Author's note: Thank you all for reaching this far of this journey. It's a dream come true for me to have written and finished this story. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Chapter 19 "A Quiet Life"
Snake wakes up, his face full of sweat. He opens his eye and finds himself in the cabin again; still feeling a bit disoriented.
"Is this heaven?"
"Not quite yet…" Quiet walks through the front door holding a glass of water.
"Quiet? How… agh!" Snake feels an extraordinarily strong headache and begins to feel dizzy, pressing his hand against his forehead.
"Snake, you are still not well, take this glass of water and a few pills then rest." He complies, swallows the pills, and drinks the water.
"What are these?"
"A little something for the headache and make you sleep a while more." "Thanks…" He closes his eye and falls asleep again.
The next day…
"How do you feel?" Quiet asks as she straightens the bed sheet and Snake wakes up.
"Feeling much better though I could use some water."
"Here…" She gives him a glass of water. After finishing drinking it Snake drops the glass falling to the floor, he grabs Quiet's arm pulling her to him, and hugs her. She feels his embrace completely as never before
"I'm sorry..." Quiet tears a bit after apologizing. Snake dries her tears and tells her it's okay. She was here now and knowing she was happy it was all he needed. Meanwhile, Quiet felt her heart light and let out a big smile. The coupled kissed and stayed in the bed for a while.
A few hours later…
The couple is sitting on the table, Snake smoking a cigar and Quiet cleaning the handgun. It was midday, and now that Snake's head has cleared completely, he addresses the elephant in the room
"How are we here again, alive?" She proceeds to tell him…
"There was no explosion…" after Code Talker ate the fruit he disintegrated, turning into dust. In his wheelchair, he left a letter that began to float around after the whole body disappeared. Quiet still hugging Snake notices the paper and the disappeared body,
"Snake I think we…" she turns around to him and sees he is unconscious, passed out from exhaustion. She leaves him there and goes to pick the letter.
"Eve… there was no Skull Face, nor Skull Soldiers. It was all an illusion created by the parasites by my will. I did not want revenge, I just looked release. When I was in Adam's care, I told him about my funeral arrangements but I noticed that I did not die, and it was because the parasites had been so ingrained in me that even though my organs stopped functioning my life would still not cease to exist.
Killing me would not be possible because the parasite would harden the skin to fend off incoming attacks. Burning myself is an end I did not want to resign myself to.
After I realized this, I asked Adam to discharge me and leave me in my home. Skull Face never burned my village, but I could not die there either. So, after I lived long enough there, I searched for you out so you could help me with my death. I waited patiently for the chance you could be reunited with him.
The parasite you two created would overtake all of mine after I consumed it and kill them, then all the built-up aging that my body has held up all these long years would hit all at once, and then I could die.
Eve… there was never revenge, it was never about that, sorry I lied to you, but I wanted to make you see what revenge does to people. I hope this has helped you let go of yours and move on. Take care, my dear…."
"After reading the letter, I picked you up and brought you here and tended your wounds."
"Hmm…"
"Snake…" Quiet picks his chair and puts it closer to him, she places her hand on his knee and looks at him.
"I no longer feel the need for revenge, I'm free now."
"What do you want to do now?"
"Be with you…"
"I would like that too…" The couple holds hands.
"Can you carry me, like before?"
"Always…" Snake gets up and picks up Quiet, they walk to the bed. Snake could accomplish this now thanks to a wooden leg she managed to get for him and now he could walk with ease. He walks slowly towards the bed while Quiet looks at him and hums her favorite song. He looks at her eyes and they share a kiss as they reach the bed.
The next day…
Snake and Quiet are working at the ruins, it is dusk now.
"You know…"
"Hmm?"
"The view from that arch must be amazing right"
"Yeah, it is…"
"Take me there"
"Really?"
"Yeah"
Quiet piggybacks Snake and she then jumps holding him as if he didn't weigh anything. When they reached the arch Snake looks silently at the landscape scene and sits on the edge, taking out a cigar. Quiet sits alongside him. The couple stares at the orange sky with the clouds… She rests her head in his arm. The two appreciate the scenery, then Snake breaks the silence.
"It's beautiful isn't it?"
"Yeah…"
"You sat in here every day?"
"Yes…"
"Must has been nice…"
Quiet slowly lifts her head from his arm and decides to ask him about his life in Outer Heaven.
"Snake?"
"Hmm…"
"How was it out there… in Outer Heaven?"
"Outer Heaven…almost every day it was a loud ruckus whenever I was on the battlefield doing missions or in mother base giving orders. Very rarely I had moments of silence. Even though every day the sun would set from the window of my room, slowly descending on the desert hill, I could not appreciate it. And whenever the moon glowed, I could not feel its gentle light."
"It must have been lonely right?"
"Yeah… it was…a long time it was."
Quiet begins to cry.
"Snake… forgive me." Quiet hugs him strongly while her face is soaked with tears. Snake turns her face to him and calms her down.
"Quiet... it's okay, you are here now, we are here, and it's all that matters…"
"But…"
"It's all right… I know… But it's enough for me." Snake gives her a smile that put her aching heart at ease. She hugs him again wiping her tears and looks at his eye.
"Snake…"
"Hmm?"
"I love you"
Snake lets out a big smile as her words filled his heart with light and hope. This was the happiest moment in his life and so it was for her too.
"I love you too"
The couple embraced and kissed over the sleeping sun while the night sky began to slowly take over.
Time has passed ever since Quiet bought Snake to her cabin. They made it now their home, even upgraded it with more utilities. The couple was even able to secure a tv and an antenna where they watched movies in the evening and during the days when they weren't working in the ruins to keep their minds busy.
Snake's hair became white again and his face now started to catch up with his age, but he was still strong as an ox. Even for Quiet time had caught up with her too, now sporting three white gold strands of hair that taken half of her brown color. Her face also started to slowly show her time too, but she still looked beautiful as ever.
One day when working at the ruins, the wolf Quiet and Snake had helped give birth to gifted them a puppy and disappeared with her other cubs. They named the pup DD and took care of him. DD was now big and well-fed, the wolf would accompany them to the ruins and in the evenings, he would sit alongside the couple at the sofa and sleep outside.
On a rainy day, the couple is sitting on the table playing cards while listening to the radio and talking about the past. Snake tells her about when they met the first time in the hospital, he was impressed with the prowess she showed. Quiet laughing tells him that she wanted to settle the score with him after that and even so she could not still beat him.
Snake remarks that what helped him was the cqc passed down to him from his long-deceased mentor, if she were to learn cqc she could pretty much beat him. As Snake looks outside, seeing the rain, he's reminded of when they danced on mother base. Going on a trance, Quiet calls him, he gets up and steps outside, greeting the rain with his open arms.
She asks him what he's doing, he asks her to step outside. As she descends the stair Snake jumps to splash the puddle to her. She gasps in surprise and smiles and decides to join in. The couple danced and jumped for a while and then they went to bed all soaked to make love.
After finishing, the couple cuddled together smiling and sharing a moment of silence. The sound of the rain falling, and the pleasant smell made the cabin a comfy home for the two lovers. Snake looks at her and tells her how beautiful she is, she tells him that he still looks as handsome as ever. Snake then remembers what once Ocelot said about her, that she was in love with the legend. He hesitates for a bit about whether to ask her until she tells him to go on.
"Did you fall for me because I was the legend?"
"No, it was never about that. I loved what you did, for how you build diamond dogs and carried us all forward. How you fought on the battlefield. And how you would go your way to save those children. And my silence taught me so many things, about life, about being grateful. We didn't need to speak back then. I think silence was our common tongue, I can understand it now. We always shared a common tongue, we just couldn't find a way to put it into words, and our actions were driven by revenge, which deprived us of life and happiness." Quiet kisses his hand. "We are here now."
Snake smiles and she asks him why he treated her so different from the other soldiers.
"I slept for nine long years, and you were one of the first persons I saw. In your eyes, I could see your thirst for revenge, and somehow, we could understand each other without speaking to one another. I wouldn't have minded if you killed me in that hospital bed back then, somehow you stood out from the thousands of soldiers I met on the battlefield.
I knew you were the one from the hospital when I saw you on those ruins, but I didn't say anything, I was just glad to have seen you again. But I couldn't do much after that, because being Big Boss is a burden. I always felt at ease being around you, I could feel I could be myself with no reservations. That's why I love you because you let me be my true self. And how I love saying your name."
"I'm really glad to have met you… Snake…" Quiet hugs Snake's body strongly and they share a moment of silence.
"Enngh.." Snake groans, pressing his hand against his forehead.
"Another headache?"
"Yeah, they get more numerous and stronger."
"Stay there, I'll get you something now."
DD wakes up and goes to Snake's side of the bed, barking at him to pet him, Snake complies while Quiet arrives with a glass of water and pills for the headache.
"DD… thanks."
"Rest for a while now, I'll be here."
"Hmm…" Snake signals DD to hop on the bed and lay beside him for a while. Quiet goes to the dinner table, cleaning her Brennan, and looks at the asleep Snake and DD. She has a concerned expression, letting out a sigh and continues to clean her rifles to pass the time while the rain begins to settle down.
Epilogue
One night, Snake goes to bed while Quiet finishes settling down DD; she takes off her clothes and stands in front of him.
"Snake, what are you thinking about?"
"Hmm, I would like to see that dance again..."
"Dance? What dance?"
"The one you did in the rain that day…"
The rain dance Snake mentions is one day both him and Quiet arrived from doing missions together and at mother base, it was raining. Quiet peeks from the chopper and jumps out to dance with joy taking off her boots and pantyhose, feeling all the water and refreshing breeze. Snake arrives and holds her boots; she starts to playfully dance with him.
"Ah…"
"And hear your favorite song..."
"Sure, but on one condition…" Quiet goes and stands beside the dinner table.
"Carry me to the bed, like back then…" Quiet asks with a big smile on her face, Snake complies and gets up. He looks at her eyes having her on his arms, both smiling, Quiet then begins to hum. As Snake slowly walks towards the bed he begins to feel suddenly exhausted, but he gathers enough strength to reach the bed. He sits down and watches Quiet dance. She then begins to sing…
"Birds… in the sky… carry… these words… for me….
She begins to dance and Snake joins in…
Life... tasted sweet… it let me live, it let me breathe….
The couple is flooded with memories…
Love… hurts so bad… but still saved my soul….
When they locked eyes in Quiet's first time in mother base…
Flowers of a brighter past… they bloomed so free…
Their silent rides on the chopper…
Memories… I want to give them to you…so you can see…
Fighting in the desert, fighting in the jungle with the rain….
What we left there, when all hope bleeds out, what remains is doubt….
Their fight in mother base…
Should have left it all for you…
Laying down together unconscious in the sandstorm…
For tomorrow, as the time draws near….
Quiet rescuing Snake from Outer Heaven, their time together in the cabin, working in the ruins….
Will you live in fear…
DD howls outside in the moonlight, Snake lays on the bed with his eye closed…
Could have left it all for you…
Quiet pour something, dancing, and singing
closing her eyes and turns a match on
hugging Snake's body
But we let go…
An old wolf climbs to the tallest peak in the ruins
He lets out his last howl under the full moon
Close to the ruins, smoke is emerging
As the wolf settles down on his last sleep
Two blue butterflies pass by him and do a familiar dance
The end