Guide Me - Part 1
TF141 x Male! Reader - Guideverse AU - Angst, Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Happy Ending
Summary: In a world with guides and espers, you are a guide who has the unfortunate luck to be assigned to a task force that refuses your help. How will you manage to deal with your difficult new team while also dealing with your past haunting you...
Word Count: 6.8k
WARNINGS: 18+, eventual nsfw, Angst, enemies to lovers, bullying, harassment, hints at trauma, hints at past SA, injuries, blood, hospital, mention of character death, mean 141 (dw they will make it up to you), pls lemme know if I missed any
Masterlist Here
Note: Hello, this is the first story I've posted literally ever. I've had this idea for ages and I really adore guideverse stories, so I decided to finally write it. I am open to constructive feedback, but pls be kind <3 (No beta reader lol) Enjoy!
p.s. The continuation of this story is already partially written, If anyone wants to continue reading it, I'll def finish and post it. Feedback is also greatly appreciated!!
~Story below the cut~
When you received the letter assigning you as taskforce 141’s guide, you weren’t sure what to think. Not long ago, portals which contained monsters from another universe began opening up everywhere. These monsters caused catastrophic destruction and destabilized the entire world, almost throwing humanity into ruin.
However, some mercy was granted through the appearance of espers. Espers are people who were gifted with unique powers that enable them to fight these monsters. Although not all espers choose to fight monsters, the large paycheck and widespread reverence and appreciation are a large incentive for most. While espers were essentially granted infinite use of their powers, they also have a fatal weakness. During their fights with monsters, espers can take significant damage to their bodies and also build up large amounts of harmful energy within themselves. If this energy is not removed and they are not healed, they either die or go on a deadly rampage as if they are monsters themselves.
As if hearing another desperate plea for mercy, guides also appeared in order to help these espers. Guides are people who have the unique ability to release the harmful energy and rapidly speed up espers’ healing process. You are one such guide.
Unfortunately, espers do not only fight monsters. Despite humanity already struggling to survive the carnage from the portals, many decided to take advantage of the spreading chaos and began attacking weakened societies in order to take control. In addition to needing groups which fight monsters, many countries were also forced to organize groups to protect themselves from other espers.
Widespread subjugation of un-powered individuals and guides became a prevalent issue, one which many governments were actively fighting against. Even though these groups only fought other espers, negative energy and injuries would still accumulate, meaning these groups of espers also required guiding. When you were recruited as a guide, you fully expected to guide espers who fought monsters because that is what you were initially trained for. Unfortunately, things didn't work out that way and you were assigned to a task force that specialized in fighting other espers.
You read over the letter again and again and still, the assignment remained the same. You were instructed to pack up your few belongings and move into the barracks with your new team within the week. Being an S-class guide, you were truly shocked to be paired with a team like this, however you could only assume that they were high level like you and that is why they needed you. Being high level also meant that they were likely put in substantially more dangerous situations than the average esper. The thought of the sheer amount of injuries alone was enough to make you cringe, not to mention the negative energy on top of that…
Sighing to yourself, you folded up the letter with your assigned location, and slipped it into your bag. You exhaled and gathered up your remaining items and packed them into your bag. Finally grabbing everything, you reassured yourself that everything would go smoothly as you made your way to your new assignment.
Security at the base was shockingly troublesome and took much longer than you had anticipated. By the time you finished getting through the security check point and found the supervisor in charge of your new team, you were already worn out. Finally, you stood stiffly in her office as she looked over your paperwork. Your hands were clasped behind your back as you stood up painfully straight and completely still, waiting for her to speak to you.
“I see that you are assigned to Captain Price’s team.” She gave you a calculating look over the top of the files in her hands. You swallowed and then nodded. “Yes ma’am, they have determined that this would be the team where I would be most useful.” She nodded and looked back down at your file. “Well, since everything has already been settled, I will show you where you will be staying.” You nodded again and waited for her to stand.
You were slightly surprised that someone as high ranking as her would bring you to your new team, but they were a highly ranked team after all… Perhaps this is normal here? As she stepped past her desk and you, she hesitated before opening her door, “Be patient with them, give them time. I am sure they will be difficult, but just give them a chance.” With that, she opened her door and began leading you down the hallway again and towards your new team.
Looking back, there was no way she knew just how difficult they’d be and how many chances you’d give them. If you knew exactly what you were getting yourself into, you would have laughed in her face. Unfortunately you didn’t know, so you followed her as she led you through the base.
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You subtly glanced around as different groups of espers, guides, and recruits walked past you. Some sent curious glances your way and you quickly realized that this was definitely not a normal occurrence. The glares that were also sent your way did not go unnoticed by you as you struggled to keep up with the station chief’s brisk pace.
Laswell kept a steady pace as she walked right into their building and through the empty hallways, the wood occasionally squeaking underfoot as she led you into their rec room. As you shuffled in behind her, you noticed the silence that immediately fell on the room.
You stepped out from behind her so that you could see your new team, an anxious pit formed in your stomach. Sitting at the small table on the right of the entrance were two of your presumed teammates who were obviously in the middle of a card game. One had dark hair that was cut into a shaggy mohawk and dark stubble, his light eyes watched you as a look of interest passed over his features. The man sitting at the table with him had much darker features and short, neat hair. He was quite pretty and had soft brown eyes that carefully studied you. To the left of the entrance, was a small worn out sofa that had a man with a hat sitting on it. He was spread out comfortably, but you could tell that he was on guard once you entered the room. He had mutton chops and a stern look on his face, his jaw clenched subtly and you quickly glanced at Laswell, wondering if something was wrong. Lastly, on a recliner next to the sofa, was a large man with a dark balaclava covering his face. His entire body was covered, save for his brown eyes that raked over you harshly. He was sitting tensely and looked as if he was ready to jump up at any moment.
As soon as Laswell had fully entered the room, the group quickly focused their attention and waited for her to speak. Laswell began speaking to the group, but you tuned her out as you glanced around the room. Once you heard your name leave her mouth, you stood at attention and looked up. Laswell quickly introduced everyone and instructed you to take the last empty bedroom in their wing of the building, the room specifically reserved for the team’s guide. She swiftly handed over the files and paperwork to the man you now knew was Captain Price and then gave you a brief once over, before leaving the way she came.
The deafening silence that followed was broken by a grim chuckle from the man with the mohawk. “It's rare for Laswell to bring them here herself. I guess you must be something special, huh?” The man who you now knew was ‘Soap’ looked you up and down, “I’m sure you’ll be the same as all the rest,” He scoffed at you.
You bristled as you looked at the others in surprise, half expecting them to say something, but they all remained silent and simply watched. Now that you were standing alone, you began to feel nervous under their scrutinizing gazes, shifting from one foot to the other. Price quickly skimmed the paperwork in his hands before he glanced up at you. He gave a gruff, “Welcome to base,” before standing and walking out of the room.
Slowly, each of your new team members brushed right past you, clearly choosing to ignore you. You quickly stumbled out of the way as Ghost shouldered past you and you frowned. Once the door shut behind them, you let out the breath you were holding. Doubt swirled in your mind. After lingering for another moment, you took a deep breath and grabbed your large bag once again and made your way down the hallway. Each room had a labeled placard with their callsigns, you kept walking until you found the one room without one.
You opened the door to a plain room and glanced inside. You weren’t shocked to see it void of anything except for a bed, desk, chair, and small wardrobe. You remembered hearing about the building's communal bathrooms from Laswell earlier. The right wing of the building was occupied by another team, meanwhile the left wing was taken by your team, and the bathrooms were in between.
You began unpacking and reviewing what you remembered of the schedule you had been given. Due to how long things had taken with security and Laswell, it was already time for dinner. Your stomach rumbled loudly as a reminder that you had eaten lunch quite a while ago. Finally deciding that this was a chance to see more of the base, you made your way to the dining hall.
The walk was short, but it gave you a chance to finally breathe. When you entered the building, you found the dining hall was bustling with casual conversation filling the room. The smell of food made your stomach growl again, so you quickly grabbed some food and began looking for a place to sit.
When you turned around, you spotted your new team close by. They were talking amongst themselves and you watched as they began to playfully bicker over something. You watched for a second before deciding it was probably better to sit elsewhere, so you found an empty table away from them, near some of the other guides that you recognized.
When you finally made it back to the rec room after dinner, you found the rest of your team relaxing. They were obviously on edge when you entered the room, so you quickly made your nightly tea and escaped to your room.
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Your first morning with them was not one that you could easily forget. You had barely slept due to nerves from being in a new place, and decided that a good way to start the day was some guiding in order for them to feel refreshed. Even if it meant that you would be tired the rest of the day, you didn’t mind.
You waited in the common room while nursing a hot cup of tea. Ghost was the first to enter early in the morning, just after sunrise. As soon as he entered the room, his eyes narrowed at you and his steps stuttered almost imperceptibly. As he made his way to the counter, you quickly stood up, your chair scraping against the floor.
With his back now turned to you, you released a breath and began to slowly approach him, “I’m not sure what schedule you have here, but I thought maybe I could give you some guiding this morning?” Ghost paused in his actions before glancing back at you, “No.” Slightly taken aback, you tried again after he turned back to his tea.
“I just figured since it was my first day here and I don’t know when you all received guiding last—” “I said no.” Your eyes shot up to meet his steely glare, startling you. “Right, right, I apologize—”
With his eyes still on you, he continued, “You’d do best to stay outta’ our way.” His gaze didn't falter and you could feel the intensity behind his warning.
Deciding it was best not to fight him on this, you looked down at your feet and nodded before leaving the room with your mug clutched in your hands.
Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of many rejections that you had faced. When you had tried the others the same day, they similarly made their displeasure known. When you tried to join Gaz and Soap in their morning training session, they gave you a weak excuse before scurrying away. When you tried to join the team for dinner, Price’s harsh stare caused your steps to falter before you again decided to eat on your own.
A few times you found yourself at Price’s office, sometimes offering some guiding and sometimes just looking for any sort of contact, but you were always met with a gruff voice and a look of anger. Every. Single. Time.
You were often left feeling embarrassed and useless, and some of the other guides and espers on base seemed to notice. They often made comments when they saw you leave his office with a look of disappointment on your face. Your face felt hot as your eyes burned and panic filled you. How would you be able to stay here if you weren’t able to do your job? You would do absolutely anything if it meant that you didn’t have to go back to that place. You would even be willing to break your one boundary if it meant that they’d keep you. Laswell’s words rang in your head and you took a deep breath. You just have to keep trying and be patient…
Like a loyal dog, you always waited for them after their missions, be it in rain or hail, you were always there to greet them first when they returned. Their displeasure towards you seemed to grow when they caught on to your persistence, seemingly ignoring the fact that it was quite literally your job to help them.
Disappointingly, the rest of your team was just as bad, if not worse than Price, when it came to rejecting you.
Gaz outright avoided you, which wouldn't be too bad if he didn’t make it so painfully obvious. When you walked into any room when he was the only one there, he quickly left no matter what he was doing, even going so far as to leave the stove on just to escape you.
Soap seemed slightly more snappy at you and often made humorless comments and snide remarks about how little you contributed to the team. The mocking you received from the others on base didn’t hurt nearly as much as the mocking from your own team. Frustration built up inside of you each time he took a jab at how helpless you were and about how little they needed you. You took to glaring at him more times than not, choosing to ignore the sting you felt each time he laughed when you offered guiding.
Ghost was similarly very obvious with his distaste, however he was only slightly more subtle. He glared at you whenever you walked into a room with them, seemingly disturbing their peace. Even after you stopped openly offering guiding, he still made it very clear that he did not ever want you to touch his skin directly. Typically he was covered from head to toe anyways.
Occasionally you would stumble across him without gloves on and in casual clothing, and you could visibly see his defensiveness. Even if he only had his gloves off, he still yanked himself away from you if you got within arms reach. You would never attempt to touch nor guide someone without consent, and the fact that he seemed to doubt that hurt you.
Even if all guiding required was your hands to touch theirs, and it was effectively first aid, you would still never force them. After three weeks straight of rejection, when you were only trying to do your job, you chose to step back and see if they would come to you instead.
The only things that were expected of you as a guide were for you to take care of your espers, and for you to stay in shape in order to complete all aspects of guiding. As a guide, you were only able to help espers through physical contact. Typically, temporary guides only provide services through hand holding, kissing, or other basic forms of physical touch. However, more permanent guides were expected to provide full guiding, especially in cases of emergency. This could only be done through close intimate contact, often meaning sexual intercourse.
Despite the constant sting of rejection, you were honestly relieved that you hadn’t been forced to be intimate with your team, especially since they were basically strangers. One of your requirements while working was that you refused to be sexually intimate with an esper, even in an emergency situation.
Part of being able to maintain this boundary was consistent maintenance of the espers’ energy and health. And while your team clearly did not want you to even get close to touching them, you worried about how long they could go without receiving any guiding. Especially since you absolutely did not want to see them go berserk if they exceeded their limit.
Since you were so clearly rejected by your espers, you decided to focus on the other aspects of your job. While guides often have different expectations in this line of work, you were highly trained due to your class level. S-class guides were expected to have significant endurance, be trained in stealth, and complete high levels of self-defense training.
While normal guides were not expected to take part in missions, high level guides were expected to tag along and support their espers during and after missions. Guides were often provided with highly specific training ranging from deescalation, first aid, CPR, and anything else they might need in order to properly support themselves and their espers. This specific work required much more training for guides than simple work like fighting monsters did. Overall, it was taking you quite a while to adjust to your new life.
Although you did already understand the basics in first aid, CPR, and self-defense, your combat skills apparently left much to be desired. So much so, that Price decided your team would personally oversee your combat training.
Often, right after your morning runs, you began hand-to-hand combat training with Ghost and the new recruits. Initially you weren’t sure why the newer recruits seemed afraid of him, but the more you worked with him, the better you understood their fear.
Ghost is strict and ruthless when it comes to training, he never holds back. Much of your training was done with the new recruits as if you were one yourself. However you are not, you are a guide and they are espers. At times it was refreshing to be treated the same as everyone else, but there were also times when you were reminded that you are in fact not the same as them.
Ghost went much harder on you. Often, he used either Gaz or Soap for demonstrations, but sometimes he took it upon himself to demonstrate with you. Countless times you were knocked down, hit, kicked, or crushed in the name of demonstrations.
In addition, the recruits were commonly rough with you during sparring, clearly having picked up on their superiors’ rejection and disliking of you. Your joints often throbbed and your ribs ached, but all you could do was bite your tongue and swallow your tears.
On one particular day, your emotions got the best of you. On that specific day, Ghost made you stay after the regular training because you apparently ‘needed more practice’, but you got sick of having the shit kicked out of you and stormed out.
That all happened yesterday. When you walked into the training room, you were once again met with an angry look from Ghost. “Thought you gave up and quit finally. Why’d you come back?” The eyes of the other recruits subtly drifted over to you. You grit your teeth before responding, “Respectfully, I did not quit Lieutenant. I needed a break.”
His eyes narrowed at your response and he scoffed. With his arms crossed, he stepped towards you, “Do you think you get to take a break out in the field? You guides are always so weak.”
At that comment, your nostrils flared and your jaw clenched, but you remained silent.
He continued, “Right, then you don’t mind if I use you to demonstrate what happens if you do let your guard down.”
You paused before taking a step towards him, you weren’t sure what his plan was, but you felt uneasy. He stepped towards you, before pivoting and turning to the recruits. “Today you will be practicing how to get out of a chokehold.”
Suddenly he was behind you and before you had a chance to think, his arm was wrapped around your throat. You grasped his arm with both of your hands and quickly sucked in a breath. Before he put any pressure on your throat, he muttered into your ear, “Try to get out of this one.”
With that, his arm pulled tight around your neck and your oxygen was cut off as your feet lifted from the ground. You kicked and flailed as your nails raked down his sleeve-covered arm, a brief panic filled you. He let out a few grunts as your body thrashed and your hands yanked at his grip. Hot breath met your ear, “Is this the best you’ve got?” You twisted and hooked your leg behind his knee and tried to knock him to the ground. “I thought you were confident enough to take a break, but this is pathetic,” Ghost seethed, his hold tightening even more.
Quickly you realized that your vision was starting to get dark as the circulation to your brain was being cut off. Instantly you sagged in his arms and the sudden dead weight pulled him low enough for your feet to meet the ground once again. Adrenaline filled you as you yanked his arm down and pivoted while hooking your leg around the back of his knee. You pulled him forward and over your shoulder as you kicked out his leg and he lurched forward.
At first it seemed as if he was going to catch himself, but he launched right over you and landed with a hard grunt. Despite getting him off of you, the lack of oxygen and blood to your brain had you seeing stars. You fell to your knees and slumped down on the mat as you struggled to catch your breath, your vision spotty.
When you finally caught your breath, you stood up quickly and swayed from the sudden motion, a nearby recruit caught you by the upper arm in a bruising grip. Frustrated, you glared at Ghost as he stood up, clearly trying to pretend that he wasn’t winded. You yanked your arm back and swore under your breath as you stormed out of the training room, ignoring the surprised looks on Soap and Gaz’s faces as you shouldered past them and into the hallway.
You grunted as you stalked off and opted for a stop at the medical center to get your shoulder checked out again. Due to a past injury, your shoulder was easily re-injured and required frequent pain management due to the rough training you went through. Pulling open the main door, you stepped into the white waiting room and plopped down onto a chair. The staff there knew you by name and called you back after about ten minutes of you calming yourself down.
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Not much later you left the medical center with some ointment for the bruises, a prescription for painkillers, and a reminder to not overexert yourself again. You clenched your jaw, ‘it’s not like this is my fault. They treat me like I’m an esper, but I’m not.’
Honestly, you missed your first home. You previously lived in a type of boarding school for guides, it wasn’t perfect, but it was much nicer than here. You had a few friends there and everyone was kinder, more patient… You missed the softness and comfort they provided. You thought you might eventually reach that level of comfort before, and maybe even with your new team here, but they have made it very clear that wasn’t going to happen. Additionally, being on this team seemed to have marked you as some kind of outcast and everyone else, including other guides, refused to get close to you.
After being forced to take a rest day, you made your way to the cafeteria after washing up. Your shoulder ached and your entire body was sore, but you weren’t one to skip a meal. Once again, you thought back to the comfort of your old home and teared up a bit. You missed the comfort from the other guides, or any company at all…
After you grabbed your typical dinner and once again sat alone, you ate quickly due to your eyes beginning to feel heavy.
You were exhausted.
Everything. All the training, struggling to sleep, and constantly being on edge, was all catching up to you.
The other guides often bullied you in group training, and it was wearing you down even more than normal. Because you weren’t able to guide your own team at all and due to the scarcity of guides, you were forced to provide your services at the base’s medical center.
The other guides often made you take on the difficult patients, this meant that you were often paired with the extremely draining assignments, or the extra touchy ones. You tried not to let them get to you, but the rough training, rejection even among fellow guides, and terrible encounters with espers wore you down. You refused to cry in front of anyone, but you would occasionally let a few tears fall in the shower or in the sanctity of your room.
Finally you made your way back to the barracks, you were shocked to find your team waiting up for you in the rec room. Price was sitting on the sofa, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped together. Ghost sat in his typical recliner with his arms crossed over his chest and a dark look in his eyes. Gaz and Soap were back at the table, reminiscent of your first meeting, however this time there were no cards in front of them and the air felt stagnant.
You huffed as you walked in and made your way to the kettle, your eyes glanced over all of them as you shuffled inside. As you began pouring the hot water into your mug, someone cleared their throat and the hot water splashed on your hand. You hissed when it made contact and glanced up as you waited for the person to continue. When no one spoke up, you scoffed as you rinsed your hand with cold water from the tap. “What? Don’t tell me you’re gonna ask for guiding after a measly fall like that?” Refocusing your attention on the group in the room with you, you looked at all of their faces as they remained silent.
Price shook his head and sighed deeply. “We don’t need guiding from you, we need you to stop trying that shit.” You bristled at that, “How can you expect me not to guide you? That’s literally my job?? You’re all acting like children who refuse to go to the doctor.” Soap rolled his eyes at your response, “Well ye’re no’ a bloody doctor are ye. What can you do?” Ignoring him, you directed your attention back to Price who continued, “We did not ask for help. We don’t need someone like you.” Incredulous of their attitude, you began to feel flustered. Your face turned red as your body heated up, rejection sunk in your stomach. “Well then why am I even here??” “We wish you weren’t.”
A quiet gasp left you as you turned to face Gaz. His lips were pressed into a thin line and his eyebrows creased together, his hands shaking. Frustrated tears began decorating your lash line, but you blinked them away quickly.
Exasperated, you finished making your tea and started to leave the room without another word. As you passed the sofa, a hand blocked your path. Price handed you a folder followed by, “Mission tomorrow, you’re coming with us. Be ready by 0500.” You nodded stiffly and tucked the folder under your arm before you continued to walk towards the exit.
As you were about to cross the threshold back into the hallway, a gruff voice stopped you, “And remember guide, don’t get in our way tomorrow.” Ghost’s reminder made you swallow hard before you continued your walk back to your room.
Your tears finally fell as you pulled on your sleep clothes. Blood rushed in your ears as you listened to the sounds of the base at night. Tonight was going to be another restless night…
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Your eyes peeled open shortly before 0430 and your limbs felt like they were made of lead as you forced yourself up. Your eyes burned as you quickly got ready, wincing as you dressed due to your injuries from the previous day. You double checked your supplies and your uniform, and quickly made your way to the tarmac, arriving 10 minutes early. As the rest of your team trudged up to where you were waiting, you could already see the disdain in their expressions as they passed you. You rolled your eyes, there was no need for them to be like this so early in the morning. Quickly, everyone double checked their weapons and supplies before boarding the aircraft.
Several hours later, you were all dropped at your checkpoint and were left to hike over a mountain in the middle of nowhere. The extraction point was a ways away from where your actual mission was in order to maintain stealth and ensure a safe retrieval.
Your boots crunched as you hiked through the wet snow. The slush covered as far as your eyes could see, and you hoped that it wouldn't get any colder. After spending several hours crossing the mountain, you finally stopped as the sun rose, catching up to the others as you took up the rear of the group.
They instructed you to find a good hiding spot and wait there until they finished, they clearly didn’t trust you to be part of their mission. You huffed as you turned and began searching for a surveillance point. The mountain was covered in a thick forest and you quickly hoisted yourself up onto the lower branches of a large tree covered in thick foliage and prepared yourself as a lookout in order to watch over their entry and exit point.
Before they left, they reminded you to stay hidden as you grumbled a response and popped your earpiece into your ear. The small communication device crackled to life and you could hear your team as they began their infiltration of the building. Several guards were roaming the perimeter and you silently watched as the 141 efficiently took them out. As soon as their path was clear, they quickly slipped inside. All you could hear from outside was melting snow falling off of the surrounding tree branches and the occasional transmission over the mics.
Sitting was quite boring, but waiting for espers was something all guides were used to. You shivered and quietly huffed out a warm breath, hoping that your nose wouldn’t start leaking under your mask. As you began to space out again, you suddenly heard confirmation that the others found what you came for. Letting out a sigh of relief, you breathed for a moment before your blood suddenly went cold. The sound of an approaching vehicle made you hold your breath. A vehicle rolled up the road and stopped near the entrance of the facility, not far from where you were hidden.
Quickly turning on your mic, you forcefully whispered a warning to your team. After hearing no response, you tried again, “More enemy forces showed up, six men, armed and appear to be espers.”
Still no response. Frustrated, you realized that they were either ignoring you or your transmission wasn’t going through and you began panicking. Deciding that you needed to help them so that they wouldn't get killed, you slowly slid down from your hiding spot, and crept down the hill towards the hostiles. You watched with bated breath as several of the men rounded the building and found the unconscious guards. Shouting to the others, they seemed to be getting ready to ambush your team.
You reminded yourself to be cautious, these men appeared to be espers and there could be more of them. Finally making a decision, you aimed your weapon. The least you could do was distract the three near the exit and hope that your team could handle the other three that were still on the other side of the building.
Hearing confirmation that your team was coming back out, you steeled yourself, and fired three shots. The shots rang out in the otherwise quiet forest and you watched as the man closest to the door went down. The two closest to him seemed to be in shock before they turned towards the treeline where you were hiding. Taking advantage of their confusion, you shot twice more and hit one of them, before the other snapped out of his shock and began charging the treeline.
Shit. This one was definitely an esper.
You jerked back from your position and his eyes locked onto yours. Ducking behind a tree, fear filled you as you began panicking again. He was still a ways away when you last saw him, but you knew he saw where you went. Having the uphill advantage, you darted up another thick tree and hid in the thick branches, immediately going silent. Ice and leaves crunched under his boots as he crept closer and closer to the tree you were hidden in. Your left hand covered your mouth as your other arm gripped the trunk tightly. Your legs began to shake, but you remained completely quiet, crouched in the branches.
Walking directly under you, you watched as he stopped and turned around, clearly looking for you. He muttered something into a walkie and went quiet again. Finally, he turned and walked out of sight. You waited a few seconds before letting out a choked breath. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion forced you turn your attention back to the building as you realized the 141 made it out.
As you turned back to the ground below you, planning to join them, you were met with the jarring appearance of the man who had been chasing you. A sickening smirk stretched across his face, “There you are you little rat.” A yelp left your mouth suddenly as he slashed up at you. You clutched your side as you stumbled back and fell the short height out of the tree. Vegetation and snow crunched underneath you as sticks from the bushes stabbed your back through your uniform.
Gasping, your panicked eyes met him again as he advanced towards you. In desperation you threw your hands up to shield your face.
Suddenly you heard a shot ring out followed by a heavy thud right in front of you, a sudden weight crushed your legs. Your eyes shot open and you quickly locked eyes with a very angry looking Ghost, the rest of the team close behind him. Stomping towards you, he gripped the front of your uniform as he dragged you up from the ground. You winced as he yelled in your face, “Why didn’t you warn us.”
Gasping in a breath, you struggled to lift your head up, “I did warn you,” you choked out. Falling into the slushy snow had caused your entire uniform to be soaking wet, that combined with the unfiltered rage in his gaze caused you to shiver. “I warned you twice over the mics.” A look of disbelief crossed their faces as they exchanged glances.
Finally reaching towards Ghost and patting his shoulder, Gaz muttered, “Whatever the case we need to get out of here.” Soap nodded in agreement, “There may be more o’ them coming.” Price was crouched down inspecting the man who Ghost had killed. “These are high level espers, we need to go.” Finally stepping back, Ghost let go of your collar and you slumped forward on the ground.
Heavy snow began to fall as the sky darkened and the wind picked up. You heaved out a breath as the others began stalking away, heading back up the mountain. Stumbling to your feet, you quickly followed them once again taking up the back of the group.
You shivered violently as the cold began to settle into your warm body. While your winter uniform was designed for short bouts of cold weather, it was not entirely water resistant and did not dry quickly. The wetness of your uniform began to feel colder and colder as you continued to hike up after your team, struggling through the thickening snow. As the adrenaline from the mission wore off, you continued to feel more of the effects of the frigid temperatures. Your hands shook lightly as you stumbled over a large branch and piles of snow. Glancing back at you, Ghost scoffed and Soap laughed before stalking after the lieutenant. Gaz hesitated slightly, before continuing after the other two. Price didn’t even glance at you as he muttered to keep up.
You glared at their backs and huffed, choosing to ignore their bad attitudes and ungratefulness for helping them. As minutes passed, more snow crunched under your boots as you and your team continued moving towards the extraction point.
Slowly, you began to feel a strange wet warmth and then immediate coolness in your right side. You looked down in confusion and felt your side for the source of the strange wet feeling. You pulled your hand away when you felt a dampness and your breath stuttered when you saw red dripping down your fingertips.
Shit. The esper must have wounded you and you didn’t notice due to the adrenaline. You clenched your jaw as the feeling in your side slowly started to return, the adrenaline now properly wearing off.
As the 141 kept a steady pace, you started to fall behind, your movements sluggish as you struggled through the thick snow. Your breathing became more ragged and your eyes felt heavy as your side burned with a new bout of pain. A few more glances were sent your way, but no one mentioned anything until you stumbled against a tree, the mission now miles behind you.
Your breathing was shallow, your arm desperately clutched your side as you leaned up against a tree and used your free arm to keep yourself steady. The pain bloomed the more you breathed and struggled to walk. In the distance you heard a voice calling you, but you didn’t realize what it was until a hand grabbed your chin.
Looking up, your droopy eyes met the enraged gaze of Ghost. His breaths came out in puffs of hot air, even through his mask, as he said your name again. He was saying something to you, but you couldn’t hear him through the cotton that filled your ears and mouth. Using the arm that was supporting you against the tree, you grabbed onto his forearm and attempted to steady yourself against him.
Looking back up at his face in confusion, you leaned in, words slurring, “Whas wrong Lieutenant? Did I do something wronggg?” He looked shocked for a second, before he was asking you something again. Your other hand came up as you attempted to pull back from him and his gaze suddenly dropped to the snow beneath you. He turned and quickly shouted something at the others before their voices started getting louder.
He grabbed your shoulders and shook you, your head lulled to the side from the sudden motion. Suddenly you couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the snowstorm and whistling wind. Everything turned black and yellow, a ringing filled your ears, and then your vision faded completely to black.