Sequel to Dark Storms, Volume One: Edge of the Knife

ONE

Teleportation was not, yet, a power I was used to. Which meant, if I tried to teleport myself, I could have ended up anywhere. Hiro had already warned me of that. He'd also told me that, as he had never been to London, it was possible we'd end up lost in time anyway. But he had a better chance of getting us there than I did.

"It's the only way we can move without being noticed," I pointed out. "The only safe way for me." I turned to Matt. "You should go home. Look after Molly."

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Positive. I'll try to keep in touch. Promise."

"Good luck, Mel." He held his hand out and I smiled before throwing my arms around him and squeezing.

"Thank you," I said. "For everything."

We pulled away and Hiro put his hand on Matt's shoulder. Seconds later they were gone, leaving me alone, standing beside the Hollywood sign and staring out over LA.

Before everything had gone to hell, I'd wanted to come up here with Peter. We could have teleported, or flown. Magical, romantic, cheesy, sure. But hey, I was eighteen. I was allowed to think of roses and chocolates and a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Well…

Not anymore.

No more thoughts of romantic moments, no more feeling jealous about Becky and Sam, Rin and Eddie. Time to grow up, to pull my head out of the clouds and work out a way to stop the future I had seen from happening.

Hiro appeared at my side. He stood with his hands in his pockets, staring down at the twinkling lights.

"You miss them?"

"Already?" I turned to him, made myself smile. It didn't fool him, and it didn't make me feel any better. So I dropped it. "Yeah, I do. All of them. I can't believe they'd think that of me."

"They'll come around."

"You saw the future, Hiro. They wanted to kill me."

"They couldn't find you," he said. "Not from what I saw…"

I shook my head. "They found me. They will find me. Eventually. I'd never seen such hatred."

"We can change the future. I have, before."

"You really think we can do this?"

He nodded. "We will. Your friends will come around."

"How though?"

"We will figure it out. You wanted to go to London?"

I nodded. "You seen Leicester Square? Where they have all the premieres?"

Hiro shook his head. "Trafalgar Square, yes. Not Leicester."

"Let's go there then."

Hiro nodded, reached out and grabbed my shoulder. The world swam around me, around us, and suddenly we were standing in the middle of the square, in the middle of the night, with only a few drunks stumbling around. One stopped, blinked at us, and carried on.

I fell to my knees, trying not to throw up. Hiro looked around, his eyes falling on one of the statues.

"That does not fit in."

I looked to where he was pointing, spotting a giant blue chicken on top of the forth plinth. "I think they're changing it every so often," I explained, getting to my feet and taking big, deep breaths. "We need a pay phone. Come on."

Hiro followed close behind me as I headed up the steps towards the gallery. There had only been a few times when I'd come this far into London, always with Becky and Rin, sometimes with Eddy and Sam tagging along, too.

There was a sharp needle-like pain inside my head. I skidded to a stop, opening my mind, just a little.

Melinda, where are you?

Hiro was staring at me, looking worried as I broke into a smile.

Trafalgar Square.

I thought you were close. I listened carefully to the directions I was given, before shutting my mind off again, didn't want anyone tracking us, finding us because I was stupid. With a smile, I grabbed Hiro's hand and yanked him away.

X X X

The bar we ended up in, after a few stops and changes on the tube, was dank, smelly and not at all like the trendy places found closer to the heart of the city. I scanned the room quickly, knowing she wouldn't recognise me. I'd changed my hair to bright pink, short, spiky, and added some tattoos across my arms.

One of the best ways to hide was to make myself stand out more than anyone else.

Dr Dust sat in the corner, nursing a glass of wine. Dragging Hiro with me, I headed towards her, watching as she looked up and spotted me. She smiled, relief flooding her face as we reached the table. She was up in seconds, wrapping her arms around me.

"Oh, Mel," she said. "I'm so glad you're safe."

When we pulled away, I gestured to Hiro. "Dr Dust, this is Hiro."

They shook hands.

"Pleasure to meet you, Hiro."

He dipped his head, before the three of us sat down. Dust turned to me. "I've spoken to the others."

Hiro winced, tilting his head to stare at the table. I fixed my gaze on Dust, opened my mind. She waved a hand through the air.

"You don't need to do that, Melinda. What do you think happened to them?"

Hiro's head snapped up and I smiled, feeling so damn happy that at least there was someone who still believed me, who still believed in me.

"I don't know. We think something happened…"

"Brainwashed," Hiro said. "We think they were brainwashed. Parkman said reading their minds was…different."

"They didn't sound right, either," she said. "On the phone. It was like…their voices had the right emotion, almost, but not quite. Just a tiny bit too flat." She frowned, staring into the distance as she drummed her fingers on the table. "I have no doubt that someone out there wants you alone, Mel. They want you isolated."

"All they had to do was get to a couple of them," I said. "If Peter, Rin and Becky were turned against me…"

"The others would believe them," she muttered. "And you're right. Rin and Becky would be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt. Sam and Eddy…they trust those two. Not more than they trust you, but, well…"

"Sam's in love with Becky," I said. "And Eddy with Rin. Of course they're going to believe them."

"What about Peter? Why would he need to be brainwashed?"

Hiro grinned, turning his head away and whistling, acting all innocent.

My mentor and teacher, who had never met Peter, who knew only bits and pieces about him, stared at me with wide eyes. "Mel?"

"We were captured together," I explained. "And there were times when…when…"

"When they were alone," Hiro cut in, stretching the last word out. "Peter and Melinda connected, Ms Dust. I think he liked her, very much."

I felt heat on my cheeks, felt how red they were going as she looked at me. "And you, Mel? Did you like him back?"

And I'm crying, the full extent of everything hitting me in those few words. As I wonder if Peter will ever look at me with love again, or if my vision of the future is now set in stone, if all I will ever get is hatred from him.

"We'll fix it, Melinda," she said, reaching across the table and taking my hand. "We will fix it. You have a lot of people supporting you. Matt, Hiro, Claire, Mohinder."

"Mohinder!" I gasped, the tears stopping. My chest felt tight, constricted. "Mohinder, how is he?"

"He's doing okay. Getting used to his powers. He lost the serum though."

"I know."

Hiro sighed, leaning back and shaking his head. "The future…"

"Is dark, bleak and horrible," I said. "But we'll change it, right? We have to."

"How, though? We do not even know how it got that way."

I looked at Dr Dust. Marie Dust, the woman who had plucked me out of the orphanage and taken me to a whole new life. The woman who had been there for me, every step of the way. The woman who, despite what my friends had said, still trusted me.

"We have to go there," I said. "We have to go there and we have to find out."

In that second, I would have done anything to stop that version of the future from happening. To make sure that everything Dust had worked for, keeping us safe, protecting us, instilling in us the importance of every single life, whether EA or not, remained, that it wasn't destroyed because I'd been a damn idiot.

"Go there? Melinda, if we go there…"

"It'll be dangerous and risky. I know. But if we can understand, better, how it got that way, then we have a stronger chance of changing it."

Marie Dust was staring hard at me, eyes narrowed. Finally, her eyes widened and she took a deep breath. "I would suggest you come back to the school, but it would be too risky. For you."

"And for everyone else there. I couldn't put them through that. Just…just make sure Mohinder and Claire are okay, yeah?"

"Of course."

"And give my love to the others. Please, please tell them I'm not a monster. I don't want them to think I'd do what they said I did."

"You sound like you're not coming back."

There was a catch in my throat.

"Mel, tell me you're coming back."

"Hiro, I'll meet you outside."

He nodded and headed out, no questions asked. Dust was staring at me, head bowed forward, eyes fixed on me, looking so very scared.

"I don't know," I said. "Honestly, I don't know. I…I need to come back, to now, but coming back to the school…"

"Oh, Melinda."

"I don't know if I'll survive. In all honesty, I'm surprised I survived this long. I need to stop…stop whatever's happening from happening. We might find an answer but there's more to it than that and I…I…"

She was around the table in seconds, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tight, close. "I love you," she whispered in my ear. "I love you so much, Melinda. All I ever wanted was to see you happy. To see you going through this…"

I squeezed her, buried my head in her shoulder.

"You're eighteen. You should be thinking about University and boys and making a future for yourself."

A future for myself. That was exactly what I was trying to do. Trying to make sure there was a decent future to live for, to make sure my friends weren't hunted down, rounded up, killed, experimented on. To make sure there was a future for all of us.

"I want to see you again," she said, voice firm. "Remember that, Melinda. I want to see you again."

"I'll remember," I promised. We hugged once more, one last time, and I forced myself to smile before I headed out of the pub, glancing over my shoulder to see Marie Dust sink into her chair, head in her hands, shoulders shaking.

"Ready?" Hiro asked.

"Sure. Let's go."

He took my hand and the world swam.

A/N: I really couldn't leave this story alone. And then I got a lovely review on Volume One, and it just sparked off the desire to continue with Volume Two. So, here we have it. I know Heroes ended a long time ago, but personally, it was always one of my favourite TV shows and I loved writing the first volume, so hopefully, there's still a few Heroes fans lurking out there who will enjoy this. And I strongly suggest reading Volume One first. Love to hear your thoughts, and hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.