Title- Saraswati
Author- Victoria
Rating- PG
Characters/Pairings- Peter/Emma, Sylar
Summary- What if Angela had delayed Peter just a few moments longer? Might Emma have found Peter? What if she'd been in the elevator when Sylar attacked him? AU take on The Fifth Stage battle and what came after.

A/N- I stole this idea from my cousin (known to all you guys as Lara-Van), because let's face it, she's got way too much on her plate as it is to write even more oneshots. Plus, y'know, I'm a way better writer. (LOL joking, we're about evenly matched) Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering about the title. Saraswati is the Indian goddess of sound and music, and also the dispeller of chaos and confusion. She's the consort of Brahma, the creator, and is believed to be the channel through which he learned the music of creation. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the idea. Google her. It's really interesting. And it pretty much fits Emma to a T, as far as I'm concerned.

"Please, Peter, think about what you're doing," Angela said cajolingly.

Her youngest- only- son looked at her with angry eyes, anger she knew was not directed at her but at the monster wearing his brother's skin. "I have," he said. "I'm gonna go get Nathan back." He turned and headed out of the room, striding purposefully down the hall towards the elevator.

"What happens when you find out there's not a Nathan to get back?" she demanded. "What then?"

Peter glanced at her, still walking away. "I guess I'll just settle for revenge," he said.

Angela was on the verge of giving up: Peter had inherited her stubborn streak. But at the last moment, she accelerated, following him quickly down the hall to grab his elbow and halt him in his tracks. "Peter!" she said sharply. He looked at her. "I know you say you've thought about this, but you are speaking from a very emotional place. Please, before you do anything, think long and hard about what you're about to do. There's no going back from here if you proceed. You know that."

He let out a bitter laugh. "Mom, there was no going back from the day I jumped off that roof three years ago. And that day, Nathan was there to catch me. Now it's my turn to save him." And with that he walked away, leaving Angela with Rene to worry.

--

As Peter stepped into the elevator, a familiar voice called his name and at the last moment, Emma slipped through the closing doors.

"Emma?" he asked in surprise. This was the last thing he needed. Fighting back Sylar long enough to find Nathan was going to be hard enough with full mental focus. Seeing Emma was... distracting.

She smiled. "I've been looking everywhere for you," she said. "I wanted to tell you... I've decided to restart my residency."

Despite the grim mission awaiting him, Peter couldn't help but be pleased. "That's great," he said, dredging up a smile from somewhere. "That's really great."

Her eyes narrowed and she cocked her head to one side, studying him for a moment. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's that obvious?" he asked, surprised.

Emma shrugged. "I'm good at reading faces. I have to be. And you're... an open book. You hold your heart in your eyes." She seemed to think she'd said too much, and turned a little pink. "So, um," she continued haltingly, "what's the matter?"

"It's complicated," he said. "And messed up, and just one more chapter of my completely insane life. It turns out... my brother was killed. Almost two months ago. But there's been a man- no, not a man. A monster, really, named Sylar. I've been fighting him on and off for three years. He has... formidable abilities." Peter sighed. "Shapeshifting happens to be one of them. He's been impersonating Nathan for awhile now. But Nathan's mind is in there with him and... Like I said, it's sick."

Emma's expression was utterly sympathetic. "I'm sorry," she said simply. "If there's anything I can do...?"

Peter shook his head, smiling sadly. "Not really," he replied. "But thanks." The elevator slowed and stopped, and the doors slid open. A heavyset black woman in a violet shirt stepped into the lift, effectively ending the conversation. Peter gave her a polite nod, then returned his eyes to Emma, who gave him an encouraging smile and a nod as the woman hit the button for Level 3.

The elevator began to descend.

The woman glanced at Peter.

He met her gaze with an uncomfortable expression and nodded again.

Her smile widened.

Intuition suddenly struck.

The "woman" seized Peter by the throat and lifted him off his feet as Emma gasped in shock. And then the woman's face and body warped, and suddenly a very different person was holding Peter aloft. "Sylar," he choked.

Emma threw herself across the elevator, grabbing Sylar by the shoulders and attempting to drag him to the ground. The killer's hand twitched, and she flew backwards to slam hard into the lift's wall, smacking her head hard against the metal doors. She slumped to the ground, apparently unconscious.

"No!" Peter yelled, despite the chokehold Sylar had on him. "Emma!"

"A friend of yours, I take it?" Sylar asked smugly as the other set of doors slid open. He hurled Peter through the doors and into the abandoned hallway- this floor of the hospital was being remodeled. Peter hit the wall hard, leaving a deep gouge in the plaster and landing heavily on the ground as the lift doors closed once more.

"Well that's too bad," Sylar mocked. "Because Emma's not going to be seeing you any more." He picked up the bag of heavy sedatives Peter had brought with him. "Is this all for me?" he asked, still with a mocking smile on his face. "You shouldn't have. No, seriously. You really shouldn't have." He took a menacing step forward...

--

The elevator descended to the first floor, for which Peter had pressed the button earlier. Emma opened her eyes as the doors slid open, revealing a busy atrium and no one in particular waiting for the lifts. As her mind refocused and she recalled what had happened, she clambered quickly to her feet and jabbed desperately at the "Close Doors" button. She had to get back to the third floor. She had to help Peter!

With what seemed to her to be interminable slowness, the doors slid shut, and she pressed the Level 3 button. The elevator started to rise...

--

Peter clambered to his feet, but Sylar threw out a hand and he was frozen in place. "Now now, Peter, you went to all that trouble preparing for me and you're not even going to stick around to say hello? Bad form," the serial killer said.

"Go to hell," Peter said. "I'm here to save Nathan. But if you've hurt her, I swear to god I'll kill you, Nathan or no."

"Oh," Sylar said tauntingly. "Is it just me or is that blonde a little more than just a friend to Peter Petrelli?" The empath glared at him. "She is, isn't she? Well now, isn't this precious. Pretty little Peter has a pretty little girlfriend. In all the years we've been nemeses, you never once mentioned her. Then again, I suppose I never gave you all the intimate details of my last relationship either, so we're even."

Despite his fury and panic, Peter was just a little intrigued. "Who the hell would want to be with a monster like you?" he spat.

Sylar smirked. "Oh, I think you know her. Or rather... knew her." He held up his free hand and created a sparking ball of electricity between his fingertips.

"Elle?" Peter gasped.

A ghost of something very like grief passed across Sylar's face as Peter spoke the name aloud. But it was gone so quickly, Peter might have imagined it. "That's her," Sylar said. "She was... intoxicating."

"Figures," Peter muttered, stalling for time as he looked around for some weapon. He might have the Haitian's power-blocking ability, but even then he wasn't entirely sure he could get the upper hand of the significantly larger man in a fistfight. "You would find the most sociopathic girl on the planet to hook up with."

The serial killer shrugged. "So, then," he said. "I hold all the power here, and you hold... absolutely none. Not even the element of surprise. Tut tut. It looks like this really is the end of our long rivalry. And such a disappointing one, too."

Behind him, the elevator doors slid silently open, revealing Emma.

"Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Sylar said, raising his left hand in a chillingly familiar gesture. "You always were pathetic."

Emma stepped out of the elevator, and drew a deep breath. Just as Sylar began lowered his finger to begin the first cut, she screamed, so loudly that bits of plaster fell from the ceiling and the whole building trembled just a little. But the object of her fury was also the target, and the force of the sound was so great that Sylar was knocked off his feet and slammed into the wall above Peter's head.

Without the telekinesis supporting him, Peter collapsed to the floor and slammed his hands over his ears in a vain attempt to block out the powerfully reverberating noise.

Some seconds later, a ringing silence fell. Peter scrambled to his feet and hurried over to where Sylar had dumped the contents of his bag. He quickly withdrew a syringe, filled it with a powerful sedative, and injected it into the half-conscious Sylar's jugular. Immediately, the serial killer's eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out.

Then Peter turned to Emma. She looked shell-shocked and refused to meet his eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked concernedly. Absently he brushed her honey-colored bangs away from her forehead. "You're bleeding," he said, touching his fingers lightly to a cut on her forehead.

"I must have gotten cut when I hit the wall," she murmured, also raising her hand to her head.

Peter caught her hand in his, and she seemed so surprised that she at last looked up and met his gaze. "Emma... what was that?" he asked. "What did you do?"

"I told you there was something wrong with my ability," she said numbly. "The day you introduced me to Hiro, remember?"

"Of course I remember," Peter said. "So you- what, do you manipulate sound or something?" Then he sighed. "You know what, it doesn't matter right now. I think you just saved my life." He rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand in a small, soothing gesture, and she ventured a smile. However, he could see that she was still visibly upset, and so he put his arms around her in a comforting hug, which she readily returned.

"I just... I panicked," she said quietly over his shoulder. "I saw him holding you up against the wall like that and I lost control. It's never happened like this before."

Peter released her and took a step back, restoring her personal space. "It'll be okay. I promise," he said, secretly wondering if this was a promise he could keep. "Listen, you should have that cut looked at. Why don't you go upstairs and get someone to fix you up? I'm going to deal with him-" He waved a hand behind him at the unconscious Sylar. "-And we'll talk later, okay?"

Emma glanced at the man on the floor, then looked back at Peter and nodded. "You'll be okay?" she asked.

He gave her a weak grin. "Of course," he said. "I can handle him. He just... got the jump on me. But I've got a way to turn off his powers. Don't worry." Emma still looked distinctly worried, but she let it pass, returning to the elevator and pressing a button for a higher level. Their gazes were locked together until the doors separated them.

For a few moments, Peter stared in a kind of shocked wonder at the steel doors. Then he shook himself, and turned around. "Now to deal with you," he said distastefully, approaching Sylar's unconscious body...

I'm planning on a couple more chapters for this to explore what would have happened next. So stay tuned. And remember: reviews = love!