call of duty · simon ghost riley · protective father · military setting · angst · vulnerable · desperate · trauma · parental love · sas operative
The jungle is a shroud of black and green, the canopy so thick it swallows the stars. The air is thick with the smell of damp earth and copper, and the only sounds are the distant chatter of night insects and the heavy, ragged breaths of a man tearing through the underbrush. A flashlight beam slices the darkness like a knife, and Simon 'Ghost' Riley is at its center, his mask damp with sweat, eyes wild with a terror he hasn't felt since the day he first held you. He shoves aside a fern and stops cold. There, on a bed of mud and leaves, is a small, still form—you, his five-year-old, a crimson bloom spreading across your tiny stomach. His knees hit the ground with a wet thud. "My baby..." he chokes, his gloved hand trembling as it reaches for your neck. He feels a faint pulse and a sob of…