Snake approached the newly placed grave in a graveyard located in Manhattan. The Colonel had told Otacon that Meryl had wanted to be buried in that graveyard. As a surprise for Snake, Otacon had gotten the clearance to get Meryl's body from the scientists that were running experiments. After Snake got out of the hospital, they held a proper funeral for Meryl.
Snake placed a rose in front of the grave. "It's finally over Meryl. The threat of Metal Gear is gone. Now your death was not in vain, and I've finally moved on. I will see you again someday."
Snake walked away from the grave with no regrets as he headed to meet Raiden at the opening of the Metal Gear museum. Since it was partially the fault of the United States for the creation of the Metal Gears, they had decided to let the civilians know about what had been going on… with some of the information confidential so they wouldn't cause a riot against the government. The museum contained the remains of the Metal Gears.
Snake ran up the steps of the museum where Raiden was waiting.
"You're late! It opened about an hour ago." Raiden complained.
"Sorry, I was busy."
"You visited the grave again didn't you?"
"That was the last time. I promise… Now let's get inside."
Snake and Raiden entered the museum. On the left was the full body of Metal Gear Rex. They had most of the body of Metal Gear Ray in the middle, but one of the legs was missing. An iron beam supported it; they didn't want it to fall on anyone so it had been welded on.
The last Metal Gear was code named Red. Snake had figured since it had those letters on the side, that's what it was called. It was located on the right side of the museum.
Some of the other things the museum had were the exoskeleton of the Cyborg Ninja, and the suit of Solidus. They even had pictures of the people involved in the operations, good and bad.
"Hey! You're Solid Snake!" A kid yelled at Snake as he ran up to him. "Can I get your autograph, sir?"
"Uh…"
"Lighten up Snake." Raiden said as he elbowed Snake.
Snake autographed the kid's white hat with a marker. The kid's mother came and apologized for the nuisance.
Snake had quite a few people come and ask for his autograph; Raiden got a couple too. By the time the museum closed, neither one of them had gotten a chance to look at anything and see how much of the truth was actually posted. Snake sulked as they walked down the steps of the museum.
"I'm never signing anything again! I didn't get to see anything!" Snake complained.
"Usually it's me that's complaining. Don't worry, they open it up again next week." Raiden assured Snake.
"Once a week isn't enough! Argh!" Snake continued to complain.
"If this is the great 'Legend' that I fought against and lost to, then I'm very disappointed." A voice said from behind.
Snake and Raiden spun around. Two figures stood there, staring back at Snake and Raiden in the dark of the night.
"Liquid? How are you…" Snake started.
"Tira, too." Raiden pointed out.
"Let's talk somewhere else." Liquid suggested.
Liquid and Tira led them to a restaurant that was hardly busy. They got a seat at the very back of the room where they were out of hearing range of any of the other guests.
"Why should I trust you after all the hell you've put me through, Liquid? How do I know that this isn't an ambush ready to happen?" Snake asked suspiciously.
"Let me explain everything before you jump to any accusations. If you still fill uncomfortable, then we'll never bother you again. Deal?"
"Deal."
"After you beat me the first time, I figured out that I had no chance if I tried to fight you again. Of course, I thought it was already too late for me. Even if I was still somewhat alive through my arm, I knew there was nothing I could do to gain my body back and actually come to life. That's when I met Tira. I had no idea that I had a sister until I met her. Ocelot had been using her for his new experiments and one day he had decided to kill her, thinking she was useless. Before he did kill her, I discovered that I could control him. When I took over, I introduced myself to Tira. It took awhile for her to trust that I wasn't Ocelot acting, at least until I told her about my father being Big Boss. Then I discovered that she had the same father as I did. Afterwards, she offered to help me get back my body. She did research to find out where it was being held. After she found it, she sent a false message to Ocelot to get him near the facility. You know what happens after that."
"So I'm guessing that she's the so called 'friend' you were talking about." Snake states.
"Yes."
"Now, I want to know why you aren't trying to kill me."
"After dying once, I knew that the reason that I was going after you for, was foolish. Once I had been revived, I wanted to live a normal life. I couldn't just disappear without a trace and then show up in the country that I had threatened."
"So you faked your own death."
"Correct. If it were recorded that I was dead, then I wouldn't seem suspicious if I entered the United States. I would be given a chance to start over and live a normal life."
"What about her? Why would she need to fake her death?"
"I'll let her explain that one." Liquid replied.
"Ocelot wasn't the only one that had done experiments on me. Numerous scientists had their turns with their stupid ideas. After twenty years, I had finally had enough of it. I got a hold of a scalpel and killed two scientists. I escaped out of the laboratory and found my way into the main building. I ran across a room that had been stocked with explosives in case of an emergency. I stole some of them and planted them around all of the buildings. I was disgusted with the way they had treated me and a couple of other people. To them we were nothing more than animals, and I was ready to show them otherwise. After I had gotten a safe distance away from the place, I blew it sky high. Unfortunately, an American Congressman was there having a meeting with some of the scientists. He was killed in the blast. At first, I didn't think it would matter, but it turns out that a guard had found the dead scientists before I blew the place. He had made a distress call to the military and had given them my name. The sentence for killing any Congressman was death. It wouldn't have mattered if he had been there or not. My sentence wouldn't have been shortened considering I had killed at least 79 people. I was wanted, and they would have done anything to find me. Ocelot had gotten to me first, and promised me that he had contacts so he could clear my name. As the fool I was, I believed him. I found out soon enough that he was just using me." Tira explained.
"I can't believe that someone like you could do all those things." Raiden said sympathetically.
"I can." Snake remarked.
"Whatever…" Raiden gave up the argument quickly and started to check out the waitresses.
"How did Ocelot die?" Snake asked.
"I shot him in the head." Liquid answered.
"That was very… straightforward…" Snake paused for a moment. "What I don't get is how you're still alive after that stunt you pulled with Metal Gear. You really could have died."
"It wasn't that hard, but it did take a lot of planning. We had to figure out how to get rid of the Metal Gear. I decided that we would use you once again, Snake." Liquid stated.
"I'm flattered."
"First, we needed to make you mad enough to pull this off. That's when betrayal came to mind. Tira had to befriend you. I just never planned for Ocelot to shoot her. Oh well, it doesn't matter." Liquid continued.
"Then you had her betray me when you were in Metal Gear. That would motivate me to 'kill' her and you."
"Exactly, her ability to control metal became useful there. None of your shots actually hit her. She reflected the bullets, but she had to act quickly. I think falling over the railing dramatized it a bit too much."
"I didn't plan on falling over the railing. That was an accident." Tira argued.
"Sure…"
"How did you do the blood?" Snake interrupted.
"Haven't you ever seen any movies? The actors in movies place fake skin over their own that is filled with a substance that looks like blood. We did the same thing, except we put mini-explosives inside of the fake skin that went off that let the skin 'bleed.' Tira had a button to set them off on her rifle."
"Got it. Now continue with the 'Survival' part."
"All right… When you placed the C4 in Metal Gear, I jumped out at the same time as you when you jumped down. When you set them off, Tira used her ability to keep any of the debris from hitting either one of us. After the building collapsed, we took a stealth helicopter out of the area."
"Why didn't you just blow Metal Gear up by yourself?"
"The government would have gotten more deeply involved in the incident if their weapon had been 'accidentally' blown up. You see?" Tira replied.
"Yeah… So you went through all of this crap just so you could live a normal life?" Snake asked.
"In a matter of speaking."
Everyone sat in silence staring at each other. Well… Raiden was continuing to check out some of the waitresses although he was engaged. Finally, Snake started laughing.
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Moreover, to think it actually worked! You two have to be the craziest people on the planet!"
"I don't see what's so funny." Raiden said to Snake.
"I'm sorry…" Snake had to stop to catch his breath. "It's just that I would never have guessed that the people that tried to 'kill' me, were actually using me to gain a normal life."
"It benefited us as well. We won't have to worry about Metal Gear anymore. Not even any nuclear weapons. Maybe not even war." Raiden pointed out.
Liquid and Tira got up to leave.
"Snake, I want you to remember something." Liquid said.
"What is it?" Snake asked.
"You may be free for a period of time, but the government will find a way to try to surpass the other countries in the world. They will thrive to be number one."
"Yeah… you're right…"
"One other thing. About five years ago, someone told me: 'As long as there are people, there will always be war.' Rest while you can, Snake. You work for the government, whether you choose to accept that or not is up to you. As long as you work for them, your job will never be done." Liquid left Snake in silence, and left the restaurant.
"What did he mean, Snake?" Raiden asked.
"You won't get it now, but he's absolutely right."
"What?" Raiden asked.
"Farewell, Snake. Maybe we will meet again sometime. Thank you for everything." Tira said before leaving to catch up to Liquid.
"I am clueless, and I have no idea what just happened here. Could you please explain it to me?" Raiden asked.
" 'As long as there are people, there will always be war…'" Snake repeated. "There's always an idiot out there that will screw everything up for us. You and I are the cleanup crew, and it'll always be that way."
"Okay… Who told him that?" Raiden asked.
Snake hesitated before he faced Raiden.
"I did."
That's the end! Any of you confused? I'll explain it once and if you still don't get it then you probably don't comprehend very well. (J/K)
All right… In other words, what Snake said to Liquid, back at Shadow Moses five years ago, motivated Liquid to quit what he was doing and try to live the 'normal life' while he still can. He knows that one day, considering who Snake works for, Snake and his self will be enemies again, which would create a 'war' between the two people.