A/N: (Update: 1/17/08) Hi, everyone...again!

As some of you have probably noticed, I deleted the old story and reposted it. I didn't want to 'Cheat reviews' and rather, I wanted to have a new story with its own reviews.

I wasn't happy with the direction the story was going, so I completely revamped it. This chapter isn't much different from the original, but there are some minor corrections that I thought were necessary.

Once again, I am SO sorry to all of my previous reviewers/fans for changing it on you, but I figured it was best to do it now, rather than either later in the show/story or have an out-of-control story.

So, here's the new and improved 'What Is and What Should Never Be.'

This is actually the first story I've ever really cared about enough to plan out before hand. BTW, the last part is set some-what in the 'I Am Become Death' verse.

Hope ya'll like it!

1980
THE COMPANY

I can't do this. But it's the only way.

The ground materialized under him, and he fell out of shock, unfamiliar with this new power. It was his first time using it, and hopefully the last.

He stood up as the disorientation began to recede, leaving bloody handprints on the bright white tile. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He didn't know exactly where he had teleported-hopefully, though, the general 'where' and most importantly the 'when' were accurate.

After seeing the testing rooms, with high-tech surveillance cameras that wouldn't be 'invented' to the general public for a least another decade-he surmised that this was Level 3 of The Company. He was not surprised she was here-after all, he had only to concentrate on her and the year to teleport to her location-because, of course, this was where it all had started, and subsequently, where it all ended.

"It should've been me."

The last few minutes before he teleported here kept resurfacing, and it took him almost all of his control to suppress them. For now. He had a mission to do first, then he would be able to grieve later.

The traveler closed his eyes, focusing on the sounds, extending his range more than that of a normal human. He listened to every sound that was made in the Company, overbearing at first, and then honed it in to only this level.

The sounds he heard were magnified tenfold as he searched the Level with his hearing; he could hear his own rapid heartbeat and the blood flowing through his veins, accompanied by a large amount of adrenaline. He focused outward, hearing the loud and steady hum of the fluorescent lights above, the steady drip of a bathroom sink from farther down the corridor, a heart monitor from the other side...

And then, voices.

There were two that caught his attention, and he shut out the other noises. He listened in, concentrating on his stabilizing the ability. A man and a woman speaking, neither one familiar. He could hear movement, and the heartbeats of three people. Two beating at a steady pace, the other beating rapidly, as if scared.

The man and the woman themselves were of no consequence, and he would have concentrated elsewhere had he not heard the subject of their conversation. But the subject of which they were speaking was very relevant to his mission, so relevant in fact...

The third person spoke, a woman's familiar voice. His heart quickened with relief and anticipation at her words. "Excuse me. I need to be alone to make my decision."

He heard the man and the first woman leave, and, very reluctantly, once again used his ability to teleport inside the room.

The woman inside did not see him, as she was sitting on a round conference table, her head buried in her delicate hands, her slender fingers weaving through the front of her dark-haired up-do. She cradled her face with worry, and he wished he could be able to reach out and comfort her.

I can't do this.

It wasn't his voice, his memories, he realized, but her thoughts. The words echoing the painful last minutes that had run through his head caused his throat to close and his whole body to freeze. Perhaps he would stay paralyzed forever, changing nothing.

The woman sighed with resolve, sitting back up, and smoothed the bun back neatly in place, and then smoothed her black business pencil skirt.

She stood, her posture emanating a feeling of civility and coolness, but most importantly, confidence. She began making her way to the door to inform the others of her decision when he gathered the courage to speak.

"Don't do it, Angela," he stated calmly.

Her hand froze, hovering inches above the silver door handle. She stopped in her tracks and abruptly spun around, startled. "Who are you? You don't work for the Company."

His grave expression did not falter. "Who I am doesn't matter. I came here to stop you from making a big mistake."

She offered him a smile which revealed nothing except intimidation and authority. "And what that might that be?"

Her demeanor was cool and collected, but time traveler knew her too well to know that it was only a facade, and that inside she was confused, maybe even scared.

"Giving up your son."

Her smile wavered and her eyes narrowed. "How could you possibly-"

"I have a message from the future. Your children are the key to saving the world. Without them together, there is no future."

Angela Petrelli's face hardened into the stoic mask he was familiar with. "If you know me from the future then you must know about my ability," she began, her voice emotionless. He nodded as he opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off. "I've seen what the future holds if I keep my sons together. They are capable of destroying the world if provoked. This is the best solution to ensure their safety."

"It's not," the traveler assured her. "Others who possess the abilities to travel through time continually alter the timelines. We tried everything but we thought..."

"Think of this as payback."

"I'm sorry..."

He regained his posture and cleared his mind, doing his best to act like a true member of The Company. He would have time to be himself later. "We believed that this alternate timeline would stay strong if the two most powerful people shared a...stronger bond. This way, any alterations to the timeline would have a much weaker impact and the world would have a stronger survival rate."

"And who are you to play God?" she argued. "If what you say is true and the world keeps getting destroyed no matter how you change it, then perhaps it's something that is meant to happen, regardless of our efforts to stop it."

"Us play God? Who are you to alter the DNA of infants and give them powers and experiment on them? On your own son!"

Nathan doesn't have the gene.

Her shocked voice once again invaded his mind, and he knew immediately what it was he was hearing. This was getting out of hand; he had just said too much.

"What we are doing is for the good of the world," Angela replied, her eyes filled with anger.

He had never seen her show such emotion in a conversation and was taken aback by surprise. He wondered what had turned this young, human woman into a cold, emotionless boss. He saw a mother, scared for her children. Giving up one, and being almost forced to experiment on another. What he had seen in his time were only remnants of this woman and very few times had he even seen that. Seeing her like this unnerved him greatly.

He lowered his voice, speaking evenly and calmly. "If you're right...if the world is supposed to be destroyed no matter what we do, then what harm would separating your sons do?"

A shadow crossed her face and she fixed her gaze on him. "What I do with my children are my choices. I don't care what time you're from, but I won't have a stranger tell me how to raise my sons!"

She turned around to exit through the dark brown door, but as she reached to the door handle, he caught her wrist.

His vision changed around him in an explosion, a connection that he knew she felt, his newly acquired telepathy forcing the most recent memories he had been trying to suppress for so long to resurface.

He held the crystal ornament up, swinging down hard on Brian Davis' head. Using the sharp tip of the ornament, he began to slice open the man's head.

He pinned the man to the wall in his own apartment, slicing his head open. It was a feeling that was so good, and he couldn't wait to be able to shoot things with just two fingers...

The woman stood in front of her daughter, a little girl of maybe eight or nine. He used his mind to impale the woman with the kitchen utensils, taking her freezing power while the little girl ran to her father. Before the man even stood up from the breakfast table, he was frozen. By the time the brain was removed, the little girl was gone.

He swung open the diner door, smirking at the waitress' naive stature. Before she even knew what happened, her head was already sliced off.

He had the cheerleader pinned against the lockers, slicing her head off. Until he looked and saw the that other one, who he swore had been killed before, got up and ran, the healing herself.

The connection began to weaken around them, the room shifting back to itself for a split second, before being replaced by new images: the last minutes of his own time.

So much blood, everywhere, staining the gray concrete.

He watched as another man, the source of the blood, gasped for air as he lay on the pavement, dying. The traveler knelt down next to the dying man, expertly removing the sharp knife protruding out of the back of his skull.

Again, the connection weakened, skipping.

A blond girl looked at the traveler in disgust, watching the dying man. "Think of this as payback."

Again, the connection jumped, nearly severed now, but one image remained.

The traveler raised his hand inches from the dying man's head, holding out his index and middle fingers as if pointing out an imperfection on the dying man's forehead. Unleashing a familiar power in a familiar action, his telekinesis began to saw through the bleeding man's skin and bone, cutting open the skull in a neat circle, until the top fell off.

More blood seeped from the hole which revealed the grayish-pink matter that was once his brother's brain.

The traveler turned the body so that the brain was directly in front of him and dove his hands in.

The connection severed and the traveler stumbled back in shock, catching his breath from the intensity.

Angela was now facing him, catching her breath as well.

Once they were both calmer, she approached him, taking his still-bloody hands in hers. He could feel her fear emanating from her, and he didn't need powers to sense that.

She was doing everything not to tremble, he could tell.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"Look at me," he replied. "I think you already know."

She held his gaze, searching, until her eyes grew wide with realization.

She took his hands in hers once again, running her fingers lightly over the dried blood.

"That's our blood-my son's blood," she half-whispered. She recoiled from him, dropping his hands. "What did we turn you into?"

He didn't answer-couldn't answer.

Angela regained her composure-at least, as much as she could. "If I choose not to give him up, you know there will be no future for you to go back to. A change like this will irreparably change the timeline. You may cease to exist as the person you are right now. Are you prepared for that?"

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

She stood up fully, smoothing out her skirt once again. "Very well. I have made my decision."

She turned around once more to exit the doorway, but he stopped her once again.

"Wait," he said, quietly. She stopped in her tracks. "Why Gabriel?"

Her arms dropped to her sides and she turned toward him, giving a sad smile. "Gabriel's power wouldn't manifest unless a certain action occurred. Peter's, on the other hand, would come at any time and we knew that without supervision, he would be a danger to us all. Peter seemed the more dangerous out of the two. Apparently, we were wrong."

Upon noticing the traveler's expression, Angela wrapped him in her arms, kissing him lightly on the cheek in a motherly fashion. He felt comforted despite the fact that he was almost ten years older than her in age at this very moment.

"Cain murdered his brother for a sacrifice," she whispered. "All for a greater plan. You may not be so different."

She pulled away, then turned back to the door, exiting.

He let her go, watching as she turned toward the other two before the door closed behind her.

"I've made my choice and I am keeping my sons together." Her voice was crisp and even through the door, though slightly muffled.

"Very well," the man replied. "Thank you for your time, Mrs. Petrelli, ma'am."

There were more sounds-two pairs of footsteps leaving. After a pause, the last person left, but not without a message to him first.

Thank you, Gabriel.

...

Everyone was dead.

Parkman died shortly after the Costa Verde explosion, in a retaliation attack on Homeland Security that was led by angry radicals who wanted to eliminate evolved humans completely. With he and Daphne gone, Molly was left in the care of Peter and Gabriel.

Hiro was trapped somewhere in the future, powerless. He was a great threat to Nathan's 'side,' and therefore the first to experience the 'Helix Treatment,' a drug that stripped an evolved human's powers permanently.

Mohinder and Maya had reconciled and were together, but Mohinder was forced to perfect the Helix Treatment, since Nathan's people had captured Maya, using her for leverage. In an almost-successful attempt to escape, both were killed.

Bennet died after the explosion as well, attempting to talk his daughter out of the side she had chosen. By Nathan's orders, Claire shot and killed her adoptive father.

The only ones to survive so far that had been there when it all began were Peter, Gabriel, Nathan, Tracy, Claire and Knox.

Primatech was no longer a 'Company.' Rather, the name was synonymous in the media with terms like 'terrorist group' and 'radicals.'

Peter and Gabriel were now partners under Primatech, the two being the best defense and offense that the group had to offer. From the hardships through the years that the two faced, the brothers became closer, now even friends.

The sharp and painful burst of electricity made Gabriel's whole body tense up while his back felt as if he were being pummeled by a ton of bricks multiple times, bringing him back to reality. He doubled over from Claire's taser as he heard the click of a gun.

He and Peter were fighting side-by-side against Claire and Knox. The care for their niece made it hard to hurt Claire, and often the four would leave at a stalemate.

The click of the gun distracted Peter, who turned around to stop Claire from shooting Gabriel. As Peter stretched out his arm to telekinetically remove the gun from Claire's hand, Knox used Peter fear to ram a Pinehearst-issued knife into the back of Peter's skull.

"Peter!" Gabriel shouted, standing up to rush to Peter's side.

Gabriel knelt down next to Peter, removing the knife. Peter ripped out a loud scream of pain as a pool of blood streamed out onto the gray concrete.

"Peter, heal," Gabriel urged as Peter squeezed his eyes shut in pain. "Heal!"

"He can't," Knox told him with a triumphant smile. "That knife's full of Helix Treatment. He ain't got powers."

"What's left of his immune system will shut down completely," Claire told him, her voice emotionless. "The good news is he'll die fast."

"No." Gabriel turned back to Peter, seeing the pool of blood growing larger, and Peter's breathing becoming more shallow.

"Your fear is amazing," Knox said, taking a deep breath as he raised the knife. "I got this one, Claire-"

"No." Claire's face was unreadable as she watched Peter gasping for breath. "Peter's dead. That's all we need."

"Gabriel..." Peter's voice was shallow, a plea.

Gabriel turned back to Claire, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Why not me? After everything I did to you...it should've been me."

"Gabe..."

Claire gave a dark smirk, one that painfully reminded Gabriel of his days as Sylar. "I need to kill one of you as a message to Primatech that we're not to be messed with. Let's go, Knox."

She turned around the leave the alley, taser in hand. As Gabriel turned back to Peter, Claire shouted one more thing to him over her shoulder.

"Think of this as payback. We're even," she told him. "Uncle Sylar."

Gabriel knelt over Peter, tears beginning to fall. "Peter...we were supposed to be immortal."

"Gabe..."

The word was barely audible. Gabriel quickly lifted his head, seeing Peter looking at him weakly.

"Peter, what-?" He leaned in close to him, trying to hear whatever his brother was saying.

"Use...Hiro's...power..."

Gabriel shook his head. "But I don't..." He stopped as he caught Peter's eyes. "But you do."

He took Peter's hand, concentrating. After absorbing Elle's electricity empathically, he learned how to absorb others' abilities the same way. Of course, that way only worked if he knew and understood the people.

But...

"It's not working," Gabriel told him, not releasing his brother's hand. "The Helix Treatment?"

Peter nodded, whispering something that Gabriel didn't quite catch. There were tears forming in Peter's eyes.

Gabriel leaned down, asking Peter to repeat it.

"Brain."

"No!" Gabriel shouted. "I can't. No."

"Fix...past...bro...thers..."

"Peter-"

And Gabriel understood what it was Peter was asking. To take Peter's powers. and use Hiro's power to...to what?

Fix past...brothers.

To fix the past. Fix them, the family.

He understood.

"Sorry...Gabri..."

He realized why there were tears in Peter's eyes. Not from the pain or from dying, but for Gabriel, because Peter knew that the only way to fix this...

Would be to take Peter's abilities, though the brain.

With an exhale, Peter died, his eyes closing.

A single tear fell as Gabriel raised two trembling fingers to Peter's forehead, taking a deep breath as he looked at his brother.

"I'm sorry, too, Peter," Gabriel said, before he began to telekinetically make the incision on his brother's forehead.

As he did the unthinkable to his brother, he imagined what it would be like if he had been a Petrelli.

Maybe Peter would be able to call him his brother.

Three days after the conversation with Angela Petrelli, Sylar-Gabriel Gray-ceased to exist.

A/N: Again, it could've been better. Oh well. I hope everyone liked the new and improved version!

And a little note: This is in the 'I Am Become Death' 'verse if you didn't get that. Or, at least, what it would've been had Past!Peter not come to the IABD verse. I guess. Oh, well.

I really like Lil' Noah. I think I should have him in the story later (hint hint).

And ZQ is TOTALLY MY hero.

Update 1/19/09: (Screw February...)

Happy Inauguration Day people! (even though I'm not an Obama lover per-say, I think anything's better than the last president. And he's pretty cool, in my opinion. Mostly cuz he's from Chicago :D