Claire was at a loss as to what to do next. She knew whose hand it was, that wasn't so hard to figure out. She just didn't know whether to take it or not. All she did was stare at the wristwatch and the black hairs that covered the arm from elbow to wrist. She watched as the hand attached to the arm tried to grab a hold of something, anything. When that didn't work, a second hand appeared and found its way to a piece of concrete. It was giving him enough leverage to pull himself up from the rubble.
Sylar groaned and coughed as the world became visible to him yet again. Disintegration… Never realized it could be so useful. He looked down and saw that Claire Bennet was the first person to welcome him back to the world. She was just sitting there, watching as he struggled to free himself from the debris. "Please, don't get up."
"I wasn't going to."
"Of course not," Sylar said, the corner of his mouth twitching. Peter had said some pretty nasty stuff to him in the past few years, but that was probably nothing compared to what Claire had in store for him. He got up on his feet, raked a hand through his hair and breathed in the fresh air. That was the second time he had been buried alive.
"What the hell did you do?"
"What was that?"
"What the hell did you do?" Claire repeated, a little louder this time.
"I saved your father's life, that's what I did."
"Why did you go back inside?"
Sylar wiped his hands on his pants, even though it was futile. His clothes, his skin, his hair… his entire body was covered in a thick layer of grey dust. "Why? To make sure that Samuel wouldn't survive all this, that's why."
"Did he?"
"No."
"What about Becky?"
"I couldn't find her, but I doubt she made it out alive."
Claire nodded slowly, not really wanting to admit that she didn't care if Becky made it out alive or not. The world was probably a safer place without either her or Samuel in it. Claire gazed up at Sylar carefully and knew what she had to do. She was supposed to thank him for saving her dad's life. The only problem was that she didn't know how to do it without giving him the impression that she had forgiven him for everything he had done.
Sylar held out his hand again and, to his great surprise, Claire took it this time. As soon as she got on her feet, however, she distanced herself from him again. His jaws clenched together when he saw the look she was giving him, a look that showed uncertainty as well as repulsion. Sylar was sick of that look. He wasn't expecting Claire to act like nothing happened, to forget all the wrong he did to her, but he figured a bit of gratitude wasn't too much to ask.
"So, what now?" she asked, trying to break the silence.
"I'm going back." Sylar didn't even wait for her reaction. He climbed over the rubble and headed towards the spot where they parked the van not too long ago. All he wanted was to go back in that van and get to that special facility as soon as possible.
"Wait!" Claire shouted as she tried to keep up with him. "Wait! Just… wait!"
Sylar didn't stop. "What do you want from me?"
"Uh, I don't know. How about an explanation?" Claire almost bumped into him when he suddenly halted. "I know you convinced Peter that you've... changed, but he knows things we don't. You can't just expect us to treat you differently, because you suddenly claim to be different. That's not how it works!"
"I don't expect anything from you." Sylar sighed and looked over his shoulder at Claire. "You're right. I consider myself very lucky for the amount of time I've had to prove to Peter how sorry I am for killing Nathan and all the others. I'm never gonna get a chance like that with anybody ever again. That's why I'm getting in that car." He turned his head and quickly continued his way back to the car.
"Well, that's easy!" Claire's short legs had a hard time keeping up with Sylar's long ones. "What about Peter, eh? After all the trouble he went through to help you, you're just gonna give up?"
"What's it to you?"
"I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. Okay, so you've stopped killing and you've stopped taking abilities." Sylar refused to kill Samuel, even after everything Samuel did. That was definitely not what the old Sylar would have done. "I see that now."
"Well, I'm glad that's sorted."
"But for how long?"
Sylar stopped again, this time more abruptly than before. He closed his eyes and laughed at his own stupidity. Just for a moment there, he actually thought that Claire believed him. "You think it's temporary." It wasn't even a question.
"Yeah. I mean… do you blame me? You've been trying to kill us for years! And now? Now, all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe that it's finally over. It's never over. You always keep coming back!"
"Believe it or not, it is over. I'm not coming back this time." Sylar waited for another argument from Claire, but none came. So he started walking again with Claire walking beside him this time.
"This is so weird," she said after a couple of seconds.
"What is?"
"This," Claire pointed her finger back and forth between the two of them, "talking to you. Talking to you and not having to think about who you're going to kill next... it's new to me. It's new to all of us. It's weird. Being able to say what's on my mind..."
"Without having to worry about me doing something to hurt the people you care about," Sylar finished. "Yeah, I know." It was new to him too. Letting people speak their minds and not doing or saying anything back… That definitely required some getting used to.
Claire nodded. "You're different and I don't know how to deal with that."
"You don't, because I won't be around for much longer. I'll be out of your life for good."
"For good? I don't believe that and neither do you."
Sylar knew what Claire was talking about. She was talking about her immortality. About their immortality. "You're right." Again. "I won't stay gone forever. It might take a few decades before people start forgetting my name, my face, but I'll return eventually. I don't know how or when, but I will. I know I will."
"Some people never forget," was Claire's response and that was all she had to say to him.
"I know." Sylar sighed as he looked around. He saw the car. It was so close. Would they be taking him to that place right away, if he asked them to? He didn't even know where he was going, whether it was nearby or if he needed to take a plane or something to get there. If they just tell me where it is, I'll fly there myself. He turned back to Claire, but immediately wished he hadn't. She was just standing there, expecting him to say something. She said she wanted an explanation, but he kind of already gave her one. He had nothing left to say to her… He didn't, but... maybe Nathan did.
Nathan. Nathan didn't have many memories of Claire. He did have some quality time with her in Mexico, but that was just because they were on the run from the government. First he messed up, then she had to sell the necklace Bennet gave her, he got drunk, they had a good talk, he messed up again and eventually they ended up at Coyote Sands. Which… couldn't really be considered a nice family vacation either.
Sylar realized he had been staring as he thought about those memories and quickly looked away. He wanted to pretend that he wasn't using Nathan's memories to think of something to say to Claire, but it was all he had at that moment. And just like always, thinking about Nathan's memories made him momentarily forget about his own. "Where's Pete?"
"Peter."
"Mom?" Peter turned around. Yup, he heard it right. There she was. "What are you doing here?" It didn't make any sense. She was supposed to be home with Claire. Tell your grandmother to stop worrying. "How did you get here so fast?"
Angela closed the distance between herself and her son. She made a movement with her hand as if to touch him on his cheek, but recoiled and dropped it to her side again. "I came as soon as I heard you were here," she said with a sad smile on her face.
"How did you know I was here?" His mother looked so different from the last time he had seen her. Her hair had turned grey and she looked really tired. She looked like she hadn't slept in years.
"We all know you're here," Edgar said as he was suddenly standing next to Angela. "You too, Hiro."
Peter took a step back. He still had a hard time accepting that Edgar was one of the good guys. He also needed some distance from his mother, because he was still angry at her for almost leaving thousands of people to die. If he hadn't taken her ability...
"You think you can break into your own apartment unnoticed?" Edgar asked Peter. "And you," he said to Hiro. "They knew you were there. Kimiko and Ando, they saw you. I don't get it. You of all people should know how dangerous time-travelling is."
"I was very careful!"
"Yeah, we both were," Peter said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "We're not here to cause any trouble. We're just having a quick look around, that's all." Peter glanced at his mother every now and then, but all she did was stare back at him with tears in her eyes. That was so unlike her, to show her feelings instead of hiding them like she always did.
"Just a quick look?" Edgar asked, mimicking Peter's posture. "So, what were you doing at Sylar's just now? Why did you tell him you were from the past?" Edgar gestured to the cut on Peter's forehead. "What did you say to make that happen?"
"Yeah, I went to see Sylar, but not intentionally. I didn't even know he was gonna be there. And this?" Peter asked as he pointed at his own forehead. "I didn't say anything to make this happen."
"Peter..."
"What?" Peter snapped as he turned to face his mother again. Why was he the bad guy all of a sudden? He was not the one slicing heads open, Sylar was. Peter was just trying to help, as always.
"When your mother heard you were here, she came to me for a favor." Edgar was playing with his knives as he spoke. "I brought her to you, because she wanted to see you. She..."
"I wanted to see you," Angela continued. "Just see you, that's all. Can't a mother see her son?"
Peter frowned at his mother and Edgar. "You just wanted to see me? Mom, that doesn't make any sense! You're seeing me at dinner. I mean, you're seeing him at dinner. He said it when he was talking over the phone with Claire. Even Sylar said it."
"It's not the same, Peter. I want to see how you once were. How you are now, standing before me."
"How I once were?" What's that supposed to… "Oh, you mean without the scar?"
"I'm not talking about your scar."
"Then what?"
"You shouldn't be asking questions, Peter." The sternness that Angela always had in her voice, the sharp tone, was suddenly back. "Because you're not getting any answers from us."
Peter knew that. He knew that he shouldn't be asking questions. He just had so many of them. Everything was so confusing and everybody kept acting so weird around him. Edgar... Peter didn't know Edgar well enough to know when he was acting weird. Hiro had barely said a word to him and his mother... It almost seemed like she was afraid of him. "I have no idea what's going on here. I just need some answers. I need to understand..."
Nobody said a word. Angela and Edgar just kept staring at Peter.
Then, all of a sudden, Edgar turned around and threw his knives in the wall opposite from him, making them all jump. He seemed to be very angry about something. "Tell them, Angela!"
"Tell us what?" Hiro asked. He had been feeling like an outsider during the whole conversation.
"You need to go back," Angela said. "You need to go back and find the Haitian. Let him erase your memories of the future."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want the two of you to make the same mistake as I did with Nathan, Peter. You'll make decisions based on what you've seen in the future and we can't have that. You can't force the future to happen. It doesn't work like that. You have to let it happen." She turned to Hiro. "You won't be stepping on any butterflies, if there aren't any to step on."
"That's true," Hiro agreed.
Peter wasn't entirely convinced by his mother's explanation. He had dreamed the future, he saw Sylar in it and didn't hesitate to find the man and bring him to the carnival. The dream came true and many lives were saved, but his mother was still the expert. She had been dreaming the future her whole life. How could he disagree with her? "So, Sylar was right?" Peter asked. He needed to know for certain, before going back. "The future is good?"
It was Angela's turn to distance herself from her son. "I don't know what Sylar told you, nor do I care, but you've got to go back and you've got to find the Haitian."
"What about Claire? Noah?" Peter looked at Edgar. "Your people, are they safe? That's all I need to know."
"Everybody's safe, Peter."
Peter had so many more questions. What about people with abilities? What was it like to live out in the open with powers? He had even more questions about himself, but he wasn't supposed to know the answers to those questions. He had to forget everything about the future and move on with his life as if nothing happened. As if Sylar never attacked him. "I guess it's time for us to go back then. Hiro?"
"Yes?"
"I think it's better if you take us back."
"I think so too."
Peter saw his mother smile at him just before Hiro placed his hand on Peter's shoulder and teleported them back to the past. Peter looked up and had to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He was so glad to be back. The present was so much simpler than the future. His gaze lowered and turned into a frown when he saw a couple of ambulances parked off in the distance.
"Uh Oh..."
He turned around and gaped at what used to be a three story building, but was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. "I think you made a mistake this time, Hiro." This couldn't possibly be the present. Something like that couldn't have happened in less than an hour.
"I made no mistake," Hiro said, also gaping.
The possibility that Hiro had made a mistake was indeed very small. "Let's find out." Peter closed his eyes and teleported to the ambulances. There were so many people. Carnies, agents and paramedics were everywhere.
The paramedic in Peter took over and he started helping people on instinct. The more heavily injured were already being treated, so Peter focused on helping the ones that weren't. Some were in a bit of a shock. He tried to get them to talk, to tell him what happened, but all he got was one name. Samuel.
"Peter! Over here!"
Peter recognised Claire's voice immediately, but he was a little busy stopping the bleeding on an old man's shoulder. "Hey," he said to a young girl standing next to him. "What's your name?"
"Amanda," she answered after having thought about it for a couple of seconds. She kept staring at the old man with wide eyes.
The girl's reaction made Peter realize just how close these people were. Those carnies saw themselves as one big family. "Okay, Amanda. Could you take over from me?" He saw a slight nod of her head and took her hand gently, directing it to the piece of cloth that covered the old man's wound. "It's okay. Just ignore the blood."
"It's fine. I can do it."
He smiled at the girl's bravery and moved away so she could take his place instead. "Just make sure you keep pressure and I'll go find someone, okay?" He stood and started looking for someone who had the right equipment to tend to the man's injuries, just in time for another couple of ambulances to arrive. Peter showed them where the man was and started looking for Claire himself. It didn't take him long to find her. She was with Noah and West. "What happened?" he asked as another paramedic tended to Noah's leg. It looked serious, really serious.
"Samuel tried to kill him," Claire said as she clung to Peter's side.
Sylar was sitting in the back of the van, with his legs over the edge, waiting. It felt like he had been waiting for ages. He had been watching as that Lauren Gilmore woman talked to Bennet, who was lying on a stretcher, ready to go into the ambulance. He wondered if she was still the one to take him to that facility, or if he had to put up with one of those dimwits. He never expected the kiss she gave Bennet, before leaving him there alone with Claire and some boy. Sylar smirked at the sight of that. Bennet, you lucky dog.
And suddenly, out of nowhere, there he was. Paramedic Peter. Sylar watched as Peter greeted the boy (who he knew apparently), comforted Claire (probably telling her that everything was going to be alright) and eventually went to talk to Bennet. Peter examined Bennet's leg and even from a distance Sylar was able to see that Peter was a natural, born to save lives. Born to be a hero. It was also one of those moments that Sylar wished he still had his enhanced hearing. He couldn't make out what the two men were talking about, but at some point Peter looked at Noah's leg for a while. He just looked. Nothing more, nothing less.
Claire joined the conversation and that ended up with her pointing at… Okay, they're talking about me now. Peter looked at what Claire was pointing at and saw Sylar. He stood when Peter started walking towards him. Oh, shit. He looks angry… "Long time, no-," he got cut off when Peter teleported in front of him, grabbed the collar of his shirt with one hand and punched him in the face with the other. "The hell, Petrelli?!"
Peter had hit Sylar with so much force, that the man had fallen backwards into the car. He was fuming. When Claire told him where Sylar was, he had felt this sudden urge to hit Sylar. The pounding pain in his forehead kept reminding him of what future Sylar had done to him and how much Sylar had enjoyed doing it.
Sylar had had enough of the amount of physical abuse he had to go through in the last couple of years. He deserved it every single time that Peter's fist landed on his face, but enough was enough. "What did I do this time?!"
"I can't say, but trust me. You definitely deserved it."
"You can't say? Sorry, Peter, but that's just the lamest excuse I've ever heard." Sylar moved his jaw back and forth a couple of times, checking if everything was still in place and got to his feet. "Why don't you try another one?"
"That's too bad, cause I just happen to be on strict orders not to say anything to anyone. That includes you." He couldn't say anything about what future Sylar had done to him, but god... he wanted to. So much. He felt a hand on his right arm and turned his head to see Claire standing next to him. He looked back at Sylar. "I know what you are."
"Peter, can you just calm down for a second?" Claire had been tugging at his shirt without realizing it, but didn't stop once she did. "How long have you been back?"
"Not long," Peter said as he kept glaring at Sylar.
"Back? What do you mean, back? Where did you go?"
"What happened, Peter?" Claire asked, ignoring Sylar. He had asked her where Peter was. No, he had asked her where 'Pete' was, which was... really weird. She didn't tell him that Peter had gone to the future, because she thought it was better if he didn't know. "What did you see?"
"I can't say anything, you know that. All I can say is that nothing needs to be changed. I actually have to find René as soon as possible and make sure I forget everything I've seen."
"You're kidding right?" Sylar asked incredulously. Peter's face was nothing but serious. "You can't be serious… You're going to let him erase your memories willingly? I don't know what the two of you were talking about, but I'm pretty sure it messed with your head, Peter."
"It's not your problem."
Sylar was about to react to that when he suddenly noticed something... something that didn't make sense to him. Something out of the ordinary. He cocked his head to have a better look at Peter's forehead, the part that was covered by Peter's familiar lock of hair. "Is that...?"
Peter lifted his left hand and placed it on Claire's, the one still holding his right arm. "Is that... What, Sylar?" he asked as the cut on his forehead began to heal.
"Who did that to you?" Sylar knew that he was the only person who could have done that to Peter, but it just wasn't possible. He had not seen Peter since that warehouse. "Who did that to you?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Did you just take my ability?" Claire asked, her eyes darting back and forth between her uncle and Sylar. She thought that they'd be acting more friendly to one another, since Peter had been so desperate to convince her that Sylar had changed. But all she saw was hatred.
"Yup."
"Okay…" Claire started pulling at his arm again. "We need to go to the hospital, Peter."
"Right, I'll just have to ask René to meet me there then."
Okay. Bye, Sylar thought as he watched how those two walked away from him. That's it? He wasn't expecting a speech or anything and he didn't intend on giving one either, but he needed some sort of… closure. He was going away for a very long time and they simply couldn't care less.
What was he expecting? Bye, Sylar. We'll miss you? No, of course not. Nobody was going to miss him. A 'Sylar is finally gone' party was probably already being organized. He knew it. He knew what it was going to be like when he was finally gone. Good riddance, on the front page of every newspaper. Serial killer shows remorse and surrenders. It wasn't the reputation he once hoped for, but that was just the way it had to be.
Sylar closed his eyes and sighed. Nobody cares. When he opened them again, he saw that he was wrong. Peter was coming back.
"I don't know how and I don't know why, but you're not who you say you are, Sylar."
"What the-,"
"No, shut up. If you try to escape, if you're even thinking about trying to escape, I'll be there and I will stop you. I'll do everything in my power to stop you. Do you hear me?"
Sylar raised a brow as he just sat there, gaping at Peter. And then, all of a sudden, something clicked inside his head and he understood where Peter had gone to earlier. Sylar saw Peter teleport, which meant that Peter had taken Hiro Nakamura's ability. How long have you been back? What did you see? Claire had asked Peter. Nothing needs to be changed, Peter had told her. He had gone to the future and that's when… Oh, fuck. "No... No, I didn't mean to… Whatever he did, I can't… You can't blame me... How was I supposed to… That wasn't me!" he blurted those last three words as if his life depended on it.
"It was," Peter snarled. He knew it wasn't fair to blame Sylar for something he didn't do, but that man was still the same man that Peter had run into in the future. And that same man still had it in him to hurt people. "I'll tell you what's going to happen, Sylar. You're going to let me take your ability…"
"Which one?" Sylar asked, but Peter held up a hand, telling him to be quiet.
"Don't ask. I'm going to forget this ever happened, and you will do the same." Peter lifted his hand slowly. He was going for the man's shoulder, but even after he practically ordered Sylar to let him take whatever he wanted, he still felt like he needed permission somehow.
Sylar made some sort of 'be my guest' gesture, but didn't trust it for a second. He wanted to know just exactly what ability Peter was going to take. He just hoped, always hoped that Peter wouldn't take his original ability.
Peter took the ability he needed and simply nodded his goodbye to Sylar.
"Which one?" Sylar called after him, but Peter answered his question while he walked away.
"It's just telekinesis, Sylar!"
Oh. Sylar expected it to be flight. He wondered why Peter had chosen telekinesis instead.
A couple agents suddenly placed a sack filled with something heavy inside the car next to Sylar.
"Let's go," Lauren said as she entered the vehicle.
Sylar looked at the sack suspiciously. "Finally." He went in the car, closed the back doors telekinetically and sat down. It was the same car as before, seeing as the hole was still in it. "Take me to your 'special' facility." He had a feeling that that special facility wasn't really that special at all. That calling it 'special' was just a way to scare the people who went there. The facility didn't scare Sylar. The loneliness did.
Lauren started the car and drove away. "We're not going there."
"What?" Sylar moved towards the hole he made earlier, so he could see the woman. It was just her this time. "Why not?!"
"There's been a change of plans."
"Only one of you can stay."
"I'll stay," Peter volunteered. "West, you take Claire with you and we'll see you at the hospital."
"Okay," West said without having to think about it.
"No, I want to stay with him."
"Claire," Noah said as he cupped his daughter's face with one hand. "I'll be fine. We'll meet you there."
Claire didn't want to leave him, she wanted to stay with him instead of Peter, but he was in good hands. And also, if she got to the hospital first she could let them take her blood, so by the time her dad got there, they could give it to him right away. "Okay. West and I will be waiting there for you." She turned around to West, because she wanted to go as soon as possible, but her dad called her name before she could go anywhere. She turned back around.
"I'm sorry for lying to you before," Noah said. He had to tell her, just in case. "I don't know why I keep making the same mistake over and over again. I want to protect you, but all I'm doing is pushing you away. You deserve so much better."
"We can talk about it later."
Later was not an option. "You know that I love you, right?"
"I do." Claire was getting the feeling that he was saying goodbye to her. That he thought he was going to die or something, but he wasn't. It was just a broken leg. Maybe the reason why he was acting all sentimental was that they had given him some meds against the pain. "I love you too."
Noah smiled and turned to the boy. "West, can I talk to you for a second?" He looked at his daughter and Peter and said, "Alone."
"Dad, there's no time for that."
"It'll only take a second, I promise."
"Come on, Claire." Peter led her away from the vehicle.
Noah waited until he was certain they were out of earshot. "West, I know you don't owe me anything, but I really need you to do me a favor. Actually, I need you to do Claire a favor."
West frowned, not sure what the man wanted from him. "Alright…"
"Don't bring her to the hospital."
"Why not?"
"You and I both know that she can't give me her blood. Once people find out what her blood can do, they'll want more of it. I don't want my baby girl to be donating blood for the rest of her life, West."
West was quiet for a couple of seconds, clearly thinking that over. "Nobody has to find out."
"Oh, come on. Man heals miraculously after tragic accident. Nobody's going to believe that, not without lying or wiping memories. Nobody wants that. No, you've got to take her away from here. I don't care where, as long as it's far away from that hospital."
"She'll never forgive me."
"We need to make sacrifices for the people we care about. You do care about her, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"You're not doing it for me, West. You're doing it for her and you know it's the right thing to do, even if it doesn't feel that way right now. Just put the blame on me, if she gets angry or confused. I don't care. I just want her to be safe and I think you want the same thing…"
"I do."
"So, you'll do it?"
"I don't know, Mr Bennet. It's still her decision."
"She'll make the wrong one! Ah!" Noah's teeth clenched together when he suddenly felt shooting pains in his leg. He breathed in through his nose heavily with his eyes closed, trying to bite through the intense pain. "Don't bring her to the hospital…"
Yes, a change of plans. I've got something different planned for Sylar, but you're gonna have to wait a while to find out what it is.
Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing this story. You have no idea how happy it makes me!
Next Chapter: Time To Go