Author's Note: G'day, ladies and gents! For those of you who didn't know, I'm still alive!

Snake sighed heavily, his breath turning to mist in the frosty air, unable to suppress the chill running up his spine. His trusty sneaking suit, with integrated climate control, would have made him, for the most part, unaffected by the icy surface of cave's sediment walls. Unfortunately, he'd chosen to leave it before their departure, much to his regret.

"Well... This is quite a mess you've gotten yourself into..." He muttered under his breath. Less then ten feet across from him lay the still body of Samus. There was a tree line only a minor distance from the cave in which they'd taken shelter, so Snake gathered as many leaves available and piled them high in the back of the cave.

Most he stored, kept as fuel to aid the fire, while another portion he heaped into a small, leafy mattress. With a few micro-blankets—designed and crafted by Otacon in case of emergency, thin enough to slip several in your pocket yet surprisingly dense enough to make even the best winter attire seem obviate—though they were typically of no need to him, he managed to put them to good use, layering one over the leaf "mattress" as bedding, wrapping the second around Samus' still body for warmth.

Unfortunately, the cold front that'd pushed in had abnormally strong winds. Their cave wasn't terribly affected by the potent winds due to angle and location, but some light breezes managed to enter their shelter, and that was more than enough to make their stay a long and dreadful one.

Speaking of dreadful, Samus hadn't moved an inch since she'd slipped into unconsciousness, her cold and weary body shutting down in preservation of what little energy remained, and worry was beginning to creep up on his conscience. He'd first expected her to adapt to the cold better than he, what with her being, for lack of a better word, "superhuman".

But as he gazed upon her shivering, limp figure, she looked... Pallid. Fragile. Almost lifeless. He'd witnessed the effects of death... More times than he wished to tally, and was certain she looked as close to it as could be, the slow but steady rise of her chest being the only indication of life, she could have fooled anyone less knowledgeable.

Her nose was red, her lips were blue, her face was pale... It was far too easy for him to imagine something. Bad happening.

This greatly disturbed him.

The mere fact he'd thrust them into this unwonted dilemma made him feel worse. He felt hopelessly condemned. Even somewhat penitent.

He was the one who suggested they go further, even while ominous clouds amassed overhead, ready to coat the world below in a thick layer of white. Funny thing, he wasn't wholly certain why exactly he'd even made such an ill conceived suggestion. All he remembered was... Feeling. Feeling, in a way, responsible for their colleague being lost. Now that they were in this redoubtable predicament with him at fault, the guilt weighing on his conscious was accumulating thicker than the snow blanketing the world outside their shelter.

You see, December had just begun in the smash world, which, in turn, meant holidays. Christmas and New Years were once again making their rounds. Thus, the smash mansion was hit with 50 cc's of holiday cheer. Presents were being sought, decorations were being set, mistletoe were being strategically placed, and of course, liquor was being stored; so that the notorious eggnog maniacs, a.k.a., Sonic and Captain Falcon, could spike the holiday refreshments once more, as they did every year.

But Snake never bothered with that peace on earth, good will toward men stuff. He always thought it irrational, mendacious, and somewhat tedious. So while others chose to maim trees and buy their enemies heinously crappy gifts, he would go camping. It reminded him of the nice, reticent cabin he'd abandoned in the Alaskan wilderness...

As cozy?
Not quite...
As warm?
Well, no...

But it was solitude. He'd take that over a hot cup of cocoa any day.

Which was why the reserved soldier was reluctant when Lucas knocked on his bedroom door and made a petition to join him on his trip. After all, it's not exactly solitude if you have a little boy on your ass, following you wherever you go, having to take care of him, make sure he doesn't starve or freeze to death.

He never believed in fate, nevertheless he believed his creators—those crazy bastards—did manage to do something right. They made him sterile. Of that he was somewhat thankful. Hypothetically speaking, if he did get some poor girl pregnant—unlikely due to his... Lifestyle, but again, hypothetically speaking—he would most assuredly do everything wrong. He'd probably give it an explosive detonator as a pacifier, or a miniature Metal Gear for it's first doll.

But, oddly enough, he simply could not bring himself to say no to the giant headed boy. He knew he should have, but couldn't.

Because of the two dynamic dim-wits spiked the beverages each of year—for hell knows why—there was pretty much only three groups that stayed, relatively, sober.
First, those who bought their own eggnog.
Second, those who are... Well, too young to drink—
And of course, third, those who could hold their liquor. That said, it must have been quite lonely for a boy of his age, not having any family to be with. It made sense for him to avoid being near so many drunken fools on a special holiday.

So, like the fool he knew he was for doing it, Snake reluctantly accepted the young boy's request. It was a mistake—he felt it in his bones—but he accepted. After all, the blonde psychic seldom spoke anyway. Surely it couldn't be so heinous a task as he envisioned it would be. Right?

Wrong.

Snake waited almost an hour for Lucas to meet him at the front door the next day. The boy never showed. In fact, he'd already left on his own two hours prior, according to a few smasher who'd seen him depart. As consistent with his own cynical, paranoid, and overall bastardish psyche, Snake received the news with an unconvinced glare and a raised brow. He found it exceedingly difficult to imagine Lucas doing something so brazenly stupid.

Ness?

Maybe...

Probably...

Alright, most likely. His youthful energy made him what many considered to be somewhat... Unpredictable.

Lucas? Certainly not. The boy was too softspoken. Timid, even. Never one to seek out trouble. Why would he start now?

And why wait several hours to speak up about the boy's absence? Going outdoors in the middle of December was clearly something foolish to do, did no one even consider stopping him?

He hadn't enough time to dwell on the matter, though. Peach had soon begun recruiting a search party. His mind screamed protests. It made no sense. But he wasn't one to call Zelda—who was one of the smashers who'd confirmed the boy's absence—a liar, so he decided to simply take her word for it, despite his thoughts.

So, Peach orginized a twenty man search party, then divided everyone into small, individual groups of two. Samus was assigned to be his partner in the search. Snake, of course, immediately protested. He was a man of solitude, he always worked alone, with the minor exceptions of radio contacts, people whom he trusted and relied on for briefings, information, assignments, etc... Having someone by his side... Well, time had proven on several occasions it just couldn't work. Not for him. No, he would easily find Lucas without any aide.

But Peach had just crossed her arms and stared him, a bit of a smug look evident on her features, as if she completely saw through his protests. "Two will cover more ground than one," She reasoned. "And having her means that she can see something you might miss." And he hated to admit it, but having a huntress with him while tracking someone was hardly the end of the world. Samus wasn't exactly the bottom of the barrel when it came to partners either. Conversations rarely ended well, but they made a damn good team in tournaments. What could go wrong?

A blizzard. A blizzard went wrong. It came as a thief in the night, no warning whatsoever. They were several miles into the woods when the storm reared its ugly head. If they'd turned back, they could have outrun it, but if Lucas truly was out there somewhere, they needed to find him before things could get any worse. So Snake suggested they go just a little deeper. But it fell upon then so swiftly, they barely had enough time to seek shelter, let alone find the lost boy.

And so, there they were. In a cave. In a blizzard. In the middle of nowhere.

Oh, how he hated yet loved his life.

G'day, ladies and gents. Hope your enjoying it so far. FYI if Snake and Samus seem a little out of character at the moment, it's just because I cut this chapter in half. I explain everything a little more later.

My apologies, for taking so long to post another fic, and for this first draft being so terribly short. I literally had another 2,000 more words to this chapter. But the whole thing wasn't finished, and then my family had to move this past week—I've been staying up till five in the morning for four days in a row, packing and moving boxes and shit—so I gave up and decided to break up each chapter into different segments. With luck I'll finish part 2 and 3 of chapter 1 in the next two weeks. If so, I'll be posting chapter 2, (Valentines Day chapter) by the end of the month.

Just to let you guys who keep up with my stories know (in case I take too long updating again) I try to write as much as possible, so don't worry about anything going unfinished. In addition to this story, I'm currently working on a second chapter for At Peace (as a way of saying sorry for some of the crap I've written prior), and I'm even working on a western Smash Bros AU, featuring plenty of Snakus awesomeness.

Shout out to fuckyeahsnakus tumblr! I once feared Snakus was dying. But thanks too you gathering all the Snakus works in one place, I think the pairing will live on. Kudos!

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Have a good day!