Title: Squall

Fandom: Heroes

Rating: T -

Couples: None

Characters: Catch all

Notes and Spoilers: Through "Chapter 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man." The beginning of the story might seem like a rehash of the finale, but let me assure you, I am not just retelling the script. I intend to fill in gaps, and go deeper before in later chapters when I will break out from the norm. I hope you enjoy the journey I shall describe and I would appreciate any comments you see fit. Thank you all for reading! Like, I said in my profile, all sign reviewers will get a review reply from me!

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 characters: Nathan, Peter, Claire, Angela, Noah

Being the oldest sibling in the family was hard. Often you are born to set an example, or to continue a tradition. Sometimes these two obligations made him feel trapped, without knowing which direction to go.

Nathan was waiting for the helicopter that Linderman was sending for his family, when the call came in.

"Nathan, please meet me in the parking garage. It is an emergency."

The last time he got such a call Peter was standing on a roof.

Nathan watched as Peter pulled up. Claire and Peter were arguing about something.

Peter rushed at him, out of breath.

"Nathan..."

"What's the emergency?"

"The bomb...it's not me, it's Sylar."

"Sylar?"

First Ted, and now Sylar? Peter was grasping at straws, he didn't want to be the bomb but he was and he had to get used it. The bomb was going to happen.

"What do you want me to do?" Nathan asked.

"Help me."

Peter was scared. Nathan never liked to see Peter scared. He would do anything to hold Peter in his arms to tell him that everything was all right, but he couldn't. He saw the future paintings. And their mother was so very sure, that life after the bomb would be better. He will finally have the ability to make a difference, even perhaps one day become President. Everyone is going to die.

Peter's eyes turned wide-eyed and he quickly stepped back.

"Claire was right about you."

Nathan stepped forward.

"What are you talking about?"

Nathan was able to comfort a scared Peter many times in his life, but this was the first time the cause was him. He scared Peter...

"Claire?!" Peter shouted wildly in searched for Claire who was no longer in the car.

"Peter wait..."

Peter went invisible.

"Peter!" Nathan shouted.

He went invisible on him before after being afraid. Only days before, before he went to Las Vegas, he saw a broken Peter. His brother appeared to have lost hope. He was afraid. He was deadly afraid. Nathan begged Peter to stay with him, but Peter was afraid, but then Nathan knew it was because he was afraid he would hurt others, that he would hurt him. But now, for the first time, Peter was afraid of him! It was something Nathan wasn't sure he could bear.
Nathan wanted to go after him when Angela arrived with Claire, her escape attempt short lived.

"I can't believe you two think it is okay to do this," Claire said. "How could you allow your own son to die. Your own brother!"

Nathan looked at Claire with shock.

"He's not going to die."

Similar words he said to Angela a few weeks ago when Peter was in his two week coma. But this time Peter said it himself...that he couldn't die.

"How do you know?" Claire shouted.

She still had the gun in her pocket, though she wanted to forget it.

Nathan struggled to breathe as he replied, "Because he said..."

"And even if he does survive," Claire added. "How could you make Peter a murderer?"

The question caught Nathan off guard, but his mother's presence kept him from saying anything. Why did she have this control on him? Because she's his mother of course. He thought Linderman was crazy when he first presented the idea. There was no way that he would let Peter die for something that monster wanted. His mother told him that Linderman was murdered and he had to bite his lip to hide his smile. He didn't feel that it was a tragedy. He was glad. Niki and DL were able to do something he could not. Though, how Niki was referring to herself as the third person, made him think that she truly was this Jessica that Niki was telling him about. It sounded crazy, but what was more crazy than an exploding man?

Claire was on the phone with the man she considered her father.

"Dad!"

The word stabbed his heart. Instinctively, he felt himself want to embrace her, she called so he answered, wanting to hold her close. But she wasn't calling him. She was talking about someone else.

And then she jumped out the window. To get away with him. Why was everyone that he loved running away from him? They hated him. His mother was standing behind him, wrapping her arms around him.

"It will be alright. I know what you are thinking..."

Do you?

"I know you Nathan...I know under that rough exterior that you are a sap."

"That is what is wrong with you Nathan. You don't have any faith."

Faith.

Peter will not die. But will he survive, that was the ultimate question. Would Peter be able to deal with being a murderer?

"Just let her go." Angela added.

Nathan never wanted to let her go. There was even the brief passing thought, the moment of fancy when he was planning to marry her mother.

But it wasn't time. He still sent money down to Meredith and even got a few pictures in return, but then came the call, that Meredith was dead. And it was Peter that comforted him that night, even though he had no idea why.

Nathan turned away from Angela, not saying a word.

The knock on the door caused Nathan to jump and he felt Angela place a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get it," she said.

Nathan didn't turn around; he just looked at the jagged pieces of glass in the window, and on the floor, and the ground below.

Nathan picked up a piece of the glass and looked at it carefully. Glass. It killed Peter before.

And he remembered weeks before, when he thought that Peter flew out that window to get away from him, but now someone actually did fly out a window to get away from him.

"The helicopter is here," Jonathan said. "Sir, are you and Mrs. Petrelli ready?"

Nathan shook his head, his back still toward Jonathan and his mother.

"No, just my mother."

"Nathan...what are you doing?"

"I can't allow him to die alone," Nathan whispered.

To Be Continued