Author's Note: I feel inclined to say I would have uploaded this yesterday, but my computer was having issues. Damn piece of shit. Anyhow, happy Darry's birthday yesterday. Please enjoy and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 1: Scattered To the Four Winds

DARRY'S POV

It was late at night (or early in the morning, whatever you wanna call it) when I was woken up by two small hands shaking me.

"Darry!" Ponyboy's voice hissed through the dark. "Darry, wake up!"

"What?" I asked, rolling over to look at him.

He was real scared, but I couldn't help by smile inside at how cute he looked with his hair tousled from sleep, his cute little nose, and his big, soulful, sad eyes.

"When did Mom and Dad say they'd get back?" He asked. He seemed real freaked.

"About one. Why?"

He silently pointed at the clock. Four in the morning.

I sat up and looked at him carefully. "They ain't back yet?"

He shook his head, looking more panicked by the second. "I knew it! I knew something was gonna happen, I could just tell! I tried to get em not to go!"

"Pony, shh, chill! Get a grip on yourself." I said, grabbing his shoulders.

He nodded, breathing deeply.

"I'm sure they're fine." I went on. "They were goin' a few cities away. Traffics probably just bad or somethin'. I'm sure they'll be back soon."

"Can I wait up for them in the living room?" he asked, slightly embarrassed.

I smiled at him. "Sure." And then, since I was kinda worried myself, I said, "And tell you what. I'll come wait up with you, okay? Just so you're not scared." I couldn't let him see I was worried or it would just freak him out more than he already was, and that was the last thing I wanted or needed right then.

Ponyboy nodded, then shyly held out his hand.

I took it, and we walked out and sat down on the couch together.

About an hour later, Soda came stumbling out of his room, his hair sticking up everywhere, in just his jeans. "Darry." he mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "What's goin' on? I woke up and Pony wasn't in the room."

"Nothin's goin' on. Go back to sleep." I said, unconsciously pulling Ponyboy, who'd fallen asleep on my shoulder, a little closer to me, almost as if I was afraid Soda was gonna take him away from me or something.

No offense to Soda or anything, but when he's half asleep, he's about as smart and capable of independent thought as a bunch of rocks. He simply nodded his head and stumbled back off to bed, no questions asked.

I'm not sure why I didn't explain what was going on. Maybe Ponyboy being scared half to death was enough, and I didn't need to add Soda freaking out to my list of problems right then.

XxXxX

I jerked awake. The sun was up and shining through the front window, and the clock said it was seven. I looked down at Ponyboy, sleeping adorably on my shoulder. I'd never seen anything quite so cute.

I sighed and smiled kinda sadly. I wasn't really all that close to Ponyboy. I didn't talk to him much. It was sorta like he was just… there, cute and sweet in his own special way. Even though we all three hung out with the same group of kids, it was like he was a total nonentity to me. There were seven of us in the gang, and me being oldest and him being youngest and so quiet, I usually wound up talking to the others.

I was sitting there, sort of savoring the moment, when Soda came stumbling back into the room again. He was way more awake than he had been before, and I knew I wouldn't be able to blow him off this time around.

He opened his mouth, about to say something at his usual volume - which seemed to be stuck on loud - but then he spotted Ponyboy asleep next to me, and seemed to somehow magically drop it. "What're you guys doin' out here?" he whispered.

When I explained, Soda looked like he was about ready to have a heart attack. "You serious?" he practically squeaked.

That's when Ponyboy woke up. "Mama?" he muttered, slowly sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Morning sleeping beauty." Soda said, with a slightly shaky smile and none of his usual enthusiasm.

Ponyboy looked at him a little worriedly, then at me, then around the room, and his worried expression intensified. He turned to face me. "Aren't they back yet?" he half squeaked. It was so much like Soda's squeak that I sorta wanted to smile, but this really wasn't the situation to do that in.

"No, Pony. They ain't back yet." I answered, and all desire to smile vanished. What were we gonna do?

"Should we call someone or somethin'?" Ponyboy looked between Soda and me.

"Who would we call, Pony?" Soda asked with devastating logic.

"I dunno, but there's gotta be someone." They both looked over at me, hoping maybe I had an answer.

Think was, I didn't. I didn't know who to call or what to do, but I just couldn't find it in myself to say that to them when they was looking at me like I was the last bit of hope they had left to hold onto.

"I'm sure I'll think of somethin', kid." I answered instead. "Why don't you and Soda get some breakfast started?"

PONYBOY'S POV

Where could they be? What'd happened to them? This was absolutely insane. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

But I wasn't actually all that surprised. I'd known something like this was gonna happen, I could just feel it, but when I tried to convince them not to go, they wouldn't listen to me. I'd just… well, I'd just had a feeling. Now here we were, and I was terrified that I was right.

It was about two in the afternoon now, still no news, and Darry still hadn't called anyone. Not that I was surprised. I'd know he'd only said he'd think of something to make us feel better. Soda'd had a point. Who would you call for this sort of thing?

Now, I know what you normal people are thinking. Just call the cops. Thing is, the fuzz never get their job done right, we greasers don't really get along with them, and I'm sure half of you have never even had a reason to call the cops before. That's right, I'm calling you out on it. Half of you are just repeating that stuff you were brainwashed with at school. The other half of you are one of two things. Either you got real lucky and actually wound up working with decent cops, or you're just complete idiots still parroting brainwashed school beliefs even though you know they're totally stupid. Either way, most of you probably qualify as the stupidest people I've ever met.

But don't worry, most people are. You're in the vast majority.

XxXxX

Four in the afternoon. The whole gang was over now, and we were all worried. They'd sort of adopted my parents as replacements for theirs, and seeing how lousy most of their own were, I couldn't blame them. They all actually really like my parents, especially Dally, which surprised me. Dally was the type who hated authority figures of any kind, and in his eyes, parents were pretty damn bad.

I was jerked out of my thoughts by the phone ringing. Darry answered it and put it on speaker, and we all gathered around, desperately hoping that maybe, just maybe…

"Curtis residence?" a voice I didn't recognize asked. My heart fell. Where were they?

"Yeah?" Soda answered before Darry had a chance.

"To whom am I speaking?" the voice asked.

"Sodapop Curtis." Soda answered.

There was a confused pause, just like there always is. "I'm afraid I have some bad news." the voice said. "Your parents were out driving yesterday, and they got in an accident… with a train. Their breaks failed, and they accidentally rolled out onto the tracks. There was nothing anyone could do. Somebody will be in touch with you to make funeral arrangements and decide what is going to be done with you kids. I'm sorry." The line went dead.

We all sat there in stunned silence.

He sure didn't sound sorry. More bored, like 'ugh, why is my boss making me do this?' That pissed me off. Didn't he realize he was talking about actual people, whose deaths would actually matter to those he was talking to? They weren't just pieces of paper in the death certificates drawer, and we weren't just checks on a list of people to call. What kind of twisted person could handle a call like that with that much disinterest?

Then I paused, feeling kinda mean. That was actually probably a real hard job to have. It was probably easier for that guy to distance himself from the people who had died and their families.

I looked over at everybody, but my eyes finally came to rest on Soda, who was also staring at me. We glanced at Darry. He was looking back and forth between us.

And before I could stop myself, before I could even register what I felt like doing, I burst into tears. I just sat there, my body shaking with horrible, racking sobs. I felt so lost. What were we gonna do? What would happen to us? But most important of all:

Where had Mom and Dad gone?

Soda and Darry and I just pulled each other into a many armed, three person hug right there on the floor. I clutched them tightly. I needed something to hold onto.

I'm not sure how long we sat there, just holding each other, but when we finally let go, I had bawled so hard for so long I thought I might pass out then and there. Who knew crying could make you so tired?

I looked around. The rest of the gang had scattered to the four winds. I guess they knew we needed some time alone.

I looked back and forth between Darry and Soda. Soda's face was tear stained, and his eyes were red. I was sure I didn't look any better. Darry hadn't been crying, but there was a distinctly lost expression on his face that I wasn't used to.

"What're we gonna do?" I whispered. I sounded as disoriented as I felt.

"I dunno." Soda whispered back. There was a broken quality to his voice that I'd never heard there before. He was usually so happy, so sure of himself, always ready for whatever came next. Seeing him get thrown off balance and then fall through the cracks was making me wanna hold onto him tightly and never let go. Just to be sure I didn't lose him too.

What had we done to deserve this? How was this fair?