Darkest Sins

1. Regular Day

It was silent, just like it had been for the last few days. None of them could find anything to say. Darry sat in the recliner, just staring into space; Steve, Two-Bit, Dally, Tim and Curly were in the kitchen, going over maps of Tulsa and surrounding areas with FBI Agent Dunning; a bunch of cops and FBI Agent's were outside of the house, waiting for a phone call and for new places to search. Sodapop just stared up at the ceiling from where he was laying on the floor, in front of the sofa. All of this waiting was killing him.

The front door opened and an officer walked in with their mail, before tossing a few letters onto their coffee table. However, there was a package in his hands that he looked over carefully. Soda sat up, wondering what was going on.

"Have you ordered anything?" the officer asked.

Darry looked up. "No." He watched the officer for a minute, carefully. "What ... What is that?"

The officer shook his head. "I don't know. Do you mind if I open it?"

Darry shook his head. "No, go right ahead."

Sodapop just stared at the officer as he checked over the package and then opened it. As soon as he got it open and peered inside, he visibly blanched.

"Oh, god! Dunning!"

Agent Dunning came running into the room, saw the officer holding the package and looked into it, before paling dramatically. "Oh, shit!"

As everyone started running around, Sodapop didn't take his eyes off of the package. The officer spoke to Darry, who started shaking his head, before breaking down completely, sobbing like nobody had ever seen before. Soda's head snapped back over to the package, which had been placed on the table as Agent Dunning and the officer started trying to calm Darry down and get other Agent's updated. No one paid attention to him as he walked over and picked up the package.

As soon as he saw what was in the package, he wished he left it well enough alone.

"No!" he yelled, dropping the package to the floor and pressing himself against the wall, before sinking down onto the floor. He buried his head in his hands and cried out in despair. "Ponyboy!"

-x-x-x-x-x-

September 23rd, 1967

Ponyboy grinned as the door slammed, just before Two-Bit, Steve and Dally walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, guys," Ponyboy greeted them.

"Hey!" "Morning, kid." "What's for breakfast?" they all replied in some way, before sitting down at the kitchen table. Ponyboy didn't even bother saying anything to Steve's question of what was for breakfast; he asked the same thing every morning.

Two-Bit looked at him, before asking, "Was that Tim Shepard I saw, walkin' down the street?"

Ponyboy nodded. "He came by to warn me not to go downtown. Apparently, word's gotten around that I buddy around with Curly a lot, and with that war buildin' up between the Shepard's and the River Kings ... well ..." He shrugged.

"Do Soda and Superman know?" Steve asked, glancing at Ponyboy, before getting up to get some chocolate cake out of the ice box.

Ponyboy shook his head. "No, I haven't told 'em. It'll cool down by the end of the month, anyway. The same thing happened last year and Tim gave me the same warnin' then. Use that brain you're known for and don't go downtown, Curtis. Although, admittedly, it was for a different reason last year. They'll have a rumble in a couple o' weeks, Tim'll ask Darry for help and everything'll go back to normal."

Dally nodded in agreement. "Same shit, just at a different time. Speaking of same shit, I'm headin' down to the Nightly Double tonight. Anyone ready to hunt up some action?"

Steve shook his head. "I'm takin' Evie out tonight."

Two-Bit shrugged. "Why not? I ain't got nothin' better to do."

"Ponyboy?" Dally asked, looking at him.

Washing down some chocolate cake with a gulp of orange juice, Ponyboy nodded. "I'll come, but I'll have to make sure it's okay with Darry."

"Make sure what's okay with Darry?" Darry asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Going to the Nightly Double tonight," Ponyboy answered, looking at his oldest brother.

Darry poured himself some coffee, before chugging half of it down. "I dunno, kiddo. I'm going to be workin' tonight and Soda still has that flu, so he'll be sleepin' all day. Neither of us can go with you."

Ponyboy didn't even sigh. He'd expected this answer and he knew why Darry was hesitating, but that didn't mean it didn't get on his nerves. It had been a year since the events of Windrixville and losing Johnny, but Darry and Soda barely let him out of their sights even now.

"Dally and Two-Bit'll be there," Ponyboy told Darry, "and I'll walk home straight after the movie."

Even before the words had come out of his mouth, Ponyboy knew what the answer would be.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe he's lettin' me go to the movies," Ponyboy exclaimed in disbelief.

Dally, Two-Bit and himself had just snuck into the Nightly Double. They all had the money to get in, but Dally was the kind of person who hated to do things the legal way, so they'd gotten in under the fence - just like they did every time they came to see a movie.

"It's means they're lengthenin' the leash, kid," Dally told him, whacking him lightly on the back of the head. That was about the fifth time he'd mentioned being allowed to go to the movies in the last hour.

Ponyboy glared at him for the reference, but Two-Bit laughed. It was a long-standing joke on their side of town that Ponyboy was the only greaser in the world who had brother's to worry about, as well as the cops. It was true, of course, but that didn't mean Ponyboy liked the jokes. He preferred to have brother's who cared about him and didn't let him run wild, than brother's who didn't care, at all.

Of course, there were times where it got to be just a bit too much. As much as he liked the fact that his brother's looked out for him, he often wished that they'd just let him be sometimes. How else was he supposed to learn, otherwise? He had to actually make mistakes, in order to learn from them.

The three of them got their drinks and popcorn, before heading to the seats in front of the concession stands. There were a group of Socs sitting up front, so they just stayed in the middle. None of them were interested in starting a fight right now. If Ponyboy went home with bruises, then he was likely to be taken away from his brothers, because the Curtis' social worker was due to turn up on the 27th, which was only a few days away.

The movie was one of the crime stories and not a very good one; Ponyboy had everything figured out about twenty minutes into it.

"Hey, greaser," a cold voice from the front called out.

Dally and Two-Bit turned their heads immediately, but Ponyboy knew who was calling and was much slower about looking over. Rick Sheldon, Bob Sheldon's younger brother, had been giving him problems for just less than a year. It had started not too long after he'd written his theme, but it had stopped bothering Ponyboy a long time ago. It was clear to all the greasers who had the displeasure of knowing him that Rick was just a poser.

He wore the rings that Bob always had on when he was alive. He talked the same, walked the same and dressed the same. However, he didn't look the same. Nor did he have Bob's brain. Even though Bob had been a drunk, he was still vastly intelligent and had been well on his way to being accepted into Harvard, or Princeton, or Yale. Rick had been expelled from three different school for violent conduct and had only gotten into Will Rogers on a technicality. He was sixteen.

"What d'you want, Rick?" Ponyboy asked, tiredly.

Rick smirked, cruelly. "Wonderin' what you think of my girlfriend."

Looking to Rick's right, Ponyboy saw Cherry Valance drinking a coke. It took a lot of effort to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. If there was one person that Ponyboy knew who could do a complete one-eighty in behaviour, it was Cherry. She had gone from helping the greasers in the rumble one week, to cursing and spitting at them the next.

Ponyboy had already known that Cherry was dating Rick; it was the talk of the school and had been for three weeks. They had been deemed the 'it' couple by the Socs. Cherry's appearance had also completely changed since she started dating Rick, as well. She always had a few too many buttons undone on her shirt, her skirt was a couple of inches too short and her hair always looked far wilder than it used to be.

She was the kind of girl who thought she could change the 'bad boys'. Ponyboy had no clue how she thought she could change this particular bad boy, especially dressed like that. She'd actually become the butt of the greaser jokes.

Looking back, Ponyboy knew that she'd always had the potential to become like this - especially after that comment she'd made about Dally. There were a few words he could use to describe Cherry Valance, but none of them were polite and, if his momma were still alive, she'd wash his mouth out with soap if she ever caught him using them.

Before Ponyboy could even answer Rick's question, Dally decided to. "You ain't the type to have a girlfriend, Sheldon. Two-Bit, I bet you twenty bucks that, as soon as he gets her in bed, he'll dump her ass."

Two-Bit shook his head. "That's a suckers bet. I ain't takin' that."

"I will," Ponyboy cut in.

Dally and Two-Bit looked at him in shock. Was he sticking up for Cherry?

"What?" Dally asked, lowly, wondering what the hell was going through Ponyboy's head.

Ponyboy nodded towards the couple in front of them. "He won't leave her. After all, she's the only girl who's likely gullible enough to give him the time of day. As soon as they get into bed, she'll leave."

"How'd you figure that?" Two-Bit asked. Had Ponyboy completely lost it?

"He's wearing shoes a few sizes too big," Ponyboy said, simply, but a slight smirk had settled on his lips.

There was utter silence for a second, before Dally and Two-Bit busted up laughing - and they weren't the only ones. Turning his head, Ponyboy saw Tim and Curly Shepard walking over, having overheard Ponyboy's last comment. A couple of the guys from the Shepard gang, who were walking over with coke's, had also heard everything and were looking at Ponyboy with new-found appreciation in their eyes.

Rick, however, turned bright red and Cherry choked slightly on her coke. However, everyone caught her eyes flicker to Rick's shoes.

"You'll get what's comin' to you, Curtis!" Rick snarled, before grabbing Cherry's wrist and walking away.

-x-x-x-x-x-

September 24th, 1967

Steve was choking on his eggs after Dally finished the story of what Ponyboy had said to Rick Sheldon the night before. Sodapop, who had gotten over the worst of his flu, was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at his younger brother in shock. Luckily, Darry wasn't in the house, since he'd gotten an emergency call about some old lady's roof having crashed all over her bedroom floor.

"There's no way!" Steve denied. "No way that that came out of the kid's mouth about a Soc."

Ponyboy scowled. "I ain't a kid."

"Where'd that come from, Pone?" Soda asked in shock.

Exchanging looks with the others, Ponyboy quickly came up with an excuse of having read it in a book somewhere. Soda bought it and nodded, but Steve, Two-Bit and Dally just looked amused. It just might have been a book that had given Ponyboy the knowledge of that statement, but it wasn't the first time that Ponyboy had used the reference to outsmart someone.

Just a few months ago, Bryon Douglas had snagged a girlfriend - Cathy, a girl who Ponyboy had liked, before getting over it - by wearing shoes a couple of sizes too big. Ponyboy had called him out on it not too long after they'd broken up and made a fool out of him. This last summer, Bryon had tried to get back at Ponyboy by claiming that he wore his brother's shoes to show off. For a while, the rumours had gone around and some people believed them. However, that all ended when one particularly curious greaser had gone up to Ponyboy and straight up asked him about it.

As it turned out, it was proven that Ponyboy did not wear his brother's shoes and girls had been flocking him ever since. Steve still liked to bring it up, just to annoy him, but even he couldn't deny that Ponyboy had been particularly gifted in that area.

Ponyboy stood up. "I'll see you guys later. Curly's left his homework until the last-minute again and he has an essay due tomorrow."

"See ya." "Bye." "Don't be late, Pony." They all said at the same time. Ponyboy rolled his eyes, picked up his bag and walked outside.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Two pairs of eyes watched Ponyboy as he entered the Shepard house. They had been watching him for a while now and had decided that tomorrow would be the best day for them to go ahead with their plan. They would have their revenge and Ponyboy Curtis would forever regret the day he'd ruined their lives.

Soon.

A/N: I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please, let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but reviews which are rude and/or offensive will be deleted. Also, if you can't be bothered to sign in to let me know what you think of a chapter and are completely rude about it, the review will be deleted and guest reviews will be disabled.

Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.