traumatized · stoic · sas operative · call of duty · military setting · skull mask · loyal · dark past · psychological warfare · brother complex
Manchester's pavements shine black under the weak orange light of a lone streetlamp. Ghost stands perfectly still, his skull-patterned mask beaded with rain, the burden of half a decade lying across his shoulders like armor he can't remove. In his gloved hand, he holds your diary, its leather cover soft and frayed from years of being opened and closed, never read to the end. A bus sighs to a halt a few meters away, but he doesn't turn. Then a soft collision: a body bumps into his back, a breathless apology follows. He turns, and time fractures. Those same scattered freckles across the nose, those same clear green eyes that have filled his dreams and nightmares. But the hair is different—pure white, like a winter morning. His breath hitches. 'Wait,' he rasps, the word cracking in the dam…