alex didn't understand what was happening. in front of him was a huge brawl between all of the revies and what alex could only imagine was most of the loyalists, some social worker named george was trying to rip them apart, people were staring, john was shaking and bleeding...

let's start back at the beginning.

| • |

"oh mon dieu!" called lafayette, standing up. hercules followed not long after, and all of the revies(save for peggy) were soon trailing through side streets, heading for washington and fifth. it wasn't a very long hike, but it was a very busy corner. full of vendors and shoppers, alex could quickly see why it was an ideal place for begging.

when they arrived, peggy and another boy were yelling at each other. a few passersby would stare for a moment before rushing away, and some even quickly took pictures. after all, when was the last time you saw two homeless children fighting in the street? aaron quickly tore peggy away and snarled down at the boy.

"where's king?" he asked snappily. upon seeing aaron, he flinched and suddenly seemed much less intimidating.

"h-he's-"

"right here." said another, much older teen as he walked around the opposite side that the revies had. john whispered into alex's ear while 'king' and aaron bickered.

"that's king, the leader of the loyalists. his real name is george, but that's also the name of the social worker who comes around here to nab us all the time so he decided to take a nickname." he said quietly. the din of heated arguments fell away as he and john talked.

"why are we fighting, exactly?" alex asked. john pointed to some graffiti on the wall, smack-dab centered on this corner.

"it's a bit hard to read, but that's the point. it says 'revies'; which means this corner belongs to us. but that kid from earlier - the one peggy was fighting? - his name is sammy. he was begging here, on our corner." john replied, holding onto alex's arm. alex looked from the graffiti, to aaron and king, and back again.

"i never knew stuff like this happened." he finally said, as the voices rose higher. john nodded with a soft smile.

"yeah, not many housies do. that's the homeless network for you."

"housies?" alex asked, looking quizzically up at john. he was now realizing just how much taller john was than him.

"yeah, that one's pretty self explanatory. it's people who live in houses-"

john stopped suddenly, and the air instantly became heavy and scarily silent. alex turned his head lightning fast back to aaron and king.

king had slapped aaron.

one moment it was dead silent and still, but like elastic everything started moving at once. aaron lunged at king who kicked him back with surprising strength. alex felt a weight leave his side as john leapt in between the two.

eliza's words planted a seed of worry in alex, and he called out for john to stop. but surprisingly enough, no one attacked the other as john held his arms out.

"guys, stop! it's not worth it to fight. king, you know this is our corner. please just leave before someone gets hurt!" he cried out. king got up, and brushed off his pants before looking john in the eyes with a smile. he walked up to him without a word, and then said, in the sweetest voice he could muster, "honey, i'd kill your friends and family if i needed to. like hell i'll just walk away."

and with that, he punched john square on the face.

alex cried out in shock and ran to john, holding up the dazed and now bleeding boy. angelica looked livid.

"how dare you even touch him!" she cried, kicking king in the shin. he grabbed his leg and hopped backwards, only for sammy and another teen to take his place. it quickly escalated to an all out fistfight, with a few more loyalists running around the corner and joining the battle. the only ones not fighting were alex and john, watching it with wide eyes and scared looks.

that's why they saw him first.

large, but clearly as harmless as they come. a teeth gap could be seen from his worried and almost angry face as he marched up to the fight. he was tall, with an authoritative air about him.

"boys, boys! break it up!" he yelled, trying to pull aaron and king away from each other. sammy had already left, and peggy was going at it with some eacker kid. it was chaos, it was madness, it was...

unlike anything alex had ever experienced before.

and it was invigorating.