Claire felt something she hadn't felt in a long time. Fear.

Even though she had her faces masked over in a determined anger, she couldn't help but to feel the overwhelming sense of fear.

Peter was there, watching…trying to get out of the telekinetic hold Sylar had on him. He kept cursing at Sylar, and it was starting to anger him. Sylar had found out about Claire and Peter's love for each other, as well as her power. It was a cruel thing, to test the limits of the abilities of somebody you love, but Sylar was a killer, and Claire should have known better than to allow herself to be pulled into his vortex of love.

Sylar's face was determined, and completely unemotional as he lifted the gun to Claire. Claire looked around for an escape, finding none, she turned to face Sylar.

She was about to beg for her life when suddenly a loud bang shot through the air and resounded in Claire's mind. It was as though the bullet had hit her in slow-motion. Claire felt the piece of metal burry itself deep inside her chest, and push through her rib cage. Everything went dark as she fell to the ground.

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Peter felt himself being released from his telekinetic hold. He watched in anguish as Claire fell to the ground hard, blood spilling from around her. He ran up to her, almost forgetting about the killer who was standing a foot away, and lifted her up into his arms. Tears formed in his eyes, he knew that Claire would soon revive herself, but even that didn't comfort the thought that he was the cause of Claire's pain. He could feel Sylar look at him in anger, before storming out of the room. Peter recalled on memories he and Claire had together.

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Memories

"You know that you drive me crazy right?" Peter called after her. Claire turned around with a big grin set on her perfect face. "Is that so?" she asked teasingly.

"Yeah." Peter said, because he couldn't think of anything else.

"Thanks Peter… it means a lot." She whispered, a tear forming in her eyes.

Peter couldn't bear to see her pain, yet, think of the man who was causing her pain. It made him feel good to see her smile; even better because he knew that the cause of that smile was him. She was his, and he was hers. Only they could make each other smile in hard times.

"Claire." Peter began, watching as Claire started to frown. "I know what's going on."

"What do you mean?" Claire asked, her voice a little too happy. She knew it sounded fake.

"I have eyes Claire, what's he doing to you?" Peter asked, anger starting to seep through.

"How dare you!" Claire said, her eyebrows coming together angrily.

"Why do you stay with him?" Peter asked enraged. "Claire…Sylar is a bad man!" he yelled.

Claire's features formed a mask of anger, pain, and something else Peter couldn't identify.

"I love him." Claire said.

Peter huffed, not ready to give up on her.

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Peter watched from the doorway as Claire grabbed her pom-pom's and started to practice cheering in the mirror. He smiled to himself, she didn't know he was there, he was invisible. The last time they had been together Claire had been wearing nothing and they had shared a romantic evening. Peter shook as he realized that Claire was probably doing the same thing with Sylar every other night. He knew that Sylar was using her for his sick fantasies, he wanted to test her powers before taking them. Peter knew too much about Sylar, and he didn't want Claire anywhere near him. Claire and Sylar may have been in love once, but that was before he found out she could heal. Claire should never have told him. Peter could imagine the delight Claire must have felt when Sylar showed her his own power, well, one that he stole. Claire hadn't know it back then, but he killed people for their powers. In fact, Claire probably still doesn't know it.

Peter watched over Claire almost every night, and it took a lot of strength to stop from killing Sylar when he saw Claire's tearstained face. He couldn't attack Sylar though because Sylar would attack Claire for revenge. When Sylar and Peter did get into fights, it was very hard not to kill Sylar. Peter came close to it a couple of times, but had stopped himself at the last minute because an image of Claire's face glaring at him in hatred would haunt him.

Peter decided he would take matters into his own hands now, and that's what ruined everything.

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Peter pinned Sylar against the wall by his neck, squeezing as Sylar's face grinned down at him. He remembered yelling at Sylar for all that he had done to make Claire feel this way, and that he would pay. That's when Sylar said it, more of a statement than a question.

"You love her?"

Then Sylar had erupted into laughter, before disappearing form Peter's hands completely. Peter didn't have to have Molly's ability to know that Sylar was going to find Claire and push her around some more, just so he could feel like a man. Like he owned her. What Peter didn't know was that he was going to attack and kill her friend Jackie and then throw Claire against a wall.

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Peter had teleported to Claire when he found out about the incident; just as Sylar was trying to push her out the window. Peter shoved Sylar angrily away from Claire and gripped her arm, teleporting them both to Peter's apartment.

After Claire had wiped all of the blood away from her face and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail, they sat down and talked awkwardly about what happened.

"You're totally my hero." Claire had said, and Peter felt joy rise inside his heart as she said that.

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Peter was walking down a hallway when suddenly blonde hair flew into his arms. Peter let out a huff as the wind was temporarily knocked out of him but then he straightened up and looked down at the girl. It was Claire…covered in blood. Peter grabbed her arms, it looked as though she were preparing to sprint away from him.

"Are you okay?" Peter demanded, looking her over. Claire shook and didn't answer him, just averted her gaze to a spot somewhere behind Peter. Peter turned to look at what startled her. It was Sylar, a hat over his head and covered in shade.

Peter felt Claire start to move away from him and he turned back around to look at her.

"Run. GO!" he shouted, running after her. He stopped as he got to the end of the hallway and turned to face Sylar, who simply smiled and sent lockers flying in his direction. One hit him and Peter, fazed by it, started to unconsciously turn and run after Claire.

They had gotten away from Sylar and had eventually calmed down enough to talk about it.

"What happened?" he demanded.

"Sylar… he found out about, well… you and me." She said. Peter sighed and self consciously pulled her closer to him, so he could feel her head resting against his chest.

"He won't hurt you again." He said. Too bad that was a lie.

Sylar appeared at that moment, Peter was thrown away from Claire and knocked unconscious, the last thing he heard was Claire's scream.

When Peter woke up he saw Claire sitting on the table, a line of blood on her forehead and tears spilling down her face. Sylar was standing a few feet away from her.

"I love you Claire." He was saying. "And I don't want anyone else to feel about you the way I do." As he said this his gaze averted to Peter, who glared at him angrily.

Peter was taken aback from the sudden onslaught of images that Sylar threw at him.

One was from what happened just a minute ago, when Peter was unconscious. Claire was pinned against the wall. Sylar lifted his finger and started to slice Claire's head open with his own power. She screamed loudly, and the sound pained Peter.

When Peter recovered from that image he walked up to Sylar and punched him square in the jaw, Sylar fell to the ground and wiped away the blood.

Peter sent an image of his own to Sylar, of Peter and Claire sitting in the car. Peter caressed her face and Claire smiled, before landing a kiss on his lips.

Sylar just smiled and the force of the next image almost made Peter fall down. It was of Claire on the ground, sweat covering her from her to toe and her face scrunched up as an unknown force held her there and tortured her with his mind. Another one followed shortly after that of Claire with blood covering her face, but she didn't seem to notice that as she popped her elbow back in place and hissed painfully. She then got up and watched scared as Sylar saw her face heal. Peter realized this was an image from when Sylar had first found out about her ability.

He grabbed Claire and teleported them back to his apartment, where they started a life together.

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Peter listened as Claire sobbed on the phone, telling Peter that Sylar had found her. She told him that she was just packing to go see Peter when suddenly the door flew open and Claire found herself face-to-face with Sylar, who just smiled at her and teleported away, as though just to remind her that he was still out there.

After that Peter had angrily confronted Sylar, they both fought brutally, earning Peter a large scar across his face in the process. It healed over after a few months thanks to Claire, but that scar had reminded him again and again that he had fought for Claire, and he was proud of it.

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Peter watched helplessly from where he was pinned against the wall as Sylar took the top of Claire's head off and started to mess around with her brain. Finally, he pulled a chunk off the cold pink of her brain and Claire's eyes glazed over. Sylar left with a quick kiss on Claire's cheek and a pat on Peter's shoulder. When he walked out the door, Peter fell from the wall and turned to see if Claire was okay. He put the top of her head back on and waited for her to regenerate, when she did she burst into tears.

Peter held her as though his life depended on it, trying to fight the tear that rose from his own eyes.

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Peter glared at Sylar as he suddenly appeared in front of him, scaring the wits out of Peter.

"I have come to collect what is rightfully mine." He said solemnly. Peter just glared at him, telling him that he would never find Claire.

"You can't kill me Peter." Sylar said, and Peter rose up his fist to blast him out of the way. "Only one person can now, and you said that I would never find her."

With that, Sylar left before Peter could bat an eye.

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Present

After incident

Peter looked at Claire's smiling form, he hated to bring this up, but he cleared his throat nervously.

"I bought you a present." He said.

Claire just looked at him in surprise. "Oh." She said, a smile forming. "Let's see it!"

Peter handed her the gun that was in his pocket. Claire frowned at him.

"What's this for?"

"Protection…in case someone drops by." He said. Claire's frown deepened.

"I can't get hurt Peter." She reminded him.

"Yes, you can. He broke you Claire, I'm your anchor to let you know you're still alive. I'll always be here, but if he comes, make sure you kill him." Peter said.

"I couldn't stand it if I lost you." He admitted truthfully. Claire smiled.

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There were many times that Sylar came back for her and tortured her, but all of those times Claire didn't have the gun on her, much to the anger of Peter.

"I can't believe it." He had yelled. "Claire, if he comes again, think as loud as you can that something's wrong, I'll come." He promised. Claire smiled, and she felt herself believe him.

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Years later, and Peter and Claire didn't look aged at all. They both had differences though, Peter's scar was starting to come back again, to the wonder of both of them, and Claire had died her hair a deep brown.

"People would get suspicious if I looked the same after four years." She explained to Peter when he asked why she did it. He had just shrugged and said he would love her no matter what she looked like.

Claire didn't tell Peter, but she had been getting phone calls from Sylar telling her to come find him. Now, a few years after the last phone call, Claire hunted him down.

When she finally found him, the only thing he said was,

"What took you so long?"

Claire's eyes widened in surprise and hate and anger, and possibly every other emotion.

She lifted the gun up towards Sylar and didn't hesitate as she shot him, making a loud echo.

Sylar fell to the round in what seemed like slow motion, blood streaming out of his mouth, he was dead. Claire felt satisfaction run throughout her whole boy and she wondered about his last question. What HAD took her so long? She had wanted to do this to him for so long… she wanted him to suffer. Claire tried not to think about it. She just returned home to her life with Peter and told him everything that had happened. He had smiled and said he was proud of her.

Claire had something she didn't believe possible when she was with Sylar… a happy ending.