I Died In Odessa

Title: The Battle of Marathon
Rating: PG
Summary: Ellen is the best nurse on Long Island, and the only one who knows what Peter Jones and his bodyguard Claude are hiding.
Notes: For heroes50 prompt #10: Run.

Having Athena's mind, Achilles' heel,
She's mythological, this modern woman.
Torn from the chariot, a loosened wheel
Which kept the chariot upon its course
She runs ahead, beyond the fallen horse.
-- Witter Bynner

( Ellen Battle had a secret, and it was this: she was fast. )

Title: Petrus Polaris
Rating: PG for language
Summary: The search for Peter's body leads Claude to Star Island, and a strange glittering sculpture on the southernmost edge.
Notes: Petrus Polaris translates to "Peter the Fixed Star". For heroes50 prompt # 9: Jump.

"And children digging naked in the sand
Will find my shell and on it scratch new words
That soon will blossom out," he said, "and bear
New fruit, strange to the tongue of men and birds."
-- Malcolm Cowley

( Star Island was a long way from New York, way the fuck-hell out at the tip of Long Island. )

Title: Sweet Molly Malone
Rating: PG for language
Summary: Molly likes Mr. Rains, even though DL and Niki don't.
Notes: For heroes50, prompt 8: Freeze. This is the third story of the "Quest" series in The Invisible Cycle (see Table), and is meant to be read as part of a series of interlinked vignettes. Spoilers for the season finale.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
-- Robert Frost

( Molly liked the man who came to see her. )

Title: Black Tom's Well
Rating: PG for language
Summary: Even the best in the business can't find Peter, but Claude still has a few ideas -- and, once he gets ashore, a much bigger problem than one missing Empath.
Notes: For heroes50, prompt 7: Swim. This is the second story of the "Quest" series in The Invisible Cycle (see Table), and is meant to be read as part of a series of interlinked vignettes. Spoilers for the season finale.

Leave him, for rest alone can cure --
If cure there be --
This waif upon the sea.
He is of those who slanted the great door
And listened -- wretched little lad --
To what they said.
-- Trumbull Stickney

( The lead diver on the search party could breathe underwater. )

Title: Nathan's Inheritance
Rating: G
Summary: Claude meets the Great Nathan Petrelli, and explains his family to him.
Notes: For heroes50, prompt 6: Fly. This is the first story of the "Quest" series in The Invisible Cycle (see Table), and is meant to be read as part of a series of interlinked vignettes. Spoilers for the season finale.

The huddled warmth of crowds
Begets and fosters hate;
He keeps, above the clouds,
His cliff inviolate.
When flocks are folded warm,
And herds to shelter run,
He sails above the storm,
He stares into the sun.
-- Elinor Wylie

( Claude read about the explosion in a stolen newspaper in Wisconsin... )

Title: Saint Augustine In Hell
Rating: PG
Summary: Augustine the dreamer has seen Claude die twice, but Claude is young enough to think himself immortal.
Notes: for heroes50, prompt 3: Dream.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
-- E.A. Robinson, "Richard Cory"

( 'It's time,' Augustine said, seating himself in Claude's small kitchen. )

Title: Allies and Enemies
Rating: R
Summary: Claude could write a book about Empaths. (Claude/OFC)
Notes: For heroes50, prompt 2: Need

I HAVE no life but this,
To lead it here;
Nor any death, but lest
Dispelled from there;
Nor tie to earths to come,
Nor action new,
Except through this extent,
The realm of you.
-- Emily Dickinson

( Empaths were fucking selfish. )

Title: Jim In A Bottle
Rating: PG
Summary: Jim knew how to grant wishes. Claude wasn't certain what to wish for.
Notes: For heroes50, prompt 1: Wish

"For I would be mending my spirit,
Forgetting these days that are bad,
Forgetting companions too shallow,
Their quarrels and arguments thin,
Forgetting the shouting Muezzin:" --
"I AM YOUR SLAVE," said the Jinn.
-- Vachel Lindsay

( Jim In A Bottle )