Author's Notes- Ok kiddos, well not kiddos but I call everyone kiddos so whatever. This is the sequel to Battle Scars! I know, it's up pretty quickly and I don't really know what's up with it yet. I know what will happen at the very end, and I have pretty much the whole beginning planned out and one scene in the middle of it but what happens around that is all up to my imagination for the next few weeks. I've babbled long enough so I'll go ahead and answer some questions that the last story left.

x fever x- Well here goes the sequel, I hope you enjoy it. Also, the Green Day concert I was going to go see was on TV, but I WISH it was a live show. I would've fainted and died if it had been a live concert. I'm in love with Green Day but I'm in love with far too many bands and books. Thank you very much, I made you cry? Wow, the only time I've ever done that was in my story on Fictionpress Indifferent. I think it's because I truly do have a heart of a stone, I've never cried at a book or movie except the book Harry Potter the Order of the Phoenix, and I admit I was close to tears when I watched and read S.E. Hinton's "That Was Then...This Is Now" Such a good book/movie.

Mrs. Benji Madden- "On My Own" As in The Used? If so I love that song...actually I was listening to it when I wrote the chapter. My, how strange. Songs really throw the story around a lot, because I always listen to music while I write chapters and depending on the mood of the song I'm listening to the chapter can end up being super depressing, or happy and fun. Anyway, Aubrey didn't die. I meant to write 'It WASN'T the last they saw of Aubrey Holloway' but I may have screwed it up, if so I'm sorry. But yeah, here we go.

Dedication- Well, I'll dedicate it to the song "Friends O' Mine" by Bowling For Soup since it just came on and it's a really pretty song, you should read the lyrics if you get the chance or download it or something and "Traveling Soldier" which actually, now that I think of it is a song that...well.

Disclaimer- I don't own the Outsiders but Aubrey is a figment of my imagination, she's the protoganist and I suggest that if you're reading this you read "Battle Scars", I almost wrote "Bloody Tears And Heartbreak" but that's a completely different story, that's also a sequel though so...Ok I'm babbling.

Contact Info- In the profile, but you can just e-mail me or review. It doesn't really matter that much.

Story-

Aubrey's POV

I sat on the bed, cross legged and stared out of the window dreamily. For some reason I couldn't manage to keep my mind on track that day. It was the beginning of a new semester of school for me, early September and I was actually looking foreward to have something to take my mind off of...everything. On the other hand it was really going to put a damper on my partying life, but that was actually a good thing, that's what I wanted my mind off of.

My mind kept drifting off to all of the things that had happened to me in the past couple of years, being here in this college was the least stressful place I'd been in a long long while, in my whole life probably and that wasn't much to say because I was stressed to death enough as it is.

Just as I was about to travel outside and get some sunshine for the first time in days the phone began to ring, jumping me about 3 feet off of the bed. My room mate Charlotte who was the true definition of a hippie with her blonde scraggly hair and her peace beads laughed gently, she had a weird laugh. Charlotte was one of those people who was so into the hippie movement that she insisted on everyone calling her Daisy. I don't know why, she just insisted, and I didn't do it. I got a kick out of calling her Charlotte and seeing her get close to angry, because truly being a hippie she never really got angry. Anyway, back to the phone. I moved to answer it and picked it up quickly out of the cradle. "Hello?" I asked into the receiver with a slight sigh in my voice, I could use a cigarette at the moment and this phone call was holding me up.

"Aubrey?" the voice on the other end asked me desperate sounding. I remembered another day that I'd gotten a phone call like that, the day my parents died in a car accident.

"Yeah" I said, unable to keep the quavering out of my voice.

"Hey Aubbs, this is Sodapop" my cousin informed me, his voice smoothing out a little.

"Hi Soda, you sound really grown up over the phone" I said with a slight smile into the receiver, it had been a while since I'd talked to him, it costed a lot to call long distance.

"I needed to talk to you about something Aubrey" he said me, his voice losing his smootheness completely.

"Sure" I whispered a bit raggedly.

"I'm gonna go ahead and tell you alright? I got drafted, I'm going for training in 2 weeks, then straight on to Vietnam" he told me, in a rushed voice. I thought he was going to burst out crying, hell I thought I was going to burst out crying.

"What? You can't go you're only 18 and a half years old, they can't do this" I was almost completely frantic.

"It's old enough to get drafted, Darry's real upset, and so is Ponyboy. I don't know, I gotta go Aubrey. Don't fall to pieces on me. I just wanted to call and let you know OK?" he said, his voice sober, and it cut into my heart like a rusty blade.

"No! People die there, a lot of American boys are dying over there Sodapop, lord and you can't kill anyone" I was rambling. "I'm coming home!" I shouted finally.

"No you aren't Aubrey, you're staying in school. If you can graduate and get a job you can take care of yourself. You won't need some guy to take care of you" he told me, he was so serious it scared me, his voice was enough to almost bring me to tears.

"I don't care what you say Sodapop Patrick Curtis, I'm coming home." I yelled hysterically throwing the phone into the cradle, not even saying goodbye to him. I turned around and almost started to cry before I realized that Charlotte was still in the room, she was staring at me, confusion in her eyes a little.

"Your cousin got drafted?" She asked, her voice spookily calm.

"Yeah" I answered her, unable to keep the croaking out of my voice.

"I'm so sorry Aubrey. You want me to help you pack your bags?" she offered. I was so hurt by Soda's news that I just nodded feebly and went to the closet to take out my suitcases. I couldn't believe that my cousin, my cousin who was as close to a brother than I ever had was going off to fight in a War, a war that had nothing to do with the Americans. I was starting to see where those damn hippies were coming from. Just as I was finishing my packing the phone rang again, this time Charlotte answered it. "Hello?" she called quietly, and gently intot he receiver. "Hold on a moment" she said after a short pause and she held it out to me.

"Hello" I questioned, a little too harshly.

"Hi Aubrey, this is Darry" The voice on the other end informed me.

"Hey Darry, I'm coming home on the next train out" I told him harshly. He gave a long sigh but didn't anwer me right away.

"I'll come to pick you up then if you've made up your mind. But how are you going to get finished with school?" He questioned me. This was so unlike the harsh Darry I knew that I almost fell over in surprise.

"I'm not. I don't care about school anyway Darry. I just care about you guys." I told him softly.

"Steve is going too. He got his letter a week ago, but we never got around to telling you." he told me, his voice was beginning to grow emotional thinking about his brother and friend going off to war. I didn't answer him though, I couldn't speak. I couldn't lose them? Shut up! I told myself, it's not like they're sure to die, they could come home unscathed. I scolded myself, don't get your hopes up.

"I'll be home by tomorrow. Come to the train station and pick me up." I said, and put the phone back down. I grabbed my bags and Charlotte stopped me just as I was going out of the door, she put some money in my hands.

"Here take this, you'll need it" she told me, and she almost pushed me out of the room.

Darry's POV

When she stepped off of the train it reminded me so much of when I'd picked her up after her parents died that I wanted to sit down, because of the strong memories. This Aubrey was more ragged than I'd ever seen her before in my life. Her beautiful hair was too long, and it was uncombed and scraggly. She was so skinny that I could almost see through her, and despite the summer heat she was wearing a baggy long sleeve shirt and jean pants that were way too big. They looked like Soda's jeans, and they probably were actually. Her face was pale and drawn, and her eyes stood out, but they weren't sparkling like I remembered, they were cold and hard and they looked dead. Aubrey Holloway had once been a pretty girl with a firy temper, but now all of her zest was sucked out of her.

"What are you doing in long sleeves kid? You'll die of heat stroke" I scolded her after giving her a long hug, noting her bony hands and arms.

"I'm not hot" she argued, but I could see the sweat dripping from her forehead, and I grabbed her bags, well her bag because she only had one.

"Soda had to get some stuff for when he..." I stopped talking abruptly, even thinking about Soda going off to war brought a hard lump to my throat. "I told him I stopped you from coming too" I said with a sheepish smile at long last. She didn't smile, it was like she had forgotten how to smile.

"Good" she answered and we climbed into the truck, making it home without saying a single word and when we got there two people were sitting on our front porch, Two-Bit and Ponyboy.

Two-Bit's POV

She was so different it was unbelievable, but when I saw her I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. This girl that I'd been thinking about constantly for so long was back at long last.

"Aubrey!" I yelled excitedly, running to her when she climbed down from the truck and throwing my arms around her. She hugged me back a little bit, but she didn't smile.

"Hi Two-Bit" she told me gently, when she let go of me her sleeves dropped a little and she hastily pulled them back up.

"God I've missed you, why'd you leave without even saying goodbye? Were you mad? Are you still mad?" I questioned her, she bit her lip a little bit as if the memories were too much for her to keep inside.

"I don't know, I guess I forgot" She said, and from her voice I could tell it was a lie. I remembered a time when Aubrey Holloway had been one of the most accomplished liars in Tulsa, Oklahoma but now she had fallen to pieces, I could tell by the way she talked when she was lying. Her lack of skills though didn't stop her from trying to lie.

"Hi Aubrey" Ponyboy said hugging her, rather loosely. He had changed a lot too after Dally and Johnny died but he was doing better now because he had a girlfriend he was pretty close to, her name was Candy, or Cathy or something. I'd never been really good at remembering names.

"Hey kid" She answered him, it wasn't the welcome I'd expected them to give each other, but I guess they weren't really energetic for the most part. As if on cue another car pulled up to the house and Soda and Steve stepped out.

"Well look what the cat drags in!" Steve whooped as he hugged Aubrey tightly. She hugged him back less enthusiastically.

"Hey Steve" she answered, I remembered that Steve and Aubrey had made up right before she'd left for college. Soda stared at her long and hard for a few seconds before finally running to her and hugging her tightly. She gave him a more enthusiastic hug than she'd given any of the rest of us and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I told you not to come down here dammit" he mumbled to her.

"I wanted to see you before you left" She said, sounding a little angry and hurt at the same time.

"Ok" he answered her, simply "Ok".

Aubrey's POV

I almost cried as I looked at Sodapop and Steve sitting in the living room, arm wrestling and playing cards like they normally did. It was hard for me to believe that their worlds weren't ending like mine was. It had been hard for me to believe that the world hadn't stopped after Dally and Johnny died too though, that's why I left. Dally and Johnny, it was strange how their names could still bring tears to my eyes and a sharp sting to my heart.

I entered my room, glancing around at the walls quickly, it was almost the same as it had been before. For some reason unfathomable to me Ponyboy had never tried to get this room for himself, maybe it was because the room in particular had been the room my mother and I had lived in when we came back from New York such a long time ago. I'd been 14 then, god fourteen seemed like a million years before then.

My first order of business was to unpack my bag, and I insisted on doing this myself because of what was inside of it. I took out clothes and pictures and other personal items, leaving on the bottom only a couple of razors, and a plastic bag full of multi-colored pills, a glass bottle of whiskey, and some medical needles filled with some substance, nobody could ever see these things or everything would end for me.

I'd truly become very skilled at using both the pills, the whiskey, the needles and the razors. I wasn't a hippie, but that didn't mean that I wasn't experimenting with the drugs of the late '60's. LSD was a must have for me, I was becoming a druggie as much as I didn't want to admit it, and morphine was also easy to come by for me. I was becoming far too dependent on these things, this was what I wanted off of my mind. The razors were for something else, not my drug use. These were the reasons I was wearing long sleeves in the winter. All up my arms, but mostly on my upper arms there were scars from where I'd been cutting myself steadily for around a year by then for the adrenaline rush I got. God, I truly needed help I thought as I shoved all of these things under a loose floorboard by my bed. As I did this my thoughts strayed to Two-Bit, Two-Bit! I was so confused about him, I didn't know what my relationship with him was. Would he want to get back together with me? Could I get back together with him without hurting myself? No, probably not but was it worth trying? I pondered as I sat down on the bed and drifted off into sleep.