The Darkness that You Felt

A loud, gut wrenching cry was torn from Hiro's lips. He threw himself back, away from the horrifying sight and back into the rift only he could see. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible. He couldn't be dead. He hadn't even managed to escape but that was only one possible future, right? There had to be others? The results of different choices?

Back in the inter-dimensional space, he picked another thread and ran after it towards another rift and another future. He couldn't die. Not like that. Not captive and alone. It wasn't right, wasn't how a Hero was supposed to die. Reaching the end of the thread he ran into yet another possible future.

Death. This time in the lab space his captors liked to keep him locked up in, surrounded by blood splattered notes and shattered micro-bots.

He stumbled back into the inter-dimensional space, not even pausing to fully take the scene in. He followed another thread, and then another, and another and yet another. They all ended at the same place, with Hiro dead, broken, captured and alone a victim of what appeared to be suicide.

Hiro couldn't believe it. Not only did he not manage to escape, he broke, shattered to the point of taking his own life. It was unthinkable. He'd never considered the possibility, not even in those dark days that followed his brother's death. Life was after all, precious. Tadashi had taught him that and yet he was going to be driven to the point of ending it. What darkness awaited him, to drive him to that point of despair?

Hiro ran, terror and blind panic driving him ever forward into even more rifts in a desperate bid to deny the future that awaited him. He needed to change it, to find a route to sanity and freedom. It couldn't end that way. He wouldn't let it. He would not be broken, not by torture, not by fear, not by circumstance, not by his captors and certainly not by himself.

His sense of desperation was building, his emotions were running high and time was running out. Where was it? Where was the future in which he escaped, in which he lived? Why couldn't he find it?! It had to be somewhere, hidden among the multitude of threads attached to his pinkie, it had to because if it wasn't… what was he still fighting for?

Each rift he entered increased his desperation, each dead end increasing his despair and with it the energy fluctuations flowing through the time portal. His body ached, burning in response to being pushed through so many rifts, breaking and reforming with each transition and it soon became too much for both his body and mind to bear. His vision blurred, his breath became ragged and echoes of pain flared through every nerve. His mind began to shut down and he began to drift heading back to where he began.

The kaleidoscope of colors swirled and shifted seeming to flow and move with each painful breath he took. A bright flare crossed his eyes as he slipped through the first rift once more, returning, settling, fading… His chest became heavy, a solid weight settling on it and then he began to shake, gasping desperately as he struggled to breathe.

"'aving a seizure…"

Bright lights, distorted sounds.

"…ove… out of the way"

Pain, panic and fear… so much fear.

"…ock him out."

Followed by a sea of darkness.

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

Awareness came as a surprise. One moment he was gone, encased in darkness and the next he was awake looking up at an all too familiar ceiling, the cold air from the air conditioner blowing across his skin. Cold as it was, it was the best feeling in the world because he could actually feel it.

He was still alive.

He sat up, shivering in response to the cold and wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into a foetal position.

His mind was blissfully blank.

…

…

…

The sliding door slid open some unknown time later, announcing the arrival of his captors but Hiro did not react focusing simply on the cool air and the act of breathing.

"I see you're finally awake." Inquisitor commented stepping up to the bed. "That's good. We were beginning to think you'd broken yourself."

"I'm not broken." Hiro snarled looking up as the meaning of the last statement slipping past his defenses.

"You wouldn't be so sure if you'd seen what we saw." Inquisitor informed him, still speaking calmly. The man was entirely too calm, always in control, a cold malice gleaming in his eyes.

Hiro stared. He wouldn't ask. He wanted no favors from the man and would not demean himself by stooping so low as to ask what had happened at the end.

Fortunately he didn't need to for Inquisitor had a fascination with the sound of his own voice. "You're probably wondering what's going on. It would appear your stabilizer was only partially effective. You stepped into the portal but you were only gone a few seconds before the portal threw you back out again." That was odd. Hiro was certain he'd been gone for considerably more than a few seconds. "You appeared to have gone into some kind of seizure. A marked improvement on death, I dare say but it's still not good enough. After all, we can't have people seizing all over the place. It's far too messy." Inquisitor paused waiting for Hiro react.

He didn't. Hiro refused to give him the satisfaction choosing instead to simply watch the man with a blank expression on his face. It was a match Hiro won hands down.

"You have been granted three days to recover. You have a day and a half left. Use it well." Inquisitor informed him turning to head back towards the door of Hiro's cell. "You have work to do." And then he gone leaving Hiro alone once more, encased in silence.

Hiro began to formulate a plan.

- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –

A/N: Hi Guys. If you don't already know, I recently posted the first chapter to Grimalkin XD. The story is a companion piece to this one and is going to detail what really happened the night Hiro went out to go Trick or Treat with the gang!

Ern Estine 13624: XD

Anony mouse101: Yeah, Hiro got a serious shock. I'm glad the update schedule works. I'm insanely busy ;)

shooting2stars: I just realized how spooky the end part is. It didn't click until everyone reacted. I hope I don't dissappoint with the rescue. I promise there is more to it than people will initialy realise.

Guest: Yup. Many, many nightmares. Glad you could follow the detail of what Hiro was seeing. It was a tricky scene to write in more ways than one. Thanks for saying the diary sounds like Hiro. Keeping the characters in character was my biggest fear when I started this.

RazzlePazzleDooDot: Just realised how spooky that chapter was when I re-read it. XD

CrazyBlueOwl: Yeah, Hiro needs saving followed by a LOT of hugs. I enjoy tormenting him because he's always been my favorite though I must say writing this story has seriously moved Tadashi and Fred up in the ranks for me.

Rosycat: The answer to your question is both yes and no but I guess this chapter just clarified that.

Alexissenpai: At leat Hiro has someone that feels his pain *He high fives you back while looking around in terror*

AwesomeWriter2013: Thank you. Thats a very sweet thing to say and I really appreciate it.

Rizard13: Yes, I drew the Grimalkin image. It's a quick sketch I put to paper at work when I didn't have much to do so I didn't put too much time into it but I'm not the best artist out there either :P. I'll PM you again with an explanation.