Peter
still looked dazed as she spoke to him, "Back?"
"Yes!"
Ellen said desperately, refusing the urge to knock him over the head
with something. "You can bring us back where we could be able to
help Claire and Mr. Petrelli."
Peter chuckled absent
mindedly at her formal reference to Nathan. But he shook his head.
"My friend told me that there are rules to this power when he
taught me how to use it."
Ellen glared at him, "What
rules?"
"I don't know. He only told me that there are things
that aren't meant to be changed."
Ellen scowled at him in frustration, "Peter, you have the ability to travel through time, you are not God. How can you follow rules to something when you don't even know what they are?" she said sounding exasperated. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen now that both of them are gone?"
Peter considered – he knew the consequences only
too well with Nathan's murder and not to mention Sylar now
possessing Claire's ability.
It scared him to death.
"You can have them back, Peter. How can you pass up a chance like that?" she said, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking at him intently. "It's your turn." She continued, "You can fix this."
Peter had lost everything just a few moments ago. His insides felt dead and he didn't believe he had any reason for anything any longer, so why was he spouting off about rules to Ellen? Because it was what he was taught, not a thought of his own.
He
looked at her and found that he had no reason to doubt that she was
right and felt silly for denying her idea to save the two people he
cared for most in this world.
Taking her fully in his arms, Peter
held her in a warm embrace, "What the hell." He said and felt her
hold onto him tighter as he left with her.
"Get out of
here, Claire!" Nathan was gagging as he tried to breathe in Sylar's
grip, his dangling limply off the floor.
Peter and Ellen opened
their eyes. They were in Claire's bedroom. Without a word they
released each other and Peter made for the doorway, Ellen close
behind him.
"Oh no dear." Ellen watched Claire as she was pushed against the wall and looked at Peter who was concentrating on Sylar and Nathan.
The desk chair that they had left in pieces
was now whole and floated smoothly through the air and moved towards
Sylar.
"I'm saving the best for –"
SMASH!
Sylar's
power broke as did the chair over his back scattering dozens of
pieces to the floor along with Sylar himself and Nathan as he was
released from Sylar's grip.
Peter wasted no time as he emerged
from the doorway and pushed Sylar using Sylar's own stolen power
until he slid along the floor and hit the wall with a loud
crash.
Ellen moved quickly as Peter went after Sylar and got to Claire who had also dropped to the floor when Sylar's concentration had broken. Claire blinked up at Ellen who was smiling looking as though she might go into hysterics at seeing her.
"Are
you alright, sweetie?" Ellen said, helping her up.
Thuds and
crashes could be heard across the room from the opening shots of the
battle but Ellen tried to keep her thoughts focused on her main task,
the reason she went back in time, to save Claire and her
father.
"I'm fine, go help my Dad." Claire said as she
sat up, looking a little light headed.
"Get yourself out of
here." Ellen said and left her to do what she asked.
She ducked as a stream of freezing air tossed Peter over her. It died away and Peter appeared to have been untouched by it, a few white flakes remained on the sleeves of his jacket. He hovered above them, his face calm and his eyes bright and he flew back in a charge at Sylar.
Ellen crouched as low as she could, making her way over
to Nathan. When she reached him she could see bruises forming along
his throat and his eyes were fluttering in and out of focus.
"Mr.
Petrelli, can you hear me?" she said. He tried to look at her but
didn't respond.
A fiery blast burst through the room from
the fight, its force blew both men off of their feet as Ellen hovered
over Nathan in an attempt to protect him from it. She risked a glance
and saw Peter come back in from the entry way and Sylar from Claire's
bedroom, their hands alight with an orange glow. Ellen could feel the
heat from where she was it was so strong.
"They're going to
blow up the freaking building." She muttered in a panic to
herself.
"Hello, Ellen." Nathan looked at her lazily, his
eyes glazed a bit. His head must have hit the floor harder than she
had realized.
"Mr. Petrelli – Nathan, you've got to come,
help me get you up." She took his hand and put her arm under his
shoulders and heaved as hard as she could but Nathan, as big of a man
as he was moved very little as she tried.
Claire came up
behind them and pushed on Nathan's shoulders until he was sitting
up. "Let's go, Dad." She said.
Nathan's focus returned as
he saw Claire and he managed to get to his feet under his own power
as Peter let out a shrieking yell.
The three of them turned as one person and saw blood streaming down Peter's face from a long cut across his nose and cheek. It seemed to be taking longer to heal than it normally would. Sylar grinned and went after him again, throwing all of his energy into the power he created, but Ellen saw him and released hers as well. Holding up her hand, she let out a jet of current that blocked Sylar's strike and absorbed it until it dissolved in the air.
Sylar glared at the three of them as Nathan began to try and gain some distance between the women and the fray. He was so certain of his victory this time, he could taste it. He would not allow failure again! Period.
"Get to the fire escape girls!" Nathan said as he tried to usher them quickly out of the room. But both Claire and Ellen, worried for Peter were reluctant to leave him alone.
Sylar saw Ellen's eyes fall on Peter
instead of him. She cared for Peter but he knew that she thought of
Gabriel more. He was certain of it. His vision reddened in the sheer
heat of his hatred and pain. He locked his eyes onto Peter who
appeared ready for his next strike, wiping the blood from his face
onto his sleeve.
If he, Sylar, lost today then Peter would also
lose.
Without another thought, Sylar lifted a large piece of the broken chair – his eyes looking at Peter fully, who braced himself – and launched it with all of the force his mind possessed.
There was a shrill cry of pain and surprise and the
room went silent all within a small second.
Nathan caught her
before she fell and held her to him as he knelt down with her. A ring
of blood soaked through her shirt around the stick of wood in her
chest as Ellen's eyes began to fade, losing their color and
focus.
Nathan and Claire's faces blurred and grew fuzzy in front of her, but they were alive, Nathan looking grave and Claire's eyes brimming with tears as they looked down at her. They lived and the thought made her smile weakly.
Sylar and Peter heard her
damaged heart slow, Peter shoving broken furniture out of his way as
he tried to get to her. She lay in Nathan's arms, her fingers
clutching at his pressed shirt as her body stiffened and relaxed as
it twitched from the pain and loss of blood. Peter put a hand on her
forehead as she took her last breaths, neither of them able to speak.
But she didn't have to speak.
We
did it, Peter, you and I.
…I can't breathe. It hurts so
bad!
Hi Claire. I love you.
It's so bright…
A song entered her mind, a light melody that Peter could hear but didn't recognize. Her heart released on last pump of blood and stopped, the silence of it pounding in Peter's ears.
He turned slowly and faced Sylar once again. Sylar felt the pain as much as Peter did, he believed his was even more intense than what Peter could feel but unlike Peter he allowed himself to feed off of it. With a blinding speed he made a slice across Peter's chest that immediately began to bleed through his shirt ant stopped just as suddenly as it healed itself and pushed him with a fantastic force against the wall.
Peter's mind took a moment to recover and he felt the tingling in his fingers, a feeling he hadn't allowed himself to have since the night he met Ellen. The feeling grew until Peter lifted his hands and unleashed the full power Ellen had given him until the room was filled and overflowing with a blinding white light. Claire and Nathan covered their eyes as Sylar yelled and allowed his power to fly in every direction around him.
The End.
