Chapter 4

Liberty

In his hands, Liberty carried logoed plastic bags of chips and candies. In his mouth, a pretzel stick. He was thinking of nothing, but he wasn't unaware. He saw the old homeless woman, hunched over her cart in the alley. He saw the busy folk hurrying home and the loiterers walking at a pace of two feet every five seconds. And he saw the troublesome-looking group of three. A swagger was in their step and the dark-haired man leading them looked like he wanted to start a fight. When they passed each other, Liberty's blue eyes locked with his for one second and the blond jerked his chin up. The man returned the gesture.

"What're you lookin' at?" growled a voice from behind the blond. Liberty turned his head to see the man glaring at a couple of passerby. He walked more slowly, occasionally glancing back at the Three Thugateers.

Forty-five minutes later, Liberty was in the doorway of his team's dorm room. He held up the bags of snacks.

"You're back!" Honey chimed cheerfully. She set down the fan of cards in her hand face down on the bed. "Don't look, cheater," she said as she hopped off the bed. "Did you get the cheesy things I talked about?" Liberty held up the bag in his left hand. The blond saw Zephyr glance back at Honey, give Amethyst a grin, and pull up the corners of Honey's cards with his thumb. "He looked, didn't he?" The twins' eyes locked. Honey sighed. "He's gonna get it later…" she whispered, grabbing the bag of "cheesy things". The female twin returned to her spot on the bed. "Did something happen on yer way back? You look concerned." The blonde picked up her cards and the game resumed.

"Saw some guys."

"What kind?"

"Punks."

"Gang?"

"Couldn't tell."

"Hmm… Did they give you trouble?"

Liberty shook his short wavy hair.

"Give anyone else trouble?"

"Nope."

"Probably harmless, but we'll be careful. Right, team?"

"Yeah, sure," Zephyr replied.

Amethyst gave a vigorous nod. "Do you want to play with us, Lee?"

Liberty nodded and sat himself on the far end of the bed, placing the plastic bags of chips and treats on either side of him. His brother-in-law and Faunus friend began rummaging through the bags closest to them.

"We'll add you in after this round, 'kay?" the biggest man in the room said.

The blond nodded again, picking a pretzel stick out of one of the snack bags and placing it in his mouth.