FIVE

Frozen in the air, not far above a grassy field. I felt disorientated, weak, and as I crashed down and hit the field I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn't even move, didn't look at the person who had saved me. Just laid there, brought my knees to my chest and cried.

Hiro said nothing. He just sat down, cross-legged, in my eyesight, and waited.

It wasn't a normal sound that came from me. I had no word to put to it, no way to identify the way my body was reacting to it. What I felt went way beyond sadness and grief.

And what about my future self? Would she mourn for him? Would any of them? Or did they all hate him so much, that broken, damaged man, that they would simply walk away from his death?

If they even survived.

I sat up, so quick that the world around me spun. My eyes rolled into the back of my head and images flickered through my mind. I knew it was Molly's ability, knew the ability was trying to find someone. Everything went black, too dark to see anything, and I didn't have time to work it out before it changed to show a rundown shack in the middle of nowhere.

"Mel!" Hiro cried.

I felt his fingers brush against mine, before my stomach seemed to drop and I was spinning through nothing.

Panting, wrenching, I opened my eyes to find a dirty wooden floor beneath me. The shack. There was someone outside. I got to my feet, stumbled forward and grabbed onto the sofa, a horrible, faded thing with questionable stains over it. Taking one deep breath after another, I moved forward, listening. One person. There was only one person here.

It made me feel a little better.

I stepped into a grimy kitchen, glanced through the window, and spotted Peter.

Present day Peter, standing facing a forest, throwing fireballs at makeshift targets and glass bottles. His back was to me, and I could see his hair had grown out, just a little, since I had last seen the present day version of him.

I reached for the door before realising how much of a bad idea that could be.

I could feel the tears, still in my eyes, and as I watched him, I kept replaying his death in my head.

We were immortal, in a way. But all it took was swinging a sword and a little bit of fire and we were, well, toast.

How had Sylar got the fire ability anyway?

And why had Nathan swung the sword?

There was too much I didn't know. My trip into the future was supposed to have helped me decide what I needed to do next, and though I knew bits and pieces, there were still too many variables.

Peter whirled around, suddenly, like he had sensed me standing there. My breath caught in my throat. For a brief second, relief filled his face. It disappeared just as fast, and I watched as he raised his hands and shot fire into the house.

The window shattered. I barely had time to register the huge amount of cuts appearing over my body as the glass flew past me. I stumbled back, lifted my head and spotted Peter flying towards me.

I went down, pushed off the ground with my legs and rolled back, getting to my feet and throwing up a shield of ice.

"Why the hell are you here?" he cried. There was so much rage, so much hate in his eyes. I focused on keeping the ice up, as he cupped his hands together. More fire.

Shit.

"You coming to kidnap us now?"

"I haven't kidnapped anyone!"

"Then where's Claire?" he screamed, throwing the fire at me. The ice melted, water flowing down over me and over the floor. I ran for the door, leapt on the sofa and jumped to the ceiling, clinging onto it with the power I had gained from Carl. "Where's Mohinder?" He stood in the doorway to the kitchen and pushed another fireball my way. It hit the upper part of my chest. Heat flared through me and my concentration wavered. I fell, smacking into the floor.

Did he remember that I had Claire's power? Or was he hoping he'd actually kill me?

"They're safe, Peter! You know that! At the school!"

"You were the one who told us that!"

I tried to get to my feet. Peter slammed his fist onto the floor. Ice spread out across it and just as I regained my footing, I slipped.

"They've brainwashed you. I'm not working for anyone, Pete. I'm not!"

He lifted his head, glaring at me with dark, hate filled eyes. Maybe Angela had been right. Maybe it would have been better if I'd never met him in the first place.

Car tires, crunching on gravel. Whistling.

"Peter?"

I had a few seconds to wonder if Matt would risk the others hating him, too, before he stepped through the door. For just a moment he stood there, eyes taking in the sight of Peter crouched on the floor, forming another fireball, while I lay sprawled, trying to work out what I was supposed to do.

I couldn't even bring myself to hurt him.

"Peter, stop it!" Matt barked, before throwing himself towards the other man. They collided, spinning across the ice.

I used the sofa to pull myself to my feet, leaning over it as I stared at the pair, Matt with his hands pinning Peter's wrists down.

"You're working for them, too?" Peter growled. I didn't think Matt saw the fire in Peter's hands, and I had mere moments before he sent them into the bigger guy. And Matt was not as resilient as me. If Peter managed to burn him…

I used the sofa to propel myself towards them. As I went, I shot jets of water at Peter's hand, dousing the fire. Landed on Matt's back, my head on his shoulder as I wrapped my arms around him.

"I love you, Peter," I said, before focusing in on Hiro. "Let go of him, Matt."

He did what I said, slid back on the ice, still with me wrapped around him. We teleported, back to the field, back to Hiro. I rolled off Matt, landed on my back and stared up at the sky, trying to catch my breath.

"Hiro, take him to Molly," I said, getting the words out as fast as I could. "Someone's either brainwashed her, or is going to."

"What?" Matt glanced from Hiro to me. "If she's brainwashed…"

"We can fix it," I muttered, wishing I could have just five minutes where I didn't have to fight for my life. "She trusts you, Matt. You can get in her head and…and…" What was it he could do? I closed my eyes, took a deep breath. "You're a telepath. If someone who's brainwashed trusts you enough, they'll let you into their head to put their mind back to normal. Or something. I don't know." I clapped my hands over my face. "Just go to her and bring her here. Please."

There was a slight popping noise. When I looked, they were gone.

Good.

We needed Molly, and we needed her safe, where no one could get to her.

Every inch of me was aching. Claire's ability was great for healing over wounds and for allowing me to run into a bullet without it doing any serious harm, but it did nothing against sheer exhaustion.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself to sleep.

Of course, with it being me, I didn't just sleep. Things just weren't that easy. I dreamt, sort of, flashes of the battle in New York, Peter's face, over and over again, head getting chopped off, then the way he looked in the shack. Back and forth, back and forth, Peter pleading with me, telling me Austen was going to screw me over.

And then darkness. Nothing but empty space all around me. And I knew what that meant.

"You bastard!" I screamed into the dark. "You absolute bastard! Can't I have five minutes without you ruining my life?"

The laughter filled the space, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. I got to my feet, knowing there was no use in trying to see anything. In the real world, I had been able to get rid of the darkness by lighting up the place. But this wasn't the real world. There, he could only create illusions. This place was his real domain, where he could do whatever the hell he damn pleased.

The darkness faded, but only the area just ahead of me, forming a sort of tunnel. He sat at the end, in a large, blood red throne, a crown sitting on top of his head.

"Hello, Melinda."

"You should have scars."

"Ah, but you're not seeing me, are you? Just a projection of myself."

I took a step forward, keeping my eyes locked on him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Just wanted to remind you I'm still alive."

"No chance you're going to tell me the next step of your master plan, is there?"

"Of course not, silly girl. It's fun watching you frail around. How was your trip to the future? You were cut off from me for a few weeks." He shook his finger, like I was a naughty child.

"Thanks for letting me know you're keeping tabs on me," I said, wondering how many people he actually had working for him. "And for letting me know how long I was gone. So, how many EAs you actually got surrounding you, Austen? I know you've got at least three."

He frowned at me. "What are you on about, you stupid girl? You're rambling."

"Well, let's see." I lifted my hand, raised three fingers. "Barbara, obviously. She was your associate you were on about, wasn't she? The one outside the tower. And then there's the guy who can brainwash people, which makes two. And, last, someone who can keep tabs on people. So, at least three." I thought it over as I took a step towards him. "I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here. You've got a whole gang of goons, non-EAs, right? Assuming you didn't put them all in the tower. I don't think you're that stupid. And you must have a few EAs around you, further protection. Not to mention, again, you had a number of them in the tower and not all of them would have been there."

He may have been cold, calculating, but the look that flickered across his face as I moved forward was enough to tell me I was right.

"You know pretty much every ability I have," I said, glad to see the confidence in him waver as I got just that little bit closer. "So you must have someone around you to block out Molly's ability, right? The ability to find people."

He shrank. It was only as I got closer that I realised he was bigger than normal, broader and taller, and I reminded myself that the version of Austen I was seeing was just a projection. But as I got closer, the figure got smaller, until he was normal size, gripping the arms of the throne.

I flexed my fingers, grinned, and floated off the ground.

"Don't underestimate me again, Austen," I growled, moving forward faster, until I was hovering right in front of him. He stared up at me. "I will find you, do you understand that? I will find you and this time I will make damn sure you are dead."

I brought my hands down onto the arms of the throne, bringing my face as close to his as possible, watched the fear in his eyes and enjoyed it, enjoyed seeing him squirm.

Until it disappeared to be replaced by a cocky as hell smile.

"You little brat," he said. "You're the one underestimating me, bitch." He brought his hands up, slammed them into my chest and I flew backwards.

Woke up, not quite sure where I was at first. The field around me slowly faded into view. I struggled to get my bearings, but once the sensation of grass hit me, wet with dew, I could focus better.

I brushed my hands along my jeans, glanced up at the sky. Almost sunset. Sunlight was dimming, and the moon would soon rise. I took slow, deep breaths, replaying the dream and trying to work out what Austen had wanted me to know and what he hadn't.

You're the one underestimating me.

Was I, though? I knew he was powerful, and yeah, I didn't know the full extent of that power so I was happy to verge on the side of extremely. Well, not happy, but it was better to overestimate than underestimate.

The pop sound that indicated teleportation made me jump.

"You!"

The screech made me turn around and I found myself staring at Molly, young Molly, not the hardened kid I'd seen in the future. She was struggling against Matt's arms, hands out like she wanted to scratch my eyeballs out.

She broke away from him, maybe because he didn't want to hurt her too much, and I scrambled to my feet. Yeah, I knew the feeling. Didn't want to hurt her, either.

"Molly, no!"

Hiro appeared at her side, reached out an d grabbed her around her waist. "Matt, I can't…"

Matt jogged forward, Hiro let her go and Matt grabbed her again, lifting her off the ground.

"Why are you helping her?" Molly yelled, tears streaming down her face as she beat her fists against Matt's arm. "Matt, why are you helping her?"

I had no idea what to say. I could have told her a million times that she'd been fed lies, but I wasn't the one who needed to do that. I glanced at Matt. He took a deep breath, bent so his mouth was close to her ear, and spoke.

I wouldn't have heard him, if I didn't have a hearing ability. I focused, listened as he spoke. I had a few abilities like that, stuff I didn't use much but I was finding, more and more, came in really handy.

"Molly, you trust me, don't you?"

"Yes. But…but…"

"Someone nasty got into your head," Matt said. "They got to Peter and the others, too. To Mel's friends. They didn't get to me and Hiro."

"She's working for the bad guy."

"She's not, Molly."

"She…"

"Molly. I need to go into your head. Will you let me?"

He lowered her to the ground. Molly didn't move, just nodded, slowly. Matt put his hands on her shoulders, turned her to face him. Hiro moved to stand by me, crossing his arms as Molly swayed and fell, caught easily by Matt. He sat down, her in his arms, eyes locked on her face.

"Are you all right?"

I nodded. "Sure, why wouldn't I be? Where'd you end up anyway? In the future, I mean."

"With your friends. The fire one found me."

"Eddie?"

"Yes."

"And they were…okay, with you being there?"

"Not at first. Rin was not happy with it. But she said something very interesting to me."

"Yeah? What's that?"

He turned to face me. "That she would never forgive you, but that things had taken such a bad turn that she knew you had to work together." Hiro reached out, clasped my shoulder. "I am sorry. About Peter."

"Which one? The present day one hates me, and the future one…"

"I am sorry you had to see him die, Melinda. What did you do, while we were there?"

So I told him, and listened as he told me what the others had told him. It was pretty much the same stuff I had already learnt. Any EAs that didn't work for Austen had been labelled as terrorists. Those EAs had split into two groups. He did add that for a while, they had fought each other instead of focusing on Austen. EAs had died, innocent people had died. And from what both of us had gathered, Austen was winning. He was wiping us out, creating a world where the only EAs left were ones working for him.

Creating a world where he was, ultimately, in power.

My thoughts flashed to home, and I found myself wishing I'd asked Dust what had been going on back at the school. Were the kids there okay? What about the EAs in the rest of the UK, the rest of the world?

I sat back down, picking at a blade of grass. Hiro followed me, crossing his legs as we waited for Matt to finish.

"What next, Melinda?"

"Get her somewhere safe," I said, wondering, not for the first time, why they always seemed to ask me. "Get her somewhere she can be looked after. I don't want her messed up in all this."

I glanced over towards Matt. Molly was across his lap, one of his hands behind her head, his eyes still locked on her face. But the look in them was distant, not quite here.

"And then?"

"Angela Petrelli," I muttered, knowing I needed to see her, to speak to her, at some point. Especially as she was the strongest link to Nathan and Peter. Peter had thought Nathan was dead. Faked, staged, whatever had happened, Nathan had switched sides. Or joined one. The problem was, I knew nothing about him outside of what Peter had told me. "And, at some point, we need to get Claire back."

"The cheerleader?"

"Yeah."

We fell silent as night took over and the world became dark. We sat and we waited. Waited for Matt to finish with Molly, waited for something, for once, to go right.

A/N Well…didn't expect that. Looks like I had excellent timing in bringing this back. In case you haven't heard (and any Heroes fan should have heard by now), just Google Heroes Reborn. Come back and thank me.