(no subject)
Title: Subterfuge, Chapter Two.
Characters: Eden/Sylar
Rating: PG-13.
Word Count: 1,860.
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Summery: Eden is living next door to Chandra Suresh. She begins to suspect Sylar‘s involvement in his life.
Note: Second Chapter. Chandra is agitated and Eden sees a very different side to Sylar...
Eden watched Chandra potter around his apartment, occasionally stopping to straighten books or tap on Mohinder’s tank. He was agitated and trying to hide it. He was a vain man, she was given one of his books within moments of meeting him, and proud. So Eden thought it best to remain politely worried, hoping he would cave in and tell her. But he kept silent. Eden sighed and took the lizard from him, finally ending the stale mate.
“You know I’m a part time student right? Well I’ve been thinking of getting a small job. You know, just to have some spare cash. Nothing fancy.” She could tell he was listening with one ear, the other at the door.
“Your friend, Sylar, he has a shop right? Maybe I could help -”
That got his attention. He turned to her with a startled expression, looking at her as if she were mad.
“No! You…no.” he took a calming breath and continued “I mean, I don’t think it’s likely. That is a small business and I sure he has everything under control himself, if he doesn‘t have assistance already. Even cleaning.” He finished quickly, see as she was about to argue. Eden screwed up her mouth but kept silent, only shrugging her shoulders in an act of indifference. Eden heard Chandra’s breath catch and she turned to see Sylar coming in through the door.
“You door was left open - oh.” He stopped talking when he saw Eden, a false smile starting to appear on his face. He always looked at her like that, she thought, like an annoyance he was trying to calmly tolerate. Bastard. But also ideal, because it was unchanged. He didn’t suspect or appeared to remember her from the train. Not only did he stare at her like she was an annoyance but also she sometimes got the unsettling feeling that his eyes where raking under her clothes. She would try to catch him at it but he would be always looking away, totally nonchalant to her.
“Yeah, I just came in to see Papa Suresh. Don’t want him getting lonely do I?” She watched his lips purse tightly. He hated it when she called him Papa. Eden didn’t know why she felt the need to irritate him, she just couldn‘t seem to help herself. Chandra wasn’t her father, but she enjoyed his company and, she admitted to herself, being fused over. He treated her as a surrogate daughter and Eden felt at once flattered and uncomfortable. He had told her she’d be about the age of his dead Shanti once. The professor was a tragic man who had built a life of connections to strangers.
That false smile was back up again, this time mirrored by Chandra. Eden could feel the air becoming thick with tension. He was scared of Sylar, scared and trying to disguise it with civility. Eden couldn’t decide to stay and break it or leave and see what would come of it. She didn’t want to leave Chandra alone and frightened. But the professor made up her mind for her.
“Eden if you would be so kind, myself and Mr Sylar need to discuss some private matters….” He left the remark trailing and Eden caught the drift and headed for the door, passing Sylar as she did. She could feel that raking sensation again and felt a mystifying flush in the pit of her stomach, which she choose to ignore. She shut the door behind her softly, then moving to her own door where she opened it and closed it again. She moved back to Chandra’s and listened through the thin walls.
She couldn’t hear much at first, just muffled muttering. But then the voices began to raise in anger. She could clearly hear Chandra shout “Don’t come here again and call!” at one point, then Sylar’s quieter answer, she thought he was pleading. Then he began to shout, calling the professor a “hypocrite” and it was “all his fault.” She could hear Sylar talking again, softly. She lend her head closer to the door, her ear pressed hotly against it. She suddenly jumped back when she heard footsteps. The door jerked open and Sylar came storming out, face like thunder. She was halfway in her door. He was staring at her at forcefully, all pretentious pretence dropped. His eyebrows lowed in suspicion and Eden felt her heart rate go berserk.
“I - I heard some shouting and got worried. Did you get in a fight?”
“Did you hear anything!?” He moved towards her sharply, and she was forced to look even more up at him.
“No, just angry voices. Is Papa Suresh ok?” She watched him with anxiety, praying he would believe the clueless neighbour act. Although it wasn’t much of an act. That huge bruise on her arm was throbbing.
He stared at her hard, and Eden felt like she was smothered in hate. He was snarling at her.
“He’s fine. All yours now!” With that he turned and left, not looking back. Eden breathed in relief and walked in Chandra’s door. He was seated in front of his computer, staring into the middle distance. She called his name softly. Chandra started then smiled when he saw her. He sat back in his chair with a weary sigh.
“I met Mr Gray some months ago now. He was a very different man back then. He wasn’t called Sylar for a start!”
“I didn’t think that was really his name” Eden chipped in with a waspish voice. Chandra smiled derisively. Then his face grew serious again.
“Gabriel Gray….I thought I had found what I had been looking for. Finally, after all these decades! And he was, he was. It was the most auspicious day when I met him, and the most dreadful. If I knew what was to occur I wouldn’t have taken this path, wouldn’t have created - no. I set the wheels in motion, but I set no responsibility for what they go over!” He stared at her firmly, willing her to believe. Eden didn’t know what to think. What was dreadful? What had he created? He certainly didn’t want any blame to be put on him, from what she could tell.
“He was helping you with your research? Did you have a disagreement about something? Maybe there’s a chance you could make up?” Eden found this mode of questioning futile, but she had to keep up the façade.
“Yes, you could say we had a disagreement. I’m afraid our working relationship together has come to an end and he will not be visiting anymore.”
Bennet had given her certain, simple rules to live by. The first she had accomplished. The others where to keep a close eyes on Chandra and his work and report of any people with abilities that she comes into contact with. If this was to occur she must report and the rest would be left up to them. Sylar falls in to that category, but not comfortably. She still was in doubt if he did have a power. But from what she had witnessed it was a chance she wasn’t going to let slip past. She needed more proof. She wanted to know what had set Chandra on edge.
Eden left the disconcerted Chandra with promises that she would be back in the morning to inflict her cooking on him. He didn’t hear her. She slept fitfully that night, dreams of doors that had Sylar behind them. As soon as she got close to one Chandra would appear to close it. Sometimes he would be locked in there with him. The last dream found her waking sweaty and trembling, visions and sensations of being vulnerable and gagged, her clothes being burned away from her body and hands and lips devouring her. She awoke thinking of him, and for the rest of the day Sylar was never far from her thoughts.
That was why she found herself outside his apartment block a couple of nights later, having found his address in Chandra’s open dairy. She steeled herself up, trying keep the manta in her head going: she was here for a job, nothing suspect about that. Still, her stomach felt like it was making pancakes from the number of times it flipped over. She made her way to 1b.
Eden rounded the dimly lit corner and froze. He was standing outside his door. And Eden saw something she thought she never would. Sylar was leaning back on the doorframe, breathing heavily and fast. He had his hands to his eyes, corkscrewing them as if he was tired. He was speckled in dried paint, a canvas of red, black and yellow, his hands covered in it. She must have made a noise because he lowed his hands and looked at her. His face was red and his eyes were puffy from crying. Eden stood flabbergasted. She had imagined a variety of things that could occur when she got here, but this certainly wasn’t one of them. He squinted at her.
“What are you doing here? It is you?” He sounded congested. And exhausted. But thankfully not angry.
“I came here to ask for a job actually. And before you ask I got your address from Pa- Chandra’s diary. It was open and I saw yours. Hope you don’t mind?” She was blabbering.
He just shook his head.
Eden couldn’t believe this was the same man, the one that gave off waves of upright supremacy. Now he looked like a bag of kicked puppies. Broken and miserable . Eden felt herself being drawn unwillingly to his suffering, a part of her wanting to know and a assist. While the cold, cynical part agreed at the opportunity to witness and learn.
“Are you alright? You look like you haven’t slept in days!” She took a step towards him then stopped.
“I don’t think I have.” He was looking down at his hands in confusion. He suddenly looked back up at her with a beseeching expression.
“Do you go to church? Have you ever?”
Eden had lived in Mormon country, isolated and introverted. She couldn’t admit to having any faith now, but she did.
“I used to go. Often when I could. It was one of the only places I felt…unrestricted. If that makes sense.” She watched his eyes brighten somewhat. He nodded then yawned, making his jaw crack sharply. She took the plunge and walked to him, placing a soft grip on his arm.
“Have you eaten? You definitely need sleep.” She trailed around him to his open door, keeping her hand on him. He kept still, resisting her. She raised her eyebrows at him.
“I needed to get out. I felt like I was suffocating in there.”
“Well you can open some windows right? Leave the door open if you want.” She think he heard her, but he had a dazed look, like a person who’s just been told someone has died. Responsive but not really there. He felt down her arm to her hand, his fingers brushing hers but never grasping.
Eden lead him in.
Part Three here