Keeper of Cerberus

Metal clashed with metal as Amaya met sword to sword with a tall man in armor. Hell Raiser thundered from all directions. The rolling sounds of gunfire reverberating and echoing around them in untraced patterns. The sea of green armor seemed endless as it poured from the shadowed form of Beta. Men dropped from their ranks with each shot fired from the gun only marked by the muzzle flash.
AVALANCHE leapt head long into battle, just as they always had. There was no sense of fear in them, only the need to survive another fight. Death though always hanging on the balance was the last thing in any of their minds. They were together and as long as one of them was breathing there would always be someone to fight for the right cause. They battled hard for a long time, and still in this fight it seemed like they were getting nowhere.

Faye remained unpredictable. Making sure that the enemy could not beat her to the punch and catch her off guard. She blasted away with her fire materia while she reloaded her pistol. There was not a moment when she was not on the attack. There was no way she was going to chance leaving an opening for them to get at her. If the materia wasn't in use then her gun spat lead with deadly accuracy.
She thrust her braced into the air and yelled out, "Judgment! I summon you! Knights of the Round." Ribbons of light burst forth in a spill of destruction. The intensity of the light made her turn her gaze away to avoid being flash blinded.
Cloud heard the Summon and watched as it made short work of a third of the army before losing energy and disappearing. It left a plane of death in its wake. He grimaced a little when he say Faye lung forward suddenly and grab a man by the shoulder. She drove her fangs into his throat and ripped out his windpipe. She spat the flesh from her mouth and filled the empty chambers on her gun. No doubt the quick and messy feed was useful to replenish her energy.
She rushed back toward the others. Reaching them in record time she fell into place between Cloud and Amaya. Amaya took the opportunity to let loose with a water materia. Faye backed it with Thundara. The electricity swirled about the conductive water and hit with amazing force.
"Faye the double!" Cloud called out to her locking swords before shoving his opponent away, "Take out the last two thirds!"
She closed her eyes and the words formed in her mind. "Judgment, I summon you ODIN!"
The materia flashed and suddenly a great towering figure rose the back of a war horse. Odin dealt damage quickly leveling another third in short order. Feeling the hold on this summon weaken she spoke the final words, "Odin Release! I call upon Fenrir!" All at once her Odin summon gave a shriek and withered. In his place towered a huge wolf, the size of Bahamut.

It took the last of the army who had turned to flee. The summon turned toward them and snarled. However as Faye approached it, the beast crouched down and allowed her to climb up onto its back. "To destroy Beta!" She yelled and the beast was gone in one giant leap. Vincent gave Chaos control and darted after them. Deftly Amaya gave chase as well.
Faye met up with Chaos as she downed a blue vial ether to help keep her mana up to sustain the summon. She led Chaos deep into the structure until she found the huge mako chambers that ran the thing. She set a charge. She raced back through the maze of halls toward the opening. She had ordered Fenrir to keep the thing from moving and so the huge summon held it firmly in his teeth.
Two things happened all at once. Amaya leapt in front of them and a gun went off. Faye turned and took the gunner down with one shot. The bullet bit into the side of his head, sending him spiraling around to the floor.
"Let's get out of here!" she yelled as she scooped up her friend.
Chaos did not argue, he only gripped her arm and sped the pace up a little more. Behind them the form exploded into a shower of fragments and the summon deactivated.
Faye crouched near Amaya who was convulsing in pain.
"Don't let them have my memories!" She begged.
"I can not take them myself," Faye replied, smoothing a strand of dark hair from the woman's pale face. The bullet had torn through her stomach.
"There is no fixing this Faye… And you know they can not know what I have stored away," Amaya tried to reason.
Faye refused unable to see herself taking her friends life.
"Do it!" Amaya roared suddenly.
Faye gave a snarl and drove her teeth into Amaya's throat. She took in everything.
Amaya's hands clutched at Fayes jacket, the pain making her eyes go wide. After a few moments, the muscles relaxed and a small sigh of joy left her lips as she faded away.
Faye clenched her eyes against the pain and rode it out. She had ended one of her best friends.

AVALANCHE watched it unfold. The angry demanded and the angry agreement. When Amayas eyes closed in death, Faye broke away with a sharp gasp. She clung to the body of her friend, holding it against her chest as she rocked back onto her heels. She felt cool hands brush against her down turned face and she could almost see the bangles on Aeriths wrists. The body in her arms dissolved into a mist of glittering green and she was gone. They watched as Faye lifted her face toward the sky, rising to her feet with her hands held out and palms turned up. Deep crimson tears traced trails of red over her pale cheeks. The little droplets rolled off her face and down her neck to disappear into the collar of her trench coat. All of a sudden the sky let loose with rain, as if it were trying to comfort her.
"Humans are so selfish," she whispered.
Her chrome eyes were coated in a crimson film. They only noticed this when she turned to look at them.
"Let us end this once and for all," she said. Her gaze swept over all of the ones she had come to know as family. The rain dragged her hair down making her once spiky bangs hand over her eyes nearly hiding them.

Cloud shouldered his sword and nodded, "you know all about this. We follow your lead."
She glanced up at Chaos, the demon gave her a nod.
"Alright… I will have to get inside. There are some computers there. I will need to enter the cod before it fully rises… if I can do that we have only a moment to get our before it self destructs," she warned.
"Leave the small stuff to us," Tifa stated as she stretched her gloved hand.
"Yeah! You get her inside Vince," Yuffie pumped her fist in the air.
Chaos nodded and easily plucked the vampire from her feet. They all covered the small distance together. Neneki engaged the first three guards at the entrance in a blaze of flames, "Good luck Cub." Faye watched as his form disappeared around a corner. Barret was the next to fight as they progressed. Then Yuffie, Tifa and finally Cloud. She watched each one fade off.
She knew there were two more at least… one for her and one for Chaos. "Hojo where are you yah twisted bastard," she singsonged.
"Come out and play you sick Fuck," Chaos snarled as he joined her taunting.
"So we meet yet again," A sickeningly familiar chuckle sounded from their left. Chaos easily set Faye on her feet. He remembered this voice too well… almost as well as he knew Hojos.
Weiss appeared from the shadows.
Faye gave a hiss of displeasure at the new yet recognized face. She should have known that Hojo being the coward he was, wouldn't show himself.
"You are dead," Chaos growled.
"Thanks to Genesis I am very much alive," Weiss chuckled.
"Leave him to me, you go," Chaos's grating voice jerked her around. She nodded and was sprinting down the hall as the battle broke out behind her.

The map in her head turned and swiveled as she made her way deep into the beast of metal, mako and lifestream. When she finaly found what she was looking for she set right to work. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, the resounding clicks, as she tapped in the code that scrolled quickly through her mind, filled the room. Line after line of code flew up on the screen so quickly that the computer seemed to be having a hard time keeping track. The ground rumbled and sirens began blaring.
Her heart clenched tightly in her chest when a voice chimed over the intercoms somewhere, "3 minutes remaining to deactivate." She sped up a little and was sure she would finish with time to spare. Roughly she was jerked backwards away from the keypad. A cuss left her lips, all she had to do was press enter.
Faye cratered the far wall upon impact and she groaned at the pain that rippled through her. Flint hovered before her, his eyes glowing with mako. She launched at him, knocking him out of the way. Striving to reach that button she leapt and stretched her hand out as far as she could. A hand closed around her legs and she was spun around and thrown across the floor. She was engaged in a heated fight the moment she got to her feet.
Shoot, shoot, kick, swing, shoot, swing, block, counter. Two bullets slammed him to the floor. She lunged around him for the button again, got tackled into the wall, and a blade pierced through her shoulder. She gave an angry yell and planted her boot square on his crotch and gave the most forceful kick she could manage. Somehow he landed on his feet and skidded away, partially doubled over. A tremor sent them both sliding into the far wall.
"Fifty nine seconds remaining to disable," the voice warned.

Faye gathered her striking amethyst aura from her being. It flared all around her, electric and alive and glowing. Her wings suddenly spread wide from her shoulders. They filled the tiny space becoming menacingly sharp against their own shadows. She raced forward to meet her adversary for the final time. She didn't try to move when he poised to skewer her through. Her hand reached out and tipped the blade down, sinking it into her thigh. She raised her gun where a crackling sparking ball of brilliant amethyst energy had built up. She fired it at point blank into his chest and at the same time her wings lashed forward and cut him into three pieces. He disintegrated and she tore the sword from her thigh and slammed the Tsuba down on the key. Staggering a little she turned and raced for the exit. She could make… if only to get free of the walls.

Vincent watched as the detonation count began.
Yuffie cheered, "she did it!" Her enthusiasm was not carried by the others for the fact that Faye still had not emerged.
"Come on Fye," Cloud whispered.
Another anxious silence passed until again Yuffie yelled, "There she is!"
Vincent's heart raced, she was alive. His relief quickly turned when he saw how she struggled. The count down sounded, "3..." Time seemed to slow and he became aware of the two figures standing on the brink of the exit. One was holding a ball of energy in his hand. "2..." Fayes eyes closed, her wings stretched out desperately trying to pull at the sky and carry her away from the danger. "1..." He had started racing forward. "0..." A dark void opened up and suddenly the three figures were being drawn away. Alpha crumbled down.

"FAYE!" his voice tore from his throat accompanying a bright glowing ball of light that ripped from his chest. It sent a wave of pain over her and he stumbled. Cloud and Neneki caught up and steadied him, holding him back. A shockwave reverberated around them and the ball of energy that had come from Vincents chest raced toward Fayes flailing form. The void folded in on itself and was gone.
Silence filled the whole world it seemed. Vincent fell still, his eyes wide with emotions that were hardly ever seen. Bits of debris floated through the glowing city to settle on the ground. A single razor sharp feather of angelic white-blue fell at Vincent's feet. All of the team was utterly silent… unsure of how to react much less morn something that had happened so quickly.
A void filled him slowly. He had been granted a second chance and he had yet again failed. The hand that was contracting around his heart gave a sudden twitch. He fell to his knees as the beating thing shattered and the pieces fell away inside his chest. He sat there, staring up at the last place he had seen her.
Cloud drove his sword deep into the earth, "Damn it!" "Come on Zack did you have to take her too!" Cloud yelled throwing his head back to gaze up at the down pour of rain.
"Aerith weeps…" Neneki mumbled, "the planet weeps."
Vincent looked down at his reflection in the puddles forming on top of the mud.
He reached out and carefully lifted the feather from the mud. He gently wiped the grime from the smooth bolt and turned it. It glowed gently in his grasp and somewhere he felt a wave of reassurance wash over him.
"She is alive," he stated.
"Vincent…" Cloud mumbled.
"She is still alive… I can feel her…" Vincent stated again. He was still held tightly against chest of the monster they all knew as grief and pain.
"Then we will find her Vincent," Cloud told him.
"We need to tell Shin-Ra… he may be able to help look for her," Tifa whispered.
Vincent slipped the feather into his pocket and staggered to his feet. He let himself slip back into his old self… she might still be alive… but he had failed to protect her. For the second time… she was gone with no sign of where she had left to and how long she would be there.