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WARNINGS: LANGUAGE

Flames soared high, smoke assaulting his senses. Yet, he forged on towards the screaming that originated near the back of the church, the sobbing of children.

"Pony, Leo, they're in here!" Johnny, covered in soot with his black eyes wide in fear, shouted as he kicked down a door. The screeches grew louder but the sizzling and crackling of the fire almost drowned them out. "Calm down, we're going to get you out."

They raced in, dodging falling debris, and Leo saw a group of seven or eight kids, all under seven years old, standing against the back wall. The Latino punched a boarded up window, ignoring the pain that sparked in his fist.

Dally's voice yelled, "Get out of there! Forget those god damn kids!"

The trio didn't pay any attention to the command. They lifted the small children and dropped them out of the window. Leo heard a yelp and assumed that one of the kids had bit Ponyboy.

The last kid was out and Leo grabbed his friends by the collars and tossed them out of the burning building. He vaguely saw Dally slap the Pony's back, which had combust into orange hot flames, and the younger collapsed. A thump sounded as the boy hit the ground, unconscious. Johnny stumbled and fell, coughing on the ground. The teenager knelt beside the African American child and began to shake him, pounding him on the back while casting brief glances to the blonde on the ground.

"AHHH!" A falling piece of timer hit his back and luckily, Leo didn't think that his back broke but that didn't mean that it didn't hurt like Hades. A snap scared him as pain rushed through his wrist like acid.

"Leo!" Dally called and then hands were grabbing his shoulders and hauling the demigod through the window. "Damn it!" Then, the roof fell and everything faded to black.

When Pony came to, his lungs hurt and his back stung slightly while sirens penetrated his ears. Despite all this, he had bigger problems.

"Where are the others?" He muttered, coughing slightly.

"Oh, good, you're awake," the guy he'd seen at the church- Jerry?- said, sounding relieved.

"Where are the others?" Pony repeated. "My friends- Johnny, Leo, and Dally?"

"Well, the dark skinned boy should be fine. Maybe a few minor burns, but mainly, he was just coughing when they put him in the ambulance. The toe headed kid burned his arm a little bit, but it's nothing a few days in the hospital can't fix. That Latino kid, though... I have no idea."

"What do you mean?" Pony asked him.

"Well, a burning beam fell on him. I don't think his back's broken, but he's bound to be burned real bad. I think he broke his wrist, too; maybe a concussion. Honestly, kid, I'm not really sure if he'll be all right."

Pony wanted to cry right then. Leo... He'd only met him a few days ago, but the two had become fast friends. They'd been through so much together. Pony didn't know what he'd do if Leo died, or Johnny or Dally for that matter.

He choked back his tears and asked, "The kids all right?"

"Thanks to you three. I swear, you are the bravest kids I've ever met. You and those two boys rushing in to save them, and that toe headed kid going in to save that Latino boy. It was impressive."

"Thanks, but we weren't trying to impress anyone."

"I know, but you're still heroes."

"You wouldn't think that if you knew why we were at the church," Pony said, laughing without humor.

Jerry shrugged. "I don't care why you were there, but you're heroes. If not to the world, me, to the other teachers, to those kids. You should've heard him, telling their parents that some super heroes saved them."

Pony smiled. "Honestly, I think Leo's the real hero. He was the one that made the decision to run inside. If he hadn't, I'm not sure if Johnny and I would've gone in."

"Well, regardless of what could have happened, you're still pretty brave."

"Thanks."

The ambulance pulled up to the hospital.

"Can I be released now?" Leo asked as they pricked him with a needle for the third time.

"I suppose," the doctor said with a curious look. "You're fine, and that's the weird thing. I'm glad, but one of the other kids said a burning beam fell on you. How are you not burned?"

Leo shrugged. "Miracle. Now, if I stay in this bed for one more second, I may just go insane."

The doctor laughed. "Well, we wouldn't want that now, would we? I am prescribing you two sets of pills. One is a pain killer for the arm; only take it when the pain is so extreme, you can barely think because theses can be addictive if taken too often. The other is for the concussion to avoid confusion, dizziness, etc. Take it every day as soon as you wake up."

"Thank you, doc. Now, I have to check on the others," Leo said before hopping up and leaving, stuffing the pills in his toolbelt once he was outside the door.

"Leo!" A blur of blonde nearly knocked him over as Ponyboy tackled him.

"Ponyboy!" He laughed, hugging back.

"Dude, you had us all worried sick!" Two Bit shouted, joining the hug, followed by the entire gang, even Steve.

"Wait. Shouldn't you be back in the burn unit, Dally?"

"You should know by now that no hospital can hold me, nor would they want to," Dally smirked.

There was only one person Leo hadn't faced.

"Darry," he said, stonily.

He was shocked to see tears in Darry's icy blue eyes.

"Leo, I am so fucking sorry," he said.

Jaws hit the floor. Pony and Soda were the only ones that had ever heard Darry cuss.

"I didn't mean what I said at all. I was pissed, and I took it out on you. But I was wrong. You're just as much our family as Ponyboy is, and you don't run away from your problems. The fact that you ran back into that church to save those kids really proves that.

"I don't expect you to be able to forgive me, but-"

"Darry," Leo interrupted. "You're already forgiven."

Darry started crying as he embraced Leo, crying into his shoulder.

When Leo pulled back, he turned to the guys.

"Guys, you're the best family I've ever had," Leo managed before he got choked up because they were. They all came here today, and Darry apologized, something no one at camp had ever done.

Steve smiled. "It's an honor," he chuckled.

"Leo?"

"Yeah, Johnny?"

"Thanks for practically throwing me out the window at that church. I mean, I could've been the one to get stuck under that beam, and I may not have been so lucky. "

Leo nodded. "No need to thank me. It's what friends do."

Two Bit barked a laugh. "Yeah, because normal friends save each other from falling, burning beams every day."

When you think about it, it does sound kind of stupid. The gang chuckled.

"Now, let's get home. I'm starving!" Leo exclaimed.

"Agreed!" The gang chorused.

But all good things must come to an end because precisely at that moment, a small, familiar voice piped up.

"Leo?"

Leo turned at the sound of his name, and his heart stopped dead in his chest.

"Harley?"

Oh, no. Oh, yes. I'm not really sure which one it is yet, so I'm just going to say both for now.