in the quiet loop. (solid snake x reader)

09 - fallen

Snake stood beside him, arms crossed, watching the glow of the screen paint Otacon's tired face in blue.

"...I found something," Otacon said, voice low.

Snake stepped closer.

"After the Big Shell was compromised, there was a cleanup protocol. Internal sweep. I managed to decrypt some of the server calls issued within Arsenal Gear, just before the crash."

A terminal buzzed with a burst of static, then displayed broken lines of code, glitched names, redacted locations.

Otacon pointed. "Look here. 'Companion Subject Retained Post-Raid.' No ID. But there's a time-stamp. Matches exactly when she disappeared."

Snake's eye narrowed.

Otacon scrolled down. "And here: 'Secondary Biological Asset. Status: Child. Protection Level: 7.'"

Snake stiffened. "That's Olga's kid."

Otacon nodded. "They didn't just keep them. They assigned massive security to the child. Level 7 is reserved for ultra-black operations—ciphered even from top Patriot AI layers."

"...And her?" Snake asked.

"Still labeled as a companion to the simulation's control variables. It's vague on purpose. But it proves they still have her."

Snake exhaled, slow and bitter. "And Rosemary?"

Otacon hesitated. He hit a few more keys, filtered through more noise. Nothing.

"...That's the strange part. There's no mention of Rosemary. Not in any of the logs. Not even a redacted file. It's like she was never entered into the system."

Snake furrowed his brow. "They said she was taken."

"I know. The AI confirmed it. But Snake, even the Patriots don't just forget a capture log. If there's no data trail, it could mean..." He trailed off, not wanting to say it.

"Either she's dead," Snake finished for him, "or she was never really a prisoner to begin with."

Snake looked out over the dark water. Distant police lights danced across the skyline. Arsenal's wreckage loomed in the distance like a carcass that still breathed secrets. Then, they moved through the crowd, unassuming among the thousands trying to make sense of it all.

But then, a familiar face.

Otacon stopped. "Snake, look."

Across the street, among dazed onlookers and rescue workers, stood Rosemary who was alive, intact, and with no restraints. Not even a sign of trauma. Just... watching.

Snake didn't hesitate. He broke from the sidewalk, weaving through bodies, his voice sharper than the cold air. "Rose!"

She turned, startled. "Snake!"

"Where is she?" he asked, firm, stepping into her space. "Where is she?!"

Otacon caught up, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Answer me," Snake said, lower now but no less intense.

Rose's expression wavered. "She's... alive," she said softly. "You have to believe that."

"That's not good enough," Snake snapped. "We saw the files. You were captured. Same as her, same as the child. You're the only one we found."

"I was," she admitted, looking down. "But after Raiden defeated Solidus... after the mission parameters were complete... they let me go."

"Why?" Otacon asked. "Why just you?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. All I was told... was that Jack's success meant our lives would be spared. Mine, hers... and the child's."

Snake's jaw clenched. "Then where is she?"

Rose's voice broke slightly. "I don't know. I woke up in an empty apartment. Everything was... reset. My clothes. My phone. The door unlocked. No guards. Just a message on the mirror: 'You are free.'"

Otacon frowned. "But she wasn't with you?"

Rose shook her head. "No, and I don't think I was meant to see her again."

Snake turned away, cursing under his breath. The noise of the city seemed to close in around them, swallowing any hope in static.

"It doesn't make sense," Otacon muttered. "If they spared her, why hide her? Why erase the trail?"

Just as Snake turned his eyes to the smoke curling over Federal Hall, a voice broke through the murmur of the crowd. He looked over his shoulder. Otacon's gaze followed.

Rosemary called out, stepping slightly forward. "Jack!"

Raiden stood a few paces behind them. His hair clung damply to his forehead, his face pale with fatigue and disbelief, but he moved, drawn toward the voice. Toward her.

"Rose?" he breathed, the word fragile, almost inaudible.

She met him halfway and threw her arms around him. Raiden stood frozen for a heartbeat, then clutched her tightly, like she'd vanish again if he loosened his grip. Snake and Otacon quietly gave them space.

"I thought they'd—" Raiden choked.

"They let me go," she said softly, pulling back just enough to meet his eyes. "Because of you. You saved me."

Raiden looked to Snake, then Otacon. Both men now watched him carefully. He swallowed.

"But not everyone," Snake said, his voice calm but carrying weight.

Otacon nodded. "They're still out there. Her... and Olga's child. Somewhere in the system."

Raiden's brows furrowed. "They told me... if I finished my mission, they'd let them go."

Snake stepped forward. "They lied. Or they changed the rules. Doesn't matter which."

Otacon tapped his phone, already running traces, his expression grim. Snake narrowed his eye toward the skyline, where shadows of broken metal loomed above the city. Amid the wreckage of conspiracy, ghosts of war, and the blinding Manhattan dusk, the four of them stood, bound now by more than mission or circumstance.