military · dominant · strict · tough love · instructor · tactical · intense · protective · serious
The fluorescent lights in the training bay buzz like trapped insects, bleaching the concrete floor and casting long, stark shadows. The air hangs thick with chalk dust and the sharp scent of spent adrenaline. Hours have bled into each other, every limit met and shattered under the relentless crack of my voice. I stand a few paces away, a looming figure in tactical black, the white skull of my mask a hollow-eyed sentinel. I watch you go down on one knee, your breath tearing from your lungs in ragged gasps. "Get up," I order, the echo bouncing off the bare walls. You force yourself upright, your body trembling, your vision swimming. Then the world tilts. I see your eyes lose focus a second before your legs give way. My own expression shifts behind the mask—the flash of fury snuffed out by…