Meh. Sorry about this. Didn't forget about it- just didn't know what to do with this one. Let's have some more angst. *bitter laugh*
Thanks for reviewing AngelSnake, Sparoe, saiph nebula, Marie Nomad, Wolf.82
Week 1: Bitter Remembrance
8. Day 7: Imperfections
"You remember how you told me to look in the mirror that day on the island?" she asked, staring into the koi pond below and offering a wry grin in his direction.
He leaned against the bridge railing and shrugged as best he could, taking in deep breaths of the clean air and allowing the breeze to kiss his face. "How could I forget? You had one of the cutest butts I had ever seen."
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, grinning slightly. "My eyes, my butt, everything you ever loved about me had to deal with the body. But never mind about that- you told me to take a long hard look at myself before we went and faced Mantis. And that day I really started to see myself, I saw a lot of things that were wrong with me."
He offered his own sincere smile. "What do you mean? Besides your recklessness, what the heck is wrong with you?"
"I didn't have any make-up, number one. And number two, I thought I was living a lie. I didn't know then if I wanted to be a soldier or not; sort of this identity crisis idea, you know?" She rubbed her head and leaned back against the railing herself, facing her ex-lover. "And now that I think about it, you never told me what you saw in the mirror."
The ex-mercenary shrugged. "Didn't know you cared."
She forced herself to not grumble in exasperation.
He reached out and took her hand, glancing up from the pond and staring for what seemed to be an eternity. "Nine years ago, I didn't look in the mirror that day. I had no idea what I really was, either. All I recognized was that I had to do a job and that I planned on doing it. If I died, so be it. But we both know that wasn't in the plan."
"What do you see now?"
He gave a short laugh. "A damn lot of imperfections, if you ask me. A killer. A biological time bomb. A man who can't pick up a date anywhere. A mistake from the 1970's. An inferior clone of the greatest soldier to live on this planet. An ex-mercenary. I could go on and on about what I finally see myself as now, but that would waste both my air and yours."
She cocked her head. "You love to see people's wrongs, don't you? Especially your own."
"Meryl, there are a lot of things that are bad and wrong with me, not a lot that are good," he replied bitterly, looking back down at the pond. "Let's face it- the infamous Solid Snake is nothing more than a heap of flaws that a surrogate mother produced. All that I learned had absolutely nothing to do with my genes. It had to do with those who taught me what to do on the battlefield, none of that gene therapy crap." He placed his chin on his palm. "And I only had two siblings- one of which was the president of our country and the other was a psychotic blond who wanted to rule the world and destroy us all."
She sighed and shook her head. There were only three weeks left until his passing, and already, they were looking bleak.
Oh, come on. Cut me a little slack. I took them outside. Don't worry, I'm getting more people into this in the later chapters. Don't fuss, I know what I am doing. *nuzzles* Did you like it?
