Chapter 12: What Comes After

Stillness, quiet and peace woke Snake as he stared up at the clear, blue sky. It took a moment to realize his radio still hissed with static. For a moment, he almost thought he could hear his name through the noise, but as he shifted to reach for the radio, he found its audio cord frayed and withered to the last. The simple act of turning to look at it was enough for it to tear off completely, the static cutting off as the radio died. Shifting to look also made Snake aware of the pain that racked his entire body. His fingerless gloves had done their job as their palms were stripped and frayed, revealing the skin of his hands. Not much of his fatigues remained on his torso. Most of the Outer Heaven camo had been shredded to reveal the black undershirt beneath, which had also been worn and torn. Snake slowly gained the strength to sit up as he looked for Ellen, finding her a small distance away doing much the same as she gathered herself after the fallout and stood up.

Snake Looked back to the exit, finding a huge plume of black smoke emanating from the opening. Had he and Ellen been in the doorway, they would've been incinerated by the blast of spewing fire that knocked them off their feet.

The moment of stillness and quiet could only last so long before the whipping propellers of a helicopter grew from the distance. A black chopper appeared overhead, lowering a safe distance from Snake and Ellen. It remained running as the door slid open, a middle-aged man with pale blonde, slicked-back hair stuck his head out of the door. At a glance, he could've been mistaken for Gray Fox, but his blonde hair was more vibrant, and he was accessorized, not by a bandana, but by a pair of black aviators that obscured his eyes.

While the accessory would normally mask the identity of its wearer, it was because of the aviators that Snake recognized his mentor, Master Miller.

"Get in!" He called, motioning for Ellen and Snake with his cane.

Snake and Ellen obliged, and boarded the helicopter, which took off as soon as possible.

Snake and Ellen were fitted with headsets. It was only after fastening into their seats that Ellen realized there were four passengers in the vehicle–Herself, Snake, this fellow in the sunglasses and her father.

She couldn't embrace him while strapped in, but she extended her hand, taking his and squeezing it tight.

"I'm sorry, Snake," Miller began, "I knew what Big Boss was capable of doing. I should've known this would happen. Washington knows everything. They're sending in an airstrike to wipe out whatever's left of Outer Heaven and Metal Gear."

"An airstrike?" Snake blinked, "But what about the prisoners?"

"That's why I'm here. We've brought the cavalry to evacuate as many as we can. Our first stop was at Building 1. Madnar said to look out for you here. He figured if you managed to escape, it would be through that hatch where we found you."

Snake turned to Madnar, "Did everyone get out?"

"The women and the children did, yes. When the facility began losing structural integrity following the blast, even many of Outer Heaven's personnel dropped their weapons to make that possible, but there were many men who didn't make it before the base collapsed." Madnar withdrew from his pocket the strip of blue cloth. His voice caught as he held it for a moment, "He insisted that he would be the last to leave."

Madnar extended what remained of Gray Fox to Snake. Snake took the cloth in his right hand, his vision lost in its color. It was funny. Even so early in his time of service, he had seen action in the Green Berets and in the CIA. And yet, Snake realized how young he was, for he had never known until this moment what it felt like to lose a friend.

Snake's fingers slowly closed around the bandana in the tightest fist he could muster. He could only meet Master Miller's eyes for a moment before he shifted his gaze out the window at the plains below, and the sun that remained in the sky to light them.

Due to fortune, and the great efforts and sacrifices of many people, this region of South Africa, home to Galzburg and to Wealth, as well as the people who lived there, would see a new day.

From here, it was back to Foxhound. While Snake didn't know what his next assignment would be, or where it would take him, he did know one thing that came next. It began in his heart and in his mind. He would never forget the warriors who would not see their victory.

Those who were no longer alive had living monuments in their absence. Their monuments were the happy families that gathered for dinner, the friends who met and laughed with one another, the children who played in the street, and the civilization that carried on alive and well from their actions. However, they also had a life beyond death. It was in the quiet moments of reflection–In the acknowledgement of the wisdom they had passed on, in the virtues and values that were continued and protected, and in the memories and the pangs of the grieving hearts of those who said, "They are not here, but I am here because of them."

Perhaps, in the end, that was the soldier's paradise–to live on in the memory of those who you had died to defend. That was the real Outer Heaven, the promised land beneath the clouds here on Earth, precious in its lifespan within the fragile, living heart–for we all die one day. However, every day gained or protected, bought by blood and courage, was a gift. The soldier did not fight so that they could have a life, they fought so that others might. It was the burden–no, the distinguished privilege–of those who remained to reward the men and women who fulfilled the greatest purpose, and paid the ultimate price. The reward for the dead was for those who carried on to live, to be happy, and to remember.

Now and forever–Snake's foremost mission, one that would never end, would be to ensure the fallen, wherever they were now, received their paradise here on Earth, as long as he lived.

THE END.