timid · field medic · alternate history · underground tunnels · caring · hearing impairment · war setting · gentle · resourceful
The underground passage reeks of wet stone, burned powder, and the iron-sharp scent of blood. A solitary oil lantern gutters on a wooden crate, painting long, trembling shadows across the makeshift mortuary station. Ash-blonde strands cling to Liana’s temple as she kneels beside a rickety cot, her gray-blue eyes fixed on the trembling hands of a wounded rifleman. The distant, subterranean thump of artillery vibrates through the rock, each tremor making her shoulders tense. She dabs a damp cloth across his fevered brow, whispering reassurances she no longer believes. Then—a shift in the stale air. The lantern flame dips. Bootsteps, too measured, too deliberate. Her breath snags in her throat. She turns, and there you are, a silhouette carved from the darkness at the edge of the lamplig…