A/N: Five yeas later everything looks good, but only on the surface. They can never be the same again. Claire is living in the Petrelli Mansion. She's trying to have a normal life and she's about to graduate from the University. The dark side in Peter rises and their lives are about to be changed forever.

Note: It's AU Paire fic. It's not the typical Paire fic you're going to read. The dark notes here are highlighted. I've never written such Paire fiction before. It's dangerous and it's a challenge for me to write it, but I'm going to try it.

Rated: M

Couple: Peter/Claire

Warnings: Again, it's AU. I don't own Heroes, sadly. The dark themes here are highlighted.

Enjoy reading,

ArinnaVal

Chapter 4

When she laid her head on his shoulder, Peter bit his lower lip. Claire still trusted him unconditionally. He could've read her thoughts even now. Stupid girl. She was like a lamb and he was the wolf. How could a lamb trust to a wolf? She still thought of him as the same good person he was before. Well, that was too bad for her. Peter had changed in more ways she could've ever imagined.

"Where are we going?" She said all of a sudden.

"Home."

"That's not the way to home." Her voice became grumpy.

"Excuse me, since when you've become a navigator?" Peter snapped. His arms around her tightened.

"You can't lie to me, Peter!" Claire paused and said quietly. "You've promised me this, remember?"

"It was a long time ago." He simply said, landing onto the hill not so far away from the Mansion.

The view was magnificent. They could see the beauty of New York from above. The enormous buildings now looked so small in the distance. Claire frowned. There was something strange in his attitude now. She could say it by the look of his face. Peter looked distant. The well-known coldness was gone, only his eyes were keeping his secrets as usual. However, his face relaxed.

"Peter…" Claire let out a sigh and touched his arm. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you just tell me?"

"I'm not the same person, my little cheerleader." He said with flat voice, but she could feel the slight change when he pronounced the last words. His hands buried into his pockets. "Life changed in a way you can't even imagine."

"I can." She said quietly. "Why don't you trust me?"

"Silly girl." Peter turned to her all of a sudden. His hand rested on her cheek. "You can't save me. Who told you I want to be saved?"

"What are you talking about?" She swallowed hard. Her heart fastened it rhythm. Something in his touch made her shiver.

"Your thoughts are too loud." He chuckled and her eyes didn't miss hers. "I don't need saving so you can-"

"Then why you don't just let me go?" Claire whispered.

His look hardened all of a sudden and Claire felt sorry for asking this question. His hand slid into her hair and grabbed a hold of it. Claire suppressed a painful moan when he forced her hair to tilt aback. That was the stranger Peter had become.

"Just… stop." He hissed. His face leaned closer to hers. "I told you to forget about saving me!"

"Peter!" Claire lets out another painful moan. "Please!"

"You're there where you belong, Claire!" His eyes narrowed and he let go of her. Claire fell on her knees, looking up at him.

"You don't need me anymore." She panted, thrusting her hand through her hair. Tears started build up into her eyes. "Please, let me go! Let me live my life!"

"Shut up!"

"I don't even know you anymore! What do you want from me?"

"I want you to have a better taste in your life!" Peter glared at her. "We both know Andy is not for you! He's so… weak. Ordinary."

"He loves me!"

"Yeah, he follows you like a little puppy." His head tilted to the side. "Tell me Claire, is this the reason you like him? Then why don't you just go and buy yourself a puppy?"

His voice was low and he was meant to hurt her. Claire's blood boiled and she jumped on her feet. Then she did something like she never thought she would do. She slapped him. She slapped Peter.

"You! How dare you speak to me like that?" She hissed, but in the next moment her wrist was trapped in his fist. His grip tightened and she thought Peter was about to break her arm.

"Don't. Fuck. With me." He snarled. His eyes sparkled dangerously.

"I'm not the one angry to the whole world, damn you!" She glared at him. "Is it so wrong that I want to live my life in the way I want it to be?"

"In a lie?" His voice was throaty.

"Andy knows about me!"

"Oh? And he's still with you, knowing what you truly are?" His face almost touched hers, but Claire tried to calm down her heartbeat. His presence was such a drug to her senses, but she still refused to accept that. "Hm…"

"Yes!"

"So he's going to grow old, watching you looking like 18 all the time? He's willing to die, while you are going to live forever?"

"I can die as well… if I want to." She snapped.

"My silly cheerleader." His nose rubbed hers. "Who said I'm going to let you do this?"

"W-what are you doing?" Claire stammered all of a sudden. Her heartbeat was so loud that she could hear it in her ears. She licked her lips and her look suddenly dropped on Peter's. "It's my life!"

"True." Peter released her from his iron grip, but his other hand was still buried in her hair. "But you're not thinking rational."

"And you are?" Something in his touch took her ability to think. Claire almost shook her head. Only his hand, tangled in her curls stopped her. "Peter…" She let out a sigh.

"What? At least I'm not lying to myself, Claire." He leaned to her and his lips touched a side of her neck. Then he pulled back just as fast as he had made that move. Claire swayed to him without thinking.

"I-I'm not lying to myself." She said quietly, trying to recover from the strange haze, Peter had brought to her. "I want to be happy."

"You can't be happy!" His sentence didn't surprise her. It kind of suited him right now. His eyes had gone dark when they lay on her again. Claire swallowed hard. "And what you're about to do it's a mistake! Now, the question is – should I fix that mistake or… you're going to do it?"

"Andy is not a mistake." Claire finally managed to recover to her normal state. She looked around for her bag and took it from the ground. It had fallen onto the grass during her fight with Peter. She hung it over her shoulder and her look fell on Peter again. "I thought you loved me enough to let me do what I think it's right!"

"If it wasn't for me, you would've jumped off that ferris wheel!" He snarled and she felt herself blushed under his look. "It's true and you know that! What the hell have you thought then, I don't even want to know!"

"I thought I was doing the right thing, but you-"

"Just as now, right?" His eyes narrowed. "End this or I'm going to do it for you."

"You wouldn't dare!" She said it, but she knew he was able to do everything right now.

"Do you want to bet?" His brows went up.

"No! I won't follow your every order! I won't jump like a lost puppy every time you think you're the right one!" She scoffed. "You're not my father and I'm older enough to decide what to do with my life!"

"Okay." Peter trailed off. "Even better. I'm going to do it in my way." He wrinkled his nose. "It's going to be interesting."

"No!"

"Watch me!" He grinned at her, but his grin looked so ominous that made her shiver. "You know what I can do."

"Peter! Damn you!"

"Trust me; he's going to be thankful one day."

"I'm not going to let you ruin my life!" Claire grabbed his wrist, but Peter just looked at her. His face was blank. There wasn't any emotion showing there. His eyes went black when he tilted his head and looked at her, closely. A shiver ran down her spine. "I love-"

"Love is overrated, Claire." He said quietly. "You'll get over it, if you truly love that guy, but I highly doubt it."

"I do!"

"No! The truth is, you just settled with him; just like you've done with any other guy in your life." His free hand cupped her cheek. "You don't know what the love is. You're too young to know that."

"That's a lie!" Her heart quickened its rhythm. She responded to his look boldly. "I'm going to fight for my happiness!"

"You're going to fight against me?" He shook his head with amused expression. "Okay, it's your choice!"

"Peter…" He closed his eyes and when he opened them, Claire found herself in the middle of the porch at the Mansion. "I-" In the next moment he had vanished again.

Claire sighed and walked inside of the house. It was quiet, almost time for dinner and to be honest, she wasn't looking forward to see him again. He had scared her today and something more, he had made her feel something that she was completely sure – it was forbidden.