- Chapter 93 - Two chapters in one night? You're welcome lol. I couldn't leave y'all hanging. Here's a bit of relief for ya -
Warnings: almost drowning, freezing cold water, anger, family issues, insults, injuries
Third Person POV
The fight had moved a bit away from Race and Tumbler, which Race was glad for.
He wasn't sure he'd be able to protect Tumbler if they were caught in the crossfire.
But Race couldn't get Tumbler to safety. Moving felt immensely painful and almost impossible due to his limbs feeling like they wouldn't move.
Race's eyes snapped open when he heard something.
Someone... someone was running towards them.
Who was it?
Revenge.
Race knew that face.
Race quickly shook Tumbler. "Lucky, listen to me," he whispered drearily.
Tumbler looked up at him, confused.
"I need you to run," Race told him hurriedly.
"But-"
"No, ascoltami," Race told him sternly. "Run. Avoid anyone you don't know-" he was cut off by coughing, "-and- and don't let them catch you," he instructed him. "Find someone you know, like- like Red or Skitts or a Manhattan Newsie."
"And leave you?" Tumbler asked, not noticing Revenge running to them.
"Sì, per favore, ora." Race tried desperately to get him to go. "Ora, ora. Andare."
Tumbler frowned, but nodded. "I will! I'll go get them to help!" He turned around and quickly ran off.
Race breathed a sigh of relief when Tumbler avoided Revenge.
Tumbler ran as fast as he could to the group of Newsies he saw, not noticing some of them running past him.
Tumbler noticed a familiar face. "Red!"
Red and Cloth both looked up. They were both on the ground helping with Snowflake's injury.
Red quickly stood up. "Tumbler!"
Tumbler ran towards him, almost collapsing into his arms. "I found you!"
"Oh my gosh," Red whispered, hugging the boy close, "I'm so glad you're okay. Are you hurt?" He checked him over. "Skitts going to be so relieved."
"I'm okay, but Race!" Tumbler was quickly reminded of the boy. "He needs help!"
Red looked back in the direction Spot and the others had run off in. He took a deep breath, before looking back down at Tumbler. "Spot's going to help Race," he assured him. "For now, let's go find Skittery."
Tumbler nodded vigorously.
He missed his Skitts.
Revenge got to Race almost immediately after Tumbler ran off. He grabbed the blond-haired Newsie by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up.
Race grunted in pain. Not this again. He held onto Revenge's arm, leaning forward so Revenge didn't choke him.
Revenge pulled Race over to where the land ended, by the Reservoir.
"Revenge," Race whispered, wincing in pain. "Please- let me go."
Revenge looked down at Race. "I told you I'd break you," he spat at him. "Now, shut up. If I'm losing, you're going down with me."
Spot stopped in his tracks when he saw Revenge holding Race over the edge. "Hey! Let him go!"
The Newsies that followed him stopped beside him.
"Racer!"
Race knew that voice.
A small smiles tugged on his lips. Spot and Albert are both here. He desperately wanted to tell them he was fine, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.
"Giovanni, just let him go," Spot tried to talk some sense into him, to make peace.
Revenge gritted his teeth. "How come everywhere I go, you're there to ruin my life, Sean?" he snapped, pulling Race forward by the collar of his shirt.
Race grunted when Revenge tugged him back.
"I mean, I go to Brooklyn and I'm kicked out after a few days because "I have too many anger issues"." Revenge shook his head in disbelief, gripping the collar of Race's shirt tighter and accidentally choking him.
A choked noise escaped Race.
"Yet, you," Revenge turned his furious gaze to Spot, "you're taken in and made the King of Brooklyn when you're just as angry as I am."
"The difference is that I don't hurt people when I'm angry," Spot responded.
Revenge's head snapped towards him. He clenched his fists, shoving Race forward and immediately pulling him back by his shirt collar.
Race cried out.
"So, what do I do? I go and create my own borough from scratch, yet you ruined that too! You and your traitorous sister who stabbed me in the back!" Revenge yelled. "Well, I got her back for that one." He gestured as if he was stabbing Race, a curl smirk taking it's place on his face. "And... and my mother. My stupid mother." Revenge laughed bitterly, turning back towards Spot. "She loved you more than she loved me."
Spot swallowed hard.
It was true.
Spot had always been more respectful, and his aunt only ever saw him behaving his best due to his mother promising to reward him if he was good to his aunt and cousins.
And Giovanni had always been angry. He was practically born angry at the world. He was angry everything felt like it didn't go his way.
"You took away everything I loved." Revenge fell silent for a moment, staring at the ground. "So..." he looked at Race and then at Spot, "I'm taking away something you love for once."
Revenge looked at the water and made a split-second decision, before anyone could even process what he said. He grabbed Race and jumped into the water, pulling Race in with his.
A large splash was heard and that was all it took for Spot to almost launch himself forward.
It was almost December and was freezing, which meant that the water was probably freezing too.
No one could survive in those waters for long, no matter how accustomed to the cold their body was.
That was the only thought in Spot's head when he dived into the water.
(A/N, I can't tell if "dove" or "dived" sounds better lol. They're both technically grammatically correct as there's no set way to say "dive" in past tense, but both sound wrong to me. Although, "dove" is apparently an American version of how to say it.)
A few other Newsies ran forward when Spot jumped into the water, while some others turned around to grab either Cloth, Specs, or Rags.
The water felt like needles on Spot's skin.
He was right; it was frigid.
Spot hurriedly felt around to try to locate Race.
It took him a minute before he started to panic about running out of breath and not being able to find Race.
Then, he touched something.
Hair.
Was it Race?
Spot's hands traveled down their face and to their neck. He felt something around their neck.
A necklace.
Spot quickly turned the necklace around and found the pendant.
It was a key.
Spot's key. The same one he had given to Race soon after they started dating.
Hotshot propped himself up with his elbows, rubbing his eye. "Aww, couples bonding," he grumbled, still half asleep. "How cute," he muttered sarcastically.
Race took a pillow from Flash's bunk and threw it at Hotshot, successfully making both of boys more awake than they had been.
"They even traded necklaces," Spade commented, rolling his eyes.
"You know, if you want to keep commenting on our relationship, you can do it in the ocean," Race commented, smiling sarcastically at them.
Spade rolled his eyes. "I'm getting up," he grumbled, actually getting up. He rolled his eyes again at Race nodding in approval, but smirked when he noticed his blush.
Spot chuckled. Let's go, Brooklynites!" he exclaimed. "Get up!"
That was Race.
He found him.
Spot quickly grabbed one of Race's arms and started pulling him towards the surface.
Panic flooded through him when he realized he needed to breathe. He held it for as long as he could.
"Where are they?" Albert was panicking a bit.
Spot had dived into the water after Race and Revenge, and they hadn't resurfaced.
"Wait," Rags, who was on the ground next to him, noticed something in the water, "I think that's them." He pointed to a blob.
Spot surfaced with a gasp.
The boys helped pull him and Race back onto land.
"Move, people!" Rags shoved everyone out of the way, kneeling over Race. He put both of his hands on top of each other on Race's chest. "Please, dear lord, let this work." He pushed down on his chest, starting to do CPR.
Albert looked back out over the water.
Revenge was nowhere to be found.
Albert frowned. He looked at Spot, who was shivering. "Thank you."
Spot looked at him. He nodded. "I couldn't lose him that easily."
Albert nodded.
Coughing caused both of them to turn back to the others.
Rags quickly helped Race sit up as he started coughing violently.
All Race remembered was gasping when he hit the water and feeling the frigid temperatures surrounding him. It felt suffocating. Then, he woke up in a violent coughing fit, trying desperately to get all of the water out of him.
"That's it, Racer," Rags whispered, rubbing his back lightly. "You're going to be okay."
Everything felt groggy and Race was exhausted and freezing.
He felt like he barely had enough energy to even shiver.
His coughing lessened after a minute and he took a deep breath.
Everything hurt.
Spot moved to hold him.
Rags leaned Race against Spot, letting his boyfriend hold him.
"I've got you, Racer," Spot mumbled, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "I've got you."
He'd gotten him after two weeks of missing him, and Spot swore he'd never let him go again.
1768 Words
Two things:
1) Before someone asks me why Spot couldn't open his eyes in the water, it's because that could really damage his eyes in freezing cold water and it could cause sight loss. Plus, my sources said it's harder to open your eyes in cold water.
2) I originally said the fight was taking place in the upper corner of Central Park, but I had to change it because the body of water in that area (the Harlem Meer) is only five to six feet deep, so that wouldn't have worked. The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (which was the body of water I had Revenge jump into, because it's around 40 feet deep lol) was named in 1994, so I just called it "the Reservoir" because I didn't know what else to call it lol, but I can assure you that it does exist and I'm not just making up a body of water in Central Park lol
I hope y'all enjoyed. It'll be mostly peaceful from here on out.