At first he thought he was imagining things, but after a moment he realized that Aydra was struggling in his arms.
"Can't breathe," she mumbled.
He pulled away from her and she coughed and then spit up bloodied water.
"I thought you were—I thought you died," he said. He was so relieved that his whole body was shaking from it.
"Merfolk are a hardy species. We don't die easily," she said and smiled. "Though, that little bugger did a number on my tail."
He looked down and could see the bite. It was angry looking. Gabriel touched it gingerly. "Does it hurt?"
"A bit. But it's already starting to heal. Look," she told him. And sure enough, the bite was gradually starting to close. She gasped and then her tail began to become drier and browner and then eventually turned into a lovely pair of brown legs.
"That really stung. I won't be able to walk."
"Don't worry, I'll carry you."
He gently grasped her in his arms and headed toward the cell.
"You killed my creation!" a voice rang out.
Gabriel turned and saw an elderly man with salt and pepper hair approaching with a weapon.
"If you were talking about ugly back there, it was trying to kill me and the woman I love."
At the word love he heard Aydra gasp. But Gabriel didn't have time to ponder his words.
"Love," the man said and lowered his gun a fraction. "I remember that. It was love that drove me to create my—children." he said, his voice managing to be sinister, loving and perverted at the same time.
Gabriel gave the man a look of puzzlement. The man sighed, lowered the gun and walked near the water. "I cannot blame you. Leviathan has long since ceased being controllable. It had become autonomous. Like the rest."
The man walked over to the huge cell sitting in the middle of the space. He punched a series of buttons and the shield around it lowered and revealed a sleeping child floating in fluid.
"She is what you seek I presume," he asked. "I will not allow you to harm her. She is the greatest discovery of all. Melissa--," he moaned in wonderment, "Oh, how wonderful she is! How magnificent."
"She helped me create them! My wondrous creations. They told me to stop. They told me she could not be controlled or contained, but I—could not let them--,"
"Who?," Gabriel asked.
"The company. They wanted to contain all people with abilities. Control them. But I had a vision. I wanted to—to—take their abilities to the next level. Change the world. They wouldn't let me. But that was until Melissa came along."
He fingered the glass lovingly and sighed. "I had no doubt Melissa would be my greatest achievement. And she was--," his voice cracked, "Until the company demanded that I shut down my facility."
"They said the creatures were too dangerous, too unpredictable."
He paused and then with a sad shake of his head continued. "Melissa was special. Different. She had a unique ability. She could create anything from her imagination. Whole worlds, universes, dimensions. All matter of things can be created from the mind of a child. She was my instrument, my tool. But the company was angry. They said that her creations had begun to turn dark, ugly and dangerous. But they did not see what I saw; they did not see their beauty."
Gabriel gasped and looked down at Aydra, who stared back at him with consternation.
"So that whole world out there, that entire land was created—by a child?"Gabriel ventured hesitantly.
"Yes," the man answered excitedly, "Yes my dear boy."
"Is it—Is it even real?" Gabriel inquired.
"Oh yes. As real as you or I. That is the beauty of it. Can you imagine such god-like powers in the hands of a child?" he crooned.
"I envied her that gift. Wanted it for myself. She is a child. She does not deserve to be a god," the man said fervently.
Gabriel looked at the ranting man, and felt the last bit of Sylar, fission into a tiny particles and dissolve and disappear. He had been like that once, a monster, driven by the blind need for power and control. Such sentiments only sickened him now.
"And her creations," Gabriel probed, "What about them?"
"Oh, they are autonomous. Capable of independent thought. Some formed societies, cultures and even languages. Whole histories were created. They hailed Melissa as their creator."
Aydra gasped and slid down from Gabriel's arms onto the floor. She was shaking. Gabriel tried to soothe her, but she pushed him gently away.
"Melissa did not understand the depth of her power. She first brought her imaginary friends to life. Followed, by various characters she glimpsed in fairy tales and movies. She was a child after all," the man said child, as if the concept disgusted him.
"But it was me that pushed her to her limits. Me! She would have been stuck making stupid fairies and sorcerers had I not guided her, molded her. But they took that away. They tried to kill her, but they could not. Her creations were too numerous and she was linked to them all. She cannot die. She will not die."
"So," the scientist explained, "They locked her up here, in this facility. They placed a serum into her blood, filled with tiny machines that will make her sleep forever. They cordoned off the island to contain her creations. But I have been working ceaselessly to awaken her. One day I will succeed."
A shiver ran down Gabriel's spine. This man was completely off his rocker. If he thought to awaken her and to create a legion of monsters, then he had to be stopped. He couldn't let that happen. Some of those creations had almost killed Aydra.
"What happened to everyone at this facility, doctor," Gabriel said conversationally as he surreptitiously rolled a small ball of electricity in his hand.
"They tried to shut me down. But I unleashed my children. The screams of the dying were music to my ears," he laughed. "It was the only way for them to know, the beauty, the magnificence."
Gabriel extended his hand. He had to take this man down before he succeeded in making the world into his nightmarish vision. But just as he was about to unleash a ball of electricity into the man's chest, Aydra cried out.
"Wait!," she stopped him. "I need to know. I need to know what ever became of my brother."
The scientist scratched his head. "There were so many creations I can not keep up with them all. They can breed you know. Like us."
"But he was banished here. He came to the mainland, I must find him!" she screamed, her voice breaking in agony.
The scientist studied her for a moment and then smiled. "Ah, you are one of the merfolk. I had a merfolk once. He had been in cryosuspension for some years. He was dark, like you. Aesthetically stunning. I was given him by a higher up at the company. I will never forget him. He said his name was—ah, yes, Adrastos."
Aydra gasped loudly and pleaded, "Please, he was my brother. What became of him?"
The scientist shook his head. "I'm sorry my dear. He was a casualty of my war. He succumbed to injuries he sustained when I tried to inject a series of –serums into his bloodstream to make him faster and stronger. He did not survive."
"No!" Aydra cried and she fell into a sobbing heap.
"Ah my dear. He was a great creation. Do not cry. His sacrifice only served to fuel my endeavors. I went on to create many more glorious things. He was a great specimen."
Now Aydra was hiccupping and blubbering hysterically. Gabriel's heart was breaking as he witnessed her grief. He put his hand before him. "Well think of this as a parting gift doctor."
"No!, Wait! Please, I have to complete my work, my creations! I have to--,"
Gabriel blasted him into oblivion. He looked at the man's smoldering remains with a sick, twisted kind of satisfaction. Yeah, Creation THAT, Gabriel thought.
He pulled Aydra into his arms and smoothed his hands over her hair and lay soft kisses over her face and neck.
"I'm so sorry sweetheart," he told her, "I'm so sorry. It'll be okay, It'll be okay," he soothed. She curled up in his arms and sobbed.
She was quiet. Too quiet. As they motored toward civilization she had not said more than two words. She perked up when they reached the California shore and walked onto a beach.
"What is this place," she asked in wonder as she gazed the buildings in the distance.
"It's called California," he told her, "Costa Verde specifically."
"Costa Verde," the words trilled out pleasantly as they rolled off her tongue.
"My brother would have loved to see this place," she intoned and Gabriel grabbed her and pulled her close.
"Let's get something to eat. You want a hot dog?" he asked.
"What is that?"
"You'll see,"
After two messy hot dogs, a trip to the zoo, and several éclairs later, they lay exhausted upon a bed in a hotel suite. He nuzzled her neck and she sighed.
"I do not want to go back," she told him.
His heart seemed to burst from joy, happiness and relief. She turned teary eyes to him, "You do not mind do you? If I stay here with you?"
"Of course not."
"Though I will miss Ailil. Perhaps I will see her again some day."
"Perhaps."
She smiled sadly at him and he began to kiss her, seeking to soothe away her pain. He had felt pain like that once, and he never wanted her to feel that again.
"Gabriel," she told him.
"Yes," he replied.
"I think I love you," she said.
"Thank you."
She pinched him playfully. "That was not the sentiment I was looking for."
"Well, what about this sentiment?" he asked as he lowered his head and began to slowly and tenderly show her all the things he felt for her.