AN: So I'd seen a lot of Hamilton stories like this and thought I would try it with Newsies.But I'd like to make it known that I personally do not believe in reincarnation, I just like reading and writing about the idea of it. This is most definitely an AU.
Katherine looked thoughtfully at the painting in front of her. Her school had taken her class on a field trip to an art museum, and she had come across a portrait with a subject that looked oddly similar to herself. It could be just her imagination, or there could have actually been someone that looked like her who lived over a century ago. She re-read the inscription underneath the portrait. Painted in the year 1902 by young artist Jack Kelly. She couldn't get that name out of her head. Jack Kelly. It sounded so familiar, though she was positive that she'd never even heard of anyone by that name before.
"Nice picture, huh?" A male voice asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. She scoffed without turning around.
"It's more than just 'nice'. It's beautiful."
"Ah, well thanks."
"...What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm the one who painted it." Katherine whirled around, ready to inform him of the absurdity of that sentence, when she saw his face, and gasped out loud. She found herself staring into deep blue eyes that she somehow knew, even though she'd never seen them before in her life. She watched those eyes as they lit up, and as a grin appeared on the face of the boy that those eyes belonged to. "Katherine." He brought a hand up to her face. "I thought it was you." Katherine suddenly became very uncomfortable, slightly because she realized how comfortable she was with this boy she didn't know. She quickly moved away from his touch.
"I'm sorry, have we met?" In an instant, his excited expression crumbled. She didn't really understand what she'd said to have changed his mood that drastically. She had just assumed that she'd met him somewhere before and forgot, which would explain the familiar feeling and the fact that he knew her name.
"It's... It's me, Jack." He looked at her hopefully, as if just a first name would jog her memory. After she stared at him blankly for a good while, his face fell again. "You don't remember."
"No." Katherine shook her head. "If it helps, you look familiar." Apparently it didn't help. Jack immediately groaned after she said this.
"Of course you don't remember. I mean I guess I shouldn't've assumed that just because I remembered early on that you would too." He started muttering, and it seemed to Katherine that he was talking more to himself than to her. "And it could also be possible that you won't remember at all, I know some people don't."
"I'm sorry, but, what the hell are you talking about?" Katherine was getting tired of not understanding anything this boy was saying. Jack looked at her, only just now realizing how confused she was.
"Well, it's sort of complicated." He began, but before he could say anything else they were approached by another, taller boy, who also looked slightly familiar to Katherine.
"Jack, you've been in here for almost twenty minutes now. What's going on?" Jack weakly gestured to Katherine, and the taller boy's eyes widened. "Katherine?" At this point, Katherine was about ready to scream.
"Okay, I need an explanation, now." She demanded. "How do you two both seem to know me even though I've never met either of you before?" Jack sighed, seeming extremely flustered at this point.
"Davey, you explain it."
"Why? You always knew her better than I did."
"Yeah but... you're better at explaining things." Davey rolled his eyes at the weak argument, but complied regardless, taking a deep breath.
"You're probably going to think we're insane after I tell you this but... we knew you in a past life." Both of the boys watched her anxiously. Katherine just stared at them.
"Are you -?" Jack cautiously tried to say something after a few moments of silence, but Katherine quickly interrupted him.
"So not only are you making no sense, but you're flat out lying to me as well?" She was making it known that she was most certainly not happy.
"It's not a lie!" Jack's voice was becoming dangerously loud, and Davey shushed them both. "Maybe we should go talk about this outside, before we get kicked out?" He suggested. Jack nodded immediately, and Katherine glared at them both before nodding. She had no real desire to talk to these boys any longer than she had to, but her curiosity got the better of her and she decided that she had to figure out what was going on. She followed them outside and sat on one of the benches, looking up at them.
"Explain."
"Davey here was actually telling the truth." Katherine raised an eyebrow. "I'm serious. I know, it sounds crazy, but we knew you in a past life."
"If that's true, then describe this 'past life'." Jack grinned as he began talking about it.
"Well, when us three met, it was 1899." As was expected, a skeptical look formed on Katherine's face, but he kept going anyway. "We were in New York, just like we are now, and me and Davey were newsboys. And you were a reporter for the New York Sun." Katherine's skeptical expression turned into a shocked one. It seemed that he knew about her goal to work as a reporter, as well as her obsession with the extremely well written old articles from The Sun. "We, uh, the newsies, went on strike, and you were the only reporter who'd write about it."
"Why?" Katherine's interest was peaked now.
"We were newsies, none of those stuck up, rich reporters wanted to write about us."
"Oh." She motioned for him to continue.
"Well, during the strike, which we won by the way, you and me got pretty... close."
"How close?"
"Um. Really close."
"Oh, come on. Jack, quit avoiding this and just do it." Davey sighed and interrupted the awkward exchange.
"Do what?" Davey rolled his eyes.
"The thing you've told me repeatedly me that you would do to her if you ever found her." Now, Katherine didn't know whether she should be scared about that or not. She decided it would depend on what exactly Jack planned on 'doing' to her.
"Davey, I don't know if I can do it."
"You can." And with that, Davey pushed Jack towards Katherine, who immediately stood up in case she decided she needed to get away. Jack stared at her for a minute before putting an arm around her waist and cupping her face with his other hand. Katherine tensed, even though his hands felt so familiar holding her.
"Do you want me to punch you?" She threatened him, and he smiled at her. "What?" He shrugged.
"Nothing." She glared at him for a few seconds, before he pulled her against him and pressed his lips to hers. She froze, before melting into the kiss. When they pulled away, Katherine grinned.
"Hey, Cowboy." She whispered, and Jack's eyes lit up.
"Hey, Ace." He muttered back, before pulling her back in.
