"Jesus, Annie." Dane muttered, dropping his head to hit the table they sat at.

"This is easily the most boring thing I've done in my life." She agreed with a small laugh, resting an arm on the back of her chair.

"There's a reason this place has two stars." He scoffed, eyeing the stage of less than amateur actors as they danced around.

"We'll, let's go get some ice cream or something." Starlight smiled, sitting up in her seat.

"Sure," He returned the smile.

The dinner theatre had a surprisingly nice ice cream shop only a short block away. They decided to walk there.

"So," Annie began, holding the door open for Dane. He stomped down the sidewalk slowly, she held back, keeping with him.

"So?" Dane prodded, tilting his head with a small smile.

"I saw you on the news." She supplied reluctantly.

"You'll have to be more specific." He chuckled quietly, placing his hands in his pockets.

"The plane crash." She murmured, eyes narrowing.

Dane immediately looked down at his feet, finding them far more interesting than her eyes.

"You..." He muttered, stopping himself with a sigh before looking back up at her. "You don't want to know what happened."

"I do." Annie said adamantly, placing a soothing hand in between his shoulder blades as they walked.
"You never tell me anything. That can't be good for you, holding it in like that." She rubbed at his back gently, moving it down to wrap an arm around him.

"They're dead, all because of him." Dane started, his feet moving to stand still. "We could've saved them, but he didn't even want to try." He turned to look at her with a sorrowful look that soon turned to hatred.
"He killed them all, and I was too fucking stunned to do anything about it. Maeve's as much as a coward as I was. But Hell, she did more to save them than I did—"

Annie interrupted his monologue by quickly hugging him. Her grip on him was tight and grounding. He quickly gripped onto her just as desperately.

He felt silent tears fall onto his cheeks, slowly sliding down his jaw.

They stayed like that for a moment.

"I've never been more scared of someone in my life." He spoke distantly, a small catch in his throat as he inhaled quietly.
"He used to be a good kid too. A good friend."

Starlight pulled away, keeping him at arms length just enough for her face to frame his eyesight.
"Wait—wait, what? I didn't think—you guys actually knew each other then?"

Dane swiped a hand at his face, catching any more tears before he composed himself with a few deep breaths.

"Yeah, I'm guessing I had a lot more human interaction than he did, though." He muttered, rubbing his eyes lightly before looking down at her.
"For a few years there, I never saw him though." He decided to not say more, no one needed to know about the facility they were kept in.

"Has he—Has he hurt you at all?" She pulled away, dropping her arms to fully step back.

"No," Dane began, looking past her as he spoke. "Not in a while. At least I have that going for me."

"Stop talking like that." She frowned immediately. "We'll figure this out, alright?"

"Damn it, you think I haven't tried?" He raised his voice, giving her a light glare. "I've been here longer than you have. I'm exhausted and my efforts have only made him worse."

"We can, well, we can—" She started desperately, eyes flickering over every inch of his face.

"Run off? Last time I tried that he threatened to kill me." Dane stressed.

"Jesus," Her mouth opened in utter shock. "He said that?"

"It was implied." He supplied with a small frown, before beginning to walk again.

"Dane, stop." She called out, moving to walk beside him.

"Why? So we can pretend like me living a normal life in Des Moines is possible? I'm not you, Annie. I don't get to have shit like that." He seethed, before his expression grew to look defeated.
"You'll learn that the longer you're here. Just like Maeve, you get to be a shadow of a person."

"That's—"

"Just drop it, please." Dane murmured, stopping to turn and face her. "Vought, The Seven, all that bullshit. We leave it at the door, alright? It's the only way to keep us sane, trust me."

There was a moment of silence as Annie eyed him with sorrowful eyes that he made sure to not pay attention to or he believed he may cry again.

"Please, Annie. Just listen to me." He begged quietly.

"Alright," She agreed after a moment, defeated.

"Thank you." Dane murmured, grabbing at her hand, looping their arms together gently before leading the way.