Description: When Maris wakes up lying on a sidewalk in New York, she has no idea who she is or what she's doing there. She does know that she doesn't like having secrets kept from her though, and so she's off to find the truth. There's just one problem. Sylar has captured her and is hell bent on figuring out how to kill her and take her powers—because he can't. None of his powers even work on her. What is her power anyway?! The questions keep piling up and Maris is determined to find out all of the answers. SylarOC Alternate Vol. 2
A/N: Before you start reading this story, I think it only fair to warn you that I am notorious for flaking out on stories halfway through. That, paired with the fact that I'm not quite positive where this story is going other than for a couple points, makes it a bit iffy if the story will ever be finished. Right now I do plan on writing it all the way through. In fact, I'm having quite a bit of fun with it.
Now, all that being said, I hope you enjoy the story.
Chapter One
Without memories, we could do nothing but wander aimlessly through life.
She woke with a start, eyes snapping open to the sound of blaring sirens. An ambulance whizzed by her as she jolted up into a sitting position, off the cold pavement of the sidewalk beneath her, just catching a glimpse of its retreating lights in the darkness. As they disappeared her eyes darted about, taking in the brick walls of the buildings around her, bathed in light from the street lamps.
Thoughts clamored in her mind, fighting for dominance, until one finally managed to wheedle its way in front of all the others. Where's the ambulance going? (What really should've won out was: Where the heck am I? People don't always follow the most logical course of thought, however.)
Though it had disappeared around the street corner, she could still hear the sirens of the ambulance and they didn't seem to be getting any farther away now. She blinked blearily before pushing herself to her feet and stumbling forward towards the sight of whatever accident it had been rushing off to help.
When she turned the corner, she was met with a scene of post-chaos. People were gathered in a large square with a fountain in the middle still serenely pumping out water despite whatever had happened there. A large man was slumped against a pillar near the side of the square, red staining his shirt. Another man, dark skinned and bald, was being cradled in the arms of a blonde woman who was clearly close to hysterics. Others, uninjured or merely bruised, stood about aimlessly or embracing one another in relief.
The paramedics were rushing onto the scene and lifting the two injured men onto stretchers, hurrying them to the ambulance. In the commotion, no one seemed to notice something though. At first, she hadn't noticed it. It'd been like it wasn't even there. However as she surveyed the scene more closely she noticed the trail of blood leading from beside the fountain and over to a half open manhole. She slowly stumbled forward and over to it, staring down into the darkness. There was…shuffling coming from inside. She closed her eyes, listening closer, and suddenly she was below the ground and looking up at the dim light filtering down through the half open cover, a stench filling her nostrils.
There was wetness beneath her feet and she looked down to see that there were no shoes on them, angry red scratches coating them instead. In fact, every part of her exposed skin seemed to be covered in bruises and scratches. She grimaced, about to reach up and feel her face to see if it was in much the same condition, but before she could a curse was muttered from somewhere up the tunnel in a female voice.
Her feet seemed to move of their own accord, stepping forward and following the direction the voice came from. There was a slight sting in her feet now that she realized there were scratches there, but for the most part she was able to ignore it. A few moments passed walking in the damp, stinking tunnel, and she found herself able to make out a figure trudging away from her in the darkness. She began to speed up to a running pace, feet slapping the ground loudly. The figure paused for a moment, then the world in front of her sparked like a TV that had just short circuited before it returned to normal. The figure went rigid and spun around to face her.
Both the she and the figure took a few cautious steps towards each other. Though in the dim lighting it was hard to make out, she could now see that it was a rather large woman with shoulder length hair and a frown in place on her lips. "You can still see me?" the woman asked. She nodded slowly in response. "Damn it."
The woman reached behind her back, shrugging something off her shoulders as she did so, and a limp body hit the floor behind her with a loud thud. Grinning satirically, she pulled out a gun from her back pocket and said, "This isn't normally my style but…" Then she shot, and the girl who had only just found consciousness blacked out.
When she awoke she was standing at the entrance to an emergency room. It was still dark out and light flooded the area as three men all pushed their way outside. Two of them grabbed either of her arms, supporting her, while the other grabbed something that had fallen at her feet. It was the body. The body that had been with the woman.
She didn't have time to think about it though, as the men dragged her and the body through the emergency room doors. Her vision swam in front of her eyes as people in cool pastel colored uniforms relieved the men of her and pulled her down the hospital hallway. Everything past that was a complete blur.
She felt her fingers wrap around something cool, and then it was torn away. A sharp object sent a shock through her side, then disappeared and numbness washed over her. Lights seemed to flash on and off. People grabbed her arms with bruising grips. Voices crowded and screamed in her ears. Her chest felt heavy. She couldn't breathe. Air flooded into her lungs and violent coughing wracked her body. Then everything slowed down. Her breathing calmed and the voices quieted. All that was left was a faint, constant beeping. She lay like that, calmly breathing in and out until a strong male voice entered her consciousness.
"She should be fine," the voice said. "When she wakes up, get her something to drink and see if she can get down some food. Then you can tell her the news. Try and figure out what happened."
Another voice, this time softer and female said, "Yes, doctor."
Heavy footsteps signaled the doctor leaving, and she slowly opened her eyes to a bright white room. The soft female voice was quickly connected with a young woman with mousy brown hair and an excess of darkly defined freckles on the bridge of her nose. She was in a nurse's uniform, and as soon as she saw her patient's eyes open, she rushed over with a large, comforting smile.
"Hello," she said. "Are you feeling alright Maris?"
Words formed slowly—almost painfully. "Maris?" came the raspy reply.
"That's your name, isn't it?" the nurse asked. "That's what was written on the cell phone you had with you."
For a moment her mind stalled, then a flash of recognition came and she gave a small nod. "Yeah. Maris. That's my name."
"Good," said the nurse, and a look of relief washed over her face. "I'm just going to go grab you something to drink and then I'll be right back if you're sure you're fine, alright?" She smiled and began to step away, but Maris's hand shot out and wrapped around the nurse's wrist. The nurse gave a start, but kept the smile on her face and tilted her head to the side inquisitively. "Is there…something wrong?"
"What was the news?" Maris demanded, her voice still rasping.
"We don't need to talk about that now. You should get some food in you—"
"What's the news?!" Maris demanded again. She didn't like people to keep things from her. Not one bit. At that thought however, her grasp on the nurse loosened in surprise and the young woman scampered off out of the room. She hadn't known that she didn't like people to keep things from her just a minute ago. Maris searched her mind for the other facts and tidbits that one should know about oneself, but none were there. They were all gone. Everything. Memories, likes and dislikes, friends and family, and even her last name, were gone from her mind. All she knew about herself was this: her name was Maris, she didn't like people to keep secrets from her, and her whole past was a secret to herself.
