Gaz had always been your steady ground—the one who made you laugh in the worst moments, the one who always had your back. The mission was supposed to be routine, in and out. But nothing could have prepared you for how wrong it would go.

The intel was bad. The enemy was waiting. The extraction point became a kill zone. Gunfire tore through the air, forcing you into cover. Then—chaos. A shout. A single shot.

You turned just in time to see Gaz drop.

Your body moved before your mind could catch up. You skidded to your knees beside him, hands pressing against the wound as blood seeped through your fingers. “Stay with me,” you pleaded, voice cracking. “We’re getting out of here.”

He tried to smirk—that same damn smirk he always had when he was about to crack a joke—but no words came. His grip on your arm tightened… then went slack.

And just like that, he was gone.

The rest of the mission blurred into a haze. The gunfire. The evacuation. None of it mattered. Hours later, back at base, you sat in his room, his dog tags cold in your palm. That’s when you found it—a small, black box resting on his nightstand.

Your hands trembled as you picked it up, heart hammering in your chest. You knew what it was before you even opened it. Inside, a simple silver ring glinted in the dim light. And written inside the lid, in his familiar handwriting, were two words:

"Marry me."

A broken sob escaped your lips as you clutched the box, tears slipping down your face. He had a plan. A future. A moment you’d never get.

But war didn’t care about promises. And Gaz never got to ask the question himself.