Disclaimer: I don't Heroes, and the fundamental concept of this story was inspired by rain and leaves' "Four Months Later" and is used with his permission
Feedback: I'd like it, trust me
A Leap to Safety
… Then, without even removing his lips from Claire's, Peter 'sensed' the world briefly 'warp' around them- everything felt different, save for the increasingly-comforting feeling of Claire's lips against his own-, and knew that he was back in the past, apparently in the very same warehouse where they'd been standing before he and Claire took their original 'trip' to the future in the first place.
Huh, he reflected, with the part of his mind that wasn't totally focused on the wonderful feeling of Claire's lips against his own. Wonder if this is what Mom meant about Claire being 'what I need'…
Then Claire stepped away from him, and the 'spell' was broken as she looked shakily back at him.
"No," she said, even as her expression gave the impression that she would rather say anything but what was actually crossing her lips. "We… Peter, we can't…"
"Why not?" Peter asked, looking at her with a slightly teasing smile. "Claire, you can't tell me you didn't feel that…"
"It's not about…" Claire began, before shaking her head and swallowing slightly. "Look, how we feel isn't the issue, Peter; there's something-"
Whatever Claire had been about to say was cut off mid-sentence as Peter raised one hand in a 'stop' gesture and froze, hearing something moving in another part of the warehouse.
Whatever Claire had to tell him about their past reasons for not kissing like they had been born for each other's lips would have to wait; there was definitely something else here.
It didn't sound like it was very near- maybe just around a corner or something-, but there was definitely something else in here…
Peter didn't hesitate; right now, with things being the way they were and with him increasingly having no idea what he was meant to do or where he should go to accomplish it, he couldn't afford to take chances. Raising one hand in a preparatory measure, he tensed his mind for a moment, ignoring the urgent expression on Claire's face with an urgent 'Quiet' gesture, until a hand reached out from around a corner as though 'testing the waters', prompting Peter to launch a brief burst of electrical energy at the target (He still had no idea where that power had come from, but he made a mental note to thank the owner when he met them; it was definitely kind of cool)…
Then, right before their eyes, the damage he'd just caused to the hand healed up as though it was Claire's hand.
Oh my God… Peter thought, as he stared at the now-healed hand before him.
Either the person before him had Claire's ability, or they had his ability and were just copying Claire's power because she was there…
Either way, this situation had just become very complicated.
Before Peter could decide what to do in response to this latest turn of events, the figure had walked out from around the corner, revealing that it was a man, apparently in his mid-twenties, dressed in a dark shirt, jacket and trousers, with short blond hair, a high forehead and piercing blue eyes.
"Peter," he said, looking at Peter in confusion, "what the hell was that?"
Then the man's eyes settled on Claire, and his confusion evidently increased. "And who are you?"
"You know him?" Claire asked, stepping forward slightly to stand in front of Peter; he might be more capable of defending himself, but right now she would take any opportunity that meant she didn't have to look at him as he looked at her like she'd just kicked his puppy (God, how could the strongest man she'd ever met manage to look so… sweet when he was hurt; even knowing he'd freak once he remembered why he shouldn't want to kiss her, Claire just couldn't look at him when he had those eyes without wanting to pick up where they'd left off…).
"Of course I do," the man said, looking at Peter with a slight smile. "It's me, Adam; don't you remember? You and I are going to change history."
"I'm sorry, I don't…" Peter began, shaking his head slightly as he looked uncertainly at the man before them; clearly he was uncomfortable letting a stranger know what they'd just experienced.
"We think the Haitian erased his memory," Claire said, taking up the explanation once again; so long as she stuck simply to the necessary facts they might manage to get through this latest twist easily enough. "I've been trying to help him get it back, but… well, it's not exactly been easy."
"And you are?" Adam asked, looking probingly at Claire.
"I'm… Claire," Claire replied, deciding to omit her surname; right now she didn't know enough about this man- the name aside, how did they even know he was the same 'Adam' as the one to write the note they'd found?- to feel comfortable with telling him anything as personal as her surname.
"Claire?" Adam said, smiling slightly at her. "As in, Peter's Claire? The one he saved from that psycho?"
"Yeah…" Claire said, looking uncertainly at the man before her (Still nothing definite to tell her what side this guy was on; anyone who knew about Peter's abilities would find it fairly easy to learn about how he'd met her, given that the same encounter had also resulted in Sylar being captured).
"Well, at least that worked out for him; Peter couldn't stop talking about making sure you were safe when I first met him," Adam said, smiling slightly at her before he turned back to Peter. "As for you… well, if the Haitian got to you that explains why you fell off the face of the Earth…"
Pausing for a moment, Adam shook his head in a reflective manner before he turned back to look resolutely at Peter. "You can get back your memory; I know how."
"How?" Peter asked, his gaze curious as he looked at the man (Mixed with an at-least-slight edge of scepticism, Claire noted; even when he didn't remember anything, it was almost like Peter was still taking care to avoid being put in the same situation he'd been in last time she'd seen him, when it turned out he was being set up to cause what he wanted to stop).
"Healing-" Adam began to say.
"Hey, I can do that!" Claire cut in, looking pointedly at the guy before her.
If this new arrival thought they were going to automatically believe anything he had to tell them, Claire was going to make sure he recognised that he had another thing coming; her dad might be almost too paranoid about staying hidden, but that didn't mean he didn't have a point (Particularly when the guy told them something like that; if Peter just needed to heal to fix the damage, why hadn't he done it already?).
"Really?" the man said, looking at her with a slightly curious expression that left Claire feeling slightly uncomfortable for reasons she didn't like to explore in any great depth. "When did you manifest?"
"Uh… my power?" Claire said, wishing Adam would stop looking at her like that; she wasn't sure if she should find it flattering or creepy that he was paying this much attention to her. "Well… I first noticed it a few months ago…"
"Ah, that explains it," Adam said, nodding slightly in understanding with a slight smile on his face.
"Explains what?" Claire asked, looking in confusion at the man.
"Your ability isn't refined enough to cope with this kind of damage," Adam explained, smiling at her in a manner that would almost have been reassuring if the memory of how he'd looked at her earlier didn't remain fresh in her head. "The mind has to repair itself, and right now your body's still too new at this thing to cope with that kind of fine damage; your body's used to tackling big stuff like broken skin or bones, but what's needed here is precise reconstruction of specific cells in the brain."
"Uh… O-kaaay…" Claire said, nodding slightly sceptically at the man before her.
She still wasn't entirely certain about the honestly of what he was telling her- given her limited knowledge of genetics, she supposed what he'd said was a plausible explanation for why Peter hadn't healed the damage the Haitian had done to his mind, but she wouldn't like to swear to it-, but if he thought he could help, she wasn't exactly going to turn him down.
"So… since Claire's ability can't heal… this," Peter asked, looking uncertainly at Adam as he stepped forward himself, "what do I do to use yours to fix it?"
"Think about what matters most to you," Adam said, looking patiently at the other man. "Do you know what that is?"
As he looked over at Claire, Peter didn't even need to think about what might matter most to him.
From one brief flash he'd picked up from his encounter with his mother in the future, he had a memory- second-hand, but a memory despite that- of Claire pulling a shard of glass out of his head to restore him to life; take into account what Claire had told him about their first meeting and the answer to Adam's question was obvious.
They'd each saved each other so many times already; it would be almost stupid if Claire wasn't what saved him this time around.
Focusing his mind, Peter closed his eyes, concentrated on Claire while allowing his body to naturally relax and access Adam's ability, and then-
He was playing with Nathan in a field-
He was on a hunting trip with his father and his brother-
He was struggling through his nursing classes-
He was admitting his feelings to Simone-
He was face-to-face with the Hiro Nakamura of the future-
He was finishing Isaac's painting-
He was meeting Claire for the first time, in the corridor of her Odessa High School-
He was training with Claude-
He was holding a dying Simone in his arms as Isaac crouched down beside them-
He was facing Sylar in Mohinder's apartment-
He was standing in Kirby Plaza with Matt and Ted-
He was fighting Sylar in Kirby Plaza-
He was sitting in his cell in the Company, Elle standing in front of him-
He was fleeing the Company with Adam-
-he opened his eyes.
"I remember…" he said, looking over at Claire with a smile on his face, before he turned back to look at Adam. "I remember everything."
"Good," Adam said, smiling slightly back at Peter. "Shall we save the world?"
Peter had just opened his mouth to speak, when something else reached his ears.
"…ugh… help… ow…"
What the…? Peter thought, turning around in confusion as he tried to look for the source of the voice.
"Peter?" Claire asked, looking anxiously at him. "Is… is something wrong?"
"I don't know…" Peter muttered, ignoring the nagging feeling that there was something he was missing- a few of the fine details of his memory weren't quite there yet; some of what he'd said in his conversations with people in the run-up to Kirby Plaza were a bit hazy (Particularly anything involving Claire, for some reason)- as he headed towards a nearby door.
"Peter?" Adam said, looking at the other man with a casual manner that did little to hide the slight tension in his posture that hadn't been there before. "Is something wrong?"
"I don't know…" Peter muttered, reaching out a hand to the door handle as he spoke.
"Wait a-" Adam began, moving forward even as Peter began to open the door, the empath's eyes widening in horror at the sight before him.
It was a boy, maybe around Claire's age, but the sheer scale if his injuries made it hard to be certain; practically every exposed area of skin was covered in blood- even one eye was badly bloodshot, the figure seemingly straining to see anything out of it-, as were most of his clothes, and some of his limbs were twisted and bent in such a manner as to make it clear that the bones had been broken.
Even as he stared in horror at the sight before him, a part of Peter's mind- focusing mainly on his newly-reacquired medical knowledge- noted that the figure before him didn't seem to have any damaged ribs and seemed to be breathing well, if weakly; given immediate medical treatment he should be able to recover…
Then his mind fully processed the meaning of what he had just seen- the meaning that his horror had initially blinded him to after witnessing it originally-, and he spun around to gaze at Adam.
"What the hell?" he said, indicating the body behind him as he glared at the man he'd thought to be just another innocent victim of the Company. "What is this about?"
"He was a Company agent; I was-" Adam began, only to be interrupted when Claire pushed past him to stare in shock at the body (Peter didn't like to call it that, but for all the signs of life it retained the thing was too still to be thought of a person).
"West?" she yelled in shock, before she spun around to look in horror and (Peter was sure only he noticed it) a slight trace of fear. "What the hell's wrong with you; he's not with the Company, he barely likes even being at school!"
"I thought-" Adam began.
Peter didn't bother to give Adam a chance to explain himself; right now, if Claire said this 'West' wasn't with the Company, that meant that Adam had apparently just beaten a guy half to death just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time (He acknowledged that Claire's word was the only evidence he had of anything actually being wrong, but after everything he and Claire had been through together Peter was more than willing to trust her on a matter like this). Before Adam could realise what was happening, Peter tapped into Matt Parkman's ability- in many ways that was actually one of the easiest powers to activate given the headaches he and Parkman had felt when they met; with a memory that vivid it would be hard not to remember how he felt upon meeting the guy- and quickly scanned Adam's mind-
-How'd he hear that?-
-can't let him-
-need his power-
-find the facility-
-release the virus-
-show those fools-
Peter's blood ran cold.
Even with only fragments available to him- this guy could really control his thoughts, even if it wasn't perfect; it was like he'd been told how to do it but had never really bothered to practise it for some reason-, the intent behind the words was clear.
"You…" he said, his voice low as he stared at Adam, horror and rage competing to dominate his mind as he stared at the man who had helped him to escape the Company. "It's not them… it's you…"
"What?" Claire asked, her voice sounding anxious from somewhere behind him (She was still checking out the condition of that 'West' kid; Peter would have to do what he could to keep the fight away from that part of this building). "What is it?"
"He's planning to release that virus," Peter said, clenching his fists as he glared at Adam (He avoided mentioning what virus- the last thing he wanted was for Adam to know that they'd seen what would happen if he succeeded-, but he was confident that Claire would realise what he was talking about). "And you wanted me to help you get it…"
To Adam's credit, he barely even flinched as Peter's hands began to glow the icy blow that a part of the empath's mind vaguely registered must have come from Sylar; he simply continued to stare at Peter as though nothing out of the ordinary was taking place.
"Of course," he said, smiling slightly at Peter. "It's the only way-"
"Not going to happen!" Peter said, thrusting one hand out to hurl a burst of lightning- Elle had been a particularly warped piece of work, but she was definitely useful for going on the offensive-, sending Adam flying backwards, his clothes smoking and rapidly-healing burns visible through the holes as he leapt back to his feet, glaring resolutely at Peter.
"Nice," he said simply, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Peter. "You don't know what you're doing, Peter; this is what the world needs-"
"Mass murder is what the world needs?" Peter countered, glaring at the man before him even as he moved to shield Claire from any potential attacks his adversary might make. "That won't help, Adam; you'll be destroying everyone on the planet if that virus gets out-"
"Only those who don't deserve to live," Adam said casually, before a slight smile crossed his face as he looked pointedly between Peter and Claire. "And seriously, you're hardly one to talk about what's right; you're the one in love with his niece, after all."
For a moment, Peter's still-jumbled memory couldn't quite recall what Adam was talking about; he wasn't in love with his niece, he was in love- yes, it was definitely love; what he'd felt when he'd kissed Claire was too real to be anything but- with Clai-
A sudden last rush of memories 'leapt' out from amid his still-cluttered psyche, and the truth hit him with such force that he was left feeling like he wanted to throw up.
Oh my God… he thought, dropping to his knees as he stared out in front of himself at nothing in particular, barely even registering Adam running out through a door off to the side as thoughts of the fantasies that had been running through his head since he had first met Claire hurried past his eyes. I've been dreaming about my niece… I've been dreaming about having sex with my niece… I'm in love with my NIECE…
"Peter, what-?" Claire's voice suddenly said, cutting off Peter's train of thought as he once again registered her presence.
With that re-awareness of his surroundings, something inside him snapped even further.
He couldn't take this any more.
It had been bad enough when he thought age was the only thing between them; with… this…added to the picture…
"NO!" he yelled, pain and self-loathing mixed into his statement as he spun around, reaching out one hand to 'yank' the unconscious body of that 'West' kid towards him- the telekinesis kept his body stable enough to prevent any further damage to his bones that the 'flight' might have caused normally-, grabbing West's wrist with one hand even as he spun around to grab Claire's with the other.
He barely even thought about what he was doing any more; almost on automatic, he 'sent' West to Costa Verda hospital- he'd noted the location on a map of the city he'd found once when he was looking for something to read in the house a couple of days ago- before teleporting with Claire back to her house. Peter barely had time to register the anguished look on Claire's face- evidently she knew what he'd just remembered; he just wished that he could summon the necessary emotion to apologise for this when he was still reeling from the horror of what he'd wanted to do himself-, before he closed his eyes, focused his attention inwards once again…
