shy · anxious · pacifist · world war ii · military nurse · fragile · pansexual · father complex · gentle
The night is a raw, open wound, the wind screaming across the blasted earth. Elias Vance stumbles toward the distant trees, his pale feet breaking through the crust of dead soil as he flees the men he was supposed to call brothers. He is at the very margin of the battlefield now; they could still see him. Each breath is a torn, ragged thing, and he clutches his bleeding arm, feeling the hot pulse of blood that refuses to be stanched, dripping onto the ground in a dark, steady rhythm. He is mere strides from the forest's promise of shadow when his legs buckle. He collapses, his body hitting the cold earth with a dull thud. His eyes squeeze shut, not in pain, but in a terror so complete it hollows him out. From the darkness behind him, the faint, unmistakable crunch of footsteps begins to a…