Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes or any of its characters. I do own Ashe Daniels and Dr. Daniels and any other person who's not part of the Heroes characters. I also do not own the hotel mentioned in the story. I also own this story's plot. Thank you.

Jae Khameron: Hello! This is my first story so um, please be gentle. I won't say anymore so you can go on ahead with the reading. But, just one little note. This story takes place a little after the season finale, after they flash the title, "Villains". I'm not sure who I'm going to pair my character up with yet but I've been thinking either Sylar or Peter (Heh, obvious choices eh?). If you have any suggestions at all don't be afraid to speak 'em :)

Summary: A stranger comes into the lives of Sylar and our Heroes, and suddenly everything becomes one giant downward spiral. Will they uncover what secrets lie inside her jumbled mind, and will they realize how important she is to mankind before it's too late?

Chapter One: The Birth of Power

Wild sirens filled the night air, accompanied by the cries of lone dogs that were wondering the dark streets of New York. A couple of thugs ran swiftly through narrow alleyways, shoving anyone – no matter whom – out from their uncertain path. It was a normal night in the down town region, as one would think as they gazed out from their high-rise luxury home.

Sylar staggered painfully as he used the wall for support. Blood trailed from the arm leaning against the wall but didn't care, just as long as he was far away from those idiotic teens. Stopping for a moment, his eyes traveled over to the opening of the alley. The bright lights from the street lamps blinded him temporarily but it seemed that salvation had come to him – even for a short period. He was just a few steps away, a few steps away from joining the crowd to get lost in and hide himself temporarily.

"My powers haven't fully returned to me…" he mumbled out loud, hating himself for this momentary weakness. He lifted the hand that was placed purposely against his stomach to see a slight raise in the amount of blood that was pouring out. Narrowing his eyes in frustration and ignoring the pain, Sylar took a step forward. However, his body had silently told him it had given up and Sylar fell to the ground with a thud.

Many of the pedestrians passed on by as if he wasn't there or as if they chose to ignore his suffering. But Sylar would not succumb to what seemed to be inevitable. With the remaining energy he had left, Sylar pushed himself up to his hands and knees then fell back to sit with his back against the wall. His breathing became heavy and his vision a tinge of blur.

However, before the darkness had the chance to consume him, a young woman with hair a light shade of fire bent down beside him. Her soft smoky-blue eyes gazed into his dull, almost lifeless chestnut eyes with worry that Sylar hadn't seen before in a while – that was directed to him of course. He felt her hands grasp gently around the unwounded arm and then lift him up to his feet.

"What are you doing…?" Sylar managed to say in a shaky voice as the world around him began to spin rapidly. His arm was placed around the girl's shoulders and from his view he saw how petite she was compared to him.

Suddenly, he felt her fingers lace around his and all his pain slowly began to disappear. Had his powers returned? He thought idly to himself, forgetting about the girl leading him away and who now seemed to be the one in pain. He paid no attention to the glances and odd looks he received for he was too engrossed in his musings. The small young woman turned into a building that looked to only allow the richest of people in.

A hiss of pain escaped the girl's lips but Sylar was still too focused on his own thoughts. The pain was almost completely gone and he was extremely dumbfounded by it. As a test, Sylar pinched himself as hard and sharp as he could on the wounded arm but no pain came from it. However, the girl lifting him gave a loud yelp and turned to him sharply. Again, Sylar ignored her.

Moments passed and the two were now within a very high class penthouse. Sylar looked around, pleased at what he saw. Then he finally remembered about the girl. As he turned to her, the girl let go of his hand and the pain suddenly came rushing back to him. He fell down against the bed instantly and bit back the pain he had almost forgotten. "What's going on!?" Sylar shouted his question, also as a way to somewhat relieve the pain.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" the girl immediately rushed to his hand and laced her fingers with his once again. And just like before, the pain was gone. Sylar looked curiously into the girl's smoky-blue eyes, examining her for a moment. "I'm sorry…" the girl said with a shy glance.

"What are you doing?" Sylar brought the linked hands up to his face for closer examination. Nothing seemed different about the appendage, but it was obvious that her contact with him was relieving him of his pain.

"I call it 'Pain Transference'," the red-headed girl replied calmly, "Since I'm the only other person around you, then your pain is being transferred to me,"

Sylar pinched himself on the wounded arm again and nodded in approval when the girl yelped in pain. "I see," was all he managed or could say. Then, he watched as the girl brought her other hand and hovered it over the gun wound in his stomach. Her face changed to silently express her pain as Sylar's wound slowly began to close. A sly smile appeared on his lips as he waited patiently for the treatment to be over.

Once the wound in his stomach had closed the girl nearly let go of his hand but fell on the bed beside Sylar in the process. A few signs of exhaustion appeared on her face and her breathing slowed, a sign that she was drifting off to sleep.

"Girl wears her heart on her sleeve – so naïve," Sylar whispered out loud. He was about to move the arm that was not connected to the girl until he realized that arm was still wounded. He grit his teeth in annoyance and shifted his weight around so that he was lying comfortably on the large tan covered bed. He turned toward the girl for the final time that evening, smiling inwardly, "At least she's pleasing to the eye,"

Coming to the conclusion that he might as well stay until the girl was done her work before getting to his own, he shut his eyes closed while also making sure that their contact would not break. Once he was satisfied, he allowed himself to drift to sleep.

The extremely bright morning light wasn't the one to have the pleasure of waking the now rested Sylar. It was still early in the morning, so the girl had not woken up yet. Also because of the strain she had gone through the night earlier. Somehow the girl managed to curl herself beside Sylar with their hands still held together. Sylar lay with his back flat against the bed and his eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling.

Just then, the woman beside him began to stir and rubbed her eyes of tiredness with her free hand. Sylar smiled mentally to himself at her child-like behaviour but then quickly shook that thought away from his mind. The young woman looked up at him with lazy eyes as she slowly started to register the situation. Instinctively and out of reflex, the girl pulled away from Sylar frightened.

Instantly Sylar howled as the pain rushed back to him like a large ocean wave taking you under. His face twisted as he tried to hold in the frustration, his hand gripping tightly at the unused bed sheets. "What's wrong with you? Do you have short term memory or something?" he managed to say clearly between gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry! I'm not used to waking with up some man beside me!" the girl shouted back in defense of her person.

"Yeah, I can tell," Sylar stopped all movement when the girl's light touches found themselves against his wounded arm. He looked up to see the girl's torso hovering above his for she didn't bother going around to reach his wounded arm.

"I'm not going to use pain transference, so brace yourself," she turned to him and smiled, giving him time to access the warning. Once she was sure he was prepared she began the healing process.

Sylar bit his lip but didn't move an inch in fear of accidentally knocking her down. It didn't hurt as much as he had thought it would but it still hurt. As soon as she's done I'll take this power of hers, Sylar thought to himself as his eyes stared maliciously at the girl above him.

Suddenly, some unseen force pushed the girl back on her rear end against the bed and a translucent energy surrounded the immediate area around her body. The girl looked to be taken aback, confused at what had just happened. Then she turned to Sylar with fearful eyes. "You're going to hurt me?" she said, very confused.

"What?" how did she know, Sylar thought quietly.

"This shield comes up whenever a threat against me that I'm not expecting is sensed in the area! You were going to hurt me!"

Sylar sat up and gazed into her abnormal eyes once more, studying her. Then in a flash, he erased all plans concerning any harm against the girl. Instantly the energy field went down and a sigh escaped the girl's lips. "Why did you help me?" he asked suddenly, shocking the poor girl again.

"You were hurt; do I need a reason?" she stated as a matter-of-factly.

He reached out and gently grasped onto her hand. "What's your name?" he asked before planting a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

"Um, Ashe," the smoky-blue eyed girl's cheeks became tinted with a light rose-red.

"Sylar,"

The two sat there staring at each other on the bed for a while. One not knowing what to do and the other thinking up ways to use the new information gained to their advantage.

Ashe shyly pulled her hand away, bringing it to her chest and cradling it as if it were a small child. Her hair was let loosely around her and was uncombed for it was she, technically, had just woken up. Silence filled the room yet there was no tension in either person occupying it. Just then, a stomach growled and both looked at each other knowingly. However, Sylar spoke of something entirely different. "You know I have… abilities; how?"

"You didn't really react like a normal person would when I mentioned Pain Transference," Ashe smiled while holding her stomach achingly. "You stay here, I'll go get food!" in a rush of wind Ashe readied herself to step out from the penthouse and into the bright morning streets of New York. Sylar stared after her as she left the room with a smile, curious of why she would let a strange alone in her penthouse.

Slowly, Sylar got up from the bed, mindful of the still not healed wound on his arm. He began to wander around the room, picking up this and that yet nothing in the room seemed to really hold much importance. It was all the typical objects which made the room seem a little bare. Then, out from the corner of his eye he noticed a somewhat large bag sitting comfortably beside the bedside table.

Without much hesitation, Sylar lifted it up and set it on top of the bed. With curious eyes and hands, he started to rummage through the contents of the bag. There wasn't much clothing which he found odd for a young woman to not have, but what caught his attention the most were papers concerning the girl.

"You come from a rich family, I see," Sylar mumbled as he looked over the sheets. One was even of her bank account – which his eyes actually widened at the amount. "Now, why would a rich girl not be pampering herself?" he thought out loud.

"Well, that doesn't matter," he smiled and chuckled lightly, his eyes glittering like a joyful child. "You've just become a very important tool to me,"

About an hour had passed since Ashe had left and Sylar was now really hungry, despite his effort of not thinking about food. He had found himself some cloth in the first aid kit in the bathroom to wrap around his arm and had opened all the curtains out of boredom. Sylar had even begun trying to regain control over his powers again, lifting the chairs and other medium sized objects around the place.

"She has so many abilities it's hard for me to figure them out…" Sylar found himself thinking out loud. His mind jumped from one thought to another as a small smirk crept its way to his lips. He pulled out the one sheet of paper he found of most interest and examined it again. "List of known abilities… Lucas Daniels, must be her father," he read out loud. His eyes scanned the page up and down until something caught his eye. "Hm, Ability/Knowledge Share… I wonder what that is,"

Just then the door opened to reveal a stumbling Ashe who looked to be carrying a bit too much for she nearly fell forward. Sylar quickly reached over to her side and took a few bags into his arms and smiled when Ashe looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, um, thank you," she said quietly.

Sylar helped her bring in the bags upon bags of food into the small kitchen. He eyed each bag carefully; it was like she bought every single meal available.

"I didn't really know what you ate so I sort of bought anything I could think of…" Ashe, too, was eyeing the food carefully as if in a lost trance.

"Why are you doing this?" Sylar didn't look to her, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"Can't someone be nice?" she replied timidly.

"This is too nice,"

"I don't know; there's just something about you that makes me…" Ashe trailed off as her mind wandered. Then, Sylar turned to her which caused the girl to jump a little in surprise when she saw him looking at her from the corner of her eye. "Makes you what?" Sylar asked, curious.

"I'm not sure… You seem… trusting… sometimes," Ashe blushed slightly and turned away. She gathered a few items from the bags and set to work on the meal ahead. "Um, I hope you like spaghetti!" Ashe exclaimed over her shoulder for she had just then turned her back on Sylar as she prepared the meal.

Quickly folding up the sheet of paper he had left on a nearby chair, Sylar placed it as carefully as he could without making a noise into his pocket. He made his way over to Ashe's side and peered over her shoulder, then slowly moving away. "Maybe we should fully introduce ourselves," he said, breaking the makeshift silence. "Where are you from?"

"Ehm, Orange County," Ashe stirred the pasta inside the steaming water carefully and excitedly, eyes sparkling at finally having interaction with another person.

"What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Looking for people,"

A single brow rose upon Sylar's forehead, "People?"

"People who have abilities too, but so far it hasn't been that many but most of them tried to keep it secret," Ashe shifted over to the sauce and began to stir that for a break from the pasta. She smiled sweetly when the aroma wafted into her nose and unconsciously licked her lips.

"So you're just a nomad then, jumping from place to place?" Sylar used his telekinesis to bring himself a cup of water, but it seemed like Ashe was too concentrated at the task at hand to notice his little display of ability.

"Well, I don't really know that many people and I don't really have a destination in mind," Ashe turned to Sylar, who had just then grabbed onto his glass, smiled, and then went back to concentrating on the food.

"Why don't you come along with me or I come along with you?"

Ashe started and almost dropped her wooden spoon when she registered what Sylar had just said. She turned around to him questioningly but all she saw was him smile at her. Suddenly, a floating flower from a nearby vase came toward her and she grabbed onto it gently, smelling the plant's sweet fragrance reflexively.

Sylar walked over to her and stopped when he was directly in front of her, no more than a foot away from her. "I don't really know you…" Ashe replied, gazing up at him.

"So you always bring strangers into your 'home', cook them a meal, and sleep in the same bed with them?" Sylar's smile widened when Ashe blushed a bit more at his little comment. "I might as well keep you company while you look for other people,"

"Okay, but only as friends," Ashe smiled warmly when Sylar shrugged his shoulders and then nodded. Suddenly Sylar wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her towards himself. He bent his head forward and placed it against hers, resting it there.

They stayed like that for a while, Sylar with his arms wrapped around Ashe, and Ashe frozen still; unsure of what to do next. Then, just as suddenly as it happened, Sylar pulled away from Ashe and spun her around to face the stove. Immediately Ashe remembered about the food and went back to preparing the meal.

Behind Ashe, Sylar continued to smile as he walked off into another room. He brought his hand up to examine it, flexing the muscles that were there. His hand glowed a light gold for a moment before returning to normal. He glanced back at the door he had just gone through for quick second then looked back to his hand. He outstretched his arm out toward an object across the room and in a blink of an eye the object was already in his hand. "She's amplifying my own powers and she doesn't even know it," he whispered out loud.

"This is going to make things much, much easier,"

"Oh, hello Dr. Daniels,"

"Dr. Suresh, I ask a favour of you,"

"Oh, what is it?"

"I sense my daughter Ashe is slowly being influenced by another, I'm afraid it might interfere with the future I had once seen for her,"

"What are you getting at Dr. Daniels?"

"I would like you or something you trust completely to find her and remove her from said influence: protect her and you protect mankind itself,"

Suddenly the phone line was cut off and Mohinder stared at it confusion. His mind tried to comprehend what the other scientist had just told him, "Protect her and you protect mankind itself…" he repeated out loud, "What is that supposed to imply?"

"What's wrong Mohinder?" Molly came into the room with her eyes gazing at Mohinder curiously.

Instantly Mohinder opened his laptop and began to search for Ashe Daniels. He looked for any recent photo available of her, searching anything from news reports to articles of her father's work. He smiled successfully when he found a photo that was taken only a few months earlier. His eyes were met with a young woman around the age of her early twenties with light red hair and grey-blue eyes.

Mohinder turned the laptop toward Molly and leaned forward slightly. "Can you find this girl for me Molly? It's very important,"

"Um, okay," Molly looked closely at the image before shutting her eyes.

Mohinder waited patiently for Molly's search to finish. As soon as she opened her eyes, he waited again for her to speak. "She's in a hotel… Called… Jumeirah Essex House… In New York," Molly sounded slightly unsure but Mohinder didn't seem to notice. "Why do you need to know where she is Mohinder?"

"Her father is looking for her and is very worried about her," Mohinder replied quickly but spoke slowly. "She is very important to him, and possibly to mankind as well,"

End Chapter

In the Next Chapter:

"Sylar!" came Elle's whispered shout.

Peter, too, looked as surprised as Elle did at seeing Sylar so suddenly and at a time like this.

Sylar threw Elle far back with his telekinesis, knocking her out cold as well. Next, Sylar tried to do the same to Peter but then noticed the shield that was around him. He tilted his head slightly and saw Ashe struggling to stay awake on the ground next to Peter. "What did you do to her?"

Jae Khameron: All right! You made it to the end of the chapter! Just a reminder, leave a review if you've got any suggestions or concerns :) Stay tuned for the next chapter!