Fic: Beyond Repair
Title: Beyond Repair
Characters/Pairings: Sylar/Elle
Rating: PG for brains.
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of any of its characters.
Word Count: 713
Spoiler alert: spoilers for episodes 3.08 and 3.11
Summary: There had to be a way to wind her up again, to get her running, to bring her back...
She hadn't screamed, and she hadn't exploded in an electrical maelstrom like last time. She had whimpered a little when she realized what was about to happen, but she didn't shed a single tear. She wasn't going to mourn Gabriel if it was going to make Sylar happy.
So he found his satisfaction another way. After a telekinetic slice, he pulled her skullcap from her head, exposing he gray matter. In the wrinkles of her brain he imagined he'd find the truth about who he was. He gently placed one finger against those wrinkles, tracing them the way he'd trace his finger along the gears of a clock. He was going to find out what had made her tick.
It had been a while since he'd used his power of clairsentience, the ability that Angela Petrelli had so generously given him via Bridget Bailey. He'd used it only one other time on a human being - the living, breathing, immortal Claire Bennet - and he wondered how well it would work on the dead.
It was a rapid influx of knowledge - memories in the form of images, sound bytes, even smells. It was almost more than he could sort out in his mind: the flakes of ashes that singed her nose and cheeks as she escaped from a burning house with her grandmother; the prickly sensation of a needle in her arm, left in there for days; the number of times she told her father she loved him and he replied by simply shutting the door behind him as he left.
He found her first assignment, and he paused, trying to take in as much detail as he possibly could. Here is where he expected to find the truth, and he did - only it wasn't the truth he was looking for. She had saved his life that day, of that there was no doubt - but she had saved him only to push him over the edge. She had admitted it freely to him.
But she had been lying. Sylar faded away as he realized that she had liked him, really liked him, as Gabriel. She had been trying to protect him from his fate all along.
His stomach lurched and the tears in his eyes turned hot. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in so long, not since he'd first met her when she came into his repair shop that day. Guilt. Remorse. Hopelessness. The wretchedness of having broken something beyond the point of repair.
Despite the knot in his gut, he looked once more into Elle's face, her eyes still wide open, and allowed himself to hope. There had to be a way to fix this - he was, after all, a repairman, first and foremost. He had taken her apart and seen how she worked. There had to be a way to wind her up again, to get her running, to bring her back...
He furiously ran back through her memories in his mind, looking for the "on" switch. He hesitated over something Bennet said... something about his ability... the ability to transfer powers from one vessel to another...
He knew, then, what he had to do. He had to give her what he had taken from Claire, the ability to heal, to return from death's precipice. As soon as he realized he could do it, he knew exactly how, intuitively. It would mean he'd never again die to be resurrected; he'd never heal instantly after a wound or injury; he wouldn't be invulnerable.
But he wasn't invulnerable anyway - that was something he'd only just learned. By killing Elle, he'd hurt himself so badly he didn't know that he'd ever recover. By giving her the power to heal, he'd only be sacrificing the physical aspect. He'd have to find a way to forgive himself on his own. He hoped that she'd find a way to forgive him, too.
He traced his finger along the wrinkles in her brain again, gently, carefully, copying what he'd seen in the head of Claire Bennet. She gasped as he pulled his hand away, fitting her skullcap back on. He silently watched bone and skin fuse together, no scar to prove that anything had ever happened.
Elle's expression said otherwise. Tears fell freely from the corners of her eyes now, and she screamed.
Characters/Pairings: Sylar/Elle
Rating: PG for brains.
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of any of its characters.
Word Count: 713
Spoiler alert: spoilers for episodes 3.08 and 3.11
Summary: There had to be a way to wind her up again, to get her running, to bring her back...
She hadn't screamed, and she hadn't exploded in an electrical maelstrom like last time. She had whimpered a little when she realized what was about to happen, but she didn't shed a single tear. She wasn't going to mourn Gabriel if it was going to make Sylar happy.
So he found his satisfaction another way. After a telekinetic slice, he pulled her skullcap from her head, exposing he gray matter. In the wrinkles of her brain he imagined he'd find the truth about who he was. He gently placed one finger against those wrinkles, tracing them the way he'd trace his finger along the gears of a clock. He was going to find out what had made her tick.
It had been a while since he'd used his power of clairsentience, the ability that Angela Petrelli had so generously given him via Bridget Bailey. He'd used it only one other time on a human being - the living, breathing, immortal Claire Bennet - and he wondered how well it would work on the dead.
It was a rapid influx of knowledge - memories in the form of images, sound bytes, even smells. It was almost more than he could sort out in his mind: the flakes of ashes that singed her nose and cheeks as she escaped from a burning house with her grandmother; the prickly sensation of a needle in her arm, left in there for days; the number of times she told her father she loved him and he replied by simply shutting the door behind him as he left.
He found her first assignment, and he paused, trying to take in as much detail as he possibly could. Here is where he expected to find the truth, and he did - only it wasn't the truth he was looking for. She had saved his life that day, of that there was no doubt - but she had saved him only to push him over the edge. She had admitted it freely to him.
But she had been lying. Sylar faded away as he realized that she had liked him, really liked him, as Gabriel. She had been trying to protect him from his fate all along.
His stomach lurched and the tears in his eyes turned hot. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in so long, not since he'd first met her when she came into his repair shop that day. Guilt. Remorse. Hopelessness. The wretchedness of having broken something beyond the point of repair.
Despite the knot in his gut, he looked once more into Elle's face, her eyes still wide open, and allowed himself to hope. There had to be a way to fix this - he was, after all, a repairman, first and foremost. He had taken her apart and seen how she worked. There had to be a way to wind her up again, to get her running, to bring her back...
He furiously ran back through her memories in his mind, looking for the "on" switch. He hesitated over something Bennet said... something about his ability... the ability to transfer powers from one vessel to another...
He knew, then, what he had to do. He had to give her what he had taken from Claire, the ability to heal, to return from death's precipice. As soon as he realized he could do it, he knew exactly how, intuitively. It would mean he'd never again die to be resurrected; he'd never heal instantly after a wound or injury; he wouldn't be invulnerable.
But he wasn't invulnerable anyway - that was something he'd only just learned. By killing Elle, he'd hurt himself so badly he didn't know that he'd ever recover. By giving her the power to heal, he'd only be sacrificing the physical aspect. He'd have to find a way to forgive himself on his own. He hoped that she'd find a way to forgive him, too.
He traced his finger along the wrinkles in her brain again, gently, carefully, copying what he'd seen in the head of Claire Bennet. She gasped as he pulled his hand away, fitting her skullcap back on. He silently watched bone and skin fuse together, no scar to prove that anything had ever happened.
Elle's expression said otherwise. Tears fell freely from the corners of her eyes now, and she screamed.