Author's Notes: This story would not be possible without the contributions of fellow user dori4n, who's fellow love of this smaller "Heroes" ship, chatting about head canon, and Skype roleplaying helped to inspire and create this story. So if you like it please, make sure to check out their page and stories as well.

[Please see bottom of each chapter for translations to Japanese words or phrases used by the characters.]

"LET-ME-OUT," Adam shouted for what must have been the millionth time. He'd lost count after the third time he'd made himself hoarse and had to wait for his throat to heal, and the second time he'd used up all the oxygen within the little box he was trapped in shouting and asphyxiated himself. How long had he called 'Carp' before he had given up one-time nihonjin friend changing his mind and setting him free? How many hours, days did he spend crying out hoping someone, anyone might happen to hear him? But he had given up on that now.

Time had become even more meaningless than in the nearly 400 years that had passed since the last time he had seen that damned traitor named Hiro Nakamura. At least then he had been more or less free. True every few decades when he could no longer maintain the facade of looking eternally youthful he often had to move on. Find a new country to call home, at times a new name, occasionally a new wife or lover to keep him company for awhile.. Now, though, he was alone. Of course 'Adam Monroe' as he had come to be called now, had been on his own for some time now, but his world had been far bigger than a coffin then, he thought furiously, pounding on the lid once or twice more at the thought, though this was more from frustration now than an actual belief that it might help to free him from his prison.

When you have absolutely nothing, the little things can become everything. Some unaccountable time, and innumerable number of deaths later, he realized that if he was still, and quiet his hearing had become accustomed to the silence of his grave. He could hear worms and insects moving though the Earth, even the sound of rain as it fell on the ground so far above him and seeped into the dirt. Once he had heard a plot beside his being dug up and filled. Oh how he had screamed then, but neither the grave diggers, nor anyone at this poor bastard's funeral had heard him-their hearing to dull, their ears neither fine-tuned nor listening for any voice beneath the Earth.

And then one day... a familiar voice greeted his ears.

"I didn't mean it... I did not mean it when I said that I should have killed you."

He had still been too angry to be grateful for the distraction, a voice to listen to, even if it was the man who had put him here. Of course he hadn't meant it. He had known that the moment the words had left the little Japanese man's mouth. Hiro wanted to be good, to be... well a hero. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Even after he had stolen Yaeko's heart out from under him, he had gone back to the camp, he'd tried to destroy the guns, tried to save his life even when he had fought to end his. He was too good to actually wish him dead. Though after 400 year he'd yet to find anyone who had any idea how to kill him permanently anyway. In the end this punishment, this quarantine that Hiro had provided for him was far worse.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but... Kensei I could not have done it. Never."

The voice seemed to pause almost as if waiting for a response, but he didn't feel much like talking. Besides it wasn't as though the Carp could hear him all the way down here anyway.

"But what you were trying to do was... wrong. Very, very wrong. -You can't destroy the world, kill everyone and start over. -I had no choice. I couldn't kill you."

"You've killed me a hundred times if you've killed me a dozen already by locking me in this damned box," he yelled to the lid of his coffin, but of course he knew the man wouldn't hear him, couldn't hear him, and listened, still fuming as the sound of the man's footsteps retreated from the ground above him.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.

He came back again. Of course, the immortal could hardly be sure how much time had passed since the last time that he had heard his one-time... Had Hiro ever been his friend, he mused doubtfully. Sometimes in the wake of his betrayal, and the excruciating pain of having woken in a charred body that had slowly mended and knitted itself back together until he had been whole once more he wondered if the strange man who claimed to be from the future wasn't the greater villain, if perhaps he had always had it in his mind to be the hero he had initially tried to convince him he was. Fame, glory, a beautiful woman were enough enticements for most men, weren't they? But hearing the footsteps halt at the foot of his premature grave and knowing there was only one who knew where he was, he pushed the thought from his head. Hiro was many things, but he was no villain. Stupid sentimental bastard, he thought bitterly, he'd buried him 6 feet under, but he couldn't bury the thought of him in the back of his mind?

"I... Never said I was sorry. Or maybe I did, I don't really remember anymore... " the other man spoke to the dirt, and the immortal thought he heard a sad sort of chuckle that somehow didn't suit him. "I try to find excuses, I try to justify myself, but... I made a mistake. I shouldn't have interfered between you and Yaeko. A real hero would not have. It was wrong. I'm sorry Kensei."

The silence that followed these words was so long that for a moment, the blond thought that perhaps that the carp had left the cemetery, and the immortal to his solitude and thoughts once more, before he heard his voice drifting over the ground above him once more.

"I don't understand how this happened. Why you did this. Was it all because of me and Yaeko? This virus, killing my father, killing so many people..? Maybe life doesn't mean anything for you anymore," the time traveler continued with a sigh. "I hope I'm wrong." The immortal remained still, silent as he heard the footsteps retreating once more. He did not bother to reply, whether a whisper or a shout, he knew the carp would not hear him, and he wasn't sure that he had anything to say to him anyway...

Translations:

nihonjin- a Japanese person