A/N: This is my first Newsies fanfic and I'm so excited! I hope you enjoy, only characters I DON'T own so far are Racetrack and Spot lol. Enjoy!

It was supposed to be a normal day. I was supposed to leave my home, walk to school, visit my mother at the hospital where she worked, and come home in time for dinner with father; just a regular, normal day. However, that's not what I got.

The birds were chirping and the sun was out as I closed the door to my family's townhouse in Manhattan. I wasn't startled to see my friend Race who walked with me to school every day. He never went, but he was always more than willing to hear what I had learned.

"Mornin' Lucks!" He called as I reached the bottom step.

"Morning Race, and how long are you going to call me that? You know my name's Alyssa."

"You're my lucky charm. Since the day I met ya, I've been winning more often den not at Sheepshead." I laughed at his response as we started walking down the street.

"You keep this up and you're gonna be selling more than just your regular hundred papers Race." The morning was cool indicating spring was here. Spring in New York was one of my favorite times since people could finally be in the streets and parks without freezing their fingers off. It also meant that my school started teaching new topics in classes, and learning new things was one of my favorite activities. For some reason it reminded me of my brother because he was always one for getting involved in anything he could. That reminded me,

"Hey Race, have you heard anything of my brother?" He gave me a quick side-glance as he adjusted the cigar in his mouth. I don't think there was ever a moment where he didn't have that icky cigar in his mouth. At thirteen he clearly did it to look and feel older than he was.

"Danny Boy? Last I herd he was still wid Brooklyn, but it's been a while Lucks." My excitement and wonder depleted. "But don't get me wrong, he's doing fine."

"How do you know that? The last time I saw him was over a month ago!" He stopped me by putting his hands on my shoulders and turning me to see his face.

"Promise me when I say dat he's fine. The last thing he'd want is fa youse ta go out lookin' for 'im." I missed him, and I was sure that my parents both missed him, although they did a good job of hiding it.

"And why's that?" I couldn't help but pout, to my credit I was twelve but even still my brother would tell me I'm too old for it. Race sighed and looked nervously around as we passed one of the local parks.

"Alright I'll tell ya, but only if youse keep ya mouth shut. Da last thing I need is for da others to skin me for leakin' important information." We stopped in the shade of a tree. "Times in the newsie world right now are dangerous. There are a lotta turf wars happenin' an a lotta boys goin' missin'."

"Danny's not one of them is he?" I jumped at the gun to ask.

"Relax, he's fine but in heat of all a dis, he's been made leader of Brooklyn. Dat's why he hasn't been 'round lately." Being a leader of newsboys automatically meant danger, but being the leader of Brooklyn's newsboys? That was a whole different level of risk. "I sees him every so often on runs and each time he asks 'bout youse. He's proud a youse being in school and gettin' good grades an whatnot." He gently pulled my arm to start walking again.

"So he's doing good then? Or, as good as a leader of Brooklyn can be?" Race laughed at my question and nodded his head. That was a relief, not so much the fact that Danny became leader, but that he was ok. This was the longest time my family has gone without seeing him, so we were all worried. Or I should say I was worried. My mother worked as an assistant nurse at the local hospital so she would always wake up early and return home late. My father was a worker in a metal factory. We weren't the richest on the block but we also weren't the poorest. My brother doesn't have to be a newsboy, but like I said before, he loves getting himself into new things. Once he saw the life of a New York newsboy, he immediately wanted a part of it. As soon as he joined he was careful to never visit home twice in one week. He didn't want the boys to out him for living in the lap of luxury, or so he said they would do. Whenever he did visit he would make sure to ask about our parents and me, not talk about himself. I guess he didn't want me finding out what he was up to, which was odd to me seeing as how we were always troublemakers when we were very little. Still the same at sixteen, I thought as we reached the grounds of my school.

"Well, I'll see youse later," Race called as he kept on walking, his papers in hand. I said bye before heading through the school gates.

"How is she?" Danny Boy asked as I rounded the corner. He always did this; make sure to be here waiting for me to update him on his own sister.

"She's good, but she misses ya like crazy. Youse should visit her soon." He let out an aggravated sigh as he ran a hand through his brown hair.

"You and I both know I can't do that. I'd be putting them in danger," his aura became very serious as his voice dropped in volume. "So, any word?"

"All I knows is that Queens ain't backing down; theys thinkin' bout makin' a move soon. The meetin' yesterday wasn't as good as Sniper was hopin' for."

"Lemme guess, West doesn't wanna negotiate does he. If he keeps this up then there won't be no boroughs to fight over. He already has the biggest there is…"

"Yeah but not da toughest," I interrupted. It didn't do no good for a leader to doubt his abilities. "Brooklyn's got da strongest fighters in New York, and they ain't gonna go down without a fight. Youse gonna lead them to victory along with 'hattan cause dat's what we's do, we help each other." Danny took a minute to think of what I just said before smirking and patting my shoulder.

"Sniper's lucky to have a birdie like you Race," That's another thing about Danny Boy: kid was full of compliments.

"Aw nothin' Spot wouldn't do too, I betcha he's good, no…better than me. Youse know he loves Brooklyn, same how I love 'hattan." We both smiled and went our separate ways. That was the one fault Danny had, trusting someone too much. Not that I wasn't someone he could trust, it just worried me how he was so naïve at times. Sniper wouldn't be looking to other birdies for answers like Danny was. But maybe that was only because he knew I was close to his sister. There was no way Spot could be a bad birdie, he was always out on the streets always knowing what was happening. Wouldn't surprise me if one day he'd end up taking the position as leader.

"Yeah right," I said to myself as I laughed while I walked down the sidewalk.

I never thought school would end, as much as it pains me to think. I was too anxious to visit Brooklyn after visiting my mother. As I left the doors to the main building I saw that the sun was almost gone. I adjusted my sweater and made my way to the infamous bridge. Since it had been a while since I had last seen Danny I was thinking of what he would look like, what his voice would sound like, if he was still the caring brother I remember him being. I wondered how our conversation would go, if he would keep asking me about how I was doing or if he would finally let me know what his life was like as a newsboy. Who am I kidding, he would probably freak out and send me back home if what Race said was true. You know he's right, I thought. Race would never lie to me, we were too close, plus if he did lie I would know since he's a terrible liar. Which probably was the reason why he was so bad at cards, he couldn't keep a straight face when he told a lie. I giggled at the fact and kept walking in the direction of Brooklyn.

Streetlights were lit by the time I made it to the other side of the bridge, and it wasn't long until I saw a kid around my age walking out of an alley. I was about to call out to him until I realized that instead of walking he was running, and he was being chased. Without thinking I ran after them to see where they would go. It wasn't long until another alley the boy ran down was a dead end and his pursuers were beating him.

"Stop, what do you think you're doing to that kid!" I yelled at the mouth of the alley. The two beaters, who looked a lot older than me, slowly turned and gave me a death glare. Then out of nowhere someone grabs my shoulders from behind pushing me forcefully to the ground.

"Who're you ta give us orders?" He sneered as he came close to me to pick me up. He held me by my neck, my feet dangling in the air, as he walked closer to his two friends.

"Hey, leave her alone, I thought youse was afta me!" The boy cried as he tried to get in between the beaters. "She's got nothin' ta do wid this!" One of the guys who hit him earlier shoved him hard to the side of the alley making the boy hit his head and fall to the ground.

"Thanks Knuckles," the one holding me said. "Now, why don't youse tell me where youse from eh? Can't be from Queens, or 'hattan, da Bronx is a little too far don't youse think? Nah, must be from Brooklyn," as he said Brooklyn his grip tightened leaving a small squeal to come from me. My vision started to blur as I started gasping for air when he flipped out a knife and brought it gently against my cheek. "How would youse feel 'bout getting' a new addition to ya face?" he evilly sneered before he and the other two started laughing. Just when I thought he was going to cut me we both got pushed, the sudden jolt taking him by surprise and releasing my shoulders.

"Leave her alone Scar!" It was the boy they were after. His piercing blue eyes cut through the darkness of the night leaving me mesmerized. He looked to be the same age as me and slightly taller and he was taking on a guy completely opposite of him. "Youse was after me, not da girl. She didn't see nothin'."

"Knuckles, Dagger, take care of the little punk while I resume what I was doin'." My attacker faced me and started making his way over, knife in hand. The boy was quickly grabbed by Knuckles and Dagger and was struggling to get free. I scooted back as far as I could before reaching a wall but that didn't stop Scar from reaching down and grabbing my neck again. I tried tearing his hands free of me but he was quick to pull my head back and drive it into the wall twice. I was on the verge of passing out as he pulled back for the third time. Why is this happening? This was supposed to be a normal day. I thought, but who was I kidding? It was my fault this was happening to me. Race warned me not to come because of the turf wars, whatever that meant. I just wanted to see my brother again. I just wanted to see Danny, I thought as I closed my eyes to brace myself for impact.

A/N: So what'd you guys think? I hope it all makes sense! I'm so excited writing this story you have no idea. Just so you guys know, I have a main story I try to update weekly (if you guys like Peter Pan its called Forgotten Memories and I just started uploading the sequel) so this might not get as much attention as it should, but I'm gonna try my best because I really love Newsies (especially Spot) and I don't want to not finish this story.

Leave a review if you like it or if you have any suggestions so I can make the story better! I'm gonna try and have the next chapter up sometime next week if possible!