Okay, i know. You guys hate me for waiting so long. It's been forever and i'm sorry. I broke my own finger as punishment for keeping you waiting. So, just for your information i'm going to be rewriting this fic from here onward, cause i didn't like the way it was headed in before. If any of you guys are still out there i think you'll like the direction i took this in.

Much better and more interesting. This has alot of backstory for Gray Fox and the whole Metal Gear universe. I put in some original stuff because that's the way i imagined it going down, but all the major events from the first 2 metal gear games are there. No au in the storyline.

I will be updating this fic regularly again, as a mixture of boredom and me playing FFx has reminded me of it.

Hope you guys are still with me out there.

(also was joking about the broken finger thing, and this was done on notepad, so you should lemme know if you find spelling errors. I proof read it as best i could but some stuff just gets by you ya know?)

Part Nine: The night before Zanarkand

Fox awoke to his surprise in a warm bed. After a few seconds he remembered the final battle against shadow beast and the following battle with Lucavi. Fox rose to his feet and guessed that he must be at the inn. He grabbed his things and made his way to the door. He walked outside and saw the others talking nearby.

"Hey there sleepy head! We thought you'd never wake up!" Rikku said in her usual upbeat tone.

"How long was i out?" Fox asked.

"About a day. I was able to heal all your injuries so we should be able to head towards Mount Gagazet." Yuna told him as they began to cross the rest of the Calm Lands.

"But i can't believe that thing was still alive! I was sure it was toast after home blew up, ya." Wakka said without thinking.

"Wakka!" Lulu scolded him as her eyes darted to Rikku.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, ya." Wakka said as he hung his head. Fox was still feeling stiff when they finally reached the bottom of Mt. Gagazet. The cold wasn't helping him either as his joints felt like they were on lock down. The group marched up the snowy mountainside prepared to face all the tough monsters Gagazet had to throw at them.

After a half days walking and quite a few monster encounters they had made it near the summit. Auron had decided they should rest and prepare for the powerful monsters that waited for them in Zanarkand. This didn't sit well with Fox, he didn't know why but the last thing he wanted was to not keep going.

The others were pretty run down however, so Fox decided not to argue. He picked out a spot in the very back of the cave and laid down. He was looking forward to sleep as he got comfortable, but Lucavi wasn't having that. Fox was pulled into what he now called "The Dark Room" where Lucavi was waiting for him.

"Hmph. You are a troublesome Fox. It pains me too admit it but i cannot defeat you. I have fought you at your weakest and you still bested me." Lucavi said. Fox could tell the demons pride was hurt from saying that.

"Why did you call me here demon?" Fox asked.

"I have to tell you something." replied Lucavi.

"Well out with it then." Fox spat back, this demon was wasting his time.

"You were not sent here to defeat Sin." stated Lucavi, as if there were no doubt.

"And how is it you know this?" questioned Fox.

"BECAUSE MORTAL, I HAVE TOLD HIM." came a deep voice from the darkness.

"Show yourself! What are you!?" Fox shouted.

"CALM YOURSELF LITTLE MAN, YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME. I AM AJORA, THE BLOODY ANGEL." answered the great demon as it stepped into the light. It was huge, at least 20 feet tall. It was encased in bone and rotting flesh, it reminded him of a giant floating corpse in the final stages of decay. But instead of a skull it had a huge bone helmet, rimmed with spikes. Where there should have been eyes, there was only blackness.

"I AM THE DEMON LORD, AND LUCAVI IS ONE OF MY MINIONS. HE SERVES ME AS YOU SERVE THE STONE CIRCLE." the demon explained.

"What do you know of those who brought me here?" asked Fox, equally confused and outraged. This situation was becoming more and more bizarre by the moment.

"THEY REPRESENT ORDER IN THE UNIVERSE, I REPRESENT CHAOS. IN ORDER FOR THEM TO BRING A SOUL FROM ONE WORLD TO ANOTHER THEY NEEDED MY CONSENT. BUT MY CONSENT IS NOT FREE." said the demon in its commanding voice.

"The price was that i be the host of Lucavi." Fox said, comprehension dawning on him.

"YES, AND I HAD HOPED HE WOULD BE ABLE TO OVERPOWER A SIMPLE HUMAN, BUT HE HAS FAILED ME IN THIS TASK. YOU HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OF YOUR BODY, AND HIS POWERS ARE NOW BEGINING TO TRANSFER TO YOU." the demon spoke with hatred in its voice this time, departing from the emotionless speech it had demonstrated before.

"So why have you called me here then? Why inform me of this?" Fox inquired.

"I HAVE CALLED YOU HERE TO SET YOU UPON THE RIGHT PATH. REGARDLESS OF LUCAVI'S FAILURE TO POSSES YOU, YOU STILL HAVE A PURPOSE IN THIS WORLD. HAVING MADE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STONE CIRCLE NEITHER OF US CAN ACT UNTIL IT IS RESOLVED." the demon answered.

"You are both forced to wait and watch me?" Fox asked with shock. He had never suspected he was part of some celestial television program.

"THE STONE CIRCLE BET THAT YOU WOULD END SPIRA'S CYCLE OF REPETITIVE DEATH AND SUFFERING. I BET OTHERWISE. THAT IS MEANINGLESS HOWEVER, THE REASON I CALLED YOU HERE IS TO REWARD YOU FOR BESTING MY MINION." the demon replied.

"And what, may i ask, is my reward?" Fox responded fox with mock courtesy.

"THE NAME OF YOUR ENEMY. IT IS NOT SIN AS YOU BELIEVE, IT IS A GREAT SHADOW NAMED OMEGA. YOU ENCOUNTERED IT'S LESSER COPY, ULTIMA, ALREADY. THE GREAT BEAST YOU MANAGED TO DISPOSE OF IN THE CALM LANDS. YOUR TRUE ENEMY IS IT'S MASTER." answered the demon as Fox jolted back into his body, which was lying in a very cold cave.

"Fox get up, the Ronso are coming!!" said a voice Fox thought to be Lulu's.

"What? Why is that a problem?" asked Fox groggily. He walked outside and looked down the mountain, and sure enough a horde of angry Ronso were charging towards them.

"They want revenge for the murder of Maester Seymour! Fox, we have to hurry to Zanarkand. It's holy ground, the Ronso won't set foot on it." Yuna said as they began trying to outrun the Ronso. Fox could see it wasn't going to happen, as the Ronso were much larger and more athletic. Fox stopped and turned around, all they needed was a large enough lead...

"What are you doin man, we gotta run ya!" shouted Wakka as everyone stopped in the confusion. Fox focused all his power into Lucavi's, no, his own dark arm. He unleashed the most powerful stop spell ever cast, freezing the entire Ronso force in their tracks. He collapsed to his knees as Auron and Tidus ran over to help him move.

"Whoa, that was incredible Fox! You stopped like, 200 guys!" Tidus said excitedly.

"That arm of yours, is there anything it can't do?" Auron remarked as they made their way into Zanarkand. After a tough fight against a particularly powerful fiend, which he had to mostly sit out, they camped for the night. And Fox was forced to endure ridicule and the hands of Wakka.

"Wow, you can stop a whole herd of rampaging Ronso but you can't even fight one little fiend, ya. Haha, you sure you got what it takes to be a guardian?" Wakka said as he laughed. Fox was a little annoyed but otherwise he payed no attention.

"Everyone listen, there are some things I must tell you." Fox announced. The group became silent as he spoke.

"First, i feel it is only fair you know my past. I was a solider since childhood. The government of my country eventually placed me into what they called "The Perfect Soldier Program." The purpose was to make me the greatest solider who had ever lived, and despite my youth they had thought they had succeeded. One day i was sent on a mission to kill a war hero of my country, wh-" he was cut off by Auron.

"You were sent to kill one of your own people? A war Hero?" Auron asked confused.

"You have to realize, our world was very different from this one. We had no Sin, no great enemy. Our enemies were each other, rival nations schemed and fought for power. They used whatever method was most effective, and often times that method was force or assassination." he explained.

"That sounds like a horrible world." muttered Rikku as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"It had it's good places but I never saw any of them. I digress, one day i was sent to eliminate a war hero. They said it was my final test. The man i was sent to kill was the most skilled and proven solider in the world, if I managed to kill him it would mean i truly was the Perfect Soldier. When i confronted him he bested me. He defeated me but did not kill me. His name was Big Boss. He went on to tear the entire fortress apart, and he obtained massive amounts of funds after he killed the rebel leader Gene. I didn't see him for another 21 years." Fox watched their faces as he told the tortured story of his life. He didn't know why, but he left out Naomi and her parents. He believed they would think him a monster if he told them.

"Wait, 25 years later? But you don't look like you're 40. You look like you're not a day over 20." said Lulu.

"Yes well, when i came to Spira I had my youthful body back. Back to the story, in the years between i did many things. Some of them honorable, some of them unspeakable. But that was the nature of being a soldier, you get used. You do things because you are told to, no matter what they are because you believe it is for the benefit of your country. Then many years later me and Big Boss met again. He asked me to join his special unit for gifted soldiers, Foxhound. I did, mostly because I respected him." Fox said as he leaned forward and continued.

"I carried out many missions for him and shed much blood. Then a place called Outer Heaven formed. It was an entire country of mercenaries and soldiers, said to be founded by a legendary mercenary. We got word that a weapon of untold destructive capabilities was being built there, so I was sent in to destroy it." he said as he relived his past.

"Wow, you musta been some soldier, ya." Wakka said with a hint of awe in his voice.

"Why did they only send you in, wouldn't it have been smarter to send some backup?" asked Yuna.

"I had experience with this kind of thing before, and my mission was as mostly fact finding. My main goal was to find out if a weapon of such power was actually being built at all or if it were just some crazy rumors. When i got inside, despite my highly trained skills I was captured. I later discovered Big Boss himself had founded Outer Heaven, and having been commander of the unit that sent me he let his people know i was coming."

"Ahh that guy sounds like a snake! What a scumbag." said Tidus disgusted. Fox laughed.

"Funny you should say that. His code name was naked snake in the old days. You see Big Boss wanted to create a world where soldiers were not tools to be exploited by the government. He explained this to me while I was confined. He was lost faith in his country, all countries in fact." Fox told them as he watched the fire, images from those times replaying in his mind.

"What about the weapon?" Auron asked. Fox had to admit it was slightly humorous to see Auron taking such an interest. Even with all his reserve he was on pins and needles like the rest of them.

"Ya tell us about it and how you escaped!" Rikku said cheerfully.

"I didn't escape I was rescued. And the weapon was called Metal Gear. It had the ability to launch an undetectable nuclear warhead from anywhere on the planet. Do you know what nuclear warhead means?" asked Fox.

"They sound like the great machina bombs of the machina war. They could be launched from very far away and cause great damage." Lulu informed the rest of them.

"Yes, that is similar enough. Metal Gear was a giant machina, with many weapons to defend itself. After i had been captured however, the situation seemed hopeless. But, Big Boss made a fatal mistake, he decided to send in another operative to convince his superiors he was doing everything possible. This operative was codenamed Solid Snake. He was a rookie, and had never been on a single field mission before. He was highly trained but inexperienced." continued Fox.

"Lemme guess the new guy went in there, guns blazin and caused a distraction so you could escape and save the day!!" said Rikku as she stood up and mimed several dramatic movements.

"No. He carried out his mission perfectly. He eliminated any opposition and freed me. After destroying Metal Gear he came face to face with Big Boss. They fought and Snake proved victorious, leaving Big Boss there to die after the self destruction sequence for the base had been activated. But Big Boss didn't die, Big Boss survived." Fox said heavily.

"How'd he survive a whole place blowin up on him?" Tidus asked.

"Because I saved him." Fox said, smiling at the collective gasp that followed.

"But, what the? The guy captured you and tried to kill people!" Tidus said as if that settled it.

"Why did you help him Fox?" asked Yuna, Fox liked how she always asked the important questions.

"Because I, like him, had seen how our country manipulated us. I knew we where nothing more than pawns in their game of global domination, and I like him no longer wanted to participate in it. I helped him to reestablish his power in a different region of the world. This region was called Zanzibar Land. We assumed control of it, Big Boss as it's leader and myself as his Lieutenant and second in command. We convinced the inventor of Metal Gear to produce a second more powerful version. All was going well until Foxhound sent in an operative, Solid Snake." Fox revealed to more gasps.

"Wow brudda, that's some heavy stuff, ya." said Wakka.

"Oh man, so he was there to save you the first time, but now he came to kill you. This Snake guy sounds heartless." said Rikku sadly.

"No, he just believed in what he was doing as Big Boss and myself used to. Eventually I confronted Snake as I piloted Metal Gear. He destroyed it and we were forced to fight hand to hand. In a minefield." Fox said, they were hanging on his every word now.

"How'd you beat him?" asked Tidus.

"I didn't. He broke my arm and threw me into a mine. He left me to die as he went to stop Big Boss." he told them as he saw their shocked faces.

"That meanie! Whats was his problem anyway!?" Rikku said angrily.

"Did he stop Big Boss?" asked Auron.

"Yes, he killed Big Boss. But I want you to know that me and Snake were on friendly terms, right up until the end. We never consider the other an enemy, just a fellow soldier trying to complete his mission." Fox explained.

"Thats crazy, ya." said Wakka in disbelief.

"Someone who hurt you not friend." Kimarhi said, startling a few people.

"So then you came here." Yuna said quietly.

"I did not die, though I should have. As I was laying there waiting for death, Foxhound came to survey the damage after Snake had left. They found me and kept me alive. I was sent to a lab and experimented on. They grafted an exoskeleton over my body, making me incredibly strong and agile, as well as building a stealth system into it. It made me very emotionally unstable however, my mind was in pieces. All I could remember was my loss to Snake. When they gave me control over myself again i slaughtered them all. I headed towards a place called Shadow Moses Island. Snake had been called out of retirement to stop a group of rouge Foxhound agents who had seized a newer and more dangerous Metal Gear." Fox was getting tired of all this story telling. He was glad it was almost over.

"I found and battled Snake inside the facility. Again he beat me, and something about the battle seemed to straighten my mind out. I was able to come to his aid against Metal Gear. It was much more powerful that it's previous models. I destroyed its radar dome, which forced the operator to open its face so he could see, leaving him exposed."

"Oh man! This story is so good! Did you and Snake whoop him good!?" Rikku said, she was on her feet again. He laughed inside, she always saw things in a positive light.

"No. Metal Gear threw me to the ground and crushed me under it's massive foot. I died, and then I came here." Fox finished.
There was silence for a moment before Auron spoke.

"Is that all?" Auron asked, referring to Lucavi.

"For tonight, yes. It's getting very late and i'm tired of talking." He said as he laid down. The rest of them followed his lead and did the same. After a minute however, Rikku walked over to him.

"Hey Fox? You still up?" she asked him.

"Yes Rikku. What is it?" he asked, half annoyed and half curious.

"Well i just wanted to say, thanks for telling us that stuff. I know it must have been really hard for you." she said as she looked into his eyes. "I used to think you were just a big scary meanie. But now i know why you're so withdrawn."

"Maybe we could continue this some time when i'm not about to fall asleep?" he said.

"Sure thing Fox." she told him, before she did something he had not expected. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night." she whispered into his ear. He didn't quite know how to feel about this. She was so young, but then his body was young here too was it not? It was more the fact that he had seen and done so many horrible things, while she was still mostly innocent. Whatever it was he felt uneasy about what had just happened, it took him awhile to fall asleep that night.

Ya i know, this was a long one. But i haven't wrote about this world in a long time and this just kinda flew outta me.

Now lets begin the short verbal abuse by the characters in this story as punishment for my taking so long to update.

Wakka: "Ahh you lazy author! It's not like ya been busy lately brudda! Get off your butt and write about us ya!"

Lulu: "You disappoint me."

Auron: "Lazy weakling."

Tidus: "Don't make me beat you up author! I traveled to Spira i can find you to ya hear!?"

Yuna: "Just try not to get too lazy okay?"

Rikku: "ohh you big stupid! It took you long enough! I've been waiting to get that kiss in the whole darn story!"

Kimarhi: "Kimarhi no like author. He lazy."

Cid: "I've had less than 50 words! write me into the next chapter damn you!"

Seymour: "At least i died before he took an almost two year break..."

Solid Snake: "Who are these crazies!? Campbell come in, i got huge cat monsters, fat guys yelling, should i use the stinger or the famas?"

Campbell: "Negative on the deadly force Snake, tranquilize them and bring them back here for further study."

Big Boss: "SNAKE! I AM YOUR FATHER!"

Gray Fox: "Enough! This is my story! Now go write the next damn chapter author or i'll crush your soul!!!"