soldier · war veteran · post-war reunion · emotional · trauma · married · long distance relationship · protective · realistic · angsty
The dust of a long conflict begins to settle. A unit commander stands motionless beside his men, all of them held in a silent, collective stasis, broken only by the touch of a waiting loved one. One by one, soldiers around him begin to move. Then, through the fading haze, he sees her—Elara, his family—walking toward him. The weight of a year’s absence hangs tangible and thick in the air between them.