One Small Flame, So Much Damage

Disclaimer: No, silly, I never have nor will I ever own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton owns The Outsider. *sigh* I simply borrow them for my own creative enjoyment.

A/N: This story was requested to me by the wonderful Candymouse22 during Blowing Smoke, and I couldn't resist. Thank you so much, girl!

Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 1: Not so Good News

Ponyboy's POV (Fall, 1966)

Pain.

It surrounded me, engulfing my senses in a blanket of nothing but unyielding agony. Even when I came to, the sounds of my brother's comforting voices didn't do anything to dull the burning, hot embers that still felt like they were burning through my skin.

Each day melted into the next, my mind too cloudy from the morphine of distinguish them apart.

I assumed it had been around three days when I began to think clearer, the morphing doses becoming fewer with each passing day. I only knew that it was the weekend because Steve had been with Soda all day when they visited me, and Steve worked every day besides Saturdays and Sundays.

As Sunday morning rolled around, a doctor with a deep, husky voice came and began poking and prodding my broken body. He poked at my feet, my legs, my back, and finally my neck area, asking me what I could feel and what I couldn't. I didn't say yes until he reached my shoulder area.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Curtis, but it looks like you won't be able to walk," the doctor told me, not bothering to ease any of us into the news.

Screw him. He said it so calm, like the words he had just said didn't suck out every ounce of air from my lungs.

"Are-Are you sure, Doctor?" Darry asked, sounding as surprised and choked up as I felt. I was lying on my stomach, so I couldn't see who it was, but I saw a tear fall onto the floor. My own tears mixed with it, running hot down my face.

"I'm sorry, but yes, I'm quite sure. He will be wheel chair bound for the rest of his life. The good news is he can still move his arms and neck," the doctor tried to reassure me, but I felt like slugging him. There was no good news.

There were two main things I enjoyed doing: track and writing. And he had taken away one of my greatest passions, while he had the nerve to call it good news.

"Ponyboy, we'll figure this out," Sodapop tried to reassure me, but I wasn't having it. I just kept my mouth shut, squeezing my eyes shut to keep the tears from falling.

The doctor left, leaving us alone to grapple with the bombshell he had throw at us. A nurse came in, administering a shot of morphing, and despite my worry I was able to fall asleep. I woke up a while later with Darry and Soda still in the room.

"Do you... guys have to..." I took a deep breath, the words more exhausting than I had anticipated. "Work soon?"

I heard Darry exhale a long sigh, sounding way older than twenty. "Probably should. We'll make sure one of the gang is with you, though, always."

I felt Soda absentmindedly reach out and ruffle my hair, trying to reassure me, but the only thought going through my mind was the place I was going to spend the next sixty or seventy years of my life. Bound to a wheelchair, forever dependent on someone else.

I shut my eyes tightly, and in doing so I attempted to shut out all of my problems that sat like a block of ice in the pit of my stomach.

Johnny's POV

I hadn't gone to the hospital to see Ponyboy since I got out, nothing to show for it but a second degree burn on my hand. Even as each passing day grew more and more guilt inside me, I couldn't bring myself to go see him, knowing it should have been me laying in that hospital bed.

Flames danced around me, the smoke burning my lungs, making it hard for me to see straight or even breathe.

"Johnny come on. Ponyboy, get out of there!" I heard Dallas shouting.

I heard a loud crack behind me, and before I knew it I found myself being pushed forward. Dally grabbed me, pulling me by arm. As I looked back at Ponyboy he screamed that he was going to get Ponyboy and to beat it out of there.

I could see Ponyboy struggling to breath, trying desperately to navigate through the debris. He tripped, just as Dallas turned around to go help him.

I kept going, and just as I turned around and stepped through the window, I turned just in time to see part of the roof crumble, a large beam landing right on top of Ponyboy.

"Ponyboy!" I found myself screaming. Dally, who had avoided getting hit, yanked Ponyboy up, his arm getting licked by flames in the process. The sight of Ponyboy limp and unconscious made me want to puke.

The memory still made my stomach roll, and I pushed it back to attempt to keep down the hamburger I had eaten.

Ponyboy had been in the hospital five days when Dally came to me, asking me if I wanted to go to the hospital with him. I had been staying at Bucks with him ever since the fire.

"Darry called. Him and Soda have to go back to work, and they don't want the kid to be alone..." Dally tried to look uncaring and indifferent, but I could see the way he was sizing up my reaction. He knew I had purposely avoided going to the hospital.

"Yeah, I'll go with you, Dal," I agreed, hating how unsure my voice sounded.

Dally nodded, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. I lit one myself, biting back the fact that the burning embers and the smell of smoke took me back.

OoOoOoO

He looked worse than anything I could have imagined. His burnt skin were visible, made up of nothing even close to resembling skin. He looked so pale and young, causing the guilt to eat away at my insides. Every instinct in me wanted to run, but I followed Dally inside anyway, pushing my instincts down.

"It'll suck not having you at the rumble tonight. You've always been a pretty good fighter, kid," Dally small talked, lounging back in a plastic hospital chair.

Ponyboy's lips twitched before his face turned dark again. "You guys'll get along with out me alright, but I'll miss it."

"So, when you bustin' outta here" Dally asked.

"A day or two, maybe," Ponyboy responded. I noticed his eyes flickered to something sitting on the floor. Curious, I picked it up, realizing it was Gone With The Wind.

"Two-Bit stole it for me yesterday," Ponyboy explained. Dallas stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"I'm gonna head down to the cafeteria. Want anything?"

Ponyboy and I both shook our heads no. Dallas shrugged and sauntered off. Most people would have thought it was weird he drove all the way to the hospital and only stayed five minutes, but that was just the way Dallas was. He followed through with what Darry asked, Ponyboy had me with him, but hospitals creeped him out and he wasn't going to stay cooped up in the hospital any longer than he had to.

Even though I couldn't read as well as Ponyboy, I opened up the book as if I was going to read to him, but he spoke before I could.

"Johnny..." I didn't miss how worried and young his voice sounded.

"Yeah, Pone?"

"I'm real scared. The doctor said I can't walk anymore. Wheelchair bound, forever. No more track," Ponyboy's voice shook and suddenly he looked like a fourteen year old kid again, scared out of his mind, with a bit of his innocence showing through his fear. But he had lost some of that innocence the minute I dragged him to Windrixville.

He was paralyzed? He couldn't walk? Ever?

"You'll be alright, Ponyboy," I tried to reassure him, but it sounded fake, even to my ears. I felt my stomach roll, knowing it should have been me who couldn't walk. O was useless anyway. He was actually going somewhere in life.

"I don't know, Johnny," he replied softly.

Knowing I couldn't do anything more to help him, I opened up Gone With The Wind to the place he had left off a few days earlier.

A/N: I really, really, hope I did Johnny justice. I struggle so much to get into his head, more than I do anyone else. Him, and then Dally. But I need to practice, and I needed his point of view for this story, so I hope I did it alright. Feedback and criticism welcome, just do so kindly. :) Thank you guys so much for reading!