Title: The Prodigal Son
Fan dom: Heroes
Rating: T -
Characters: Angela, Nathan, Peter, Gabriel/Sylar, Claire, Noah, mention of others
Notes and Spoilers: Same spoilers as the early installments plus part of Volume 3: Chapter 5: Angels and Monsters: Some creative liberates after that.
Chapter 4:
"Nathan...." Peter muttered
He looked up at Nathan, and he breathed heavy. He saw his brothers staring at him and their mother nearby.
"Are you all right?" Nathan asked with concern.
Peter's strength was returning but he still felt a bit weak. His fear was crippling. The brother he just killed in the future was here in front of him.
"Peter?" Nathan repeated when Peter did not answer.
It was like Peter was in a trance. Nathan saw that look before, he did not like it. It scared him.
"Peter?" another voice called.
"No...." Peter shouted at Gabriel. "I'm not like you," he whispered.
Nathan gently grabbed Peter's shoulders.
"Pete...read my mind."
Peter gasped and took a few steps back. Just like he did a six months prior, when Nathan flew in front of him in Kirby Plaza like in his dream.
He hated deja vu.
"I was in the future," Peter revealed at last.
"And I took Gabriel's power..." Peter continued.
Nathan nodded. Their mother told him this.
"I...Nathan..." Peter struggled to say what was on his mind.
Nathan took two steps forward to meet Peter's two steps back.
"Peter what is it?" he asked, Peter looked so pale. Was it the drugs their mother gave him?
Peter turned away from him; he would not answer.
"I did something horrible," he whispered. He glanced over to Gabriel and their eyes met.
Nathan noticed the gesture and turned to Gabriel for a moment, but he did not take away his focus on Peter either. He wished he could read minds now. He was tempted to ask Gabriel, but he rather Peter would tell him what was making him so upset.
It was not like Peter to close himself off like this...not from him.
"Hey Pete. You can tell me anything. After how wild this year has been...Peter you can tell me anything."
Peter smiled a quick small smile.
"Yeah..." he answered in a small voice.
"Yeah?" Nathan asked again for confirmation. He wrapped his arms over Peter's shoulders and urged his baby brother to look at him.
"Yeah." Peter repeated and he nodded his head, but he still did not seem so sure.
Gabriel watched the two brothers and an envy developed deep in his heart. Peter was his brother–his twin brother. Was it wrong that he wished for a connection with his brother as close as the connection Peter and Nathan obviously shared?
Was it not said that twins share this incredible magical bond?
Peter was terrified that much was obvious and Nathan was trying so hard to ease Peter's fears.
But if what he sensed was true, that Peter in fact killed someone, he knew the pain. The pain of the aftermath. The realization of what was done. What could not be undone. He knew.
And Peter said he over came it.
He had to know how.
Peter found solace in Nathan's arms and he held on him tightly.
Nathan was not dead. He did not kill him. He was alive.
How could he tell Nathan that he tried to kill him? That he, killed his brother? He criticized his future self for doing something he just did himself! He felt soulless and empty. How could he do that to his own brother?
He saw his mother looking at him at the edge of the room, her eyes meeting his own.
She was okay. He did not kill her. But it was all because of Sylar...Gabriel.
He saved her. His future self also begged him not to ask for his power.
"Peter?" she tried to whisper, but no words came. But perhaps Peter could read her mind. She would allow him this once...
It broke her heart hooking up her son to those tubes. It was not Peter's fault, he was the way he was. He always cared about others over himself, he sacrificed himself to the madness. It was why she wanted to send Claire to Paris. It was the reason she sent Gabriel away. But destiny finds people everywhere. And plans do not always happen the way planned.
She loved her sons, and the three of them were next her right at this moment. Right where she could see that they are safe. Right where she could hold them in her arms and be sure she would keep them that way.
But she was not that naive. She could not control the future, she only saw it.
The future was fragile. It broke and bended, fluttered from bad to worse, worrisome to dire.
She noticed the look on Peter's face.
He did something dire.
And he was drowning.
Nathan glared back at his mother and Gabriel, and revelation came to him.
He knew Peter must had done something terrible. Peter would not even look at him, but he held onto him tightly and he allowed it. He did not want to let go either.
The Peter he had in his arms, was the brother he knew, right? Not the one with the scar...But he could tell he was so scared. Scared like he was when thought he would blow up New York. Scared like when Peter would not even let him help that day in his apartment. The day he flew away from him.
What happened the next time he saw Peter he did not even want to think about.
"Peter," he repeated once again, and held Peter's face gently and made him look at him.
"What was done is in the past," Nathan informed him.
"You mean the future?" Peter retorted.
Nathan nodded. Peter was relaxing, and trying humor, and that meant he could relax as well.
"What matters now is now," he added.
Peter nodded.
"Okay."
"Okay." Nathan nodded as well.
He kissed Peter on the cheek.
He liked "okay".
The more confident "okay" was welcomed different to the uneasy "Yeah."
Still standing close to Nathan, Peter turned to Gabriel, his expression softer than he had before. Before the fear and anger caused him attack Gabriel.
His brother.
He killed his brother Gabriel too.
He did not know what he felt yet. But in the future they were friends.
It shocked him at first, but in the future it was only a few moments before he embraced the idea.
When little Noah called him "Uncle Peter", he did not know what to think.
But somehow he knew it to be true.
He looked at both his brothers and though he still had a pang in his heart. There was hope and there was faith.
He turned to Gabriel, and managed a weak smile.
"Perhaps," pondered. "We can fix it–together."
The End
Author's Note:Okay, you eagle eye readers. Did you catch the "Back to the Future" reference? That said, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again for reading and reviewing! I am sorry to say that this will not be continued beyond this installment, but I believe the ending fits.