CHAPTER 23 (EPILOGUE)— "INNER HEAVEN"

Despite the immense amount of damage that humanity did to the earth and its global infrastructure, and the fact that humanity no longer had bodies, Sunny's technology she used for mass transhuman body production, coupled with an iteration of the terraforming technology she helped Dante work on… restored the world and humanity itself to its former condition in a matter of six months.

Due to public outrage and the fact that humanity had now seen the crimes of the Grandsons of the Patriots—ironically through their own invention that had meant to spy on humanity, not the other way around, the Reality of Things—Sheila and the remaining survivors of the John Doe megacorporation were put on trial, and imprisoned. JD was disbanded, and laws were passed to regulate experiments on AI and monopolies in an effort to prevent something like the Patriots from ever happening again.

The war economy had come to a screeching halt.

Snake reunited with his former friends, save for Meryl and Johnny.

Still, the world wasn't perfect, as humanity wasn't either. Sins of the past still remained, and greedy individuals tended to try and claim power for themselves. Humanity was still recovering from its collective trauma of nearly going extinct.

Despite the damage inflicted on Metal Gear DAEMON, it was left intact due to the fact that destroying it could send it hurtling toward Earth and cause a mass extinction event in the process. It was still a threat, and perhaps it always would be.

Snake was with Otacon in Tokyo, seeing what the new age, the age of Transhumanity, had in store for them, when Otacon got a call from Sunny via his C3.

"Hello?" said Otacon. "Of course." Otacon turned to Snake. "It's Sunny. She wants to talk to you."

"What does she want to say?" said Snake.

"She didn't tell me," said Otacon, "but she wants to know if she can speak to you."

"Put her on," said Snake.

Snake looked at Sunny through his visual cortex.

"…Snake?" said Sunny.

"You're not wanting to hook up, are you?"

Sunny blushed. "I stopped sleeping around nearly two months ago."

"Good," said Snake. "Still… just two months?"

"Snake!"

Snake smirked. "What did you want to tell me?"

"You're…" Sunny looked worried. "…you're not still planning to kill yourself, are you?"

Snake said, "I stopped thinking about it a while ago."

Sunny's face lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Snake, "nearly six months ago."

"You're serious."

"I'm dead serious."

Sunny smiled. "Thank god… I was worried about you… but I couldn't bring myself to face you after what I put you through… So I buried myself in my work."

Snake shrugged. "To be fair to you, you had more humans to worry about saving than just me."

"Humanity is in your debt, Snake… The new US President wants to meet you and offer you high honors… They're calling you Biggest Boss."

"Tell them that name is ridiculous," said Snake, "and that it'll be a while before I return stateside. I'm used to living like a pariah."

"I figured as much." Sunny said to Snake, "I'm going to be in Tokyo for a technology summit being hosted there in a few weeks. Along with the others."

"Tokyo is the epitome of a cyberpunk city…"

"Will I see you at all?" said Sunny. "I know what I did to you was horrible."

"I forgave you a while ago, Sunny."

"You did?" said Sunny. "How long ago?"

"Five months ago."

Sunny smiled. "Just five?"

"…five and a half."

She laughed. "I can't wait to see you again!"

As Snake heard a man talking to her in Japanese, she said, "Of course, Mr. Kojima… Be right there." Turning back to Snake, Sunny said to Snake, "I've got to deal with my roommate I'm sharing my new home in Malibu with for the time being… He made a mess in the dining room. Apparently he hates my new cheese omelette recipe."

"Cheese and eggs…" mused Snake before he realized, "Wait a minute… This 'Mr. Kojima' isn't a roommate with benefits, is he?"

Sunny looked away with guilt on her face. "Sorry… I may have relapsed."

Snake grunted. "It's your life. And your orifices."

Sunny smiled slightly at Snake before hanging up.

Otacon said to Snake, "Sunny's the same as ever, huh?"

"Yup," said Snake. "Sounds like her new roommate's a pain in the neck."

"You mean Hideo Kojima?" said Otacon. "I hear he really loves making video games."

"Are you seriously all right with your adopted daughter banging so many older men, Otacon?"

"It's her life…" said Otacon. "She's old enough to make her own choices."

"Can't argue with that."

"Is there anyone you're considering dating, Snake?"

"No," said Snake. "What about you?"

"I…" Otacon scratched his head. "I'm not sure yet."

"So no also," said Snake. "Got it."

Otacon said to Snake, "While I'm glad we managed to save most of humanity… we didn't save all of them."

Snake said, "Mass grief is a byproduct of war… along with eco-fascism. There's no point in saving the Earth if no one's around to enjoy it. So many genes, memes, scenes, senses… all wiped out in a matter of days. That could happen again at some point."

"We have to make sure that doesn't happen," said Otacon.

"I know," said Snake. "I'm up to the task."

As Snake waited at a military airport as a Solis Space and Aeronautics jet arrived, he watched his friends step out.

Otacon went to hug Naomi.

Raiden and Rosemary were together, along with their son.

Colonel Campbell, Mei Ling, Ed, and Jonathan were there as well.

Snake grinned.

As he briefly saw Meryl and Johnny's ghost, his grin went away for a moment.

Meryl and Johnny smiled and waved at Snake before they disappeared.

Snake looked at where he saw them with misty eyes.

I hope they're in a better place… Snake thought.

"Snake!" said Sunny.

Snake looked toward Sunny.

She ran to him and hugged him.

"I missed you," she said.

"I missed you too," said Snake. "I missed all of you."

Looking around, Snake said, "Where's your roommate?"

"At home," said Sunny. "Why?"

"Isn't he going to make a mess of your new place?"

"Probably," Sunny said.

Snake smiled.

Embracing his friends, he had finally achieved… Inner Heaven.

Thanks to everyone for reading Metal Gear Solid 6: The Infernal Conflict, and sticking with me throughout the journey of writing it! I hope you enjoyed the story! :)

PS: Sorry if the epilogue was super short... I admittedly had no initial plans for an epilogue, but decided the story needed more closure later on.