Destined, chapter 15
Title: Destined
Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Peter/Claire, West/Claire, Zach/Claire friendship
Rating: PG-13
Summary: As Claire continues with life after New York, the reappearance of her uncle in her life is only the beginning of a series of events that will change her life forever. This Chapter: Claire's missing. Uh oh.
Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Fic Art: a, b, c, d, e, f. ♥
A/N: Update! I'm sorry that these updates have been taking so long, guys. I know it's irritating, especially when I have cliffhangers, but please bare with me. I'm not giving up this story - it's just that I've been super busy and going through lots of personal stuff, so chalking out chapters quickly is not as easy as it was this summer. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this, and with me. :)
I have two new fic arts. *points to links* Both e and f are new arts; e is for chapter 13, the original manip done by the loffly rtwofan, and f is for chapter 14. :)
And now, on to the chapter!
Chapter Fifteen - Claire's Boys
Zach has always hated flying. He'd been on an airplane once to visit some relatives in Alaska (freaking Alaska, which is a million times colder and even more depressing than Texas), and he'd wound up getting nauseas and throwing up in the aisle.
Now he's going to California, which, in his mind, is probably even worse than Alaska. He's pretty sure he's going to be surrounded by bleach blonde surfer dudes and shallow girls who fawn over them. And he knows he's going to look stupid in his brand new sunglasses and (oh God) flip-flops. The whole situation is disgusting.
He clutches the arm of his plane chair and tries not to look out the window.
Claire Bennet, I'd only do this for you.
*
He arrives at the airport on shaky legs, waiting for any sign of Mr. Bennet. He had planned to visit Claire in another week, but he had decided that surprising her would be better; it'd make her smile and hopefully get her out of the mopey, my-whole-life-is-horrible phase that she'd been going through lately.
Claire's dad had agreed, so Zach doesn't understand why he isn't there at the airport. After twenty minutes of waiting (and being accidentally hit in the back by some idiot with no shirt and a really large suitcase), he calls Mr. Bennet. When he doesn't answer, Zach tries Claire, but she doesn't pick up either.
He thinks this is weird because Claire is normally glued to her cell phone.
It takes him three hours to Mapquest the Bennet residence, find a rental car, and drive to Claire's house and by this point, he's pissed. Sweaty and smelly, he hangs out of the car door, now exhausted, and blinks at the house in front of him. He confirms the street, looking down at what he's scribbed on his hand.
He rings the doorbell, then knocks, but no one answers. "What the hell is going on?" he mutters angrily to the door.
And then he realizes that the door's unlocked, standing an inch ajar, and he pushes it open.
The house is completely quiet and completely dark and Zach rolls his eyes, lets out a, "Well, fuck me," and turns on the lights. There's a figure on the couch, his head hanging back, his horn-rimmed glasses on his face and his mouth slightly open.
"Mr. Bennet?" says Zach, rushing over to the man. "Mr. Bennet!" He doesn't stir and Zach's starting to get really weirded out now. He shakes him, but Claire's dad is perfectly stiff, unmoving, and not waking up.
He rushes from room to room, searching for Claire, afraid that something bad has happened. He thinks of the man that killed Jackie and the man who killed that waitress at Burnt Toast Diner, and screams for his best friend. He finds Mrs. Bennet lying in bed, Lyle clinging to her as if trying to shield her from something; they're just as stiff and unmoving as Mr. Bennet.
"Claire! Claire!" he shouts, feeling sick and panicked. He kicks open a door and recognizes this as Claire's room; sees the copy of Crime and Punishment he had given her for her birthday and the blue-and-white cheerleading uniform she'd sent him pictures of.
The room looks like a tornado ripped through it. CDs and clothes are scattered all over the floor and her bed is broken in half. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," he starts to chant, feeling ready to pass out.
He reaches for Claire's phone, opened and peeking from underneath the bed, and it shakes in his hand. Quickly, he decides not to call 911; they won't know anything about this. Whatever had happened here had something to do with Claire's powers, he knows it. He clicks on the history of Claire's phone and looks down at the number of the person she called last.
"Peter Petrelli," he says, and dials the number.
*
Ten minutes later and Zach's not chanting, "Oh God, oh God, oh God" anymore; he's chanting, "Fuck, fuck, FUCK" now. Peter's not answering his phone either.
He stands in the middle of the room, phone in his hands, and searches through the rest of Claire's contacts. He scrolls past "May" and the names of other people he doesn't know until he reaches the last name.
"West."
*
West arrives in a worried haze, dark hair a mess, wearing swimming trunks and a black t-shirt. California, Zach thinks fleetingly before immediately asking him questions.
"When was the last time you saw Claire?"
"Last night!" he says, throwing a horrified glance around the house. "We went out to dinner."
"Did you notice anyone following you? Anybody acting weird?"
"No!" says West, looking like was about to have a heart attack, the same way Zach felt. "The only crazy thing that happened last night was her uncle. He was drunk, but that was it. Nothing else."
Zach demands, "Did you guys run into anybody else that night?"
"Claire's grandmother showed up, took Peter home, but that was it."
Zach looks at him incredulously. "Her grandmother? Angela Petrelli? No way."
"She was there," insists West.
"She took Peter home? Where does he live?"
"He's staying at a hotel." He snaps his fingers. "We should go there. Peter would know what to do. He has, um," and here West trails off.
Zach's eyes narrow; now is not the time to get skimpy on the details. "Spit it out."
West looks ashamed, like he's revealing something he shouldn't. "He has loads of supernatural powers," confesses West.
Zach blinks, surprised. "How do you know?"
"Claire told me. How do you know?"
"I'm her best friend, West," snaps Zach. "But that doesn't matter right now. We need to get to that hotel."
*
Zach doesn't ask West how he knows which hotel Peter is staying in, doesn't ask how West knows the exact room number. He really couldn't care less, because more than Peter, all he can think of is Claire.
Peter's hotel room looks exactly like a tornado went through it, too, and Zach feels a sickening wave of defeat wash over him. Peter Petrelli is their only hope; he'd know what to do.
Zach is slouching on the messy bedspread, surrounded by pieces of glass and thinking that maybe they should just give up and call 911, when West's shout alerts him. "Over here!" the other boy calls, and Zach finds him in the bathroom, pulling Claire's uncle out of a bathtub.
Supporting Peter awkwardly, West kicks the broken glass on the tiled floor to the corners of the room, leaving an open space on the wet, bloodstained floor, and drops Peter rather unceremoniously. He reaches over and turns off the still running water faucet, then sinks to the floor with Peter, grabbing him by the arms and pulling him so that the man's back rests on his legs.
"Oh, shit," says Zach, feeling sick as he finally sees what caused all the blood on the floor. Sticking out of Peter's chest, arms, and legs are long, silvery shards of glass. The man's black clothes glow dark red and West confirms his suspicions.
"He bled to death," West says shakily, opening Peter's eyelids to reveal no life, just a milky white glaze.
Zach shakes his head. "No. Peter can't die. He's like Claire."
Sinking to the floor next to West, he looks at Peter with renewed determination. "You're not dead," he tells the older man, and with that he rips out the shards of glass stuck in Peter's knee. "You're not dead," he repeats, yanking out another shard in Peter's thigh.
West stares at him with dawning comprehension and begins to help. They both wince as they take out the shards, occasionally swearing when they pull too forcefully and cut their hands. Soon there are no pieces of glass left in Peter's lean body, but still he doesn't wake up.
Sighing, but still determined, Zach takes Peter's head in his hands and runs his hands along the man's forehead, down the back of his skull, and then something sharp slices across the palm of his hand. Pulling back, he exchanges a look with West, who leans closer and twists Peter's head so they can both see something barely peeking out behind his ear. The glass is buried so deep inside Peter's head that barely a centimeter of it is visible and Zach stands up and fumbles around in the medicine chest for a pair of tweezers.
West takes the tweezers and pulls the shard out slowly; there is a gross, wet sound that occurs as the glass sides out of Peter's brain, bits of gray matter stuck to the surface, and then finally it's out and the hole in Peter's head is closing slowly. Zach holds his breath, staring at Peter. "Come on, man," whispers West.
And then, with huge, body-shaking gasps, Peter comes back to life.
"Where is she?" rasps Peter, choking on his own blood. Zach grabs his hands, pulling him into a sitting position. "Where is she?"
"Claire? We don't know," says Zach, and Peter's eyes are darting around the bathroom, then out into the bedroom, as if expecting to see someone.
"You're not talking about Claire, are you?" says West.
"It was my mother," gasps Peter, holding onto both Zach and West as he struggles to stand. "She did this to me. But it wasn't her, it was someone else." He winces, stumbling into the bedroom, looking for something.
"What about Claire?" asks Zach. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," says Peter, rummaging through the messy bedspread. "He got to her, too. We were on the - " and then he holds up his cell phone. "She called me, told me something was wrong."
"How are we going to find her?" asks West. Zach notices the way Peter's eyes narrow slightly, but only slightly, as he takes West in. He senses some tension there, but Zach doesn't care about it. His primary goal is finding Claire, and apparently Peter's is, too, because his face softens.
"I don't know," he says.
Zach watches Peter search through numbers on his cell phone and asks, "Do you think it was Sylar?"
Peter nods, presses speaker phone, and lets the phone ring. "I can't think of anyone else," admits Peter. "But he can't be in two places at once. Someone was with Claire and someone was with me, so if it was Sylar, he's working with someone."
"Who's Sylar?" interjects West.
But then a voice on the other end of the phone speaks. "Peter," it says, sounding scared and angry, "you need to come home right now."
"Nathan," says Peter, "is mom there?"
"What?" snaps Nathan.
"Is mom there? I need to know if she's okay."
"Yes, she's here, she's fine. Peter, something has happened. I really need you right now."
"Nathan, something more important has happened," says Peter. "Claire's gone. She's been kidnapped."
There is a long pause on the phone and then there's a choking sound, as if Nathan is trying to hold back tears. "Peter..."
"We can fix this," says Peter confidently. "We can find her."
"Peter," says Nathan, sniffing in a way Zach has never associated with the politician. "Simon and Monty are gone, too."
*
She's pinned down, lying on a cold matress, some kind of invisible duct tape preventing her from being able to speak. She has no binds, but still she can't move. Trying to open her eyes is useless, because her lids don't budge; it's almost as if they're glued shut.
"Hello, Claire."
She squirms, terrified.
"Don't worry," says an eager, sinister voice, "I'll be done soon."
A few seconds later, and she can't even think.
*
They're still in the hotel room, crowded around the bed. If Zach were in his geek mode, he'd be thinking of how cool it was that Hiro Nakumara can bend time and space, how people from New York and Las Vegas can have arrived in California in just under ten minutes.
Zach recognizes Nathan Petrelli right away, can remember seeing the politician's funeral on TV with Claire nestled beside him on the couch, tears seeping into his shirt. He doesn't recognize anyone else, but can guess that the two Japanese men in the corner are Hiro and Ando. Everyone else is a mystery to him.
Next to Nathan is a blonde woman, stroking his arm comfortingly. They're talking in low tones, and Zach can barely hear them. She's saying she knows what it's like to have a child taken and he's thanking her for coming. A black man stands next to them, his hands on the shoulder of a little boy. Next to the boy is a girl with brown hair and an eager look on her face, like she wants to prove herself and do something useful; she's holding the hand of an Indian man.
Peter finally speaks up. "Thank you all for coming," he says. "I'm Peter Petrelli. This is my brother, Nathan. All three of his children, Claire, Simon, and Monty, have been taken. By who, we don't know. We need to find them, but we need everyone's help. If you want to help, please stay."
No one moves.
"Good," Peter sighs with relief. He asks them to divide into groups, "power" or "no power" groups. Zach feels a bit useless as he stands with the Indian man and one of the Japanese man, and is surprised when West goes to the other side of the room. Peter looks surprised, too, but masks it well and doesn't say anything.
Peter starts to call people over to him; Zach, the blonde woman Niki and her son Micah, and the Indian man, Mohinder. The others huddle around Nathan, except for West and the brown-haired girl, both of whom look put out.
"What?" says Peter to West, noting his discontent but appearing not to really care.
West says, "I think I could help you."
"I don't think so," says Peter, and Zach notices that he's not even looking at West, but some point to West's left.
"Come on," pleads West. "Claire's my friend."
"Then I'm sure she'll appreciate it if you helped find her brothers." His tone is curt and indicates that the conversation is over. West's mouth tightens, he crosses his arms, and he walks over to Nathan, clearly not happy.
Zach's attention turns to the brown-haired girl, who's chewing on her bottom lip nervously. "Peter, I don't understand."
Peter crouches so that he's looking into her eyes. "What don't you understand, Molly?" he asks, and his tone is softer and quieter than it had been with West.
"I'm supposed to find Simon and Monty," says Molly. "Both of them? You want me to find two people?"
Peter gives the girl a lopsided grin and places his hands on his tiny shoulders. "You have more experience than me," he confesses in a whisper. "I think you can handle that more than I can. What do you say?"
Molly smiles. "Okay."
"Thanks." He leans in so that his forehead touches hers, and when he pulls back, Molly's cheeks are flaming red. Zach grins; if Peter had done that to him, he'd probably be blushing, too. Geez.
He looks around the room again and allows himself just one geeky moment - a low whistle of, "Freakin' cool" when he sees that Hiro has teleported everyone else out of the room.
*
Her feet sink into the sand and the sun is horrifyingly bright in her eyes. It brings a stabbing pain to her eyelids and she sinks down to her knees, hands pressed against her face.
The ocean water rolls into her lap and the sound of the waves is too much, too much.
"Ow, it hurts," cries a little boy, someone with dark hair that she doesn't recognize. His hands are over his ears, tears welling in his eyes.
"Shh," she says soothingly.
There's another boy and he's rocking back and forth silently, staring at his arms in horror. She looks down at her own arms, aware that she can hear the blood moving through her veins; the boy must hear the same thing.
"I want to go home," the other one says and she dries his tears.
"Where do you live?" she asks.
"New York."
*
Zach stands next to Mohinder, watching the man inspect Noah Bennet.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" asks Micah.
Mohinder touches the glasses on the man's face, but they don't move; they are stuck on a waxy, plastic face. "He looks Petrified," Zach voices quietly, but neither Mohinder nor Micah hear him.
"It appears as if he's been...frozen," says Mohinder finally, drawing back but still staring into Mr. Bennet's face. "Or something like it."
"So he's not dead?" Zach asks, relieved. "'Cause Mrs. Bennet and Lyle are like that, too. They're upstairs. It would suck if, you know, when Claire gets back and her whole family is dead."
Mohinder nods curtly. "No, they are not dead." Then, solemnly, "But I don't know how to fix their state."
Zach sighs; as he does so, Peter comes back downstairs with Niki. "Find anything in Claire's room?" Micah inquires.
Peter looks aggrieved. "She definitely put up a struggle," he tells them, and the words come out casual and proud, but Zach can hear the sadness in his voice.
"Do you still think it was Sylar?" asks Zach.
Peter shakes his head. "If only Claire had been taken, then yes. But Simon and Monty were taken, too. They don't have powers."
"That you know of," corrects Mohinder. "Often, powers don't manifest until early adulthood. Your nephews could be special and not know it yet." He smiles slightly.
Peter doesn't return Mohinder's smile, but fixes his face into a serious, determined expression. Zach's whole body tenses in preparation for whatever they're going to do to save Claire. His palms start to sweat in anticipation - will they go flying somewhere? will they lay the smackdown on some bad guys hardcore?
Peter's face is still serious, but he turns to Zach and says, an amused lilt to his voice, "We have to find her first." Zach grins when he realizes that Peter has read his thoughts. Now Peter's pointing at him. "You, come with me."
And he starts walking back up the stairs toward Claire's room, Zach trailing behind.
*
She lives in Texas and the boys live in New York, but she has no idea where they are. They left the beach awhile ago and now she's carrying the younger of the two, holding the hand of the other one. None of them talk, because any kind of sound feels like it'll tear their eardrums apart.
She finds a line of houses near the beach and tells the boys they'll go there, find help, find someone. She's exhausted and weak and sick and every part of her hurts. She doesn't think she's ever experienced such a raw, cleansing sickness, like bacteria is invading every molecule of her being.
"How did we get here?" asks the boy walking alongside her, choking on a sob. "I don't remember how I got here."
She doesn't remember, either.
*
Peter is sitting awkwardly on Claire's broken-in-half bed, an atlas sprawled across his lap, a thumb tack in his hand.
"Do you know what I'm about to do?" asks Peter.
Zach nods, almost a little disappointed. He had been expecting a method that was larger than life; he'd heard about the whole think-about-a-person-and-find-them-likethat thing already.
"Is that why we're in here?" asks Zach, indicating his best friend's torn apart bedroom. "So you can focus on her more?"
Peter lets out a hoarse chuckle. "Uh, focusing on Claire is not hard for me," he says. "I'm in here to be away from the others. It's hard to concentrate when other people are around."
"So why am I here?"
"Because you want her back as much as I do."
Zach doesn't know what to say, so he says nothing, and apparently nothing was the proper thing to say at that moment, because Peter's right hand is soon shaking. His left is hurriedly flipping through pages of the atlas. Beads of sweat appear in a line off his head and his crooked lip quivers almost as furiously as the tack held between his thumb and forefinger.
Finally the thumb stack is brought down and Zach peers at the tack. "What?" says Zach, confused.
The word barely leaves his mouth before two people appear right before their very eyes: Nathan and Hiro. Nathan looks at Peter, hope and anxiety dripping from his chiseled face. "Molly just said - "
"It says the same thing," Peter confirms, throwing the atlas off of him.
Zach is so confused, but follows the Petrelli brothers (and Hiro) downstairs, where Mohinder, Niki, and Micah are still crowded around Mr. Bennet.
"What is it?" says Niki worriedly. "You look so pale."
Peter's whispered, "They're here" is barely out of his mouth when the door behind Niki burts open. Zach feels so nauseaus and relieved and oh God -
"Claire!" he yells, going to move toward her.
"Zach?" she says, looking around blankly, setting down the dark-haired boy. "Are we in Texas?"
"What?" he says, bewildered, as Nathan cries, "Simon! Monty!".
"Claire!" Peter moves toward her, but she shrinks away.
"Who are you?" she demands, fright in her eyes.
There is a moment of complete silence, during which Zach can actually feel the shock that flashes across Peter's face. Claire's hopeless face and Peter's pain seems to fill up the room.
And then Claire's eyes move over to the couch, away from Peter, and roam over Noah Bennet's plastic-like form. "D-dad?"
When she faints, Peter is the one to catch her.
*
A/N: I know, another cliffhanger. Don't kill me. And I know this chapter was, um, unique, but I hope you guys liked it!
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Fandom: Heroes
Pairing: Peter/Claire, West/Claire, Zach/Claire friendship
Rating: PG-13
Summary: As Claire continues with life after New York, the reappearance of her uncle in her life is only the beginning of a series of events that will change her life forever. This Chapter: Claire's missing. Uh oh.
Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Fic Art: a, b, c, d, e, f. ♥
A/N: Update! I'm sorry that these updates have been taking so long, guys. I know it's irritating, especially when I have cliffhangers, but please bare with me. I'm not giving up this story - it's just that I've been super busy and going through lots of personal stuff, so chalking out chapters quickly is not as easy as it was this summer. Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this, and with me. :)
I have two new fic arts. *points to links* Both e and f are new arts; e is for chapter 13, the original manip done by the loffly rtwofan, and f is for chapter 14. :)
And now, on to the chapter!
Chapter Fifteen - Claire's Boys
Zach has always hated flying. He'd been on an airplane once to visit some relatives in Alaska (freaking Alaska, which is a million times colder and even more depressing than Texas), and he'd wound up getting nauseas and throwing up in the aisle.
Now he's going to California, which, in his mind, is probably even worse than Alaska. He's pretty sure he's going to be surrounded by bleach blonde surfer dudes and shallow girls who fawn over them. And he knows he's going to look stupid in his brand new sunglasses and (oh God) flip-flops. The whole situation is disgusting.
He clutches the arm of his plane chair and tries not to look out the window.
Claire Bennet, I'd only do this for you.
*
He arrives at the airport on shaky legs, waiting for any sign of Mr. Bennet. He had planned to visit Claire in another week, but he had decided that surprising her would be better; it'd make her smile and hopefully get her out of the mopey, my-whole-life-is-horrible phase that she'd been going through lately.
Claire's dad had agreed, so Zach doesn't understand why he isn't there at the airport. After twenty minutes of waiting (and being accidentally hit in the back by some idiot with no shirt and a really large suitcase), he calls Mr. Bennet. When he doesn't answer, Zach tries Claire, but she doesn't pick up either.
He thinks this is weird because Claire is normally glued to her cell phone.
It takes him three hours to Mapquest the Bennet residence, find a rental car, and drive to Claire's house and by this point, he's pissed. Sweaty and smelly, he hangs out of the car door, now exhausted, and blinks at the house in front of him. He confirms the street, looking down at what he's scribbed on his hand.
He rings the doorbell, then knocks, but no one answers. "What the hell is going on?" he mutters angrily to the door.
And then he realizes that the door's unlocked, standing an inch ajar, and he pushes it open.
The house is completely quiet and completely dark and Zach rolls his eyes, lets out a, "Well, fuck me," and turns on the lights. There's a figure on the couch, his head hanging back, his horn-rimmed glasses on his face and his mouth slightly open.
"Mr. Bennet?" says Zach, rushing over to the man. "Mr. Bennet!" He doesn't stir and Zach's starting to get really weirded out now. He shakes him, but Claire's dad is perfectly stiff, unmoving, and not waking up.
He rushes from room to room, searching for Claire, afraid that something bad has happened. He thinks of the man that killed Jackie and the man who killed that waitress at Burnt Toast Diner, and screams for his best friend. He finds Mrs. Bennet lying in bed, Lyle clinging to her as if trying to shield her from something; they're just as stiff and unmoving as Mr. Bennet.
"Claire! Claire!" he shouts, feeling sick and panicked. He kicks open a door and recognizes this as Claire's room; sees the copy of Crime and Punishment he had given her for her birthday and the blue-and-white cheerleading uniform she'd sent him pictures of.
The room looks like a tornado ripped through it. CDs and clothes are scattered all over the floor and her bed is broken in half. "Oh God, oh God, oh God," he starts to chant, feeling ready to pass out.
He reaches for Claire's phone, opened and peeking from underneath the bed, and it shakes in his hand. Quickly, he decides not to call 911; they won't know anything about this. Whatever had happened here had something to do with Claire's powers, he knows it. He clicks on the history of Claire's phone and looks down at the number of the person she called last.
"Peter Petrelli," he says, and dials the number.
*
Ten minutes later and Zach's not chanting, "Oh God, oh God, oh God" anymore; he's chanting, "Fuck, fuck, FUCK" now. Peter's not answering his phone either.
He stands in the middle of the room, phone in his hands, and searches through the rest of Claire's contacts. He scrolls past "May" and the names of other people he doesn't know until he reaches the last name.
"West."
*
West arrives in a worried haze, dark hair a mess, wearing swimming trunks and a black t-shirt. California, Zach thinks fleetingly before immediately asking him questions.
"When was the last time you saw Claire?"
"Last night!" he says, throwing a horrified glance around the house. "We went out to dinner."
"Did you notice anyone following you? Anybody acting weird?"
"No!" says West, looking like was about to have a heart attack, the same way Zach felt. "The only crazy thing that happened last night was her uncle. He was drunk, but that was it. Nothing else."
Zach demands, "Did you guys run into anybody else that night?"
"Claire's grandmother showed up, took Peter home, but that was it."
Zach looks at him incredulously. "Her grandmother? Angela Petrelli? No way."
"She was there," insists West.
"She took Peter home? Where does he live?"
"He's staying at a hotel." He snaps his fingers. "We should go there. Peter would know what to do. He has, um," and here West trails off.
Zach's eyes narrow; now is not the time to get skimpy on the details. "Spit it out."
West looks ashamed, like he's revealing something he shouldn't. "He has loads of supernatural powers," confesses West.
Zach blinks, surprised. "How do you know?"
"Claire told me. How do you know?"
"I'm her best friend, West," snaps Zach. "But that doesn't matter right now. We need to get to that hotel."
*
Zach doesn't ask West how he knows which hotel Peter is staying in, doesn't ask how West knows the exact room number. He really couldn't care less, because more than Peter, all he can think of is Claire.
Peter's hotel room looks exactly like a tornado went through it, too, and Zach feels a sickening wave of defeat wash over him. Peter Petrelli is their only hope; he'd know what to do.
Zach is slouching on the messy bedspread, surrounded by pieces of glass and thinking that maybe they should just give up and call 911, when West's shout alerts him. "Over here!" the other boy calls, and Zach finds him in the bathroom, pulling Claire's uncle out of a bathtub.
Supporting Peter awkwardly, West kicks the broken glass on the tiled floor to the corners of the room, leaving an open space on the wet, bloodstained floor, and drops Peter rather unceremoniously. He reaches over and turns off the still running water faucet, then sinks to the floor with Peter, grabbing him by the arms and pulling him so that the man's back rests on his legs.
"Oh, shit," says Zach, feeling sick as he finally sees what caused all the blood on the floor. Sticking out of Peter's chest, arms, and legs are long, silvery shards of glass. The man's black clothes glow dark red and West confirms his suspicions.
"He bled to death," West says shakily, opening Peter's eyelids to reveal no life, just a milky white glaze.
Zach shakes his head. "No. Peter can't die. He's like Claire."
Sinking to the floor next to West, he looks at Peter with renewed determination. "You're not dead," he tells the older man, and with that he rips out the shards of glass stuck in Peter's knee. "You're not dead," he repeats, yanking out another shard in Peter's thigh.
West stares at him with dawning comprehension and begins to help. They both wince as they take out the shards, occasionally swearing when they pull too forcefully and cut their hands. Soon there are no pieces of glass left in Peter's lean body, but still he doesn't wake up.
Sighing, but still determined, Zach takes Peter's head in his hands and runs his hands along the man's forehead, down the back of his skull, and then something sharp slices across the palm of his hand. Pulling back, he exchanges a look with West, who leans closer and twists Peter's head so they can both see something barely peeking out behind his ear. The glass is buried so deep inside Peter's head that barely a centimeter of it is visible and Zach stands up and fumbles around in the medicine chest for a pair of tweezers.
West takes the tweezers and pulls the shard out slowly; there is a gross, wet sound that occurs as the glass sides out of Peter's brain, bits of gray matter stuck to the surface, and then finally it's out and the hole in Peter's head is closing slowly. Zach holds his breath, staring at Peter. "Come on, man," whispers West.
And then, with huge, body-shaking gasps, Peter comes back to life.
"Where is she?" rasps Peter, choking on his own blood. Zach grabs his hands, pulling him into a sitting position. "Where is she?"
"Claire? We don't know," says Zach, and Peter's eyes are darting around the bathroom, then out into the bedroom, as if expecting to see someone.
"You're not talking about Claire, are you?" says West.
"It was my mother," gasps Peter, holding onto both Zach and West as he struggles to stand. "She did this to me. But it wasn't her, it was someone else." He winces, stumbling into the bedroom, looking for something.
"What about Claire?" asks Zach. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," says Peter, rummaging through the messy bedspread. "He got to her, too. We were on the - " and then he holds up his cell phone. "She called me, told me something was wrong."
"How are we going to find her?" asks West. Zach notices the way Peter's eyes narrow slightly, but only slightly, as he takes West in. He senses some tension there, but Zach doesn't care about it. His primary goal is finding Claire, and apparently Peter's is, too, because his face softens.
"I don't know," he says.
Zach watches Peter search through numbers on his cell phone and asks, "Do you think it was Sylar?"
Peter nods, presses speaker phone, and lets the phone ring. "I can't think of anyone else," admits Peter. "But he can't be in two places at once. Someone was with Claire and someone was with me, so if it was Sylar, he's working with someone."
"Who's Sylar?" interjects West.
But then a voice on the other end of the phone speaks. "Peter," it says, sounding scared and angry, "you need to come home right now."
"Nathan," says Peter, "is mom there?"
"What?" snaps Nathan.
"Is mom there? I need to know if she's okay."
"Yes, she's here, she's fine. Peter, something has happened. I really need you right now."
"Nathan, something more important has happened," says Peter. "Claire's gone. She's been kidnapped."
There is a long pause on the phone and then there's a choking sound, as if Nathan is trying to hold back tears. "Peter..."
"We can fix this," says Peter confidently. "We can find her."
"Peter," says Nathan, sniffing in a way Zach has never associated with the politician. "Simon and Monty are gone, too."
*
She's pinned down, lying on a cold matress, some kind of invisible duct tape preventing her from being able to speak. She has no binds, but still she can't move. Trying to open her eyes is useless, because her lids don't budge; it's almost as if they're glued shut.
"Hello, Claire."
She squirms, terrified.
"Don't worry," says an eager, sinister voice, "I'll be done soon."
A few seconds later, and she can't even think.
*
They're still in the hotel room, crowded around the bed. If Zach were in his geek mode, he'd be thinking of how cool it was that Hiro Nakumara can bend time and space, how people from New York and Las Vegas can have arrived in California in just under ten minutes.
Zach recognizes Nathan Petrelli right away, can remember seeing the politician's funeral on TV with Claire nestled beside him on the couch, tears seeping into his shirt. He doesn't recognize anyone else, but can guess that the two Japanese men in the corner are Hiro and Ando. Everyone else is a mystery to him.
Next to Nathan is a blonde woman, stroking his arm comfortingly. They're talking in low tones, and Zach can barely hear them. She's saying she knows what it's like to have a child taken and he's thanking her for coming. A black man stands next to them, his hands on the shoulder of a little boy. Next to the boy is a girl with brown hair and an eager look on her face, like she wants to prove herself and do something useful; she's holding the hand of an Indian man.
Peter finally speaks up. "Thank you all for coming," he says. "I'm Peter Petrelli. This is my brother, Nathan. All three of his children, Claire, Simon, and Monty, have been taken. By who, we don't know. We need to find them, but we need everyone's help. If you want to help, please stay."
No one moves.
"Good," Peter sighs with relief. He asks them to divide into groups, "power" or "no power" groups. Zach feels a bit useless as he stands with the Indian man and one of the Japanese man, and is surprised when West goes to the other side of the room. Peter looks surprised, too, but masks it well and doesn't say anything.
Peter starts to call people over to him; Zach, the blonde woman Niki and her son Micah, and the Indian man, Mohinder. The others huddle around Nathan, except for West and the brown-haired girl, both of whom look put out.
"What?" says Peter to West, noting his discontent but appearing not to really care.
West says, "I think I could help you."
"I don't think so," says Peter, and Zach notices that he's not even looking at West, but some point to West's left.
"Come on," pleads West. "Claire's my friend."
"Then I'm sure she'll appreciate it if you helped find her brothers." His tone is curt and indicates that the conversation is over. West's mouth tightens, he crosses his arms, and he walks over to Nathan, clearly not happy.
Zach's attention turns to the brown-haired girl, who's chewing on her bottom lip nervously. "Peter, I don't understand."
Peter crouches so that he's looking into her eyes. "What don't you understand, Molly?" he asks, and his tone is softer and quieter than it had been with West.
"I'm supposed to find Simon and Monty," says Molly. "Both of them? You want me to find two people?"
Peter gives the girl a lopsided grin and places his hands on his tiny shoulders. "You have more experience than me," he confesses in a whisper. "I think you can handle that more than I can. What do you say?"
Molly smiles. "Okay."
"Thanks." He leans in so that his forehead touches hers, and when he pulls back, Molly's cheeks are flaming red. Zach grins; if Peter had done that to him, he'd probably be blushing, too. Geez.
He looks around the room again and allows himself just one geeky moment - a low whistle of, "Freakin' cool" when he sees that Hiro has teleported everyone else out of the room.
*
Her feet sink into the sand and the sun is horrifyingly bright in her eyes. It brings a stabbing pain to her eyelids and she sinks down to her knees, hands pressed against her face.
The ocean water rolls into her lap and the sound of the waves is too much, too much.
"Ow, it hurts," cries a little boy, someone with dark hair that she doesn't recognize. His hands are over his ears, tears welling in his eyes.
"Shh," she says soothingly.
There's another boy and he's rocking back and forth silently, staring at his arms in horror. She looks down at her own arms, aware that she can hear the blood moving through her veins; the boy must hear the same thing.
"I want to go home," the other one says and she dries his tears.
"Where do you live?" she asks.
"New York."
*
Zach stands next to Mohinder, watching the man inspect Noah Bennet.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" asks Micah.
Mohinder touches the glasses on the man's face, but they don't move; they are stuck on a waxy, plastic face. "He looks Petrified," Zach voices quietly, but neither Mohinder nor Micah hear him.
"It appears as if he's been...frozen," says Mohinder finally, drawing back but still staring into Mr. Bennet's face. "Or something like it."
"So he's not dead?" Zach asks, relieved. "'Cause Mrs. Bennet and Lyle are like that, too. They're upstairs. It would suck if, you know, when Claire gets back and her whole family is dead."
Mohinder nods curtly. "No, they are not dead." Then, solemnly, "But I don't know how to fix their state."
Zach sighs; as he does so, Peter comes back downstairs with Niki. "Find anything in Claire's room?" Micah inquires.
Peter looks aggrieved. "She definitely put up a struggle," he tells them, and the words come out casual and proud, but Zach can hear the sadness in his voice.
"Do you still think it was Sylar?" asks Zach.
Peter shakes his head. "If only Claire had been taken, then yes. But Simon and Monty were taken, too. They don't have powers."
"That you know of," corrects Mohinder. "Often, powers don't manifest until early adulthood. Your nephews could be special and not know it yet." He smiles slightly.
Peter doesn't return Mohinder's smile, but fixes his face into a serious, determined expression. Zach's whole body tenses in preparation for whatever they're going to do to save Claire. His palms start to sweat in anticipation - will they go flying somewhere? will they lay the smackdown on some bad guys hardcore?
Peter's face is still serious, but he turns to Zach and says, an amused lilt to his voice, "We have to find her first." Zach grins when he realizes that Peter has read his thoughts. Now Peter's pointing at him. "You, come with me."
And he starts walking back up the stairs toward Claire's room, Zach trailing behind.
*
She lives in Texas and the boys live in New York, but she has no idea where they are. They left the beach awhile ago and now she's carrying the younger of the two, holding the hand of the other one. None of them talk, because any kind of sound feels like it'll tear their eardrums apart.
She finds a line of houses near the beach and tells the boys they'll go there, find help, find someone. She's exhausted and weak and sick and every part of her hurts. She doesn't think she's ever experienced such a raw, cleansing sickness, like bacteria is invading every molecule of her being.
"How did we get here?" asks the boy walking alongside her, choking on a sob. "I don't remember how I got here."
She doesn't remember, either.
*
Peter is sitting awkwardly on Claire's broken-in-half bed, an atlas sprawled across his lap, a thumb tack in his hand.
"Do you know what I'm about to do?" asks Peter.
Zach nods, almost a little disappointed. He had been expecting a method that was larger than life; he'd heard about the whole think-about-a-person-and-find-them-likethat thing already.
"Is that why we're in here?" asks Zach, indicating his best friend's torn apart bedroom. "So you can focus on her more?"
Peter lets out a hoarse chuckle. "Uh, focusing on Claire is not hard for me," he says. "I'm in here to be away from the others. It's hard to concentrate when other people are around."
"So why am I here?"
"Because you want her back as much as I do."
Zach doesn't know what to say, so he says nothing, and apparently nothing was the proper thing to say at that moment, because Peter's right hand is soon shaking. His left is hurriedly flipping through pages of the atlas. Beads of sweat appear in a line off his head and his crooked lip quivers almost as furiously as the tack held between his thumb and forefinger.
Finally the thumb stack is brought down and Zach peers at the tack. "What?" says Zach, confused.
The word barely leaves his mouth before two people appear right before their very eyes: Nathan and Hiro. Nathan looks at Peter, hope and anxiety dripping from his chiseled face. "Molly just said - "
"It says the same thing," Peter confirms, throwing the atlas off of him.
Zach is so confused, but follows the Petrelli brothers (and Hiro) downstairs, where Mohinder, Niki, and Micah are still crowded around Mr. Bennet.
"What is it?" says Niki worriedly. "You look so pale."
Peter's whispered, "They're here" is barely out of his mouth when the door behind Niki burts open. Zach feels so nauseaus and relieved and oh God -
"Claire!" he yells, going to move toward her.
"Zach?" she says, looking around blankly, setting down the dark-haired boy. "Are we in Texas?"
"What?" he says, bewildered, as Nathan cries, "Simon! Monty!".
"Claire!" Peter moves toward her, but she shrinks away.
"Who are you?" she demands, fright in her eyes.
There is a moment of complete silence, during which Zach can actually feel the shock that flashes across Peter's face. Claire's hopeless face and Peter's pain seems to fill up the room.
And then Claire's eyes move over to the couch, away from Peter, and roam over Noah Bennet's plastic-like form. "D-dad?"
When she faints, Peter is the one to catch her.
*
A/N: I know, another cliffhanger. Don't kill me. And I know this chapter was, um, unique, but I hope you guys liked it!
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