Mass Effect: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow

A/N - Hey everyone! This is an idea I've had kicking around for a while now, and it was well into its fourth chapter before my computer decided to join the dead and take all my notes for all my stories with it. Luckily, this was the most recent and I had done most of the notes taking on my phone.

Now, there are things not going to seem right in the lore surrounding both Mass Effect and Metal Gear. I've taken some liberties and changed some things around in order to incorporate both worlds into one, but there shouldn't be much that is too outlandish.

Hope you enjoy as much as I've enjoyed writing!

Prologue: An Echo in Our Legends

"There's nothing we can do... she's gone." The doctor said as he removed his gloves and tossed them into the nearest disposal. Three people stood around a gurney. They were all silent—their faces downtrodden and drenched in misery.

The woman of blue skin looked away from the shell of a body that lay in front of them. She felt the knot in her throat swell painfully and she fought hard not to sob, to remain composed in front of the others. Her fist clenched tight till her knuckles turned white.

The man opposite her took a long drag from his cigarette, longer than he normally would, afraid of the inevitable, of all his wasted resources. "You're positive—"

The doctor nodded. "She was found beneath the hull of the Normandy, crushed, including her brain matter and all—if not—most of her bones. Even if it hadn't crushed her; entering the atmosphere with no way to slow down her descent and crashing into the planet... her suit wasn't made to survive atmospheric re-entry… she was incinerated."

"I'm sorry, sir… if she had only crash landed... maybe we could have recovered her in a state that may have theoretically allowed us to save her… But with this amount of damage... even a miracle couldn't bring her back" The doctor rubbed the back of his neck, swallowing hard.

The Illusive Man's holographic image flickered, he took another long drag of his cigarette. He stared at the corpse on the gurney, the only one who could have saved them... dead, her body only a husk, she had been reaped from them, when they needed her most. "Evans… return her back to the Alliance, use our decoy channels. Keep them in the dark about our involvement."

The doctor nodded, leaving the med-bay. A silence hovered about them. It hung in the air like a thick fog.

The Illusive Man flicked his cigarette and directed his gaze to the woman of blue. He stared forlornly, and bowed his head. "Ms T'Soni… I'm very sorry." He said, and his glowing figure disappeared.

Liara stood alone. She felt the tears slip through, caressing her cheeks with despair. She held a hand to her mouth and took a step to the body with a quivering lip. Her footfall echoed a pain of a thousand years, a pain she would never forget. After all the trouble, all the pain and the sorrow to get her back... and now she would never see her face. She'd never see her scowl, never see her fight, smile or laugh. She'd never see her dance again either, something she would give the world to see her do right now.

She placed a hand on the former woman's, she felt it crisp to her touch, frozen in time, frozen in terror. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. As they fell, so she did, landing on her knees beside the gurney with a weight of a singularity. She gripped Her hand, a desperate attempt for the woman to move.

"Oh goddess..." She wept, crying into the blackened shoulder of Her.

"Shepard... come back."

The world turned red and white as his body hit the concrete with a heavy thud, the force of the landing knocked the wind from him, and he fought to breathe through the pain. His throat gurgled with blood and he struggled to breathe in and out.

Big Boss, defeated, beaten by a mere boy. Shock hung in the air, but even through the convulsions that corrupted his body, Venom Snake—Big Boss, couldn't help but feel regret and pity for the young man who dropped to a knee, out of breath and exhausted.

The young man gazed down at the legendary soldier, Big Boss' breaths labored and harsh, his only eye red, dazed, and tired.

The old man laughed a silent laugh as he found air. He looked up at the young man who had beaten him and squinted to see him in focus.

"You're... pretty good, kid." He whispered. "Better... than Him, I'd bet." He added with a half-heartened laugh that turned into a curdled cough.

The younger man wiped the sweat and blood from his brow. "Him?" He asked, confused by the statement.

"Him, the Boss... my… Boss." Venom Snake whispered.

The young man shook his head, still not sure of what he meant. He leaned closer to the old man. "Boss, why'd you do it... why'd you betray us? Why betray your country?" He wished to know, so that he could return home, believing Big Boss was not a traitor, that it served a greater purpose somewhere he did not see.

The phantom swallowed. He looked up to the sky. Smoke and ash pervaded the air as the communications tower burned.

Outer Heaven was cloaked in fire. Their heaven was now a tombstone dedicated to their failure... and all from a lowly boy—No, he wasn't a boy, not any longer. He was a soldier—a man, and he could not feel anymore sorry for him than he did now. He persevered and pushed through, all under the pretense of Patriotism... He finished his mission and lost a piece of himself.

What did he ask him? Why did he do it?

He swallowed the blood down. "It was... for him." He said, and looked up at the young man. He looked so much like Him already, for someone so young. With so much life left in him.

"Did it... for me." He labored.

He groaned painfully. "Look at us, kid… killing is all we know… it's all we do... we're... walking corpses. But... at least I... I fought for—" An image of a woman appeared in his mind, of one who he hadn't thought of for a long time. Her hair brown and tied back, her blue eyes clouded by black, she stared at him devilishly, lovingly.

He swallowed the blood down. "... For her." He said. He stared up at the sky for another moment before looking at the boy turned soldier, and pointed a shaky finger at him. "What… are you… fighting…for?" His hand fell to the floor. "Solid Snake..."

There was silence between them before Venom Snake saw the young man's face disappear in a mist of red, and then the world followed. He was so tired, he'd rest… to join Her, at long last.

Solid Snake stood and watched the older man—Big Boss, disappear. His only eye drifted close and the last of his breath faded. He walked away from the world of the living, Big Boss was no more.

He swallowed and stood as tall as he could, He was about to turn to leave when he spotted something in the dead man's front pocket and reached down. He pulled out out a long black bandana—stitched inside, it read "For Her" in white twine.

Snake held it for a moment before he wrapped it around his head, just over his brow line. He turned and ran to the elevator, and when the doors began to close behind him, he gazed long and hard at the body that lay across the roof, lifeless and broken. The doors closed, and with them, the Legend of Big Boss came to an end.