MAY 2525

There is no public education system in today's world, hardly a surprise as literacy went out the window along with books long ago. People tend to use pictures a lot as a result, its very Margaret Attwood. As a result, Dani's education has been left completely to Gabriel and I. So far, she's learned her numbers through one hundred, mastered the ABC's, and learned to read words with two syllables or less. We're very proud.

Of course, Dani's mastery of the English language doesn't mean so much in today's world, so we teach her the local language too. It's what we've taken to using at home lately, and she's begun speaking it beautifully. Neither of us are surprised. Our daughter is an intelligent child.

So as Dani and I walk through the market, she greets everyone who passes within ten feet of her. Her voice is high and clear, angelic. Normally somber men and women can't help but smile at her even as the orphan catchers scowl and their hands itch towards metal studded nightsticks. There are no other children in sight, a swaddled and crying bundle strapped across the chest of a a thin asian woman the sole exception.

This is not a world for children. The advent of the outer city orphanages was viewed as a blessing at the time of its inception, but as more and more children who aren't orphans go missing, people grow worried. It has become a city of adults as the lucky children are locked safely indoors and kept out of the overzealous gaze of the angry guards who patrol the city looking for "unsupervised and unwanted population surplus."

I'm unsurprised when one such child stealer approaches me. He's tall and ugly, skin black as pitch against the white of his teeth and eyes. He's holding his nightstick in one hand, his other caresses the length of rope at his opposite hip. I've seen someone like him use that rope before. The child whose neck it had surrounded had tripped over its own feet and been strangled to death as the guard had kept walking, dragging the little corpse behind him until he had reached the city limits.

"Is this thing bothering you?" he asks. The sneer on his face as he looks down at my daughter sends a chill down my spine.

"Of course not." I snap abruptly. The guards face twists in fury as his hand grows tight around the stick in his hands. I can see the vein in his neck pulsing and his jaw clench. My own free hand finds its way to the dagger in my belt. I grab the hilt lightly.

"Hello! We're gonna get apples!" Dani's voice pipes loud and bright beside me as she looks up at the man who obviously seems to want her dead. He glares down at her, lips curling unpleasantly until a shadow seems to fall over him. He flinches and takes a step back, eyes widening in fear.

I can feel Sylar at my back, can almost picture the angle at which his head sits, inquisitive and menacing as he studies the dark skinned man coldly. Since Dani has become more verbose, her father has insisted on accompanying us in public. He knows that when children attract attention it can get them in trouble, but he, like myself, doesn't believe that she should be locked up day and night. We're both strong enough to protect her from the society she's been born into, and we've decided to afford her as much freedom as is prudent under the circumstances. That means that while Dani and I grocery shop, he looks at whatever interests him nearby.

"Y- y- you!" The guard has started started stuttering and I can see right away that he's met my husband before. I'm not sure whether to be glad or pity the fool.

"Me." Sylar reaches down with one hand to ruffle Dani's hair. Bright and blonde, it brushes the middle of her back now. I can only imagine how long it would be were her curls straightened. "I see you haven't learned your lesson." He sounds more curious than frightening, but I can feel the power, the sheer menace he exudes.

"I- I didn't come after you! I didn't even know it was-" His words are cut off as his mouth snaps shut. I can sense the strings or control extending from behind me to where the man stands.

"Now what was it I promised you again... Oh yes. You were the one I was going to make linger for days before I ended it." The man whimpers, eyes squeezing shut against what I can only imagine is a flood of tears. Dani tilts her head to the side at the sight before taking a few deliberate steps forward, pulling my hand out until she stands directly before the man. I can feel the heavy grip of Gabriel's hand against my arm as he readies himself to pull us both back and behind him.

"It's okay," she says solemnly. Her tiny hand reaches out to pat the mans shaking knee. She has to strain onto her tiptoes and lean as far away from me as possible to reach. "Daddy's nice if you're nice to him," she looks back at Sylar, her eyebrows knitting together like his sometimes do, "Right Daddy?"

I glance back sharply. The look on his face is impossible to read, but the violence bubbling there beneath the surface is unmistakable. Dani has never really been exposed to this side of her father. Sylar is very much my demon, he's careful to be Gabriel around our daughter. Still, she has caught glimpses every now and then of what her father can become. Sharp glances thrown in my direction, bloodied clothes, moans and shrieks sometimes coming from our bedroom... its enough to have made her somewhat aware of the potential behind Daddy's normal demeanor. Not that she realizes it, and I want very much to keep it that way.

Still, there's something disturbing about the way she qualifies her father's compassion.

"That's right, Danielle." He looks down at his daughter, a brilliant smile lighting up his dark features and making my heart beat faster. He looks back up at the man and grins. "If they're nice to me."

Sylar loosens his control on the guard who collapses promptly to the ground in a heap. I grip Dani's hand harder and pull her back to stand against my legs.

"Run." he says, voice soft and full of laughter. The man scrambles to his feet and suddenly he's gone, only rapidly retreating shadows where he stood. "Interesting." Sylar breaths, his arm creeping around my waist and his lips dropping a light kiss on my neck before he leans down to pick Dani up, tossing her carefully onto his shoulders as she waves and calls out a childish "Bye-bye!" the to disappearing shadows.

My head tilts back as I watch her giggle. The light is captured in her hair and Daddy looks like a storm cloud beneath the brilliance of the sun. I smile and use an arm over Sylar's shoulder to pull myself up and drop a kiss on his enticing lips. He grins beneath my mouth.

We finish our shopping together before making our way back to the house. Once the doors are locked and Dani's down for her nap, Sylar leaves. I wish him a good hunt, secretly satisfied that the man who wished my daughter ill will shortly be screaming in agony.

It's been a good day.

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Mel and Chuck