amorphous | 1 one-short: Heroes

Title: Starless
Words: circa 500
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Peter/Claire if you squint (but NOTHING overtly romantic in nature)
Warnings: spoilers for season 2
Summary: Clair ran until her lungs hurt to just pull in the small amount of air they could.
Author's Notes: Written for Drabble Challenge #4 ("Forever") at

heroes_contest.

It took forever to get there. Claire ran until her lungs hurt to just pull in the small amount of air they could. Her breathing was hard and painful, making tears well in her eyes.

Questions bombarded her brain, but her main question was clear. It echoed in her mind over and over. Would he be there? was the question that plagued her most.

Stars glittered in the sky above, but Claire could see them. The numerous streetlamps and lights from storefronts made it impossible for the small illumination of the stars to shine through. Claire wished New York City was less alive at night. She wanted to see the stars, to know there was more out there than she could see and give her hope. But instead, the sky was just a dark blue color. It wasn't even black thanks to the glow from the street.

Her feet pounding against the pavement created little shocks within her body each time, and she felt the shocks shoot through her body like electricity. After a few moments that felt like forever, she finally skid to a stop and looked around herself. He wasn't there.

Her stomach dropped as she leaned against a nearby pole. He wasn't there.

She wanted to scream. He had to be here. She could feel it in her bones that he should be here. There was no reason for her feeling that she should come here tonight.

And then she saw him walking toward her; her stomach flipped at just the sight of him, alive and well. Pushing back from the pole, she ran toward him, throwing her arms around him. He was there.

She was right. She would have waited forever for him, but she hadn't had to.

With the news of Nathan's death, she had been wondering when he'd contact her. She had hoped he would. Words were beyond her now.

It felt like she'd waited forever for this moment, not just the few months she had. She couldn't imagine anything better than getting to embrace him. Uncle or not… he was more to her. Her hero. Her friend.

She pulled back, searching his familiar eyes. There was something different about him, but she couldn't quite figure out what. Months had passed. His change was evident. It was in the way he hugged her stiffly. In the look in his eyes that was haunted.

The questions were on her tongue, but she didn't say anything. She just stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

---

Claire woke up with a start. It the third night in a row she had had the same dream. The dream of seeing Peter again under the starless, New York City sky. Her heart pounded in her chest and she was sweating. Part of her wished it was a premonition, but she knew it wasn't. She curled back into the warmth of her bed and pressed her eyes closed, wanting nothing more than to continue the dream.