Chapter Twenty-Six: A Formal Invitation
The hallway was filled with light, Snake's hand resting on a light switch on the right side of the hall. Naomi and Mei Ling turned back in fright, to reassure themselves that Snake and Jack were still there. Snake offered up a fake smile and continued on with them, taking the lead again, and leaving Jack at the end of the line.
Naomi was distraught, Mei Ling and her walking arm in arm through the dimly lit hallway that very much contrasted the bright halls of the upper floors. Snake's mind was wondering to places he had deemed forbidden in his past, assuming they were too dangerous for him to venture into. Truthfully, that was an excuse – nothing more, nothing less. All it did was hurt him more than he'd all ready been hurt, and whenever he tried to think of it, he'd shut it away. It was the only thing he could imagine that frightened him. Yes, the invincible Solid Snake had a fear. It had been dormant for so long, but as he saw Otacon fall before him – his closest friend in the world – he remembered it all…all the pain, all the sorrow…everything he had tried to forget.
To him, Meryl and Otacon were one in the same. In his life, they were the two he was able to connect with beyond work. Meryl was his love, and Otacon was his friend. Surely, he enjoyed the company of Naomi, Mei Ling, and Jack, but…he wasn't close with them like he was with Otacon and Meryl, and both of his closest friends and lovers had died before he had, himself. He had outlived the more cautious and caring of the three, and he was the one willing to take the risks, willing to stand in the way of a bullet for a friend…but really, that wasn't true.
Meryl and Otacon were gone. They were both more caring than Snake, but…that only gave more reason to standing up for him. They both would have taken a bullet for him, and as he walked down the hallway he realized something he had never realized before…he would take a bullet for them too. No, that did not bring either of them back to life, but it changed himself. It didn't change them, but at that moment he was transformed. In the light of truth and love, he shone bright, and he understood himself better than ever before. He understood those around him, and as he walked, he looked around him, examining the all.
Naomi – she had been thrown into a terrible pit when her brother, Frank Jaeger, fell in battle, and she was thrown through an even bigger loop when he returned at Shadow Moses, his life unwillingly returned, and his mind scrambled, making him thirst for blood and violence. She had seen him as a role model, she had seen him as a victim, and she had seen him as a fierce adversary. She had to love him, pity him, and hate him in her fairly short lifetime as it was, and she had done it all, only to love him more when he returned to her again. She was courageous.
Mei Ling – she was young and naïve. She moved with every blow, and took every swing without hindrance, and she continued on, thinking that there was nothing she couldn't do. She was the aspiring teen, the willing spirit, and the guide. Then, one day, she was faced with death. She saw blood trickling through snow, staining it forever more. She witnessed the cold heart of a sinner, and in it all, she wept. She wept without shame, and through the pain, she prevailed. She stepped up to the challenges, and moved with every blow, took every swing. Through it all, she was the same as before: the aspiring teen, the willing spirit, and the guide.
Jack – he had suffered a loss that many could not live with, or bare to expose to others, and in his early days he hid it, trying to keep it secret, trying to imagine it never existed. But it did. He fought innumerable foes; battled hand-to-hand with his own father in a bout that would determine which of the two deserved the right of life. And when it ended, he had survived. He deserved the right to life; he had lived through the trials of his father, of his God, and of his soul. He had faced all there was to face, and he returned to battle, to save more. He was young, and he was free. Free from his bindings, his past. He had dealt with it all, and like Little Mary, he had surpassed his limits and had become individual. Free.
Frank – he had died, had been born again, had died, and had been born again. It seemed more obscure than anything a person could imagine, but it had happened. Twice, he had felt the pain of death, and twice he had felt the relieving breath of life consume him. Still, he had endured the pain of looking at his past – Snake, Naomi – and transforming to become their friends or foes. He had suffered a great deal, and his only wish, now, was for death and that final sigh when all of his worries and all of his pains would exhale into the wind, and be carried through it to a world on high where gold bells would ring and trumpets would sound in jubilee of his coming. He had seen the world shattered in three instances, and in each instant, he had played the role of a friend. He had been there when no one else could be. He walked beside Snake forever and always.
Meryl – she had gone from green to glimmering in no more than a number of hours. From knowing not how to fire a gun, or more not wanting to, she became a machine fitted for combat and every duty that accompanied it. Still, her heart never wished death upon anyone any more than anyone wished death upon her, and her heart stung with a love incomparable to any. On the battlefield, she had fallen, and her heart, even as she lay in pain, went out to her one love. Her only love. She had taken a bullet for him. She had taken three. And through the pain she thought not of herself, but of Snake, her one love. When she died, she died in sorrow, but she died in hope. She was selfless…an angel.
Otacon – he, more than any other, was powerful. He did not have the muscles or the moves, but he had the heart and the compassion. He had been faced with temptation, with sorrow, and with pain, and he abandoned it all in fear, but he returned. Not to his homeland, or to his house, but to his family. He saved his sister even though she was sent away…he saved her crippled heart, and he loved as Snake loved. He loved any; he loved all. There was nothing he wouldn't do, and nobody he wouldn't do it for as long as their intentions held strong and true to the will of the world. He was a friend, a family, and a role model. A role model to Snake. He was dead…but he was compassionate beyond anything and everything. He would take the bullet.
Finally, there was only one person left. It was himself. It was Snake. The legendary Solid Snake, the fearless creature who stalked in the shadows and brought justice and peace to the world…he had seen things that no others had seen, things that even his eyes had been scared by. He possessed fear just as any other human, and he was a friend just like Otacon. He would take a bullet. He'd take it for each and every one of them. He'd take as many as he had to.
Looking over them all, he stopped, and they too stopped, turning to see his face, to be reassured by his stern, unchanging gaze, but when they turned they did not see that stale look of boredom and paleness. But instead, they saw happiness. Across his face was a smile, one that nothing, not even death could break, and in that moment he could feel all of the memories that had ever made him laugh before, emerge. He smiled wide, and laid his head back. He laughed. The others looked at him, their minds running rampant with questions, and at the sight, they smiled. They looked at him, and he looked back. They smiled.
But, as he smiled, they could hear footsteps. Subtle, but present footsteps, echoing behind them as a form turned the corner and stepped out. Snake still smiled. Something also seemed to be dragging behind the figure, and when it stopped, the light shone over it brightly, illuminating it's features and giving life to it's pale structure. It wore a black suit, and a top hat, along with long black pants, a single crease running down each leg. He let his hand loosen, and a body dropped onto the floor.
The man who lay on the floor moved onto his feet as the man in the suit snapped his fingers, no sound being made. The man appeared to be a soldier, one who wore the same odd camouflage as the others at Hell's Outpost. His lips stretched to make a cheery smile as the man in the black suit did the same.
Then, the man in the suit moved his mouth, creating silent words in the air, and from the soldier's mouth, sounds that mirrored the man's were emitted. "I am Formal," he paused, "the mime." He slipped off his top hat, and the light struck his face, dancing about it like natives around a campfire. Two rosy circles were painted on his cheeks, and his face was deathly pale, his eyebrows accented with an excess amount of glimmering black paint. The white of his eyes was so pure that it made Jack shiver as he faced him.
"You are here for the production, are you not?" Formal mouthed, and the soldier spoke. There was no answer from the company. Only the rustle of clothes and equipment could be heard. "The Hell Cell?" There was still no answer. "Funny. You are clowns just as I? Do you choose not to speak or are you unable?" Still, no answer. "Then you will have no trouble coming quietly. The stage is this way." Formal turned to the adjacent hall, and waited, but the company did not budge.
"We choose not to speak," Jack said. "And we choose not to follow you." Formal looked at him, an ugly sneer on his prettied face. Slowly, as to make sure they all witnessed his movements, he held the left flap of his suit out, and displayed a wide array of sharp knives that the company could only think would be utilized in their demise.
"You don't need us all," Snake voiced loudly, and Formal looked up in surprise and excitement. His eyes narrowed, and he examined the company, his eyes moving from Mei Ling to Snake, and sitting on him for some time. Slowly, Formal stepped forward, and as he did, the soldier did the same. He was tapping his fingers, thinking, pondering, and the company stood still. All but Snake. He took the bullet.
As Formal neared them, Snake stepped ahead of the rest, and at his action, Formal stopped also, a delighted grin spread wide across his face. The more eerie of the matter was the smile on the soldier's face and how similar the two were. "It is a deal," he cried. "Surely they will be happy with you. Now come. This is your formal invitation." The two started down the hall together, Snake taking one last look at his friends. He saw them, and felt no need to analyze them any more than he had. They needed no evaluations. They were capable of handling the situation on their own. They could take care of themselves.
Snake turned the corner, Formal at his side, and the soldier at Formal's. The journey was short, but all the way, he thought he could hear the scurrying footsteps of his friends, his partners. They would not rest until he was safe. He would not rest until they were safe. It seemed endless, and then, in that moment, he found himself before the gleaming light. The show had begun, and in the center of the room was Socrates, a creation being born in midair. Ocelot was beside him, and as Snake edged into the room, there was silence. The patter of the footsteps had ceased, and it left him with the enemy. But, he knew…his friends were still there.
The finale was near.
The hallway was filled with light, Snake's hand resting on a light switch on the right side of the hall. Naomi and Mei Ling turned back in fright, to reassure themselves that Snake and Jack were still there. Snake offered up a fake smile and continued on with them, taking the lead again, and leaving Jack at the end of the line.
Naomi was distraught, Mei Ling and her walking arm in arm through the dimly lit hallway that very much contrasted the bright halls of the upper floors. Snake's mind was wondering to places he had deemed forbidden in his past, assuming they were too dangerous for him to venture into. Truthfully, that was an excuse – nothing more, nothing less. All it did was hurt him more than he'd all ready been hurt, and whenever he tried to think of it, he'd shut it away. It was the only thing he could imagine that frightened him. Yes, the invincible Solid Snake had a fear. It had been dormant for so long, but as he saw Otacon fall before him – his closest friend in the world – he remembered it all…all the pain, all the sorrow…everything he had tried to forget.
To him, Meryl and Otacon were one in the same. In his life, they were the two he was able to connect with beyond work. Meryl was his love, and Otacon was his friend. Surely, he enjoyed the company of Naomi, Mei Ling, and Jack, but…he wasn't close with them like he was with Otacon and Meryl, and both of his closest friends and lovers had died before he had, himself. He had outlived the more cautious and caring of the three, and he was the one willing to take the risks, willing to stand in the way of a bullet for a friend…but really, that wasn't true.
Meryl and Otacon were gone. They were both more caring than Snake, but…that only gave more reason to standing up for him. They both would have taken a bullet for him, and as he walked down the hallway he realized something he had never realized before…he would take a bullet for them too. No, that did not bring either of them back to life, but it changed himself. It didn't change them, but at that moment he was transformed. In the light of truth and love, he shone bright, and he understood himself better than ever before. He understood those around him, and as he walked, he looked around him, examining the all.
Naomi – she had been thrown into a terrible pit when her brother, Frank Jaeger, fell in battle, and she was thrown through an even bigger loop when he returned at Shadow Moses, his life unwillingly returned, and his mind scrambled, making him thirst for blood and violence. She had seen him as a role model, she had seen him as a victim, and she had seen him as a fierce adversary. She had to love him, pity him, and hate him in her fairly short lifetime as it was, and she had done it all, only to love him more when he returned to her again. She was courageous.
Mei Ling – she was young and naïve. She moved with every blow, and took every swing without hindrance, and she continued on, thinking that there was nothing she couldn't do. She was the aspiring teen, the willing spirit, and the guide. Then, one day, she was faced with death. She saw blood trickling through snow, staining it forever more. She witnessed the cold heart of a sinner, and in it all, she wept. She wept without shame, and through the pain, she prevailed. She stepped up to the challenges, and moved with every blow, took every swing. Through it all, she was the same as before: the aspiring teen, the willing spirit, and the guide.
Jack – he had suffered a loss that many could not live with, or bare to expose to others, and in his early days he hid it, trying to keep it secret, trying to imagine it never existed. But it did. He fought innumerable foes; battled hand-to-hand with his own father in a bout that would determine which of the two deserved the right of life. And when it ended, he had survived. He deserved the right to life; he had lived through the trials of his father, of his God, and of his soul. He had faced all there was to face, and he returned to battle, to save more. He was young, and he was free. Free from his bindings, his past. He had dealt with it all, and like Little Mary, he had surpassed his limits and had become individual. Free.
Frank – he had died, had been born again, had died, and had been born again. It seemed more obscure than anything a person could imagine, but it had happened. Twice, he had felt the pain of death, and twice he had felt the relieving breath of life consume him. Still, he had endured the pain of looking at his past – Snake, Naomi – and transforming to become their friends or foes. He had suffered a great deal, and his only wish, now, was for death and that final sigh when all of his worries and all of his pains would exhale into the wind, and be carried through it to a world on high where gold bells would ring and trumpets would sound in jubilee of his coming. He had seen the world shattered in three instances, and in each instant, he had played the role of a friend. He had been there when no one else could be. He walked beside Snake forever and always.
Meryl – she had gone from green to glimmering in no more than a number of hours. From knowing not how to fire a gun, or more not wanting to, she became a machine fitted for combat and every duty that accompanied it. Still, her heart never wished death upon anyone any more than anyone wished death upon her, and her heart stung with a love incomparable to any. On the battlefield, she had fallen, and her heart, even as she lay in pain, went out to her one love. Her only love. She had taken a bullet for him. She had taken three. And through the pain she thought not of herself, but of Snake, her one love. When she died, she died in sorrow, but she died in hope. She was selfless…an angel.
Otacon – he, more than any other, was powerful. He did not have the muscles or the moves, but he had the heart and the compassion. He had been faced with temptation, with sorrow, and with pain, and he abandoned it all in fear, but he returned. Not to his homeland, or to his house, but to his family. He saved his sister even though she was sent away…he saved her crippled heart, and he loved as Snake loved. He loved any; he loved all. There was nothing he wouldn't do, and nobody he wouldn't do it for as long as their intentions held strong and true to the will of the world. He was a friend, a family, and a role model. A role model to Snake. He was dead…but he was compassionate beyond anything and everything. He would take the bullet.
Finally, there was only one person left. It was himself. It was Snake. The legendary Solid Snake, the fearless creature who stalked in the shadows and brought justice and peace to the world…he had seen things that no others had seen, things that even his eyes had been scared by. He possessed fear just as any other human, and he was a friend just like Otacon. He would take a bullet. He'd take it for each and every one of them. He'd take as many as he had to.
Looking over them all, he stopped, and they too stopped, turning to see his face, to be reassured by his stern, unchanging gaze, but when they turned they did not see that stale look of boredom and paleness. But instead, they saw happiness. Across his face was a smile, one that nothing, not even death could break, and in that moment he could feel all of the memories that had ever made him laugh before, emerge. He smiled wide, and laid his head back. He laughed. The others looked at him, their minds running rampant with questions, and at the sight, they smiled. They looked at him, and he looked back. They smiled.
But, as he smiled, they could hear footsteps. Subtle, but present footsteps, echoing behind them as a form turned the corner and stepped out. Snake still smiled. Something also seemed to be dragging behind the figure, and when it stopped, the light shone over it brightly, illuminating it's features and giving life to it's pale structure. It wore a black suit, and a top hat, along with long black pants, a single crease running down each leg. He let his hand loosen, and a body dropped onto the floor.
The man who lay on the floor moved onto his feet as the man in the suit snapped his fingers, no sound being made. The man appeared to be a soldier, one who wore the same odd camouflage as the others at Hell's Outpost. His lips stretched to make a cheery smile as the man in the black suit did the same.
Then, the man in the suit moved his mouth, creating silent words in the air, and from the soldier's mouth, sounds that mirrored the man's were emitted. "I am Formal," he paused, "the mime." He slipped off his top hat, and the light struck his face, dancing about it like natives around a campfire. Two rosy circles were painted on his cheeks, and his face was deathly pale, his eyebrows accented with an excess amount of glimmering black paint. The white of his eyes was so pure that it made Jack shiver as he faced him.
"You are here for the production, are you not?" Formal mouthed, and the soldier spoke. There was no answer from the company. Only the rustle of clothes and equipment could be heard. "The Hell Cell?" There was still no answer. "Funny. You are clowns just as I? Do you choose not to speak or are you unable?" Still, no answer. "Then you will have no trouble coming quietly. The stage is this way." Formal turned to the adjacent hall, and waited, but the company did not budge.
"We choose not to speak," Jack said. "And we choose not to follow you." Formal looked at him, an ugly sneer on his prettied face. Slowly, as to make sure they all witnessed his movements, he held the left flap of his suit out, and displayed a wide array of sharp knives that the company could only think would be utilized in their demise.
"You don't need us all," Snake voiced loudly, and Formal looked up in surprise and excitement. His eyes narrowed, and he examined the company, his eyes moving from Mei Ling to Snake, and sitting on him for some time. Slowly, Formal stepped forward, and as he did, the soldier did the same. He was tapping his fingers, thinking, pondering, and the company stood still. All but Snake. He took the bullet.
As Formal neared them, Snake stepped ahead of the rest, and at his action, Formal stopped also, a delighted grin spread wide across his face. The more eerie of the matter was the smile on the soldier's face and how similar the two were. "It is a deal," he cried. "Surely they will be happy with you. Now come. This is your formal invitation." The two started down the hall together, Snake taking one last look at his friends. He saw them, and felt no need to analyze them any more than he had. They needed no evaluations. They were capable of handling the situation on their own. They could take care of themselves.
Snake turned the corner, Formal at his side, and the soldier at Formal's. The journey was short, but all the way, he thought he could hear the scurrying footsteps of his friends, his partners. They would not rest until he was safe. He would not rest until they were safe. It seemed endless, and then, in that moment, he found himself before the gleaming light. The show had begun, and in the center of the room was Socrates, a creation being born in midair. Ocelot was beside him, and as Snake edged into the room, there was silence. The patter of the footsteps had ceased, and it left him with the enemy. But, he knew…his friends were still there.
The finale was near.