Claire's Fututre

Seated comfortably in the red armchair in Claire's elegantly well-furnished living room, I slowly drank the delicious steaming cup of milk tea held firmly in my hands, my eyes trained on the Channel Five morning news playing on the television screen; the conversation I had with Peter last night couldn't help but vividly replay in my head.

Apparently, future Hiro told Peter, who was at the time on a train, that I should kill Sylar—something that was kind of already a consensus, so to speak. The crazy thing is, he said something else, something very unsettling.

He apologized, apologized about Claire. He said what happened to her wasn't my fault. Now, you see, this could mean anything, a whole lot, given its ambiguity. But the tone Peter conveyed when he said it narrowed the likely explanations down to just two.

One, she was either catatonic or in a coma, and two, she was dead, like the completely dead, never to rise again kind of way.

As much as I hated it, I was leaning on the latter because the former and the rest of the reasons didn't seem like things that would require someone to apologize since they were all problems I could fix one way or another.

For example, she couldn't get sick, scarred, or have any long-lasting injuries, so everything related to that was out of the picture. If she was medically insane or had any mentally related issues, worst-case scenario, future me would've made Matt Parkman or any other telepath, even the Haitian, strip it out or erase it out of her mind.

These were the only viable possibilities I could think of; the rest were largely inconsequential. The sun was more likely to explode than any of them ever happening.

But, despite me trying not to think of it, one glaring and scaring possibility kept racing through my mind: that she died.

Normally, I would've denied the notion of Claire dying, but ever since my mind got enhanced, I could remember more and more things I'd forgotten about the plot and the characters, especially her.

And one thing I could vividly recollect was the tiny weakness of her cellular regeneration superpower. She had a microscopic spot in her brain that acted like an inhibitor to her power.

Meaning, if that spot was stimulated or affected, her power would be inactive, and she could essentially be able to die. This thought had occupied my entire mind during the night, making me unable to sleep since my mind began calculating every possible way that could've happened.

The annoying part about all this was, Future Hiro didn't say anything else, anything I could use as a point of reference to pinpoint the exact way she would or could die. The thought alone chilled and terrified me to my bones, and even from dawn to now, one single question still hung in my mind.

...Was I going to lose her?...

Suddenly, I heard footsteps slowly descending down the stairs, breaking me out of my thoughts. Turning to glance behind me, I caught sight of Claire's hair and turned back to down the rest of the cream tea, standing up to waltz right into the kitchen.

Mrs. Bennet was in there, cooking up some food, wearing an apron. I placed my empty but warm mug on the kitchen counter near the kitchen's entrance and wiped my lips with a napkin as Claire reached the bottom of the stairs.

She had on bright blue tight denim jeans that highlighted her figure, a gray-colored long-sleeved graphic t-shirt that brought out the color of her eyes, a pair of black and white sneakers, her blonde hair was styled in beach waves with her pink lips glossed. Her brown bag hanged from her shoulder.

When our eyes met, we beamed at each other at almost the same time, and she immediately advanced towards me.

"Hi."

"Hey," We both greeted when she came near me, and I whispered a question to her with a smile. "Are you ready?"

"Totally," She nodded eagerly, practically glowing in excitement. "Had to shower twice because of the excitement."

"...Right, and once again, I did not need to know that." I raised my eyebrow at her and gave her a weird look.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just so excited," She apologized, chuckling ashamedly. "I'm going to finally meet my real mom. Can you believe it!?" She added, almost squealing in joy.

"...No, no, not at all. After all, it's not like I'm the one who found her for you," I remarked sarcastically, rolling my eyes as I folded my arms beneath my chest.

Yesterday night, before she left my house, I surprised her by giving her information about her real mother, from where she and Claire first stayed to even the phone numbers of her possible relatives.

I remembered where she was and even the circumstances behind her separation from Claire based on my memories of the show, but I had to make it convincing, so I did a targeted search on the internet—like the mysterious fire that burned down their house and supposedly both of them in nineteen ninety-nine, etc, and compiled the results into a report.

This was something I'd done long before she even decided on meeting her. I was going to use it for one of the series of plans I'd concocted in the past week, and for it to work, I needed Claire's help.

Luckily, she made the proposal before I could, making it a whole lot easier for me. I didn't have to 'convince' her to do it.

So, that night, she called her mother using her phone number, which I was able to get, and they scheduled a meeting for today, Saturday. We were going to meet her at Kermit, where her home or trailer was, and I was her appointed designated driver.

Obviously, she couldn't tell her parents the truth so what she came up with was that she was going to see Manatees in an aquarium in the next two towns, for a science project she was working on.

She even got tickets of the Aquarium as proof, tickets she secretly printed with her dad's printer using a template online. They bought the lie and according to her even showered her with praise, something she very much enjoyed.

...Sometimes, it was like I didn't even know her anymore...

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Thanks for the millionth time," She chuckled, waving her hand dismissively, and then turned her body to face her mother, who had stepped towards us with a gentle smile on her face. "Hi, mom." She greeted warmly, with a wave.

"Hi sweetie. Aww, look at you. All dressed up to see some fishes," She said and cooed motherly with a smile as she paused near us, one hand on her aproned hip while the other touched Claire's right cheek. "My Claire all serious and ready to learn. Aww, you're so cute. Isn't she Xander?" She glanced at me with a smile and asked as she gave the cheek a soft little squeeze.

"Yes, Mrs. Bennet. She's so cute," I nodded in agreement, barely keeping myself from laughing at the sight of Claire's annoyed squishy face. "Sometimes it feels like I'm watching her grow up all over again." I faked a sniffle, and Mrs. Bennet giggled while Claire flashed me a forced smile and secretly kicked my shin.

"Very mature Claire," I hissed as I rose my leg and caressed my shin at the slight pain, narrowing my eyes at her. "...So mature."

"Don't be salty. I'm not all grown up yet remember." She said, grinning innocently like a child at me, as if stating the obvious.

Her mother seeing this, shook her head with

a warm smile and said, "Alright kids, that's enough; you have an aquarium to go to," She turned to me. "I want you guys back home by four; don't think of taking any detours. Can I trust you to drive safely Xander?" She asked seriously, looking me right in the eye.

"Of course, Mrs. Bennet. We'll be back home safe and sound before you even know it." I answered, nodding seriously, and her smile widened a little.

"If that's all, mom, then we are leaving now, mom," Claire remarked, leaning forward to peck her mother's cheek. "We'll see you later, mom, goodbye." Claire farewelled and grabbed my arm, pulling me as she quickly started walking to the front door.

"Bye sweetie," She said and waved at me with a smile, "Bye Xander. You kids have fun."

"Sure, mom." Claire said without turning as she opened the door while I waved at Mrs. Bennet. "See you soon." She mouthed quietly, glancing back, and then walked out of the house dragging me behind her.

"...Couldn't stand it any longer, huh?" I sighed with a wry smile, both of us halting in front of the house as she let go of my hand, looking down at the green grass, the bright morning sun falling on our faces.

"...Yeah, it just feels so wrong. I hate lying to her, and it feels like I'm cheating on her or something," She rose her head and sighed helplessly. "I dunno. It just doesn't feel right anymore."

"Hey, cheer up. I'm sure she'll understand when she finds out at least," I remarked thoughtfully as I patted her shoulder to comfort her. "This is a big thing for you, and knowing your mom, I'm definitely sure she'll understand and even be happy for you if she finds out one day. So stop being moody and let's get a move on. Don't wanna keep her waiting, do you?"

She looked up at my face, and then her face lit up with a smile, nodding as she exhaled sharply, "...Yeah, you're right. C'mon, let's go..."

I gave her a smile, nodding in response, and then both of us walked to my car parked in front of the house. Opening it, we both sat in, and I switched it on as we closed the doors. The engine hummed as we wore our seatbelts, and with my foot on the pedal, I turned my head to look at her.

"...It's time to meet your real mother..."