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No one is really sure how it happened, exactly. But it all happened so fast. One minute Peter and Nathan were walking down the hall, trying to find where Sylar was keeping Claire and the next...nothing. Nathan was face down on the floor, and there was blood everywhere, and standing behind them, holding the literal smoking gun, was Danko.
Peter barely hesitates over his brother's body before he's lunging after his killer, rage fueling his actions, but it's to no avail. Several government agents appear, grabbing on to him and holding him back.
"You son of a bitch!" Peter screams, struggling to get free, and Danko just smiles and holsters his gun.
"It had to be done. You know that."
The agents pull Peter away. Elsewhere in the building, agents break down the door where Sylar is holding Claire. He takes one look at them and holds up his hands, exploding a ball of telekinetic energy, temporarily distracting them so he can get away. As soon as they're back on their feet, all that's left in the hotel room is one Claire Bennett, looking confused but otherwise okay. They quickly storm in to grab her, too.
That night, everyone on the premises with abilities are locked up in a secure prison, hooked up to drugs to incapacitate and keep the prisoners from escaping. But what Danko and his agents didn't expect, however, would be the fact that their #1 most wanted special would blow the doors off the place and, with the help of one Noah Bennett and Micah Sanders, set loose all the people with abilities.
Once Noah has Claire and the others are let loose to find their own way back, Sylar takes one look at groggy Peter Petrelli and promptly pulls him into a fireman's hold. He searches the empath for Nathan's flight ability and finds it quickly, allowing him to make his escape before the guards become aware of their presence.
When Peter wakes up several hours later, he's strewn across some ugly motel bedspread in what he can only assume to be Buttfuck, Nowhere. He sits up and catches Sylar, sitting on the other bed, watching him, and promptly tries to flee, but the sedatives are still lagging in his system and he stumbles.
"Careful," Sylar is saying, standing up and helping Peter sit back down. Peter eyes him suspiciously.
"Why are you helping me?" he asks, and for a long moment, Sylar doesn't speak, just keeps watching Peter's face, before he shrugs.
"I'm...not sure. Maybe I didn't want to see my greatest rival get killed."
Peter snorts, reaching up a hand to rub haphazardly at his forehead.
"Yeah, sure. So you can kill me yourself, right?' When the other man doesn't reply, Peter sighs and looks towards the window. "Where are we, anyway?"
"Somewhere in Idaho."
Peter is incredulous.
"You brought me all the way to Idaho? Why?"
"Distance between us and them. The sooner we move again, the safer we'll be."
"We?" Peter echoes this with even more confusion. How is it that someone who was actively trying to kill him before was now helping him escape the government? As if reading his mind, Sylar replies,
"You came back for me at Pinehearst, even without powers. I feel like I owed it to you."
He doesn't mention the fact that they were under the illusion they were related, or that things have changed since then. He just nods his head once and turns towards a small table, which was covered in a few grocery bags.
"I got some food and basic supplies. We can stay here for a little while until you get your strength back, but after that, we should make our way towards the border, get out of the country."
"Which border?"
"Doesn't matter. Just anywhere we can put distance between us."
It seems like a decent plan to Peter, and the rest of the day passes with some makeshift first aid, cold food and restless pacing. When it gets late enough, Peter doesn't even realize how tired he is until he's fallen asleep during some late night talk show.
He dreams of Nathan and wakes with a heart wrenching scream. He hasn't he realized he's been crying until he feels the stiffness on his cheeks and then, almost unbelievably, there are warm arms wrapping around him and he lets himself cry, cry for the brother he's lost and how fucking unfair this is. He vaguely recalls saying things in his grief, mostly how much he wants to get revenge on the man who killed Nathan, and it's not until he's tired himself out again and safely sleeping that Sylar makes his move.
The next morning, when Peter wakes up to the sound of a garbage truck outside, he looks and sees Sylar fast asleep in his own bed and a Polaroid picture on his nightstand. Peter flips it over and almost yells out in surprise, only to cover his mouth at the last minute.
The picture is of Danko's body, skull cut open and blood everywhere. Written on the white part at the bottom is a simple message: I did this for you, Peter.
He looks at the slumbering man and wonders briefly it was the right thing to do. Unfortunately, his sense of moral justice is squashed by his desire for revenge, and he realizes that maybe, just maybe, Sylar wasn't so bad after all.
Many, many days later, as they're working their way through Canada in an attempt to throw off their pursuers, Peter turns and studies the man walking next to him.
"Thank you," he says, and Sylar's mouth curves into a careful, guarded smile.
"You're welcome, Peter."
Despite the loss of his brother, his friends and his life, Peter can't help feeling that he at least has one thing to keep him afloat in this crazy new world, and even if it's an ex-serial killer with daddy issues, he somehow knows that the other man has his back now. He may not be able to do much, but he does what he can. They help each other, in more ways than one.
When a year has passed since Nathan's death, and the two of them have managed to live in relative peace tucked away in the Great White North, Peter realizes he's fallen in love with his friend.
"Nathan would have wanted me to be happy," he tells Sylar, and the man in question just watches, unsure of what to say.
"Are you happy, Peter?"
Peter wants to say, As happy as I'll ever be, but instead, he just reaches across and links their fingers together, and the last few rays of light as the sun disappears behind the mountains, plunging them into darkness. Despite what the metaphor of it all might imply, Peter has never felt a beginning as hopeful as this, and that's just fine.