A/N: Ok, I'm back! No body (so far) has mentioned this, but I'm still going to apologize. To those who know Maechen's little 'secret' - the one you find out in chapter five in Zanarkand, that apparently even Maechen didn't know about – I'm sorry, I didn't know! I don't actually have the game, my friend does, and AFTER I'd written the last chapter, she told me! So sorry about that!

Also, for the record, I haven't actually finished the game before! But I do know, right down to the slightest detail, what happens (for the normal ending, good ending and finally perfect ending). I've even seen the actual video sequence in Zanarkand, after the credits stop rolling when you've completed 100. Though it is very unlikely me and my friend will ever see ANY ending, because we are stuck on Vegnagun's foot! (I don't know how many 'feet' you have to fight, but if it's more than one, we're stuck on the first one!) If someone we manage to complete the game, another thing's stopping us from getting 100. In chapter 5 in Bevelle, when you're that maze, in a cloister (somewhere from 20-25) there is a giant Nidhog that you can't avoid, and it keeps massacring us! SO we will never get to Trema. sob

Whew sighs long author note! Thank you, reviewers, and hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Maechen, Where Art Thou?

"So... any ideas where Maechen will be ...?" I asked, leaning against the cool metal of the bridge on the Celsius.

Me, Lillie and Martha were sitting down on the floor, leaning against the wall on the left hand side, while Victoria and Holly were sitting on the left hand side bottom step of the stairs. Rikku was in her usual place of next the Brother, Brother himself was piloting, and Buddy was on the other side of Brother, with is sphere ocillar-thingy (I don't know how to spell it...). Shinra was in his seat by his many computer, and Paine, Yuna, Baralai, Nooj and Gippal were in a kind of circle in the centre of the floor, sitting down.

"Well, we last saw him in the Zanarkand Ruins, but that was a while ago," Rikku said from her chair.

"So, do we have to search every place in Spira until we find him?" Paine asked, her icy tone showing signs of boredom.

Yuna frowned in thought, "Looks like it. But at least we know he's not in Bevelle! I reckon we could do with some help, though. If we split up, in reasonable size groups, and search, we could get this done soon enough!"

And that was that. There were fourteen of us, so Yuna offered to go fetch Tidus, making it fifteen, so we could go around in groups of three – Buddy, Brother and Shinra were to stay on the Celsius, waiting for any group to report back.

Paine, Rikku and Holly were searching Bikanel, then take an Al Bhed ship to the Baaj Temple (because you never know), and finally taking the ship to the Moonflow, where they would search the Moonflow, Guadosalam and the Thunder Plains.

Yuna, Tidus and Victoria were looking in Besaid (obviously), Kilika, Luca, then from the Mi-ihen Highroad to Mushroom Rock and stopping at Djose.

Baralai, Nooj and Gippal were exploring the Calm Lands, Mt. Gagazet and the Zanarkand Ruins (Maechen's probable location).

And finally, Martha, Lillie and me were investigating Macalania, and (believe me, if we were not very happy about this) the Omega Ruins (well, not the Omega Ruins any more, seeing as he was killed, but you get what I mean).

If Maechen was found, you had to (somehow or other) get him to come on the airship. When he agreed (if he agreed) you'd call the airship. Buddy would then alert everyone else, pick up the group who found Maechen, then pick up everyone else.

::Macalania::

"Ok, so search Macalania Woods and Lake thoroughly, then go to Macalania Temple," Buddy instructed us, "Then, there will be a guy waiting for you. Al Bhed, called Bait, he'll stick out like a sore thumb in that place believe me. He's given us permission to let you use his air ship. It's small, but it'll be fine for three people. Use it to get to the Omega Ruins. Once you've searched there - if you find Maechen bring him with you, obviously – and return to Macalania Temple. Give Bait back his airship, and wait for us to pick you up. S'that ok?"

"Roger!" Lillie, me and Martha saluted him, before jumping off the airship at the entrance of Macalania Woods.

::Macalania – Crystal Road::

"No luck," I said, as Lillie walked over to me and Martha. We had spilt up in the Woods, deciding to meet on the crystal-type road, where the fork was (and I mean fork in the road, not the cutlery type).

"Me neither," Lillie replied, "So it's the Travel Agency and the Lake now, then?"

"Yep."

::Macalania Lake::

Me and Lillie had to practically drag Martha out the Travel Agency.

"Aw, come on! I only wanted to stock up on a few more items! It's not my fault if I have a soft spot for grenades! Couldn't I just buy some more? -"

"NO!" Me and Lillie yelled.

::Bait's Airship::

The three of us were getting desperate as we neared the temple, none of us really wanted to go to the Omega Ruins. It's not as though we couldn't handle them fiends, but I wasn't really looking forward to meeting one of them Floating Deaths. Doom isn't the nicest thing to have cast on you, especially when you can't cure it ...

Anyway, on the trip to the Temple, we were all hoping like mad that Maechen would be in the Temple, on the road to the Temple. Even Otto (my racoon, in case you've forgotten) seemed to know what was going to happen. Sadly, Maechen was not there.

Bait, sticking out like a sore thumb as Buddy had predicted, seemed to know it was us straight away. Maybe Buddy had said 'Look out for three girls – two black mages and one with a pet racoon,'?

Martha and Lillie had voted me to fly the airship, because they wanted to have a look at other things. It was only when we were up in the air (I've lost count of how many times I tried to get that thing off the ground) that I yelled –

"I don't mean to alarm anyone, but how the Hell do you FLY THIS THING??!!!!"

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A/N: Ok, when I was going on about Doom casted by the Floating Deaths, I made it so Doom actually kills you, not just KO's you, if you get me. I will probably do that with a lot of things. I'm quite pleased with this chapter – over two pages! (Hardly anything, I know ...) Remember, two reviews!