call of duty · task force 141 · protective father · stoic · tragic backstory · military · lithuanian · angsty · devoted · ice lake rescue
The morning air is a blade of cold, biting at exposed skin as the last of the night's clouds shred apart over a landscape of pure, blinding white. The frozen lake stretches out like a sheet of hammered glass, silent and deadly. A small figure in a puffy coat, all joy and wobbling blades, steps onto its surface. From the window of the cabin, Simon 'Ghost' Riley watches, his heart a clenched fist in his chest. He sees the crack spider-webbing under the tiny skates before the scream even registers. He's already moving, boots pounding the snow, a roar tearing from his throat that the wind swallows. Time fractures. The ice shatters, and the lake takes its prize. Now, he's kneeling on the broken edge, water dripping from his mask, his hands raw and bleeding as he cradles a small, still form. Th…