Big Boss lowered his salute and faced the warrior and last remaining Snake. For Big Boss, Snake had been that hope. Many times he had confronted Snake as an adversary, thinking him an agent of the Patriots. But in the end, Snake had freed the world from Zero’s curse. And not just Snake, but Liquid and Solidus; hadn’t each fought the Patriots in their quests for their own freedom?
Their wills had not perished. Their stories had not disappeared. Hadn’t the seeds of father and brothers taken root in Solid Snake? Hadn’t they ultimately achieved the freedom they staked their lives to grasp?
The only task that remained was for Big Boss to fade away.
A task only he could do.
“With me, the last ember of this fruitless war dies out. And at last those old evils will be gone. Once the source of evil returns to zero, a new one—a new future—will be born.”
Big Boss held out his hand, the gesture a farewell, an expression of gratitude, a declaration of peace to end a prolonged battle, and an order from a commanding officer.
“That new world is yours to live in. Not as a snake, but as a man.”
Snake recalled the day he first met this man. It was the initiation ceremony to FOXHOUND. As the unit’s commander, Big Boss walked down the line of new recruits and shook each soldier’s hand. The battle you face, he had said, is a war unlike any before. None will tell of your successes, or failures, or even deaths.
But know this. Whatever your battles, whether ordered by me or by country, each of you have been chosen. You who stand here today know no life but combat. In a way, you should be pitied. But these battles are not to be given to just anyone. You are not tools of the government or anyone. You fight for yourselves and to protect the things you hold dear.
Always fight by your own will.
Protect what you can’t bear to lose.
No one else can fight that battle for you.
Frank’s last message to Snake, pinned beneath REX’s foot, had been Big Boss’s words at the start of it all. Snake smiled scornfully at himself for not having made the connection sooner.
Snake hadn’t shaken Big Boss’s hand since that ceremony, and as he did so now, he felt a sense of completion. In the future, an unknown world awaited.
Suddenly, Big Boss collapsed. Snake, responding quickly, caught him mid-fall. For a brief moment, their faces brushed against one another. Big Boss’s cheek was terribly cold, and Snake reflexively recoiled. He had felt the life draining from Big Boss’s body.
The pain seemed to worsen with each new breath.
But he still had more to say. From the pit of his stomach, Big Boss struggled to squeeze out his voice. He couldn’t allow himself to die without saying it.
“Know this … Zero and I, Liquid and Solidus, we all fought a long, bloody war to be free. We fought to free ourselves from the limitations of nations, systems, norms, and ages. But no matter how hard we tried, the only liberty we found was on the inside … trapped within those limits. The Boss and I may have chosen different paths, but in the end, we were both trapped inside the same cage. But you … you have been given freedom. Freedom to be outside.”
Big Boss gasped painfully for air. Snake gently lowered him to the ground. Snake gently put his hand on Big Boss’s side and guided the dying man’s back to lean against The Boss’s gravestone.
“You are nobody’s tool now,” Big Boss said. “No one’s toy. You are no longer a prisoner of fate. You are no longer a seed of war.”
Big Boss fondly recalled the anger he’d felt, rising up from the pit of his stomach, when he learned that the Snakes had been born. He had reviled his children. He hated the clones born in defiance of his will and without his permission. That they were raised and used as agents of the Patriots to defile The Boss’s will made the hate only stronger.
But how about it? In the end, wasn’t it those clones who lifted the curse Big Boss placed upon himself? He owed this man much. If his death would repay any of those debts, then he would gladly go.
“It’s time for you to see the outside world with your own eyes. Your body … your soul … are your own. Forget about us. Live … for yourself. You need not be bound to me any longer, David.”
Big Boss’s words seemed an apology. I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry I shackled you so long. Yet few are able to live their own lives. Especially as the Patriots had people of the whole world within their grasp. Your future—that’s your real life. Though it may be short, you get to live, and I envy you.
“And find a new lease on life.”
Big Boss pulled a cigar from his pocket. His trembling hand delivered the tobacco to his lips, then found his lighter, only to fall slack on the way back up. He was slipping into unconsciousness. His deep, ragged breaths from when he leaned on Snake’s shoulder had become faint, and the slight rising and falling of chest and stomach could only be seen if searched for.
The cigar dropped from his mouth. His eyelids dropped, and he prepared himself to accept that which would soon come.
“Boss,” he said, “you only need one snake. No … you don’t need any snakes.”
A transparent tear formed at the corner of one closed eyelid, followed his cheek down, and fell to the white stars-of-Bethlehem. Snake retrieved the cigar, returned it to Big Boss’s lips, and lit it with the lighter. He caught a bit of the trailing smoke and coughed. Big Boss lifted his eyelids a tiny fraction and watched Snake softly cough.
Snake was his son, his brother, a soldier under his command, and an enemy.
To him, Snake’s presence was complex and multifaceted. But now the many sides of Snake converged into one. Whatever anyone thought, wasn’t that enough? Whether to dream of having a child. Whether to have another in the world who could take over his will. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, someone once said.
This dream, this hope, did not belong to the Patriots, and it did not belong to The Boss. This was his own. As was the coming death.
“This is good,” he said. “Isn’t it?”
The cigar fell.
As Big Boss’s last breaths faded, Snake remained at his side.
Snake watched the white petals dance through the air. They’re like stars, he thought. The Boss had been to space. How much like this view was what she saw beyond the earth?