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 19
Peter looked rather bored when they finally came back inside of the house. Angela had to give up from the wedding and it was quite busy to cover the scandal, followed the kiss. Claire was confused and right now she was like a puppet. Noah on the other hand was angry, but strangely why, Peter didn't care at all even for that.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Angela hissed when they all entered the library.
"Ah, the actual question is why I'm here." Peter closed the door behind his back and lean on it.
"Yes, the question is… why are you here, Peter. I thought…"
"…that I've been taking care of?" He simply wiggled his brow. "I hate to disappoint you, mother. You still forget about my powers."
"Maybe she's trying to forget who you are now, Peter." Noah sat on the sofa. "There was a time where she could…"
"… control me?" Peter chuckled, but his chuckle didn't reach his eyes. They were cold, ice cold. "So you miss your puppy, mother?"
"Stop it!" Angela hissed again. "I hope you're happy now."
"Happy?" Peter said the word slowly as if he was tasting it with his tongue. "Can you remind me the meaning of that word? I think I've lost it somewhere along the way."
"Are you being sarcastic now?" Angela took her place behind the desk. Her eyes narrowed when she looked at her son.
"Are you being smart?" Peter answered her almost politely.
"You ruined Claire's wedding!" Angela scoffed.
"You ruined my life!" Peter almost spat the last word. "All the secrets, lies and every little thing you've done!"
"So now you had to ruin mine?" Claire finally spoke. She went to him, her small hands clenched in fists. "Why are you doing this, Peter? I know you've changed… a lot!" She tried to steady her breathing. Her hand lay on his chest, trying to gain some control over her emotions. Then she looked up at him. "I missed you, the old you. You know, the one that used to care about people's feelings? Peter, my hero! The one who saved me back in Odessa."
He looked at her hand and sighed. For a moment Claire thought that she had reached to him. Just for a moment. Then she saw his smirk and her heartbeat raced.
"You meant that you've missed the puppy?" Peter grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Claire moaned in pain and Noah rushed to them. Peter stopped him just with a single raising of his other hand. Noah couldn't move. "You miss the old Peter, huh? The old one who'd let you get married and live happily ever after? Hmm… But this is not a fairytale, Claire. I'm not that guy anymore. You know why? I got tired of being used, manipulated and controlled all the time."
"Peter!" Angela rose up her voice.
"Especially from you, my dear mother!" He hissed and his eyes narrowed towards her. "I was your puppy. You kept me on a leash for so long and you got used to it. I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not on a leash anymore."
"No, you're free to kill people!" Angela scoffed. "Is that what you want? This is not you, Peter!"
"Hmm… I only kill when there is no other option left, you know that." Peter lowered his voice close to snarling. "Speaking of which… you might want to call Level 5. I think you have few losses there."
"Level 5?" Claire gasped and her look fell on Angela. "Level 5! Is that where you kept him the whole time?"
"Oh yeah." Peter answered instead of his mother. "They tried to put me to sleep and keep me in coma. Too bad that I have your ability, my love. I mean, too bad for them. Don't you think?" He almost chuckled. "Your father told her that it won't last, but my mother was really sure that she can keep me under control… again."
"Dad?" Claire looked at her father. Noah just stood there, unable to move. Peter still kept him under his control. "What the hell are you doing? Why?"
"I wanted to keep you safe, Claire. I wanted to keep you safe from him so you can have a normal life." Noah stopped for a moment and his look fell on Angela. "She ensured me that this is the way."
"Then they found a guy with… usable ability and made them pose like me." Peter clicked with his tongue. "Smart move. You even took your time to find Caitlin? Who did you use this time? Hiro?"
"It was dangerous move and I did it for you!" Angela glared at him. "I had to try and…"
"Save me!" Peter spat the word. He had read her mind and what saw there made his face go darker even more. "Save me from what?"
"Yourself!" Angela yelled the last word. "And I had to try and help Claire as well. I knew she can't forget you! So I had to do something so she can move on."
"Liar!" Peter rushed to her, clenching his fingers around her throat.
"Peter!" Claire screamed, jumping on his back. "Peter, stop it!"
"I've been through so much these years! I fought people for you!" He hissed, refusing to let go of his mother. Angela helplessly grabbed his wrists. Her face went pale. "You did nothing to help me, mother! Nothing! Remember what you did when dad came back? Huh?" Peter narrowed his eyes. "You gave me a gun and sent me to kill him! It wasn't my job to do it, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to do it, because of you! I was thinking that you've changed and I wanted to save you!"
"Peter stop!" Claire was holding onto him desperately, but she was like a feather on his back. She wasn't even able to move him.
"And you used me, mother!" Peter yelled. "You used me again and I had to pay for this! I lost my powers and it was as if I've lost a part of me! Because this wasn't my father. He was a monster!" Peter spat the last word, releasing her mother. Angela gasped when she fell on her knees. "He was a monster… like you!"
Claire finally let go of him when she felt that he swayed. His breathing was faster and he looked furious. She saw Noah pulling out his gun just in time to stay before Peter and shook her head.
"No!"
"Claire!" Noah pointed the gun at Peter. "Go!"
"What?" Peter tilted his head when he turned around to face Noah. "You're going to shoot me in front of your daughter?" Peter rested his hands on Claire's shoulders and she flinched. "She'd never forgive you for this, you should know that." Claire couldn't see his smirk, but she was sure that Peter was smirking at the moment. She shuddered.
"I don't care if that could keep her safe." Noah shrugged. "I can live with that."
"Really?" Peter chuckled. "I'm not really sure."
"I am!" Noah hissed.
"Noah, stop this nonsense!" Angela coughed, getting off the ground. She was standing right next to her son. Her face was still pale. "You're not fast enough and we all know that."
"You're ruining my fun, mother." Peter chuckled again. "Noah wants to play. Let him!"
"You've got what you wanted!" Angela lowered her voice. "Why it has to end like this?"
Peter furrowed his brows. "End?"
"You ruined Claire's wedding!" Noah, muttered, but put his gun back in his pocket. "I thought that…"
"M-hm." Peter dropped a kiss on Claire's bare shoulder. "That I did."
"What else do you want?" Angela asked him, carefully this time.
"Something, called revenge." Peter almost whispered the last word.
"Don't do this!" Angela shook her head. "We're a family after all. You're my last son."
"That's funny." Peter scoffed. "When you threw me at Level 5, you didn't seem to care about that fact."
"I did it for your own good, Peter." Angela lowered her voice. "I thought that's the right thing to do."
"Because of Claire?" Peter tilted his head so he could look at his mother.
"Because of you, Peter. What are you doing now is wrong. We all know that."
"Ah, wrong." He looked back at Claire. "You think the same, my love."
"You know what I thing." Claire whispered. She felt so weak in his hands. "You know what's the right thing to do, Peter. Please?"
"So you want me to let you go then?" His face was blank now. Claire could see the flames in his eyes though. "You want me to let you go with your life. You want to get married and have kids? You want me to move on with my life and leave you alone? Is that it?"
Claire liked her lips before she could answer. "Yes." She said the words, but her heart raced.
Peter squeezed her arms tighter and she could feel his lips on the crook of her neck. "But you won't have it. You know why, my love? Because night after night you're gonna wake up in your bed, thinking of me." Claire shuddered. "When he kisses you, you're going to imagine my lips instead of his. When he touches you, you're going to imagine my hands over your body…"
"Peter…" Claire licked her lips again.
"And then one night, you're gonna come to me." Peter continued. "You'll want to come back to me, my love. However, there's gonna be one problem. I'll have to kill your husband, because… he had all this." His grip tightened even more and Claire moaned painfully. "Nobody could have what's mine, Claire!" He snarled. "And you're all mine!"
Angela and Noah rushed to at least try and help Claire. It was too late, Peter teleported away along with her. Angela cursed under her nose and looked back at Noah. He looked angry as well.
"Did you hear that?" She sighed.
"I knew it." Noah frowned. "I told you I knew it all along. He won't stop."
"He has her now, what else?"
"You know what else!" Noah scoffed. "You know the only way!"
Angela narrowed her eyes. "If you dare to touch my son, Noah…"
Noah only threw her a look and left the room.