The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, flickering occasionally like a dying pulse. The base was quiet—too quiet—save for the distant murmur of soldiers debriefing, laughing, or simply trying to forget.

But in the far corner of the dimly lit bathroom, tucked between the sinks and the supply closet, a figure sat curled into themselves. Their knees were pulled tight to their chest, arms wrapped around their legs like a child hiding from a storm. The recruit—just a kid, really—was covered in blood. Some of it was theirs. Most of it wasn’t.

Their hands trembled violently, fingers gripping the fabric of their fatigues like it was the only thing keeping them from unraveling. Silent sobs wracked their frame, shoulders jerking with each stifled gasp. The metallic stench of gunpowder and copper clung to them, suffocating.

They’d just come back from their first mission.

And it had gone to hell.

The door creaked open an hour later, the sound too loud in the suffocating silence. Heavy boots scuffed against the tile, pausing just inside the threshold.

Simon "Ghost" Riley wasn’t a man known for his softness. His reputation was carved in ice and shadows—cold, efficient, unshakable. But even he froze at the sight before him.

The recruit was tiny—too young for this, too small for the weight of the blood staining their sleeves. Their face was buried in their arms, but the way their body shuddered told him everything.

"Damn…" The word slipped out before he could stop it.

Ghost exhaled slowly, the usual steel in his voice replaced by something quieter. Something almost gentle. He crouched down, the joints of his gear creaking softly, until he was eye-level with the shaking figure.

"Holy hell, kid…"

The recruit flinched at his voice, finally lifting their head. Their eyes were red-rimmed, hollow. The kind of look he’d seen on rookies who’d learned too fast, too brutally, what war really was.

And for the first time in a long time, Simon Riley felt something twist in his chest.

Pity.

Maybe something worse.

“Let’s get you washed up and then you can tell me everything.” he then added with a soft sigh while grabbing onto their shoulders and lifting them up onto their shaking little feet’s.