A/N: Sorry for the late update!

"Doctor, are you ever going to tell me what happened?"

The Doctor, having already thanked Peter and Matt and taken them back to their homes, was slowly walking around the TARDIS. Donna was becoming increasingly irritated with him, seeing as he refused to answer her questions.

"Sylar became a TARDIS, correct?" The Doctor looked up at her.

Donna nodded. "Right."

"After that, he captured you."

"Yes, I was there for that bit."

The Doctor ignored the sarcasm. "After that, he went back in time. A few days ago. Where he changed our DNA, so that it began to fluxuate so frequently that we started to shift out of the time stream itself."

Donna bit her lip, trying to keep up. "Right… And this is after I stabbed you, correct?"

"Aceamundo. He wiped our memories of the encounter, and I was sent to chase after Hiro, who ran away from me, thinking I was a monster." He paused, then explained, "Whenever we shift from one place to another in that manner, it's bound to leave a few minds temporarily scrambled."

"I see." Donna lied.

"He then traveled back to where he was keeping you."

"Then shouldn't our DNA still be shifting?"

The Doctor shook his head. "The effects wore off, eventually. That's what they were supposed to do. Our DNA is still in a bit of flux, but it should be back to normal within a day or two." He paused. "You might have a few… things change. A freckle or two that wasn't there before." He gestured to his hand, indicating a small spot on his palm. "Something. After all, it is your DNA that's changing. But it should go away after a while."

Donna tried to come to terms with this, then decided to change the subject. "Ok…so what happened… I mean… what did… what did Matt and Peter… do to Sylar?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened. "Ah. Yes." He sighed deeply.

"Matt Parkman and Peter Petrelli are both telepaths. Sylar, on the other hand, was not. And though he did gain a small amount of telepathy when he became a TARDIS, it didn't work entirely in his favor. Sylar was playing a dangerous game when he took the energy of a TARDIS into his almost-human mind. He nearly went insane. It didn't take much to turn his own telepathy- and, in effect his mind- against him.

"Matt and Peter took the information about how the TARDIS works forcibly from his mind. They made him forget. And once he forgot, the energy was too much for him to handle. So, no matter how badly he wanted to keep that power, his own body wouldn't allow it. He was forced to release it, and the TARDIS took it from him."

Donna realized then that she would probably never be able to understand what happened. Still, she tried, "So… he forgot everything, and since he wasn't able to understand it, he couldn't keep the ability?"

The Doctor nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

Donna paused for a moment, reflecting on this information. Finally, she said, "Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Can we go home now?"

Since Donna was no longer in the TARDIS, and was visiting her grandfather, The Doctor decided it was time. There would really be no other chance; he was alone now, something that rarely happened.

He walked into the room, flicking on the light as he did so. A dark figure sat, hunched, on a bed. As soon as it saw the Doctor, it sat up straight, then stood.

Looking at the room, one wouldn't think it was a prison. It was nice enough, with a refrigerator that would never be empty, a water container that would act in a similar fashion, and a separate bathroom. The force field containing the room was completely invisible when nothing was touching it, but it was incredibly powerful.

The man inside regarded the Doctor calmly.

"You understand why I had to do this, don't you?" The Doctor asked. He never raised his voice. He talked, a normal person having a conversation with another normal person. Though the two of them were far from normal.

The other man didn't seem very angry. His voice was also soft. "Yes."

"And you understand that there was nothing else I could do?" The Doctor pressed.

"Yes."

There was silence for a moment.

"And that I gave you every chance I could afford to give you?" The Doctor finally asked.

"Yes."

Again, there was silence. It stretched on as the two lost themselves to their thoughts.

Finally, the prisoner spoke up.

"And you understand that I'm going to escape, correct?"

The Doctor studied the killer for a moment. His eyes penetrated through Sylar's defenses, but the other man did not back down. The Doctor saw every secret, every lie. He calculated every thought, every deception, every horrific crime.

He saw every question, every attempt for power, every chance, every opportunity the man had taken, every hope, every dream, every failure, every success. He saw every emotion, every calculation, every excuse the man had made for who and what he was.

He saw what Sylar thought of himself, what others thought of Sylar. He saw the killer and he saw the man who had come before the killer. He saw the hatred, the rage, the horror at what he was, the depression, the refusal to care.

He saw how he thought, every plan, how he planned it, his thoughts, his ideas, his very mind.

He saw how Sylar worked.

After an eternity that only lasted a second, the Doctor nodded, very slowly. "Yes…" He agreed. "Yes, I believe you will."

At that moment, it was nothing less than complete fact. Sylar would escape. One day, he would release himself from his prison, from his cage. He would come back and the Doctor would have to deal with him once more.

"But why?" The Doctor asked at last. For a moment, there was a note of horrible pain in his voice. He didn't want this for Sylar. He wanted Sylar to see what he was doing.

"Why?" Sylar didn't seem the least bit surprised by the question. "Because I need power."

And there it was. The simple, horrible, desperate truth.

Sylar did not want power. Sylar needed power.

"Let me help you." The Doctor whispered. "I could make it go away. I could fix it."

But even as he spoke the words, he knew that they would be rejected. This need for power had defined Sylar for so long, he wouldn't know who he was without it.

Still he hoped. Still he pleaded. Still he wished that Sylar would accept his assistance.

Sylar thought about it for a moment. "I don't think I want it to stop." He admitted. "This is what I know. This is who I am."

The Doctor said nothing, so Sylar continued.

"Don't you see, Doctor?" He asked quietly. "I used to be something… someone different. I didn't have this need for power, for abilities that weren't mine. I was… normal. Ordinary."

He stood tall, and electricity crackled around him. The bright blue was suddenly contrasted with the red of radioactive light. Objects began to move about the room, flying through the air. Ice spread across the floor. Sylar's eyes gleamed as his abilities showed themselves.

"Now, I'm different. I'm special."

His eyes locked on the Doctor's. "Tell me, Time Lord. How could I go back to being nothing?"

The Doctor looked at him sadly. "You just don't get it, do you?"

He stepped directly up to the force field, until his breath revealed a small patch of it. "You already were special. You were brilliant. A simple, ordinary, extraordinary human being."

For a moment, Sylar said nothing.

"Please." The Doctor tried again. "Please, I can help you."

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Sylar studied him carefully.

With only the faint, subtle memories he had from what the TARDIS knew of him, Sylar saw what made The Doctor into the Time Lord he was.

He saw why The Doctor tried so hard to help. He saw every emotion behind the action, every fear, every anger, every sadness, every pain.

He saw the Time War, in the view of one who had been there. He saw what it had made The Doctor. He saw the past, the present, the future, in the Time Lord's eyes. He saw every hope, every failure.

But he could never know as much of the Doctor as the Time Lord knew of Sylar.

"You know I will escape, correct?" He asked again.

It was all the answer that The Doctor needed. He sighed and turned to the door.

Darkness enveloped the room as The Doctor turned off the light behind him. He closed the door and walked back to the control room.

Sylar sat in the dark. He closed his eyes.

And he waited.

He waited for the day when he could escape. And he knew that he would wait forever if he had to. He would wait until the end of the universe itself if it was necessary.

Unseen by anyone, he smiled softly. While he waited, he would watch. He would observe the Doctor carefully, find his faults, his flaws. And he would use them against the Time Lord, in the end.

And, as Donna returned, the TARDIS flew back into the vortex. Its prisoner waited, listening, watching, planning.

In the control room, The Doctor felt a shiver run down his spine. Sylar would escape, one day.

But not today.

He felt a familiar grin cross his face as he pulled a seemingly random lever. The TARDIS lurched, sending him and Donna to the ground.

He sprung to his feet, laughing. "Come on, Donna!"

She allowed him to help her to her feet, laughing with him.

"New worlds to see!" The Doctor continued. "And tea! Lots and lots of tea!" He brightened up. "I know! I promised you a trip to Reklon IV, didn't I?" His finger stabbed at a button. "Best tea in the known universe, along with half of the unknown!"

Donna laughed again. "Sounds good to me!"

And the two set out once more, racing off to the stars.

A/N: Like I said before, there will be a sequel to this, called "The Hearts of a Hero". Thank you for reading! Hope you all enjoyed it!