There's a pain that sleeps inside
It sleeps with just one eye
And awakens the moment that you leave

Mohinder hated waking up to an empty bed.

Especially if it were 4 am in the morning.

Sylar never seemed to notice (he probably did, but he never said anything) but Mohinder knew what he did on these nightly escapades. The bed would be significantly colder (odd, it wasn't like Sylar was warm-blooded) and he would lie awake in bed, guilt biting away at him, until it was dawn and he was on his way back.

Though I try to look away
The pain it still remains
Only leaving when you're next to me

Every night, with their bodies still sticky with sweat and semen, Mohinder would sleep, clinging firmly onto Sylar, hoping that he would not leave in the middle of the night, hoping that he would stay with him, hoping that someone would get to be alive for once.

It never happened. No matter how tight he held onto him, Sylar always managed to wrench his way out, leaving Mohinder to drown in his own guilt. Mohinder hated being alone, because then his conscience would nag at him, and it always asked him the same question.

"Why? Why are you sleeping with him?"

He would disregard the question (even though the more he ignored it, the more the images of dead people became bolder within his mind's eye) until Sylar came back, because whenever he looked at him, all guilt was lost, and he knew what he wanted. He wanted him, and only him, no matter what he did, no matter that his own sanity was slowly ebbing away.

Do you know, that every time you're near
Everybody else seems far away
So can you come and make them disappear
Make them disappear and we can stay

Sylar wants the list. Mohinder would never give it to him, because then he would leave, and Mohinder would never let that happen. He will continue to add on to that list, so that he would have an endless supply of people for Sylar to leech on. As long as he fed him people, Sylar would stay with him.

Eventually, Mohinder managed to convince himself that he didn't care if these people died. Everyone had to die sometime, whatever the reason was, so even if they died now, what was the difference? In fact, it made Sylar happy, and a satisfied Sylar meant fucking good sex, and that was one thing Mohinder would never pass up. It was survival of the fittest at its best. They were the predators, feeding on their prey's abilities.

So I stand and look around
Distracted by the sounds
Of everyone and everything I see

Sometimes when he was alone in the bath, the trickling of water would morph and he would hear instead, a girl shrieking, and the water that was being washed away would become redder and darker than blood. Soap didn't even smell like soap anymore – it had that metallic tang to it, and Mohinder would stumble out of the shower, vomiting into the sink, his senses entirely clouded.

It's just a food chain, and we're at the top of it. That's all. Predators kill, that's what they do. It's just a food chain, and we're at the top of it. That's all. We're just the ones at the top of the food chain.

And I search through every face
Without a single trace, of the person
The person that I need

More people. Mohinder needed more people. Sylar never seemed to grow tired of new abilities, but the list was running out. Mohinder could not afford to lose him now, not after so many deaths and all that he'd sacrificed - his religion, his original life, his sanity. More people. Mohinder needed more people.

Can you make them disappear?
Make them disappear

Just kill them. He'd come too far to turn back. Just kill them, and stay with me.

A/N: This was written during Season 1. Lyrics are from the song Disappear by Hoobastank.