Org. XIV (story)

"Yeah Maya I'm fine thanks for staying back with me. Although I'm getting used to being left behind its no big deal." She grabbed her bag and followed after with a sad face.

She began to think about all she has been through. Every challenge she has faced. Poor Aleri I can't believe he lost someone I hope they find Vita.

"Wait Maya, can I ask you a question?"

"Yep. Yep, ask Maya any question you want!" The girl replied cheerfully.

Lance nodded as they ran, Dark Shields crept from his palms and invisibly defended his hands and forearms as well as his legs.

Spirit Greaves is what I like to call them. Just Dark Energy coalesced into armor.

"Lance can contact people through mind chat right. Where ever Vita is we need Lance to connect to her through wind chat. That way we can figure out what happened to her."


She began to link her mind to lance's. "Hey lance its Eira. Try using your mind chat and connect your mind with Vita and ask her where she is. So you all can find her."

She ended the chat and looked at Maya. "What shall we do for the time being?"

Lance grimaced at the sudden reception but played off as him stubbing his toe.

I already tried. I can't find her light/darkness signature. Everyone has one... It's being masked by something...

Maya shrugged, "Maya is going to finish her ice cream. After that... who knows?"

<It's being obscured by the fog of the Plot! >:D Bwahahahahaha!>

Actually, Lance recieved a small response. Impossible to pinpoint, but there was a sound like muttering. Kind of like sleep-talking. It didn't seem like a conscious response, indicating that she was asleep, but definitely alive. But... asleep at this time of day? That wasn't really so uncommon, come to think of it.



Aleri pounded his fist into his palm. "...I'll improvise."

He burst out into the Sandlot, scaring Seifer and his crew half to death. Rai even teripped on a bench and fell over, Seifer nearly lost his balance. Fuu, as usual, remained stoic.

"Outsider." She said in a deadpan voice.

Seifer pulled himself together. "You again... what do you want?"

"Where's Vita?!"

"Huh?" That wasn't what Seifer expected to hear. "What do you want with her? I haven't seen her all day."

"Don't play dumb with me!" Aleri grabbed Seifer by the collar with both hands.

Seifer pushed him away. "What is your PROBLEM!?"

"Yeah, you're all edgy, yknow?!" Rai exclaimed.

Aleri backed away. "...S... sorry. I'm just kinda..."

"That's it, fruitcake, I'm gonna smash you." Seifer wasn't about to put up with any crap from Al. He grabbed a Struggle Sword from behind the bench, causing a bundle of them to spill out into the open. Without pause, he leapt at Aleri, aiming to whack his head.

The Avenger of Twilight sidestepped, grabbed Seifer's right arm, and threw him, diving for one of the leftover toy weapons. "Let me explain...!"

"SHADDAP!" Seifer yelled, already standing above Aleri, swinging at him.

After a couple of minutes of Aleri blocking and evading Seifer's attacks, he got tired of it and began to beat him down, aiming strikes at his arms to disable any attacks. "Stop it! I thought you had kidnapped Vita, and I got a little... crazy!"

"Why the hell would I do that, dumbass!?"

"I... I..." Aleri sagged. "...It was our only lead. She's gone missing, and-"

"Missing?! When were you planning on telling me!?"

It didn't take long for them to put aside their differences... which was kinda weird, considering how much Seifer hated outsiders.

"Regretfully Maya Lance can't get a hold of her its something is blocking her signal. Okay let's go find some where to sit down for you to eat your ice cream seeing as how I am not needed yet again." She picked her back pack up and headed to the top of the clock tower. She had grabbed Maya and drug her to the top and sat her down beside her while she reached into her bag and pulled out a book and began to read. "Maya, what exact memories do you have of this place. You seem rather fond to be here." She never even took her eyes off the book. "Maya do u think I caused a lot of trouble by comming here with you all. I feel as though I just intruded into the group and I can't help but find my as the cause of all of this. Do u think it wad wrong of me to come?"

Maya shook her head as she smiled hapily at Eira, "No, it wasn't wrong for you to come with us! You're part of our group. Plus, Maya thinks you're pretty nice. Which counts for a lot." She said happily munching on her ice cream.

Lance groaned at the both of them, "So, you haven't seen her Seifer? Then... we should all look for her. The mansion and the underground are really the only places that we haven't looked yet."

Seifer, Fuu, Rai, and Aleri came rushing into view, bradishing their improvised weapons. "Looks like they wanna help." Aleri said.

"The mansion? Let's go!" Seifer ran off without another word, his posse not far behind him. Aleri almost took off, too, but held back to see if Lance knew anything else.

Lance nodded and followed after the group at a sprinter's pace, Thalia right beside him.

I keep getting faint hints of where she is Al... It's like she's asleep...

"Thanks Maya your a true friend." She reached over and hugged her. "Stay here for a moment. There is something I have go check on." She ran down the stairs and to the ground in front of the clock tower. She walked over to a man at a store. She looked around and noticed a necklace hanging in the window at the front of the store. "How much for the necklace?" The man turned to me. "Only 3 coins miss its our special offer, for today." She took the necklace and placed it on the counter as she searched my bag for 3 coins.

She pulled them out and noticed a book lying on the shelf. "Sir what is that?" He took the book off the shelf and took a look at the cover. "It says, life cycle of a l'cie." She handed grabbed the book and grabbed the one lying on the desk. "I'll take that one and this one." She the books over to him. "Ah fallen a story about fallen angels. You will enjoy that one." She bought the books and headed back to the clock tower. She ran up the steps and sat back down beside Maya. She pulled the necklace of the bag and handed it to Maya. "Here I bought this for you." She placed the necklace around her neck. " it looks beautiful on you." She flipped the stone over showing the writing "a friend you just met could be the friend that means the most you for forever."

...Yeah... if she were kidnapped, her captor would probably have put her under to keep her from struggling...

Aleri tried not to let it bother him as he rushed through the forest after Seifer and Rai... but where was Fuu?

They stopped at the gate, which was locked. No! I can't use my keyblade in front of them!

Thankfully, Fuu caught up. "Information."

"What's that?" Seifer asked, pausing. He was about to try bashing the gate down.

Hayner and Olette caught up, followed by Pence. "What she... means is..." Pence tried to explain, but he was too winded to speak.

"We asked around, and the last place anybody saw her was at the beach! It was after you guys left last time." Olette finished for Pence.

"What!? Why are we wasting time here, then, y'know?!" Rai wondered... loudly.

"You guys try to find a way in, in case she really is being held prisoner inside. I'll go to the beach, and see if I can unearth anything." Aleri offered. "But let me see what I can do about that lock first..." He ran up to the padlock, which was so large, it was almost silly. He held out his elbows to block their view of what he was doing.

When he was done, the lock fell to the ground with a heavy thump, and the chain fell away. Al immediately turned around and sprinted out, making a dash for the station... or so it seemed. He made a corridor once he was out of sight, bypassing the need for a train ride.



On the beach...

Aleri stood alone, looking at the horizon. "...She's not here. I don't know why I thought she would be... Wait. I can still feel traces of her here. It... doesn't feel like anybody else was with her when she left the beach. I asked the conductor, and they didn't see her return. THere was nobody suspicious around, either. She never went home... but she isn't here anymore. She's alive, and unconscious."

"...What's going on...!?" He cried at the ocean.

<I'm off for the night. I should've gone to bed hours ago, but the power of the plot compels me to fight back sleep... >_< >

Lance walked up to the gate which still wouldn't open, having been rusted shut, "I've got this. Just back up." He took three steps back lowered his shoulder and charged into the gate, he was rewarded with a loud metal clang as the gate flew open.

"Let's go!" Thalia called to the awe struck group as Lance led them inside the mansion.

-----------------------

Maya blushed slightly as she stared in wonder at the necklace, "Thank you... Eira." She gave the girl an affectionate hug, "Maya doesn't get many gifts." She said as she pulled away.

"Well your really sweet and I think you deserved it. I wonder how everyone is doing? I wish someone would give me some contact to know that they are alright." She sat down with her feet hanging over the edge of the tower and grabbed her book and began to read.

Maya stood up and casually walked out into the open air above station plaza. Illusions supported her feet as she walked out to the center floating some seventy feet above the square, "They're fine! Maya knows Lance and Thalia, they're too strong to get hurt!" She cartwheeled in midair, entertaining herself.

Aleri was suddenly sitting on the ledge beside them. "...I don't think she's still on this world. Whoever took her must've taken her offworld, so he, she, whatever, must be more than a petty criminal. Maybe they're working for the Division... No, they agreed to back off. Where is she...?"

"That's not exactly an excuse," Archer pointed out dryly.

"Listen Aleri I'm sorry if I got your hopes up. It was never my intentions. We will find her I promise." She turned her face away from him and walked off the ledge with Maya. "Come on Maya let's help them find Vita."

Aleri held up a hand. "There's nothing we can do. If she's not on this world, we won't find her by searching. It would take all day to search a single world, and there are thousands. We can't canvas the universe."

He tried to give a reassuring smile, but it came out looking... sad. His eyes wouldn't lie. "Relax, I['m sure we'll find her. Dunno what we'll tell Hayner's group, though..."

"I-I'll go see how Lance is doing." Aleri planted his hands on the ledge, kicking off. He fell through a Light Corridor, cutting his jump distance down to about ten feet. He hit the ground running, already on his way to the Mansion.

She walked towards the edge and walked off. She opened a light corridor. "Come on Maya let's go to the beach." She walked through it and stepped off onto the beach. No one in sight not even a single sound could be heard.

<I can tell on Aleri's face he is taking it pretty hard. I haven't seen him this distraught.>

She grabbed her bag and opened it and pulled her book out and sit on one of the seats. She sat down and pulled her book up to her face. She felt a weird disturbance going through the air.

She placed the book down and approached the water. She saw a the water form into a rose and inside of it a girl appeared in the water. "Who are you.?" She walked towards the water while maya was sitting in the sand. She reached out for it and when she did it burst into water droplets and fell back into the water

Maya looked at the water, "Imitation." She held out her hand and the water seemed to move to her will creating an exact copy of Eira.

---------

Lance smashed his fist into the wall of the obscenely white room, "Where could she have gone?" He frowned at the thought that immediately surfaced. She might not even be on world any more.

<Errr... for the record, the ledge they were on was about fifty feet above Station Heights. You DO know the layout of Twilight Town, don't you, Namine? Or were we thinking of different parts of it? It sounds like you were thinking of the steps out front, not the ledge where everybody hangs out.>

Aleri burst into the room. "She's not in this world anymore!" He blurted. "...Dunno why I said that so suddenly, uh... A-Anyway, she's gone. I have no idea where she is, and we won' be able to search for her unless we can pinpoint her location..."

"Maya what is that?"
< I was talking about like a hang ovet feature.>

<I had a post ready, but I erased it by accident. Dammit.>

Aleri looked around. "...Looks like, uh... every castle I've seen beside yours, Lance. Seriously, what's with all the whiteness? And... it fees empty. Like somebody was supposed to be here."

<Namine never existed in Org.XIV, which was a major plot point. There's also DiZ, but since my post got erased, and I don't feel like redoing it... I'll let him be. Just expect him to be in the Mansion.>

Lance nodded, "I guess you're right there... This place is really bright... It almost makes you wonder who lived here..." He traced his hand along the table and gathered a thin line of dust.

"Let's search other worlds. Ones where people normally show up when they go missing. Like Asylum and Traverse Town. I'll check Asylum," He said as he opened a corridor, "Maybe check Celestial Grounds too."

------

Maya smiled as the clone mimicked Eira, mouthing the words she said and matching her hand motions, "An imitation. A replica that Maya created using the power of illusion."

------

Nick nodded, "It's not an excuse. It's the truth. I used to be one of the fastest people I knew... Well, until my world dissappeared."

"Was that with or without Persona enhancements?" Archer asked dryly.