sirenspull_logs | I like it in the city when two worlds collide

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I like it in the city when two worlds collide

WHO: Peter, Claire, and Mr. Muggles
WHEN: January 29
WHERE: A food court in a park, then just ... wandering around said park.
WHAT: Uncle and niece bonding time.
WARNINGS: Spoilers for season 3 of Heroes.

It was impossible for words to describe how happy she was that Peter was still in the city. She had had her doubts that he had left, or worse- been taken by SERO like Shika had. But now that she knew what it would be like for him to leave, she was determined to keep tabs on him better than before. It helped that she was a little older and wiser than when she had first arrived.

First things first, though, and that was updating Peter on everything that had happened back home. A few questions might be direct Peter's way, too, thanks to that one ... fairy thing that told her about his 'meeting' with Sylar. She didn't want to be nosy, but she wanted to be informed. There was a happy medium, right?

She had told Peter where to meet her - the only park in the AGI sector, close by to the office she was currently 'employed' at. It was her day off, and the only day she could actually afford to meet somebody. She was busy with searching for a way off this island, making sure Mr. Muggles was okay, and checking the newsletter from her squad to see if she was needed for any games. So far, her schedule wasn't as hectic as she had imagined it to be. Something told her, however, that it would change eventually.

She was dressed in a simple jacket over a long-sleeved shirt, Mr. Muggles walking happily on his leash in front of her. Her bag was slung across her body, making a clunking noise with every step she took from her NV hitting against the back of her jeans. She spotted the food cart - selling sandwiches that were more expensive but much more filling than the ones in the store a few blocks away - and glanced around to see if Peter was there yet.

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Peter had been intensely busy, though there wasn't much of an explanation for why his work had picked up so ridiculously so. Undoubtedly it had something to do with Peter's hero complex, and his need to save as many people as he could, as often as he could.

He'd officially been here over a year now; they'd passed his birthday for the second time since he'd arrived and he couldn't find the part of him required to make himself care. What would happen when he returned home, would he have those two years back? Why celebrate something that would inevitably just get taken back from him? All of this would get taken back from him, all the people he cared for, all the people he'd grown close to. It didn't make sense, and every time he thought about it, he couldn't stand the whir of confusing thoughts it brought to the forefront of his mind.

Not to mention his difficulties with Sylar, all that had happened over the past few months, the connection between them that Peter had never wanted. All of it had made Peter throw himself into his work like he'd never done before, made his late nights even later by hunting monsters until near sunrise, and losing sleep so regularly that at least once a week he thought he was going to pass out from exhaustion.

But Peter hardly cared, as long as he didn't have to think about everything that was wrong. Still in his scrubs as he walked along the path to the sandwich vender, Peter was already pulling his wallet from his jacket, peeling bills out and preparing to pay for lunch. Though Claire was working, he was still the Uncle, the one who was supposed to take care of her, keep her safe. And Peter knew he'd been failing at that, stuck too far inside his own world to make sure she was doing all right every second of every day.

Giving her a wave and a lopsided smile as he came closer, Peter walked up beside her, already pulling her into a one armed hug. "How've you been?"

Really, Peter? All that time and all she gets is a one armed hug? She sniffed her nose, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. She probably had a little more strength than Peter was accustomed to her having (thanks, Deadpool!), but the hug doesn't last longer than a few seconds. "Better now that I know you're safe." She smiled up at him, her head tilting slightly.

Mr. Muggles sniffed at Peter's feet, barking in greeting and wagging his tail as he looked up at Peter. Claire smiled down at the Pomeranian before glancing back up at her uncle, a mischievous little smile on her lips. It was so weird knowing he wasn't the same Peter she had last seen back home but he was still ... Peter. Time travel concepts were still weird. "How have you been? I'm glad you could peel yourself away from your busy schedule to see me."

While he had the opportunity, Peter offered up as tight of a squeeze as he could, knowing they were the only two in their biological family that actually willingly took hugs. Glancing down at Mr. Muggles who was, as always, overly excited, Peter shook his head in amusement. It was nice to get to have the dog over sometimes, but it was also nice that he and Spike didn't have to keep him all the time. The dog got tiring after awhile.

Lifting his face at Claire's words, Peter sighed a near laugh, giving Claire an apologetic look that he knew he owed her. "Think I made it busier than it needs to be. I should- I need to always have time for you, Claire." Running a hand through his hair, Peter tipped his head towards the sandwich cart. "Can I get you lunch?"

It would be a nice distraction from everything, at the very least. Claire glanced over at the cart when he did, nodding slightly. "Sure. I'll buy next time."

She would make sure there was a next time, even if it meant ducking out of practice or work for him. Never again would she go that long without seeing him. He was the only thing keeping her relatively sane here- if he hadn't been here, who knows how 'off the deep end' she would have gone. At least she had family here, somebody to really rely on. She grinned at him, beginning to walk over to the cart.

He nearly snorted at Claire's comment, walking up to the cart. "If by next time you mean never." Peter wasn't sure he could ever let her pay for his lunch -- it just seemed odd, despite the fact that she had a job. It had nothing to do with the fact that she was a girl either, but she was his niece, and he was meant to take care of her.

Handing over payment for the sandwiches, Peter stuffed his wallet back into his pocket before handing Claire her lunch, making to start walking in some direction so they could chat.

"How've you been?" It was a stupidly open ended question, and Peter knew it, but he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say. And then a second later it clicked, right before he was about to take a bite of his sandwich. Swallowing, he glanced over at Claire, speaking up again, "And i'm sorry it's been so long, Claire. Since we've talked, since i've seen you. I promise it won't happen again."

"Thanks." Well, she wouldn't force him to make her pay. She had a feeling that for her loan payments, she'd need to make sure she did good budgeting. Which she thought she did, despite sucking horribly at that kind of thing. They walked down the single path, the park bustling with people but it wasn't too loud.

"I know it won't." She hesitated before answering his question. "Aside from getting attacked by a weird alternate version of me and getting ingested by some weird monster, fine, I guess." She gave him an unsure glance, her sandwich untouched for now.

"Sylar is dead back home." That was good news, right? She would start at the very end, with the 'good' news, then work her way back and try to explain to him why Nathan had decided to try and round them all up.

That was... more information at once than Peter could properly take in. Sandwich forgotten, Peter simply looked sideways at her, feeling the oncoming rush of guilt that he hadn't been there to help. To save her. To fix things.

But the last thing she said trumped even that. "He's dead?" A look of disbelief was plastered across his face, and wasn't about to leave anytime soon. All he could do was look dumbfounded for another few long moments, wondering exactly what she meant before he finally shook his head, trying to not think about the how's and the why's, and instead trying to read between the lines. Sylar didn't die.

"He was dead here for awhile too." Swallowing thickly, Peter stared down past his sandwich, at the sidewalk beneath his feet. The fact was, that was the start of why he'd gone into hiding in the first place, and it only added to the guilt that had settled in his stomach, making him feel infinitely more incapable.

"I know. Midna told me." And Claire would get that story out of him eventually. Peter couldn't just keep that kind of thing to himself- well, he could, but she'd prefer to stay on the same page with what was happening with Sylar.

"He's really dead." It was still a shock to believe it, but more than a relief. He had ruined her life almost beyond repair. "We all watched him burn to death after you and Nathan fought him."

The fight she was only able to watch through a crack in the door. She waited for his reaction, trying to form up a quick summary of the events that happened back home.

The fact that Midna had filled in Claire shut Peter up pretty quickly as well, rather like the rest of the information that she shared with him.

What else was there to say, really. Peter sure as hell didn't know, and the guilt of what he'd done still sat with him, ran through his mind nearly every night and the fact that Claire hadn't even heard it from made him feel infinitely worse. Not that he wanted to tell her, or anyone else for that matter, but she shouldn't have had to hear it from someone who wasn't him.

Staring rather uncomfortably at his sandwich, he doesn't know why he asks the question he does, but it's the first thing he thinks of as he lifts his face back up. "Does Sylar know?

"I don't know. I haven't talked to him since my first day." She sounded relieved by that. Every day she spent away from Sylar was a good day, for the most part. "I don't think I'll tell him."

But it definitely wasn't out of compassion. She didn't know if he would try to get her ability to be more long-lasting in some way, and she didn't want to even think about it. In her mind, he was capable of anything.

"Is there anything else you're not telling me about what you've done here?" She glanced over at him, a hint of concern in her eyes.

Peter nodded, slowly, fully understanding why Claire wouldn't tell Sylar. It's not like Peter made any kind of an effort to fill Sylar in on things that went on, why would Claire? She had even less reason to.

But it took him a moment after Claire had asked her next question to look over at her, fully digesting what she'd said. Taking a bite of his sandwich, mostly to avoid the question, but also to think, Peter had a years worth of things he could talk about. He could spend the next week filling Claire in on everything he hadn't told her yet, but he knew there were important pieces of information, specific ones he should tell.

Swallowing, Peter cleared his throat, speaking to the distance instead of to Claire for a moment. "I've died twice since being here." ...Alright, that wasn't exactly important, but he was going to get there. He just had to start with something.

Claire decided to keep quiet on her already 'beating' that here. Then again, it was different when she'd come back immediately anyway. Claire looked down at the ground, a slight scowl on her face.

"What happened?" She looked back up at him. At least he was telling her something; she'd interrogate him as the conversation moved along. Claire kept her voice neutral, her eyes searching his face for a few moments.

Peter knew she wanted information, that much was easy to tell. But this was Claire, his niece, who he hadn't even seen for over a year. It wasn't exactly easy to start listing off all the things that had gone on, gone wrong since the last time he'd seen her.

But he had to start somewhere, and it wasn't going to be with what he had for dinner last night; he just had to start slow. As slow as talking about how you died multiple times could go. "First time I was murdered walking home from work -- happens around Valentine's Day around here, there's a killer that gets active. But uh, got the pipe pulled out of my head and I came back. Growing back my heart wasn't that much fun, though."

Clearing his throat, it was this one that would lead to more conversations, Peter knew. But he couldn't avoid it either, so he simply had to lay it all out. "Second time I got kidnapped, ended up being interrogated by some guy. Think he was using some black market void handcuffs so I couldn't use my abilities. Ended up killing me because I wouldn't tell him what he wanted to know." Peter ruffles up his hair, staring at the sidewalk passing under their feet. "Woke up in the middle of a motorcycle wreck that he'd planted. He was gone, handcuffs were gone.. haven't seen him since."

Claire exhaled after she heard about his second death. She didn't want to imagine any further what he must have gone through. Not that his first death here was all that great either.

"What did he want to know?" Her voice was quiet. Her mind was bustling the knowledge of a valentine's day murderer being on the loose as well. She hadn't heard about that, not even from Helen.

Peter was perfectly alright with her not asking any more questions about the torture -- it wasn't exactly something he wanted to live through ever again. But her question made him cringe, noticeably, because he knew what it sounded like.

He knew that by not giving up the information it looked like he was siding with Sylar. He understood that, it hadn't made him feel any better. But he still believed he had more than enough reason to keep his silence.

Clearing his throat, Peter couldn't think of a better way to phrase his answer than to simply say it like it was. "He wanted to know what Sylar's weakness was."

"Why didn't you tell him?" Claire believed there had to be a good reason for it. Peter would never protect Sylar, not after everything's he done. There had to be a good explanation, one that would make sense once he told her.

Claire had gotten into the habit of expecting the worst in people, but there was always an exception for family. She still had some optimism in Nathan turning into the Superman she had always dreamed he would be, even though he disappointed her in Mexico. It was the same with Peter, her uncle, her hero. He would never side with Sylar,become his ally.

To say that Peter didn't exactly like talking about this was an understatement. Because it meant the conversation would lead to places that talking about ended up hurting somewhere deep and insurmountable. And Peter had spent the past few months burying them as deep as they could go. There were parts of this he didn't understand, still didn't want to understand, and Claire was possibly the last person he wanted to talk them out with. Not because he didn't care for her, but because of that reason -- he didn't want her to know about the person he could be, was, had the opportunity to be.

He didn't want to talk about how terrified he was every second, of every day that he might become hat person again.

But this, at least, he could tell. "Because if I told him, he'd go after Sylar, and it'd just be one more person who'd end up dead. I didn't-- I wasn't going to encourage anyone else to go after Sylar. I wasn't going to be the cause of anymore of his deaths." Running a hand through his hair, Peter ducked his face from the sun; there was something about having this conversation in daylight, in a pleasant atmosphere that felt wrong. But maybe it would feel wrong anywhere.

Claire didn't know how to handle this duplicity from Peter. It was a small feeling in the pit of her stomach, but it made her sick. He was protecting Sylar, the monster who ruined her life and has killed countless numbers of people? She took a moment to collect her thoughts, in fear of completely going off on Peter.

"What would it matter? Sylar's death would be good for everybody here." Claire herself had took it upon herself to not stop trying to kill him. Just because he was dead back home didn't mean she would have to stop; he was still alive and dangerous here.

"Because--" Peter grumbled in the far back of his throat, turning his attention away from Claire because there was no way he could explain this. He didn't even know how to explain half of it to himself, how could he go about doing it to Claire? Everything had gotten so muddled, so broken, so wrong that it had flown far past explanation months ago.

But he finally summons up the gusto to continue, to force out the words, even if he knows they won't mak sense. "Because killing him isn't easy, and he doesn't stay dead. That's not how it works around here, and having someone else run off and get themselves killed at his hand? I wasn't gonna a part of it. Claire, you don't get it. You don't know what it's been like here." Rubbing a hand across his face, he had half a mind to tell Claire that he needed to get back to work, that this conversation needed to be over. "It's complicated."

"Everything is complicated." Her nostrils flared slightly. "I'll kill him myself if I have to."

She was determined in this. She didn't care how many times she had to try, she would never give up. That she had promised back home. "Things would be a lot less complicated with him out of the picture."

Having to hear it from Claire too didn't exactly make Peter feel any better. None of this made him feel any better and he finally turned on her, his own irritation rising, though he wasn't entirely sure what he was upset about.

"I tried, okay? I killed him once already, and it didn't do anything. He came back, it made everything worse, and I don't want to be any part of it anymore. I don't want anyone else around him, I don't want you trying to kill him, I don't want anyone getting in his way. He's killed enough people, and throwing yourself at his feet isn't going to help." It wasn't like Peter was trying to use his Uncle-status to tell Claire what to do, but he had more than a few feelings regarding all of this, and he simply wanted it all just to stop.

"Throwing myself as his feet? I've learned enough from Deadpool and Helen to hold my own against him." She inhaled sharply, glaring up at Peter. She was in shock- how could he feel this way about Sylar? Was there something going on between them that she didn't know about?

"Why are you protecting him?"

"I'm not protecting him!"

He knew what it sounded like: that he was in fact trying to keep Sylar safe, but that had nothing to do with it. At least that's what Peter told himself. The only thing he did let himself believe was that he was protecting himself. He was the one who had become Sylar, and had spent the past few months struggling to make sure he never did again.

The only problem was he lost himself in the process. "He's picked up more abilities since he's been here, Claire. And even if you kill him, he won't stay dead. Nobody here does. It's... a fool's errand, he'll just come back. It's not worth it."

"I don't care how many times it takes me. He's ruined my life- he killed my mother, took away my ability to even feel human, and he's a psychopath. I'm not letting him get away with that." It was selfish, she knew, but she also knew that the people in the city would be safer without Sylar there.

Finally, Peter looked away, shaking his head. There was only so many times he could say that Sylar wasn't going to stay dead here before he had to give up, and he crammed his hands into his pocket, going quiet for a few more seconds.

"I get it, I know why you want to kill him. But i'm telling you, it's not going to do anything here." And the fact that he was so much a part of Sylar in this city didn't help.

Rubbing at his face, he took a step to the side, glancing up towards the hospital. Peter was suddenly looking for a way out of this conversation, knowing what was up next was the fact that he'd killed Sylar, helped kill Carrie. That he had his ability, and that everything was wrong. And he simply wasn't sure he could say any of it. Not to Claire. "Hey, y'know, I think I should probably be getting back to work."

"Okay." She hesitated, then stepped forward to give him a goodbye hug. Everything was too complicated here.

No matter his feelings on the matter, Peter pulled her into a tight hug, keeping her close as he practically pressed his nose against her hair.

"I just want you to stay safe," Voice soft so only she could hear, Peter exhaled quietly, giving her an extra squeeze. At the end of the day, he was still her Uncle, and he still wanted her not to put herself into situations where she could end up dead, even if she could heal.

"I know." She mumbled it into his shoulder, closing her eyes and squeezing him back. She pulled away, giving him a small smile. Claire knew, deep down, she could trust Peter. He was reckless, sure, but he always meant well.

He was like the Superman Nathan ~~could~~ would never be.

"Keep out of trouble, okay? And i'll see you soon." He gave her a slight smile back before turning and head on his way back to the hospital, feeling the pit of his stomach churn with indecision. Reckless wasn't the word he'd use to describe the past few months, but complicated, and twisted far beyond any kind of recognition.

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I like it in the city when two worlds collide

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