I do not own Metal Gear Solid, nor the characters in this fanfiction. Do not sue me.
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What am I?
This was Jack's first thought as he saw his new body for the first time. Carved out of steel, inwrought with silver and iron, artificial blood and nanomachines, it was inhumane. Ghastly. And yet, metallic perfection.
As the White Devil, Jack had killed. He had watched life flee from the eyes of the innocent, and the eyes of the guilty. He believed he had lost his soul the moment he had killed his first victim. But one thing he had always hoped for was to, someday, find absolution.
Something he could believe in.
Something he could cherish.
When he had learnt of Sunny's location through Niang – the Chinese term for Mother; in this case, a woman who was codenamed "Big Mama," – he had been wary, sceptical. When she had named her price, he had been horrified.
Yet, he had accepted.
Why?
Was it really worth the loss of what was left of his humanity for this one child? To Jack, it was. He had hoped for a while that his child would provide some sort of stabilization, some anchor to keep the nightmares from washing over him again. When Rose delivered a still-born, Jack had lost all sense of control over his life. His childhood memories, once suppressed and kept locked away in the darkest part of his mind, were constantly being brought back up into his life again. Nothing he could do would stop them. How can you fight an enemy that's part of your own mind?
So he had escaped from his life. Or, at least, that's how he saw it. Rose, he knew, would have called it 'running away.' Snake probably would have called it cowardly. But Jack… he just saw it as sensible. He was looking for some form of forgiveness, something that could give him a purpose in life once again.
So when he had met Niang, her offer seemed to be a gift; a chance of redeeming himself.
Heh.
He should have known.
The moment she named her price –the fact that Jack would once again become a Patriot pawn – he should have known.
But he had accepted anyway.
For one lone little girl that he didn't even know, he had accepted. He had accepted slavery and loss of humanity. He had accepted the fact that he was once again a Patriot pawn. He had cast aside Jack… and become Raiden.
The name given to him by Solidus, the Snake who fought for freedom, was taken away. The name given him to the Patriots was his title, now. And always would be.