Old Snake, a legendary war hero, was in a fairy tale.

Oh, sure. He was familiar with the heroes and heroines of Sunny's Disney films. Cinderella, Robin Hood and Snow White were practically neighbors of his. He could have thrown a bar-be-cue with the Seven Dwarfs, and Prince Charming could have been a drinking buddy. He was all too familiar with the radiant characters of Walt Disney's empire, but never thought he'd have his own fairy tale. As a 'seasoned killer', his life was far from a fairy tale.

That was, until his Prince Charming came along.

His name was Dante. Handsome, slick and clever, he charmed hearts and turned heads everywhere he went. His short, white hair looked as if it had been spun underneath the moonlight. He came equipped with an unpredictable set of eyes, able to turn them from 'carefree' to 'deadly' in a heartbeat. He rarely ever took off his red coat (unless his princess needed extra warmth), and never tossed his light demeanor aside. He was a handsome one all right, and Old Snake never would have expected to end up with him.

The old soldier never believed in 'love at first sight'-until Dante came into the picture. Right on arrival, the two of them set off a parade of sparks. The demon slayer was instantly infatuated with the much older male, as proven by the glimmer in his eyes. His tone of voice, accompanied by his smile, set the two of them off on an unforgettable journey. Delighting Hal and Sunny to no end, the forty year old prince actually knelt down, and kissed their beloved Snake's hand. From that point on, the two lovers were inseparable.

The prince and his 'princess' were the center pieces of their tale, but two dwarves weren't left out of the action. Dante quickly grew close to both Hal and Sunny, sharing his warm, light spirit with them. They responded with the warmest affection, and even confided their secrets in him. Hal pulled Dante over one night, shortly after the prince performed another nighttime concert (he sang Snake to sleep on a regular basis), and discussed something of dire importance. The softhearted otaku, quickly bursting into tears (much to Dante's chagrin), spoke of how helpless he was in regards to his old friend. In that particular dwarf's eyes, he could do nothing to help the friend he loved so much-and was indebted to.

Hating the otaku's tears, the prince quickly set about calming him. Hal was an invaluable friend, he said, and Snake wouldn't have gotten too far without him. If it hadn't been for Hal, he never would have met his princess-and for that, the prince would be forever grateful. Taking each of his new friend's words to heart, the weeping otaku went off to sleep-and Dante spent the remainder of the night caressing Snake's face.

Hal wasn't the only one to reveal distress to Dante. Sunny, pleased by how things were developing within her family, pulled Dante over early one morning. The little girl couldn't sleep, after hearing the prince's latest performance for her beloved Epyon.

"You're nice. I'm glad you like my dad, and...I'm glad you're in love with Epyon."

She was comfortable around the demon slayer. She was able to speak without stuttering, and that uplifted her spirits to their peak. She relayed everything inside of her heart to Dante, and as she did, she reminded him of an excited child waiting for Christmas Eve to pass.

"You're really sweet to him! You call him all sorts of cute names, you make him laugh, and you sing really pretty songs to him at night. Before you came here, he had lots of nightmares. Now he sleeps peacefully!"

"I'm sad. I wish Daddy had someone like you."

"What about that Naomi chick?" the prince asked, eyeing his 'Peanut' admiringly. "Not too much into her, huh?"

"No. Not really," the little girl replied sadly, shaking her head. "She's nice, but she's only pretending. She's just using Daddy to get information out of him."

"You know, you may be a kid, but you really aren't playing your part. C'mere, munchkin."

With that, the jovial demon slayer swept the girl onto his left shoulder. He tickled her nose, and the two of them shared a chuckle. Sunny then went on to express her concerns over the ailing Epyon, revealing something Epyon had asked his family to hide from the prince. She revealed his FOXDIE virus, and informed Dante of Naomi's horrific actions.

"Epyon said not to tell, but you can help him! I know you can!"

She then went on to ask if Dante cared about Epyon's appearance. Dante, much to her delight, told her he would be gorgeous at any age. He then assured her of his unfailing love towards the 'princess', gave her a kiss on the nose, and sent her off to bed.

Hal relayed every second of the conversation back to his lifelong partner, playing the event via the Mark II.

The four of them were a happy team, and their tale was unfolding splendidly. But as all fairy tales did, their story came with a menagerie of villians. Liquid was the easiest one to think of, as he sought world domination-at the cost of his brother's life, of course. Vergil was his answer to Dante, who protected Snake without fail. The other son of Sparda was a little on the quiet end, especially in comparison to the rambunctious Dante, but he played a tremendous part in Liquid's tale. He was the sole confidant of Snake's brother, and the two of them shared a bit of an eccentric love relationship.

There were supporting characters to their tale. A member of Sparda's Holy Order, working tirelessly on his research, used his knowledge to further Liquid's efforts. His tendency to stutter annoyed Liquid to no end, but Vergil always managed to soothe his rattled nerves. The incessantly nervous, stuttering male came with his own surbordinates, but they remained hidden. Locked away in the shadows they were, fated to remain hidden unless summoned.

Dante wasn't aware of it, but that particular member of the Order had a psychotic interest in the princess.

In a way, Liquid had his family-just as Snake had his. Unfortunately, both sons of Big Boss viewed the concept of 'family' in different lights. Snake's brother made frequent escapes from his family, accompanied by his loyal bodyguard. The two of them collided with their opposing pair several times, and every encounter had a tremendous impact on their missions. Dante did his best to shield Snake from harm, and Vergil kept Dante away from Liquid. Much to the chagrin of Vergil's employer, Dante constantly made remarks-and all of them, of course, focused on Liquid. At one point, he even compared Snake's brother to a donkey.

To add salt to injury, Snake laughed at each joke.

"How dare you stand here before me, making light of this situation! I'll have you know that we're well on our way to accomplishing our goals, Dante, and I shan't allow anyone to stand in Liquid's way!"

"Why? Is he going to smack you on your tight little breadbasket if you don't?"

"I'll have you pay for your words, brother. Laugh all you want now. You'll be begging for mercy later."

"I've got it all figured out now. You're just pissed because I ended up with the cute, sexy brother, and you ended up with Mr. I-Can't-Get-It-Up-So-I'm-On-a-Power-Trip. Hey, I'm sorry, Verg, but I hit the jackpot. You ended up with the short end of the stick."

Vergil wasn't the only victim of Dante's lashings.

"Hey! Look, baby! It's a baboon with his ass on his face! Is this the coolest zoo or what?"

"Blah blah blah. Look, I get it. You have a 'me' complex. Everything's supposed to go your way. The thing is, nothing's goin' your way-and that's why you're always so frustrated. My brother's not givin' you any, and you're backed up!"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't listening because I don't listen to bullshit. Mind repeating that to someone who cares?"

Then there was the donkey incident.

If Dante hadn't been at Snake's side, the collisions with his brother would have been frightening. The demon slayer made the tense situations much easier to deal with. Liquid was practically transformed into a joke, thanks to the garrulous, clever prince. Being treated like a joke, of course, didn't please Liquid-and hearing his brother laugh didn't make things easier.

Hal warned Dante against setting off Liquid's fuse, but the prince shrugged off the warning-and gave Hal a noogie.

Snake loved his prince wildly. He was madly in love with the thief of his heart, and always looked forward to their time together. As a result of having his heart watered by Dante, he gradually learned to respect himself. He would never view himself as anything beautiful, but learned how to smile whenever he looked into a mirror.

He not only learned how to treat himself better, but learned how to nurture his other relationships. He watered a friendship with Sunny on a daily basis, and had lengthy conversations with 'Otacon'. The three of them were wondrously affected by Dante's warmth and kindness, and all were happy to have him in their lives. But sadly, the princess was experiencing difficulty with something that should have been perfectly easy.

He didn't know how to say 'I love you'.

He never even said those words to Meryl, who stormed out on him before their relationship had a chance. He had never said those words to Hal, even though he loved the otaku dearly, and never said them to the little girl. He never said them to his mother, who unexpectedly died just a few hours ago-in his arms. He wanted to say them to his brother, but couldn't for obvious reasons.

So how was he supposed to say such beautiful words to Dante?

Only three hours remained before their arrival at Shadow Moses. Fully awake, Snake laid in his bed with a troubled heart. The time to confess his love was quickly running out, thanks to a bed of bad memories. He couldn't explain himself, but he was deathly afraid of returning to Shadow Moses-and it wasn't because of the past.

His longing for Dante, who was fast asleep in another vicinity of the Nomad, became intolerable.

There was another face he couldn't get out of his mind, and it belonged to the one and only Hal Emmerich.

This chappie was composed to the Kingdom Hearts II soundtrack.

So! I have meshed the worlds of Devil May Cry 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4 together. Kinda cool, eh? This was originally meant to only have the world of MGS4, but after Monday's brainstorming session (which included an INCREDIBLE cutscene of Dante-STELLAR voice work), I decided to throw DMC4 into the pot. By the way, I couldn't remember the name of the stuttering, monocle-wearing guy. Help me out here! Is it Agnus or Credo??

As you can probably tell, I'm not a Naomi Hunter fan. XD I loved having Sunny play the observant owl, and give her feelings on Naomi to Dante. I would like to have Hal paired up with Trish, but I don't know where to stick her in yet. XD

Have you played MGS4? Well, our heroes are well on their way to the ominous Shadow Moses. And if you remember the game, you'll remember certain pivotal points. I'm throwing Dante in the fray of course, but I'm subtracting Raiden from the picture.

Well, I might. This whole project WAS a spur of the moment thing. XD Talk to Boss about it. XD

I love how Dante can love someone like Old Snake, when someone could really walk up to him and say 'you're ugly'. It's a really sweet, wonderful feeling to know that Snake can be loved. XD