AN:
I am so sorry this chapter is late. I've had a crazy weekend and week and I haven't been able to get to the laptop. Not to mention I kept on being unsatisfied with the written chapter, it didn't seem right. But this one is the one! I'll try hard to avoid skipping anymore weekends. Besides it's hard to count how many times I've rewritten this one, at least five.
Another thing I finished Metal Gear Solid 2 last week, epic absolutely epic. I would suggest it to anyone; it might be one of the best games I have ever played. After The Mass Effect trilogy, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Princess Peach (I don't care what anyone has to say about that game, being too easy or whatever, some call it a piece of crap but it's my piece of crap).
Please, read and review.
I hate quotations, tell me what you know
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the most contradictory quote ever
Chapter 8: Only good comes from chaos
After sleeping for an amazing twenty minutes Samus woke me up and kicked me out of the room all the while wishing me good luck. Well… Samus's idea of wishing me good luck goes along the lines of:
"Go kick his ass, Zelda."
That's typical Samus.
So as I walked down the halls headed to the teleporter room I considered Samus's wish of 'good luck'. I have fought Snake multiple times over the past year, a total of fifteen times. I have lost to Snake a total of… if you guessed fifteen you are correct.
Here's one thing that stood in my way of beating Snake, when I use to much magic I run out and it takes a while for my magic regeneration to catch up. So for the next two weeks, four days, ten hours, six minutes and eight- nineteen seconds I won't have any magic. So all I'm stuck with is a knife, joy.
If I could put Samus's advice to good use believe me I would. But here's the problem, I have had some really bad fights with Snake with magic and not feeling like I'm going to fall asleep where I stand. So I highly doubted I could beat him now.
Sorry, Sammy but I'm probably going to lose. Again.
I was very surprised when I walked into the teleporter room to find Captain Falcon, or Jay as he, prefers (But I still call him Falcon), waiting for me. Falcon and I were ambiguous in our relationship. It was hard to say whether I hated him or whether I admired him for how good of a fighter he was.
Falcon and I had one of the biggest rivalries in the entire tournament; right after mine and Link's that is (Mario and Sonic get along well, but are ruthless to each other in the ring). It's hard to count how many times I've argued with Falcon over the win or loss of a match, he insists that magic is the only reason I win or I insist that because he's always running away is the reason he wins. Then there are that few times when he had walked out of the locker room and we had shaken hands, and then started to argue.
"I have a fight in eight minutes," I said. "Do we have to argue now? I'm pretty sure I'm free after I get my ass kicked by Snake."
Falcon very lightly grinned, "I'm actually here to talk about that."
"I thought I said we weren't arguing," I said.
"No," he said. "About getting your ass kicked by Snake."
"You put it so bluntly," I crossed my arms over my chest. "Only I can do that, so are you here to tell me some super weakness of his? You are his roommate…"
"No."
"Darn," I said. "So why are you here?"
"To give you an edge," Falcon said. "How many times have Snake beaten you with a gun."
"Nine…" I said reluctantly, "They classified nine of my losses to Snake as a gunshot to some body part . Trust me it isn't a pleasant experience."
"Which is why I want to give you this," he said and handed me a holster with a pistol. "This is an M1911 semi-automatic pistol, I figured if you had a gun it wouldn't give him such a large advantage. You're an amazingly good archer and your close-combat is superb, but even you can't dodge bullets."
Samus was a genius and had taught both me and Peach how to fire a gun. So when I took the pistol from Falcon I can proudly say that I actually know what I'm doing. However the only time I've ever held a gun is from the hour it took for Samus to teach us, so while I know what I'm doing I don't speak from experience.
I strapped the holster to my right thigh.
"Uh, thanks," I said as I twisted my wrist to view the gun from a different angle. "I think it will help, thank you Falcon. But not to sound ungrateful... did Link talk you into this?"
"He gave me the idea, accidentally though," Falcon said. "Besides I've gotten tired of watching you being beaten by him. Not many people can win against Snake and I always thought you would have the best chance. It saddens me to see you get beaten, only I can do that."
"Thank you," I nodded. "I should… go."
I was about to step into the teleporter when Falcon said "Hey, Zelda!"
"What?"
"Don't prove me wrong."
I grinned, "Never."
When I was teleported onto the stage I thought about something that I had yet to think about. In other words I just did the impossible.
I thought about Snake's condition the other night, how he looked like he had cried. I haven't spoken to him since then (mostly because I was sleep for about 95% of yesterday). But it felt odd to see him again in a normal status.
I wasn't wondering why he was crying, we all do after all and I could easily blame it on allergies (okay maybe not that easily). But I was wondering what the hell would make him cry, a man like Snake who seemed almost impenetrable in his emotions was crying.
That almost scares me.
But then I was on the stage and I smiled when I realized the meaning behind the words that Peach said to me before I left:
"I hope you have good night vision, Zellie. It'll be dark."
And the underground area of the Mushroomy Kingdom was certainly dark. There was in fact absolutely no light, none. Every time I come in here I had magic, to make a light so the darkness wasn't usually a problem for me.
Other fighters had solutions to the problem of the darkness Red had a fire breathing dragon, Ness and Lucas had their weird version magic, Snake and Falcon had flashlights, Link had his lantern, Samus had night vision in that suit of hers, Mario used fire… And I used magic.
Now my itty, bitty, teensy, winsy problem was this:
I don't have any magic!
But I was in luck because my dearest Mother was a very smart woman and she thought of everything. Every situation I may ever be in you could bet she thought of it and you can bet she schemed up some challenge for me to overcome to prepare for that situation, usually hard as hell.
I spent six months sparing her in a dark cellar, no light what so ever. Just plain darkness. I. hated. Every. Second. Of. It.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight someone you can't see?
But my pain wasn't for not I learned how to fight in the dark (or the best that you can) and honestly I think I'm ready for anything Snake can throw (or shoot) at me for the rest of this fight. I just really hated myself for not having the foresight to bring a flashlight.
But it's really, really, really hard to fight an enemy that you: 1. Have no idea where they are; 2. you can't see; 3. being in a foreign environment that you have no idea where things are (which explains how within the first five steps I took I managed to smack my forehead into a hanging block).
I swore lightly and pushed my hand into my now throbbing forehead. Very slowly, I felt with my other hand, lots of obstacles. This will be very fun, I can tell already! At least I can redeem myself now because I can proudly say that he won't be killing me this time around, I'll be doing it.
I knew that to the west and the east where the tunnels walls. I would be about in the middle of the tunnel that meant I needed to maneuver myself (most likely painfully) through these stupid blocks of rock that float without any anchoring in the area for no explicable reason to the end of the tunnel where there's light.
Peach would have been the one who picked this stage because she was the one who scheduled the fight I thought She could have at least warned me… A flash light works wonders.
So with my arms splayed out before me to avoid hitting any other objects I walked through the tunnel. While my head was perfectly safe from being run into inexplicably floating rocks that I hate my legs and lower body however weren't.
After several stubbed toes, bruised shins, and cussing out the game makers something actually happened (besides me running face first into something).
I heard footsteps that echoed loudly through the empty tunnels, very slowly and one at a time.
Snake.
One-thousand-one…one-thousand-two… step… one-thousand-three…. One-thousand-Four… step… one-thousand-five… step… one-thousand-six…step, step… one-thousand-seven…
He's getting closer, if I'm headed north and he's headed north at a faster pace than I could go than we will meet. By how fast he's moving, I would say he had a light.
If he had a light and a gun (I should note while I did have a gun and I did know how to use it, Snake has more experience with the weapon) than he will see me first and he will shoot first. He had the advantage, which wasn't good.
The footsteps were getting closer I turned to face the foot steps. I quietly upholstered the gun and pointing it downwards, I clicked off the safety. I swear, that small little 'click' was the loudest sound I ever heard. Certain that Snake had heard me I stopped dead, the footsteps didn't stop or slow, nor did they speed up.
I determined that the steps favored to the right much more to the right, meaning that Snake was walking by the tunnel wall. Then he was probably using the wall to guide him, why didn't I think of that? Then I saw the light of a flash light and I narrowly avoided being spotted by dropping dead out to my stomach behind a low wall of blocks.
I pushed my chest into the dusty rock of the tunnel in a push up like position to lower my shadow. Then the light moved on and the footsteps began to fade, Snake had moved on. Then –too suddenly to be him moving away- the steps stopped. The light went out.
He had stopped moving, but there was something off about it.
My heart pounded in my chest even faster as I realized something, Snake was a really quiet walker… he hadn't stopped. Then I comprehended some basic logic.
Snake, equals, trained professional adept at sneaking around. Trained pro adept at sneaking around, equals, assassin (in my books). I just lost track of an assassin, which equals, bad. Bad, equals, dead. (I will now forever think of Snake as something deadly, a conclusion I should have come up with a long time ago).
But his flashlight is off, so surely he would have as much difficulty moving around as I?
At one point in my life I remember someone mentioning that Snake had an I.Q. of 180. In my terms that's pretty damn smart. Snake had walked forward then stopped and I think he's turned around, although I'm not entirely sure. What's to stop him from memorizing the layout of the area and then backtracking to find me? Did he even know I was here? And if so how? Did he possibly see me? Why didn't he take action then?
Damn it! Too many questions!
What do I have? No, that's not right… What do I remember about the layout of the area?
It was like a straight path of hanging of blocks and then with a left turn and then a right, that's all I remember from that one beam of light from the flashlight. Snake went past that I think then he would have to follow that…
I knew exactly where he would be and if I pull this off, then I am way smarter than I give myself credit for.
But where would he be? It was about sixty feet. It hasn't been that long since Snake went quiet. How fast could he move without alerting me? I thought of his long legs, muscular and strong. Thought of how he moved, strong, fast, quiet, and confident. I couldn't help but to wonder if that is what drew me to him, because he reminded me of the great characteristics of my mother? The one I want to live up to and perhaps never will?
I very slowly stood up and pointed the pistol where I knew Snake had to be. I knew he was there, coming closer. He was ready for me; he had the upper hand… He had more experience, more practice…
Shut up, Zelda and just shoot! I screamed at myself.
So I did.
The bang from the gun was defining in the echoing tunnel but just as it faded I heard the bullet ping off a wall and Snake swearing loudly. I didn't hesitate; I ran forward and flipped, pushed off with my hands slammed my heel into where I believed Snake would be. My foot hit flesh; I think his shoulder and Snake dropped as far as I could tell. One clunk, which sounded like a flash light.
I picked up the object that had fallen and was happy to find that it was the flash light. I clicked it on and pointed it at Snake; I then pointed the gun in the same direction. Snake had recovered and was pointing it at me while rolling his left shoulder, grimacing in pain.
"Color me impressed," he said. "How did you do it?"
"I'm smarter than I look," I grinned lightly. "And I'm also pretty lucky."
We were at a stalemate, two guns pointed at each other. Both of us ready to shoot, both of unsure of who go first and both of us unsure who would react better after the first shot. They make guns to kill, not pacify. Any bullet shot from the muzzle of one of these weapons could be considered a killing shot. Snake had more experience with a gun though; he knows more complex things about the weapon. I am at a disadvantage.
But I'm the one holding the light anyway, the one thing that allows Snake to know where I am. But nothing stops Snake from guessing like I did.
You can always tell what someone was going to do by how their muscles in their chest and stomach moved. Which direction they'll go and how they'll attack. Only the best fighters are unreadable, both I and Snake are that good.
He was unreadable and so was I; he didn't know what I was going to do next. But neither did I.
So I formulated a plan.
"We haven't spoken since getting drunk," I smirked. "How are you doing?"
We circled each other, trying to finding an advantageous angle or cover to hide behind. We avoided obstacles as necessary.
"I'm doing fine" Snake said, he knew I had something planned, but not sure what. "Thank you for asking."
"Even when pitted against each other," I said. "It's good to know that we can keep our manners and hold out a civilized conversation."
I nodded, but I didn't take my eyes from him. In order for my plan to work, Snake had to stand at the perfect spot. He was almost there. I silently and subtly herded him over to the left. Manipulating people is a specialty of mine, getting someone to do what I wanted was important in court life. But I wasn't planning an offensive attack; I was planning something more along the lines of running away.
"It can put a hamper on a relationship," Snake began, "If you have to kill your friend every few days."
I laughed. Just a bit more to the left, about a foot more...
"It's very stress relieving though," I said. "Killing your friend now and then can help you work out the kinks in your relationships, or create a few."
There he was, right where I needed him.
Before I did anything though, before I attacked, I turned off the flashlight and then dove to the back and then left. Right behind a large pile of blocks, I slammed my back into it as Snake and fired three shots. Two missed but one made a large gauge in my upper arm.
When I had turned off the flash light the angle that I was at and the angle that Snake could technically see me at when I moved was very slim because of how the blocks were arranged. When I moved backwards he shouldn't have been able to get any shots on me. Although the cut on my arm proves otherwise. The fact that I'm still alive is what counts though.
I quietly stood up and slid away from the area, when I got to the end of the blocks I had memorized. I dared to turn on the flashlight and began to run.
I slid, leapt over, and side-stepped randomly placed blocks as I ran. At some points I had to scale a wall of the stupid things. By the time I saw a light that didn't belong to my flashlight I was huffing from the effort of keeping a steady pace. But then I exploded out of the tunnel and I gladly accepted the sunlight that came with it.
I continued to move on, I needed to disarm Snake. That was the only I could get this fight even, I had to beat him in hand-to-hand there was no way I could win a gun fight. Not to mention I was the one with the knife, Snake didn't carry knifes with him because I was pretty sure he didn't like to use them.
At the entrance of the tunnel I found a small hiding place. I don't how long I waited, but it was a long time. But then Snake came out and he stopped just out of the line of my vision.
It impressed me that he made it out of there without hurting himself to badly, that place is full of places where you could break everyone bone in your body. There is a reason that Sonic hates this stage (it's actually kind of nice to have the guy forced from going so fast, makes it so much easier to fight him if he has to watch where he's running.)
So I bit my lip and when he stepped out from the cover of the tunnel already out and ready to fire. He looked left, forward, up and then was about to face my direction. I fired the gun twice, but missed twice. I leapt out from behind my cover and grabbed the wrist that held Snake's gun.
I was perfectly ready to flip him over my hip but he reacted faster than I counted on. Snake grabbed my shoulder and pinched between the shoulder-blade and the collar-bone. I grimaced in pain.
And then it was a desperate struggle for the gun. Snake slammed my back into the rock that surrounded the tunnel entrance. He managed to get the gun right under my jawbone and I was quick to place my thumb between the trigger. Either he planned to break my thumb or to overpower me because he continued to push down on the trigger.
"Should have fucking shot you," I growled "But, no, I had to miss!"
My hand began moving for my knife, trying to keep Snake from noticing over the desperate power struggle for the gun. Snake knew I was reaching for the knife and he switched his grip from my shoulder to my wrist and then slammed it against the wall. Damn.
I twisted my shoulder forcing him to release jerk the gun away from my jaw and then swung I swung my captured around his arm, trapping it with mine while freeing my other arm. For one dangerous second the gun was at my jaw ready to fire.
But the knife was already in his stomach, piercing an artery.
Snake slumped against me while dropping the gun. I gripped his shoulders and swung him down to rest him on the dust ground. He was already 'dead' by the time I managed to stand.
I slumped against the locker room wall and wiped sweat from my brow. That was satisfying and I knew as a fighter I had gotten ten times better.
AN: Special thanks to PrincessOfAltea and Classic Anon for reviewing, to Persona-person for following.
Your support is very welcome! Please, review. You're praise inspires me.
