Well, I've decided to take a break from my usual kind of fanfics, to do something a bit different for me. Rather than taking scenes from the games, I am going to ponder upon the question I sometimes have going on in my head when I write my other fanfics. Sure, Liquid is dead, but then why should that stop me from wondering about what he would do if he didn't die? This is fan fiction after all! Anyway, to give you the gist of this fic, I'll explain a little; I'm telling this from the views of both Solid Snake and Liquid Snake so I can tell it from both sides. Do be warned I switch between the two and some paragraphs are timed at roughly the same time, but just seen from the others view.

Disclaimer: the characters and such in this fanfic are not mine, and are the property of Konami and their creator, Mr.Kojima.

It Isn't Just Cats That Have Nine Lives.

Chapter 1.

Snake had never felt quite as contented as he was now. Usually after a mission, he left with a lingering feeling of doubt for himself, wondering if all of the killing was worth it. He didn't get any reward or any recognition, just years of solitude and depression in an attempt to run away from the horrors and wrongs he'd committed in the name of peace. It had seemed before this mission there was no end to the daily cycle he trudged through, living only for life's sake. Now… that had taken a complete turn around; Snake had something to look forward to, someone to share this little personal victory with. Maybe now after going for so long with no hope to suggest that there was more to his life than fighting, this was the fortune that he'd been missing.

He felt Meryl shuffle forward in the seat of the snowmobile, leaning up against his back to peer over his shoulder, wrapping her arms low around his hips. She watched with him the early morning sunlight shimmer as it reflected off the white ice as if it were sprinkled with diamond dust.

Snake yawned, raising a hand to his mouth and adjusted his bandanna sitting on his brow. The effects of the drugs in the nanomachines were starting to wear off and he blinked sleep away as best he could.

"Been some day." He shouted so Meryl could hear him over the combined noise of the droning engine and the singing wind as they sped across the white expanse.

"Mmmm… yeah…" Meryl mumbled into his ear. Snake could tell that the ordeal had drained her significantly. It came as no surprise to him and decided it wasn't a good idea to ask her any more questions.

"Just rest now, okay?" he said and Meryl shifted closer, wriggling to get comfy.

"Sure… thanks…" she breathed and her head drooped down before falling to lie on his shoulder.

It didn't take long for memories of the mission to begin seeping back into the forefront of Snake's mind. He'd saved some people but had lost some too. Gray Fox, his old friend, now had at last found what he'd been robbed of in Zanzibar. If it hadn't been for him, Snake might not have been alive. Or Meryl for that matter. He couldn't tell if Fox had carried out his last actions to let Snake end the mission or for any other reason. How could anybody tell what had been going on inside Fox's mind after being kept from dying like he should have done six years ago, to play out the fragmented "existence" the scientists burdened him with, dependant on medicines and that exoskeleton for the sorry last fight.

"Naomi. Why did I have to lie to you like that? Makes me almost as bad as you." Snake thought, the memory of Fox brought back the message he'd told Snake to pass onto her. It was clear to Snake, that had he stuck faithfully to Fox's words they would have destroyed her. Naomi's life had already been taken apart once as a child, twice for being caught as a spy. To tell her the truth about her past would only further mar the life she'd bought and pieced together. People could accuse Snake as much as they wanted for being cold and unfeeling, but he knew himself that wasn't true. If it were he would have not hidden the truth from Naomi and would have left Meryl for dead and that would have only made him like his brother…

"Why should I worry about him?" Snake thought and looked back over his shoulder at Meryl. "Even you saw it. He's dead now, right." He said aloud to her. "Yeah, Liquid's gone." Snake thought in conclusion and turned his attention back to the snowmobile, putting it into a higher gear.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

"Hell… must have frozen over if he didn't die…" he thought slowly into the muggy darkness."Explains why I'm so cold…"

But then to be in Hell would mean that you were dead and in death, you could feel nothing, well to Liquid's knowledge. It hadn't been something he'd thought about much, not since he was young and first experienced real combat for himself, and his capture in the Middle East.

But why was it that he felt so bitterly cold? The ice made his wounds sting, soothed his bruises and made him numb. Sure, you got cold when you were dead, but you didn't think about it, did you? He couldn't be dead. But Liquid felt as if he was, or maybe halfway there. The light feeling in his head prevented him from solving the conundrum. He couldn't concentrate or focus. One thought floated into another. He wasn't quite there. No, he wasn't… yes…maybe not…

Somehow Liquid had defied that virus, looked into the eyes of the Grim Reaper and laughed before turning away and heading back. He couldn't go yet. He had something to do first.

Liquid Snake opened his eyes and everything was as it had been before. In front of him lay his FAMAS, splashed with his own blood from that gunfight on the jeeps. Beyond it was the overturned jeep dented, scratched, and covered in bullet holes. Footprints lead away and past where he lay, one set much bigger and broader than the other set which looked far more dainty in comparison.

It took a while for Liquid to finally register what his situation was.

"I'm… alive?… ALIVE?!" he said out loud and pushed himself up onto his knees quickly, wishing he hadn't. A grin crept across his face and he started to laugh in spite of the sharp pain in his chest from a fractured rib or two. His head pounded and he couldn't think straight. Above the confusion in his mind, Liquid still remembered what had driven him here. The single thought, the blackened hatred, that last memory before he had fallen to the ground. The face that looked so much like his own… and the one he despised so much.

"Snake…" he spat.

The very fact that his twin brother still lived infuriated Liquid, flooding him with boiling rage so much that he had forgotten that he was sitting outside in the harsh Alaskan climate a razor edged wind blowing, and he was wearing nothing but a pair of trousers. He looked down and saw that his tanned skin had taken on a worrying blue tinge and he couldn't stop himself from shivering. It was hard to tell if his confusion was from just waking up and a result of the fighting or if it was the onset of hypothermia. Whatever the reason, Liquid had to get inside and to shelter soon.

He stood up slowly, every bone in his body ached, each muscle felt as if it had been grabbed at each end and pulled until they nearly broke. He was surprised that he didn't feel as bad as he could have been, considering he'd been in REX when it was destroyed and his plans cut short, to be followed with a punishing fistfight against Snake and a fall from the top of REX. It should have killed him with not one bone in his body unbroken. Even the battle as they escaped on the jeep and a genetically engineered virus failed to stop him; they only hindered him from getting to his goal. Much like the slight limp in his step as he began to walk to find another entrance, which would let him into the mess and storeroom and begin to think more about what to do. However, as is it stood, the plan was simple. Kill Solid Snake.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

"At last… "Snake thought, when he saw his home come into view. He slowed right down to a halt and sighed, glad that now it was really all over. Snake sat up straight in his seat and stretched. He could only guess at how long they'd been travelling for, but estimated it had been for some time. He twisted round and shook Meryl by her shoulder.

"Meryl…" he called.

"Whaaatt?" she replied sleepily "Huh, are we there?" and sat up rubbing her eyes. Snake nodded.

"We're here alright." Snake said as he got off, putting out a hand for Meryl and helped her stand. Meryl was a little wobbly on her feet he noticed and let her sit back down while he pushed the snow mobile into the garage.

"Might be worth keeping." He thought to himself. Meryl hopped off and followed him as he walked round to the back yard where the huskies could be heard barking and howling. The wind must have carried his scent toward them. He stopped and turned around with a smile.

"Well this is what I call home." Snake swept an arm in the direction of the single storey wood cabin. It was a simple kind of building but with triple glazed windows and thickly insulated against the chill. Looking in the windows the rooms were modestly furnished with the fundamentals and decorated with plain painted walls and smooth wooden floors. It didn't need to be stunning and Meryl agreed that it seemed comfortable enough.

Snake proceeded towards the enclosure gate and never noticed that Meryl waited behind. The huskies charged out of their shelter barking and howling their welcomes, tails wagging as they crowded around Snake. He looked round at Meryl, an anxious look on her face.

"Oh, don't tell me that you're not afraid of wolf dogs but frightened of domestic dogs?" he laughed.

"No…it's just that there are so many of them." She retorted and walked forward to join him again. More of them gathered round her and Meryl knelt down to pat them. The huskies were a little uncertain of the new arrival their master had with him but since he was making no sign that she was unwelcome, they greeted Meryl.

"Want to stay here a while?" Snake asked seeing how well Meryl was getting on with the dogs. She looked up and nodded at him. Snake took a few steps away heading towards the back door before turning round to check. He was about to open his mouth and say something to her, but stopped.

"She'll be fine. Nobody knows we're here or even alive." he thought before turning back and heading indoors, picking up the keys where he'd left them. He walked into the kitchen digging in his pockets for a cigarette and lit it up with a sigh.

"At least I don't have Naomi telling me how bad it is." he thought with a smile. There was no need to be on alert now and he returned to a more normal state. Hyper acute senses settled down. There was no need for Snake to keep watch over his shoulder and in the shadows; he was in familiar territory back home.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Liquid sat in the storeroom having gathered up all that he thought he would need for his mission. He had patched himself up as best he could, dressing the odd gun shot wound. Anything less wasn't worth fussing over as they had patched over themselves. White combat fatigues were needed and there were plenty to be found from the remainder that had been left untouched by the soldiers. While they would give some protection from the cold, Liquid knew that it wouldn't be enough in this weather and had no intention of freezing before reaching his goal. The medical supplies he'd found had some of the anti-freezing peptide the Genomes had used and he'd given himself a shot of that. Now that he'd sorted himself out and picked some basic equipment, Liquid laid the weapons out in front of him; a SOCOM pistol complete with silencer and several full magazines, a PSG-1, painted with blotches of white for camouflage with more magazines for it. Rations, water and binoculars completed the small inventory he had selected. Liquid sat back satisfied that he'd gone over this point enough and finalised his choice. Attention shifted from the equipment back to the obsessive thought occupying his mind, always playing in the background, working out the thousandth scenario he'd devised in his head, the moment when once and for all he would cut Snake's life short. What could he do?  Would Liquid kill him quickly so he didn't realise what had happened before it was too late or kill Snake slowly, to make him suffer? Stealthy snap of his neck or a bullet in the head, to end it fast. A well-placed shot before moving in to stop him from reaching help and let him bleed to death, slowly. Liquid went over and over the library of schemes he'd conjured up over the years, waiting for the day he'd meet the brother his father had spoken of, the one who was supposed to be so much better than him.

"Wait…" he thought opening his eyes away from the dark in his mind."Every time it has been direct attacks against Snake, and they have all failed."

That much was true it was always Snake he was targeting. It was logical, yes because it was Snake that Liquid wanted to destroy, but nothing seemed to work. The Hind, Metal Gear REX, the fight after REX had fallen and the last chase, exchanging machine gun fire as they sped through the tunnels hadn't helped Liquid to defeat Snake. His own revulsion had blinded him, focused it and pin pointed it on Snake, but too much so that he couldn't see any other way. All the time Liquid had been fighting away and getting nowhere. At the end, Snake stood there as if nothing had happened. Liquid put a hand to his head; there had to be something he could do.

His gaze swept across the equipment he'd chosen again.

"SOCOM for close combat. PSG-1 for far away… Wolf I do hope that you don't mind." He thought. Liquid looked back at it again and touched the cold gunmetal.

"Hang on… that woman she shot… Meryl, did she not escape with Snake?" Liquid said in his head, and went through all of the blurred images locked away in his head, trying to fit a face to the name.

"Meryl… oh yes, that one which Snake cares so much about, so much that he'll risk anything for her." He thought not seeing right away the answer. He stopped from remembering that time he paid her a visit, weeping and screaming for Snake to help her. "Anything for her?" he thought again. That was it. How could he have forgotten about the fatal flaw that separated him from Snake? The little element that made Snake less of the merciless soldier he was supposed to be.

A twisted grin crawled across his face.

"Wolf had the right idea by shooting Meryl, but she shouldn't have let her own fondness for Snake get in the way." Liquid thought. Now he'd established that Meryl was now in the equation, Liquid Snake got up and pocketed the magazines, rations, binoculars and flask of water. He holstered the SOCOM and slung his rifle over one shoulder, leaving the store behind. It was all now a case of getting there and working out exactly what he would do. He headed back to the mess and looked at the map he'd spread out on one of the tables, trying to recall where it was that Snake stayed. Snake had been so credulous when Liquid contacted him as Master Miller, he'd discovered a great deal about his twin, what he did, what he thought… all good information to use for this mission and all to his own advantage. He folded up the map, putting it another pocket and left the hall to find him a snow mobile, content that he knew where he was going. At last, it looked like he might just succeed this time round.

"Are they always so… difficult like that?" Meryl asked Snake after they returned back from outside to lock up the huskies in their kennel for the night. Snake pushed the door back against the wind which brought in with it snow coating everything in fragile white flakes. He locked it and turned round.

"No, must be you." He smiled.

"Me?" Meryl asked with a frown.

"It's just that you're new to them. Don't take it personally. They aren't used to anybody else but me being here so they might be a bit jealous of you." He explained hanging up his coat and helped Meryl out of hers before she skipped out of her boots and ran off to the living room, launching herself onto the couch taking all the space for herself. She grinned up at him cheekily.

"C'mon, my house!" Snake said with a smile, moved Meryl's legs off, and sat next to her. She looked much better now; Meryl had swapped the combat fatigues and bloody bandages for jeans and a shirt Snake had let her borrow. They didn't fit her frame very well but still she looked more like herself than the soldier she had pretended to be on Shadow Moses.  Meryl playfully punched him in the arm in protest and settled for snuggling up next to him as Snake put his arm round her shoulders.

"Snake… do you ever think about what might have happened instead? I mean, what if things worked out differently?" Meryl asked after a while. Snake looked down at her.

"Not really, maybe more about what did happen. That's more important. I'd rather not worry about ifs and buts." He replied after a moment to think about it. "What's the point, it all worked out well, didn't it?" Snake added.

"Like us." Meryl put in. Snake nodded.

"Yeah." He wasn't in the mood for analysing the mission; it was all over and Snake didn't see why it had to be brought up again. There were things Snake regretted, truths he had found which he wished he hadn't ever discovered, but then there were things that he was grateful had happened. Meryl shifted from where she sat next to him and onto his knee, her arms round his neck, gazing into his eyes. It reminded Snake so much of the time when Meryl had leapt off the top of REX and they had to leave hurriedly, with time only to share a few words between them and an embrace. Snake wrapped his arms around her, realised how slight she was. He could not understand how somebody like her could be a soldier or even take the kind of battering she'd received without breaking physically or in spirit.

"She's so… fragile." Snake thought, a little guilt working into his mind. He felt as if he didn't really deserve this, having done all that he'd done in the past. How could she love him? Didn't she know what he did, what he was? What was it that she liked so much about him? Or was it that he was afraid? Still frightened to lay bare what went on inside him whenever he was with her?

Meryl looked back at him, an inquisitive look in her eyes.

"Snake?" she asked. He looked up at her. He hadn't lied when he told her she had beautiful and compassionate eyes. Those eyes that had given away her identity set in her pretty face, pale and soft, belying the strength within. He admired that, wishing sometimes that he could have the kind of courage she had.

He held her close, their faces barely inches away from each other. He could feel Meryl's hand against his face, running her fingers down his temple, over his lips before they met hers, soft like her touch. Meryl moved closer to him, running a hand down his back as Snake shifted one to rest behind her head, fixed in each other's clasp. Snake sat back after a while, Meryl's eyes still shut, fluttered open and she smiled back at him, asking silently for him to begin again.

Snake held her tighter, got up from where they sat and stood with her in front of him, locked in another impassioned kiss. Meryl brought her hand from behind Snake's back to his chest, leisurely and deliberately unbuttoned his shirt, tipped her head back a little while he tenderly kissed her neck. They parted, unwillingly for a moment. Snake felt Meryl sigh, his arms moved with her body as she breathed.

"Where does all this come from?" Snake wondered. Had it been locked away inside him until he met her? Had it even been there before meeting Meryl? Snake put the thought away; let what was going on in his heart rule rather than his head. Going by impulse had led him to saving Meryl so it couldn't be a bad thing, could it? Still Snake felt he had to ask Meryl if she was happy to follow him.

"Meryl if you don't feel right…" He began gently.

"I'm sure." Meryl replied and leaned closer towards him once more.

Snake softly took her hand, their fingers entwined, leading her gently, unhurried towards his own room. He switched the light on and shut the door behind them. He didn't bother with curtains, his mind whole-heartedly on Meryl and the emotions rushing through him. Nothing else mattered.

Meryl waited for him, patiently, still held his hand, there in front of him when he turned around again. She didn't need any encouragement to return to his arms. Meryl put one arm round his waist under the shirt, slipping it off his shoulders with the other. Snake let it fall to the floor, as Meryl placed her hand on his stomach, leaned back a little, as he reached over to undo her shirt, her spine gently curved. Meryl shrugged it off and held herself closer to his body.

Snake was again unsure of himself to touch her; afraid he was taking advantage of her like this. Snake felt the touch of her warm skin against his own, Meryl took his hand gently and put it on her shoulder. Meryl encouraged him to run his fingers over the gentle curves of her chest. He lay his head on hers where she'd laid it against his chest as she caressed his stomach affectionately. Her fingers bobbed up and down as they went over his taut muscles, his skin tingled where her hand had just passed over. Meryl stopped at the buckle of his belt to unfasten it. Snake was expecting her to break off there, he didn't know why he thought that, but quickly forgot when she carried on, bringing her hand down to the crotch of his jeans, a pleasant feeling in his body as she undid the zip. A low groan escaped his lips.

Snake rested his hands on Meryl's hips as she wriggled little by little out her trousers, and wound her arms around his waist after she stepped out them. Meryl reached up to kiss him again, Snake was sure he could feel the faint drumming inside her chest as she drew close to him. She relaxed in his arms; eyes shut, consenting Snake to lay her down. He slipped out of his jeans, left them on the floor, before lowering himself over her as Meryl pulled the covers over them, wrapping her legs round him while he ran his hands up from the top of her legs to her chest, following the contours of her body. Meryl cupped his face in her hands as they kissed, Snake finally accepted that there was nothing wrong with what was raging inside him as he held Meryl closer to his body.

≈≈≈≈≈≈

Liquid cut the engine, realising that the noise might alert Snake to his presence. It seemed a little over cautious, but he didn't want to throw away his chance for vengeance. He took the binoculars from the pocket he stored them in and focused the lenses through the trees and falling snow on the house some distance away.

"That should be it." He thought and put them away. It was dark, but what else could explain the single square shape of light? He got up off the snowmobile and pushed it out of the way so nobody could find it, scattering a few branches here and there to make it less obvious. The advantage of it being in the night was that they were probably not doing much and even if they were still awake, the darkness would cloak his movements, so long as he didn't make any noises to rouse their attention.

Liquid Snake put a hand down to his holstered SOCOM pistol and made his way through the trees on foot, searching for a suitable spot to set up and build a hide. A couple of minutes of probing led him to a hollow in the ground, deep enough to cover it with branches and snow and let him crawl underneath. He picked out random pieces of the flora lying around, fallen from trees and scattered them across the hollow not bothering to tidy it up, else it would look unnatural if anyone were to come this way. The falling snow would cover up any traces of his movements. He got down and took the PSG-1 off his back, slipping the strap over his head and crawled backwards into the hide, spreading more branches over the rifle making sure his view through the scope was unobstructed and the barrel of the rifle was clear for a perfect shot. He shuffled around a little to get comfortable.

"Now," he whispered to himself and took out the binoculars again. "…what are you up to, my brother?" Liquid brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes and scanned the area ahead searching for the house again. The window he saw the light shining from was dark now, another one let the light out instead. He continued watching, and saw a figure silhouetted in the light. He could barely see any features on them, but their build was enough to tell him who it was.

"Snake." He hissed. Liquid carried on watching. Snake had his arm held out, pulled it back towards himself, drawing a smaller, much slimmer, feminine figure towards him. Liquid instantly recognised that it was Meryl. His eyes widened in disbelief at what happened next. Something fell from Snake as Meryl moved closer to him, clothes Liquid guessed. The pair met to form one big shadow in the dim light, gently swaying and rocking together, their bodies' right next to each other. Liquid was fixed where he lay, eyes glued to the lenses, his mind trying to piece together what was going on.

Something else fell from the pair, arms moved up and down, the shadow still moved back and forth. He put the binoculars down, slowly. Shock first filled his mind, slight repulsion that he had spied on them in such an intimate moment. However, he did now know what their relationship was like, and could play on that when the time came.

"Didn't take you long to charm your way into her pants, did it Snake?" Liquid thought with a crooked smile.

Fury now flooded him; here he was trying to destroy every trace of his brother and now…

"Well… he isn't confining his genes to himself now is he?" Liquid thought. That plus a trace of malice Liquid had lurking around for his brother's good fortune in finding love, deepened his hatred for Snake even more.

"All the more reason to kill him." Liquid thought blackly. "And all the more hurt it will cause him when I take her away from him." His mind had been made up. To get Snake, first he had to put Meryl in danger. Taking her from him and threatening to cease her life if Snake didn't come to the location that Liquid had decided on beforehand was sure to get Snake where Liquid could have some control over what happened. Having Meryl would let Liquid manipulate Snake, and furthermore if he was in a location where he had the upper hand, he stood more chance of completing his objective.

"But then, once he's dead, what do I do with her?" Liquid thought. Although he was going to threaten Snake with her life, Liquid did hope that he didn't have to resort to that if possible. In a sense, it was to him a little cowardly to kill a person already broken and in grief, but it would have to be done if things got dangerous. One rule he'd learned was that you had to win anyway you could even if that meant fighting dirty. Liquid pushed that out-of-the-way, and waited, working out how he was going to get there to take her, resisting the temptation to take another quick look through the binoculars.

Continued in chapter 2…