Spark of attraction when Sylar saves Claire from Vortex Guy – re-imagining of ep. S03E05
Claire felt fear attempt to shiver through her as everything was sucked into the vortex, even she would die after being sucked into nothingness. Clamping down on her feelings, Claire tried to get a better grip. Shifting her fingers slightly she was pulled back closer to the vortex as an involuntary scream escaped.
A sudden warm tingling spread through her body even as her fall was stopped by the hand gripping hers tightly. Looking up, she was surprised to find that Sylar was the one to save her, where was her father? With a whoosh, the vortex closed itself, leaving an unnatural silence behind.
Claire was lost in her thoughts as Noah dragged her out of the house, so many questions racing through her mind. Why had Sylar saved her? Was he truly trying to make amends? Why did her body react the way it did at his touch? What did it mean?
Deciding to give him the benefit of the doubt, Claire found herself out by the car with a worried Noah Bennet staring at her. Reassuring him that it was just shock, not like she could really be hurt, Noah left to check for Canfield. Unintentionally, surely, leaving her alone with Sylar. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him, "Why'd you save me? I thought you wanted to kill me?" she asked.
Sylar, or Gabriel as he was trying to be, paused momentarily before answering, "I'm not sure why I saved you. I don't want you dead though, I know that. And when I saw you were slipping I acted instinctually, moving around to save you. Something about you draws me in. I thought it was your power but I still feel the pull. No one else has ever affected me the way you do Claire."
Sylar studied her face, waiting for the disgust and hate that usually took up residence there anytime he was involved. But to his surprise, there was no trace of any of the more negative emotions, only resignation and, was that a tinge of respect?
With swift movement, Claire stepped up and kissed him, light and quick, on his cheek. Sylar blushed, his face burning, and managed a mumbled questioning noise. Claire let out a slight giggle, presumably at the sight of a bright red former serial killer, "Thank you for saving me. And for being honest. Mostly for the honesty thing, you never lie to me. How come you can manage that but my dad can't?" she asked, turning a bit melancholy.
Sylar opened his mouth to answer but snapped it shut as Noah came back from his phone call. Ignoring the man's raised eyebrow at their lack of space and hate filled looks, Sylar and Claire got into their respective seats. But not without a sign of hope, Claire brushed her fingers against his quickly once Noah was on the other side of the car.
The return trip was made in silence, everyone pondering on their own. Noah was trying to figure out a way to kill Sylar while Sylar and Claire both tried to figure out if the other one was genuinely interested in changing their ways.
Claire stormed away from the carousel and Noah, feeling disappointed and betrayed. He had lied to her! Again! Why? Why was Sylar suddenly seeming like the better person? As if her thought had summoned him, Sylar came walking towards her, ignoring her dad's order to stay with the car.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Sylar asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Claire gave him a slight smile, "No. he lied yet again. Why do I keep believing him?" she asked, hoping he would know the answer.
Noah arrived at a jog, "Get away from my daughter Sylar! I won't let you hurt her again." he yelled threateningly, pulling out his gun.
"Oh please. As if I could ever hurt her as much as you do." Sylar stated calmly as though Noah was brandishing a loaf of bread at him instead of a gun. Confused, Noah glanced at Claire and saw her tear filled eyes. Assuming it was from Sylar's proximity, he took a step towards her, reaching out to grab her arm. He froze as the unthinkable happened, his Claire-bear flinched away from him, stepping behind Sylar, shielding herself from him. Moving his hand back to his gun, he aimed for Sylar's head, "What did you do to her?"
A thread of unease pooled in the pit of his stomach as Sylar smirked, "I didn't do anything. This was all you. You lied to Claire. She doesn't appreciate that. After all, if Claire can put what happened to her behind her, shouldn't you do the same?"
The single thread turned into a tangled ball as Claire didn't contradict Sylar's little speech. "Claire-bear you can't trust him, he's a killer. I'm your father. Come back over to me, I can protect you from him." Noah snarled as Claire defied him, "Why?" he asked.
"He's never lied to me. Not once. So when he said he didn't want me dead, I believed him. I'm done believing you. You've lied to me for the last time." Claire stated, stepping back out into the open. Her stance was set, no self-conscience shifting of her weight; she was serious. Noah felt a pang in his heart as he realized just how monumentally he had screwed up.
This time the silence in the car was palpable and tense, unlike the comfortable quiet they'd fallen into before. Sylar had sat in his expected back seat position, however Claire had joined him this go 'round. She was leaning against the door but Sylar could feel her heat pressing into his leg as she angled her knee in a show of passive solidarity. Sylar had a feeling that if Noah could see that then he would be doing more than trying to kill him with his eyes. He was vaguely concerned that Noah was going to end up wrecking the car with how little attention he was paying to the road. Not that it would make much difference to Claire and himself, they'd heal. But Noah wouldn't and as much as Claire was upset right now she loved him. It would hurt her if Noah ended up killing himself. With a sigh, Sylar decided that if it meant helping Claire, "Bennet, if you don't take your eyes off the rear-view mirror and pay attention to the road you're going to crash. How can you kill me if you're dead?" There, Sylar thought, turn it around to me and maybe no one will notice that my reasoning made no sense.
Claire smiled into the window, there was no reason for him to warn her dad. She knew Sylar didn't want people trying to kill him. Therefore, the only reason to keep him alive was if it would hurt someone else, it would hurt her. Claire sneaked a peek up front, her dad had his knuckles turning white from the force of his grip on the steering wheel and there was a tick in his jaw but he stared straight ahead, his eyes no longer locked on the rear-view mirror. Her smile widened and she pressed more firmly into Sylar's leg for a moment before moving back over.
As they were pulling into her driveway, Claire spotted a pen on the floor. Bending down to pick it up, she stealthily lifted Sylar's pant leg and wrote her cell number just above his sock. She quickly threw the pen under the seat and untied her shoe as she felt the car pull to a stop. She was half-way through when her door was opened. Finishing up, she ignored both men and made her way inside.
She heard the car race off after she closed the front door. Her mom rushed into the room, sweeping her into a hug, "I'm so glad Meredith found you!" Sandra exclaimed. "Sylar saved me actually, from Dad." Claire explained as she returned the hug. Stepping back, she questioned, "Wait, Meredith? How long has she been gone?"
They were on their way back to Primatech and Sylar had moved up to the front seat. He was doing a very good job of ignoring Noah's inane threats and questions when a very foreign feeling spiked straight into his brain. Examining it, Sylar realized that it was bad and it felt like Claire? Alarmed, Sylar reached out and grabbed Noah's arm, "Turn around. Something is wrong with Claire." A few minutes of ineffective arguing later and Sylar took control of the car telekinetically and steered it in the direction of Claire. Turning everytime he felt a tug on this newly discovered bond. Coming to a stop, they found themselves outside of a puppeteer.
A gunshot rang out suddenly, destroying the peace of the air but it served a purpose. Noah was no longer protesting and was instead drawing his gun and rushing headlong into danger. Sylar followed at after a more cautionary pace, no good could come of hurrying into the unknown.
Creeping into the building, Sylar looked around the corner, stunned at what he saw. Claire was covered in blood, the women were having tea and Noah was holding his gun against his head. Just as he spotted an unknown man, his actions were no longer his own. The man was moving his fingers oddly, as though he were using a marionette and Sylar's limbs jerkily responded in kind.
Quickly deducing what had happened, Sylar let his body be used, offering no resistance as he studied the Puppeteer. He moved over and picked up the gun from the table, his arm forced to aim at each person in turn before turning the gun towards his shoulder. Claire started a muffled protest, unable to open her mouth. Sylar appreciated the gesture but knew he would heal if anything did happen to him. Sylar felt his finger pull the trigger but an empty click was the gun's response, it hadn't been cocked. The Puppeteer quickly had him fix that mistake before having the gun turn back to Claire.
At this, Sylar refused, he would NOT hurt Claire again. He performed a quick mental exam, if he could understand how he was being made to move, maybe he could circumvent it. There was a shift in his brain and it clicked. He understood. Moving quickly, he shot the Puppeteer in the head. The look of surprise was forever etched on his face in death.
The strings snapped, everyone relaxed into their natural form, no longer forced to attend to the whims of a madman. Claire hugged Sandra, then Meredith, then Sandra again. Clinging to her mother, Claire turned and mouthed 'Thank you' to Sylar as he stood off to the side, not wanting to interfere with the good mood. Meanwhile, Noah watched and fumed from the shadows, forgotten in the excitement.
End Part 1