The movement of the crowd around them stuttered slightly at the interruption to the customary flow of foot traffic. While some paid very little heed to the scene, others looked on with baleful eyes. As he was not-so-gently spurred forward by the judgement of his fellow passerby, the man bent down to help Anniya get back up to her feet.

He pulled on her arm, and she let out a sharp, pained wail in response. As fake as it was, it was convincing enough to provoke an even greater response from those around him.

“I didn’t do anything,” he pleaded in response to their gazes. “She just threw herself in front of me, this damn girl!”

As he reached back downwards towards Anniya once more, she flinched away. Her sobs grew in intensity, a flood of tears spilling down her small face. A modest crowd began to form around them, with many appearing to be only just holding themselves back from intervening.

Yet, before they did, Roy and Kid stepped into play. Being the younger of the two, and surprisingly deft of hand, it was Kid’s jop to divest the man of valuables.

“Miss Anna!” he blurted out, careful to use a fake name. The name was relatively close to her real name, allowing her to be able to respond to it naturally, but different enough that it hid her identity in at least some small manner.

Kid dashed forward, tripping on a small rock as he did so. He stumbled erratically, bumping up against the man helplessly as he windmilled his arms in a desperate attempt to regain his balance. Kneeling as he was, the man was at the perfect height to be bowled over. He flinched slightly, but was ultimately unable to avoid Kid’s stumbling approach.

Kid held his hands out in front of him, as if attempting to stop himself from colliding into the man outright. Yet, in the end, he was unable to do so. With a jarring crash, he fell into him, causing them to both fall to the ground as a result of the impact. In the brief moment that he pressed against the man, a hand slipped deftly around the clasp of the mark’s necklace - twisting it off and pulling it into his waiting grasp. Kid landed atop it, using his body to mask the newly acquired jewelry.

He scrambled to his feet, surreptitiously hiding away his ill-gotten gains. As deceptive as his stumbling had been, he had been forced to make it look real - resulting in a plethora of bruises and scrapes as he skidded across the stone. Blood welled from a small abrasion on his knee, spilling down slowly.

He turned towards Anniya, kneeling down.

“Are you okay, Miss Anna?”

Anniya sniffled. He reached a hand out, helping her to her feet.

The man pulled himself to his feet, brushing his dust-stained clothes with vigorous swipes of his hand.

“These kids…” he muttered, his face a strange mixture of anger and bewilderment. Just as the balancing scale of his emotions began to tilt further towards anger, a new development began.

Roy stepped in from the crowd, accusing the man of all manner of abusive indecencies. Unlike Kid, he was old enough and large enough to be threatening, causing the mark to pull his attention fully away from Kid and Anniya. Their mission accomplished, they slipped into the crowd. Roy continued to inflame the crowd with his accusations. Meanwhile, hidden in the midst of the crowd, Norik and Wymar voiced their own anger, affecting tones of outrage in support of Roy, further agitating the group with their words and allowing them to slip away - well before the man had time to notice his missing accessory.

Their escape smoothed by the distraction created with the surrounding bystanders, Kid and Anniya slipped out of the area. It wasn’t long before they met back up with Roy once more.

Tucked away in an alley a number of streets over, they celebrated their success.

“Did you see the look on his face?” Anniya asked, a smile burgeoning at the memory.

Wymar, who had been serving as a lookout rather than a participant in their minor bout of larceny, laughed in response. “I’m not even sure that he will notice the necklace is missing until later tonight, with how confused he was.”

Kid snuck a hand into one of the pockets sewn into the inner portion of his clothing, fiddling with the delicate metal hidden within. Knowing just how easy it was for wandering hands to sneak valuables from easy-to-reach pockets and pouches, each of the group had grown to possess numerous hidden spots on the inside of their clothing. After all, it would be a problem if someone managed to steal from one of them - not to mention embarrassing. They couldn’t exactly go to the guards and complain about it, could they?

Later, Roy would pawn the necklace off to a fence. Though they wouldn’t be able to get even close to what the necklace was actually worth, it would be enough to keep them afloat for a decent amount of time.

Kid sighed, thinking back on the times that he had lived like a starved and dying animal. Though his life now could not be considered perfect by any means, it was far from the nightmare that it could be. And for that, he would be forever grateful to Roy.

Around him, the others continued to laugh and joke, drunk with the glee brought by success.

Unlike the others, Roy was far more subdued. Kid always thought that made him more admirable. He was stoic and calm - no matter what, it seemed.

Yet, suddenly a new voice broke through, echoing from the other end of the long alleyway.

“As you heard, your presence is required in the City Lord’s manor, woman.”

Kid turned, peering out from behind the crates that surrounded them. On the other side of the alley, a woman was surrounded by a group of city guardsmen.

Peals of light glimmered off of embossed metal armor, drawing attention to the emblem of Yraos’ City Lord. The woman backed up further, shaking with trepidation and fear.

“Halt. Do not make this harder than it needs to be,” the lead guardsman commanded, one hand resting upon the hilt of his longsword.

She froze in response.

As the guardsmen stepped forward and began to pull her away, Roy did as well. He pulled himself from behind the obstructing crates, quickly walking towards them. Startled, the lead guardsman looked at Roy before continuing to drag the woman out of the alleyway.

Ignoring his disadvantaged situation, he stalked towards the guardsmen.

In a voice that was filled with an unimaginable rage, Roy yelled out. “What do you think you are doing with her?”

With an uninterested air, the head guardsman responded. “Do not interfere. This woman’s presence has been requested by the son of the City Lord.”

He continued to press onwards. “It doesn’t look as if she wishes to go to me. That’s hardly a request.”

“Leave, now,” the man ordered, his face contorting into an annoyed grimace.

When Roy took another step, the guardsman suddenly burst forward with extreme speed, landing a vicious backhand. Knocked backwards and spun by the horrible force of the blow, Roy tumbled to the ground.

Kid and the others let out a collective gasp, rushing forward to check on their leader and friend. Blood spilled from his lips as he lay in a daze, the overwhelming force of the blow enough to knock him senseless.

“Next time your friend tries to cause trouble, he’ll suffer far worse. Be sure that he understands that point.”

After the guard’s display, the woman no longer put up a fight - perhaps worried that a similar fate might befall her. They pulled her away roughly, slipping out of the alley and back into the light, leaving chaos behind them.

Roy let out a series of sputtering coughs, a wet and hacking affair that helped to paint his clothes with splotches of crimson. His eyes slowly came back into focus, bouncing back from the blow-directed stupor.

Seeing that the guardsmen had managed to leave with the women, a look of indescribable rage and antipathy crossed his face.

“Fucking City Lord…” he muttered, along with an unintelligible string of curses and profanities. The bedraggled youth pulled himself to his feet, lightly pushing aside the hands that were offered to him. Saying nothing more, he slowly walked away, heading in the direction of the abandoned warehouse that they called home.

The others stepped in behind, struck mute by the heavy atmosphere. Somehow, the others seemed less surprised by the situation than Kid was. He shot a questioning look towards Norik, but the youth gave him a small shake of the head - as if to say that they would talk about this later.

It was a long and silent walk back home.