(no subject)

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie turns away from the little kitchenette's counter, and carries the two mugs of cocoa over to the couch.

"So you think it's helping, then? Cumulatively?"

Comments

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie takes another long sip of cocoa.

"It's like," she starts, and then tries again. "Have you ever done something that you look back on later and say to yourself, I must be an okay person, if I did something like that?"

[thisfatefulhour]

"I think I know what you mean."

[ladyfirestarter]

She nods.

And her smile fades a little, to something more sober. "I didn't want to ask before, with the other kids around..."

[thisfatefulhour]

He sobers in response, eyebrows lifting. "What is it?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"And if you don't want to talk about it, we won't, but --

"What happened with this guy Sylar?"

[thisfatefulhour]

"Ah."

Frowning, he leans back. "He sounded -- he -- echoed. I think that's the only way I can say it. I could hear him -- sensing something? Seeing something?" He shakes his head. "He ticked."

A beat; another.

"I told him I was staying in Milliways by choice, because the alternatives might be worse, and he was furious."

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie frowns. Well, she's been frowning slightly since Charles said the word echoed, but it deepens.

"Furious how?"

[thisfatefulhour]

"He called it imprisonment. And he came towards me -- physically, I mean."

He brushes his hair out of his eyes. "He asked who's hunting me."

[ladyfirestarter]

"Furious ... on your behalf, then?"

Perceptive, Charles said before, but not sympathetic.

[thisfatefulhour]

"No." Slowly -- "More that I would -- give up freedom. That I'd stay at a crossroads. Or maybe that anyone would."

[ladyfirestarter]

She sits back. "Huh."

A pause, and then very gently: "What did you answer him?"

[thisfatefulhour]

He smiles slightly.

"I told him the truth. Nothing."

[ladyfirestarter]

"...By which you mean," she says slowly, "something other than what it sounds like you said."

A beat.

"And the more I think about that, the more disturbing it starts to sound."

[thisfatefulhour]

"It's whistling in the dark," he replies, quiet. "It just happens to be true, as well. That's what they do,

(a rip in the galaxy)

they X. Annihilate."

[ladyfirestarter]

Annihilate. It's the word he used before, when he spoke briefly about who had attacked him and what they would have done. The Enemy, he said. An Echthros.

"What are they?" she asks, low and intent.

[thisfatefulhour]

"Fallen angels."

There's a flash of memory, deja vu, but it's gone before he can hold it.

[ladyfirestarter]

"Demons," she hazards.

[thisfatefulhour]

"Close enough, I think."

[ladyfirestarter]

She nods slowly.

"And you didn't want to tell him that," she observes.

[thisfatefulhour]

"Not particularly, no."

He looks down into his cocoa, turning the mug in his hands.

"It didn't matter much, though. He didn't believe me. And he said -- he said, 'I believe they'll find you.'" Another wry smile. "And it hit home, which was the point."

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie nods, a little tight-lipped.

That wrath on his behalf is stirring again.

[thisfatefulhour]

He catches an edge of it, and looks back up at her.

"I haven't seen him since then -- or heard him."

He's fairly sure he'd hear him a ways away, now.

"It was about a month ago. And I'm less vulnerable, now."

[ladyfirestarter]

"If he bothers you again," she says softly, and doesn't finish the sentence.

[thisfatefulhour]

Firm -- "If he bothers me again, I'll tell Security."

[ladyfirestarter]

"...well, yeah, or you could tell Security."

Charlie's smile is wry, self-directed.