One Hand, One Heart
- ♥ -
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life.
- ♥ -
Prologue
Almost no one really knows what happened between Jack Kelly and Spot Conlon during that year after the strike, and the one's who do, wouldn't breathe a word of it if their lives depended on it. Maybe it was something huge, or maybe it was just a petty misunderstanding that escalated into much, much more. Maybe it was a girl, maybe it was betrayal, or maybe it was the personality change Jack underwent after finding out he had a sister. The finding of this sister being an interesting story in and of itself, even if only because of the rather strange history behind it.
William Sullivan, a man as man as they came, was rude, crude, and a filthy drunk, He used women like wet hankies, and thought them to be almost a separate race, greatly inferior to men. He was also set on having a son to follow in his footsteps as most men are, so when his girl gave him a son, he was thrilled. He was so thrilled, in fact, that he married her despite his views. He was a decent father for a time, right up until his son's first birthday. That's when he got the news. His mistress was pregnant. He began to neglect his first son as he waited anxiously for the next one to arrive. Two sons in two years was more than he'd ever dreamed of, and he was thrilled beyond belief to have another young mind to corrupt, though he probably wouldn't have put it in those terms. So when his mistress gave him a girl, it's easy to imagine his anger. He was furious, wanting the child killed, and sure as hell, he tried. Unfortunately for him, this woman was a stubborn thing, and she wanted to keep her child, regardless of his feelings towards it. She protected the child with all her strength, losing her life in the process, but not before she managed to get the babe to her close friend, Medda Larkson.
William was arrested on charges of attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison. His wife, ashamed at the turn of events, vanished, leaving the son, a mere one and a half years old, lying in his cradle in their dump of an apartment. He was found within the next day by neighbors and given food and a place to sleep until he was five years old when they sent him onto the streets. That wasn't the end of his story, but all that's to be told for now as this isn't his story, it's his sisters.
It's important to understand that Medda Larkson was not a mother. She had nothing against children, she was actually quite found of them, but she was designed to treat them and fawn over them, not raise them. She had planned to do the only thing she could and send the young girl to the orphanage, but her friend had died protecting that child and she could not bear to just dump the girl into a place she would surely grow up miserable. She decided instead to find a good home for the young girl. She found one in an old couple by the names of Miles and Edna Locke, whose children had failed to give them any grandchildren, leaving them feeling lonely. They treasured the young girl, and treated her like a queen, even named her after their deceased daughter, Juliann. Medda herself made frequent visits at first, but she soon forgot about her friend, the promise she'd made, and Juliann.
Maybe that's why she never told young Francis about it or his dark past when, at the age of seven, their paths crossed. Or maybe, she only told him a little, twisting the facts, so as not to upset the young boy. For whatever reason, the point is, she never told Francis.
As time went by, Francis aged and became the well known strike leader Jack Kelly, Medda aged, Juliann aged, and so did the Lockes. However, as all things, they could only age so much before they stopped all together. The winter of 1899 brought that fateful day, and the moment their coffins were lowered into the grave, Juliann was officially part of the streets.
Something must have been hard at work that day, some force, whether it be good or bad is hard to say, but it was definitely there. Coincidence could not have brought Juliann to Medda's front door, could not have sparked a piece of the past within Medda's memory that allowed her to recognize the girl and connect her with Jack, and it certainly could not have insured that Jack would be willing to take her in. Yet, all that happened.
And that's when Jack changed. Having a sister did not treat Jack well. He lost his easy going spirit and became overprotective, constantly filled with worry for Juliann's safety from boys, thugs, and other dangers. That's not to say he was disliked for it though, at least not by everyone. The Manhattan boys sort of liked this more cautious Jack, as they weren't a rash sort of people (with the exception of the strike), and Sarah, was overjoyed that he was finally taking on a more responsible look at his life. It was Brooklyn, namely Spot, who had a problem. Maybe it was because he didn't like cautious people, maybe it was because Jack acting grown up made him feel like he should grow up and that was something he was not willing to do, maybe it was some other reason, but, whatever the reason, he had a problem with the new Jack.
It's still impossible to say whether or not this was the reason for the split in their friendship and the cause for their animosity.
It was one hell of an animosity too, make no mistake. They eventually got their whole boroughs to go along with the feud. Not a soul who associated with one, associated with the other. In fact, almost every outsider avoided the two boroughs all together. And heaven forbid a Manhattan resident become friendly in any way with a Brooklynite, let's just say, it wouldn't be pretty…and it wasn't.
Authors Note: To all of you who made it through that, congrats, you have incredible patience. I'm really sorry that this was so long and boring, but the history needed to be introduced for various reasons, mainly so any of you are brave enough to come back for chapter 1, you're not totally lost. I won't promise the next few chapters will be super interesting, some ideas and characters obviously still need to be introduced and developed, but they will be significantly better than this. And it will get interesting eventually, I will promise that. On a side note, reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy, I'm in a good mood, and when I'm in a good mood, I write more interesting chapters (really!)
Disclaimer: I do not own newsies or any of the characters from it that appear in this story. I also do not own the basic premise for this story, because, if you haven't noticed, it's based off of Romeo and Juliet. Well, more West Side Story, but it's based off of Romeo and Juliet, and their are some things that are from Romeo and Juliet that are not in West Side Story. Also, many of the characters are from West Side Story. Riff, Ice, Action, and probably a few others are not mine, they belong to whoever owns West Side Story (note: they may not play the same roles, or even look exactly like they did in the movie so don't assume anything). The only characters as of right now that belong to me are Roman and Juliann, but they're based off of Romeo and Juliet, however, only in story, not necessarily in personality or mannerisms. Any similarities are pure coincidence, still, I guess I don't really own them after all. Oh, and I just realized, I don't own the title either, its a West Side Story song so...yea, what can I say, I'm a dirty rotten theif of unoriginality.
