Keygate Ficbit: Cerberus

The Gargoyle was clinging to the edge of a roof over Vincent’s head. The Shadow was peering around one corner. And the balefire was riding Vincent’s shoulder, flames flickering this way and that.

Sweet Shiva. No wonder nothing came after him. They’re backing him up.

And each one had red-and-pink ribbons knotted on them; on the Shadow’s antennae, on the Gargoyle’s horns, and one – with what looked like a bit of materia – wafting in black flames. “Aeris?” Leon almost smiled.

“Yes.” And that was a faint smile, as Vincent plucked a ribbon-end from gnawing licks of fire. “Don’t eat that.”

It’s not burning him, Leon thought. Glanced at a few stray scorch marks around the fighter’s position. But it can definitely burn. Interesting. “I thought I heard… oh.”

Damn. It’d been a long, long time since he’d seen someone wearing a leg holster.

“My compliments to your weaponsmiths.” Vincent offered him the tri-barreled revolver butt-first. “The design isn’t one I’m familiar with. But it is effective.”

“Looks like,” Leon murmured. A good, solid piece of work, with a minimum of the ornamentation Moogles often loved. Just swirls of silver chasing, a stylized Cerberus pendant dangling from a chain, and-

Materia slots. This gun’s meant to be equipped. “Do you use materia on your world?”

Vincent frowned. “What?”

That’d be a no. “It’s an energy source,” Leon summed up. “Did the Moogles mention it?” Ack. Think, Leon. He’s only been here what, a few hours?

“I honestly had no idea what they were saying,” Vincent admitted. “Aeris advised me to smile and nod. That I could thank them later, after the world had… caught up with me, is how she phrased it.” Crimson eyes burned at Leon. “The way she said it – living here has effects?”

Aeris asked for the slots. She had to have. Meaning she thinks Vincent can pick up Nibelheim magic-use. Huh. “Beneficial, mostly,” Leon informed him. “Traverse Town is a Multiversal place. Understanding what other humans are saying is easy. Understanding other species takes a little longer.”

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