Chapter 29! After this there will only be one more chapter! So let me know what you think! This fic is coming to and end.
Chapter 29
Defeat
Claire was nearly knocked over by the force of her father's punch. She blinked away the stars and rubbed her jaw. She saw Sylar step forward angrily, as though about to punch her father in return. She held up her hand, telling him not to come in. He looked like he wanted to argue but instead he just nodded. She looked back at her father. She didn't think he had even noticed Sylar. He was glaring angrily at her.
"Dad?"
"Can't you think of something a little more original?" he sneered.
"I don't know what you are talking about."
"I mean really. Showing me my daughter every week? I believed it the first time but now it's just getting old."
"Dad, it's really me. It's Claire."
"Yeah, of course it is. And I'm actually sitting on a beach in Mexico. Get the hell out of my head."
"Dad I'm not in your head! It's really me! We've come to get you out!"
"Just shut up." He said as he turned away.
Claire racked her brain. How could she get him to believe it was really her? The she knew.
"Popsicles."
She saw his back stiffen. "What?"
"Every summer since I can remember you and I would go out and eat popsicles in the backyard. We would see who could eat theirs the fastest without getting a brain freeze."
Her father turned and stared at her. There was a bit of hope in his eyes, but he looked as if he was frightened to believe.
"When I was thirteen I helped you pick out glasses. We went through a whole stack before I picked the horn rimmed ones."
A smile pulled at his lips.
"Now how would they know that?" she asked.
"They wouldn't." he nodded as he walked towards her. He pulled her into a hug and she buried her face into his neck. She never thought she would feel his hugs again. He pulled away and looked at her.
"Claire, what are you doing here?"
"I already told you. We are here to get you out. And to kill Samson."
He nodded. "And who's we?"
"Well me for starters."
Her father's head snapped up at Sylars voice. Claire watched as the smile slid from his face and was replaced with hatred. Oh boy, here it comes. Noah pulled her so that she was standing behind him.
"You. Get the hell away from us."
Sylar sighed heavily and frowned. "Look Noah, I know that we've been had our offs and our, well, offs but things are different now. I'm a good guy."
Noah laughed humorlessly. "You? A good guy? You don't have a good bone in your body."
Anger flashed across Sylars face. "You know, it's people like you saying things like that that made me believe it in the first place. And I'll have you know that I've been helping Claire and Peter for the past few months."
Her father looked down at her. "Claire, has he hurt you?"
She sighed and shook her head. "No dad. He's telling the truth."
Noah shook his head. "He has actually got you to believe his lies."
Anger boiled up in Claire. "He isn't lying!"
"Yeah well did you know that Samson is his father? I bet he didn't mention that." Noah said, looking like he had struck a winning blow.
"Actually, we have known that for a while. Ever since we escaped from our facility more than two months ago. Sylar told us right away."
Her frowned. "Claire, they are probably working together."
Claire knew that she couldn't be mad at him. He didn't know any better. Yet she couldn't help the fury that rose up in side of her at such and accusation.
"No dad. Samson has done things to Sylar that are unforgivable. All Sylar wants to do is kill him."
"Claire he is a liar and a murderer! He killed Nathan and Meredith and your friend and so many other people! Have you forgotten about that?"
"Of course not! But I've forgiven him!"
"Forgiven him? How could you do that?"
"Because I love him!"
All of the color drained from Noahs face. Whoops. She hadn't wanted to tell him this way.
"Look dad, now isn't the time to be fighting about this. We need to find Samson and you need to get out of here. We can talk about it later."
She walked around him and took Sylars hand. Her father stared at their intertwined hands and looked like he was going to be sick. As they walked out the door Sylar leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"You are so hot right now."
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Sylar pulled Claire out into the hall and he could hear her father following close behind. Having Claire shout at her father that she loved him was pretty much the best thing that had ever happened to him, next to her actually feeling that way. It meant she felt it enough to tell Company Man Noah Bennet.
He saw Peter coming down the hall followed by a large group of other people. He recognized Angela Petrelli as well as Janice Parkman and little Matty Parkman. He didn't care about Angela, but he was extremely happy that Janice and Matty were ok. He had spent some time with them, though not under good circumstances, but he had actually come to care about them a little. Now that he was a little saner he was actually able to acknowledge that. And he would never, ever tell Claire what he had done with Janice while in Matt's body. He realized that was a pretty big line he had crossed.
He nodded at Peter. "We have to get them all out of here."
Peter nodded. "Yeah. Noah, do you think you can lead them all to the bottom level?"
"I can do that."
"Good let's go." Peter said as he half carried Angela along with him. She didn't look like she was in very good shape. They walked quickly down the halls with Sylar at the lead. Half way to the stair doors they met up with the other specials. They had found other captives as well. They walked at a quick pace. They rounded the corner to the door and Sylar stopped in his tracks, causing others to run into him.
Kassy was standing just in front of the door. Her hair had come undone from its ponytail and was hanging wildly around her face. Tears were running down her cheeks and her eyeliner was smudged and running. She stared right at him with her large eyes. They held a mix of fear and horror desperation. Something was very wrong.
"Kassy? What are you doing?"
She let out a sob. "Sylar help me."
"Help you? With what?"
She let out a cry as her hand shot up and pointed at him. Using his mind he pushed everybody back.
"Sylar, he's controlling me." She cried.
"You have to fight him Kassy." Sylar urged.
"Oh, but she can't." said a voice from some overhead speakers. "She's not as strong as you."
"Let her go!" Sylar snarled.
His father chuckled. "Such passion. I can see that you really care about her. And to think, that came about without you even knowing she's your little sister."
Sylar's eyes snapped back to Kassy. She was crying harder now. Sister? What was Samson talking about?
"Oh, how rude it is that she didn't tell you."
"Sylar, I swear I only just found out recently! I didn't know the whole time!" Kassy cried.
Sylar was trying to understand, yet was finding it very difficult. How could Kassy be his sister? Well, he knew how. But just, how? Staring at her now he could see it. All of their similarities. But why hadn't she told him? Had she been using him? But that made no sense.
"Sylar."
He looked up at the sound of her voice.
"Please Sylar, you have to trust me. I would never hurt you. I was afraid to tell you but it's true. You are my big brother."
Sylar took a deep breath. Now was not the time to freak out about this. And he did trust Kassy. No matter what Samson said, he knew Kassy would never intentionally hurt him.
"Samson, I said let her go."
"Or what?" he taunted.
"Or I will draw out your death even more."
His father just chuckled. "Come and try."
Just then a bolt of fire shot from Kassy's hand. Sylar leapt aside and barely avoided it. He watched as Kassy's eyes went blank and another strong sense of Déjà vu hit him. Kassy's eyes suddenly took on a furious rage that he knew wasn't hers. Someone else was controlling her now. She settled into a fighting stance. Oh great.
"Get back!" he shouted at the others, just as she raced towards him. She shot off two fire bolt simultaneously. He avoided one but the other caught his shoulder. He grimaced in pain as he raised his hand. He didn't want to hurt Kassy but he had to stop her. He shot a bolt of electricity at her that sent her flying back. He used his telekinesis to throw her against the door, but he didn't anticipate her using her own telekinesis to drag him towards her at the same time. She hit the wall and he was only barely able to stop himself from ramming right into her. He pulled away from her while she pulled him towards her. It was a really strange feeling.
She seemed to tire of it as he let him go. He stumbled back and regained his balance. She began slashing the air with her hand. He realized a second too late what she was doing. He felt the deep gashes dig into his skin around his shoulders. She was aiming for his neck. That was the only real way to stop him after all. He had to do something and fast, before her aim became more accurate. How could he stop her? Of course. She had Claire's ability. He looked around quickly for anything he could use. He saw a video camera hooked to one of the walls and ripped it off. He held it in his hand, the jagged part sticking out wards. Kassy leapt forward to give another lash and he took his chance. Moving faster than he thought he could he stepped around her. He brought the jagged piece down hard into the back of her head. She let out a strangled sound before collapsing into his arms. Everybody else ran to gather around. He lifter her and dropped her into Noah's arms who looked both confused and disgusted.
"Get everyone out of here." Sylar snarled. He turned to look at the blonde haired girl named Trisha. "Is he still here?"
She nodded. "I've had my force field around this building since we got here. He isn't going anywhere."
"Good." He sneered. They walked out into the staircase and Noah began ushering everyone down the stairs. Sylar turned to Claire.
"Go with them."
She shook her head. "No way. I'm not leaving you to go fight your father alone."
"I won't be alone. I have Peter."
"I don't care! I won't leave you!"
Sylar grabbed at his hair. "God why are you so stubborn! Claire, you can't help us! You have no offensive ability! You will only be in the way!"
He could see the hurt he had caused and he hated himself for it. But he had to get her out of here. He couldn't let his father get near her.
"Go!" he said, giving her a nudge towards the stairs. He turned and ran up the stair with Peter following close behind. He didn't look back to see if she did what he said. He knew her ego would be too hurt to follow him.
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Claire stood in the stairwell for several minutes. It had hurt what Sylar had said. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized he had only said it to get her to leave. She took a deep breath and walked decidedly towards the stairs.
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Sylar burst through the last door at the top of the stairs. It opened into a huge office that covered the entire floor. His father stood in the middle surrounded by eight body guards. He really looked irritated.
"Clever, keeping me trapped here. I really hoped you wouldn't get past your sister."
"Yeah, and I always hoped to be built like The Rock. We can't all have what we want."
His father shook his head. "Always with the wit."
Sylar shrugged. "I've been told it's my greatest asset next to my, well, ass."
Samson sneered. "You bore me."
Sylar faked offense. "I bore you? Well that's honestly a new one."
"Kill them." Samson said to his guards.
The eight men rushed them at once. Sylar smiled at his father's feeble attempts to kill him without actually fighting him. Such a coward. He took out the first two men out with a simple flick, but the next was not so easy. He could pull round blades right from his wrist and throw them with great accuracy. Sylar found himself using telekinesis to avoid being decapitated. This made it difficult to fight the other man at the same time. He could see Peter fighting the others as fast as he could.
The other man seemed to have the power to form blue energy. He used it to wrap around Sylar and try to constrict him. Sylar pushed against it. He didn't like having to focus on two things at once, it left room for error. He tried to push the man back but momentarily lost concentration of the disks. He flicked it to one aside, narrowly avoiding it hitting his neck. He heard a small gasp behind him and turned. Claire stood near the door way. Her eyes were wide and mouth had fallen open in an oval. He stared in confusion for a moment before her head slid from her shoulders. The blade he had deflected had cut straight through her neck.
Sylar felt like the world was going in slow motion. He thought that Hiro must have slowed things down. He felt as though something was being ripped from his chest. His Claire tumbled to the side and fell in a heap onto the ground.
"No." was all he was able to whisper.
She couldn't be. She wasn't. His love couldn't be dead. It was impossible. They had eternity together. She had told him she loved him. He slowly moved towards her and dropped to the ground. He lifted her head in his hands. It wasn't real. It just couldn't be. He would wake up any second now. He would even be glad to wake up back at the facility and find that this had all been a dream. No Kassy, no freedom. No Claire loving him. He would accept that all gladly for Claire to not be dead.
"NO!" he heard his father scream, as his only chance at immortality died.
The world sped back to real time. Sylar turned slowly to look at Samson. He vaguely noticed Peter running from the room at top speed. In that moment all of his hatred and hunger and insanity burst from him. He let the monster out. There was no reason to keep it locked up anymore. He screamed as electricity lit up the room. It targeted everyone but his father, killing them instantly. He saw the fear in his father's eyes. He smiled. It felt so good to just let go.
He slammed his father back against the wall.
"You don't get off that easily."
"That wasn't me! You are the one who killed her! It is your fault!" his father screamed.
Sylar face contorted in pain. He knew it was true. It was his fault. His one great love was dead and he was to blame.
"Yes, I know that. And I will spend an eternity paying for what I have done. I wish I could make you pay for an eternity, but I don't have that kind of patience."
He cut a deep wound into his father's stomach and he screamed in pain. He made sure not to hit an artery. He wanted this to be slow.
"You have taken everything from me."
He made another cut.
"My mother."
Another cut.
"My sanity."
Another.
"My son."
A deep one across his face.
"And now you have taken everything. I. Loved. Her."
With each of the three words he made another cut. His father was now a bloody mess.
"She was everything. She was the only thing stopping me from being a monster. You wanted me to not be a disappointment? You wanted the monster? Well now you have him."
He continued cutting slowly into his father's skin. Samson was now writhing and screaming in pain. Sylar marveled at his ability in torture. It made him smile.
"She was the only good I've ever had. All my life has been is suffering and enduring. She gave me a chance to actually live. And now you've taken the only thing stopping me from burning the damn world to the ground."
Samson screamed again when he made another deep gash on his face. The screaming really was getting irritating. He severed his vocal cords.
"You disgust me. You are so worthless and weak. Look at you. When it came down to it I was always more powerful than you."
He wriggled like a worm on the wall. It made Sylar want to puke.
"God, just die already."
He cut his throat and dropped him to the ground. He watched as all the life left his father's eyes. It was done. His father was finally dead. Yet he didn't care. None of it mattered. Claire was dead. The love of his existence was gone and nothing could ever bring her back. He dropped to his knees as it sunk in. Gone. He would never see her smile again. He would never watch as the sunlight danced off her hair. He would never marvel at her sleeping face again. It was all gone. His body couldn't even find tears. There was no action his body could think of that would show his amount of grieving. All he could do was cover his face with his hands.
He wanted to collapse and not get back up. He was so tired of fighting and moving on. But he couldn't do that, because he was Sylar. He was supposed to be strong. He would leave the others. He would go somewhere far away. Someplace he could control the monster. Just because Claire was dead, he still had to do what she would want. She would want him to be good. If there was a heaven, which he doubted, he wanted her to look down and be proud of him. He stood up slowly. He didn't want to turn and see the body.
"Sylar?"
His back went rigid. Now he was imagining her voice? Had he finally really gone insane? He turned around. There she was, standing tall and alive. There was no body on the floor, no blood. He frowned in confusion. What was going on? She took a step closer.
"Sylar, are you ok?"
All he could do was stare. "Claire, you were dead."
She raised her eyebrows. "Um, no I wasn't."
"Claire I… I saw you. My father saw you."
She shook her head. "Sylar I don't know what you are talking about."
Peter stepped around Claire. "Hey, I'm sorry man. I didn't want to have to do that to you but we knew the only way we could end this was if you got really mad."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Peter nodded at Leah. "It was all part of the plan."
Sylar looked between the two as realization set in. "You made me see Claire dying? Just so that I would kill my father?"
Peter shrugged. "We had too."
Sylar was furious. If there was one thing he hated more than anything it was being used. Peter had used him. He felt the electricity begin to course over his body. He wanted to hit Peter and hit him hard. He balled his hands into fists. He began to walk towards him but Claire was suddenly blocking his way. She placed her hands on his face.
"Shh, Sylar it's ok. I'm not dead. I'm alive and I'm here with you. Isn't that what's important?"
He looked down into her eyes. They were eyes that he had thought he would never see again. He gently touched her face. She was right. He still had her. For forever. He smiled and kissed her.
"You're right."
She smiled. "You did it. Samson is actually dead."
He ran a hand through her hair. "I know. He'll never hurt you."
She rolled her eyes. "I was never afraid of him."
"Of course you weren't." he smirked.
There was a loud sound from the doorway and they both turned to see Kassy stumble in looking a little dazed and rubbing the back of her head.
"What did I miss?"
