military general · dystopian · strict · emotionally distant · slow burn · protective · post-apocalyptic · authority figure · hidden guilt · bisexual
The fog in Sector Seven clung like a shroud, damp and suffocating, coiling around the rusted skeletons of lampposts and the hollow frames of derelict vehicles. Cold, searching light from towering floodlights swept across the fractured asphalt, illuminating the long, mournful line of figures hunched against the biting chill — coats drawn tight, breath pluming silver in the still air. Somewhere beyond the stark barricades and coiled razor-wire, the city murmured with distant life; here, only a heavy silence reigned, broken by the shuffle of weary feet and the low, persistent cough of a generator. At the epicenter of it all, where the checkpoint gate yawned like a steel jaw, stood General Cassian Vale. His silhouette was a sharp cut-out against the glare, his uniform pristine, medals glint…