ellectrical | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Dreamless sleep, or at least not remembering the dreams after, is one unknown benefit of losing too many memories.

It hadn't taken her that long to actually lie across the bed, rest the left side of her head into the pillow, and close her eyes. X being there had helped, but there was little more her body could do, and she could at least be moderately certain she wouldn't set the unmoved bed sheets on fire.

It's several hours, and maybe a couple of IV changes before Elle, having been entirely still her sleep, shifts slightly – she rolls onto her back, and then back to her left side.

After another moment, her eyes open.

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X nods, just once.

"He would have died if he had not met Claire."

It's half-question, and half confirmation of Elle's earlier words when Kim was around.

It's true. But it's not how Elle starts.

"I - thought I had him down. And then -"

She doesn't know how to explain Jesse Murphy, still has no idea what any of that was about. Instead, she holds out her other hand toward X.

"He thought it'd make me stop."

X is quiet again, gaze flicking from Elle's hand on the bed to her other hand in the air.

It seems as if she is not sure whether she is meant to take it or not.

Some things X is still very bad at.

"But it did not."

X sounds very sure of that.

"I think he is stupid sometimes. Sylar."

Not that this is a bad thing. Just. Sometimes he is.

Elle lowers her hand again, without any sign that she had expected something else.

The fingers of her left hand now curl very slightly around X's.

"It wasn't - I don't usually do that. What stopped him."

Her gaze flickers down to X's hand.

"It's - a lot of it. Like a bomb."

X shifts her own hand so that she can tangle her fingers with Elle's.

Carefully.

It seems the thing to do. And words are --

X is not as good with those.

"But it is effective. When it is necessary."

Beat.

"That is important."

She blinks away from X, down to their hands on the bed.

"It - knocks out the power. In a building."

Or several. For miles.

"Everyone we were keeping there got out."

Her tone is still steady as she says it. Elle might know it's her fault, but now, like then, she's unwilling to make it her job.

Her fingers grip X's tighter, before -

"I could've let him do it. Instead."

"No."

X's response is immediate, and just this side of fervent.

But only just.

"Prisoners are not difficult to recapture."

Beat.

"It is better not to die."

Her grip on X loosens.

"Okay."

For one moment, she's very close to a smile. Her eyes meet X's again.

"But I won't go back."

X goes still again for the space of two breaths.

Then she tilts her head very slightly, studying Elle.

"To the Company?"

Or to her world in general?

X is not 100% sure what Elle means.

But Elle nods at X's question.

It takes her a long moment to start any sort of explanation, and when she does, it still comes down to two words:

"He's dead."

"And they'll - I don't know what they'll do."

But she has some ideas, none of which she's willing to let happen.

"Sometimes," X says, remembering Dr. Rice and Kimura and all the rest --

"Sometimes it is better not to find out."

She shifts to sit on the edge of Elle's bed, pressing close for a second.

Or maybe two.

Elle doesn't move away.

"I won't - let them do anything."

And if that's how it is - maybe it's better late than never.

"Good," X says firmly.

She fails to follow that up by moving away.

"I do not li -- "

The stopping point is deliberate.

"I do not trust them. Places like the Facility."

There are still a few things Elle knows to be true.

That without the Company's intervention, she would have died. That she had no place else to go. That it was unlikely anywhere else would have treated her differently.

(And that her father knew all of this, as well.)

But now, it's not about what she knows. It's that it doesn't matter.

"I don't need them."

X would not have existed without the Facility.

Without X, a lot of other people would also not exist.

That does not make her like it any more than it makes her able to fly. Successfully.

"Okay."

Beat.

"You will stay in Milliways until you have a plan? For what to do next?"

She nods, and leans her head slightly into X's shoulder.

"I'll have to get out. And -"

And there's her father.

Some of this might not be that easy, unless-

"If - I need someone to -"

Elle stops, but that doesn't mean she's not hoping it will be enough.

X does not hesitate.

"I will help."

Obtaining paperwork, derailing pursuit, permanently discouraging people from getting ideas --

This is Elle. Of course X will help.

Elle doesn't say 'thank you' again.

But she does move to lean entirely into X's shoulder. Even if it's for the second time tonight.

Maybe it will work, instead.

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