Civilian Life

1995, a bright sunny morning in the nation's capital, Washington DC. Solid Snake, whose real name is David, went to meet someone in a diner. He walked in and turned to see a much older man who was wearing a green officer's uniform and a green beret. The old man smiled and waved at him,

"David, over here." He called to him, David walked and shook his hand,

"Colonel Campbell, nice to see you again." David happily told him,

"Nice to see you too, David, have a seat." Campbell replied, David sat down across from him, he was nervous, hoping that he would inform him about his recent request,

"So…how's Meryl?" David asked,

"She's good, she's graduating soon from college."

"That's good to hear, haven't seen her since the High School's graduation party we had" David replied with a pleasant tone,

"Seems like a distant memory for you two."

"Yeah, so about my application?" asked David, avoiding the question overall,

"Right, I got a response from Big Boss himself today." Campbell told him, David took out his pack of American Spirit cigarettes, pulled one out and began smoking to calm his eagered self,

"You have been accepted into FOXHOUND, David. Congratulations." Campbell happily informed him. David wanted to cheer loudly that he finally got accepted into FOXHOUND. He eagerly shook Campbell's hand with a large grin on his face,

"Thank you so much, Colonel! It's such an honor to be a part of FOXHOUND."

"I can tell you're very excited, David but did you let Miller know about you joining?" He asked, David's smile faded slightly,

"I…went behind his back about it." hesitantly replied David, the Colonel sighed and palmed his face once David said that.,

"David…you know he gets upset when you do these things, I think you should talk to him before you start your training." David sighed,

"I don't know…." He replied,

"Would you want him to find out later or learn it now?" Campbell asked, David knew the answer to that question so he didn't bother replying. Later, David drove to a house in the DC suburbs, he noticed the house had balloons on the porch, he walked to the backyard and noticed a group of people having a small party. A pregnant Asian woman then approached David,

"Hey Dave!" She smiled at him,

"Hey Catherine, I forgot today is your baby shower." David replied,

"Don't worry about it, glad to see you again, how've you been?"

"Been busy with work but going good so far. Where's the old man?" David asked,

"Inside watching TV, though, do come back because we have burgers and I know how much you love burgers." Catherine nudged him a bit with a sly smirk. David chuckled a little bit,

"Can't deny your burgers are the best, I'll make sure to come back for those." David chuckled. David walked inside the house and spotted an older blonde man sitting on the couch, looking at the news.

"Kaz." David called to him, Kaz pushed up his sunglasses with his prosthetic right hand and turned to him,

"David, what brings you here?" Kaz asked, David rubbed the back of his head,

"There's something I need to tell you, Kaz." David told him, Kaz raised an eyebrow, curious to what David had to say,

"I signed up for FOXHOUND a couple of months ago. I did the tests and I got accepted into the unit." Kaz disappointingly sighed once he said that. He rubbed his eyes then looked at David,

"I…honestly expected that. You do have the habit of not listening to me, 'David, don't go fighting the neighborhood boys.', 'David, don't join the military.', 'David, don't join the Green Berets.' You've had that issue since you were a little 12 year old hellraiser." David just awkwardly rubbed his head again,

"Yeah…." replied David, Kaz leaned towards him,

"Look David, the reason I tried swaying you away from joining is because as a soldier, we're supposed to know what we're fighting for. No offense to Campbell but FOXHOUND is for people who have nothing to lose and nothing worth fighting for. They're essentially government-issued mercenaries. I asked you this question before when you joined the army but David what are you fighting for?" Kaz asked him,

"I'm fighting for my country and for people like you and me here." David confidently replied, Kaz sighed and sat up,

"Really think about that, David. I'm not gonna make you resign, you're your own man now but…just really think about that." David nodded and gave him a handshake,

"Thank you, Kaz, I really appreciate you being supportive."

"I'm not." Kaz replied. David rolled his eyes and smiled. After the party, David was laying on the roof of the house, smoking a cigarette and drinking a cold beer staring into the night sky with a gleam of optimism in his eyes. The future felt bright for the 23 year old Gulf War soldier as he didn't know what to expect or look forward to but he felt for once in a while that his future would be a bright and positive one.