Disclaimer: All of the newsies and other characters from the movie belong to Disney. All original characters belong to me.

A/N: Sorry, sorry, SORRY that this took so long to update! I don't really have an excuse...I was just procrastinating. I leave for creative writing camp on June 29 and won't get back till July 11, and we don't get any Internet access :(. Because of this, it will be awhile until I update again. Please leave a review so that I can read them when I get back!

I'd just like to make on comment about this chapter. The only trains I've ever ridden are the ones at the Kate Shelley museum and a special Fourth of July train in Maryland, and the only train station I've ever seen is the one in the Harry Potter movies. Hence, the train station in this chapter is completely made up and probably isn't very realistic.

Shout-outs:

CiCi: I'm really sorry that I didn't give you a shout-out earlier! For some reason, your review didn't show up on the review page, and it took me a while to check my e-mail. I love you too! Here's the order that the stories will be in: Jack, David, Racetrack, Spot. Sorry that Spot's last, but that's the order that the newsies died in (I know...it's so sad) in The One Man Left Awake. Thanks for the review! You rock!

Sweets Conlon aka Blink's Bitch: Cool penname! Thanks for the review! I don't like Sarah very much either---she's an okay person, but not the girl I would pair Jack with. Enjoy this chapter!

Jack Kelly's Lady: Thanks for the review! It's strange---usually I'm a really happy person, but I like to write depressing stuff. Maybe you should read my story The Newsies in a Christmas Carol---there's a lot more humor and no deaths!

covster: Unfortunately, Spot's will be the last story, because he died last in The One Man Left Awake. Thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

sugarNspice: Thanks for the review! Sorry it took me so long to update!

* Almost four years after the strike. *

"Mama, I'm twenty years old, and I'm only going to stay in Santa Fe for two weeks. Nothing's going to happen," David Jacobs promised, kissing Esther lightly on the cheek.

"I know, I know," Esther said, "but all mothers worry. It's just what we do."

"Once I leave, you'll probably be too busy to worry," David comforted her. "You'll have Sarah's children to look after and Les to keep track of."

"Yes..." Esther trailed off, staring through the apartment window to the fire escape where Sarah's sons Eli and Francis were playing. "Well, remember to tell Jack hello for all of us. And don't eat all of the cake on the train---that's for Jack's birthday!"

"Yes, Mama," David said and then checked his pocket watch. "I'd better get going," he decided. "Don't want to miss the train!"

"I love you!" Esther called as David dashed out of the apartment door.

"I love you, too, Mama," he shouted back. He leaped down the apartment steps and began the walk to the train station. David could have ridden a trolley, but he preferred to be out in the fresh air. When Sarah's husband died in a factory accident two years ago, she had moved back in with the Jacob's, bringing her twin sons, now two years old, with her. With thirteen year old Les going to school and selling papers on the weekends and David living at home while he went to college, the Jacobs' apartment was quite full.

"Hey, Davey," a newsie called. "Why haven't you been selling papes with us?"

"I've been pretty busy, Boots," Dave replied to the now seventeen-year-old African-American newsie. "I'm leaving today to go see Jack."

"In Santa Fe?" Boots asked, fishing through one of his pockets.

"Yep," David replied.

"Give him these, then," Boots said, handing David three glossy marbles. "It's almost his birthday, isn't it?"

"Yep, his twenty-first," David affirmed. He glanced down at the marbles in his hand. "I can't believe you still carry these things around with you," he said.

"Well, they come in handy sometimes," Boots replied. "Besides, there's a couple new newsies down at the lodging house, and I've been teaching them how to play marbles."

"That sounds like fun," David said, momentarily wishing that he could be an impoverished newsie again instead of a journalism student.

"Yeah, it is," Boots agreed. "Well, I'd better keep selling. Have fun in Santa Fe, and don't forget to tell Jack happy birthday for me!"

"I won't!" David promised, and he resumed his stroll toward the train station.

When he reached the station, David managed to find the platform for the next train to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It wasn't leaving for another ten minutes, but David decided to board anyway so that he could find a car without too many passengers in it.

Finally, David found a compartment near the end of the train. There were quite a few other people in it, but most seemed to be middle-aged or older, and David decided that they probably wouldn't make very much noise. He found a window seat and pulled a book out of his pocket. He was supposed to read the book and write a summary of it for one of his college classes, and a train ride seemed like a good time to get it done.

About three hours later, David had finished the book and decided to take a nap. Suddenly, the car bounced violently, shaking David awake.

"My goodness, what was that?" a passenger asked. She was an older woman, probably around sixty years of age.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," one of the porters apologized, "but the tracks are a bit uneven here. The train should stop bouncing---," the train jolted roughly again, "momentarily."

David rolled his eyes. He hoped the ride home wouldn't be this agitated. He leaned back in his seat, trying to resume his nap, when the train was again sprung from the tracks. But this time, instead of coming back down on their tracks again, the wheels crashed onto the ground and the train began to roll sideways. The porter fell down in the aisle, and people toppled off their seats, rolling into each other. David could hear screams and cries from the other compartments.

"What's going on?" he shouted at the porter.

"I think that the train derailed," the porter replied, sounding panicked. The train flipped over, knocking the passengers from the floor to the ceiling, which was now resting on the ground. David's head slammed into a seat, and he blacked out. The train continued to roll. Seconds later, it made sickening crash into a ravine.

The next day, the newsboys of New York were busy hawking the new headline. "Santa Fe train crash!" they cried grimly. "There were no survivors."