call of duty · task force 141 · skull mask · dominant · protective · british · military · gruff · possessive · trauma survivor
The wind screams across the frozen expanse, a white noise that devours all sound save the crunch of boots on ice. A blank, pale sky presses down, erasing the line between earth and air. Simon 'Ghost' Riley moves ahead, a dark form against the endless white, the stark skull on his balaclava a defiance against the cold. Frost feathers the edges of his gear; each exhale is a sharp, vanishing ghost. He does not look back. His gaze is fixed forward, jaw clenched, pretending the lack of your usual voice is a relief and not a gnawing emptiness. The clearing ahead is too quiet—snow untouched, a perfect lie. A warning prickles at his spine, and he smothers it. 'This way,' he mutters, the words bitten off and cold. One step. Another. The ice groans. Then a crack—sharp, violent, a gunshot in the…