Author's Note: Happy Halloween!!

Disclaimer: The newsies belong to Disney, any song lyrics belong to their respective bands/artists, and the casting call characters belong to their respective owners. I own Stewart and Keenan, and there's a quote in there from Calvin and Hobbes. See if you can find it.

All of this, all of this can be yours...

-U2, Vertigo

Snitch.

I was having an epiphany.

It was a bit of an inopportune moment to have said epiphany, to be perfectly honest—it seemed that every single person on the east side of The Island was sitting there on the sand with me, watching the sun set and talking nonstop. Ershey and Sapphy were trying to teach Flare, Spot, and Braids how to tap dance barefoot (without much success), Soaker and Granny were conversing wildly, and David and Emily seemed to be sharing some sort of little moment by the trees. And there I was, sitting in the middle of it all and finally figuring everything out.

"Carpe diem," I said to myself suddenly.

Scout looked up from the fire where she and Alaska were cooking dinner. "What?"

I grinned at her. She was really very pretty, I realized. She had this sort of rough, artistic beauty about her that you didn't notice until you really got to know her—and I had just noticed it. "Carpe diem," I repeated.

"What the hell is carpy deem?" Irish asked, laughing.

"Seize the day."

"Oh."

They seemed to think about this for a moment, obviously wondering why I was speaking in Latin under my breath. I wasn't going to wait for them to ask. "I have to go," I said, and I pulled myself to my feet and began sprinting off across the beach.

"Snitch, wha—" someone yelled behind me, but I didn't answer them. I wasn'tabout to stop now.

"SNITCH! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, NOW SLOW DOWN FOR A SECOND! AAAUGH!"

The smirk on my face broadened slightly and I ran faster than ever, flying across the sand at breakneck speed. A flock of seagulls rose into the air as I ran through them, letting out a loud whoop and flinging my arms into the air. And then my foot hit a rock and I suddenly found myself in the air with the birds, and then back down again with a loud thud. "Ow."

"SNITCH!" Scout yelled, skidding to a stop next to me and spraying me with sand. "Holy crap, holy crap, goddammit, are you all right? Answer me, Snitch, are you—"

I rolled over and looked at her. "Something has changed within me; something is not the same. I'm sick of playing by the rules of someone else's game."

She stared at me, mouth slightly open and her hair shifting in the light breeze. "What. Is. Wrong. With. You," she said. She seemed to be trying not to be amused. "You go running off for no apparent reason, and now you're singing to me. You're out of your MIND."

"Too late for second guessing, too late to go back to sleep," I continued, grinning at her as I got to my feet. "It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap..."

"What are y—"

"It's time to try defying gravity; I think I'll try defying gravity, and you can't pull me down!" I sang happily, grabbing her in a hug and kissing her hair. "I have to go, Scout. I can't explain now, I just—I have to go." I started to run down the beach again.

"Um... Bye!" Scout called after me.

"SEE YA, SCOUT!" I yelled.

After that, my entire sense of reality kind of morphed. I could feel the sand under my feet, the wind stinging my face and chest, but the whole world seemed almost dreamlike. Jesus Christ, I hope I'm not dreaming, I thought suddenly.

I reached the other camp, and everyone looked up with slightly shocked expressions on their faces (except Bel, who smiled warmly and saluted me). "Um... Hi guys," I said awkwardly, trying to catch my breath. I scanned the crowd, looking for that one familiar face. I didn't see it.

"...Yes?" Jack prompted irritably.

I coughed. "Where's Skittery?"

"Why do you want to talk to Skittery?"

"I just..." I exhaled loudly. "Could you just tell me where he is?"

Jack continued to look me over morosely, so Kyriel answered for him. "He usually goes off down the beach around now," she said, glancing back behind her. "To think, y'know?"

"That dude thinks too much," Spitfire muttered.

I grinned at her. He does.

"He just left a couple minutes ago; if you run, you might be able to catch up with 'im," said Kyriel, pointing down the beach.

"More running for Snitch—oh joy," said Coin dryly, grinning at me.

"I don't mind." I made my way through them, carefully avoiding eye-contact with Jack, who was obviously trying to intimidate me with his glares. Bumlets was sitting on the very outside of the circle of people, and he looked up at me with an expression on his face that I couldn't read. Envy? Did he know what I was about to do?

And then I was running again, a sharp pain in my side and adrenaline pumping through my chest. The sun was almost completely below the horizon now and it was quickly growing dark, but I recognized the slender figure up ahead immediately. "SKITTERY!" I yelled, and the figure stopped and turned around. "WAIT UP!"

He waited.

I reached him, and he looked at me with those dark, nervous eyes. "Hey, Snitch," he said quietly. He was even more beautiful than I remembered him, his dark hair long and shaggy and his figure outlined in the dying light. He looked away from me, out across the ocean.

"Whacha doin' all by yourself out here?" I asked, putting my hands in my pockets. The pair of us began to walk down the beach again.

He shrugged. "Thinkin'."

"You think too much," I told him, echoing what Spitfire had said.

"I know."

We walked in silence for a little while, and in doing so I noticed that my blue jeans were completely torn at the knees. Maybe I could just cut the lower part off and make them into shorts. It got pretty fucking hot out during the day.

The silence was getting really awkward.

"You love me, don't you, Skitts?" I said finally.

Skittery glanced at me and then looked quickly back down at the sand. "No," he said quietly, and he coughed awkwardly.

I smiled slightly, hoping he wouldn't see. "'Cause you sure act like you love me."

"Well I don't, okay?" he snapped.

I stopped walking and turned to face him. He wouldn't look me in the eye. "Would it change anything if I told you I loved you back?" I said softly, trying to make him look at me.

He licked his lips, still looking down at the sand. His eyes were oddly bright. "No," he answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

I sighed loudly and put my hands firmly on his shoulders. "Are you scared of everything?" I asked.

He swallowed. "Yes," he said, and I noticed that his voice was shaking slightly. "I'm scared of the asylums, and I'm scared of what everyone else will say, and I'm—I'm scared of you."

Neither of us said anything for a long time.

"Aha." I started to walk again, and after some hesitation he followed me. "Well. I can deal with that," I said.

Skittery, who was looking down at the sand again, didn't answer.

So I didn't say anything more. We walked along the beach for a long time without speaking, our shoulders brushing every now and then. I didn't push the topic, and he seemed thankful in his quiet, dark, Skittery way.

But after a few minutes, I took his hand.

And that didn't seem to scare him at all.

David.

"So. What are you two lovebirds up to?" Sapphy asked cheerfully, coming to sit next to me and pulling her knees up to her chest.

I raised an eyebrow. "Lovebirds?" I repeated.

"Well you do seem a little—"

Race tried to discreetly elbow her ribs, but her loud "OW! RACE, WHAT THE HELL!" kind of ruined any chances of discreetness. He sighed and leaned back against the tree, and I glanced back at Emily, who shrugged.

"Um, we're trying to figure out what to do to get off The Island," I said after a minute.

"Ah. Good."

"Yes."

I looked at Emily again despite myself. Lovebirds? Did they really think I was attracted to her? That was absolutely ridiculous! I was not in any way, shape, or form attracted to Emily; she knew it, I knew it, everyone else knew it, so what was the trouble? People could be so empty-headed sometimes!

She smiled at me, and I blushed and looked away. Sapphy sniggered. Race elbowed her again.

After a few minutes, Spot and Braids joined us and lay down on their backs on the sand. "What's da 411, brothah?" Spot sang.

We all stared at him. "Don't ask," Braids sighed, closing her eyes.

Emily cleared her throat. "Well, uh, we still have the one camera. I was thinking we could put together some sort of..."

"Speech," I supplied.

"Right, a speech."

"Ohh, this is so cuuuuuute, they're finishing each other's sent—RACE, QUIT ELBOWING ME—"

"I'm almost positive that The Island is an artificial creation made by the Department of Human Research, and that means that there's definitely someone on the other end of this camera," said Emily. "So we should get one of us to represent the entire group, and they can give the speech to the... well, to the camera, I guess. To express our rights."

We all thought this over for a minute.

"Dat's cool wit me, sistah," said Spot, raising his fist to Emily.

Braids looked at him. "You, my dear, are most definitely not representing us as a group."

"The Department of Human Research?" Sapphy repeated, frowning. "Aren't they the guys who conduct inhumane but technically legal experiments on human beings?"

Emily smiled grimly. "Yes."

"Shit," said Race.

Another thoughtful pause.

"So I guess we should figure out who's going to represent us, then?" said Braids, rolling onto her stomach and resting her chin on her hands. "Or maybe we should go talk to the west side guys first."

"Diplomacy, sistah!" Spot yelled.

"STOP IT! YOU ARE NOT FROM JAMAICA!"

"You know whats? We is t'roo, Braids."

"...What?"

"Ya heard me. We is t'roo!"

Sapphy laughed, leaning her head back against a tree trunk. "He's telling you that you two are through, Braids," she said.

"OH!"

"Were you ever together?" I asked.

"No, not really."

"Aha."

Emily and I would be good together. Not that I was attracted to her or anything. We would just be good together.

"I agree with Spot," said Race. "I think we should go and talk to the guys on the other side of The Island, see what they have to say. Who's with me?"

"AYE!" yelled Alaska from the fire. "But dinner's ready, so come and eat it first, all right?"

"Sure thing, ma," said Sapphy with a grin.

"Aw shut up, Sapphy."

They all got up to gather around the little bonfire and eat the freshly cooked fish ("Ack, I hate fish!" "Sapphy, if you keep doing that with your face, it's gonna freeze that way." "Really? Sweet!"), leaving Emily and me alone again. "Alaska seems exactly like Wendy from Peter Pan sometimes," she said with a grin. "Looking after the lost boys."

Heh. I never thought of it that way.

"I'm not really hungry," I said after a moment.

Emily smiled. "Yeah, neither am I."

"Do you really think it's the Department of Human Research?" I asked suddenly.

She sighed slightly. "Yeah. I do," she said. "I mean, there's no other explanation for any of this. Thirty-six orphaned teenagers stuck inexplicably on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere with cameras in the trees and some sort of... thing trying to hunt us down? How could it not be an experiment?"

"...You've got a point."

Her smile broadened. A nice smile, I decided. Not that I was attracted to her, of course—she just had a nice smile.

Oh god, please help me.

Flare.

"This is ridiculous," Soaker muttered, running both hands through her hair. "They're not gonna listen. Why the hell would their opinions have changed completely over the course of, like, three days?"

"Well it's not right to just make a decision like this without telling them about it first," I answered.

"I guess."

It was truly dark out now, and we were all walking along the shoreline to the other side of the Island. Emily seemed to think it would be a good idea to get our ideas across tonight and then execute the plan tomorrow morning. "Besides," Race had said with a grin, "they're probably all too tired to argue now, and tomorrow morning, it'll be too late."

At which point Spot had said, "I like ya style, brothah", and Braids had tackled him.

I hadn't been nervous at all on the way down the beach, but the moment we reached their campfire, I suddenly found myself enigmatically anxious. I swallowed and looked over at Emily, who had become our new unofficial leader. Where had Scout gone?

"Why the hell do you lot keep invading our area?" Jack demanded, standing up and marching toward us.

"Hey—peace, brothah. No war. We mean good."

"Shut up, Spot."

Emily looked up at Jack, ignoring the fact that he was a good foot taller than she was. "We'd like to talk to you guys," she said calmly. "Do you mind? It'll only take a few minutes."

Jack licked his lips, obviously thinking hard. He glanced back at his friends.

"Aw, don't be such an ass, Jack," Nani laughed, dragging him out of the way. "Don't worry about bothering us; we're bored out of our minds anyway," she whispered to Emily, who grinned.

It was in this way that all 36 of us found ourselves sitting together in a huge mass of sand and bodies again, just the way it had been before. "THE FELLOWSHIP HAS BEEN REUNITED!" Cat announced, grinning, and soon found herself being bombarded with banana peels. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed being all together like this.

Emily turned to David, looking suddenly slightly nervous. "Do you want to do the talking?" she asked him. "You're better at talking in front of crowds than I am."

"I am not!" he laughed, but he agreed to talk for her anyway.

Ohh, they were crushing. They were crushing so bad it was almost painful to watch.

David explained about Emily's theory on the Department of Human Research, and her suggestion about the representative with the camera. The rest of them listened quietly enough (disregarding Spot's quiet humming of "No Woman No Cry" under his breath), and they actually seemed to be considering our ideas when David was done.

"The Department of Human Research," said Bel thoughtfully. "Now that's pretty darn screwy, man."

"Amen, sistah," said Spot solemnly.

"Do you guys really want to be subjects of an experiment?" Emily asked them. She didn't sound accusatory or anything—just curious. "Do you really think this is going to end happily?"

"This has been better than anything I've ever gone through in the real world," said Bandit quietly.

"It's not real, dude," said Granny. "It's all artificial! This entire scenario was created for an experiment—"

"Whoa, wait, we never actually established that this is an experiment," said Nova.

"What else could it be?"

"I don't know, it just seems a bit..."

"Presumptuous, I know." Sapphy ran her fingers through the sand, head tilted to one side. "We could be wrong, but it's a risk we have to take, right? If we want to get out of this thing alive, we're gonna have to be prepared for anything."

"Do we want to get out of this thing alive?"

All heads turned to look at Jack, who was standing at the edge of the firelight with his hands in his pockets. Augh, he was always so melodramatic...

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Jacky-boy?" Spot demanded, forgetting his reggae act for the moment.

"It means that the United States of America in the year 2130 sucks beyond comprehension," said Jack slowly. "I go to the R. J. Grey Orphanage of Connecticut, and I'm absolutely miserable. Do you know what it's like there?"

Silence.

"I'd pretend I was happy. I'd pretend that I didn't mind the conformity, the matching black boots and black baggy jeans and black shirts, the segregation of genders, the book-burning—but it's all crap in the end." He kicked the sand jerkily. "The Island's like a relief from all that. I don't care if it's real or not, because it's better than what I had. Do you really want to go back to that hell you were living in before The Island?"

"Jack, for the first time in our lives, we have a chance to fucking change that hell, all right?" Bumlets snapped.

There was a moment of stunned silence.

Bumlets?

The Hispanic boys' eyes widened, and he glanced over at Swifty, who was sitting next to him on the sand. "Keep goin'," Swifty laughed, nudging him.

Bumlets looked positively terrified. So did Jack, to be honest. "Um, well..." He stared down at his hands, which were resting uselessly on his lap. "If this really is an experiment from the Department of Human Research, then we can't let it continue... because that's like saying that we're all right with the way the world is right now."

"If we don't take action now, we'll settle for nothing later," said Racetrack softly. "Settle for nothing now, we'll settle for nothing later."

Bumlets looked at him. "Rage Against The Machine."

"Dude. Meaning of life."

Bumlets smiled slightly. "Right," he said, and then a little louder. "Right! I mean I totally agree with you, Jack; I hate my orphanage like hell. But we can't hide from reality on this artificial Island. If you want to be treated like a human being, you have to fight like a human being—you have to let them know that you're not going to be tested on like animals. If you want freedom, you need to take it yourself, because they're not going to give it to you. The world as we know it today is complete and total rape, and now we can finally change that. WE CAN FINALLY FUCKING CHANGE THE WORLD AND MAKE IT RIGHT AGAIN."

And at that moment, the entire Island went dead silent. The wind stopped blowing, the seagulls stopped cawing, the people stopped breathing, and everything went absolutely, positively silent.

Finally, Sapphy spoke.

"Well," she said softly. "I think we've found our representative."

Shoutouts.

tinydanceremily: To be honest, there is no one I love more than I person who is easily amused. Congratulations. ((cheers)) Thanks for reviewing!

Glitz Kelly: Hahaha! Yes, soap is most definitely needed. If you could bring that, your ticked to the Island would be free. ;-)

TechniColor DreamGirl: Hooray! I love your characters so much—I'm really sorry I couldn't go into more development of their relationship and stuff. It's just that there are so many characters to deal with! Anyway, thanks for reviewing!

Erin Go Bragh: Actually, I got the idea for The Hound from Fahrenheit 451. Best book in the universe, dude. Ray Bradbury is. My. Idol. ((sighs)) Thanks for reviewing!

singin'-newsies-goil: DUDE, HOW WAS RENT?!?!?!?!?!

Braids21: Hooray for Bohemian Rhapsody! I love that song so friggin' much... Thanks for reviewing!

uninvisible: I love Crutchy! I mean, I don't find him attractive AT ALL, but I love him anyway. He's hysterical. Thanks for reviewing!

Soaker: ((strums guitar)) Every day I wake up and it's Sunday... Whatever's in my eye won't go away... The radio is playing all the usual... What's a wonderwall anyway? ((pauses)) You listen to Travis. Oh. My. God. I love you so much. You are the FIRST PERSON who actually knows who they are—AHH, I LOVE YOU! THANKS FOR REVIEWING!!

Written Sparks: Romance with Nova. ((smiles nervously)) I'm really, really going to try, but the thing is I've got about thirty pairings going on right now and I don't know if I can successfully handle any more. AHH! Plus the fact that Skittery is most definitely gay might be a bit of a hindrance... :-D

Scout73: I don't think I'm going for the Scout/Jack romance action. Do you mind? It's just too many pairings to deal with, and you don't even LIKE Jack! (Besides, he's a complete asshole in this story, dontcha think?) Thanks for reviewing! And I'm sorry I made you evil, lol...

Dakki: I've completely given up trying to respond to your reviews. They're too funny. I LOVE YOU AND TON CHIEN, DALTON! (Haha, remember when you told me I'd soon be rich enough to get Gabe Damon on a leash? Well you seem to already be going in that general direction.) Your latest addition to our masterpiece was pure GENIUS, and I love you for it. Thanks for reviewing!!

Sapphy: I, like, don't watch television at all. Except my beloved Sox. It's really sad. What is this "Lost" of which you speak? :-D Hahahaha, yeah, I'm thinking that Bumlets and Swifty are gonna be the main pairing so their get-together has to be al lot slower. You and Bumlets are gonna have a little reunion at some point, though. Just 'cause you guys are so perfect together. ;-)

Coin: FISH: ((bow down to Coin)). SATURDAY: ((laughs ass off)). Thank you SO MUCH for reviewing...

Author's Note: BLINK: ((comes into the room with a scary witch nose on))

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

BLINK: ((little kid voice)) Don't be silly, Saturday, it's just me!

I knew that. ((regains dignity)) Happy Halloween, I love you all! Now leave a review, which is twice as good as candy and much healthier.

BLINK: ...you loser.

Shut up.

-Saturday