Disclaimers 'n' Crap: Haihai peeps! One fine day, the thoughts of Raiden's past and the whole "passing down to the next generation" thing from MGS just happened to collide in my head. Since Jack is the most moral person in the Alliance, I figured he should give Raiden the speech. Samurai Jack, Aku, Snake, Raiden and Big Shell are the only things in this fic I don't own. Everything else is MINE. NO STEALING. Enjoy.
All heads in the room turned to Raiden. He just sat there, staring at nothing.
"They say that everyone in The Crystal Alliance has a story," said Jack "What is yours, Raiden?" Raiden just sat there.
"I don't really want to talk about it," he said in a low voice. Then he got up and left the room. Jack went after him.
"Raiden…"
"Jack, I don't have to tell you anything!" said Raiden, defiantly "I've already tried to forget my past." Jack didn't move.
"Raiden," he said in a calm but firm voice "Do not think that you are the only one here who has had a difficult past. I was sent away from my home when I was barely 8 years of age and I knew not if I would ever see my parents or my homeland again. Great things were expected of me, I was to be the world's last hope against the evil of Aku. When I was sent here and met Hannah, I had to join because we shared the same cause, to fight evil and make a better future. We must be more open with each other in the Alliance if we are to know that we are truly on the same side." Raiden heaved a heavy sigh.
"Alright," he said "My parents we killed when I was 3 and I was taken away and trained as a soldier. I held my first AK at age 6 and had a highly revered kill record by age 10! Jack, I was KILLING PEOPLE when I was a LITTLE KID!"
"But you did not mean to," said Jack.
"Huh?"
"Those people who were raising you," said Jack "They influenced you in some way, didn't they?"
"They put gunpowder in the food," said Raiden "It caused us to hallucinate, made us more controllable, drugged."
"You saw actual warfare and bloodshed?" said Jack.
"Yes," said Raiden "And lot's of it. I tried to forget about all that, but Big Shell brought it all back."
"Memories like that should not be forgotten," said Jack. Raiden looked at him, confused. "With those memories, we can tell our children about the horrors of war. Try to teach them the paths not to take in life and about what paths some people may force us to take. Here, the balance between good and evil is very prominent. We must all be on the side of good, but to do so, we must know what evil looks like. War is an evil and you have seen it. So have many others in the Alliance and that is how we will teach the next generation. Hold on to your memories, Raiden. They could bring hope for our future." Raiden nodded and smiled. Jack sounded a bit like Snake…and they were both right.