Thank you, everyone, for reviewing what you wanted! I wrote the most popular one! This is only the first part of it.

Also, to the guest reviewer that asked about FFN not lasting too much longer. I said that because the website used to have no ads at all besides maybe a banner. I've been on this site for a very long time and now I'm seeing advertisements everywhere. They're even in the middle of some chapters. It's actually ridiculous how many advertisements there are now. Usually, when websites do that, it would mean that they aren't getting enough funds or users. If they can't the funds, then the website might as well be gone. I've also noticed a decrease in users which is another issue altogether. It's just frustrating because there are several ways that FFN could fix this problem, but they aren't adapting to the different times like AO3 is. There are other things but it'll be paragraphs worth to explain so I'm going to leave you at this.

o-o-o

One day. Two days. Three days. Four days. Five days. Six days…

Seven days…

Time went by excruciatingly slowly. It dragged on, feeling like eons had passed even though only a few days had gone by. Each day was torture and he hated to say that he was getting used to it by now. Well, he wasn't exactly used to it. How could he be used to getting tortured every minute of the day? Ponyboy just wasn't expecting anything else to happen in the hospital, to be more accurate. He could predict his schedule now. It was always the same besides a few variations of it and a few more added sessions here and there. Day after day, his schedule was generally the same. Wake up after an hour of sleep, stare at the wall, go eat breakfast, get drugged, watch gay erotica, watch straight erotica, stare at a wall again, talk to a "specialist", stare at the wall again, electrocution, sleep for an hour, start again.

He was starting to go insane in there.

Ponyboy looked different now. He lost a lot of weight. Although he wasn't as thin as the other patients, he was getting there. His ribs were now visible, and his already baggy clothes hung off of his body more than ever. Dark bags rested under his dull eyes, almost making him look like a dead raccoon. Ponyboy wished that he was a dead raccoon instead of a gay man trapped inside of an abusive prison. There were now burn marks on his temples from where the metal plates were pressed against his head during the electrocution session. He hoped that the marks wouldn't scar when he leaves the hospital because he didn't want to be constantly reminded of the place. If he ever makes it out. Ponyboy was honestly surprised that he made it this far—with all of the electrocution and starvation and all.

Man, he was starving, but he didn't have any appetite to eat anything. His mouth tasted like vomit all of the time now. Ponyboy had forgotten what it was like to not taste vomit on his tongue. His stomach clenched in both disgust and hunger, causing him to cringe in pain. He clutched at his stomach. When was the last time he had a decent meal? Months ago. He managed alright without his brothers providing him with nice meals, but there was only so much that he could do by himself.

Suddenly, the door opened again, and an employee poked their head inside. Ponyboy didn't even need to look at them to know what was up.

"Come on, it's time for the next session," they informed him.

Here he goes again.

Ponyboy stood up, feeling empty on the inside. He followed the employee out to where all of the other patients were waiting for the next session to start. He numbly sat down, blankly staring down at his hands. He was just like everyone else in the room. If it wasn't for the small physical differences, he was identical to all of the other patients. In the beginning, he didn't want that to happen, but he really couldn't help it. The torture broke him. He was just a shell of the person that he used to be, and he didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

But he was doing it to get better. Once he gets better, he could leave. Everything would go back to normal. However, Ponyboy knew that normal for him was being with Archer. He loved him but Archer didn't seem to love him back. So, what was the point of continuously yearning for them to be together?

He wanted Archer to save him again, but he knew that he—or anybody really—was going to help. He had to get through this himself.

o-o-o

When he returned to his room at the end of the day, he was expecting to be finished with all of the sessions (besides maybe the electrocution that always happened in the middle of the night). But that night was different. He thought that he generally got used to all the different types of "treatments", but he was so wrong.

He was maybe sitting on the bed for a couple of minutes before the door opened again, much to his confusion. He could just tell from the small window in his room that it was far too late in the night to be leaving again. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Get up, you're going to your last session," the employee ordered. However, something about the way he said that was weird. The last session… The last session of the night, probably.

Nodding with a long sigh, Ponyboy got back onto his feet and followed the employee out. The hospital was eerie during the night. Besides the ever so often screams that came from some of the other patients' rooms, it was dead silent. It was so silent that you could hear a pin drop. The lighting was dimmed down as well, causing shadows to lurk out of every corner. It made the hospital look haunted, but he knew that it wasn't… hopefully. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that the atmosphere was a hundred times heavier than usual.

The employee led him to a new section of the hospital that he had never been to before. They brought him to the back where there were dual, iron doors. The employee held the door open for him and Ponyboy stepped inside of the new room, although he would later wish that he would have bolted straight out of the hospital when he had the chance to do so. Inside of the room, there were many nurses and a doctor that were clad in white, medical garbs. They all turned to him, faces covered by masks. Simultaneously, they gestured to a bloody, metal table that was situated in the middle of the room, a bright light hanging over it. At first, Ponyboy thought that he was going to get electrocuted again. However, there was no equipment around to do so and they could have done so in his room. His eyes trailed down to a medical tray that was next to the table which had many unsanitary, scary tools on it. If he looked close enough, he could see that they were covered in dried blood. Seeing those tools, he knew that it could mean only one thing: surgery.

His eyes widened impossibly wide in both horror and realization. A strong shutter swept through his body. Holy crap. They weren't going to electrocute him. They were planning on performing some sort of surgery on him. Ponyboy didn't know what kind though. No matter what, he didn't want it. He didn't sign up for surgery. They weren't even qualified to be surgeons. And what did they even have to perform surgery on?

He had to get out of there. There was no way that he was going to go through with his.

"No…" he whimpered with shaky knees. He started to back away from the table, but he only ran into the employee that had taken him there. In one swift motion, the employee looped his arms under Ponyboy's armpits to keep him from running away. Ponyboy thrashed wildly, squirming as much as he could in their hold. "No! Let me go!"

But Ponyboy weak. The lack of sleep, food, and exercise drained him and caused his movements to become sluggish. He screamed and screamed, throat becoming raw.

"Let go! Let go! Don't do this!" he screamed, voice cracking.

The employee dragged him to the operation table, strapping him down to it with the help of the nurses. But Ponyboy didn't give up. He continued to struggle against the straps, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Muffle him," the doctor commanded. One of the nurses swiftly did so, putting a bloody gag on him as disgusting as it was. The doctors and nurses started to talk to each other about the operation, using some words that Ponyboy didn't know. While they were prepping, Ponyboy noticed through his teary vision that they weren't going to be using any anesthetics or other types of numbing agents on him. It became clear to him that he was going to have to go through this completely awake; feeling every bit of pain that it had to offer.

Ponyboy's fear spiked exponentially. His body trembled as he sobbed uncontrollably. His stomach lurched and twisted as if he were on a rollercoaster. He felt like throwing up and he would have done so if he hadn't already vomited out everything before coming into the room. Pony's heartbeat was hammering so quickly against his chest that it was about to run away from him. Through his gag, he hyperventilated, quickly becoming dizzy. His fear was suffocating him; crushing him like what the sky was doing to Atlas.

He was going to die.

They were going to kill him.

On the metal tray next to him, there was a long, needle-like tool. When he said 'long', he meant long. It was ginormous. The needle (it was more like a rod or an ice pick if anything) was about the size of his forearm. Ponyboy didn't know what it was going to be used for, but he could only expect that it wasn't good whatsoever. He got the answer for what it was for when the doctor explained it to a rookie nurse.

"This will be going through the eye socket," the doctor explained, brandishing the tool to the light. "This tool will be making multiple incisions into his brain. The prefrontal lobe to be exact. We're going to be slicing some slivers into it and then sticking this tool through the brain until it reaches the top of the skull."

Ponyboy almost fainted right then and there.

What? What were they going to do to him? His brain? That needle was going to be going from his eye, through his brain, to the top of his skull?

No. He couldn't go through that. His rapid breathing picked up some more, veins traveling across his vision. He couldn't. No. Please. He didn't want this. He was scared.

"Did you understand that?" the doctor asked, paying no attention to him. "A lobotomy is the best way to cure people of their mental illness."

"Yes, I did, sir," the trainee confirmed, briefly nodding their head.

He was going to die.

This was going to kill him!

He wanted to cure himself; not die!

"Great, let's begin. We shouldn't waste any more time," the doctor chirped.

Ponyboy thrashed on the table, moving his head from side to side so quickly that it gave him whiplash. But he couldn't stop and be in a daze. He couldn't let this mad doctor stick a rod in his brain. He screamed and whimpered for help, but he knew that nobody was going to save him.

He was going to die here, and nobody was going to care about it.

One of the nurses held his head in place, stopping him from continuously thrashing his head around. The doctor leaned over him, grabbing the bridge of his nose to help keep him from moving. The sharp tip of the ice pick slowly approached him, getting closer and closer to his eye. Ponyboy could only stare at it in petrified fear, body tensing up so much that he practically turned into a stone. He subconsciously held his breath as it got closer.

It was right in front of his eye now, the point ghosting over it. He wanted to close his eyes, but he was too petrified to move.

This was it. This was the end.

Ponyboy was going to die.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and the ice pick froze in place. He couldn't see what had caused the doctor to stop, but he got his answer soon enough.

"What the fuck are you doing to him?" hollered a familiar voice that caused him to breathe out a sigh of relief.

He was saved.

o-o-o

The gang plus Archer were all standing in front of the hospital that Ponyboy was supposedly inside of. The hospital looked abandoned from the outside. It was fenced away in some random street in Tulsa. The lights were all turned off on the inside, making it hard to see in the dark if it wasn't for some streetlights near the road.

They've all decided to infiltrate the hospital during the night—even though it killed most of them to wait that long. It especially hurt Archer who wanted to go straight away, but Steve and Dally managed to convince him to wait a few hours until it was dark. There were fewer staff members during the night after all. That would give them the best chance at finding Ponyboy without getting caught themselves. They've even somehow convinced Darry and Soda to come along, who weren't pleased in the slightest.

They didn't want to break Ponyboy out. The two brothers wanted him to stay and get better. They were told that "they had to see what they did to Ponyboy", but the didn't think that their opinion would change. Archer didn't think so as well. He wanted them to have nothing to do with Ponyboy. They didn't deserve him.

"Okay, there's a back entrance. We'll get in from there," Dally instructed after he walked around the hospital one time. The gang and Archer all nodded.

"Then what?" Steve asked. "We don't even know where he is in there. He could be anywhere, and we don't really have a lot of time. The longer that we're in there, the more trouble there will be."

"That's why we need to find an employee and grab them. We can get them to take us to him."

"What happens if we run into trouble along the way?" Johnny questioned.

"We won't."

"I really doubt that," Archer mumbled, causing Dally to roll his eyes.

"Look, if we happen to run into trouble, we'll take care of it."

"And them?" Two-Bit brought up, pointing to the two brothers. "Darry and Soda will ruin the heist. They don't want Ponyboy out."

"Well, if we get caught, we're probably going to go to jail or something. Soda will be taken away if we're caught."

Darry and Soda glowered at Dally. This was the whole problem with them going. They were putting a lot on the line by coming along. They didn't even want to be there.

"We should get moving," Steve whispered, and everybody nodded.

They easily found the back entrance, breathing out a sigh of relief when it was open. They entered the hospital and were caught off guard at how terrible it was on the inside. It was a dump. This wasn't a place that a human should be inhabiting whatsoever. As they snuck their way through the corridors, they heard muffled screams, but they didn't know if any of them belonged to Ponyboy. They couldn't exactly look through each room without getting caught. The gang and Archer would just have to wait.

Everything went pretty smoothly at first. There weren't any staff around at first and the patients were inside of their rooms. It made sneaking around pretty easy. But they still had to find an employee.

When they heard an employee walk in their direction, the gang and Archer quickly hid behind a wall. It was quite cartoonish. They didn't know how it even worked. The employee soon walked by them without noticing them at all. He was humming a cheerful tune and Johnny sort of felt sorry for the employee for what they were going to do.

Dally suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the employee. He pressed his hands over the man's mouth to muffle his yell in shock. The greaser leaned forward and harshly whispered into his ear, "Don't scream, got it? If you do, then it will be the end for you right here."

The employee went pale, stiffly nodding his head.

"Now I'm going to let go of you and you're going to take us to see someone. Don't try to run away. We'll let go of you when we get what we want," Dally continued.

Again, the employee nodded. Dally slowly let go of him, and, much to the relief of everyone there, he didn't run away. Instead, he turned around to get a good look at them, swallowing thickly. "What do you want?" he asked.

"You're going to take us to Ponyboy Curtis."

Recognition flashed through the employee's eyes. "What do you want him for?"

"We're here to get him out of this hellhole," Archer growled, stepping forward. He tapped his foot impatiently against the tile. "Take us to him."

The employee let out a shuttering breath, chewing at his bottom lip. Knowing that he had no choice, the employee stiffly led them through the corridors. But something was strange about it, and Archer had a bad feeling about him. Besides the fact that no other employee was around, the one that was leading them was being quite compliant. He was risking his job. Why wasn't he struggling even the slightest?

They passed by many doors, getting deeper and deeper inside of the hospital. Archer kept his eyes trained on the employee, just in case he was going to try something that would jeopardize them. He kept his eyes on him until he felt a knot in his stomach. Archer looked up, looking around. The hallway looked like the others, but he had a strong feeling that something was different about this one.

It was strange. His gut was telling him not to continue following the employee. It was telling him that he was leading them to danger and that they were getting further and further away from Ponyboy.

Archer always had a problem with following his gut. He didn't always do it and it brought him more trouble than it should have. Archer knew better now. If his gut was telling him something, he was going to follow it. And it was telling him to turn back and go through a door which had muffled screams coming from it and light peeking out from the cracks.

"Stop," he ordered, causing the gang and the employee to freeze in their place and turn to him.

"What is it?" Johnny asked, confused.

"There's something wrong. I just… I…" Archer shook his head, biting at his nails. He looked over his shoulder back to the door. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the employee tense up, which confirmed his suspicions. The employee was trying to hide whatever—or whoever—was behind that door. He wasn't taking them to Ponyboy. He was probably trying to take them to the guards. "This isn't right."

"What isn't right?"

"Ponyboy. He's not taking us to him."

"What do you mean? Yes, he is," Steve argued, but Archer only shook his head.

"No, that lying son of a bitch is trying to get us caught. Ponyboy… he… he… I think he's behind that door." Archer pointed to the dual, metal doors that they had passed by.

"I'm taking you to him," the employee reassured, but Archer wasn't listening. His heart was beating quickly as everything blurred around him. Ponyboy. He had to get to Ponyboy. He took a few steps towards the door, but that was he was able to take before the employee grabbed him, trying to drag him to the floor. "No!"

"What the hell?" someone cursed, but Archer wasn't sure who had said it.

"Let go of me!" Archer screamed as he kicked at the employee. He had to get to Ponyboy!

Suddenly, the employee was ripped off of him by Dally, causing Archer to stumble to the floor for a moment before he quickly pushed himself back up. He started to run towards the door that he had a strong feeling about. The gang was right on his heels and the employee was left behind, sprawled on the floor unconscious (No doubt, Dally's work).

He burst through the dual doors, catching everybody inside off-guard. His breath hitched when he saw Ponyboy, looking like a skeleton, lying on a table with a rod being held in front of his teary eyes.

"What the fuck are you doing to him?" he screamed, a feeling of déjà vu hitting him. This reminded him a lot of the situation with Gary, but that other greaser should be the last thing on his mind right now.

"Christ," Two-Bit hissed when he saw the scene in front of them.

When Soda and Darry saw what was happening, they went rigid. Their mouths went dry. Darry was the first of the two to figure out what was happening. The tool that the doctor was holding was enough of a clue for him to figure out that it was a lobotomy. He just didn't know how to react to it. Soda didn't either. They really shouldn't be caring at all. Ponyboy was a fag, but they didn't want this to happen to him. It was immoral and the state that Pony was in was another thing altogether.

The person on the operating table didn't look like the person that they grew up with anymore. A lot of things had changed in the week that Ponyboy was there. He was so fragile and broken as he was moments away from possibly being killed. For the first time in a long time, they saw him as the little brother that they used to care so deeply about. They didn't want to lose Ponyboy. They just wanted him to get better. This wasn't meant to happen. This place was supposed to cure him; not kill him.

But that didn't change the fact that he was still gay. They absolutely hated that about him. But, golly, this was horrible. What did the hospital even do to him? It really made them wonder what else Ponyboy had to go through because of his sexuality. Nobody deserved to go through so much suffering. Not even gay people.

Most of all, they were the reason that Ponyboy was like this. They were killing him, and they didn't mean it at all. It just happened. But there was no excuse for them.

Their stomachs turned as they exchanged looks. They went too far.

Meanwhile, Archer saw red. Before he knew it, he was charging forward. People screamed around him but all that was on his mind was Ponyboy. He was right there, just within his reach. Suddenly the doctor moved between them, but adrenaline was pumping through Archer's veins at this point. With strength that he didn't know he had, he shoved the doctor backward, sending him crashing to the floor, hitting his head against the edge of the table along the way. There was a sickening crack, but the Soc didn't even care if he had accidentally killed the man at that point.

He finally reached Ponyboy, quickly taking the straps off of him. His hands shook violently, making it hard to do so. However, he eventually did it and moved onto the gag. His heart was going so fast. He finally had Ponyboy and he didn't want to let go of him ever again. He wanted to break down in relief, but he also wanted to touch him, feeling the warmth of his body on his own.

Ponyboy slowly sat up when the gag was removed, their eyes never breaking contact with one another. Tears were still falling, and Archer wanted to wipe them away, but he didn't know how Pony would respond to the action. He looked down at the younger boy's lips, which were chapped and slightly parted. God, he wanted to kiss him. Every molecule and fiber inside of him wanted to. His emotions were pushing him forward; telling him to do it. But Ponyboy probably wouldn't appreciate it.

Oh, screw it. He needed Ponyboy.

"Arch—" Ponyboy started but was cut off by Archer harshly connecting their lips together. Time stopped around them as the fastest thing that moved were their fluttering hearts. Ponyboy was pushed back down onto the operating table, too weak to hold himself up. His shaky hands managed to find themselves to Archer's hair, tangling his fingers through his strands. Archer's lips were softer than what he remembered them to be from all those months ago. His own molded perfectly with his like it was meant to be. Warmth spread throughout both of them, going from their lips to their toes, sending a tingling wave through them.

It felt so right.

But the kiss ended far too quickly.

"Your reunion is great and all, but we really need to go," Steve interrupted as he socked a guard in the cheek. "The police are probably going to be here soon."

Archer pulled away and Ponyboy let out a disappointed whine. But they knew that Steve was right. They had to get going or their effort to save the youngest greaser was going to fail. Helping Ponyboy down, the Soc looked around. There were many guards, doctors, and nurses knocked out on the floor. While they were having their moment, the gang was guarding them, fighting off whoever came through the door. Their bodies were bruised up and bleeding, but they were still going strong.

"Can you walk?" Archer asked Ponyboy.

"Yeah, I think so," Ponyboy replied, still dizzy from the kiss.

With a brief nod, Archer grabbed Pony's hand and they started to slowly make their way to the door. The gang surrounded them (even Soda and Darry, much to Ponyboy's surprise) in a protective circle as they pushed through the remaining people in their way. The young greaser was in a daze the entire way out of the hospital. Excitement was bubbling through him.

He was finally getting out! He was saved!

When he took his first step outside in a week, he took a huge, deep breath. The crisp, fresh air was so refreshing to his lungs. He wanted to stand there and breathe it all in and appreciate the little things that he had missed, but they still had to continue moving.

Archer led him down to his car which was parked a bit away from the hospital. He was still keeping him close by which caused Ponyboy to blush. What did this mean for them? He was so happy to be both out of the hospital and to be kissed by Archer. But Archer did say that he didn't want him around before. He should have been nervous or even confused, but Ponyboy was just hopeful again.

"The police," Two-Bit called out, pointing to approaching flashing lights.

"Shit, we got to get moving," Steve cursed after he looked in the direction that Two-Bit was pointing to.

Johnny took a quick glance around, simultaneously counting heads to make sure everybody was there. He was glad that he did count because he quickly realized that Soda and Darry were missing.

"Wait," he spoke up, causing everybody to turn to him. "Where are Darry and Soda?"

The gang looked around, but, of course, they didn't find them.

"Did they get left behind?" Two-Bit asked.

Steve shrugged, furrowing his eyebrows with worry. "They were following us most of the way," he informed them.

All of a sudden, the two brothers ran towards them, seemingly coming out of nowhere, panting hard. Soda was holding a file in his hands which he didn't walk in the hospital with. "Hold on," Soda breathed out, placing his hands on his knees. Man, he was out of shape.

"What happened?"

Soda held out the file. "We stopped and grabbed this. It's Ponyboy's file."

At his name, Ponyboy tensed up. He subconsciously moved so that he was slightly hidden by Archer. What were they going to do with his file? Stick him back into conversion therapy? They were probably only there to watch him get tortured.

When he saw his request, Archer tried to loop his arm protectively over Pony's shoulder, but the younger boy flinched. He instantly froze, retracting his arm. Archer back to Soda and the file that he was holding. He didn't want to come up with conclusions, but he was fairly certain that it had something to do with his brothers putting him into conversion therapy. He clenched his jaw, glowering.

"Get away from him," he growled, wanting so badly to throw some punches.

Sensing the anger, Soda lowered his arms. "I'm not going to do anything," he reassured. "Darry and I grabbed this so that there wouldn't be a file of Ponyboy ever being admitted to the hospital. We're helping him."

Archer scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Helping him? Why are you helping him now? You didn't help him at all before."

"Look, we didn't think that this would happen to him," Darry defended. "We only wanted him to get better."

"Being gay isn't a mental illness! Why can't you understand that? It's a part of him."

Darry narrowed his eyes, clenching his hands into fists. "Hey—"

But Archer had enough. He took a threatening step forward. "You almost killed him! What the fuck is wrong with you two?!"

"We didn't think that that this would happen!" Soda argued. "Do you think that we wanted him dead?"

"You sure wanted him gone."

"Archer…" Ponyboy murmured, wanting him to stop arguing. He didn't want to make his brothers hate him even more.

"No," Archer snapped. "This has to be done."

"We really should get going," Dally warned, looking over his shoulder. If they didn't go soon, they were going to get caught.

"We're almost done here." Archer snatched the file from Soda's hand, glaring daggers. "I won't let Ponyboy go back in your custody. If you want him gone, then he can move into my household. You bastards don't deserve him. Let him live his life without you ruining it for him."

For once, Soda and Darry were speechless. They knew that Archer was right. After seeing what had almost happened to Ponyboy… and even seeing the results of the conversion therapy… they knew that they were no good. It irritated them because they wanted to be right. If they let Ponyboy go with Archer, he wouldn't be getting better. He would continue being a faggot. But what they thought was best for him wasn't valid anymore. That was just shown to them. They were hurting Ponyboy, stripping him of everything; even the person that he used to be. They shouldn't be able to look at Ponyboy again after that.

Ponyboy stared at his brothers who were standing there, conflicting over their thoughts. His knees felt weak as he had to hold onto Archer's arm to keep him from collapsing. Man, he was fucked up. Part of him didn't want to be so close to Archer even though he was yearning for him. The memories of the torture that he was put through were fresh, making him nauseous. He was still gay, for sure, but he was now traumatized as well. Darry and Soda were the original cause of that. Although he appreciated that they were suddenly being more considerate, it didn't matter at all.

He had been through so much. How could he just accept that? Ponyboy couldn't. He was always going to be plagued with the memories. He was always going to feel the electricity fry his brain. He was most likely always going to taste vomit on his tongue forever. It was all because of them.

"Archer, let's go," he whispered, not waiting for them to agree to him moving out. It was his decision on what he did with his life. Even though he was still a minor and therefore doesn't have any jurisdiction over the matter, he would rather be taken away by the state than stay another night in the same house as them.

Darry and Soda didn't argue with him about it. They stayed completely silent.

"Yeah, let's get you out of here," Archer agreed, leading him back to his car. He was so happy that Ponyboy was in his life again and he was never going to let him go again.

o-o-o

I'm sorry for playing down the heist. There's just a lot going on in my life and I forced myself to try to get my chapter done as quickly as possible. Thank you to the one person who reviewed who stuck out for me in the matter. It really meant a lot.

Also, this ending part was requested by a few people a while back about having Ponyboy move in with Archer. Finally getting to that too!