At The End Of The World

"Manny Calavera: F+ rating."

Sighing, the dead 'travel agent' looked out at the arena through the doors of his little…changing room? Preparation room? Whatever. Out there, after so long, he'd be forced to fight AGAIN - this time not even for a real purpose.

"Why do I continue to get stuck in these things? I'm dead. When do I get to the resting in piece part?"

Glumly, he continued reading the data, the information that Gordon Freeman had carelessly spread to every competitor in the contest and probably everyone else who could read.

"'Manny Calavera has no combat ability of any kind, whatsoever. Those who he HAS killed (or killed again, I should say) were killed mostly due to luck. However, he is very good at using the terrain and obstacles to his advantage, and due to already being dead is probably tougher then the average human, and therefore does not receive a full F.' Well, I suppose it could be worse. He could have written a three page thesis on why my mother is a goat."

Shaking his skeletal head, Manny reminisced on simpler times, when all he had to worry about was Domino being a jerk and his sad, hopeless situation. Manny wasn't a weakling, but he wasn't a big guy either, and this Snake guy had training and experience and guns and stuff like that. Manny, meanwhile, had a fairly dull scythe and experience at being dead. No contest.

"'Solid Snake: A rating. Despite a lack of magical abilities that so many of the other 'big guns' of the contest have, with his stealth, speed, and almost uncanny ability to read the actions of his enemies, Snake is one of the most dangerous of the returning competitors. I pity the poor fool who goes up against this guy without some serious firepower'. Thanks. Thanks a bunch."

The only way he could beat Snake was by using his brain, and from what Manny had seen Snake was no idiot like Domino. He had to think of something - he didn't want to kill the guy, but he did want to prove himself no pushover. There must be SOME way to win.

'There's ALWAYS a way... no matter how stupid,' Manny thought.

---

Snake watched as his first opponent talked to Cloud across the arena. It'd be interesting to see what the arena became - it was unlikely that Calavera would gain a big enough advantage to beat him, but it made no sense to be careless.

For once he had brought no sniper rifle or the other silent weapons he'd used so many times before, apart from his trusty Mk23. This was no infiltration mission and no damn on-site procurement. This was a one-on-one duel and he was facing a man already long dead. One bullet was unlikely to stop him. He was carrying grenades, machine guns, and the stinger rocket launcher. The extra weight bothered him - it wasn't exactly suited for the stealth operation Snake preferred - but it was probably the only way of destroying that paper mache skeleton...

Snake had a brief flash of pity- the other guy wasn't a fighter, a warrior born on the battlefield like himself. He was just an everyday guy dragged into this contest; pitted against a veteran of more battles then the former FOXHOUND operator cared to remember. He quickly his emotions. A long-winded battle probably wouldn't even occur, as it would be more than likely all he'd have to do would be to scare his civilian opponent till he surrendered.

Finishing talking, Calavera got back to his starting position. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the chief technician shouting to his subordinates. Heaps of rock grew out of the ground, the trembling almost knocking Snake off his feet. When it was over, he couldn't see anything ahead apart from walls of rock.

'Nice choice - the way those rocks overhang gives plenty of space to hide. Of course, it'll help me more then it'll help him. What the hell is he thinking?'

As if in answer, the air in the arena suddenly turned a deep blue. Snake blinked a few times and, he saw everything around him start to shimmer slowly, as if he was…

'UNDERWATER!'

Under Pressure

'…Well, at least I can breath.'

It seemed the purpose of the protective forcefield surrounding the arena was to contain the water - or whatever it was- that was rapidly filling the battle area, making the stadium look like one of those games the swordsman Tidus played.

He reasoned that the technicians wouldn't allow the environmental terrain to kill him, but, with a sinking feeling, Snake realised that wasn't why his opponent had chosen this fighting condition.

Taking out a suppressed Kalashnikov, the stealth agent experimentally tried firing a shot at the arena wall - and with grim resignation threw the rifle away. He quickly rid himself of most of his portable armoury as the Kalashnikov floated down gently to the floor. Almost all his weapons were waterlogged, rendering them completely useless. The Stinger was now just an extremely bulky heap of metal, and the grenades would have to be so close to their target so that he could taste them in order to have any actual effect.

One of the few weapons that would operate under water, the Mk23 SOCOM handgun, would still be useful - but would a few bullet holes have any effect on the dead Mexican? Killing zombies wasn't exactly familiar territory. He should have tried coaxing a little information from Leon Kennedy before this match.

'Heh. Never thought I'd be in a situation where cheesy "B" horror movies would help…'

---

Manny looked up at the reaction of the audience above, a smile on his face - obviously the environment was having the desired effect. He was no gun expert, but he thought it a pretty safe bet that firearms wouldn't work very well when filled with water (well, apart from water guns, which work very well filled with water, but that was a risk he was willing to take).

Some people might have thought his choice of a battleground was a little unfair. Regardless, even with a slightly more level playing field Manny knew he hadn't even gotten close to evening the odds.

Reaching into his expensively tailored jacket ( the one that he'd bought in Rubacava at the height of his Café's success) he brought out his one and only weapon - the scythe that he kept near where his internal organs weren't.

He didn't like taking people's deaths into his own hands, but… Hey, the Land of the Dead wasn't so bad once you got used to it. Maybe this Snake guy might come to even LIKE it.

His musings were cut short as, from out of the shadows, Solid Snake slammed Manny's head with the broadside of a Stinger Missile Launcher. He had moved fast, despite the water, and had succeeded in knocking the travel agent down to the ground. Manny instantly sprung up, waving his scythe wildly in the direction of the attack. This of course accomplished absolutely nothing except for him embedding his scythe into nearly five tons of rock.

Smiling nervously, the skeleton slowly turned to find himself looking straight into the barrel of a gun.

'Hey, this guy's pretty good. I mean, it's not dark here, there're no holes in the rock or anything- and I couldn't see jack. Eh, he's better then good.'

"Hey, compadre, we're underwater. You can't scare me - the gun doesn't…"

In a move quicker then the eye could follow, Snake smoothly aimed the weapon to the right, firing a shot that made a very distinct pinging sound against the wall.

"Okaaaaaay. Could you wait until I get this scythe out of the rock? You're not going to shoot an unarmed man, are you?"

Snake blinked. For the first time Manny had seen of the guy, his stony exterior cracked just a little. When the veteran infiltrator replied, his voice almost sounded amused (from what Manny could hear through the garbling that is. It was kind of hard to talk through a few lungfuls of water…even if that water was oxygenated).

"Why the hell should I? A), you're not a real ma n- you're a walking corpse. B), you've got the advantage in this place. And C), you're the idiot who stuck your own scythe there in the first place."

Manny hesitated, trying to find some way for him to talk his way out of this situation.

"…Because I'm such a wonderful guy?"

Throwing himself to the ground and crumpling up his suit (Why in the name of infierno did I wear this thing?), Manny rolled awkwardly around the corner. The only thing this action was able to do, besides completely failing to avoid the bullet tearing through his rib cage, was further ruin his already damaged suit.

"…Ah, I'm too old for this. And dead. Too old AND dead for this."

---

Snake shook his head slightly as he watched Manny running around the nearest corner. He was right - one little hole didn't seem to do anything to the dead man, which meant he'd have to chase the guy down.

Running after someone wasn't Snake's style. Slowly creeping up on someone or quickly running a short distance while a guard blinked for a split second - he'd done those plenty of times. But actually running after someone…?

It reminded him of when he'd fought his old comrade for the second time. Grey Fox, finally turned against his master, dying in the death throes of Metal Gear - then being revived as the perfect soldier by a bunch of sociopaths. Hmm… it seemed pretty much all of FOXHOUND, apart from himself and Colonel Campbell, had defected in some way or another. Even HE was now an enemy of the Patriots...

Wait - Grey Fox - he HAD fought a zombie before, after all. Of course, his experience with the person formerly known as Frank Jaeger probably wasn't going to help in all honesty.

Throwing the Stinger launcher to the side, Snake brought out the only weapon he had left that would cause any damage: straight-forward, normal 'Pineapple' grenades.

'These WILL knock you out of the fight. So help me, if I have to jam them down what's left of your throat, kid…Well, I've done worse.'

---

'You've been in some pretty bad situations before, but being chased by a heavily armed combat veteran who's faster than you and can hide out in plain sight has gotta be in the top ten somewhere. You should have thought further ahead, Manny - disable most of his stuff…and then what? Have a party? Re-organise your filing system? Screw this. I'm going to die – AGAIN - like a man. Show them all that you've got cajones. At least that way I can say I went out with a bang.'

Manny stopped for a couple of seconds, taking a deep breath - a completely symbolic gesture, really. Resolutely, he turned around, arms raised up in a mockery of a boxer's stance, and began running back the way he came.

The skeleton leaped out from behind the corner and made a half hearted jab with his left arm, making sure to accompany all of this with a less than blood-curdling scream: "Rargh and all that!"

But he couldn't see Snake. Had Snake gone the other way to try and ambush him? Or...Oh no...

A strong and very alive arm wrapped itself around his neck, rendering any plan of attack he could devise totally and utterly useless.

He heard a voice near his ear - the whispers seemed to sound almost like Domino Hurley's, but without the sneering arrogance...

"Nothing to say now? Your tongue rotted away?"

Manny grinned as only a skull could.

"Everything else may be gone, serpiente, but I can still talk the legs off a millipede-"

Snake's other hand slammed into his throat, pulling out again almost as quickly as it went it. He then shoved the travel agent away, bringing up his gun to point it at the lively corpse in one smooth motion.

Manny frowned, trying to see what he did. Why the hell would he try to choke a dead guy, unless...

"Ah. A grenade, right? Nice plan. Looks like I've finally found a smartass smarter than me."

Snake grinned for a second, struggling to force his whole face from erupting into a full-blown smile. Holstering the gun, the member of Philanthropy nodded slightly.

"…I have to say it. For an unarmed, untrained, unfit corpse - you did pretty well, kid. See you in hell, Manny."

Manny couldn't stop a grin himself, despite what was about to happen.

" Count on it."

He reached into his jacket. He was amused by Snake's reaction, as the mercenary steadied his gunhand at the skeleton as if he was readying himself for another attack. Must have thought Manny was going to pull out a gun...

Instead, Manny took out a pamphlet, dropping it by Snake's feet. Winking, he stepped backward, lazily waving goodbye.

"It's a travel leaflet - when you die, look me up, alright?"

A muffled explosion sounded throughout the water and then the world turned white once again for Manny Calavera - this time there would be no coming back...

The bar was almost empty now - only the hard drinkers were left. Auron sat in the corner, silently drinking his sake, looking far more dangerous and out of control than he ever did before his match. Conker was swaying slightly and cursing the world in general. The rest of the patrons were just staring into their glasses. But Snake was still on the same drink he was on hours ago, as he thought...

He was the first person to win his match without a scratch. He should be happy. In previous contests he'd survived by the skin of his teeth, barely in better condition than his opponents. True, he'd had to kill his opponent, but seeing as how Manny was already dead, he doubted it mattered that much.

But this time something was wrong. Snake hadn't seen Yuri going back, but Wesker - he'd seen Wesker, awake but unmoving, thrown back into the portal leading to his world. The boy he'd faced, Lloyd Irving, wasn't capable of doing THAT to a man. Something else had happened to him...

Cloud, meanwhile, seemed far stronger then he'd ever been. Snake had lasted long enough in the previous contests to see the swordsman cut swathes through his opponents, but even then he had his limitations - Link had showed he was beatable. But now, something was happening, and Snake had no idea what. And that not knowing part made him really uneasy.

Not only had Cloud showed an increase in skill, but Big Boss had displayed power far beyond what he should have...

No matter what his feelings, Snake knew Big Boss had been an even greater warrior than himself in his prime, plus he had his belief in 'Outer Heaven', however mistaken, fuelling him even more...But even so, an old man shouldn't have done that well against Auron.

Looking to the left, he saw that Kratos Aurion, who wasn't exactly a great drinker himself, was staring at him - had been for a while, probably. The warrior of Cruxis inclined his head towards the door, before leaving himself, showing no signs of drunkenness as he passed the now unconscious squirrel.

Snake smiled to himself. Of course, he should have realised that everyone else wasn't completely blind. He followed the angelic warrior to a secluded area outside...

---

"What the hell should I do?"

The path was quiet. Link spent most of the time in the forest surrounding the city. Bustling urban centres just weren't him.

The Hero of Time, The Wind Waker, The Chosen one - call him what you will - he was starting to get sick of being a hero. He was stuck between a psychopathic swordsman who had a screwed up relationship with his mother and a normally good guy who was blindly and naively following some cloaked moron...

A cloaked moron who seemed to get a tremendous kick out of pitting Cloud and Sephiroth against each other. And as they kept going with their stupid fight, the souls of those caught in the crossfire were getting consumed and defiled...

"Just who the HELL are you?" Link muttered into the air.

Nothing. He didn't really expect an answer. He thought about his conversation with Zelda from the previous day.

"For the love of Din, I'm a fighter not a thinker. But whatever the hell those two idiots are up to..."

Stopping, he held up his left hand, and looked at the blazing triangle that was there - The Triforce of Courage.

"I've got to stop them. How, I don't know - but whatever it takes, I've got to stop them. First things first though, I need to make sure Zelda listened to my advice from yesterday. If she hasn't, she's going to lose…I know, because I've seen it with my own two eyes. And as much as I hate to admit it, I could use all the help and support I can get right now."

---

"You got any idea what's the hell's going on?"

The two fighters stared into the river that idly cut its way through the city. Strange, Snake hadn't seen it before. Maybe this place, whatever it was, needed to be self sufficient and required its own water supply. Or maybe those who designed the place just thought a river was pretty.

Without moving his eyes, Kratos broke the silence that surrounded them.

"No. But I do know something is going on. As do you."

A smile tugged at Snake's lips. "At least that's something. But you're the spiritual fighter, or whatever the hell you call it - you must have seen something."

The former user of the Eternal Blade looked up into the sky, the moon shining in his eyes as he hesitated with his response.

"…I see those who have left here alive, if you want to call it living. There is no longer that spark of life behind their eyes. Their souls seem to have left them. I saw Manny being taken away, a pile of bones, but still chattering away nonetheless, and then I saw a blue streak speed away as his bones where thrown inside the dimensional portal. There was something very odd about that blue flash..."

Snake finally looked at Auron, his eyes narrowing.

"What?"

The swordsman looked back, concern etched on his face.

"…It looked exactly like Calavera."

Snake laughed to himself without a trace of humour.

"It's time for us to collect some more information about our hosts. I somehow think their intentions aren't what you or I would call honourable in regards to their contestants' welfare…"

---

Past the Land of the Dead, in the place that no living being knows about, resided the soul of a woman, who in life - and in the Land she passed through to finally get to her reward - was called Mercedes Colomar. Waiting for the one who spent so long trying to save her, the one who had spent so much time trying to get to this final destination of all souls, the one who was pulled out of this place for a meaningless contest - and the one whose soul was taken by the failed SOLDIER. Unfortunately for her, she was also waiting for one who would never return. For what use could a person be in the Land of the Dead without a soul?