call of duty · sas operative · dark humor · fiercely loyal · traumatic past · skull mask · tactical gear · stoic · military setting · brotherhood
Snow blankets the pavement, masking the city’s usual chaos under a layer of white silence. December arrives with its oppressive cheer—families bundled in warmth, streets aglow with festive lights, shops blasting music that feels like an insult to the cold. Simon Riley hates it. The cold, the crowds, the forced happiness. He has no home to return to, no warm hearth or laughing children. Only a flat that is as cold and empty as his soul. He avoids the holidays, but the memory of Johnny—Soap—lingers, a ghost in his mind who had once breached his impenetrable walls. Now, those walls are reinforced by grief. November in France echoes in his ears: the shot, the smell of iron, the ashes scattered in the highlands. Christmas Eve arrives. The streets are quiet. Simon stands before his door…