Neither Heaven, Nor Hell (ASOIAF/MGS)

angbhong · Feb 23, 2025

When the second child of Lord Rickard Stark was born, it was said that the child never cried. At first, it was believed the child to be a stillbirth. After all, the child seemed upon initial sight to be as unmoving as a corpse, but the limbs moved and both Lord and Lady Stark sighed in relief. They named the child Eddard though the Lady and the Lord would always shorten it into Ned whenever times of leisure and relaxation appeared. It was to the horror of Lord Rickard when whispers emerged dubbing the child as 'The Quiet Wolf' for his rather silent behavior and for his unusual birth.

When the second child of Lord Rickard Stark grew up, it was said by the Northerners that the boy was blessed by the old gods to be a warrior with their reasons being that other squires never seemed to best him in both bladed combat as well as in unarmed combat.

His parents disagreed with that notion, believing him to be more akin to a snake than a warrior, due in part to the child always seeming to never be seen within Winterfell even in his room. Though, in truth, the little lord was hiding due to apparent amusement at the guards repeated attempts on finding him.

It was after the fourth time of little Ned's sneaking that his Lord Father gave up altogether and declared to the guards to abandon any and all efforts to find the young scion. It seemed that all whispers seems to emerge replacing the child's moniker from 'The Quiet Wolf' into being 'The Slithering Wolf' after his stealthful nature.

When the third child of Lord Rickard Stark was born, it was said that all the cries that should've been emerged back when Eddard Stark was born was taken by his sister who cried endlessly. Brandon commented to his younger brother "Doesn't she ever shut up?" to which Ned replied with a smirk, "Don't you?" which prompted both of them to laugh. At the first sight of his younger sister however, Ned became uncharacteristically somber and spoke up silently "She seems so bright, even sunny even." His older sibling seemed to have heard and remarked, "Will you protect her then?" Ned simply nodded. They named the child Lyanna though they would casually called her as Lya.

Ned Stark always seemed to surpass most expectations of him. He was both proficient with books as well as in fighting. To everyone's amusement, he always managed to best his brother, Brandon, in combat. His father seemed to swell with pride when Ned managed to learn a couple of language which were High Valyrian, The Summer Tongue, and the Language of the Dothraki which were unexpected for someone of his age.

He had plans for Ned to become an ambasaddor or a diplomat of sorts for the North once he grew into the age of majority. It would be best for the North to be able to grow more bridges than to sequester themselves from the rest of the Kingdom's. Some of the Northerner's might hate Rickard for tying himself more with the South, but each Winter was killing more and more of his people every time it passed and he is constantly remembered of his house's saying, Winter is Coming.

Alas, it was to his father's dismay that Ned always critiqued visiting Nobles for their less-than-stellar record. Despite his attempts at correcting Ned's behavior, the boy remained steadfast in his attitude.

It was on one incident when Eddard was at the age of seven when two older squires conspired to teach him a lesson that he wouldn't forget after he embarassed them for harassing a young maid of Winterfell. They issued a small duel against him and them when Ned simply smirked as spoke as brazenly but as evenly as he could, "Try all you might, but I doubt even your might is worth a single drop of ink." The squires bursted out laughing and the small duel commenced with Lord Rickard Stark watching with eyes full of amusement.

The duel ended almost as quickly as it ended as Ned ran forward with the speed of rainfall and neglecting his wooden training sword, he jumped up and kneed his opponent in the face subsequently breaking the squire's nose then he picked up the blunt sword of his fallen foe and threw it at the other boy who was stunned enough for Ned to sucker punch with him in the gut with enough force to make him keel over .

The crowd applauded the young lord's victory, but his Lord Father watched and came upon the realization that he had given birth to one that will give honor to the root word of warrior. War.

When Ned was squired off to Jon Arryn and sent away to the Eyrie, his younger sister cried. Ned smiled and consoled her, "Don't worry. I'll only be gone 'till I grow into the age of majority." However, Lya seemed to cry even harder. For some reason.

At his arrival to the Eyrie, Ned met Robert of the House Baratheon. When Robert asked why he always seemed so distant to the others, Ned softly spoke, "I've . . . never been interested in the lives of others." Robert simply smirked at his response as if that was a challenge.

It was at his first night in the Eyrie that he dreamt of War. In the furthest reaches of his dreams, he heard an unsettling voice, "The Spirit Of The Warrior Will Always Be With You"

Right, that's a wrap. I'm open for ideas and critique. Sorry for being so short. So basically, for every milestone that Ned passes, he'll gain more and more memories of his past life as Solid Snake. I'll also place a bigger emphasis of the MGX games and of Snake's time in the Green Beret's.

angbhong · Feb 23, 2025

Jon Arryn glanced at his dining table and focused his eyes upon his squires. Robert Baratheon was eating plenty of the served food, and glimpsed a view of the buttocks of the serving girls. Eddard Stark, his most recent squire, ate little and spared nary a look to anyone else and he visibly had eye bags. 'Such contrasting personalities' thought Arryn as he made a note to correct Robert's inadequate table manners later.

Jon decided to speak, "Robert. Do remember to respect the maidens as well as the food." Robert, as usual of him, snorted, "Eddard. Why do you eat so little?"

The Scion of House Stark stayed silent for a moment, "Bad dreams."

The Falcon showed some sign of worry, "Perhaps you are feeling homesick?"

"No. Just some wild, fanciful dreams."

"I see. Another question, were your dreams the reason for your lack of eating?"

"Nope. Just eating in moderation 's all." Lord Arryn noticed his saying of the word 'nope.', a rather odd and possibly Northern way of speaking 'No.'.

"That is good. Some of us can do with a little moderation, isn't that right, Robert?" Robert only smirked at his mention, eating the last of his meal.

"We will return to the yard so that we can test young Eddard's skill with the blade." Jon declared,

Robert gleamed in interest while Eddard spoke his mind, "Sure just make sure to call me Ned. Eddard has too many syllable's in it."

At the yard, Robert focused his mind on putting on his padded armor, with the help of some of the servants. Eddard- Ned, rather, only cared to arm himself with nothing more than a dull, one-handed, tourney sword from a rack. Jon had heard some rumors coming from Winterfell of the scion out rivaling most of the other squires with and that the boy rarely used a sword, preferring instead a knife. Looking at him now, Jon had a distinct feeling that wearing more armor would've weighed Ned down more than it would've helped him.

"Feeling confident, are we?" Robert jeered at the young squire for his lack of padding. Pointing his sword at him.

"Let's find out." Ned spoke with a clear smirk, his blue eyes, inherited from his Lady Mother, seeming to shine even against the morning sun.

"Robert. Ned. There will be no hitting in the face nor in the groin. Remember, this is to test Ned's skills than to boast about your own skill, Robert. Now begin!" Both of the boys circled against each other, Robert felt rather awkward with the sword, Arryn surmised, he might've been more comfortable with a war hammer.

Robert struck first, swinging his sword at the left leg of Ned. Though at the amazement of the spectators, Ned jumped up and catched the Baratheon's blade with his boots. Robert paused for a moment, as if anticipating an attack, but Ned withdrew himself and released the blade.

They circled each other again, Robert once again going for the initiative and thrusted his tourney sword at the chest of the second son of House Stark. Ned quickly moved and flicked away the sword with his weapon and pushed Robert to the ground by swinging his leg against Robert's own and pulled at Robert's left arm whilst simultaneously disarming Robert and quickly pointed the tip of his blade against Robert's neck signifying to the heir of House Baratheon to surrender which he conceded.

The small crowd quickly cheered before silencing themselves as Jon Arryn spoke, "That is enough."

The master-at-arms stepped forward and announced his analysis of the fight, "The Baratheon boy can swing well-enough, but the Stark boy . . ." he cleared a cough "The Stark boy rarely used his blade, he was more reliant on his limbs than he did his own weapon. A fault to be corrected if he's to fight against armored men."

"I'm not a big fan of blades. Not really my style." The master-at-arms snorted at Ned's sudden voice,

"Still, mi'lord, the move that he did against Robert is something else. He'll make a fine knight if he weren't a northerner. I've seen Barristan fight once, and I'd reckon that with enough time that the kid will give Selmy a run for his money."

The Arryn narrowed his eyes, "That will be all for now, the two of you should rest, as you will have to run some errands after the noon." Ned and Robert retreated back to their living quarters.

"Where in the nine hells did you learn those moves!?" Robert questioned Ned once they have returned to their quarters.

"From Nowheros." Ned answered quite sarcastically.

"Alright smart-ass, you'll have to teach me more of those moves later. Once I'm done woooing the maids." Robert was rather brazen, truth-be-told, though once he left, Ned was by his lonesome.

"I'll try." Once Ned was by himself, he recollected his thoughts and he suddenly shuddered a thought at once again sleeping, the dreams he had last night weren't pleasant. If he could recall, his dream started of during the Golf Wars and he was taking part in a clandestine 'operation' at Iraq. How he could recall those places, he didn't know. He further recalled being re-assigned to a secretive unit called F̵̣͕̈́̈́͝õ̴̤͓̗͈̬̩̃͠x̶̢͇͉̘͓͋-̸̦̞̬̳̾͆̐̀̈́͝H̸̨̖͙̞̱̀o̶̯̗͍̹̼̼͛͂̽u̸̡̹̩͉͔͌̌ǹ̵͎̟̫̺͓̲̠͋̄̀d̶͌͐̊̈͛͘͠a̵̜͍͍̫͂̉́n̴͇̱̖̞̘̠̿̌̿̔̒͝d̶̻̥̭̲͉̑̃͛̌͜ ̷̢͌b̶̡͔̥͚̝̊ë̷͖̘͚̯̱̘́i̴̢̪͖̻͈̦̞̊́̅̍͝͝ṉ̵͇̽̃g̶̻̫̪̊̌̃͊̃̍̂ ̷̮́t̵̯̖̤̭̻̥̍r̵̡͔̹͇͆͌̏͝a̸̺̙͖͕̽í̴̡̯̭͐̄̈́͛̊͝n̵͙̜͔̥̽̅̓́e̷͚̲͎̒͂̓̽̂̈̕ḑ̶̛̜̤̣̔͆̓̓͘͠ ̸̰͖̚b̷͎͔̹̒͋̊ỷ̴͔̙̗͕̹ ̷̛̦̦̭̹͋͑͜t̴̬̗͖̓̈́̕̕h̵̤͓̟̱͂e̶̘̳̣̰͔͈̹͆̿̓̀ ̷͕̇̈̒̅͠h̸̡̙̳̩̥̪͆̀͌ė̸̖̩̥ļ̷̫̾l̴̜̫͙͉͑̓̑̔̐͌͘-̵̪̤͎͎̝̾͐̍̔͗͐̕m̸̖̟̼̠͔͆́͐̕as̷͚̻͕̮̥̊̈̂̂t̵̹̙͕̚͜ͅȩ̷̞̣̘͔̎͒́̚r̸̪̣͙̍̾̏͂̓. His head ached just by remembering the dream. He'll try to find out more about his dreams from the Maester within the castle.

I emphasized Ned's blue eye because in the newer version's of Metal Gear 1, the codec picture of Snake has his blue eyes shining very brightly. So I wanted to have a neat little call-back.

angbhong · Feb 23, 2025

"Please, mi'lord! I beg that-" The criminal screamed for his life to be spared. The guards leading him to the moon door.

"I have said all that needs to be said." The Falcon glared, his eyes seeming to petrify the man.

The crowd within the High Hall were silent and indifferent, whether out of apathy towards the man or whether they were too used to such executions, Ned couldn't tell.

The man begged as much as he could, tears fell in a rather ugly manner down his cheeks, but the guard's continued to push him toward's the Moon Door until he fell with his scream's accompanying him in a rather horrifying manner.

"Ugly business, isn't it?" at his side, his fellow squire spoke silently. It has been around a year or so, since Ned has become the squire for Arryn, Robert had been a squire for far longer than that.

"Could be worse. But we shouldn't judge." Ned stood straighter as the Falcon walked towards them. The crowd that witnessed the execution were now spreading apart and tending to their duties.

"Robert. Ned." Ned analyzed Arryn in the same way he did to them, He examined the way Jon's eyes always seemed to glanced towards his squires and seeming every bit the Falcon within his family sigil.

"Aye, mi'lord." Robert and Ned spoke synchronized. They had practiced speaking in synchronization as a way to pass the time.

"Do you know why you chose to stay and witness the man die? You could have left and be spared such a sight."

Robert stepped forward, "Well, I didn't want to be known as a coward who couldn't even muster up the courage to see a man die. Besides, I'll be the Lord of Storm's End and I have to bare such ugliness now than later." After speaking his thoughts, Robert stepped back.

Jon hummed and turned his eyes towards Ned who promptly stepped forward, "I'm not one to shy away from such sights. Besides, if you can't look a man in the eye as he'll die then you'll have done a disservice to him."

"I have heard that in the North, that it is the Lord of Winterfell who personally see's to the executions, is this correct?"

Ned paused and recollected his thoughts, memories of around three week before resurfaced when he returned back to the North to celebrate the birth of his most recent brother, Benjen. "Aye, it is so that the Lord Stark won't forget the meaning of death."

"A wise practice, it is quite often within the South that we often forget the price of death. Even the King's are vulnerable to it."

"So they are." Ned stepped back.

Jon closed his eyes, "In a fortnight, we will travel by road to King's Landing." Travelling by road was often more slower than travelling by ship just so long as the wind's were in your favour as you ran a ship, while you might be beset by bandit's in the road, the water's was often more dangerous as you were vulnerable to pirate's and storm-

Ned had a sudden strike of realization, If he could recall, Both the Lord and Lady of House Baratheon died by a storm just as they were approaching Storm's End through their ship called the Windproud. He theorized that due to the reason's for their death that Robert had become somewhat traumatized by the thought of travelling by ship and that Arryn must've cared for Robert enough so as to take that into consideration.

Jon must've noticed his realization, but he chose not to spoke on the matter, "We will travel to King's Landing so that you may become acquianted with the Crown Prince, Rhaegar Targaryen. It is good for one to build bridge's within their boyhood.

"He's your cousin isn't he?" Ned questioned Robert, if he remembered his history correctly, one of Robert's grandmother's was a Targaryen. Robert nodded.

"Now pack your thing's."

Both of the boy's nodded and turned to leave, "Another matter, Robert, do take care that you do not antagonize the Martell's" As usual, a snort was heard.

Despite Jon's command, the boy's certainly didn't pack, rather they were training. Whenever they had the time to spar unarmed, they took it. After all, Robert wished for it since Ned's first day within the Eyrie and Ned had seen to the training of Robert in Close Quarter Combat. Jon had found out about their little training in Ned's second month under the Arryn's tutelage but he saw no harm in it and continued to let them train.

Robert dodged a kick aimed at his side, "Where in the nine hell's did you learn this anyhow," Ned tried to speak but Robert had more to say, "Come on, we've known each other for a year so don't answer sarcastically now."

Baratheon tried to strike at the Scion of House Stark but Ned quickly blocked it with his elbow, "Truth be told, I haven't the foggiest idea. It just seems like I've always known how to do this."

Robert saw an uppercut coming at his face but he catched Ned's fist before it made impact, "That's odd." Ned attempted to retaliate as he elbowed Robert's face but he ducked.

Robert backed away and tried to sweep at Ned's leg but he was instead thrown to the ground. "It is. What's more, there's some part of me that hates fighting like this. Like I've made a vow or something and I've broken it." Robert conceded and Ned helped him back to his feet, "You're pretty good, Robert. Keep it up."

"This isn't like how one would typically brawl. There's grace in it, and some fluidity." Robert went to a chair to sit on it.

"I suppose there is."

"Well, we really must pack our thing's before the bird get's mad at us." Both of them smirked.

Jon along with his squire's and his men were riding with their horse's to rest at Ivy Inn before they'd resume their march. They were making good pace now, he was rather fortunate that no bandit's didn't come and fight them, and he would reckon that his men-at-arm's made for good deterrence against any bandit's. Still, even as as far as they were from King's Landing, he could still smell a faint stench that he distinctly recognized to have come from the Capital of Westeros.

"Why's it stink." His youngest squire complained, waving the air around his nose.

Robert laughed, "First time, huh? Yup, the stench can get pretty awful. The Targaryen's can flaunt themselves with perfume all they want, but I would reckon that nothing can stop that awful smell."

"Christ." Jon raised his eyebrow, Ned had always spoke such strange term's and word's, where he got them from, he did not truely know and did not want to know. "They say that the state of the city reflect's the state of the lord ruling over it." Ned spoke silently,

Jon reprimanded him despite it, "Be very careful of your word's. The Targaryen's are quite fickle, and saying anything that is even slightly against them can be marked as treason." Ned grumbled but reluctantly nodded. "You must take further caution with your word's within King's Landing, they say that the wall's within the Red Keep can hear and even see you."

They had now entered King's Landing and were now approaching The Red Keep, they had dismounted themselves from their mount's. At the entrance of the Red Keep, Ser Barristan Selmy along with the young Arthur Dayne had approached them.

Dayne held bread and offered it to them, "Lord Arryn, Lord Baratheon, Ser Eddard Stark. By accepting this salted bread, you will enter into the sacred tradition of Guest Right's." Barristan spoke, or rather, recited.

"We hereby accept the tradition of Guest Right's. In both vow's and promises, We swear to do no harm to our host, the King." Jon spoke for his squire's as they took the bread from Dayne and silently ate it.

Selmy nodded, "As the representative of House Targaryen and as the Kingsguard, we accept your word's. You will have the full protection of the King for the duration of your stay."

Jon along with his squire's made a step toward's the Iron Throne,

"Alas, Our Grace, Aerys Targaryen has departed to High Garden and he will continue onward's to the ruins of Summerhall. The Hand, Tywin Lannister shall take our grace's place." Selmy spoke yet again,

Selmy walked four steps forwards and quietly warned, "The Hand has become a rather fickle and disagreeable man." Selmy stepped back.

The Trio took heed of his warning and nodded, speaking within The Red Keep was oft dangerous. They walked forward and the door leading towards the Iron Throne was opened.

They expected Tywin but the sight of Queen Rhaella and the bookish prince Rhaegar Targaryen greeted them first, "Hello Cousin."

That'll be all for now. I described Rhaegar as bookish as he didn't get his martial skills till later. I also added in Robert's trauma because a big part about Metal Gear is trauma. I'll try to merge a bit of Politics and Fight's.

angbhong · Feb 23, 2025

Both Arryn along with all of his squire's made to kneel before the queen, even Robert, for all his arrogance was silent. "Your Grace."

The Queen, with her pale hair, looked both youthful and old, at the same time. She made her turn to speak, "Lord Arryn, Lord Baratheon, and . . ."

She must've not recognized Ned, It was all too-easy to gloss over second son's, "Ser Eddard, Mother." The Prince spoke up.

The Queen hummed, "You're Lord Stark's child, are you not?" He nodded. "It is a pleasure for the three of you to stay in the Red Keep."

"Yes. I've heard that you know High Valyrian." The Prince questioned me.

Ned turned to Lord Arryn who nodded back at him, "I do, along with other languages."

The Prince seemed rather inquisitive, "Come. Stand." Jon and both of his squire's stood up whilst still maintaing proper decorum, "There are plenty of rumor's surrounding the North, especially in regard's to Winterfell, most of them seldom speak positively of House Stark. But I am inclined to believe none of them if a second child of House Stark can speak the tongue of High Valyria." He made a gesture as if Eddard should demonstrate his abilities.

"Eman daor ēdas olvie jēda naejot practice Valyrīha, aōha dārōñe." I have not had much time to practice Valyrian, Your Grace.

The Prince seemed equally fascinated and amused, "Nyke gōntan daor pendagon nyke would mirre glaesagon naejot ūndegon se tubis bona iā northerner would mirre ȳdragon Valyrio Eglie" I did not think I would ever live to see the day that a Northerner would ever speak High Valyrian.

Prince Rhaegar paused, "I sincerely meant no offence."

"Mirre taken. Īlen va moriot sȳz skori ziry māstan naejot udrir." None Taken. Language has always been one of my strong suit's.

Queen Rhaella motioned her hand for them to stop, "Lord Arryn and Lord Baratheon, Let us convene at the Dining Table. We have business." She turned her gaze toward's Eddard, "You shall stay."

Robert walked away with Jon and the Queen, but not before sparing a glance towards Ned.

"You have any clue what they are talking about?" The Crown Prince asked Ned.

"Nope. But that's fine by me." Ned lied, He was of course, earnest in wanting to know what they were talking about but he had little freedom of movement within the Red Keep.

"Come. Let's see the Kingsguard train. Father took four of them along with him, and Mother had one along with her, so only Barristan and Arthur are sparring in the yard. He turned to walk to the yard and Ned followed, "Tywin isn't here. He's at the Tower of the Hand." Rhaegar paused, "I am not one for formalities, so call me Rhaegar."

"Sure. If you'll call me Ned." Rhaegar smirked.

They passed by many room, Rhaegar was taking as a sort of tour guide, giving the names of the many room's within the Red Keep. When they passed by the Armory, however, Eddard paused. The heavy door leading to one of the many armories within the Keep was left slightly ajar and he saw something.

"Something the matter?"

"Mind if I borrow something?" He opened the armor and picked up a weapon, but Rhaegar couldn't see it.

"No, I don't. But best not to tell the Guard's or my Mother." Emerging out of the armory, Rhaegar saw him take out of the armory a black crossbow along with its stiff, leather holster. It was small enough to be able to be wielded with only a lone hand. He raised a brow as Ned took out a knife hidden from his leg and held it in a reverse grip whilst pointing the crossbow, his finger at the wall. "Some of the men-at-arm's call the Crossbow the weapon of a coward."

Ned sheathed his knife and inspected the crossbow. "The trigger is unique, it is unlike other crossbow's where their trigger's are long and often needs holding it with both hand's just to fire it." He glanced closer toward's the material of it, "It's made of something- but other than that I have no idea what it is." Ned hummed, "The stock is retractable and hollow as well."

"It's just a shame that there's no bolt around, but I would think that a crossbow like this would need a customized bolt." He flipped the weapon and caught sight of a signature marked unto it 'The Fear', he wondered what that meant. He glanced back toward's the Prince's smirking grin and amused eye's, "I like it!"

"It seem's that you do. Come let's head to the yard. We've dallied for far too long." Ned nodded and holstered his newely acquired weapon.

"Come on. There's still time to play tag." Rhaegar seemed puzzled, "We're still kid's, aren't we?"

The Prince- No, the boy chuckled lightly, "So we are."

At a ring within the vast yard contained at the Red Keep, Barristan and Arthur circled against each other, they were wearing their steel armour, but they wielded tourney sword's. Arthur attempted to strike Barristan's side but was forced to retreat as Barristan flicked Arthur's blade away and pointed his sword at Dayne and walked two step's forward. Barristan quickly ended the fight as he disarmed Arthur by taking his sword away and pointing it to him which made Arthur fall.

Arthur smirked and held up his arms, "You got me."

"So I did." Barristan glanced at his surrounding's to see a somewhat tired Prince Rhaegar and the Stark boy at the ring. He quickly kneeled, "Prince Rhaegar." Arthur clumsily tried to stand up and kneeled.

Rhaegar motioned them to relax, "I am not here for formalities. Me and my new friend merely wanted to see the Kingsguard fight."

Arthur piped up, "I am afraid that we can barely fight any longer." Barristan glared at his fellow Kingsguard.

Rhaegar chuckled, "So it would seem. But it was fun while it lasted." Rhaegar walked back towards the inside of the Red Keep with Eddard following behind the older boy.

"I never had much friends before," Rhaegar confessed, "Father was often-" He paused, "Most of the squire's around here are just playing nice, behind my back, they often called me weak for my academic inclination." Rhaegar turned his purple eyes against Ned's own and sighed, "Robert and I were never quite close, either. While the Kingsguard are kind, I cannot call them friends, I think that without their duties that they won't spare a single thought toward's me." Rhaegar looked toward's the ground, "What I'm saying is thank you-"

Ned steeled himself, "That's enough. Pull yourself together!" Rhaegar seemed in shock, "I'm not some shoulder for you to cry on."

"Look, people will always pick on what they think are the weak." Rhaegar paused and thought of his father's treatment on his mother. "So what? There's nothing you can do about that. I don't want to give you a purpose. You have to look for that yourself. But if you hate the weak being picked on then maybe you should protect them." Ned stepped a foot closer to the chambers of the Iron Throne. He seemed entirely like a different man.

Rhaegar laughed, "You are something else entirely" He stopped his laugh and stared at Ned, "But you're right, I should stop feeling bad on myself."

That's a wrap. I wanted to expand some more but I'm tired. Despite my feeling's towards Rhaegar, He is still an innocent person here so I decided to be more lenient toward's him.

angbhong · Feb 23, 2025

Ned found himself in a battlefield, specifically, he was in a clandestine operation in Western Iraq (Where?) to kill a colonel (What was that?). His squad was equipped with the latest NVG (What?) model's and they were dropping at the middle of the night when the security detail was much stronger than they were lead to believe. A dozen or so ING's (They were enemies?) were firing back at them, Ned's Squad Leader got shot at the neck and the medic tried to run over to him but was shot in the chest. Everything was FUBAR (What in the nine hells was that?).

He breathed deeply and fired his M16 rifle at two of the ING's, his shots didn't miss. He caught the enemy Colonel in a hot-wired Toyota high-tailing it out of here after they shot an AT-4 at the colonel's previous armored vehicle disabling it. But he wasn't gonna let them, he fired off three shot's which shot two of the tires and the driver. The Colonel who was panicking ran out of the car only to be shot with an M16 by his Squad Leader who was still bleeding profusely. Ned refocused his barrel on another ING.

He visited his Squad Leader in the hospital, his Squad Leader had told Ned that he was fortunate to have lived but he would never walk again. He also visited his Squad Medic and they shared a few laugh's.

He was tapped in the shoulder by an officer, a low-ranking one and probably just a pencil-pusher. He was told to head to his CO's office.

When Ned came opened the door to his CO's office, he was being yelled at, they had just found out, after the Operation he undertook on Iraq, that he had enlisted in the army while he was still a teenager. He tuned most, if not all, of the noises out, he learned to do that during Boot Camp. But the yelling came about not just because of him enlisting as a teenager but also because he was about to be awarded a Distinguished Service Cross.

An eye-patched man with a Cigar abruptly entered the room, Ned couldn't tell which regiment or branch he was a part of, but in his Dress Uniform, an MOH medal and even a Distinguished Service Cross can be seen.

"Lay off the kid, will ya?" The one-eyed man spoke rather confidently, his CO must've known who he was as he clammed up, "He's Green Beret. He's earned his place." He turned to Ned, "Kid, call me Big Boss. Right now, I'm offering you a chance."

"C'mon kid! There's no way in hell you'll be able to survive a single mission in Fox-Hound if you're that tired!" Master (Who?) shouted to Ned over a microphone (What the hell was a microphone?), he had jumped past another obstacle, "You aren't part of the regular infantry! Hell, You're not even part of the Green Berets anymore!" (Where the hell was he?)

Ned had many questions but his mouth couldn't speak and even his body was moving on its own. After nearing the end of the obstacle course, or as the rest of Unit (What unit?) called it Hell, He slammed his body into a red door to open it. Only to get flung to the ground by the devil who was, of course, Master McDonell Miller (a part of him felt remorse at the thought of that name, another part felt like laughing at his first name as he was reminded of a restaurant chain), lovingly referred to as the Hell Master.

"You're good but not good enough, FOX-Hound expects the best, so I expect the best. Got that!" Miller sternly told Ned, "You're thirsty, aren't you?" Ned nodded, Miller offered a hand to help Ned up to his fist which he accepted (Why was his hand so cold?) "Too bad. You'll be going for a round with me in five minutes, so save your breath." Ned cursed Miller who just walked to a ring silently.

"Listen kid. FOX-Hound isn't just any other unit, most of the time, we'll be heading to mission's on our own without back-up." Ned raised his brow, "They didn't tell you? Well, the other's will make you get the gist of it. All I'm doing is making sure that you'll survive your first deployment at this unit." Miller raised his fists and they circled against each other, Ned attempted to strike a blow against Miller but was quickly hit in the head. "Krav Maga, huh. That's no good. CQC is better." Ned tried to back off but the Hell Master sweeped his legs and Ned fell to the ground.

Miller softened his eyes as if he was reminded of something, "Y'know you look like this kid we saved back in Africa, if it weren't for the hair, he was angry, but we felt that we could've showed him another way. We failed him." McDonell threw a plastic(?) bottle of water at Ned, "This is your second day in FOX-Hound and they still haven't told you jack, haven't they?" Ned involuntarily nodded, "Damned bastards."

"They're sending you on your first assignment? Already!?" Ned frightfully nodded, he heard a faint whisper coming from the man. "I'll kill him. I promised myself if he sent another man to die a fool's death that I'll shoot him down with his own .45" Ned pretended not to hear that, "What mission are they sending you on? Don't give me that classified garbage. Tell me."

Ned heard an unfamiliar sound coming from his mouth, a smooth and professional voice spoke in his place, "They're sending me to Galzburg, South Africa. To save Gray Fox and to document my discoveries of something called 'Metal Gear'."

Miller looked to the ground and muttered, "Damn him." He turned to look at Ned, "Look, remember what I've thought you and maybe you'll make it alive and whole. It doesn't matter if Gray Fox lives or whether or not you document Metal Gear." Miller seemed to have calmed and he spoke in a softer tone than before, "What's your code, anyhow?"

"Snake. I was assigned the codename Solid Snake." That name felt odd but it fits like a glove, somehow. Miller just snorted.

When Ned came to, he didn't find himself in South Africa, rather he found himself in a motel room. His codec was ringed against his ear, "Master."

"None of that 'Master' crap, You're not Fox-Hound anymore, got it?" (When did he leave FOX-Hound?) "Anyway, David-" (That's right, that was my name wasn't it?) "Me and Cecile decided to have you as the Godfather of our child, Kate." Ned's cheeks were wet. I turned my gaze toward's the door of the Motel I was staying at when he appeared.

A hooded man in a coat appeared, his eyes leaking blood. The temperature of the room dropped. No sunlight peeked out of the curtains of the window nor were the light bulbs on yet he could still see him. "The spirit of the warrior . . . will always be with you."

Ned awoke, Robert looking strangely at him.

This is the dream sequence I forgot to make. This dream takes place after The Spirit of the Warrior. I'll edit this extensively later. I'm basically making a lot of stuff up about Snake's back-story. I took some cue's from Corialos' story 'Intrude N313, Target Designate: TX-55'.

angbhong · Feb 24, 2025

Ned and Rhaegar found their way to the hall's of the Iron Throne, the Queen and Jon along with Robert awaited them. He examined Jon and Robert and found them to be wholy tired, Arryn must've been writing for far too long as his sleeve was wet ink that must've spilled on him. The Queen giving no room for further talk and said, "My son, lead them to the Guest Chamber's.".

Ned walked up to Jon and Robert and whispered to them, "Kept you waiting, huh. What was your business with Queen Rhaella, anyway?"

Jon talked to him in the same volume if strained possibly from talking too much due to his business in the Red Keep, "We were just . . . renegotiating trade deals involved with the North, the Vale, Dorne, and the Crownland's. Nothing more." Ned perked up, he knew that Jon was obviously lying but he didn't know the reason so he turned his gaze to Robert for further explanation only to find a sullen face from his and silence. Their words and their face told Ned that they didn't want to talk about the situation any longer.

Jon tried to reassure, "Don't . . . worry about it, Ned."

Despite what Jon had said, Ned gave thought to the first words that the Lord of the Vale had said, there was often truth laced even in lie's and the mention of a trade deal with the aforementioned Kingdoms must've meant that a dispute was going on. The North being mentioned could mean that even his father knew about this 'trade deal'. Ned didn't know just exactly what was going on but he wanted to find out.

Rhaegar led Jon and his squires to their living quarter's, Robert's and Jon's wasn't overtly luxurious but it befitted his station. Ned glanced at his temporary living condition's and while not spacious, it contained a soft mattress with a bed and a finely carved wooden chair. An expensive patterned carpet hailing from Essos draped across the floor and a curtain from Yi-Ti covered the entrance leading to the balcony which had potted plants hanging from it.

Ned sighed, Rhaegar must've favored him and led him to a more prestigious room because of their short acquiantance earlier. He supposed that from what Rhaegar said that he was really lonely, and this isolation must've led him to get the wrong idea on how friendship's should work. The Prince lived in a world where it is expected that you must reward loyalty with gifts, everyone will want to kiss your ass when you're the prince.

Ned examined the crossbow he obtained earlier, it was a curious contraption, if he was a tad bit blind then he would've mistake its material for Dragon Bone due to its Onyx color. He would have to commission a fletcher to make bolts that fitted this crossbow as this wasn't a regular-sized crossbow otherwise it was useless as it was.

Ned unsheathed his concealed knife which was customized to his exact specification's, it didn't have a wooden grip and it was substituted with a small rope, the dull side of the blade had jimping's, it was thin and medium-lengthed which made it both perfect for concealment and great for pairing it with the crossbow.

He never did get the chance to experiment with a crossbow, no Bowyer in both the Vale and the North would ever make a crossbow with reason's being that they didn't know how to make one or they disdained it and believed it to be a weapon of a coward. So he never got the chance to use one.

He reversed the grip on his knife and paired it with the crossbow. He knew the drawbacks of using a crossbow, you couldn't draw a bolt as fast as you would an arrow, and due to its size, nocking it would be easy but as a consequence the bolt wouldn't have as much kick and power, ~~Snake~~ Ned reckoned that it would take two shot's in quick succession before it might penetrate plated armor. It didn't matter, all that meant was that he would just have to be fasted so he would.

He removed his grip on the crossbow and laid it on the ground, something didn't feel right, not just because of Robert and Jon, but because he felt uneasy even within this room. Maybe Jon was right and the walls in the Red Keep truly did have eye's and ear's. But all that meant was that he had to be silent and careful so that the wall couldn't hear him. Ned smirked.

But he needed rest, his time befriending Rhaegar and the riding to King's Landing had tired his body. He resolved himself to condition his body to further extreme's.

Ned closed his eye's.

~~Ned~~ David was for the lack better word, confused. "A chance on what?"

The Man smirked, "Your name is David Sears. You were dropped off at an orphanage at '72 and bounced around the foster system before you had enough and joined the U.S. Army when you turned seventeen." David blinked, "Your blood type is O+"

Sears was silent. Deathly Silent. "Can your CO leave the room?" By his command, his CO very abruptly left, "Always makes me laugh." He offered a Cuban Cigar to David who declined, "Don't like 'em?"

"Prefer cigarette's." David curtly replied.

Big Boss chuckled, "You know, In Japan, there's this superstition that your Blood type can determine your personality. A means you're nice, B means you're creative," Big Boss pointed his cigar at David, "O means confident and aggressive. Personally, I don't believe in it. But you're just what we were looking for."

"Get to the point. What are you looking for?"

Big Boss removed his beret and placed it at the CO's table, "We're looking for the best. We're looking for the discrete, the marksmen, and the brave." He held up his hand as if to say that by shaking it that David will join him.

"What regiment are you?"

"FOX-Hound. Silly name but it grows on you." Ned looked at his hand and shook it. He smirked.

David sat at the foot of his bed, breathing deeply, his body was entirely sore. Big Boss was at the door, "Miller gave you a hard time, did he?" Sears snorted. "I can tell."

"Did you know of the first operative I had on this unit?" David shook his head, "His name was Jonathan. I never got his last name. He was a Russian soldier who joined me to save his country. There was a group of insurgents looking to launch a nuke at russia, it was a whole thing. Johnathan stayed loyal to himself above all. He died saving me." He suddenly grew somber. "What I'm saying is that no matter what happens, you have to stay loyal to the mission. To yourself."

The Boss handed out a pack of cigarette's, "Here. Lucky Strike's your brand, isn't it?"

David took the pack with caution, "Lighten up, kid." Big Boss chuckled, "You'll have to wait before your first mission before you get your codename. Then it'll be assigned to whichever suits you. I have a list of the available codename's we have, all of them are about Animal's.

Big Boss became entirely serious, his eyes becoming sharper, "After all, the world is just a big Zoo." He softened himself, "Let me teach you some tricks about CQC, some trick's I've only ever lent to one other."

David raised a brow, "A medic."

He couldn't help it and he laughed. "Laugh all you want but he'll kick your ass any day of the week."

David slightly blushed, "Sorry. Just . . ."

The Boss held a stare, "C'mon."

They exited the barracks and went into a large training room. It was plain, everything in it, save the light bulb and window, was padded. It belonged more to a room in a mental hospital than it did at a military base.

"It's a bit spartan. But we fight hard so we don't wanna break any neck's." David nodded.

"Remember the basics of CQC. It's all about methodically removing every lethal variable that the enemy has, once you've took care of the variable, you can then dispatch the enemy how you want. Unlike Krav Maga, it is non-lethal by design because it was meant to subdue enemy personnel during the second World War." Dave paused. "That's right. CQC has been out for that long. You can create your own variation of CQC so that it can either be lethal or give the enemy one hell of a headache but the basics will still remain the same."

Big Boss held up his hands, "It's best used in dispatching groups of enemies, be careful though, you'll have to be quick. It'll still fulfill its purpose when fighting a single person."

Dave nodded, "Alright, I think I got it." He steeled himself, "Now show me if you can still fight, Old Man."

The mentioned old man chuckled, "Think you're that funny, huh. Look's like I'll have to teach you some manners." The old man ran faster than Dave expected and flipped him on his back.

"Kid. In the end, technique doesn't matter. What matters is your will to live, that was what saved your ass in Iraq. Remember that."

"Sneaking." Miller told him, "It involves complete awareness of your environment. Sight, Sound, Smell, and even the little vibrations you can feel are the things that you need to take into account."

He nodded as he checked off his equipment, he carried nothing but the standard FOX-Hound equipment of OD Green's and a Codec. But he still checked himself thoroughly.

"You'll be dropped off into a training ground's where you're expected to sneak through both an urban environment and a jungle environment just to retrieve a rubber ducky. The security detail will compose of seventy S.A.S. members." Big Boss told Dave, "Be sure that you don't get caught, Rubber Bullets are still gonna hurt like hell."

"The training will start when we fire off a red flare." Dave nodded at Miller. Both Miller and Big Boss walked away from him.
The game was on.

"In 1975, A PMC calling itself Diamond Dogs emerged. We don't know who led it or what their motives were but they did their job well, so the C.I.A. decided to hire them for several thing's that the U.S. didn't want to get their hand's dirtied by, or at least get seen dirtying their hand's. the C.I.A. hired them a lot back in '84 during the Soviet-Afghan invasion for Wet-Work, Espionage, Sabotage, and etcetera. But they weren't the only one's interested in them, from the file's I've been sent, MPLA hired them for help against UNITA, MI6 hired them for discrete wet-work and sabotage during the Falkland War and during the Troubles, and so on." Big Boss took a puff of his cigar, "The way they handled their mission, it wasn't too different from how we handle it in FOX-Hound."

"The short of it is, they've been around, and the world needed them. Needed soldier's." For a moment, David could've sworn that Big Boss was sympathethic to them. "War became business for them, and business was good. They became the best PMC around. Intelligence actually suggests that Diamond Dog's actually had a bunch of smaller PMC's under their command."

"We don't know exactly when but some time in the 90's we got word that Diamond Dogs and some other PMC's got together and started calling themselves Outer Heaven." The Boss handed him a classified folder containing satellite images of a base, presumably a base from Outer Heaven, "This wouldn't be an issue, but they started to refuse military contract's and they started squatting themselves in Galzburg, South Africa."

"We got word that Outer Heaven had some sort of super-weapon, but we didn't know if it was a bio-weapon or a nuclear weapon but the Brass and Congress didn't want to want around for Outer Heaven to make their first move. So Operation N312 commenced and we sent in Grey Fox to discover and disable any variable that might pose a serious threat to the world security. He got captured but not before sending in a transmission back to base with the lone words 'Metal Gear'. Operation N312 ended with a failure. Operation N313 will be the mission to succeed where N312 failed. Your assignment is to either rescue or neutralize Grey Fox if he's turned rogue or has become dead weight, and to document and disable Metal Gear." His eyes no longer staring back at David as it used to, "You'll insert by water using the same routes that Grey Fox used."

"You're given the codename Solid Snake. Wear it with pride."

~~David~~ Snake nodded. "Weapons and Equipment OSP?"

"We don't want to make it too easy. You'll only have a radio, a knife, and a kevlar vest at your disposal so take care that you don't get caught. Prepare yourself and get plenty of rest, this mission will be tough."

In the well-lit armory in the base of FOX-Hound, Snake put on his combat attire. An OD Green Blouse along with a Kevlar vest that was covered by a Olive-Green nylon fabric, he placed a holster for his CQC knife on it in case the need arose. He tightly tied the laces of his jungle boots. He put on a M-1956 LCE but didn't place a water canteen, he put a holster at his side in the event he found a pistol during Operation N313. He equipped himself with knee pads. He shook himself to inspect if any of his equipment rattled or was overly loose. He rolled up the sleeves of his blouse.

He put on a pair of finger-less leather gloves. He was ready to let loose. He wanted to prove himself. FOX-Hound wasn't like being in the Green Beret's, the training was much more intense and much more longer. It was natural, of course, it was expected that you had to operate solo in FOX-Hound. Hell, even the base in FOX-Hound barely had anybody in it. Most Fox-Hounder's were too busy, and they also operated internationally.

He turned to leave when she appeared, a woman in a white cloak like she was an angel spoke in an ethereal voice like she was a valkyrie, "It's gonna rub off on you, Then you'll lose sight of who you really are. Ned."

~~Snake~~ ~~David~~ Ned blinked, "What? I-" he stepped forward, "Tell me what's going on! Why am I having these dreams!" The scenery changed from the Armory to the Glass Gardens of Winterfell. He looked around and nobody, no servants nor gardener were around.

"It seems death wasn't ready for you yet." She crouched down to pluck a winter rose flower from the garden, "I've never seen something like this before, such a delicate little thing."

"Who are you? Why is this happening?"

"You'll find out . . . soon. But your body isn't ready yet, it needs to grow." She reached out her hand holding the flower to him and he faintly heard a whisper, "You saved the world, again and again, but you died old and decrepit before you should have. Your mind was content with death, but your heart wasn't."

She spoke aloud, "Did you ever wonder why you can fight so naturally?" Ned shook his head and as soon as he said those word, the world began crumbling around them. "It's time for you to wake."

~~Snake~~ ~~David~~ Ned awoke in a sweat.

angbhong · Feb 24, 2025

Within the first week of their stay in the Red Keep, Arryn along with his foster son's tried to stay from each Tywin's company but they finally passed by each other by the hallway, Lord Tywin with his confederate's and Lord Arryn with his squires. The Falcon and the Lion stared at each other, their gazes in contention with the other. Each one assessing the other. Sooner or later, one of them would have to give. The Targaryen Queen overlooked them, wholly apathetic and impartial. Though both of the lords didn't want to admit it, they were glad that Queen Rhaella was here and not King Aerys who was off gallivanting around Summerhall. The young Stag wasn't one to stay passive either, as he stared down the Lion.

Trade Disputes my ass, there's something else going on here. thought Ned. This damned hall is so thick with tension that you could almost cut it with a blade.

Both Tywin and Jon knew that to cause a public or a verbal argument would mean that Aerys might hear and get involved but he was unpredictable, Aerys leave both the Warden of the West and the Warden of the East at a disadvantage just because he can. So it was better for Rhaella to handle it than Aerys.

"Warden's of Westeros, is there a reason for the pause here?" Rhaella asked though already knowing of the answer. Both of the warden's shook their head's. Though neither of them wanted to concede even in a little staring content, they didn't want to cause a scene in the Red Keep. Neither truly wanted to escalate thing's but they couldn't de-escalate it either. Both the Lord of the Casterly Rock and the Lord of the Eyrie along with their own men walked away in opposite directions from each other. Neither gained nor lost ground.

In an part of the Red Keep that was devoid of Tywin, the Falcon unclenched a fist that he didn't even knew that he had clenched. He looked to his foster son's and smiled, Robert returned the gesture back.

Ned however had something to say, "Jon . . . we just went back from where we came from." Robert couldn't help it and laughed, for a moment Jon tried to stop himself but he laughed as well. "Just tell me why we are here? It isn't because of pleasantries, that much I can tell." Ned looked to his foster brother, "You're much more silent than I thought you were capable of," Robert snorted.

"We'll talk about this, but not here. Remember. The walls have eyes and ears." Ned nodded.

"This whole affair between the Warden's is getting out of hand, let's just hope that it doesn't result in a blood feud." Ned complained to Rhaegar as they were walking within the vast hall's of the Red Keep.

His friend chuckled, "I hope so as well. But if everything went accordingly then this wouldn't be Westeros-"

"Murder! Murder in the Red Keep! Lord Staunton has been murdered!" A maid screamed bloody murder. "In his room!"

Ned and Rhaegar looked at each other and quickly dashed over to the sound of the commotion, a dozen or more on lookers were already surrounding Staunton's room. The Gold Cloaks had already started to ward off the curious crowd.

Rhaegar was suddenly approached by Barristan and Arthur Dayne, "My Prince, You should go to your room."

Rhaegar interjected, "No. I will be fine. Besides, my friend can protect me if the murderer of Lord Staunton wants to point his blade at me."

Barristan naturally disagreed, "Even so, it would not be safe. Ser Dayne will accompany you, if needs be." Dayne dutifully nodded. Rhaegar sighed but reluctantly accepted. "I will be off to protect the Queen, in the meanwhile, My Prince."

Ned leaned against the wall, crossed his arms, and stood on a single leg, "'Justice' will be quick, that would be for sure."

Dayne agreed, "The King's- er, The Queen's Justice shall be swift on the ne'er do well who dared threaten the safety of the Red Keep."

Stark briefly laughed, "I didn't say that the person who actually commited the crime would be the one that will pay for it. More than likely, the Gold Cloak's or the actual Murderer will find some scapegoat."

Rhaegar inquired, "Scapegoat?"

He nodded, "Someone will get the blame of the murder shifted on to them." He looked to see that both the Prince and his Guard has turned quiet, seems that he was right, after all.

Rhaegar addded his thoughts, "In any case, this murder should be resolved quickly lest the King comes. If the murderer isn't found then my father will be liable to see daggers in the shadows. Nobody would be safe."

Ned grinned, "What are you saying?"

"That we should resolve this matter ourselves." Rhaegar admitted. Dayne paused his breath for a short moment whilst Ned walked over to the room that was now guarded by two Gold Cloaks. He gestured to the Targaryen.

"My sers, may we enter the room?" The Gold Cloaks clearly wanted to disagree but it was the Prince. They allowed the trio in.

Symond Staunton, the Master of Laws was still in the room, his face frozen into an expression of shock and disbelief. He was stabbed in the chest multiple times and his gut was strewn across the floor and his bloodied finger had written the words 'Valar Morghulis' into the floor.

"Valar Morghulis?" Dayne asked,

Rhaegar translated, "It means 'All Men Must Die'."

Ned hummed, "A Valyrian saying, it was popularized by the Faceless Men, a cult of death and assassinations."

"They did it?" Arthur asked,

He corrected Dayne, "Nope. Not a chance in hell. You see, this isn't the M.O. of the Faceless Men."

"M.O.?"

"How they operate. They favor poison and they certainly don't want the target to see them." Ned pointed to the corpse, "I'm not adept at investigations but I know death. Look at his face, I'd wager that Symond knew the killer. That would explain the shocked face. What's more, the Faceless Men don't just advertise themselves. There's a slight chance that who did this was green or was new. But I don't think so."

Rhaegar realized, "Somebody must've tried to shift the blame to the Faceless Men, an unwise thing, you hardly want to make enemies to a group of killer's."

Arthur examined the room and even opened Staunton's chest, "Outside of the body, there isn't much of anything in here. No letters or evidences."

"Yes. But a Master of Laws not having letters would be impossible." Rhaegar offered his thoughts, "Letters could've been taken because they had something incriminating."

"Maybe." Ned said, "We can hardly check everybody in the Red Keep. Not to mention that the murderer could've escaped to the city. We should wait for something to arise."

He left the room, Rhaegar and his guard followed him. "I'm no Poirot. But this has the makings of a conspirancy around it."

Rhaegar nodded.

"Well, this was a mess. Let's hope this clears up soon."

Politics and a Murder Mystery wrapped in one chapter? Yes. To be honest, I just made the Murder Mystery on the spot because I wanted to pad out the word count. Now I have to commit to this.

angbhong · Feb 24, 2025

"They say that the walls within the Red Keep has eyes and ears within it, is this true?" Ned asked, circling around Rhaegar's chamber. They had rested, though only briefly, Ned didn't get the chance to meet up with his Foster Father and Brother as they were too preoccupied with another one of their many meetings with the Queen. Still, Ned wanted to verify the certain rumor that Jon kept propagating to him. They tried to find some information regarding the murder, but the Gold Cloak's and even the Servants that they interviewed yielded no lead's.

Arthur shook his head, "No. Just some wild superstition coming from the scullery maid's."

"I think that there's some truth to it," Rhaegar interjected, "I asked our new Master of Whisper's, Varys about it once, he told me there were none, but I had the feeling that he was lying."

Ned pondered on it, "So he might have an idea on what had happened." He turned his eyes towards the window and gazed upon King's Landing.

"But a man like that is bound to be secretive." Arthur said, "The Death of the Master of Law's has caused quite the commotion. I'm certain that King Aerys has heard of it now."

"Perhaps. But our nose has been out in the cold for too long. If we don't resolve it now, then the King will get involved." Ned crouched down, "You have a weapon, Rhaegar?" The Prince shook his head and Ned grabbed a holstered Knife and offered it to him, "Here. In case you need it. Give it back once we're done."

"I must agree." Arthur walked to Ned to pick up the Knife, "You haven't had much interest with swordplay, but you should know how to handle a knife." Rhaegar nodded and picked up the blade and unsheathed it, he gripped it tight.

"What of you, Ned?" Arthur inquired,

"I'll make do." Ned said with a slight smirk, "Trust me." Both Arthur and Rhaegar rolled their eyes.

"Well, follow me. Varys is a sly man so I shall talk to him." Rhaegar said.

"If he doesn't talk then . . ."

Rhaegar finished for Arthur, "We'll make him."

"No. We don't. If we do talk to him then he'll talk to Aerys. We must first go to his room and find something incriminating to keep his tongue." Ned breathed and closed his eyes, "I'll have to go to his room through other means. Keep him distracted while I try to find something."

They left his chamber's and made their way to the Office of the Master of Whisper's. Rhaegar prompted the Gold Cloaks nearby to vacate themselves from the area.

Ned walked to the chamber that was next to Varys' and unlocked it with a lock pick. Thankfully, the room was vacant, he closed the door, still he felt uneasy, Varys would know beforehand if somebody had the idea to snoop through his office, surely. He waited for Arthur to give the go-ahead by knocking on the door before he entered Varys' chamber via the balcony.

He waited and closed his eyes, his senses was focused on the environment, he heard a faint knocking from the other side which probably came from Rhaegar knocking on Varys' door, he attuned himself further with the world. He smelt . . . blood. He inspected the vacant room, and checked on the bedding's and then underneath the Bed Frame, he found the murder weapon underneath it. They never did find the weapon.

What a lucky coincidence.

The blade was dry, but the rag that was used to wipe the blood was still there and that was wet. The weapon was of standard Westerosi make. It was blanding and he could tell nothing from it alone. Still, the murder weapon being next to Varys' office was suspect. Ned hummed. He inspected the rag and analyzed it, he could make out letters 'For my dearest. For House Pyne'. He frowned and tried to remember; House Pyne was a small noble house, and one of their members was one of Rhaella's recent Lady-in-waiting. Nothing too conspicuous. He left the knife and rag in its spot.

He'll have to discard the plan to infiltrate Varys' office. He whistled to the door, a signal that something went wrong, and Arthur entered the chamber and looked puzzled.

He explained to the knight in a hushed voice, "New evidence, seems I've found the murder weapon along with the rag used to clean it. Do you know of House Pyne?"

Dayne nodded. "Yes. They're a minor house in the Crownlands, most members of the family died in a fire that set their estate in a blaze. Now there are only five members left, a sister who is the lady-in-waiting for Queen Rhaella and the remainder are all her younger brother's who are squires."

"Where's the sister?" Ned asked,

"Follow me."

Rhaegar had already called Varys off after Arthur went in the chamber after Ned. The Prince questioned them and Ned gave an answer, "House Pyne might be our lead."

They knocked the door of the Lady of House Pyne's room. The woman was young but despite that, she had dark eyebags and a tired gaze. She asked them, "Yes, mi'lord's?"

"Lady Banc of House Pyne, we do not wish to intrude but we wanted to inquire regarding the recent murder of Lord Staunton." Rhaegar asked her, she must've not realized who she was talking to but recognized they were still men of clear importance.

Her eyes sharpened dangerously, "Gladly, mi'lords. Enter please." They entered the room cautiously, "I must apologize for the unkempt room, my brothers stay with me, they are squires but they have no where else to stay but of my own room."

Rhaegar nodded, "It is quite fine." Arthur moved to close the door, only to find that he couldn't close it. He tilted his head.

The door was suddenly open with Arthur being strangled by a figure. Two of the assailants rushed at Ned and charged at him, he tried to back off but the room was too cramped and he ended up tripping because of a chair, the two assailants stood him up then grabbed him and punched him. Rhaegar did not get off lucky as he was soon head-butted to the ground by the last person who closed the door.

Ned stayed calm and kicked one of his assailants in the side, he slipped away from the grasp of his attacker and punched him in the gut. He finished them off by punching one of them twice in the cheeks and kicking the other in the shoulder. Arthur Dayne was slowly losing consciousness when Ned grabbed his assaulter and flipped him on his back. Ned then punched the last, the one who head-butted Rhaegar, who went down in one hit.

Arthur struggled to stay on his feet, but Rhaegar helped him up. Their aggressor's were groaning on the ground. Ned narrowed his eyes toward the lady-in-waiting, He performed a Sude guruma jime choke on her to incapacitate her.

"Ned, enough." Rhaegar told him. Ned nodded and gripped her by the collar. The Prince turned his gaze towards them, "Explain. Lest I throw you to the dungeons myself."

"Who do you think you are!" one of the perpetrators protested, Arthur unsheathed his sword, the Dawn and pointed it at the man's throat.

"I am Prince Rhaegar. Now Explain!" All signs of meekness seemed to have washed from Rhaegar. The lady and even the men froze.

"I suppose you found the bloodied rag?" Lady Banc asked, Rhaegar nodded. "We planted it parallel to Varys' office. We needed to find someone to blame so we picked him."

"Why frame Varys?"

"The bastard deserved it."

"The papers?"

"We burnt them. We wanted to leave behind a message."

"I suppose that you then were responsible for Lord Staunton's death?"

"He deserved it." Rhaegar raised his brow, "We weren't the most wealthy of houses but we had wealth. Had. Lord Staunton was deeply in debt with us, so to free himself from that debt, he orchestrated a celebration for our family. He set fire to our estate when most of the family was drunk with wine." She turned her gaze downwards, "I watched my mother burn."

"But we tried to rebuild, I even got myself a position as a Lady-in-Waiting to your mother. I had even had my brother's squired under reputable knight's." She slightly paused, "But Staunton wasn't quite done with taking things from us. He assaulted me."

Rhaegar and even Arthur slightly paused. "My brother's and I couldn't bare with the thought of having the man live anymore. We killed him and blamed the Faceless Men for it."

Ned asked her, "Why blame the Faceless Men? You should know that they don't want to have the blame thrown at them, they might kill you."

She laughed horridly, "We have no estate, no relatives, not even dignity. What other recourse do we have?" She stared at Ned, "We know that they might kill us, we were even hoping for it. We have nothing to life for. Execute us, how you wish. It makes no difference. We don't even have a life so what can death take away from us?"

Rhaegar glared at her, "Fine. You and your ilk will die. That will be the end of that." She smiled wickedly.

Rhaegar, Ned, and Arthur looked at the setting sun.

Ned told them, "What a mess."

Rhaegar nodded. He knelt in front of them. Arthur was surprised, "My Prince!"

"On this day, I've realized that reading can't help me defend myself. Just a simple hit and I was down." Rhaegar stared at the ground, "I need to better myself, in the future, when the need might arise. Ser Arthur Dayne, I have need of your skill with the blade. Ser Eddard Stark, I have need of your martial skills."

Arthur was silent, Ned however . . .

"You only needed to ask."

I sorta rushed things a bit. So I'll be editing stuff. I somehow found a way to segue this murder mystery into a way for Rhaegar to learn CQC. So there is now a possibility that Rhaegar and Robert will fight each other with CQC. Them finding the handkerchief was a terrible Deus Ex machina, ik.

angbhong · Tuesday at 5:15 AM

The execution was a quick but somber affair, at least for the three people that was involved in the capture of the Pyne's. They each hesitated to kill the death of the House of Pyne as something other than a drawn out suicide. For the rest of the witnesses, they were relieved that the threat that was posed to the Red Keep was kept finally quelled. Their heads rolled of their shoulders and that was that. They didn't even scream. They simply looked at either Rhaegar, Arthur, or Ned. It was truth be told unsettling.

Rhaegar looked over to his mother with worry, the Queen having one of her ladies-in-waiting be a murderer would not sit well with the King. He could only pray that he could remain strong for his mother. With Ser Dayne assisting him with refining his skill with the blade, and Ned helping him learn the art of fisticuffs, Rhaegar could only hope that was enough to overcome his father.

They all left the chamber and the bodies was haphazardly carted off in a quick manner.

He thought back to less worrying matters. Ned was due to leave in a few days. His training was tough and more rigorous than Rhaegar had previously expected. His meals were heavily scrutinized and handpicked by Ned, each morning saw Rhaegar run along the battlements of the Red Keep, each noon had him get taught the ways of fighting but he couldn't land a single hit against Ned and he was just repeatedly thrown in various intricate ways, and each afternoon saw him pushing himself against the floor.

Rhaegar was also taught not just how to throw a punch but on how to choke, kick, and throw his enemies, though he only ever practiced on dummies and on occasion Arthur. Ned had explained to him that the techniques that the Prince was taught was deliberately simple so as to be done in a quick and concise manner that would exhaust him as little as possible so as to preserve his stamina.

Ned had gone a step further and carefully instructed Dayne to keep training him even after Ned had departed. Though Rhaegar wanted to publicly thank Ned for his help, the Stark told him in private that if he were to do that then he'd make his life a living hell. He shook his head at his recollection of the event.

Jon and his foster sons quickly left King's Landing after they had offered gifts for the Royal Family which signified the end of their stay and the end of their Guest's Rights.

Ned had questions but it would have to be put off until they return to the Eyrie. Robert had returned to his usual boyish mannerism and groaned to Ned, "By the gods! The Red Keep was nearly suffocating me!" Ned snorted.

"It is well that you have made fast friends with the Prince, Ned." Ned nodded at Jon, "Bridges built during boyhood will be certain to remain throughout generations. You have ensured that the North has strengthened its ties with the Crown, be proud of it."

At their return back to the Eyrie, Jon breathed a deep sigh at the comfortable smell of his castle. He beckoned his foster son's to retreat to the Solar of the Eyrie.

Both Jon and Robert stood side-by-side, they were finally confessing their secret to Ned, Jon spoke first, "Lord Stark did not just foster you to me just so the Vale and the North's ties will be strengthened. It goes much deeper than that."

Robert walked to Ned, his once brash and boyish face was replaced by the face of the Lord Paramount of the Stormlands, "The North, The Vale, The Stormlands, and even the Riverlands have been involved in a confederacy ever since the war of the ninepenny kings."

"We didn't join together because we wish to depose the Targaryen's. We joined together to foster a strong line of connections and trade, to protect ourselves from the ever-growing supremacy of the Lannisters." Jon handed Ned a scroll which detailing the secrets of the Lannister's, "We heard word that the gold veins within the Lannister Mine's are draining, year by year. So we believe that Tywin is plotting to place his daughter's children on the Iron Throne. We have also have cause to believe that he will wed his son to the Tyrells."

Robert kept up a neutral face, "I have kept correspondance with your Lord Father. I am to wed Lyanna." Ned stood still, his blue eyes was covered by the shadow. "Your older brother will be wed to Catelyn Tully."

Jon turned his back, "I am to wed Lysa Tully."

"This alliance is more interconnected than a spider's web." Ned crossed his arms, "Tell me, who'll be my bride?"

Jon shook his head, "Your Lord Father didn't hasn't yet announced it. Though he has a different role for you." Jon places his hand unto Ned's shoulder, "Once you have your reached your eighteenth name day, you'll be the diplomat of our alliance for both Essos and for the Iron Throne. Your gift with language has ensnared you in that role."

Ned hummed, "What of Aerys?"

Jon and Robert looked at each other, Jon explained, "The Queen has explained to us that the King has went mad over trying to resurrect the dragons. He has went to Summerhall with the fossilized Eggs of Dragons in the vain hopes that he can get them to hatch. Rhaella is now overlooking the duties that her husband has abandoned, so far she has been impartial regarding our alliance and that of the Lannisters. We prefer to keep it that way."

Ned looked at the window which overlooked the Vale, "So it's war then." Jon and Robert shook their head. "Don't deny it. There's just open fighting but there's war all the same."

End of The Best Is Yet To Come.

It has been a long journey of five days (lmao) but I have finally finished the first part of Neither Heaven, Nor Hell. I will post the first chapter of Calling to the Night shortly.

angbhong · Tuesday at 5:17 AM

~~Snake~~ Ned carefully assessed the men surrounding him, they were wary and for good reason. He smirked, his blood was pumping and his adrenaline was practically through the roof. He was made for this. He ran forward and threw an armored man ten paces away with ease, someone tried to swing a sword at him. Mistake. He disarmed him by grabbing the blade and casually bent it. He spin-kicked the man that dared to hit him.

Another man tried to rush him but got the taste of dirt instead, a lone man now stood against him, He taunted the man, "Boo." his words caused the man to drop his blade and he harmlessly threw the man on the ground for his lack of trouble.

Robert laughed, "You're slower than before!" Ned rolled his eyes and gazed towards the sight of the many men that tried to attack him.

Ned caught a muddied man holding unto his limp arm. It seems that it was dislocated, Ned walked over to him and told him, "Hold still." He relocated the arm, though the man screamed in the process.

Over thirty squires and knights were all given a challenge by Robert to defeat Ned with the prize of a hundred gold dragon's. It was his little present for Ned's fifteenth name day. Ned just smirked and gestured the challenger's into the ring. The result of the challenge was obvious.

He beckoned Robert to remove his armor and Robert nodded. His armor protected him as much as it would any other man, though he customized it a little by covering every piece of armor with a fabric with the coloring of a green olive. He, of course, didn't wear any helmet. It made the back of his head a bit itchy; instead, he relegated himself to wearing a black bandana with a small wolf at its center to signify his status as a member of House Stark. The Master-at-arms and Jon tried to get him to wear a helmet but it was like trying to bathe a cat with water.

Ned replaced his armor for a dark cloak as rainfall was becoming common.

Ned and Robert paced around the Eyrie, there was naught much that they can do so they passed the time by inspecting the guard's and their conduct.

Ned walked next to a wall in the battlements and leaned on it with a single leg, crossing his arms in the process. He waited for Jon to call either him or Robert to do some chore's.

"Olira! Olira Waynwood has been-" A bloodied boy came with a pony to the gate of the Eyrie, blood seeping from his head.

Robert rushed to the boy and carefully liften him from the horse, "Speak sense, man!" The commotion had caused even the Falcon to join the nearby crowd.

The boy tried to breathe, "O-O-Olira has captured by the Black Ears! We were ambushed!" he wept, "They took my left ear!"

The boy writhed in pain and agony, the adrenaline having left his body and leaving him to bare the pain by himself. "T-the!" He rambled in agony and tried to grab his ears only for Robert to stop his hands.

The Falcon ordered the Maester, "Bandage him and give him the Milk of the Poppy. Perhaps the boy will tell more when he's not delirious."

Robert grabbed the boy and rushed over to the Maester who told him directions on where the boy can be laid.

Ned stayed in the battlements and watched Jon who was clenching his fists, Jon stood there even when the rain fell. Ned muttered to himself, "I've never seen the man this nervous."

He slowly walked over to Jon who still stood there, Ned unclasped his cloak and carefully protected the man from the rain and led him away to shelter.

"What say you, Ned? We'll walk to where the Black-eared bastards are at, and kill the lot of them." Robert exclaimed,

Ned snorted, he was modifying his armor. "We don't even know where they are. The boy hasn't even awoken yet."

"I know but I can't stay here while Jon despairs! Olira was like a daughter to him!" revealed Robert. "The man is more than a foster father to me, I have to help him!"

"We will trust me."

"How?"

"I'm no Big Boss but we can start by tracking their steps." Robert ignored what Ned said because he hadn't a chance in hell on figuring out who Big Boss was.

"What are you doing with your armor?"

"I'm removing any parts that make a noise when I move around. The Black Ears are attuned to the forests, if you make a noise in front of a tree then they say that tree itself will report what it heard back to the Black Ears. Or so the saying goes." Ned then took out the crossbow he got from the Red Keep, inspecting it for any damages. Ned was always analytical like that, he made sure his equipment was always functioning.

"Make sure that the area of the body that the parts you remove has protected won't get struck by the enemy."

"I will. Trust me. I'll need your help, I'll tell you my plan by tomorrow."

Ned walked over to his bedstand. Twice, he was plagued by visions and dreams of being someone else. Now, he wanted to learn from Snake by his own volition. He sat on a chair.

Ned said aloud to the spirits that haunted him, "I need your help. I need to know what I must do."

Ned closed his eyes. The world around him shifted.
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Snake was floated outside the gates of Outer Heaven, he took out his radio and called the frequency 120.85, he punched in the numbers, and his mentor's voice came out of the other side, and reminded him of their previous debriefing, "This is Big Boss . . . Operation Intrude N313 has commenced. Infilitrate the enemy fortress, Outer Heaven and destroy Metal Gear, the final weapon! First, contact Grey Fox who's vanished and learn about Metal Gear. Call on frequency 120.85 from now on. Over."

He climbed to the top of the chain fence, taking careful consideration of his movements. Nobody was outside, no CCTV's either. Odd. There were unmanned tanks posted outside as well and nobody was guarding it? He had a bad feeling in his gut.

He jumped down. He breathed in the smell metallic smell of the fortress. He mentally prepared his body before entering Outer Heaven.

I will never sleep. And Calling to the Night has its first chapter out! I got inspired by a small line in Thy Good Neighor where Ned saved Jon's niece from the Burned Men. I wanted to expand on that idea so here comes Calling to the Night which focuses more on Stealth than it does on Politics.

angbhong · Tuesday at 3:31 PM

"Should we call it in?" Snake got kicked in the gut, his knife was across the hall and unreachable. It seems he was about to fail. What a shame. He was ambushed just as he entered Outer Heaven.

"No." The guard wickedly smiled, "I'd like to play with him, some more."

Snake got back to his feet and guarded himself with the typical CQC style, the two guard's laughed. One of them gestured to himself, "Call me Alligator. He's Whale. We're twin brothers, y'see. So we share everything from our toy's to the people we kill." Snake raised his brow at their all-too familiar naming scheme, he ignored just about everything else they said. They were trying way too hard.

Snake steeled himself and went for the offensive, He went for slow punches that were easily blockable, and Alligator went for the trap. Snake jumped up and high-kicked the face of Alligator, the man landed face first and broke his neck. He then dodged the incoming strike from Whale and managed to pin him under a chokehold, he wasn't feeling merciful so he forcefully snapped Whale's neck and silencing him.

He breathed deeply, it seems that the personnel for Outer Heaven had more bite in them than even U.S. Special Forces. He grabbed his knife. He nearly smacked his head, he should've known that Outer Heaven would have already changed their security plans since Grey Fox passed by, though it wasn't entirely his fault, he didn't know why Big Boss had him insert through the same route as Grey Fox. He checked the bodies and found neither a bullet nor a gun, he sighed, though he did find numerous cassette tape's within their belonging's which he found as odd. Shame that he didn't have a Walkman.

He walked away but not before looking back at the bodies, "What did Muhammad Ali say again?" He morbidly pondered to himself, "I have wrestled with an Alligator and I've done tussled with a whale. Seems fitting to say it with something like that as their alias."

He found his way to a small courtyard with guards armed with rifles that he couldn't tell the make of, and a convoy of parked truck's, taking care to not arouse suspicion. He entered and found a cache of gas masks and pistols, no ammunition around, he crouched and inspected one of the gas masks and found it in good condition, he then picked up one of the firearms.

It was an old, but well-kept pistol which slightly resembled a Browning HP, he checked it for imperfections and found none, he saw a stamp on the frame which read 'AM D114' and across from that 'Property of Diamond Dogs' with a small logo for a diamond. Diamond Dogs, the precursor of Outer Heaven. It unsettled him that a PMC was able to have the resources to be able to independently create their own line of firearms. Even more when Tank's were haphazardly scattered amongst the fortress. He found a card labelled Card 1 dropped on the floor and picked it up. He wandered his gaze and found a Cardboard Box, Snake smirked.

He carefully wandered around the fortress and found an elevator, he rang it. The elevator bursted open with multiple guards spreading out across the ground floor. Though none of them seemed to have noticed the Cardboard Box slowly moving towards the elevator.

"Hold still." Snake told a hostage who was probably a resistance fighter. He cut his ropes off.

"Thank you. The r-room there is rigged with Mustard Gas." Snake looked to where the man pointed at and nodded. He put on a Gas Mask and entered the room.

"Thanks." Snake's voice was muffled by the mask, "You should probably get out."

Snake entered the room. He passed by it quickly, not wanting to expose himself much to the gas. He felt a vibration coming from his radio, he picked up the call. A calm and slow voice belong to the Boss exited through the radio, "There's a Gas Room. Watch Out." Snake almost rolled his eyes, the hell was up with the Boss?

He was careless, He had just gotten a bit too confident and the guards had sneaked up on him, Snake breathed deeply. He punched the wall. He managed to escape from his binds and was hitting at Grey Fox's Wall again, and again. For good measure, he kicked it. It was enough however as he finally made an opening to Grey Fox's cell, the white-haired man was surprisingly lively, his face didn't seem to be suffering from starvation so Snake reckoned that the guards were trying to butter him up with hospitality.

"And who . . . are you?" Grey Fox asked,

"Solid Snake. FOX-Hound." Snake removed Grey Fox's bindings

"Never heard of you." he said as a matter-of-fact, Snake wasn't suprised.

"This is my first assignment." Grey Fox seemed equally puzzled and insulted.

"They sent a newbie against Outer Heaven?"

"Look. Tell me about Metal Gear." Snake said, wanting to get to the point.

"Right. Metal Gear is nuclear-armed. It's nearing its final completion. Get to Doctor Madnar, he's the only one to know how to destroy it." Grey Fox stood up, "Come on, Kid."

Time seemed to blur by as Snake was now finding himself at a rooftop finding cover on metallic boxes as he was being fired at by a Hind D Helicopter. Could be worse, he supposed. Grey Fox had stayed behind to rally and recover any of the POW's that Snake had freed.

The helicopter seemed to have paused its firing, Snake went out of his cover and fired an old rifle from Diamond Dog at the rotors for the Helicopter, he fired a burst at the pilot. It seems either one seemed to have done the trick as the Helicopter was slowly lowering itself. Snake readied his rifle at the helicopter. The pilot exited out of the cockpit, his chest was shot. Snake prepared to interrogate him, "Don't move!" his knife pointed at the man's throat.

The pilot chuckled, "You're not scary. A bunch of African Kids were more scarier than you." The operator for the helicopter removed his helmet. "My name is Pequod. I have faithfully served my Boss for years. I will go down with my ship, as it were." Pequod revealed a trigger, Snake widened his eyes and quickly ran away. The helicopter was now set ablaze. Pequod died along with his vessel.

He set the final of the explosives at Metal Gear. He exited the chambers of the Mech when he heard an ominous and deep voice. "You've made it far, and I must commend you. You've killed my men, it should be impossible but you killed them." Snake pointed his rifle at where the voice originated at, "You have no bullets left." Snake froze, and quickly glanced at his rifle. It was indeed empty. He dropped it and grabbed his knife. His acquired pistol had long since jammed and he left it around an hour ago.

"You killed Pequod and even Komodo Dragon. I should feel hurt or angry as they were dear friends. But I don't. I have nothing within me." Snake walked forward to the hallway and into a chamber. The man, possibly the leader of Outer Heaven was cloaked in the shadows. The leader held a rifle and pointed it at Snake. "Bang." Snake freezed.

"I'm only kidding. I won't face you on unequal terms, we deserve better than that." The leader then removed the magazine and racked his rifle. Then dropped it. The man stepped out of the shadows and Snake couldn't believe it, out of the shadows, emerged Big Boss. "You went too far and went above and beyond, I should congratulate you, Soldier." Snake nearly dropped his Knife out of shock.

"Yes, I am Big Boss, the commander of FOX-Hound" he said with a smirk, as if he told a joke, "I am also the leader of Outer Heaven."

He offered a hand, "I'll give you a single chance to join me. I've offered it to most of the foes I've faced, even the one's that have slighted me." Snake gripped his knife even harder. "A Knife? I see. Standard CQC form. Impressive, but I wasn't big on knives."

Big Boss chuckled and quickly threw Snake to the floor, disarmed him, and implanted his knife within the cement walls. "The time for talk is over then."

Snake glared harder and attempted a low kick which was blocked then attempted a roundhouse kick which managed to knock Big Boss off his footing. Big Boss retaliated by sucker punching Snake in the gut. Snake held his right hand in a chop and slammed it against Big Boss' head, then punched it even harder with his other limb. The Boss caught Snake's fist with his left hand before it impacted him. Snake tried to kick him again but got thrown, Snake quickly landed on his feet.

The fight ensued for three minutes, every time the Boss struck Snake, Snake would counter it hard. The more time Snake spent in combat, the faster and stronger he hit. Big Boss had the experience and skill, Snake had the will to live.

Snake sweeped the Boss' feet and the older man fell across the floor, Snake viciously beating him over and over again, the bitter taste of betrayal fueling him. Snake pulled his knife embedded in the wall and stabbed it at the Boss' heart.

Snake breathed hard but the Boss laughed, "You think it's the end? This is just the start. You're good. But so long as there is a person wanting to create a home for soldiers, Big Boss will never die." Big Boss breathed in deeply.

"That's my farewell speech, taken care of." He stared seriously at Snake, "Soldier, you fought well. I'll die soon." The Boss removed a bandana, "Take it. It's not mine, it's from a hero who saved the world. She must never be forgotten, got it." Snake took it, slightly unsure.

He muttered to himself, almost as if delirious, "Hello DD. Quiet. It's been a long while."

Snake turned to leave, he sprinted away from Outer Heaven.

Snake saw a young girl standing near the exit. He paused. He quickly rushed to her, "Hello." She said without even turning.

"Get out of here! Outer Heaven is gonna blow!" He screamed at her,

"My name is Paz Ortega Andrade. I am a child of peace!" She held up her index and middle finger. "No. no. no. How about Angel of Peace? What do you think?"

"What are you talking about!?" Snake held his breath, he was forgetting something.

"The other spirits say that I'm not supposed to say my name. It's because they wanted to be more dramatic but I don't really listen to them." She smiled, "Hello Snake or is it Ned? You really look like him don't you?"

"What are you?"

"How rude! Gentlemen should offer their name first! or so Cecile says . . ."

"Fine. I'm Snake." Snake glared at her,

"No. It's Ned." ~~Snake~~ Ned blinked.

Her face turned neutral as she looked to the fortress of Outer Heaven, "I knew him a bit, he was the photographer in MSF, Cecile was always way too drunk to bother to take pictures. He was always really nice to me. He healed me when I was rescued for Mister Coldman. He tried again to heal me when I came back from Camp Omega."

"Who are you talking about?"

"What did Strangelove used to say?" She pondered to herself, she flicked her fingers, "Spoilers!"

"You're sleeping too much. Don't you know that it's recommended to sleep for seven to nine hours?"
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Ned opened his eyes, he was confused but he was more determined than ever. But he can't help but feel that he lost something within himself.

Sorry if this seemed rushed. If you want to read a proper retelling of N313 then I suggest Intrude N313, Target Designate: TX-55 by Corialos.

angbhong · Thursday at 7:20 AM

"The kid woke up, he claims that he was just the servant for House Waynwood. Apparently, our missing girl was travelling with a convoy, heavy security detail, from the Ironoaks, to Waynwood, then finally to the Eyrie. They were then ambushed and the boy was the only one that escaped, or rather they spared him, he got picked up at the Bloody Gate, but he panicked when the guards tried to get him and went to the Eyrie instead. A letter was recently delivered coming from the Bloody Gate that collaborates this."

"Jon?"

"He's been taking it the hardest. Can't blame him, two wives got miscarried and so he tried to find peace through loving his niece like a parent would a child."

"So the trail can range anywhere from the Bloody Gate to the Redfort. How many got taken?"

"It was a large convoy, at the least there might be thirty that got taken. If only the women and children were taken. The ki"

"What was the reason for the convoy?"

"Jon Arryn was about to hold a celebration. He was gonna declare his heir to the Vale, Elbert. Fortunately, the girls parents weren't in that convoy."

"Where's he?"

"Heart's Home. But a letter was quickly sent warning him to stay put."

"How'd a mountain clan manage to overwhelm a convoy with a big security detail?"

"From what the boy said, Moon Brothers were also with the Black Ears."

"Is that sort of cooperation normal?"

"The Moon Brothers and Black Ears have strong ties. While such a thing isn't unheard of, it does give cause for concern. What's our plan?"

"Easy. We can't find them so we'll let ourselves get captured. In a sense."

"They'll be liable to kill us before they bind us. Not to mention I like my ear the way it is."

"I don't mean that we'll go in the middle of the road and scream out hoping that they might come."

"So?"

"An abandoned wagon in the middle of Vale isn't an uncommon sight. The Black Ears might even consider it as a blessing from the gods. In reality, we'll be the cargo. We'll hide in the barrels. Just the two of us, surrounded by a bunch of actual cargo so it won't be suspicious."

"That'll work?"

"You'll be suprised."

"Who'll help drive the wagon?"

"The Eyrie is home to many loyal men. We just have to pick one that's good at acting. After they take the caravan, we have to go to sneak until we find the hostages then save them. We can take them out but the terrain isn't in our favor and Archers might get a lucky shot."

"It's a plan then."

"We should scatter before Jon finds out, if he does then he'll lock us in our room without food for a year. He cares like that."

That's a wrap.

angbhong · Friday at 10:58 AM

The Vale rained, almost as a metaphor for the Falcon's cry, Ned thought, the rain will cover-up their tracks as well as muffle any sounds that they made.

The guard who had left their caravan had been ordered to wait at the Bloody Gate along with a host of men-at-arms as well as with a Maester.

"They took us, hook, line, and sinker." Ned remarked, his voice the very definition of calm despite in the presence of hostile territory.
They hopped off the caravan, and Ned grabbed a wildling who was assigned with the unfortune task of unloading every barrel by himself. He overheard them saying that it was because he had lost a bet.

Ned grabbed his combat knife with his right limb and held it at the wildling's throat, his other hand was used to hold the wildling's hand in place. "Don't move. Don't say a word." The man struggled for a moment but Ned punctured the man's throat slightly, not enough to cause a serious injury but enough to cause the man to stay still. "If you make another move then I'll stab your Larynx." The man, however, was confused on the term. Ned clarified in sarcastic kindness, "What I meant is that you won't ever speak again." The wildling nervously nodded.

"Where did you take them?" Ned interrogated.

"At the caves. I swear-" The man breathed no longer as his purpose was served. His throat was slashed and all he could do was gargle uselessly, rather morbidly, Ned planted an apple into the man's mouth to keep him silent as he bled and then dumped the corpse into an empty barrel in the caravan.

Robert walked up to his foster brother and gestured ahead, Ned looked to see a mouth of a cave just a hundred meters across from their position. Ned nodded. Robert walked behind Ned to act as the eyes behind his back, and to observe and report any and all anomalies.

Ned took, yet again, another Black Ear who parroted the words of his predecessor, he gave the Black Ear the same fate and put him into the bushes.

They sneaked their way past the Black Ears who were partying, as far as Ned knew, they had a celebration due to their 'haul', Ned grimaced. They approached the cave through the bushes which was guarded by two sentries, both armed with clean castle-forged steel, possibly taken from the guards of the caravan they had recently taken, they were still donning the garbs of a wildling as well as a necklace of bloodied ears, as was their tradition. Robert was breathing quickly, in almost near anticipation in reaching their target. Ned gestured for Robert to wait as he narrowed his eyes.

Two sentries, one was a bit frail and tipsy whilst the other hawked over his 'prized possession' like a banker would his own purse. Ned paused as an unknown individual- two people, one was a child and the other an adult, he realized, entered the cave with all the grandeur of a royal accompanied by their child. Ned surmised that the older individual must be the clan chief, though he couldn't ascertain the gender of them. Ned readied his crossbow and knife, as Robert watched the path in the event of further unknown variables.

Ned laid prone and crawled along the muddied surface, his armor getting brown stains in the process. Ned walked to the nearest wildling and stabbed him in the neck whilst simulatenously loosing his trigger on his crossbow upon the head of the farthest sentry. The people he killed hadn't made enough noise to arouse the disturbance of their fellow clansmen. Ned reloaded his crossbow quickly, though his crossbow might be a bit worse for wear after getting mucked about in the mud. Ned gestured Robert to beckon to him,

"Robert, stay and watch the entrance." Robert nodded, keeping his eyes on it. Robert held a sharp dagger, his preferred implement which was the war hammer was far too heavy and too long to be used in cramped places.

Ned entered the cave with caution, the presence of the two unknown variables had made him wary. The cave was wide and was well-lit with candles stolen from merchants. Ned knew that he could only rely on his skills and experience from the dreams he had, though it didn't sit well with his psyche. Ned thought that every corner and shadow that he didn't see might contain a wildling waiting to pounce on him and stab him in the back, and possibly take his ear.

He came a chamber within the cave that had rows and rows of arranged wooden cages containing the hostages, Ned counted them, twelve captives. Most of them were unharmed save for scratches and bruises, most of them were women and children. Ned checked around the chamber only to spot no crevice with which a wildling could pop from, the cave had ended here, so he slowly walked towards the nearest cage.

"What's your name?" Ned said carefully to the captives, specifically to a young boy. The boy stayed silent, seemingly scared of him. "Mine's Eddard of House Stark." He offered, trying to give them some measure of calm.

"Elaic." the boy quietly answered.

"I've come to bust you out." The boy tilted his head, "It means you're getting out of here-"

"Not so fast." A girl said, a knife propped against his back. "Drop it."

He raised his knife and crossbow, and slowly turned around. A wildling child has pointing her knife at his neck, from further back, a man that he could only guess was the girl's father had aimed a bow at him.

Ned inquired, "How'd you sneak past me?"

The father answered with a grin and with pride, "Some of the floors were hollow. We hid on that when we saw the ruckus you caused. The name is Cheyk, Chief of the Black Ears. The girl is Chella, my daughter."

Ned only chuckled, the girl asked rudely, "Somethin' funny, stranger?"

"I'm Eddard of House Stark, the rulers of the seat of Winterfell." The girl slightly paused in the realization of the prize of her 'catch', but that small pause was all that Ned had needed to disarm the girl, and shoot his bolt at Cheyk. Ending his life.

Chella turned to scream but was choked into sleep.

"She's not dead. I'm not one to kill children, no matter what." Ned walked to the cell and began to lockpick every one of them, though, one of the captives, Elaic, if he remembered, had a sprained leg and couldn't walk. So he hoisted the boy on his shoulders. He said aloud to them, "Which one of you is Waynwood?"

A demure, little girl walked up to him, "Ser Eddard. I am Olira Waynwood-"

"You're Jon's niece, right?" Olira blinked at his casual attitude, and could only nod. "Right, all of you are to not make any noise."

The crowd nodded and trailed behind him. Ned exited and saw Robert still keeping watch of any wildlings to come by, in fact, as he noted, there were five new corpses. Ned tapped Robert's shoulder, and Robert nodded and looked his way at Olira Waynwood.

"It's time to go."

Robert along with a host of men-at-arms and his foste-, his brother, Ned had escorted the rescued to the way to the Eyrie. They had passed by the Bloody Gate, where a Maester had awaited to administer healing upon the rescued. He was sure that he'll make Jon angry, but he'll also make the man proud. Robert had rejoiced the tale of his rescue to the men, who earnestly listened, as they walked to the path along the Eyrie.

The women and children were unharmed, thank the gods, and were riding on a caravan.

Ned walked, at a steady pace, his gaze and expression was unreadable, and no joy could be glimpsed from him. His horse, was similarly, as dour as his rider.

They had finally reached the gates of the Eyrie which was open. Where Jon awaited them on a horse . . .

Jon dismounted on his horse, and ran to hug his niece, Olira who also hugged back crying.

Robert smiled, come what may, he'll remember this for the rest of his life.

angbhong · Friday at 10:59 AM

Growing up, Benjen knew that he had an older brother going by Ned. His sister and his eldest brother would always regale him with tales of his brave brother. Whilst his father and mother always seemed to be thinking of Ned. What he knew was that his brother went south and was fostered there. He grew up never knowing his older brother and he was nervous.

Today marked the ten and eight nameday celebration of Ned. He stood straight, Ned would come here anytime now. A message was shortly sent a week ago from White Harbor that told of Ned's arrival that was due today.

The gates of Winterfell was raised as the scion returned. Ned donned a cloak which obscured his outfit as well as face, further adding mystery to his appearance. He led his horse through the town, he didn't mount it, Ned lent his lead to the stable's without never uttering a word nor sound.

Ned removed the hood on him, revealing a face clean of facial hair and wearing a black bandana which held back his long hair. If Ben tried to focus his eyes on the bandana, he could see that it had a little wolf on it.

He walked towards his Lord Father and Lady Mother and knelt. "Lord Stark. I have returned." He was, above all else, calm and as cool as winter. It was as if the very world itself couldn't offer anything to which the man hadn't face before. Bran, Lyan, and he were besides their Parent's. Brandon and him donned the typical attire of an heir to Winterfell, wearing dark and drab coloring's; Lyan however had just recently went horseback, to the total exasperation of their Lord Father, so she wore only clothes fit for riding, not for formality.

"So you have. Come, reacquaint yourself with your siblings. At the evening, we shall dine in the hall of Winterfell." Rickard Stark declared, Ned turned his gaze towards his sibling's, his expression totally unreadable. A smirk broke the unreadable wall that was his face, and Bran smirked back.

Ned walked towards his sister and ruffled her hair, "Kept you waiting, huh." Lya pouted.

"I waited so long!" Lya complained, "Why did you have to age so slowly!" a chuckle could be heard from Brandon.

"Come on, Ned, let's have a tussle in the ring. For all time's sake."

"You'll have to wait." Ned turned his gaze towards Benjen, "I'll have to get to know this kid, first."

"Is it true that you really took on twenty men at the Eyrie?" Benjen quickly asked inquisitively, "Is it true that you saved a dozen or so maidens from the clutches of the Wildlings? Is it true that you saw Prince Rhaegar?"

" . . . saw prince Rhaegar? They tell a lot of stories about me here?" Lya frantically nodded, Ben only slightly nodded. Ned hummed to himself, "I did take on twenty men, but they had dull blades. I did save hostages from the Mountain Clans on Vale. I actually met up with Rhaegar."

"How about you train me!" Lya asked as Ned chuckled and parroted back her request.

"What's up with our mother?' Ned questioned them and changing the topic in the process, "She seemed a bit worse for wear."

Lya looked around wearily as if someone might eavesdrop and whispered, "She's sick. She's been staying at her room for longer than before but father wouldn't talk about it." She dropped her heads in a worry, and Benjen looked to be confused on the matter, it seems he wasn't told about that.

"Come on. Let's get to my room." Lya and Ben looked at each other with worry. Though, Ned didn't have a single idea why they looked at each other that way.

Ned's old room was, in the lack of better terms, messy. If he had said his thoughts aloud then he'd have said that it was shit. His bedframe and bed was messy, the coverings of his bed had long been thrown away as well as the curtains. Trash and garbage littered the floor, and an inkwell had been and dropped and stained Ned's old table.

Ned looked to Lya who answered, "We . . . Bran, Ben, and I would sometimes-"

"Sometimes?"

"-stay at your room after you had went away. We can't help it! The maids always ignored this room so we can loiter and laze here all we want without Father complaining about our own messy room."

"All you want? Good grief." Ned replied with a chuckle. Lya and Ben turned to leave only for Ned to tug on the back of their clothes. "Get back here. You're not getting away that quickly. I'll get some brooms for both the two of you and I'll drag Bran here, on his ass, if needs be."

Neither Heaven, Nor Hell (ASOIAF/MGS)

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