in the quiet loop. (solid snake x reader)

16 - the distance between us.

The lounge was quiet as Snake sat on the couch near the window, arms crossed, eyes scanning the room as though half-expecting you to walk in any minute. Campbell sat across from him, pacing slowly. Otacon had just arrived from his call, brushing off his coat and rubbing his hands together from the wind outside.

The door opened, but it was Rose who stepped through, a gentle smile on her face, as if the session had ended smoothly.

Snake straightened. "How is Y/N?"

Rose blinked, confused. "Y/N? She already left a few minutes ago."

"What?" Snake's voice dropped an octave, suddenly sharp. He stood up in an instant.

Campbell stood as Otacon's eyes widened, all three of them processing the implications at once. Snake didn't wait as he stormed toward the hallway, then out toward the helipad. The wind rushed at him as he ran. The chopper still sat on the platform, but the back latch was hanging open, swaying gently in the breeze. The space beneath was empty.

His chest tightened. Otacon reached the edge behind him, checking the scene, and Campbell came up slower, more solemn. One look at the vacant cargo hold was enough.

"She's gone," Campbell said, his voice low.

Otacon was already pulling out his device, fingers flying. "I'll search for traffic reports, airport departures, anything we can triangulate."

Snake remained frozen, staring at the open ramp. His hands slowly curled into fists. He hadn't even seen it coming. You'd sat through that whole ride with silence between you, and he had let it stay that way. This was on him. He stepped away from the chopper, pacing, growling under his breath. "Damn it."

Then Snake did something desperate. He lowered his voice and turned away from the others, touching the side of his neck, opening a Codec frequency. The familiar whir of nanomachines engaging hummed through him, and he set the frequency manually. A shot in the dark, but it hit his gut feeling. There was no guarantee this would work. He had no idea if you had nanomachines, much less connected to a codec network.

To his surprise, it patched in.

His breath caught as a soft static buzz filled his ear. The connection was real. A low, distant echo of wheels rolling across tile, a robotic chime overhead, and a boarding announcement, muffled and indecipherable.

"Y/N!" Snake said, enough to alarm Otacon and Campbell. The shock in their faces were evident. He waited, but all he got was the rhythmic clatter of luggage wheels fading against the ambient murmur of travelers. "Where are you?"

You didn't answer. Instead, the static started to swell in a sharp rise, almost like a surge, then the connection abruptly cut. Otacon and Campbell were watching him,;the look on his face was enough. Snake's hand slowly dropped from the side of his neck.

"She... answered?" Otacon asked quietly, almost not believing the implication.

Snake shook his head. "She didn't say anything, but I heard something. Like she's at the airport, then... static."

Campbell furrowed his brows, stepping closer. "You reached her through the Codec?"

Snake nodded.

"But that's–" Otacon paused, then looked at him, stunned. "That means she has nanomachines."

The three men stood in silence as that fact settled like ash.

"Since when?" Campbell asked, voice low, troubled.

"I don't know," Snake muttered. "She never said anything. I didn't even think she had them."

Otacon's mind was already spinning, trying to patch together a timeline. "We've known each other for years. She hated the idea of being tracked, connected. There's no way she would've had them willingly..."