Heyy everybody, this is my first fanfic in english.

Shattered Aura:

I am soo excited and deeply thankful for helping me write in a good english, your assistant ideas and for cheering me on to translate and publish my idea!

This is based on the TV series, Episode 11 "The beat goes On"

"But Darry, where she can go to the next time her father loses control and goes ballistic?" asked an annoyed Ponyboy. Darry had just told him that he couldn't let Scout stay for a few days in his house.

"Pony, we barely have enough money to feed the three of us, apart from the point that you and Soda eat for four. It's honorable that you care about her but beside this, it ain't our business. We have enough problems of our own. Plus, you hardly know this girl!"

Pony couldn't believe what Darry had just said. "But I have that feeling about her...And I think her father beats up her mom and probably Scout, too..." Pony got no chance to finish his sentence as Darry cuts his words.

"Pony, it ain't our business, you got it?!" Pony was peeved about his reckless brother. He slammed the the fork on his plate and stood up from his chair so furiously that the chair tumbled down. Soda and Darry watched their enraged brother with shock on their faces.

"Lemme get this straight; it ain't my business when a friend needs my help because of her boozed up, evil father...?" His voice rose and started yelling. "...But it's your business to hook up with that Connie while her husband is off fighting in Vietnam? Huh? Tell me! You think it doesn't matter to betray one man? Because he's far away? Yeah, it ain't your problem!"

Ponyboy had hit the bull's eye and he knew it. Darry knew it, too. Angry about the accusation of his brother, Darry jumped off his chair to face Ponyboy, and the only thing he could say was: "Shut up! Don't draw off the attention, Ponyboy, 'cause this has nothing to do with Connie and me!"

At least this was Darry's excuse to himself. His affair with a married woman, whose husband fights in a war, was inconsiderate.

Despite Pony's youth, he was smart enough to point that problem, before anyone else got a picture of it. Pony was pissed and felt totally wronged.

For a second he eyed his brother, calculating, whether to continue his debate or not. But he knew that it didn't make sense anymore. He turned and left the table with the words: "Since when are you such a selfish person, anyway, uh?"

"Since I have to watch my naive little brother!" Darry yelled. Meanwhile, Pony had reached his room and slammed the door as loud as possible, clearly trying to show how angry he was.

Seething with rage about the disrespecting behavior of his little brother, Darry turned to run into Pony's room but Soda seized him by his arm and prevented him to keep up fighting again. "Just let him go. You know him, he'll run away again. Let him go."

Darry watched Soda, and then broke away from him and dropped in his armchair. "I have to cut his disrespect."

"Darry, he's just like that 'cause he felt misunderstood. And by the way, I don't understand your decision, either," Soda claimed.

"Of course, Soda, why don't you take his side again?" Darry mumbled, frustrated.

"I'm not taking anyone's side, Darry. It's not what I meant."

"Then what DID you mean?" Darry asked, annoyed.

"I meant that Tim comes here, Steve sometimes spends his nights here when his father kicks him out. Hell, even Two-Bit stays the night sometimes when he's boozed up. Why can't Scout just stay for a few days? I don't see nothing wrong in that," Soda explained.

Soda's sensitive voice calmed Darry down. Still, he had to get his point across. "Correct, they stay a night and then they leave. Scout is a kid, she would live here, eat, sleep. Like Pony said, her father's evil and boozed up. Surely he ain't gonna okay with the fact that she would live here. How would he react? Maybe he'd ambush Pony and Scout after school or he'd come here with a weapon. Maybe he'd declare us for kidnapping, and then they would separate us. Soda, we can receive real trouble! And I don`t understand why he just uses his head, just once in a while, so he`ll that piont by his own."

"Because he`s different, you know that. He always thinks with his heart instead of his head. And it`s the only way for him to help her."

"Yeah maybe. But it`s my responsibilty to keep this family together and so it works! Wether he`s agree with that or not."

Now, Soda did understand Darry`s side. He just wanted to protect his family. But the way he treated Pony hurts him. He didn`t tries to understand, why it was so important for him to help her.

Darry and Pony were both too stubborn to manage a civilized conversation and figure out each other's point of view, so they always fought, despite their promise to Sodapop months ago.

Pony felt horrible to know that his friend got abused at home. She's just a kid, a girl who can't defend herself. He tried considering about other ways to help her instead of making her go home to her father.

He did already speak with the social services from school. This empathetic woman took a note of his presumption, took him seriously and appreciated him helping his friend, but without evidence, she wasn't authorized to contact the welfare service.

He lay in bed, thinking that his brother was a selfish and stone-cold guy. He was frustrated and didn't think clearly, because quite frankly, Darry was far from being selfish; having to quit college to take care of his brothers for five years.

And like so often, he only wanted to split. But where would he go to?

Emotions rose up. Memories of his last try to run away. Johnny killed a Soc, the church, the fire. Johnny died.

He felt a pang in his heart.

"Johnny... I'm just trying to help her, buddy. I couldn't protect you; I don't want anything to happen to her too..." Pony sadly whispered in the dark room and a teardrop rolled down his cheek.

Johnny went through the same hell as Scout did now. He wished that Scout just only met Johnny once. She would have liked him, because she feels the same way like Pony or Johnny. She listened to Ponyboy when he told about him without saying anything. She just listened. They would talk about books or even just sit side by side and watch the colours of the sky.

But Darry couldn't understand that, he couldn't see that. His mind went slipping again to the fight. He felt so powerless and in the same time, he got that weird feeling, that Darry's heartless decision was fatally wrong.