Empathy: A Two-Part Fic
Part one:
Title: Visit
Characters/Pairings: Gabriel/Sylar, Kate (OC), Hiro
Rating: PG
Warnings: A few colorful words. Sylar attempting a brainectomy.
Spoiler alert: Spoilers up to and including Fallout.
Summary: Gabriel visits an old friend, unaware that she has an ability.
He anxiously fiddled with his glasses as he waited for her to answer the door. It had been too long since he'd seen her, and he felt guilty already under the circumstances.
Slowly, the door opened.
"Gabriel, hi!" His best friend smiled, somewhat nervous. "Come in!"
"Hi, Kate," he murmured as he followed her inside. Her apartment was exactly what he would have expected. Too many books and the smell of food cooking greeted him, as they had the last time he had visited. "I'm sorry it's been so long, i haven't even seen my mom yet, i've been traveling lately, and a lot has been happening..." Damn it, he thought. I'm already babbling.
"You're always welcome to visit, you know that!" She gestured to the couch, where he folded into sitting. His hands worked against each other on top of the box in his lap. She didn't need her new-found ability to tell her that he was extremely anxious about something. What the extremely sensitive empathy did tell her was that he was terrified. "What have you been up to?" She returned from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee, each made perfectly. "I've been by the shop a few times, i found a book that you'd like. But you haven't been there for six months."
"I know, Kate, i'm sorry. I-" He stared miserably at the tea, neglected on the table. "What if i told you-I mean, i'm still the same person, but-"
The ticking. God, the ticking. Gabriel blinked in confusion, but heard Sylar whispering. He looked at her face and saw the difference. "You-you're-"
The ticking and whispering overwhelmed him as he tried to stand, to run, to get out of there before he couldn't control himself. He met the floor with a thud.
"Gabriel!" Kate could feel him stirring, could feel his anxiety building up as his eyes opened. The viciousness that had overwhelmed Gabriel before was still faintly there, she knew it. But Gabriel was stronger, she hoped.
"Kate?" Gabriel sat up, then stopped. "Oh, God, my head...What happened?"
"I don't know," she said through her tears. "Gabriel...What was that?"
He heard her tone, looked at her, and his heart ached. "Kate, i have to get out of here. It isn't safe for you. Sylar-he'll hurt you. But he'll be me when he does. Katie, i can't do that to you."
"What do you mean, Gabriel? Who's Sylar?"
"He's me. He's evil. I'm evil, Katie, i've hurt people like you-like US." He grabbed her arm as she recoiled. "I know, Katie, that you can feel what i'm feeling, and Sylar wants it. He wants it like he wanted the memory, and the ice, and the telekinesis. I can't let him hurt you, Katie. Not you, not Mohinder. I can't hurt you, but i want to. You have to leave New York, don't call me, don't visit my mom. I know, it isn't fair to you, but you'll be alive."
Kate pulled away. She watched and felt as Gabriel changed, from her sweet, anxious best friend to an angry, lustful, dangerous murderer. The gleam in his eye as he started to stand chilled her to the bone.
"Too late, sweet Katie." Sylar's voice, face, everything was so like Gabriel, but twisted. He advanced towards her, the menace clear in his stance. As he lifted his hand level to her forehead-
"That was close," she heard a man say. She turned to see a man drop his hand from her shoulder. He pushed up his glasses.
"I'm sorry," he said to her, politely. His accent-Japanese? was light and she felt his kindness. And his sadness. "We almost didn't make it to you in time."
"Who are you?" She felt exhausted, dizzy, overwhelmed. He extended his hand again, this time to steady her. "Where am i? And what the hell just happened?"
Part two:
Title: Escape
Characters/Pairings: Kate (OC), Hiro, Ando, Claude
Rating: PG
Warnings: A few colorful words.
Spoiler alert: Spoilers up to and including Fallout.
Summary: Hiro has rescued Kate, at the "request" of Claude.
"Sylar tried to kill you," he replied. "The invisible man stopped me and told me to save you."
"Wait a second. I think I'm going to pass out." Kate sat on a park bench. "Okay. Starting over. Who are you?"
The man hesitated, startled. "My name is Hiro Nakamura. I froze time and teleported you out of the room with Sylar."
"Okay. Hiro. I'm Kate Harris. You mean, you can stop time?" Kate's head had stopped spinning, but she still felt woozy. He, she noticed, felt anxious and nervous. He nodded and sat down next to her. "What's this about an invisible man? And why have you and Gabriel both mentioned Sylar?"
Hiro frowned a bit. "The invisible man stopped me and Ando while we were following Sylar to stop him from blowing up New York City. I didn't see him. I don't know who Gabriel is. But I think Sylar kills people who are special."
Kate tried to keep from replying to Hiro's statement about not seeing the invisible man. "Okay. So you stop time. I'm an empath. Gabriel-he changed. I think he's Sylar." Kate saw and felt Hiro recoil. "If you have to stop Sylar, then you have to stop Gabriel, right?"
"I don't know." Hiro's attempted courage was wavering. "You-Gabriel was your friend?"
"He was." Kate saw the tear stains on her jeans, unaware that she had been crying. "But he isn't completely evil. Gabriel, I mean. He tried to warn me."
Hiro swore in Japanese. "I don't know what I can do. To prevent Sylar from blowing up New York, I have to kill him. I saw what will happen in the future if I don't. People will die. People like us will be in prison. I have to."
"I know." Kate did know, somehow. "You have to go, Hiro. Stop him."
Hiro stood, sad but determined. "If this could happen another way..." He paused, then looked at her. "Wait here, for two days. I will have someone find you. If I succeed, you will both return to New York."
"Okay." Kate noticed a newspaper stand, declaring the date as November 7, and her location as Montreal.
Hiro tried to smile, then closed his eyes. He vanished before Kate could acknowledge what had happened.
"Well done, lad," Hiro heard the sarcastic British man again. "You probably have no idea how much of a difference you've made. Where did you take her?"
"Mr. Invisible Man," Hiro stammered. "I took her to Montreal. Who is she? I don't remember her in the future."
"That, my dear boy, really doesn't concern you. She's safe, and that's what I care about." Hiro jumped as he saw a ragged man appear in front of him. "Ha, now you know what everyone else does when you just show up. What did you tell her?"
Hiro glanced to where Ando still stood, frozen, with the rest of time. He could see Sylar through the window, in the room where Kate had stood moments earlier. "I told her that Sylar was going to explode, and that he killed a lot of people."
"Good boy. What else?" The lanky man nodded, staring at Hiro intensely.
"That an invisible man told me to save her, and to stay in Montreal for two days." Hiro glanced at Ando again. "I told her that I'd send someone to her then, and not to come back to New York until after he arrived."
"Two birds, one stone," the man nodded. "You intend to take your friend out of the picture during the confrontation, then. Smart lad. Better off on your own." He turned and started walking briskly.
"Wait! Who are you?" Hiro was surprised at his own boldness.
The man turned, grinning devilishly. "Claude Rains, of course." Claude turned back and disappeared.
"Hiro, did you change something?" Ando asked, noticing that Hiro stood a few paces ahead of him.
"What? Oh, it's nothing." Hiro started to walk forward, Ando beside him.
"Hiro!" Ando stopped him. Not six feet ahead of them, Sylar had emerged from the building, carrying a box.
"Oh shit," Hiro swore, just as Sylar turned towards them.
Claude Rains, or so he called himself, hated traveling. But he knew that he had to get to Montreal. He had spent fifteen years making sure Kate Harris was safe, and wasn't about to let anything change that.