Shots rang out in the once still morning air as Nicholas dove behind the fountain for cover. Danny had always dreamed of seeing action like this up close but he never really believed that it would actually happen. The whole ordeal was such a huge shock, an impossible reversal of fortune, that Danny could do nothing but watch it unfold for several minutes. He sat stupidly in his squad car and stared at the scene unfolding around him. This was better than all of his action films rolled into one, until he really began to realise that this was all very, very real and Nicholas was in trouble. He was pinned down behind the fountain and no one was coming to the rescue. Danny was starting to panic but what could he do? He wasn't a hero like Nicholas. Even if he was, he had no way to help... until he did. He was moving before he fully understood what it was that he was doing. One second he was watching the (very awesome) shootout, the next his door had been flung open and Mrs. Porter collided hard with it. The force of the impact threw her over the top and crashed onto the cobblestone street, rendered quite unconscious from the sudden collision.
A little shakily, Danny climbed out of the car and apprehensively met Nicholas' eyes. Even behind his painfully cool aviator style sunglasses, Danny could see his eyes shining. Nicholas tossed him a shotgun and, in what was most likely the coolest moment of his entire life, Danny caught and caulked it in the same fluid motion.
"Now that's what I'm talking about." Nicholas said in the smoothest action hero voice Danny had ever heard. He squealed internally with fangirl delight but externally, he had no time for such nonsense. He and Nicholas had a town to take back. This was it! This was officially the best day of his life. Nicholas had come back to him, had come back for him, and now they were heroes together. As they shot their way through the village square, Danny did his best not to think about how the bad guys were the people he had known since birth. Instead, he concentrated on Nicholas and his bright aura of justice. They were setting things right now and as long as Nicholas was by his side, it was all going to be okay.
If he were very honest with himself, storming the village did give him a small savage sense of satisfaction to take revenge on the NWA for attempting to murder his Angel. But he pushed that feeling aside too. Right now, his heart was so full of pride he felt it might burst, not just with pride for Nicholas, but pride for himself too. For the first time, maybe ever, Danny was truly proud of himself. He wasn't the little boy playing policeman(officer) anymore. He was a true officer in his own right and he was proving it to himself and everyone else in the village. Finally, he was a hero.
As is the fate of all good things, it wasn't meant to last.
It happened too fast. One second Nicholas was confronting Reverend Shooter, shining as brightly as the sun, then the reverend was shooting. Danny couldn't even tell where the guns had come from. He was unarmed and suddenly he wasn't and Danny could do nothing to stop it. He could only scream with horror as Nicholas was thrown backwards with a strangled surprised cry and lay still.
NO. It couldn't be true. It wasn't real. It had all felt like a dream before and now everything in him was screaming for him to wake up. Reverend Shooter had killed Nicholas, HIS Nicholas. White hot rage like he had never felt before filled the sudden emptiness. No one did this and got away with it, no one. Danny raised his gun (the gun Nicholas had given him) and fired, feeling nothing as Shooter swore and fell to lay near Nicholas in the square. Revenge taken, the anger drained away almost instantly. The icy fear left to fill the void was crippling.
"Nicholas!" Danny's eyes were fixed on Nicholas, who was laying far too still. But, this wasn't supposed to happen! The good guys always win in the end. The hero doesn't die; He couldn't die because if he did, all hope would be lost. Danny stumbled as he ran. His legs were made of rubber and the ground was pudding. It took all he had just to put one foot in front of the other but still he urged his body to move faster.
"Nicholas!" It was the only word he knew apart from no which repeated itself over and over in time to his rapid and erratic pounding of his heart. Screaming Nicholas' name was all that kept him focused. Why couldn't he stop it? Fat load of good he was as a partner.
"Nicholas!" How could he have been so stupid? Somehow, someway, he should have known. Danny had known after last night that the NWA was dangerous but he was still naive and had indulged himself anyway. He hadn't seen just what the NWA was capable of and now Nicholas had paid the price for his foolishness. Nicholas, his white knight who had come back for him, who had believed in him, who loved him... and had now died because of him. No! He was going to be okay!
Nicholas wasn't far away, 15 or 20 feet at most, but it felt like ages to Danny before he finally reached his fallen partner's side. Nicholas wasn't breathing, but this was something Danny would never accept. He wasn't really dead. Nicholas was just kidding after all, right? It was a very bad joke. Really, if he wanted to get him back for the ketchup pranks... He could have just told him he didn't like them. Danny knelt down to grab Nicholas' vest with the intent of shaking him awake. Danny's hand touched Nicholas' vest and the response was immediate. Nicholas lurched, gasping and coughing shallowly, his back curled and his arms flailed as they attempted to grasp his chest. The sudden signs of life did nothing to ease Danny's anxiety. They looked and sounded too much like death throws to do anything but stop his heart. Not knowing what else to do, Danny slid a shaking arm under Nicholas' shoulders easing him up, allowing the grasping hands to find purchase on the edges of his coat pulling the fabric aside.
Danny did not want to look. He didn't want to see the gaping holes he knew were there, marring Nicholas' perfect chest or watch the blood spill, draining more precious life with each cruel second. He couldn't help it though. He looked. But there was no blood, no open wounds stealing away everything precious to Danny. Instead, two little silver pieces of metal sat neatly on top of a bullet-proof vest Danny had no idea Nicholas had been wearing. The point-blank hit had still been a very hard one and had knocked the wind out of him as well as off his feet.
The relief that washed over Danny was so sudden and complete it made his head spin and he would have collapsed if he hadn't already been kneeling. He felt he should be happy but he wasn't. The pain and horror he had just experienced were too raw and real to allow for anything but sober relief and prayers of thanksgiving that his world had not just been completely and irreversibly shattered. Nicholas looked just as relieved as Danny felt, but instead of being shaken, he smiled cheekily up at Danny as if he had just done something clever. Danny did not smile in return.
"I thought you were a gonner." He managed to say as he allowed his finger ever so lightly to brush Nicholas' cheek. Nicholas beamed up at Danny, his clear blue eyes positively sparkling with joy. The last of Danny's cold fear melted away in the light of that smile. He still couldn't bring himself to smile back but he did manage to give his shoulder a firm and affectionate pat.
Pitty the moment couldn't last.