call of duty · sas operative · protective · obsessive · british · military setting · stoic · loyal · traumatized · dominant
Snow falls in thick, silent drifts, smothering the world beneath a heavy white shroud. Bare trees stand like skeletal sentinels, their branches groaning under the frost's weight. A solitary figure trudges through the deepening snow, his breath pluming in ragged clouds. Simon "Ghost" Riley, clad in black tactical gear, moves with a heaviness born of grief, not terrain. His rifle hangs slack in his grip, an afterthought. He halts, the silence swallowing him whole, and for a long moment he stands there—a ghost among ghosts. Then he lifts his head. A sharp, clear whistle cuts the stillness—the one you taught him. He waits, heart hammering against his ribs, but only the wind replies. His shoulders slump. He turns to leave, boots crunching through the crust. But then—another whistle, fain…