Phew, okay this one took a lot longer than expected. College classes are also starting up, which is a major factor as to why this got delayed a bit. Sorry 'bout that everyone.
Also, massive TRIGGER WARNING: heavy mentions of suicide all throughout this chapter – don't read if you're sensitive to that, your mental health is important.
Song featured in this chapters is, of course, Snake Eater from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, sung by the legendary Cynthia Harell! I had the pleasure of watching her live in Tokyo back at the Metal Gear in Concert 2023, and she was as amazing as the day she first recorded it! Heads up for those that missed out, the concert will again be held in 2025 in the U.K, so make sure to go there if you can!
And the other song that's featured is also an obvious choice, Heavens Divide from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, sung by the incredibly talented Donna Burke. I was originally saving this for the next chapter, but I figured we'd still have some music selections left, and there really is no better set of songs that describe Big Boss and The Boss' tragic relationship other than these two right here.
Case in point:
I give my life, not for honour, but for you.
And the response being:
And for you, only you, I would give anything.
Anyways! Enough about me geeking out about MGS' Music. Let's get to the review responses now, shall we?
To SolSparda36, exactly! Congratulations!
To CriticaofRandomness, thank you so, so much for the faith and for reading too! I hope you'll like this one, and thanks too for the praise! Really, really! So please, enjoy!
To Azure Dragon of the East, you know, that song does rock incredibly hard for a Sonic song – not saying that those are inherently bad, hell Crush 40 is awesome. But Undefeatable does go above and beyond most OSTs. I'll look into if that can be applied somewhere in the future, 'cause I'm thinking of picking up Frontiers if I get the chance. And as always, thanks for reading!
Now, with that out of the way, let's dive into the stream.
An 'ending' for a loyal soldier who had faced endless battle.
The Boss fell to her knees.
She gasped for breath, feeling her power weaken with each passing second. For in reality, she was the one who spawned the Grimm army that had assaulted Beacon – and as such, had also felt every single Grimm that had been so suddenly killed off.
She had thought that the ones that she spawned would have been enough to push civilization – Vale – to its limits. But it turned out that she was wrong.
All because of one Jaune Arc.
His rain of yellow swords had hit dead-on on most of her 'soldiers', eliminating many and weakening much more. She had never thought that such a power was possible, but now…
…Now, she was left kneeling and weak, her power fading and her consciousness going haywire.
One breath, then two, then three. The Boss was greatly thankful that she had sent off the others for their own tasks. In turn, they too would be tested; they all would, whether they were her enemy or foe.
More than anything, that was what she wanted. For in this second life of hers, in this twilight of the Vale plan, there was now nothing else that mattered. All of it had actually been overtaken by the single revelation that divided her being.
That her son had died.
Even now she couldn't believe it, had trouble grasping and coming to terms with it. Even after her encounter with Venom Snake, and then her duel with Solid Snake, and then Cinder's return…
She had said to Solid, at that time, that she had her answer. But that answer was still burning with another question, one that was slowly being proven as she spoke.
Did this world deserve saving?
Jaune Arc had defeated the Grimm Sea. The people of Beacon and beyond had bonded together even before that. It was proving more and more that it seemed that the world did deserve it…
…and now, she didn't know how to feel about that.
Truly, absolutely, for the first time… The Boss was lost.
Here, kneeling in the Emerald Forest, The Boss felt more and more things go awry. Surrounded by nature so similar to Neo-Russia, so similar to the surroundings of Rokojov Bereg, where she had lost her first life, where her fate had been sealed the first time around.
Where she had condemned her son to Hell on Earth, decided by the sides of white flowers as her blood stained the Lake of Destiny.
And now, hundreds of thousands of miles away from her homeland, The Boss faced her destiny once more.
In many ways, she was similar to her son and his doppelgänger too. She too had been brought back from 'death', and in a sense was an affront to nature too. Even the dark magic that was natural to the Grimm had its limits, and having spawned so, so many… it was now reaching the bottom of its tank.
Venom Snake had once seen visions of a past not his own, caused by the hypnotherapy Revolver Ocelot had placed upon him and compounded with the cowboy's Semblance; and then, it returned when he was brought back to life, affected by the negative nature of the Grimm and his body being pushed to the limit.
And so when The Boss knelt down, when she felt her vision swam… she looked up, and saw a sight she had only seen in someone else's memories.
"M-My son…!" The Boss gasped. And she surprised even herself when her tone was not authoritarian or teaching or anything of the sort.
No, she was begging.
Because she knew it wasn't real.
The man that was 'standing' in front of her was much, much older than herself. He was wrinkled and tired, his hair as grey as steel and his breathing as laboured as the seconds he had before he had passed on. This was the last of his 'existence' before he had died a peaceful death, a death where he had hoped to reunite with her.
All the while, she was still here, alive.
While she didn't come back, while she had condemned him to a life without her, where she had tossed him to a world that ravaged him again and again just as her 'death' had destroyed him first.
A guilt that could never be healed, because the chance had slipped away from her fingers.
"J-Jack…" The Boss coughed and fell to the ground. It was no use, her powers were taking longer and longer to regenerate. But she wanted to see him, even if it wasn't real, she wanted to look at him and apologize and-!
Her son knelt down, and grasped her chin in his hand, lifting it up and meeting her eyes with his lone one. She shivered at how cold it felt… another reminder that this wasn't real.
Her sanity was slipping, she was sure. Big Boss, Naked Snake – Jack, her son! – was dead, so why was she seeing him now…?
Big Boss smiled at his mother. 'Because you're still here.'
The words echoed in her mind, ethereal and straight to her heart. The Boss herself could barely find the words. "W-what…?"
It was a complete role reversal. She was had always been the one who was older, who was the teacher, who was the person the other looked up to. But now, her son had grown up even past her age, had grown wiser and wearier than her… had passed on to the next life before her.
There were many words for a son who survived their parents. But none existed for a parent who survived their own son.
'Don't you remember my last request?' Big Boss said, 'I asked Solid… take me to her.' His words began to mix with the memory she had shared with Venom now, and the line between reality and imagination began to fade even more.
The Boss looked to the skies; the clouds had parted, giving view to a clear blue sight, as if the very world had torn itself apart for this opportunity that went against every rule.
And when the sun shone down on her, she could barely, barely realize that her visage was receding to its previous form.
Blonde hair, emerald-green eyes. Fair skin, unblemished lips… humanity's once-greatest solider, back for a fleeting moment.
The Boss' heart swelled. Tears began to spill out of her eyelids, spilling out as she threw out all concerns about 'the mission'.
If this was truly her son, descending from the heavens… if this was a miracle that would never be replicated… then she only had one request.
"Take me with you!" The Boss begged. She was pleading now, begging her son for her wish to be made true. Her guilt continued to eat away at her, and if this was how she could atone for it…
Because she had condemned him. She had hurt him when she had passed on the title of Boss, but more than that, she had hurt him when she had left him without a mother.
The Boss had thought that Jack would be strong enough to continue. She never realized that she herself was the very reason he had continued on… until he had been forced to slaughter that with his very own hands.
Only now, did she realize the weight of her own sin.
But her son shook his head sadly, gazing at her with the same adoration she knew she didn't deserve an ounce of. 'Not yet, Boss… you still have things you need to do.'
The Mission, The Boss realized.
Her loyalty to Salem. Her other child, her dear Cinder.
But at this very moment, The Boss found that she didn't care. And she voiced as such.
"I… I don't care, Jack. I don't." The Boss cried. "Please… let me be with you."
'…'
"I'm sorry I forced you to kill me. I'm sorry I put you through all that… I'm sorry for not realizing how killing me meant that you killed yourself too." The Boss breathed out.
And once she spoke the words, she found that she couldn't stop herself. She continued and continued, spilling out all the regrets and self-loathing that had accumulated, justified or not.
"I'm sorry for not realizing how much you loved me. I'm sorry for not seeing how much I hurt you putting you through Snake Eater. I'm sorry I forced you to live without me. I'm sorry for making you take my title. I'm sorry for choosing our nation before you… I'm sorry I didn't try hard enough…!"
The Boss broke down, the last of her words now leading her to sob. Her son felt cold, even as his 'appearance' remained.
But through her tears, and through her grief, only then did her son 'speak' to her once more.
'I never blamed you, Boss… even at my darkest moments… I never did.'
'But you still have time. You're still here. There's still a chance to change things.' A hand laid itself atop her own, and even though it felt non-existent, The Boss found it in herself to look back up and meet her son's eye.
And when she did, she found herself looking into how he looked moments before he had shot her dead.
Moments before he had 'died' too.
Those words that she had heard in another memory, rang in her mind once more.
'That day… I killed The Boss with my own two hands…
I… was already dead.'
A single, white petal dropped in between their gaze. And Big Boss – no, Naked Snake – no, Jack – gave her one more reassuring smile.
'We have a duty. You and I… but that doesn't mean we can't be selfish.
We just have to make sure that both are right. That achieving one doesn't mean sacrificing the other. That's the best any of us can do.
Letting the world be… that's what you taught me, isn't it?
So don't go just yet. You still have time…'
Big Boss' smile turned melancholy. It bit The Boss' heart how bitter it was… but there was also a deep love within it, one that struck her even more than the bitterness.
Despite how she had hurt him with her actions, inadvertently or not, he still loved her.
'The times… do you remember, Boss? You said that the times dictated our enemies and allies… no absolute enemies, only ones in relative terms. And just as it dictated our fate before… the times have now said that I was the one who had to go first, Boss.
And that doesn't have to be a bad thing… not if you can make things right… if we can stop continuing the mistakes we did, during our time.'
"J-Jack…!" The Boss cried out. This time it was her who tried to initiate contact, who reached out to cup his young, young face. Her son, who she had raised even though they had no blood connection, their love ascending past time and space.
And yet when her fingers touched his cheek, it went through as if it wasn't there – and just like that, Jack began fading away with a gentle gaze.
'I'll see you when it's your time too.'
The Boss felt her heart clench. She felt her powers of the Grimm returning, and yet it came at the cost of her Jack slowly but surely disappearing.
Was he real, a miracle descending from above? Or was he just an imagination, forged by guilt?
But in the end, it didn't matter.
The guilt had destroyed her. To know that everything she ever did had been for nothing, that her son had suffered a fate even crueller than death because of her decision. No, he had suffered and grieved for years because she had forced him to pull the trigger.
Was there another way, at that point before the end of Snake Eater? There might have not been, or maybe she just didn't try hard enough. That wasn't something she could ever know, but what she did know was that 'the best outcome' that she had hoped for had destroyed her son so utterly.
She had thought, hoped, that he could understand her. That he could move on and become her true successor.
But then remembered how he had screamed and cried and wailed when he had to kill the Boss AI. She could hear it echoing in her ears, the voice chilling her down to her very bones…
'I don't understand! Answer me!'
How any and all composure he ever had slowly but surely eroded as the passage of time went on, how he spent every single moment until his dying breath reliving the final moments of Snake Eater in his mind. Over and over and over again.
'Tell. ME.WHY!'
On that day, he had pulled the trigger once, killed her with one single bullet. But after, every day he was living was a reminder that she was not. In that way, Jack had 'killed' the Boss with every single breath he had continued to take. Right until the day he died.
'ANSWER ME!'
She had asked too much of him.
'BO-O-O-OSS...!'
Those screams echoed through her ears now, separated once upon a time by hundreds of thousands of miles of sea.
So it didn't matter whether or not the visage she had seen was real or not.
What mattered was 'setting things right', and her one simple and selfish wish:
She had had enough.
"TAKE ME WITH YOU!" The Boss shouted. She stood up and lunged at her son's figure…
And yet she landed past him as if he wasn't there at all.
And when The Boss turned around, her visage now back to its Salem-like state…
She was only greeted with the sight that no one else had existed there… other than her.
'Goodbye, mother.' Jack's voice was the last to leave her alone…
…and a reminder that as sweet as the moment was…
She had no one to blame but herself.
The Boss felt tears threaten to seep out once more.
No…
No, that wasn't it.
There was one thing that she could take out her anger on. One thing that destroyed her son just as much as she did too.
The times.
The times...
She still remembered what she had said to Jack all back then. The times had dictated that she was his opponent, the times had then moved on as her son fell deep into his despair... and now, the times dictated that she had to move on, as her son had 'told' her.
The only constant in this world, the constant that she had preached to her son and her daughter... the constant that had ripped Jack away from her, leaving her with an existence so sorrowful that no word was appropriate to call her.
A mother who survived her children. What kind of cruel fate was that, to someone who always fought for a greater cause all her life?
She had thought that she could cope with it. She hadn't broken down when Ocelot was stolen from her, hadn't broken down when Jack had killed her, and hadn't broken down when she discovered that she still had use here in Remnant.
She had tried to stay strong upon discovering that Jack had died, that he had divided heaven and earth in his grief, and yet still that hadn't been enough. Even if she did ask questions to Solid and connected her memories with Venom, even as she healed Cinder and saw her daughter profess her loyalty to her and her alone again and again and again. Even as she attacked Beacon with her spawned Grimm, even as they were all slain with a power she hadn't expected...
She still tried to keep a calm composure. Had tried to direct and pursue the cause that was set out to her.
But this...
This vision... this miracle, of seeing the very son she had betrayed through her sacrifice...
That had been the final nail in the coffin.
The Boss' tears flowed free, the composure of a Legendary Soldier, of the Mother of Special Forces, of Voyevoda, finally shattered.
And alone in the Emerald Forest, in the greens a soldier often called home, 'The Boss' Will' finally crumpled, crushed underneath the guilt and hopelessness of a mother whose son was condemned by the mother's action herself.
Of course, now, she still had a 'plan'. Cinder and her comrades, Neo and her objectives, Summer and her shared Grimm-spawning abilities, Adam Taurus and the role he could still play... those would all still be done.
They would still test Vale to see if this was a world that deserved saving. They would still endeavor to see if this cruel existence, state of affairs, was still worth fighting for.
But her 'encounter' with her son had also revealed something to her.
What he said was right. It was the times that had ripped him from her, the times that were continually cruel again and again and again. 'The times' was the only thing that was constant, changing allies and enemies as they passed. It was constant and unchanging.
And now, like her son, she now determined that the times were her enemy.
But their approaches would be different.
Big Boss had declared that 'the times' were the biggest beast of all, and so he had dedicated his life to fighting and taking down this beast. He opened the pandora box called PMCs, irreversibly sold the world with his action.
But she would be different.
The times were everywhere, enveloping everyone and everything. Their lives were intertwined with its very concept, their very existence a constant reminder of their presence in this world. Even if one were to do nothing, they would still leave imprints on humanity's history, whether they liked it or not. So long as one continued to live, they would only continue to be subjugated to that rule of 'the times'.
Well no more.
The Boss looked up, took a deep breath, and steeled her resolve.
Her son had said it to her. She still had time to fix things, to not repeat the mistakes she had made. To make right what had been set wrong...
But The Boss knew she had already set her mark on this history for a second time. This second life, this extra 'time' she had been given that she never thought she'd receive. She had already used it up to this point. And for some reason, The Boss found that she didn't want to use it anymore.
No matter what her son said; no, perhaps because of what he had said...
He was right. They still had time to fix things, to do what needed to be done, but the fact of the matter was that The Boss didn't want it anymore.
Even if they had 'time', she no longer wanted to be bound to it. She didn't want to be subjugated to duty, to the times, to her heart, to anything.
After all the fighting, the betrayal, the wars...
After Operation Snake Eater, being revived by Salem, this plot to take Vale down, and then the change to then 'test' Vale and the world at large.
It was simple, The Boss realized.
She had done what she had done. Had killed and plotted and much, much more. And while she was now testing to see if the world deserved to keep fighting on...
The Boss now found that she no longer cared for the result.
Because if that result came, then she'd have to judge it too. And then, she'd feel the times change again, the shift from who was her enemy and who was her friend. She'd feel the call of duty once more, the yearning of her heart to fight for a cause.
It would be another war, another battle.
The words of a lifetime spent echoed once more.
'Those who inherit the title of Boss will face an existence of endless battle.'
No.
After this last conversation with her son... No.
She couldn't let someone else inherit this legacy. She knew now that it would destroy them. It would be a cruel fate she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy nor her loved ones anymore...
Not even herself anymore.
What she wanted was no longer for someone to inherit her will and title. What she inherited was no longer a better, whole world. What she wanted wasn't even the 'world reset' that Salem had told her to achieve, one she had shared with her too.
What she wanted was now beyond any ideology. Not Salem's, not Ozpin's, not her own's.
No.
What she now wanted laid beyond the veil.
An ending.
Silently, she sent out a signal through the Grimm Hybrid connection that she had once shared with Venom Snake. She knew it was a long shot that such a thing could work... but she hoped that he could receive it.
'Come.' The Boss whispered through the connection. 'Here I am.'
But she kept her desires a secret, her true intention unrevealed to anyone but herself; but to the one person that knew, she kept repeating it again and again and again.
And more than that...
Her other daughter...
Cinder...
She would be okay – The Boss had told her to be prepared if either of them didn't make it out, and this time, at least Cinder wouldn't be forced to murder her own mother like Jack had done. Her daughter would be devastated, she knew now... but she also knew that this time, there would be no big secret to uncover, no stab in the back from the grave.
And she would be much, much better off with a mother figure that didn't destroy her own son with what she had asked of him. She would find a better life in the future...
Because at this point, that was just simply how low The Boss thought of herself.
And as for The Boss' very being of herself...
She would be selfish for this one time. The thing that her son had told her was okay to do. And at the same time, she would let the world be too. She would be free from the shackles of time and be free to leave it was it was.
To be selfish, and to leave the world be.
The message she had imparted to him, and the one he said back to her, past time and age and all that had bound them.
The Boss took a deep breath and began leaking out black ooze from her arms, spawning Grimm as she did so. She patiently waited for Venom and Solid to come, to give her what she wanted.
The selfish thing that would also Let the World Be.
What she had been denied, and what she would finally wrench free from fate itself and take into her own two hands.
Her 'time', the 'times' of the world, and freeing herself from both of their shackles.
Her relief, her dismissal from duty and fight and fate and everything in between.
Her new dream, her new will.
Her ending.
Sweet, sweet, death.
Not for a country, not for another person, not for anyone but herself.
Not for honour, but for peace at long last.
'Cinder, my darling. I'm sorry... but there's nothing left I can believe in anymore. I can't go on.'
"Jack..." The Boss stared up to the skies once more. To the clouds split in two, to the clear blue ocean up above, to the sun high up in the air where her revelation had descended from.
To the Heavens' Divide.
"I'm coming home, my son."
Thanks to Jaune's return, most of the Grimm in the Emerald Forest had been wiped out. What little remained were mere stragglers that had managed to save themselves from Jaune's rain of swords, and had been cleaned up rather quickly by the remaining forces.
But that didn't mean that the storm had ended. No, the worst of it was still approaching.
Venom felt this deep in his bones, and even deeper within his subconcious. Something was calling to him, a cry of familiarity and dread deep from his Grimm source of power. It was instinct given words; no, he realized, it was more than that.
Venom took a deep breath and looked around the area. He was surrounded by his soldiers, those from Haven, the reformed Wild Storm, and even some of Vale's guard. They were all rejoicing at their shared victory, at their escape from death. He knew what that was like, and he could sympathize.
But the soldier in him, the one forged through wars against countries, told him otherwise. And when he looked across the battlefield and met eyes with one Solid Snake, he knew that the other man felt the same as well.
Venom took a deep breath and stealthily exited the celebrations, the other Snake in tow. He followed that instinct and delved deeper and deeper into the Emerald Forest, dodging everyone from Jaune Arc and his friends to even Raiden and the other soldiers.
And when they reached the deepest of the forest, unknown to the eyes of even Tai and Ozpin, they came face-to-face with the source of all their troubles.
Both present and past.
"Boss." Venom spoke.
The legendary soldier stood before him and Solid, looking at home in a forest so similar to one in that fateful mission so many years ago. She looked at home there, at peace… except for the turbulent waters raging behind her replacing Silver Eyes.
"Venom." The Boss said curtly, turning then to Solid. "Solid… or should I say David?" The Boss opened his arms, "I'm glad you could make it."
They saw the way her fingers were dripping with black ooze, ooze that seeped deep into the ground. It squirmed and spread once it touched dirt, and from the liquid, a new form of life seemed to force its way out from death.
Solid was quick enough to make the connections. "You're the one spawning the Grimm."
"Indeed." The Boss nodded. The ooze around them quickly took shape; Beowolves and Ursas and Creeps and everything in between surrounding them from all sides. They were all newly-born and relatively weak in comparison to any they have fought before, but the implication was clear: with how effortlessly she had made them, the Boss could keep this up for as long as she could.
But Venom could see behind The Boss' eyes that combat wasn't the reason she had brought them out this time, not really.
As always, it seemed that The Boss had a plan. But what was different this time were the doubts she now so visibly had, the uncertainty that she had never allowed to take root before.
Their 'lineage' had never been the most talkative, talking was never their forte. Be it Big Boss or Venom Snake or Solid Snake, all of them had things they regretted not having said when they had still had the time, words that they forever cursed themselves for not letting out when they had still could.
And it was time, Venom Snake realized, that they changed that.
And so, while The Boss had expected them to raise their guns at her when she spawned her Grimm, when she had expected 1911s and AN-MR4s to be aimed at her head… she could only feel her breath catch when they were instead put down.
Venom even made a show of opening his hands and putting his weapon by his side – a show that he wouldn't attack her.
"I know you want to talk, Boss." His single eye spoke more to her than his words did, a shared silver that had once been green meeting each other. "That's why you brought us out here, isn't it…? Even if you didn't know…"
"…" Solid put down his weapon too, holstering it as quickly as he had drawn it the first time around. "Our instincts never lie. Not ours."
"You…" The Boss whispered. She couldn't form the words, for they had stolen them right out of her mouth. Because that had been a part of why she had led them here. So they could talk.
One more time, at least, before she left for good.
"Yes. Yes, I do want to talk… but I also want to fight." The Boss said, and she herself was surprised with the downright begging tone that her voice had taken. "All of you. At your very best."
Solid Snake answered her. "That's all? No grander scheme?"
The Boss tilted her head ever so slightly down. And in that very moment, the sounds of fighting from afar began anew.
Shouts and cries of surprise, yells of combat, the swishes of weapons being swung and the very familiar echoes of gunfire… all of it started as if it had never left.
Solid's eyes widened in surprise as he looked back towards the way they had come from – but they had just defeated every Grimm in the area! They couldn't have respawned that fast!
The Boss answered his confusion for him.
"I'm not the only one that can spawn Grimm. Another can as well, and she is currently residing in the Amity Arena."
The Boss turned her attention to Venom and gave him a solid nod. Exchanging one with her as well, he put down his comm, set it to broadcast, and let The Boss' words wash over every single combatant that mattered.
The Grimm were attacking once more – and yet, Beacon's defenders noted that they attacked with none of the vigour that they had shown before. And when they heard the mastermind behind through their communications, they could all immediately answer why.
"The world has yet to be truly tested – it does not yet understand the meaning of true loss and bitterness." The Boss' voice spoke with unrivalled venom.
"You fight and kill over meaningless things while there is a common enemy in your doorstep. You take and destroy when you can instead heal and grow, all because the former is easier to do."
"I will show you the meaning of Loss. The meaning of Sacrifice."
Every single combatant felt a chill run down their spine – it was one thing to hear a legendary figure speak of a greater cause, but it was a whole other thing seeing that very person consumed with bitterness and anger directed at you, personally.
The Boss spoke through the comms again. This time, her voice spoke to a man whose family life had been robbed, whose loss had been covered by a lie.
"For those that seek to fight for love… split the skies and fight the rain; only then may you obtain the future you so desperately struggle for."
Tai clenched his fist and looked up to the Amity Arena, Ozpin by his side. They could see skyborne Grimm descending from above… and from The Boss' words, he knew that up there was where Summer was at.
His objective was clear.
"For those who believe the world is worth saving, prove that your resolve can stand against unmeasurable darkness. Stick with the friends you have found by your side; turn your back for one second, keep secrets for a split moment, and a simple soul shall be shattered beyond repair."
Ruby exchanged looks with her Team. Even from Beacon they saw even more Grimm approach the city's walls, an excess amount that had been kept away for two-and-a-half years, prepared far before they had ever been in a fight. Ruby scooted ever so closer to Yang, and then them to Blake and Weiss as well. To protect those that needed it, to be a hero like her mother… that was what she had wanted, and what they wanted as well.
And add to that, they heard metallic footsteps approaching, and then Raiden stood by their smile and giving them a stern nod. He hadn't been supportive of the fact that these young kids were already shouldering such a weight… but clearly Remnant was different from the U.C., and if the past few weeks have shown anything, it was that RWBY's tenacity was both needed and proven.
They would stop the people that had acted for Vale to fall. Cinder Fall and her Team and her Grimm entourage would face the active defenders of Vale, led by a simple soul – and a foreign one that couldn't be cut.
"For those who believe that sins could be redeemed so easily… if you couldn't face your own mistakes head on, where it all started… then your conviction is nothing but a lie."
Jaune stood ready with his Team. They huddled close and exchanged confident glances. And as Jaune had Pyrrha's hand in his, as Ren and Nora hugged each other and the four of them all stood ready… they knew where to go, the final loose end to their loss, the final confirmation for their leader to prove that he had 'returned', yet had also 'evolved.
If someone out there, someone who had a grudge against him (a certain Bull came to mind), still wanted to fight for some reason, even though he had changed (even with the deal already hatched out)… Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora would fight those final embers together, prove that they had ascended and were now moving to a higher purpose of fight.
The Boss stared at her two descendants, her face grim yet serene at the same time.
Her legacy. The effect of her 'time', now her enemies because of the passage and choices of 'the times'.
"And for the ones who carry the weight of the world on their shoulders, who bring the legacy of Wills not of their own…" The Boss said, and then smiled in empty calmness.
"…Defeat me and put an end to this world's madness once and for all."
Her eyes met theirs dead-on, the only ones who could stop her.
This was the path that she chose, the path that would set her free. This time, it would be for purely selfish reasons….
And The Boss found that she didn't mind that one bit.
For once, she fought for herself. And to set herself free.
This was her new Will, no matter how skewed it would be. And she would die fighting for it to come true.
Because that was the end point.
To be released.
And just like that, The Boss aimed The Patriot and fired.
RATATATATATATA!
And thus, the battle began…
…But not before Venom and Solid exchanged a glance at each other, quicky diving into cover – and yet their shared glance had communicated a thousand words at once, allowing them to reach a mutual understanding.
They had seen that look before, sometimes even in the mirror themselves. It was the look of someone who had 'given up', someone who had been broken, someone who was fighting for fighting's sake alone.
The look of a death seeker.
And Venom, more so than Solid, knew what that meant.
The Boss wished for death. She wanted them to kill her, but unlike last time in Snake Eater, it was because she had well and truly given up on seeing this world. She didn't want to die for her country, but instead so it could all just stop. So she could be free from this endless torture, be it from her own heart or her own guilt, and finally be let go and taste sweet bliss.
A woman who wanted to go to a place where she didn't have to worry anymore. Where she didn't have to cry over her failures anymore, a place where she could finally become one with her beloved son. Because just like how The Boss was Jack's entire world, so was Jack to The Boss.
Big Boss had said once, how he had died the day he had killed the Boss with his own two hands. How he had already been dead for a long, long time, and had merely been a corpse walking on false beliefs. That the only time he had ever truly been alive as at the very end, the same day he had died at that cemetery in the arms of his son David.
It seemed, then, even though The Boss had come back to life…
She had still 'died' on that day too.
It just took her this long to realize.
Back at Rokojov Bereg, surrounded by white lilies and petals, a single gunshot had rung out throughout centuries. But that single gunshot had killed two people – the one that pulled the trigger, and the one that got hit.
But…
Venom's eyes sharpened.
He wouldn't let that happen again.
He was Big Boss' phantom, true, but he was also his own man. And that Medic part of him screamed just as loud as the Big Boss part of him too. They wouldn't let this soul die – one because she was like their mother too, and the other because it refused to let another soul be consumed by war.
Meanwhile, for Solid, he knew that this was the visage of a woman hurting from loss of purpose. She was his 'grandmother' in a sense, and to see the root of Big Boss' trauma experiencing hopelessness herself…
He had seen that look in the mirror a thousand times before. What the Boss lacked was hope, the perseverance she had been so known for having been sapped by the biggest mistake she had made of all time.
He owed it to his father, whose life was destroyed by his own grief; no matter Big Boss' sins, they had reconciled in the end. And what kind of man would Solid be if he just killed his father's mother without even a second thought? It would be like spitting on the way he had confessed before he died, desecrating that bittersweet memory before they parted ways for the final time.
He owed it to him, and his compassion would never even think of letting The Boss kill herself from grief, no matter how easy it would be. That was just the kind of man Solid was… the one that had achieved the 'true' Will of The Boss even if they had never met each other.
And so Venom stepped out, Solid by his side, and began fighting The Boss earnestly.
Here in the Emerald Forest, in the greens that seemed so similar to Neo-Russia all those years ago…
Two Snakes, Two Bosses. Two-to-one.
The final settling of decades of grief.
The determination to achieve a different future.
The fight to bring Joy back, to fix all of their mistakes.
A true repeat of history, of the mission that changed the world… but now with an alternate tune.
Venom fired his AM-MRS at The Boss, forcing her to duck and find cover. The Grimm around them lunged for their throats, but Solid was quick to cover both of their backs and fired at them with an M4 he had kept in reserve.
BANGBANGBANGBANG!
As quickly as the battle had started, blood pumped through their ears once more. Their muscles and body moved to fight for what they desired, the rush of battle becoming a visualization of all their clashes in thought and ideology.
~What a thrill…~
The Boss peeked out from cover and ran across, firing The Patriot as she circled around them with her superior speed. Solid and Venom were forced to continuously take cover and change it too, all the while they were assaulted by what seemed to be endless Grimm.
~With darkness and silence through the night.~
"Grk!" Solid grunted as he shifted his cover and fired his M4 at the endless Grimm. One Beowolf down, and then two Ursas, and then a Creep. He shifted his footing as streaks of white passed through the edges of his vision, just barely dodging bullets from the Patriot.
In this forest, The Boss was at home. She was nowhere and everywhere at once, attacking constantly from all sides. And with the constant Grimm pressure, they were unable to move and became nothing more than sitting ducks. But Solid had always been adaptable, was never to stick to one thing only at a time. If an opportunity didn't arise, then he'd make one himself.
"RAHHHHH!" Solid screamed and leapt out of cover, advancing forwards trying to push through the circled area The Boss had pinned them down in. He fired at any Grimm that dared confront him head on; they couldn't stay like this, they needed to get through and keep moving if they were to have any chance at succeeding.
And while some of the Grimm dared to strike at Solid from behind…
RATATATA!
They had been met swiftly by the bullets of Venom, sticking behind Solid's back as they moved past the pseudo-blockade The Boss had made in this battlefield.
~What a thrill~
Their movements were much more in sync that they could have ever realized. Much more than their shared legacy, it was also born from the same desire to save the same woman that had changed all aspects of history so much.
The history of the world, and much more, the history of both of their lives.
Meanwhile, The Boss was struggling to keep up the pressure that she was putting on. Spawning The Grimm became more and more taxing as time went on, as was the speed that she required to keep Solid and Venom encircled. And with their double power in pushing against this blockade, she was slowly but surely being worn down.
Add to that the fact that she was both physically and mentally compromised, both from sustaining the earlier Grimm Sea and her turbulent mind after 'meeting' her son once more, it became clear even to her that she was far from 100 percent.
But even so, she'll give it her all.
For these two people… they were the only things that she had left. The only people who could put her out of Joy's misery.
~I'm searching and I'll melt into you~
And so as the Grimm began to be thinned out, as Venom and Solid continued to move through the forest at a rapid pace, The Boss began to change her approach.
Step by step by step, Solid and Venom weaved through the enemies and cleared good ground. They were both aiming for a place where they couldn't be surrounded, a place where they had one side secure so that the pressure they were handling could be lightened by one side.
And when that time came, they could push The Boss to the offensive.
Their feet continued to push them forth, and in time, they found what they were looking for. A ruined bridge over a cliff, one that had seen many battles held so long ago.
Venom just barely recognized the sight of this new site from his knowledge regarding Beacon. The ruins that surrounded them, that bridge that once had went over a cliff, the slight fog that was now enveloping them… this was where 'relics' were held during the Initiation of Beacon's students.
And a place that had more cover for them to use, a place where The Boss could no longer hide behind the serene nature of the forest.
He didn't know why their feet had taken him here. But what he did know was that this was a place that they could use to end things once and for all.
Venom and Solid made their way to that bridge, planting their feet and then turning their backs to where it was cut off. This way, they only had to focus on their rights, lefts, and fronts. Behind their backs was a cliff, one that no Grimm could spawn out of, for the Boss was still somewhere in that left right or front.
One side covered, and now, the remaining three they would engage with everything they had.
The message was clear – come at us, we'll take you head on.
They didn't fear the fall that threatened them should they falter.
~What a fear in my heart…~
And at the same time, they wouldn't let her fall too.
~But you're so supreme!~
And The Boss saw this clear as day, clear as the skies up above, and even more when they final killed the last of the Grimm that she could possibly ever spawn.
She couldn't stay on the sidelines anymore; the only choice was to confront them dead on.
Confront the mistakes she had made, the legacy she had never dreamed of leaving behind.
And so The Boss leapt out of the trees and into the ruins, out of the serene mask and into crushed reality. She rushed at them both with all the Grimm power that she had left, her concern for surviving this battle thrown to the wayside.
Her cries as she lunged were a window to a soul as destroyed as the ruins of battle around them.
And so, with nothing left behind them – physically and literally – Venom and Solid met The Boss head-on too.
The Boss attacked first, striking out with her fist for Venom's face. Venom dodged cleanly, tilting his head and giving way for Solid's M1911 to aim right at The Boss' face.
BANG!
~I give my life…~
The Boss dodged to the side just in time. She moved fast and then gripped the M1911 by the barrel, locking its movement and lashing out with a kick for Solid's gut.
Solid twisted his body to the side, barely avoiding the kick. He lashed out with a haymaker to the face, but The Boss easily blocked it with her forearm. Before he could react, The Boss had spun him and slammed him down to the ground.
SLAM!
"ACK!" Solid cried out as his back hit ruined slabs, and gasped when he saw his earlier M1911 pointed right at his face. He saw the trigger being pressed ever so slightly-!
But Venom had jumped in before The Boss could finish, tackling her with his own Grimm powers and engaging in a direct melee fight.
~Not for honour…~
As The Boss fought with her son's phantom, she tried her best to fight down the nauseating sense of familiarity and longing that bubbled in her heart. Venom and Jack's moves were identical to a T, and that face that looked back at her was so much like her son that it hurt.
This was what he could've been like… she just hadn't lived to see it.
And now, he wasn't here to see her either, because his life had spiralled from the moment she had asked too much of him.
~But for you (Snake Eater). ~
The Boss leapt back before Venom could end the melee with a decisive strike. He had been overpowering her severely, and it only made her vision swam that this was the cost for her son to have had surpassed her.
She pulled out The Patriot and fired endlessly at her Snakes. They ducked and fired back with their weapons, the exchange of bullets meaning more than a thousand words. Venom dashed in, aiming for another melee, as Solid quickly moved to the other side and provided cover fire; their expert understanding allowed them to pin her down without risking friendly damage.
If only she had the opportunity to do this with her own son, to stand side-by-side with him one last time.
But the times had not dictated so; and now these Snakes were so similar yet so different…!
There was no one else like her Jack, and to him, there had been no one that could replace her place in his heart either. And she had killed him, just as he had killed her too.
~In my time, there'll be no one else ~
Unable to move to another position, The Boss quickly had no choice but to engage Venom once more. She transformed her right arm into a sharp blade and swung it at Venom, who reinforced his right hand with its Grimm power and caught the blade head on.
He kept her at a stalemate, even pushing the sword deep within that hand when she had tried to pull out and let him go. Stuck as she was, The Boss was forced to acknowledge as Solid went in for a melee too.
And now, she engaged both of them in hand-to-hand at the same time, this added pressure draining her reserves with increasing speed.
~Crime, it was the way I fly to you (Snake Eater). ~
The Boss could barely keep the awe out of her eyes as they engaged her in close combat.
Solid threw a punch, and when she deflected, she wasn't given a chance to counter when Venom's foot lashed out in a kick. When she met that kick halfway and went to grab Venom, Solid stepped in and pushed her hands away before she could even brush Venom's skin, lashing out with an elbow for her face.
SMACK! The blow hit dead on, right on her nose and pushing her back. The Boss groaned and lashed back out with Grimm tentacles, sharp ends that would scratch and pierce Solid for having damaged her.
BANGBANGBANG! But Venom had covered for Solid after his attack, his AM-MRS4 shooting and cutting off any tentacle that had dared to come close.
The Boss grit her teeth. With a roar she engaged them once more. No, she needed to push them, to make them see that there was no other way to finish this!
It was the only way to finish that dream she had, for her to see her son again…
~I'm still in a dream, ~
And it was the only way to truly, truly end the mission that had destroyed them both so long ago.
~Snake Eater! ~
Both Snakes didn't falter, even as they too felt their reserves being drained. No, they would persevere and keep fighting, just as the Boss had also done once upon a time.
One was physically an old man, even though mentally he was still in his 'prime' of around 40 years old. But his spirit still burned bright, and he knew that the other had his back. He would do his best here, to honour the legacy of those that came before him, and to once more break the cycle of pain and trauma as he once did with his own father. He lived and fought for the future, and he would give The Boss the chance to see the future that she had been denied, a Best that had Yet to Come.
The other was a 'phantom', a mere fakery that eventually became as real as could be. He too wouldn't doubt himself at this point of divergence. His memories might not be his, but he felt it too strongly to merely throw it to the wind – in a sense, both of them were Big Boss; and this iteration now served to end the legend in a better note, and to do what the 'original' never had the chance to. To save their mentor, their mother, no matter the cost or connection or anything else. To not Sell, but to protect and cherish the Wonderful World.
The Boss slammed the ground, shaking the very foundations of where they stood. Her grief overwhelmed her when she saw the two standing firm even as she became the antithesis of everything she ever was… and that loyalty only hurt her even more.
It hurt her that she couldn't have anything in this world, that he was not here.
Existing, continuing like this, was pain. Her loss dominated her mind…
And as she took the momentary loss of footing to attack the Snakes, her mind had become well and truly blank with memory. She was fighting on with pure instinct now as her heart wept deep within.
They were all Snakes, they were all her descendants, they had all carried out her legacy, and were all as worthy as Jack was…
But he was the most important one. And he wasn't here, because of her!
~Someday, you'll go through the rain… ~
The Boss put The Patriot down and transformed both her hands into swords. She engaged with a fury that hadn't been seen before, without grace or elegance. She was wild with every attack she threw, reduced yet enhanced through only basic instinct.
~ Someday, you'll feed on a tree frog… ~
Venom was the one to meet her in the melee. He enforced his body with his Grimm half and deflected the swings and slashes as best he could. They became a blur of black and white, with Venom dodging a slash meant for his neck just barely and responding in kind by planting a fist up The Boss' gut.
The Boss responded with an elbow to Venom's side, one that had him stumbling down. The Boss brought her sword down for his head, but Venom rolled and swept her legs from under her. But before he could move in to pin her down, a tentacle had shot out, forcing him to dodge and reaffirm his CQC stance.
And when the Boss rose once more, they continued till eternity. On and on it went. A punch, a slash, both healed, both kept going. While one was wild and untamed, the other was calmer than he had ever been.
No matter how much it hurt, they kept continuing.
~This ordeal, this trial to survive…!~
No words had been exchanged from The Boss to Venom, her sorrow had overtaken expression by language. She visualized it by her desperate push for Venom to end her, and yet no matter how hard she tried, Venom's composure never broke once.
This was the only way she could communicate now. This was the way she said that it had to all end, it had to all mean something! All their sorrow, their fury, their pain, their false ends, their robbed joy…
Finish her!
PLEASE!
~For the day we see new light!~
The Boss roared and lunged straight for Venom. Tentacles shot out from all directions, and caught unaware due to the sheer volume of the scream, Venom found himself bound to the ground and unable to dodge. He cursed as The Boss came in fast and brought her two swords up-!
But he was saved by his 'son'.
BANG!
A shot from Solid's M1911 ripped through The Boss' thigh, causing her to cry out in furious pain – and both Solid and Venom noted how this time, even though she was still a personification of the Grimm…
She wasn't healing.
And when The Boss looked up again, her eyes filled with anger and sadness, her tears both hot and cold…
They noticed the ever-slight way a tint of green was seeping back into Silver, the way her skin was returning to normal.
Solid clenched his teeth and fired his M1911 at Venom's feet, cutting of the tentacles that had bound him. They both let out loud exhales. All three of them were reaching their limit, and the very air around chilled as if telling them that their battle was coming to a close.
He looked at The Boss once more – the mother of his father, the one who had 'started' everything. Even now, he could see past the legend of the Mother of the Special Forces… here, in front of her, she was just a woman who had lost and sacrificed too much, a mother who had lost her son.
Just like how Big Boss too, in essence, was a son who was forced to kill his own mother.
He had 'ended' one of them before, brought them to peace.
He'd do it here too.
~I give my life…! ~
Solid Snake engaged in melee combat head-on, uncaring of his physical state. The Boss fought him eagerly too, yet with the bullet in her thigh, she was clearly impaired.
Solid went in for a grab. The Boss deflected and went for an elbow to his gut. Solid sidestepped and lashed out with a backfist for her face. The Boss grabbed the fist and pushed it up, deflecting the blow and spinning Solid to hold him in a chokehold.
~Not for honour… ~
But Solid was quicker, breaking free from The Boss' grip before she could strengthen it and kicking her away. As she skid back, Solid raised his M1911 and fired at The Boss.
BANG BANG BANG!
The Boss weaved through the bullets, her hands flying out to grab the M1911 once more and disassemble it on the spot. But Solid was quicker, pulling his gun back just in time and ramming her away with his shoulder.
The Boss recovered her footing and sent out tentacles to pierce Solid's throat. Solid reacted quicker and fired off their ends before they could reach him, severing them instantly.
And as The Boss clenched her teeth in pain from the severing, Solid fired off another shot through her other thigh.
BANG!
"GAH!" The Boss groaned as her movement was further impaired. Deep in her heart she felt fear and horror began to creep in, but those feelings quickly blossomed into even more motivation for her to keep moving. To keep pushing and make them see!
These shots were clearly non-lethal. That, she couldn't tolerate.
She could not be allowed to survive. Never!
And yet Solid was standing there before her, unwavering in his conviction, having risked a hand-to-hand exchange despite their clear differences.
~But for you! (Snake Eater) ~
The Boss summoned the last, the very last, of her Grimm powers and let out one final shout. Her darkness intensified for just a brief moment, the very peak of her abilities that she could muster at this point in time. Transforming her hands to swords once more, The Boss lunged at Solid one last time, when she knew fully well that this level of power would overwhelm him completely…
CLANG!
And yet, she was stopped mid-attack by Venom, who grunted and matched her power with his own.
~In my time, there'll be no one else! ~
Just like how, in the end, Jack had overcome her and became Big Boss.
~Crime, it's the way I fly to you (Snake Eater)! ~
Venom swung his arm in a wide arc, Grimm claws almost swiping The Boss' face. She stepped back and swung back with her sword, but Venom ducked and drove his fist to her gut.
CRACK!
He held it there with conviction, his single eye meeting The Boss' own set. That gaze communicated one single message:
The Boss had only 'needed' one Snake, all those decades ago.
Big Boss had parted with the belief that the world would be better off without Snakes.
Where did that, then, leave them? The 'phantom', the inferior grandson, and the mother who started it all?
It left them to shape this new age as they see fit – to shape it from all the lessons they had learned from their sorrowful pasts.
This time, things would be different!
They existed in the here and now. In this new age, so long as a Snake was still around, neither would ever think of letting a Boss go.
Not anymore.
~I'm still in a dream, Snake Eater~
The Boss roared in disapproval and slammed a double fist over Venom's back. Venom let go and stepped back, just barely missing the attack. He moved forwards with a backhanded punch, one that The Boss blocked with her sword. She twisted the grip and yelled, pushing forwards with all the speed she had and slamming her sword through Venom's gut.
SLAM!
"Grk!" Venom clenched his teeth as her sword pierced him, yet he didn't falter and instead twisted both his and The Boss' position so that they both faced Solid.
Venom looked past the Boss, past his past, and gazed to his future.
"SNAKE!" Venom shouted. "DO IT!"
The Boss realized a split second too late what was happening. And yet, when she tried to pull away, Venom Snake – no, Big Boss – kept her sword, and by extension herself, close and fixed where she was.
"RAHHHH!" Solid did as he was entrusted to – he aimed his M1911 at The Boss' back and fired.
BANGBANGABANG!
The shots hit true, in all the ways that mattered – his bullets pierced The Boss' hands, arms, shoulders, and legs, disabling her mobility. And yet none of them ever even grazed her chest or head, her vital areas all still safe.
A barbaric way of non-lethality; and yet, one that had finally, finally depleted the last of her energy. The last of her Grimm powers.
And in that way, in this method of taking her down…
The Boss realized, in a way she couldn't understand herself…
That they had done what Jack couldn't.
~I'm still in a dream, Snake Eater~
"A-Agh!" The Boss felt herself being grabbed by the neck and pulled away from Venom. She was then laid on the ground, unable to see anything but how Venom staggered from her blow, but still healed slowly but surely.
And yet, her own wounds weren't healing. Her Grimm powers had been completely depleted, from the spawning of that sea of Grimm, to the mental strain that she had experienced, and then to the rash way she had battled with both Snakes.
She had been defeated.
…and yet, from the way they seemed to still be breathing heavily, the way they limped over to her with obvious wounds and bruises across their body, it was clear that they had been pushed over the edge as well… perhaps even more than that.
The two of them stood over her, their guns still aimed at her in a ready position. The Boss herself had no more energy to fight, now laying almost motionless on the ruin and forest floor.
It was a familiar sight, one that had haunted both Big Boss' dreams, had echoed throughout the history Solid Snake learned, and the sight that led to The Boss' biggest regret.
A regret that she still, even now, tried to correct.
"Please..." The Boss said to her descendants. Something wet trailed down her cheeks, falling down and pooling to the ground beneath their feet.
"Kill me." The Boss whispered. She pleaded, begged for them to release her. "Please. End it all. Kill me. Do it… do it!"
It was a far cry from the grace she had shown in her first 'death'. This time, she didn't face it with dignity or pride, no silent acceptance and hidden resignation.
This time, she wanted it badly, desperately. She wished for it with every fibre of her being, she yearned for it as much as she yearned to meet her son once more.
She was tired. So, so tired.
Jack.
Jack, her dear son.
She wanted to see him.
She wanted to meet him, to hug him, to kiss him on the head, to be with him again.
"Kill me…!" The Boss cried. "Please… I'm so tired…! I can't take this anymore…!"
Her eyes went to Venom. "I miss him… I want to see him. I want this all to end. I don't want to keep going."
Then, her eyes went to Solid. "I want to give up. I've fought for so long, sacrificed so much, and now I want to do something that's for me. I want to be free. To be outside. To be happy… and that can't happen in this world. So please… set me free! KILL ME!"
I'm tired, I regret, I want. Never in her life had The Boss spoke so much about her own desires.
Her entire life, she had been dedicated to a greater good, to the betterment of the world. Never once had she taken personal Joy, only the one she can extract from the battlefield.
But now, she had finally reached her limit.
It was not a limit of fighting for a greater cause; no, she knew that if she lived, that she would eventually gain that flame again. That spark would return, as Solid Snake had once said to her.
No, her limit was regarding her loss. The things that didn't change the whole world but had affected hers so deeply. The personal side, the side that kept taking a beating day in and day out.
She was selfish this one time. And that desire was simple.
Death, to see her son in that next world.
Venom raised his weapon, as did Solid Snake. They both aimed their guns at The Boss, a sight so similar but now with two men standing above one woman.
And that wasn't the only thing that was different. More than visage, their convictions were too, a simple statement that they wanted to uphold in this new age.
History would not repeat itself.
A single flower petal flew as the wind blew across them, landing atop The Boss' hands.
~Petals of white, cover fields flowing in grieving tears.~
Venom Snake stared down at the mother he never had. Grief was killing her from the inside, her regrets bigger than any sea or mountain. Once more she asked to be released, but this time with all the personal aspects one could expect.
A stark reminder that The Boss was, first and foremost, also a person.
~And all the hearts once new, old and shattered now.~
Solid Snake looked down as history repeated itself. He remembered the words of his father, the words he shared from deep within before he had died.
'If you were there… back then… maybe you wouldn't have made the same mistakes I did.'
Big Boss was right. He wouldn't.
And nor would he let the Boss make the same mistakes too.
~Love can kill, love will die, give me wings to fly. ~
The Boss' love had killed him, and his love was killing her too.
She was a fool to never realize how much her request and plans had destroyed her own son. How he never found another reason to live other than her. Oh, how so desperately she wished she could comfort him, but her own actions had made it impossible. Now, the only option to redeemed herself was in the unthinkable, in suicide by anybody's hands.
~Fleeing this world so cold, I just wonder why…~
How could the times, how could the world, be this cruel? It was beyond her wildest imaginations, just like how a normal person could never imagine Remnant to be real.
And she couldn't take it anymore.
She wanted out, she wanted it to end, she wanted it all to stop now!
~Cold as the dark, now my words, are frosted with every breath.~
Her breath hitched when she saw Venom's trigger finger push back on the trigger.
This was it.
She would finally be debriefed. It would all come to an end at last.
She would come home.
~Still the hate burns wild, growing inside this heart.~
Venom felt the hate swirling inside Big Boss' memories. The hate that was birthed by Amercia's betrayal of her greatest and most loyal soldier. The hate that consumed him from within, the hate that eventually made him decide that the entire world itself was the enemy.
The hate that had been birthed from his own grief and sorrow, the hate that could be born again at this very moment.
~When the wind changes course, when the stars align~
But this was a different age. A different time. And more importantly…
A second chance.
One that they never dreamed of getting, yet somehow, they had gotten it. It would be remiss of Venom, with the experiences of three lives now, to not learn from it. To not grow, to not take another path…
To change, from being a legendary soldier, to a man who truly lived up to the legend of a saviour.
~I will reach out to you and leave this all behind.~
This future would have a place for them all. He too knew sorrow well, knew the cost of losing one's men, one's love, and even one's identity.
But this time he would be better. The world would be better.
He would make sure of it.
~When heavens divide.~
He would defy even history itself if he had to, move heaven and earth if that was what it took…
He would split the Heavens itself, if it came to it.
And so, Venom aimed, pulled the trigger, and killed.
BANG!
~When heavens divide!~
And yet, it was not a person that he killed.
The Boss stared in shock at the bullet that had engraved itself beside her head. The bullet that would've killed her...
No, what Venom had killed was 'the past'.
~I will see the choices within my hands.~
Before The Boss could form words, Venom knelt beside her, his lone eye meeting hers and expressing more emotion than he had ever shown before.
In it was a hope for a better future. A desire to keep fighting in this second chance…
But it also contained a plead for her to see it with him.
To not waste it, just like they had wasted their first chances too.
~How can we ever protect and fight with our tiny souls? ~
"I know the world is cruel, Boss. We both know it." Venom said, and his voice didn't take the tone of a preacher nor a teacher. No, he reached out to her as a woman, as a mother, as who she was.
The memories of Big Boss' life reached her ears one last time. The voice of EVA telling Jack of what had really happened, the moment that he had truly 'died'. 'She wanted to live on, in your memory. Not as a soldier… but as a woman.'
Venom continued. "But we don't have to shoulder it alone. We don't have to think ourselves above it all.
It's okay to hurt, it's okay to grieve.
But we want you here too. Solid and I… and no doubt, your daughter and the people you've connected with in this second life."
"…"
"Our struggle is never-ending… but in it, there's beauty too."
~Let me shine, like the sun, through the doubts and fear!~
"What matters is that we pick ourselves up. No matter what we amount to, no matter what we would be capable of in the end."
"And the past can't be changed... all that we can do is honour it, and not make the same mistakes."
~Do you feel the storm approach as the end draws near?~
The Boss finally found her words. It was a simple statement, yet one that carried as much weight as the world itself.
"I'm tired, Venom. I know it's never-ending… but if the world doesn't get better, even after we sacrifice everything… if it doesn't end even after our death… then what's the point…?!"
That.
That, was the very crux of her dilemma.
~When heavens divide!~
She had thought that the world would be whole, would become one, when her son had inherited her title. And yet that didn't come true, instead it only divided the world even further; almost to the point past reparation.
And now she was alive here, and the world continued to fight with each other.
A world that had spat on both her and her son's sacrifices, by continuing to squabble even with a common enemy in the Grimm.
She was disillusioned.
But who wouldn't be?
~Time will come to softly lay me down!~
And so she begged them one last time. "End it for me." She whispered. "You can't- you can't possibly deny me of this. I don't want to fight anymore!"
She knew that her heart would be motivated once more, when the time came, so she sought to end it before she could be hurt even more. Before her ideals could be proven wrong again, before she would lose those precious to her again, before she had to endure a life where her regrets continued to pile up every day.
This was the only way.
The only way for her to find peace.
The only way she could ever make up for her mistake…
…and see him again.
~Then I can see her face that I long to see…~
She had given him her life. Not for honour, but for him.
But what he had been willing to sacrifice in turn… it was much, much more than that. And by pitting him against his loyalty, by asking of him what she never should've, she had destroyed him.
She had given him her life.
He had been willing to give her that, and then the entire world too.
Because she was hers, and without it, he had had no reason to live on.
And she had taken that very will to live, and in her ignorance, didn't realize how much he had valued her.
~And for you, only you I would give anything~
Now his phantom knelt beside her… somehow, his love finding a way past time and space. His face so, so alike, his voice too, his very demeanor, everything…!
~Leaving a trace for love to find a way…~
But he wasn't the one who she had raised.
No, he laid beyond her reach, somewhere that, even with all her powers, she couldn't reach herself.
~When heavens divide!~
She hated this, hated herself and the world and the circumstances and juust everything…! with all her heart now. What she wouldn't give to lash out in anger, to burn and destroy as her grief consumed her, to let it all out…!
~I will dive into the fire, spilling the blood of my desire…!~
But she also knew that she would never let herself do that, because she was too good of a person, because her heart wouldn't let her…
And that, she hated even more. Her righteousness, that had caused her to miss the love her son had had for her. Her loyalty, even as her personal Joy had been torn from her one by one until there had been nothing left but regrets.
The thing that made her a legend, that made her revered and feared and respected…
~The very last time, my name scorched into the sky!~
But had caused her endless sorrow throughout her life.
~When heavens divide!~
Once more Venom saw the sorrow and grief that had consumed Joy. Solid saw it too, and saw it fit to kneel on the opposite side of Boss.
They had to remind her that she wasn't alone. That, while Big Boss had died, he had left behind his legacy that would gladly take care and stand beside her too.
She was their 'enemy', their opponent, that much was true.
But it didn't have to be that way.
Not anymore.
They could change 'the times', could shape it, if they were all brave enough to face it, and learn from all their past mistakes.
Solid stared deep into The Boss' eyes, his words sincere. "We're here for you, Boss. Stick with us, keep on living… the future can be full of miracles, it doesn't have to end up like it did in our time."
~Time will come to softly lay me down…~
"We might not live to see it, but you can see now how the world is changing before us." Venom said. He motioned around him, to how they were devoid of any Grimm. How, out there, humanity was banding together against her, was putting aside their differences as they fought for Vale.
~Then I can see her face that I long to see~
"Everyone dies." Solid said softly, once more echoing the words of his father.
Venom spoke next, "But we can't go when so many people still love us, still depend on us…"
~And for you, only you I would give anything~
"So come see the future with us, Boss." Venom said with finality, offering his hand to her to lift her up.
A sign of peace, a sign of putting the past behind them.
A sign of reaffirmed loyalty, a sign that people that loved her, cared for her, still existed. A sign that people who would fight with her still lived on…
That she had yet reasons to keep on living.
If not for the world, for a greater good, for a higher purpose…
Then for the ones that loved her, here and now.
The simple realization of one fact:
That Jack wouldn't have wanted her to go, not before her time had well and truly come.
~Leaving a trace for love to find a way…~
Tears once more began to leak out of the Boss' eyes, all as she let out empty laughs echoing throughout the forest.
Here and now, her son's legacy was trying to save her. Was denying her death, the ending she had desperately craved.
Here, all these years later, after all that she had done to him, after how hard his life had been…
Jack's love still reached her.
Passed on to his phantom and to his son.
The Boss' laughs turned to sobs. They were wet, loud, and messy, lacking any sort of elegance that she had known for. But she didn't care, because she had totally misjudged the situation. Misjudged herself too, even.
This was how much Jack had loved her. Even years after his death he still reached out to her, still pulled her out of her darkest depths, had split heaven and earth and time and space all to tell her that she should keep going.
To not make the same mistakes he did.
To keep going on…
Even if, this time…
…It would be he that wouldn't be around to see her.
~When heavens divide…!~
The Boss let out one last breath. She closed her eyes, savouring the air around her…
When she opened her eyes once more, The Boss came to a conclusion.
She reached out to Venom's hands and grabbed it firmly.
It was no surprise that, upon contact with Venom once more, she ended up in his 'mindscape' again too. But what was a surprise was the person standing before her once more, this time looking at her directly.
No longer a figment of her imagination, nor a replay of Venom's memories.
"J-Jack…?"
No, this was well and truly a bit of Big Boss' remaining life energy, one that had survived inside of Venom.
One that still existed in this world, and not the next.
The Boss looked ahead of her. Indeed, standing before her, was her son once more. Just like how he had appeared in the forest before, only now… with a truer sense of existence.
He smiled at her and tilted his head to the side, as if saying. 'Have you found your answer?'
The Boss took a deep breath. Still her voice wavered, still her composure was far from collected.
But she pushed through, as she always did.
As she always would.
"I'll keep living."
"I'll fight on.
Not for a greater purpose. Not to make the world whole. Not for any ideal.
But for the people you left me… for the ones who love me still.
For the people in the past and the present.
No more, no less."
Big Boss smiled at his mentor and nodded. He stepped forwards and approached Boss, who was standing still.
His hand reached out, his fingers grazing her forehead lovingly.
"You'll do better than I did. I know you will, Boss." Big Boss said, filled with affection.
He spoke one last time, his arms enveloping her in a tight hug. His next words were barely above a whisper, but they still meant more than the world to her.
"I love you, mother. Until we meet again."
And this time, the Boss didn't shout out in desperation. She accepted it in silent grief, yet hugged him tight too. She let her tears fall free, absorbed every last bit of love that she could, so that she could remember it for her eternity…
"I love you too, Jack… until I come home."
Venom opened his eyes.
And to little surprise, The Boss was gone.
But this time, it was different.
Standing up from his kneeling position, Solid by his side and doing the same, Venom took note of what his mother had left him.
The Patriot, now firmly in his hands.
Her green cloak, now wrapped lovingly in his shoulders.
And a new bandana, tied around his head and coloured as white as the petals of purity.
Solid looked at him and nodded. "She disappeared faster than I could see or stop her. But… I'm sure you can still feel her."
That was true. Even more so than the mementos she had left him, deep within his heart, within that Grimm connection that they had shared… that love that they had shared… he knew that she was still alive, just no longer here.
But their bond had also increased, as a result of The Boss taking one last closing look into his subconscious.
And so, he knew that she no longer desired to end it all.
Silently and with a mutual understanding, Venom and Solid both looked to the skies.
The Boss was now out there, somewhere. Somewhere they didn't know, somewhere they couldn't track down.
But she was alive.
And more than that, she would now continue to live.
Not for Salem. Not for a greater good. Not for an ideal.
But for them, for those she loved and those that had loved her.
For Solid, it was a relief even if it wasn't grand. The freedom to live 'outside'… now, he had another that he could share that joy with.
For Venom, it was a sign that he had succeeded in stopping the past from repeating. That he was not only as good as the real Big Boss, but had also surpassed that man's mistakes; something he would have wanted so much to do, if only he had the chance.
And thus, the two Snakes left this battlefield, going to help the others now that the mastermind had left.
It would be some time before they would ever hear from The Boss again. But unlike the past, it would no longer be forever. No longer was their parting marred in tragedy and sorrow.
Now, it was filled with hope and a promise.
She had left a clear trace, that trace being the people she had met. The connections she had shared… the love that she had shown and received, before departing to find herself once more.
And should the time come, should Venom call for her through their shared bond…
No country, no Kingdom, no dark overlord, and no elusive wizard would be enough stop her.
She would divide the heavens once more for a simpler cause. She would return to live in a selfish and simple dream; to live her life in peace with those she loved.
Her loyalty to herself, and to them alone would be all that remained.
That loyalty…
Until the end.
That was… a lot of weight to write. The Boss will be featured in a few more chapters, wrapping up and discarding her 'mission' in Vale, but after that, she'll be taking a big step back; especially in the next arc.
It's what she deserves, after all. If anyone in the entire MGS-verse should get to be happy, it's always her, without a question.
Anyways. One down, three to go. Next up, Tai and Summer.
Let me know what you think in the reviews!
Thanks for reading, and see you next time!