterically in a clutter of unknown languages. They ran in random directions, shaking each other and shouting whilst a young Hispanic looking man sat miserably on the floor with his head in his hands.
"These are the people Maya Herrera has killed." Dr Suresh informed them.
Everyone shook their heads, or muttered under their breath.
"Sometimes, people who just cry and kill people pointlessly are randomly inserted into irrelevant and unconnected plots to 'spice things up' and perhaps even become a love interest for the main villain."
Candice Wilmer scowled, and rubbed the back of her head.
"Because that's what we want, right?"
"WRONG!" The crowd roared in unison.
Nathan stood there dumbfounded. He briefly glanced over at Alejandro, who was muttering to himself about how he was right all along in Spanish.
"That's it. No more drink. Ever. No more listening to Peter's crazy dreams. No more nothing! I give up! It's OVER!"
Nathan shouted upwards, shaking his fists.
He crouched, and in a flash, he had hurled himself into the sky with all the strength he could muster. Even Maya's numerous victims stopped and looked up with awe as Nathan smashed through the sound barrier in a desperate attempt to escape.
Someone let out a low whistle of impress, whilst others sighed and shook their heads.
It took Nathan a while to realise there was nowhere to go, and by the time he landed his pride was severely damaged after flying around like a maniac whilst people shouted that there was no way out.
"Told you so!" Charlie chuckled.
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.
"This can't be happening." He moaned.
Candice smirked, and snapped her fingers together. Instantly, the barren, blank nothingness had been transformed into a blissful paradise.
Long golden beaches stretched out as far as the eye could see, waves gently lapping at the shore. The white clothes people had been wearing before, changed into white bikinis and trunks as people frolicked merrily by palm trees, lounged on deckchairs and splashed in the crystal clear water as the sun beamed down.
A familiar figure began to walk towards Nathan.
"Peter!" Nathan's voice filled with joy and he rushed to embrace his brother.
"Wait, what the hell are you doing here?!"
The luxurious beach vanished, replaced by the starless night skies of New York. The wind whipped past Nathan at dangerous speeds as he carried a glowing Peter in his arms.
"Nathan! Help me!" Peter cried, radiation now burning through his skin.
His voice turned mocking, high pitched.
"Wa! Nathan! You're such a bad brother! Why can't you be less selfish? Save me!" Peter whined.
Before Nathan could say a word, it was back to the blinding whiteness of Limbo.
Candice's laughter rang in his ears.
"Oh man," She wiped a tear from her eyes "I've created some funny illusions - but the look on your face!"
Normally, Nathan would have turned into a terrifying rage. Deceptively calm on the outside, but smouldering with anger within. Then, he would take apart whoever it was – usually with his 'persuasive' words alone - but there had been exceptions. He'd worked hard to become the most feared politician in the state.
Nathan curled into a ball and hugged his knees to his chest.
Charlie patted his head with an air of melancholy.
"I don't know why they bother, Nathan." She mused. "We are all dead, so we don't have to stay in Limbo. We can all create anything we want and go where we like."
"But this is just too damn funny!" Candice spluttered, collapsing onto the floor with laughter.
"Don't worry, you will be out of here soon enough. Like I said, you are way too popular and important to die!" Charlie assured him with a friendly ruffle of his now dishevelled hair.
"Save...me..." Nathan whispered.
But no one was listening anymore.
"Ugh!" Niki Sanders sat up in the same nondescript grey clothing Nathan was wearing.
Her eyes widened into shock, and a horror struck expression appeared on her face. With an air of mad panic, she pressed her hands into her face to check she was really there.
"But..I...the fire...I'm..." She stammered.
Charlie beamed, Eden grinned, Candice rubbed her hands together in anticipation, Simone grimaced, Ted rolled his eyes and Mrs Gray attempted to sneak away.
"Niki Sanders, welcome to Limbo!"
Authors Note - This is intended as a one shot, however if anyone would like to see more - please tell me! I do have some ideas for more chapters (Niki and DL confrontation!), more Nathan based stuff... :P