//what purpose am i to fulfill

[liquidouroboros]

[There was no reason for him to be so attracted to that one certain door--it just seemed irresistible. As if he would never be able to get by without knowing what was past it. Despite realizing the ones that seemed the best would inevitably just be luring in victims, the uniformed soldier stepped closer. His hand rested on the doorknob for a moment

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[liquidouroboros]

[He was dead. He was dead and it was Liquid's fault. Liquid was a soldier, for god's sake, he was supposed to be strong enough to protect people.]

[Of course you couldn't, because you, Liquid Snake, are a failurefailurefailurefailure that can't protect anyone.]

[The scenario the room had created was gone, but Liquid--and probably Liquid alone--could still see the blood on his hands and uniform. The mark of his failure, the proof that he was worthless and would never have anyone else like Otacon--as if he'd deserved such a thing in the first place.]

[Though he couldn't quite process why, Liquid Snake was...laughing. The quiet, broken laugh of someone who laughed only to stop from screaming.]

[liquidouroboros]

[For a minute or two that quiet laugh was the only sound Liquid made...his shoulders shook uncontrollably as the laughter turned into something that sounded like a choked sob. Then...there was just silence for a long moment.]

...I'm not...I'm not good enough. I can't protect you. I can't do anything right.

[ragnarok_snake]

[No matter how long ago it was, there was one event that stayed with this Liquid. He still had the occasional nightmare reminding him of that day, so badly had it shaken him.]

[Liquid was trapped--bad enough on its own, but he was trapped by Snake of all people. Restrained to Ocelot's damned table in the Shadow Moses room...at his brother's nonexistent mercy.]

You can't just--!

[The electricity coursed through his body again and interrupted his near-desperate protest, the knife in his shoulder heating up and multiplying the pain by god only knew how much--all Liquid knew was that he wanted it to stop, wished he wasn't screaming in agony like a coward.]

'I can keep you here forever if I want. Since nobody ages, you'll just stay there. For the rest of eternity. Never dying. Just for my entertainment.'

[It simultaneously terrified and enraged Liquid--how dare he make me actually fear him--but there was nothing he could do. Of course one or two people would know he was gone, but they'd just as likely chalk it up to him having gone

[somnium_paterna]

[And guess who's watching you from the shadows behind you, Liquid? See, that's the thing with being Solid Snake. You could creep. Sneak up behind anyone, silent, swift. It could be over in a moment - if he wanted it to be.]

Good to know I had that much of an effect on you.

[ragnarok_snake]

--!

[Liquid straightened up in one quick motion, drawing his Beretta as he stood--he wasn't like the more normal Snakes, who would stand there with their gun drawn and watch an enemy monologue like a damned James Bond villain. If Liquid saw someone he didn't like, you're damn right he'd be unloading on them.]

[Which he immediately did upon hearing his brother's voice, firing at him three times.]

[somnium_paterna]

[How typical. Ordinary. Liquid was so very rash. Snake kept his arms in position, protecting his vitals. The piercing agony seared through the ice cold of his mind. It stirred something familiar in him.]

Nice aim.

[He reached for the SOCOM with a trembling hand- two bullets had embedded in his arm, weakening his aim.]

Now lower your weapon and we both walk out of this alive.

lol TLDR post...OTL

[solidmusher]

[Snake is no stranger to nightmares. Yay. Except not really. There's a veritable sea of dead bodies behind his eyelids, each grasping for him as they ask him why he killed them. And in the middle of them all stands Big Boss. Laughing at him. "With what weapon?" echoes in his head becoming the soundtrack to the bizarre world with bloody walls populated by moving corpses and the man who claimed to be his father. He had no weapon as before.] Shit...

[He drops to his knees searching for his salvation in his victims-they had faces he recognized. Gustava, the 4 Horsemen. Jungle EVIL.] Fox.

[Blood stained his hands now but he couldn't stop looking because he was walking forward. A lighter and a can of aerosol found his hand and he used it. The other man's flesh sizzled on his bones but he didn't scream instead staring with his eye despite the heat and laughing, still laughing even when all of his skin had burned off to reveal shiny metal underneath. "I have no weak points that you can penetrate, Snake

[solidmusher]

[Ooc: IDK, I think that it falls into the same territory as MG AC!D and Snake Tales in that they're other universes but not canon. ]

[Snake wants to wake up. Except that he's too busy trying not to be killed by Big Boss. Who is currently trying to choke him to death.]

[worlds_serpent]

[Liquid wasn't aware at first that anything about this room was unusual. It seemed normal enough, after all.]

[It was at that moment he felt a sharp pain in his chest, doubling over in a hacking coughing fit. His hand moved to the wall for support, but that didn't last long--he fell to his knees, gasping for air and coughing uncontrollably.]

[Otacon...Emma...wh-where are you? Damn it, somebody--]

[Liquid collapsed, breathing labored and strained as his vision went blurry. This couldn't be it, it couldn't end this way...!]

[There was no energy left in his body to move, no voice to call for someone...it was over. Liquid Snake, the greatest soldier of his time....died alone.]

[The sensation left as quickly as it came, a shaken Liquid forcing his arms to support him as he started to get up. That wouldn't come true, here or anywhere else. Liquid wouldn't allow himself to die, and certainly not without someone by his side.]

[Funny--years ago he expected to die alone and uncared for. Why did it frighten him so much now?]

I think this Silent HIll fan just came

[identitycircuit]

[If anyone had been paying attention, they would already know that being forced back into the role of a laboratory rat featured prominently in his worst fears. Anyone who knew Liquid psychology would have guessed at this.]

[Drugged into complacency was only the first step. Experiments, naturally. But the worst part came when other angry voices filled the air. That was when it became obvious he wasn't in a government laboratory, but rather someplace similar to the evil Paramedic's room, filled with those with similar dispositions.]

[But there was always room for one more, as they would pull in figures very familiar to him. Versions of himself, old to young. A hissing and spitting young man, Ocelot. Meek and frightened scientists. They all ended up the same: Injected with sedatives and experimented on. Some of the torturers had mad glints in their eyes and shifting trousers. He closed his eyes when those came off, trying not to be so useless and to stand up and kill them all.[And in the end, he would be powerless to stop them

[still_a_rookie]

[He watches only long enough to memorize where Liquid was.]

[Snake's bandanna is pulled down and tied tightly around his eyes, blinding him from whatever fears the room might conjure for him. His own screams echo in his mind as he steps into the room, counting his quickened steps to where his brother stands helpless.]

It's me. I'm here.

[That and a gentle touch is all the warning he gives the man before he grabs him and begins to backtrack towards the door.]

[identitycircuit]

[Briefly, Liquid tried to fight back. Hands on his skin with those screams- no. He wasn't going to put up with-]

[It was his brother. It was Snake touching him. He could see a Snake-shaped blur and hear that voice. And movement- movement away from it all]

[But he's hurting. He will be left behind. I can't leave-]

[Was that his brother taking him away or the one he was leaving behind?]

[still_a_rookie]

[He can read the hesitance in Liquid's body, the tensing of his muscles and the resistance to his touch.]

It's me, Brother. Alpha. I'm getting you out of here.

[The screams increase, trying to drown him out. They're soon joined by the cries of the other figments; a blond girl fighting her captors, Ocelot's curses, the combined snarls of the Liquids, two in particular almost begging as the torturers move in on a blank-faced, empty-eyed engineer. In the back, Mantis's scarred face might be seen as he hangs maskless from his restraints, too numbed by drugs and psychic pain to save himself.]