The night had passed quietly without any issues for the four as they slept in a tight group to share body heat in resistance against the cold desert temperatures. Ocelot woke occasionally to make sure that none of the wildlife was drawn to the smell of the waste from where they cleaned the fish earlier that night, but fell back to sleep when he didn't hear anything. Sleep had been easy, but the dream Zack had was a completely different story and left him awake just before daylight in thought. He had been looking through the eyes of someone else, he could tell by scenery: A thick jungle and a ruined village. A man approached the side and smiled down at him, accompanied by the same neon butterflies that he'd been seeing since he turned thirteen. He was very handsome; dressed in attire similar to Ocelot's but with a little more sophistication. He had fair skin and dark brown eyes that had an almost ethereal glow to them. His hair was black, slick back when he took his hat off and his mustache matched.
"Hello, butterfly," the man said with a voice so warm it betrayed his face.
"Hey self, Pop," the voice of the man said. It was a smooth, dulcet tone that was familiar and pleasant to Zack's ears. "I wasn't sure you were going to make it since the plan seems to be going downhill quick."
The cowboy reached out and put his hand on top of Zack's - well, the other man's - head in a fatherly manner. Whoever this man was, this figure he was seeing from was obviously his son and they didn't get to see each other much. He could sense relief in him when the man had walked up from behind the large jungle trees.
"It'll be alright, just keep your head on." Those were the last words Zack heard before he awoke from the dream.
The teen was extremely sure he knew that voice from somewhere, the one that had spoken from his point of view. He couldn't place his finger on where or who it had come from, but it was definitely someone he recognized. Maybe someone from when he was six, one of the other soldiers from around Mother Base. But where had the jungle come into play and why did that feel more like a memory than a dream?
"Hey, are you alright?" the boy heard Ocelot whisper next to his ear. The boy didn't even flinch when the older man put his arm around his waist, he would have jumped if he hadn't. "You've been awake for a little while. Did you have another premonition?"
"Just a weird dream. Nothing out of the normal for me lately, though," the boy whispered back. He was pretty sure Tretij was awake just by the way he was breathing, but he couldn't see Vicente since he was behind Ocelot and didn't want to risk bothering him if he was still resting. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"
"Naw, I was having a nightmare." That wasn't uncommon for Ocelot either; he often relived some of his worst days when he slept. He had long stopped waking up screaming, but Zack could usually tell what had happened by his need for medication and his body language throughout the rest of the following day.
"About time to get moving anyway," Zack said, getting a hum in agreement from the man behind him. "My migraine seems to be gone for now, but I'm still a little sore. The jeep ride to the horses' location isn't going to be easy I don't imagine."
"Venom asked Jackal to bring some medications for your symptoms, so it should be a little easier on you today." The man reached over and poked Tretij in the back of his arm so he acknowledged him with a soft hm? "Keep an eye on Venom, Mantis. Nymph and I are going to head up to the top of the cliff and see if we can spot Jackal."
"Try not to fall in a gutter while you are up there," the red head replied and Zack smacked him on the back, making him snicker.
"Alright, now. Took some smartass lessons from Kaz all that time ago, huh? You best watch out, boy; all that fighting has gone to your head." Ocelot smirked, knowing very well that Tretij was right. Him and Zack did have a tendency to "stay gone" longer than they needed to.
The two got up quietly and Ocelot grabbed his duster, unfolding it and pulled it on before they proceeded up to the highest point of the cliffs and looked out over the desert. The teen wondered if all of these dreams, the visions of the lingering darkness and the butterflies showing up had something to do with what was causing his body to feel like it was in two different places at once. He contemplated telling Ocelot what he'd been dreaming about since the man always seemed to have an answering for everything, but his train of thought was led in a different direction when the man pointed out to the east. A mounted spotlight on a vehicle could be seen in the distance but was approaching at a fairly decent speed. The two nodded to each other in agreement that it was undoubtedly their recruits and headed back down to where Tretij and Vicente were. The older man was now awake and sitting up against the wall of the cliff, clearly having been woken up whenever they moved due to the warmth leaving him but Tretij was still lying down with his chin on his arms.
"Jackal is about five minutes out from here," Zack informed them so Tretij stood up from where he had still been lying. "Let's get everything packed up and cover our tracks. If the Soviets or Calamity are in the area by some weird chance, we don't need them finding out we were here."
The four went about doing just that, making sure to scatter the burnt wood and rocks from the fire so that there was no evidence of it in the area and Ocelot covered the burnt ground with sand using his boot. He made sure that the guts from the fish they ate the previous night had been taken off with by coyotes so that the evidence of that was gone as well. About the time that the gunslinger slid back down the side of the hill, the jeep pulled up to where they were and shut off. A man with dusty blonde hair stepped out of the front seat and grabbed a bag out of the back, putting it over his shoulder as he approached them. He didn't have a standard uniform on like Zack's, but a suit that hugged his body in multiple different places and a gun strapped to his back, a knife on his thigh.
"Commander," he greeted with a voice that betrayed his face. Zack felt the bass hit his ears and his eyes widened as Ocelot simply nodded in greeting. He set the bag down and opened it, revealing multiple supplies inside. "Medication, rations and water. This should get the four of you to the hot zone easily."
"What about yourself?" Vicente asked as the man handed Ocelot the bag who took it. "You clearly have no intentions of going with us which means you must have some kind of back up plan."
"We're pulling out of the area to head for Mother Base. I'll be picked up by one of our pilots after night falls. I'm certified as a field expert so I don't need rations like this to make it." Vicente nodded as the two boys headed for the jeep with Ocelot. Jackal saluted the ex-medic who waved him off. "Godspeed, sir."
Vicente got in the passenger's seat and Ocelot started the engine as Jackal seemingly disappeared in the shadows of the cliff before they pulled out of the area. Zack leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes as he listened to the air moving around them, letting his hair move in the breeze around him. The silence of the ride was welcoming alongside of the gravel crunching under the tires and the smell of one of Ocelot's menthols on the wind. He wondered about the best way to get to Kaz since they hadn't really gathered any information on the place he was being kept, worried about Vicente being stable enough to get in and get him out. He opened his eyes when he felt Tretij rest a hand on his shoulder through his sleeve so he looked at the masked youth who nodded to him, reassuring him silently that everything would be okay. The red head had some kind of weird way of not having to say anything or use his powers to make Zack feel better, he just had to make a small gesture and it was like everything the blonde worried about seemed fine.
Ocelot had the same power over him to a degree.
It was almost sunset by the time the group stopped for the first time and Vicente had been the one to make the gunslinger pull off. He had some kind of weird sixth sense that Zack's symptoms would be flaring up again about five minutes after the sun went down and sure enough, the boy's migraine came back in full force. The dizziness and nausea weren't as bad as they were when he was in the helicopter, but was still enough to warrant him getting out of the vehicle to sit against the side of a cliff where he wouldn't be exposed. Ocelot knelt next to him as Vicente opened the bag and took out the medicine that he had Jackal bring, drawing a syringe full as Tretij busied himself covering the jeep in dried vegetation to hide it as best it could be.
"Hate needles," Zack whined, seeing the syringe the medic was knocking the air out of. Ocelot chuckled next to him and he let the gunslinger turn his head to rest his face in his neck. "Never been injected by one that big. That was not an innuendo, Ocelot."
Ocelot laughed at the boy's words, clearly he felt him on the verge of making a remark. It would have only been to ease his distress, but he opted not to since Zack had cut him off. He settled instead for combing the boy's hair with his fingers as he kissed the top of his head. It was still cute to him that the sixteen year old retained some of his child like qualities despite all of his training. "You big baby. It'll go quick."
"Going to pinch a little," Vicente said gently, finding a vein and disinfecting his arm. He grabbed the syringe and Zack whined like a puppy which made the man frown a little. "Sorry, I promise it'll help. Just don't look okay?"
Zack hissed when the needle hit his skin but between Ocelot shushing him gently and Vicente rubbing his wrist soothingly with his bionic thumb, he managed to stay calm. The man pulled the needle out after a few seconds and covered the mark with a piece of gauze and a bandage. He then stored the syringe in a bag and put it in a outside pocket on the bag so it didn't get mixed up with the used ones on the inside. Tretij hovered down from the top of the cliff so the three looked at him as he put himself on his feet, then knelt down beside his adopted brother.
"We should make camp here for the night," the boy informed them. "There is a sandstorm building in the direction that we are going and it would not be wise to try and drive through it at night since visibility will already be poor. Besides, Nymph needs nourishment so that the medicine does not make him sick, correct Venom?"
"He's right, Nymph does need to eat something light at least. There's also a chance it may make him groggy since it'll ease the adrenal gland," Vicnete confirmed to the other two and stood up. "I'll check the area while-"
"No, I'll go," Ocelot interjected, standing to his feet as he looked at the man who seemed confused. The cowboy gave him a simple look and Vicente got his meaning. He wanted him to try and spend time with Zack since they'd been separated for so long. "I'll be back as soon as I make sure the area is clear."
"Be careful, Ocelot," Zack said, reaching up to grab the man's gloved hand and bring his fingers close enough for him to kiss them. The small affectionate gesture made the man smile.
"Of course. You two behave for Venom." He gave Zack's hand a gentle squeeze before going to retrieve his coat from the jeep, covering it back up then set off to check the parameter as he pulled it on.
The two teens watched him leave before Tretij went to gather firewood, leaving Zack and Vicente alone. The man gently lifted the boy's arm and checked his pulse, timing it closely and then took out the blood pressure cuff and Zack removed his top shirt to reveal the tank top to make it easier for the man to put it on his arm. He saw the man look at his collar bone which was exposed and blushed a little because he knew why. There was a very obvious scar on his skin where Ocelot had bit him so hard it wouldn't go away.
"Where'd you get that scar?" the man asked, conversationally. He inflated the cuff and watched the dial as he waited for the boy's answer. He had a feeling he knew, but he wanted to hear it anyway.
"Uhm... Ocelot did that our first night we were intimate," the boy muttered. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly awkward in front of the man, especially not about being marked by the man he loved since he was six. Maybe it was because Vicente looked like his father, or maybe because the man was a medic.
The man made a hum in thought as he watched the numbers on the dial for a moment before releasing the air in the cuff. He undid it from around Zack's arm and put it back in the bag, sitting in front of the boy with one leg bent and the other underneath it. "How old were you?"
"Thirteen." Uh oh, he had a feeling suddenly he wasn't going to like where this was going.
"Zachary, you know that's statutory rape, right? By most standards you're not legal age to sleep with someone Ocelot's age until you're the age you are now. It's eighteen in some places. He could get in a lot of trouble if someone found out."
"And the chance of that was about as equal to dragons will flying out of my ass," the boy growled. He wasn't going to take that shit, especially not from someone who didn't know their circumstances. "You have no right to sit there and talk to me about what we can and can't do since you decided my asshole father was more important that Kaz or Ocelot. Don't argue with me either; I've heard all the god forsaken stories."
"Wasn't going to, you're absolutely right. I don't know what the three of you went through after I went into my coma, but I just want you to be careful in front of people. I'm sure Ocelot taught you that, but you're still young and he's...well, older. At least tell me you both got tested for STDs before you were together."
He turned his head when Zack threw sand in his face and a fire appeared in his heterochromia eyes that almost looked dangerous. This was going downhill very quickly and if anything had been made clear from the boy's behavior, it was that his love for Ocelot was much stronger than any relationship he'd seen before he went under. This boy would clearly kill if it meant protecting the man in any capacity; that was a devotion Venom hadn't ever thought he'd see. He went to open his mouth but Zack stood up and he fell silent when he spoke.
"Can it, Vicente. I'm aware of the shit Ocelot did when he was in the Sixth Star. The sexual acts he had to go through, the ones he did to others and the torture he put people through: I'm young not stupid," he told the man. "I know he's a monster when he's in the field, but he has done nothing but love me and take care of me and I would never jeopardize that. You should ask rather than assuming next time."
The man got to his feet and grabbed Zack gently by the wrist when he went to walk by, either to go find the man they were talking about or his adopted brother. While his anger told him to pull away and his vengeance told him the man deserved a good bitch slap across his face, Zack's heart couldn't bring him to do it. He knew the man was a medic, the questions he'd asked were because he was worried for their health, not because he meant to invade. It was just infuriating to him he supposed, because the man looked like his father and given what had happened in Cyprus, this felt like some bullshit continuation of that.
At least it did, until Vicente spoke.
"I'm sorry," his deep voice rumbled like thunder as he slid his bionic down to hold the boy's hand instead. It felt safe, familiar, even though it was metal. "I don't remember much from before, everything seems like I read it in a book. But I remember you and seeing you now after all of these years, seeing how you've grown, I just...got worried."
Zack looked at the man and saw the genuine expression of guilt in his face, something he didn't think Big Boss was actually capable of. He gave pause, remembering the stories Kaz told him about the man and his own memories of when the man took care of him. Now that Zack slowed down and the medicine kicked in to allow him the chance to think straight, he could see why Vicente was worried about him and Ocelot. He just got them back, he didn't want to even think about losing them again so soon. A little pang of guilt hit the teenager now as he realized his anger was unjust but he didn't feel too bad because the man just jumped into questioning and asking him questions without know their circumstances. The teen sighed and held his bionic, turning to face him and reached up with his free hand to brush the dirt off of his face that he'd thrown at him, careful of the shrapnel in his temple above where it hit.
"I understand, but I was raised by two of the smartest men in the business, V," the boy said affectionately, placing his hand on the bigger man's shoulder as their blue eye's met. "Ocelot and I's circumstances of our relationship was complicated; we started growing close when Kaz left us to go out and draw attention away from you and Big Boss. He felt betrayed, we both did and it pulled us together. I would have told you openly if you had just asked that instead."
"Not good with emotions or words," the man mumbled, seemingly almost ashamed of that fact. "Wasn't before either."
"It's okay, it's what makes you who you are, so don't change." A pregnant pause followed before Zack reached up to touch the man's fuzzy cheek. "We're good, though?"
"Good." Vicente watched the boy smile as he lowered his hand and moved closer to embrace him, thankful when the teen returned it. Not only did it lift his spirit, it made him feel like maybe things would get better, that their mission wasn't so far out of the realm of possibility.
Ocelot returned a short time later with confirmation that they were in the clear and when he smiled at Zack with a wink of his blue eye, the teenager knew he had been listening at least for a short while to him and Vicente. The boy huffed and slapped the cowboy on his ass, making him grunt in surprise and skip a step to which Vicente smirked. When Mantis returned with the firewood, they all settled down to eat before resting with the realization that they were only a day and a half out from their destination.
Anxiety and stress woke them early the next morning so they covered their trail again and removed the brush from the jeep, heading off to the hot zone, where their horses were waiting for them.
The recruit that was there along side of the equine was a woman code named Shivering Dingo and she was relieved to see them arrive safely. Apparently Pequod had told them that Zack hadn't been able to fly any longer and they were going by jeep. With a salute to them and a thank you from Ocelot, the woman got in the jeep and headed off to the lift zone where she would be picked up and taken to Mother Base. Annie Oakley was glad to see Zack and nuzzled him as soon as he was close enough so he pet her jaw. Vicente got on D-Horse as Ocelot got into the saddle of a handsome bay gelding and it was weird to Zack not to see the gunslinger on the white stallion, but he didn't complain. Vicente suit the horse nicely as well. Zack climbed into Annie's saddle and grabbed her reins just as Tretij sat side saddle behind him and held onto his waist. The two horses started to follow after the bay ahead of them who started off at Ocelot's command.
This was it, Zack told himself. Their destination and the man they were there to save was just half a day out now. This was the beginning of their story.
The Diamond Dogs.