This chapter was by far and away the most fun for me to write. Liquid's awesome and dramatic speeches, Snake's helplessness to stop a brother consumed by the fire of hate, the representation of flowers and snow… the climax of a story is always the most fun to do. And this was no exception.

After reading Lady Emmerich's MGS4 story, Exhale, I got this odd idea that could lead up for the next story. It's something you all might forget except for the one reading this, and well… it was inspiring to listen to "Faint" by Linkin Park. I'm not lying. It was very, VERY epic. In this, I dedicate this chapter of Liquid and Snake brotherly hate to Lady E. Enjoy, my wonderful friend.

Thanks for those reviews Sonic Phantom, Lady Emmerich, AngelSnake, badkidoh, PinkPenguin18, MutantLover09

13. Battles

The first thing Snake felt when he was awake was something wet touching his backside. He blearily blinked, slowly coming to his senses. His fingers wanted to dig into the ground, but for some reason, they didn't want to penetrate the dirt. His throat was dry. "What the hell?"

A familiar voice entered the recesses of his mind. "Not hell, my brother- heaven."

Snake blinked. Liquid sounded calm, smug. He groaned, rolling onto his stomach and feeling a cold shock pierce his body. He stared at the ground, shaking his head in disbelief. Impossible- he was lying on snow? With flowers pushing forth from under the beautiful, untainted sea of white? The soldier put his hands on the ground and pushes up slowly. His head throbbed with pain. "Liquid?"

"Who do you think?"

He stood up slowly; grunting and feeling the wind whip his bandana behind him once more. The man turned and saw his brother standing opposite him with his arms crossed. He wore nothing but leather pants once more as he studied his brother. "You talked to me so much when I was a husky, Snake."

Snake noticed that he himself was topless and swore angrily under his breath. "Really. Why don't you enlighten me?"

"You told me everything- genes, the truth about you and I, everything." Liquid bent over and plucked an Amaryllis from the ground. "It's because of you that I learned you had the recessive genes!" He gripped the stem of the flower. "Why? Why would you lie to me?"

The other man shrugged off the brother's anger. "I didn't know either until after the mission. Looks like I didn't tell you that much, did I?"

Liquid said nothing, allowing the Amaryllis to drop from his fingers. Snake glanced around the field. "Where are we, anyway?"

"REX was moved away from here a while ago, and soon after that happened, the roof collapsed. Snow fell during the wintertime, and flowers bloomed thereafter." The blonde gritted his teeth in anger. "The island could start anew and not be an area to hold nuclear weapons. It could start its life all over again without any trace of evil! But I… I had to come back not as a human, but a dog." His eyes shone with furious tears. "And once more, I was garbage!"

Snake didn't reply.

Liquid pointed a finger right at his brother. "But I refuse to be garbage any longer! I refuse to have no reason left to live! God gave me one more chance to destroy, and I will embrace that chance!"

The raven-haired man glared at Liquid. "You were my husky, my most trusted companion! I loved you, and you betrayed the trust I gave you! I could give less than a crap about your reincarnation theories or how you feel. It's none of my concern. You were my friend!"

Liquid suddenly went quiet, his fists clenched. "Fine. Since you never care about anyone but yourself…"

"That's a lie!" Snake spat.

"…it will be very simple. There will be no nuclear modules to pressure you. No girl to save in the end. No air strike to bomb the building. There will only be you, me, the purest snow beneath our bodies, and the Amaryllises that flock our feet, waiting for the true final battle." The blond didn't move, merely glaring at his brother with purest hatred. "I have learned so much now. I know everything. I understand what brought me here. Destiny has finally allowed no more obstacles to come within our way, brother, and it is finally time to show who is truly the strongest."

Snake looked down at the flowers. White and red Amaryllises flocked at their feet, opened and ready for whatever what would happen. He laughed dryly. "Ironic. Amaryllis means dramatic. Is that what you're aiming for?"

Liquid smiled in response. "If that is what you think, Snake- then yes. It is!"

With this final comment, the blond gave one final glare at his brother and ran forward, slamming his fists into Snake's face. Stunned by this sudden gesture, it was all the ex-mercenary could do to block his attacks from really pummeling him into the ground. Snarling, his brother swung around and punched him once more right between the eyes.

Snake felt not only physical pain from the blows, but mental agony from the thoughts that he had practically failed in keeping a family. His huskies- nearly every single one of them was gone. He gritted his teeth, clenching his fists and moving away from the next punch quickly. His own fist met the stomach of his brother, and it gained him a cry in pain. His mind blurred from events past and present, his thoughts concentrating on one thing- not to fail.

Liquid glanced at Snake for a quick second before swinging his foot and smashing it into his foe's thigh. The man felt his toes slam into the muscles, and he cried out, tears quickly stinging his eyes. He took a stance and punched Liquid across the face, who winced and nearly took a knee on the ground but kept standing, rubbing his hand across the spot where he had been slammed. "Should've looked out for that move now, shouldn't I? After watching all those moves of yours that you have been practicing…"

"Lying to me all this time, you'd better be thankful I didn't hit you harder," Snake snarled, whirling around and performing a roundhouse right to the neck.

Liquid went flying in the other direction, screaming insanely and meeting frozen soil in the process. Snake held his ground, glaring down at the superior brother and keeping the pose. He wasn't going to get his ass kicked by some guy younger- or older- than him. The other man stumbled to his feet and placed a hand up to his neck, wincing and feeling tears sting his eyes. "Sonofabitch!" he hissed, clenching his fist. "I'm not going to lose!"

Snake didn't budge. "You are."

With an incoherent swear, the blond rubbed his neck and rushed forward once more, his hands ready to grab his brother by the neck. The ex-mercenary was ready, grabbing his hands and grunting as Liquid pushed forward, his eyes narrowing with pain and grunting with despair. His brother had a really strong grip on his hands now, and the fact he was pushing down on him something fierce towards the frozen soil kind of made him worried, to say the least. Their gazes locked, and Snake was certain he had never seen as much pain and desperation in a pair of eyes in his life.

Liquid suddenly twisted his brother around in a surprise seeming dance step and wrenched himself away from the hands that held him down. In a motion of pure grace and sadistic thought, he swirled back around and let out a chilling laugh, his nails grazing his brother's backside with as much force as he could muster. The skin peeled off ever so slightly, epiphylls becoming lodged in his nails.

A scream echoed in the room, followed by a string of swears, tears, and death threats. Snake could feel the blood rush down his back, slithering like his namesake. His body heaved forward once, falling onto the snow once more and scraping his arms and chest in the process. For the first time in his life, Snake felt like he could do nothing.

There was no way to defeat Liquid. Those razor-sharp nails of his seemed almost inhuman. His hands clenched up into fists, his breathing becoming ragged. Liquid took this opportunity to laugh to himself and tower over his sibling, feeling as if he had done some godly deed for the world. He looked down at his brother, cocking his head and feeling a draft through the building. "You might have gotten the cure," he uttered softly, "but you're not going to escape my return."

He brought his foot into his stomach side area, getting a groan in return and the opportunity to watch Snake crawl to his feet like a disabled child. Blood trickled down from his mouth and the side of his face. His eyes were stricken with the light of nothingness, his voice sounding like nothing he had ever heard before. It was pleading, full of worry and apprehension. "S-stop your return?" he spluttered, stumbling back and squeezing his eyes shut as to stop the tears from falling. "I-I'm not going to let you come back… Liquid…"

"You think that?" he laughed, clenching his fist and slamming it across Snake's face. "Don't you realize that you've failed that mission, then? Haven't you recognized that you mean absolutely nothing to this planet now? Your mission has been fulfilled." He cast a soured look and turned around, stroking his chin. "How sick. You live for not yourself, but everyone else. You were bred for war, not love."

Snake coughed, shaking unconsciously. "Don't turn your back on me."

The blond stood there for several moments, contemplating these words. He shrugged then. "Why should I listen to you, brother?"

"I won't be ignored," he growled, making no attempt to move. "You know I'll come hunting for you, Liquid. And I won't give up on the chase."

"That's the point," Liquid replied lazily. "I don't want you to give up the chase on me. It makes life seem more full, more complete. Two brothers, following each other everywhere they go. And you know how much I love being chased. But once you finally catch up with me…" Here, he walked forward slightly, smirking and glancing out the hole in the wall. It was a long jump down, but it didn't deter him from his next movements. "…you might not want to know the real secret that's been hidden for so long from both of us."

Snake doubled over in pain and nearly screamed out when the scratches in his back, sent pain waves to his brain. He didn't have a chance to stop his brother as he casually jumped out the hole in the wall and fell seemingly hundreds of feet within seconds.

His hand went up to his ear, and he wearily contacted Nastasha. "Can you bring the helicopter to the underground base where REX was once held?"

"That's underground, fool," she replied teasingly.

He groaned. "I said where REX was being held. There's a huge hole in the wall now- somehow. I don't know, don't ask- and another large one in the ceiling. If you can come through the one in the roof and help me get out of here, I'd really love that."

Natasha sounded worried as she started up the engines. "What happened? You sound as if you were just flung into the wall by that hulking piece of a nuclear weapon for a couple of hours."

He gave a bitter chuckle. "You don't know the half of it."

So, the next chapter is the last chapter, and that means we've got some sad things, happy things, bitter ideas, sweet ideas, the works. Plus we get to figure out what happened to Liquid. We all know something did happen because… well, there's going to be a sequel. LAWLZ YES, I'm creating a sequel to this, and I hope it'll go just as well as this one. It's going to be called "Eternal Damnation," and it's going to have an underlying theme that's totally off of Metal Gear's tangent. I trust you all will enjoy it, though, as I hope you enjoyed this chapter… somewhat. Thanks for reading!