Following the White Rabbit

Later in the locker room, David had half of his uniform on. He was looking at the mirror, specifically looking at the snake shaped scar, the one given to him by his father. He ran his finger against it. He closed his eyes as he began to vividly remember Big Boss stabbing his chest and carving the scar into him. David snapped out of his state and turned to see Meryl standing right behind him once the door opened. She noticed the large scar right before he quickly turned around,

"Damnit, knock first…" David angrily responded,

"Sorry, David."

"It's Snake, Meryl." He responded back,

"You have a name David despite how much you want to push us away." Meryl replied sternly,

"A name means nothing on the battlefield, after a week no one has a name." David replied,

"Stop trying to push everyone away, David. I saw the scar, I can tell by how you were before I got here that it's a personal wound. It's ok to talk about it but you shouldn't try to stop us from helping you."

"I don't need your help." snapped back David, Meryl sighed and rubbed her eyes in frustration,

"You're a real bastard now you know that?" said Meryl as David finished putting on the uniform,

"What if I am? I was clearly meant to be…" David replied, Meryl just got more frustrated at his lack of communication, she then began walking towards the door about to leave the room,

"Eventually you have to wake up and face reality…Solid Snake." Meryl said right before she left. David sighed in disappointment then grabbed his pack of cigarettes, his M1911, his codec and then wrapped the bandana given to him by Kaz. Later, Snake was smoking outside near the hangar where the plane was. He glanced up to see Gustava coming towards him,

"Guess I'm early." Gustava said,

"Yeah…" Snake replied as she sat next to him,

"Can I get one of those?" Gustava asked, Snake handed her one and lit it,

"Thank you."

"So…what's with the locket?" asked Snake,

"I figured you would ask that, I saw you look at me when we saw that broadcast." Gustava took her locket off and opened it to show what was inside. Snake couldn't help but be shocked at what he saw, it was an old picture of Frank himself. It didn't take long for Snake to put the pieces together,

"You're his ex-fiancée, aren't you?" asked Snake. Gustava nodded and dug into her pocket to pull out her wallet, she opened it up and showed many pictures of her with Frank,

"We were madly in love. I met him eleven years ago at the 1984 Winter Olympics. I was a gold medalist ice skater and I'll never forget the day I met him. He was sitting in the front while I was about to do my final round. Frank never took his eyes off me, he was fascinated by my movements and despite everyone else watching me, I liked that he was solely focused on me. After the event, he approached me with flowers. He looked extremely awkward but it was adorable. I gave him a shot despite his social awkwardness but that's how our love bloomed. It was the best four years of my entire life. Despite his rough exterior, Frank was such a soft and sweet man." Gustava explained with a soft smile,

"What happened between you two?" curiously asked David,

"Right before the 1988 Olympics, Frank asked me to marry him. When he proposed I felt ill and fainted, it turned out I was pregnant with our child." Snake's eyes shot open once she said that,

"Frank has a child?!" asked Snake,

"Yes, a little boy, our baby boy. Unfortunately, my country got wind of what happened and so did the Americans. Because of the intense immigration laws Czechoslovakia and the US had, I was to give birth in America and then be deported back to Czechoslovakia with my competition rights stripped and my baby was forced to stay in America…"

"Oh…I'm sorry, Frank never told me the details of what happened…" Snake said,

"I understand why not…Frank was really excited to be a father. I remember the night our little boy was born, a thunderstorm was passing by. I was being a little melodramatic about our child being born in gloomy weather. Frank said this to me about it, 'The rain is beautiful, it may appear like a dark depressing moment but it takes those who can see the true beauty of this life to admire it. Our child is the lightning in this rain.'…Our shining light in our rain…" Gustava's smile briefly faded as she began thinking about her little boy, Snake could tell it was a sensitive subject and he could only assume it was more sensitive to Frank. Holly then arrived with Jim Houseman,

"The plane is ready, let's get moving." Holly said, Snake and Gustava put their cigarettes out and the three began walking towards a carrier plane with its rear door open. Once inside, they strapped themselves in and began feeling the plane beginning to start up.

"Good luck everyone, the world is counting on you three!" shouted Houseman, they all nodded as the plane doors closed. They began feeling the plane shift and slowly began to ascend into the sky on its way to Zanzibar Lands. An hour passed on the plane and Snake looked at Holly who was occasionally glancing at Snake,

"What?" he asked her,

"The reason you're so hesitant about discussing South Africa, it's because of your father." Holly said, Snake sighed in annoyance,

"My father made the whole incident just as a test for me. I was nothing but an experiment to him and I guess I passed…"

"There's no need to think like that, Snake. You're a hero and the world needs heroes like you to make heroes like us." Holly replied,

"I'm no hero, never was, never will be. I'm just a killer hired to do some wet work." Snake replied,

"You may not know it but one day people will look back at you and be inspired by your story, by what you've overcome and by how strong you became because of it. You are a soldier fighting not for the country but for the rights of every person alive, the right to not be wrapped up into Big Boss's endless war. We've inherited freedom from all those who have fought for it."

"But does it all matter if everything in your life is just a lie? If you're just a pawn in some mad man's game? What would it matter if I have kids or if anyone did if they're just a pawn, especially to your own father…" asked Snake.

"Snake, life isn't just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature and movies... what we've seen, heard, felt... anger, joy and sorrow... these are the things I will pass on. That's what I live for. We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of this new digital age that is coming soon to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing and here right now, we're all building a future." explained Holly, Snake sighed as those words hit him personally,

"We don't know what this digital age will bring, the human race has been lucky to survive for a millennia. How can you be so certain there won't be another Big Boss?"

"Because we're going to end that tonight, who knows, we can probably end it right on time for Christmas dinner." Holly replied with a chuckle,

"I'm not in a very festive mood." Snake replied,

"C'mon don't be a Grinch, it could be fun. You, me, Gustava, Campbell, Miller, Meryl, Kasler, even Houseman and the scientists." eagerly said Holly,

"I can make my Český kapr." Gustava replied smiling,

"See, Gustava is down with it, c'mon Snake, please?" pleaded Holly, Snake sighed and nodded.

"Excellent, so just sit back and relax because we have a long trip." Holly reassured, Snake nodded and tried to rest but knew he couldn't as the looming threat of Armageddon was near.