David woke up the next morning. He had no knowledge of the traumatic episode that had happened last night. He turned to his right and was shocked at what he saw. It was the back of a beautiful woman with blonde hair. It was Samus. And she was in his bed. Shortly after, Samus turned around to face David. Once she saw him she smiled.
"Well good morning David." She said sweetly.
"Uh…good morning Samus…" David answered slowly.
He was confused as to why Samus was in his bed with him. He didn't have any idea of what happened last night. Last thing he remembered was talking with Samus.
"Uh…Samus…we didn't…do…well…you know?" David asked nervously.
Samus chuckle when David asked this.
"No David we didn't have sex." Samus said still laughing.
"Oh ok. Well, why are you in my bed? Not that I don't want you here but…"
"You uh…had some nightmares last night David."
David frowned when she said this.
"I see. The return of the good old PTSD nightmares. That's just great. So what happened?"
"Luigi was in the kitchen and heard you screaming. He was worried about you and tried to open the door to help you, but the door was locked. He came upstairs and woke us all up to tell us. I came in here and I…well I helped to calm you down. I assured you that everyone was ok, because you were having nightmares that everyone here was being attacked from what you were screaming. Not to mention you were screaming about some of the things that happened in your previous missions."
"Yeah. I tend to do that during the nightmares. So then what happened?"
"Well after I calmed you down, I was going to leave the room, but you told me not to leave you. So I slept in the bed with you so you wouldn't have nightmares."
"I see. Um…thanks. I'm sorry I was such a burden."
"There's nothing for you to apologize for. I was more than happy to help you." Samus said.
David smiled at her and bowed his head.
"Must have been pretty ironic huh? Seeing the legendary Solid Snake crying like a child. I must of looked weak at that moment huh?" David asked.
"Actually no, you didn't look weak. Now that I think about it, it makes you stronger."
"Really? How so?"
"David, there's a large amount of Galactic Federation Marine veterans who committed suicide sometime after service. They did because they couldn't take the trauma of what they saw during combat. But what they saw is nothing compared to everything that you saw during your career. I've never met a person who carries a heavier burden than you. Yet even with that burden, you still choose to live."
"Yeah. There's a high count of veterans committing suicide on Earth as well. I'm…I'm not really sure why I haven't decided to kill myself now that I think about it. The only time I attempted it was at the end of the last mission. The only reason I tried it was because I had thought that I would become a biological weapon of mass destruction in a few months, and if I killed myself I would prevent that from happening. I was going to commit suicide for the sake of the world. But when I had the gun in my mouth, and about to pull the trigger…I pulled the gun out of my mouth and shot to the sky."
There was complete silence that lasted a minute after he said this. David finally decide to brighten up the mood.
"Well, let's get our day started. Zelda is being released from the hospital today. Let's go pick her up."
David stood up from the bed and went to his closet to get a shirt to put on. Samus looked at his body and saw the scars that covered it. They looked much worse in the day light.
"How the hell is he still alive with all those scars?" Samus thought to herself.
"Those sure are a lot of scars David…" Samus told David.
"Yeah. Not very attractive is it?" David asked rhetorically.
"Alright, I'm going to go get Otacon and Peach. We'll be waiting for you." David told Samus.
"Ok. I'll be with you guys in a minute." Samus said.
David gave her a nod and began making his way out of his room.
"By the way, if my door was locked, how did you manage to…" David stopped when he saw that his door was knocked down. Needless to say this answered his question. Samus walked toward him to apologize.
"David, I'm really sorry. I just couldn't let you…"
"Don't apologize." David said cutting her off.
Samus looked at David with a confused look on her face.
"You care about me so much that you went as far as to kick my locked door down to help me?"
"Y-Yes David. Of course I do." Samus answered.
David just stood still bowing his head. He was deep in thought. For the first time, someone had helped to comfort him during his nightmares. Not to mention, she forced her way into his room when she found out it was locked. David had always been alone throughout his life. No one was ever with him to help him with these types of problems. But finally, there was someone there for him. While David thought about this, he didn't realize that a tear was dropping down his cheek. He had cried before, but it was from fear and panic from his nightmares while he was in a semi-conscious state. He was conscious, and he shed a tear out of happiness.
"David? What's wrong, you're…you're crying." Samus said and walked over to him.
David came back to his senses, and saw Samus walking towards him.
"David, what's the matter? Why are you…" She was cut off when she was pulled into a hug by David.
"T-Thank you." David said quietly.
Samus responded by returning the hug.

David and Samus met with Peach and Otacon outside the mansion and began to make their way to the hospital to pick up Zelda. Before they began travelling, Link asked if he could tag along, and the group happily agreed. They arrived at the hospital and picked up Zelda, and they all went outside in the hospital's parking lot and made conversation.
"You don't know how happy I am to finally be out of there." Zelda said with excitement.
"We're all just happy that you're alive." Link told her.
"I'm glad to say that while you were in the hospital we found the creature that attacked you." Otacon said.
"Really? So it wasn't human. What did it look like?" Zelda asked.
"It was like you said, completely black with blood red eyes. What's more important was what it was able to do. It possessed Fox somehow and attacked Falco in Fox's body." David said.
"It left Fox's body once David kicked his ass." Samus said and gave a chuckle.
David grinned and continued talking.
"So after it left Fox's body it ran into the forest, we followed it and saw that it was killed by some guy who had blonde hair. Still haven't found that guy. I wonder…"
David stopped talking when he noticed something strange. He saw what looked like an outline of a person. It was similar to if someone was wearing stealth camo.
"David, is there something wrong?" Peach asked.
David was not paying attention and didn't respond to the question. He was still looking at the distillation in the air that he saw. He was suspicious that it was an attacker using some sort of stealth camouflage. Then a sound of a pistol chamber being pulled back confirmed his suspicion.
"SHIT!" David yelled.
Out of his instincts of a soldier, David immediately pulled out his Mk.23 pistol and fired two rounds towards the distillation. Following the gunshots was the sound of a body collapsing. It was indeed an attacker, and whatever the cause of the attacker's invisibility was stopped working, and the attacker's corpse was revealed. It looked just like the Demon that attacked Zelda. David's friends were all shocked at what just happened.
"Damn! There are more of these things?!" David yelled.
Suddenly, David's codec began to ring. David's frequency was known by very few people he knew. He was sure none of them were calling. He put his finger to his ear and answered the call.
"David." The unknown caller said.
"Who is this? How do you know me?"
"Look David, there's no time to go into detail so I'm going to make this quick. An group of Shades are approaching your area ready to ambush you."
"Shades?"
"That's the type of monster you killed just now. That was an assassin Shade you just killed, the one's you're about to face are just infantry, so you don't have to worry about invisibility."
"How did you know I just killed one of those?"
"I'm close by. On the top of a hill near the hospital. I need you to make this call to where everyone can hear."
"Otacon, put this call on speaker."
Otacon pulled out a small walkie talkie device, and set a frequency. The unknown caller could now be heard by the group.
"So here's what's going to happen. Shades are going to come to ambush you, many of them are using guns. Some of them will try to fight you hand-to-hand. I'm going to cover you the best I can from my position, but you're all going to have to contribute in a way."
"Just tell us what we need to do." David said
"David, I know you're Solid Snake, so I know you're the best one of the group when it comes to guns. There's an M4A1 I put in that bush next to that white car. When it comes to these things, do what you do when it comes to any enemy. Aim for the head."
David was quite shocked that the caller knew both his name and his codename.
"Samus, you're Power Suit would be great for this, but I take it you don't have it with you. You're paralyzer will still work great against Shades, no matter where you hit them. Set it to a more lethal function of course."
Samus did as the caller said.
"Link, use your arrows, boomerangs to pick off individual targets, and use your bombs if they're in groups."
Link took out his Bow and readied an arrow.
"Zelda. Your magic and light arrows are more effective than everyone else's weapons. Use that to you and your groups advantage. Snake, next to the M4 is a glock 18 and a super scope. Give the glock 18 to Dr. Emmerich and the Super Scope to Peach."
David grabbed the weapons and did as instructed.
"Alright everyone, they're almost here. Stick with the plan and work as a team. That's our only chance of getting out of this alive. Once, we do, I'll come down from this hill and personally explain everything. Good luck."
And with that the call ended.
"We're going to have to trust him." David said.
"What's the plan?" Link asked.
"Let's form up at the entrance of the parking lot. Link, Otacon, you're with me. Samus, you lead Zelda and Peach. Get behind some cover, and do not under any circumstance, charge them. Understood?"
Everyone nodded. David, Otacon, and Link positioned themselves at the right side of the road that enters into the parking lot, while Samus, Peach, and Zelda positioned themselves at the left side. There were cars and boxes to use as cover, so they had a good spot. Samus gave David a thumbs up to indicate that they were ready.
"Alright everyone! Take aim!" David ordered.
Everyone aimed their weapons towards the group of Shades that were coming. David noticed at the front of the group was a Shade that looked nothing like the others. In fact, it looked rather familiar. He had long hair, and it's outline showed that it was wearing a jacket. David saw Otacon looking worried about something, and he knew what it was.
"Otacon."
Otacon looked over to his friend
"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to her. I'll make sure of it."
Otacon nodded to David. David took another look at the odd Shade creature at the front.
"Wait, that Shade looks a lot like…"
"BROTHER!" a familiar, British voice yelled out over a megaphone. It was the voice of Liquid Snake, David's twin brother.
"LIQUID?!" David yelled in shock.
"It's great to see you again brother. My god, you really haven't aged well have you?"
Anger began to show on David's face.
"This is so fitting isn't it Snake? Me, the brother of darkness, a shadow of Big Boss, being the leader of a group of shadows. And then you, the brother of light, leading a band of heroes to battle against me."
Liquid paused for a moment, then continued to speak.
"It's also rather ironic. You're a shadow just like me Snake. We're twins. You shouldn't be with a group of heroes. Because you're not a hero Snake. You're a murderer! You kill people because you enjoy it! I'm sure that's the reason why you went on all your missions. Because it gave you a reason to go on a killing spree!" Liquid said and began to laugh like a maniac.
David growled with anger at Liquid telling him this.
"That's why instead…you should be on this side. With your own kind. With the shadows. So I'm going to give you deal brother. The reason I'm here is so I can kill those four smashers. The smashers are the reason why me and the Shades can't take over this universe and turn it into a world for shadows. I'm not here to kill you or even you scientist friend. So here's the offer. I'm willing to forgive and forget brother! Join me and the Shades and we'll kill these four smashers. After that, we go to the Smash Mansion and have ourselves a good old killing spree!"
"FUCK YOU LIQUID!" David screamed in response.
"Oh well that's disappointing Snake. I guess you can just stay with your "friends" and die with them. Goodbye Snake." Liquid said and left the area.

The Shades took aim at David and his friends and began opening fire. As soon as the first few shots were fired, gunshots could be heard from a much farther distance and resulted in Shades collapsing on the ground dead. It was the man who called David on the codec, covering them from the hill like he had said. The Shades realized a sniper was picking their men off, and ceased fire on David and the others and began looking around for the sniper. David knew that this was an opportunity created for them to begin their assault.
"Open fire now!"
The entire group left cover and unloaded their weapons on the Shades, with a shadow falling to the ground every second. David, Samus, Otacon, and Peach used their weapons fast fire rate as an advantage to stay on the offensive. This allowed Zelda and Link to use their devastating attacks to take out the Shades in large groups. Three Shades had snuck behind David and his squad and tried a close quarters assault. Peach called out to them before they succeeded in their sneak attack. David kicked a Shade in the knee, forcing the creature to kneel on the ground. David followed with a spinning kick to the Shade's face, knocking it flat on its back, and was then executed by Otacon with a shot to the head. Link stabbed the second one with his Master Sword, putting an end to it quickly. David smacked the third one with the butt of his M4A1 and put it in a chokehold while it was groggy from the hit. David used the Shade as a shield while he moved forward towards the attacking group. Many of the Shades ceased fire, while some tried their luck at shooting David, missing completely. David unloaded the clip of his assault rifle into the crowd, racking up a large kill count. Zelda charged up a Light Arrow and shot it into the crowd. Being so powerful, the arrow penetrated through an entire row of enemies, killing all of them. There were very few Shades left, after a few minutes, there were only five left. The entire group attempted one final attack to end it all, but were surprised to see that they had all run out of ammo. The group went back to cover, trying to think of what they could do.
"Damn it!' Samus said in frustration.
"This looks like the end David." Otacon said as the five shades began moving towards their locations with fully loaded weapons.
"Wait…aren't we missing something" David asked.
Following David's question was an explosion of an M203 Grenade that killed the five Shades. The group looked behind them to see that it was the blonde man whom had killed the Shade that attacked Zelda yesterday.
"Looks like you all managed." The man said.
"Alright guy, cut the crap. Tell us who you are!' David said.
"Name's Michael. Michael Edgarson." The man said.
At that moment, David heard the click of a gun and looked immediately to his left and saw that a Shade was still alive and pointing a gun at Peach. Everyone except David was completely unaware.
"NO!" David yelled.
David ran to Peach and pushed her away from where she was standing, with him standing in the way of the incoming bullet.
"David what are you…" Peach yelled before being interrupted by a horrifying event.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH!" David cried in tremendous pain and fell to the ground.
The bullet grazed his right eye, destroying his sight in it completely. Michael immediately fired at the attacking Shade and killed it, but the damage was done.
"DAVID!" his five friends screamed in horror, seeing their friend bleeding profusely from his right eye.
Michael was furious with himself for David being shot. He began blaming himself in his head for not being more alert.

Samus kneeled down and held David's upper body in her arms. He was still bleeding from the eye that had been shot.
"David, are you ok?!" Samus asked.
She immediately felt stupid for asking such a stupid question. Of course he wasn't ok, he had just had his eye shot. But David knew the real meaning behind the question. She wanted to know if he was going to live.
"I've been better, but I've also felt worse. I'll live. It's just an eye." David said trying to calm everyone down.
"David, why did you let yourself get shot to save me?" Peach asked with tears in her eyes.
"I…I made a promise to a friend." David answered and looked over to Otacon, who was also crying for his friend.
"A friend that shouldn't have someone he loves to be taken from him again."
Peach looked over to Otacon, and ran over to him and hugged him. David grinned at Otacon when he saw this.
"David!" Link yelled, causing David to turn his head towards him.
"I don't care what you say about yourself. I don't care about what you did in the past. You've proven that you're a hero. More of a hero than any of us." Link said
David didn't say anything to try and change his mind.
"David, you truly are a wonderful man. Not a beast, or a shadow. But a man." Zelda told him.

David finally turned to the man whom he did not know about. He saw the look of anger on his face.
"What's got you so pissed off Michael."
The look of anger turned into a look of sorrow.
"Damn it Snake. I'm sorry! I…"
"David."
"What?"
"It's David. I don't go by Snake anymore."
"Ok, David I'm sorry. I should have been more careful, I should of checked the area. I could of saved you from taking a bullet!" Michael said with anger towards himself.
"The M203 Grenade Launcher. You're a soldier from Earth aren't you."
Michael was silent for a moment, but was impressed at the observation.
"You know you're stuff. Yeah I was a soldier from Earth. A marine."
"As a soldier, there is something that you should know."
"What's that?" Michael asked.
"You can't save everyone, everytime."
Michael sighed when David told him this. He wished it wasn't true, but David was right.
"You're right. But you're still alive. That means I can pay you back in some way. Whatever it is you need I'll do it." Michael assured David.
"You know how to patch up this eye?" David asked.
"Of course, let's get that taken care of."
"Alright, but afterwards, you tell us everything. How you know us, how you knew this ambush was going to happen. All of it. I don't know whether I can trust you or not yet. Understand?" David demanded.
"Absolutely. Now let's get to that eye."

After an hour, Michael had finished patching up the damaged eye. They all returned to the Smash Mansion. Many of the smashers were horrified at what happened to David, but when they heard what had happened, they were just thankful David and the others came back alive. David was in the bathroom of his room in the mansion. He put an eye patch given to him by Michael over his right eye. He looked in the mirror, and couldn't help but to think of his father. Samus knocked on his door that was now fixed and he opened it to let her in.
"Hey David." She said still looking affected by what had taken place.
"Hi. Come on in." David said.
"Just wanted to check in on you." Samus said.
"Oh thanks. I'm doing much better." He told her.
He went back to the mirror of his bathroom. He had no shirt on, and looked at his face and body. He thought about how hideous it must look to people.
"A body full of war scars, a face full of wrinkles, a burnt face, and to top it all off, a damaged eye covered by an eye patch. Man I must be a handsome devil" David said with much sarcasm.
"What do you think Samus?"
To his surprise, Samus answered David with a rather long kiss on his lips. His eye was wide open in shock the first few seconds, but he accepted it shortly afterwards. Samus pulled away from David with tears in her eyes.
"Christ David! You scared me to death today! Please don't get yourself killed David! I don't want to watch you die! Promise me!" Samus demanded.
David knew he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen, but for Samus' sake, he did what she asked.
"Ok I promise. What's the reason for the kiss?"
"You're an idiot sometimes. I love you!"
"What?!"
"Do I really have to repeat myself? I love you David! Why is that hard for you to believe." She said louder.
"How can anyone love me when I look like this?"
"Love isn't about physical appearance David. It's the fact that I'm happy to be around you and that you're in my life and the person you are that I love you. Understand?"
"Yeah, I do. I'm about to say something I've never said in my entire life to anyone, so here it goes."
David cleared his throat.
"I love you too Samus."
Samus smiled at David and pulled him into another kiss, which he returned this time. David had just done something that was completely against his modified genetics. He loved someone. He had once again gone against the will of the Patriots.
"I guess I'm not a shadow…" David told Samus after they pulled from the kiss.
They both smiled and embraced each other.

End of Act 1...

So I decided that I'm splitting the story into "Acts". The theme or main purpose behind these past ten chapters was to get David settled into the Smash Universe as well as struggling with the self doubt, the question on how human he really is, and what his purpose in life is. I think that David has finally overcome these obstacles. So now it is time to move on to a new theme. And with a new theme, there are more problems and obstacles. So Chapter 11 will be the beginning of Act II. The act will focus on, oh I don't know, some supernatural threat to the universe that attacked David and his friends. Something like that.