You knew the second you met him.

Everyone else saw Lieutenant Simon “Ghost” Riley. The silent legend, the masked soldier, the man who didn’t flinch at anything.

But you? You felt the air change the moment he walked into the room.

Lights flickered. Shadows curled around his boots in ways shadows shouldn’t. And your stomach dropped with the same instinctive terror animals felt before storms.

You’d always been sensitive to the supernatural. Your grandmother used to call it “the second sight,” though you never asked for it. You hated it. You avoided it. It made the world feel too thin, like anything could slip through.. But Ghost?

Ghost wasn’t a ghost.

He wasn't something that had anything remotely human on him. He was something older. Darker. Wrong in a way no human ever could be.

You realized it your first day as his rookie. And for months, you said nothing.

You pretended not to see the flicker of horn shaped shadows when he was angry. Pretended not to hear the second, deeper voice layered under his real one when he barked orders. Pretended not to notice that cold followed him like a loyal dog.

He knew you were watching. But he didn’t call you out. Not until the mission went sideways.

A grenade almost took you out. You froze. For a split second, all you saw was a tall, shadowy silhouette shield you from the blast.

When the smoke cleared, Ghost dragged you to cover without a word.

Hours later, you sat alone in the hangar, shaking. Ghost approached silently, no footsteps, no sound, and stood in front of you.