If only we really did know what ever happened to Maya. Since Capcom isn't willing to tell us (probably for now, anyway), I'd be glad to throw my imagination at you.

Original fan fiction by: Michelle V.

At the Borscht Bowl Club, the piano playing was… unique. The man playing at the piano had a few empty grape juice bottles next to his chair, and as two people approached and requested something of him, they went through the kitchen with another employee—who randomly snapped shots at the people—and disappeared down the stairs. This got the woman standing at the entrance of this chilly restaurant just a tiny bit curious…and curiosity can go a long way. She followed the four people down the stairs and peeked through the little window that let her see into the room.

"Now, Olga," said the pianist, adjusting his hat. "You're not going to cheat for these people too, are you?" His eyes were fixed on her, and the woman he was addressing shivered and hid behind the borscht in her hand.

"D-da, I will not be doing the cheating again…" Olga said back timidly.

"Then you can cut the act," said the man, sending a malicious smile her way.

Olga frowned. "Ugh, alright, alright then," Olga replied, pulling off her thick jacket, revealing a spunky woman who smirked as she skillfully shuffled the cards in her hands. "You all know how to play poker, right?"

The woman staring through the small window dropped her jaw. They're gambling? These people are doing tactless acts to their wallets! The woman panicked and charged into the room, not thinking.

"GAMBLING IS NOT RIGHT!" she yelled. As she calmed herself, she noticed that the man who was playing piano earlier was quite familiar, now that she had a good look at his face. His back had been turned toward the window she was peeking through.

One of the people sitting at the poker table coughed, and said, "We're not playing for real money; we heard the pianist at this restaurant never lost a game of poker in all his time here." At this comment, the woman blushed, and she started nervously tightening her "topknot".

"So are you going to play, or what?" said Olga. She was dealing the cards.

"Um, I don't know how to play poker…" the woman said hesitantly.

The other stranger at the poker table said, "Then maybe you can just sit in and be a witness to the game. You can testify that I was the second person to beat the pianist here!" The stranger chuckled at her own joke, and the woman decided to sit down. Wow, 'witness'? 'Testify'? Haven't heard those words in a while… thought the girl as she plopped herself into one of the chairs.

Ever since she entered the room, the pianist with the blue skullcap had not stopped staring at her. He seemed focused on her the most out of everyone in the room. The woman glanced at him every now and then when he momentarily averted his gaze.

"So," said Olga, "what's your name? I've never seen you at the Club. You even knew about the Hydeout!"

The woman stared up at her. "Me? Oh, I'm no one special. I'm Maya Fey, current master of the Kurain Channeling Technique. It's nice to meet you!" Maya smiled and extended her hand to Olga.

Instead of shaking Olga's hand, the man in the blue skullcap grabbed her hand, making Maya turn to him.

"Um… can I help you?" Maya said, smiling just a little.

At this, the man laughed a little. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

This statement made Maya think a little bit. Suddenly, her face lit up, and her jaw dropped. "NICK?" she exploded. "Is that really you?" She ran over to him and hugged him as tightly as she could. "I've been away from Kurain for a month just looking for you! I went to your office but instead of 'Law Offices', it said 'Anything Agency' on the door, so I really didn't think to go inside." Maya stared at Phoenix, or Nick, not realizing how intimate her gaze looked to the other people in the room.

Phoenix swiveled his chair and put his arms on her shoulders. Unknowingly, he blanked out for about a minute, never taking his eyes off of Maya. It seemed he couldn't find the words to say—or maybe he couldn't decide what to ask her about first.

"Hey, Mr. Pianist," said one of the people playing poker with him, "Are you going to stare at your girlfriend all day, or we going to play some poker?"

At this comment, Phoenix and Maya both instantly went red. Maya threw her arms around, strongly denying this misconception.

"We're not… well, you see…" Maya stammered, still throwing her arms around.

Maya's quick denial of any intimate relationship at all between them hurt Phoenix, but he tried to sound like he didn't care. "We're just FRIENDS!" he smiled. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to talk to my FRIEND." Phoenix got up out of his chair and put his arm around Maya's shoulder. The stranger said under his breath, "Um, you said friend twice…"

They walked up the stairs together slowly and awkwardly, like a baby just learning to walk. When they got to the raggedy kitchen, Phoenix noticed Maya's red face and the location of Phoenix's arm: around Maya. He quickly pulled it away and used it to scratch his head.

"So, why are you here? You should be at Kurain since you're the master and all…" Phoenix said trying not to look at Maya's troubled face.

She stared at him, and started to say, "Well, that's the thing. I visited Sister Bikini just before coming here for you. She said that since I'm twenty— … OLDER now, I should be considering marriage…" She fidgeted and crinkled her robes as Phoenix gawked at her.

For a while, Phoenix didn't do anything at all. He never really could do anything when shocked this much. Not to anyone's surprise, his ring-tone of the Steel Samurai played as someone from his office called him on his cell phone. He dug through his pockets feeling for his phone, embarrassed as Maya giggled at the thought of Phoenix having a ten-year-old ring-tone. Of course, Phoenix knew Maya still had her Steel Samurai fetish; she did send him those Steel Samurai DVDs when he was disbarred, after all.

"Hello? This is Wright speaking," Phoenix said, coughing to clear his voice.

The voice on the other line was loud and clear, so Maya couldn't help but listen in on the conversation.

"Daddy! Daddy! We've got a case for Polly! Don't we, Polly? Yes we do!" a girl's voice bubbled through the phone. Maya's eyes widened. Did I just hear 'Daddy'? Oh, no, no, no, no. He has a child? Don't tell me… I'm too late? This was what surged through Maya's mind, her expressions getting more and more distressed.

A boy's voice suddenly appeared, though a little faraway-sounding. "Hey, give me the phone, Trucy. Let me talk to your dad."

"Daddy, Polly wants to talk to you! You want to talk to Daddy, don't you, Polly? Yes you do!" Trucy giggled.

"Stop talking to me like I'm some kind of bird…" "Polly" said miserably, grabbing the phone. "Mr. Wright? Ah, yes… I need your help with my case. It has something to do with a woman named Iris. She wanted to meet you and me at the local detention center to talk."

Phoenix's expression suddenly got sterner. "What? Iris? Did something happen to her? Ah, never mind. I'll be at the office soon to get you, okay? Bye."

Phoenix started for the door, but then he realized Maya was with him. He smiled softly at her and said, "Would you like to come along with me, and be my faithful assistant again?" He chuckled at the thought, and Maya made a nostalgic, displeased expression at him.

"Well, okay. We need to discuss what I said, anyway…" she said, looking at anything but him.

"Oh, right… Well, let's talk about this later, in private." Phoenix looked at her, and then started walking for the door. Maya followed not too far behind.

The walk all the way back to the office was quiet and awkward, at least on Maya's part. Phoenix was humming a tune, still smiling because he finally got to meet Maya after so long. Maya, on the other hand, was thinking of the worst-case scenario that could occur. Let's see, Iris was Nick's girlfriend in university. Iris still liked him, even after the last trial I went to. I've been gone for seven years. No way, Iris and Nick are married?

Maya's expressions looked obviously troubling to Phoenix, and he slowly asked her, "Maya, is everything alright?"

She suddenly noticed her strange behavior and started to laugh suspiciously. "Ah, hah, nothing's wrong at all, Phoenix – oh, I mean Nick. Everything's hunky-dory. Ha, ha, ha, ha…"

Phoenix had a suspecting look on his face. "Well, if you say so," he said, looking at the buildings they walked by. "Ah, here we are. Right this way, Maya."

When they finally got to the "Wright Anything Agency", Maya gulped loudly. Here it comes, she thought, I'm going to meet Nick's daughter! As Phoenix opened the door, the only person standing inside was a young man.

"Uh, Mr. Wright, Trucy's panties got stolen again, so she's chasing after the culprits with Mr. Hat right now…" the young man said uncomfortably, only noticing Maya after he spoke.

What the young man said confused Maya immensely. If Nick and Iris have been married for at most seven years, then their child could be around 6. Yet, someone stole her panties, and she's being allowed to roam around alone freely…? And who the heck is Mr. Hat? He sounds like a butler… As shethought deeply, Phoenix introduced Maya to the young man.

"Apollo, this is a close friend of mine. Her name is Maya Fey. She's… a little out of it today. You see, we finally met after seven years," Phoenix whispered to Apollo, trying to make sure not to attract Maya's attention.

Apollo stared at Maya, and murmured to Phoenix, "Wow, Mr. Wright. She's pretty. How old is she?"

Phoenix looked at Apollo, then at Maya, and then at Apollo again. "Let's just say that she's older than you. Way older than you," he exaggerated to the twenty-two year old.

Apollo shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, it doesn't matter if she's old, Mr. Wright, it doesn't matter at all. She's still really pretty." Apollo didn't notice that Maya could hear him; he was talking at a normal volume. Phoenix laughed, and Maya started to interrogate Phoenix about what he told gullible Apollo.

"Well, you know," Phoenix joked, "you are pretty old now!" He stretched and laughed as he thought about this, and Maya was sneaking a glance at his left ring finger for a ring. There wasn't a ring around his finger. She sighed, thinking that that didn't help her confirm anything at all. He could have been keeping it safe somewhere, after all.

Phoenix detected Maya's sigh and put his hand on her shoulder, staring at her. His voice became soft, and he said, "What's wrong? You look bothered."

Maya blushed as she noticed Phoenix's hand was somewhat firmer, and stronger than she had remembered it. She quickly pushed herself away and stuttered, "You, you're, you are…" married… Maya tried saying, but the word wouldn't reveal itself to Phoenix and stayed in her head.

Phoenix stared at her and thought that she didn't feel anything at all for him, judging from her reaction. 'You're not my type' is what she meant to say, Phoenix thought, sighing, and then laughing pathetically. She's probably here to ask me to help her get a boyfriend…I'm so stupid for jumping to conclusions. "Sorry, Maya, I didn't know," Phoenix said, forcing a smile on his face.

"I think we should head down to the detention center, you two," Apollo said, fixing the papers and other paraphernalia in his hands.

Well, that's my first chapter. It's okay, I guess. Please help me make it better by reviewing!