New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 4: You Doing Okay, Leader?

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Slowly fall overtook the city of New York and the wind picked up. But as the days were windy they blew the cold towards New York. All the same, Prince found herself spending more time day dreaming these days of her past and future rather than focusing on the present. It was rather unlike her, though Wit seemed to be the only one that noticed.

"You doin' okay, leadah?" he asked her one night as the two of them sat up on the roof top looking out over the city.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"You sure?" he could tell she was lying.

"No," she said as she took a drag on her cigarette. "You ever think about what you'll do when you're done here?" she asked. "When you're done bein' a newsie, what's next for you Wit?"

He shrugged. "Probably go back to a factory life," he said honestly. Being a newsie was better money than kids could make in the factories, if you had the talent for it. But Wit had worked in a factory before Prince had found him one day in a wind storm.

"Yeah…" she said. "Don't ya ever think about a family? A life?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. "Why?"

"Just… been thinkin' a lot lately," she said as she put out her cigarette out on the ledge of the roof. Wit hadn't realized just how deeply his leader had been thinking lately. But what else was new? Prince had always been a fairly mental person. "That's all."

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say," he said with a shrug. He stood up as she did and he looked at her again. "You okay?" he asked her again.

She thought for a second as she picked up her hat and twisted her two feet of hair back up to hide it once more. "For all intents and purposes… yes, Wit. I'm great." She put on a smile and the two of them headed for the door of the lodging house.

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Only a few hours later Prince sat bolt upright in her bunk after hearing a very loud sound, a bell? An alarm. A fire engine. Why was it so loud? She ran over to the window of the bunk room and saw the smoke and fire coming from only a block away from a very tall apartment building. Of course, she had not been the only one woken up by the bell.

"Prince?" Keys called to her, "What's happenin' out there?"

"Fire," she said in a hushed voice. And that was all the entire bunk room needed to hear. All of them, every last one, started putting on pants and Prince put her hat on. They were all suitably dressed as they paraded out of the lodging house front door and hurried down the street, Prince in the lead.

As they got close a couple of fire men held them back. "No kids, we don't need anything," but just as the fire man said that he turned around and ran back to help. They were obviously shorthanded, which meant the newsies would be helping whether the adults liked it or not.

"Prince," Shark said as he approached her and looked at her seriously. "There's kids in there." Instantly Prince's eyes went back to the building. As she and some of the other boys gazed at it they could see people in different windows still screaming and calling for help. Her breath caught in her throat. "I'm gonna go help 'em," he said seriously.

"No Shark," she said shaking her head. "We can do anything else to help but you ain't goin' in."

"You ain't talkin' me out of this." The gruff man had a heart, and he really believed he could be of some use. "I'm quicker than any of these old guys," he said indicating to the firemen. "C'mon, lemme go in."

"Fine," she said. Shark ran towards the building followed closely by Dice and Keys. "Boys!" she called after them. But either they didn't hear her, or didn't care to, as they dived into the fray.

Prince cursed under her breath and told the boys no one else was going in there. As if there was anyone else around who would. She looked and noticed that for once she was the oldest one standing there. She glanced over her shoulder again and looked for images of the boys who were trying to help.

Shark emerged first coughing from the smoke. "This is the family on the first floor," he said to Prince. Prince and the other boys were helping families get together again, if they'd been separated. "The father is still inside," he said and without hesitation dove back in.

Next came out Keys and Dice at the same time. They had lead families down safe routes to the outside, and then headed back in for more.

Keys came out again a few seconds later carrying a small boy. "Watch him, he's got burned real bad," he said. He literally handed the young boy off to Prince. The newsies, mean while, where still helping families get together, helping them get water, and trying to console them the best they could.

Prince gazed back at the burning building to the boy in her arms. She could only think of Avalanche, and that was all the courage she needed.

"Two-step!" she called for the younger newsie. He was at her side instantly. "Watch him," she said as she sat him on the ground. "Do not, you hear me, do not go in this building, and do not let anyone else go in either." Two-step was too stunned to speak so he just nodded.

With a deep breath Prince turned towards the building and headed for the front door, fear not having a place anywhere in her at that moment. All she could think about was getting the father out that Shark had mentioned.

As she entered the building the sound of flames echoed in her ears. The roaring and crackling flames yelled at her in such a harsh tone and caused so much noise it made her want to cover her ears like she was a child. She remembered her parents fighting, causing lots of noise, and she felt young and helpless again. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea.

"Prince! Over here!" And she snapped back to reality as she saw Shark waving his arms. "Hurry!" The father of the family Shark had mentioned was trapped under a singed wooden beam. "I can't lift it and get him out," he said. "I'll lift the beam, you get him. His leg is broken." Prince understood her instructions and grabbed the man by the arms as she drug him out from under the fallen beam. By the time she looked up to see Shark, all she saw of him was his darting figure heading for the second floor. Prince looked down at the man.

She hoisted him up and he looked at her. "Thanks boy," he said smiling weakly.

She couldn't help but smile back. The two of them were able to move towards the door of the building. As they exited the family of the father cheered and cried and was overjoyed to see him. She was a little surprised at herself at this moment. She had such a dislike for her father that she wondered for a moment why she had saved one. She then remembered that just thinking of Avalanche encouraged the spark of courage inside her to go in and save this man. Of course, when Avalanche was but a boy his house, his life went up in flames, and his father with it. Prince would sooner die than have someone going through that pain if she could help it. She was so happy when the family was glad to see their father safe and sound, escaping with only a few burns and a broken leg. Prince reached them and let him down onto the ground. He was able to walk okay with one leg and Prince's support.

She then hurried back to Two-step, "How are we doing?"

"Well," was all he got out before a deafening CRACK went through the air. Everyone froze, the world went silent except for the sound of the building giving way and caving in on itself. No one moved, no one breathed.

"Dice… Shark… Keys," she glanced around and didn't see them. "Dice!" she screamed as she ran towards the building. "Shark! Keys!" A Fireman caught her arm and held her back. "No no! You don't understand," she practically screamed, "my friends are in there!"

"Calm down boy," the fireman said.

"No!" She shook him off and ran towards the flaming rubble. The fireman chased after her, not wanting the young newsie to get hurt. He tried to take her off of the fallen building but she refused as she was burning her hands trying to move pieces of wood and bricks. Two-step in the mean time was doing as he was told, and instructed no newsies to go near the building, no matter what.

Prince wasn't the only one searching for loved ones. There were children even besides her looking for parents, parents looking for children, all family looking for all family. But they all needed to admit something that none of them wanted to. They weren't going to see their friends or family again.

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It wasn't until nearly an hour later that the newsies left the scene of the fire. They had helped the families that could unite, they had done everything they could, passing out food and water, but all Prince could think was that they were now three strong arms short. Wit came up behind her.

"You doing okay, leader?" he asked her.

She looked forward. "We gotta sell in the morning, it's already late… get the kids home," she said as she stepped aside and let Wit lead.

"Sure," he said as he swallowed the lump in his throat and instructed the kids to follow him.

As the children all walked by Prince looked and counted. Everyone else was accounted for, but she had counted one extra head. At the end of the line was a small blonde boy. She walked up to him. "Kiddo," she said tapping him on the shoulder. He was so small, and so covered in soot. She recognized him as the boy who had been badly burned, and could still see the markings all over him, from where he'd been hurt. "Who're you?"

He said something quietly that Prince couldn't quite hear. "What?"

"Jim…" he said again, still so quiet that Prince couldn't hear what he said correctly.

"Jem?" she asked. "Jem, where's your family?"

He looked over his shoulder at the rubble of the building that the firemen were attempting to clean up and then threw his arms around Prince and cried hard. An orphan now.

Prince blinked a few times at the shock of suddenly being hugged by the small boy. "It's okay, you can come home with me," she lifted the boy off the ground and he instantly put his feet around her waist. He couldn't have been more than 6 years old. He clung to her tightly and cried more tears than the Hudson River.

As Prince reached the lodging house Rylet met her at the door. "Prince," he said as he ran to her.

"I'm fine… take him, put him to bed," she instructed Rylet. As she passed the young boy off to her good friend, he simply nodded and took the boy inside, Prince following close behind.

As she came inside she closed the door and watched Rylet take Jem upstairs. She sat down in her chair for a moment and looked down at the ground. Her shoulders began to shake, as her hat fell from the top of her head. Her hair cascaded down in front of her face, landing on her shoulders and giving her a place to hide. She couldn't fight back and be strong anymore. Three of her best friends disappeared before her eyes, and were never coming back. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

Her mind raced as she thought of everything else that could have happened that night. Why not her? Why hadn't she been taken instead? Why had they run in? Why had she let them? The longer she thought about what was happening, and what had happened the more it started sink in, she was now the oldest Queens newsie. Queens had always been a young borough to begin with. The three boys had been her only remaining elders, any others that there had been, went away around when Avalanche did. Not only was she in charge, but no one older than her to ask questions to. For the first time in a long time she felt truly on her own.

Prince didn't sleep at all that night. The next morning she washed her face, and though her eyes were red, blood shot, and painful, she pushed through. She woke up all the children, except for Jem. She had Will, the owner of the lodging house keep an eye on him, and told them they needed to go sell. It was going to be a rough morning edition. The fire was no doubt going to be mentioned in the paper somewhere. But her newsies wouldn't, because they were orphans with no home, no family, and no one who cared except their fellow newsies. Shark, Dice, and Keys would be unsung heroes as the newsies sold the morning paper.

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A/N: On that note, that will conclude the updates for the week. I'll be back again on Monday with the continuation. From here the plot truly gets going and takes off, trust me. So, I hope you enjoy. Drop me a review if you have a moment, I love hearing from people who are following along. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.