The Butterfly Introspect

Clank clank clank.

Venom Snake's combat boots made their way back down the metal staircase. It had been over a week since Quiet last saw him. The Mother Base soldiers grew concerned about his absence as he kept himself preoccupied with side operations without any breaks.

For now, he came to visit Quiet once more. He leaned his back against the cell bars and looked down at the floor. Quiet sat up on her bed and looked at him curiously.

"When I took you to see her...you didn't see anything, did you?..." He spoke in a low and almost melancholy tone.

Quiet did not understand what he meant by "her" but then recalled the visit to the empty platform. She slowly shook her head and Snake gave a heavy sigh. Quiet gripped the bars next to him and moved closer, to have a better look at his face. On it, was utter grief and regret.

"Paz...worked for Cipher long ago...though she was his agent, each diary entry that she recorded revealed that wanted to leave that lifestyle…to be one of us..." He suddenly looked frustrated, "We didn't give her that chance...she eventually ended up in the hands of Skull Face and just when I thought I rescued her...we took her onto our helicopter and discovered she had a bomb in her stomach...but no one could have imagined there was another one in her-"

He did not finish the sentence.

Quiet's brows furrowed and a visible frown was on her face.

"For months, ever since I had awoken, I have felt the irrational pain in my bionic arm, the physical pain in my body, and have dealt with it all...but Paz...that's a phantom pain I can probably never be rid of…" He moved away from the bars and rubbed his forehead.

"I convinced myself she was alive this whole time; even to the point of rewriting her demise and for what? Only to have it be all in my head?..."

Quiet looked down and parted her lips as if to say something. Instead, she fazed through the bars as usual and stood beside him. She pointed at his chest, gesturing "you" before using her hand as a visor to represent "find" and finally holding her index and middle finger up to signal "peace".

When Snake saw the peace sign, he felt his heart grow heavy. He squeezed his eye shut and nodded.

"I should find peace...I'm sure that's what she would have wanted…She sacrificed her life to save the lives of everyone on that helicopter and because of that...I am forever grateful…" He looked at Quiet and said sincerely, "Thank you."

Quiet lightly smiled and gave a slow nod.

Big Boss took a deep breath and could suddenly feel a great weight lift from his chest. He missed Paz very much but now understood that she was resting in peace. She does not have to worry about war, about suffering, about Cipher, about Skull face...she can be free from all of that now.

After a few moments, Snake checked his iDroid and scrolled through his missions list. He found a few that interested him and asked, "Want to come to Africa with me? There's a soldier that's said to-"

Quiet snapped her fingers, interrupting him. She had a serious look on her face and pointed to the shower, physically telling him that he needs to relieve his stress and that he stinks from being away from Mother Base for too long.

He chuckled and shrugged, "Good idea…"