Chapter Text
The moon was full and bright, the moonlight shining down upon the evergreen forest. The lush trees swayed in the wind, the moving branches caused the dark shadows to shift and move in a waltz. The strong winds were frigid and harsh, blowing the pine needles and pine cones along the ground. The crunch of footsteps were covered by the whistling wind, the shadows hiding a group of soldiers that were moving in a wedge formation.
Each soldier was armed with a rifle and a set of NVG’s on their heads. They moved quietly, only communicating with hand motions that were mimicked to the person behind them. The team moved with intention, the soldier leading the formation looked around anxiously. The atmosphere was too quiet, they had made their way into enemy territory and were expecting to be met with gunfire. They had made it no more than three clicks in before the formation began to gradually spread out.
The middle of the formation slowed down and the back flanked out and went in line with the lead, eventually the wedge turned into a single line so each soldier was side by side with several meters between them. Thunder rumbled far in the distance and pale clouds slowly began to engulf the shimmering moon. The man who was leading the team scowled, he knew the rain and the covered moon would be good concealment, but rain meant wet uniforms and wet weapons.
Just as the clouds covered the moon, there was a flash of red and white at the end of the line followed by a deafening boom. There was a series of shouting and gunshots, the bodies closest to the explosion went flying.
“Ghost!”
A voice called out, it was heavily laced with panic and it cut through the ammunition that was raining down on them. Ghost had taken cover behind the nearest tree and took a knee, shooting at whatever enemy he could find. The rest of his men followed suit, the only one who didn’t was the medic that was booking it from one end of the line to the other, going towards the sight of the explosion. Some of them covered the medic until they got to where they needed to be.
Ghost looked over to where he assumed the voice came from and saw Gaz just a few feet away. Gaz was seemingly staring at him and the only light that confirmed it was the light coming from the nearby firing rifles. Gaz was pointing down towards the explosion site with one hand and firing his pistol with the other. It confused Ghost for a moment, he didn’t understand what the hell Gaz meant. Ghost peered behind Gaz, momentarily watching the medic drag the other soldiers to cover. Beside the medic was König, who was covering for him as he stabilized the injured soldiers.
They had their radios ready to go, but knowing that they were so close to the enemy they all went dark on comms and now that they were in an active fire fight, there definitely was no use in turning them on now. There was another explosive, it was much bigger and landed no closer than 30 meters in front of them. The medic threw themselves over the closest casualty to protect them from any flying shrapnel or debris. König quickly turned, facing away from the explosion.
Ghost knew he had to make a quick decision, either pull back to keep his men alive or push through and risk them all dying. The mission always came first, but he had valuable people on the team and Spec Gru couldn’t lose them. Not yet.
Ghost stood up, going back to firing back at the opposing team. “Pull ba-”
More explosions, likely artillery rounds. Hell was raining down upon them and they had to hurry if they wanted out alive. Ghost didn’t even have to finish saying anything before the others slowly pulled back, bounding back to the exfil point. Gaz already was in the process of calling for a helicopter to get them when the rounds stopped. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that they were in the clear.
Ghost could see that the medic was instructing König to do something and he was fervently nodding, before tossing one of the two casualties over his shoulders. The medic grabbed the strap at the back of the body armor, dragging the other injured soldier back. König and the soldier being dragged were clearly ready to fire their weapons at any moment.
They all quickly pulled back and ran to the quickly approaching helicopter. Ghost quickly caught up to König, Gaz following close behind. Ghost reached out and gave a firm tap to König’s arm, getting his attention. The taller man looked down at his Lieutenant, giving a soft nod of acknowledgement. The group made their way to the only clearing in the woods, the medic looked down and frequently checked on the soldier who had since passed out from the pain.
“LT, we have to stop, just for a minute.” The medic demanded.
Ghost nodded, he could see the clearing up ahead and he knew that they needed as much cover as possible. “Fine, go ahead.”
The group halted and König set down the soldier he was carrying, as gently as possible. The mostly uninjured soldiers pulled security around them. Ghost posted himself closest to the clearing, keeping an eye out for the blackout flashing light from the aircraft. The medic immediately went to work, assessing the casualties and administering care to the best of their ability. The wind was still strong and that would make it difficult to land a helicopter in such a small clearing, but it remained possible.
The familiar sound of helicopter blades cut through the wind and Ghost could see the flashing light he was searching for, flashing right above the treeline. They had a few minutes before they would have to hurry to the aircraft. Ghost quickly turned his head to look at the medic.
“10 mikes.” Ghost called out.
The medic looked up, peering at Ghost through his NVGs. “10 mikes.” He mimicked.
Everyone else mimicked the time as well. Ghost turned forward again, steady hands holding his rifle tightly. He watched the aircraft closely, slowly rising to his feet as it slowly got closer. The rest of them rose as well, everyone closed in around the medic and the casualties. König picked up the soldier he was previously carrying and the medic picked up the other one. The aircraft hovered above the clearing for a moment before touching ground.
Ghost turned to the team when the crew chief waved them over. “Go, go, go!”
The likelihood of them hearing Ghost’s voice over the sharp wind and deafening blades was low, but even so, they understood. Ghost grabbed Gaz and signaled for him to take the lead. Gaz nodded and immediately began to run towards the helicopter, Ghost followed close behind. They climbed in and stayed at the entrance, doing a headcount of each soldier to make sure everyone got in. The last four soldiers were the medic, König and the two injured soldiers.
The medic put down the soldier he carried and handed them to another soldier before climbing in. König had lowered himself and carefully set the soldier down, just as he was about to hand him to the medic, a bullet whizzed towards them. König dropped down to his knees, using his body to shield the injured man. The bullet hit the side of the helicopter and the soldiers ducked away, trying to hide from the stray ammunition.
König quickly looked over his shoulder, trying to see where the shot came from but he was only greeted with bright flashes of orange from rifles. Above his head he could hear guns firing and he took that opportunity to grab the injured soldier. The medic reached down and grabbed the soldier from Köng, forcing the limp body into a seat. König went to climb into the aircraft, but his body came to a halt when he felt a stabbing pain in his lower back. He felt another stabbing pain in the back of his head, it was only comparable to a burning hot ice pick being stabbed into his skull.
His vision went black and his legs turned to jelly, he could feel himself falling forward. He collided with the floor, head first and could feel hands grabbing at him, pulling him further into the aircraft. Ghost lowered his rifle when he saw König fall down at his feet, his heart sank down to his stomach. He reached down and pulled König further in, pulling him into a sitting position. The crew chief closed the entrance to the aircraft as it began to rise back up into the sky. Ghost pulled König as close as he could, feeling for a pulse and let out a sigh of relief when he felt one. It was fast, but steady enough to satisfy Ghost for now.
“Doc, help König. Now.” Ghost tried to keep his voice steady, for the most part it was.
The medic reached over, beginning his assessment on König. It didn’t take long before he looked up at Ghost and shook his head, Ghost immediately knew what it meant. König wasn’t doing well.
“Sir, we need an ambulance on the tarmac when we touch down.” The medic held a deep frown, continuing to do what he could while several thousand feet up in the air.
He held König’s head upright, one gloved hand holding the back of his head sitting right below König’s helmet.. The medic could feel warm fluid slide over his nitrile glove and he knew König needed immediate medical attention, much more than he could ever provide.
The ride back to base was quick, but still felt excruciatingly slow. When the helicopter landed, they were met with an ambulance, medics close by with a stretcher. They ran up and had to pry König out of Ghost’s hands, quickly whisking König away. Gaz had to step in front of Ghost to keep him from following the medics.
“Ghost, stop. Let them do their job.” Gaz had to shout over the slowing rotors of the helicopter.
Ghost stopped, his eyes flickering from Gaz to the closing doors of the ambulance. Ghost felt like his world was crashing around him and even with his mask, Gaz could see the worry in his eyes. The two watched as the vehicle sped away, the tires screeching. Inside the ambulance the medics had cut away most of his clothing and one of them removed the helmet, flipping it over in her hands when she felt a hole in the kevlar helmet. She looked at the hole and it was clear that the bullet was still embedded in the material. What used to be the tip of the round was poking through the padding of the helmet.
She dropped the helmet onto the floor and immediately went to work. The other medic did a brief bloodsweep on König’s back, his fingers catching on an open wound.
“GSW to the left flank, no exit wound.”
“GSW to the posterior side of the skull, no exit wound.”
The two glanced at each other before looking down at their patient. They hooked König up to a monitor, they had two IV sites to which one had medications pushed through and the other had a liter of fluids. They checked for pupil response and they were blown wide, but it was there and that already was a good sign. They documented everything they could and called in that he needed as many hands as they could spare to help.
Price sat in his office, avoiding doing a boring report that Laswell had been bugging him to finish. He was flipping his cigar over in his hands, waiting for the call saying his team had finally landed on the tarmac. His phone ringing pulled him out of his thoughts and he picked it up off of the desk, quickly answering it.
“Captain Price speaking.”
“Sir, it’s Gaz. König got hurt and it’s not looking good.”
“Send Simon to me right now.”
“Yes sir.”
The line went dead as soon as the words passed Gaz’s lips and Price knew he would have to question Ghost both as a friend and as a Captain. He also knew he would have to suppress his own worry for König in order to keep Simon calm. It didn’t take long before there was a knock at his office door, the door opened shortly after and Ghost trudged in. Ghost slowly walked towards Price, stopping right in front of Price.
“Simon, what happened?” Price kept his voice soft, reaching out and giving a soft pat to Ghost’s arm.
Ghost crossed his arms tightly over his chest, looking down at his boots. “We got into enemy territory, we took small arms fire and we took artillery rounds. There was an explosion and it took out two ment, we pulled back and went back to the exfil point. We got picked up by the helicopter and when König was getting in, he-” Ghost paused, his gloved fingers digging into his arms. “-He went down. He went limp and wasn’t responding, but he had a pulse. As soon as we hit the tarmac they took him away.”
Price listened carefully and softly nodded along, making mental notes of the story.
“Will he be okay?” Ghost asked, avoiding making eye contact with Price.
“You know I can’t promise you anything, I wish I could.” Price’s brows furrowed and a frown was set deep on his face. “As your superior, I’m telling you to go clean up. As your friend, I’ll check in with the hospital to get an update.”
Ghost shook his head. “No, I’ll go myself. I need to hear it for myself.”
That meant that Ghost made up his mind, nothing was going to change that unless it was up Ghost himself. Ghost didn’t waste any time before turning on his heels and quickly leaving the room, leaving Price alone to think about what his friend had told him. Simon briskly made his way to the barracks, yanking off any gear he had on once the door to his quarters shut behind him with a click.
He paced around his room for a bit, trying to take deep breaths and to keep himself calm. It was hard for him to lose people he cared about, it had happened several times before. It never got easier. First his family, then Roach, then Soap and now König. Lucky for him, he got Roach and Soap back, but this was different. He was going to lose a soldier, a friend and most of all- his partner. Ghost was possibly going to lose the most important person in his life and it was his fault. Was it though? They had poor visuals on who was firing at them, but they fired back anyways.
Ghost had to force himself to shower and change, unable to get the sight of König lying limp on the ground out of his mind. He stood under the showerhead, allowing the cold water to help ground him. He took a few deep breaths, wiping the water out of his face with one hand and blindly turning off the water with the other. Ghost dried himself off and shuffled out of the bathroom, tugging open one of his drawers and yanking out some clothes. He didn’t pay much mind to the clothes he grabbed, only worrying enough to be decent enough to be in public.
Once he was dressed, he slipped on his mask and walked out of his room. Ghost shoved his hands into his pockets, making his way down the hall. His phone buzzed in his pocket and at first he ignored it, but when it continued to buzz, he finally caved in. Ghost pulled the device out of his pocket and checked the notification, it was a text from Price.
Price: Meet me outside, time now.
Luckily for Ghost, he was already heading there anyway. When he exited the building, Price was already there, smoking a cigar like normal. Price began to walk, not waiting for Ghost before he started talking.
“So I called the hospital-” Price looked over at Ghost who quickly caught up. He briefly waited for Ghost to say anything, but he stayed silent. “One of the doctors let me know that König was in surgery, I told him what you told me and he wanted to speak to you in person.”
Ghost’s eyes were trained on the path in front of them, what the hell did the doctor want to talk to him about? He didn’t know anything beyond what he already told Price and he sure as hell didn’t understand any of the medical jargon. He felt a firm hand be planted on his shoulder and he looked over, seeing Price’s worried eyes focused on him.
“You going in?” Price pointed to the glass doors they stood mere feet from.
Ghost looked away from Price and towards the door, noticing that they were standing at the entrance of the small hospital. The medical facility didn’t look like a hospital, it looked more like a plain office building with small windows. Ghost bit the inside of his cheek and he took a hesitant step forward, placing a hand on the door handle. Price reached over and pushed open the door, forcing Ghost to step into the building.
When they walked in, they were met with a doctor wearing all black scrubs and a scrub cap.
“Captain Price and Lieutenant Riley?” The doctor asked, her hands placed firmly on her hips.
Price nodded, taking a quick glance over to Ghost. “Yes. You must be Dr. Lewis.”
Dr. Lewis gave a weak nod. “Lieutenant. Let’s take a seat, I just have a few questions to ask you about the mission you just came from.”
She pointed over to the chairs that lined the wall, before physically guiding the two men to the chairs and forcing them to sit down. She stayed standing and slid her hands into the pockets of her scrubs. Ghost’s hands curled into fists on his lap, the fabric of the purple sweatshirt balled in his hands. He could feel the material gradually become damp with the sweat emitting from his palms. Price looked over and watched Ghost.
“The patient had sustained two gunshot wounds, one to the left kidney and one to the back of the head.” Dr. Lewis said carefully. “We did a CT and MRI, minimal damage to his kidney, but when we did a scan of his head we found something. The bullet went through his kevlar and the force of the round caused damage. He has a fracture where the round made impact and there was trauma to his scalp.”
Price frowned. “What does that mean?”
Dr. Lewis silently sighed. “He has a concussion and he sustained another impact to the head. I was told that he lost consciousness, is that correct?”
Ghost looked up. “Yes, he did. We had to drag him into the helicopter.”
“He has a condition called Second Impact Syndrome. It’s when the brain sustains a secondary concussion before the first one heals.”
Ghost stared up at her, eyes blank of emotion. He didn’t understand what that meant in the long run, but he understood that König had two concussions. “English please, Doc.”
Dr. Lewis looked over at Price, who shook his head. “He’s in surgery right now, I will come get you when he is out of surgery.”
In her head she was running through the symptoms, thinking about the mortality rate of it as well. She knew the mortality rate was 50%, but the patient was brought in quickly and was treated as soon as he could. She pulled her hands out of her pockets and pulled the stethoscope off her shoulder, her hands tightly gripping the equipment. Dr. Lewis gave a soft smile before turning on her heels and quickly walking away, disappearing around a corner.
Price sat with Ghost while they sat in the dingy waiting room, one by one, the rest of 141 walked into the building. Ghost’s heart was pounding in his chest, he could feel his pulse in his ears and he felt suffocated.
Soap was the first one to arrive. “Ghost. Are you okay? What did they say about König?” He crouched down in front of Ghost.
“He’s in surgery.” That was all Ghost had said, he could feel Soap’s warm hands on his cold ones.
That’s how it went with every other person, they all asked him if he was fine and about König. Each time he would say the same thing every time and it was quickly becoming very annoying to him to get asked the same questions on repeat. What tipped him over the edge was when Laswell walked in and asked him the same thing.
Ghost stood up quickly, the chair knocked back against the wall. “Stop asking me the same fucking questions. I don’t know.”
He was about to leave to go have a smoke, but the wooden double doors leading down the hallway were shoved open. It was Dr. Lewis.
“Lieutenant Riley?” She called out, holding one of the doors open.
Ghost looked over his shoulder at her before fully turning around.
“He’s out of surgery, he won’t be awake for a while, but you can sit with him. If you’d like.” Dr. Lewis gave a smile. “Follow me.”
He strided up to her and followed her, staying a few steps away from her. It felt like the crushing weight of his own world was slightly lifted, now all he needed to see was König awake. The doctor stopped in front of a closed door, she put her hand on the doorknob and looked at Ghost.
“We had to remove his hood and we had to keep it off to monitor the wound. Please keep the door closed as much as possible, to protect his anonymity.” Lewis opened the door and stepped inside.
Ghost walked in and quickly shut the door behind him. The view was unsightly and the weight that was lifted was dropped back down upon his shoulders. König was sitting upright in the hospital bed, he was dressed in a hospital gown and had several white blankets draped over him. He was connected to a monitor and had an oxygen mask secured onto his face. Ghost felt sick to his stomach as he walked closer, he wanted to touch König’s hand.
Dr. Lewis watched Ghost with a soft frown. “.....He’s in a coma and we don’t know how long it’ll last, but I encourage you to talk with him. Maybe play some of his favorite music or show when you’re here.”
Ghost looked over at her. “If he does come out of the coma, will he be normal?”
“Normal is subjective, I haven’t met him before this encounter, but his personality could be different. It may be temporary or maybe permanent. Whoever spends the most time with him would know best.” Dr. Lewis reached over and placed a soft hand on Ghost’s upper arm. “There will be doctors and nurses coming in and out to check in on him. I’ll go let the rest of your team know.”
Dr. Lewis removed her hand and left the room, letting the door shut behind her. Now Ghost was left alone with König, he reached down and softly grabbed König’s hand. Ghost felt his throat get tight and his eyes burn, tears unwillingly slipping down his face. The salty tears were soaked up by the fabric of his balaclava.
“I’m so sorry…” Ghost’s voice was quiet, easily being overshadowed by the rhythmic beeping of the machines.
The crack in his voice was barely there, but at that moment he wasn’t Ghost, he was Simon.