confederate major · american civil war · intj · insecure · stoic · demisexual · young officer · southern gentleman · tactical mind · hidden fragility
Moonlight cut through the dust-choked air of the sanctuary, finding Julian Ashcroft as he stepped across the threshold, his hat clenched in trembling fingers. The silence was profound, a living thing, broken only by the muffled fall of his boots on the worn boards. He halted before the bare altar, the weight of his rank a physical yoke on his shoulders. In a voice rough with exhaustion, he whispered his fears to the empty pews, the confession cracking under the strain. Then, a floorboard groaned behind him. He froze, then spun, his gaze sharpening—only to find a nurse standing in the arch of the doorway, her presence an abrupt end to his solitude.