Chapter Nine
"Not All Who Wander Are Lost, but These Are"
Reviews: A reminder, I will not be replying to flames.
Syelle: Yes revealing secrets is fun... and... revealing... whatever :)
Optimisticgirl94: Thank you. You always have something nice to say. About Mohinder, though... you'll have to wait and see, though I'm terrible at keeping secrets.
Nathan Petrelli watched his world come crashing down. The three people who meant the most to him were walking away because he compelled them to; because he was different and he was trying to be a hero. Heidi cast a furtive glance behind her as she held her sons' hands. When she had kissed Nathan goodbye, she hadn't wanted to let go. It had been so long, and she loved being loved again. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. When the door closed behind them, Nathan lowered his head almost in resignation… almost.
"Mr. Lawrence," Bob said suddenly," take our friend to the third floor, room… well you know."
"I do?" the young man asked. Bob rolled his eyes and disappeared down the hall. Lawrence led Nathan in the other direction. When they reached an elevator, Nathan asked,
"Where are you taking me?"
"Neverland," the other answered, pushing number three. Nathan stared curiously. "It will feel like Neverland when he's done with you."
"Who?"
"The Haitian." Nathan ran. He considered what he would accomplish by this as he dodged the elevator door and started down the hall. He would get his family and they would hide somewhere, Idaho maybe. He wasn't going to let them take away his memories. Suddenly, the hall went dark and Nathan stopped dead in his tracks.
"I didn't think you were that stupid," the cause of the darkness exuded.
"Drew?" Nathan gasped as the darkness began to stifle him. He heard a sickening laugh.
"Yes, how did you guess?" Nathan felt as though he were being strangled.
"Olivia…" he choked, "… Peter…" Then he lost consciousness.
H
"Claire, what are you doing?" West asked as he chased her up the stairs. In her room, she pulled a bag out of the closet and started tossing clothes into it.
"Fly home and get your things," she said.
"Why?"
"We're going to New York."
"We? New York?" Claire sighed.
"Tell Mom and Lyle to pack too and hurry up!"
"I can't fly all three of you."
"I know, meet us at the airport"
"Claire, what's going on?"
"I don't have time to explain, just hurry." Finally, West nodded and headed back downstairs.
"Claire says to pack because we're all going to New York," he said when he reached the living room.
"What?" Sandra asked, flabbergasted.
"She really has gone crazy!" Lyle said. West glared at him.
"Her father just died!" He said. Lyle looked confused… well more confused than usual.
"He doesn't know about the Petrellis," Sandra said, "we'll see you in awhile." With that she herded Lyle upstairs, in spite of all his protests.
H
Sylar was hidden behind a tree, when Heidi, Simon, and Monty exited the company building. Nathan was not with them.
Come this way, he thought to them. It worked. He inched slowly from his hiding place, just enough to be visible to those close by, not so much that anyone from the building could see him. Heidi saw him, and for some reason she wasn't as afraid as she probably should have been.
"Where is he?" Sylar whispered. Heidi glanced back the way she had come, giving Sylar his answer. He started toward the building, but Heidi stopped him.
"Where are you going?" She said.
"I promised not to leave him," he replied.
"You can't go back in there."
Save them first… Sylar remembered Nathan's request. He couldn't leave them to wait for him when he probably wouldn't be coming back.
"Right, let's go." And they were gone.
H
"He wasn't exactly cooperative," Drew said, upon returning to Bob's office.
"You didn't have to tell him," Bob said.
"I owed him."
"Owed him?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"On the contrary, I owe many people. I just never repay them."
"Well, I can never make amends for some of the trouble I caused him, but it's not too late to give back 23 years."
"So you will not be honoring your mother's wishes?"
"I will for now, but a time will come when the truth must come out. We cannot bury our heads in the sand."
H
Peter had almost found Nathan, when the doorbell rang.
"Holy Crap!" he exclaimed. Caitlin looked at him curiously, but he ran out into the hallway just as the door was opening.
"Peter!" three voices called and he was bombarded with hugs.
"Heidi! Simon! Monty!" Peter was on the verge of being almost happy when he looked to the doorway and saw Sylar standing there.
"I have to go," he said, "she can explain." And then… he was gone. Peter returned to the moment. He held Heidi by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.
"Where is Nathan?" she didn't reply. "Heidi, answer me!"
"They have him…" she said, "those… evil people."
"The company?"
"I don't know," she tore away and stared out the open door, "there were three of them, but then… there were only two, and the younger one…" she trailed off. Peter sent the boys into the kitchen for some breakfast. He came up behind Heidi and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He felt a sob trying to escape.
"We are going to get him back, Heidi," Peter promised, "we are…"
H
Around 7:30 in the morning, Olivia got a call from Peter, asking her to pick up their friends in Brooklyn and come over to the mansion. So Olivia and John hopped into her suburban and drove over to the ugly apartment building that Chandra Suresh had stayed in less than a year ago. Olivia reached apartment # 613 and knocked. Matt answered the door.
"Hey," he said, "what's up?"
"Peter called," Olivia said, stepping through the doorway, "he said there's an emergency and we all need to meet at his brother's house."
"Right, Molly, get your shoes!" Matt disappeared down the hall to get his own. Mohinder was sitting on the couch fully dressed and seemingly ready for anything.
"What time is it?" He asked.
"Close to eight," Olivia replied, sitting next to him. She secretly examined his head again, and was astonished that Peter's blood had erased all of the damage, but he still couldn't see. It was as if the cause of his blindness was on the inside.
"What are you looking at?" he asked, suddenly.
"What?" Olivia was rather taken aback. Mohinder looked straight into her eyes, sightlessly.
"I can tell by your breathing and the way you're sitting."
"You really are getting the hang of this, aren't you?"
"That was not the question."
"I was just thinking how strange it is that, thanks to Peter, you don't have a mark on you, and yet…"
"I'm still blind?"
"Yes," Olivia began to feel slightly awkward. Then Matt and Molly came into the living room and announced their readiness.
H
Downstairs in Elle's apartment the mood was entropic. Sylar was fluttering about the main room, mumbling to himself. Maya was sitting on the couch, and Elle was nowhere to be found.
"What happened?" Olivia asked. Maya looked up at her. She had been crying clear tears.
"They took Elle," she said, and resumed staring off into space. Sylar approached the four visitors.
"Take her to Peter," he said indicating Maya, "keep her safe, I'll be back." He made for the door, but Matt stopped him.
"What's going on?" he demanded. Sylar fell back against the wall, as if his words tired him.
"They took Nathan and I didn't do anything about it. I can't let them take Elle too."
"How did they get Nathan?" Olivia asked, suddenly concerned.
"He went to rescue his family. I helped him. I have to save them." Sylar tried to leave again, but this time Mohinder reached out to where he thought Sylar was and caught his shoulder.
"If Elle was right," he said, "then you need Olivia to help stop her brother. Otherwise… you will end up like me." Everyone was silent, and finally, Sylar agreed to go back to Nathan's house before running headlong into a dangerous situation. John was waiting when they arrived at the suburban.
"What took you so long?" He asked. Olivia gave him a look that said shut-up-for-real-this-time. And he shut up.
H
"I don't know what's going to happen with us," Claire said to West as the plane took off, "but when we get to New York our questions will be answered. Either my grandmother, or Bob Bishop, will know. And I know a guy who can read minds who might help us."
"He reads minds?" West said.
"Is that so unbelievable? You can fly, I can heal. Just wait until you meet my uncle. He can do anything," West raised his eyebrows, and Claire looked thoughtful for a moment, "but he really needed to get a grip last time I saw him. That might have had something to do with him being nuclear, though, but still. He's the sort of person who needs to get out of his own way."
"Kind of like you?" Claire stared at West. "You could be a lot more, Claire, a hero. If you don't want to that's your own business, but I don't think that's it." Claire stared forward.
"I might agree with you, but it will take a while. I get the stubbornness from my dad. It took me jumping out a window to convince him to save the world."
