A/N: Alright, I decided to do it. If anyone in the X-Men fandom has written something like this, please know I meant no offense. Thanks.

Full Story Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. At all. Bye.

Legends

They had faded so quickly, becoming ghosts of a glorious past. It hadn't been that long since the strike, but newsies, well, they could be said to have short memories. They had to have short memories, the quick ability to forget things. Some many of them had painful things in their pasts, that they had to be able to concentrate solely on the present.

So they had been rapidly forgotten. They were stories now.

Racetrack, Crutchy, Skittery, Pie Eater, Snoddy, Kid Blink, Mush...All had joined the ranks of newsie legend, a tale to be told around the lodging house at night. They were like heroes, part of New York lore. A glorious story, full of adventure and down and out moments, a story newsies threw around to prove that they were New York's toughest breed.

Spot's story was told by the Brooklynites, the boy who went on from being a newsie to bigger, better things, though almost no one still around knew what had really happened to Spot after he'd left. It didn't matter - the point was the story after all.

But more than anyone else, two names, two faces, had faded the most into the stories, into blurred faces and faintly recalled notions. Awe inspiring ideas, but perhaps only just ideas. Ironic that the key figures were the ones that had grown not just into memories, but into legends.

Jack Kelly and David Jacobs.

They were called "Cowboy" and "The Walking Mouth" by those who were a bit older and could claim to have perhaps met them once, or had a brother, friend, or friend's friend, meet them. They were the stories told most often, and the ones that got wilder and wilder each time they were told. Details were forgotten and replaced by more "exciting" ideas, family histories, motivations, and personalities were altered. But one thing remained the same - they were heroes.

Their stories were told with awe and respect, their names demanded grateful tones. Whenever there was a new newsie, he was told the same story, and it always started the same way - with Jack and David's first meeting. From there, the high points were hit. The initial strike, the visit to Spot, the article in the paper. Perhaps in these stories Pulitzer trembled in fear when he heard his newsies were on strike, perhaps Spot was awed but uncertain about the offer from "The Walking Mouth" perhaps the newsies got a full two-page story in the pape. And the police raid during the rally and Medda's concert was often the most exciting part of all, with several police being "taken down" before the newsies were captured and led off.

Jack's desertion was really just a scheme, to ensure that he knew what Pulitzer was up to in these stories. Because this figure of legend could do no wrong, he was flawless, he wouldn't be a scab - not really. The spirit of some of the events was lost, but never the essence.

Always, the newsies were the underdogs, always, they fought against impossible odds (some stories made the odds more impossible than others).

Only one thing never changed, and that was the fact that if it weren't for these people, no one would get a fair deal for their papes. That was repeated, branded into the minds and hearts of every New York newsie.

They were altered, they were changed, but they were never forgotten.

They were heroes.

A/N: So please let me know what you thought of it! Thanks.