Note: no set time for this, just some time after the explosion, and sometime before Peter finds out Arthur's still alive.
It never gets easier.
They've been gone for a while.
She was first. He was next.
Both murdered.
Murder. That word's been used a lot lately. Far too often for Peter's taste.
Her murder was an accident. It was all his fault, anyway. And he got what he deserved, he supposed. It was Peter that he was after, not her. And so it was in Peter's arms that she died.
If that wasn't bad enough, Peter still remembers every moment vividly. He can still hear the gunshot ringing in his head, can still feel her weight against him, her blood on his hands. He can remember the look on his face, the shock on both of theirs. He remembers the feel of her skin, how it lost its warmth as she lost her life.
If it was that terrible for Peter, he could only imagine how much worse it must've felt for him.
He pulled the trigger. He shot the bullet that would kill her. He was aiming for Peter and murdered the innocent.
It was all Peter's fault.
He was aiming for Peter after all.
If the bullet had just hit him…
Sometimes it feels like the bullet did hit him. That's how bad the pain was, some days.
Isaac. Murdered.
He'd never forgive Sylar. Not for that one.
It wasn't even the fact that Isaac was murdered that gave Peter nightmares, like Simone's death did. It was the way he was.
Paintbrushes jammed through his wrists and his ankles and head sliced open… it was horrifying. Sure, Peter knew that was Sylar's trademark, but to have to see Isaac like that… It might've even been worse seeing that than watching Simone die.
And hey, in the event that he somehow lost the vivid memory of the painter lying in a puddle of his own blood, there'd always be the painting.
That damn painting. It would forever haunt Peter. A constant reminder that Isaac was, and always would be, gone. Dead. Never to return.
And it hurt.
It hurt Peter to reflect on the fact that in a year, he'd not only lost his father, but he'd lost the two people he'd come to truly love.
Simone… she was perfect. In practically every way. Peter knew, and made it clear, that he'd fallen in love with her the day he met her.
Isaac… he wasn't perfect. And that only made Peter love him more. He wasn't like Simone, no, Isaac was like Peter. Peter could do what Isaac could. Isaac and Peter faced the same threat, and Isaac was the one that had to take the fall. He was the real hero. He was the reason Claire was still safe. (Well, Hiro helped, but that's aside from the point.)
Simone was gone. He knows he'll recover someday. It won't be any day soon, but he knows he'll be able to do it.
He'll recover. But, yanno, it'd be a hell of a lot easier had he someone who knew how he felt.
And he did. Someone he loved just as much. He did have him. But it was too late for that.
Isaac was gone.
Never to come back.
And it hurt to remember them.
It never wouldn't hurt.
That pain? It's never going to go away.
And Peter accepts that.