OOOOOOO NOW WE LEARN WHAT HAPPENED TO LES

Enjoy! :)

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"David?"

Les looks around him, terrified. He's outside the lodging house. And there are horseless carriages with tons of humans stuffed inside everywhere.

"DAVID!" he shouts, trembling, tears in his eyes. 

He wants something familiar. Anything-

He hears police sirens. He hears people shrieking. He hears the horseless carriages rumble. It's all too much.

And so he runs.

After what feels like forever, he gets back to the street where the newsies lodging house is. He lets out a gasp of relief when he sees the familiar place.

The door is locked.

He starts knocking loudly. "Kloppman? Jack? David? Race? Anyone?"

He keeps knocking desperately, shouting out any name he can remember.

"Les?"

He whirls around.

It's a man, staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.

Les stares. "Do I-do I know you?"

The man just stares. "How...is this possible?"

Les shrinks back a little. "Who...who are you?"

"Les." the man gently stoops down to Les's level. "It's me. It's Snipeshooter."

Les jumps back. "No. You're lying. You can't be. Snipeshooter is 13."

The man shakes his head sadly. "That's how old I was in 1899. It's 1924 now."

"No!" Les refuses to belief it. "It can't be! It was New Year's Eve, the clock struck midnight, and then the next thing I knew I was wandering the streets." He looks at this man who claims to be Snipeshooter. "There's no way this is possible."

"I didn't think so either," the man responds. "One minute, everyone was in the lodging house. Next thing I know, me, Swifty, Itey, and Kloppman are the only ones left in the lodging house."

Les takes this in.

It's impossible, isn't it?

But...how else

"Where...where's everyone else?" Les asks warily. "Where did everyone go?"

"I don't know," the man--Snipeshooter?--responds honestly. "However, seeing how it looks like you haven't aged a day, and the last thing you remember is New Year's Eve...I'm going to guess that you and the others--for some reason or another--time traveled."

Les gulps. 

It shouldn't be possible.

And yet...as of right now...

...It's the only thing that makes sense.

And so Les looks up at the man--Snipeshooter. "So...where are Kloppman and Itey and Swifty?"

"Kloppman passed away a few years ago," Snipeshooter responds sadly. "He never stopped looking for the newsies. We made him a promise that we would do whatever we could to find everyone else."

Les stays quiet for a moment, thinking about all that. He's going to miss Kloppman a lot. Sure, he never spent much time in the lodging house, but every time he interacted with him Kloppman was always nice, and Les could tell how much he cared for every single person who passed through those walls.

"What...what about Itey and Swifty?" Les asks slowly after a few moments.

"I can take you to them," Snipeshooter offers. "We live in the same apartment."

Les looks at the locked door of the lodging house. "So...what happened here?"

"It's been shut down because newsies have been replaced," Snipeshooter explains. "Right now it's going through renovation. I don't know what it's going to become next. But I have a feeling it will benefit the rich more than those in need."

Les touches the door sadly. This was once a place of love and laughter. Why, why has this happened?

He looks to Snipeshooter, thinking. He doesn't have David, nor Jack. Snipeshooter, as of right now, is the only thing that is familiar.

"Okay. I'll go with you."

"LES!" Swifty and Itey exclaim immediately when he and Snipeshooter enter the apartment.

"Non ci credo!" Itey exclaims.

"I can't believe it neither!" Swifty agrees. "What happened to you? How are you this young?"

"Give him some space," Snipeshooter warns them.

"Oh, right, sorry." They jump back immediately.

"I..." Les begins. He swallows. "The last thing I remember is New Year's Eve 1899."

Swifty's and Itey's eyebrows raise.

"How is that possible?" Swifty asks.

"I mean, he hasn't aged a day, so forget possible, it's the only thing logical," Itey comments.

Les shrugs helplessly. "I have no idea what happened." He eyes them. "Am I really the first one you found since that day?"

They all nod sadly. "We still don't know where all the others went."

"So...if this is 1924..." Les begins slowly, still trying to comprehend that, "maybe it's not necessarily a question of where, but...when?"

The others think on that.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Swifty concludes.

"So...we wait?" Les asks smally. "For everyone else to appear in time?"

"I...guess so," Snipeshooter agrees.

Les thinks on it.

Then he remembers that there was someone not in the lodging house that night. Someone else who he hopes he can find.

He stands up.

"I need to find my sister," Les announces.

---------------------------------------------------

No matter how many times Les insisted he can walk by himself, Snipeshooter, Swifty, and Itey insisted much stronger that they should all walk him.

"The streets are dangerous," Snipeshooter explains. "You never know when you might get hit by an automobile."

In the walk to Les's house--which he truly hopes is still inhabited by his family--he has been learning many things about everything he has missed. He has learned about how the newsies became obsolete, and about the War to End All Wars.

He has also received the strangest advice he has ever heard.

"No matter what teenagers these days try to tell you, do not try to swallow a live goldfish," Swifty tells him.

"Uh...why would I do that?"

"It's become a common thing," Itey explains. "It's a game to them."

"We heard the other day that someone choked on a goldfish," Snipeshooter adds. "So for the love of everything, please don't try to swallow a living goldfish, Les."

"Uh...well, I wasn't planning on it. But...yeah, you have my word. I won't."

Finally, they reach the door.

Les swallows.

Is he really ready to find out if his house has been replaced with a new family?

They all notice his hesitation.

"Hey."

One by one they put a hand on his shoulder.

"No matter the outcome, we'll be here with you."

He smiles at them gratefully.

He takes a deep breath, and knocks.

It takes a few moments as he hears someone walking up to the door.

A woman who looks to be the same age as Swifty or Itey opens the door.

Time may have added twenty four years of age to her, but Les still recognizes her face.

It's Sarah.

"Sarah!" he cries, and flings himself at her.

"Les?" she asks incredulously. Then she wraps her arms around him as he clings to her. "Les!"

They stay there in a tight embrace for a long time.

"I'm so glad I found you," Les tells her.

"Me too, me too," Sarah murmurs. Then she pulls away, puts a hand on his face. "But...how...?"

"I don't know," Les responds. "But...I'm here now." He looks inside hopefully. "Are...Mama and Papa here too?"

"They're...not quite how you remember them," Sarah responds quietly. "They've been looking for you and David for 24 years now. Their memory is slipping. It's been hard. We're still taking care of them.  It's just...I don't know how you'll react to seeing them like this. I don't know how they'll react to seeing you like this."

Les swallows. "They are still my parents. I want to see them. I don't care what's changed."

That's when he realizes what she said. "Wait. They've been looking for me and David?" he looks up at her, eyes wide. "You mean...you still don't know where David is?"

Sarah shakes her head sadly. "You and David both disappeared New Year's Eve in 1899. Neither of you came back."

Les feels tears form. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I didn't mean to worry you. I didn't do this on purpose-"

Sarah brings him close to her, stroking his head. "I know you didn't. I know you didn't. It's not your fault. It's okay. I found you now."

"Sarah? What's going on?"

Les jumps back at the unfamiliar feminine voice.

It's a woman who looks to be around Sarah's age.

"Who...is that?" Les asks.

"Uhh, she's my..." Sarah glances at the woman. "Roommate. She's been helping me stay afloat financially as I take care of our parents."

Judging by the way they are looking at each other, by "roommate" Sarah means "lover", but Les is just going to keep that to himself for now.

"I'm Lucille," the woman introduces herself.

"I'm...Les," he says as he shakes her hand.

Lucille's head snaps to Sarah's. "Les? As in your brother who went missing 24 years ago?"

Sarah takes in a deep breath. "Yes."

Lucille glances at Sarah, then Les, and the men behind him.

"We were newsies," Snipeshooter offers as his only explanation. "We wanted to make sure Les got home safely."

Lucille nods slowly. 

"Can I...can I stay with you?" Les asks Sarah in a small voice.

"Oh, of course!" Sarah exclaims immediately, hugging him again. "I hope I haven't done anything to make you feel unwelcome."

"So this really is your younger brother from 1899, huh?"

Sarah and Les pull apart slowly to look at Lucille. Both nod slowly.

Lucille smiles. "Well, I'm glad I finally get to meet you. And I'm glad that we can help you now. I'm sure I'm missing plenty of details, but I promised I would support Sarah and all of her family, and that includes you. So you are welcome to our house."

"Thank you," Les tells them both gratefully.

"Well I guess we don't matter anymore," Snipeshooter huffs behind him.

Les whirls around at the three. "No, no! You three will always be important to me! I will spend time with you, I promise!" He glances between his family and the newsies, neither the way he left them, but still have the warmth they had all those years ago. "It's just...I want to stay with my family, you know?"

"We get it," Itey tells him.

"Just make sure you do visit us!" Swifty adds.

Les smiles. "I will."

Snipeshooter looks Les in the eye. "And don't swallow any goldfish, okay?"

"I won't, I promise!"

And so the three smile, and say goodbye.

Sarah takes Les's hand. "Come inside. We have a lot to catch up on."

And so Sarah, Lucille, and Les enter the house and close the door, their new life beginning.

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Wow.

Who's Lucille? you might be asking? Well. She's Pulitzer's daughter who lived. Katherine Pulitzer died at the age of two. As much as I wanted Newsbians, my historical-accuracy brain did Not want Katherine there, so it was like "ah what the heck, Lucille works" so yeah, there you go. Yeah I'm not entirely sure about this decision either but still.

"Roommate" has been a term since 1770.

Time travel became a term in 1895.

I really wanted Snipeshooter to say "What are we, chopped liver?" but that didn't become a phrase til 1954, so a few decades too soon.

It was a legit trend among teenagers in the 1920s to swallow live goldfish, and yes people choked. So if someone tries to tell you "kids these days" remind them that teenagers have always been teenagers. Also please don't try it. It will work out as well for you as swallowing a tide pod would.

Yeah, I did not go through Les's whole origin story, but you'll hear more about his life from 1924- onwards in the next chapter. I just didn't want it to become redundant.

So there you go. 1924.

And, 80 years later, two brothers reunite.

You excited for the next chapter?

I promise it will be full of Feels :))

Please, no homphobia, profanities directed at other users, hate etc in the comment section.

Best,

~Your Beloved Author (who is graduating in like 4 1/2 hours, grazie al cielo)