Chapter 4

Non-dreams

When Claire opened her eyes she expected to see the bright lights of the operating table. Instead soft light seemed to be coming from a window. She opened her eyes more to see she was on a soft couch. Hiro and Ando were sitting by her and Micah was lying on the floor while turning the channels of a TV seemingly with his mind. She felt her heart sink when she realized she must be dreaming. Other specials sat around the room some were talking while others were playing a board game.

"Cheerleader!" Hiro exclaimed.

She smiled sadly at him. That was always what the real Hiro called her. Others around the room had sat up and looked at her. Two men entered the room. Dream Peter playfully shoved dream Sylar. At the sight of her both men stopped. Of course Sylar would be here. He was always in her dreams and nightmares. She stood from the couch.

"Claire!" Peter exclaimed happily, running to her. Sylar followed close behind.

She wrapped her arms around him and wished it were real. Her eyes moved to Sylar. He looked different in this dream that had in real life. He looked calmer and more at ease. That hungry she had always seen was still there, but it had changed somehow. He looked more handsome in this dream. She reached out a hand and touched his chest. He froze and looked at her hand in surprise. She had never been able to get a reaction like that from him before. He was always too witty and hostile to show such emotion.

"Why do you always follow me into my dreams?" she asked.

Peter pulled back to stare at her. Sylar had raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"Clair" Peter said slowly "You aren't dreaming."

"Of course I am." She countered. She looked back at Sylar. "So is this the part of the dream where you cut my scalp off?"

There was a sharp intake of breath from around the room. A sadness entered Sylars eyes that surprised her. He reached out a hand to touch her face. She didn't pull back. He couldn't hurt her in her dreams. Not really. But I he didn't even try.

"Claire you aren't dreaming. This is real. We were rescued from that place." He said gently.

She shook her head. "No, please don't say that. Because when I wake up and everything is gone it will break my heart."

"They're telling the truth."

Claire looked at the girl who had spoken. Her dark hair hung past her chest and she had eyes that would have seemed too large on any other face, but on her they fit. Freckles were splattered across her nose and cheek bones and she had to be at least 5'11. She didn't know this girl. Reality came crashing down on Claire. She gasped, pulling her face from Sylars touch.

"What's going on? How did we get out? Where are we? What's going on!" she shouted feeling panic take over her body at how confused she was.

"I'll tell you everything." Peter said, taking her hand and leading her away. She looked over her shoulder at Sylar. He looked after here with a mix of emotions on his face. She felt revolted that she had let him touch her. Letting Peter lead her she left the room.

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Sylar watched Claire go. He couldn't begin to describe the sadness her words had made him feel. Of course she still had nightmares of what he had done to her. What else had he expected? For her it had only been six months since had tormented her at her college. He felt ill as he sat down on the couch. He saw Hiro slide closer to him.

"What is wrong brain man?" he asked.

"Can you please not call me that." He frowned.

He saw Ando reach out to pull Hiro away but he shook his head at his friend.

"You look sad. I have seen you angry and scared, but never sad."

Sylar let out a sigh. "I'm afraid that what you told me all those years ago is going to come true. I'm afraid that I'll die alone."

Hiro thought about that for a moment. "You cannot change the past brai- Sylar. But you can change the future."

Sylar glanced at him. "Do you think so?"

"Yes, if it is what you truly want."

Hiro walked away, leaving him alone again. Was being good what he truly wanted? Yes. He wanted to be a better man. Not just for Claire but for himself. All he had ever done was destroy his life. Sure he had power, but he was completely alone. And if he didn't change he would be alone for his very long life. He couldn't imagine that. It was his worst nightmare. He had lived it for three years before Peter had come to his rescue and saved him from his own mind. Multiply that by a million and that would be his life. Only this time Peter wouldn't be there to pull him out. Claire was his only hope.

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When Peter finished telling Claire what had happened and how they had escaped, all she could was look at him. It didn't seem real.

"So you are saying Sylar broke me out of my room? He touched me?" Claire was horrified.

"Claire listen, things have changed. He isn't the same am man as he was before."

"He'll always be the same." she argued.

"No, he isn't. I spent five years alone with him. When you spend that much one on one time with someone you get to know them better than you want to. I forgave him Claire because he truly wants to be different and is fighting for a change."

Claire shook her head, not wanting to look at him.

"He killed Nathan."

"Yes he did." Peter agreed. "But for us that was a long time ago. He doesn't kill any more. He wants to be a good man and we should help him."

"Help him?" Claire cried "Why would I help him after everything he has done?"

"Because wouldn't you rather have a good Sylar in the world rather than a deranged psycho killer?"

She thought about it. He was right. If she could do anything to stop anybody else from dying, shouldn't she do it?

"What if he isn't different?" she asked quietly. "What if he goes back to killing people again?"

"He won't." Peter said confidently. "I trust him."

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Well I don't. But I trust you. I'm not going to start giving him hugs or anything but I won't be purposely mean if he isn't."

"That's all I ask." He smiled.

She nodded and walked back to the living room. Some of the people were watching TV on the big sixty inch screen. Others were sitting around a table near the back of the room talking animatedly. She froze when she saw him. He was talking too Emma, who sat close to him and was following his mouth with her eyes. He was smiling as he talked and for once he didn't look completely evil. She narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't just going to believe that he had changed so quickly. Claire followed Peter to stand in front of them. When Sylar noticed her he looked up and stared.

"So are you all clued in?" he asked.

"For the most part." She glared.

He looked away with an almost bashful look. Claire looked out the window and saw that it was nearly dark.

"Where's the lady that owns this house?" she asked.

"My aunt's in the kitchen."

They all looked up at the girl Peter had said was named Kassy. Claire examined her with interest. She had long dark hair that hung nearly to her waist, but it wasnt dead and stinging like some peoples hair when it got too long. It was soft and wavy. She was very tall, nearly six feet it seemed. Despite her height however many of her facial feature were small. She had tiny ears that you could only see if she moved all of her hair to one side. Her lips and nose were both small, yet not too small to look off on her face. But her eyes. They were most definitely not small. They were large and round and dark. The deep brown flecked with gold was a lovely color and it made her eyes seem alive. Claire realized with embarrassment that she was staring openly at the girl.

"Well I just wanted to thank her for letting us stay here." Claire explained.

"If you are going to thank any one it should be Kassy." Peter informed.

"I don't need to be thanked." Kassy said, shaking her head.

"Of course you do. Who else would risk their life to save people they don't even know?"

"You." Kassy offered.

Peter opened his mouth to protest but Claire put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Well, thank you anyways." Claire smiled before walking past them to the kitchen. She found Laura standing in front a long marble counter wrapping some food up. She looked to be in her early thirties with short blonde hair and blues eyes. Small wrinkles had formed near her eyes due to smiling too much. She smiled when she saw her.

"Finally you are awake."

"Yeah Peter just filled me in on what's happened."

"Good. I was worried that man was going to bite his nails off worrying about you."

Claire assumed she meant Peter.

"Yeah well nothing can really hurt me, so there was no need to worry." Claire explained.

Laura nodded. "Peter told me what you can do. Maybe you can't be hurt physically but emotionally I'm sure you can still hurt."

Claire just shrugged, wanting to change the subject. "So how do you fit into all this? What made you want to open your home to people like us?"

"Well it wasn't really my decision. Kassy showed up on my door step about a year ago and showed me what she could do. I was surprised at first and a little scared, but she is my family, and I'm all she really has left. I couldn't abandon her."

Claire nodded, understanding.

"When she told me what happened to her little brother I cried for days. I had lost my husband a year earlier and I couldn't cope with losing another member of my family. Kassy's mother, Tara, was my older sister. I was only twelve when Kassy was born and my sister was nineteen. Kassy's father was never in the picture so they lived with us for five years before Tara ran away with Kassy and handsome man she met at work. It wasn't until three years later that she showed up with a little baby and Kassy, who by that point was eight."

"What was her brother's name?" Claire wondered.

"Andrew. He was sweet little boy, so full of life and happiness. When Kassy was fifteen and Andrew was seven Tara moved them all to Nevada. Tara died two years later. I looked everywhere for Kassy and Andrew but I couldn't find them. It wasn't until last year that I found out everything that had happened."

"And what exactly happened?" Claire asked.

Laura sighed. "I think that's something you should ask Kassy. It isn't my business telling people things she may not want anyone to know."

Claire nodded "Well thank you. You didn't need to help us."

"It's really no problem. I have nothing better to do and it feels good helping people in need. I can't imagine what I would do if anybody tried to take Kassy from me. Besides, after my husband died he left me more money than I know what to do with and my daughters like meeting people like Kassy."

"You have daughters?"

"Yes, Lily is six and Rose is three. I think they are playing in their playroom right now."

"Oh could I maybe say hi to them?"

"They would love that." Laura beamed.

Claire followed her directions and found the room after only a minute of searching. Two little girls sat in the middle of a large circular room. They were both dressed like princesses and were waving fairy wands around in the air. The older one was yelling at younger one.

"You have to be the bad fairy Rose! We can't both be good!"

"No, I'm good!"

"But that's not fun!"

Rose noticed Claire and smiled. "Sleeping beauty!"

Both girls ran to the door.

"Did the prince kiss you and wake you up?" Lily asked.

"The prince?" Claire asked.

"Yes, the scary one." Lily giggled.

"Not scary, nice!" exclaimed Rose.

The scary prince? "Do you mean Sylar?"

"Prince Sylar!" Rose exclaimed.

Claire frowned. Why, out of all of the other men in the house, would they think Sylar was a prince? She supposed they were children and didn't know any better.

"My names Claire."

"Princess Claire!" Rose corrected gleefully.

"I suppose I can be a princess." Claire smiled.

"Do you want to play?" Lily asked.

Claire smiled. "Absolutely."