Ballad of Billy the Kid

Vaughn Vaultz Estavez was a quiet man for his age. His ex-wife, Chelsea, once described him as a brusque individual and somewhat anti-social. Though he may seem that way, he was not always such a sourpuss. In fact, he was once more happy-go-lucky than you and I put together.

He was not skinny, nor plump, nor did he have an extreme muscle mass. He is just a poor, half-albino country boy living on a bustling island. Yeah, he has financial problems; welcome to America people!

Now you may be thinking to yourself: "Then how did he turn into the emotion-deprived cowboy we all know and love?" He did not suffer any major catastrophe like all you fan-girls/boys like to think. He isn't forced into his way of life. He was, in fact inspired to become the man he is today.

Flash back to the nineties, when some of the greatest hits came out into the public. Vaughn was just about six and still lived with his parents and half sister, Kathrine-Johanna (Kathy for short)-who just turned three this morning-in a small town in Louisiana. The two played merrily in the backyard playground his Papa built him. He usually spent most of his day on that playground, pushing his sister on the swing set, playing with the other children in the neighborhood and all that jazz.

Today was different, however. Today, Kathy was sick with the flu and Vaughn, being the good older brother he was, wanted to nurse her back to health. So there he sat all through his morning, taking care of her, occasionally grumbling about why she got sick in the first place. In the afternoon, his school bus picked him up later, onto which he walked reluctantly.

As he was returning, he saw his father sitting with Kathy on his lap. He was a little confused, though. Kyle usually let his long blonde hair flow free. This time, however, his hair was constrained into a leather cord-tie and hidden beneath a black-brimmed hat. This was weird for young Vaughn to process.

"Hey, Daddy, why do you have that funny hat on? Are you a cowboy?" He looked on to his father with a curious look.

Kyle laughed at his only son. "Me, nah, son. But I do know about a cowboy. He's very famous round these here parts. You've probably heard of him.

"We have?" said Kathy. "What's his name? Is it Buck-Eye Joe?"

"Nope, he's the rowdiest boy that ever roamed the West: Billy the Kid!"

"Wow," said both children at once. "Cool!"

Vaughn took a shiny object from his pocket. It had the name "Martha" carved into it. "Uncle Basil gave this to me when I turned five. He told me a story about Billy and taught me a song to go with it. Kathy, you think you can make some horsey noises for me?"

"Oh, Vaughn-y, you're so silly!" Kathy giggled and playfully shoved her older brother. "But okay, if you're sure..." So Vaughn played a little melody on his harmonica while Kathy made clip-pity-clop noises with her tongue, ending with a slobbery whinny.

From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia

Rode a boy with a six-gun in his hand

And his daring life of crime made him a legend in his time

He'd stand West of the Rio Grande...

"What's Rio Grande?" asked Kathy

"It's a big ol' river now far from here. It only takes an hour or two by car. But, see, cowboys rode on horseback, so it was rough riding for a long while! Sometimes they had to go without food for days on end!"

~EIGHT YEARS LATER~

Skye is the youngest of the siblings, just now turning four himself. He had his mother's long silver hair and his father's playful peridot eyes. Vaughn has turned into a tough teenage boy who beats the snot out of anyone who dare harass his younger siblings. Kathy is a flirty eleven-year-old with a red belt in judo. Always, Skye wanted to be like them and constantly compared his brother to the cowboys in his storybooks. Whenever he asked Skye to do something, he playfully answered with an "alright-y, partner." No matter how many times he said it, it always brought a smile to his face.

Now, like I said before, Skye was relatively small for his age, which made for constant teasing from the neighborhood boys. One day, two of his constant bullies named Luke and Owen followed him home. They spat at him and tried to kick him off his tricycle. Skye jumped off in escape and Luke ran over it and cackled. Skye snarled. "You ran over Felon-Driver!"

"Heh-heh! Whatcha' gonna do, beat us up for it?" Owen mocked. He ran forward to capture the little boy. But with a mighty leap-and a helluva lot of prematurely generated testosterone-he kicked Owen right on the bridge of his nose. "Auk!"

"Y'all shouldn't go picking a fight with the Kidd!" He carefully placed a piece of hay between his teeth. He landed a second hit on him in the nuts. Skye began to sing as he finished the boys off:

It started with a fight in Colorado (The boys kicked up some sand)

In the pocket of his vest, a Colt he hid (Skye socked Luke's jaw, knocking him against a wall)

And his age (The bullies banged heads), and his size (Owen is jabbed) took the teller by surprise

Then word spread (He spins them by a wedgies and lets go) of Billy the Kid (They're knocked out)

From then on, Skye is known as a hero and goes on to defend the kids from any one wanting to steal their lunch money. He is often accompanied by his trained brother and sister when traveling.

He grew to be a handsome young boy and even tried his hand at horse riding, and was a little more refined. He became very good at it in only a week, and soon taught the horse, Kale, his favorite song.

Well, he never traveled heavy (Graham didn't like Kale being overloaded)
Yes, he always rode alone
And he soon put many older guns to shame (Graham's daughters, who were both older than him, could not ride horses yet)
And he never had a sweetheart (Skye threw a rose to Luna; she huffed and turned away)
And he never had a home (The house he lived in had burned down long ago)
But the cowboy and the rancher knew his name (He rode back to the farm and attempted to lead Kale back into the barn but like in the old cartoons, he got bonked by the door frame and fell off. Both Vaughn and Graham's oldest son-Acid-face palmed)

Innocence only lasts a certain amount of time, and both of the brothers became good at "retrieving little trinkets" from houses, however, Skye became more famous for it due to only striking at night and being much more crafty than his elder. There was a hunt among all of Forget-Me-Not Valley for the young "Phantom Thief." He was a felon, but he was quite a catch with women. Vaughn was able to learn some tactics from him and went on to charm a young mistess who was bringing in some of her new crops from a far-off island.

Well, he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma
And the law just could not seem to track him down
And it served his legend well
For the folks, they'd love to tell
'Bout when Billy the Kid came to town

It was only a matter of time 'til Skye's crimes came to a horrid end. Vaughn, Skye, and their new friend-Chelsea-began to try banks in Mineral Town to replenish the low funds from brothels and bars. Skye had taken a side trip to snap some drugs from the local apothecary when two men captured the young boy as he passed Inner Inn. And who was better suited to nab the long-time thief than~

"Nice job, Luke. Owen. After fifteen long years on the run, you finally captured me. How much is the mayor payin' ya?" Owen gave him a hard slap in the face.

"We aren't doin' this for money, you slimebag. Luke and I have been turned around."

"And apperantly, so have you, kid," added Luke. "You put us through a lot of trouble over your crimes."

"Yeah, so now what, boys?" Skye asked smugly.

Word of Skye's capture had not reached the group until the very end. And like most other affairs regarding the silver-haired boy, it came to the by paper. The headlines read"

Well, one cold day a posse captured Billy
And the judge said, "String 'im up for what he did!"
And the cowboys and their kin
Like the sea came pourin' in
To watch the hangin' of Billy the Kid

It was tragic for them to learn of this news. Vaughn shed a lone tear for his fallen baby brother. He sang a slow solemn bridge in memory of him.

Well, he never traveled heavy
Yes, he always rode alone
And he soon put many older guns to shame
And he never had a sweetheart
But he finally found a home
Underneath the boothill grave that bears his name

In a box at the end of the headlining story was a box that said " Skye's Last Words." Under neath, all that read was:

From a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island
Rides a boy with a six-pack in his hand
And his daring life of crime
Makes him a legend in his time
East and West of the Rio Grande

And sure enough, a child with peridot eyes was peering at the duo through the window. In his hand was a broach, the very first thing Skye stole and kept, wrapped in an old faded leopard print coat.

First of all, I'd like to thank skitsophraniac for being my friend since I came to this site.

Next, praise goes out to chocolatecheesecake 23164 for convincing me to write Author's Notes.

This is my first OFFICIAL songfic. Pweeze wate fowr mee! (Please rate for me~!)

The squiggly wasn't on purpose, but it looks like it belongs there.

Squigglysquigglysquiggly!