Hello, everyone!

As you have probably already figured out, this is the newest chapter of the story The Fallen Souls. I feel that this chapter really begins to bring out the issues that the Greasers face and, as we have already seen, the brothers continually grow closer.

We all have those moments with siblings or close friends where we just feel the bond grow closer than it has in the past and I hope that you can all see this sort of thing within this chapter (I am also aware that it is a bit longer, so I hope you can all hang in there).

One last thing before I let you read to your heart's content. I get the odd feeling that some of those who read this will see the part where Sodapop hugs Steve. Do realize that he is in a mix of emotions as well as an incredible lack of sleep. He also just watched his brother nearly die in front of him for the second time in under a year-needless to say it's an emotional time. It's a brotherly hug and Steve doesn't exactly appreciate it as you will see.

Thank you so much for waiting the week or so for this next chapter and I hope that you all like it!

Enjoy!

- The Fallen Souls -

It doesn't matter who ran first-Socs are still Socs and Greasers are still Greasers.

Chapter 3

"Don't shoot him! He's just a kid!"

"Wait!"

"Stop aiming those guns at him!"

"He didn't do anything!"

"The gun's not loaded! You'll kill him!"

"No!"

"You stupid idiots!"

He lost vision and crashed to the pavement.

"Come here, Soda," Darry said urgently. Ponyboy's eyes were coming into focus and serious déjà vu came over him. Was he still in their house? Where was the blood on his sheets? "He's waking up. Get over here! It's okay, bud, it's okay. No need to be scared, it's alright."

Ponyboy's green eyes caught the light a bit quicker than they had last night and he found Darry and Sodapop at his right side. Everything was brighter than it had been before so he took a moment to shake his head and adjust. He found out fairly fast that shaking his head was not the right thing to do and he reached up to rub it. Darry put a hand through his brother's blond hair and Pony put his back as his side. Looking up, he unknowingly had a confused look on his face. The memories of the night before were flowing back and he was trying to catch up with everything.

"You were talking about Dally for a while," Sodapop responded to Pony's rather confused expression. "Then you yelled. You're awake now and everythin's fine. The Doc said you'd get better soon and we could go home." His depressed chocolate eyes dug deeply into Ponyboy's mind and he had to look away for a moment. In those few seconds, he surveyed the hospital room. It was white; white all over. A clipboard hung near the door, but nothing else seemed to bring color to the room.

When he looked down, he saw the white sheets and plastic white handles on his bed. No wonder Dally wanted to get out—lying in these beds with nurses and doctors around you must've felt horrible. Ponyboy hated everything about hospitals and always had. His situation just made him feel even less comfortable, if possible, being confined to a bed. Plus, with wires strung to him from a few directions and a now all-too-noticeable pain in his foot and back, he was beginning to feel pretty lightheaded.

"Pony," Darry seemed to call worriedly. "Pony, you alright?"

Wary about talking with his dizziness, he gently lay back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He opened his mouth to take a deep breath. Feeling relieved of the dizziness, Ponyboy allowed a few words before resuming his quietness.

"You're lucky I'm not Dally," he said, putting on a slight smile through the pain he was feeling.

"Why's that?" Sodapop asked, walking to the other side of Pony's bed to be closer to him. He knelt down closer than Darry so he could run his hand through his brother's hair.

"'Cause I'd probably stab a nurse to get out of here," Ponyboy laughed quietly. "How'd that be for trouble?"

The brothers laughed along, but Ponyboy had a feeling it was out f relief that he was okay rather than the comedy behind his joke. He didn't blame them. They'd lost two gang members and their parents in a little under a year; he'd be happy that he was alive if it was them.

"Hey, Soda," Darry said, looking up from his youngest brother. Soda regarded him for a moment before looking back at the now heavily breathing Pony. "I'm gonna go check on Two-Bit, okay? I'll be back in a little while."

Ponyboy's jade eyes flicked open and he stared at Darry. How could he have forgotten about Two-Bit? What kind of family was he? "I want to go," he said almost yelling and jolting up so fast that a searing pain ran through every part if his body. He felt extremely weak and took in a sharp breath before collapsing. Sodapop had to catch him with cat-like reflexes and lower him onto the bed slowly. "I really uh," Ponyboy said, closing his eyes and wincing from the pain, "I really gotta go see him. I gotta see how he's doing."

"Not now, little buddy," Darry said, cautiously. His eyes had widened immensely as he spoke to Pony.

"Oh, come on! They could put me in a wheelchair!" he yelled, getting lit up at this point. "I need to see him!"

"Pon, you're not thinkin'," Darry said, not thinking himself before speaking. "The doctor said rest and that's what you'll be doin'."

"I am thinking," he said, pointing a finger at the door while his head reddened slightly. Darry had accused him enough times of not really thinking about something before acting on it and he was beginning to get hyped up. "I'm thinking I need to see Two-Bit. He's family and he's probably in worse shape than I am. Didn't you see him last night?!"

Sodapop, who had been watching the scene unfold, spoke up. "Buddy, you shoulda seen yourself last night." He put on a rather awkward, signature half-smile.

Ponyboy looked at his second oldest brother in unintentional disgust. "You're on his side for this?" He crossed rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. Unfortunately, the pain his his back became too much and he had to roll it back onto the bed, thereby forcing himself to look at his two brothers again.

"Hey, Pony, were not sayin' this to hurt you. We want you to get better and to do that you gotta jus lay for a while," Soda soothed, patting his brother's shoulder. Ponyboy quickly knocked his hand away, though and stared at the ceiling. "Darry," Sodapop continued, looking sadly at his older brother, "would it really hurt to see if we could get him in a wheelchair?"

Biting his lip in thought and regarding both brothers, Darry stood up. He looked at the door once and back to the boys. Ponyboy had decided to rejoin the interaction and give Darry his own look of pleading. The oldest brother looked at both of them fiercely. "Fine," he said, "but if the doctor says no, it's no. No questions. Got it?"

Both brothers nodded and Soda looked at Ponyboy with a bit of excitement. Pony would have done the same if his head wasn't hurting so much. Darry looked at him carefully before sticking to his words and going out of the room to ask the doctor.

Soda smiled at Ponyboy and shook his arm lightly. "You might get to get out of bed!"

"Never thought I'd hear that and be excited," Pony said, grinning before taking a breath. "Hey, Soda?"

"Yeah, bud?"

"Can you not shake me so hard?" he asked in a small voice. Soda immediately stopped and gave a sheepish smile before doing so. Ponyboy's arm relaxed and he let a laugh run out.

The two brothers sat in silence for a moment while Pony closed his eyes and allowed his thoughts to wander. For a moment, the world was just peaceful. He was going to recover and he would get to go home and be in his own bed once more. The vision was abruptly disrupted by the realization that going home wouldn't fix any of his problems. He thought of a quote by someone he learned about in school, Emerson something. "The soul is no traveler." He thought it meant something like you can't escape your problems by walking away: you have to deal with them. In other words, going home wouldn't get rid of the problems between the Greasers and the Socs and it wouldn't bring Johnny and Dally home. Going home or staying in the hospital an extra day would have no effect on what would happen and he would have to deal with those issues face-to-face. Hiding wouldn't do him any good and escaping them mentally would do nothing either.

The question was how could he stop all of the madness? Two-Bit had been shot last night while leaving their house and Pony had been shot three times for just going out to make sure everything was alright. Both of them could have died like Dallas: greasy hoods with nothing to their name, losing their lives in cold blood and for no reason. They made it through though and now have a second chance. Why was it Johnny and Dallas instead of them? Why did the Socs hate them so much? Was the rivalry between the groups ever going to end? No matter who won what rumble or who had who's girl or who was running away or even, apparently, who was leaving a house and for what reason, the hatred that the Socs threw on the Greasers never seemed to vanish. No one wanted to be the one to try and unify the two groups—he tried, but Cherry really had no interest—and the fight raged on despite the time when Randy talked to him or Dally had Cherry spy for them. There needed to be some way that this could all stop. Ponyboy was actually beginning to feel as Johnny did when they lay in the open lot the night of Bob's murder: lonely and hurt by something he had no power over.

"The doctor said—" Darry began loudly. He walked in rather quickly, nearly slamming the door behind him before seeing what had happened.

Sodapop put a finger up to his lips vigorously while his eyes darted up to Darry. His hand was grasped by Ponyboy's but Pony was asleep, quiet snores released every few seconds. Blond hair fallen back onto the pillow and eyes closed lightly, he seemed peaceful. Darry shut the door behind him as quietly as possible and tiptoed over to the chair next to the hospital bed. He sat down, making the chair creak rather loudly and drawing a dark stare from Soda. The second oldest brother sat down on the bed, not wanting to move his hand from Ponyboy's grip, but not wanting to wake him either. He looked up at his older brother, wanting now to hear what the doctor had said.

"Sorry, what'd he say?" Soda asked, brown eyes unintentionally pleading. He whispered as quietly as he could, but still felt too loud.

"Well...it's not important now. He's asleep and God knows he needs it after last night," Darry said sounding relieved. He looked over at his youngest kid brother before running a hand through his nearly ungreased hair. Looking up at Soda, he said, "He's gotta start thinking. We can't lose more of our family. Two's enough for one year. Hell, two's too much for one year." Blue eyes regarding Ponyboy once more, he sighed. "Two's too much forever." Arms and legs crossed in unison, he let his own eyes close, hoping to catch some sleep himself.

Sodapop, half coherent at this point while seeing everyone else near sleeping, found a spot on the floor in the corner and sat back against the wall. It wasn't the coziest of places, but not having slept at all the night before was enough to put him out no matter the location. He looked up quickly and realized that this was the first time the family had been truly together for a long time. It made him feel a joy he hadn't felt since their mother and father were around; he felt rather childish, actually. His corner felt comfortable and he let himself drift off, dreaming of the whole family back together again.

The hospital room door slammed against the wall, making the room shake a fair amount. Everybody woke with a start: Darry nearly standing up from the chair he was sleeping in, Soda jumping from his sprawled-out position on the floor, and Ponyboy sitting up in his bed. Pony lay back down immediately, taking in a sharp breath from the pain he endured upon sitting up. His back felt sliced and his foot hit the railing to the bed, leaving him in pretty bad shape for a minute.

Two-Bit looked scared for a moment, blue eyes wide with fear at what he'd just done to Ponyboy by slamming the door. Seeing the little guy recover quickly, he walked over to Darry, smiling.

Darry stared at him, both furious and confused. "The hell was that for?!" he shouted, both questioningly and angrily. He smacked Two-Bit on the side of his head, making the wounded guy laugh a bit.

"Well, I'm better. Thought he might be better too," he said reasoning in his head. Looking behind Darry and seeing Pony's eyes squinted together, arms tightly at his sides, made him reconsider what he'd just said. "'Parently not, though…"

Continuing to stare, but losing his anger at Two-Bit's idiocy, Darry just smiled. "Come here ya little…" He grabbed the gang member and gave him a hard noogie.

Two-Bit fought a bit before finally being released by Darry's grip and laughing himself. He walked over to Ponyboy's bed, leaning over the small bed railing and looking, rather nervous. For the first time since Johnny's beating, months ago at this point, he had nothing funny to say. Before saying a word, he looked down as if mad at himself for hurting Pony. Looking back up and into the brother's tired green eyes, he tried to sound sincere. "Hey, bud, sorry I hurt ya." He looked over at Soda who was clearly tired out of his mind exemplified by the dark bags under his eyes. Then, he changed his gaze to Darry who had slightly smaller bags and once more to Pony whose eyes were actually red from the fatigue and pain. "How long've y'all been asleep?" he asked, sounding remorseful.

"Long enough to be hacked that you opened the damn door while the kid's sleepin'," Sodapop said, slapping the back of Two-Bit's head across Ponyboy.

Pony seemed generally uncaring about being woken. He was actually more concerned with Two-Bit than himself. "Hey, how you feelin'?" he asked, rubbing his red-stained eyes in an attempt to wake himself up.

"Feelin' pretty tuff—better than last night, anyway," he responded. "But you, you got three of 'em. You doin' alright, kid?"

Ponyboy threw on as big a smile has he could before responding. "I'm feeling fine. Better than I have in a while."

Darry interjected immediately. "He's foolin' ya. He's not alright and he's really tired. Needs his sleep and he's gotta rest," he said, reaching over and giving Ponyboy a small noogie himself.

Pony swatted his brother's hand away and looked at him in an annoyed fashion. He looked back over to Two-Bit who was now clearly trying to hide the large smile that was broadcast across his face. "I'm really fine," Pony began, staring Darry down. Darry looked sternly back, but Pony disregarded it. "Hey, you wanna tell us what happened last night?"

Two-Bit's smile disappeared and he walked away from the bed for a moment. Not wanting the others to see any sort of scared expression on his face (Pony had had enough worrying to do), he stared out the window of the room until he composed himself. He'd about had it with the Socs and he wasn't sure if he could really relive the night before yet or not. With the amount of hatred he kept bottled up, it was unclear what would happen if he lost it there in the room with them. Plus, with one of the others in the room injured and all three of them having lost parents so recently, he didn't want to burden anyone with more problems that he could so easily just bury inside.

The other three boys waited patiently. They all wanted to know what the South Siders had done to end up shooting at their gang. Fist fighting could be dangerous; pipes and exhausts could be dangerous; blades were definitely dangerous; but heaters were out of the question. How had last night gone from Two-Bit leaving from watching Mickey Mouse to two boys nearly dead on the sidewalk?

Turning around, Two-Bit put on a nonchalant face. "Nah, it was nothin'. They were just wigged out—it's nothin'."

"Couldn't'a been nothing, they nearly killed us," Ponyboy said annoyedly, seeming to admit to the depth of his injuries for the first time. His brothers looked at him with surprised expressions. He actually sounded angry that he didn't know what had happened.

"It wasn't anything, alright? Nothin' you gotta know about—"

The hospital room door slammed against the wall again, making everyone jump once more. Pony remained lying down so he only really hurt his head when he jumped. The other three were a bit more shocked this time, though. Darry looked over with more anger seeping through his skin and eyes in a fury while Two-Bit's eyes widened even more than they had when he came in himself. Sodapop, on the other hand, ran around the hospital bed to the person who'd just entered and gave him a rough, brotherly hug.

"Why the hell'd no one tell me 'bout this whole thing?" Steve yelled, sounding both angry and giddy at the same time. It was a strange mix for the kid. He pushed Soda away after a quick moment in a flurry of excitement with wanting to know what had happened the night before. Unsure of how to start, he just reiterated what he'd already said. "Well?!"

Darry looked down at Ponyboy and back up to Steve, trying to hint what he was about to say. "We were kinda worried about these two first. Sorry we couldn't tell you first," Darry retorted, the fatigue as well as anger finally getting to him.

Steve walked over to the bed with a cool move to his step and noticed the large bandage wrapped around Ponyboy's foot. His focus went up to the boy's completely out-of-it face and back. He heavily patted the bottom of the bandage, causing Pony to wince equally.

Darry walked over and pushed Steve away from his brother. "The heck you doin', kid?!"

"Well, no one'll tell me what's goin' on, I'm gonn' find out for myself," he said frankly.

Darry wasn't sure if Steve was acting stupid on purpose or if that was his actual thought process. He decided on the latter. Backing away and still ticked at what had just happened, he put a hand through his hair. "They were shot. That's why we're here."

Steve's face morphed from dumbfounded to shock in a matter of seconds. He whipped his head to look at Pony and then to Two-Bit. His expression changed once more though: he was now excited. "That's awesome! How many times?!"

"Once," Two-Bit answered dully.

"Three times," Pony responded uniformly.

Steve jumped quickly, shaking the room to everyone else's displeasure, before settling himself. "The story! Is it in the paper? You guys got the paper yet? I should'a looked at it 'fore I left!"

"S'over there if you wanna read it to us," Soda said, more tired than he'd been for the past while. He sat down in his corner again, Two-Bit joining him almost immediately. Darry took a seat in his chair once more and Ponyboy lay comfortably in the bed, eyes closing slowly with the quietness that had ensued.

Steve got to the table and picked up the paper that was sitting on a brown hospital table. He unfolded it and turned around to lean on the edge of the table while everyone got comfortable. They were all incredibly tired, so Steve felt compelled to find the story before everyone fell asleep.

"Found it!" he shouted, stabbing the story with his finger and successfully waking everyone up but Ponyboy.

"Well read it for God's sake," Two-Bit said, crankily.

"Title reads, Teens put attackers in hospital," Steve began. Darry and Soda looked at Two-Bit wanting a further explanation. "Says, 'the attacker verbally assaulted and tried to kill three teens last night, stabbing two of them.'"

"The hell'd you do, boy?" Darry questioned, clearly surprised and now fairly awake. He glared at the sunken Two-Bit, quickly accompanied by Sodapop.

Steve continued, "Also says..." He trailed, reading the next line and looking up. Darry and Soda both waited for more while Steve acted nervous. "Says, 'by the time the attacker was shot down, another attacker had confronted the teens, threatening to kill them.'"

Darry's head whipped to Ponyboy who was now wide awake and sitting up carefully. "Did you threaten them?"

"No! The heck, Dar, they had a gun! Why would I mess with that?" Pony yelled angrily, hurting his back in the process.

"I'm not done," Steve said, "It says, 'both attackers will face charges encompassing abuse, threatening to kill, and planning illegal activity."

Soda stood up and walked over to Steve briskly. He hands clenched, he demanded, "Lemme see that." He read through the article, annoyed at the reporter. By the time he reached the end, though, he backed away with his mouth hanging open and surprised eyes.

"What is it?" Darry asked while semi-standing. Sodapop remained silent, making Two-Bit stand up cautiously as well. Both of them advanced toward the paper, but Steve threw it back on the table so they couldn't see.

"Dammit, what does it say?!" Two-Bit yelled, nervously.

Soda started quietly, staring at Ponyboy with depressed eyes. Pony met his gaze and knew something wasn't right. He piped, "What does it say?"

Soda looked down at the ground and told the silent room. "The attackers will face three years to life in jail."