Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to Disney.

Summary: About a little newsie who, until his dying day, loves his sister. (NOT ROMANTICLY!!!)

Tears of Angels

As the sun rose that beautiful summer morning, and the newsies slowly, but surely, climbed out of there bunks, none of them knew what that day would behold.

"Hey Jackie boy, how'd ya sleep?" asked Mush.

"Mush, I ain't in da mood, so shut it." Jack told Mush.

"Whoa, Jackie, I didn't mean nuthin by it. Take it easy."

"Yeah I knows" Jack smiled "I'm just playin wich yas!" He laughed.

"Jack you always knows how to bring a guys mornin to a pause." Crutchy said and smiled.

"Come on! Get up, all of ya! Gotta sell the papes! Sell the papers! Come on come on!" hollered Kloppman.

"Were goin, were goin! Eager Beaver!" Jack joked.

"Get out'a here boy!" Kloppman laughed as he punched Jack playfully.

"Headlines good this mornin! Ya think it'll buy?" asked Mush

"Headlines don't sell papes! Newsies sell papes!" exclaimed Jack

"Right Jackie boy!" said Racetrack

"Oh! Oh! Pretty goil comin right this way!" shouted Mush. The boys took off their hats and some whistled as the girl quickly made her way through the crowd.

"Forget the girl! We got woik!" Kid Blink announced as he rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but stopped for one last look at the girl.

"Sure Blink sure! We can stop, but you has to have one last look at yer goil, before she walks away from ya forever!" Jack shouted jokingly and the other newsies snickered along beside him.

"Shut up Jack!" Blink said as he pushed him playfully. Just then one of the smaller newsies, about no more than 11 years old, came running up from down an alleyway, and skidded to a halt behind Jack.

"Whats'a matter Two Pint?" Jack asked as he looked at him curiously.

"The --- Delancy --- brothers --- chased me --- up --- alley. --- Can't breathe." Two Pint said gasping every 3 seconds.

"How long you been runnin?" Jack asked

"Bout 3 blocks from up the corner."

"That far? How'd u make it?"

"I jumped about 3 carridges, 2 trollies, and I ran the rest of the way."

"You must be pretty fast huh kid."

"Yeah I guess so." Two Pint said as his breath returned to him. Just then, Jack noticed that the sleeve of the boy's shirt had been ripped a bit below the shoulder.

"Hey kid u gots a hole in yer shirt. Lemme see it." Jack said. He spun the boy around so he could see his arm. As he pulled up the boy's sleeve he saw a trickle of blood, and as he got closer to his shoulder he could see more of it flowing down Two Pints arm.

"Whoa, kid what'd u do to yourself?" asked Jack, aghast.

"Oh I tripped and fell on the side walk over by the glass warehouse, but I didn't really think anything of it. I didn't really feel anything then. But now it hurts." Two Pint said as he held his arm to his chest.

"Here kid, take this." Jack said and handed him his bandana and tied it tight around Two Pint's arm.

"Ow.." Two Pint cringed.

"You really got to get this fixed up." Jack announced shaking his head.

"No! I don't want anything fixed! I.I mean its fine! It feels better already!" he smiled.

"Don't pull that on me. I know when somethin hoits, trust me. I got enough shiners to prove it!" Jack told him with a smirk.

"Alright, alright! I'll go!" Jack and Two Pint started walking down the street as the rest of the newsies went off to finish the rest of their morning sales.

"Yer a good kid Two Pint. Yer muddah musta bin proud to have such a good kid."

"She was real nice Jack. Sometimes, I lay awake at night and I swear I can hear her voice singing to me."

"That's sweet."

"As she took her last breaths, she told me to take care of my little sister and told me that she would always be there, whether I could see her or not. I didn't know what she meant then, but I do now, and I know that some day, I will be up there in heaven with her. And I'll look down and everyone below will know that an angel is watching them and protecting them. I know they will. I don't know how, but they will. And it will be us. Just me, and my mom." The two newsies just stood in silence, Two Pint looking up at the sky, and Jack looking down at the ground, not knowing what to say. Then Two Pint looked at Jack and said, "She left this locket to me! It's all I have left of her. She gave my sister one, too. But she told me this one was special. And if I wore it, she would always be with me, in my heart."

After a few minutes he said "I'm sorry bout yer muddah, Two Pint."

"Its ok, what's done is done. I'm just glad that I have my sister, even though she can be a pain, its nice to have company when you think there is no one left in the world who cares."

"You must love her a whole lot."

"I do! If anything ever happened to her. I. I don't know what I'd do...."

"Yeah.. well were here. Come on. Lets go inside."

"Oh, ok."

They walked in the door, and took a left at the fountain, and went up 3 flights of stairs. As they reached the end of the stairs, they entered a door that concealed the pediatrician.

"Mornin Doc!" exclaimed Jack.

"Good morning to you, too Kelly." said the Doc "And who do we have here?"

"Umff." grunted Two Pint.

"His name's Two Pint." Said Jack.

"Ah, and why have we come here today?" asked the Doc

"Because Two Pint here needs you to have a look at his arm. It's pretty scratched up." Jack told him.

"It's fine! Really! I swear it doesn't need anything!" Two Pint squealed and started struggling to get to the door, but couldn't break the restraining grip of the teenage boy's hand.

"Don't listen to him Doc. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He jus doesn't want you ta hoit him." explained Jack.

"I know what the boy means Jack. But of course, I'm not going to do anything to hurt the child. Come here boy. Sit in my special chair." The kind doctor pointed to a small bright blue bench.

The small boy's eyes opened as wide as his mouth could have, and he strained as hard as he could against Jack's grip, but made not progress, so he gave up and let the teenager drag him up to the bench and set him there.

"It's fine I'm telling you! You gotta believe me!" Two Pint yelled.

"Let's just have a look at this arm of yours." And the doctor untied the bandana and lifted up the boy's shirt sleeve.

"Jack, your right. It is pretty cut up, but I can fix it quickly and painlessly!" the doctor said and smiled.

The little boy quickly relaxed and let his arm fall behind him. "All I have to do is put some of this cream on it, and then wrap this bandage around it." He tied a small cloth around the boy's upper arm and then taped the end down. "Now, come back and see me in a couple of days and you can take it off then." He said.

"How much do I owe ya doc?" asked Jack.

"It's on the house. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine."

As they left the office the little boy looked up at Jack and said, "I'm sorry I didn't want to come with you. I was bein a wimp. I shoulda listened to you in da first place. Thanks."

"Oh, it's fine. I just wanna keep my friends from getting hoit."

They walked down the stairs, took a right at the fountain this time, and walked out the door. Then they finished their route of sellin papes, and then went to sit in the central park.

"Jack, I don't feel well." said Two Pint.

"What's a matta? Your stomach hoit?" asked Jack

"No, not that kind of feeling. It's in my heart. Something's wrong. I know it."

Jack wondered what the boy meant, but didn't think anything of it until it was too late.

They got up and started walking back down to the bunkhouse. They were a little more than half way there, when they saw thick, black smoke rising from a building a bit farther away from them. They looked at each other, and then made a mad dash for the building.

They caught up with a couple of the other newsies on the way there.

"Hey! Blink! Mush! Race! What's happenin?!?

"One of the factories! It's on fire! And it's going fast!" announced Mush in a panicky voice.

"Which factory is it?" asked Two Pint.

"It's so sickening to see all of those people in there." said Racetrack. He was actually almost in tears.

"Which factory is it?" asked Two Pint, again.

"I can't go near there again!" exclaimed Kid Blink. "I'll go insane!" he was scarred for life by the sight of the women in the factories.

"Which factory is it?!" yelled Two Pint.

"It's the coat and cloak factory." said Racetrack.

Two Pint just stood there with a dazed and lost look on his face. It was usually pink and rosy, but it was now white and pale. Then his eyes flashed to Jack and he screamed, "You have to help me! My sister is in that building! She's on the 15th floor!"

The newsies just stared at each other. Then all of them ran over to the building and saw the ghastly flames rising to the sky, like pathways leading to heaven. They saw women standing by windows and yelling for help. No one could get out of the building. It was a depressing sight to see, and no one even as old as Jack and other older newsies, should have seen, let alone a little boy such as Two Pint.

"You have to save my sister!" he screeched at Jack.

"There isn't anythin I can do. She's gone! They're all gone!" he yelled back. "Then I'll do it myself!"

Jack looked up and saw a small girl leaning out of a high window. He counted the windows and noticed. it was the fifteenth floor. He looked back down, and realized. Two Pint was gone. He began to panic, and looked around calling his name. He asked other newsies if they had seen him, but none had. No one cares about a little homeless boy.

"If only," Jack thought to himself, "I hadn't been so mean to him, and told him that there wasn't anything. There could have been something. If only he had time, time to think!"

But there wasn't time. No time for anything, but worry.

The firefighters quickly pulled up and started trying to put out the flaming inferno. Trying, but not helping nearly enough. Jack kept looking for Two Pint, hoping that what he thought had happened, didn't. But hoping doesn't always help. And this time it didn't. Three hours later it was about 2'o clock in the after noon. Jack was still there, looking and waiting. Waiting and looking. The flames were mostly out by now, which was surprising. He saw a fire fighter come out with the body of a small girl. Jack recognized her to be Two Pint's sister.

"Is she alive?! Please! Tell me she's alive!" Jack shouted exasperatedly.

"Yes, she's alive, but she needs medical care for her burns and the smoke inhalants." said the fire fighter, calmly.

"Oh thank god!" sobbed Jack.

But then he remembered that Two Pint was still missing.

"Would ya please infrorm, no ifnorm, no ."

"Inform?"

"Yeah, dat! 'Inform' me to what hospital she is in, and whatever else there is to know about?"

"Yes, I will."

"Send the information to da #3 newsies bunkhouse, Manhattan. Ok?"

"Of course."

Another hour later, Jack was still there. Another fire fighter came out of the building. Then another. And then another. Jack didn't want to see the people. When he finally convinced himself to look at one, he saw his worst nightmare. The worst thing that he could possibly have seen, he saw. The thing he had hoped wouldn't happen, happened.

"Jus tell me I'm seein things! Tell me it's not him!" Jack sobbed.

"Are you his brother?" asked the fire fighter.

"I'm as close as it gets." explained Jack.

"Oh, I'm sorry sir." the fire fighter took off his hat and looked at
the ground.

"The boy went charging right into the flames. No one saw him, and even
if they did, they wouldn't have been able to catch or stop him. He
was bound and determined on doing something."

"I know what it was. He gave his life for his sister's. He loved her with all his heart. He. didn't have anyone else. You can barely recognize him."

"Well we found this." the fireman handed him a silver locket. It was the one Two Pint's mother had given him. "Would you like to keep it? As a memory?"

"Yeah, I tink we all need ta remembuh this little kid." Jack stuffed the locket into his pocket.

It then began to rain. First, just lightly sprinkle, but then it began to pour. By now it was getting dark out. Some of the other newsies came over to him and tried to comfort him. in their own way.

"He wasn't that special of a kid Jackie Boy." said Mush.

"Yeah, come on Cowboy, no one wanted him." said Racetrack. Jack tackled both boys with one jump. He had them both on the ground in less than 5 seconds. Then he let them up.

"I'm sorry guys. I just loved da kid like family. I mean neither of us had anyone."

"We understand Jack." said Mush.

"We was just tryin ta make yas feel betta. guess it din't work." said Racetrack.

"I'm getting wet." exclaimed Jack.

"No really? It's pouring, and you're standin outside in it! I don't tink yer gonna be dry!" joked Blink.

"No, it's not rain! It's the tears of angels! It's him and his mother! They are letting us know they are ok, and they are happy! They don't want us to be sad. They want us to be happy, and get on with our lives." Jack told them.

They all walked away, comforting each other, as the tears of the angels dripped on their heads.

The End