Keeper of Cerberus

"Faye! He's all yours!" Yuffie called from a few feet ahead of her.
Faye easily stepped out from around the tree she had practically appeared near. With cool calm precision she drew her pistol, pointed it, sighted and fired twice, all in one smooth motion. They gun jumped in her trained hand, but she only set it directly back as she had it before in time to let the second shot ring only milliseconds after the first. The person they had spent the last hour chasing had attacked them.
Amaya had a bullet in her shoulder and Yuffie had been grazed. Tifa closed in on the left as the bullets impacted and threw the man forward onto the dirt. Her eyes were hard as diamonds as she easily let her weapon down. She loosened her stance and sighed as she flipped open the gun so the barrel dropped away to rest over the trigger guard. She caught the two spent brass that came flying out of the cylinder with trained ease. She dropped the spent brass into her pocket and filled the empty chambers before flicking the gun shut and dropping it into the holster.
She walked casually over to where Tifa had their target pinned to the ground. Faye crouched down onto her heels so that her arms rested on her knees. He was bleeding profusely from the bullet wounds to the back. Faye paused for a moment to look the wounds over before she spoke. "Who sent you?" Her voice was unnervingly calm.
The man only grunted a curse in response.

Faye jabbed her fingers roughly into one of the bullet holes. A sharp wail of pain sputtered into silence. "Never mind… I feel generous today," she examined her bloodied fingers before lifting his chin so he was looking at her.
"Go back to your master and tell him I said he needs to try a little bit harder if he wants my head on his wall," she purred. With that she turned about and stood up. She motioned for the others to fall into step next to her. She wiped the blood from her hand and listened carefully.
He crawled to his feet and staggered. She waited. The sound of a hammer drawing back brought Hell Raiser sharply up. She fired a single round over her shoulder, level with the mans chest. He rocked backward on his heels and flopped onto the earth with a hollow thump. Without a second thought they departed.
"Hey guys…" Faye mumbled as the topped the hill that gave an open view of a familiar old building. A golden gleam caught her eye on the crest of the hill across from the building. She knew the place far too well. "I… Have some things to do," She turned slightly, " I will be back before midnight."
Yuffie gave her a confused look.
Faye returned it with an apologetic one, "Yuffie let Vincent know for me will yah?"
Yuffie nodded slowly before turning to follow Tifa.
"I need your help with this bullet," Amaya whined.
"If you get into my bag you will find a cure Materia, use that to keep infection away until I get back… I wont be long," Faye reassured her friend, "Vincent might be able to help if you ask it of him."
Amaya nodded and hurried to catch up with the others.
As soon as they were out of sight she disappeared into a blur of black that flashed erratically about in its direction of movement. In no time at all she had arrived at the hill top where the sun glinted off the gold hilt of a buster blade that held many memories. "Hey Zachary," she whispered. Her fingers brushed against the deep gouges on the blade. She heard something shift and a familiar grey wolf appeared.
"Don't call me that," his voice made her smiled.
She watched him shift shapes until before her stood the man she had known many years before.
He flopped down next to her, "you seem happy."
She nodded softly in return to him, "yeah… hey shouldn't you be with Aerith?"
He faltered a little, "yeah, I suppose."
"You should be with your love," she smiled warmly at him.
"Look who's talking. Vincent is going to miss you," Zack eyed her.
"I know, I just needed to see this old sword," she said softly. Again her hands caressed it gently, gliding over the old rusted surface. "It needs a tune up," she mused softly her mind far away.

"Yeah, brings back memories huh?" a small smile flickered sheepishly across his face.
"I miss having you around Zack," she murmured softly.
"I am with you always Fye," he told her gently.
Her fingers caressed the Fenrir pendant around her neck.
"Cloud misses you too," she looked down.
"He is happy again, his family is almost complete," Zack told her.
"I have a question…" she ventured tentatively. She already knew what he would say to her.
He remained quiet.
"What is happening with Alpha and Beta?" She asked.
"You know I can not tell you," his face fell in a grimace.
"Does anyone die?" She tried another question more specific.
"Yes," Zack whispered almost inaudibly.
"I… see," she choked a little on the tightness of her throat.
"Faye… have faith in Aerith and myself. The person who leaves will leave by request," he told her.
She nodded, "Alright… I trust you Zack… why did you not let us fight. Why did you sacrifice yourself?"
She felt his hand flatten over her unusual hair and set it askew slightly, "It's a protective older brother thing."
"Zack I am older than you by many, many years," she pouted, "I had a vampire infused in me… I could have helped."
"Faye, I understand that… it was my time," he said softly.
Faye jutted her lip out and huffed childishly.
"You look too much like the Chocobo head…" Zack laughed as he tugged and pulled her gravity defying hair. When he drew his hand away she noticed in the reflection of his eyes that her own were smoldering Mako blue.
"OH! Happy very late birthday from Aerith and I," he chirped. She felt three cool objects pressed into her palm. She glanced down at them. A Master Summon Knights of the Round, a silver braced inlayed with a wolfs head and an un-mastered Summon she had never seen before.

She slipped the bracer onto her left arm and smiled when the two visible materia slots gleamed back at her. She slipped the Knights of the Round into the first slot. It shrank slightly to fit snugly. Her gaze turned back to the swirling black and gold Summon. At its heart was a hazy image. A set of bared fangs and glowing eyes was all she could make out.
Faye looked up at him, her eye brows knitted together in question, "this is not something I have ever seen before."
"I wouldn't think so. It is very special," the SOLDIER nodded, "A double summon is something created by the planet… The first was too strong so the second is there to keep the other in check."
Her eyes widened, "Not possible! There is no such thing."
"It took a long time to find, it used to belong to a very special person," The blue eyed male stated.
"Father…" she felt the orb glow brilliantly in her palm.
Zack nodded, "however it is un-mastered. He could not master it."
Fayes face set hard as she pressed it into place on the bracer. Determination flashed in her eyes for a moment.
"You better get going," he told her lightly.
"Alright… thanks for this," she flashed the bracer at him.
He gave a small grin before fading.

When Faye returned she was drenched to the bone. The sky had opened up on her as she walked back to the bar. She came through the door shaking water from her hands. Her hair was slick with the water and it drooped over her face, dripping water down her cheeks and nose. Her smoldering Mako eyes shown behind her wet bangs. Vincent looked up from where he was trying to work on Amaya.
"Think you can help me out?" Amaya groaned.
"The lead is in about a hundred pieces," Vincent sighed.
"Alright," she nodded and peeled her sopping trench from her back and then her gloves.
It took the better part of an hour to get all the pieces Vincent hadn't already managed to get out. With her experience of patching up wounds on herself she managed to get all the bits of metal out without tearing things up too much. When she handed Vincent the bowel full of metal shards and water she pressed her palm over the hole and cast heal easily. She heaved a sigh when she was done.
"Where did you get the bracer?" Cloud asked as Tifa helped clean up and Red assisted a woozy Amaya to her room.
"Zack and Aerith… god a mater summon Knights of the Round and a double summon un-mastered," she said.
Vincent could feel how weary she really was.
"You should rest," Vincent told her.
"I still have one more thing…" she mumbled tiredly in a stubborn manner.
"Tomorrow," Vincent finalized as he swept her into his arms and carried her easily up the stairs to the room they would share.