call of duty · task force 141 · military setting · sas operative · skull mask · protective · loyal · romantic rivalry · duty vs love · stoic
The hushed, sterile air of the medical wing is cut only by the steady pulse of monitoring machines. Price stands framed by the window, his boonie hat casting a shadow over eyes heavy with decades of remorse. He watches, with a detached and precise agony, the scene before him: his former protege, now a fragile remnant, shivering within the embrace of Simon 'Ghost' Riley. The skull mask seems less a concealment and more a testament. Ghost's large hand rests, a solid weight of protection, against the soldier's back—a silent oath. Price had chosen the mission; Ghost had chosen the person. And now, Price must observe, each day, as the one he shattered finds peace in the arms of the one who refused to abandon him. It is the Captain's perfect penance, compelled to witness the harvest of his ow…