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He'd done it again! It'd been centuries. Centuries! Since he last opened her up and meddled with her brain. And now it had happened again. The first time, he'd taken, stolen from her. Stole the secret to her power, so he could live forever. Every time after that he left her a "gift", a power he'd ripped from someone else's head.
This time, she could hear him in the next room, waiting for her to wake up.
Sylars heartbeat was steady. He was as calm as ever. Nothing phased him. Claire heard him chuckle at the spike in her heartbeat.
"Hello cheerleader, fun little trick, isn't it?" he whispered, so far away she shouldn't have been able to hear him. Now, she heard everything. The hum of a world buzzing with people and light. The door creaked open. Sylar sauntered into the room, looking like nothing was wrong, like he hadn't shown up here, ruining her eternity. Again!
"Sylar" she snarled, his smug face still haunted her, here it was again. Electricity sparked from her fingertips, her anger chipping away at her control, at her need to make him burn for his past sins.
Sticking her to the wall with his telekinesis, Sylar held her forcefully in place.
“Now now Claire-bear, is that any way to treat a guest.”
“Get out of my house Sylar, get out of my life!”
“You can’t control me Claire! I’ll be in your life for all eternity, might as well learn to live with it. That’s what you do best, isn’t it Claire? Living.” Sylar laughs derisively. “But not having any fun. Goody two shoes Claire Bennet, who takes the world sooo seriously. I could teach you how to have fun…” His mocking smile returned as he let her drop from the wall.
This was an old game between them. Sylar would teach her how to use his gifts. How to use them to fight. The immortal hero and her immortal villain. Good and bad. A fight without end.
“Alright Sylar, you want a fight? You’ve got it!” Claire was smirking as she moved toward him. His angelic warrior. She was the only one he would ever consider his equal. The only person worthy of him. But he knew he was not worthy of her. He would always be tainted in her mind.
“Hyah!” Claire’s shout shocked him from his thoughts, giving him enough time to send the ice spike flying for his heart into a nearby painting. Sylar turned back in time to see Claire throw a stream of electricity towards him. It charged through his body, energy pumping he flings the wardrobe in her direction. Her arm comes up, disintegrating the object before it can touch her. Sylar laughs, “Come on cheerleader, you can do better than that.” A fire bomb comes hurtling towards him, with Claire advancing, ever the fierce lioness,
behind it. It always came down to this, no powers, just fists.
Claire got tired of being the victim long before Sylar ever started sharing his acquired abilities with her. She was indestructible, but she possessed no offensive powers of her own.
So she learned to fight back, perfected it over decades of training and solitude. Until he found her, brought her back to the world. Now she taught it to him, in every blow she landed. His eyes traced her body as she threw herself towards him, putting every bit of her strength behind her punch, pupils dilated as adrenaline flooded their bodies, sweat beading. Claire can hear it; can hear the way their heartbeats have synced, the residual electricity crackling in the enclosed space. She leans back as Sylar sends a right hook singing towards her, whistling through the air. A series of retaliating jabs at his abdomen, driving him into the wall. As he falls to his knees, the physical strain overwhelming, she aims a kick at his head.
His hand comes up to grab her ankle, halting it in its trajectory.
“You know I love our little arguments, I really do, but it’s becoming tedious. You’re predictable.” He spits blood out of his mouth and smiles wolfishly at her. “I think it’s time we break the pattern, don’t you?”
Then she feels it, the ghost of an icy tendril from his hand, wrapping around her ankle. She gasps at the feel as he begins to explain.
“I’ve been experimenting recently, testing my limits, figuring out the intricacies of my abilities. Freezing water has always been easy. Learning to freeze water vapour was a tad more difficult.” His predatory gaze looks up at her from where he kneels before her. The cold feeling rises, ghosting up the inside of her calf, raising goosebumps along her warm skin, still sweaty from their spat. “What’s wrong Claire, cat got your tongue?” Uncertainty flashes through him “or do you need a moment to…. Catch your breath?” His voice still rings with bravado but he reigns back his power. Claire is shocked to hear a whimper escape her at the loss of it, the loss of his cold touch.
It's been a really long time since Claire felt anything. Sylar is the last living reminder of her previous life, her “normal” life. With each passing decade she forgets a little bit more about them, her family, and while she’d hated him for poking around in her brain, hundreds of years had dulled that hatred. Now he was the embodiment of her nostalgia, the last memoir she has, and it may be desperation, but she was glad for him, her one constant person, she was glad that he always came back to her. The only person she could spend forever with was in front of her, on his knees begging her forgiveness for sins committed all those years ago, in his own strange way. And she finally felt ready to give it to him.
She looked upon his face, the familiar hunger, always hunger, that lingered in his eyes. She saw something she’d seen upon his face before. A waver in his bold smile. She’d never seen the great Sylar nervous before.
Taking his hand, she helped him stand, offering Sylar her sweet smile. “Ok.” He hears her whisper. And as the villain steals the heroes heart, Claire Bennet learns to live again.