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Caleb's Web (1/1, Gen, AU)

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  • Caleb's Web (1/1, Gen, AU)

    Title: Caleb’s Web 1/1

    Characters: Claire, Sandra, Peter, Ohers
    Rating: PG-13 for themes

    Type: Gen, AU

    Disclaimer: Copyright of Heroes is held by the respective owners. No infringement is intended.

    Spoilers: Through S4
    Summary: Claire and Sandra meet Peter’s hospice patient.
    Notes: This story is set in the same AU as “Perchance To Dream.” For more about Caleb, an ARG character, click here.


    “Apart from the Company, I can’t join organizations that track their members over long periods,” said Claire Bennet.

    “Which means no universities or sororities,” Sandra Bennet realized wistfully. “You can leave a legacy, but you can’t be one.”

    Claire hugged her mother. “I know you were hoping I would follow in your footsteps, but immortality means that even with help I’ve got to find my own way.”

    “At least you graduated from high school,” said Sandra, her eyes sparkling with pride, “even after everything you’ve been through.”

    “I wanted one diploma that was really mine,” said Claire, “before I started using fakes. But, high school records can be used to trace me, too, since I’ll have the same face forever.”

    Sandra sighed. “Has Micah Sanders finished deleting your Costa Verde and Union Wells files, yet?”

    “Yeah,” replied Claire. “Plus, my Facebook page and any other cyberspace tracks I left. There’s nothing he can do about the yearbooks and other hard copy stuff, though, which is worrying Dad.”

    Sandra wanted to scream, as fear of the unknowns Claire was facing threatened to overwhelm her. But, the new Pomeranian in her household licked Sandra’s face, soothing her. Dame Penelope Jean Lovegood III, Miss Lovegood for short, originally hailed from New Orleans. She had been orphaned first by Katrina and again recently by the recession. “Don’t you worry, Miss Lovegood,” she cooed to the little dog. “Third time’s the charm for a darling little girl with a bow on her head. Yes, it is.”

    Claire smiled at the scene, putting Mr. Muggles on the floor, as she picked up the ringing phone. “Hey, Peter,” she replied. “Mom, he wants to talk to you.”

    Curious, Sandra took the phone from her daughter. “Of course, you can come over, Peter.”

    “Thanks,” said Peter Petrelli after he teleported into the living room of the Costa Verde home. “Are either of you or the dogs afraid of spiders?,” he asked.

    “No,” answered Sandra and Claire in unison, perplexed.

    “Good,” replied Peter. “Would you be willing to let me teleport you and them to New York? My patient needs your help.”

    Peter had never transported five at once before, and this was not the time for practice. Two trips later, he introduced Sandra, Claire, and the dogs to the most recent resident of the Company’s new hospice facility – Caleb Arable. As Sandra and Claire studied Caleb, they understood why Peter had asked whether they were afraid of spiders. Caleb was a spider, or as close to a spider as a human would ever be.

    Caleb was propped upon massive pillows upon a massive bed. He had eight black spider legs protruding from his back. Fascinated, Claire reached out to touch the nearest one. “May I?,” she asked.

    “Sure thing, little girl,” Caleb answered.

    “Thank you.” The hair on Caleb’s leg felt the same as the hair on the tarantula Claire had held briefly during Biology class. “Wow,” she said softly. “It’s kind of bristly. I hope I haven’t hurt you.”

    “You’ll only hurt me if you don’t let me touch your hair now,” Caleb replied with a twinkle in his glowing green eyes. Claire looked at those green eyes more closely, as Caleb stroked her golden hair with his pale gray hand. His two eyes were all iris, no white. What Claire had taken for glow was actually the light playing within the four segments each iris contained. Caleb had eight eyes – spider eyes – Claire realized, recalling the tarantula.

    “Thanks for having such soft hair, little girl,” said Caleb. “Softness is about all I got left, since spiders only see light and dark. I can’t get my human eyes back.”

    “Why not?,” asked Claire.

    “Because I’m dying,” answered Caleb sadly. “Spiders don’t live as long as people, and I was running on fumes at 30. I used to be able to turn the spider bits off, but I don’t have the energy anymore.”

    Sandra came over, gingerly placing the Pomeranians next to Caleb in the bed. “Mr. Muggles and Miss Lovegood are wonderfully soft,” she assured him with tears sparkling in her eyes, “and you can snuggle with them as long as you want.”

    “Thank you, Ma’am,” said Caleb. He gently petted them, kissing their ears. “I’m much obliged.” He snuggled with those two fellow creatures for the rest of his life. He died giggling, as Mr. Muggles licked his face. Caleb Arable’s last spoken words were “That tickles.”

    Taking cyanide, Claire and Peter followed Caleb into the Deathscape to wish him farewell. Caleb shed all traces of his human form, except for his eyes. He now had two human blue where there had been eight spider green. Those two human blue eyes looked out of a giant black spider’s head upon a giant black spider’s body. There was a red symbol on his back – a compass. Claire and Peter followed the movements of the compass, as Caleb spun a web throughout a dream carnival. Colored lights from games, stages, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, and a fortune-teller were refracted through the drops of twilight mist, settling on the silken strands.

    At the center of the carnival in the centerpiece of his web, Caleb spelled “SULLIVAN BROTHERS.”

    “That must be where Caleb wants us to take his body,” said Claire. “Maybe they’re his family.”

    “If not his family,” returned Peter, “hopefully, they’re people who’ll be glad he didn’t die alone.”
    Last edited by Raissa; 01-04-2010, 09:13 PM.
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