Violet Eyes

22: Morally Grey

It was about 4 am when Soul woke from her sleep with a jolt. She had another stupid nightmare about them. She rubbed her fingers across her eyes to clear the cobwebs from her brain. She sat up with a short groan and looked around. She saw all of her friends sleeping soundly on their dusty mattresses.

All except...for Danny.

She looked around more, he wasn't here. His mattress was empty, Soul looked around for a clue of his whereabouts. That's when she spotted it, in the next room she could see a window open. Through that window and through the bars of a fire escape, she could see the sun just barely starting to peek over the horizon, turning the sky into a pale orange. Soul could also see a few strands of white hair flowing in the gentle morning breeze. A strange warmth spreading through her chest, but also a little tinge of worry invaded her mind.

Danny sat on the fire escape with his legs bent up so his feet were flat on the grate. His arms were resting on his knees and his head was leaned against the brick wall of the building. His eyes were closed and he was bathing in the warm morning sun. He hadn't been able to do this in a long time.

"Couldn't sleep either huh?" Danny jolted grandly with a gasp.

"My god, you scared the hell out of me." Danny whispered with a breathy voice as he placed a hand on his chest. Soul snickered softly as her head was stuck out the window.

"Sorry." Soul said as she climbed through the window and sat on the opposite side of it from Danny. "What are you doing out here?" She spoke softly to try and not wake anyone.

Danny calmed down and returned to his original position then lowered his left leg to lay flat on the fire escape. "I don't know...I just-" Danny clenched his left hand into a tight fist before he released it just as fast. "I don't feel right talking to you about it." He whispered coldly. Soul glanced over at him.

"Can I guess?" Soul said after a few seconds of silence. Danny hung his head forward for a second before he lifted it back up, still not looking at her.

"I guess so." He responded, his tone unwavering.

"Did you have a nightmare about Masamune?" Soul asked him.

"Dammit." Danny whispered to himself as he leaned his head back, where it thumped into a wall softly. "Yes. Okay, yes I did and I feel wrong talking to you about this because he's..."

"My brother?" Soul finished his sentence after he trailed off. For the first time since she startled him, he looked at her. It was only for a moment that Soul caught his pale gray eyes but it was a start.

"Yeah..." Danny replied with a somber tone.

"You don't have to feel wrong about it, the kinship between us is long dead. I saved your life, what more do you need?" Soul sounded frustrated towards the end.

"It would really help if you didn't look just like him." Danny snapped at her in a whisper, causing her to recoil slightly. He saw this and felt ashamed. "I'm sorry...I lost my temper...I just...he almost killed me, twice...and I guess it just got to me. I mean, I've been injured in fights, sure. I've even lost fights, but no one has ever come that close to killing me." Danny brought his arm up to his shoulder and rubbed his scar. "Except for him...he made me realize how weak I am." He held up his other hand and flexed it into a fist a few times.

"Weak?" Soul asked rhetorically as she looked at him.

"Oh, is this the part where you try and convince me that I'm not weak?" Danny cut her off as he looked at her and actually held her gaze this time. His eyes held no color but Soul was still lost in them for a moment.

Soul leaned forward a few inches, "Danny, the fact that you are alive means that you are not weak. Call it stupid or cliche all you want but you stared down Masamune and lived. Not once, but twice! I know him better than he thinks I do. He doesn't leave survivors. You are not weak, Danny." Danny looked away from her and back towards the horizon.