Chapter 11 : Operation Mi'ihen.

"I can't believe we're actually going to do this." Raiden said as he watched Otacon help the Al-Bhed calibrate their big laser gun. "Those priests of Yevon already know it's going to be a losing battle, so why bother?"

"Like I said, we're just here for Solidus."

"I know. If he even shows up! You've been telling me that for the last ten minutes."

"Gee, if it's been that long you would think that this conversation is more than over with by now."

"Okay, I'll shut up." Raiden said with a sigh. "It just seems like suicide to me. Make sure this pirate garbage makes a big boom."

"It's not that easy, but that's what I'm trying to do here."

While Otacon continued checking the weapon, Snake sat on a cliff overlooking the beach watching the men across the sandy shore work like so many tiny ants outside of their mound. He was having an introspective smoke as he thought about the operation Yuna had been asked to oversee. Her presence here made everyone work a lot harder. It also lifted some gloomy moods. They had literally walked right into this fiasco. Six hours after leaving the Al-Bhed checkpoint they came across a military caravan full of knights and a large collection of citizen soldiers armed to the teeth with a variety of stabbing weapons. The difference between the knights and citizen soldiers was evident in their equipment and armor, but regardless of that they were all prepared for a war. The Al-Bhed were also on the scene with their K98's. They were moving captured Sinspawn into the area as bait for Sin. Snake already knew that the Sinspawn came from Sin's body, but he did not know that Sin didn't like leaving living pieces of itself lying around everywhere. It was a convenient detail that nobody had mentioned and an essential part of the operation.

The plan was to use a gigantic laser to blast a hole in Sin's skull. Several canons would hopefully weaken its outer shell enough to allow for this. While it waited for Sin to get in range, the knights and soldiers would protect it from additional Sinspawn. This didn't seem like a good idea to Snake. The priests on site weren't saying anything. It was as if they knew that none of this was going to work but were allowing it to continue for some twisted reason. Snake wanted to have more faith in the huge laser, but he couldn't. Sin was a key player in the religion everyone followed. Without it, too many rules would have to be changed. It was no small wonder why nothing but the final summoning ever worked. Snake sighed. Maybe they still stood a chance. After all, he had worked with impossible odds before and had come out victorious. Perhaps the laser would kill Sin. If it did, the priests would throw a huge fit. Not only would the religion need an update, but the political structure would have to be reorganized as well. There would still be massive subjugation in some form or another since the priesthood was so irreparably crooked, but at least Sin wouldn't come back every ten years to terrorize everyone.

Adding to Snake's worries was the fact that Seymour was here, which meant that Solidus had to be somewhere nearby. Seymour was the official sponsor of the operation, but he was more of an endorsement than anything else. The person in charge was down on the beach while Seymour sat squared away in a heavily guarded area with a great view. If Seymour wasn't in such a high position of power, Snake would have pushed him into the pillbug Sinspawn that got loose and ate a few people before they managed to restrain it. Seymour had been talking with Yuna quite a bit before Snake wandered off and that made him wish he hadn't told her that he was probably a bad guy. Yuna did put up a good act, but she was still uncomfortable around the creep. Seymour hadn't addressed Snake yet, but he had been examined when the Maester took in Yuna's highly diverse selection of Guardians for a second time.

The middle finger was apparently a universal insult.

After a while, the rest of the party came out to visit Snake who was hiding in an alcove like some disgruntled bushmaster so he wouldn't have to talk with Seymour. Though they were somewhat of a separate entourage that mainly did their own thing with Snake and his buddies jumping in at key moments to help, they had agreed to keep an eye out for Solidus and attempt to fight the man if they spotted him. However, killing Solidus was a no-no. That joy was for Snake. Yuna and her minions approached him, having had their fill of the ominous clouds, stuffy priests, and the endless sea.

"How was your meeting with Seymour?" Snake asked.

"I don't know what to make of him." Yuna replied. "He confuses me."

"Do you think he's just trapped in the system?"

"No. He's a part of it. What you heard in Luca confirms that."

"Did he talk with any of you?" Snake asked her other Guardians. "He sure was eager to get to know everyone earlier."

"He mainly focused on Yuna." Auron replied.

"He's a real ladies man." Lulu remarked.

"Putting that aside for now, it might be dangerous for you to stay here." Yuna told him. "You should come back to the command post. They're expecting Sin to show up within the hour."

"This is just what I wanted to do today. Sit in luxury and watch everyone die." Snake mused aloud. "Those men are real politicians, aren't they?"

"Don't say that." Yuna insisted. "It just might work. Even if it doesn't, it's still a testament to Spira's will."

"I have to go with Snake on this one." Auron said. "But it would be better if you followed us. If nothing else, you could get a good vantage point up there with that sniper rifle you're carrying."

"Yeah, and I'll be your spotter!" Tidus offered.

Snake thought that one over for a moment and shrugged indifferently.

"Kid, I don't think Solidus is going to be riding Sin's head straight into this battle. He's not that much of a. . ."

Snake reevaluated what he knew about Solidus' personality.

"Yeah, I could use a spotter. Thanks, Tidus." Snake said.

"No problem."

Snake tossed Tidus his pair of military binoculars.

"Don't break it. They're incredibly expensive and I don't want to have to actually buy a pair."

"Did you steal this one?"

"While I was on a mission! It's the only way to be sure. Now let's head up to the White House."

"It's more of a tent." Yuna corrected.

"I know what it is." Snake said. "You know, it wouldn't be so bad if the priests were actually trying to help. They could at least say a few things to boost the morale around here so everyone will fight a little harder. Maybe they could even review the plan and see if they could add something to it. They clearly know more about Sin than anyone else does."

"That would take most of the fun out of all this if they did." Auron said.

"Wait, where are your two other friends?" Lulu asked.

"They're still down on the beach. I don't want to have to go all the way down there just to get them."

Snake took out the small device that manually dialed frequencies for his CODEC.

"Let's see if this thing still works."

He called Otacon, who answered.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks for asking." Otacon replied politely.

"I meant with the laser."

"Oh, that. Everything is in working order."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm good with physics and I helped build the laser Rex uses. I know a thing or two about this kind of weapon."

"Do you think it will destroy Sin?"

"That I don't know, but it could put a hole in a battleship if that's any consolation."

"I guess we'll just have to hope for the best. You and Raiden need to head up to the command post. That's where I'll be."

"Alright. We'll be there in a few minutes."

Snake walked with Yuna's companions to safety. The command post was bustling with activity. Seymour was actually having lunch with all of his buddies. Only a few nonessential personnel who should have been down on the beach were around aside from the personal bodyguards assigned to protect the priests and mainly Seymour. They were making some last minute preparations. Snake scouted for a good sniper spot and found one. He gave Tidus a very basic overview of what his duties were as his spotter. Snake would be doing most of the real work, but Tidus could still be helpful. He set up his Barrett M82 and got into a prone position where he remained perfectly still while Tidus peered through the binoculars. The two were quite a spectacle and accidentally managed to attract some unwanted attention.

"This is certainly admirable." Seymour said. "I know I feel safer already."

It took all of Snake's training not to flinch when he heard Seymour's voice. He didn't even bother taking his gaze away from what his scope was showing him. Tidus mimicked Snake's stone-like demeanor and refused to acknowledge Seymour.

"Such intensity. Well, I will not bother you any longer." Seymour declared. "I do hope that you're a good shot."

The Maester then left them. By what he had said, Snake inferred that he might not like Solidus all that much and could be planning to betray the man. By the same token, it could have just been playful banter on that dirty bastard's part. If the two men cared enough to watch Seymour, they would have seen him fraternizing with Yuna again. Otacon and Raiden arrived on site and passed some information concerning the laser along to a knight just as she was heading down to the beach. At that moment Tidus spotted a black mass underneath the water approaching them at an intimidating speed. He gasped as the monstrosity surfaced. Several flares were fired on the beach to let everyone know that they saw it as well.

"It's here!" Tidus shouted.

Seymour passed the message along as Raiden and Otacon found a spot near Snake and set themselves into the same position he and Tidus had with Raiden as the shooter and Otacon as the spotter. A loud horn blared to signal the start of the operation. The normal canons Otacon had worked on fired first and managed to hit Sin, blowing off small chunks of its massive body. The pieces quickly turned into monsters that swam through the water until they reached the beach where they surfaced and were met in battle by the soldiers. Any other canon the Al-Bhed used that Otacon hadn't evaluated failed to perform well and attacking Sin with them quickly became redundant since any part of its body that incurred mild damage became a Sinspawn. This obviously added to the problem. It made plenty of Sinspawn by itself. It didn't need any additional encouragement. Tidus zoomed in on the head of Sin where Snake told him to look and fingered the focus. Quite to his immense surprise, a man in a heavy black cloak was riding on its skull. Two tentacle appendages were coming out of his back and seemed to be hooked to Sin's body. They were obviously there to keep him balanced.

"Snake!" Tidus cried. "You were right!"

"We see it too!" Otacon said.

"Well, I'll be damned. I wish I had a camera." Snake said to himself.

The squad relayed information back and forth until they could determine when the opportunity for a perfect shot finally presented itself. Sin was still being pelted with heavy artillery that appeared to be doing nothing and hadn't made any offensive effort yet. It seemed content with letting its spawn do the work for now as it continued on its way toward the beach.

"Raiden, you go first. You've got one shot." Snake said.

"Firing!" Raiden shouted.

A bullet tore through the air, heading right for Solidus' head. Raiden was pretty good at adjusting for wind. His aim was true. What could have been a perfect shot that would have torn Solidus' head right off was unexpectedly blocked by a barrier that suddenly appeared around Sin. Solidus used one of his tentacles to pluck the bullet out of the shield and then brought it closer so he could examine it. He grinned broadly. Snake took his shot. He always thought that a .50 caliber sniper rifle sounded like it was coughing up the bullet when it fired. The noise alone shocked Tidus so bad that he fell over on his rear. His bullet was stopped in the same fashion. Solidus disengaged his feelers and leaped forward into the air, landing on the beach ahead of Sin. The soldiers on the ground didn't know what to make of him as he ran for the incline leading up to where Snake was.

"He knows where we are now! Damn!" Snake yelled.

He slammed his fist into the dirt in anguish.

"Double damn and triple damn!" Snake cursed repeatedly.

Yuna saw that he had blown it and ran to his side so she could possibly console him, but Snake was far too angry at that point to be soothed by any comforting words or reassuring fallacies.

"That dirty rat bastard!" Snake roared. "I'm gonna kill him with my bare hands!"

"Calm down, Snake." Yuna urged. "It's okay, you'll find a way."

Snake reached into his bag and desperately wished he would have brought a minigun with him. Instead, he settled for his trusty M4, which wasn't nearly big enough to hurt Solidus in the way he deserved for pulling such an irritating trick.

"Raiden, we're going to go find him!" Snake ordered.

"But that would mean being on the beach!" Yuna said.

"So what?"

"The beach isn't safe!" Yuna declared, her eyes tearing up in sympathy. "It's not safe."

She wandered off feebly and almost became ill as the weight of the people's mistake finally became apparent. There was still one weapon that the Al-Bhed had as a last resort, but Sin hadn't come into range yet so the men operating the oddly shaped laser canon were on standby. Sin finally decided to swat the mosquito's ruining its day at the beach and sent the protective barrier forward with a burst of energy that originated from its mouth. The barrier was sent to the beach in the form of a shockwave. Snake had a perfect view of what happened next. Everything the wave hit save for the Sinspawn instantaneously evaporated into black ash. It stopped inches away from the laser. The soldiers on the beach beat a hasty retreat as Sin effortlessly armed itself with another barrier and continued heading towards them. In a sheer show of admirable courage, the Al-Bhed men who knew how the cannon worked stood fast against the dire circumstances.

"Snake, we've got a bit of a problem!" Auron shouted from nearby.

His attention was taken off of the impending doom and refocused on some kind of abomination that was ravaging the command post. It looked like the Sinspawn they had used to bait Sin had escaped. The creatures had somehow molded themselves together to enhance their powers. Seymour had joined the Guardians in battle and was annihilating the ugly Sinspawn effortlessly. Amazingly enough, he didn't seem to be putting on a show for Yuna this time around. Tidus accompanied the assault as Yuna summoned Satan into battle. Even though he knew the Aeon's real name was Ifrit, Snake always referred to it as Satan since it looked more like the devil than anything else. Surely with all of their combined force the Sinspawn didn't stand a chance, so Auron couldn't possibly be asking Snake for help.

"You were saying?"

"Sin's getting closer. It's time to get out of here. The next pulse just might hit us."

"That is indeed very distressing." Snake observed.

As they spoke, the Al-Bhed tried to use their giant laser canon to annihilate Sin and rid Spira of its capricious destructiveness. A bolt of energy that looked remarkably similar to whatever had surrounded Sin shot from the canon and gave Sin's shield a workout. The men currently not engaged in combat enjoyed a brief moment of hope when it looked as though the energy might break through, but that was quickly dashed when Sin decided to stop playing around and pumped out a second shockwave. It annihilated the weapon. Yuna and the others defeated the Sinspawn just in time to watch as the damaged wave drew near. Raiden and Otacon became hysterical while Auron shared a drink of his wine with Snake as the two darted off toward cover. The last thing Snake thought of before blacking out was that he wasn't fond of saké and if he had enough gall to carry a flask of liquor around with him all the time it would probably be full of either a mixed drink or whiskey. Maybe both.

X

Yuna regained consciousness underneath a pile of smoldering timbers that had once been a part of the command post. She was battered, bruised, and could taste blood in her mouth. At least she was still alive. Her concern quickly shifted away from herself and unto her Guardians, who might need her help. Yuna crawled out from under the mess and looked around. The first person she spotted was Snake, who was lying limp but otherwise looked unharmed. Yuna gently flipped him over so that he was lying on his back. While she began to check for signs of life, Raiden emerged from the wooden crate he'd stuck himself into seconds before the wave hit them and surveyed the immense damage. Almost everything had been wiped out. Bodies and debris littered the beach. His crate had been thrown quite far, but he could see Yuna tending to a man in a distinctive set of camouflaged clothing about twenty feet away.

Raiden almost swallowed his tongue as he crawled out from the munitions crate and ran towards them. He passed Otacon along the way, who was crawling around on his hands and knees while trying to find his glasses. Raiden pushed Yuna away from Snake so forcefully that she rolled a few feet. He cradled the larger man in his arms and began shaking him violently.

"Snake! What happened? Are you alright? Snaaaaaaaaaake!" Raiden screamed.

"He's alive, I think." Yuna said. "I didn't have enough time to make sure."

The huge wrecking sobs that escaped Raiden's throat drowned out Yuna's gentle voice of reassurance.

"Now what am I going to do? He'll never know how much I. . .oh, to hell with it!"

Raiden locked lips with Solid Snake. Yuna blinked and cast an esuna spell on herself. The image didn't change. Snake awoke during the middle of this act of passion and could taste stale cinnamon apples slices inside his mouth as a slimy tongue darted around the inside of his cheek. Tears and snot dripped down his cheeks. Upon realizing who his sloppy kisser was, Snake began flailing violently until Raiden disengaged his smooch.

"Get this ass bandit off of me!" Snake demanded as he wiped Raiden's drool from his chin.

"You're alive!" Raiden exclaimed. "I was so worried!"

He dropped his comrade and stood up. Yuna placed the balled end of her staff against his chest and gently walked him away from Snake.

"You stand here for now." Yuna instructed.

"I'm sorry. I thought he was dead and I couldn't help myself."

"You mean you didn't check to see first?"

"No, I just automatically assumed the worst. I mean, come on, should we even be alive right now?"

Yuna narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're strange." she said.

"Jacky boy, you had better start running right now because I'm going to killyou when I get back on my feet!"

"I think he means it. Why don't you go look for other survivors?" Yuna asked.

Raiden nodded and left them. Yuna walked out to the edge of the cliff and surveyed the scene. Tidus was swimming back to the beach. Why he had been in the ocean was his own business, she supposed. There weren't quite as many bodies down there as she had expected. Then again, most of them had evaporated into nothing after Sin's first attack. Anyone else down there must have fallen to their death or had been killed by Sinspawn before the final blow was dealt. Sin itself was slowly sinking away in the distance. The plan hadn't work, just like everyone expected. At least it had been a good effort. She kept telling herself that so she wouldn't scream. Yuna focused her attention on Tidus and nothing else as the man got out of the water. Auron was down there with him and the two began talking.

Snake was searching around madly for his bag and couldn't find it. He spied Otacon in the distance still trying to find his glasses and knew that the man would be screwed if he couldn't. Otacon might as well be blind without them. He carried a couple spare pairs, but they were also in Snake's bag. Yuna spotted Raiden heading towards the beach with Lulu, Wakka, and Kimahri following him. It looked like everyone was present and accounted for.

"Looking for something, brother?" a familiar voice asked.

Snake looked up just in time to have the full weight of his bag come down on his face. He shook off the pain and reclaimed his items just as Solidus came crashing to the ground in front of him. Before Snake could react by pulling out his M1911 that was still in its holster, Solidus grabbed him around the neck with one of his tentacles and held him in the air.

"Solidus" Snake said as the grip tightened. "You're still alive!"

"I won't die so long as you still live."

"What the hell? Do you think you're clever stealing lines from Liquid like that?"

An uncharacteristically humorous gagging noise came out of Snake when Solidus upped the intensity of his grip.

"What is with you and these stupid octopus arms?" Snake managed to ask. "Do you have a tentacle rape fetish, or something?"

"Where's Jacky boy?" Solidus asked.

"Why? Are you still hoping to get the location of the Patriots out of his brain?" Snake demanded.

Solidus nodded. Snake managed to laugh.

"The jokes on you! They're dead! They're all dead! They've been dead for a hundred years!"

"What?" Solidus asked. "But Ocelot is. . ."

A supreme realization hit Solidus.

"No. . .it can't be. . .if they're dead, then that means. . ." Solidus said to himself, stunned.

His mood abruptly changed back to his cranky regular self.

"That's impossible. You're lying!"

"Am I?" Snake asked. "Do I have a reason to?"

Yuna armed herself with her USP and began shooting at the arm that held Snake in an attempt to free him.

"It's no good!" Snake shouted, his face turning purple. "Run!"

She froze, unable to decide.

"Aww." Solidus cooed sarcastically. "Look at her. It would just tear her little heart apart if she left you here to die. Well, I'll fix that!"

Solidus easily grabbed her while she tried to escape with his fetish tubes and held her over the edge of the cliff.

"Stop!" Snake shouted. "Leave her out of this!"

"Why? Is she your latest?"

"Hardly. She's young enough to be my daughter!"

"I seem to remember you having some good luck in that area. I believe you, though. Everything about her screams that she's a virgin. But if she means so little to you, I guess she's nothing but a burden."

Solidus released his grip on Yuna, who screamed horribly as she fell out of sight. Though it pained him greatly to admit it, Snake wasn't surprised. He had a faint ray of hope that someone would manage to catch her before she landed, but now wasn't the time to grieve over her loss.

"Are you satisfied now, prick?" Snake demanded. "You had better kill me while you're at it because if you let me go after doing something like that, I'll tear your guts out!"

"No. You're coming with me, for now. You haven't suffered enough yet!"

Snake was about to black out when a red beach ball hit Solidus hard in the face. An intense feeling of pain quickly followed the initial mild burn at the point of impact. The part of Solidus face that had been struck began to peel off as an invisible fire ate away at it. He grabbed the area to try and squeeze out the pain, but he only managed to make it worse by tearing away some of his flesh in gooey strips of wet fat. Solidus screamed in a mixture of aggravation and pain. The ball Wakka had thrown was embedded with a fire strike property. Lulu had explained how this worked to Snake a little earlier. Any weapon with a bit of magic in it would take effect immediately after it was used offensively by its wielder. Snake had previously seen this in action by the blue blade Tidus carried, which would give enemies severe frostbite if he so much as poked them.

Speaking of Tidus, it was Snake's turn to feel very humble as the man jumped forward and slashed the strangle noodle that held Snake in its deadly pincers. He collapsed to the ground and gasped for air, coughing violently as he did. Tidus and Raiden stood in front of Snake with the intent to guard him as the rest of the team launched into an all out attack against Solidus. Kimahri fended off the free feeler while Wakka kept an eye on the other one. Lulu cast a fire spell on the man that did nothing at first due to the armor he was wearing but quickly heated up to the point where the skin it was pressing against peeled away, exposing raw muscle. Solidus took his P-90 out and would have gunned down Lulu if Wakka hadn't knocked the gun out of his hands.

Solidus let loose a familiar growl as the artificial muscles in his suit expanded to shield him from the fire. He took out his two katana's. Auron saw this as a challenge. Lulu turned off her fire spell to give Auron a bit more freedom in his movement as he attacked Solidus. Even with his two blades, Solidus was no match for Auron, who quickly shattered both of them with his own sword and booted Solidus in the chest with enough force to knock him flat on his ass. Otacon bashed a rock over his head and then stumbled blindly behind Tidus and Raiden. Snake heard the sound of a familiar bird screeching to announce its presence. Valefor flew into view with Yuna on its back. A flood of relief great enough to leave Snake feeling weightless coursed through his soul. This was a stark contrast to Yuna's current mood. She was not too happy after having been thrown about so unfairly by an older gentleman who was too lazy to use his actual arms. Pure rage beyond anything Snake had ever seen filled her wacky irises.

"You coward!" Yuna screamed. "You worthless coward!"

"Gimme kisses!" Valefor screeched, imitating Yuna's voice with whatever sound it could make to match it.

"Yuna, are you teaching it how to talk?" Lulu asked.

"Does that really matter? It's just being dramatic!"

Valefor drew its head back while energy gathered at its beak. Solidus stumbled backward in a daze brought on by Otacon's attack and groaned in pain. Not the least bit perturbed, Valefor let loose with its beam of raw justice to annihilate Solidus, former U.S president and misinformed anti-hero. A blazing white burst of pure energy would have hit Solidus square in the chest if he hadn't mystically vanished. The beam instead struck the rock wall in front of them with enough force to leave a hole spanning eight feet in length. No armor Snake knew of could repel energy of that magnitude unless they were talking about Sin or any number of the Fiends that inhabited Spira. The team desperately looked around for Solidus, but Lulu was on to his game and could sense where he had gone.

"Magic!" Lulu shouted. "He's up there!"

Everyone looked to where Lulu pointed and saw a severally wounded Solidus standing on the perch he was at earlier before he jumped in front of Snake. Half of his face had melted off, leaving a very nasty burn wound behind.

"You guys are a bunch of ass'!" Solidus cursed. "You were lucky this time. We'll meet again and when we do, I'll be more prepared!"

Solidus opened his hand, revealing a very pretty necklace with an absolutely gorgeous pendant. Lulu hit him with a lightning bolt, which brought him to his knees but didn't cause him to drop his charm. In an instant, he vanished from the area yet again.

"Lulu, he can use magic. Please explain." Snake asked.

"He's using an item with magical properties, much like anyone with no natural inclination towards a specific sect can do." she stated. "The more powerful the charm, the rarer and more expensive it is. That necklace he has obviously allows him to warp, which is a very tricky spell to master. Seymour had to have given it to him."

"Great. So now he can be everywhere and anywhere and wherever in between whenever he wants." Snake said.

"Not like it matters, ya? We scared him pretty good." Wakka said.

"If we see him again, we'll be sure to finish the job." Auron assured Snake.

"We had better. He knows our strengths. While we do develop with battle, he has a general idea of how strong we are and could likely guess how strong we will be." Lulu pointed out.

"Nah, he doesn't seem like the type that gives too much thought to what he does." Tidus said. "If we beat him once, we can do it again."

Valefor landed and put its head on the ground so Yuna could slide off of it safely. The impressive bird remained standing prominently with the rest of the group in front of Snake, who was overtaken by their willingness to help him. He hid his face so they wouldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes.

"I knew he was going to drop me, so I pretended to be helpless. I'm sorry if that frightened you, Snake."

"No, it's fine." Snake said, his voice cracking slightly.

Snake cleared his throat to sweep away any tremble his voice might have the next time he spoke.

"Thanks, guys." Snake said. "You've helped me more than you even know."

"Hey, what are friends for, right?" Tidus said.