Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction / Magic Knight Rayearth Fan Fiction ❯ Tragic Heroes ❯ What Dreams May Come ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Tragic Heroes
a Magic Knight Rayearth/Metal Gear crossover
Chapter 2: What Dreams May Come
2-24-2003
by Grey Fox

Disclaimer: Solid Snake and Metal Gear are the creation of the gaming genius Hideo Kojima and the property of Konami. Hikaru Shidou and Magic Knight Rayearth are the creation and property of the talented ladies of CLAMP studios.

*****

It was just the two of them in that expansive room in that underground base area. He was alone, trapped inside with his most hated nemesis, forced to fight in a duel to the death. But there was a problem. He was unarmed. But his nemesis was not.

And so, he was forced to run, his footsteps reverberating loudly off the metal floor, and the footsteps of his nemesis not far behind. The sound of his heart thumped in his ears as he forced himself to push away the numbing fear that threatened to overtake him.

In the center of the big room, however, was an eight-room complex. He had been in seven of the eight rooms, and had only found a cigarette lighter and ID cards. Now he was standing before the only room he had yet to explore, but directly in front of the doorway was a puddle of sulpheric acid that would mean certain death should he step in it. Hastily, he fished out a container of rations and took out the chocolate bits. He then proceeded to drop the chocolate into the puddle, and watched as the sallow liquid turned into a harmless brown goo. Then, with ID card labeled number five in hand, he opened the door. Inside was an aerosol can of spray paint. Just what he needed.

Exiting the room, his heart pounding, he could hear the footsteps of the nemesis approaching. Quickly, he ran and hid behind a stack of supplies containers, and waited for the nemesis to approach. After a while, he dared to peek from behind the stack of containers, and saw that the back of his nemesis was turned to him, giving him the perfect opportunity to strike. Flicking on the cigarette lighter, he positioned the spray can in front of it, and pressed down on the sprayer. The effect of the spray paint hitting the lighter flame was like that of a flamethrower. The jet of flame struck his nemesis in the back and he howled in pain. The nemesis turned and fired, but he managed to duck behind the supplies containers and avoid the attack. Acting swiftly and expertly, in a way only one such as he could, he emerged from behind the containers again and fired off another volley of flame, once again hitting his target.

Now his nemesis tried to go behind the containers and fire at him there. But he managed to evade the nemesis once more, and sneak up behind the nemesis just as he had attempted to do to him. He fired his makeshift flamethrower at his nemesis again, and this time, the result was his nemesis being engulfed in flames. His nemesis flailed about wildly as the flames ravenously consumed his body, and all he could do was look on helplessly as the consequences of his handiwork unfolded before his eyes. Eventually, the body of his nemesis, still ablaze, collapsed lifelessly onto the cold metal floor, seconds before it burned away completely.

Thus his nemesis was vanquished, leaving him alone in the room. Alone with the horrific memories and gnawing guilt that would stay with him for the rest of his days......

*****

Solid Snake sprang up out of bed, having finally awakened from the nightmare. It took a few seconds to realize that he had been dreaming again. "Damn!" he shouted, annoyed that he had had another nightmare. He noticed he was breathing erratically and that his body was drenched with sweat. Getting out of bed, he walked over the window of his bedroom and opened the blinds. He was greeted with the vision of the dark of night, and the howling of violent, snowy winds. A typical winter night in Alaska, the same kind Snake had become accustomed to ever since coming here almost four years ago. Almost four years after the events he had been forced to relive tonight in his dream.

Even after all this time, Snake was still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since he completed the mission in Zanzibar. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't shake the memories of what happened, not to mention the gnawing uncertainty: was Big Boss really his father, as he had claimed to be?

Snake thought that his torment would finally end after what happened almost a year ago, his second trip to Outer Heaven. He thought he had finally learned to forgive himself, and thought that by exposing the truth about Metal Gear and bringing down the conspirators, he could put the past behind him and retire happily, knowing that justice would be served. But soon after returning to his Alaskan home, the terrible effects of PTSD reared its head again, plaguing Snake with flashbacks by day and nightmares by night once more.

Slowly and grudgingly, Snake began to make his way to the kitchen. Flicking on the lights, he walked over to his stove and turned on one of the burners, and put a kettle of water on top of it. After a nightmare like that, Snake knew he'd have to calm his nerves if he hoped to have a chance of getting any more sleep. Fortunately, upon coming to Alaska, he had discovered a special herbal tea that helped to soothe his uneasiness. Of course, a single cigarette would have the same effect as his tea, but tonight Snake decided against it. Those things do kill you, after all.

Finally, the tea was ready, and as Snake poured himself some, his thoughts returned to his nightmare. *Was he telling the truth?* Snake thought as he sipped the piping hot tea. *Could Big Boss really have been my father? There's no proof that he was, but, somehow, I don't think he was lying......*

After a while, Snake could feel the calming effects of the tea. Thinking he could finally try to get some more sleep, he made his way back to his bed. As he got back under the covers, he couldn't help but think about the other thing Big Boss had said to him.

*He said I would never be able to stay away from the battlefield, that I'd be a warrior forever,* he thought as fatigue began to overtake him. *Was he right? Damnit, I got called back because there was another Metal Gear. Could it happen again?*

There was no answer to Snake's turbulent thoughts as he began to drift back to sleep. However, he would get his answer soon enough. And no doubt Snake was not going to like it.

*****

The rhythmic hum of the large cargo elevator rang in Snake's ears as it began its ascent to the surface. But that wasn't the only sound to be heard. The taunting mockery of Black Arts Viper echoed all around him as well. "You think that I fight fair?! I'll use any means necessary to get our revenge!"

*Oh God, don't make me go through this again too,* Snake pleaded silently, although he knew no one could possibly hear. *I already know what will happen. Please, don't make me see this again.*

Snake knew exactly what this was. This was his final battle with Black Arts Viper, which took place on the cargo elevator containing the remains of Metal Gear Gander. Snake had been able to stop Metal Gear Gander's nuclear attack, but he had to kill Black Arts Viper to do it. And now, he was being forced to relive that battle in his nightmares. Snake watched helplessly as he began to act independently of his thoughts, going through the exact same motions that he went through during the battle a year ago. He watched as he jumped out from behind a stack of cargo containers and shot Black Arts Viper as he was trying to run.

*No, not again. I can't stand seeing this again.*

With a flash of light, Black Arts Viper disappeared from view, and his booming voice echoed again. "We will have vengeance, no matter what!"

*Oh God, stop it! I can't take any more!*

Snake ran across the elevator platform, desperately trying to spot Viper again. He saw him darting between the large cargo containers again, and aimed his assault rifle and fired. Just like before, Viper vanished in a bright flash, and he yelled out again, taunting Snake. "I won't be beaten! I owe that much to my fallen comrades!"

*No, make it stop! Somebody, anybody, make it stop!!*

Snake heard Viper's footsteps somewhere close behind him. He turned around, only to see Viper facing him with his arm outstrecthed, with some some of device attached to his wrist. Before Snake could react, a sonic wave shot out of the device, knocking him flat on his back. Viper turned to run, but Snake managed to get up and fire his assault rifle at Viper. Once again Snake hit his target, and Viper dropped another flash grenade. "Victory is ours in 65 seconds!"

*I know what happens next. Don't make me see it again.*

65 seconds left to stop Viper for good and shut down Metal Gear Gander's systems. Snake raced around the platform desperately trying to locate Viper. He saw him round a corner and try to run again. Quickly, Snake took aim and fired, expertly hitting the target. Another blinding flash of light soon followed. "I will see vengeance delivered! I have lived for nothing else till now!"

*No, it's almost over. Don't make me see me kill him again.*

Snake instinctively knew that Viper was close to being defeated. He began to run again, trying to find his quarry. Snake spotted him right in front of Metal Gear Gander's remains. Snake aimed and fired, and Viper finally dropped, unable to fight any longer. Wasting no time, Snake climbed atop the wreckage and entered the cockpit, and proceeded to disengage the systems. "I've shut down the controls. There's no way to launch now."

Snake exited the cockpit and climbed down from the wreckage, then walked over to the bullet-ridden body of Black Arts Viper, who was still alive, but barely. "How could I... have been beaten by you?" Viper asked in a weak voice. "Snake, how do you do it?" he continued. "How do you keep fighting....living? For what.... whom.... in the name of what cause?"

*I've asked myself that same question so many times I lost count, and I still have no answer.*

"It's over.... my comrades...... I didn't do right by you all....." Having taken his final breath, Viper's body collapsed with a thud.

"Viper," muttered Snake silently. Although he knew he was nothing more than a deranged madman hellbent on vengeance, Snake couldn't help but feel pity for Viper. Snake then heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He knew who this was; Sophie D'Bram, the GLF second-in-command. At least, if the dream was to follow the events of his second mission to Outer Heaven, that was who it was SUPPOSED to be....

"A tragic end," came a low and droning, yet feminine voice. Whoever it was, it clearly was not Sophie D'Bram. "All this time he let himself be eaten away by hatred and the desire for revenge, leaving you no choice but to finish him."

Snake turned his gaze away from Viper's lifeless body to see just who was talking to him. At first glance, Snake could easily tell it was no one he had ever seen before. It was a very short, elderly woman wearing a white haik that obscured most of her features. Snake wasn't able to make out much of her face, since the hood of the haik cast a dark shadow on her face, but he could see her skin was a tannish color and very wrinked. For a while, she too had been staring at Viper's lifeless form, but soon turned her gaze toward Snake, a look of sorrow and concern in her coal-black eyes.

"Who are you?" Snake demanded, feeling uneasy that the events of the dream weren't going the way they were supposed to.

"Someone who has watched over you for a long time, David," she answered. Snake flinched at the mention of the name 'David'. How did this woman know his real name, when practically no one else did? "Someone who has the utmost respect, and the utmost sympathy, for you."

"Enough!" snapped an extremely nervous Snake. "Just tell me who you are and what you're doing here."

"Forgive me, David," replied the mysterious old woman. "I've neglected to properly introduce myself. My name is Future. And I have come here to bring you urgent, and unpleasant, news."

"Future?" Snake repeated queurulously. "What kind of a name is that?"

The old woman simply grinned. "Actually, for someone in my position, it is a name that suits me perfectly." Seeing as Snake had nothing else to sa to her at the moment, Future continued. "I am - how should I put it - an overseer of time, of history. I am charged with observing historical events and making sure they progress exactly as fate and destiny have dictated," she explained, seeing very clearly from Snake's expression that he didn't really believe her.

"Alright then," said Snake. "So what does that have to do with me?" he asked brusquely. After having to relive two of the most difficult battles of his life tonight, he wasn't in the mood for this weirdness in his dreams too.

"You are one of the most important men in history," she went on. "Metal Gear, as you know, is a terrible evil, and you were fated to be the one to face that evil time and time again," she said, gesturing toward the wreckage of what was once Metal Gear Gander. Snake grimaced, folding his arms and turning his head away from Future. Oh yes, he knew very well that whenever that accursed nuke-launching walking tank fell into the wrong hands, he was always the pawn sent to tidy up the mess. "And now," Future continued, "it is almost time for you to do so once more."

Those words sent a cold shiver throughout Snake's body. His head turned back to face her, a look of shock and disbelief on his face. "What the hell are you talking about?!" he cried. "I destroyed the last one at Galuade a year ago! Not only that, I exposed the conspiracy surrounding it and everyone involved! There can't be another one!"

"I wish that were true, David," said Future, a hint of motherly concern in her voice, "but I'm afraid there IS another one."

"HOW?!" demanded Snake.

"Parker had another one, built in secret, and stashed away at a secret base only he and a few others knew of," explained Future, "and when you exposed everyone involved with the previous crisis, they lost the ability to maintain that base and has become severely neglected. And now, it's only a matter of time before it is...."

"Enough! I've had enough of this crap!" yelled Snake, not believing a word of what this old woman had to say. "This is just a dream. I'm just still shaken up from the nightmares."

"Yes, this is your dream. But I chose to communicate with you in your dreams," said Future. "I see that you won't believe me until I see you in person. Very well. For now, I will leave you be. And at the very least, I can grant you one good night's sleep that you so desperately need." With that, she raised her arms, and a birght flash filled Snake's vision.

*****

Snake awoke to the sensation of sunlight peering through the blinds of his bedroom window. Slowly, he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He glanced at the clock. 9 A.M., almost seven hours since he had gotten back to sleep. At least he it wasn't interrupted by yet another nightmare.....

Then he remembered the strange dream he had right after he went back to sleep. It had started out as a replay of his final battle with Black Arts Viper, and then there was this weird old lady saying something about another Metal Gear, and how he had to go and destroy it. *Bullshit,* he thought to himself. *It was just some stupid dream. There can't be another one. There just can't.*

---------------------------------------------------------- --------------------

In another place, in another time, another troubled soul was also having difficulty just getting a good night's sleep. She too was plagued by nightmares every night, forced to relive in grisly detail the killings carried out by her own hands.

Hikaru Shidou tossed and turned in her sleep as the final events of the legendary battle unfolded in her dreams. Once again, she was forced to watch as she, combining her power with that of her friends Umi Ryuuzaki and Fuu Hououji, delivered the punishing blow that finished off Zagato. Then she had to look on helplessly as the three of them carried out Princess Emeraude's assisted suicide - the act that they found out, much to their disbelief, had been the reason they were summoned to Cephiro in the first place. Hikaru winced as she heard Emeraude's final words, thanking the Magic Knights for granting her final wish.

Even worse, Hikaru feared that next, she would be forced to endure the "other" nightmare she had been having recently: being confronted by that shadowy woman whose maniacal voice made her blood run cold. The woman who made allusions to the destruction of Cephiro.

But this time, that didn't happen. Instead, Hikaru found herself in a wide-open space. It took a while for her eyes to adjust and get a good look at her surroundings. It seems to be the middle of the day wherever she was, with the sun high overhead, beating down on her mercilessly. Looking around, she saw she was in an area that looked like some sort of base. She then turned around, and saw a truly perplexing sight. Before her was what seemed to be some sort of wreckage; a pile of twisted and charred metal. Stepping backward to get a better look, she saw that it resembled some sort of robot, like a mecha out of some anime. "What is this thing?" she thought aloud. "And where am I?"

"A military fortress within the African nation of Gindra, eight years in your future," came a voice from behind her. Hikaru spun around to face whoever it was who just spoke to her. It was an small, elderly woman wearing a white haik.

"Who are you?" Hikaru asked nervously, "and what's that thing?" she added, jerking a thumb back at the wrecked machinery behind her.

"My name is Future, an overseer of history, and I have come to deliver an important message," said the old woman. "What is behind you is all that remains of a terrible weapon. A fearsome weapon that will continually threaten your world in your future."

"My.... future?" said Hikaru softly.

"Yes, my dear," replied Future. "Several times in your future, many incarnations of this weapon will threaten to destroy your world. And each time, disaster is narrowly avoided, all because of one man."

"What does this have to do with me?" asked Hikaru incredulously. "Why are you telling me this? To change the future?"

"No," answered Future somberly. "You cannot attempt to do that, not without great risk. Time is very delicate, and to try to alter these events could prove catastrophic. As I said, each time, world destruction was barely averted. To tamper with the delicate balance of time would be to risk that destruction."

Hikaru just stood there for a while, trying to make sense of it all. "Alright then. You said you had a message for me. What is it?"

"Within a year after this time you are seeing, this weapon will resurface. My message is that soon you will be called to fight, to help destroy this weapon again," replied Future.

"WHAT?!" cried Hikaru. After all that she had been through in Cephiro, she wasn't ready to have to fight again on Earth. "Are you saying that I'm going to the future? To fight?"

"I am sorry, but that is exactly what I am saying," answered the old woman, seeing the sense of dread and pain in Hikaru's eyes.

"But why me?" asked a shaken Hikaru. "Why do I have to do this?"

"My dear child, I know you are still suffering from what you experienced in Cephiro," said Future. Hikaru jumped at the mention of Cephiro. How had this woman known about that? Just how much did she know about her? "But you must fight once again," she continued. "This time, for the sake of your own world."

Intellectually, Hikaru knew that if there really was such a threat, that she had a duty to try and stop it. But emotionally, she was still a wreck after what happened in Cephiro, and wasn't about to charge blindly into a battle she knew almost nothing about again.

Evidently, Future caught on to this. "I can see that you are truly disturbed by this," she told Hikaru. "You feel that this is too much like when you were summoned to Cephiro, and fear that hardships lie ahead. I will not lie to you: indeed, this battle will be difficult. But if the future of your world is at stake, are you willing to sit by and do nothing? You were willing to fight for a land you didn't even know existed before you arrived there. Are you saying you are not willing to do the same for your own world?"

"I.... I...." Hikaru tried to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say. This was all just too bizarre. A mission, to save the future? To stop some weapon from destroying the world? "T-this can't be true," she sobbed. "T-this has to b-be a dream....."

"Yes, I am communicating with you in your dreams," Future explained to her. "I came here this way to give you a message, an advance warning. You will not be called yet. For now, I leave you. And grant you one good night's sleep, free of the nightmares." With that, Future raised her right hand, and a bright flash of light enveloped Hikaru.

*****

Hikaru slowly awoke as her alarm clock went off. She lazily reached out to shut it off, then slowly sat up. It was the start of another school week, and she had to get ready.

Then she suddenly remember the strange dream she had, and the message that mysterious woman gave her in that dream. *Could that dream have been for real?* she thought to herself. *Will I really have to fight, for my own world's future?*



The story continues in Chapter 3

So long,
Grey Fox