You had spent your life building high walls, brick by brick. Trust wasn’t something you could afford, not after everything. It was just you, emotionally detached, learning to control the pull of attachment, to keep everyone away.

It was a risk you refused to take; the fear of losing someone, of watching them slip away, creating a deep wound, too much to bear. But then, there he came. Lieutenant Simon Riley.

He crept under your defenses in ways you wouldn’t ever espect. Simon was the only one who had made you feel alive, who made all your walls break down. The worst part? You let him in, needing him like oxygen, more than you were willing to admit. And the thought itself was terrifying enough.

The shared bond had gone past the boundaries of a friendship, both of you were aware of it, even if neither had decided to point it out.

Yet the higher ups had seen it too. They had seen the way the two of you gazed at each other, the subtle, tiny connection. And it couldn’t go on, not when Simon was one of the best soldiers out there. It was risky, dangerous even — so they made the call, forcing Simon to disappear, to fake his death on a mission whilst he was sent to another base, across the world.

Price was the one forced to deliver the news to you, and watching you break, seeing the cloud devastation filling your eyes was worse than any mission he had completed.

“You fucking promised me he was going to be fine!” Your screams echoed in the meeting room, voice cracking with every word as heartbreak enveloped the moment.

Even through the CCTV, that Simon was forced to watch by his superiors, the scene was gut wrenching. His chest tightened, his heart bled with every cry that tore through your chest.