Authors Note: Hi, so yeah I don't own anything from Heroes, this is just something I thought of one night and decided to start writing it, sorry it's taken a while to post another chapter, I've been busy with the holidays and whatnot. Also, please keep reviewing and favoriting. It seriously makes my day, so as long as there's an interest I'll keep writing. Anyway, here you go.
It had been almost a year since Claire Bennet made the decision to jump in front of a full camera crew to show the world that there were people in this world that had extraordinary abilities. After her little publicity stunt, her father, Noah, along with Angela Petrelli used any sway they had to discredit the "live" footage as nothing more than some TV special effects.
It worked. Claire had once again tried to step up as some sort of front runner for abnormal people, and once again was denied what she felt was important to the world, and worst of all, has been discredited, leaving her unable to find a college to take her, let alone a job. She lived with Noah for the most part, once in a while visiting her mother and little brother in their old house, luckily, Claire was never settled long enough in that house to ever consider it as much of a wholesome home. The memories that were connected with this home weren't particularly negative either, it's just she was never given much time to build a past there, unlike some of her other homes.
Claire was sitting on her dad's couch, watching a show that broke down the video of her, showing where the editing is supposedly most prevalent. As she scoffed at some of the ridiculous claims over the television, her dad walked in.
"How's my Claire-bear today?" Noah said, locking the door behind him.
"Oh just rotting my mind watching the non-sense you fought so strongly for." She said, picking up her coffee mug from the table in front of her and moving toward the kitchen with it.
"Look, we've been over this multiple times over multiple years, it's just not safe to put yourself out there like that. You have seen what people are capable of doing just to get at us, or have you forgotten what Sylar has done to you?" Noah was turning red with anger. Claire had rinsed out her cup by this time and calmly sat on the counter.
"Yes, dad, I remember quite well what he's done to me. Which one would you like me to have nightmares about tonight, when he killed my best friend, the fact that he killed my real dad, or when he sliced open my head? Which one do you think will wake me up screaming in the middle of the night tonight? You know, I think it's a toss up between watching him kill my best friend, or him magically popping up at Nathan's funeral, just to rape me. I understand what people are capable of dad, but what you fail to realize, is what I'm capable of." With that, she slowly slid off the kitchen counter and walked back to her room.
Claire didn't know which was worse, the fact that she just made a bigger deal to her dad about how she felt about Sylar, or that fact that she wasn't sure exactly how she felt about Sylar at all anymore. She seemed more than just deep in thought when she started rummaging through her dresser for something to wear. Noah was nice enough to let her take the bedroom just as long as she didn't take up too much of the closet space and didn't mind him coming in early in the morning to grab his clothes. She finally settled on an off the shoulder blouse and a nice pair of jeans. Never had she wished more that she had something to preoccupy her mind.
Ever since the day she jumped, Sylar had disappeared. Peter had told her about him trying to turn over a new leaf but she had heard it all before. This wasn't the fist time he'd be playing everyone as a fool. To Peter and Claire's knowledge, he must have gone along with whoever was left of the carnival people. The circus had failed, but the people involved were close. Claire imagined them all as one huge family that must have snapped out of their dream like world of being free just to become average joes.
She found herself wanting to become the same thing from time to time. She never had been and most likely never will be normal. Her whole life seemed based on lies and people doing nothing but wanting to end her.
Claire took in a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. She combed out her hair and smoothed her blouse before returning to the open living room. Noah was sitting where she was sitting, flipping through the channels, feet propped up on the table.
"Dad," she began, Noah looked up at her and muted the TV, she could tell he was expecting some sort of apology or explanation for her previous behavior.
"I haven't been able to get out much, with not having a job and my name basically destroyed, so I was wondering if you would mind loaning me the car and some money so I could visit Gretchen for a few days." She finally blurted out. She hated having to depend on one of the people responsible for her predicament. Noah thought about her proposal for a matter of seconds which felt to her like an eternity.
"Well, if it will help you to sleep better for a couple of nights, I guess it's okay. I can probably hitch a ride to work from someone. How long do you think you'll be gone?" He asked, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.
"Until Sunday night. Gretchen said she would only be free until then because of her class schedule." Claire leaned against the back of the couch and waited for whatever lecture she was about to receive.
"So, three nights, you'll need money for gas and food for sure, did you need any money for anything else?" He started looking at the available bills he had.
"Well, I'll probably go to the mall or see a movie with her or something not too expensive, I know you're not made of money, and I know things have been tight since you and mom split." She watched as he started pulling out the amount he could afford to give her.
"Its not much, but it should cover you, keep your cell phone on and on you at all times. Don't hesitate to call me if you get into any trouble." he said as he held out the money for her to take. As she went to grab it, he pulled it back right before she could take it.
"And be careful. I know things have been rough for all of us, but don't go making the wrong decisions in the hopes of relieving whatever it is that you're feeling. This will calm down eventually, people have already started to forget about it." He made sure to get eye contact from her as he spoke before releasing the money.
"I will, thanks dad." was all she said to him before packing a bag and hitting the road.
Claire had no intention of going to see Gretchen, even though the two had maintained their friendship since the incident, she knew the solace she needed wasn't in her words. She knew she had to track down Sylar. She needed answers, she needed someone who could understand her, and most of all, she needed the confirmation that he was a ruthless and psychotic killer.
She followed the rumor that he had left with the majority of carnies that stuck together after Samuel's death. Peter mentioned that they were heading to New Orleans, a place that they all felt would be generally more accepting (or oblivious) to what the group was capable, so any mistakes in control could go under the radar. She drove until she reached a bar that Lydia was rumored to be working at. Claire expected her to be a bartender or a waitress, but hadn't really braced herself for what she saw.
The bouncers, after checking her ID gave her a look of genuine shock and surprise before letting her into the place. She looked up as she opened the door and saw a blur of naked women exposing themselves on stage for the benefit of money. She pointed out Lydia immediately because of all her tattoos and walked to sit in front at the stage she was performing on. Maybe it was the lights, or the fact that she was trying to remove herself as far as possible from the situation, but Lydia hadn't even noticed her yet.
"Lydia!" Claire yelled at the top of her lungs to get her attention. She immediately froze when she heard her name. Claire yelled again and stood. Lydia rushed to her, bending over to better talk to her.
"Claire? Let me finish my show and then I'll come out to talk to you." was all she said before returning to her original task.
When she came out from backstage she was wrapped in a robe. She grabbed Claire by the arm and led her back stage.
"I never imagined I'd ever see your innocent face again" were the first words Lydia spoke when they both sat down in front of her mirror.
"Honestly I never thought I'd be able to find you, or anyone from the carnival. I'm really sorry that things ended up like this." Claire started fidgeting with her hands, noticeably uncomfortable around so many naked women. Lydia smiled.
"Hey, I know it's not your fault, if anything you tried your best to save most of us from having to do things like this, and I also know that apologizing was not your reason for coming here. Now, I haven't been able to use my power in the open for a long time, so much so, I have a strict no touching policy, I only do shows anymore. The first few times I did lap dances a few of the girls said they saw my tattoos changing. I didn't realize that even with out fresh ink my power would still flare up like that. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I can only show you what you think you want, and I certainly can't do that here." She blurted out as she pulled on a pair of jeans and reached for her bra.
"You're right, apologizing is not why I'm here." Claire said before looking away from Lydia who slipped off her robe to put on her bra.
"I was wondering if you knew how I could contact Sylar." It was a good thing they both were facing opposite directions because the blush the suddenly spread across Claire's face lasted the same amount of time as the look of shock on Lydia. She composed herself before turning around and putting on her t-shirt. Claire looked up when she heard Lydia moving the chair to sit down again.
"I'm not one to pry, but I have to admit, this is something that I would never imagine you would even want to be asking anyone. Just because I don't know the whole story doesn't mean that I don't know that he terrifies you. So I have to ask, why do you want to know?" Her face was calm and her voice had no hint of jealousy, just curiosity.
"He came to me before the shit really hit the fan. He told me that he had talked to you, used your power to figure out that what he wants most is me, and he couldn't figure out why. I think," She paused, pursing her lips in contemplation of whether to tell her everything or just the outline. "I think he might be on to something, and even though things didn't turn out the way He, or even I expected too, I think we both were expecting to figure it out in some way or another after we all took down Samuel." Claire decided to leave it a skeleton, a shell of the full truth. She prayed Lydia wouldn't see through it.
"The question, then, shouldn't be where is he, it should be whether he's what you want most as well." Lydia gave her a look that implied they should both leave.
"I just have to collect my purse and my pay and we can go somewhere more private." Lydia picked up her purse and motioned for Claire to tag along.
Claire followed her to her home. She sank into the couch as soon as Lydia had said make yourself at home.
"I can imagine how exhausted you are, the trip here must have been terrible. Do you want anything to drink, I've got coffee, Mountain Dew and bottled water?" Lydia put down her purse and turned on the light in the kitchen
"Coffee would be wonderful, thanks." Claire never really had a taste for coffee but understood that sleep wasn't something she really had time for, so anything that would keep her up was a good idea. She heard sounds of Lydia making the coffee in the kitchen as she started swimming in her own head. What exactly was she looking for when she found him? Why was she suddenly compelled on this quest with the first mention of his name from her fathers lips since the last time she saw him?
Lydia grabbed the chair to her computer and pulled it so it was directly in front of Claire. She removed her t-shirt and straddled the chair so that the back of it was against her chest. She unclasped her bra and took a deep breath.
"I can imagine how awkward this is for you, but it seems that my power has evolved from being Ink activated, to being touch activated. I just need you to place your hand or whatever you feel comfortable on the small of my back, and hopefully you'll be able to find the answer you're looking for." Lydia leaned farther against the back of the chair as Claire pressed her palm flatly on the small of her back.
It didn't take long, maybe a minute at most as the ink left from her tattoos started to swirl together between her shoulders blades, it slowly started to form the face of a man. At first the face was hard to make out because it was scowling, almost in an evil manner, until finally it swirled in a way to reveal a smiling Sylar, only the name below his face was Gabriel. Claire stared at his face until it slowly started to swirl away, back to the original tattoos that she had.
"So, I'm not sure if you know this, but, I can't see what's going on back there, did you see what you wanted?" Lydia said, slowly moving herself to sit upright and re-clasping her bra.
"You could say that. I guess I should rephrase my question. Do you know where I can find Gabriel Gray?"