LIBERIA
1989

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BOOMING EXPLOSIONS ERUPTED in all directions. Loud gunshots and followed screams were all that could be made clear from the perspective of two people, standing side by side. Tears stream down the face of one of the two people. A woman, a mother, as she watches her childhood village and neighbors, whom she grew up with, be burned to the ground and ruthlessly killed.

"Please, stay behind me. I love you so much, Y/N." The mother whispered to the child next to her now known as Y/N. Hearing people he grew up with screaming and crying while weapons are being fired terrifies Y/N, who is only 5 years old. If he could, he would help in any way that possible. Unfortunately, He too is defenseless and above all, weak.

Bloodied bodies of inculpable townspeople laid on the floor. More shots were fired, bodies dropped to the floor in pools of blood and more screaming insured. Fortunately, because he was hiding behind his mother, Y/N was unable to see anything. Unfortunately, curiosity got the best of him, and he peered to the side of his mother with one half of his face being shown. His E/C eye shining from the fires all around.

The townspeople were drawn to a man with a rifle. Who, based on his appearance did not appear to be from this locality. "We don't have all day! You listen to us, and it's all over. That's easy. Am I understood?" The soldier said.

Out of bravery or idiocy a few citizens rushed at the soldier with sharp objects to try stop the man from killing anymore. The soldier took a step back and rapidly fired at all 3 of the citizens, leaving them to die on the wet ground.

"Now, do I make myself clear?!" Yelled the soldier as he reloaded his rifle. Everything happened in front of Y/N's eyes and it shocked him to the core. His mother took note of this and grasped his hands behind her back.

"Now, I ask all of you with kids to hand them over." The soldier commanded with a stern face. Many parents felt conflicted seconds after this question was asked. The majority of the parents held their children close to them, but others gave in to the soldier and handed them over.

Y/N clutched his mother's hand tightly, still shaken by the death that had occurred in front of him only a few minutes before. "See? Wasn't so hard right? Now, anyone else still with a kid, hand them over. I promise that it'll be over quickly and they will be in good hands."

"No! You're a liar! So, what are you going to do with them? Tell us where they'll be if they're so safe!" The soldier was bravely asked by another mother next to Y/N. The soldier locked his gaze on her. "I'm afraid I'm unable to respond to your question, Ma'am." The soldier replied, his gaze fixed on the ground. "No! We will not surrender our children! You can't treat us like this!" Once more, the mother responded.

"Y'know what? Let this bitch be an example for you all!" The soldier stated before firing 3 shots into the poor mother's chest. "Mama!" the mothers child cried. "Sir, they're not cooperating," the soldier said, raising his hand to his ear. "Please send some troops here."

The crying child knelt next to his dying mother. Before laying her head on the ground and dying, the mother took the boy's hand in hers and whispered inaudible words only the boy could hear. Three troops arrived at the same time. The soldier in the middle, on the other hand, was an older man with white hair and a white beard. The middle soldier remained still while the other two fetched the grieving boy, and Y/N paid great attention to the events occurring in front of him.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Okay, Ma'am. "Now it's your turn to hand over your boy." While leveling his rifle towards Y/N's mother, the soldier said. The words the soldier uttered scared Y/N shitless. Y/N hugged his mother tightly with tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "No. I can't." Y/N's mother responded. "Tch, bad move lady." The soldier pointed his rifle at Y/N's mother, index on the trigger. Ready to fire at any given moment.

"Going once... Twice... Last chance Ma'am. Hand him over!" The mother slowly turned around and hugged the boy, sobbing, knowing this would be the last time they ever saw each other. Y/N too was aware of the situation and cried into his mothers arms one last time. "I love you so much, my boy." Y/N's mother whispered in the boy's ear before turning around to face the soldiers.

"You're not taking him." The mother quickly shoved the boy a few steps back whilst still covering him. "Go! Run! Run Y/N!" The steady 'dut, dut, dut' of the automatic rifle echoed in the boy's ears as he saw his mothers lifeless body drop to the floor. Right in front of him.

As Y/N began to run, wiping the tears from his face, one of the three soldiers caught up to him and yanked him by the arm. In a fit of rage, Y/N continuously struck the soldier's leg, doing everything he could to cause any sort of harm as possible. When he was close enough, he dropped down on his knees, grabbed the sharp weapon from the previous three bodies and stabbed the soldier in the thigh.

"Ah! Little Shit!" The soldier winced before pushing the boy into the ground. The oldest soldier intently watched the interaction with slight interest. As the boy was on the ground the other soldier doing all the killing started beating the ever living shit out of the kid. A few kicks to the ribs and many punches to the head later the older soldier speaks up. "Enough!" The soldier previously beating Y/N immediately stops what he's doing and faces the old soldier.

In a twist, Y/N was ready to get back up and fight. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, using his mothers death as motivation to fight. He got up and balled his hand into a tight fist and proceeded to punch the soldier next to him right in the balls. "Gah!! Fuck!" the man roared in pain as he grabbed at his nuts. "Ahh!!" Y/N let out a cry as he picked up the sharp weapon and stabbed the soldier in the leg.

"Ah! Fuck! You piece of shit!" The man winced in pain. As Y/N was about to pull the weapon out, his legs were swept and he was pinned to the ground by none other than an old man. "No! Get off me you old fuck! I'll beat your ass!" Were the last things Y/N said before everything went black.

With Y/N passed out, the old soldier, Solidus Snake, knocked the other children unconscious and left Liberia by plane, along with his other troops. Now, making their way back to the United States.

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/////SOLIDUS SNAKE\\\\\

Solidus is the third "Son of Big Boss" created by the Patriots in 1972, through somatic cell cloning, as part of the Les Enfants Terribles project. The initial phase of the project produced genetically diverse twin clones with one expressing Big Boss's "inferior" genetic traits and the other Big Boss's "superior" traits which led to Big Boss's departure from the Patriots in 1972. Thus, the organization required a perfect clone in order to retain a figurehead for their organization in the image of Big Boss.

Since neither of the Twin Snakes had identical phenotypic expressions to Big Boss, Solidus was created with the same "perfect balance" of dominant and recessive traits that Big Boss possessed. In later life, Solidus would take much pride in his visible similarity to the man.

Solidus was in Liberia at the time since his army was fighting in the war there. He planned to put a stop to it as the commander of The Army of the Devil. Snake met more children while leading the previous 'Small Boy Unit,' and began training them to be killers. ——————————————————————————————————————————————

BIG TIME-SKIP
5 YEARS LATER
1994

GUNFIRE SOUNDS RESONATED around the dimly illuminated area. A room filled with the children from Liberia who were a year older than the prior events. The room served as a shooting range. Each child is in a separate section, firing at their own targets. Each child hitting their targets dead on.

The soldiers from Liberia, now known to be part of a group called 'The Army of the Devil' are lined up, watching each child effortlessly hit the targets. Everyone's attention was averted to the sound of a door opening. Despite the gunfire, they all knew to heed their work when Solidus Snake entered the room.

The kids lined up and followed Snake out the room with a single nod of his head. Snake led the line to an empty room with a few cases off to the side. Which now only means one thing, Sword Training. "Choose your partner." Snake demanded, and all the children obeyed. Since the number of people are uneven, Y/N was always the one who was left alone. He was always kicking their asses, which was the most-likely reason for this. Once Snake opened the Crate there were multiple wooden swords. Snake handed them out to each kid until he got to Y/N.

"No partner again, huh. Come with me, boy." Y/N immediately followed with no hesitation. Truth is, this was the everyday routine for the children. Waking up, eating, working out, training, eating, more training and ultimately sleeping. Y/N exceeded the rest, and Snake has entrusted him with little missions because of his talent with both a sword and a gun. Y/N got a headstart and went on plenty missions alongside Solidus. Snake was so enamored with the kid that he went as far as adopting him as his very own. Now, The 'Small Boy Unit,' go on many practice missions together and show great potential in putting an end to this war.

Snake is essentially turning these children into perfect soldiers. Raising them to become ruthless killers and it's working beautifully. If everything goes well, he might be able to bring the war to an end.

"Listen Y/N, You have a meeting with the Physician tomorrow. Understood?" "Yes sir." Snake said and Y/N replied. "Good. Now, I'll let you have the day off. Get some rest." Snake said as he dismissed Y/N back into the building.

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/////THE SMALL BOY UNIT\\\\\

The Small Boy Unit, which are made up of comprised child soldiers. The 'Child Soldiers' being the same ones from Liberia.

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FLASHBACK
5 YEARS AGO

A PHYSICIAN WHO works for the 'Army of Devils' stepped up to Snake, multiple syringes in hand, with all of the children unconscious. "Here you go, boss." According to the doctor. "Do you think it's finished?" Are you sure these aren't going to fail? They won't turn on us at random, right?" "I am certain about it, sir." Snake and the Physician went back and forth.

"If you pair it with the ingredients in the food, it will work beautifully. Honest to god." The Physician swore, "You'd best be certain." Snake sternly replied, getting ready to give the syringes to each kid. "The hell is in the food anyway?" "Gunpowder, so well blended it's imperceptible." "The hell is Gunpowder gonna do?" "It contains trace amounts called 'toluene,' which allows them to be more controlled. There are, however, a few actions you must follow in order to have complete control over them. If you give them the serum, you must also offer them toluene-laced food. Then, for 'Image Training,' show them action films every day. It gives them a mental picture of what they must do. It is a type of training that is done on a person."

"It's a type of mental training in which the exercises are carried out by visualizing them in one's mind. We are, however, working on a means to severely improve the serum. Once you've found your best soldier, hand them over for a little experiment in the coming years." The Physician responded.

"All right, this shouldn't be too difficult." Snake responded, his confidence in his abilities unwavering.

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PRESENT DAY
1994

Y/N IS SEEN above a dirt-stained sink, he stared at himself in a small rectangular mirror on the wall. The boy was just... staring in the dimly lighted bathroom. He took in all of his features as he peered at himself. He retains the same appearance as he did in Liberia. He still has the same H/L, H/C, but his height is significantly different. From the age of five to ten years old, this was to be expected. His eyes are another distinguishing feature. They weren't as vibrant and alive as they had been in his time in Liberia.At a glance, it would look like peering into the eyes of a lifeless man. He's fit in his suit, although minus the weapons.

(KEEP IN MIND THIS IS A PS2 GAME LMAO)

As he gets out the bathroom a knock on the door can be heard as he steps out his room and greets Snake. "Sir." "Follow me. Do you remember where we're going?" "Yes, the Physician, right?" "You are correct." The two went back and forth. As they knocked on the door to the Physician's room they were greeted kindly.

"Ah, Snake! Is this your boy? The one you chose?" "Yes, it is." The two spoke with each other as Y/N stood to the side. When he heard the physician say, "The one you choose?" Y/N got a little bit curious as to what he meant. However, he brushed it off and trusted the man he knew for so long. "Y/N boy, I've heard so much about youI! Please, have a seat." The physician said to Y/N as he gestured to the chair.

Y/N took a seat and he could hear whispering behind him. He could hear them saying something along the lines of, "Are you sure it will work? If he's dead when I come back, I will fucking kill you." And, "I assure you he will be just fine, sir." Then, the Physician approached Y/N. "Now, boy, this is going to hurt a little." He said this before stabbing Y/N in the neck with a syringe.

Y/N was instantly affected by the side effects. He tried to stand up, but the doctor restrained him with leather cuffs around his wrists and ankles. He started groaning, not too loud but loud enough anyone in the room could hear. A few seconds pass until the groaning eventually stops, and the boy is passed out.

"Is he alright?" "I can assure you, he will be just fine. Give it a few minutes. In the meantime, help me set up this TV." Snake asked and the Physician replied. Snake did as he was told. Once the TV was on the Physician put in a tape, and told Snake, "Now, we wait for him to wake up." Snake just nodded, took a seat in a chair and lit a cigarette."

Y/N eventually awoke, gasping for air. Snake took notice right away and went to check on the boy. "Restrain him, sir. I'm going to turn on the TV." As the TV turned on, Snake tightened his grip on the boy even more. The tape contained extremely graphic and violent war footage. Y/N squirmed in his chair, yelling at the top of his lungs and doing everything he could to get out of his bindings. His head was pounding in pain, flashes of every detailed gory scene on the tape played in his head. It all eventually ended when he passed out, again.

"Did it work?" "Yes, it did. Perfectly if I may add. He now has experience of fighting in a war, just by sitting in a chair. This... This is beautiful." Snake questioned and the Physician replied. "What differences will it make?" "He'll be the most rutheless man you'll ever know. He'll wake up stronger, faster, and even smarter. It'll be extremely noticable on the battlefield." The two conversed.

"Where the hell did you get this serum anyway? Or, did you make it." "Ah, this serum is in fact, very old. Like, 1930's old. So, we recieved it from some... Old friends, however, we modified it." The Physician replied. "Is it safe to give to him?" "It worked in the 30's, so it should now. The man in the 30's supposedly put on a ton of muscle. However, since this is still a child, we got rid of that. Ah, one more thing, sir." "What is it?" "When do you plan on bringing the children to war." "A few weeks. Why?" "Please bring the boy back here 3 days before. We need to enhance it one more time, we can't do it now because he could die, and I do not want to risk that. So, it has to be done a few weeks apart and I think before you leave would be perfect." The Physician asked.

"Alright. But, what now?" "Bring the boy back to his room and let him rest until he wakes up. He should be up by tomorrow." "Got it." The two conversed one last time as Snake carried the boy out of the room and into his bedroom. He layed him down on the bed and walked out quietly. Y/N was going over each scenario of the war footage that was shown to him, in his sleep. However, it was significantly slower and seemed like real time. He continued to murder people with his sword and guns until he was completely coated in their blood. Different scenarios each time, almost like training but he felt he was actually killing.

"This is the true effect of 'Image Training.' Showing different fighting skills in different scenarios on the mental level, using segments in ones mind to perform the training exercises. When he awakens from his sleep, he will have much more experience with new fighting techniques and will be a completely different fighter as we know it. A ruthless one, at that." The Physician noted to himself.

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AUTHORS NOTE

Hello Everyone! I am very very very excited to upload the first chapter in this story. This arc is an origin story based off of the same things Raiden went through in the Metal Gear series, which is who Y/N is based off of. If you notice any mistakes PLEASE let me know so I can fix it. If you enjoy it please vote!!!!