Five Years Gone (Paire) Part 2/?
Title: Five Years Gone
Author: summer_cities (linking not working!) aka sarahliz1624 aka Sarah
Rating: Will most likely be M or MA, but for now it's T. There will be warning before an up in the rating and there will be a kiddie - friendly version.
Pairing: Peter/Claire
Summary: Five years after the bomb destroys New York, Peter and Claire have moved on with their lives, both believing that the other is dead. AU but they are still related.
Spoilers: All of Season 1.
Reviews: Much appreciated. Positive AND Negative are lovely. Thank you!!
PS: You DON'T have to be a Heroes fan, or have even seen Heroes, to enjoy this. Just be sure to watch the trailer first.
You can also see the trailer here. I suggest you watch it first so as not to be confused and to get a taste of what is to come. Now, on with the fic!!
Part One
Peter Petrelli
November 8, 2011
Loud music blared from the speakers at one end of the nightclub while scantily clad, barely legal girls danced on raised platforms throughout the room. Couches and comfortable chairs filled the space, all pointed towards the main stage, of course. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, giving the room a sultry glow. Half naked waitresses waltzed around, taking orders from both the creepy guys who were just there for a good time and those more… serious customers. Men would order whatever they could think of for an opportunity to stare down a young woman’s bra. If there was one thing that the ‘Raven’ could say about its patrons it was that they were thirsty. To any visitor or passerby this place would look like nothing more than what it was: a pricey strip club where women were ogled at by twenty guys wishing for a piece of what they could never have. To the regulars it was paradise - a place where the proprietor was never around and they were free to do as they pleased.
To the owner, Peter Petrelli, it was hell. A prison designed for only him; punishment for his past transgressions.
Peter sat at the bar on the back side of the club, just as he did night after night, invisible to the world. He was preparing to watch the ‘main attraction’ take the stage; his girlfriend, Niki Sanders, was a dancer for him at the club and was by far the most popular woman he had there.
A voice blared out over the music. “And now, on the center stage gentlemen, please give it up for the main event, Jessica!”
He groaned at himself in disgust. Five years had passed, and in that time he had gone from a respectable position as a hospice nurse to little more than a pimp. He paid girls to dance on stage and take their clothes off. He’d even made his girlfriend a part of the show. Peter sighed. It made him angry.
More than that, it made him sad. His cold hard exterior never faltered, but inside he could still feel a small piece of his former self - the Peter Petrelli that no one had seen for a very long time. In five years everything had changed. Peter buried his face in his hand, rubbing the uneven texture of his scar with his fingers. It was funny; he barely noticed that it was there anymore. Niki liked it. She thought it made him look dignified. Peter thought it made him look old.
He was only 31. Five years were gone - and in that time he felt he had aged fifty.
Scanning the room quickly Peter noticed Hiro Nakamura sitting on the far right side. Peter growled under his breath. ‘If it hadn’t been for Hiro and his meddling, maybe none of this would have happened in the first place.’ he thought. Peter had half a mind to go over to him and tear his head off for coming back like this, but when he glanced back at the stage he knew that Niki had seen him too. He’d let her handle things. She’d promised that she would take care of everything.
“Right now we’re watching live footage of the President approaching Marine One for his trip to his home state, New York.” the announcer stated. Peter’s ears perked up and he turned his attention to the television. His brother, the President, was on the screen, approaching a helicopter on the White House lawn. He let out a dry chuckle at the irony of Nathan flying in a helicopter. Peter wondered if he found it to be a waste of time. Wouldn’t it be faster to just fly to New York himself? Although it was difficult to picture thousands of people looking on as the President of the United States yelled “Up, up, and away!” before propelling himself skyward.
The humor of the moment quickly dissipated as the screen changed to a picture of Gabriel “Sylar” Grey.
It had been five years since a nuclear bomb had wiped out half of New York City. That was the day Peter lost everything. Nathan, his own brother, had betrayed him, at the behest of their mother, his own kind were being hunted, considered ‘dangerous’ because of one lunatic; Niki’s son had even been killed in the blast, along with countless others.
Along with Claire.
It had been five years since the world had gone to hell, and everyone felt it necessary to commemorate the anniversary. It felt too celebratory for Peter’s taste, like attending a funeral for one person on the same day year after year. On the television, underneath video of the aftermath were the words ‘America Remembers’. Peter sighed. No one remembered better than he did.
Peter turned his head to watch as his girlfriend approached the bar, leaning up against the counter and resting one long leg on the barstool next to him. He knew she was aware of his company but chose to remain out of sight until he had the privacy in which to reappear.
“How were the receipts tonight, Marco?” she asked the bartender. The man poured two glasses of liquid and placed them both in front of the blonde. She picked one up and brought it to her lips.
“It was a good night, ma’am.” he replied.
“Good.” Niki murmured before taking a sip. She kept quiet for a moment, feeling a pair of eyes watching her. She slid the other glass down the bar, sitting down as Peter materialized. “You don’t have to be here.” she told him. Peter glared at her with his stony eyes, lifting his glass and downing the strong liquid. Peter had never been much of a drinker, but recent circumstances had changed that fact. “I told you that I can handle it.” she assured. Peter nodded towards the door.
“What’d he want?” he asked, an angry scowl on his face. The scar made him more menacing, he decided, which helped when there was an over zealous customer he needed to intimidate. He trusted Niki to take care of things for him. After all, he couldn’t risk too much exposure, but he couldn’t hide his curiosity as to why the short Japanese man had returned to him after all this time.
“What do you think?” she retorted, watching Hiro as he strode out the door. “He’s still trying to stop an exploding man.”
“Sylar’s dead.” he snapped.
“I sent him off to Bennet, just let him deal.” Peter’s head shot up in her direction at the sound of that name. Claire’s father, Noah, had trusted him to keep his daughter safe, and now she was gone, just like everyone else in the city. Claire was standing next to Peter when the bomb went off. He knew that Claire could regenerate - that was her curse - but there was no way she could have survived incineration. There wouldn’t have been anything left to regenerate.
Peter closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to physically shake his thoughts away. It had been five years, there was no use dwelling on the past. Although it seemed that was what everyone else was going to do. He looked back to the T.V. screen. Niki followed his gaze, but as soon as Sylar’s face appeared she looked away with a pained expression. She couldn’t stand to stare at the face of the man who had killed her little boy. Peter understood this. He took the last swig of his drink as he stood, using his telekinesis - one of his many abilities - to unplug the distasteful broadcast. Niki threw him a thankful look before standing slowly and heading back to her dressing room without another word. Peter watched her drift away, and as soon as she was out of sight he disappeared once again.
Five years was certainly a long time, but it didn’t make the pain of losing the one you loved any less raw. Part Three