ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS
Part I – The Vigilant Soul

Eleven PM. The young woman walked along the water front beside the east river carrying her groceries. She had worked a long double shift at the diner. Now with her tired feet, torn soul; all she could think about was getting home, for her own dinner and a long hot bath.

Out of the shadows, a man stood leering at her. She tried not to meet his stare walking quickly by.

"Hey baby." He taunted her. "What? You're not going to say hello?"

"Please!" The girl pleaded with him. "I don't have any money and the food I have in the bag is all I have to last me until next payday."

"Well, its not money or food I'm after, sweetness." He replied running his hand across her breast. "You're a big girl…and oh…so…ripe!"

"Oh no!" She begged the man. "Please don't. My husband is in Iraq."

"Well, that doesn't really sound like my problem, does it, sweet thing!" He began to pull her into the nearby ally behind a trash dumpster. He pulled out a knife as the woman screamed.

"Shut your trap, chica!" The man told her taking the knife to her throat. "It will all be over soon and if you put out good for me, I may just let you live." He sneered in evil laughter.

"HEY!" Came a voice from behind him. He turned around to see a young woman standing on the rooftop across the ally. She was tall with long dark hair that hung just past her shoulders. She was dressed in camouflage pants, boots and a black tanktop. Across her back she carried a Samurai sword. Her dark eyes were fierce and she was ready for a fight.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that no means no?" The girl said sternly. "I heard her. Do you need your hearing checked?"

"Get outta here, bitch!" The man shouted. "If you want to be next, the line starts over there." He looked at her again and she was gone. He looked around. She was nowhere in sight.

All of the sudden she was behind him grabbing his ponytail. She kicked him into a brick wall.

Quickly he stood up and lunged at her with a knife. She jumped high in the air avoiding him, making him slam into the trash dumpster. He fell to the ground. She was standing over him.

"You know, I was looking forward to a fight. But it won't be a fair fight because you're just too damn stupid!"

"Who you calling stupid, you fuckin BITCH!" He threw his knife at her, she caught it between the palms of her hand. His eyes grew wide with fear. She smiled and shook her head.

"Hey! Give me my knife back!" He shouted at her.

"Sure! Catch!" She tossed it back at him causing him to scamper out of the way.

He crawled to pick it up, but it was under her boot by the time he got there.

"Me again." She smiled. "Did you miss me?" She kicked him in the chest sending him flying.

He lay there in pain. She walked over and put her foot on his chest. "Give up yet?"

Just then the police came pulling up, sirens blaring. She was gone.

Officer Henderson approached the perpetrator. "PLEASE!!! TAKE ME TO JAIL! GET THIS CRAZY BITCH AWAY FROM ME!" He screamed.

Officer Henderson reached down, picking up the black raven's feather. Her calling card. He laughed. "It looks like she went pretty easy on you. She must have liked you."

Officer Henderson motioned to his partner to read the perpetrator his rights and put him in the squad car. He approached the young woman.

"Are you ok ma'am?" He asked her

"Yes." She replied. "If it wasn't for her, I don't' know what he would have done to me. Who was she?"

"That was who we call The Raven's Shadow." He replied. "She's been helping us out a little around here."

"Well, she is a true hero!" The woman replied.

"Yes she is." Said Officer Henderson. "She sure is."

Laura slid open the door to her loft pausing at the entrance for a moment before she entered. Her apartment was dark and lonely as it was every night. Slowly she made the descent down the stairs into the living room removing her clothing as she walked. She was met by her dog Zeus, a Rottweiler. She scratched him behind the ears. "I'm glad you're here my friend, or I would go insane." She smiled.

Her body was bruised, covered with blood and dirt. Passing by the kitchen, she grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, then into the bathroom starting the bath water running. She poured in a capful of lavender spring bubble bath, lit two candles then climbed in allowing herself to be completely submerging in the hot water. Zeus took his place on the floor next to the tub.

For a long time she lay there soaking. Emotionless. Then it hit. The emptiness filled her heart; she began to cry.

This is what her life had become. It had been only 10 months since she woke up from an 8 month coma, barely able to speak and her hair chopped off from numerous surgeries. She found herself in Midland Texas, unable to remember the past year of her life. They told her she was shot in a bank robbery and she had been sent to them for long term care and rehabilitation. Laura never bought it. She always felt the place was odd and she seemed to be the only patient.

It did not take her long to be able to walk again and get her strength back. Soon her hair grew out again. It was there at the facility she met a man named Mohinder Suresh. Before he became her lover, he was her doctor. He was always kind and attentive to her. Laura enjoyed his company and he would often visit her at night just to talk. During their talks Laura learned he came from Madras India, formerly a professor of genetics at Chennai University.

"So what does a doctor of genetics want with a girl from California?" She asked him one night.

He told her that night about her possessing special abilities. Powers. And he was brought in to help her find her potential.

And her powers were amazing indeed. She did not remember receiving the powers. But she was able to astral project herself when she was sleeping. Bullets would bounce off of her, she could block flying objects and she was able to hover in mid air. She called it "Crouching Tiger" since she was able to incorporate these moves into her martial arts training.

Yet, she always wondered...if she had all these powers, then how did she get shot? Nobody could...or would, answer her.

Before she left the facility, the man who seemingly wasin command, Noah Bennett, asked her to join their cause. At first she laughed because it sounded like a justice league from bad comic book, but he was serious. There were a handful of them that worked together to maintain the quality of the lives of people like them form people that were trying to harm them. Laura said no thank you. She was anxious to get back to her life in California. But she quickly learned that she had no life to go back to. After her shooting, her best friend Greg Andrews had been murdered in a home invasion robbery, her father's company went to the shareholders when it was unclear if she would recover from her injuries, her apartment building was sold. All that remained of her life was her and a dog named Zeus that she didn't remember. But she loved him just the same.

She went to live in New York City to be close to Mohinder and Peter Petrelli, her dear friend and kindred spirit. The sale of her father's company and the properties she inherited left her quite comfortable financially. If she wanted to, she would never have to work again. But she was never one to rest on her laurels. Instead she wanted to do something that really mattered. She purchased a dojo in Brooklyn where she taught martial arts to children. Her good friend Hiro Nakamura helped her run the facility and worked with the children teaching them sword fighting. She loved working with the children and instilling the same values, honor and discipline she was raised with. Many people in the neighborhood could not afford the training, so many of the children trained for what their parents could pay. Laura felt an education in the martial arts should not be denied any child that wanted it.

At night, when she took off her gi's and left the dojo, she dressed for street combat calling herself The Raven's Shadow. She circled the streets of the city looking for people in trouble, bringing the perpetrators to justice. She had become a hero with the police department and the community. But nobody knew her face or her name. Only the ravens feather she left on the perpetrators before the police arrived.

But after a night saving the streets, she came home to her empty loft; bloody and bruised with a heart full of emptiness. Nothing could fill that void. Not the drinking, not the hunt, not the fight. Would anything ever be enough?

She was brought out of her thoughts by the phone ringing. Drying off her hand, she answered her phone.

"Hello?" She answered the phone softly.

"Laura, did I wake you?" Mohinder asked her.

"No, I'm awake." She smiled hearing his voice. "I just got home. I was taking a bath."

"Are you alone?" He asked

"Yes." She answered annoyed with the question. "I'm alone. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean that the way that came out" He replied. "Look, I know its late, but I really want to see you. Can I come over?"

She smiled sadly. "Not tonight. I just got home a little while ago; we had a lot of kids today. I'm really tired."

"It seems you are always tired." She knew he was annoyed by her excuses.

"Mohinder." She replied softly. "I'm sorry. You know I care about you. I don't know what my problem is. Maybe it is like you said, after the shooting…"

"Laura." He interrupted her. "It's ok. I shouldn't have pushed you that way. I said I wouldn't do that anymore. And I just did it again. I am sorry. I just miss you I suppose."

"It's ok." She replied sadly. "I'm the one being the jerk. Never you. You deserve to have a girl falling all over you professing her undying love for you. I wish I was that girl. I so much want to be."

"I wish you were too." He replied.

"Look, Im going to go up to the house this weekend." She told him. "Can you get away?"

"As inviting as it sounds, I have a lot of work to do. I am closing in on a breakthrough for a link in the common gene."

"Well, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard that one." She teased him.

He laughed softly. "I love you, Laura."

"Me too. Goodnight Mohinder." She half smiled hanging up the phone.

Laura loved Mohinder; but she knew she would never be "in love" with him. She loved being around him. She loved starring into his eyes. He made love to her with intense fire and passion. It satisfied the urge of her body, but never her soul.

She slid down into the tub completely immersing her in the water, coming up abruptly.

"Oh GOD! What is WRONG with me?" She shouted aloud. "He is good, and kind and drop dead gorgeous Why am I not crazy in love with him?"

Though she only admitted it to herself in the deepest, darkest caverns of her soul, she knew the truth.

Somewhere deep inside of her a fire burned. There was a touch she missed. Since being released from the facility, she felt a part of her soul had been amputated, leaving her heart in deep sadness. Although they assured her that it was normal to feel detached in her predicament, Laura didn't buy it. She knew there was something they weren't telling her about her life. What was so horrific she couldn't remember?

Often at night she would lay there and try to vision of a face. A set of eyes. Who was her soul missing? Who was she yearning for? Late at night, she often woke up in a cold sweat, reaching for someone lying beside her, but was met with only emptiness. Her body ached for a touch.

Who was the man who owned her soul? What were they all keeping from her?

Somewhere in the darkness, he dreamed again.

He met her on a Wednesday. On Thursday he returned home; she was standing in front of her mailbox. As she turned to walk away, he was right behind her; she walked straight into his arms. Her face immediately lit up at the sight of him. He pulled her in, they began to kiss tenderly.

"Hi." He said softly between kisses.

"Hi." She whispered.

He pulled her in to his arms tighter. "I have been thinking about you all day!"

"I have not been able to concentrate at all today. I got nothing accomplished." She smiled.

"I guess it was the weather?" He teased.

"Yeah...that had to be it." She laughed softly.

"So...since there is no other way to say this...your place...or mine?"

"Well, I guess since your paying rent, you actually should spend a night at your own place once in a while."

He rolled his eyes and put his hands over his face. "Aaaaagh! I just remembered...I don't have a bed yet."

She smiled mischievously, moving in closer. "You have a floor, right?"

He smiled, liking where the discussion was going. "Yes."

"And some pillows?" Kissing him softly.

"I think I have a few of those..." He returned her kiss.

"Blankets?" Her kisses became more passionate.

"Um hmm" He replied.

"Then, all you have to do is make a fire, and I'll be there in 10 minutes." She started to walk away holding onto his hand, extending his arm.

He pulled her back into his arms, and up against the wall, feverishly kissing her. "Make it five."

"Seven." She replied.

"Six?" He countered.

"Six and a half."

"Done!"

She smiled and ran upstairs to change.

She was there in five minutes. She wore a white tank top and lacy white underpants. He pulled her in the door immediately into his arms into a sensual kiss. She removed his t-shirt kissing his neck and chest. He picked her up, her legs around him kissing passionately, laying her down in front of the fireplace, removing her clothes.

For the next hour, they lay together by the light of the fire; gently and tenderly making love. The world could have ended, but they were so wrapped up in each other, they wouldn't have noticed.

Then, their bodies glistening in their passion, he held her close in his arms, softly caressing her neck and shoulders. He took one of the blankets, gently wrapping it around them. She snuggled close against him, her head against his chest, closing her eyes.

It was then he heard the sweetest words he had ever heard.

"I love you." She whispered softly.

It was only three little words, but they sent his heart flying. Overcome with an exhilaration of spirit, he was unable to speak.

He soon realized his lack of response had left her cold.

"I'm sorry." She smiled softly at him. "I guess that wasn't appropriate. Maybe it's a little soon..."

He put his finger on her lips. "Shhhhh..." He said gently, kissing her.

He smiled, turning himself so he could look in her eyes.

"When I first saw you yesterday, my heart...stopped. You stood there in front of me, I saw those green eyes, and that ethereal smile, I thought I was looking at a goddess." He took her face in his hands, stroking it gently.

"Last night, when I held you, I kept asking myself if you were real; if this was real. I could not believe I could ever feel this way. No woman has ever made me feel like this before. I wanted to hold you, protect you...love you. All day today, I was going crazy thinking about you. I couldn't wait for tonight, because I knew I was going to see you again. I mean, we have been having some amazing, earth-shattering, toe-curling sex the last two nights, but I could not feel this way about you, or have this intense desire for you, and..." Closing his eyes, he pulled her in closer. "I haven't fallen in love with you...I have been 100, completely in love with you from the second you knocked me into that goddamn rail down there. I love you, Laura!"

He could see the tears glistening in her eyes in light of the fire. Again, their bodies melted together in fiery passion.

And each night, his dreams ended the same.

In that twilight time between sleep and awake, he always heard that fatal shot that took his love away from him forever; along with their unborn child. He didn't cry anymore; he had nothing left. He didn't speak. He didn't eat. The only thing keeping him alive was the IV in his arm and if he could use his power, he would rip it out of his arm along with the head of the asshole who kept changing it.

His hair had grown long and he had a full beard. The only time he bathed was when they took him out in the yard and sprayed him down with a high-powered hose. His body covered with bed soars, cigarette burns and damaged flesh from the power of the hose.

Often he thought about the child inside of her. Surely she didn't know she was pregnant, or she would never have stepped in front of that gun to save his life. Was his child a boy or a girl? How old would he or she be today?

And always, why didn't the bullets bounce off of her?

How long it had been, he didn't know. It could have been a month ago, it could have been ten years ago, but the pain in his heart was still as fresh as the moment she closed her eyes forever; the moment he died inside himself.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his door opening; A sound he had grown to fear.

There were two guards that patrolled the floor. They thought he could not hear them, but he could hear every word and knew all about them. There was Brandon Price; a young man with a wife and two children at home. He was a kind soul who often talked to him, trying to reach inside of him. Sometimes late at night, he would stop by his cell and read passages from the Bible to him. Gabriel liked him and enjoyed his visits.

And then there was Milner. An man in his mid 50's who was spiteful and mean spirited. Milner felt he had a position of power over the inmates. He often walked around with a lit cigarette, purposely leaving burns on the inmates. Gabriel vowed one day when he received his powers again, Milner was going to pay.

"Common man, leave him alone. Hasn't the guy been through enough hell?" Price told Milner tonight.

"Oh, but he's a big, bad, mother-fucking serial killer boy!" Milner said grabbing his hair. "He can take it! He's a baaaad ass!!!"

"Knock it off Milner." Price demanded him. "Or I'll..."

"Or what?" He sneered. "You'll report me?"

"All I'm saying is it's your funeral. Do you even know anything about this guy? He's got powers. Your poking at a dormant rattlesnake. And personally...I hope I'm not there with you when he wakes up."

"Powers my ASS!" Milner shouted. "The guys nothing but a head of cabbage. Look." Taking his cigarette, he made another burn in his flesh. "See...he didn't even flinch."

"Yeah, you didn't see his eyes." Price replied angered. "He felt it...believe me. Someday he is going to come to and you are going to be fucked, dude."

"Nah!" Milner replied leering. "That's what I got your wife for."

"Fuck you!" Price replied angrily before walking away.

Milner approached him. "Yeah, some bad ass you are. You're here for the rest of your sorry excuse for a life...and your girlfriend is dead because of you. She died right in front of your eyes. And now you have to live with that for the rest of your life...and then you have hell to look forward to. You miserable cock-sucker!"

Milner drew back and spit on him. Then left the room. Again, he was alone in the darkness.

END OF PART I