The Day is Done

A Snake Eyes Vignette

The building smelled of death. Not the good kind of death either; not the soldier's death, the front lines of battle, reeking of cordite and gun oil. This was the type of death that lingered, sickly sweet, an illness sitting at the bedside, just waiting to strike down the defenseless, the helpless. As far as Veteran's Hospitals went, this one was silent as a tomb. It had as much to do with the nature of the main occupants as it did with the five men and women seated along one particular hallway.

Flint and Lady Jaye sat with their heads close together. Their hands were curled together, each trying vainly to seek comfort in the grip of the other. Across the wall from them stood Duke, tall and silent; his face a grim mask to hide the inner torment he faced. Beside him, never touching but close enough to do so should she need to, was Scarlett. Her eyes remained focused on the floor before her. Between her and Snake Eyes, lay a single door. A small plastic box beside it read: Room 305. Joseph Colton. Gen.

Snake Eyes watched the others more than anything else. They all battled their demons separately, even those who were openly 'together'. He imagined that his own demons were like the others, simply more disciplined. Cancer was an insidious foe. It was not fitting for a warrior such as General Colton to go out like this. Colton was the original, the first of their kind. He was where their unit drew its name from. He was supposed to be invincible, immortal. But beyond that door, he lay, struggling for breath, fighting for his very life... against his own body.

The harsh taste of mortality soured in Snake Eyes' mouth. Cancer was not a foe he would wish even on his greatest enemy.

Lady Jaye sniffled, and valiantly tried to hide her tears. Flint released her hand, to slide an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close. Something inside Snake Eyes rang hollow and empty at the gesture. His hands itched to move, to rub his mask, to tighten into fists, but his ironclad willpower won the battle. Those hands that had brought down legions lay loose, lax at his sides. Jaye's noise brought a slight shift among the other two as well.

Scarlett's eyes lifted up from the floor, looking first to her friend in distress, then flickering down the hallway to where Snake Eyes stood rock solid against the wall. He didn't indicate that he saw her eyes filled with need of friendship, of support. Something small and angry gnawed at the pit of his stomach. He knew the feelings: insecurity, fear. And just like every other time in his life they surfaced, he squelched them, pushing them back and holding them down with decades of training. Scarlett was his friend, his former lover. He would join her in any battle she wished, but he still could not bring himself to help her fight emotionally.

Snake Eyes didn't even flinch when Duke's hand casually flicked out, brushing against Scarlett's as he pushed away from the wall, to being pacing the short length of hallway they had staked out. Scarlett's gaze flickered toward Duke, and Snake Eyes watched a warm light grow in her green eyes. That had been his once; he convinced himself he was happy for her.

The silence grew, punctuated only by the steady clop of Duke's boots against the tiled floor. The tension grew as well, the world slowly began to feel the weight of this moment. The click of the doorknob heralded the arrival of the nurse. She stepped out and looked around. What she must have seen: five soldiers in various states of uniforms all staring at her, hinged on her every motion. Her wide eyes blinked twice, and she finally nodded to Duke. Stepping slightly to one side, she allowed Duke and Scarlett entry, but when Lady Jaye rose to join them, the nurse shook her head, holding up her hand. The message was clear. Limited visitors. Snake Eyes settled back against the wall, letting his chin drop to his chest. His time would come.

The world turns much slower when you are waiting for something to happen. Time seemed to crawl by for Snake Eyes as eventually Duke and Scarlett slipped out of Colton's room, to allow Jaye and Flint inside. Scarlett's green eyes were red-rimmed, puffy. She had been crying. Duke hovered protectively nearby, as they took the seats vacated by the others. Scarlett wrung her hands together, and rocked slightly. Behind his visor, Snake Eyes closed his eyes. He summoned up from his eternal well of patience a good stretch more. But he found himself wearing thin; it was hard to scrape together the vestiges of his strength.

The waiting was taxing. But the relief felt when Jaye and Flint slipped out of the room far outweighed the stress. Flint clapped Snake Eyes on the shoulder as they passed. They had all been close to Colton at one point or another in their careers. As the door shut behind Snake Eyes, he began to wish he'd never come. The room was dominated by a machine that helped breathe for Colton. The man, once a giant, always fit, even into his sixties, was a shadow of the man he'd once been.

A thin, almost skeletal hand lay atop crisp white sheets. An oxygen mask lay fitted over his nose and mouth. To see such a great man, a great soldier, betrayed by his own body, was nearly enough to break Snake Eyes of his resolve. Colton's eyes were closed, that much he was grateful for. How would he have reacted if the man had looked his way. Would the knot of grief that was beginning to well up inside him have won out? In the beginning, before the explosion had robbed Snake Eyes of his face, his voice, Colton had told him he had the makings of greatness. It was men like Colton that had caused Snake Eyes to join the Army in the first place.

Snake Eyes brushed gloved fingers against the bone-thin arm of the father of the G.I. Joe unit. The touch caused Colton's eyes to open. Those gray eyes connected for a second. Beneath the oxygen mask, Colton's thin cracked lips formed a single word. Son. Snake Eyes looked away abruptly. He was being asked something, those pain-filled eyes were begging him. No wonder Scarlett had left here crying. No wonder Flint and Duke looked so spooked. Colton had asked them the same question he was asking Snake Eyes.

Kill me?

Snake Eyes looked to the window, to the brilliance of life outside these walls. He turned to the machine, his gaze unseen behind the visor as it slipped along the lines of the power cord running behind the bed. Colton's eyes cleared, holding nothing but joy as the black clad ninja knelt beside the socket. Snake Eyes turned back to Colton, to be sure this was what the old soldier wanted. After a moment, Snake Eyes casually unplugged the apparatus. He paused only once on his way to the door, to receive a silent thank you from the ailing man in the bed. In response, Snake Eyes saluted smartly, and slipped out the door.

He began walking. Scarlett looked up from the phone at the nurse's desk as he moved silently by. She seemed in an urgent call with someone. Snake Eyes hoped it was her sister; he hoped she was affirming life. He had reached the stairwell when the first sounds of panic had started among the nurses and doctors. He looked back for a second, watching the white coats swarm like locusts around Colton's room. Jaye sobbed heavily into Flint's chest. Duke struggled to hold back his own emotions. Scarlett slumped over the counter, the phone hanging from her fingers as reality struck home. By the time the doctors conceded defeat, Snake Eyes was gone.

* ~ *

Scarlett had done all that she could. She made the call. Calling in a favor hadn't worked; they had never always seen eye-to-eye on some things. Bu Scarlett knew Snake Eyes better than he knew himself at times, and she could see just what, just who, he needed to be around right now. And when Nightshade was feeling particularly truculent, it was difficult to reason with her. Scarlett had to resort to issuing an order.

She became dimly aware of a crash cart being wheeled by, of the presence of Colton's wife, the former combat medic known as Nurse Jane. The more she saw as she returned the phone to it's cradle, the less good was going to come of the evening. Lady Jaye and Flint were practically pinned against a wall, trying to stay out of the way of the Veteran's Association staff, the nurses and doctors assigned to Colton's care, and the various paraphernalia they brought with them. Scarlett felt a presence by her side.

Raising her hand defensively, she reacted without thinking. Duke caught the fist, and used her momentum to turn her around. Suddenly, she was caught in the grip of a crushing hug. She felt tears gather in her eyes, as she watched the commotion in the room over his shoulder. Doctors did a lot of shouting, the nurses did lots of running, but Duke remained her rock solid foundation as she began to realize what many of the others already knew.

They'd be bidding the four-star general, the original G.I Joe, one of the greatest soldiers that this country had ever seen... good-bye before the hour struck.

* ~ *

Snake Eyes knew they wouldn't be getting to leave any time soon. The Joes would show their support and solidarity to Jane Colton, helping her set up whatever memorial she desired for Joseph. He had plenty of time to shake the vestiges of doubt that plagued his choice. The veteran's park just outside the hospital was an ideal location. There was a small natural pond, and the sound of running water had always proven to calm him. How many of the Joes would laugh to see him in such a predicament, struggling to find balance when the whole world has been thrown off kilter?

Hours had passed since Snake Eyes pulled the plug in Colton's room. From his vantage point out in the lightly wooded park, he could see the light still burning in the window. He wasn't worried about being left behind. Instead, the silent glares, and the unspoken questions already weighed heavily on his heart. For a man who made killing his living, the merciful aid he'd given Colton felt like it could destroy him.

Snake Eyes resettled himself on the banks of the small pond. Meditation wasn't coming easily. Too many thoughts whirled around inside his head. With a sigh, he tipped his head back against the tree, allowing his eyes to close. All he needed to do was to stop thinking for more than a few seconds. Unfortunately, the thoughts kept swirling. Starting to feel the beginnings to a disgruntled mood starting, Snake Eyes made to rise to his feet. Something however made him pause.

The crackle of a leaf. The snap of a twig. There was someone else out here. He slid slowly into a defensive stance, his hands up and ready, his weight balanced on the balls of his feet. Everything else seemed to fade into the background as he prepared for whatever else was out there. Worst-case-scenarios flirted at the edges of his thoughts, but nothing could prepare him for the truth. He stared in shock as the gaps between the leaves revealed Nightshade among the trees.

Without thinking, he pushed past a bush, making enough noise to attract her attention. The questions came back with ferocity, but changed. What was she doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be guarding a VIP in California? She turned toward him, dropping her guard instantaneously when he came into view. For a moment, uncertainty flickered across her features. Snake Eyes understood. The last time they had been alone, together, was Peru. She had seen the ruined mess that was his face. They had seemed to avoid each other since.

They stopped and regarded each other, nearly five feet apart. Snake Eyes wanted to will his hands to move, to ask her. What are you doing here? But he found himself paralyzed. The gnawing emptiness in the pit of his stomach was back, the gross uncertainty of what the future would hold suddenly looming before him in full life. Nightshade moved first. He could always trust her to make the headstrong choice; what she lacked in discipline, she made up for in spades of passion.

She stepped closer, within the radius that Snake Eyes considered personal space. She'd been within that space a few times, mostly when her eyes had betrayed her, when the darkness came to blot out her sight. With a momentary pause, a seconds hesitation, she reached up, her fingertips brushing lightly across the fabric of his mask.

Snake Eyes realized with a start that what she touched was wet. Tears. How long had he been crying? How long had it been since he'd cried last? He couldn't remember. The revelation rocked him on his feet. Nightshade caught his hand as he moved to cover his mask. She didn't speak for once. The Latina who always had an opinion to share remained quiet and respectful. Instead, she simply shook her head slightly. It was all he needed. Closing the final distance between them, Snake Eyes lowered his head until his forehead rested on her shoulder.

She held his hands, and let him lean upon her as someone in the Veteran's Building behind them began to sound Taps.