Violet Eyes

18: Masamune

Nate placed a hand on Danny's leg. "Danny?" He called out quietly. He snapped back to reality and looked at Nate, Danny looked so tired. "It's not your fault that Damien went way too far. It's this horrible place's fault for putting you against him, but I swear to you, he will NOT get away with this." Nate's voice turned darker.

"Nate, you can't get cocky like I did. I know I said I wasn't but...hindsight is always a cruel mistress. I got too over confident and that's what almost killed me..." Danny sounded like he was going to continue but he cut himself off. Nate didn't have it in him to speak, in case Danny wanted to say anything else.

After a moment of silence, Danny finally broke it. "I thought...I was going to die." Danny's voice broke a bit. Nate looked up at him without moving his head, waiting for Danny to vent in peace. "You know, when I collapsed in the arena...I didn't fall unconscious right away." Nate's eyes widened in horror and he sat up slightly.

"You...stayed conscious?" Nate spoke in disbelief.

"Trust me, there was nothing I wanted more than to be unconscious. That didn't happen until they started filling the arena with sleeping gas, but in that short time...I simply... couldn't move. Either way, I didn't expect to wake up again. The nurse told me I had been out for three days. I'm sorry if I made you guys worry." Danny said as he began to choke up a little bit but desperately trying to hide it. Nate knew what he was feeling, it was fear. It was exactly what Nate felt that day that he was attacked outside his school with Nyx and Alex. Although, that seemed like a lifetime ago now...he felt it again that fateful morning when Zachariah beat him and his family to death's door and arrested him and Nyx.

"Danny, what matters now is that you're alive. Of course we worried about you, we saw everything live on the stream. We're your friends and we just wanted you to be okay. You should've seen Rhys, he was freaking out like he was your wife." Nate laughed as he teased his friend.

Danny chuckled before he winced slightly and brought his hand to his stomach. "Yeah, that sounds like him. He is always worried about me because my ability isn't very effective for powered combat." Danny sounded pained a little bit from laughing aggravating his wound.

"Do you know how long they're gonna keep you in here?" Nate asked him to change the subject, he didn't want to make Danny laugh again if it would hurt him.

"I assume until they remove these stitches. On the bright side, I'll have some cool looking scars." Danny said as he looked down at his bandaged body.

"That's the spirit, I can bring you some food from the mess hall, if you want." Nate added after a small chuckle.

"Thanks but I'll be okay, honestly the infirmary food is way better than the shit they serve at the mess hall." Danny tried to push up is glasses, but got slightly upset when he remembered that they were smashed into the dirt of the arena.

"Are they gunna do something about your glasses?" Nate asked quietly.

"I assume so, maybe I can convince them that I can't fight if I can't see." Danny responded as he leaned his head back. He rolled his head to look at Nate and gave him a small smile. Nate smiled back in response before the infirmary door opened again. Nate's smile became brighter when he saw Rhys and Drake enter the room.

"Danny! Oh man you scared the SHIT out of me!" Rhys yelled as he rushed to the other side of Danny and slid onto his knees up to the bed before tightly grabbing his hand and holding it up with both of his. "Don't you EVER do that to us again, you idiot." Rhys said to him with tears of relief.

Danny's brow furrowed in annoyance, "I didn't have a choice in the matter, you loser." Danny responded to him in a flat tone. Drake approached the bed at that moment, he stayed standing behind Rhys and reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit. He pulled out a pair of wire rimmed glasses, just like the ones Danny had before.

Danny's eyes widened, "Drake, how did you-"

"Don't worry about it." Drake responded, showing his own brand of relief that his friend was okay. Danny put the glasses on as he talked to his two other friends, Nate's eyes drifted to the nurse sitting at her desk. She locked eyes with Nate and gave a warm smile. Nate realized that the nurse had told a guard to retrieve Rhys and Drake so they could see that their friend was okay. Nate's heart warmed a bit, he knew now that there were some true kind hearts in this prison. Some people understood that these prisoners were super powered, yes, but they were still people. Some were just teenagers, taken straight from their high school and normal teenager activities just because they were born gifted.

Unfortunately, because this was a prison, there were people who had been broken and hurt to the point that their minds drifted into a dark place. Some people chose to hate the world instead of looking for the good. Some people who chose to turn away from the good.

People that would hurt good and kind people like Danny.

People that were dangerous.