Sylar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heroslayer) wrote2009-09-19 05:17 pm
heroslayer) wrote2009-09-19 05:17 pm
for couples_therapy: discuss your parents' relationship
He doesn't understand why his mother doesn't come with them into the diner; what the money passed between his father and his uncle means; why his father turns to leave without trying to manhandle him back into the car like he did when they set out. All of it makes so very little sense to a six-year-old, and so he calls out to him, feet pounding gravel as he bolts away from his aunt and uncle and after his father.
Samson Gray ignores him, gets in the car, and turns to his mother. An argument explodes between them and Gabriel can't say he's surprised even if he doesn't understand it, as it's all they've done in the last few weeks, so he just keeps running. Pretends it isn't happening, just like they pretend it hasn't happened -- they don't fight and he didn't watch his father hit his mother last night -- every time they catch him listening in or spying on them from the top of the stairs.
His mother raises a hand in anger but his father is faster. His hand comes up and just as little legs reach the edge of the dirt and rocks, a line of red slices across the windshield, thick and wet, just over his father's shoulder. His mother slumps against the door, and Samson leans over her in a mock gesture of intimacy. His mouth close to hers, he opens her door, pushes her out into the dirt, and drives off without a glance back.
He doesn't understand, too young for death to sink in despite the still-bleeding gash across her forehead, but something still sinks in. A lesson imparted above the screeching of his aunt as she and his uncle rush out of the diner to rescue him. All relationships end in violence.
And regardless of the fact that he can't remember his real mother and father some thirty years later, he passes that lesson on to Mohinder in eleven words. "I wasn't begging for my life. I was offering you yours."
---
Eight years old now, his real mother and father long forgotten, and life hasn't changed that much. He may hide just inside the door of his room rather than up at the top of the stairs when his parents argue now, but they still argue. His father might be the kind of man who inflicts violence on his cigarettes, brutally stamping them out in stinking ashtrays left around the room, but there's still rage. The only difference now is that when his father catches him out of the corners of his eyes, he tends to ignore him.
No need to give his mother something else to shriek about. For both their sakes.
And that probably explains why his father doesn't even chance him a second glance as the argument winds down, instead turning towards the door. He takes a couple of frustrated steps towards it, and Virginia skitters after him, reaching out to put a hand to his shoulder. He stops her with one word. "Don't."
She shrinks back away from him like a wounded animal, and they stand in silence for a moment, the only sound between them his mother's broken breathing. Then, finally, his father inhales sharply before sighing out, "I'm going out. I need -- " Time away from his mother; even at this age, he knows all too well what his father isn't saying. " -- a pack of smokes."
He leaves and doesn't come back, and in the months that follow, Gabriel learns another important life lesson. Those relationships that don't end in violence end in lies. Elle reminds him when he's forgotten years later, but instead of shutting down like his mother did, he kills her for her sin. It's so much neater that way.
---
They're not his parents and he's not a boy anymore, but life still hasn't changed. Angela and Arthur fight as much as either of the couples he grew up calling mom and dad did, they just aren't usually in the same room when they do it. Telepathy and poison have taken the place of shouting and physical violence, and he creeps in to arguments after they've happened rather than during, stolen power giving him what hiding in doorways used to decades ago.
From stolen memory and current kill orders, he learns that relationships can end in hate -- maybe all relationships do, actually. How else would violence and lies factor in? Either way, however, he passes that knowledge on to Claire over wine and threats, having learned from the best. And even when they take everything from him just hours later, he still remembers what he's learned over the years as Nathan, like him, has learned the same things if only in a different order.
Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 793
Samson Gray ignores him, gets in the car, and turns to his mother. An argument explodes between them and Gabriel can't say he's surprised even if he doesn't understand it, as it's all they've done in the last few weeks, so he just keeps running. Pretends it isn't happening, just like they pretend it hasn't happened -- they don't fight and he didn't watch his father hit his mother last night -- every time they catch him listening in or spying on them from the top of the stairs.
His mother raises a hand in anger but his father is faster. His hand comes up and just as little legs reach the edge of the dirt and rocks, a line of red slices across the windshield, thick and wet, just over his father's shoulder. His mother slumps against the door, and Samson leans over her in a mock gesture of intimacy. His mouth close to hers, he opens her door, pushes her out into the dirt, and drives off without a glance back.
He doesn't understand, too young for death to sink in despite the still-bleeding gash across her forehead, but something still sinks in. A lesson imparted above the screeching of his aunt as she and his uncle rush out of the diner to rescue him. All relationships end in violence.
And regardless of the fact that he can't remember his real mother and father some thirty years later, he passes that lesson on to Mohinder in eleven words. "I wasn't begging for my life. I was offering you yours."
Eight years old now, his real mother and father long forgotten, and life hasn't changed that much. He may hide just inside the door of his room rather than up at the top of the stairs when his parents argue now, but they still argue. His father might be the kind of man who inflicts violence on his cigarettes, brutally stamping them out in stinking ashtrays left around the room, but there's still rage. The only difference now is that when his father catches him out of the corners of his eyes, he tends to ignore him.
No need to give his mother something else to shriek about. For both their sakes.
And that probably explains why his father doesn't even chance him a second glance as the argument winds down, instead turning towards the door. He takes a couple of frustrated steps towards it, and Virginia skitters after him, reaching out to put a hand to his shoulder. He stops her with one word. "Don't."
She shrinks back away from him like a wounded animal, and they stand in silence for a moment, the only sound between them his mother's broken breathing. Then, finally, his father inhales sharply before sighing out, "I'm going out. I need -- " Time away from his mother; even at this age, he knows all too well what his father isn't saying. " -- a pack of smokes."
He leaves and doesn't come back, and in the months that follow, Gabriel learns another important life lesson. Those relationships that don't end in violence end in lies. Elle reminds him when he's forgotten years later, but instead of shutting down like his mother did, he kills her for her sin. It's so much neater that way.
They're not his parents and he's not a boy anymore, but life still hasn't changed. Angela and Arthur fight as much as either of the couples he grew up calling mom and dad did, they just aren't usually in the same room when they do it. Telepathy and poison have taken the place of shouting and physical violence, and he creeps in to arguments after they've happened rather than during, stolen power giving him what hiding in doorways used to decades ago.
From stolen memory and current kill orders, he learns that relationships can end in hate -- maybe all relationships do, actually. How else would violence and lies factor in? Either way, however, he passes that knowledge on to Claire over wine and threats, having learned from the best. And even when they take everything from him just hours later, he still remembers what he's learned over the years as Nathan, like him, has learned the same things if only in a different order.
Muse: Gabriel Gray (Sylar)
Fandom: Heroes
Word Count: 793