when heavens divide.

His senses are overwhelmed with the sickly sweet smell of those flowers. A smell that lingers and doesn’t let him breathe without feeling as though he’s being suffocated.

Snake knows that he must look as though he couldn’t speak the language. As if her words were spoken through some sort of strange filter. One that made them impossible for him to comprehend. This is the woman that has meant everything to him for as long as he can remember. He would call her his own mother, but even that word doesn’t feel strong enough. The Boss has been his mother, his teacher, his rock, his reason for pushing himself so hard. And now, this..she was his mission.

As he stood, he began to realize that she had known this all along. He had so many questions. Did it have to end this way? Couldn’t they just disappear somewhere, somewhere where they wouldn’t be found? Snake didn’t ask, because he knew the answer already. To hear it coming from her would be too painful.

That damn smell again. The flowers are swaying from the slight breeze, swirling that sweet smell around him. It nearly makes him sick to his stomach. Why? Why is it ending this way?

With a trembling hand, he pulls the trigger. He doesn’t allow himself to think too much, knowing that if he does, he will not complete their missions. The light leaves her eyes. Snake wanted nothing more than to fall to his knees. To weep over her, to beg forgiveness. But that isn’t the man The Boss trained. He completed his mission, just as she would have told him to. Just as she did tell him to.

The bright white petals of the flowers slowly turns to red. The sweet scent is gone. And for one blessed moment, Snake can think. But the sickly sweet scent, no longer there, was now replaced with the smell of blood. Her blood. On his hands.

Big Boss opens his eyes. He’s in his quarters on Motherbase. It was..a nightmare. His hands still shake. The weight of her gun still heavy in them. That day has been played out in his mind. He relives it, every night he kills her. He finishes his mission while she lays her life down for the country she loved. Could he be so strong?

There is no answer to that questions. But there is one thing that Big Boss is certain of.

"The moment I killed The Boss, I was already dead."