Black Rose

Two weeks later.

The training I had been doing with Eric had been keeping the weight off which I was thankful for. No one had found Angelo yet, or heard from him. Everyone kept in the back of their mind that he was dead but I was hoping for hearing that he'd gone back to Italy, to lay low for a while. But something in the pit of my stomach knew that that wasn't the case. I still couldn't catch my identity thief killer yet and Nick had gotten called back to Vegas again.

I swear it was one of thoses cases that seemed to drag on and on forever. Something I wanted to finish since I hated having this guy out there, but he was still in Miami, people kept seeing descriptions of him but no one would give an exact place of where they seen him. I think it was just fear, maybe something he might've said or just the whole not wanting to trust law enforcement.

Right now, I was in the glades with Jesse as we were called out to another murder scene in which we were collecting evidence now. I was heading to Brazil tonight at 5 with my dad and Eric, which I was half nervous about yet half looking forward to this guy. This guy who had ransacked Angelo's apartment was linked with Brazilians that were after my dad and ultimately me and anyone close to me. As I was documenting the evidence, an officer had walked off to check for anything else.

"Sylar," I heard my name being called as I looked up at the direction of the officer, "You've got to come see this."

I looked towards Jesse as he shrugged but followed me to the direction of where the officer was looking at something. As I approached, hoping it was something to crack this case, what lay in front of me, made my heart stop beating for a second.

There preserved in the glades muck was Angelo, clothes still in tact, and lifeless. My mouth dropped open as I couldn't find the words. There were so many emotions going through my mind too, hurt, anger, frustration. I was at a lose.

"Who is it?" Jesse asked as he looked at the body.
"Angelo," I mumbled as I looked at him, "You know from that case where we couldn't find that guy and his girlfriend."
"He's the one who fed you information right?"
"Yeah, and protected me when I was first kidnapped."
"Are you ok?" He asked sincerly as I shook my head.
"Let's just get this evidence back to the lab and inform his family."

Back at the lab, Jesse went to inform the family which was something I couldn't do in which he told them as soon as we finished with the investigation, he'd fly the body back to them in Italy along with his girlfriends.

It wasn't going to get that long to get the body to them since the plane for Brazil would be touching down in 3 hours to wait for me, Eric, and Horatio. I knew Jake was going to but he was sticking to the shadows, laying low unless I needed him.

Those 3 hours, ticked by painfully slow as I was on edge until Horatio told me that my mom had been asking to see me at the local institute where Julia was at as well. I was planning on going home but I stopped in to see her.

As I set foot through the double doors, a man lead me to a couch where my mom was talking to Julia over some coffee.

"Mom," I spoke softly as she looked at me with a smile on her face, "Hi Julia."
"Hi Sylar," Julia smiled at me as I gave her a smile too.
"Hey."
"How's Kyle?"
"He's good," I nodded, "Still overseas but he's good."
"That's good."
"Julia, can I talk to Sylar alone, please?" My mom asked as Julia stood up then I took her spot.

"You wanted to see me," I looked at her as her smile faded.
"Brazil is dangerous."
"I know," I looked at my fingernails, "But you know about it didn't you?"
"Your cousin-"
"The one who kidnapped me," I interupted her with a glare as she nodded.
"He knows the people there and he told me that they plan on nothing to stop you or your dad."
"Then they'll be surprised," I looked at her.
"Sylar, I'm sick," She changed the subject as I looked at her, "I can't lose you."
"You won't."
"I'm just scared for you."
"What are you trying to tell me mom?" I questioned as she gave a faint smile.
"The doctors don't think I hear them outside my door but I do."
"And?"
"They said it's a multiple personality disease, but I know it's not."
"Then what is it?" I swallowed hard as she looked back at me.
"My parents, when I was a child, put me through many years of radiation just as a punishment for doing something wrong," She continued as my mouth dropped open, "Then when I turned 12, my behavior changed, I had anger issues, I did drugs, so they sent me to a doctor who thought he could fix me with shock therapy."
"I didn't know-"
"I didn't want you to know," She stopped me, "I wanted to raise you the best I could but nothing fixed what was wrong with me."
"Will I have the same problems?" I questioned as she shook her head.
"No, you won't sweetheart," She smiled.
"You'll get through this mom," I smiled at her as she went blank for a second, "I'll visit you when I get back ok?"
"Alright, sweetheart," She smiled as I got up to leave as I walked up to a doctor.

"What's going on with my mom?" I asked him as he sighed.
"She's got a brain tumor."
"Can't it be removed?" I questioned as he looked back at me.
"We've looked into it but it's too large and it's at a bad spot that we don't know if she'd make it through surgery."
"So it's causing her to have all these mental problems?" I questioned.
"We don't know why or how but yes."
"How long does she have?"
"We can't be sure," He looked at me, "But in the event, she's asked Julia to watch our for you and she wants you to be there for Julia too."
"Thank you Dr," I nodded as I headed out the door.

I couldn't believe this, not only had I lost Angelo but I was slowly losing my mom. Granted she wasn't there my entire life but still it was even more mixed emotions. It didn't answer why she wanted me dead or why her family wanted to kill me in the first place. I mean what if she was lying? What if she had the doctors lie? I know I'm being paranoid but still, nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

As I walked through the door of the house, Tyler stood up to walk over to me the best he could before almost falling as I caught him.

"Good reflexes," Ryan smiled as I picked up the kid.
"Thanks."
"Is everything alright?" He questioned as I shrugged.
"Yes and no."
"Want to talk about it?"
"I wish I could," I sighed as I looked at the time, "But I need to finish packing and get to the plane."
"Oh yeah," Ryan nodded sadly as he took Tyler, "I was hoping you'd forget about it."
"Ryan," I sighed as I headed to the room, "Don't start."
"I know, I just want you to be careful, ok?"
"I will," I looked at him as I tossed in some extra clothes, "Promise I'll come back."
"Ok," He sighed as I finished gathering things, "You really need all that?"
"Probably not but it doesn't hurt."
"I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," I kissed him quickly, "I promise I'll be back soon."
"I love you."
"Love you too," I smiled at him as I headed to the door than to Eric's house where he drove me to the airport.

The plane ride was smooth yet I found myself falling asleep, even with all the thoughts going through my head. It still seemed like only a few minutes later, I was being shaken awake by Eric as the plane was about to land.

Brazil was beautiful, everything about it had that sense of romance but I wasn't here for romance. As the wheels touched down, I felt my stomach churn a bit as I had to catch my breath.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Eric asked as I half glared.
"You know I am."
"I'm just checking."
"I'll be fine," I gave him a light smile as we were soon able to exit the plane.

As we did, I followed my dad and Eric through the tiny airport to the hotel we were hiding out in for now as I seen Jake standing amongst some people. I gave him a quick look as I knew he was following me quickly behind.