The Thieves Gauntlet

When Cecil and the Goddess Cosmos arrived back at the household, the Warriors greeted them happily, primarily glad they managed to come back in one piece.

"So?! How did it go?" Asked Bartz happily, expecting it to be bad news, after all, he knew Exdeath the most and knew the dangers he posed.

"It is complete." Spoke Cecil. "Exdeath has perished, granting us our magic back." The team celebrated with a cheer, and for those too quiet for cheering, like Cloud or Squall, they gave a mental cheer of joy.

"You're the best, Cecil!" Spoke Luneth in joy.

"You did great!" Firion smiled.

"It was nothing, really." Smiled Cecil. "I am just relieved my Dark Knight form came in handy." It was then that Cosmos piped up.

"Cecil has done us a great service, and for his efforts, I would like to reward you..." Cosmos clasped her hands together and produced twelve blue, shiny plastic cards.

"What are these, Cosmos?" Asked the Warrior of Light curiously taking one, as did the others, including Cosmos.

"You were not the only one studying this strange new world." Cosmos smiled happily. "I learned of the existence of these strange cards that grant the person belonging to it the currency of this world."

"Those would be called credit cards, Cosmos." Said Cloud. "I had lots of people use them on my job. Took me a while how to use them."

"Thank you, Cloud." Spoke Cosmos with a smile of gratitude. "These "credit cards" that I have created allow the user to take as much money as they desire, and can be used an infinite number of times." This had the whole team stunned, over the past few days, money was hard to come by, but now they have infinite money.

"Why didn't you give us these sooner?!" Snapped Squall, angry at the Goddess of Harmony.

"Whoa, calm down, man!" Zidane spoke, trying to ease Squall's anger.

"No, you are correct, Squall. I only learned of their existence recently, and while the forces of Chaos were searching for us, I could not construct them. But thanks to Cecil's efforts, I can now do so." Squall gave a growl before looking away.

"Does that mean I can quit school and the others can quit their jobs?" Asked Squall, expecting the others to agree, but did not expect them to disagree so strongly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that!" Terra said. "These cards might make money no longer a problem, but I have grown attached to being a teacher!"

"Yeah! School's awesome!" Said Tidus. "We get to finally do what high schoolers do!"

"Sorry, but I like doing my job too." Said Cloud. Seeing all of the school-goers, workers and non-workers react so negatively only made Squall more and more angry.

"You know what?! You can all go to Hell!" Yelled Squall, walking angrily at the cupboard under the stairs that housed his weapon, the gunblade, making the team scared for their lives, until Squall went outside, banging the door on his way out.

"That Squall has some serious issues." Sighed Firion.

"I apologise for Squall's actions, Cosmos." Spoke the Warrior of Light.

"There is no need." Spoke Cosmos. "Squall is a kind soul and his heart is in the right place. Leave him in peace for the time being."

"As you say, my Goddess." Said the Warrior with a bow.

"Anyway, I'm hungry." Said Tidus. "Want me to order out some food?" Before the team could debate which would be better to eat, Cosmos giggled softly.

"Now, Tidus, that won't be necessary." She spoke then waved her hands and the dining table was suddenly filled with all of their favourite meals. "This is a celebration of Cecil's bravery and accomplishment; let us dine in his honour."

"Whoa! Right on!" Cheered Tidus immediately heading to the table.

"Thank you, Cosmos." Smiled Cecil. "Your grace and kindness are second to none."

"Thank you for your kind words, Cecil. Come, let us eat." The team went ahead and began happily eating their fill, even leaving some food for Squall should he decide he's too tired, too cold or unlikely wanting to apologise for his behaviour.

But he never did, even when the meals were completely eaten, magically cleaned away, and the others seeing themselves to bed, Squall was still outside in the back yard, training with his Gunblade, now that he had access to it, practicing his form, swings and timing for when to pull the trigger mid-swing. He messed up again by firing too late and falling over.

"You've gotten sloppy." Smirked a secret watcher: Bartz. He was standing at the back door, watching Squall train.

"Shut up! You've had more free time than me!" Squall growled, getting up and trying again.

"Then wanna go a few rounds? I might be a copycat, but you should be able to handle me." Bartz laughed and faced Squall, magically conjuring the Onion Knight's blade from nothing.

"Fine, if it gets you out of my hair." Growled Squall preparing his Gunblade and then the two blades clashed. Bartz greatly overpowered and outpaced the lone warrior, with each hit, driving Squall into a corner, and then finally finding an opportunity to strike. "Got'cha!" But this was what Squall had anticipated, letting Bartz grow careless before hitting Bartz's sword with great precision that threw the blade out of Bartz's hand.

"Whose the sloppy one now?" Asked Squall, more passionate about battling than anything else.

"Wow, you got me Squall, well done!" Bartz's smiled, but took out Terra's rapier. "How about another-" But was cut off when he saw something in the distance.

"What?" Asked Squall and looked in Bartz's direction to see Zidane run in the direction of the school. "Zidane?! The hell's he up to?"

"Dunno, but we better follow him, in case he gets into trouble." Bartz said and went to pursue him.

"Who's we?" Scoffed Squall. "You can follow him, but it's his problem if he's in trouble!" He went back to training on his lonesome.

"Aww, c'mon, Squall! You don't mean that, do yah?!" Bartz spoke in emergency. Squall looked into the pleading eyes of Bartz and sighed.

"Fine, fine! But when we catch up, I'll be the one to knock his lights out." Squall said and pocketed his Gunblade.

"Sounds good. Now let's go, before we lose him." Bartz said and the two Warriors of Cosmos gave chase to the tailed rogue.

Zidane was sent up to bed that night after they had ate Cosmos' grand feast. But after Bartz snuck out to look for Squall, now was his chance; he promised Hiyo he would show up at the school at 8 o'clock and he wasn't one to go back on his word. Zidane snuck out five minutes after Bartz left to make sure everyone else was sleeping; the room with Cloud and Terra was quiet, as was the room with Firion and Cecil and the solitary room of Cosmos. Zidane crept down the stairs, memorising the creaking spots whenever he would try to sneak a midnight snack and went to the bottom floor to retrieve his gear. He went to the cupboard under the stair and took his dual daggers; it still had Terra's enchantment from last time, but it's magical power was running short; those were the only tools he will need, anything from unlocking doors, removing barricades and taking out competition or authorities were all handled by his trusted daggers.

Without making a sound, he went out the front door and began running to the school they attended; it took five minutes to reach it, right on time. Upon arriving, Zidane went to the spot where Hiyo would be: the spot they first met on the night he came to the school, making sure there was no security cameras or any traps Hiyo may have set up. And there she was, standing at the top of the stairs was his rival in burglary, Hiyo, with a wide grin.

"So you decided to show, hm?" Grinned Hiyo.

"Of course, I don't back down from a challenge that easily." Zidane spoke with pride.

"Then allow me to welcome you to the thief's gauntlet! A challenge for us thieves!" Hiyo spoke.

"Thief's gauntlet, eh?" Zidane spoke. "Okay, how does it work?"

"Oh, it's simple, even for someone like you." Zidane growled in anger at Hiyo's taunt. "There's a room in this school which holds all the confiscated and lost and found goods in it. Find this place, take the most valuable thing and you win, simple, right?"

"I've never heard of this place." Zidane said, stroking his chin in thought. "And how do I know you don't know it!?"

"Well, duh, if everybody knew about it, people would be stealing from it on a daily basis." Hiyo sniggered. "And no, I've only heard of it from teacher's talk, but they never let on any details. You and me are on equal ground. Think you can handle it?" Grinned Hiyo.

"Of course I can!" Zidane said in confidence. "I'll find this place before you do!"

"Then on your marks, get set, go!" Hiyo announced and Zidane and Hiyo ran in opposite directions down the large corridor. But when Hiyo turned her corner, she looked at Zidane and sniggered. "Sucker!"

Zidane already had a plan in motion: find the head mistress' office on the fourth floor for intel gathering; if there's anybody who knew anything about the school, it was the head mistress. Zidane took the stairs all the way to the top but when he emerged through the closed door, he was up on the roof instead.

"Hey, how did I get here?" Pondered Zidane, but gave a chill. "Brr! It's freezing!" He quickly shut the door again and traced his path backwards, heading to the second highest floor which would be the fourth floor. Terra was the one who knew this floor, having came here for her teacher's interview, but now that he was here, he didn't have a clue where to go. After exploring the dark corridors of the fourth floor, using his daggers as a light source, he stumbled on Headmistress Emiko's office and using his hair as a lock pick entered to see a small room with a desk and chair on opposite sides, a computer and a filing cabinet that covered half the wall. The filing cabinet was his best bet and scoured through it, looking through the individual files like student records, funding distribution, absence register and finally arrived at a section detailed 'Lost & Found/Confiscated items.' Zidane took the files and sat on the Headmistress' seat, feeling comfort in milking the situation for all its worth and browsed through the contents. There were things like lost umbrellas, lost bags, confiscated prank gear and finally he arrived at one with the most value: a ruby and sapphire ring, lost on the first floor and moved to the third floor storage room.

"Bingo!" Zidane grinned, he had found his mark and it's location.

But suddenly, the room began to glow blue, then red and back to blue again. Sensing that this was an unnatural light coming from outside, he went to have a look, but wish that he hadn't: it was coming from a police car! They were on to him! When Zidane looked at the door of the headmistress' room, he noticed his mistake: there was a security device on the door that should it be unlocked without the proper key, it would send a distress signal to the police. Zidane knew pursuing this ring was suicide now that the authorities were inside the school and aware of his intrusion, so he decided to high tail it out of there and make an excuse to Hiyo the next day; in any burglary job, it's always better to flee and return when the coast is clear than to continue the folly and be arrested, surely if Hiyo were a proper thief, she would know this unwritten code. He ran down the stairs in an attempt to sneak past the cops, but when he was running past the second floor, he heard a scream that sounded all too familiar: Hiyo. Zidane peered from the corner to see that a police officer had Hiyo on the ground and restraining her with hand cuffs.

"Let me go, you asshole!" Hiyo screamed, fighting back, kicking and screaming, it was like watching a wild animal caught in a trap; but no matter how she resisted, the highly built police officer was too strong for her.

Inside, Zidane was jumping for joy, justice had been served and she would soon be punished for breaking into Terra's classroom. But something didn't quite sit right with Zidane: Hiyo was taking the fall for his own mistake, if she weren't there to be caught by the officer, it would have been him squirming and trying to escape fruitlessly. It felt wrong to let Hiyo be arrested and expelled for a careless act that he committed; and to top it off, if she were to be arrested now, there would be no way to truly know what she was after.

Zidane didn't like this decision he was about to make, but knew it was only the right thing to do, as both a thief and as a Warrior of Cosmos...