The Diamond and the Philanthropist.

by angbhong342626

Summary:

David, also known as Snake, felt lost after Outer Heaven so he went AWOL from Fox-HOUND after he returned to the states, he then decided to take a short trip around Delmarva to clear his head.

Unluckily, his motorcycle broke down. Luckily, he meets a gem.

(AU where Greg doesn't exist and SU and MGS verse got fused)

Chapter 1

Notes:

I am apparently the only one who's though up of Solid Snake/Rose Quartz but I am also one of the few who still writes about Solid Snake. If you know of me then I am more active on SpaceBattles.

May 4th, 1995.

19:04

Delmarva, United States.

Operative: David "Solid Snake" Sears

 

 

David kicked the frame of his motorcycle, to no avail, as black smoke rose from it. Just his luck as he was in the middle of some god forsaken road at the middle of a rainstorm, his only mode of 'transportation' ceased to be a functioning piece of metal garbage. He turned back and looked at both sides of the road and saw not a single headlight from a vehicle.

 

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. If he could then he'd light a piece of cigarette to relieve himself of the stress but he had forgotten his lighter at the motel he had stayed at the night prior. The only thing he had brought with him on this marvellous trip of rediscovery—he thought with dripping sarcaasm—was a pack of lucky strike cigarettes that he couldn't smoke and a Beretta Service Pistol along with a single magazine that he requisitioned when he left the Green Berets for FOX-Hound.

 

He sat down at the muddied concrete road and waited for any vehicle that he can hitchhike from, which was shortly becoming apparent to Dave that any hope of that occurring was going bleaker by the minute. He sighed.

 

His eyes slowly drifted off to the 'blissfulness' of sleep, but knowing what sorts of unpleasantness that awaited him on his dreams, he wouldn't particularly count on that. Just then, soft footsteps smacked across the rain and roused him from sleep, his eyes shot up wide open as he gripped his service pistol from underneath his leather jacket. He saw a woman, whose features he could not precisely identify as belonging to a particular ethnic group or to a nationality and whose height must have made even Andre the Giant look like a teenager in comparison.

 

"Run away, Mister." She kindly and gently uttered as she dove past him and smashed her shield into the pavement, becoming akin to a whirlwind of pink. He must have been dreaming, but he swore that he heard a truly guttural scream coming from the floor, he unholstered his pistol and readied himself by raising the pistol. He then heard her again, "Zeolite. I am sorry for what happened."

 

Appearing from the pavement where the woman struck into was a white morphing figure that was blasting off electricity, and if what he had heard the woman say was true, then it was called a Zeolite. Though he hadn't a clue on what a Zeolite even was. The creature morphed into something resembling a human, a white gemstone appearing at its neck. He breathed in deeply.

 

This Zeolite moved away from the strikes of the tall woman and blasted electricity towards the direction of Dave, though he managed to dive away in time, he aimed to shot at this Zeolite and pulled the trigger thrice. The first and second shots managed to hit it twice in the arm, with the third missing and hitting into a wooden electrical post instead. Though the Nine Mill didn't even penetrate through its skin, but it did manage to distract it long enough for the tall woman to elegantly strike it down with its shield, it managed to get pushed about fifteen meters away.

 

David aimed again, this time making sure not to miss, he pointed his pistol towards it, though the rain made it hard to aim, and he tried to pull the trigger, yet again.  He heard a blast from the pistol, and his aim did strike it at the head but his pistol had jammed; the cartridge had managed to get stuck when it ejected. He dove behind his motorcycle when the monster shot out electricity in retaliation, dropping his sidearm in haste, the tall woman made use of this and struck it at the back with her, David looked back at where the monster and woman had been. A small field of smoke had materialized where the monster had been, and a gemstone had dropped into the pavement.

 

The woman looked sad, for a moment, before she held out her hand and a pink bubble appeared and trapped the gemstone inside of it. David kept quiet, that the woman had managed to fell something that not even bullets could take down was something that both amazed and made him wary. Not even his CQB skills would help him here.

 

"I'm sorry that you got dragged into this, I- where are my manners. My name is Rose Quartz." He held his breath, that was a name that he surely would not forget. He looked at her and only now realized that her belly was exposed and showed her . . . Gem? Like that Zeolite thing with that gem on its throat?

 

He gulped and offered his own, "David. You can call me Dave though."

 

"Well Dave-" She stressed out in utterance when she said his named, "I-am-sure-you-have-plenty-of-questions-and-I-wish-to-answer-them-but-you-aren't-meant-to-know-about-this-so-carry-on-with-your-short-human-life-and-I-will-carry-on-with-mine!" She said rather quickly and abruptly. Dave paused, wait, human?

 

Why feel the need to point out how short his human life was as opposed to hers?

 

This Rose then turned and walked away, and David felt the urge to speak, "My ride is wrecked."

 

She hummed, "Beach City is just that way." She pointed to the East. David slouched and plucked out a cigarette, even if it couldn't be lit, he needed something on his lips. He retrieved his pistol and he lifted his motorcycle to make it stand on its wheels and he slowly pushed it towards the direction of Beach City.

 

He checked his wristwatch, it was now 19:18; just great . . . he doubted any motels would be open by now if there even was one, what sorta backwater town was Beach City anyway?

Chapter 2

May 6th, 1995
07:01
Delmarva, United States
Operative: David "Solid Snake" Sears

 

He's been in rougher places, David thought grimly, he's certainly been in the streets when he was younger and decided to run away from his foster parents and back in '91 when he took part in ODS. Now, he was at the back of a restaurant; just near the service entrance just cleaning his Beretta. He hummed as he cleaned his field-stripped service pistol with a dry rag, making sure to clean and dry every nook and crevice in the Beretta pistol. It was good practice to clean a pistol after it got exposed to rain.

You can call him boring for picking the standard-issue pistol, most would prefer the Browning HP, The Colt Nineteen-Eleven, or the Glock; but the Beretta was reliable and it actually had a safety switch unlike the Glock, as well as having more bullets per magazine than the Nineteen-Eleven.

The differences between Nine Mil and the Forty Five were negligible anyway, though he was sure that the Boss would disagree, he frowned as soon as he thought of the man. So many things he wished to say, why he defected, why, why, and why. But the man was dead, but David will never forgot what he said, that things weren't over yet.

David thought back to last night, that woman and that monster. Rose and Zeo-something. He thought he was hallucinating or that it was a dream, but something like that couldn't be a dream, the scrapes he got during the fight couldn't be explained as anything else than being the result of diving in the concrete pavement. He tried to find the woman at midnight when he finally reached Beach City but he couldn't find jack.

He removed the bullets from the magazine—he only had eleven left, he cleaned each with a rag, and reinserted them back. He then methodically reassembled the parts of the Beretta pistol and after thirty seconds, it was all reassembled again. He then holstered it. He looked at the service entrance of the pizza place and had an awful idea. The pizza place—Fish Stew Pizza—wouldn't be open by now though the staff would still be setting things up.

He opened the service entrance, there were some staff but they didn't notice him which he would attribute to the grueling stealth training that he was put under Fox-HOUND. He sneaked past them. He quickly went prone when one of the staff looked over the counter towards his direction, he smirked, it seemed they didn't notice.

Then taking care not to be seen or heard, David then took out a stick of cigarette, reached out to a countertop stove with the cigarette to light it. He turned the igniter on and then fire appeared. He reached out his stick to light it up.

It was successful, he managed to light it and he quickly put the stick into his mouth. He inhaled, feeling more calm by the millisecond. Nothing can beat a cigarette at the morning.

He then left as abruptly as he had entered, which judging by the scream as he closed the door; meant that he didn't entirely went by unnoticed, he made a mad dash to avoid being caught. Running past quite a few alleyways, having a quick thought about hiding in a Cardboard Box but the only one's he saw were far too moist from the rain from earlier so he rejected it.

He ran, until he reached the beach.

Then she was there. Along with some bird-looking girl.

He plucked out his cigarette. Stomped on it even as he approached her.

"Quartz!" She turned around. "Can you tell me what the hell happened back there?"

"It's the cute human . . ." She muttered slowly.

"Rose. You know this human? Never mind, I'll take care of him." Her bird friend whispered to her but David caught that was said. Again with this 'human' talk, what were they? Aliens? Extra-terrestrials? Government Experiments? Wait, did she say cute?

She shook her head, "No. It's not necessary. Besides, he already saw what I did with the Zeolite." She turned to him, "Umm, Dave, wasn't it?" He nodded. "You're looking for answers, I am sure, but it isn't necessary and your human leadership wouldn't want you to know about this and we had entered into an agreement with them."

"Them? Need-to-know basis, huh."

David heard the noise of an engine approach behind him, he looked back and saw two G-Men with black-tinted shades. "Yes. Now, I believe they're really looking for you."

"Looking for me? Yeah. I think they are."

One of the G-Men, likely CIA, approached him, "Lieutenant David Sears. Come with us." He opened the doors to a darkly tinted, limousine, fleet car. He grunted, and the other G-Men was startled. He hummed, he assumed that they knew of his history in South Africa. Likely so considering that nobody on earth should know of the name David Sears save a few individuals. Fox-HOUND was meticulous that way when it came to keeping things quiet.

He entered it, flicking his Beretta's safety lever as a precaution. He looked around the car and saw Master at the opposite end.

Snake tried to bow but the car ceiling was low enough that he had trouble doing that, "Still got discipline at least, doesn't make up for going AWOL, though." Master said, tapping his cane at David's shoulder. "Kid, you know the kind of hell storm you brewed up when you went AWOL?"

Snake murmured to himself but didn't give a proper response. Master rolled his eyes and silently muttered "Typical, Just like him, aren't you?" He cleared his throat, "Kid, do you know how panicked the government gets when the operative who killed Big Boss just exited through the front door of Langley when he was supposed to give a detailed report of what happened in South Africa to his CO's? I'll save you the thinking, it's a lot. There won't be a court martial, they might just decide to shoot you to spare themselves the suspense." David got handed a manila folder, "Luckily, for you, Fox-HOUND sticks up for its own when it can. This'll blow over in a week when you give the report down in Langley"

Snake opened the folder, pictures and detailed lists appeared of South American, African, European, and Asian dictators, warlords, political dissidents, and even some democratically elected officials were contained on it. "These are targets that the CIA considers to be opposition. They aren't FOX-Hound targets though, they're contracted killings meaning mercenaries will be the one that takes care of them."

Snake spoke for the first time to his master, "Takes care of them? What are you saying?"

"If you want it then you're going to be honorably discharged from FOX-Hound. But, I know that you still ache for war. So I will personally sponsor you when you decide to go on mercenary contracts. You can alternatively just be honorably discharged and live in retirement." Snake thought about it, he wanted to live in Beach City, maybe find out more about Rose. Live as David not as a Snake. Yet his blood practically went uneasy when he could not fight, when he fought that monster yesterday, he wasn't afraid, he was excited.

He hated himself for it.

Snake asked, "What about Rose? Who was she?"

"She's an alien. After the Crimean War, in the Nineteenth Century, a group labeling themselves as the Crystal Gems appeared and struck a deal with every major power at the time to stay out of their business. Meaning we don't even document what they do nor will we ever, but they're an open secret, of sorts. I don't know much about them but I do know that they're thousands of years old and that they waged a world war on earth around thirteen thousand years ago. Which lead to these monsters popping up that only the Crystal Gems can exclusively hunt down." Master then adjusted his shades, "She's also their leader. Other than that, I know as much about them as you."

Snake looked at the manila folder, and hoped he wouldn't regret what he would do next.

Chapter 3

December 28th, 1999.
11:21
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: Solid Snake.

 

The Nightmare's were gone. He was finally free. He rejected every meme that the Boss had given him, CQC, War, and all the training that the man gave him. David decided that from this moment onwards that he will no longer become a puppet of the government nor some figurehead for a cause.

David will decide what he will do with his life and what his life be about, by himself. Not by some traitor. Not by a man who has the gall to justify the usage of child soldiers. No, his life will be about loving life; not eradicating it because of some hatred of not being respected on his civilian life.

David paused.

He decided to ring up Campbell on a new Nokia that he'd been given as a farewell gift from Fox-HOUND. David tapped in the numbers and before long, the call was connected.

David spoke first, "Colonel." Nothing too formal, just a recognization of rank.

It took a second for the man to respond, possibly due to being puzzled. "Snake? That you?"

"Yup." David was always curt and direct with him and that was something that the Colonel had liked.

The man grunted, "I'm over at my in-law's for Christmas. How bout you, Snake?"

Christmas. He had thought about going over to some of his old foster parents for christmas, Possibly regale them with his history in the Green Beret but he perished the thought as soon as it had arrived. If only they could see him now, a killer without an ounce of remorse to show for it.

He doesn't even know why he went straight to Delmarva when he returned to the States. Maybe for the chance of seeing Rose again, or maybe because there isn't so much city pollution like in New York or Boston. Not even he knows when he's the one that made the decision. His only response to the Colonel was then, "I'm over at the East Coast."

The Colonel hummed and Snake talked further, "In Zanzibar Land, after I evacuated, there was a coalition of forces that retook Tselinoyarsk."

"Yes. I know that." Campbell chuckled, "I led them myself. Thanks to your operation, we managed to put together a pretty good enough map of the area before we headed in."

"What about the War Orphans?" That was the only reason that David had called after all.

"Don't worry, Snake. They're being taken care of as we speak by International NGO's." Good, he hang up the call, that's one less loose end for him. Only one more to settle everything.

He ignored the many miscalled notifications from Holly, as he tinkered around with an old Sony Walkman. She liked him, and maybe he felt the same, but he's got too many baggage that he doesn't think that their relationship might be too healthy nor could he give her what she wants in a relationship. He'll have to keep her waiting. Because that's the only thing he can give to her.

He inspected a cassette tape, nothing too out of the ordinary, it was black and looked like it came straight out of the eighties. From what David remembered from Operation Intrude N313, the soldiers of Outer Heaven would only, for some strange reason, distribute mail via cassette tapes. Most of the Outer Heaven troops had their own Walkman as well. Still this cassette tape piqued his interest for a reason.

Before his death, the Boss had given him a cassette tape. It was a miracle that the fire from his body didn't affect the contents of the tape itself. Still, he needed just one last act of closure before he can close that casket that was Big Boss' legacy. He inserted the tape into the Walkman and pressed play, and at first, there was static but then . . .

"This tape was recorded in the event that I die because of some scenario or the other. The Russian thought it would be fitting." A burst of white noise quickly followed, possibly because that part of the tape was added on. So Dave waited for a quick moment until the rest of the audio played, "This tape will serve as a revelation that I, Big Boss, am the father to-" His heart skipped a beat. "David Sears."

He could practically see that bastard's smirk, "It was '74, Costa Rica. And I wasn't really conscious when I had you." Snake gripped his fist. "Now you've killed me. But I deserve it and maybe some part of me wanted it, Lord knows how much I've killed and how many lives I've trampled for her dream-" He threw the Walkman across the room. He didn't need to know anything else. He even kicked the chair that he sat on.

He can reject every lesson, every meme passed on by the Boss. But he can't reject his own genes but paradoxically, he can't accept it. How can he? How can he accept that the man who betrayed the unit he founded and betrayed his own nation was his father?

Damn it. Damn it all!

He was supposed to be free after Zanzibar, not be worse off!

He exited off his motel room, almost ripping the hinges off when he did so and shoved past anyone who got in his way despite his limping leg owing to a stray bullet that he caught when he called in for an evacuation from Zanzibar Land. He slid into his motorcycle and fled into the road, he needed to be alone.

David just wanted peace of mind, is that too hard to find? Why was it that everytime that he could find some way to get some peace that he had to ruin it? He should've never played that tape.

Was he remorseful or saddened that he had killed the only piece of family that he had left? That his only family had offered him a position within his army if he had only accepted? No.

But he had committed patricide. One of the greatest social sin that one can commit.

So many things whirled inside his mind like a tape recorder being fast-forwarded.

He revved up the engine even faster until he saw something far off in the distance, a gem monster not too dissimilar from the one he met all those years ago. The only difference was that it was much more paler than the previous one as well as the Gemstone being located at the Forehead. Nobody else was around. Which meant that he can let loose. He parked his mode of transport.

He chambered his Beretta, good thing that he brought three extra mag's this time. He parked his motorcycle, opened up the seat and retrieved those magazines and put them at the pockets of his jacket. He was more prepared than he was back in '95 and if he wasn't prepared then that was that.

He pointed the Beretta at the monster and pulled the trigger. It didn't dent it nor did it penetrate its hide but it did seem to scream in pain. It swung its arms towards David but he dove to the side before the lightning could hit him.

He quickly stood up on his feet and reached out his right hand which held up the pistol, not taking care to dampen the recoil by using his left hand, and shot it four more times. It zoomed to his side and he narrowly avoided being hit, he then retaliated by delivering an overhead kick.

That seemed enough to stagger the beast and Snake then dumped the rest of his magazine on the Ziolite's chest. He then ejected his magazine and threw it off to the side as soon as he was finished, and then he reinserted it with another magazine and rechambered it again.

He holstered his pistol, taking care not to utilize CQC, and swept the legs of his opponent then delivered a roundhouse kick to the head just as it landed. Despite the bullet wound on his leg, it seemed like he wasn't even injured in the first place.

Call him flashy or whatever, but he preferred implementing kicks whenever he can.

He shielded his face with his wrist when the Ziolite shot off streams of electricity towards any direction. Nearly zapping him as well.

"Yo Human! Move atta the way!" He turned to his left and saw a small, almost dwarf-in-size purple humanoid who dashed past him quickly followed by a taller one with purple coloring, if Dave had to guess, then these were the rest of the Crystal Gems.

The smaller gem humanoid was nearly explosive with the way it had moved, utilizing a whip with such speed that its opponent could hardly counter most of the lashes. The taller one, of course, was not one to sitback as it delivered devastating punches—the sort that would make even the boxer Ali jealous—that it sent its opponent flying away.

David wasn't one to cower, though, far from it. He shot it at the chest area, far from precise than in '95 as he no longer even missed anymore.

The gem monster screamed horribly, nearly bursting his own eardrums, and it split into three, carrying with it the gemstone though it had also split as well. The smaller of the divided monster had dashed towards him, though it was far slower, and he needed to only kick it at the head and sweep its legs for it to keel over. He put in a few calibers on its head for good measure.

As soon as he put in the last round of his magazine on the gem monster, he was enveloped by a small smoke to which he resisted the urge to cough—both the Army and Master had taught him how to resist against gas attacks so he had plenty of experience with these.

As soon as the smokescreen had dissipated however, he was soon constrained by a whip, likely from the weapon that the smaller Gem had used. He looked around to find both of those Crystal Gems—as he had presumed—looking at him with bemused expressions.

"Yo Garnet! Mind if I take this human with us?" She grinned whilst doing so.

Garnet—from what the other Gem has postulated was her name—seemed in deep thought before saying, "Rose will know what to do with him." This Garnet had began to lean downwards to pick up the gemstones, for some reason or the other.

David grimaced.

Garnet also said, "And take his weapon!" whilst she walked away towards the direction to the east—where Beach City was.

The other gem had saluted her way as she picked him up and carried him over her head. Though not before taking his Beretta with her.

David grimaced further.

Chapter 4

December 28th, 1999
13:20
Delmarva, United States.
Operator: Solid Snake.

"So, bub, what are you doing here?" The purple one said, emphasizing the 'you' part of what she had said. She restrained him with her whip over to a cheap monoblox chair as she flashed a lightbulb over to his face.

David could fallback on the usual torture resistance training method and spout off his rank, name, and serial number from when he was in the Army; though Fox-HOUND had then ingrained on him to not saying jack on who he even was. He thought back to Outer Heaven, when he was captured, he didn't say jack and the interrogators had left on their break. It was then that he found the opportunity to break from his restraints and punch a brick wall to reach Jaeger.

Maybe if the opportunity presented itself, then he'd do that, but then again, this was an opportunity to find out more about these gems.

"Seriously Amethyst, you've been watching too much of those detective films!" The bird-looking one (whom he remembered on the beach back in '95) said, though she had revealed that the purple one was labeled Amethyst. Nice to know. Detective films . . . that means that these 'aliens'—for the lack of another term—were exposed to mass media. So it means that, and he meant this without irony, these gems weren't completely alienated from how human civilization functioned. This Amethyst had just laaughed.

He thought back to the route they'd taken to get to where he was now, they had passed by Beach City, that was for certain, and he noted that the Town's infastructure was better than when he last visited. They then went to the beach, to which Amethyst had impressively jumped a couple of meters to go around the broken down metal fence gate that separated the rest of the beach. They then went inside a statue of a giant four-limbed being. Great.

He wanted to smoke a stick of cigarette, right about now, but this Amethyst being had swallowed it while, thinking it was a confection of some sort. He had wallowed in despair when she—at least Dave had presumed was a she—did that.

He heard a door open and close, though he couldn't see where on account of his head being restrained.

"Amethyst? Who is that?" David heard her, just the same voice as when he had first met her on that rainstorm.

Amethyst replied in kind and with a chuckle, "Rose, we found a human fighting a Ziolite."

"A Ziolite?" Garnet, who was at his left side, had nodded, and reached out her hand to reveal the pieces of Gem material that she had picked up from earlier. Rose must've made a motion of affirmation as David saw her reach out and gently picked up the Gem pieces to envelop it in a pink sphere.

"Now about this human?" She turned to look at him without an idea of who he was, it made sense, he was wearing a bandana now and had grown out his hair since '95 so even if she did remember him then she wouldn't have know him still with the way he is now.

Not to mention that David had aged terribly. But he didn't feel like mentioning that for now so he spoke up, "1995. In the middle of the rainstorm, you took down a monster."

Rose made a face of, at first, puzzlement which then turned into a face of recognization. She then made a noise of excitement and her eyes had, and this wasn't a metaphor or hyperbole, turned into stars. "You're that human!"

"Yeah. I am." What else could he say?

"He's that human, Pearl!" She turned and finally gave me a name for the bird-looking girl.

Pearl just snorted, "We've met plenty of humans, Rose. You'll have to be more specific than that."

Rose laughed in earnest, "It's that human I told you about, the one that was brave enough to fight off a corrupted gem on his own."

Garnet cut in, "And earlier, he fought off the Ziolite for long enough that we were able to come in."

Pearl hummed, "Now, I have to admit that is impressive."

Rose chuckled, "Can you imagine? A human fighting against a gem by their lonesome? Even back then, that wasn't even a possibility but now . . ." she drifted off her words and let the others finish it for her. She turned to Amethyst and Garnet, "Now, I want you to free this human and apologize."

The aforementioned purple alien complained, "But Roooose-"

"No. We talked about this." Despite her scolding, she still said it in the light-hearted tone.

"Fine." Amethyst rolled her eyes in annoyance then dematerialized the whip that was used to restrain him. "Sorry or whatever . . ."

The taller one, Garnet, had also apologized as well. "I am sorry as well." Though David had a feeling that she didn't entirely meant that judging by the mischievous tone. Her shades had gleamed as well when she apologized adding further mystery.

"Yeah, it's alright." David scratched his back in mild discomfort. He turned to look at Rose, "Anyway, I want to ask, who are you?"

"You're persistent, aren't you?" She said in a sing-song tone of voice. Well, Master would have agreed with her; after all, only an—and he was quoting him—idiot who joined the Army straight out of High School would be stubborn enough to try and stand up after he's been Judo flipped too many times to count.

David nodded, and she answered. "Well, it's not too terribly complicated . . . we keep the world safe by taking care of these corrupted gems. Aside from Beach City, we don't really interact with human civilization that much."

"I see." That's all he's getting as an answer. But he had another. "Can I see you around, tomorrow?"

She blinked and laughed, though Pearl had snorted. "You can, just don't mind the others." David nodded and Amethyst showed him the way out.

After David had finally returned to Beach City Proper, he decided to squat around the lighthouse for a while assuming that nobody was in there, of course. Wait, where was his Beretta? He turned back to find amethyst chewing the barrel of his service pistol and he groaned.

Chapter 5

January 1st, 2000
07:01
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: David Sears.

Another year. Another day in a world without end. Or so David thought, the world had moved on since the Boss' passing and it was better off without him. David turned a page on his newspaper, taking note of an article about supposed talks regarding revising the Start-II Program as well as expanding its scopes.

He grunted. A week ago, the Boss had claimed that David wouldn't find any type of contentment in the civilian life but look at him now—trying to find a piece of real estate over at the East Coast for no reason at all, and sure, his blood had turned as hot as magma when there was a fight to be had, but he could be better than a bloodthirsty savage.

His mind wandered off to more mundane things, while he wasn't particularly rich—the wealth he'd gained over his stint as a mercenary as well as his salary from both the Green Beret's and Fox-HOUND had somewhat ensured that he could live comfortably. The locals weren't particularly hostile at Beach City as well, sure, they might be a bit atypical from all the corrupted gems that had roamed around but they weren't isolationist and far from it as they'd been more than friendly to him since he had gotten here. The weather was nice as well, though there hadn't been much snow despite the winter season, the nice beach had made up for that.

He tossed the newspaper aside and went to cloth himself with a black turtleneck sweater along with a jacket. He discarded his holster as well, no purpose for it, considering he no longer had a firearm though procuring one was an easy prospect but one that he decided to undertake on a later date. He tied his old leather boots from the army and left the lighthouse.

He shortly trekked from the hill that the lighthouse was on to the nearest phonebooth. Preparing a short quarter, as he did so. He needed to have a call with Master Miller.

He waited at the phonebooth near the Donut Shop because of some business suit who called his spouse after she had found out about his affair. He chuckled silently, the man was being far too loud for such a private conversation. He had a small bit of pity for the spouse though judging by the way the phonecall went, it seemed they had deserved each other.

The business suit screamed and slammed his fist on the side of the phonebooth. Then he ran off on his, it seemed, new Toyota car. It was shiny and looked to be the newest import from Japan.

David walked into the phonebooth, inserted his quarter and dialed in his Master's number. It took some twenty seconds but the call had came through. Some babe had screamed at the background, he noticed, and was probably the adopted child of his Master.

His master took on a casual tone of voice, far different from how he had sounded back when David was still in the Fox-HOUND unit, "Yes, who's this"

"Master." He said, it was a simple word that conveyed his identity to Master Miller.

"Kid." Master Miller replied, in a cooler tone of voice now.

"Did you know?" David breathed in, "That Big Boss was my father?" The short silence served as all the answer he needed but he still wanted a confirmation. "Did you?"

"The both of us knew as soon as we began headscouting for potential recruits that you were that man's son." Dave snorted. "If it's any consolation, I prepared you to face off against him."

David gripped the telephone hard. Then he turned and hung up.

David walked off to the beach, uncaring of how many time's that times that he's circled around the whole thing. He breathed in the cool breeze of the sea as a method of coping with everything that had transpired.

"Dave!" He turned to see Rose at the far distance, running towards him with a smile. He waved at her as a sign that he had heard her. Dave then swept the sand along as he walked slowly towards her.

She smiled and along the way, he had as well. Not a smile of sarcasm or one of mischief. Something far more genuine.

"How's your day?" She asked and he shortly paused his walk to process what he should say and how exactly he could articulate it. Especially to a being such as her. Did she even have a parent?

"I-" He looked down to the sand. "I found out that a terrible man was my father." She nodded in recognition, as if she too had felt the same as he had once. "He wanted to make the world pay for what it had done to him and he didn't care who he sacrificed along the way."

She looked down as well, "I know the feeling." She then turned to him, "Not the Father part but- finding out that the people you know—people you loved are complicit in wanting to destroy the world." She then turned to look at the sea now, her smiling having faded away.

He nodded at her words.

She looked and began to softly sing in a whisper, "Can you remember when little things made you happy?" She blinked and seeemed utterly absorbed in a trance-like state, "When the simple things made you smile-" She cut herself off.

She looked on still, David looked on along with her. "The other Gems are in their rooms—meditating or in Amethyst' case, watching movies."

He looked at the sweeping waves of the sea. "They say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul. When I look at yours, it seems so bursting with life but it's also sad at the same time."

She smiled. "When you've lived a life such as mine, it's bound to be that way." David kept quiet. "Don't look glum, where's that brave man I met?"

He smirked taking that as a challenge to his braveness. He's been brave all his life, so he decided to show her how brave he truly was. He moved his legs in a sweeping motion to swipe sand unto her white dress.

She looked bemused at first before she took a pile of sand and threw it at Dave's torso. He could've dodged it easily but he chose not to as he let himself be struck with sand. He formed a ball of sand that kept its form only because it got wet with water then threw it at Rose's pink hair which hit its mark.

Rose, wanting to take it up a notch, summoned a pink bubble to trap some sand before hurling it towards Dave who barely had a chance to evade it. He laughed. They both laughed as they played endlessly until noon.

They only stopped when Amethyst barged in like a wheel to dust them both with sand.

Chapter 6: Side Story: Just Another Day in a War without End

March 3, 1999
08:00
Undetermined Region, Cambodia.
Operative: Solid Snake.

"This is Snake. How copy Kaz-Actual? Over." Snake spoke concisely across the radio. He'd been sent to Cambodia to assassinate or capture, preferably the former according to Master Miller, a former Outer Heaven operative known as Biting Barracuda. He wasn't given much intel other than that Barracuda led a security detail of around six persons that had constantly harassed an MSF outpost which were handing out anti-Malaria medications amidst an outbreak within the country. This was too easy.

The reasons for why the harassments had continued were uncertain, though Snake held a current hypothesis that the man was baiting Snake out for an ambush. The Cambodian Government had turned a blind eye, typical.

Snake racked his C8 firearm—he had heard rumors that the Canadian Armed Forces had better firearms than the ones that the States had with their own M16. One thing he'd say was that at least the C8 had full-auto.

"This is Kaz-Actual," Came the voice of his sponsor (or more accurately, handler), Master Miller. "Snake. The client has recently said that they want every medical staff at the Médecins Sans Frontières outpost to remain alive. If any of them die, there'll be no paycheck. Over."

"That's a Wilco, over." That'll make this operation much harder, though, it wouldn't be too hard so as to make it completely impossible. It's just another variable, that was all. He ducked another a tree branch, and vaulted over another one to reach a clearing that overlooked the outpost.

"Kaz-Actual. I am approaching the medical outpost. 200 Meters. So far, no enemy movement nor enemy personnel. Do you copy, over." Snake pulled out his firearm which had an attached scope so he could find out the overall lay of the area. So far, the medical workers were doing their typical work unobstructed—they could visibly be seen complaining however, possibly due to their lack of anti-malarial medicine.

A doctor—Indian it seemed—approached outside a tent and went on to instruct the rest of the staff on their daily tasks. Another one of the doctors was stacking a house of cards so as to numb the boredom. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.

Snake slid down a hill to go to reach the outpost, he jumped towards a puddle of mud to avoid hitting stone and continued his way across. He carefully avoided any briars on the way as he went forward, his OD green attire wasn't really useful for that sorta thing, and the only piece of armor he had on was an experimental ballistic vest.

After nearing fifty meters of the perimeter around the outpoat, he decided to contact the nearest staff—which was the Indian doctor from before. He sneaked in and went by unassumed, he tapped on her shoulders. "Ma'am." She yelped, and he smirked.

"I'm a . . ." He looked around everywhere to find a convincing cover story, he looked at his shoe and he sighed, "I'm a Shoe Cobbler, sent in here by one of the higher-ups." She nodded, he sighed out, he didn't even know who was even the client. "Look, I'm here to address an issue regarding continued harrassment within this outpost. Can you tell me anything?"

She recollected herself, "Won't even ask for a name? Fine and as for your question . . ." An american accent it seemed, "Every week or so, a group of hooligans arrive in their fleet of cars to rob us of our medicine. Why? I don't know. Now you can deal with them so that I can deal with the people of-" He shoved her down, and he drew his firearm.

The sound of vehicles came around. He knew who they were. He looked at her and gestured to stay put. He sneaked slowly until he found the enemy element.

He hummed. Pistols. No longarm or carbine. Save for one, who held a strange looking Kalashnikov. He remembered the face from the pictures—Barracuda. He listened in as Barracuda threatened them for their newest supply of Anti-Malarial medicine. Barracuda, hearing that they hadn't given him what he wanted had laughed.

He laughed before he abruptly ended it by slamming a fist into the medical staff that told him of their lack of supply.

This was embarassing, barely any good firepower and now resorting to fisticuffs for threats? Snake aimed his rifle to end this travesty, he gripped the trigger until lead spewed from the barrel, hitting Barracuda twice on the chest and ending him on the head. He quickly sprinted, pushing on the nearest combatant to keel the bastard over. He then shot at a an incoming combatant on the shoulder. Too easy.

Four hostile elements left. One had retreated, and he quickly dealt with him—though he had a small bit of pity. Three hostile elements left.

One of them scrambled and tried to grab a doctor for human shield. The man died before he could even lay a finger on him. Snake looked around, there were supposed to be two more remaining.

A quick pain in the leg turned out to be his answer. A man had kicked him, it seemed, and looked to be intent on placing him on a chokehold. It was to no avail, as Snake grabbed his knife and embedded it in the man's kidneys before delivering a devastating blow to the head. The sole remaining opponent had put up a decent defense, a bit adept at CQC, though Snake knew how to counter that as well as he jumped to deliver an overhead spinning kick.

He huffed, five targets dead and two incapacitated. He extended his finger and held it at his earpiece and radio'd in Master, "This is Snake, Operation is a success. I'll begin interrogation on the remaining survivors, over."

He didn't wait for a reply. He grabbed the man that he made keel over earlier and put a knife on his throat, "Talk, why steal medicine from them?"

The man looking frightened had chosen instead to pierce his throat with the knife in a sickening display of either loyalty or of fear. Snake couldn't tell either way, the other survivor had also chosen to off himself.

Snake cursed silently, "This is Snake, the remaining survivors were non-compliant and ended their lives. Status on the medical staff, no casualties aside from minor bruises." He looked around, each and every one of the people that he'd 'saved' looked at him with apparent fear. "Over and Out."

This mission didn't seem right to him. Far too easy and far too quick.

Still, Snake retreated towards the extraction zone.

Chapter 7: Geronimo

January 23, 2000.
1:22 P.M.
Earth.
Gem Type: "Rose Quartz"

Rose looked on with a curious gaze over at Dave's general direction. Just two hours ago, her Pearl had offered a challenge to Dave after hearing certain rumors from the other humans that he was a soldier. Wanting to test his martial aptitude, Pearl had wanted to see for herself if Dave truly is a warrior. Naturally, Dave had accepted—of course he had, humans were always so courageous though it was a rare day when they could stand up to what Pearl could offer them.

So they had warped to the ancient sky arena, which was quite a nostalgic place for her and was equally a wretched place. This was where the Crystal Gems had truly fought back against the Diamond Authority, not just skirmishes and the occasional ambush and harassment, but a true battle that would mark the start of a war. This place was also where many who had first joined her cause were shattered or had been hardened and this was the place that she had lost hope for a peaceful conclusion.

The arena was now ruined, of course, a Homeworld ship had partly collided with the place when it had crashed because of Garnet's assault on it. Not to mention the melee that had happened.

Though that was enough reminiscing, she turned and looked at Pearl who gave instructions on how the challenge would proceed. She would summon a hologram of herself to fight against Dave, and ranged weapons were not allowed. Dave had curtly nodded and Pearl had created a somewhat advanced Hologram (or so Pearl had said) with a rudimentary sword to be Dave's contender. To Rose's right, Amethyst looked on with giddiness and Garnet was her usual stoic self.

Dave and the Hologram stood and looked at each other in a suspenseful silence. Neither moved nor did Dave even breathe. The Hologram moved first, striking at Dave's right limb, though he had evaded it, choosing instead to duck on his left leg and make a sweeping motion. The hologram had also evaded in turn, though not before thrusting its sword into Dave's gut, he had also dodged that as he began to stand up by rolling back.

The hologram then made a slashing motion at Dave, though he had redirected it by slapping the sword to the side then followed it up by delivering a haymaker at the hologram's face then following it up with a high kick to the shoulder. It was interesting, he was quick and light on his feet, that was for sure, but he also seemed to be lacking something.

Garnet had noticed Rose's curiosity and noted to her, "Dave's holding himself back. He's making a deliberate choice in not being as aggresive as he could be." Pearl had scoffed at that.

The hologram and Dave made move after move against each other, neither making too much progress against one another, though Rose doubted that it would last, considering Humanities endurance, it would only be a matter of time until Dave would secede from the challenge. Still, he might still gain the upper hand.

It was after the five minute mark, that Dave has decided to change his strategy, he slammed his fist against the hologram's shoulder, then redirected its sword whilst simultaenously delivering a punch at its stomach. It was quick, far too quick, for a human to do.

He then varied this movements, kicking at the left side, then the cheek, then at the groin area. He then flanked the Hologram with a glancing blow. Rose couldn't help but think that kicking must be Dave's specialty.

"That." Garnet spoke aloud, "-is how Dave naturally fights." Rose hummed at that and looked at Dave with stars on her eyes, it had fascinated her to how quickly that Humans could adapt. In a few years or centuries, maybe they might even best Garnet in hand-to-hand combat—humans had so many potential after all. It was why Rose had been drawn to them. Their constant evolution was a wonder for her.

Dave continued his blows by then kicking the holograms leg then delivered a palm strike followed by a blow to the head. That had made the hologram back out before then attempting the slash Dave's shoulders, though he had narrowly avoided the strike. He then grabbed the blade and impaled it at the Hologram's guts.

That had ended the challenge and both Rose
and Amethyst applauded him, with the latter bringing in a loudspeaker. Garnet spoke up then and wanted to confirm her suspicions, "Pearl, that hologram was nearly at its highest setting, wasn't it?"

Pearl nodded. Rose made a run to her and brushed her hair carelessly, her Pearl had blushed when she had did that. "Isn't it wonderful, Pearl? That humans could progress their fighting capabilities to this extent. It makes me wonder what else they could do?" Dave knelt on his knees in exhaustion, "It's only a shame that they live such short lives."

Rose turned to the rest of the Crystal Gem's, "You can go back to the temple, I'll talk with Dave." She smiled.

Garnet nodded, dragging a pouting Amethyst with her with Pearl on tow. Rose walked over to Dave who still knelt.

"I'm not doing that again." She blinked. "At the end, I was getting desperate. It was too fast and I-" He cut himself off from finishing what he wanted to say.

"You don't want to fight the hologram anymore?" She asked him.

"It's not that, It's just," Dave gripped his fists, "When I was in the military, I had mentored under a man who taught me CQC." She blinked. CQC? She hummed silently enough that Dave couldn't hear her. If her memory with the human languages served her well—and she had always made an effort to learn each and every language that humans could offer which was hard since human language's are always so unstable and prone to change throughout the centuries—then CQC meant Close Quarters Combat which was an absurd name.

Dave seemed to agree with her on that though, "I wasn't the one that named it." He continued, "He betrayed me. I was on a mission to stop an organization when I learned that the mastermind of it was my mentor." He chuckled, "The funny thing is he sent me on that mission, he expected me to die."

He stood up, "From that day, I vowed that I would never resort to CQC again. I didn't want to use a technique that was developed by that man." He spoke with such disdain when he spoke of his mentor. He began to stand up, fury laced with every word he spoke about his past. "He betrayed me. Lied to every man and woman who have sacrificed themselves for him just for his dream of a soldier's heaven." She looked at him, guilt pounding her non-existent heart. If only he knew about what she had done.

"Today, I broke that promise." She could barely contain her desire to cry.

"I'm sorry," Rose apologized, knowing it was barely any consolation. She seemed like such a hypocrite. How many gems had been shattered for the lie she said? How many had been corrupted?

Every time the dawn broke, she so desparately wanted to confess to Garnet—confess to both Ruby and Sapphire—but every time, she couldn't. Her shame and disdain for herself made it so she could never find the confidence to speak to Garnet.

She looked at a broken glass shard on the ground, and frowned, she hated the being she saw on the reflection.

Chapter 8

February 2nd, 2000.
11:04.
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: David Sears.

David entered the pizza shop with slight discomfort, the employee's welcomed him kindly but nothing too affectionate. The reason why he had been slightly discomforted was that he had trespassed here back in '95 for less-than-savory reasons. He forced himself to not cringe as he remembered what he had done but he put it out of his mind for now as he willed himself to come to do what he'd come here for.

He walked up to the counter, grabbing a ten dollar bill and requested a cheese pizza. Luckily for him, the menu was fairly cheap though the lady back in the counter had tried to persuade him into buying their signature pizza, the fish stew pizza. It didn't look savory to him so he declined. Besides, he wasn't gonna eat it any way. He'd also ordered a burger, nothing too fancy.

He walked to an empty dining chair and lazily sat on it and waited for old friends to arrive. He crossed his legs and doodled some stick figures at a piece of napkin with a cheap plastic pen. Nothing else to do but to pass the time, he supposed, not that he wanted to do anything else—no, he needed to get this out of the way.

The door chimed a bell as it had opened, revealing both Master and Colonel Campbell—both boldly showing the emblem of Fox-HOUND Unit. His Master, has chosen not to button in his coat while the Colonel seemed more crisper and neater than a freshly graduated boot. His master had chosen to remove his prosthetics, it seemed. Now relying on a crutch to walk but he didn't rely on assistance from others. He was tough that way.

"Snake. It's been a while." Campbell said, tense and a little curt. Master Miller had decided to stay quiet though, not even making a humming noise or a grunt.

David scoffed and decided to remind his former Commanding Officer, "Call me David. Not in Fox-HOUND anymore, remember?" Colonel hummed at him.

A pizza employee walked over to David, with both the Pizza and Burger. Though seeing the 'Army' men had startled the employee, nearly dropping the tray of the ordered meal as he tried to salute. David chuckled at that.

Seeing the tray, Miller sat down and was shortly followed by Campbell. Campbell glared at him, "Snake, do you-" with a gesture, Miller had cut him off. Deciding instead of conversation that he would eat the burger, slowly savoring the juices. Miller had always appreciated the fast food industry, for reasons that Dave couldn't begin to understand.

Miller sniffed the burger's scent and exhaled. After an awkward moment of Master Miller eating the burger, it was then that he finally talked, "That's not half-bad. Could use more preservatives though. It's always the small restaurants and diners that taste the best. Don't you agree, David?" Dave awkwardly nodded. "The both of you don't know this, but I've started my own burger chain back in the 80's—Miller's Maxi Buns. Shame what happened to it."

David blinked, trying to reminisce about that chain. He had tasted it once during his adolescence. One thing he couldn't forget was the absurd amount of salt that was put into every burger. He heard that the chain got bust a decade ago when Virginia, where a large part of its chains were, had went bankrupt before being assimilated into Delmarva—along with Maryland and Delaware.

Campbell finally began to continue his talk, "Snake. Do you know what you're doing? Interacting with these extra-terrestials is a bad idea—not to mention strictly prohibited to every serviceman and operative operating under the United States."

David chuckled, "Not in the Army, anymore. Remember?"

Campbell glared while Miller had also chuckled, "Kid's got a point."

"Be that as it may. Snake, these gems are a bad idea-" Bad idea? David wanted to laugh.

He cut Campbell off, "Any more of a bad idea that sending in a Fox-HOUND rookie against Outer Heaven?" That had shut him up quick. David looked at the outside window panel. Taking a glance at Amethyst who was rummaging through garbage. He sighed. "Look. Things are peaceful here, nothing to be concerned about or any threats. I can finally sleep at night."

Campbell looked like he had more to say but Miller finished their talk, "If this is what you want. I'll try to make it so that there's no further harassments your way." Miller began to stand up, "I'm sorry for everything, kid."

Miller left, followed by Campbell. David rubbed his forehead in frustration and decided to give the Pizza over to Amethyst.

Chapter 9

February 4th, 2000
11:00
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: David Sears.

"Sup." Vidalia welcomed in her old friend with what seemed to be her usual greeting, chewing a gum in the meanwhile. She held out her fist, clutching it. In other more direct words, she reached out for a fist-bump.

Amethyst excitedly responded by fistbumping as well, "Sup, Vid!" She gestured to him, "This is Dave!" He nodded in a welcoming gesture. Amethyst, though, feeling mischievous decided to reveal a bomb-shell. "He's Rose's-" She then stretched out, her grin stretching as well. "Boyfriend."

David groaned, really, he wondered how exactly Amethyst got the idea to have him tag alongside her like a dog across the town. She said something about how he's been spending too much time with them or that he's been too busy in renovating and refurbishing an old oak house that he'd recently purchased. It wasn't much his fault, he didn't want to live out his retirement in a lighthouse and he wasn't much too comfortable living in the Gem's place though Amethyst likely wouldn't understand and she would likely reply by saying that living in a garbage bin is suitable enough.

Now, Amethyst had him be acquainted with some of her friends and their first stop was Vidalia. She looked like she was a former punk or grunge, maybe rock not that David had much time to know about those groups of people. Still, she looked to be the stereotype of a person who has slightly outgrown their rock phase.

Vidalia smiled—no, grinned when she heard that. Even let out a chuckle. "He is, is he? Who would a thought."

Dave tried to explain himself, scratching his head. "She's not my . . . she's just a friend. That's all. Nothing going on. Besides, I've never been in a relationship before." Where did she even get the idea that he and Rose were even in a relationship? He wasn't too comfortable being in one and she's far beyond his league in the first place. Really, they were more friends than anything.

He held out his hand for a handshake to which Vidalia shook in a carefree manner. "I'm David."

"Just a friend, huh." She chewed her gum loudly to show that she didn't believe that, one bit. "Sure you are. Come on, Amethyst. I have free time for now since Sour Cream's at my parents for the week."

She gestured them to come along and inside her garage. David took care not to trip any of the dozens or so paints cans and brushes that was littered around the joint. He looked out to see what must have been at least twenty paintings of Amethyst, some made her seem serene while others made her look bizarre like she came straight outta a John Carpenter film or from a surrealist artwork.

The brush strokes were excellent as well, not a drop of paint was wasted—save for the discarded ones and the ones painted with a spray can, though he wasn't an art aficionado so he wasn't the most reliable source to give and hand out critiques. Still, he recognized good art when he saw it.

If the amount of time spent on every one of us these paintings were to be added up, he would gather it'd be half a year's worth at the least.

"A lot of paintings . . ." He wondered aloud. He trailed his pointer and middle finger at a dried painting of Amethyst recreating the Persistence of Memory art by Salvador Dali but she was the clocks instead, as well as the fleshy blob. It unsettled him a bit.

"It's a side-gig but it pays well enough. How 'bout you? What's your job?" Vidalia threw her gum into an old discarded canvas which seemed to be partially finished before a splash of yellow paint splashed unto the rest of the work.

"What's my job?" Truth be told, he never had a job as a civilian. It would seem odd to confess that though, and it would make him stand out if he said that he was in the Army or that he was a mercenary. Going for the next best thing, he then decided to lie. "I-" He looked around the room. His eyes surveying every object. "Make canvases."

"Canvas, huh." She smiled faintly and not believing a lick on what David had just said, "Don't try to BS me. C'mon, tell me." She lightly punched him in the shoulder in a playful manner. Amethyst also stuck her tongue out when he had blatantly lied.

"Yeah, Dave! Tell us!" Amethyst insisted as well, though she heard of him being former army, she didn't know much beyond that.

"I was in the army. From Eighty-Nine to Ninety-Two, I was an enlisted then commissioned as an officer in the Army." He shrugged, it was really nothing—barely a speck on his time as a Soldier. Only thing notable was that he was in the Green Beret's.

"Army, huh. I ain't gonna salute you for your service or anything." Vidalia narrowed her eyes, "Still wouldn't that have have put you during the Gulf War? Not that I know much about that."

A simple nod was all he could offer as a response and a hum was all that Vidalia replied back with. He groaned in embarrassment, really, he wasn't much one to reveal his military background.

Amethyst questioned him, "Army? You mean those humans that shoot at each other at a straight line? That human army is different than gem army's right?" What? Straight line? Her reference for an army is based on the napoleonic style of warfare? That was severely outdated information but one that Vidalia didn't seem to care enough about to correct.

He didn't want to educate her as well. Vidalia called out to Amethyst when she grabbed a stool, "So, I was thinking maybe you can transform into a dragon with its wings chipped."

Amethyst surrounded herself into a white light before she distorted and contorted her limbs. It was a small dragon, yes, but it was probably made that way to avoid crashing the ceiling. Amethyst giggled and said, "Something like this?"

"Yup." Vidalia took out her brush and began to tap it on her temple in contemplation. She audibly
made a noise of humming and had a Eureka moment. "Wait!"

She walked to David and dragged him to Amethyst's left side, he grunted as she did so. She coughed to gain attention before commanding them, "Now. Dave, I want you to lay down. Amethyst, I want you to put one of your claws at Dave's torso."

Why did he get himself into this mess? He laid down, thankfully there weren't any wet paint on the floor. Amethyst put her claws on his ribcage, thankfully, she wasn't too heavy though it did restrict his breathing a bit.

Vidalia ran around the room, knocking over and walking over plenty of Cardboard in the process. To which Dave had to object, "Hey!" Vidalia raised her eyebrow as she grabbed a can of paint, "Be careful with the Cardboard!"

"What are you-" She frowned in an unserious manner.

"Never mind." Civilians wouldn't get it. They never do. Can't they comprehend the tactical usage of a box of Cardboard? Even Master Miller and Big Boss got it so why couldn't they? It rattles his mind to think of a world that carelessly treats their cardboard.

She walked over and grabbed a canvas. She began then to sketch with a wooden pencil. David stayed in place for ten minutes, it wasn't much of a big deal and he'd been put in more restrictive places than the one he was currently on. Yet, Vidalia wasn't done sketching.

She commanded him, "Make it look like you're dead!" he did so and she resumed her artistic process. It was getting warm and the incessant noise of the pencil scraping against the surface of the canvas was all the noise that he had to hear. After what seemed like a lifetime, she raised her thumb up as a sign that she was done.

Amethyst transformed back into her humanoid form and David stood up. Looking at the canvas, it seemed to be a very visceral sight. It had no colors, yet, of course, but the mind could certainly fill in the blanks and it did.

There was his body. Dead. Adorned in plate mail. With Amethyst's dragon form standing over it. There in the background was a castle burning in flame, and its walls crumbling. The dragon itself looked furious, black but emitting a purple flame. It had strong and sturdy scales with razor-sharp claws that dug itself into his body.

It was disturbing but fascinating, most of the details weren't there, he assumed that it'd be filled in afterwards when it was actually painted.

"Cool!" Amethyst said and Vidalia grinned.

"Yup. I'm gonna out-do myself with this one, you two go on ahead—I'll busy myself with this." She began to mix in a can of paint with another one. Dave nodded and he and Amethyst left the garage.

Amethyst told him, "Next! We're gonna go to this cool underground wrestling arena! It'll be fun!"

Wrestling arena? That seemed illegal and he didn't want to be bothered by the local law enforcement but Amethyst didn't seem the type to accept a refusal so with an amount of reluctance he began to follow her. This seemed a good opportunity to test his skills anyhow.

Chapter 10

February 4th, 2000
21:21
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: David "The Serpent" Sears.

David ran forward, only narrowly avoiding a hit to the face as he punched his opponent in the gut. It was too light however as his heavyweight opponent shrugged it off.

He stepped back as his opponent, labeled the Raging Rhino, swung his arm towards him. He kicked the man's face then aimed to the legs next.

"Damned little bastard!" The Rhino bellowed, as he was forcibly made to kneel. David then delivered a flurry of strikes, not enough to break the man's skull but enough to deal concussion. The Rhino leapt to grab David and successfully did so and he held him in a crushing embrace.

David yelled in pain, he should've seen that coming. Honestly, he was way too rusty. There was nothing to it as he head butted the Rhino in response. The Rhino stepped back and David saw an opportunity as he leapt to grab the Rhino's leg to keel him over. The bigger they are, the harder they fall and all that. Despite the Rhino's strength and size, he wasn't slow as well, he lacked a certain quality. He didn't have that certain drive to keep standing up even when all hope is lost.

He jumped back as soon as the Rhino fell back to delivering a running kick. His body was sweating and slightly exhausted but he was excited. It felt good. The pain of his knuckles, the hurting ribs, all of it mixed into an experience that David couldn't get enough of. Still, this wasn't the real thing. No stray bullet to kill you, nor a slip that would risk death. This was safer.

He grabbed the Rhino's arm and placed him into a choke hold by placing his legs between the man's throat. The Referee yelled out the countdown and the Rhino lost.

He stood up, breathing in the moonlight air. The crowd yelled out his stage name. Though it didn't invoke any feeling of glory for him. He wasn't a gloryhound.

The Rhino raised his arms and asked for help in stamding up, and David helped him to his feet. The Rhino laughed, "That was a show, friend!" He had an Irish accent it would seem, "Bloody good one! Call me Sean Colmes! What about yours, Serpent?"

David nodded and offered his own, "David." He didn't offer his last name, it wasn't important and was automatically given to him when he was put in the foster system. It had no sentimental value for him, only his first name which was given by birth.

"Veteran, right?" Sean wiped the sweat of his face off with a towel, "Could always tell. Always. After this, what say you and me get drinks?" Sean shrugged, "You'll foot the bill, eh?"

David groaned but shook his head in refusal, "Sorry, but I got to wake early." Sean had understood and had minded then his business.

Amethyst had then walked up to him, in a bigger form, and screamed in excitement. "Yeah! That's how we do it! I gotta bounce because Pearl's looking for me but it was nice Dave!"

David remembered her earlier performance, she tussled a bit for a round though she was a bit of a show-off in David's opinion though it did not mean that she was ineffective. Far from it, but who was he to criticize a centuries old being?

 

Dave walked to his house, just off to the outskirts of Beach City. In quiet tranquility. Just the cricket made noise as well as the sea striking against the sand. The occasional car passed by but it was nothing.

He entered his house, it was nicer than when he had bought it, the contractors did their job well enough. The windows had been repaired and the roof as well. It wasn't connected to any power-lines though. It had a rustic charm to it though. Certainly lived in.

He then noticed her, Rose, in the living room. With her pink hair, and white hair. He faintly smiled, as did she. "Rose, what are you doing here?"

"Dave!" She held out her arms and revealed a puppy. "Look at this!"

"It's a dog." And looked to be a husky. Seemed to be, at least, a week old.

"Yes! I found it when me and Garnet were in Alaska!" Her eyes shined into the shape of the stars. "Let's take care of it!"

"I'm not really sure the beach would be the best place to raise a husky." It was bred for colder environments, like Alaska or Russia. Its coat was thick for that reason.

She pouted, "Garnet said that as well, she said we couldn't keep them at the palace." she walked over to the door of his room and opened it slowly, the hinges of the door creaked loudly as she did so. Revealing forty-nine more puppies. All adorable and all vulnerable. "But we have to take care of them!"

He groaned, and Rose pleaded with him in a cute manner though she still towered over him. "Please, Dave?"

He mumbled something and grunted, and looked down. "Fine. We'll take care of them." She jumped up in relief, whilst carrying a pup with her. He groaned, where was he even gonna find milk for the dogs at this time of day?

He picked up a crying puppy and began to cradle it to stop it from crying. Rose looked on with a smile.

"Why'd you care so much about earth and life, anyway?" David wondered.

"I- found that it has so much worth. Birth. Growing Old. Dying. Is there anything that's worth more than that? Gems don't age so we can't experience that cycle for ourselves." She hummed as she poked a puppy in the nose. "But when I first saw its beauty, I fought for it."

Dave smiled. "That's nice." Cradling a puppy in the meanwhile.

"Yes." She frowned suddenly. "I have made so many mistakes."

"Yeah. You probably did." He nodded, "But, you've done so many good things. Preserving life. Saving us from the corrupted gems."

"If only you know . . . I have betrayed so many people. Done so many bad things." She let out a tear and let it fall from her cheek to a puppies nose. "Bismuth, Emerald, Amber . . . I'm sorry."

"It's easy to forget the good things you've done. In retrospect." He spoke up with a wisdom that was beyond him. "When you look back, you have a tendency to forget the good that you've done." He put his hands on Rose's shoulders. "Rose. You've saved all of mankind since you defended us from the corrupted gems, even these dogs. Don't let the bad wash away and diminish the good. Don't let sorrow surround you but make it work through you. Turn your sorrow into a strength not as a means to wallow in sadness."

Rose laughed. "You always know what to say, don't you?" She held a bundle of puppies up.

"What can I say? I read some books of the existentialist philosophy. It's a means to pass the time but I learned a thing or two from it. Mostly that by existing, we already have worth and that we can find our meaning by ourselves. Or so I think. I might be wrong." They laughed and they conversed with each other until David slept. Along with the puppies.

Chapter 11

August 22nd, 2000
11:24
Scandinavia, Earth.
Gem Type: 'Rose Quartz'

How many friends had been shattered here? How many who had once sought her death had also been shattered? Only she knew the number. She brushed the back of her palm against a brush. This field, now laden with berries and swarmed by bees, was once the sight of the most gruesome battle of the Gem War. Garnet had suggested, long ago, that they collect the armaments that had been implanted here for safe keeping, Rose had declined. Its place was here now, in this once barren field where the very mist itself was poisonous to most sentient life. Her own sword, too, had been thrown away here. Far from any eyes that might see, for she could not bare to grasp with her hands a weapon that had killed lives.

She looked to the east and saw the remains of a certain drop pod and grimaced. An experimental and synthesized Red Diamond had been deployed on that very pod to lay a decisive blow against the Crystal Gems. It had nearly been successful, wiping out a fourth of their forces, but it had faltered under her powers. Still, the cost was far too heavy; it had been a pyrrhic victory and had nearly laid the Crystal Gem to ruin. Her secret had also nearly been revealed—the sheer exhaustion of her usage of her powers had almost caused her form to regress.

Still, she saw the location to where she had to go and now all she had to do was walk there, and walk she did. Taking care to walk gently across the earth, taking care not to desecrate the memory of those who had died here.

She leaned down and saw a carbonated shard of what was once a gem—Clinohumite. A plucky and adventurous gem, the first of her type. Now, the Clinohumite's as a gem type were extinct. She looked in sorrow for what she had done to the remains, but she supposed that was to be expected of her.

Three gem types, she remembered the number with exactness, three gem types that had gone entirely extinct throughout the course of the war. The secrets of those gem type's creation had been lost, destroyed by an attack. She knelt down and slid her fingers across a blade of a gem who had sought to shatter her. It had not succeeded. Instead, her Pearl had chosen to shield her, risking being shattered. Despite how many times Rose had tried to reprimand her Pearl, still, she had insisted and had vehemently sworn that she would protect her from any foe.

This was supposed to be a peace treaty, she had planned for it to be a peace treaty for both the Diamond Authority and the Crystal Gem, or at least to come unto a ceasefire. An infuriated Jasper had tried to assassinate her when she had arrived and the battle had then commenced. She let out a tear. Ten thousand gems had been shattered on both sides.

No, not ten thousand. It was, to be exact, ten-thousand two-hundred and thirty-five. She had read the reports, read everything, and she had made the calculations over a thousand times. Ten-thousand two-hundred and thirty-five gems had died. The survivors held a worse fate than shattering, they had become corrupted. Only she, Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire had survived the Corruption Beam. Amethyst as well, though, she wasn't a combatant during the war.

David followed her from behind, they were here to recover the remnant pieces of what been Red Diamond. Pearl, as well, stayed by her side. Garnet and Amethyst had stayed behind, the former never liked coming here and the latter should never have to. David had insisted on coming along, though Pearl had protested in disgust. At least, that's what Rose thought it was, seeing no need for them to fight, she had relented and allowed David to join them.

Rose crouched down to materialize a bubble on a Red Diamond shard, and another, until all of it was contained. She pitied the being that might have been had it not been a product for war. She did not understand why the Diamond's had- how did she not even know?

She shook the thoughts out of her mind as she collected every shard, even after exposure to the environment throughout the generations, it still seemed to be functioning or at least could still project a form. Though it was still inactive, after the damage it had sustained, even a Diamond could not project a form. She idly wondered if her healing liquid could help it, but she let those wonderings drift away—it was too dangerous and she did not have the necessary firepower to fell it a second time if Red Diamond still proved itself a threat yet again.

Her thoughts had distracted as she could barely hear a yell from her Pearl, "Rose!" then David had tackled her. Shielding her from a beam. Her Pearl had quickly leapt in action, brandishing her weapon in defense.

Rose tried to recollect herself, tried to analyze her surroundings. She materialized her shield as she did, she saw a tall and corrupted Tanzanite unleashing beams at her. Tanzanite's always seemed more machine than actual gem, and when it had been corrupted, it seemed even more machine but it was all a projection. This Tanzanite wasn't using any technology. Looking at it further, it resembled an old and ugly human-made furnace, seeming far detached to its original form. She frowned, she had thought that this area was free from any corrupted gems long ago. That needed to rectified.

She blocked a beam with her shield and had it deflect unto the Tanzanite itself. She tried to remember the Tanzanite's weakness, it was a gem rarer than a Diamond, there were only two if she remembered correctly so it would not be well-known, though its status on Homeworld was rather low—one was an attendant to Blue Diamond and the other was a captain of a Homeworld Army Squad. So this meant that this Tanzanite was the latter. It's weakness was blunt and concussive attacks rather than bladed ones, she remembered that as a fact.

She commanded her friends, "Pearl! Stay back, concussive attacks are its weakness your attacks won't be doing much, just distract it! Dave, flank and shoot her at the side!" They each nodded, and Dave had taken out his weapon and quickly evaded a beam as he ran to flank it. Pearl, too, had thrown her spear at it to distract it and it had enraged the gem.

Rose quickly leapt a good dozen of feet, the corrupted Tanzanite was a hundred meters away, its beams were easily telegraphed. Still, the beams were powerful and she had to be wary.

She skydived to her target, its focus was on both Pearl and Dave. That meant she had the advantage in surprising it. Of course, she also had the advantage of controlling the speed of her descent back to land. Right now, she needed to descent as fast as she had to and she only needed to will her body for it to be the case.

The Tanzanite barely noticed her approach as she landed on it with her shield. It had damaged its form slightly but it could still maintain its form. Dave shot it a couple of times, keeping quiet as he did so, and that had irritated the Tanzanite.

She swung her arm at it, letting the shield contact the form of the Gem. She then swung it a second time, then projected a second shield to hit it with the combinations of two objects at once. The Tanzanite had moved a couple of feet away, letting her make a running strike with her shield against it.

It was almost ironic for her, the shield, the tool utilized for defense was now used akin to a war hammer. But she had little time to think on that as she had to evade a beam that only barely hit her hair. Pearl came by her side, pulling a human firearm from her storage, and shot at the gem. The blast pushing the gem some dozen feet away.

Rose looked at her in puzzlement and Pearl had blushed and stammered, "Well, I keep it for emergencies and my spear wouldn't deal enough damage . . ." Really? And just the previous century, her Pearl had scoffed at the primitive and barbarity of the weapons that the humans had used. Still, short talk had to be done later.

Pearl racked the slide of her firearm and shot it again before dismissing it, seemingly having not enough ammunition. That was good enough for Rose as she leapt again in the offensive, hitting the gem again and again. Not giving it a moment to rest, it had struck her with a beam briefly, but it seemed to be for naught. She struck it again until its form retreated back to its
gem.

She sighed, and breathed in the air. Despite her not needing to, it had always comforted her to breath the oxygen that had sustained life on earth. Still, she focused on what was important and she bubbled the Tanzanite and picked it up along side the bubbled Red Diamond.

She stood up, standing taller than before, and looked to her friends. Her Pearl looked at her with a shocked expression and Dave looked alarmed. They each looked at her, she was confused. She looked at her self and, this was not supposed to happen.

She grasped herself, feeling her body, her attire and her form had regressed. Where she had worn a simple white dress, now she wore a pompous and awful pink dress that was emotionally suffocating for her to wear and don. Her hair as well, even her fingers. She had regressed back into her first form. The Tanzanite's beam must've done this, she was certain, even when she tried to she could not go back to her previous and preferred form. The beam had exhausted her to the point that she could not regain her form at this instance. She had regressed back into-

"Who are you?" Dave said. "Where's Rose?" He then pointed his firearm at her.

Pearl couldn't even respond.

"I-" She gripped her arm, "am Rose." She stared away in embarrassment.

"Pearl! Can you-" David tried to confirm with Pearl, "verify if this is Rose?"

"I can't say." Pearl ultimately had to say, "I'm under orders not to say anything."

David clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Can anyone tell me what's going on?"

"You have to promise me that you can't say anything about this to either Amethyst, or Garnet." Rose had to say, "Promise me."

David raised his eyebrows and Pearl projected a spear and put the tip against his throat, "Promise her." She said in a dangerous tone. As if she was more than willing to end him if needed.

"Fine." Rose nodded and, after finally regaining enough energy, she transformed her form back to being a Quartz again.

"Let's not talk about this again." Rose said. Scratching her arm. "Let's return to the warp pad."

 

I'll fix any problems in post. Next chapter will be a part 2 of this and then the next will be about Garnet.

Chapter 12

Summary:

Feel free to point out mistakes.

August 22nd, 2000.
14:10.
Delmarva, United States.
Operative: Dave.

They warped back at the Crystal Temple and were welcomed to the presence of nobody else. Amethyst and Garnet were nowhere to be found, possibly at their 'room', they all said nothing. Pearl had gone silent, so did Dave by threat of violence and bodily harm. Rose on the other hand . . .

After what had happened on that field, after Rose had morphed into someone else differently. She had promised him to stay quiet about that, and their return to the Crystal Palace had gone quiet as well; Pearl, on the other hand, looked like she would kill him and be proud in doing so. For what reason, he didn't know.

David looked at Rose as she began to sprint and retreat back to the privacy of her room. Her room. He got the general gist of how the gem's rooms worked by Garnet. They had their own room that were customized to their personalities and histories, and he was warned not to enter any one of them. The rooms can only be unlocked, so to say, by the presence of the gem who owned that room. There was also a short window where an individual could enter the room before it could close.

He knew what he had to do.

But right now Dave . . . felt conflicted. He had half-a-mind to leave right now. He wasn't much too interested in other people's lives and he was willing to mind his business. Despite their close bonding, he knew that relationships would only hinder him and besides Rose would have already been with other men in the millenia's that she's been on Earth and he would just be a footnote. He mentally laughed, and he was never in a relationship before so what reason did he have to change that?

He tried to justify to himself not to enter that room to stay away from Rose's affairs. He knew that now was the point-of-no-return, if he entered that room then his life would forever be different but if he stayed then things would stay in the same status quo.

But his heart spoke different, his feet stepped forward, then it stepped again. Then he ran, trying to keep pace with Rose. Pearl yelled at him to stop but he didn't listen. Right now, he had to know.

Rose entered the room, and Dave saw a vast sea of pink clouds and not much else. He ran faster, breaking his limits and entered the room before it would close behind him. He looked ahead to find that Rose wasn't there and instead of pink clouds the environment had shifted to a large hallway. The architecture was alien, unknown to him, and not even the Crystal Palace looked like this.

He willed himself to move forward. He was an idiot, the rooms of the Crystal Gems were dangerous for trespassers. He knew that but he had to enter so that Rose could answer what he meant to her and what she had meant to him, if another day would pass then he was certain that the answer would never be said. This wasn't about her morphing into somebody else.

He saw the unimaginatively tall abstract figures of three persons, presumably gems. The first one was blue, the other was yellow, and the last and tallest was white. He didn't know who they were, but he had a feeling. They were likely the leaders of whoever that the Crystal Gems had opposed, he didn't know much, but he was certain of that fact. He was kept out of the loop when it came to Gem affairs and he was fine with that fact, he's certainly been in need-to-know basis' for practically his whole career and he didn't see reason for that to change.

The Blue and Yellow figures argued, something about a planet and a war. They said things about how they disappointed and annoyed at a certain person, but he couldn't hear who exactly they were talking about.

'She's an embarrassment' said the yellow one, 'Just after giving her a measly planet, already, a rebellion has broken loose. We've never even had a rebellion before in all our history.'

'We should have lectured her better' the Blue figure then said, 'Maybe we should've given her a satellite for her to manage before she was given a planet. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened.'

'A satellite? We didn't need one for training and she certainly doesn't need to!' The Yellow Figure snorted.

Then the White figure, taller than the rest of them, spoke her piece, 'Earth is to be harvested. This rebellion is nothing more than a setback, nothing more or less.' Harvested? He had a bad feeling about that.

'But White! More and more of our forces, even mine, are rebelling of their own accord. They're now fusing in a heterogenous manner.' The Yellow said the latter parts in a disgusted expression.

At the opposite end of the hallway, if he focused his eyes, he could see a figure from the distance. It was pink and held the same attire as what Rose had worn when she had transformed. She looked at the figures with apparent regret and sorrow. Dave ran towards her, she looked at him with an expression he would think was shocked and ran away from him.

The hallway shifted, turning the solid structure into a gaseous form before it turned into an endless field of pink grass whose blades was ankle-high in length. He turned around and saw nothing else beyond the grass. Except for what seemed to be a palanquin, visible on the inside, if barely. It was pink and ornate, reminiscent of a design from the Victorian Era of London. He approached the structure and inside it was a throne, or a large seat, that he didn't think could be seated by anyone else save those figures he saw ealier.

He walked to the seat and saw her. Rose, in a form unknown to him. She was huddled over in a vulnerable state that he did not think she would ever be in. He climbed up the seat, for it was taller than he, to see her.

Dave approached her with a tenderness that he did not even knew he possessed before today. Touching her shoulder, she recoiled at the slightest contact his fingers had made with her body. He felt awkward, out of his depth, he could only offer some form of apologies, "I'm sorry."

"I never expected you to see me like this." She had said, any ounce of joy and excitement in her tone having been seeped out from her like a wet rag being strained. He did not like seeing her like this. "I never wanted to have anyone see me like this ever again."

He drifted his eyes up to the ceiling of the palanquin, "I want to know . . ." he breathed in deeply, "What do you think of me?"

She hummed idly, "A brave human, the likes of which I've never seen before." If only she knew, how much evil he did, how much of a war criminal he was. In his darkest moments, he thought himself fit for the gallows if he was ever convicted for his crimes. Yes, he was unlike any human she has met for no other human could compare to the crime he's committed.

"I-" He gripped himself, "I don't know exactly how I feel about you. I didn't think I would ever feel like this." That was the truth, he supposed. "If you don't want me to, then I won't ask why you look like this."

She chuckled dryly, "I am not a Rose Quartz. My gem that is." He raised his eyebrow, "I was, or am, Pink Diamond. Of the Diamond Authority of Homeworld. You probably don't know what that means." He nodded, "To cut most of the details short, I am a selfish and self-centered Gem that was responsible for those corrupted gems."

Her voiced waivered and looked so close to crying, "When I was still Pink Diamond, the one thing I wanted was my own planet so I can be seen in the same light as the other Diamonds. The Diamonds are the leaders of the other gems, and I was one of them. I wanted to be a Diamond of my own right, if only I knew what that had really meant. When Gems conquer a planet, they harvest it so they can grow any sort of Gems. Then when a planet has served its purposes, they'll let it die. When I saw the Earth, really saw it and not just look at it, I realized the fragility of life. So I tried to convince the other Diamonds to stop what they were doing . . . they didn't listen, they never did. So I did the only thing a self-absorbed child would do and rebelled in an idiotic way—I even disguised myself as a Rose Quartz to cover up my identity, one thing lead to another, and my rebellion wasn't about Earth anymore but about the individualism of Gems in general. But it doesn't matter anymore because when the three Diamonds launched a corruption gem at Earth, nobody else survived the corruption except me, Pearl, and Garnet—Bismuth as well, but I'm too much a coward to face her after what I did. Amethyst came later." She chuckled as if she was nothing more than a dry husk, "It's funny, I never talked about myself like this before. Now do you see? How awful of a gem I am? How egotistical and narcissistic I am? How many lives that have been thrown away because of my temper tantrum?"

He cut her off with a boldness he didn't think he'd have to express, "You're wrong and you're lying to yourself, I think. When I see how the rest of the Crystal Gems admire you, I understand. They let themselves be led by you because you've demonstrated far too many times your capacity for love. When you saved those Alaskan dogs, that showed me how much you loved life and I think the others are moved by those acts of kindness. They're led by you not because of deceit but because of your love." He offered his hand so she can stand up and with a slight hesitation, she accepted the offer. Standing up to show her true form, a Diamond in all its splendor. Tall and glamorous.

She laughed sincerely, "Thank you, Dave."

He ashamedly then said, "I want to know . . . I never felt this way towards anybody else before, I was never in a relationship before so I don't know what this is like. When I'm with you, my heart beats slower and I feel more content." That was true, shameful as it was considering his age, between enlisting durig his teens and his combat service, he never had the time for a relationship before and he didn't think he would have wanted to be in one. Even now, he was uncertain, "Can you tell me what I feel now? Can you-" This time, it was Pink Diamond's turn to cut him off, by closing the distance between their lips. It was close, and unexpected for Dave. But this was all he needed to know as confirmation and affirmation. Though he recoiled back in surprise, she laughed and he did as well.

This time, it was his turn to confess, and he didn't know how to congregate his thoughts. So he started off with his past, he laid out his confession like a man confessing to a preacher, "I'm a killer. Labelled as a hero. When I left high school, I naturally went to the army, and I was sent off to war. I was good at it. Then after that, I was assigned to a unit called FOX-Hound. My first mission, I was sabotaged but I completed it anyway. It was after that mission that I first met you. I had prematurely left my post because I felt lost, when I saw you and when I met you, I suppose I didn't feel so lost." She chuckled, "You already know how the rest of it goes but when I left you on that beach. I was given a choice: Become a civilian or stay as a soldier." He gripped himself, "I chose to be a soldier. Because it was the only thing I ever know. Then, some months ago, I killed my father. I was angry at him and at myself, so I wanted to meet you again. Now, here we are." He was more concise than Rose, and he had abridged his story a lot more. But that was his confession. She chuckled and he had too, and they laughed at the absurdity of their life and at the absurdity of life, in general.

"What do I even call you?" He asked, "Girlfriend? Lover? Significant other?" The words seemed foreign to him after what he'd been through.

"Don't worry about it." That was all she had to say. To the Palanquin's outside laid the exit for Rose's room, materializing in an instant. "Come on. The others are probably waiting." She morphed back to who she truly was, Rose Quartz. She opened the door and waited for him to catch up.

He smiled, life was at the other end of that door. It's time he stop acting as a soldier and start being a man. He unholstered his pistol and dropped it to the floor. It was time that the grip that war has had on him for stop, and for him to choose life. This time, unlike before, he'll chose life. His life might have an expiration date, all humans do, but that doesn't mean he has to worry about it. "Yeah. Wait up."

Chapter 13

October 1st, 2000.
13:21.
Delmarva, United States of America.
Operative: Liquid Snake.

"Remember Boss, Solid Snake is a formidable opponent." Ocelot reminded him for the umpteenth time over on the codec, but Snake simply snorted in response. The old Russian may be right, but, after what he'd been through, he doubted that an urbanized and coddled snake from the States could compare to his prowess. His time in the Angola-Zaire had hardened him and taught him how to survive against a harsh world.

He then mentally relayed and which was transmitted over to the codec, an ingenius piece of technology. "Yes, yes."

Who did this man think he was talking to? He had of course done his due diligence, he was no fool, and he had researched extensively regarding Outer Heaven, Zanzibar Land, and Solid Snake. How Solid Snake had been personally trained and had personally killed Big Boss while he had been captured back during the Gulf War and taking away his chance for both glory and gratification.

He stepped out of a fleet car, nothing grandiose and was easily forgettable, and felt the concrete beneath his feet. Decoy Octopus, a loyal man, saluted at him and drove off to the extraction point. It was a welcome surprise that for a man with extraordinary talents and abilities that Decoy Octopus also made for a good chauffeur.

His mission, personal as it was, was simple. Spy on his brother, the bastard who held the superior genes, and determine if he could hold a threat for what Liquid had in store. The FOX-Hounder had relegated himself to living out the rest of his days in an embarrassing house in a town, really more of a hamlet, in Delmarva. Honestly, that he had shared blood with someone like that man was proof that the world had a certain sense of humor. A man with his blood should be a shameless killer, a man with a vision, and a man followed by many. Solid Snake had tried to forget the former, didn't have a vision and was as likely to fall into obscurity voluntarily. It was like he had no drive.

Liquid Snake approached the hamlet that labelled itself a City on foot, his Sneaking Suit dampening the noise everytime his feet collided with the earth. He hated wearing it, not because of any tactical reasons or for hatred's sake. Rather, he had hated it because it had emphasized stealth, he snorted at the word. A warrior need not rely on stealth, only a coward would. He had disliked it when he had served back with the British Special Air Service and he had still disliked it now.

A car sped past a small road on the hamlet's road, and Snake had crossed the road shortly after. Even if he did not need it, it did not mean that he was ignorant in applying it to his movements. To the contrary, if he put his mind to it then he was certain that he could sneak past and inside the Outer Heaven fortress without even a worm having felt his presence.

The hamlet—he refused to call it Beach City—wasn't particularly busy in this time of day and prior reconnaissance by files from the C.I.A. on this place had a lot of redacted and otherwise blacked out words, yet it still stated that this town was otherwise peaceful. In fact, there wasn't a lot of information about this town—no brochures or pamphlets encouraging tourism—really the only reason people went here was from word of mouth and the apparently popular underground wrestling scene.

He was getting closer now, a hundred meters away was his targets house, there he saw the man he was looking for, Solid Snake. Laughing and making jokes, as he observed with a binocular, with a woman of auburn hair that the lighting would have had him mistaken into believing that it was pink. He laughed and made merry with the woman. Along with a garden of dogs, all wagging their tail in excitement.

Liquid Snake loathed it, loathed the weakness and the softness that the superior brother. Still, disregarding his emotions, this confirmed that Solid Snake was much too soft and vulnerable to be a threat to his plans. Despite that, he was not satisfied. Not at all.

He was a soldier, he was cloned for that reason. Solid Snake, too, held a soldier's history. To fade into obscurity with nothing but a whimper was insulting to any true soldier, so they needed to fight. To feel the clashing of flesh against flesh and the snapping of tendons and the brutality of combat. Then, would Solid Snake die with dignity befitting his birth and then would he realize how little he had lived up to his title as Snake.

But, how exactly could he rile him up for combat? Simply asking for a fight would do little to engage Solid Snake's warrior spirit and, Snake felt, he needed to fight as his true self.

A million ideas flowed past Snake's head, a lot of them distasteful and plenty were far too complex. The first idea, publicly cause an explosion at one of the buildings or residences then announce a fight. He quickly shot that down, far too many variables to go wrong, the local law enforcement would get involved and despite their incompetency, Snake did not want to fight them. The La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo would also get involved and they would quickly silence him and extinguish his plans for a warrior's haven. Then, he thought, maybe abduct the woman. He shook it off, hostage-taking was far too much a hassle for him. Maybe, fire a couple of concentrated sniper shots at the man's house. Yes, nothing to injure him but cause him dismay. Kill a dog or two, lord knows how many he even had, and ruin his property. Then call him on the telephone to tell him where they would fight. Yes, he clutched his scoped firearm, his moment of catharsis was in hand.

Then, he felt a hammer being cocked behind him. How? He turned behind to find Kazuhira Miller, a man he had loathed back in his childhood, pointing a pistol at him. Snake smirked, this was also good. A hassle hostages may be but Solid Snake would leap to the defense of his mentor.

"I'm telling you this, and I won't ask twice. Who sent you?" He did well to hide his prosthetics, as if he wasn't a waste of space. This was good.

"My name is Eli." That had done well to shock the man, even more so when he had seen his face. A near identical match to Solid Snake, save the blonde hair which was attributed to his maternal donor's genes. That shock was all that was necessary for Snake to reel back for a punch.

Chapter 14

October 1st, 2000.
19:00.
Delmarva, United States.
Dave.

Dave grunted as he picked up the telephone, it was the first call that he had ever received on his homeline though already he had already regretted it, it was probably some salesman or some other advertiser. His curiosity had gotten the best of him, however, and after Rose had preemptively left because of Gem business, he had felt bored. He tried to command one of the dogs to sit as he listened to the telephone. On the other end, was a pregnant silence of nothing but heavy breathing. "Snake. I've been captured."

Dave's spine stood as straight as a steel rod as soon as he heard that, his nerves turned as cold as russian water and his eyes immediately shifted focus. "Where's your location? Who captured you?" Quick, straight to the point, and direct. No superfluous and extraneous words or language, he needed Master Miller to hear him as clearly as possible.

"Hello, Solid Snake. If you wish to have both your master and yourself to live then you need only head to the center of this wretched little hamlet. Don't worry about any collateral damage, it's been taken care of. And do not bring any guns or I'll kill Kaz." With that, the line was cut. Snake immediately went to his wardrobe, taking off his T-shirt and Jacket to button-up on his OD Greens. He had not taken the time to properly clean it and he had wanted to toss it in the garbage. As fast as he was going, he would reckon that his old Drill Sergeant would yell at him for improperly wearing his uniform, not that he really cared.

He then immediately went to wear his knee and elbow pads, and a combat knife. He looked as he did back during Zanzibar Land, if a bit unfit though not overtly so, he could still take out a Metal Gear if he had the chance. Then, taking care not to forget, he wore the bandana of Kyle Schneider. A resistance leader and friend, even if Zanzibar Land had turned them against each other. Yes, he was prepared.

He bursted out of his house, sprinting to the Beach City center, Barbara Miller had passed out in the ground and in fact, everyone did. He went to check one of their pulse to verify if they were either dead or alive and he was relieved to know that they still lived. Yet, there was no chemical gasses as far as he could observe that would have done this. Not even a tranquilizer.

Gunfire roared across the street, five-five-sixers if he had to guess. He leapt forward and hugged a brick wall for cover, when he looked to where the source of gunfire was, he couldn't find who had fired it. Only the faint scent of gunpowder, musty and like rotten egg and not even a spent bullet case. He carried on, checking every street corner and alleyway. There was nothing.

He cursed under his breath, was it a former Outer Heaven soldier or a Zanzibar Land soldier that had wanted revenge? Maybe even a FOX-Hounder?

David was ill-prepared to handle a FOX-Hounder if that was the case. He didn't have a gun and his spirit wasn't quite up to it. Another gunfire rung across the street, this time shooting near his leg. Pinpointing the trajectory, he would guess that it was shot from the rooftop. Without a moment's hesitation, he used a dumpster can as a means to elevate himself before he climbed to the rooftop of the arcade.

There, was Master Miller. Hogtied but not gagged. And a masked assailant holding an scoped AR-15.

Dave pulled out his knife, "Your life has led up to this moment, wouldn't you say, Solid Snake?" The assailant said with dripping hatred and disdain for him.

David stayed silent, shifting his whole body into that of a standard CQB stance. He looked around to survey if any other enemy element were present and after looking, he turned his full attention to the man. He looked to be donning a Model IV Sneaking Suit, confirming his status as a FOX-Hound member.

David had once gotten a chance to look at the Sneaking Suit's produced by FOX-Hound, among the models showcased was their first model used by Big Boss as well as the first prototype produced by the USSR along with the Model IV, though he didn't get the chance to wear them, as he didn't have to and he had left the unit after Outer Heaven, he did know the basic advantages of the Sneaking Suit. First was the dampening of footstep noise and any other basic forms of movement. Second was that, due to its featherlight construction and tightness, it would be more stamina-efficient and give the user more resiliency and power. Third was that the skin of the suit was bullet-resistant. In short, David was at a clear disadvantage.

He supposed he could make a mad dash and tackle his opponent, but the AR-15 deterred him from that idea. He didn't even have a ballistic vest to tank him from the shot.

"David." Master Miller said with gritted teeth and with desperation, "Run."

"No." The assailant removed the AR-15's magazine then field-stripped every part to discard. Was he disarming himself? "I am Liquid Snake. Just like you."

Liquid Snake? Dave tensed up even more, a person having that codename would be dangerous. They were masters of warfare, any and all kinds of it, and they were discreet. He had even heard tales from his time as a mercenary of a Snake who destroyed a soviet military base while adhering to the practice of OSP during the sixties. Needless to say, by sharing his codename, he had made his skills known.

"Why so serious, Brother?" Liquid Snake removed his mask to reveal a face that David had seen over a million times before, if blonde. It was uncanny. Aside from being more muscular and having more muscle mass, they would even be twins. Did that mean that Big Boss had birthed another son? "Do you know who I am?" Liquid Snake laughed and then composed himself, "I always knew that we would meet each other, you stole what was rightly mine and took my birthright."

Birthright? What was he talking about?

"Now, after the sacrifice of our brothers, after how many years, finally we can meet. The brother of light and the brother in the dark. There definitely is a resemblance, don't you think, little brother? Or should I say big brother, I'm not quite sure. Anyway, it doesn't matter. For you and I are the last surviving sons of Big Boss, and I wish to rectify that." Liquid Snake pulled out a pistol, "I propose a challenge, I have a dear friend who can end Miller's life if you try to cheat in it or if you refuse then I will shoot him. You see, I loath you and you know nothing of me. I have a challenge in which you and I will fight in brutal combat, no guns and no knives. What do you say, up for a tussle?"

Miller yelled from the side, "David, don't! He's just goading you! Get the gems!" David paused to think on that, contemplated it even. Yes, getting the gems would be the wisest action. But Master's life was on the line, and he had a daughter. That filled David with unmatched resolved, whether he himself will live or not, Master Miller will live. He only hoped that Rose will forgive him.

"I accept." He spoke with frosted calmness. He had to be, otherwise Liquid would get the upper advantage. He tossed his knife aside, leaving himself unarmed. As soon as Liquid discarded his pistol, he too was unarmed.

They circled each other, Liquid staring at him with an arrogant smile and without a combat stance. Then, faster than Dave could anticipate, Liquid practically teleported in front of him and punched his guts and elbowed his jaw. David spat out his spit in reaction. Then with gritted teeth and determined resolve, David responded with a punch to the thyroid then a kick to the knee. Liquid anticipated the first move but was unable to react to the second. David then performed a roundhouse kick to Liquid. Good.

Liquid retaliated, moving faster than David could react. Three punches, that was all it took for David to keel over. It wasn't long before he was back on his feet, it had hurt however. Liquid then attempted a quick haymaker, but haymakers were easily telegraphed and David had avoided it. They then went blow for blow, hitting each others jaws and legs.

However, David had faltered first. Buckling under the strikes and hits and eventually being shoved from the rooftop to the painful pavement. He tried to stand up but Liquid kicked his head in and pummeled him brutally.

David then realized the wider advantage that Liquid had against him. Where as he had fought with clarity and with a calm mind, conviction in saving Miller as well. Liquid fought with fury and disdain had stained his very arms.

He got put into a chokehold by Liquid, specifically a blood choke. Strangling his neck and he had only escaped it by biting Liquids finger. He put into a few distance away from his opponent, now supposedly his brother. Liquid laughed, "Do you know why you are always put into dangerous situations like this? Why you can't quite seem to escape combat? It's in your blood and it's your destiny." He dodged a flurry of strikes from David, then countered the last hit with one of his own.

"Les enfants terribles . . . the terrible children. That's what the project was called. It started in the 1970's. Their plan was to artificially create the most powerful soldier possible. The person that they chose as the model was the man known then as the greatest living soldier in the world..." He grabbed a tired David and lifted him over his head to then throw into the Fish Stew Pizza restaurant. David felt the force of the glass panels break as he was thrown. "But father was wounded in combat and already in a coma when they brought him in. So they created us from his cells... with a combination of 20th century analog cloning and the Super Baby Method." Liquid wasn't done yet, he grappled David and threw three sickening punches. Each strong enough to break concrete.

"They fertilized an egg with one of father's cells, and then let it divide into eight clone babies. Then they transferred the clones to someone's uterus and later intentionally aborted six of the fetuses to encourage strong fetal growth... You and I were originally octuplets." Liquid laughed but David spat at his face in stern rebellion. Liquid smacked David for that. Then he reeled back for a stronger punch then he released it on David's face. Then he pulled in for a jab, two in fact.

"Allow me to finish. The other six of our brothers were sacrificed to make us. We were accomplices in murder before the day we were even born. So it was you and I. Two fertilized eggs with exactly the same DNA. But... they weren't finished yet. They used me as a guinea pig! To create a phenotype in which all of the dominant genes were expressed.... to create you. I got all of the recessive genes!" He threw David back into the streets again, and threw a restaurant chair at his back. He kicked, punched, and struck at David with anger; David could barely block it. In fact, he couldn't. "You took everything from me before I was even born and now I will end you! And surpass Big Boss!"

David retaliated, performing a roundhouse kick and then a back kick. That was enough to stun Liquid, "Shut up. I don't care about your monologue and I don't care about Big Boss. You can all go to hell for all I care." He then head butted Liquid before he went in to sweep Liquid's legs off to trip him. Once Liquid was on the floor, he then went for a front kick on Liquids chest. Then pulled in for a jab at Liquid again and again.

Liquid was on the ground, dazed for a couple of seconds. That was all the time that Dave needed to retreat and recuperate his injuries, even for a short minute. He jumped past an unconscious body of a restaurant worker, and hid behind a garbage can.

He inspected himself and found his injuries grievous. His right arm was nearly about to give, his back close to shattering, and his nose practically caving in. He took off his bandana to give support to his left leg which would have turned limped. Adrenaline was all that was keeping him alive, if only barely. He muttered an apology to Miller and to Rose.

At a puddle on the ground, he swore that some man with a mask had stared back at him. He cursed, his mind was playing tricks on him. He needed to breath, not in a shallow manner but breathe deeply. He inhaled in for four seconds then exhaled, then he continued doing that for forty more seconds. He heard footsteps to his side, Liquid.

David wondered, was he telling the truth? Were they both clones of Big Boss? He shook his head. It didn't matter. He'll likely die anyway, no point in contemplating his history. Damn it, can he go on like this? God, he wanted to go back and get Rose's help. Even Amethyst or Pearl. He needed help, besides no man was an island. But, he reminded himself, Miller had a daughter. A young girl in her teens by now, who he had met during his time as a mercenary. No, he wasn't going to leave a child as an orphan. Not on his watch. Not just that, Miller trained him and that was a debt that he hadn't paid back just yet. God, but he wanted to, he wanted to get the Gem's help.

So he gritted his teeth and forced himself back on his feet. He needed to think, Liquid was a strong hitter. He could give out as strong a hit as Dave could deliver and he was quick. Damn it, he was quick. But, he thought back, Liquid could block most of David's punches and grapples. That much was evident, but he wasn't quite prepared for the kicks.

Yes, Liquid favored and heavily utilized CQC. It was a combat style that favored disarms, grapples, and quick hits. It wasn't much a style that utilized kicking and so users of CQC weren't much prepared for kicks.

He stood on limped feet, Liquid turned his back on him. Good. David sprinted to deliver a strong right hook, which Liquid hadn't expected. He then put in a strong front kick and lower left leg kick.

Liquid retaliated, ramming himself to David. Breaking his ribs, that was not good. No, it really wasn't. But he had to continue. David yelled as he punched Liquid's temple and pushed him back. That was rather uncharacteristic of him, but he didn't care, this bastard needed that. David knelt in exhaustion, as did Liquid.

"Liquid!" He yelled out in anger, then he stood up in placed his body into the CQB stance. Now was the deciding moment of this battle.

"Snake!" Liquid stood up, as well, tearing off his Sneaking Suit. Revealing a body exposed to combat and war. Liquid morphed his body into the avatar of the style of CQC. It was funny, the master of CQB against a master of CQC. David would have laughed had his rib not hurt if he had tried to.

David struck first, implanting his arm into Liquid's shoulder then quickly following it up with a short side kick. Then Liquid responded, aiming for three jabs and four hooks. Then as soon as he was done, he stepped back but David wouldn't give him the chance to give distance as he was soon upon him.

They fought as true masters of combat—of war. David fought like he was water, with ferocity and grace. Every hit was met with another hit. Liquid fought like he was fire, like a pendulum swing, he fought with attacks and counter-attacks. They were each, a perfect counter of one another. A true ouroboros.

David had to falter eventually, where as Liquid was still tall and true, he was falling every second. As he put in a strong jab at Liquid's face. He put in another hook, but his body had gave in. He collapsed.

The adrenaline had run short and his punches no longer had energy in it. Liquid smiled, and grappled and side swept David to the pavement. Then he punched and punched and punched David. Each blow shortening the chances that David could live. Then he began to choke David out, strangling him. Liquid laughed, all the while. He tried to push Liquid away but he couldn't, his body ran out before his spirit had.

Master Miller had appeared from the side, free from his restraints and had his shot at putting Liquid in a chokehold to save his student. Liquid quickly freed himself from Miller's grasp as he then backed away and, after closing the gap again, broke Miller's non-prosthetic arm. Then he took away Miller's bionic arm, threw it to the beach. To leave Miller in a situation to lend no further assist.

Liquid then walked back to David and strangled him again, and David could give no further resistance. David turned limp and Liquid stood up, sneered in disgust then left.

Before David lost consciousness, he thanked to whoever could listen to his thoughts that Miller had lived. Good, that was his job done. From the distance, he swore that he saw Rose. He supposed that he should say sorry to her but everything had turned black.

Chapter 15

October 2nd, 2000.
01:00.
Delmarva, United States.
Kazuhira "McDonell" Miller.

A whole array of doctors and medical personnel, trusted and verified to not come from the Patriots, had been called-in on a short notice to respond to the incident in Beach City. Additionally, a squadron of Army Personnel had also been deployed in securing the town and making sure the inhabitants were safe. The Beach City inhabitants all said the same thing, one moment they were going about their day and then the next thing they knew is that they had woken up in the middle of the night. That had made things easier to explain, just say that it was Mass Hysteria or something, it doesn't matter.

The property damage also had to be compensated, bullet markings and broken restaurants were a little less easy to explain but they could just be repaired and have it's origins be left up to the imagination.

Right now, David was in a medical tent right outside of town attended to by the best doctors he could deploy. He was in terrible condition, the beating done by Eli had been disastrous on his body. The doc said that his fate was almost fifty-fifty with odds stacking every minute on the side of death.

"Patient remains unresponsive. B.P.'s dropping, need to intubate." Like a scene straight out of Kaz's nightmares, from a day that he wished he would never revisit again. There was David, looking like Big Boss after the attack on MSF. He'd seen the pre-op diagnosis; skull fractures, spine injury, leg injury, jaw fragture, ribcage fracture, and more and more. Eli had been thorough, even if he didn't want David alive, he had certainly broken his brother's body.

"His heartbeat's dropping! Need a V-Fib now!" A nurse quickly hurried to get a set of defibrillators. Then a doctor, having gotten them, quickly applied the defibrillators to David's chest, pumping out how many volts of electricity. Still, his body laid emotionless and almost dead.

"No response? Hit him again." The doctor nodded, and used the defib again before doing a set of chest compressions. Miller clutched his left knuckle until it had nearly bled, damn it.

"Heartbeat's stabilized, at least. But with how long it took for him to get medical help . . . he's in a coma." The head doctor, an Indian immigrant and a trusted personnel, had explained to him. "Even if he wakes up, he might never walk again. The injuries sustained to his back and, well, he's paralyzed."

"Damn it." He had promised the kid one thing, one singular and only thing and that was to have the rest of the world leave him alone and he couldn't keep that promise.

Kaz remembered how things had progressed, his old acquaintance, Ocelot, had informed him of a potential plot against David. He had dropped everything he had going on and immediately went straight to Delmarva. Of course, he had also requested for back-up but back-up had come way too late.

Ocelot. The informant and also the person who had potentially orchestrated the plan. They had an agreement, he took care of Eli and Kaz would take care of David. Needless to say that if Eli did this then it would have been under Ocelot's directives or at least under his suggestions.

Kaz stepped out of the medical tent, breathing cool air into his left palm as a means of relaxing his mind, his right 'arm' couldn't much help him in relaxing since it wasn't his real arm. He supposed that this was a means of revenge from Ocelot. David had been the one who had killed both of the Big Boss' and destroyed any possibility of Outer Heaven emerging. That must have stroke a chord within Ocelot, he had been infatuated with Big Boss, to say the least, and people who mourn will often resort to violent means as a way of payback. He only wished that he was the one who was punished instead of David. He was, after all, the one who had trained David so in a sense he was the shooter and David was the gun. And all the blame should lay solely on the shooter.

The head doctor just exited the tent with a deep expression on his face. "I'm sorry. It's tough." The man apologized through no fault of his own. "He saved my daughter, you know. Back in Cambodia, she was a doctor with MSF." Though Kaz knew of the certain medical organization that the doctor talked of, he couldn't help but mentally chuckle at the farfetched idea that the doctor's daughter had worked at Militaires Sans Frontieres.

"I protested against it, of course, she'll be far from home and in an unstable country. But she wouldn't budge and told me something about people needing help, I forgot most of the words but I relented and sent her on her way. I had read some mail from her about troubles in the area so I was worried but when I heard that Solid Snake had saved her from a band of thugs, I was relieved." Kaz hummed, yes, there was a mission that Dave undertook back in the late 90's in Cambodia. It was rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things though now, he could see the impact that it has had. "I'm sorry that I couldn't do more." The head doctor said before turning to leave.

Kaz stood still outside David's tent, patient, and waiting on more news regarding his condition. Till midnight and even till morning, he had stayed. The rest didn't pay him mind. They had told him that come noon that they'd get a medical helicopter to transport him to a hospital, he refused, the patriots had their hands in too many things. It's better if David would be taken care of by trusted personnel.

A woman emerged from the barred part of the beach, pink of hair and dress of pure white. He supposed that would be Rose Quartz. Kaz should inform her of her, should he say boyfriend's(?), condition. Maybe, in the deepest depths of his mind, there was a chance that she had a contraption to heal David. But with the scuffle that she was currently getting into against the military personnel, she should be calmed down.

Chapter 16

October 2nd, 2000
2:00 P.M.
Earth.
Gem Type: "Rose Quartz"

She was a bit late, she knew that. She and the rest of the Crystal Gems had taken way too long in capturing a corrupted Amazonite which was way too quick and slithery. It took them the whole day just to subdue and bubble it. Of course, Amethyst being herself had gotten herself lost and they had spent too long in going back to the Warp Portal. It also didn't help that Garnet had decided to hit first and ask questions later, which made their capture of the gem much more difficult. Seriously, for a gem with future vision, she didn't really seem to think that far ahead.

When they had made it back, Rose immediately went to Dave's house, to Pearl's infuriation because of potential dangers that Dave could avail to her. Rose had laughed it off. But then, when she returned to Beach City, she spotted a couple of human soldiers and personnel. Odd.

Beach City was not an area that the human governments would take much thought in governing with much care with the local government and police being the only form of government that they had to deal with, that was due to the agreement with the global governments a century ago to stay out of each other's respective businesses.

Amethyst didn't really much care about that, but it was still something that helped in keeping the Crystal Gems out of public perception. Either the government decided to disrespect that agreement, forgot about it, or this was something that didn't involve the Gems.

"Hello!" She shouted in a sing-song tune at one of the human soldiers. Seeing as it was night, the soldiers had nearly drifted themselves to sleep and her shout had roused them for their sleep. They clearly did not expect for her to be here nor did they expect anyone really and that had alerted them and they pointed their rifles at her, still, she continued as if there was no threat to her. "What's going on?"

One of the soldier was startled, for the lack of a better word. "C-clear off, this area is currently locked-off. How did you even get here anyway?"

Locked-off? As far as she was aware, this city was free for her and most of anyone to access. The Human Government must be up to something. Honestly, what was even going on?

"Hey! Where's Dave?" Of course, she didn't expect them to answer. Not every human knew one another but given Dave's past, there was a chance that they knew about him. Especially when these military types trapezed over this town for reasons beyond her.

"Look, I don't know who Dave is and I don't care now clear off the zone or I'll make you." A threat? Really, to her? Call her arrogant or whatever but she didn't think that a human could hold any chance against her, that had included Dave as well. Though he had the potential to best the other Gems, she was more experienced. Anyway, the soldier tried to shove her and had yelled at her to go back but she was not going back to the Gem Temple without at least the relief of knowing that Dave and the dogs were safe.

"I'm not going any where until I find Dave." She immediately knocked him unconscious, a buddy of his went alert but he was knocked to his butt by her throwing her shield at him. If they were gonna stop her then let them try. She'll get what she wants. She always did.

A soldier further away tried to shoot at her but she deflected it with her shield. The bullets ricocheted unto the sand and away from her then she threw her shield at them.

This wasn't the wisest course of action, frankly, it was dumb, but otherwise she wouldn't get a straight answer until a few hours, and that was the best course of scenario if she decided to wait. She shrugged off any long-term ramification on what this would mean as she continued.

A soldier, far away in a roof of a building, had began to shoot at her. It was for naught, however, as it wouldn't be enough to shatter her gem or even to force her to retreat back to her gem. Also, she could dodge them, and dodge it she did. With speed faster than what most gems could attempt, she side-stepped and evaded every bullet coming her way as she took down any soldier that had stood against her. Against their own kind, these soldiers were superior. Against her, they were inferior.

"Wait! Stop!" A man yelled out, wearing shades. She knew this man, yes, he had met with Dave some months ago. At the Pizza Stew shop along with another man, they hadn't personally met but she took note of his appearance and she was not the kind to forget faces. The man raised his hands as a sign of good faith and to show his lack of armaments, "I'm not armed! Men, stand down!"

With that, the rest of the soldiers and personnel had backed down. Weary as they were, they still abided by his orders. That meant that he was a clear figure of authority then. He sighed and lowered his hands, "You're . . . Rose, correct?" At her nod, he then continued. "My name's Miller. An old friend of David."

At the mention of his name, she immediately tensed up. "Where is he? What have you done with him?"

"He's in a bad state. Around noon, a man known as Liquid Snake entered this city and held people hostage." He carefully said and she felt that he was half-lying.

"Then, Liquid Snake challenged David to a fight." He breathed in deeply, feeling the cool and salty air. "David lost. His condition is bad, very bad. His chances of survival are fifty-fifty. You're gonna want to see this."

Lost? David—the man that had managed to fend off a corrupted gem and had managed to defeat a sufficiently smart hologram of Pearl—had been defeated. The idea had beggared belief. And his condition? She almost didn't want to see him, to see a body bloodily broken. To see a man that she loves near death's door was difficult, it always was. She is, and always will be, a coward after all.

Still, she dragged her feet and followed Miller along to a white tent. Miller entered in first, then she did as well.

David. She looked at him and almost did not want to. Broken nose, a skull nearly deformed. A leg broken and chest that caved in. The constant noise of the heartbeat monitor was all that had filled the empty silence. Her tears had began to well up. She spent all day laughing with the gems while Dave was in danger. If only the rest hadn't dallied or if she had managed to get the corrupted Gem in time then maybe she could've helped him .

She reached out her hands to touch his face, broken and stained with dried blood. What a fool she was, she should have reminded herself earlier that no matter what that she could never protect those that she cared about. Bismuth. Pearl. Ruby and Sapphire.

She couldn't protect them. She couldn't even protect the most of the gems when the Diamond's had unleashed their beam of corruption at Earth. If she couldn't protect her own then what chances did Dave have of being protected by her?

None. None at all, and she felt utterly useless in front of that fact. She pulled back her hands and gripped it tightly, come what may, she'll do to this Liquid Snake what he did to David. She swore it.

Miller said from the side with a solemn expression, "The doc said that even if he pulls through that he won't ever walk again." Why? She wondered idly. Oh yes, humans had spines which both made them walk and made them far too vulnerable, and Dave's spine was broken. It wasn't right.

Her tears now freely poured from her cheeks as she grasped unto David's body. Clutching it for forgiveness. A waterfall of tears fell upon David.

"What the!" Miller said aloud. Seeing Dave's body repair itself, every broken bone seemingly repositioning itself and any injury and wound fading away like a sand castle swept away by the tide.

Rose revealed then her powers, "I have an ability. My bodily fluids if touched or consumed by a living organism will heal them and their ailments." Despite the fact that she could heal David, that still couldn't get her to forgive herself in being unable to help David in his time of need. She hated herself for it.

"Incredible." Miller gaped but stopped himself, seeing the heart beat monitor steadily increase. He chuckled, "You gems are incredible, huh."

Rose said nothing, she was still clutching David. Miller coughed, and awkwardly walked back. "I'll leave you to it."

Chapter 17

8th of October, 1890.

2:01 A.M.

Whitechapel, London.

Lestrade, Benjamin.

Profession. Monster hunter.

 

Lestrade brought out his double-action Enfield revolver and squeezed its trigger. Spewing a silver bullet out from its maws as it penetrated into the hide of an ugly werewolf. It verily screamed into the air but its cries would do naught—none would be addled enough to try and save a creature that had hunted them. A vampire threw two of its five poisoned daggers at Lestrade but he ducked behind a wooden keg to avoid it.

 

From what Lestrade could ascertain, the vampire and werewolf duo, Evelyn and Duncan respectively, were lovers—of some sort. That much he could tell, he hadn't gone on too much information when he chased after the couple's misdoings. Yet what he could tell—he thought as he threw his hat into the vampire's rather unappealing face to distract it for a moment—the couple were transformed into their respective beastly forms whilst on their honeymoon.

 

They had made a rather unsound scheme for the vampire lady to act as a seductress for men to lure them into a vulnerable position for the both of them to feast on. They might've lived had Lestrade not had the chance of spotting them in the act of cannibalism when he had wanted to take the loo. Now he had no other choice but to end their miserable lives.

 

The monster hunter plucked out his silver coated kukri from the ground and implanted it into the thighs of the vampire lady, then he reeled back for an uppercut. An old technique that he had learned during his time boxing at Oxford. But by some poor twist of fate, he had been unable to spot the other creature sneak up on him and bring its claws to his back. He didn't scream in pain, however. He had endured far too much pain on varying kinds that even a wound such as this was more akin to an ant bite than anything substantive.

 

He brought out a single piece of brass knuckles, placed on his coat, then jumped into the air to give himself the needed time to fit it unto his left hand as he used both the kukri and brass knuckles as if they were each a part of a whole to batter down the woeful werewolf. He brought down Duncan to keel over as he brought down slashes upon slashes on the beasts terrible hide and with awesome speed, he had the former gentleman unto the ground giving him the perfect opportunity to kill it.

 

Still, the monster hunter had another problem to deal with just before he could deal the killing blow to the beast and that was its vampiric wife who was staunch in defending its spouse. Lestrade stepped back a few meters as the vampire lady—Evelyn had tried to bite him dry. A discombobulation was all the chance he could have to give him the few fleeting second to end the other monsters, so he went for that as he brought down his brass knuckles on its face.

 

He then brought out his revolver out from its holster and aimed it between the werewolves eyes. He squeezed the trigger and prepared himself to feel the snapping recoil. A puff of smoke emerged from the barrel and a leaking wound appeared on Duncan's ugly face so Lestrade knew that he had not missed his mark. A deafening shriek from the monster, Evelyn, had him regret killing it though. If only because he disliked the noise.

 

The monster lady brought out its throwing knives and used them to try and slash his boyish face—or what he would like to describe it as, no matter though, as Lestrade mistakenly fell through a manhole cover and had, by some awful luck, landed on the stinking sewers. By all that was good, he knew that he'd have to burn his clothings and that was such a bother given the expense that he had made to even gather the material, not to mention in hiring a suitable tailor.

 

What made it worse was the stinking smell, that had Lestrade vow to enjoy bathing for close to a week after he had returned to his place of residence. Still, now was not the time for idle thoughts as Evelyn leapt from the same exposed manhole cover to strike at his nape. She had nearly succeeded had he not shot het in her knees. She fell to the ground in disgusting scretching, screaming and howling and making any noise from the pain.

 

He brought out his other piece of brass knuckles and fitted it on his other hand as he brutally smashed the vampire unto the ground until it was naught more than a smoking pile. Quite a mystery that, Lestrade didn't really have an idea on why vampires faded to dust upon their deaths thought it possibly had much to do with their supernatural origins.

 

Lestrade leapt out of the sewers, having forgone his every weapon. But, to his eternal misfortune, a whole host of cowardly and feeble minded londoners had their pitchforks and torches out to ward him away. Even after he had resolved their problem on his own volition, he sneered.

 

"Away! Foul creature!" A boy, no older than ten, had screamed. His, presumed, parents had also joined in. Lestrade clutched at his rapidly healing wound sustained from the werewolf.

 

Lestrade leapt towards the crowd, using theirs heads as support, for him to jump unto the misshapen roofs. It was a harrowing endeavor, given that the tiles weren't even properly nailed in and had caused him to slip through when he landed. Still, he leapt to and fro the many apartments until he had reached a far enough distance, then he removed his coat, and his vest until he had only his dry buttoned shirt. He brought out a cigar and lit it up. Puffing it as the sunlight peered into view even despite the smog of London and Lestrade was thankful that he'd made it through the day. Yet, for whatever reason, the sun turned crimson red.

 

---

 

David awoke with a sweat.

Notes:

Basically Snake's nightmares aren't about his trauma but about monster hunting just
like his dad. This is crack-ish and the next chapter will be about him waking up.

I'll take my sweet time playing MGS Delta however.

I also have an idea about a potential MGS and PJO crossover because I'm milking MGS for what it's worth. Basically, EVA is actually Athena and she's the mother of both David and Eli. Ocelot as well is the son of Thanatos. That's all I have as an idea because I don't really know much about PJO save for the supposedly awful movies.