Probably the last, or VERY close to the last chapter. I'm sorry for your loss. He will be missed:(

I don't own the Outsiders.

Darry POV

Dally wasn't dead. I could tell this from the shallow rise and fall of his chest, gasping for his last breaths.

I don't think he could hear us. Soda was sobbing, Pony was talking quietly to Dally, and Tim was shouting at him to stay with him. I was speechless.

Dally, the sweetest, most deserving person I had ever met, was fading, almost lost to the world. And all I could think is that it was my fault. I had asked him about Johnny, then he had ran and the Socs had gotten him. Why was everything my fault?

"I love you." Dally said softly, and that's when the tears came. I wrapped his small, deft hands in my boxing glove sized palms, and bent over, my forehead touching his hands.

His fingers were cold, the blood had stopped pumping in them to compensate for the gaping wound in his ribs.

"I love you too Dal." I whispered into our clasped hands.

I was glad that I got to say that. Dally didn't have much time, and I had never said that to him, though it had always been true. I loved all of the gang like family, and over the past few weeks, Dally had become closer to me than either of my brothers.

He took a last shuddering breath. When he exhaled for the last time, his breath shone foggy white in the air, and I imagined his soul leaving his body, going to rejoice in heaven with Johnny.

But I wouldn't let go of his hands until someone forced him and me apart.

I had never felt so much pain, and I hoped to never feel anymore.

Of course, this wasn't possible.

Tim POV

I felt an unfamiliar emotion wash over me, something that I hadn't felt in about a month, since the last time Winston "died." Who was I kidding? His name was Dally-is Dally. And I'm not doing anyone any favors by pretending that his death doesn't affect me.

I walked over to the body. I had always thought that a body was just an empty shell, a relic of what had been. I was wrong.

Dally didn't look dead. His eyes were closed, like he was just sleeping. I knew that underneath the eyelids, his eyes wouldn't be their clear, beautiful blue anymore. They would be cold and clouded, oblivious.

I let out a sob, and joined Darry beside him. Pony and Soda were crying together a few feet away, probably scared of the body.

Darry held bother of his hands. I stroked his white blond hair, which was somehow caked with blood. I began talking nonsense to Dally, telling him how much he meant to me, how I didn't know how I would go on with out him.

When the ambulance arrived, Darry stepped sadly away from the body asthe paramedics hurried to load it. I didn't move.

I was tempted to look under his closed lids, just to see what his eyes looked like.

"Sir? Sir." the paramedic sounded angry. Dally was just another chore for him to do.

"Tim." Darry called my name softly, but I ignored him. I touched Dally's cold cheek, and remembered how it looked when lively tears were streaming down it. I remembered how it felt to brush them away, how the blue eyes looked, rimmed in red.

"Tim, you have to let them take him away." I shook my head again, and then I felt a hand start to pull me away.

I think I screamed, but it's all kind of hazy. I know that I struggled towards Dally as they pulled him into the ambulance.

A paramedic walked over to Darry and me. "Name of the victim?" He asked unconcernedly.

I became coherent at this point and I yelled into the open air, "Dallas Winston."

I began to chant his name, every variation of it. Dallas Winston, Dally, Dal, Winston.

Suddenly, I felt trapped. I had to get out of there. "Tim!" Darry called after me, but I kept running.

I thought about how sad, how very sad the entire situation was. Johnny, the anchor that tied DAlly to the earth was dead, so Dally had to kill himself. Really, it wasn't a choice, it was almost a mandate.

Then he didn't die. Either a blessing, or the cruel hand of fate had let him live. But not for long. Fate had let him really live. Live a life halfway decent for a human, full of love an friends.

And Dally was the only thing that anchored me to this earth. I thanked god that this train could end with my death, but I needed to be quick, before I hurt anyone else.

Life is just a circle. If history isn;t studied, it is bound to repeat itself. Well, I was never much for school. I am gonna die like Dally wanted to. I thought.

Dally was dead. Emotion swelled in my throat. I had seen him die. I squeezed the tears out of my eyes when I closed my eyes. I hurriedly wiped them away. I didn't need some Soc spreading rumors that Tim Shepard isn't tough.

I walked into the store, and pointed the gun at the clerks head. "Give me the money." My voice was low and dangerous, and I revelled in the power that I felt with the gun. If this thing were loaded, I could kill this guy in a second.

I could kill anyone. Hell, it's got to be better than life. I could even kill myself. But no...it wasn't loaded. Than a grin spread over my lips, I grabbed what money the clerk had procured and ran to the pay phone outside.

I tried to keep the excitement out of my voice as I explained to Darry my new revelation.

I made sure the clerk called the cops, then started sprinting towards the east side of town.

I had never run faster. I had not cheated death like Pony's story characters always did, I would cheat life.

I grinned widely and pushed on running through the exhaustion I felt. The sound of sirens egged me on.

I saw 5 figures running towards me. They stopped as the cops surrounded me, pulling out their guns. I grinned. I pulled out my own gun.

There is nothing more dangerous than a man who has nothing to lose. If that gun had been loaded, I would have shot all of them dead before one bullet reached me. I hated those men, those people who had made my life a living hell.

But no more. If there was hell in heaven and earth, at least I could be with Johnny.

I felt something hit me in the back of the head, then I felt as though my skull were splitting open. Thn the ground rushed up towards me, and I welcomed death.