Notes: Chapter 5, Extra warnings?....erm…yes. Violence in this chapter!! Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

Thanks yous: Reviewers!!!  Thank you all sooo muuuch!!! And, of course, Carmen! Who has helped me tons with this beautiful thing I like to call a plot, it makes a first performance in this fic ^^. ::hands Carmen Jewish desserts:: and because they cut off my review for your last chapter (-_-) ::hits blink over the head with a plastic cup:: (that is for all of his stupid angsting … ^_^)

Disclaimer: Gah!!!!! Do I HAVE to do this every chapter? ::pouts:: Well, I still don't own them, happy now!?

Foundations

Chapter Five: Crying in the Moonlight

Specs woke up early in the morning, the birds just beginning to wake. He looked slowly around the room; no one else had woken yet. He smiled softly and sat up slowly, trying to keep the springs under his mattress from creaking. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, stretching his arms and back. All around him was the soft breathing and occasional snores of sleeping boys. He looked over to the bed next to his, to Dutchy's sleeping form. He had forgotten to take his glasses off before he drifted off to sleep, and they were crooked on his nose. His golden hair was rumpled and messy, it told of much tossing and turning during the night. But for now he was peaceful, his features relaxed. ''E looks almos' angelic,' thought Specs surreptitiously. Then he noticed the thin red line around Dutchy's neck, which stood out brilliantly against his pale skin. Rope burn.

            Specs shuddered involuntarily. If he hadn't decided to come back to the Lodging House….'If Ise hadn' come back to da lodgin' 'ouse, 'e wouldn' be livin' righ' now,' Specs thought in slight anger. ''Ow could 'e do dat ta 'imself? 'Specially when alla us newsies care fer 'im. It don't make sense. 'E seemed so gentle an' carefree, what woulda made 'im think ta do such a thing?' Then another thing occurred to Specs, 'What if 'e tries again? Maybe Ise should stick around 'im ta make sure. Maybe Ise can even find ou' who did whatevah it was ta set 'im off…!' Specs then smiled a little, his mind made up and more at ease. He would sell papers with Dutchy, make sure he didn't do anything stupid, and possibly try to talk to him about what happened. Now cheerful almost to the point of humming, Specs thought this was going to actually be a good day.

            But then again, what did he know?

***

As Dutchy finished buying his papers, he walked out of the iron gates, only to find that Specs had been waiting for him outside. He sighed inwardly; he should have known that Specs would never let him alone. Especially not after what he had tried to do the day before. Without even trying to argue, he asked Specs softly, "so, wheres ya wanna go?"

"Where youse normally go's fine wit me." Specs answered cheerfully, smiling at Dutchy. Dutchy's answer was silent, he nodded not even thinking. He did not remember that Jonas Archer knew all of the places he sold. He did not remember that a few days had passed since Arch had actually tried to hurt him last. He did not remember that Archer seldom left more than a day between assaults. All he was thinking about was that he had let out a vital piece of information out the afternoon before, in his hysterical anger, and that he was dead set on not letting in happen again. They strode on in almost silence, the only noise, the shouts of the modified headlines, and the chatter of the passerby. Dutchy determined to not think, and Specs pondering quietly to himself.

They sold their papers at a steady rate, eventually selling them all. They then began to head back to the lodging house and the other newsies. About halfway there Specs stopped walking, "Ehy, Dutchy? Can wese stop fer a minute? Ise feels like Ise is abou' ta fall ovah from hungah."

"Deres a bakery righ' dere." Dutchy pointed to the bakery two stores down. "Why don' youse buy some bread or somethin'?" Specs looked doubtful for a moment, indecisive. Then he nodded.

"Yeh. Wait righ' here, ok?"

"Yeh, I know." Specs then headed down the street, and entered the bakery.

Dutchy fidgeted, feeling slightly nervous about being all by himself. He shook his head, 'Nothin's gonna 'appen, don' be paranoid.' But he knew it wasn't paranoia. Then he remembered, with Specs gone it was much easier, and he looked around wildly, his light hair whipping in his face, he hoped Specs would be back soon. Seconds, minutes went by, without sign of either Specs or Arch. He almost thought that he needn't have worried.

Then a slightly gawky, dark haired, gray eyed body stepped out of the space between the buildings. On his face was a vicious grin, his sharpened canines poking out over his thin bottom lip. Dutchy backed up a few steps, his heartbeat quickening, his breath catching in his throat. "Right on time, little one," An amused tenor said nicely, as if announcing he was on time for a history lesson. A large hand grabbed his upper arm firmly, dragging him unresisting farther into the small space. 'Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit oh shit ohshitohshitohshitohshit…' his brain babbled, panicking.

He struggled as he was pulled farther into the alley, he struggled as he was slammed up against the unrelenting brick walls, he struggled until he was slapped hard across the face, his glasses jarred from his face. Then he didn't struggle anymore.

***

Specs brushed the leftover crumbs off of his face and shirt as he trotted out of the bakery. It had only taken his five minutes to get the roll he had bought, and then he had practically shoved the whole thing straight into his mouth. He was still chewing as he left the store, and began walking back towards where Dutchy was. 'Correction, wheres Dutchy was s'posed ta be…' He stumbled to the front of the dollar store he had left Dutchy in front of, twirling in a circle to see if the blonde was still in sight. He sighed deeply, knowing that if he couldn't see the other boy now, it would take a long time to find him. 'Ise 'ope nothin' 'appened ta him…'  As if in answer to his vague worry, he then heard noises coming from the small opening between the buildings, what kind of noises, he did not know. He turned quickly into the alley, and stopped. 'Well,' his mind supplied rather calmly, 'dis sure explains a lot.' He stood frozen, as he watched Dutchy, his best friend, get molested by some unexplained man. Dutchy was lying on the ground, his legs splayed at an awkward angle, the entire right side of his face red and blotchy, the left completely white. A dirty looking dark-haired man was straddling his waist, his shaggy brown hair hanging a lot of his face, his hands clutching the pale yellow of Dutchy's over shirt. As Specs processed the situation, he unfroze and ran at the man, tackling him, shoving him off of Dutchy's prone form. He then punched the man, hard, hitting him on the left side of his jaw. The man grimaced angrily and shoved. Hard. Specs tumbled and rolled in the waste littering the alley. He got up slowly, looking up to find the man had hauled Dutchy to his feet, he was limping, "Back off little boy. The pretty one is mine, and he knows it." He grinned maliciously. Dutchy shuddered, his now dirty hair falling into his face.

"No." Specs said, growling heatedly.

"Well then, I guess I have another pretty boy to play with." His smile became almost cheerful, cheerful and slightly crazy. He strolled forward, and Specs stumbled back, intimidated by the sudden change of character. Specs quickly kneeled, pulling out his knife and stood again. "Oh! So the pretty boy has a pretty toy, does he not?" He did not seem to be nervous at all because of the drawn weapon, steel glinting in the half-light. Arch sauntered right up to Specs and grabbed him by the shirt, leaving Dutchy to fall back to the floor, his ankle not able to support his full weight. He sat in the mouth of the alley, motionless. Arch suddenly growled and pulled Specs off of his feet, his rage abruptly coming back, "The pretty boy wouldn't be doing anything with his toy, now would he?" he snarled out the words. Specs choked, his breath shortened by the collar of his shirt being pressed into his esophagus. Using all of his force, Specs pulled back his knife arm and slammed it into Arch's stomach as hard as he could. The knife slid in easily, all the way to the hilt, Arch's eyes widened and then narrowed again, "You…you stabbed me!" his hands tightened on Spec's collar, purposely choking him this time. Blood bubbled around the knife and Specs pulled it out. He didn't have much strength left, 'It's gotta be now, or I'll die!' He thought panicking. He pulled his arm back again, and slammed the knife into the left side of Arch's chest. The older man's body crumpled and Specs crumpled with it; his heart had collapsed, or had been ruined by the knife, killing him almost instantly.

But that did not mean that he didn't bleed. Specs didn't even manage to pull the knife out; he scurried away from the body as quickly as possible. Blood oozed out of both wounds, red and fresh becoming a pool around the body. Specs only glanced at it for a second, before he was violently ill. 'Oh my lord, I really did it this time, I killed someone. Oh god oh god oh god, I killed someone. I took a human life…' his thoughts spiraled out of control, he could feel the knife going in, it slid in so easily. He watched the life leave the man's eyes. He turned aside and vomited again. He wiped his mouth, then wide eyed, he staggered back to where Dutchy sat still, looking at him almost serenely. He looked like a man who had just come out from war, and had seen too many horrible things. The air about him was terribly jaded. Specs guessed he seemed jaded too, now. Specs picked up the blonde's glasses from the very right of the alley, helped the blonde up and with each other's help, they made their way slowly back to the Lodging House, far away from this awful place.

***

A few hours later, Dutchy sat motionless on his bed, not talking, not thinking. He glanced over to Specs, the brunette had his face buried in his pillow, and he seemed to be shaking slightly. "Specs," he whispered, "can Ise tawk to youse?" he wasn't sure if Specs could here him, but he didn't want to talk any louder, he didn't feel up to it. He smiled with bruised lips as he heard a muffled assent. "Specs, look at me. Please…" Specs lifted his head; his face was wet with tears.

"Yeh?" Dutchy gestured with his head towards the fire escape. Specs shrugged and nodded, standing and wiping his face, before helping Dutchy towards the window. Some of the other newsies, Snoddy, Blink and Mush especially, looked at them worriedly, knowing better than to intrude. Specs opened the window to the fire escape and slid through, supporting Dutchy as he went through afterwards. They sat on the cold metal; the physicality of it was comforting. "Specs, is youse okay….?" Dutchy questioned, although he already knew the answer.

"No, Dutchy. Ise ain't okay, not at all." He closed his eyes, and laid his head back against the railing. "Ise, Dutchy…oh god, Dutchy. Ise actually killed someone! Someone dat was livin', an' isn' anymore!"

"Ise dunno if dis'll help at all, but Ise wants youse ta know anyway. Specs, youse saved me; I know you killed Archer, but 'e woulda nevah left me alone, I woulda gone insane, or tried to kill myself again, and maybe 'ave actually succeeded." He twined his fingers in his hair, "Dis ain't coming out how Ise wanted it at all. But please know, dat even d'ough youse killed a man, Ise thank youse fer it. Youse saved my life, one way or da uddah."

"It's such a horrible feelin', knowin' dat Ise killed a human, no mattah 'ow awful an' mad 'e was." Specs sniffed pitifully, trying to hold back tears but not quite managing to. They rolled down his cheeks, and Dutchy hugged him tightly, remembering how just the day before Specs had done this for him. Specs curled into his arms, sobbing into Dutchy's already wet shoulder. They stayed like this for some time.

***

End chapter Five

End Notes: welp, there goes Arch. His craziness kinda grew on me to tell you the truth. Not the whole raping thing. That just ain't my style. Good thing he has a cool twin. (Yep I based him offa a different character, who was actually good.) Well, he was a good villain anyway ^_^. ß More beauty marks! (Or periods as some people call them). ::Squeals:: I can't wait for the fluff! And see! Dutchy is not totally a wimp!!! ::huggles Dutchy and Specs::