-Chapter 1: Sound-
Otacon had never liked late nights after dozens of all-nighters pulled at MIT; the engineer had learned he wasn't exactly the night owl type. Of course, recently it seemed as if he was slowly drifting across the line that separated all-nighters and flat out insomnia. There he was, staring blankly at his ceiling at three in the morning as a light January snow fell from a dark gray sky. The brunette hardly had any idea how long it had been since Solid Snake had died—the months felt like years, the days like months, and every second reminding him that he was painfully alone. Wolf, Emma, Naomi, Snake...it seemed like everyone he even got near was cursed. Always the survivor...it was only a matter of time, he thought, before something horrible happened and Sunny suffered a similar fate.
Lost in his own thoughts, Otacon wasn't fully aware that he was falling asleep until a sound at the front door jolted him awake—almost like a quiet 'thud'. Gray eyes darted around the dark room as he laid in total silence, hardly daring to even breathe. Like many people, the thirty-eight year old engineer was not at his most coherent at 3 A.M…in fact, he was downright paranoid. He found himself envisioning anything from a branch blowing against the wall to a Metal Gear leveling its missile launchers at his front door. Improbable, of course...but it was amazing how much power those ridiculous little nagging thoughts could have at night. At length he decided to investigate, fumbling for the glasses that rested on his nightstand beside an alarm clock that now read 3:24 in electric green. The sound had only occurred once, and the house had since fallen back into silence, but Otacon knew restlessness would not allow him to sleep until he knew nothing was about to blow up his house.
As silently as he could—he had never exactly been stealthy-the scientist stumbled out of his room and glanced around. His eyes lingered on the kitchen as the idea of taking a knife occurred to him before being dismissed just as quickly. Fighting wasn't exactly something he could do, and even if he did arm himself, he couldn't ever imagine killing someone. Nervously, he cast a look at the front door...whatever was on the other side, he'd be facing it alone and unarmed. Hesitating a moment or two, he stepped forward and tightly gripped the doorknob. This was it, he'd either find absolutely nothing or...or, well...something. Otacon pulled the door open to the cold winter air and stopped dead at what he saw...
A girl sat at his feet, leaning on the doorframe apparently asleep. She wore what almost looked like a tight gray Sneaking Suit, with twin pistols on a belt cinched tightly around her waist. Another belt was draped across her shoulder, this one covered with spare bullets in an orderly row. But what startled Otacon more than anything wasn't what she was wearing or the small arsenal she carried-it was her appearance. The girl blinked once or twice from behind wire framed glasses, looking up at Otacon as if she was the one that should be asking what he was doing there. Her shoulder length brown hair was dusted with the light snowfall that continued around them. They stared at each other—for Otacon, a tense moment that seemed to stop time completely. For the girl, who knew? Her face seemed more or less unreadable, but her appearance was strikingly familiar. She broke the silence by quietly uttering two words that shocked the scientist so badly, he could only say one in reply.
"...Hal Emmerich."
"E...Emma…?!"
-end of chapter one-