Ficathon-Take My Hand-liam22
Title: Take My Hand
Author: cameroncrazed
Characters: Sylar/Claire, Peter, carnies
Rating: PG (I don’t think I even used in curse words in this one, wow)
Word count: 1857
Spoilers: only if you haven’t seen “Upon This Rock”, “Let it Bleed”, and “Brave New World”
Disclaimer: I soooo don’t own Heroes. Please don’t sue.
Recipient: liam22 - I tried to work in as many of your prompts as I could, I hope you like!
Summary: AU where Claire stayed at the carnival just a little bit longer, and was there when Sylar showed back up. Samuel’s his usual self, Damien meddles where he shouldn’t, and post-“Brave New World” starts with a cuppa hot chocolate and an explanation.
Author’s note: I’ll be eternally thankful to ladyanne525 for all of her hard work betaing this one and for putting up with me :) Cut text comes from “The Tempest”.
“Stay just a day longer, Claire,” Samuel begs and she has to admit one more day won’t hurt anything… He never even sees her hiding in the trailer, Doyle trying to protect her… She looks down at the body, surprised that Samuel had managed to subdue him, suddenly scared of the implications for how powerful Samuel must be… He looks at the tattoo, visibly surprised to see his biggest victim staring back at him, smiling… Samuel grins, and he can hear both the barker and Eli whispering about fate and odd circumstances… Samuel stirs together his special brew, one part alcohol to two parts marijuana to fifteen parts other special ingredients, guaranteed to leave his love birds bewildered and easily led… Taking another big gulp of the sweet drink Samuel had given her, she laughs as Lydia braids her hair and Amanda puts a crown of newly-grown roses on her head… He offers her his hand and she takes it without a second thought and they both smile as Samuel ties their hands together with a red cloth… Lydia cries as she too ties a scarf over Samuel’s handkerchief, followed by Amanda, and Eli… Doyle kisses her cheek, and tells Sylar he’ll kill him if he hurts her… She sits in his lap as they nibble on bread and cheese next to the fire, drinking out of the same glass of wine… The carnies cheer and whistle as he kisses her to the point that she’s dazed… They spin around and around again, no longer caring if they’re dancing to the same rhythm of the pipe and drum being played… He has to pick her up when she can’t stand up anymore, only he stumbles and they both fall to the ground, laughing… Damien stands over the couple, trying his best to reverse some of what Samuel’s done to them… The memories start dancing and swirling around until neither one of them can distinguish fact from strange fiction, strange fact from sheer fiction, and once Damien’s job is done, he carries the girl to her trailer and motions for Eli to take care of the groom…
- - - - - - - - - -
Claire moans and lowers her head to the Formica countertop with a loud ‘kerthunk’. The cup of coffee that Lydia had brought her earlier has done nothing to get her awake and ready to face the day. She’s somewhat nauseated, which is a new feeling for her, and the world seems somehow oddly off-kilter. The sunlight streaming in through the dirty window pane is too bright, and somewhere right outside the trailer, there’s an overly cheerful chirpy bird that she desperately wishes someone would just shoot already.
Someone’s already outside working on breakfast, and the stench of slightly burnt bacon and greasy sausage makes her feel even worse.
Her mouth feels like it’s full of steel wool, and when she licks her lips, she tastes stale cigarettes, beer, salt, and something oddly herbal. She can’t remember drinking or smoking anything, and wonders what in the world happened to her the night before.
Someone knocks gently against the door frame; it must be Samuel since no one else at the Carnival knocks to the rhythm of ‘shave and hair cut, two bits’. She doesn’t bother to look up to confirm that he’s there. “What do you want, Samuel?”
“Ah, I’m just coming to get you, my dear, I thought that you and your new hubby might want to join us for a bite of breakfast. You need to eat, it’ll take care of that hangover.” Samuel smiles at her, and walks away, whistling, not even realizing that she had no memory of the night before.
She just puts her head back down on the table, his words not even registering as she stares as the text message she’d just received.
As soon as she gets over the shock, she grabs her bag and runs out of the door, tears filling her eyes.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sylar awakes when someone throws a bucket of cold water over him. He has no recollection of how he ended up sleeping buck naked halfway under Lydia’s trailer, and he really doesn’t care.
“Here you go, lover boy,” Eli grins as he tosses a pair of pants at him.
He runs his hands through his hair, grimacing when his fingers come back coated in mud and stale beer. “What the hell?”
“Wild night.” Another Eli steps up behind him. “Samuel wants to see you in the house of mirrors once you get dressed.”
A third Eli pops up next to him and sprays him with something before Sylar can stop him.
He takes a sniff and grimaces. “Please tell me that isn’t Axe body spray, Copy Boy.”
“It’s Axe or Lysol disinfectant spray. You reek, and no one is going to want to have to be anywhere near you.”
Sylar swats at the fourth Eli, the one holding his nose.
The first Eli hands him shirt, and it’s only when he’s pulling it on that he notices the new tattoo on his arm. He just stares at it in disbelief. Why did he have Claire Bennet inked on his arm, and how?
Samuel can just wait; he needs answers, and he only knows one person who’d have them. He just has to figure out where she is. Angela had complained about the costs of sending her to Arlington University, and she ought to be in class, so he’ll start there.
- - - - - - - - - -
As Hiro transports them away from the danger Samuel poses, Damien holds tightly to the hands of the children on either side of him, already prepared to remove their memories of the traumatic evening they’ve had as soon as they’re safely away, to protect them.
They land in a large valley, and Damien loves the irony of Samuel’s special place being their safe haven away from him. “Come here, Mandy.” He reaches out for her, and is shocked when she backs away from him, horrified.
“No!” Amanda screams at him as he kneels next to her. “Don’t! I don’t want to forget.”
He can’t understand why on earth she’d want to remember. “Why, child? Let me help you.”
“Because if we forget, then this can happen again. Because you have no right to mess with our heads.” Amanda’s getting more frantic, and everyone’s focused on them.
“She’s right, Damien.” Gail Bowman steps forward, and places her hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “You have no right. I thought you just messed with memories, even though you knew it was wrong, because Samuel told you to. Was I wrong? Are you evil too?”
Damien’s horrified by their words, by what he’s done. He can’t fix everyone, but there are a few people that he’s modified recently that he can fix since they’d put up such a strong mental fight and he’d had to work so hard to maintain his control. He lets go of his hold on them, and just hopes that Sylar won’t hunt him down to take vengeance for what he’d stolen from them.
- - - - - - - - - -
“What the hell does she think she's doing? She's going to change everything." Peter exclaims as he watches Claire climbing up the side of the Ferris wheel.
Sylar looks on, amazed, as his Claire takes the steps necessary to expose them all. "That's right. It's a brave new world." He’s hit with a sudden onslaught of memories, and he can tell by the way her movement slows that Claire can remember now, too. She quickly recovers, and continues her journey.
He puts his arm around Peter’s shoulder as they watch her climb. Peter winces when she throws herself off the top of the ride, but Sylar just beams with pride. She’s amazing, and now the entire world will get to see her as he does.
She gets to her feet, adjusting bones and muscles and tendons, and smiles for the cameras. Her voice carries over the still of the night. “My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number… I guess I’ve kind of lost count.”
Sylar laughs even as all the reporters immediately start screaming their questions at her. He watches until it appears that she’s starting to get overwhelmed, and only then does he nod to Peter and they wade into the fray.
As soon as he can push past the nosy reporters, telling them to go talk to his father-in-law, Sylar wraps his arms around her and hugs her close to him. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Get off of me, you freak!”
Claire shoves him away, and it’s only then that he realizes that neither Noah nor Peter had told her earlier that he’d changed. He holds his hands up as a sign of peace and takes a tiny step back. “It’s a long story, I’m different now, Claire. I’m one of the heroes. Just ask Peter.”
She glances over at her uncle, and Sylar smiles when he sees his best friend nod his head enthusiastically.
“Are you sure, Peter?”
“Yes, he’s ninety percent hero and ten percent pure geek.”
Sylar flips Peter off before turning back to Claire, hopeful. “See, your husband’s not totally evil, princess.”
Claire laughs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yay me, I’m not married to a psycho killer anymore.”
He loves her sarcasm, and the fact that even though she has every reason to be scared of him and not trust anyone who tells her otherwise, she doesn’t run away, just faces her fears head on. “You know, babydoll, the fact that you haven’t divorced me yet shows a complete lack of initiative on your part.” He gently teases her.
"I never thought I would say this, but you're right." Claire laughs. “And I was so busy with school and you pretending to be Gretchen and oh yeah, taking down a carnival of pure evil, and then there was that whole ‘can’t even remember I’m married to you’ thing…”
“Excuses, excuses.” He keeps his voice light so that she’ll know he’s joking.
She frowns for a minute. “Can we get a divorce? I mean, we were handfasted with a dirty handkerchief by a psycho carnie barker in front of a bunch of hippies in a hall of mirrors. Does the government even recognize that as a legal marriage?”
“What are you talking about?” Peter interjects.
“Long story.” Sylar and Claire both say at the same time.
“Okay, that’s freaky. Also, if it’s a long story, Sylar,” Peter gives him a pointed look, “why haven’t I heard it, did you not have time to tell me?”
Sylar just grins. “I forgot. And besides, Petey, you were too busy telling me all about your sordid affairs…”
“Just tell me already, Sylar, don’t make me go get a sledgehammer or shotgun.”
He turns to face Claire. “What is it with your relatives and shotguns, angel? Besides, here? Really? This isn’t the best time.” He gestures at all the reporters milling about. “I don’t want us to end up in the National Enquirer. Let me buy you a coffee, and we’ll tell you all about it.”
“Make it a hot chocolate, and you have a deal.”
“I forgot, the boy scout can’t have caffeine after four p.m.”
He turns to face Claire, and offers her his hand. “Join us? It’s a whole new world out there.”
She takes his offer without a second thought, and he loves her even more for once again leaping without thinking twice.
Author: cameroncrazed
Characters: Sylar/Claire, Peter, carnies
Rating: PG (I don’t think I even used in curse words in this one, wow)
Word count: 1857
Spoilers: only if you haven’t seen “Upon This Rock”, “Let it Bleed”, and “Brave New World”
Disclaimer: I soooo don’t own Heroes. Please don’t sue.
Recipient: liam22 - I tried to work in as many of your prompts as I could, I hope you like!
Summary: AU where Claire stayed at the carnival just a little bit longer, and was there when Sylar showed back up. Samuel’s his usual self, Damien meddles where he shouldn’t, and post-“Brave New World” starts with a cuppa hot chocolate and an explanation.
Author’s note: I’ll be eternally thankful to ladyanne525 for all of her hard work betaing this one and for putting up with me :) Cut text comes from “The Tempest”.
“Stay just a day longer, Claire,” Samuel begs and she has to admit one more day won’t hurt anything… He never even sees her hiding in the trailer, Doyle trying to protect her… She looks down at the body, surprised that Samuel had managed to subdue him, suddenly scared of the implications for how powerful Samuel must be… He looks at the tattoo, visibly surprised to see his biggest victim staring back at him, smiling… Samuel grins, and he can hear both the barker and Eli whispering about fate and odd circumstances… Samuel stirs together his special brew, one part alcohol to two parts marijuana to fifteen parts other special ingredients, guaranteed to leave his love birds bewildered and easily led… Taking another big gulp of the sweet drink Samuel had given her, she laughs as Lydia braids her hair and Amanda puts a crown of newly-grown roses on her head… He offers her his hand and she takes it without a second thought and they both smile as Samuel ties their hands together with a red cloth… Lydia cries as she too ties a scarf over Samuel’s handkerchief, followed by Amanda, and Eli… Doyle kisses her cheek, and tells Sylar he’ll kill him if he hurts her… She sits in his lap as they nibble on bread and cheese next to the fire, drinking out of the same glass of wine… The carnies cheer and whistle as he kisses her to the point that she’s dazed… They spin around and around again, no longer caring if they’re dancing to the same rhythm of the pipe and drum being played… He has to pick her up when she can’t stand up anymore, only he stumbles and they both fall to the ground, laughing… Damien stands over the couple, trying his best to reverse some of what Samuel’s done to them… The memories start dancing and swirling around until neither one of them can distinguish fact from strange fiction, strange fact from sheer fiction, and once Damien’s job is done, he carries the girl to her trailer and motions for Eli to take care of the groom…
- - - - - - - - - -
Claire moans and lowers her head to the Formica countertop with a loud ‘kerthunk’. The cup of coffee that Lydia had brought her earlier has done nothing to get her awake and ready to face the day. She’s somewhat nauseated, which is a new feeling for her, and the world seems somehow oddly off-kilter. The sunlight streaming in through the dirty window pane is too bright, and somewhere right outside the trailer, there’s an overly cheerful chirpy bird that she desperately wishes someone would just shoot already.
Someone’s already outside working on breakfast, and the stench of slightly burnt bacon and greasy sausage makes her feel even worse.
Her mouth feels like it’s full of steel wool, and when she licks her lips, she tastes stale cigarettes, beer, salt, and something oddly herbal. She can’t remember drinking or smoking anything, and wonders what in the world happened to her the night before.
Someone knocks gently against the door frame; it must be Samuel since no one else at the Carnival knocks to the rhythm of ‘shave and hair cut, two bits’. She doesn’t bother to look up to confirm that he’s there. “What do you want, Samuel?”
“Ah, I’m just coming to get you, my dear, I thought that you and your new hubby might want to join us for a bite of breakfast. You need to eat, it’ll take care of that hangover.” Samuel smiles at her, and walks away, whistling, not even realizing that she had no memory of the night before.
She just puts her head back down on the table, his words not even registering as she stares as the text message she’d just received.
As soon as she gets over the shock, she grabs her bag and runs out of the door, tears filling her eyes.
- - - - - - - - - -
Sylar awakes when someone throws a bucket of cold water over him. He has no recollection of how he ended up sleeping buck naked halfway under Lydia’s trailer, and he really doesn’t care.
“Here you go, lover boy,” Eli grins as he tosses a pair of pants at him.
He runs his hands through his hair, grimacing when his fingers come back coated in mud and stale beer. “What the hell?”
“Wild night.” Another Eli steps up behind him. “Samuel wants to see you in the house of mirrors once you get dressed.”
A third Eli pops up next to him and sprays him with something before Sylar can stop him.
He takes a sniff and grimaces. “Please tell me that isn’t Axe body spray, Copy Boy.”
“It’s Axe or Lysol disinfectant spray. You reek, and no one is going to want to have to be anywhere near you.”
Sylar swats at the fourth Eli, the one holding his nose.
The first Eli hands him shirt, and it’s only when he’s pulling it on that he notices the new tattoo on his arm. He just stares at it in disbelief. Why did he have Claire Bennet inked on his arm, and how?
Samuel can just wait; he needs answers, and he only knows one person who’d have them. He just has to figure out where she is. Angela had complained about the costs of sending her to Arlington University, and she ought to be in class, so he’ll start there.
- - - - - - - - - -
As Hiro transports them away from the danger Samuel poses, Damien holds tightly to the hands of the children on either side of him, already prepared to remove their memories of the traumatic evening they’ve had as soon as they’re safely away, to protect them.
They land in a large valley, and Damien loves the irony of Samuel’s special place being their safe haven away from him. “Come here, Mandy.” He reaches out for her, and is shocked when she backs away from him, horrified.
“No!” Amanda screams at him as he kneels next to her. “Don’t! I don’t want to forget.”
He can’t understand why on earth she’d want to remember. “Why, child? Let me help you.”
“Because if we forget, then this can happen again. Because you have no right to mess with our heads.” Amanda’s getting more frantic, and everyone’s focused on them.
“She’s right, Damien.” Gail Bowman steps forward, and places her hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “You have no right. I thought you just messed with memories, even though you knew it was wrong, because Samuel told you to. Was I wrong? Are you evil too?”
Damien’s horrified by their words, by what he’s done. He can’t fix everyone, but there are a few people that he’s modified recently that he can fix since they’d put up such a strong mental fight and he’d had to work so hard to maintain his control. He lets go of his hold on them, and just hopes that Sylar won’t hunt him down to take vengeance for what he’d stolen from them.
- - - - - - - - - -
“What the hell does she think she's doing? She's going to change everything." Peter exclaims as he watches Claire climbing up the side of the Ferris wheel.
Sylar looks on, amazed, as his Claire takes the steps necessary to expose them all. "That's right. It's a brave new world." He’s hit with a sudden onslaught of memories, and he can tell by the way her movement slows that Claire can remember now, too. She quickly recovers, and continues her journey.
He puts his arm around Peter’s shoulder as they watch her climb. Peter winces when she throws herself off the top of the ride, but Sylar just beams with pride. She’s amazing, and now the entire world will get to see her as he does.
She gets to her feet, adjusting bones and muscles and tendons, and smiles for the cameras. Her voice carries over the still of the night. “My name is Claire Bennet, and this is attempt number… I guess I’ve kind of lost count.”
Sylar laughs even as all the reporters immediately start screaming their questions at her. He watches until it appears that she’s starting to get overwhelmed, and only then does he nod to Peter and they wade into the fray.
As soon as he can push past the nosy reporters, telling them to go talk to his father-in-law, Sylar wraps his arms around her and hugs her close to him. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Get off of me, you freak!”
Claire shoves him away, and it’s only then that he realizes that neither Noah nor Peter had told her earlier that he’d changed. He holds his hands up as a sign of peace and takes a tiny step back. “It’s a long story, I’m different now, Claire. I’m one of the heroes. Just ask Peter.”
She glances over at her uncle, and Sylar smiles when he sees his best friend nod his head enthusiastically.
“Are you sure, Peter?”
“Yes, he’s ninety percent hero and ten percent pure geek.”
Sylar flips Peter off before turning back to Claire, hopeful. “See, your husband’s not totally evil, princess.”
Claire laughs and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yay me, I’m not married to a psycho killer anymore.”
He loves her sarcasm, and the fact that even though she has every reason to be scared of him and not trust anyone who tells her otherwise, she doesn’t run away, just faces her fears head on. “You know, babydoll, the fact that you haven’t divorced me yet shows a complete lack of initiative on your part.” He gently teases her.
"I never thought I would say this, but you're right." Claire laughs. “And I was so busy with school and you pretending to be Gretchen and oh yeah, taking down a carnival of pure evil, and then there was that whole ‘can’t even remember I’m married to you’ thing…”
“Excuses, excuses.” He keeps his voice light so that she’ll know he’s joking.
She frowns for a minute. “Can we get a divorce? I mean, we were handfasted with a dirty handkerchief by a psycho carnie barker in front of a bunch of hippies in a hall of mirrors. Does the government even recognize that as a legal marriage?”
“What are you talking about?” Peter interjects.
“Long story.” Sylar and Claire both say at the same time.
“Okay, that’s freaky. Also, if it’s a long story, Sylar,” Peter gives him a pointed look, “why haven’t I heard it, did you not have time to tell me?”
Sylar just grins. “I forgot. And besides, Petey, you were too busy telling me all about your sordid affairs…”
“Just tell me already, Sylar, don’t make me go get a sledgehammer or shotgun.”
He turns to face Claire. “What is it with your relatives and shotguns, angel? Besides, here? Really? This isn’t the best time.” He gestures at all the reporters milling about. “I don’t want us to end up in the National Enquirer. Let me buy you a coffee, and we’ll tell you all about it.”
“Make it a hot chocolate, and you have a deal.”
“I forgot, the boy scout can’t have caffeine after four p.m.”
He turns to face Claire, and offers her his hand. “Join us? It’s a whole new world out there.”
She takes his offer without a second thought, and he loves her even more for once again leaping without thinking twice.