The Eleventh Wife of Takezo Kensei
"The Eleventh Wife of Takezo Kensei."
Rating: PG probably.
Pairings: Claire/Adam
Summary: When Claire’s curiosity gets the better of her and Adam.
Disclaimer: I do not own the television show "Heroes."
Note: I know this story idea has probably been done a million times but I had to do it myself after listening to One Less Bell To Answer/ A House is Not A Home as performed by Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Morrison for the millionth time. I highly recommend that song. Sorry if this fic sucks. As I said this idea has probably been taken on many times before and this is the first boy/girl pairing I’ve ever written.
She did not have much to go on at first. A company file, a children’s book, and a bunch of official records each more weathered and aged than the last. It was all she needed.
She hoped Molly Walker could provide some help but the little girl had not mastered finding people through time and space if she ever would be able to do so.
Hiro was also help. Her last bit of help. He gave her many warnings about the "berry berry bad man," that he once knew.
Claire kindly informed him he was preaching to the choir. She and he were heroes. She had no interest in sympathizing with a villain. Besides, Adam Monroe was a rogue special and terrorist. With father figures such as Noah Bennet and Nathan Petrelli she had no patience for a rogue special and terrorist.
It was mere curiosity that drove her actions. She wanted to know about her ability. She only needed a month and he would bring her home. Her friend brokenly complied.
1.
It was the Early 1690's in Germany when she first met him. Her plan was to seduce him into talking to her. She chickened out at the last minute and rammed his sword through her palm instead. He was considerably less pleased when he found out he would not be getting lucky but talked to her anyway.
He was bitter and angry and talked with hatred about a time traveler he described as a carp. She stayed silent as he did because she expected as much and defending Hiro would do no one any good in this circumstance. She also realized Adam Monroe was more than she expected. He was handsome and charming and intelligent and funny and classier than anyone she had known even if he was a cheat and brute.
That did not mean that she and the brute known as the sword saint got along. Yes, he helped explain the ability and his experience with it. However, he found her annoying and ignorant since she did not know anything of 1690's Germany or any time or place before it. He secured them food and shelter and as they traveled he rode the horse and she had to walk alongside it no matter where they went since he found her too clumsy to ride.
He off handedly asked her to marry him because they had their ability in common and were both attractive to look at and Claire was incapable of fending for herself in Germany anyway. Claire declined.
She was not particularly fond of him but when a month passed and Hiro spirited her away, the hurt on his face as she left with his nemesis caused her heart to clench.
She hoped his future wife Helene who he should have been meeting at any moment would help cure his woes.
2.
She was only in the present for a few hours before she demanded the opportunity to go back. Hiro protested but she used the argument she had before. It took less time to convince him.
Adam and Claire were together in Milan in the 1730's. Claire had never been to Italy so he agreed to take her exploring. He was unbelievably angry at her for leaving with Hiro so many years before. He did not talk to her as they traveled. He picked up the language quickly and was content to ignore her as he conversed with townspeople. Claire only knew how to say pizza.
Finally, after about two months he confessed that his wife of 20 years, Helene, ran into the woods calling him the devil after she realized he did not age. He recounted this story in Italian to some nearby painters. One of them informed him that a Helene with that exact story ended up in a convent nearby. Claire giggled at the story and he glared at her.
A week later he laughed at the story as well. Claire patted him on the back and could have sworn his eyes softened to her. That is until he met Maria.
Maria was the object of his affection and attention. Claire felt there was nothing left for her there. She waved to him at the wedding and they both knew she was waving goodbye. For now.
3.
They walked through Paris in the 1780's. With her arm linked with his she looked for where the Eiffel Tower would be in the future and beat herself up just a little bit for never getting a rain check on that trip to France with her grandmother. He called her an odd bird but indulged her pointless searches for as long as he could.
After six months of endless wandering he finally demanded control again and asked her to attend a ball with him. She took a rain check on the invitation but as she straightened his tie near the entrance to the event she made sure to tell him that Frederica was a beautiful name since she would not be there to tell him later.
He laughed at the statement but never asked her about it. As she watched his retreating form enter the ball and the beginning of his life with Frederica, she wondered if he was indeed a villain or simply a person of a different time.
4.
She went to Japan in 1784 and only stayed for two weeks because she was so mad at him. Not only had he abandoned his children with just a few coins as a goodbye but he dragged poor Yumi into marriage just because she happened to be a descendent of his lost love Yaeko.
She spent the entire trip berating him and demanding to know if he truly did love Yaeko that much and his children that little? He insistent that he did love her that much and he also did not care about Claire’s opinions on the subjects.
He did not seem to be lying but Claire hoped he was. She left fuming.
5.
Claire arrived in the Northwest Territory prepared to be furious with Adam once again until she had found Adam pretending to the grandson to his wife Angelica.
After he realized he could not be a good husband to Yumi, he faked his death and met Angelica. He was moved to tell her his secret and she continued to accept him and love him as he did the same. Now she was a withered old woman and he stood by her side and took care of her because he loved her so even if he had to do it through subterfuge.
Claire cried in his arms all night when she arrived. She was both sorry he had to go through that and terrified she might be in that position herself one of these days.
Adam asked for permission to reveal her secret to Angelica. Claire nodded weakly and ten minutes later Angelica was dusting tears from Claire’s cheeks and told her she was free to stay as her granddaughter. Angelica prepared food for the three of them, not complaining about all the aching in her bones or the troubles she was having in her old age.
Adam had decided to stay with her for the rest of her life. Claire offered to stay and take care of her as well. Adam declined the offer as this was something he wanted to this himself. Claire stayed anyway. At least for the next year. Adam and Claire slept on the floor and usually close for warmth. He never tried anything though there was a certain firmness in the mornings...
She eventually realized that Adam and Angelica were still a married couple and would probably want to cherish their remaining days together alone. She bid goodbye to Angelica and kissed Adam’s cheek while he was sleeping. She cherished the peace of the moment she last saw him knowing the next time she saw him would be at war.
6.
She laughed as he talked about his sixth wife who happened to be his second Maria. She told him he lived too long if he was already repeating himself. He told her he was not nearly done living yet and Claire knew better than he how true that was.
She laughed even harder when she saw him in his confederate uniform complete with mustache. She never pictured him with a mustache and was never quite able to get over the sight. She warned him that he was on the losing side of the war and he did not listen and she did not expect him to.
She was there when he got the news that his wife died in a plantation fire. She hugged him and left him to mourn in peace.
7.
She reunited with him in 1921 Montreal. He was depressed over Diane’s death though was relieved it was at least happy and peaceful thanks to a vial of blood he slipped her and thanked Claire for the tip about the blood.
Claire was upset at this turn of events because he talked nonstop of the "captivating beauty of Diane" and told the story of how he actually worked very hard for her love and cared about her very much. Claire could not put a finger on the emotion she was feeling but it felt a lot like jealousy. But that was crazy. She did not love Adam and certainly not in that way. She brushed off the feeling as just finally getting tired of Adam’s storytelling.
They traveled Canada for eight months until the Diane mentions were just far too frequent for Claire even if they were sparse by anyone else’s definition.
When she told him she was sending Hiro a note which he would receive in another eighty years telling him to pick her up at exactly this time and place Adam was confused and (Claire was secretly delighted to note) disappointed.
He asked her to marry him again. He said they could be the perfect married couple. They would be together forever and could take breaks when they wanted and find each other again. They would never be alone in the world. Claire informed him she was not taking breaks from him. Each visit for Claire was practically continuous.
He still did not retract his proposal. Claire still did not take back her no.
She wished him luck on getting over Diane. He promised he would be over her by her next visit. She could sense him growing more pessimistic.
8.
She found him in 1926 Chicago riddled with guilt and wondering how she always showed up on his doorstep with an appropriate outfit for the time and place.
Louisa had drank herself to death after accidentally witnessing Adam’s ability in action.
Adam proposed to Claire again. This time for the safety of other people. He thought he could enjoy married life with people like Angelica who accepted him or people like the captivating Diane who he helped. Louisa proved again how dangerous he was even without a sword in hand.
Claire empathized with the feeling of being dangerous to one’s loved ones but she rejected his proposal once again.
They lived together for the next fifteen years, both living in fear of other Louisa’s with poor hearts. She fell into his life, fell into his bed and eventually fell into his heart. The feeling was more than mutual.
One night as they lay naked and awake in their bed he proposed again. She rejected the proposal again.
He confessed that as much as he hated Hiro before he hated him more each time he took Claire away from him. Claire felt guilty on behalf of Hiro and herself for leaving so many times. She made him promise to never blame Hiro for indulging her trips. He promised even if she did not completely believe him.
She confessed that she refuses to accept his proposals because she knows if she did she would never want to leave him and she always knows she has to.
The next day she snuck away from Adam and met Hiro in a deserted area. As he took her away she found she had grown to hate her friend almost as much as she loved him. Hiro was losing more and more time while she never aged. She put on a smile for her once friend to hide her feelings of hatred that he did not deserve from her. After all, this would all only last a second.
9.
1958 Los Angeles found Claire waiting inside a rental car with a police report in her lap from the present, her present. The report detailed a man and woman who were murdered as they slept. The killer was never found.
Claire knew the killer was Adam and the murdered couple was Adam’s wife Theresa and her lover. Claire was scared to step on any butterflies by saving two known criminals so she just sat in the car with the heater on and waited for Adam to appear.
He wore lose fitting pants and a colorful shirt on his body and blood coated his face as he exited his house. He smiled upon seeing Claire. He had expected her.
They went to see "Vertigo" that night at the theater. Their lives were surprisingly normal in the following months.
One day while Adam was at work (if you could call stealing work), Chandra Suresh came to the door. She had always wanted to meet him. His book had meant so much to so many people close to her, including her. His words taught her what she was.
He had come to investigate a series of murders committed over centuries. He thought the key to finding the culprit could be the key to saving lives and put a dangerous criminal behind bars so he could be studied for the rest of eternity.
Claire protected Adam and defended him. No one had any idea she was at all involved and Chandra did not need to know where he was. She told him he was going to get himself killed and was going to ruin his life chasing this theory. She told him the key to saving his daughter in the future will come from his son. He demanded answers from her. She only gives him pleas in response.
Chandra left and Claire knew he was already on his path to ending up at Coyote Sands in a few years. Claire knew she just defended a murderer and a terrorist, something she swore she would never do. She knows it is time to leave.
Adam calls her name as she disappears. She thinks she might be poisoning his soul.
10.
In 1977, Claire tells Adam about her experiences with Coyote Sands, the carnival and all the people she had loved in her life including family, friends, romances and romances missed. He does the same but he has begun to pull away from her emotionally. He hates the world and she is a part of it.
He continues to flirt with Trina which Claire sees coming, having seen the marriage certificate herself in what feels like a lifetime ago. She knows Trina will never love him as she loves him, no matter how much he pursues this Trina and seems to own her body on the dance floor.
Claire has gone off book and off the deep end in the eyes of her loved one she is sure. What did they assume she was doing with Adam all the time? Not stepping on butterflies. She always tried to avoid that. Until now.
She asked him to marry her and he declined. She was crushed. He wanted to marry Trina because Trina never kept him waiting, she never looked at him like a monster, she never left.
Claire admitted for the first time that she loves Adam. He is the eternal love of her eternal life. He proposed to Trina.
He carried nine rings on a string he took with him everywhere. A tenth ring rested on his finger thanks to Trina. One ring always sat in his pocket waiting for Claire even if he is playing a game with her at the moment.
Claire realized that the love of her life had finally become one of the world’s greatest and most unstoppable villains. She told him if she sees him after about 35 years when she is back in her own time that she demanded that he marry her. She promised to never say no to him again. He accepted her deal. She knew he will be dead and unable to meet her terms.
She left after he married Trina. Not with Hiro this time. She lived in solitude in 1977 until November 2. Hiro picked her up but instead of transporting her to another time he transferred her into a hallway.
Adam stood up from his cot in his cell and looked into the opposite side of the glass where Claire and Hiro are standing. He realized Claire knew he was going to get imprisoned. He realized Claire and Hiro were not here to rescue him but to abandon him for a very long time if they were willing to confront him right in front of his face. He realized he had been betrayed.
Claire realized that Adam had become a villain and she had become a cold hearted monster herself though Peter already saw that coming when he traveled to the future during the Pinehearst fiasco. He saw who she became.
Adam screamed and thrashed against the unbreakable walls of his cell. Hiro stood smugly to her side. Claire was impassive on the outside as she raised a hand and pressed it against her side of the window. Ignoring the animalistic cries she tried to remember the man that was.
"Goodbye Adam."
11.
Claire stands next to ashes. Her hair is as dark as night and tied back in a ponytail. She never really understood how he was killed. None of the theories she heard made sense and no one who could explain it was still alive.
She had deadened inside. Hardened. The recently fired gun tucked in the waistband of her jeans was evidence of that.
She received a letter in the mail that was on hold for about 35 years. The letter was a marriage proposal that included the message they were always married in his heart.
Claire removed a package that was kept with the ashes. In it she found a string with ten rings and one loose one. Claire put the extra ring on her finger where it always belonged.
As the wedding band caught the light, its twinkle reminded the former blonde of a man she met in Germany who would always be her husband and she began to think of stepping on butterflies.
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