Thief in the Night
As Zidane was busy planning out his thiefing strategy at the school, Cloud prepared for his first night of work.
"If I'm quick, I should get six done in the next hour." Cloud mumbled ready to depart, with Terra and Tidus seeing him off.
"Take care." Terra said.
"Don't crash now." Tidus said.
"Impossible for me." Cloud said, as he finally departed for a rough night's driving.
Meanwhile, Zidane prepared in his Moogle-designed room for the night ahead; preparing things like how will he enter, where to find the desired material, what to find, and how to exit.
"What happens if you're caught?" Asked Bartz, still in the room.
"Run like hell?" Asked Zidane. Bartz gave a frown. "You know what I mean. This thief isn't gonna get caught without a fight."
"Just be careful, alright?" Bartz said worriedly.
"Don't worry, I got it all planned out!" Zidane said with confidence. Soon, him too was ready to leave, with Bartz, Squall and Cecil seeing him off.
"Don't miss me now." Zidane said as he journeyed forth heading towards the school. Thankfully, it was only a few blocks away, so his journey wasn't long.
"Will he be okay?" Asked Cecil. "The laws of this world will see to it if he's found out, he will be punished."
"Don't worry." Squall said. "Zidane's stealth is almost like a ninja's. Not to mention he loves to steal. If anyone around here is capable of getting us the stuff, he's the right guy. Not that I care about it." He went back inside, as Bartz and Cecil seen Zidane off into the distance.
"Come back safe." Bartz said.
Zidane made it to the grounds of the school on foot. He came across a locked gate, to which he easily climbed over, using his expert climbing skills. He now entered the playground with the large school building towering above him, and he grew ever more anxious, in a good way.
"Let's do it." He cheered to himself. He searched along for a loose entrance of some sort to enter through without a disturbance. He searched along the glass windows to the somewhat cuboid-like shape of the building for a loose window, but what Zidane found was much more easier: a door was left wide-open for even a simple Tom, Dick or Harry to walk in. He took a few seconds to make sure it wasn't a trap, before strolling right in. "That was easy!" He entered what appeared to be the cafeteria, with many empty tables with chairs stalked on them, waiting for the children to come for the next day; it was dark, but Zidane came prepared, by using his dagger, which was enchanted by Terra to glow in the dark, it gave him enough light. He looked along for the main shop area, to which they were informed were here; to his disappointment, but inner joy, the miscellaneous-selling shop area had shutters down, denying him access. "These guys are no fun!" He looked around the cafeteria area for some sort of thin material to use as a key to open the lock of the shutters, all the while looking for guards; even a hair would suit him. Unfortunately, his tail was of no use, seeing as the lock needed a thin key in order to open, to which his tail was too thick. He found no speck of hair or paperclips or anything, which proved difficult for the tailed-rogue. "Think Zidane Tribal, think!" Suddenly it came to him; he needed a lock of hair, and he had over a million on his own. He took out his second spell-free dagger of his, and cut a small section, approached the shutters and began using the ten or twenty different hairs to pick away at the lock. Then he heard a click. "Jackpot!" He opened it slightly and rolled underneath, keeping the shutter open with his second dagger. He looked around the shop for the required clothes for the four to wear, and eventually came across a large clothes rack that hung many packed clothes in long sheets of transparent plastic wrapping. Inside the wrapping, half of the clothes were dark blue shirts, black pants with black shoes, and the other half were white blouses with red ribbons tied on them with black high-heeled shoes. Zidane thought for a second. "I don't need the girls uniforms, cus Terra's a teacher. So I need four boy's uniforms." He took two small-sized uniforms, for Luneth and himself, and two medium-sized uniforms for Tidus and Squall, not before tightening the other clothes together to seem less suspicious. Before leaving, he stumbled upon a stationary set in plastic boxes on a nearby shelf, which fashioned pencils, rubbers, sharpeners and rubbers; and with a casual whistle, took four, doing the same, by bringing the back boxes to the front to avoid detection. But before leaving once again, he spotted sachels, which were a basic necessity for school life, and swiped four yet again and mixed the remaining up. "That's everything. And not a single failure yet!" He peeked through the shutter doors, repocketing his dagger, which kept it afloat, to see nothing yet.
Until, he spotted someone, treading past with stealth.
The person was in black, even wearing a black balaclava, and kept looking everywhere in a 360 degree angle. Zidane had to lower the shutters slightly to avoid notice.
"What's this?!" Zidane thought. "Looks like I got competition!" He stealthily opened the shutters and hid under one of the desks in pursuit of the second rogue, bearing the huge load of school equipment. The clad-black rogue exited the cafeteria, entering the corridors of the ground floor that would lead to the reception area. Zidane followed, but kept a clear distance, to avoid ruining the now-spy mission. Now in the reception, Zidane seen the thief enter the elevator and looked to the floor-indicator go to Floor 1. "That's the classrooms." He spotted a door which led to a stairway. He climbed, not by the stairs, but by hopping between half landings to reach Floor 1. To his luck, he spotted the thief walk past the doors connecting the stairway to the corridors of the first floor. Zidane eventually seen the rogue enter one of the classrooms, and to his shock and horror, seen the classroom number to be 1-A, his and Terra's classroom. With his curiosity heightened, as well as acting as classroom defender, he seen, through the glass window on the door, that the assailant was raiding through the teacher's desk. "What the...?" The thief gave fits of anger, whilst slamming on the table, but looked around, to exit without nobody noticing.
Zidane's luck finally ran out: he dropped one of the stationary boxes, giving a loud bounce, amplified by the empty halls. The rogue noticed immediately, sensing danger, and ran for the door in order to escape as quickly as possible. Zidane too sensed danger, and now this was the time to act. As soon as the thief escaped the classroom, Zidane was spotted.
"Alright you! What are you doing here?!" He said in a commanding voice. The thief gave a soft gasp. The thief was unbelievably, Zidane's size, and did well to hide the facial features, it was dark, and the enigmatic thief didn't see Zidane's. "Answer me!" He made a kick to the enemy in the face, but the results were even better: he managed to kick away the balaclava concealing the attacker's identity. Zidane was stunned:
Behind the black balaclava, Zidane saw a girl with long blonde hair, that blew out immediately when the mask came off. The rogue who he was stalking was a girl. He couldn't tell the specifics that well, but the glowing dagger could only let him catch a tiny glimpse; she was beautiful. Immediately, the girl fled for her life, leaving a stunned Zidane in her wake. Out of instinct, he chased after the girl, hoping to uncover this mystery, but the girl was too fast, and reached the stairs and finally fled the scene, before Zidane could retrieve his dropped items. Soon, he too had to flee the scene, in order to avoid being caught himself, and ran towards the cafeteria to escape through the loose door. He managed to escape, and finally taste some fresh air, and escape to the outskirts of the school. All the while, he had the burning desire to find out who the girl was, why she was searching through Terra's desk, and was able to outsmart even him.
Back at Cosmos' Residence, Cloud had returned from a two-hour period of working, having delivered over eighteen deliveries in the entire time, admitting he could have done more if he didn't keep getting stopped by traffic lights. And in honour of his success, the company rewarded Cloud with two free boxes of pizza and a large bottle of soda, to which it would keep the eleven present fully fed. Everyone was laughing and having a merry time, on account of Cloud's success on just his first day, as well as Terra and the "children"'s success, all except Bartz, who was worried about Zidane, having been over an hour late.
"What's wrong, Bartz?" Asked Firion.
"Nothing, just worried about Zidane." Bartz replied.
"He has been gone for quite some time." Terra said.
"Do you think he got himself into trouble?" Asked Luneth.
"No." Cosmos said. At that point the door slammed open, raising the attention of everyone. Bartz rushed to the door to see Zidane, with his hands full with school equipment and clothes.
"Zidane, you made it!" Bartz cheered.
"Told yah I'd not let you down!" He said. The five school attenders plus Cloud came through next.
"Way to go, dude!" Tidus cheered.
"Did you get everything?" Asked Terra.
"Yeah, even got some extras." Zidane said, showing the bags and stationary sets.
"That's Zidane for yah!" Bartz cheered, while rubbing the monkey-tailed thief's hair.
"But, I got a hell of a scoop for yah Terra!" Zidane said, finally remembering the latter incident.
"Don't tell me you got caught." Cloud said with irritation. Zidane shook his head and explained it at the table, while feasting on Cloud's pizza.
"A girl?" Firion said in astonishment.
"Yeah. Didn't get a full catch of her face. Luckily she didn't see mine either." Zidane said.
"What did she want?" Asked Cecil.
"Dunno. But she was raiding through your table, Terra." Zidane told said girl. She gave a gape.
"I will be sure to bring the matter up at the next teacher's meeting." Terra said firmly.
"Least we got the stuff." Tidus said happily.
"Truly, your presense in this group is most rewarding." Cosmos complimented. Zidane brushed the back of his hair in embarrassment.
"Just another day for the thief." Zidane said happily.
That night, the Warrior of Light, Shantotto and Cosmos, being the more senior members of the team, sat at the living room to discuss their next moves, while the other members slept.
"It will be harder from now on to support ourselves." Cosmos started.
"With our enemies expecting your godly powers, we must rely on our allies. But the only person capable of lawfully supporting all of us is Terra, but not until the end of the week." The Warrior of Light said. "Until such times, we are on our own."
"It will be a tough time!" Shantotto said with might. "But as they say, no good can come from bad times. Ohohoho!!"
"The little one is correct." Cosmos said. "Although, I have full confidence that Zidane will ease our struggles. It may be unlawful if caught, but there are far greater risks at hand."
"Understood." The Warrior of Light said. "It will be harder for the child though. He has only performed at a security-light school, if he wishes steal food, it will be challenging." Cosmos merely smiled.
"Do not fear, my Warrior. You must have faith in your comrade."