First, sorry that I haven't updated in so long- life's been hectic. The next few weeks won't be any better, so don't expect many more updates anytime soon.
Second, it seems like the Elle/Sylar shippers had it right all along. This one's for them.
Takes place during "Villains".
Gabriel Gray didn't acknowledge the existence of luck, or destiny, or any of the gimmicks that people would attempt to sell on street corners. He didn't need to believe in anything, because facts presented themselves so clearly to him; they always had. There were no coincidences when you could see the chains of cause and effect building themselves even before an event took place.
Chandra Suresh, he wasn't a coincidence. It was bound to happen, someone had to come along eventually and help him see how different he ultimately was. The only uncertain factor was time. And Brian Davis was most certainly not a coincidence. He himself had made sure of that, and the sequence of events which had led to the man's death would have happened somewhere, sometime, no matter which path led him there.
Gabriel Gray held hardly any religious beliefs; that was good, because his current path of action would probably send him straight to hell, if he believed in it. As he fingered the gnarled cords of the rope, he decided that he didn't want to believe in an eternal afterlife. Life was enough like hell for him at the moment.
He would miss the sense of power, of being in control, but it wasn't worth it, it wasn't worth becoming a monster. He had killed. Could he live day-to-day, pretending to be normal, pretending he didn't have a man's blood on his hands? Certainly not. He could see the crossroads he had come upon, and it split clearly enough, with casualties on both paths. The only question now was whether it would be one death, or many.
Gabriel Gray never bothered to feel regret. The past was immutable, so what was the point in worrying over deeds that had already been done? He would do what was needed, and as to the future- well, he wouldn't need to worry about that. He shoved the chair into place and stepped up, looking over the shop one last time, and wondered briefly what his mother would say. No regret- but he would miss her.
When he took action, it was final, decided, and nothing could change his mind. So how could a mere piece of rope, an inanimate object, decide that he was someone worth saving? And how could a girl show up at precisely the right moment, the kind of girl who he usually daydreamed over without ever daring to speak to? And how could events fall out into a pattern he couldn't recognize, and how could he dare to have hope, after all he'd done, how could he dare to take a chance on a better future when this girl, Elle, she said her name was Elle, when she knew nothing about him and the horrible things he might end up doing, how could she make the decisions, and especially how could it seem as though she honestly understood what it was like to have made the most terrifying mistake of them all?
Gabriel Gray did not believe in love at first sight. But perhaps, tonight, Gabriel Gray would believe in guardian angels.