Just one more week and I can focus all my attention on this story again. I've got a lot of ideas and it's just so frustrating that I can't put them down in words yet.

About this chapter. I actually had to choose which future I was gonna use. I had other futures in mind, but eventually chose this one, because I liked this one the most. The chapter might be a bit vague, but that's what it's supposed to be. I don't want to give away too much about my plans for the future yet, just a couple of hints to give you an idea of where I'm going. We'll get there eventually with this story and then everything will become more clear. I promise.

When Peter opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a very familiar hallway.

"Where are we?" Hiro asked, not really sure what just happened.

"That there," Peter pointed at a door, "is my apartment. Almost a year in the future."

"Almost?"

"Yes, almost. Today is Thanksgiving, Hiro. I need to know if this one will be better than the last one."

"Me too," Hiro said quietly. "I was at the carnival with Thanksgiving. Samuel forced me to stay there, after he took the love of my life away."

"Oh…" Peter knew that Samuel was evil, but taking someone's loved one away... That was beyond evil. "I'm sorry to hear that." He suddenly remembered the note that Hiro had left a little while ago. "Save Charlie…"

"Yes, that's her! But… How do you know that?"

"'Save Charlie', you wrote it on a piece of paper and left it in the hospital."

"In the hospital..." Hiro's eyes widened. "Oh! I'm sorry. I promised Emma I would wait for you."

"That's okay, Hiro. I tried to save your life and you tried to save Charlie's. There's nothing wrong with that." Peter would have done the same thing if he'd been in a similar situation. "Did you do it? Did you save her?"

"I… had some help. The brain man, Sylar. He used his power to make her better. Me and Charlie, we were finally together. Then the evil butterfly man came and took her away from me."

Peter frowned. "I'm sorry, did you say that Sylar helped her? When was that?"

"Three years ago," Hiro answered. "Four, if we count this year too."

"Why did he help her? I mean, not that that's a bad thing, but wasn't he still a killer back then?"

"I made a deal with him, so he would not kill her for her power. A selfish deal, but Charlie did not deserve to die."

Peter didn't see that one coming. "You made a deal with him? What kind of deal?"

"I said I would tell him about his future if he helped Charlie."

"That's it?" What if I could've made the same deal for Nathan... Peter shook his head. "Never mind." He looked at his watch and realized how much time they had wasted already. "Let's get this thing over with, Hiro. Let's find our future selves, see how they're doing and get the hell out of here."

"We meet in one hour?"

Peter nodded. "Yes, let's meet here."

Hiro bowed. "Okay. Good luck, Peter Petrelli." He closed his eyes and teleported out of the hallway.

Peter took a deep breath and went to his front door. He wanted to knock just in case someone was still inside, but hesitated before his hand reached the door. A sudden thought popped up in his head, something he hadn't thought about before going to the future. What if he was dead? There was a possibility that he had died, but what then? Going back to the past to change everything wouldn't be necessary, just as long as the rest of them were okay...

Dead or alive, Peter wasn't going to find out anything by just standing around and doing nothing.

He knocked on the door and waited a couple of seconds which soon turned into a minute, but nobody answered. I guess I'm not home, he thought jokingly. It meant that the coast was clear, so he teleported into his apartment.

His first impression was that he had gotten the wrong apartment or that he simply didn't live in it anymore. His old apartment didn't have as much furniture as this one did, it only had the essentials (bed, table and chairs). The wall where he used to put the articles of the people he had saved was covered by a large, dark wooden cabinet. The simple round table he used to have, had been replaced by a square one, with four decent chairs surrounding it.

It was still his apartment, he noticed. One look at the unfamiliar cabinet told him it was.

Peter moved towards the cabinet and picked up a photo frame with a photograph of him and Nathan in it. It was the one that had been taken at Nathan and Heidi's wedding, from when they didn't even know about abilities yet. He stared at it for a while before he took it with him to the bed and sat down.

Peter's facial expression grew from normal to more grimly with each second, as he kept staring at himself and his brother. He and Hiro had travelled to the future to find out more about it, but one thing about the future was already certain. And that was that Nathan wouldn't be in it.

"Carry on for the both of us. Tell mom I love her. Take care of Claire."

He remembered every single word from the last conversation he had with Nathan or Sylar or whoever the hell he was at the time. The words, they were still horribly fresh in his memories.

"Fight the good fight. The world ain't seen nothing yet. You can do anything. I love you."

He wanted to do what Nathan had told him. He wanted to fight the good fight, to take care of Claire, but didn't know how. Helping a serial killer escape wasn't exactly what you call 'a good fight' and lying about it to Claire was the opposite from taking care of her. Nathan just had too much faith in him.

"You need to accept that I'm gone."

Accepting it. Peter thought that that was going to be the hardest part, but it wasn't. Moving on, that was going to be so much harder. All that stuff with Sylar, being trapped in his mind, helping him escape, it didn't make it any easier. Especially when Sylar told him that Nathan had died just because Sylar wanted him to die.

Peter let himself fall back on the bed and gazed at the ceiling. If he had known that he was going to spend the rest of his life without his brother in it… Why? Why did I have to lose him? Of all the people Sylar had to kill, why him? A constant battle had been going on inside his head for years. Hours. Not years. He wanted to kill Sylar for taking away Nathan, to make him suffer, but he also wanted to give Sylar a chance. A chance to prove that he was never going to kill again. It had been giving him such headaches, not knowing what was more important to him.

He sat up straight when he heard the sound of his front door being unlocked. Shit. Don't get distracted! He went to the cabinet quickly, placed the frame back on one of the shelves and hid himself in the corner of the room. He could have stopped time, he could have teleported away, but he wanted to wait. He wanted to see the person that was going to enter his apartment.

The door opened.

Peter took a step closer to the wall, but immediately wished he hadn't. His foot landed on some kind of toy and it squeaked, very loudly. Damn. He closed his eyes and stopped time as fast as he could.

So far for trying to be invisible…

He took his foot from the toy slowly, but it didn't make any difference. The dent stayed in the toy. He picked it up and stared at it. It was a rubber duck. Why do I have this in my apartment? It occurred to him that it was probably a kid who had left it there, but whose kid? Certainly not his own. How could he have a kid in less than a year? It was possible, but the rest of his apartment didn't show any sign of a baby living there. He dropped the toy on the floor and went to the kitchen.

Definitely still my apartment, Peter thought when he saw his older self standing in the door opening. He frowned at the bolts of electricity, coming from his future version's hands. It looked like he was ready to attack or defend himself from whoever was trespassing in his apartment.

Electricity... The only person Peter knew who could produce electricity was Sylar, he realized. It meant that either he had taken it from Sylar at some point or that there was someone else who had the same ability. Could be one of the carnies. He decided to do what Noah had told him and began to observe his older self.

Future Peter was wearing his work clothes, which meant that he was still working as a paramedic. Still able to do my job. Check. He needed to know more, though. He needed to know where his mother was, where Claire and Noah were, Emma perhaps and all those people from the carnival... He wasn't going to find out anything by just staring at this older version of himself.

Peter turned around and saw something that was probably going to be of more help to him.

There was a calendar hanging on the wall in his kitchen and one look at it confirmed that it was in fact Thanksgiving Day, but... Oh, no. You gotta be kidding me... He didn't do it right. Something must've gone wrong when he time-travelled, because the calendar showed him that he had gone two years into the future instead of one. "Idiot," he muttered to himself.

Two years. Noah had warned Peter that one year would have been too far. That it was important not to find out too much about the future, but it was too late to go back. It was too late to go after Hiro and make him teleport the two of them back to the past. Hiro was going to find out about the time difference eventually and when he did he'd realize just how incapable of time-travelling Peter actually was.

Focus on why you're here. This calendar could tell him more about the whereabouts of the others. He took it from the wall and looked at what was left of it, which were only the months November and December.

This is useless. The calendar was empty apart from one red X his future version had drawn on it. It was drawn on today's date. Since when do I have to remind myself when it's Thanksgiving? He turned the calendar around in his hands and found an address written on the back side of it. The address was in Texas.

Peter took a peek at his watch and saw that he still had fifty minutes left before he had to meet Hiro again. He didn't know if teleporting to that address would dangerous, but simply ignoring it was not an option.

Curiosity took over. Just like it always did.

He hung the calendar back on the wall and turned around for one last look at himself. At least I'm still alive, he thought before he closed his eyes and focused on the address in Texas. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar living room in an even less familiar house.

Peter sighed in relieve and felt himself calming down somewhat. There was nothing strange about the house, apart from not being able to recognise it. His life wasn't in danger. It was probably just the home of somebody he knew.

"Unbelievable."

Peter froze time and kept his eyes closed, hoping, wishing that he didn't hear it right. That voice. He had been hearing that same voice for years. There was no mistaking. It was Sylar's voice. But did it mean that the house was Sylar's? Or was he just visiting? Or hiding? Whatever it meant didn't matter as much as the fact that Sylar wasn't going to spend the rest of his life in a jail cell.

Sylar had seen him. Now what? Don't talk to anyone, that's what Noah said, but Peter couldn't just leave. He couldn't just leave without saying anything. If he just pretended that he wasn't from the past, that he was future Peter, it wouldn't change anything.

He unfroze time and turned around. "Sylar."

"Unbelievable," Sylar repeated while shaking his head. He went to the desk near the window, picked up a messenger bag and began to fill it with various notebooks. When he was done with that, he went through a door and returned only seconds later with his coat. "Why can't you just..." He had his left arm through the left sleeve when he suddenly remembered something else and went to the other side of the living room, through another door. This time he returned with a toothbrush in his hand.

Peter was just standing there, watching as Sylar did all those things. He didn't know what to say. Sylar was obviously in a hurry.

"You're always late. Always. But not today. Nooo. No, today you decided to come early. Not that I mind." Sylar went to the desk and started putting several things away in the drawers. "I mean, the sooner I can leave this place the better. Especially today, but what's wrong with a simple phone call every now and then? If you had told me you were on your way I could've been ready by the time you got here. It's just so typical of you," Sylar scoffed and muttered, "an hour too early."

Too early for what? Peter wanted to ask, but he was probably supposed to know that already. He decided to stay quiet and wait for more clarity from Sylar.

"Is it so hard to keep a schedule?" Sylar glanced over his shoulder at Peter for a second, then continued what he was doing. "You're still shape shifting. You don't even notice it anymore when you're using your abilities. Your life is pure chaos. How can you live like that? How can anybody live like that? You better start taking care of yourself, Peter. Maybe take some days off, y'know? I know that that's not what you want and that you feel like you have responsibilities, but this isn't normal behaviour."

"That's funny coming from you." Peter knew that he probably shouldn't have said that, that he should have stayed quiet, but it was the truth and he just felt the need to lash out at Sylar. Even if it made him look weird compared to his future self.

Sylar stopped with what he was doing, lifted his head and frowned at Peter. "Didn't you hear what I just said? You're still shape shifting."

"I'm not shape shifting," I think. He couldn't be shape shifting. How could he be shape shifting when he had Hiro's ability? Future Peter's ability was electricity, so that couldn't have been it either.

"I'm not blind. I can see you doing it."

"I can't..." Peter started, but Sylar said he saw him do it. How could he disagree with that?

Sylar sighed and pointed at a mirror. "Look," he said before going back to what he was doing.

Peter went to the mirror and looked at his own reflection. What am I supposed to see? Does he think I'm someone else? Another shape-shifter? He wanted to pretend that he was indeed shape shifting, but didn't know how or why. I should just leave.

"Dith you geth youw memowies wipe ow omething?" Sylar asked while brushing his teeth.

"What?"

Sylar rolled his eyes, went to the kitchen and returned a minute later, after rinsing the toothpaste from his mouth. "Your scar, Peter."

My scar? Peter thought, still looking at himself in the mirror. The same scar he had in that other future? He had changed that future. Or maybe he had just changed a part of it. He took a quick look around the living room. It was definitely not the Bennets' house in Costa Verde. There was no sign of a dog named Mr Muggles and there was no...

"I would ask what's wrong," Sylar said after putting his other arm through the other sleeve, "but unfortunately for you, I gotta go. I know you've got that Thanksgiving dinner at Angela's, but I'll be back as soon as possible. You know where everything is, right? Ah, never mind. You've done this before. Okay, I'm off." He slung the bag over his shoulder and went to the door.

No, you're not. Peter stopped time before Sylar had reached the door. He needed a moment to think about what Sylar had told him.

That damn scar. Sylar obviously meant the scar he had in that other future, the one across his face. But Peter wished he hadn't found out about that. How on earth could he go back in time, knowing that that was going to happen? Somebody or something was going to give him that scar and all he had to do was wait for it.

And then Sylar said something about Peter knowing where everything was. I've done this before... What have I done before? Am I supposed to look after Sylar's house while he goes to whatever it is he's going to? I'm not gonna do that. I'm supposed to meet Hiro in about forty minutes.

"Wait," Peter said after using his ability again.

Sylar turned around. "I don't have time for this, Peter."

"I'm not from here."

"For fuck's sake, stop acting so weird!"

"I'm from the past, Sylar. I took Hiro's ability and time-travelled."

"You... you did what?" Sylar took a couple of steps in Peter's direction and narrowed his eyes. He seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "You're not lying... How far?"

"Two years."

"Two years…" Sylar was quiet again for a couple of seconds, but then his eyes widened all of a sudden. "You don't have regeneration..."

"I know!" Peter was losing his mind. "First you think I'm shape shifting then I tell you that I have time-travelled and only now you realize that I don't have regeneration? Who's the one acting weird here?"

"No," Sylar said as his eyes darted around the room. "No, you don't understand. You shouldn't be here. It's not safe here." He looked back at Peter with nothing but seriousness in his eyes. "You should go. You should go now."

"What?"

"I'm not kidding, Peter. Go back."

Peter shook his head slowly. "I can't go back yet." I want to know what's going on here.

Sylar grabbed Peter's throat and lifted him in the air with telekinesis. "Go back. I told you it's not safe... You… You went to the future before," he realized suddenly. "You told me. You told me you wanted to change it and you did… You changed it, but… You wanna do it again. That's why you're here, right? For my ability? No. That's not gonna happen this time, Peter. I won't let you. Go back. Go back and forget everything you've seen or I swear I will..."

"You will... what?" Peter asked while gasping for air. "You'll kill me?!"

"Shut up."

"I…" fuck, this hurts. "I thought you had changed!"

"Shut up," Sylar said, a little louder this time. "I'm not the one who's going to kill you if you don't shut up."

What the hell is he talking about? "Okay… Okay, I'll shut up." Peter felt the pressure lift from his throat, but Sylar was still holding him up in the air. "Just tell me what the hell is going on here."

"Is that the reason why you're here?"

"Yes. Yes, it is. Just put me down, please."

Sylar lowered Peter to the floor. "You're not going to change anything?"

"Not if I don't have to."

"You don't. Things are good, Peter. Life is good. Yes, bad things have happened, but bad things happen all the time. That's just part of life. Now can you please go back to wherever the hell you came from?"

"Bad things? What bad things?"

"It doesn't matter, Peter. Just go back in time and let the future happen."

"What bad things, Sylar?!"

They both turned their heads at the same time when they heard the sound of a baby, crying.

Sylar turned his head back in a flash and pointed his finger at Peter's forehead. "Go back, Peter. Now."

Peter's eyes widened at the familiar killing pose. "You…" he barely got the word out of his mouth when Sylar started cutting into his head, without a single warning. He screamed out in agony. It wasn't even a big cut, because Sylar stopped cutting almost as soon as he started, but that didn't make it hurt any less. It had been so long since the last time time Sylar did that, Peter had forgotten how much it hurt.

"You have no idea how good it feels to finally being able to do that again. Now, go!" Sylar shouted.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut and teleported back to the hallway where he was supposed to meet Hiro. He cursed loudly and sat down on the floor with his back against the wall. Son of a... Peter reached up with his hand and tried to touch the cut in his forehead carefully, but flinched from the pain. Sylar enjoyed hurting him. Why?What reason could Sylar possibly have for wanting Peter to go back so badly, that he was willing to injure him?

There was a baby in that house. Peter heard it cry just before Sylar made him teleport away. Sylar's child? Was that the reason why Sylar wanted him gone? Was it to protect the child? Or was it to protect Peter from the child? It's not safe here, Sylar said it twice.

But Sylar was also expecting him. You're always late. Was Peter supposed to look after Sylar's child? But how was he supposed to look after the child when it wasn't safe there? You don't have regeneration, Sylar said after Peter told him that he had time-travelled. It would've been safe for him if he had that ability.

Electricity, regeneration and shape shifting. Either Sylar had lost it at some point in those two years, or it was really true and Peter was going to have all three of them at the same time. Could it be possible that he was going to have multiple abilities again? His old ability perhaps, but how? He had lost it and there was no way to get it back...

"Peter?"

Peter didn't even hear Hiro coming. He was so absorbed in figuring out what was going on. "Hiro." He looked up at the Japanese man, frowned and looked at his watch. "You still have time left."

"What happened?" Hiro asked.

A lot has happened. "What do you mean?"

"You're bleeding."

Peter lifted his hand and wiped the blood away that had been dripping down the side of his head. "I... bumped my head against... something." Against a serial killer. "I'm fine. How did it go with you?"

"Good. Very good."

"Okay…" Peter used the wall to stand and regarded Hiro for a moment. The man's tone of voice was very sharp and abrupt, even a bit sad. He just said that everything was good, but his face told something totally different. "Everything alright?"

"Yes. You want to go back?"

"Um." Peter had to think about that. Was he ready to go back yet? Did he know enough about the future to know that it was safe? Everything that just happened with Sylar didn't make him feel safe, but the man also said that life was good. Maybe he only meant his own life. "I don't know anything about Claire yet."

"Do you know how to find her?"

"I know where her father lived… two years ago."

"Two?"

Peter cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Yes… I made a mistake, Hiro."

"Oh… Okay. Nothing we can do about it. Let's find Claire."

That's it? Peter had expected Hiro to say more than that. Like how he should let Hiro do the time-travelling next time, or maybe even tell him to be more patient next time, but no. Nothing.

The door to Peter's apartment suddenly opened.

Hiro grabbed Peter's arm this time and teleported them to a spot just around the corner. He lifted his glasses with his index finger, then held the same finger to his lips, telling Peter to be quiet.

Peter nodded his head.

"No, not yet. I have to go to Sylar's first."

…

"Yeah, that's today."

…

"I can't just back out of it now, can I? He's always going on and on about keeping a schedule. And it's not like I'm gonna miss out on anything."

…

"Claire… I won't be long. He promised he'd be back sooner than usual."

Peter and Hiro looked at each other. Claire. Future Peter was talking to her on the phone. They heard future Peter go down the stairs and went after him, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Can't you just tell me over the phone?"

…

"At least tell me if it's good or bad news."

…

"What did he say? Is everything okay?"

…

"Are you serious? Damn, Claire. Now I really can't wait for you to tell me."

…

"Just tell your grandmother to stop worrying. I'll be on time, I promise. Oh, and please don't let me be the last to know. Just wait for me, okay?"

…

"That'd be great. Thanks, Claire. I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll see you tonight. Bye."

...

Future Peter left the lobby on the first floor and went outside through the entrance.

Hiro and Peter entered the lobby just when the other Peter left, but didn't follow him any further.

Peter had heard enough. "I guess I have my answer, Hiro." His future self didn't sound worried over the phone, he actually sounded a bit excited. He wouldn't be sounding like that if Claire wasn't okay.

"We can go back now?"

"Yes, Hiro. We can go back."

Next Chapter: Evil Butterfly Man