Uh, let's say an AU!everyone live happily blabla... How would you envisage a reconciliation between BBKaz ?
[ Well, let me think… I’ve already actually got two different AUs that I roleplay, with my boyfriend (and another friend of ours) which are meant to make up for some of the ‘tragic ending’ that BB and Kaz experience together:
Real World AU - nakedsnakeboss, thatrussiancowboy and I have an AU set up with the MGS characters all set into a realistic modern-day setting. Over all the characters personalities and occupations are all fairly similar, and there are a lot of parallels drawn to let you feel like these are the same characters, just placed into a different setting. But overall it’s pretty damn fluffy. John and McDonnell are law enforcement officers, actually. Just to try and make up for some of the shit their canon counterparts have done.
After Life - nakedsnakeboss, thatrussiancowboy and I also have an AU together which takes place after the events of MGS4, in the after life. In the story, BB and Kaz do eventually reconcile everything that goes awry between them. That RP is probably going to be the most rewarding for people who want to actually see BB and Kaz apologize to one another without breaking the cannon. You can also search for that one on my blog, as it is simply tagged “Afterlife”
However, I’m not sure that either of those are what you’re talking about, is it Anon?
If you are talking about a break-away AU from canon–like, as in what could have been done in order to get an ‘ideal endgame’, where things are happy/fluffy?–well, I can entertain the thought and give you my personal opinions on it then, sure.
In order to have circumvented the ‘break-up’ at all, I really think all that needed to have happened was for Kaz and BB to deny Huey the IAEA inspection (caught his letter before he sent it off staying that the MSF had changed it’s mind from it’s initial refusal): if mother base had never been destroyed, Kaz and John never would have needed to go separate ways. Either they wouldn’t have lost such sight of themselves and their once-ideals, or maybe they would have still become the badguys, but at least they would have done it together–after all, during the mission in Africa where we first see the oil spills, Kaz makes a comment over the radio to Venom where he says that they can either work to change the course of things, and stop the killing, or that they could wade further into the muck and cause more death and bloodshed, but that Kaz was ready to do either on his orders. It was a particularly poignant bit of audio for me, because it confirms just how wicked of a person Kaz was willing to be–but for Big Boss, and only Big Boss–as learning that the real Big Boss is creating his own Outer Heaven, apart from Diamond Dogs, is what eventually drives Kaz away. In short, Kaz was willing to go to hell and back for Big Boss, but… only in the event that Big Boss stuck by his side.
Still, in order for there to be a “everyone lives happily together!” AU, I think that Kaz and Big Boss never straying completely from their (very gray) morals would have been the best set up: if Kaz and Big Boss stuck to their guns about creating a military force (and later, Big Boss could even suggest nation, and Kaz would have been ambitious enough to go along with it - I mean sure, why the hell not? They can create their own laws and ideals, a nation where soldiers are treated fairly, as people, not just as tools!), then perhaps they could have been the ones to eventually take down the SOPSystem and rid the world of Zero’s influence rather than letting Solid Snake and Ocelot eventually complete the task some 40sih years later. It would certainly be very interesting territory to try and navigate out and chart. The possibilities for roleplay in such a universe are endless.
BUT beyond that, I think what you’re really asking me, anon, isn’t so much about a “everyone lives happily together!” AU: it’s about how a reconciliation between Big Boss and Kaz could have come to pass, if the events of TPP still fell into play.
That’s a little trickier.
Possibly, the situation could have been resolved if John had just contacted Kaz directly, rather than allowing Ocelot to relay the truth of things. Although Kaz would have likely still felt embittered and to an extent betrayed, Kaz and John have always had a very good relationship and found ways to communicate very well together in order to push past their difference. If John had just contacted him directly, perhaps they really could have worked things out. John could have extended him the invitation to come and visit some time, something like that. Given Kaz at least an inch for his mile, so to speak.
But as far as reconciling; apologizing… well… the problem I have is that I can’t really see the two of them reconciling the matter without one of the two of them compromising in who he really is at heart.
John (and Venom, too, for that matter, actually) is the kind of person to let others forge their own path; the kind of person to let other people make their own decisions. I kind of feel like he didn’t stop Kaz from leaving because he believed that Miller could walk his own path. And Kaz, on the other hand, is too proud to consider things as they happened from another point of view; he’s not the type to back down once he has made a decision final.
John wouldn’t ask an apology for what he chose to do, because he believes he’s in the right. He probably wouldn’t even be able to truly see what it was that left Kaz feeling so jilted. After all, he wasn’t there for the entire thing; Wasn’t there to see Kaz lose two limbs, see him remorse in the loss of Mother Base. He wasn’t there for any of it. And Kaz would resent him for that much, regardless.
Both men are too stubborn, and when both parties believe they are in the right, there is no reconciliation to be had. Therefore, I can’t really see them making amends with each other as the events in TPP played out… but I CAN see events prior to their divide being changed or circumvented in order to stop the falling out from happening in the first place. ]