Night 51: Entry Room

[buryyourdemons]

[from here]And another room opened up, smaller, with five doors to add to the one he came through. Two seemed to lead to other rooms inside this one. One, would open into the hallway he was in previously. The one across would continue unknown, and on his right there was one. Further from the sun room, as he sought

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[human_sponge]

[From here.]Peter had been half-expecting something to go very wrong the moment he stepped through the door, but it looked like everything was working normally this time around. He let out a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind Claire (he'd rather not be distracted by whatever was going on in the Sun Room) and then realized that they were alone

[autophoenix]

While Peter explained the situation with Nathan, she stepped through the open door, nodding her understanding of what he was saying and appearing generally at ease with the idea. She wasn't, though. Not even close. Not only had she come through and forgot about it time and time again, by Peter's count, but Nathan had too? She was horrified to even consider what either dad would be like if they showed up in this place again. Between the space-time folding on Landel's part and the memory loss, it was a scary thought, especially considering in only four months' difference, Peter was missing out on what felt like so much to Claire

[human_sponge]

The fact that Claire was so appalled by the very suggestion that it was his fault actually made Peter feel a little better. If she thought it was ridiculous, then it probably was. And yet they had had an explanation for all of it. He didn't think Claire wanted to hear the reason, and yet he felt obligated to explain it anyway. "Well, they said that as I started talking to him more and more about my own 'fake' powers, he started to think he had them too..." And there had been something about codependency, but he really didn't need to get into that with Claire

[autophoenix]

"Fake powers," Claire snorted a little at the sheer thought. "Yeah, I wish." Wouldn't that make it so much easier? Did Emma De Luca have the dream life that Claire had always complained about wanting? Were her abilities just delusions of grandeur? Was she normal? The fact that the answer lay behind the door in front of her made her itch with curiosity. No amount of eagerness to get inside could stop her from raising a brow doubtfully as he cracked his knuckles. Usually, when guys pulled that kind of manly, show-off stuff, it ended poorly. Did they have the time for that?

"Don't hurt yourself, big guy," she taunted, handing the bat over. It was easy to be her usual, casually catty self around Peter and ignore the fact that they were stuck in their own tiny little hell dimension. After the words came out of her mouth, she remembered that, for now anyway, he couldn't. Well. Not in any lasting way, anyway. That much was reassuring. As long as she stayed close enough, she could rest assured that Peter was fine. Of course

[human_sponge]

Maybe Claire wished that she could go back to a time where her biggest concern was her upcoming cheerleader practice or what college she was going to go to, but that wasn't the case for Peter. He'd gotten himself into a paying job and it hadn't really done it for him, not entirely. He'd never felt like he'd completely broken out of the Petrelli mold, as much as he'd always tried to distinguish himself. Getting those powers had changed his life, and while they had brought him a whole lot of anguish on top of it all, he couldn't say he regretted it

[autophoenix]

As soon as she was bat-free, Claire backed off a little more to give Peter some room to work. It was pretty funny, seeing him ready the bat like the door was going to suddenly chuck a baseball in their direction, but any humor dissolved quickly when he swung.

Admittedly, Peter looked pretty badass right about now, regardless of the fact that his first swing didn't exactly take the thing off its hinges. It was impossible to hide the impressed look that found its way onto her face in a proud way.

"Look, maybe if we go find something else we could -- " She took a hesitant step forward to stop him, but then he was swinging the bat again and she stopped short, looking surprised when the door handle, rusted and broken already, broke in the middle and fell, making a sharp, clanging noise as it hit the tile and rolled toward them.

"… Nice shot," she complimented. It was lucky, that's for sure, but she wasn't about to question it. Instead, she quirked her head a little to the side. "Shall we?"

[human_sponge]

Success! Peter wasn't quite as shocked as Claire, but that was because he'd had to bust open a few of these doors during his time here. He hadn't even broken a sweat, and the healing meant that he didn't really feel any unpleasant aftereffects in his arms, even. As much as he didn't like forcing Claire into danger, he had to admit that having her around made everything ten times easier. In a place where physical damage was one of the largest threats, a healing girl came in handy.

"Here you go," he said as he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead (despite the lack of sweat; it was really just an automatic thing) and then handed her the bat. He hardly wanted to steal it from her, after all. His shovel had done him rather well thus far, and it was only tonight that he'd accidentally left it behind.

Kneeling down, he picked up his pillow case and flashlight once more and made sure that he was through the door first. While the room looked pretty small, there was no telling what might be lurking inside.

[To here.]