Vanilla Sky (Part 2)
Title: Vanilla Sky (Part 2 of ?)
Fandom: Heroes
Author: Meli Parker
Word Count: 3052
Rating: R
Characters and Pairing: Nathan, Heidi, Claire, Nathan/Meredith, Peter
Warnings: Angst, dark, gore, harsh language
Spoilers: Up to 18
Summary: Nathan begins to believe that Peter is haunting him and dreams of the past
Notes: This is the sequel to In My Time of Dying. Nice long chapter. Notes inside. Title comes from Paul McCartney's song.
Vanilla Sky
Two weeks went by and Nathan went to work as president of the United States. He met with all sorts of colourful people who wanted to better the country and formulate some kinds of policies. Time passed, and soon his life became routine.
During the day, Nathan was the thoughtful, smiling man he had always been. Nathan liked his job. He liked that he was president and damn it, it was his time! Peter was gone; he didn’t have to worry about him anymore. Nathan was free.
At night on the other hand, Nathan was a prisoner. When Nathan slept, nightmare’s plagued him. When Nathan didn’t sleep, he saw his brother standing next him asking him about his death. Over those nights, Nathan grew borderline insane.
“Nathan? Nathan what’s going on? Why do you have a sword? What are you doing Nathan!? Nathan’s what’s wrong with you!” Peter’s eyes were pleading and confused. “G-d Nathan, stop! What are you doing?” Nathan looked down at Peter and gripped the sword tightly in his hands. He swung down towards Peter neck.
The blood shot out of his body like a fountain, covering Nathan in the copper tasting crimson paint. Nathan looked down at his hands and saw the blood dripping off slowly to the ground. He looked over at Peter’s broken body on the ground and turned away feeling nothing for his dead brother.
“No!” Nathan yelled out jerking awake. Nathan looked around the dark room wildly, trying to catch his breath. Nathan moved to put his hands up to his face when he saw them stained in blood. Nathan screamed out and tore the bedding off of his body. He saw that his body too, was covered in it.
“Nathan! Nathan what is it!” Heidi said reaching for her husband. Nathan jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom where he turned the sink on full blast and moved to washing his hands. “Nathan!” She reached for her chair and climbed in. Quickly she made it to the bathroom where Nathan was hastily reaching into the shower and turning the hot water on. “Nathan, what are you doing?” Nathan went back to the sink where he scrubbed his hands continuously.
“There’s so much of it…I have to get it off,” Nathan mused to himself and Heidi as he scrubbed, the bar of soap becoming smaller and smaller. Heidi looked at Nathan with concern.
“What are you talking about?” She reached out for him, but Nathan jerked backwards, his face disgusted and panicked.
“No Heidi! Don’t touch me,” he said. His voice grew calm and his facial expression softened. “I don’t want the blood to stain your nightgown,” he said almost matter-o-factily. Heidi almost cried. There was no blood covering Nathan. There was no blood on his hands. He looked away from her and began taking his pyjamas off - which was just on old diner t-shirt that said ‘fly by night’ and a pair of sweat pants. “I’ll be out in a few,” he said stepping into the large shower, steam escaping from the top and flowing down through the bathroom.
One night, Nathan turned to Heidi as they lied together in the darkness of their bedroom. “He’s haunting me, Heidi,” Nathan said to her. Heidi wrapped her arm around Nathan and began to stroke his soft, dark hair.
“No he isn’t Nathan,” she said. He looked at her darkly.
“He is, and I know why.” Heidi didn’t answer; she just looked at the man she had once loved. “We never found his head. He was buried without a head…” Heidi looked at Nathan with wide eyes. She grew angry at him.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”
“I didn’t…think it was important…” he said unsure of what to say.
“Don’t lie to me Nathan.” Nathan looked at her in obvious anguish.
“Because I didn’t want to remember I did it! I keep trying to forget but I can’t because he’s haunting me!” Heidi looked at him confused.
“What’d you do?”
“I killed him Heidi!” said Nathan pushing away from her. “I had to; he was going to kill more people.”
“You told me you found him and got Claire out of there. You told me he lost control of his car!”
“I lied! I didn’t want you to--”
“To know what happened to him? To know what really happened to him?” Heidi yelled. Nathan looked at her as though it pained him to even breathe.
“I can’t even begin to explain,” he said softly. “I can’t explain any of this.”
“Any of what?” she asked. Nathan looked at her. Was he finally going to tell her the truth? After 4 years was he finally going to tell her the truth? That he could fly. No, Nathan wasn’t strong enough. Nathan wasn’t strong enough to tell his wife it was his fault for the accident. It was his fault she was in a wheelchair; he wasn’t able to save her.
“Never mind,” he said turning away from her.
“Nathan!” he heard her scream at him. “Damn it! Tell me what’s going on so I can help you! Let me help you, Nathan!” Nathan’s eyes went wide. Suddenly, he heard a memory in his head.
“Let me help you, Peter.”
“You can’t.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Well, that’s pretty stupid Nathan. What good will you do dead?”
“You’re not gunna do it.”
“And you’ll bet your life on that?”
“Nathan!” he heard Heidi yell again. “Oh my G-d, Nathan! Nathan wake up! Please wake up!” Nathan opened his eyes and looked at Heidi leaning over him from her chair. Nathan could see drying streaks running down her face. She smiled when she saw his eyes open. He smiled back.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You collapsed.” Nathan’s eyes went wide. “Are you sick, Nathan?”
Nathan had a dream one night, but it wasn’t a nightmare. He dreamt of the past. He dreamt of the Christmas he brought Meredith home with him. “Oh isn’t he darlin’!” she exclaimed as she bent down in front of a dark, bowl haired little Peter. Nathan saw Peter’s nose retract from the smell of cigarettes and tried to smile politely. She stood up and Nathan looked down at his little brother. Peter’s facial expression said, Nathan? You don’t smoke cigarettes do you? Nathan smiled at Peter.
“No I don’t Pete,” he said. Peter grinned widely and ran to the next room. Nathan turned to Meredith. “Ah, Petey’s a good kid isn’t he?” She however looked confused. “What?”
“What do you mean, ‘No I don’t’?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. Nathan wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “You said something to Peter, like you were responding to something he said, but he never said anything.”
“Oh!” Nathan said finally understanding what she was so confused about. “It’s just something me and Pete do I guess. I dunno, I just kinda get him and he gets me. We don’t really need to talk to say something you know.” Nathan shrugged. It was never something he really thought about, the fact that he and Peter could talk without talking. Peter understood him and Nathan understood Peter. It was like they were connected. He never really gave it a second thought. Meredith smiled at him awkwardly and Nathan responded by reveling his gleaming white teeth. He moved closer to her and pressed his face into hers. She gave in quickly to the kiss, opening her mouth to let his tongue in.
There was a noise from the other room. Nathan turned his head and looked in its direction. “I’ll be right back,” Nathan said to Meredith, rushing to the next room.
When Nathan entered the next room, he saw Peter standing in a dark corner. His back faced Nathan and a dark trench coat sat on his shoulders. Nathan couldn’t tell where Peter or the darkness began. He seemed to radiate it. This was an older Peter and he wasn’t at his family’s home anymore, he was in a motel room. “What are you doing here, Nathan?” Peter growled. Nathan, too, was older. He stood in the door contemplating whether or not to enter the room completely. Nathan closed his eyes and swallowed. He stepped into the room.
His eyes opened and he looked at his brother once again. “I’m here to bring you home.” Peter didn’t move.
“Why?” he asked gruffly.
“Because Peter. You can’t run away like this. You need to come home so we can help you,” Nathan said.
“You wanna help me?” Peter asked, his voice sounding confused and almost light.
“Yes.” Once again, Peter asked the question.
“Why?” Nathan frowned.
“I just told you man.”
“Why do you want to bring me home, Nathan?” Peter asked, a twinge of sarcasm and laughter in his voice. He almost acted like it was all one big joke. This annoyed Nathan to his very core.
“Damn it Peter, stop it. Stop going around in circles.” Nathan moved closed to Peter to the point where he was standing only a foot behind him. “Just come home with me.” Peter didn’t turn around.
“Why would you want me to,” Peter asked softly. “After what I did.” Nathan could almost feel his heart break, the way Peter sounded so broken. He knew what he had done, he knew about the people he had killed.
“Because that wasn’t you,” he said. Finally, Peter turned around to face Nathan. Nathan took a step back when he saw his brother’s face. It was stark white, his hair was short and messy, but what frightened Nathan the most, was his eyes. His eyes were cold and black and when Nathan looked closer, they were rimmed with red. “Peter…” Nathan breathed out.
“What do you mean it wasn’t me!?” Peter yelled out. “Of course it was me, you were there! I called you out you son of a bitch!” Nathan moved backwards once again as a frowned sadly at his brother. “Stop trying to tell me what really happened, because I know what really happened. It’s you who doesn’t know what really happened!”
“It’s been a year Peter. A whole year. I think it’s time you stop this and come home now.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no…” Peter said shaking his head. “No! If I go home, you’re going to detain me! You’re going to send me to that company where they can hold me down powerless I know it!”
“Peter, you’re being paranoid!” Peter laughed. His laugh made Nathan’s blood freeze. It wasn’t the warm laugh Nathan knew and loved, it was cold and dark; evil perhaps.
“Maybe I am, Nathan,” he said. “But at least I don’t have the same kind of blind faith in you that you have in me.” Nathan felt his eyebrows deepen into his eyes. Peter smirked. “You think that I’m just going to automatically do what you say? Is that it Nathan? Because you’re so high and fucking mighty that everything you command must be followed?”
“No, Pete, that’s not it at all…” responded Nathan weakly.
“Oh, I think it is.” Peter moved closer to Nathan. “You don’t believe what they say about me do you. You still believe that you can save me, but you can’t. Stop trying Nathan. Stop looking for me.” Nathan looked at Peter sternly.
“Never.” Peter laughed softly.
“You know those murders, Nathan?” Peter asked. “The ones that the cops can’t explain? The ones that everyone say have something to do with the supernatural? Well…those are my doing.” Nathan stepped away from Peter, horrified.
“What?” he choked.
“I killed those people,” he said again, but this time, he looked proud of what he did. “Like that one guy in Ohio, he could fry stuff with his hands…so I took his power and then I used it against him. I fried him from the inside until his organs were jelly and his brain steeped out through his ears.” Nathan suddenly felt dizzy. His legs gave out and collapsed to floor. He looked up at his gloating brother. “And that girl in Kansas…she could see through walls. I loved her, Nathan, but I had to kill her. I spent two months with that girl and then I tortured her to death. Now I’m the only one that can see through walls.” Nathan grabbed his head and slammed his eyes shut.
“Shut up!” Nathan yelled. Peter leaned down and put his face just centimeters from Nathan’s ear.
“And that one guy in Michigan, he couldn’t do anything, but I still shot him in the head after choking him to death…with my mind.” Peter laughed darkly again. “Isn’t that so very Star Wars, Nathan? I thought you’d enjoy that one.” Nathan pushed Peter and stood up.
“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?!” he screamed starring straight into Peter’s eyes.
“I’m right here, Nathan,” he said coldly. “I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m still your crazy little brother.” Peter laughed again. “Stop looking for me, Nate,” he said moving towards the door. “Cause you won’t find me again.”
Nathan jerked awake.
Nathan walked into his office one afternoon to find a dark haired girl standing there, looking at a section of the long bookcase lining the walls. “Can I help you?” Nathan asked her. She swung her head around and he saw that is was Claire, her eyes filled with some mixture of depression and happiness. She smiled weakly. “Claire?” Nathan said looking at her. “What’d you do to your hair?”
“I dyed it,” she said. Nathan moved closer to her and smiled.
“Yeah, I can see that, I mean why?”
“Because,” she said softly. “Felt like it. Need something new.” Nathan lifted a small lock and looked at it.
“But I liked your blonde hair. It reminded me of your mother’s.” He smiled brightly. Claire on the other hand stood quietly. “What’s wrong, Claire,” Nathan asked, smile fading.
“Nothing,” she said. She turned away from Nathan. “I just came to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m going some where for a while.”
“Is this about Peter?” She turned and looked at him with the look of a person whose heart had been completely broken. “Listen--”
“No!” She suddenly yelled. “You listen! You have no idea what it’s like to believe in someone so much and then have them disappoint you like that. You don’t know!”
“Yes I do,” said Nathan. He could feel a burning sensation in his chest. “Claire, he was my brother! My fucking brother! And he came back here and did terrible things and would have continued to--”
“You killed him!” She cried. Tears openly flowed down her cheeks. Nathan could have sworn his heart stopped beating as Claire told him what he did. Nathan’s knees became weak and he fell to the ground. “Nathan?” Claire said snapping out of her anger. “Nathan!” Nathan felt the rest of his body collapse as his breathing became more and more rapid. Claire watched as his face became pale. “Dad! Oh my G-d! Someone! Help!”
Nathan woke up in the hospital later that night. He looked over and saw Claire asleep at his hand. “Hey,” he growled softly. His throat was arid. Claire perked up and smiled.
“Hey,” she responded.
“You called me Dad.” Her smile grew.
“I did.”
“I liked it.” Claire wrapped her hand around Nathan’s and began stroking it softly with the back of her thumb.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“For what?”
“It was my fault you just passed out.” Claire looked genuinely concerned and believed it was her doing. Nathan smiled.
“This isn’t your fault…its Peter’s,” he said. Claire looked at him confused.
“How?”
“Can you keep a secret?” She nodded.
“He’s haunting me.”
“Like a ghost?”
“Yeah.”
“No offense, but that’s impossible.” Nathan laughed.
“Who’s to say what’s impossible anymore.” Claire smiled again. “Listen, I know you’ve been really depressed since he died…” She didn’t answer. “So, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Nathan paused and swallowed. “Depression runs in my family…our family. My Dad - your grandfather - he killed himself. And Peter…Peter had it too. It wasn’t big with Pete, but it was always there even though he denied it most of the time.” Claire looked at Nathan shocked. Quickly, she turned away.
“So you think I’m going to try to kill myself?” she said slowly, gazing down at the tile floor.
“Well…”
“Don’t worry, Nathan,” she said suddenly looking at him with intense anger. “You have nothing to worry about because I can’t die. I’ve already tried millions of times.” Nathan looked at her with wide eyes. “And you know what? I don’t feel anything anymore. I don’t feel any pain and most of the time; I can’t even feel someone else touching me. I don’t feel anything.” Claire stood up. “I’ll see you later, Dad.”
“Claire, wait!” Claire rushed to the door and slammed it shut.
“Nathan!” Peter yelled out at the edge of a cliff. Nathan reached out for Peter.
“Peter! Peter what is it!” he yelled in anguish.
“Nathan! You gotta help me!”
“Why? Peter what’s wrong!” Peter looked at him sadly.
“I don’t remember how to fly.” Then the cliff crumbled, Peter along with it.
“Peter!”
Nathan sat up and looked over at the woman sitting next to him. “Hey,” he said. Heidi lifted up her head and smiled.
“How you feeling?”
“Much better,” Nathan responded. “What happened?” Heidi frowned.
“You had a minor heart attack,” she said. “They said it was because of stress. Something inside you has been straining your heart.” Nathan looked away from Heidi.
“Peter,” he muttered. He could feel Heidi’s body stiffen.
“No,” she said sternly. “You.” Nathan looked at her confused.
“What?”
“It’s time to get you help Nathan. This has been going on for too long. Three months too long.”
“What has?” Heidi laughed.
“You’re kidding right? All the nightmares and gilt trips and ranting on and on for hours about how he’s haunting you?” She paused and Nathan didn’t know how to respond. “We’re going to get you help Nathan. No one outside the white house will know, but you need it. A president can’t be a good one if he’s crazy now can he.” Nathan smiled.
“I dunno, TR was pretty crazy.”
*Notes!
-Nathan's line 'I don't want the blood to stain your nightgown': Isn't that just what you'd wanna hear from a guy who's going crazy? Seeing as how Nathan is the clam and collected guy he is, I'd figure when he's going crazy, he'd still worry about the same things like apprences. It's creepy that I thought of this stuff. ;)
-Peter's line, "I don't remember how to fly": Reference to Peter Pan. After all, we all forget how to fly at some point. And it's really depressing. Damn that JM Barrie! ;)
Fandom: Heroes
Author: Meli Parker
Word Count: 3052
Rating: R
Characters and Pairing: Nathan, Heidi, Claire, Nathan/Meredith, Peter
Warnings: Angst, dark, gore, harsh language
Spoilers: Up to 18
Summary: Nathan begins to believe that Peter is haunting him and dreams of the past
Notes: This is the sequel to In My Time of Dying. Nice long chapter. Notes inside. Title comes from Paul McCartney's song.
Vanilla Sky
Two weeks went by and Nathan went to work as president of the United States. He met with all sorts of colourful people who wanted to better the country and formulate some kinds of policies. Time passed, and soon his life became routine.
During the day, Nathan was the thoughtful, smiling man he had always been. Nathan liked his job. He liked that he was president and damn it, it was his time! Peter was gone; he didn’t have to worry about him anymore. Nathan was free.
At night on the other hand, Nathan was a prisoner. When Nathan slept, nightmare’s plagued him. When Nathan didn’t sleep, he saw his brother standing next him asking him about his death. Over those nights, Nathan grew borderline insane.
“Nathan? Nathan what’s going on? Why do you have a sword? What are you doing Nathan!? Nathan’s what’s wrong with you!” Peter’s eyes were pleading and confused. “G-d Nathan, stop! What are you doing?” Nathan looked down at Peter and gripped the sword tightly in his hands. He swung down towards Peter neck.
The blood shot out of his body like a fountain, covering Nathan in the copper tasting crimson paint. Nathan looked down at his hands and saw the blood dripping off slowly to the ground. He looked over at Peter’s broken body on the ground and turned away feeling nothing for his dead brother.
“No!” Nathan yelled out jerking awake. Nathan looked around the dark room wildly, trying to catch his breath. Nathan moved to put his hands up to his face when he saw them stained in blood. Nathan screamed out and tore the bedding off of his body. He saw that his body too, was covered in it.
“Nathan! Nathan what is it!” Heidi said reaching for her husband. Nathan jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom where he turned the sink on full blast and moved to washing his hands. “Nathan!” She reached for her chair and climbed in. Quickly she made it to the bathroom where Nathan was hastily reaching into the shower and turning the hot water on. “Nathan, what are you doing?” Nathan went back to the sink where he scrubbed his hands continuously.
“There’s so much of it…I have to get it off,” Nathan mused to himself and Heidi as he scrubbed, the bar of soap becoming smaller and smaller. Heidi looked at Nathan with concern.
“What are you talking about?” She reached out for him, but Nathan jerked backwards, his face disgusted and panicked.
“No Heidi! Don’t touch me,” he said. His voice grew calm and his facial expression softened. “I don’t want the blood to stain your nightgown,” he said almost matter-o-factily. Heidi almost cried. There was no blood covering Nathan. There was no blood on his hands. He looked away from her and began taking his pyjamas off - which was just on old diner t-shirt that said ‘fly by night’ and a pair of sweat pants. “I’ll be out in a few,” he said stepping into the large shower, steam escaping from the top and flowing down through the bathroom.
One night, Nathan turned to Heidi as they lied together in the darkness of their bedroom. “He’s haunting me, Heidi,” Nathan said to her. Heidi wrapped her arm around Nathan and began to stroke his soft, dark hair.
“No he isn’t Nathan,” she said. He looked at her darkly.
“He is, and I know why.” Heidi didn’t answer; she just looked at the man she had once loved. “We never found his head. He was buried without a head…” Heidi looked at Nathan with wide eyes. She grew angry at him.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?”
“I didn’t…think it was important…” he said unsure of what to say.
“Don’t lie to me Nathan.” Nathan looked at her in obvious anguish.
“Because I didn’t want to remember I did it! I keep trying to forget but I can’t because he’s haunting me!” Heidi looked at him confused.
“What’d you do?”
“I killed him Heidi!” said Nathan pushing away from her. “I had to; he was going to kill more people.”
“You told me you found him and got Claire out of there. You told me he lost control of his car!”
“I lied! I didn’t want you to--”
“To know what happened to him? To know what really happened to him?” Heidi yelled. Nathan looked at her as though it pained him to even breathe.
“I can’t even begin to explain,” he said softly. “I can’t explain any of this.”
“Any of what?” she asked. Nathan looked at her. Was he finally going to tell her the truth? After 4 years was he finally going to tell her the truth? That he could fly. No, Nathan wasn’t strong enough. Nathan wasn’t strong enough to tell his wife it was his fault for the accident. It was his fault she was in a wheelchair; he wasn’t able to save her.
“Never mind,” he said turning away from her.
“Nathan!” he heard her scream at him. “Damn it! Tell me what’s going on so I can help you! Let me help you, Nathan!” Nathan’s eyes went wide. Suddenly, he heard a memory in his head.
“Let me help you, Peter.”
“You can’t.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Well, that’s pretty stupid Nathan. What good will you do dead?”
“You’re not gunna do it.”
“And you’ll bet your life on that?”
“Nathan!” he heard Heidi yell again. “Oh my G-d, Nathan! Nathan wake up! Please wake up!” Nathan opened his eyes and looked at Heidi leaning over him from her chair. Nathan could see drying streaks running down her face. She smiled when she saw his eyes open. He smiled back.
“What happened?” he asked.
“You collapsed.” Nathan’s eyes went wide. “Are you sick, Nathan?”
Nathan had a dream one night, but it wasn’t a nightmare. He dreamt of the past. He dreamt of the Christmas he brought Meredith home with him. “Oh isn’t he darlin’!” she exclaimed as she bent down in front of a dark, bowl haired little Peter. Nathan saw Peter’s nose retract from the smell of cigarettes and tried to smile politely. She stood up and Nathan looked down at his little brother. Peter’s facial expression said, Nathan? You don’t smoke cigarettes do you? Nathan smiled at Peter.
“No I don’t Pete,” he said. Peter grinned widely and ran to the next room. Nathan turned to Meredith. “Ah, Petey’s a good kid isn’t he?” She however looked confused. “What?”
“What do you mean, ‘No I don’t’?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. Nathan wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “You said something to Peter, like you were responding to something he said, but he never said anything.”
“Oh!” Nathan said finally understanding what she was so confused about. “It’s just something me and Pete do I guess. I dunno, I just kinda get him and he gets me. We don’t really need to talk to say something you know.” Nathan shrugged. It was never something he really thought about, the fact that he and Peter could talk without talking. Peter understood him and Nathan understood Peter. It was like they were connected. He never really gave it a second thought. Meredith smiled at him awkwardly and Nathan responded by reveling his gleaming white teeth. He moved closer to her and pressed his face into hers. She gave in quickly to the kiss, opening her mouth to let his tongue in.
There was a noise from the other room. Nathan turned his head and looked in its direction. “I’ll be right back,” Nathan said to Meredith, rushing to the next room.
When Nathan entered the next room, he saw Peter standing in a dark corner. His back faced Nathan and a dark trench coat sat on his shoulders. Nathan couldn’t tell where Peter or the darkness began. He seemed to radiate it. This was an older Peter and he wasn’t at his family’s home anymore, he was in a motel room. “What are you doing here, Nathan?” Peter growled. Nathan, too, was older. He stood in the door contemplating whether or not to enter the room completely. Nathan closed his eyes and swallowed. He stepped into the room.
His eyes opened and he looked at his brother once again. “I’m here to bring you home.” Peter didn’t move.
“Why?” he asked gruffly.
“Because Peter. You can’t run away like this. You need to come home so we can help you,” Nathan said.
“You wanna help me?” Peter asked, his voice sounding confused and almost light.
“Yes.” Once again, Peter asked the question.
“Why?” Nathan frowned.
“I just told you man.”
“Why do you want to bring me home, Nathan?” Peter asked, a twinge of sarcasm and laughter in his voice. He almost acted like it was all one big joke. This annoyed Nathan to his very core.
“Damn it Peter, stop it. Stop going around in circles.” Nathan moved closed to Peter to the point where he was standing only a foot behind him. “Just come home with me.” Peter didn’t turn around.
“Why would you want me to,” Peter asked softly. “After what I did.” Nathan could almost feel his heart break, the way Peter sounded so broken. He knew what he had done, he knew about the people he had killed.
“Because that wasn’t you,” he said. Finally, Peter turned around to face Nathan. Nathan took a step back when he saw his brother’s face. It was stark white, his hair was short and messy, but what frightened Nathan the most, was his eyes. His eyes were cold and black and when Nathan looked closer, they were rimmed with red. “Peter…” Nathan breathed out.
“What do you mean it wasn’t me!?” Peter yelled out. “Of course it was me, you were there! I called you out you son of a bitch!” Nathan moved backwards once again as a frowned sadly at his brother. “Stop trying to tell me what really happened, because I know what really happened. It’s you who doesn’t know what really happened!”
“It’s been a year Peter. A whole year. I think it’s time you stop this and come home now.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no…” Peter said shaking his head. “No! If I go home, you’re going to detain me! You’re going to send me to that company where they can hold me down powerless I know it!”
“Peter, you’re being paranoid!” Peter laughed. His laugh made Nathan’s blood freeze. It wasn’t the warm laugh Nathan knew and loved, it was cold and dark; evil perhaps.
“Maybe I am, Nathan,” he said. “But at least I don’t have the same kind of blind faith in you that you have in me.” Nathan felt his eyebrows deepen into his eyes. Peter smirked. “You think that I’m just going to automatically do what you say? Is that it Nathan? Because you’re so high and fucking mighty that everything you command must be followed?”
“No, Pete, that’s not it at all…” responded Nathan weakly.
“Oh, I think it is.” Peter moved closer to Nathan. “You don’t believe what they say about me do you. You still believe that you can save me, but you can’t. Stop trying Nathan. Stop looking for me.” Nathan looked at Peter sternly.
“Never.” Peter laughed softly.
“You know those murders, Nathan?” Peter asked. “The ones that the cops can’t explain? The ones that everyone say have something to do with the supernatural? Well…those are my doing.” Nathan stepped away from Peter, horrified.
“What?” he choked.
“I killed those people,” he said again, but this time, he looked proud of what he did. “Like that one guy in Ohio, he could fry stuff with his hands…so I took his power and then I used it against him. I fried him from the inside until his organs were jelly and his brain steeped out through his ears.” Nathan suddenly felt dizzy. His legs gave out and collapsed to floor. He looked up at his gloating brother. “And that girl in Kansas…she could see through walls. I loved her, Nathan, but I had to kill her. I spent two months with that girl and then I tortured her to death. Now I’m the only one that can see through walls.” Nathan grabbed his head and slammed his eyes shut.
“Shut up!” Nathan yelled. Peter leaned down and put his face just centimeters from Nathan’s ear.
“And that one guy in Michigan, he couldn’t do anything, but I still shot him in the head after choking him to death…with my mind.” Peter laughed darkly again. “Isn’t that so very Star Wars, Nathan? I thought you’d enjoy that one.” Nathan pushed Peter and stood up.
“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?!” he screamed starring straight into Peter’s eyes.
“I’m right here, Nathan,” he said coldly. “I haven’t gone anywhere. I’m still your crazy little brother.” Peter laughed again. “Stop looking for me, Nate,” he said moving towards the door. “Cause you won’t find me again.”
Nathan jerked awake.
Nathan walked into his office one afternoon to find a dark haired girl standing there, looking at a section of the long bookcase lining the walls. “Can I help you?” Nathan asked her. She swung her head around and he saw that is was Claire, her eyes filled with some mixture of depression and happiness. She smiled weakly. “Claire?” Nathan said looking at her. “What’d you do to your hair?”
“I dyed it,” she said. Nathan moved closer to her and smiled.
“Yeah, I can see that, I mean why?”
“Because,” she said softly. “Felt like it. Need something new.” Nathan lifted a small lock and looked at it.
“But I liked your blonde hair. It reminded me of your mother’s.” He smiled brightly. Claire on the other hand stood quietly. “What’s wrong, Claire,” Nathan asked, smile fading.
“Nothing,” she said. She turned away from Nathan. “I just came to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m going some where for a while.”
“Is this about Peter?” She turned and looked at him with the look of a person whose heart had been completely broken. “Listen--”
“No!” She suddenly yelled. “You listen! You have no idea what it’s like to believe in someone so much and then have them disappoint you like that. You don’t know!”
“Yes I do,” said Nathan. He could feel a burning sensation in his chest. “Claire, he was my brother! My fucking brother! And he came back here and did terrible things and would have continued to--”
“You killed him!” She cried. Tears openly flowed down her cheeks. Nathan could have sworn his heart stopped beating as Claire told him what he did. Nathan’s knees became weak and he fell to the ground. “Nathan?” Claire said snapping out of her anger. “Nathan!” Nathan felt the rest of his body collapse as his breathing became more and more rapid. Claire watched as his face became pale. “Dad! Oh my G-d! Someone! Help!”
Nathan woke up in the hospital later that night. He looked over and saw Claire asleep at his hand. “Hey,” he growled softly. His throat was arid. Claire perked up and smiled.
“Hey,” she responded.
“You called me Dad.” Her smile grew.
“I did.”
“I liked it.” Claire wrapped her hand around Nathan’s and began stroking it softly with the back of her thumb.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“For what?”
“It was my fault you just passed out.” Claire looked genuinely concerned and believed it was her doing. Nathan smiled.
“This isn’t your fault…its Peter’s,” he said. Claire looked at him confused.
“How?”
“Can you keep a secret?” She nodded.
“He’s haunting me.”
“Like a ghost?”
“Yeah.”
“No offense, but that’s impossible.” Nathan laughed.
“Who’s to say what’s impossible anymore.” Claire smiled again. “Listen, I know you’ve been really depressed since he died…” She didn’t answer. “So, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Nathan paused and swallowed. “Depression runs in my family…our family. My Dad - your grandfather - he killed himself. And Peter…Peter had it too. It wasn’t big with Pete, but it was always there even though he denied it most of the time.” Claire looked at Nathan shocked. Quickly, she turned away.
“So you think I’m going to try to kill myself?” she said slowly, gazing down at the tile floor.
“Well…”
“Don’t worry, Nathan,” she said suddenly looking at him with intense anger. “You have nothing to worry about because I can’t die. I’ve already tried millions of times.” Nathan looked at her with wide eyes. “And you know what? I don’t feel anything anymore. I don’t feel any pain and most of the time; I can’t even feel someone else touching me. I don’t feel anything.” Claire stood up. “I’ll see you later, Dad.”
“Claire, wait!” Claire rushed to the door and slammed it shut.
“Nathan!” Peter yelled out at the edge of a cliff. Nathan reached out for Peter.
“Peter! Peter what is it!” he yelled in anguish.
“Nathan! You gotta help me!”
“Why? Peter what’s wrong!” Peter looked at him sadly.
“I don’t remember how to fly.” Then the cliff crumbled, Peter along with it.
“Peter!”
Nathan sat up and looked over at the woman sitting next to him. “Hey,” he said. Heidi lifted up her head and smiled.
“How you feeling?”
“Much better,” Nathan responded. “What happened?” Heidi frowned.
“You had a minor heart attack,” she said. “They said it was because of stress. Something inside you has been straining your heart.” Nathan looked away from Heidi.
“Peter,” he muttered. He could feel Heidi’s body stiffen.
“No,” she said sternly. “You.” Nathan looked at her confused.
“What?”
“It’s time to get you help Nathan. This has been going on for too long. Three months too long.”
“What has?” Heidi laughed.
“You’re kidding right? All the nightmares and gilt trips and ranting on and on for hours about how he’s haunting you?” She paused and Nathan didn’t know how to respond. “We’re going to get you help Nathan. No one outside the white house will know, but you need it. A president can’t be a good one if he’s crazy now can he.” Nathan smiled.
“I dunno, TR was pretty crazy.”
*Notes!
-Nathan's line 'I don't want the blood to stain your nightgown': Isn't that just what you'd wanna hear from a guy who's going crazy? Seeing as how Nathan is the clam and collected guy he is, I'd figure when he's going crazy, he'd still worry about the same things like apprences. It's creepy that I thought of this stuff. ;)
-Peter's line, "I don't remember how to fly": Reference to Peter Pan. After all, we all forget how to fly at some point. And it's really depressing. Damn that JM Barrie! ;)