It was rare, in this time of year, for there to be no snow. The trees had no leaves left and already people were putting out Christmas decorations. Even without snow, however, it was still very cold. People were wearing coats while they went to work, school, or even to a friend's place. Some people even wore coats to and during fights, or as they like to call them, 'brawls'.

A man walked as he heard the sound of children screaming as they were playing tag. They seemed to be enjoying themselves despite the chilling evening. There was a part of him that wanted to join the children, but he managed to resist the temptation.

I'm almost there, he thought. He finished his sandwich as he headed towards the café. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his dark green coat. As he opened the door, he hoped that she had managed to get the pack of cigarettes for him. He hadn't smoked in days and with the familiar scent of the smoke, he would feel at home. His thoughts were interrupted by a young waitress greeting him with a smile. "Good evening Snake," the young woman said as she pushed away a strand of her short autumn hair. The man, named Solid Snake, nodded at her. "Hey there Renee," he said as he sat down in a chair. There were five more seats left, three on each side of the table. Snake would always sit on the right side. Renee looked at the door, expecting to see more costumers. Instead, the only people that came in were a young couple in their 20s. She looked at the middle-aged man. "Where are the others?" she asked.

"The two idiots said that they'll probably be late," Snake replied as he scratched his beard. He shrugged and said, "Sam's at the store buying me some cigarettes. I don't know about the other two." At that moment, two young men entered the café, talking to each other. They both acted as brothers despite the fact that they looked nothing alike. One of the men had short blond hair and bright blue eyes. What made him different from other people is that he had rather long ears that made him look like an elf. The other man was also different. He had spiky blue hair and somewhat light blue eyes. He was rather tall when compared to the blond-haired man. "Told ya we would make it on time!" he said to the blond-haired man. The two were caught by surprise when the waitress greeted them. "Hi Link, hi Ike."

"Hey Renee," they both said. Ike glanced at Snake as he scratched his blue hair. "What's wrong with you?" Snake was fidgeting with his fingers the minute he sat down. "Sam hasn't come from the store yet. I need something to keep me busy…" Link cocked an eyebrow at the older man. "You know she doesn't like to be called that, right?" he said as he and Ike sat down. Link would always sit at the left side of the table; Ike sat between him and Link.
Snake shrugged as if he didn't care. "She's not here, so she can't do anything about it." Link rolled his eyes and said, "Fine. But if she hears you calling her that, then it won't be my fault."

...

The woman tapped the floor impatiently as she waited in line. She pushed a strand of her long blonde hair away. Where are those two? She thought. It was almost her turn to check out her items and, if they didn't come right now, then she and the others would have to hear him whine and whine and whine—the mere thought of it was all too much for her to bear. Her thoughts were interrupted by the cashier.
"Next costumer!"
Her heart gave a leap. It was now or never. As she started to walk towards, she heard someone shot. "Hey, Sam! We got it! It was the last one, too!"

There were only three people who were allowed to call her by that and live. Ness was one of them. The other two...

Samus Aran felt relaxed as she put the items on the conveyor belt. She glanced at the two men rushing towards her. The two were a peculiar pair. One of the men had the appearance of a wolf and yet he stood and talked like man. Unlike most people, he wore a jacket instead of a coat, despite the weather. The other man was wearing a brown coat and jeans. His face, however, was hidden inside of a concealed…mask was it? You couldn't tell for sure. In his hand was a cigarette pack.

The man with his face hidden put the pack of cigarette next to a bottle of aspirin. The wolf leaned next to a wall. "Right on time too. The store is just about to close." "I'm just glad you two were able to get it. Hey Frank, what time is it?" Samus asked. The man wearing the brown coat checked his watch. "4:51 PM," he answered. Frank Jaeger, also known as Gray Fox, looked outside. "Looks like 9:52 PM if ya ask me," Wolf O' Donnell said as he closed his eyes and groaned. He rubbed his temples. The headache was getting worse and worse. Samus, the cashier and, (although nobody could see it) Gray Fox shot him a worried look. "You ok there, Wolf? You still haven't gotten better since we left the mansion," Samus said. Wolf groaned again, then answered, "Ugh. I don't know. Mario said that it might take a while before it got better…I just hope the damn guy knew what he was talking about." Samus, despite of what pain he was in, couldn't help but roll her eyes. Even when he was in pain, Wolf couldn't help but let out a swear word every so often.

"Um, sir?" the cashier said quietly. "If it's ok with you, you can go ahead and take a pill or two from the bottle of aspirin. I, um, already checked out all the items." He turned to Samus. "That'll be $3.46, miss." "Oh, yes! Of course," Samus said as she took out her purse. Meanwhile, Frank glanced at Wolf as the latter took the bottle of aspirin and opened it. "How did you even get this headache anyway, Wolf?" Gray Fox asked. Wolf shrugged as he took two aspirin pills. "Heck if I know. I was just sitting on my bed, cleaning my boots when all of the sudden, my head starts to hurt! Thought it would go away after a while…" he grumbled. Samus picked up the plastic bag and motioned the two men to follow her. "You'll get better, Wolf. Now come on. The others are probably waiting for us."

"Have a nice day!" the cashier shouted as he headed towards the employee lounge.

"You too!" Frank shouted as the three exited the store. The evening was still cold and now it was windier than before. Samus looked around. "You think we can make it before 5:30?" she asked. "If we run, we might get there," Gray Fox answered. "Why? You wanna get there before they run out of cookies?" Wolf joked in an attempt to hide his pain. Samus sighed and responded. "You know how Snake gets when someone's late." Frank and Wolf rolled their eyes. "Boy do we ever…." Muttered Gray Fox. "As if I had a big enough headache," Wolf said.

Samus couldn't help but smile at the dismay of the two men. "Well what are you waiting for? Unless you too want to hear Snake whine, I suggest that we run!"


A/N: Yeah, a bit of a cheesy way to end a chapter, I know -_-. Anyway, this story might be about, say, 2 or 3 chapters long. So yeah…
…..You can stop reading now.

Snake and Gray Fox are owned by Konami. Samus, Ike, Link, and Wolf are owned by Nintendo.
Renee is an original character of mine.