Yes Matt, you would hate to be Zed right about now. But not because of Mai's wrath, (not yet anyway) but because of the fact that he and his two friends are currently surrounded by many lower guards.

"So leader, what exactly are you wanting us to do at this point?" Said the British 'thug'.

"Give me a minute Allen.." 

"We don't have a minute, Zed." Said Lucas, the other 'thug'.

"Stand back!" Wait, that was a female voice... "Oh great." The Thugs whined as Zed sighed and the guards parted enough for Mai to enter the circle.

Captain Mai was a sight to see. She was glaring daggers at the three boys, though most of it was towards the leader of the group. Anger was coming off of her very being. Everyone that was around her knew that she was about to explode any moment.

Zed, the greatest of thieves, smiled kindly at the short Captain. The thief had strange shaggy hair, it was white with black ends. He was rather tall, and compared to the short Captain, a giant of sorts. He looked down at her with light green eyes, bowing slightly, making his black cape trail the ground slightly. "Captain Mai, to what do we owe the pleasure?"

Her eye twitched, and the two thugs hid behind their tall leader, wondering what they've gotten themselves into.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe it was the fact that you stole the princess' royal crown?" Her voice was low, almost like a growl. Maybe she was a demon...

"Oh that?" He recalled innocently. Mai walked up to him, more like 'stomped' really. "Yes! That! Now give it back and I might think about sparing your lives!" She held out her hand, expecting him to give it to her.

He pretended to think about it, his hand on his chin and his eyes closed. Mai waited, tapping her foot impatiently. Lucas and Allen glanced to Zed, then back to Mai. Zed had told them about the short girl, both in height and in temper. At first, they didn't believe him, that such a girl excised in the world. But now...

Not only did the girl exist, but she was nothing like they imagined her to be. The two boys thought she would be an ugly brute. But the small woman standing before them was rather...pretty.

Allen, as said before, was British. He also had red hair, though his is spiky and all over the place, and matching red eyes. He watched the Thief and Captain argue like an old married couple as he dusted off his matching black cloak and let out a yawn.

Lucas was a bit taller than Allen, but not as tall as Zed. His hazel eyes lingered on the two before him as he moved his dirty-blonde hair out of his eyes. After growing bored, he re-tied the bow of his cloak, which was also black.

Allen and Lucas glanced back up at Zed, he looked like he was enjoying himself. They, however, were very bored. "Zed...Stop flirting and get a move on. We would like to escape, remember?"

"F-Flirting!?" Yelled Mai in embarrassment as Zed turned around to glare at his teammates. They flinched slightly and started whistling, avoiding eye contact.

Zed turned back to the red-faced girl and smiled. "Well, I'm sorry Cap, but," He leaned down and quickly pecked her on the cheek. "I gotta go."

Before she could even react, Zed turned around, grabbed the other two by the arms, and used the water fountain to leap over the guards by jumping from head to head. Or..helmet to helmet.

Mai's face exploded scarlet as she yelled. "ZED CARTER! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU'RE DEAD!"

Once on the ground, the three ran towards the outskirts of the town to the forest, taking three horses on their way out.

Allen laughed. "Wow, you sure know how to pick women Zed, she's crazy about you!"

Lucas chuckled. "Oh yeah, you know how it goes at weddings. 'Till death do you part'!"

Zed rolled his eyes as the two laughed at him.

Mai had stolen a horse from one of the guards, running after them. Once she had caught up with them, the chase was on.

This was normal by now. Zed would steal, Mai would chase and end up losing him in the woods somehow. Though this was the first time he brought company with him. She only thought of the thugs as two more pains in her side. Just great.

They zoomed through the town. The people swiftly moved aside as the horses went by and once they were out of sight, went back to whatever they were doing before. As again, this happened often.

Then they reached the woods. Trees went by them in a blur and the only noise heard was the rough sound of hooves against the fresh grassy ground. Oh, and Mai's occasional scream of frustration. Nothing new.

She promised herself that this time she would catch him. This time for sure.

So she took a sharp turn, going into the trees and disappearing.

Zed glanced back, noticed she was gone and stopped his horse, followed by Allen and Lucas. Allen looked around. "Hey, ah, I have a feeling she's not gone...and that sort of scares me a little."

Lucas nodded and turned to Zed, who was getting off his horse. "Zed, is this normal?" He also got off his horse the same time as Allen.

The thief sighed, smacking his horse on the rump so it would flee. "Yeah well, normally, I lose her. But she gave up rather quickly today..." He looked around and the two boys shooed their own horses away.

Lucas looked to him with an unreadable expression. "So what you're saying is that no, this isn't normal." Allen made a sour face. "Brilliant! We're gonna die!" 

Allen started pacing as the other two rolled their eyes and walked away, almost leaving him behind.

"Wait for me!" The British man cried as he ran up to their side.

They walked towards their hideout, which was underground, inside of the old mining shafts.

"So what do you think she has in store for us?" Asked Allen a bit nervously.

"Death, remember?" Said Lucas with a shrug, then looked at Zed. "Oh wait, that special condition was saved for you, Zed. We, on the other hand, might actually survive." Allen sighed in relief and Zed rolled his eyes again.

"So why exactly do you like to torment the poor girl anyway?" Asked Lucas with a curious gaze as they walked in front of entrance to the mines. The entrance seemed to be a giant hole in the middle of a large hollow tree, that happened to be on the edge of a long cliff.

Zed opened his mouth to reply but the voice that was heard was definitely not his own.

"To annoy me, perhaps?"

They all turned to find the topic of conversation leaning against the large tree, glancing at them from underneath her Captain's hat.

The boys blinked at her. "How did you know we would be here?" Lucas asked with a surprised tone.

"This is the closest entrance to the mine in this area. I knew a shortcut, so I got here first." She stood up straight and turned to look at them. "I've never been able to track your exact location in the mines, but I have found most of the entrances."

Allen whistled. "Persistent, aren't we?" She glared at him and he hid behind Lucas. "So what happens now?" Lucas asked, but his voice was slightly hitched from Allen squeezing the life out of him.

She sighed. "Well. Since you three don't know how to have a normal negotiation without running away. I thought that I would just meet your demands."

"That's right, you're gonna take us away and put us in a cell-" Allen stopped and all of them blinked.

"Wait, what?" They all asked in unison.

She only stared at them blankly. "What are your demands for returning the crown?"

"Ah..." They looked to each other. Zed sighed, reaching into his satchel and pulling out the beautiful unworn crown. She eyed him carefully as he walked towards her and stretched it out for her to take. "There's no need for that."

She looked up at him, seeing that kind smile on his face made her think for a moment that he wasn't as bad as she made him out to be. "But this is all just a game to me."

And...the moment is broken. He's just a Joking Thief after all.

She swiped the crown away from him, a bit irritated, and quickly put it in her own shoulder bag. Where it would be safe, in her mind. "Now that that's settled. I'll just be on my way."

She started to walk around Zed but stopped when she reached beside him, glancing up at him dangerously. "But I warn you, the next time I find you taking something like this, I will not show mercy."

The other two boys watched as an amused smile grew on Zed's face. She took another step but stopped dead in her tracks when she felt the top of her head lose heat. Her hat was gone.

She turned on her heel to find Zed leaning against the tree, twirling her hat on his index finger.

"You better give that back this instant!" She demanded with an angry voice. Though somehow, there was a hidden hint of amusement.

Zed continued to twirl it, that amused smile on his face never faltering. The boys would have even said that he looked...Happy. "You don't need it. In fact," He flicked his wrist and the hat landed on his head. "I think I'll keep it."

That's when the chase began again, only this time on foot. Allen and Lucas watched the two as Mai tried desperately to get her hat back from the thief, but he was much to tall, and she just couldn't reach it.

The thugs watched in amusement for a while before it happened.

In the chase that the two were enjoying, they seemed to have forgotten the fact that there was a cliff only a little ways away from them. That's when Mai tripped on a root, and fell backwards.

Time started to slow down as Mai fell towards the seemingly endless void off the side of the cliff.

She couldn't even have time to think before her instincts kicked in. She reached forward, toward anything that she could grab a hold of. She called his name at the top of her lungs as fear took over for the first time in many years.

When she fell, he had reached for her, but was too late. She started to fall and out of pure instinct, he went in after her.

The not-so-thug-like-thugs ran to the edge, only seeing a glimpse of the two before they were engulfed by fog.

Lucas searched the edge as Allen started freaking out, ranting about like a chicken with it's head cut off.

"Allen." No response, just rambling as he started to pace..

"Hey, Allen." Again, more rambling and pacing. "Allen!"

"What!?" He cried at last, stopping in place.

"Go to the palace and tell somebody close to the Captain that she needs help!" Lucas explained as he started climbing down the cliff.

"Don't tell me that you're going down there!?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing."

"Oh....! You, my good Sir, are mad! Bloody mad!"

Allen started running towards the small kingdom. Lucas looked down and sighed. It was going to be a long climb...