Enjoy <3 -Kit
Howdy. It's me, Az :), the second to last scene took two months to write so you better enjoy it/j/nm/nsrs -Az

Scar decided to leave the boy's home earlier than normal, he wanted to get a head start, he wouldn't let his disability stop him from doing the best he could. The sun was almost fully above the horizon, causing the sky to be a soft orange. The brunette noticed the crowd of newsies as he arrived at the usual place for buying newspapers. He couldn't see what was happening through the gathering swarm of kids, so he just dug his crutches into the ground and leaned on them a bit to keep himself steady. He spotted Ren amongst the crowd and shouted to get the newsie's attention.

"Ren!" He tried to lift up a hand to wave but had to instantly put it back down when he started to lose his balance. The brunette turned around to spot Scar.

"Hey Scar!" The newsie walked up to his friend.

"What's the commotion about?" Scar asked, Ren's smile fell instantly.

"It's the price, they raise it by 10 cents." Ren explained. Scar lost his balance for a second before managing to regain it.

"What?! Why would they do that?!" Ren shrugged.

"No idea dude, Void probably just wants more money." Scar was in disbelief, didn't they know how hard the newsies worked, most of them lived on the streets! They barely earned enough to buy the next day's paper, how would they be able to pay an extra 10 cents?

"Bdubs is going to be mad," commented Scar.

"Speaking of which, where is he? Don't you two typically walk together?"

"I decided to leave early today, I wanted to get a head start," explained Scar. "Oh no- How are we gonna pay for papes Ren?! We won't have enough money for food or-"

"What's going on down here?" Bdubs' voice suddenly came from behind Scar, causing the newsie to yelp in alarm. Scar adjusted himself to turn around and face Bdubs, his friend must have just woken up and made his way down.

"Bdubs! Good morning!" Scar said, trying to smile the best he could. Bdubs tilted his head towards the two newsies. Ren was about to explain when Zed ran over, grabbing Bdubs by the sleeve.

"Bdubs! Void's gone and raised the price on the papes!" He cried. Both Ren and Scar turned to look at eachother, exchanging expressions of worry. Bdubs on the other hand, was fuming. With no response, Bdubs moved past the three, shoving his way to the front of the kids and to see what they were all looking at. Scar looked up at the prices board that sat nailed to one of the walls. On the wood where it used to say "50¢" there was now a paper over it that had "60¢" written in black. Scar was horrified. They could barely survive on the money they had already. All around him, Scar could hear the worried comments and words of his friends.

"I can eat two days on a dime!"

"Doesn't Void make enough money already?!"

"The richer gotta get richer.."

"We're screwed!"

"And we'll all starve for it"

Scar could feel all of his worry double, he wished he could just block his ears and shut it all out. 'What are we gonna to do?!' He thought. The newsie immediately began to try to look for Bdubs, leaning up as much as he could without falling. As soon as he spotted him, Scar made his way around to the front to where Bdubs was standing.

"This can't be real, right?" Bdubs said, turning to look at Scar. "It's a gag?" His voice was unnaturally monotone. Scar struggled to find his words, his gaze looking back up at the new sign.

"All right boys! Paper time!" Tango Delancy's voice rang throughout the courtyard, covering the whispering and talking of the newsies.

"No, this has to be a joke!" Bdubs laughed. "Relax!" Scar really hoped Bdubs was right, a joke like this wouldn't be too far fetched from the Delancy's. Maybe he was just overthinking the reality of this. Scar hobbled back a bit as newsies all turned to face and confront the paper stand.

"Nice gag, Delancy," said Bdubs leaning on the counter to look at Tango, placing 50 cents down. "I'll take 100 papes." The raven haired boy stood with confidence for a moment, before the Delancy shoved the coins back at him with a swish of his hand.

"Sorry bud, the paper's now 60 cents," grinned Tango. Bdubs' confident smile fell instantly.

"I'm not paying 60 cents," he insisted.

"Then make way for the people who will," smirked Tango, glancing behind the newsie.

"Maybe I will," Bdubs turned around and motioned to the other newsies, "Let's go try the other places." Before any of them could leave though Joe, Wels and Hels pushed through the crowd.

"We tried," sighed Wels.

"Stupid Void got every other newspaper to raise the damn pr-" Hels was cut off by Joe.

"What Hels means to say is that there's no option when it comes to a lower price." A whisper ran through the crowd of newsies. Bdubs turned to Tango.

"Why'd you raise the price?" He demanded.

"I'm not authorized to give out that kind of information now either pay up or move along." Tango answered. Scar watched as Bdubs snapped, that was it, he was done. The Hermiton Herald had gone too far. Void had gone too far.

"I-" Bdubs was about to explode when a hand roughly grabbed him and pulled him away from the cart. Scar tensed up as he watched the newsie grunted in alarm, dragged backwards by Mumbo who looked at him with a concerned expression

"Calm down Bdubs, I don't think you can win this one."

"Watch me!" Bdubs shouted. "This is bullying of the little guys by big bastard big shots that think they can just change everything!?" Scar moved up besides the two, moving to place a hand on Bdubs shoulder.

"...That's exactly what this is Bdubs." Scar said, getting Bdubs attention. "And there isn't anything we can do about it..." Scar glanced up at the paper cart, he swore he could see Mr. Bitumine standing in the back where he always was.

"There has to be something! Right Bdubs?" Iskall piped up, moving to grab Bdubs sleeve. Scar rocked forward a bit, watching as Bdubs took in the boy's words.

"Ya there has to be something!" Scar heard more newsies begin to talk again, the courtyard filling with voices once more.

"They can't just do that?"

"Why not. It's their paper."

"It's their world"

"Maybe we should just hit the streets why we still can."

"We can't with those prices?"

"Do we have a choice?"

"Yes!" Bdubs shouted, stopping all of the talking at once. "Yes we have a choice?!" Scar backed up a bit, allowing the short man to move past him and up onto a stack of newspaper boxes.

"We can't let Void tell us what to do!" He shouted, "We're not paying this price, we'll be living on the streets!"

"We already do-" pointed out Scar.

"In the worst neighborhood," added Bdubs.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Mumbo asked skeptically. Bdubs opened his mouth to respond but closed it again. After a minute or two Grian spoke up.

"So what's going to ha-"

"Let the man think," said Iskall, cutting him off. The silence continued for another moment, "Do you have a solution?"

"Look, here's my idea, if we don't sell the papes no one sells them." Bdubs' enthusiasm grew as he continued. "Nobody is allowed to go near that window until they lower the price!" explained Bdubs, the newsies listened eagerly.

"So it's like a strike?" Asked Mumbo. Bdubs paused to think about his friend's statement before continuing.

"Did y'all hear what Mumbo said?" The crowd nodded at Bdubs' words. "We're on strike!"

"I didn't say-" Mumbo was cut off by Iskall.

"Strike!" Shouted the ten year old. Soon the other newsies followed and the group chanted.

"Strike! Strike! Strike!" Scar looked around at all of the newsies, their encouragement and determination growing with every cheer. Scar smiled over at Bdubs. He had kept their spark going like he always had.

"So how does one go about doin' a strike?" Scar directed his question towards Mumbo. The tall newsie froze for a moment, realizing that now everyone was looking at him.

"Uh... well you need a Union, which we don't have-"

"Well then we make one!" Bdubs said enthusiastically.

"How are we gonna do that without the cops beatin' us up? Haven't you heard about all of the hurt rally members from the Mycelium Grass fight recently??" Wels mentioned, making some of the kids scowl and whisper.

"They aren't gonna pay attention to a bunch of newsboys," Scar said with a smile.

"Right!" Bdubs agreed, spinning on his worn boots towards Mumbo. "How do we make a union Mumbo?!"

"You can't just- I-" Mumbo stuttered before shaking his hands around for a moment and sighing. "Well...you need a membership,"

"Covered!" Grian shouted, gesturing proudly to the rest of the newsies around him who all cheered in return.

"And officers." Mumbo continued. Scar shook Bdubs' side from where he stood.

"I nominate Bdubs as our president!"

"Aww, I'm honored Scar." Bdubs smiled. "So we got a union now?"

"No, you need a statement of purpose," Mumbo answered. Bdubs though for a moment.

"Void needs to respect our rights, he can't just treat us like nothing," declared Bdubs. The newsies cheered.

"That's not actually too bad," Mumbo said surprised.

"So we're a Union now!" Mumbo looked like he was going to tell Bdubs another requirement but the newsies were shouting with joy. They were officially on strike. Scar smiled.

Scar watched as Bdubs looked at the newsies surrounding him. Once the noise the crowd was making died down, Bdubs spoke again.

"Xathan Void, he thinks we're nothing. Are we nothing?" Asked the raven haired boy.

"No!"

"Xathan Void, he thinks he's got us. Has he got us?"

"No!" Shouted the crowd, this time louder.

"We are a Union now, not even Void can stop us!" Exclaimed Scar.

"Yeah, the Newsboys' Union!" Added Mumbo.

"Even though we don't have hats or badges we're a Union just by saying so," Stated Grian who was standing towards the front of the crowd.

"And the Hermiton will know, and the world will too."

"How are we going to prevent other newsies from selling the papers?"

"We beat them up!" Exclaimed Hels.

"No!" Scolded Mumbo, "We can't beat up the other kids. We're all in this together."

"What's it gonna take to stop the wagons? Are we ready?" Asked Bdubs with a grin.

"Yeah!"

"What's gonna take to stop the scabbers? Can we do it?"

"Yeah!"

"We'll do until we break this will of mighty Xathan Void."

"And the Hermiton will know! And the world will too," shouted the crowd. Scar watched as Mumbo walked over to the pile of newspaper boxes and stood on it next to Bdubs.

"Mister Xathan Void, have we got news for you," they said together.

"See, the world don't know," stated Ren, "But they're gonna pay."

"Instead of hawking headlines we'll be making them today!"

'And ranks will grow," said Wels.

"And we'll kick their rear!" Added Scar.

"Yeah!" Cheered Hels.

"And the Hermiton will know that we've been here!" Shouted the newsies.

"When the circulation bell starts ringing, will we hear it?" Asked Bdubs.

"No!"

"What if the Delancey's come out swinging? Will we hear it?" Bdubs threw a couple mock punches in the crowd's direction.

"No!"

"When ya go a hundred voices singing," exclaimed Grian.

"Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?" Said Zedaph.

"And the Hermiton will know that this ain't no game."

"We've got a ton of rotten fruit and perfect aim," Hels said with a mischievous grin.

"So they gave their word," stated Scar, "but it ain't worth beans."

"Now they're gonna see what 'Stop the presses' really means," Impulse cheered.

"And the old will weep," said Iskall.

"And go back to sleep," Grian added, "We've got no choice but to see it through."

"And we found our voice!" Exclaimed Ren.

"And I lost my shoe!" Shouted Grian. Scar glance at Grian, sure enough the dirty blond was missing a shoe, Zedaph who was on the other side of the crowd from Grian held the missing shoe up and then tossed it to the newsie.

"And the Hermiton will-" the crowd held their breath as Bdubs carefully climbed up the ladder, picked up a piece of chalk and wrote "STRIKE" over the existing headlines. The newsies cheered and broke into complete chaos, shouting with joy. Once they died down Bdubs continued his speech.

"Xathan Void may own the Hermiton but he don't own us!" The crowd echoed him.

"Xathan Void may crack the whip but he won't whip us!"

"Xathan Void may crack the whip but he won't whip us!" Shouted back the newsies, Bdubs grinned as the group continued, "And the Hermiton will know, we've been keeping score!"

"Either they gives us our rights or we gives them a war!" Stated Joe.

"We've been down to long," declared Zed, "And we've paid our dues."

"And the things we do today will be tomorrow's news!" Exclaimed Scar.

"And the die is cast, and the torch is passed!" Shouted the newsies.

"And a roar will rise..."

"...From the streets below,"

"And our ranks will grow..."

"...And grow,"

"And grow!" Scar watched as Bdubs glanced at Mumbo, then at Scar before he joined the Newsies' final shout.

"And so the Hermiton will feel the fire and finally know!"

=+=

Xisuma stood silently behind his brother. Xathan was watching the newsies as they shouted. Xisuma could hear Bdubs' declaring they were on strike, the kids shouting about their rights, even a 10 year old joined in. Xisuma hoped the boys didn't do anything too rash, fearing his brother's reaction. He could see no emotion in Xathan's face, just a cold harsh stare as he looked at the gathering boys. Xisuma felt like he should say something, anything to get his brother to change his mind about all of this, something to get him to stop.

"Xathan." Xisuma spoke, his brother not flinching or even acknowledging his presence.

"Xae-"

"Bring me Mr. Bitumine." Xathan cut him off in a harsh tone. "Now." Xisuma didn't even get a chance to respond before Xathan turned away back into his office, leaving Xisuma at the window. His eyes looked over the rallied newsies once more, watching as they all excitedly shouted and screamed. For a second, he swore he could see Bdubs happily cheering with some of the other newsboys. Xisuma sighed, turning away from the window and walking towards the door. He glanced over towards Xae, who was now sitting at his desk looking clearly flustered and pissed. Xisuma pushed open the door as quietly as he could and stepped back out into the hall. 'Whatever Bdubs is planning to do..he better be careful. For all of their sakes...'

=+=

Finally getting to use some character designs :) -Kit