Author's Notes: Edited some parts of the first chapter. I may be uploading the third chapter tonight as well, because I realize I'm not bringing in any of the wonderful newsies fast enough. I promise they are definitely in the third chapter! There may be some errors here and there in this chapter (or maybe everywhere). I will be correcting them when I edit and search them out, those buggers. And there is some foul-mouthing in this chapter, be warned! Thank you and any sort of review would be greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie Newsies, or any of the characters from it. Disney laid claim to them before I had the chance. I still love you, Disney.

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Chapter Two
The Confrontation

After thirteen years, it would be safe to assume to have someone figured out, but then they go out of their way to surprise you.

It was a chilly autumn night and Ellie was just finishing washing the dishes. The family had already gone to bed and she was the only one still awake and bustling about in the house.

Thump.

Or so she thought.

Ellie turned towards the window facing the backyard. Darkness. A black silhouette slowly formed. With an expression of consternation, Ellie ambled towards the window to take a closer look. She heard a slight groan as the figure shuffled away. As her eyes focused on the darkness, she saw a limp object floating with the wind. A rope? She looked closer, and after a moment began to laugh. They were bed sheets tied to each other to form a rope. And they came from Francesca's window.

"Well, didn't know she had it in her," Ellie said to herself, almost approvingly. She turned away to leave the kitchen, but quickly spun back to the window. "Where the hell is she going at this time of night?" she whispered in sudden shock. Ellie had a sinking feeling that trouble was brewing; Francesca was not too bright. She frowned and took a step back.

"Well, it's not my problem…" Ellie muttered, and spun around once again to leave the kitchen. Her hand reached up to switch the light off, but she paused.

"I hate myself," she sighed. Ellie grabbed her shawl and ran out the backdoor.

- - - - - -

Ellie wrapped her arms around her body, pulling the gray shawl tighter. She saw Francesca just ahead of her, practically running.

Since when did I become her bodyguard, Ellie thought with irritation.

Francesca came to an abrupt stop, looking to her left and right. The full moon illuminated her face; she was looking for something, Ellie realized. What could she possibly be looking for? Ellie looked around as well. They had wandered far from their neighborhood, into a narrow street lined with crumbling tenements. Several times she thought she had seen a pair of eyes from the windows following her as she walked past. Francesca had headed towards the park.

Ellie looked ahead again, searching for Francesca. She suddenly stopped in mid-motion and flattened herself against the building wall, eyes wide with shock.

Francesca was not alone; she was in the arms of a young man. But Ellie's shock came from the fact that he was obviously from a lower class than Francesca – or else she would not have snuck out of the house to meet him. Francesca, who all these years had been fiercely eyeing the wealthy bachelors of New York City, was meeting someone in an impoverished section of Queens. Ellie could not believe it. Perhaps it wasn't real. She poked her head towards the couple and pulled herself back in again.

Nope, it wasn't her imagination. They were still there.

Ellie wanted to leave; she knew she was intruding on a private moment. Not to mention she was disappointed to know that Francesca actually had the capacity for human feelings. Ellie would have much preferred to continue regarding her as an obnoxious sub-species. Like one of those insects that would keep buzzing around your head, she thought warily. But she could not leave the oblivious girl to go home alone. She shook her head remembering Francesca's lack of grace in sneaking out of the house and how she had ran with no sense of caution to the dangers of the night. Ellie slid down to the floor, hidden behind a barrel, crouching with her knees to her chest. She rested her head on her hand, obviously annoyed with herself for assuming responsibility for the brat.

There was a distant rumbing. Ellie lifted her head, alert. She poked her head from behind the barrel and frowned.

Francesca was encircled by a group of malicious-looking individuals. Meanwhile, someone was confronting the young man Francesca had been with.

"Ya got a lot of nerve to go behind my back," the confronter said. It was apparent now that the person was a female and that she was the leader of the group.

"Ya got a lot of nerve to think that you own me," the man spat back. His eyes shifted towards Francesca. "This is about me and you, isn't it? Leave her out of this."

She laughed coldly. "Leave her out of this? She's the reason why we're here."

She walked up to him and pulled something out from behind her. "I'm going to show you why people don't betray me," she said. The object glinted in the moonlight.

A knife, Ellie realized. Wonderful, she thought weakly as her heart began to skip.

The leader walked past the man and towards Francesca.

"Filthy whore," she said murderously. "You left me for trash like this?" She turned to the man in mock disbelief.

"I love him," Francesca cried. "You only tried to manipulate him, but I love him!" Her voice shook, from both fear and the cold.

Ellie almost coughed. A look of confusion and disbelief crossed her face. She refused to believe that all the culminated tension was because of such a simple thing as love. She was vaguely aware of her racing heart; it seemed that her mind had decided what needed to be done before her body could prepare itself. Francesca was going to get herself killed. Ellie stood up, dusted her skirt and strode purposefully towards the group.

"Time to go," Ellie said. She broke through the crowd of surprised girls. "Come on," she said to Francesca. Did Ellie just see a flicker of relief in her eyes?

"Who the hell are you?" the leader snarled.

"This idiot's bodyguard, apparently," Ellie mumbled. She did not bother to stop and look at her, seemingly unthreatened by the girl with the knife in her hands.

In one swift motion, the leader held the knife right under Ellie's jaw.

"You betta mind your own business," she warned. Her expression changed from vicious to uncertainty; she must've been taken aback by Ellie's smile.

"You must really like him to go through all this trouble," Ellie said softly so that only the leader could hear. She grabbed Francesca's arm and pulled her out of the circle.

The young man raced to Francesca's side. He was supporting Francesca, who was trying to recover from being held at knifepoint. The three turned their backs on the group and walked away, towards the narrow street.

Ellie looked back when she heard a rush of footsteps. The group was rapidly coming towards them. The leader must have given the command. And this time, they all held weapons.

Ellie pushed the couple forward. "Run," she said as she glanced back again. They were not far behind. "Now!"

The three raced through the streets, their steps reverberating through the air. In their frantic states, they took a wrong turn and got themselves lost, coming to a dead end.

Francesca was panting. "What are we going to do?" she whispered fearfully.

"You two stay here," Ellie ordered.

She dashed out of the dead end street, stopping right in the middle where the two streets crossed.

The girls spotted her. Ellie ran up the street and made a left. She skidded to a stop.

The leader stood directly in front of her, gripping the knife in her hand. Without a moment's hesitation, she raised her body and slashed down on Ellie's left upper arm. Ellie only gasped in surprise, grabbing her arm as the cold air stung the open skin. Her pride erupted and she was furious with herself for being caught off guard.

The gang surrounded her; she was trapped. Ellie glanced around her, trying to look for a way out.

They were cramped within an alleyway, surrounded on both sides by building walls. But in the far distance ahead of her, behind the leader, Ellie saw her opening: a high fence.

"You're goin' to pay for ruinin' my night," the girl snarled.

Ellie's eyes snapped back to the leader. "I ruined your night?" she said incredulously. "Are you kidding?"

But the leader only raised her arm with her knife again, only this time Ellie swiftly ducked under her and sprinted towards the fence. Her left arm was stinging; her shirt was stained with blood.

Years of carrying troves of chests up and down the stairs, of scaling the walls to retrieve the damn cat, of climbing trees to escape the world, all came into fruition as Ellie flew up the barbed fence and, upon reaching the top, leapt to the ground on the other side. She knew she hadn't escaped them yet and continued running. She had to slow down as she ripped a layer of cloth from her skirt and deftly wrapped it tightly around her wounded arm. She wheeled around a corner and crashed into a gigantic form, falling backwards.

"Who put this damn horse, I'll…" A horse. Of course. She was saved.

She had never been on a horse before, but adrenaline pulled her atop the black stallion. The horse must've sensed the desperation of her situation because he quickly broke into a gallop. Ellie had not expected the quick pace; she lost her balance and flailed her arms wildly with a series of whoa, wait! and ah!'s before leaning forward and grabbing onto the horse's muscular neck. She closed her eyes and let the stallion steal her away.

- - - - - -

"What is that?"

One of the children pointed to the distance. He was lying in the arms of the Horace Greeley Statue. A second child lifted his head, awakened by the thundering sounds. A shadowy form was approaching fast.

"It's a horse, dummy," he said. He closed his eyes to sleep, when the same kid shouted again.

"Yeah, but it be sproutin' wings. Look!"

They looked again. Sure enough, the horse had a pair of beating wings. It slowed its pace and eventually stopped right in front of the police station across from them. The boys, alert and curious now, cautiously walked towards the stallion.

The lady was clinging to the horse's neck, her body rigid, her eyes shut tight. Her pale face was framed with long, wavy tresses. The boys couldn't see her face clearly, though; it was half buried in the horse's mane. They realized that the wings they had seen were just the lady's skirt fluttering in the wind.

"Miss…?"

Ellie's eyes flew open. When her vision cleared, she saw two puzzled faces peering back at her. She slowly realized that she was still alive, that she hadn't fallen off the horse.

"Oh. Well. That wasn't too bad," she mumbled to herself, still in shock, as she slowly sat up. Her body was stiff, and it took her several minutes to get onto the ground. She caught a glimpse of the horse's saddle where the letters "NYMP" were etched on. New York Mounted Police. For a moment, she thought she had stolen a police horse. Ellie looked up and was momentarily frozen. Well, well, she thought in wonder. What absolute luck. She sighed in relief - the horse had stopped directly in front of the police station. Heck, this one horse was smarter than any person she'd ever known.

Ellie tilted her head and studied the magnificent stallion with a thoughtful smile. "I'm sure lucky to have bumped into a clever one like you," she said to the stallion, patting its great head. "Thank you." The horse made a blowing sound through his nose in return. "I'll take that as a 'you're welcome.'"

The moment she turned around and looked at the children, they bombarded her with questions. They each grabbed her hand and practically pulled her to the statue, where she plopped down onto the hard, cold ground and tugged at her shawl as a feeble attempt to shield her body from the cold stone of the statue base. She exhaled a heavy sigh and her eyes closed against her will.

"Why are you bleeding?"

"Did you get into a fight?"

"Are you one of the bulls?"

"Shaddup, she's too pretty to be a bull."

"Oh yeah."

"What's yer name?"

"Are you from 'round these parts?"

Ellie forced one eye open slightly. "Where are we, by the way?"

"We're in Manhattan of New York of the United States, Miss," the boy answered.