-Chapter 3: Advent-
Otacon's suspicions had been fact—the girl with the dog tags didn't know what her name was. In fact, she didn't even know what a name was in the first place. Assuming it to be some case of amnesia, he and Sunny did what they could in the week that followed to teach her basic concepts; primarily how to read and write. Strangely, she acquired new information at lightning speed. It was as if all she needed was to see something once and she would be able to replicate it to the smallest detail. (As a result, she wound up with handwriting indiscernible from Otacon's own.) It was his hope that soon she would learn enough to have some kind of memory surface that would tell him who she was. Surely she had parents that were worried about her, or some kind of family she had disappeared from. And when she regained her memory, she would be able to solve the mystery of why she had been asleep on his doorstep wearing two handguns on her waist and a bandolier over her shoulder, not to mention the cryptic note from 'Skuld'.
At least, that was the plan. And as he laid in bed staring at the ceiling for yet another night, he reflected on how unlikely it was. Moth—that was what he had taken to calling her, not having anything else to address her as—might never regain her memory. And what would happen then? Would she continue to live with them? The house had felt disturbingly empty since Snake died…perhaps she could be the third part to their strange little family. One second, he found himself thinking that…the next he found his hearing and the house itself shaken to its core by a massive sound of thunder and violent tremors.
"W-what the—?!" was all he could manage to say before falling out of bed and landing on the floor with a dull thud. Quickly, his brain tried to process what had just happened as he rose to his feet: an explosion? But why, and caused by what? More importantly, is there going to be another—Sure enough, the house was rocked by a second roar that seemed to send the entire earth into a violent shudder that nearly took the engineer back down to the floor. Oh my god, I really am going to get killed by a Metal Gear. Pushing that thought out of his panicking mind, Otacon tried to bring his more coherent thoughts together. I've got to get Sunny and—no, Sunny's staying over with Raiden and Rose tonight, isn't she? Okay, then I just need to find Moth and— At that moment, the house gave an immense moaning sound as if in protest of the noises and vibrations assaulting it, accompanied by a sound that drained all the color from Otacon's face and seemed to freeze him to where he stood…the sound of wood supports splintering and the very walls around him cracking apart.
"Th-this isn't good…!" Otacon stumbled towards the door, only to have a chunk of the ceiling break apart and collapse behind him in a cloud of dust and plaster. Stunned for a split second, his eyes caught sight of the shoulder bag holding his laptop sitting by the door. …I'm not leaving Lain here. As soon as his hand wrapped around the black leather handle, Otacon was aware of someone pulling the back of his shirt and dragging both him and Lain out of the collapsing room.
"Heavy enemy assault detected. Primary course of action is evacuation."
"M-Moth?!" She spoke in her usual flat tone, but now it almost seemed to have a bit more force behind it. The walls around them gave another splintering shriek of protest as Moth grabbed Otacon's wrist and began pulling him down the hall.
"Estimated thirteen point three seconds to total collapse." she muttered, half dragging Otacon by the wrist.
"Wh-what?! 'Total collapse'?!" Moth abruptly halted in front of where there had once been a door; now it was a wall of debris blocking their exit. Seemingly unfazed, Moth held her right arm out, seemingly bracing it with her left hand. Even as Otacon watched, her arm up to the elbow seemed to separate into dozens of tiny rectangular panels and fold back, reforming her hand and forearm into a sleek silver…what was it? The barrel of a gun, maybe? Before Otacon could get a closer look, Moth mumbled to herself,
"Five point two seconds to collapse." A bright blue light began to collect at the end of her arm, where there had once been a hand. Before Otacon could dwell on the fact that this night had basically gone straight to hell, the light formed into a massive laser and blasted straight through where the front door had been. "Three point one…" She grabbed Otacon's wrist and all but threw him and his laptop out the hole she had created. Her laser cannon formed back into a recognizable arm as she dove out after him…the house gave one last creaking death cry and seemed almost to fold in upon itself with the unmistakable sounds of shattering glass, splintering wood, and destroyed memories.
-end of chapter three-
