Shades of Gray

Dan

Dan paced back and forth waiting for Maggi to come in. He decided that he just needed to ask. He was positive she wasn't conspiring with Sabrina, but he needed to be 100% sure. He knew she probably had gotten very sick of being asked that, but he needed to. He slumped against the wall and sighed. He blinked hard and when he opened his eyes, she was walking through the front doors. He got up and tapped her on the shoulder. She whipped around, clearly startled. She took a deep breath and smiled. 
"You startled me." Her tone was light, but her eyes were guarded. Something was off, he could tell. "What do you need?" He took a deep breath. 
"I know you hate being asked this, and it finally died down again, but were you Sabrina's sidekick--or something?" Her smile melted away. Her eyes narrowed and her body stiffened. 
"Of course not, I thought you knew me better than that. I mean, come on! When have I ever given you any indication that I may be a villain?" Her voice was targeted. Her words were meant to pierce. He widened his eyes, hand up in a comforting way. 
"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it. Henry just received a very threatening text a few days ago, I just needed to make sure. I didn't want to believe it, I just needed to check." Her posture relaxed, but her face didn't. She nodded and stormed off. He smacked his forehead and groaned. I hope I didn't mess our friendship up... 

After classes, he did his homework and grabbed Henry to go out. He ran to the park and to the pond in the middle. He sat on a bench and watched the ducks swarm to him looking for crumbs. He smiled at the little ducklings who were still too shy to come up to him. Henry placed his hands on Dan's shoulders and rubbed slightly. 
"This makes me wish I had brought bread. But, we are almost out. And before you protest, I know, I know you just bought that bag, but soccer has been intense lately and I've been starving." Dan chuckled and put a hand on Henry's. 
"How are you doing? You have been tossing in your sleep. The text getting to you?" Henry sighed and sat down next to Dan. He nodded and put his head in his hands. 
"I finally put Captain Night behind bars. After SEVEN YEARS! And now, it might all be for nothing. If the city's never going to be safe, why try to protect it? They are only starting now because I put Captain Night in jail, who, might I add, only came to be because I declared myself a hero at the ripe age of eleven! I thought I could save the world!" He laughed dryly. "Look at me now." Dan could see tears falling down the sides of his hands and pulled Henry towards him. 
"Love, you are doing the best you can. You were young, you had powers, of course you decided to be the hero. And, naturally, there is no good without the bad. Plus, there are always shades of gray." Henry looked up at Dan and smiled. 
"You're right. The only thing I can do, really, is fight back. Still stand up for what I think is right." Dan nodded and squeezed Henry closer. 
"You are a great hero. Besides, this may be a good thing or a bad thing, we don't know what their powers are. They could be pretty harmless for all we know. And how many people don't love a super hot superhero." Henry smiled broadly, showing all of his teeth, rare smile, really. He gave a small kiss to Henry's cheek and looked back out at the ducks, which had finally given up on bread and had begun swimming back out to another person. "I forgot to tell you. I might have ruined our friendship with Maggi." Henry jolted up in surprise. 
"How?" Dan exhaled and began to retell what had happened. When he had finished, Henry had a hand over his mouth. "Why didn't you tell me your suspicions? I could have helped in a way that would have not ended with Maggi being mad." Dan was filled with regret and guilt. 
"I know. I wasn't thinking. I could tell you were stressed so I wanted to handle it on my own." Henry sighed and wrapped his arms around Dan's neck. 
"You need to apologize to her. She needs friends, and I wouldn't want to be friends with us either if the only people who didn't think she was conspiring with a villain accused her of being one." Dan noticed how he said 'we' when talking. It made Dan feel a little better, and worse, to know that Henry was on his side, and not accusing, like he had been to Maggi. 
"What should we do?" 
"We'll need a cake, or a donut at least. What about a chocolate rose! That would be best. Then you'll apologize and we'll all be friends again!" Dan nodded. He agreed to getting her a gift. He had some money and it would make up for calling her evil. He sighed. He had been quite rude in saying that. What had he been thinking!? He shook his head and stared off across the pond. He would make it up to her. But one thought, one stray, lonely, intrusive thought, remained. What if she was just lying? It's super easy to do that. She could just say whatever and he'd never know what was true. He shook them off. He didn't need that. She needed a friend. One who wouldn't accuse her of creating evil plans. He sighed. His intrusive thought had won. What if she really was the villain?

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed and will continue. I will not be posting at all next week for I will be on vacation!!! I will write again the monday after though! Again, I hope you enjoyed and have a great rest of your day/night/anywhereinbetween!