Uh, just a little something I came up with because I was nuts and crazy and I've actually had this brewing for quite some time. The idea of something happening and Snake seeing the Joy (or the Boss) from MGS3 has been tickling my brain, and I wanted to do it.

Contains pretty heavy MGS references- like MGS, MGS3, and MGS4. And despite the fact he looks gorgeously young in the game, I think I'm going to use his Old Snake form from MGS4. Go check it out. One of Peach's statements will make a LOT more sense in this story if you know what that looks like.

I dunno what magical powers Solid Snake's Aurora has on me, but DAMN, I need more of them now!

I don't own Super Smash Brothers. CURSE YOU, NINTENDO! –shakefist-

Joy Shall Be Double-Edged

"Is he still in there?"

She turned to him and nodded a little. "Hours on hours on hours now. It's really hard to get him out of this mindset, you know? After all, how can one actually pull himself out of that sort of frame when his best friend and closest companion ends up in the hands of a monster? He doesn't think he's strong enough to do anything now, and for that, he's punishing himself in the way he only knows in this place."

The Pokémon lowered his head, placing a paw on the windowsill and closing his eyes. "He should not have to do this to himself. Day by day, he grows older and older, the virus taking his life and the genes in his body destroying him completely. He's going to kill himself with all of this training before he can even go off and try to save her."

The princess of the Mushroom Kingdom couldn't help but wipe a tear from her eyes. "He's always been stubborn but never like this. I don't know what to tell him to stop and at least eat something or maybe sleep. With the princess gone, he needs someone right now, and I am not sure who to send him the comforting waves that people need him."

"There is but a single person that can help now," Lucario whispered, shaking his head. "I am not sure if she will come and aid the man, but it's worth a shot to try and wish. For it is all we can and will be able to so for some time."

Peach clenched her fists. "What kind of sadist would even try to do such a thing? To steal away Princess Zelda and threaten her very life when she has done nothing to him?"

His voice dripped with bitterness. "Only a madman whose sole desire is to inflict damage upon those who don't even deserve it, Your Highness."

He had lost track of time, of how many times he had been going at this. Down they went, one after another, smashed out of the stadium by nothing but pain, hatred, and the needing to know that he would win this time. He had to- if he didn't, there wasn't a chance of her surviving, and he would end up beating himself up to the verge of the desire to be dead and gone. His fist smashed into another Primid, and it flew out of the stadium with childish cries. All this time, he could think one thing.

"You failed, Snake! And now she is MINE!"

He could see her being taken away, her eyes screaming for mercy and voice choked with nothing but her voice that could never be heard. He could remember his thoughts draining and leaving nothing but the question that everyone wanted to know: Why her?

The quiet theme in the background for the audience of two was set on "Battle in the Base," and it was clear he was in his zone on the Shadow Moses stage. He panted and got on one knee for a moment, catching what air he could. His eyes flashed up at the time, and when he saw the time, he shook his head. Fifteen hours of nothing but destroying targets and beating himself mentally for what he had done to fail.

He wasn't strong enough. He never had been strong enough.

"It's your doubt."

Snake stopped and looked down slightly for a moment, blinking and not responding. The voice of a woman on the field behind him had startled him slightly, to say the least. His voice was ragged; aging with each moment he didn't try and save her. "What do you mean?" His fists clenched up, sounding more frantic. "What do you mean by that?!"

He whirled around and stopped, his eyes widening in shock. She stood there, a sort of odd smile playing on her lips. Her figure was transparent, the outfit possibly similar to that of his snow-white camo he could use if he wanted to. Her arms crossed in front of her, scanning the older man with a weary eye and offering a sort of gesture in his direction. "I know you hate yourself. And I understand you wish you could continue this for hours until you perfected everything in your arsenal, Snake. But you can't. Time doesn't stop for those who are inflicted with pain."

The Smasher relaxed only slightly, cocking his head and taking a step towards her. "I feel like I should know you from somewhere," he confessed, shrugging and watching the figure's movements. "And yet, I shouldn't. Judging by the fact that I could probably try to hit you and only get mist, I'm thinking you've got something to do with a ghost of my past- or someone else's." Snake looked her over as well. "Who are you exactly?"

"I am the Joy, Solid Snake. I was a member of the Cobra Unit in 1964, the year your father was sent to commence the Virtuous Mission. He knew me, though, as the Boss." She gave a small smile as she watched his face morph into astonishment. "Surprised? I received a 'call' of sorts that you were in need of some help with your mental well-being."

The man bit his lip in response and shook his head, turning away. "My mental well-being is fine. I just need to save Zelda from him. I need to save everyone from him!"

The Boss didn't move. She allowed him to steam a little more, to bask in his anger and wait for the moment to truly come back and strike out with everything he had. She even so much as stroked her chin with slightest amusement. "You can't destroy him because you think you're too weak in your mind. He could overpower you, make you seem that you're nothing but dirt in this world, that you don't belong anywhere but the deepest depths of hell!"

He was clenching his fists with utmost strength, willing himself not to break down, forcing himself to not fling his body across the stadium towards the former Cobra Unit member. "What would you know?" he spat quietly, shaking visibly. "What in the world would you know about my relationship with him? You don't know a damn thing of what's happened between us!"

"I do know he's your brother, your mortal enemy, and the one that threatens everyone's lives if you don't get rid of him now," she replied sharply. "You're much like your father, you know that?! Stubborn and allowing his emotions to get in the way of everything he ever did having to do with someone he knew, cared about… you're allowing your want for this person to come into the play of everything, but you're not thinking about that stupid bastard you call a brother."

Snake whirled around, eyes flaming. "Why do you think I've been here for nearly fifteen hours?"

She gestured to him, whipping her hand across her body and holding her ground with such ferocity. "You've been moping and not going after him, that's what. Now stop pounding away at these fake targets in your mind and the battlefield and go destroy the real one, David!"

He stopped, blinking and shaking his head. The word lashed out like a whip across his back- like the one that Liquid had used in his nightmares. The Smasher stumbled back for a moment, giving the Boss a strange gaze. She did not budge, keeping those fierce green eyes focused on him and nodding once. Snake gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, focusing on the ghost and clenching his fists. The ghost crossed her arms and waited- she was going to stay there until he finally made up his mind.

In a rush, Snake growled and ran forward, hoping for just the tiny spark to actually maybe even try to hit her. Couldn't hurt to hope for something like that, could it? He threw his fist forward, expecting to hit air…

…and met flesh. Stunned, he stared at where he thought the hand was pass through and stared at her, who was clenching it with chilling ease in her own hand. Her face was now one of her namesake- unadulterated joy, radiating with a sort of proud gleam: one a mother would give her son. She nodded and let go of his hand, stepping back and moving aside only a little. "The door is open to the outside. He's going to be difficult to beat. Who knows what consequences could occur if you defeat him- and what worse things might happen if you don't?"

He looked down at his hands for a moment, all thoughts running through his head in a sort of whirlwind. Chuckling bitterly, he spoke finally. "I guess it can't really be helped. We were made for war, made to destroy one another in the heat of combat. All clones were made to be like that- leave nothing behind." His face turned into a fierce gaze. "I'm going to save her, no matter what. I'm not doing it for anyone. I'm doing it for myself- I'm doing it because I love her with all my heart, and I refuse to allow him to touch her."

The Boss smiled, disappearing into a vaporous mist and watching the older man stalk out of the arena for the first time in hours. Her work here was done.

"Snake!"

The aging Smasher turned around and saw Peach and Lucario running to catch up with him on his way back to his room. The princess offered a sort of nervous smile and nodded to him with worried approval. "I agonize about this adventure you are about to embark on alone. There are many perils that you will embark on your way there to save Zelda from the sadistic menace you call your brother."

"She's right," Lucario interjected, scowling slightly in disapproval at his companion's forcefulness to allow no one else along on the journey. "You have no idea what the hell you'll be facing after you do in fact reach Liquid- and even then, no one is sure if it is going to be he that you face. There are going to be a lot of worried people here, Snake. I hope you know what you're doing, for god's sake."

Snake turned around to the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom and the aura Pokémon, flashing an old cocky smile of his. "I was once told I had this unique sort of aura- one that treads both the paths of the light and the darkness. If I can find that fine line again, I am pretty damn sure I'm going to be okay. Besides, I don't feel like having anyone get hurt when it's my own fault that Zelda got taken." His eyes hardened. "I don't want anyone else to suffer because of my mistakes."

Peach shook her head. "You are so stubborn sometimes. I wonder how she manages to put up with you and those age lines."

He could only duck his head and snicker at this thought as he turned back to the corridors of the mansion, his mind still on what the Boss had told him.

"Time doesn't stop for those who are inflicted with pain."

He wasn't going to allow anyone else to stop for him and his death to mourn him. The pain- he knew they couldn't deal with Zelda away.

He wasn't going to allow Zelda to be gone for any longer.

Composed to a lot of songs from the following soundtracks: Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy VII

…well, crap. I got a plot bunny. Kill me with ANYTHING you desire-unless you want me to continue. I just- yeah. That didn't… -stares- So, thanks for reading. Please don't hesitate to leave a review.