#how many deaths does it take to kill nathan petrelli

[thefieryeclipse]

Tongues of Fire

This is my WIP post for the October WIP Weekly event @alexprompts​ ^.^

                                     “Tongues of Fire”

                                       “No one will believe me.”                                      “Us. No one will believe us.”

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What if you had lived another lifetime in the span of a day? What if it was all a dream? What if nobody understood what you'd been through, except the one person you should hate most in the world...?

The future is precarious. A secret network of superhuman abilities has been revealed. People are disappearing but nobody seems to notice. In the wake of a shared five year nightmare, Peter Petrelli and Sylar are hunted, considered far too dangerous to be free. Cast out by everyone they used to know, together the two vigilantes must navigate a brave new world that not only condemns the depth of their power, but of their bond as well.

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This is a post-series fanfiction of the wonderful TV series “Heroes” (2006-2010), created by Tim Kring and aired on NBC. The story is my take on Volume 6 “Brave New World”, the build up to Heroes Reborn, focusing on Peter Petrelli and Sylar and their relationship after the events of the series finale.

If you haven’t watched the show (and you really should, it’s great!), it revolves around ordinary people with extraordinary abilities: a mismatched group of people from all over the world connected by the sudden manifestation of superpowers that they must keep hidden. This show did superheroes before the MCU made it cool again - they don’t wear capes and they don’t have secret identities: think a real-world ensemble character drama but with superpowers thrown in X)

TONGUES OF FIRE - Read here

Please check out my WIP: three years in, currently 360k+ words and 35+ chapters deep.

Rating: M. Action, violence, sci-fi, danger, post-series, forbidden love, m/m, lgbtqa+, whump, angst, hurt/comfort, save the future save the world. (I’ll expand more on the tags and themes below)

TRAILER:

Please keep reading for character descriptions, story context, themes/genres, gifs, a moodboard, more artwork and warnings

GENRES/THEMES/TAGS:

Superpowers

On the run

Sci-fi

Slow burn

End of the world (save the future, save the world...)

Betrayal/heartbreak

Forbidden love

M/M, LGBTQA+

Acceptance and forgiveness

Hurt/comfort

Angst

Whump

Action

Danger

Violence (think broken bones, cuts, gunshots, burns - however some characters have superhuman healing so this isn’t always as permanent as it sounds...)

Grand acts of heroism

Former-enemies to friends to lovers

There are happy and heartwarming parts in here too, don’t worry X)

CHARACTERS:

As Heroes is an ensemble show there are a lot of characters featured in this WIP, but even if you haven’t watched the show hopefully you shouldn’t get lost in the context of the story X) Because this post would be even longer otherwise, I’ll just highlight the central two characters here:

                                               Peter Petrelli

Stubborn, caring and compassionate, Peter will never see anyone in need and not help them. He is driven by a constant desire to make a difference to the world, and will rarely listen to reason. This reckless goodness has gotten him into trouble (and/or killed) many times in the past, but he will never give up. He’s not opposed to violence if pushed to it, and can certainly hold his own in a fight. However, usually he’s the mediator who tries to fight with love rather than war. His love language is touch, and he doesn’t have much sense of personal space, almost subconsciously touching others all the time to show his support and affection.

He invests 100% into everything he does, including his relationships with family, friends and loved ones. Sadly, he’s constantly overlooked, under-appreciated and walked over by almost everyone he has ever known. Despite this, Peter is kind and will always listen to his heart, even if it leads him into danger to save someone else who won't even thank him for it.

Without recounting the entire story of Heroes, let me just say that Peter has been put through the ringer more times than anyone should do and survive. He’s been bruised, shot, killed, betrayed, walked out on, arrested and lied to too many times, but somehow he’s still miraculously resilient in his worldview. He’s impulsive to a fault, leaps before he looks and due to this is no stranger to mistakes. His biggest weakness is his own perceived inadequacy - he thinks he’ll never be good enough. He keeps mostly to himself, despite his golden heart that longs for reciprocation of the love that he gives to others so freely, and tends to work quietly from the sidelines rather than seek appreciation for his efforts.

Ability: Empathic Mimicry.

Peter is an “empath”. His extreme empathy allows him to not only understand and care deeply for other people, but to absorb the abilities of other “evos” (evolved humans) simply by being close to them.

This original ability, however, was stolen from him by his father. Later Peter acquired a synthetic version that isn’t as strong. He can still absorb other evos’ powers through physical touch, but can only hold onto one at a time. He still longs for his true ability although, naturally, he keeps this pain to himself rather than burden others with it.

                                              Sylar

Intelligent, immortal, arguably the most powerful evo on Earth, Sylar has made himself a lot of enemies over the years. Formerly known as Gabriel Gray, his superhuman ability (knowing how things work) and insatiable hunger for more turned him into a killer: slicing open the skulls of people with abilities to access their brains and, therefore, their powers. Until recently he had never had a friend, never known trust, and all he had was the urge to add to his ever-growing collection of superpowers in order to make himself feel “special”. Sylar has killed a countless number of people, evaded capture multiple times, and tried to reign himself in more than once, although nobody ever listened when he begged them for help, until Peter.

Sylar is sarcastic, witty and delights in being a downright asshole at times. Secretly, though, he’s a sensitive and remorse-ridden man, desperate to belong anywhere and to anyone who will accept him for who he is. He has been tricked and manipulated many times due to this vulnerability, which only made him more angry, wounded and violent. His ability comes with a “Hunger”, like a voice inside that “makes” him commit heinous acts. This hunger tends to come and go, however, and is more likely a manifestation of his own mind that gives him something else to blame and hide behind. Though there’s no doubt that he is, at least in part, a victim of a power he had no choice in manifesting.

By the series finale of Heroes, Sylar has finally tackled the painful journey to redemption. Truly repentative for what he’s done, and wanting to be a better person, Sylar is ready to face the world and do good this time, hopefully making amends along the way. Peter’s trust in him is his anchor, and as long as Sylar finally has someone who believes in him then he’ll keep struggling with his demons to be better, and hopefully, in time, become a hero too.

Ability: Intuitive Aptitude

Sylar can understand how things work. His power is based in empathy, like Peter’s, except he collects abilities by looking at the brains of other super humans and assuming them for himself. By the start of “Tongues of Fire” he has a lot of powers, perhaps too many to put here? The full list is on his wiki page: https://heroeswiki.com/Sylar, but basically he’s like a swiss army knife of superhuman abilities X)

CONTEXT (this is real Heroes canon):

Over the past few years Peter and Sylar have been enemies. The Hero and the Villain, like Batman and Joker or Sherlock and Moriarty, they were each other’s equal and nemesis. They faced off many times and have both wounded and killed each other in the past (thanks to the power of regeneration these deaths weren’t permanent). There have been many complicated and intense conflicts in their story, including believing they were brothers for a time; Sylar murdering Peter’s beloved older brother Nathan; and Peter nailing Sylar to a table and trying to erase his mind (seriously, watch the show, there’s too much to capture here!). Also did I mention the insane chemistry and UST between them...?

(Yes, that’s a real scene from Heroes!)

At the end of the series, Sylar was riddled by guilt and the fear that he would die alone, unloved forever. So he turned himself over to a telepath and begged him to block Sylar’s mental access to his abilities so he could stop killing, and maybe have a chance at finally finding a human connection. The telepath, Matt Parkman, tricked him and instead locked Sylar’s consciousness in a mental prison of isolation where each hour in reality is a year he’s lived there in sole torment. Peter found out and, despite their hate-fuelled past, impulsively followed Sylar into his mind to rescue him.

It didn’t work. Instead of being able to pull Sylar out with him, Peter got trapped in the nightmare as well. For five years they were held prisoner in a dead, empty city, with nothing but each other and a hell of a lot of baggage to work though. And eventually, after years of remorse and loneliness and depending on each other to stay sane, Peter forgave Sylar, accepting him as the changed man he’d become. The nightmare shattered and they awoke back in reality, where only 5 hours had passed on the outside, but to them it had been years. Together, united now, Peter and Sylar set out to save the world side by side.

Nobody knows about the other life they lived through together aside from Matt Parkman the telepath, and even he doesn’t believe them. After all, who would believe these two mortal enemies took a nap together and suddenly woke up finishing each other’s sentences, unashamedly defending, trusting and touching someone they’d despised just a few hours ago?

So now they’re faced not only with a world where abilities are in the open; but where their shared forgiveness, trust and friendship is discounted by everyone who knows Sylar only as a monster, and Peter as a heartless traitor who betrayed his late brother by choosing Nathan’s killer over them.

And this is where “Tongues of Fire” begins...

(There are more illustrations from the story available in My Gallery on Ao3)

WARNINGS:

I guess the biggest warning would be for violence. This is canon-typical violence, so if you've watched Heroes it shouldn't be anything you can't handle. And if you've not watched Heroes then imagine the amount of violence that could be aired on a network TV show in 2006-2010.

One surgical scene includes exposed organs. It’s quite graphic, but the patient is participating willingly and eagerly, and the “surgery” is done upon request, as a good thing.

Later on there's restrainment and distressing interrogation of prisoners.

Adult content and sexual scenes, but I wouldn't necessarily call them “explicit”. The focus is always on the emotional aspect more than graphic descriptions of characters’ anatomy.

And I guess that’s it from me for now! Hope you check out the story, and please don’t be shy to get in touch about it in any way, shape or form ^.^

(I don’t take credit for any gifs, they’re gorgeous but not mine. The illustrations are mine, though)