The last few hours of Elle Bishop's life.
"Do you think it's permanent?"
They were the first words that had popped into her mind. It was the question that asked so many questions; their relationship, their lack of powers, his good-boy act, everything. Was it all permanent or was it just a temporary way of things?
This day had been extremely weird, especially the last 10 minutes. Ever since she was 14 she had thought about how she would lose her virginity but she had always imagined it being with a Prince Charming type, a guy who would take her away from the company, her father, all the pain and most importantly he would understand her. He would understand why she couldn't go swimming at the beach with him, how it wasn't her fault if she would accidentally overload the power in their house, and he would love her anyway. And then on their wedding night...the point was she definitely had not pictured it being on the floor of a dead man's house with the man who murdered her father.
"What, our powers going away or us?" He replied.
Elle chuckled, it was as if he had read her mind. "Both I guess." She said, her head resting on his chest.
Gabriel was still breathing heavily. "I don't know anymore."
Elle understood completely, with all this happening at once she wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't. She lifted her head. "What if it is?" She took a moment to pause as her head lay back down. "Permanent."
Gabriel didn't hesitate at this answer. "Then you get exactly what you want."
Elle was a little confused at first but then she smiled and lifted her head up to look into his eyes. "And what is it I want?"
He leaned up and began kissing her again. After a few moments he lay down again and stroked her hair. Elle couldn't hide the smile on her face. He knew exactly what she wanted.
"A chance to reinvent ourselves, free of powers or parents."
Elle took in a breath of air, he was right. For once in her life she'd have complete control over herself. Wonderful...but at the same time..."Scary." She said outloud.
"Yeah...and unexpected." He smiled at her and leaned in for another kiss but she pulled back. "What?" She asked smiling. "Our powers going away or us?"
Gabriel smiled back at her. And then everything happened so fast. She saw a wavering red dot appear on Gabriel's forehead. She gasped and quickly rolled over pulling him with her. It seems she had acted just in time because she heard gunshots. They continued to roll over until Gabriel stood up quickly, grabbing his jeans and running towards the back door.
Elle grabbed his shirt, the closest item of clothing she could find and pulled it over her head quickly as she grabbed the gun lying on the floor. "Come on! Let's go Elle, come on!" He yelled at her as she ran towards him. They hid behind a wall, giving them both a moment to adjust their clothing.
Elle held the gun up beside her. "Who's doing this?" She asked panting.
"Who do you think?" Gabriel replied.
Elle heard the door swing open and heard footsteps. Great, glasses was back. She could hear him getting closer. She gritted her teeth and swung around shooting at the older man. She knew it was extremely unlikely any of the bullets would actually hit him, but she needed to buy them time to get out of here. Gabriel started dragging her towards the door as Elle continued to shoot at Noah but by now he was shooting back. They were almost out the door when he shot a bullet at her leg that hit her. She screamed from the sudden pain and started to fall but Gabriel caught her and helped her away. She took in a breath, trying not to cry. She had been shot once before by Noah, only a month or two ago and she had cried that time but she hadn't cried for herself. She had cried because she seriously thought that son of a bitch was going to kill her father. And in what she had figured would be her last few moments with her dad, she realized how much she loved him and how much she needed him.
Elle moaned in pain as Gabriel helped her run, they had to get away.
Before she knew it, she was on a beach. Elle looked around confused. What the hell had just happened? Hadn't she just been in the Bennet's house? She saw Gabriel approximately 30 feet away from her. "What was that?" She said, the electricity in her hand dying out.
"Hiro Nakamura." He answered immediately, walking over to her.
Elle had heard that name before, around the company. She decided not to question it anymore as she walked closer to him. "Strange day," she realized she was limping but didn't stop waking towards him. She stopped in front of him, he had an expression in his eyes she didn't like. Not angry exactly, demanding. Threatening.
"Was Bennet lying about my parents?" He asked in a cold voice.
"Of course he was, he's Bennet," she lied smoothly. Now definitely was not the time to have that conversation.
But he didn't seem convinced. "He seemed to think you knew something about it."
Elle was a good liar, she had had many years of practice in the company. Not that she felt good about lying to him. But she would tell him later, just not now. "He's just trying to me"- Her legged buckled underneath her. She winced slightly. "-mess with you."
Gabriel held on to her. "Sit down," he said. His eyes never left her face.
Elle sat down and sighed of relief. She looked down at the sand beneath her and took in deep slow breaths. Gabriel touched her cheek slightly and scared her. She took a sharp intake of air and looked up abruptly, grabbing onto his wrist. His face looked almost hurt. She calmed down and let go of his arm. He swept a piece of hair out of her face and kissed her. Elle kissed him back and she lay down pulling him on top of her.
They continued kissing until they locked hands. Then he tore his lips apart from hers and looked at her. Elle smiled, she was in pain but she barely noticed it because he was there with her. And what he had said at Bennet's house, about wanting to have a home and a family, she couldn't help but feel those comments had been directed at her.
"I've been thinking," he said.
Elle smiled at him. "About what?"
He looked at their hands, that were still locked together. "What you said about finding ourselves free of parents and powers..."
"What about it?" She asked, not pressing the fact that it was actually he who had said that.
He looked back at her. "You were wrong."
That wasn't what she had been expecting him to say. She waited for him to continue.
"Nobody ever really changes," he said. He voice was ice cold and she had a feeling something was different with him. He was no longer laying on her lightly so he wouldn't hurt her. His weight was getting heavier and heavier.
She searched his face for any sign of Gabriel, the man she loved. Who she saw looking back wasn't Gabriel. "You did. I saw you."
"That was temporary," he said. His voice was giving her chills now and he was now crushing her. "And then I got my powers back, and I understand now." Elle couldn't bare to look at him anymore. She looked away, trying not to groan in pain as his knee began to dig into her gun wound. She looked back at him. "And I'm never going to change," he continued. "Neither are you because we're both just damaged goods."
It was then Elle understood. He was no longer Gabriel, this was Sylar. The man who has killed her father and hundreds of other innocent people. And now he was going to kill her. She didn't even bother trying to get away. He was on top of her, he had the advantage. She looked him in the eyes, looking for some shred of mercy. "You're hurting me," she said so quietly it was more like a whisper.
Sylar smiled at her, but a cold smug smile. "I know." He lifted himself partially off her. She tried to move a little bit but she couldn't, he was using his telekinesis powers to pin her to the ground. He lifted his fingers and pointed them at her skull.
Elle closed her eyes. She couldn't fight, she was helpless. "Isn't this what you wanted?" A voice in the back of her head said. "For him to kill you? A day ago you were begging for him to murder you. Remember, there's no meaning to your life."
"But then he gave me meaning." She argued with herself inside her head.
"And now he's taking it all away."
Then she felt the piercing pain that she had felt only a few weeks ago down in Level 5. Her head was on fire but she barely noticed. She was probably groaning, maybe even screaming, but she couldn't hear anything.
"You'll be with mom and dad..." The annoying voice in the back of her head said.
The pain got worse but it was fading, everything was fading. And then everything was black.
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