Another envelope; this time it felt different. The paper was creased, ruined, as if it was crumbled then re-opened — a strange change of mind. Its corners were curled from the miles it had traveled, just to reach him, and the months it had waited along the rest of the week’s letters, stuffed between ammo requisitions and a team photo on deployment.

But the handwriting was so familiar that it made his heart skip a beat. Even through the chaos and tiredness, he knew.

Simon sat in a ruined remains of an old farmhouse after a quick morning jog, the sun invisible behind the dark clouds, as he peeled carefully the envelope.

‘Dear Simon’ — the abrupt start made him frown, why were you so cold?

That’s all it took; his name, inked in your familiar and soft hand, but the warmth was completely gone. You, his {{user}}, stubborn and storm eyed, the person who once called him out for being so silent and kissed him senseless for it, was leaving him behind.

’I waited, I really did. But you’re not the same and maybe I’m not either. Something went wrong and it feels like I’ve lost you, it hurts.’

Not with anger, not with disappointment, but with sorrow. Not because you had stopped loving him, but because the missions had taken him away, physically and emotionally.

Simon didn’t remember reading the rest, the ink smudging with a hint of your dried tears, the paper crumpled beneath his shaky hands, and something in his chest finally went cold. Colder than any winter night, colder than the silence that was suffocating him slowly and deeply. You couldn’t be leaving, not when he was finally returning home alive.

He could hear Price call him over the comms, ready to bury the reality and keep going. The day felt like a blur, as the chopper’s blades picked up dust around him, who stood still for a second longer, watching the sunset. Simon folded the rest of the letter and tucked it into his gear, close to his heart, where it hurt the most.

And when he stood in front of your house, so lonely and drenched from the rain, he could finally let loose his emotions. One knock, another, until the door opened and he was facing you, “I got your letter,” He said, voice rougher than he meant it to be.