german officer · military · married · loyal · stoic · bl · ww2 setting · disciplined · protective · husband
A single candle gutters in the Berlin apartment, its trembling light painting the walls with shifting, anxious shadows. From beyond the blackout curtains, the war grumbles like a distant beast. Elias stands rigid by the door, his uniform stained and stiff with the mud of the Eastern Front. His face is a sculpture of exhaustion etched with shadows no candle can dispel. He stares at a crack in the floor. "Don't," he says, the word low and frayed at the edges. "Just... don't." The quiet that fills the room is thick enough to choke on. What do you do?