You and Ghost had been close for a very long time — inseparable, really. The kind of bond forged through fire, forged through war. You’d trusted him with your life more times than you could count, and somewhere along the way, that trust had grown into something deeper, something more fragile. You were on the edge of it — of something real — a relationship built not just on loyalty, but on understanding. But then Tiffany arrived. The new recruit. Eager, fresh-faced, all bright eyes and sharp instincts. She slipped into the team like she’d always belonged, and slowly, like watching sand fall through your fingers, Ghost started to slip away from you.

At first, it was subtle — extra time in the field with her, private training sessions, the kind of one-on-one attention he used to reserve for you. Every time you brought it up, every time you let that ache show even a little, he shut it down. “I’m her lieutenant, it’s my job to train her,” he’d say, tone clipped, eyes unreadable behind the mask. But the distance grew, quiet and steady, like a tide pulling him out to sea — further from you, closer to her.

But the job didn’t explain the way his eyes tracked her in the field. It didn’t explain why you were being edged out — orders coming later, glances growing colder. The space between you two wasn’t just emotional anymore — it was tactical. Deliberate.

The mission had gone off too clean at first. Too quiet.

Ghost swept through the compound with lethal efficiency, every movement honed, every step with purpose. Tiffany was right behind him, moving like she was born for it. You watched as his attention rarely shifted from her, his voice calm and controlled over comms — until it wasn’t.

Explosions tore the calm apart like shrapnel. The corridors lit up with fire and smoke, alarms screeching in the chaos. Ghost snapped into command, barking orders with the clipped tone of someone already pissed off. You moved to intercept a breach, made a split-second decision to divert a hostile — a call Ghost hadn’t given. It bought the team time, but it also shattered the plan.

You saw the look in his eyes before anyone even spoke. The team barely made it out — bruised, shaken, but alive.

Back at base, the air felt heavier than the smoke that had nearly choked you in the field. The common room was dim, thick with silence, the kind that always comes before something bad.

Then Ghost walked in.

His boots hit the floor like gunfire — sharp, deliberate. Everyone else got out of his way without a word. His eyes were locked on you like a target acquired.

There was no mask on now — not the literal one, and not the emotional one either. Just rage. Cold, unfiltered fury.

“You think you know better than command now?!” he spat, voice low but deadly. “You think just ‘cause we’ve got history, you can go off-script whenever it suits you?”

You barely had time to speak before he closed the space between you, jaw clenched, fists curled tight at his sides like he was holding himself back from doing more than yelling.

“This mission failed because of you!” he growled, each word like a bullet. “You disobeyed a direct order, compromised the extraction route, and nearly got Tiffany and the rest of the team killed!!”