"I know," Hiro said softly, looking up at Nathan. At least he was reassured that they were on the same page about things, and he wouldn't have to voice the worries that were swirling around in his head about that issue. "I know you wouldn't have. And Peter knew that as well. He defended you," Hiro said softly. "At first, after his anger had started to ebb. That you were only doing what you thought was right, that you were just trying to help everyone, to help us, and that the only way you could do that was by keeping the fact that you were one of us a secret," He said, his attention having been drawn back down to his plate despite the fact that he hadn't bothered to talk another bit.
"I think part of him had to defend you," Hiro said with a soft sigh, his eyes sliding closed. It was so hard to think about those first few years when the wounds and regret from failing had been so fresh, so raw. "He couldn't allow himself to actually think that you were really against us. Not for the longest time."
"We should have known that something was wrong after we lost Candice," Hiro said with a soft, sad laugh. "But that was just Candice. Bold, independent, clever. She was an illusionist, so it was so easy to blend in for her. Sort of like Mystique. She never had to help us. She could have so simply blended right into the crowd and disappeared. That was what we thought she'd done."
Hiro shook out his head slowly with a sigh before looking back up at Nathan, ignoring the pricking at the corners of his eyes that he could feel building, "I'm sorry," He said softly. "I just needed someone to blame other than myself."