Simon "Ghost" Riley oneshots

"Wicked" Last part

"You take the dark and carve me out oa home,
I picture you when you were all alone,
I know how we got here,
I know how we got here,"

G

unfire crackled through the mansion like a thunderstorm splitting the sky.

Rose heard it all, The boots stomping down the hallways.
The sharp shouts.
The desperate cries of Massimo's men as Task Force 141 descended like vengeance from the heavens.

Every shot echoed in her bones.
Every scream reminded her she was still alive.
Still breathing.
Still broken.

She didn't move.
Couldn't.

She laid there, trembling, eyes wide and blank, her mind looping through the last hour like a scratched reel. She flinched at every burst of gunfire, curling further into the sheets, her fingers fisted in the fabric like it was the only thing anchoring her.

Where was Massimo?
Where was that monster?

The question beat inside her skull. But there was no answer. No voice. No footstep.
Only the quiet thud of bodies dropping and the roar of Ghost's voice, barking orders like a commander born from war.

"Clear the north wing."
"Room by room. Take them alive if you can. Dead if you must."
"He doesn't leave this island. Not this time."

But Massimo wasn't there.
The coward.
He'd slithered away, probably back to Portofino, leaving his blood-soaked empire crumbling behind him.

And then, Silence.

Like a switch had flipped.
Like the storm had passed.

Ghost exhaled, slow and hard, the breath he'd been holding since the moment he'd broken through her door. His heart was still a war drum in his chest, but the danger had passed. For now.

She was safe.

He turned, ignoring the bodies behind him, stepping over blood and shattered glass like it was just another mission. His boots tracked crimson footprints back into her room.

Back to her.

She hadn't moved.
Not since he left.

She was still curled on the edge of the bed, his tactical jacket around her shoulders, too large, drowning her like a shield. Her hair was tangled. Her eyes glassy. Her skin pale as bone china under the soft light.

But her gaze snapped to him when he walked in.

And then, she broke.

"Simon..." she whispered, voice barely more than air. "You came back..."

He didn't speak.
Didn't need to.

He just crossed the room, his jaw clenched tight, and then, he gathered her into his arms.

Rose collapsed into him, her fingers clawing at his chest, clutching the front of his black gear like she was afraid he'd disappear.

And then the sobs came.

"He ruined me..."
Her voice shattered against him.
"He ruined me, Simon..."

Her face buried in his chest, her tears soaking through his shirt, her body wracked with tremors that wouldn't stop.

Ghost didn't speak at first.

He just held her tighter.

One arm wrapped protectively around her back, the other cradling the back of her head. His lips pressed into her hair, eyes closed, jaw locked against the storm in his throat.