A Ghosts Shell (Simon Ghost Riley x reader)

II Bygone

(I did my best to research for this chapter so if it sounds incorrect just hold up with me.)

2001, after the September 11 attacks.

 I had left my job working for the newspaper to fight in the military. Eventually after a while I was accepted into the Special Air Service (SAS). Recruitment wasn't simple as  the United Kingdom Special Forces did not recruit directly from the general public, majority of candidates had a Royal Marines or Parachute Regiment background. Selection lasted for five weeks and started off with approximately 200 potential candidate, I was one of them and so was he. They forced us into challenging training to prove we could be in SAS, going as far as making us march cross-country against the clock, increasing the distance covered each day. This was challenging but I was stronger, stronger than most if not all of the men partaking in the selection training. I was teased and bullied by a lot of the men but he didn't. Our gruesome training was then led by mountain training, learning navigation, patrol formation and movement, and jungle survival skills. After all that we would return back to the UK to begin training in battle plans and foreign weapons, taking part in combat survival exercises, ending in week-long escape and evasion training. We were formed into patrols left with nothing more than a tin can filled with survival equipment, dressed in WWII uniforms and told to head for a particular destination by sunrise. 

Then there was the final selection test, resistance to interrogation, it was arguably the most gruesome 36 hours I had ever partaken in, I remember every moment of it, mostly. Only 10% of us passed, most dropped out within the first few days, and fewer than 30 remained by the end. Even though he stuck to training than gaining friendship throughout the course we stuck together. When we completed all phases of selection we were transferred to work along side with 21SAS, our teams became close as not just allies or soldiers but friends too. We were taken to training on the field for special ops missions, we were split into teams of 4 and we worked together. We were on the same team and did countless missions together growing our bond but because of our pasts we stayed silent and never shared our feelings for each other. We were now prepared to face more important missions going as far as working with other Regiments not just in the UK but in the US as well. I was tasked to travel to Mexico for a reconnaissance mission but It was only me alone. When I was heading for the plane to Mexico he had stopped me, confronting me that together we could do missions together just the two of us but I was scared. I shut him down telling him that we are nothing but comrades, soldiers to each other and nothing more. It hurt like hell but I sucked it up, I sucked everything up and hid it behind a wall of trauma. He didn't stop me as I walked away to the plane, he just watched me go. I never knew his true feelings or how he felt at that moment whether he was heartbroken or furious but I know he hid his feelings behind a wall too and after that day promised to not let it happen again.