Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders or the song Amazing.

It's amazing, I'm the reason everybody fired up this evening. I'm exhausted, barely breathing, holding on to what I believe in. No matter what you'll never take that from me. My reign is as far as your eyes can see.

The sound of sirens took over the street. The hissing of breaks came after that and then hollering from the people in charge. Fire trucks came next and they went running. The police began clearing out the area and taping everything off. Fire trucks rushed to hydrants, attempting to take on the beast that was in front of us.

"You need to leave now!" An officer pushed us along and another one put up tape, blocking off the road.

I shoved him back, my emotions getting the better of me. I wanted in there. He wasn't going to stop me. No one was. "Don't touch me! My brother and boyfriend are out there! You have to go help them!"

He restrained me and took me in the direction of the car despite my best attempts to fight back. He pressed me against the cold metal of the car and shushed me gently. He pinned my arms together so I wouldn't shove my way past him again.

"You need to go get them!" I screamed and pointed at the burning site. "You have to go get them! Help them!"

He pressed a finger over his mouth. "My name's Charley. What's yours?"

My eyes didn't move away from the burning. I tasted salty tears in my mouth and more were on their way. Sarah stood beside us, hugging herself and trying not to break down with me. She rubbed my back and tried to go along with the officer.

"Danni," I answered calmly. I wiped my nose on my hand and got some tears out of the way. "My name's Danni Curtis. My brother Sodapop Curtis is in there and so is Dallas Winston and Steve Randel and Two-Bit Matthews."

Charley peered over his shoulder and nodded at one of the other officers. He turned and faced me again. "Ok, I got it. We'll be sure to help your friends the best we can. You just have to stay calm."

Tears took over my face. My throat was on fire from the yelling I'd been doing. I should be in there. It's for me. "You promise me! Please promise me you'll get them out of there! You have to make sure they're ok! This wasn't their fault!"

He shushed me again and shook me lightly. "Ok, Danni. I will. Just stay calm. I'm going to take you to the hospital now so you can call someone and wait. Is that ok?"

The sobbing was hitting me. It was uncontrollable by this point. "They're all I have." I took a strong breath. "This wasn't their fault! They didn't cause this. My brother di-didn't do this. No-none of them did."

They weren't killers. We all knew who was.

"Are you sure you don't want some pop or something?" Sarah pressed on.

I shook my head, refusing to speak. My words had stopped and my throat burned. Funny usage. Burned. Only my throat burned.

The tears had stopped and my face was swollen and numb. My head was taking a beating as well from the yelling and the sobbing. It was silent in the waiting room but outside, yelling was all we heard. It was by my best efforts to block it out. Numbness had taken over my mind and body and I couldn't feel my legs. Maybe it was for the best. Be numb. I'm good at that.

Fire. Everywhere. It was locking and programed in my mind. Who could live through that? Who was still in there? How could they even get out even if they had a chance? Who did it? How did the fire start? I knew the answers to those last two questions. It was that obvious.

Charley stayed with us until a free nurse called Darry and explained. He was on his way now. I wouldn't dare look at his face once he got here. I couldn't think of what he was going to say to me, what he was going to say to Ponyboy. I didn't want to see the betrayal in his eyes. I didn't want to be the one to tell him our brother may be dead because we lied.

The swinging door busted open and I knew who was coming in before they even spoke. My eyes stayed on the wall on the other side of the room, not wanting to look.

"Danni!" He sat beside me, pulling me into his chest and squeezing me tightly. He breathed out relief and tried to see my eyes. I left them on the ground. "What happened?"

His loud voice made hammers bang inside my head. I couldn't speak. I refused to. Sarah did, "We got a call saying to go down there. Th-there was fire everywhere. It came from the woods. Th-they told us to come here. W-we don't know anything."

"Where's Soda?"

No one had told him. They left that up to me. Punishment. Tell him, Danni. Tell him what you did. Confess right here.

Ponyboy had remained unnoticed until now. I couldn't see him. I hadn't layed eyes on him. I knew he was crying. I felt his tears. I felt his small shaking sobs. "He was in there, Dar."

Darry stood up quickly and shouted: "What?"

Ponyboy backed away from him a little and leaned against the corner of the wall. "I-I-I...he told us not to tell. H-he fought, Dar."

Darry didn't move. I didn't see his face but I knew the color. I knew what his eyes looked like. I knew his jaw was clenched and he had that vain on his neck that was bulging out. Not his angry vain. This was something else.

I could feel his eyes move to me. I kept my position and dreaded the next words out of his mouth. I knew this script. I had ran over it and over it. I knew everything that was going to be said in this scene. "You knew about this and didn't tell me?"

Ponyboy was shaking in the corner and blaming himself. Cue his lines: "W-w-we're so sorry Darry! He told us not to! We didn't know! God Darry, we didn't know!"

The camera was on Darry now because this was his big part. He whipped around and glued his eyes on me. "Danni! Say something! Soda fought out there? Who else did? Danni! What is going on? Say something, goddamnit!"

I wanted him to hit me. I wanted to feel something. I wanted to feel my punishment. I was already feeling it. I just wanted the physical pain that was meant for me. Darry hit me. You always threaten to. Hit me. Show me. Show us all. That wasn't in the script though.

I stood over me. He kneeled down and forcefully grabbed my face and turned it toward him. I didn't see his eyes. I wouldn't. If I did I'd see the guilt, the pain, the betrayal. I saw them. "Danni!"

"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I'm so sorry Darry. It's our fault."

What happened next wasn't in the script. He started to adlib things and it took me off guard. He quickly pulled my body into his chest and hugged me as hard as he could. My body shook once again. "Don't. Damnit don't! You hear me? Don't!"

Darry cued Ponyboy to follow his lead in this new addition. Pony came over to us, Darry gripping him and making him enter our hug. He pressed our heads together in his arms. We both cried here. We all three stayed here until the door opened again and all eyes turned.

Black faced. Blood. He was going to fall over if someone didn't catch him. Darry rushed up off the ground and did it, making him sit down before he passed out. His eyes were red. He was in shock, unable to move his lips. The horror on his face sat us back. There was nothing there but fear and numbness. He'd been through the ringer and his body showed that. I swallowed hard.

Darry kneeled down in front of him and shook him as hard as he could. "Steve! Steve, look at me! Say something!"

I'd seen Two-Bit cry. He did a lot from our growing up years. Johnny cried. I'd seen it. Dally had even cried. I'd seen that. This was something new. Something no one had ever seen before other than Soda because he was the only one allowed to see such a thing as this. Tears. Tears in Steven Randel's eyes.

They came down slowly. His mouth hung open but he slowly closed it and spoke, "I should have went back."

"Went back for who?" Darry shook him again and pressed on this. Pony and I went to them and sat closer, wanting to hear his voice tell us what no one else could. What no one else knew but him.

Steve's hand began to shake. "I should have went back for him. I told him I'd get him out."

Darry exchanged a glace with Pony and I. He tried to put all his energy through this scared little boy. He needed information and Steve was the only one who could dish it out. "Steve, stay with me. Who should you have gone back for? What happened, Steve?"

His lips were cracked. His eyes were dead. His mouth was open again and his stare blank. "He's dead."

"Who!"

"...Sodapop."

Nurses were running through the halls. We heard their feet move as they passed the waiting room door. One came in and took Steve to a room to take a look at his burned face and his cuts. Steve barley got out of the chair. His body was gone. His mind was gone. Everything was gone. Everyone was gone.

They wouldn't let us see Two-Bit but they told us he was here. Steve broke down at the look on Darry's face once we heard Steve's lips speak the one name we all knew he was going to. Two-Bit wasn't in the best of shape from what we collected from side conversations. They already called his mother. We heard the words: Unconscious, unresponsive, critical condition.

"You should call Evie," Darry said to me, breaking out of his trance. "I'm sure she's worried sick. Tell her to come down here."

This is what Darry does. He makes plans. He organizes things. He stays busy. He does it every time he's nervous or stressed. He's organizing the magazines in alphabetical order right now, tidily going through each one, making them look neat. He hasn't spoken until now. His mind was going fast though. His heart was going fast. He was just in shock, as were the rest of us. No one knew how to act.

"See if you can find Kathy," he called after me as I slowly walked to the door. "She's on duty tonight. Pony go with her."

He was only sending him with me so he could be alone. Sarah went home shortly after Steve was taken back. Darry wanted to make sure we didn't do anything stupid. Maybe give us time to talk. No one wanted to talk at this point. The energy was high and it wasn't coming down so easily. This was happening faster than Darry would like. Faster than anyone would like.

Dried up tears were stuck to my face. My shaking arm reached across the nurses table and my fingers barely hit the right buttons. Ponyboy took the phone out of my hand. "Sit down. You're shaking. I'll tell her."

The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was moving so fast and all I wanted to do was slow them down. I wanted to slow everything down and sit and sleep. I wanted to sleep off this nightmare. I didn't want to think about what was on my mind...who. The person we still hadn't heard from and maybe never will.

I wondered about Randy. In my own world, he wasn't in on the fight. He was at home right now, just hearing the news and regretting everything he had done. This Randy didn't exist though. He didn't even exist in my imagination. Randy wasn't this person. I knew Randy fought. I knew everything. I knew these people. Sadly, I knew them. I was one of them.

I blankly stared at the light blue wall in front of me. The paint was fresh. I could smell it. I didn't look at the nurses running by me, their white uniforms bloody and stained. I didn't listen to the doctors yell. I didn't watch as more and more people came in, injured and distressed. I couldn't look at their faces. The faces of our victims. My victims.

"She's coming," Pony said quietly. "God Danni..."

I heaved for a breath. I was cold. So fucking cold. I wanted to stop shaking. I wanted my legs to be still and I wanted to walk. I wanted to see the two people who were left out there...though at the same time, I didn't. I already knew. It was obvious.

"They said Two-Bit had a pretty big burn," Pony tried again to make small talk. Neither one of us wanted to go back and face Darry. "They said it's pretty bad and they don't know how he'll be. They said Steve will be fine though...eventually."

He didn't see the fire. He didn't see the depth of it. The miracle that Steve and him made it out with the injuries they got, was unreal. They shouldn't have. It wasn't supposed to be that way. The fire was too big. The story was still unclear of how they managed. It'd be awhile before we heard it.

Darry came out, his face drained. "Have you seen Kat yet?" Pony and I shook our heads. Darry sat beside us and covered his face. He didn't want us to see it. There might be tears. I couldn't tell yet. "Damnit!"

The elevator dinged again. The yelling of the paramedics inside was heard throughout the floor. Our eyes turned to them. They pushed a white bed out of the elevator, a dark burnt body lying on it. He looked like the crust that's left on the bottom of the oven. He was a crisp. Our hearts stopped. You didn't have to tell us. We already knew.

Darry jumped up unsure of where to go or what to say next. The bodies of the paramedics hid his face to a degree but the damage was clear as day. Tears ran down my face and I looked away. Ponyboy gasped beside me and hid his face as well from the horrid sight that was lying before us. The body wasn't moving. It wasn't moving.

Soon they were down the hall. Darry rushed after them, only being held back by a doctor. "Hey! Hey now, come back here! I want to see him! I have a right to see him! Let me go!"

The doctor pushed Darry back. Darry toward over the small man, putting up a good fight though knowing, there was nothing he could ever do to stop this. He couldn't put this back together. It was broken too badly. "You have to stay back!"

"Darry," Ponyboy called after him. "Wa-was that Soda?"

Darry stopped moving and his body went limp. It was hitting. It was hitting hard. "God help me. God help us all."

"How did this happen?"

It was the universal question. Only Darry was the only one to actually ask it out loud. Everyone else was too busy to think. Most of us already knew. This question would be asked for a long time. I was going to get an answer tonight. Even if it meant the death of me, I was going to get that goddamn answer.

"Socs," I answered solemnly. "They planned this. This was the plan all along. They're getting us back."

Darry stared at me. He pressed his fingers together. I don't think he expected an answer at all. "Get us back for what?"

"Last year," Ponyboy answered timidly, looking at the ground. "They wanted to show us up. Sam's death. They think we did that too. They think we killed that old man. They were going to make us pay."

"For everything," I echoed. "They're finally getting us back for everything."

Kathy's voice was all we heard next. Darry raced upward and her body ran into his, tightly hugging him. "Goddamnit, Darry! Would it have killed you to call me?" She parted and studied his face. She saw us behind him then asked: "Where's Soda?"

Darry did something I haven't seen in a long time. He buried his face in her neck and stayed there. She combed through his matted hair and let out a deep breath. She knew. It wasn't that hard. I didn't know if Darry was crying or not, but in my mind, he was.

There was another ding. Our eyes all went to it, hoping for something. Something good and something new. Something that would bring us hope. Something that could save us from all this. Take our minds away. We waited for our superhero to be proclaimed.

It was all I heard. It was all I saw. My shaking legs raced across the slick floor, stopping every so often, unsure if what was in front of me was real. I ran though. I ran until I felt his body hit mine. I ran until I felt his breath, his heartbeat, his living body. I held him.

His arms wrapped around my body tiredly. I could feel how tired and broken he was. How drained. He was standing. Standing here, holding me. I wanted to pinch myself though I didn't want to be told this was a dream. If it was, I never wanted to be woken up. Never.

"Curtis..."

I hadn't noticed how wet my face was until I looked up to see his face. Ash covered it as did blood. His lips were swollen, busted. I pressed my thumb against it, wiping away what blood I could and pausing. My arm shook and I hiccupped. "Dally..."

He grabbed my hand, making me stop, and letting me know he was really there. He held it gently in his hand. "Where's everyone?"

"We don't know." I wiggled out of his grasp, wanting to touch his face again. I pressed my thumb over his tender lips where the blood was pouring. "What happened?"

He pulled my body back into his. His muscles flexed and his grip tightened. I hugged as hard as I could but he hugged harder. He stopped the shaking, he stopped the aching. He held me. He held me still. He held me while I cried. I cried. I cried for my brother. I cried for Dally. I cried for Steve. I cried for Two-Bit. I cried for Darry and Pony. I cried for myself.

I've been wanted for some time. I could feel that this was catching up to me - everything I'd done. It wanted me. I was wanted and it was going to take me dead or alive. Instead, it captured the one thing it knew would hurt me the most. The ultimate punishment. I was feeling it. It got me. Time was up. My time was up. Our time was up and here we are. Why am I standing alone?

"God," I sobbed, not ever wanting to break free from this. "God Dally."

"I told you I couldn't die." He chuckled and his body went up. I felt the pain. I felt it in his voice. Would he crack? "Curtis this ain't good. Fuck...this ain't good."

I kept my head on his body as deep as I could get it. Hiding? Maybe I was. Maybe I just wanted to be in his grasp. Maybe I just wanted to stay here and not face the world around me. The stupid world. Stupid. Cruel. World. The world that was taking everyone away from me. The world that was going to take Dally tonight...and who knows who else.

"Steve is alright," I spoke into his chest. "Two-Bit...they still don't know. He's bad. Soda's real bad, Dally. He's real fucking bad."

His hand pressed my head. I heard him say a few things. A few things I don't want to say. Dally was going to break...just like the rest of us. He didn't explain anything. He didn't need to. I needed this moment. He wasn't going to be taken away without a fight.

A throat clear broke us apart. I spun around and Dally pulled me into his side and kept me locked there - as if someone would take me away from him. Our eyes met that of the doctor's. We studied his eyes, his stance, trying to read him somehow, some way.

"Is this the family of Sodapop Curtis?"

Darry broke free of Kathy, stepping up to the plate. "I'm his brother, Doc."

"I need to talk to you...alone."

I'm a monster, I'm a maven. I know this world is changin'. Never gave in, never gave up. I'm the only thing I'm afraid of. No matter what you'll never take that from me. My reign is as far as your eyes can see. It's amazin', so amazin', so amazin', so amazin'