[Warning.  Spoilers.  Go away if you don’t want the game to get ruined.  That’s out of the way.  Okay.  Considering I just sat through all of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (I don’t play action games, I suck at them, so I watch my brother play so I can see the story—which is the part I like) all I can say is that I am as deflated as when I saw Soul Reaver 2.  Yay.  Two great stories that somehow, in someway, got extremely convoluted and complicated in the ‘part 2’ area.  Let’s just say that Snake’s comment at the VERY end of MGS2 summed up the entire game in three words.  “What the hell…?”  Ahem.  ‘Nuf said.  So…I’m going to put all that complicated crap aside.  I’m not going to be brave and try to make some sense out of it and try to fix it like my SR2 story.  Oh, no.  I’m just going to do a short one-shot story about Snake.  You see, another thing that pissed me off about the game is that…well… There is very little Snake.  He’s awesome and great and just totally beyond compare and instead of sticking with him we’re given poor, confused, f***ed up Raiden.  I love Jack to death, but…we end up even more confused than he is.  Anyways… So this little story is about Snake after his “What the hell…?” comment at the end of MGS2, not explaining anything about the confusion, just relating as to what Snake does afterwards to try to get a grip as to what the hell is going on.  No great plot.  No twists.  Just a simple story that tells you also a bit about how Snake’s been living since the end of MGS to this point.  Sorry if you guys are disappointed.  Wait to MGS3 to find out what the f*** happened.  We all have to.]

 

MGS2: Aftermath

 

            “What the hell…?” Snake said into the Codec.

            “Yeah…” was Otacon’s reply.  “Snake…this doesn’t make any sense…”

            “I don’t believe this…” Snake murmured to himself.  Enough shit was going on to completely mess up a guy’s head and now this…?  Why couldn’t life be a bit on the easy side sometimes?  “Forget it, Otacon.”

            “What?” Otacon replied in surprise.

            “I don’t mean drop the whole thing.  Just don’t think about what it means now.  Do some more digging.  There’s got to be a clue somewhere.”

            There was a brief moment of silence.  “What are you going to do, Snake?”

            Snake sighed and stood up.  He pulled up his duffel bag and began to head down the airport.  “I’m going home, Otacon.  If you want, I’ll meet you there so we can talk about what you found out in more detail.  Dinner will be ready for you.”

            Otacon sighed.  “All right, Snake.  But you know what’s gonna happen when you get home, right?”

            Snake allowed himself a smile.  “Yeah.  I’m looking for some normality right now.  It’ll get me back into perspective.”

            Snake heard his friend chuckle over the Codec.  “Since when has going home been normal, Snake?”

            “It’s a hell of a lot more normal than this shit we just went through.”

            “Amen to that.”  There was a brief pause.  “All right, Snake.  I’ll do some digging and then head over to your place.  Just make sure its not fish again.”

            “Can’t help it if it is.  That’s the abundant supply in Alaska.  At least it isn’t tofu.”

            Chuckle.  “Okay, Snake.  See ya then.  Otacon out.”

            “See ya.”

            Solid Snake logged off his Codec and stood in line to board the plane.  The smile on his face hadn’t left yet.  After this mess he definitely needed a break.  Too much confusion and way too much chaos.  All the stuff he heard and found out was still twisting in his brain like if it were in a mad tango.  He needed some time to clear his head, relax, so that way he was sharp for this next mess that he had to fix.  He definitely needed some peace, quiet and some good home cooking.  He could only get that at home.  And there was no place like home.

*          *            *

            Snake looked up at his house and could smell the food from the kitchen window.  It had just started snowing.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Smelled like…fish (Otacon would complain about that), bread, carrots, and… What’s this?  Rice?  Oh?  Going all out are we?  Snake wondered briefly what strings were pulled to get that little delicacy.

            “Snake!”

            He opened his eyes and smiled.  The cry had come from the kitchen window, but within moments the front door burst open.  He dropped his bag and opened his arms, waiting for the tackle he knew was coming.

            “Dammit, you asshole, why the hell were you so damn late?!”  A soft body collided with his and he wrapped his arms around…his wife.

            Well, sort of.

            Snake leaned back and stared into her face.  Her cheeks were already rosy with the snow and cold air, and her red hair stuck out like wild fire.  “Sorry.  Got caught up.”

            “Caught up?  Caught up, my ass.  Something went down, and you’re going to tell me all about it.”

            He rolled his eyes.  “And if I don’t?”

            “No rice.”

            Snake winced.  “You drive a hard bargain, Meryl.”

            Meryl Silverburgh grinned up at him and held him closer.  She leaned up to kiss him.  “Of course I do.”  Snake kissed her back and wrapped her tighter in his arms.  Ah… Wife.  Home.  Normality.  Everything that happened in Manhattan suddenly seemed light years away…

            “Daddy!”

            Snake pulled away from Meryl’s lips and looked up at the door.  Three-year-old (almost four) Frank Gray Silverburgh was standing at the door, holding the hand of his twin sister, Raine.  The toddler smiled and waved a small hand at him.  Snake smiled and felt peace ease into him. “I’m home.”

            Meryl grinned and grabbed his arm. “Come on. Dinner’s almost ready and there are some things I got to tell you. Unpack and get comfortable.”

            Snake picked up his duffel bag and let Meryl drag him inside. He inhaled the sweet scent of his home and for the millionth time wondered how the hell it had happened.

            After he had left Shadow Moses with Meryl, they’d headed to his secluded cabin in Alaska.  Of course, they didn’t stay there very long, considering everyone and everything they wanted to get away from knew that was where he used to live.  A quick picking up of some personals in the middle of the night fixed that.  And then they burned the cabin to the ground.  Afterwards, they’d come up with a story, and with Otacon’s help through the Codec, managed to make the story fact with personal records and files.

            Snake ceased being Solid Snake…at least to a point.  He’d become David “Ice Snake” Silverburgh.  Son to William and Megan Silverburgh who died of hypothermia in their Alaskan vacation after their snowmobile had broken down.  David, who had been roughly five at the time, was barely rescued by the Eskimos that lived in that area and lived with them ever since.  He was named “Ice Snake”, at least that’s what his Eskimo name meant, roughly translated.  At twenty or so (considering they weren’t sure of his age), his foster parents told him about his real heritage and he spent the next ten years searching for information on who he was.  He found out his father used to work as a salesman for a computer company, selling computer parts.  He joined the company himself, trying to learn a bit more about the person his father was.  During that time he ran into Meryl Pliskin, fell in love and got married.  She’s the only one who calls him by his Eskimo name… sort of.  She calls him Snake.

            They lived in a cabin far out in the boonies, but it had burned down by a fluke accident.  Bad electric wiring.  His company helped him out a bit and they moved to a cabin about thirty miles north from Venetie, pretty far up in the Brooks Range.  There was a lake farther up the mountains, along with a river nearby. Meryl, who had lived in Wainwright as the daughter of an ice fisherman, made a living from fishing in that lake and river.  She sold her fish to the people in Venetie for good prices.  Snake worked from home sometimes, but traveled around a lot as well.

            That was the cover story and everyone in Venetie had bought it.  Thanks to Otacon, Meryl and Snake had the files and the records.  Meryl knew pretty much everyone in the town by now and he knew enough.  They’d even been invited to a couple of weddings, anniversaries and birthdays.

            Snake wandered into his bedroom and tossed the duffel bag onto the bed.  He remembered the first night he’d spent with Meryl beneath those covers.  He couldn’t stop the small smile from forming on his lips.  He didn’t think he could have felt such warmth… Inside as well as outside.  Meryl had been a damn godsend.  He wouldn’t have anyone else.

            He unpacked, making sure all the hidden compartments with his artillery inside were carefully handled.  He put them in their secret compartments.  Places hidden to only the children.

            Snake closed his eyes.  The children.  Dear God in Heaven, he had children.  A boy and a girl.  He never thought that was even possible.  He remembered the day Meryl had broke the news of fatherhood to him.  They’d been at…someone’s anniversary party.  He didn’t quite remember who at the moment.  He’d just come back dealing with Otacon about the Philanthropy project.  Both of them had decided they would work to the ends of making sure the threat of Metal Gear ceased to exist.  Meryl had told him to come with her to the party, and though he hadn’t been to keen on it, she’d convinced him.

            He finished putting his clothes away and tossed the ones he had on into the hamper.  He went to his drawer for a change of clothes as the memory descended upon him.  Meryl had decked herself out in full female regalia that night.  Dress, make up and even jewelry.  He had known something was up.

            “What is it, Meryl?  Something’s up.  You’ve been acting strange since I got home.”  Snake looked at Meryl, her face turning bright red.  She hadn’t been like this since they first met.  What was going on?

            “Uh…Snake?  How…normal…do you want our life to be?”

            Snake raised his eyebrows.  “Huh?  What does this have to do with anything?”

            “Please, Snake.  It’s important.”  He looked at her and saw her worry.  She ran her hand through her unruly red hair, her hands trembling.  “Oh, God, I don’t know how to say this.  Snake, come on.  Just tell me.  How normal would you like our life to be?  I’m your wife…do you want anything more?”

            Snake saw her fingers twisting into knots and hovering over her abdomen.  “What do you mean by more, Meryl?  Otacon and I just joined this group to help bring down Metal Gear.  Our lives are far from normal.”

            “But when you’re here and not saving the world from Metal Gear, your life is normal, Snake.  I just want to know how far you’ll go…”

            He shook his head.  “I’m still not getting what you mean, Meryl.”

            Snake saw her roll her eyes and then smile.  “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.  For a genius, Snake, you sure can be dense sometimes.”  She met his gaze.  “What I mean is do you want to have children with me?”

            “…I don’t think I can have kids, Meryl.”

            “But if you could?”

            Snake found himself smiling.  “I guess then my life would be complete.  Doing what I’m best at, for a cause I believe in, to help people.  Being with the woman I want more than anything else.  A kid would just add to the perfect picture.”  He looked at her and saw her grinning.  “What?”

            “Well, that’s a relief.  I was actually getting worried there for a minute.”

            “What do you mean?”

            Meryl walked up to him and kissed him on the lips. “I’m pregnant, Snake.”

            Snake shook his head as he pulled on a sweatshirt. It had boggled his mind. He’d been so stunned, he’d actually stood there for about ten minutes before moving. It wasn’t supposed to happen. Shoot, he was a clone for Christ’s sake. A clone of Big Boss. He had just stood deathly still for ten minutes. No one had ever been able to paralyze him that way. But Meryl had done it with three words.

When he’d finally made it back into the party, all the guys were congratulating him. Seemed that Meryl had found out while he was away, told her friends and they in turn told their husbands. For the first time in his life, Snake felt like grinning like an idiot.

But despite this, he wasn’t sure. He knew Meryl wouldn’t lie to him, but… Well it was still impossible for him to have children. They went to a private doctor and had him checked up. The doctor said that yes, Snake was sterile—but not completely. The doctor asked if Snake had taken any drugs when he was younger, or was in the military or anything of that nature. Usually the military will do experiments on its soldiers, many of the side effects is becoming sterile. Pretty much Snake was completely damaged, but there is a very small percentage of sperm that is still fertile. They just got lucky.

Snake could barely believe it. Lucky? It was a god forsaken miracle.

Their ‘child’ turned out to be ‘children’. Twins. The first-born was Frank Gray Silverburgh. They had named him after Frank “Gray Fox” Yeager, Snake’s best friend. Raine they named after Meryl’s mother. Both his kids were a joy. He still could barely believe he had them.

“Dada?” said a soft voice from the door.

Snake turned around and saw little Raine.  He turned to her.  “What is it, honey?”

“Dinnew’s weady.”

Sometimes Snake wondered how it could be possible that his daughter was this adorable.  He remembered when she was just born and how she would sleep on his chest.  Her entire tiny frame fit on his chest and he could feel her breathing. Snake ruffled her hair. “I’ll be right out sweetie.”

Raine nodded and headed back outside.  Snake finished unpacking the last of his stuff and quickly changed into a sweatshirt and pants.  Seemed like Otacon was not going to make it for dinner.  Snake shrugged and headed out.

“So, Snake,” Meryl said as he came out.  Oh, no.  He knew what was coming.  “What happened on this mission?  Anything new?”

“Yeah,” he said.  “Life got much more complicated than it already was.”  Snake sat down at the table and Meryl put his plate in front of him.

“Much more complicated?  Snake, what happened?” Meryl said as she gave the kids their plates and then sat down beside them.

“It was a set up.  The entire thing was not only a base for Metal Gear Arsenal and hoards or Metal Gear Rays but it was a gigantic set up,” he said.  Snake ate some of the rice and fish and murmured with how delicious it was.  He remembered when Meryl couldn’t cook to save her soul.  Now she was an expert.

“Daddy made a yummy sound!” Gray shouted.

Meryl smiled at her son and nodded.  “Yes, Daddy did.  So why don’t you make some yummy sounds and eat your dinner.”

Gray looked to his father almost as if for help. Snake shrugged. “Do what Mommy said, Gray.”

The little boy pouted but began to eat his food.  Meryl turned to Snake.  “A set up?  What do you mean?  For you?”

“No.  The mission two years ago was a set up for me. They purposely had cameras around so they could take my picture and blame the mess on me.  No, this time it was a set up for kid.  Strange name.  Raiden is his codename.  I think Jack is his real one.  Anyway, he was sent in as a puppet and to train him.”

“Train him?  Train him for what?”

Snake paused as he ate some more of his food.  He swallowed.  “Train him to be like me.”

“What?!”

Both children looked at their mother.  Snake smiled when he saw her blush and then motion to Gray and Raine to get back to their food. Meryl turned back to Snake.  “Train him to be like you?” she said quietly.

“Yeah.  They wanted to create another super soldier like me.  Much of this set up was similar to what happened in Shadow Moses.  They created that set up to see if they could make this poor kid into me.  I think he said his codename used to be Snake.”

Meryl shook her head.  “But who’s ‘they’?”

Snake put down his fork.  “The Patriots.”

“Who are the Patriots?”

“That’s what Otacon is trying to find out.  Seems like they’re running the United States with an iron grip and have been running for ages.  All the conspiracy stories, all the Illuminati crap that goes around.  It all leads back to them in the end.  They’re trying to control information and control people’s lives.  I guess what they’re really trying to do is rob us normal people of our free will and just do as they set up for it.”

“So they’re playing God.”

Snake shook his head.  “No.  God gave us free will.  They’re playing Fate.”

“So I take it that the next step is stopping these guys from having their way, right?  That’s probably the next mission?”

Snake nodded.  “But there’s just one little problem.”

“What?”

“We did manage to get all the names of the Patriots… but there’s a catch.  When Otacon looked them all up to find their locations and bios… They were all already dead.”

Meryl’s eyes widened.  “Were they killed?”

Snake shook his head and drank some of his water.  “Nope.  They’ve been dead.  For about a hundred years.”

Meryl blinked at him for a moment before turning to her children to see how they were coming along. Gray and Raine were both almost finished with their meal. She turned back to Snake quickly. “Already dead?!”

Snake nodded.  “I have no idea what Otacon is going to find out from here, but I just hope it gives us more of a clue.  We were already scrambling in the dark and now suddenly there’s a big whole in the floor.”

Meryl stayed silent as she mulled it over. She finished helping Gray and Raine with their dinners and then put their plates in the sink and Snake helped pick up the table.

He shook his head.  Maybe it was not such a good idea to tell Meryl after all?  This was some really weird shit.  She might put up a fight if he took this mission and tried to stop these psychopaths.  He just hoped she would understand.

“Meryl?”

She turned around and gave him a smile. “Why don’t we postpone this talk for a bit?” She strode toward him and winked at the kids. “I think both you and I need to relieve some stress. What do you think?”

Snake shook his head, a half laugh burst through his lips. The kids began to wave their arms in the air. “Yay! Yay!” Raine dropped from her seat and went to her father’s pant leg. “Dada and Momma gonna fight now?”

Meryl laughed and picked up her daughter. “Of course! Don’t we always after dinner when your daddy comes back home?” Her eyes sparked with mischief.

Snake grinned. “Fine, fine. Let’s get going then.”

“YAY!” both children shouted.

Meryl put down Raine and let her and her brother run to the training room at the back of the house. She kissed Snake tenderly.

“Meryl?”

She shook her head. She then gave a wink. “A little bit of training and a little spar should clear our heads and settle our stomachs. Then we can talk. After the kids are asleep. Till then we should relieve some undue stress. I’m just about fried with worry, and from what you just told me, you’re probably stressed out too, aren’t you, Snake?”

Snake pulled her into his arms. “You’re one in a million, Meryl.”

She smiled. “So you’ve told me. And you’re the only one I want.” She hugged him tightly in return, before they released each other and walked into the training room.

 

He heard Meryl close the door to the kids’ room. He tossed the towel he was using to dry his wet hair as she came toward him. She left the door to their bedroom slightly open and then threw herself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her wet sweet smelling hair. Now was their time to talk. Meryl, don’t make it harder than it already is…

“Snake?”

“Yeah?”

“I…I have a real bad feeling about this… But, if you and Hal do find anything that could lead you to these Patriots I’m not going to stop you. In fact,” she pulled back and he stared into her worried eyes. “In fact, if it were up to me, I would go with you!  But I know you won’t let me, will you?”

Snake shook his head.  “You’ve got to stay and look after the kids, Meryl.”

“I know, I know.  That’s the typical excuse for the man of the house to go out and risk his life, but his wife can’t go with him.  I know the excuses, I know the reasons and they’re all good ones.  Still…I can’t shake off this really bad feeling I have.”  Meryl went back into his arms.  “Just promise me you’ll come back alive and whole.  Promise me.”

“So you’re not going to stop me?”

Snake smiled at the expression she gave him. She looked ready to sock him one for making such an inane comment. “What kind of question is that? You know, I’m not the kind of wife that tries to make her husband stop doing what he believes in, thank you very much.  I support you a hundred percent and these Patriot bastards…with what they want to do, well someone has to stop them!  Just cause my heart is saying, ‘But why Snake?’ doesn’t mean I’m going to try and stop you.  It just means I feel it, I wish it wasn’t you, I wish I could go with you, and I hope you come back to me.”

Snake tightened his arms around her.  “Meryl, I promise you I will come back alive and whole.  Besides, since we don’t know when Otacon is going to get the information we need, we don’t know when we can move in.”

“I know.  But I still can’t shake this feeling of foreboding.  There’s something very wrong about these Patriot people.  I can feel it.”

Snake took Meryl seriously, nodded and kissed her.  If there was one thing he had faith in, was female intuition.  It was like gut instinct to him only a bit more on the spiritual level.  Even he knew this Patriot business seemed…strange… But with Meryl confirming it, he knew… Snake knew that in order to keep his promise to her, he would have to be extremely careful.

*          *          *

Several months later…

“Snake!”

Otacon burst in through the front door startling the family.  They had been playing ‘Connect Four’ with the kids.  Snake stood up and Meryl did right after.  Gray and Raine just looked at the adults confused.

Otacon took a deep breath.  “I’ve found it.”  Heave. Heave.  “I found the Patriots’ main base of operations.”

Snake turned to Meryl.  He saw the worry etched on her face.  Even during the last few months, Meryl’s feeling had not gone away.  He gave her a smile.  “I promise, Meryl.  I promise.”

Meryl nodded.  She turned to Otacon.  “Make sure he is perfectly all right, Otacon.  I don’t want anything to happen to him.”

Otacon smiled at her.  “Neither do I, Meryl.  Neither do I.”

Meryl nodded and turned to Snake.

“Is Daddy leaving again?” Gray asked.

Meryl turned to Gray with a smile.  “Yeah, but he’ll be back real soon, right, Uncle Hal?”

Otacon nodded.  “Yeah, don’t worry kids.  I’ll have your dad back in no time.”

Raine lifted her arms to Snake and he picked up his daughter.  The little girl hugged his neck.  “Come home fast, Dada.”

Snake caressed her back.  “I will, Raine.  I will.”  He gave Raine to Meryl and his wife dragged him down for a deep kiss.

“Come back to me alive and whole, Snake.  You promised.”

Snake kissed her again and turned to the door.  “I’ll be back soon.  I promise.”

Meryl Silverburgh watched his retreating back with an ache in her heart.  This terrible feeling would not go away.  No matter how she tried.  “Snake!”

He turned back to her with a smile.

Please, God.  Please.  Let him come back to me alive and whole.  I beg you.  Just make sure he comes back to me.  Please!  “I love you, Snake!”

Meryl saw his beautiful eyes shine for a moment.  She remembered when those eyes were so full of loneliness.  He had changed so much the last few years.  Please, Lord.  Don’t take him from me now.  Please.

“I love you, too, Meryl.”

And with that he walked out with Otacon to the Patriots’ base.