The children laughed as the small, white dog danced around them. Music fluttered in the background, speaking with the campfire, which glowed purple and blue and pink.

In the corner, a woman watched, changing the fire's colors, making the dog run around and bark at the laughing children. She was the typical entertainment, an illusionist with the ability to make a person see whatever she wanted.

She was a young woman. A blue butterfly wing had been painted on her left eye, matching her deep, glassy blue eyes almost exactly. Crawling up her left cheek were black designs of flowers, plants and vines. Her hair was short in the front, mostly red with hints of blue, while the back was slightly longer, mostly blue with hints of red. Her skin was pale, and her lips had been coated with a light pink gloss. Her face was kind, especially as she smiled at the children, who were demanding a story from her.

She granted their wish, painting a tale in the illusions she created. The little ones watched, mesmerized, they eyes wide and staring. She held their focus with ease; she'd always been good with children, though she'd never been lucky enough to have her own.

She was still young though, she reassured herself. It could happen.

It almost did happen.

She sighed heavily, and the colors of her illusions darkened in their hue, though only slightly. She'd had a family. Not a child, but a husband who loved her. A little sister that she adored, a sweet girl who was slowly growing into a woman. And her mother; her father had passed away long ago.

But then he came. The shadow, the man of the darkness. And she lost it. She lost them.

She turned her attention back to the pleading kids, one of which was tugging on her black and silver skirt. The little girl looked up with earnest eyes, hope shining within them. The woman knew the girl well; a shy creature that never talked to anyone but her own parents. She held up a single finger, asking without words, one more story?

The woman smiled and nodded. "Ok. But only one."

The girl smiled and skipped back to the others to deliver the good news. With a brilliant grin on her face, she nodded proudly, and the others cheered.

The woman pondered what to say for a moment. She looked up at the sign above her.

"The Great Illusionist!" It proclaimed loudly, a picture of her smiling face watching the Carnival with unblinking eyes. "See the amazing Miss Keari perform and dazzle!"

She smiled weakly; who'd have ever thought she'd end up here, working as a Carney? Certainly she didn't. And she highly doubted the man who'd taken everything would have expected it, either.

She'd often wondered what she'd do if she saw him again. Despite everything, she didn't feel as though she was a strong enough person to forgive him. Not after what he'd done to her. Not after he'd destroyed everything; her family, her past, her future, her life. She had many a scar, hidden beneath this black dress with its silver patterns weaved around it. Hidden so cleverly, so brilliantly, so that she couldn't repulse her audience with her own sad history. Another thing she was curious about; what would her audience do if they ever saw her for what she was? What would they say? Would they hate her? Would they still cheer her on, calling for her amazing show of endless magic tricks that no one could prove to be fakes?

She pushed the thoughts aside. This was not the time to think of such matters. This was the time to make the children laugh, to tell them a story to keep them smiling as they placed their heads on their tiny pillows and fell asleep. A story to give them good dreams.

"Once upon a time," she started. "There was a star…"

Keari woke slowly, rubbing her eyes tiredly. For the first time in a very long time, the Carnival was closed. She smiled happily to herself, stretching out her aching muscles one by one. It was about time she had a break.

She dressed in silence, simple, practical clothes that made her look younger than she was. Pants and a simple t-shirt that made her seem almost like a teenager, though in reality she was already twenty-six.

As she opened the door to her trailer, she almost ran into Samuel Sullivan. She jumped, leaping backwards, an instant apology on her lips.

"I'm sorry!" She blurted out before she even saw who it was.

Samuel turned to her. He was wearing all black, and there were dark circles under his eyes. "That's quite all right, Keari." He said, his accent making his words flow strangely. She smiled; she'd always liked his accent. In all honesty, she could understand him more easily and more often than she could understand anyone else.

"Actually, you're just the person I was looking for." His voice rose very slightly on the last word, almost making it sound like a question. She focused her attention completely on him.

"Really?" She asked. "Why?"

"There's something I need to tell you. Something I don't think you'll like. And I'm sorry if it hurts you, but…"

He didn't finish his sentence. Or, if he did, Keari didn't hear it. Her eyes had drifted upwards, to a person standing in the shade of a trailer. He had dark brown eyes, though to her they seemed black. Thick eyebrows helped shape his cruel features as he shuffled around on his feet, hidden partially by the shadows. He was kicking the dirt absentmindedly, wearing clothes that didn't seem to properly fit him, as though they weren't really his own.

Keari muffled her scream. Tears instantly sprang to her eyes. She recognized the man. She would always recognize him.

"No." She breathed. No. He had already taken her first family away from her; he would not take this one. He would not take everything that mattered to her, not this time. She would die to protect this, to protect everyone here.

Samuel saw what she was looking at and sighed heavily. "I didn't mean for you to find out this way."

"Find out?" She looked at him in shock. "You mean you knew?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry; we had to bring him here."

"You brought him here?" Keari exploded. She couldn't breathe. Despite how she tried, she just couldn't seem to get any air. Her chest felt tight, and her skin clammy. Her palms were sweating. This couldn't be real. Samuel couldn't have done this. He wouldn't have.

He wouldn't betray her like this.

"I'm sorry." Samuel apologized again. "He's not the man you know. He's different. Something… something changed. He can't remember who he is."

Keari felt a million ideas flash through her head at this revelation. She could kill him. If he didn't know who he was, he wouldn't know the full extent of his abilities. She could get a few of the others; who knew, maybe a Pyrokinetic or something, and they could kill him together.

As though seeing the ideas in her dark blue eyes, Samuel placed a warning hand on her shoulder. "We have to accept him." His voice was low, quiet, calm. "He's family; we can't reject family."

"Family?" She hissed the words out, not taking her eyes off of the killer in the shadow. "Family? That man killed my family! I watched him kill them off, one by one! I saw it happen! I watched them die at his hands! That man is not my family!"

"Like I said," Samuel kept his voice calm, though it was a little more commanding now. "He's not the same man. Something happened to him. Something's changed him."

The killer finally noticed her intense stare. He looked back at her, and their eyes locked. Keari was shaking with fury and rage, but the man just looked at her, puzzled. She had to admit; Samuel was right. There was something different about him, a lack of confidence that was never there before. He was slightly hunched over, his head ducking naturally. As though everyone else was the enemy, as though he was the mouse in the pit of vipers. But Keari knew otherwise.

Her eyes narrowed, unable to mask her hatred. Even changed, even if he thought himself as a kinder, gentler person, she had seen what he did. She saw what he'd done to her family, she'd felt the pain of his telekinesis, ripping into her skull, ready to remove her ability…

She turned back to Samuel. Tears were springing in her eyes. "How could you? You know what he's done! You know that I've seen it, with my own eyes! The man is a monster!"

"He's the only chance we have to make this family whole again. We lost Joseph, and…"

"Joseph? You want him to be the new Joseph?" Keari had to refrain from slapping him across the face. She could see it; her sparkling, dark blue nails drawing blood as his face turned red in the shape of her handprint. It was the first time she found herself angry at Samuel, truly angry, and furious enough to hurt him.

"He's the only one who can be." Samuel's voice was rising, but only slightly.

Keari spat in disgust, whirling away from him.

Eli appeared in front of her, smiling sardonically. "And where are you going?"

"Away from here." Keari replied hatefully. She looked back at Samuel. "Make your choice! Him, or me! Because you can't have us both!"

Eli placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's not going to happen."

Keari gripped his fingers and twisted. Eli gasped, falling to the ground as she bent his arm behind him, throwing her knee in his back. She slammed her palm in between his eyes, and he vanished from sight as this projection lost consciousness.

By now, Samuel was behind her, his hands on her shoulders. She turned to throw her fist into his face, but he stopped it. Her other hand rose to finish what the first had failed to, but Samuel caught it as well.

"Please, Keari." He said softly. "Just talk to him. He's not the same man."

Keari glared at him, then looked towards the killer. He was coming towards them, likely to stop the fight, but the very sight drove her to madness. She kicked and struggled until Samuel was forced to release her.

She started running, only to fall, flat on her face and into the dirt. She rolled onto her back, shuffling away.

The killer was following her now. Panic flooded her veins, and she pulled herself to her feet, crying out as she ran, the murderer in hot pursuit.

He followed her as she tore through the carnival. Few tried to stop her, and those who did were thrown aside without thought. All she could think, all she could feel and all she could breathe was a single, urgent notion; escape.

He trapped her in the house of mirrors, following her inside. With a flick of his hand, she was thrown aside, shattering one of the reflective surfaces. The glass fell to the ground, gleaming like diamonds, showing her own tormented face a million times over.

"Stay away from me!" She screamed, her throat sore and cracking. Tears were running down her face, smearing the painted butterfly wing on her eye. "Stay away, or I swear I'll kill you!"

The man walked up to her. Curiosity shone in his apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean for that to happen… it was an accident…"

"Enough of your lies, Sylar!"

He looked at her, puzzled. His eyes never drifted from hers as she glared, collapsed in a heap on the ground and unable to find the will to stand. She was out of breath and exhausted, panting heavily as she stared defiantly upwards.

"I know you." His words were soft, delicate. He took a step closer, halting as she flinched. "I've seen you before."

She didn't even reply; how could she? What could she possibly say to him? He'd taken everything, and now only remembered her face in passing, only a minor curiosity.

"I hate you." There. That was it. That was all she could say. "I hate you." She repeated.

"Why?" He asked. The confusion in his eyes was real. The puzzlement, the hurt, it was all true. He had no idea. "What did I do to you?"

"What didn't you do? My sister? My mother? My husband? You killed them all! You killed everyone! Everyone!"

He stared at her. "I wouldn't… I'd never…"

"Don't lie to me!" She screeched. Immediately, a thousand illusions burst into life in front of them, each depicting another death, another murder, all attributed to him. Again and again, Keari and Sylar watched as her husband, her mother, her sister all died in front of them, the blood pouring down from their foreheads as they screamed.

And how they screamed. Louder and louder, the cries rang through their minds, the cries that Keari dreamed of, night after night after night. The desperate screams of the dying that visited in her nightmares.

Sylar stumbled backwards, watching himself as he murdered so many, as he laughed while they died, while Keari huddled in a corner.

And when it ended, when the illusions faded, there was only one word on his lips.

"No."

The simple denial was more real than anything Keari had heard from the man's lips before. And it was soon followed by others as he stumbled backwards.

"No." he whispered. "No, it's not possible… I can't be… I couldn't have… no…"

He fell back, into one of the mirrors. It remained intact as he slid downwards, wrapping his arms around his head and curling into a ball.

And he began to cry.

It started as a long, drawn-out moan. The sounds of his pain filled the air as it changed into sobs. Sylar, the serial killer, the monster, was crying.

Keari couldn't help but stare. He couldn't be crying. Because he was a monster. Because he did not feel remorse for those he killed. He did not feel the pain of his victims. He was not pained by his murder of so many, he was not destroyed by the lives he took. Keari knew it, she had seen it.

And yet, here he was.

She hadn't realized that she'd stood until she was right next to him, standing above him. In her hand was a glass shard, one of the many that had broken off from the mirror. She was clutching it tightly, so tightly that blood was pouring down the sides as she advanced towards the killer. The crying, sobbing, pathetic killer.

He looked up at her. His dark eyes pleaded with hers, as though he was begging for forgiveness. Something she wasn't strong enough to give. Not even now, as she looked at him, helpless and beaten.

She stared down at him, her grip on the shard tightening ever further.

"I hate you." She said a final time, her words coming out in a hiss.

Another tear rolled down his cheek. His dark eyes were sparkling, but there was none of the malice that she'd seen, so many other times. There was no anger, there was no hatred. There wasn't even fear. There was only the pain of what he had caused. The monster he had created, Keari herself, reflected in those black depths.

"So kill me." He said. His voice was so quiet, so soft, so fragile. He seemed so vulnerable and weak. And Keari knew, deep in the darkest parts of her heart, that she could not take the life of someone so helpless. Even if it was him. Even if it was Sylar.

Her hand began to shake. The blood rolling down the shard dripped onto the floor, staining the ground crimson. She tried to hold on to the anger, to keep the hatred alive. She started to scream, to yell and swear loudly.

"You took everything from me!" She cried, shaking violently. "You killed everyone! Everyone that ever mattered!" She brought her makeshift weapon up into the air, pressing it against his forehead. "I won't let you take it again, I won't!"

His eyes never drifted from hers. The tears wouldn't stop flowing down his face, staining his cheeks in perfect lines as he kept staring at her.

And then he said two words. Just two. Two impossible, horrible, beautiful words that should never have come from his lips. And yet, there they were, staining the world forever, haunting Keari's mind, her past, her present, her future.

"I'm sorry."

Keari screeched, an inhuman sound that burst from her lungs. She raised the weapon, and Sylar's eyes closed.

Time seemed to freeze. There was no one, no one in the world but Keari and Sylar. The two of them, frozen forever in this one second that could change the world. To allow the killer to live, to allow him to die, the possibilities each choice held.

The shard clattered to the earth. Keari sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

And together, the murderer and the victim cried.