Several days had passed, Ghost slowly building himself back up. He was conscious of most everything that had happened while he was confined, with Roach giving small details as to what happened when he had gotten out. Rather fortunate, or unfortunate to them, he wasn't too sure yet, Gonzalo had yet to appear. Whether that was a weird atonement to Ghost's ten-day solitude or some kind of mind game for them wasn't exactly. Roach had taken to pacing the room most of his waking hours after the second day. Ghost had gotten tired of watching the sergeant pacing and had decided to start doing some stretches and exercises, mostly to keep his nerves calmed down. It was a shaky start, but after the fourth day he had gotten more used to his new routine. The next day had Roach sitting against the wall as he watched Ghost do some lunges, a worried expression on his face. He would look up to Ghost for a moment, eyes wide before he would avert his gaze. Ghost gave him a curious look as he made eye contact, moving to lunge forward on his left leg. He could feel twinges of pain throughout his legs but he decidedly ignored that in favor of putting up a stronger front in front of Roach.
"Are you...ok?" Roach shook his head before pausing, to nod his head then stop. "Uh…?"
"No, no I'm ok. Kinda. No. Yes? It's nothing. Well. It has to do with you? And me? Mostly you?" Roach started to rock a bit, wringing his hands.
"Do you...want to talk it out?" Ghost raised an eyebrow as Roach managed to shake and nod his head in the same second. "Roach?"
"Yes? No! I mean! I...I'm not trying to freak out but I'm making you freak out and it's making me freak out because of a thing that I know that has to do with you but it also has to do with me but it's mostly you? And I want to tell you but I can't because it's bad but maybe if you know then it won't be such a surprise but I mean he told me if I told you then it would be worse if it could even be worse what am I saying it's Gonzalo it will be worse but-" Roach stopped to take a deep breath and made to continue but Ghost held up a hand to stop him altogether.
"Calm down, you're gonna spiral into a panic attack." Roach gave a meager nod before taking another deep breath. "If it has something to do with Gonzalo, and if you tell me something is...worse...then don't tell me." Ghost put his hand up again when Roach made to respond. "It's ok. I kinda figured in all that rambling it has to do with the end day."
"Y-yeah. I'm sorry. Not just for then but for...later." Ghost stood up straight, frowning.
"...ah. I get it." Roach flinched as Ghost let out a sigh. "Are you gonna be ok?"
"Yes! No. Yes? I'm...it's been on my mind the past few days." Roach shrugged.
"I get it." Ghost repeated. He could feel a slight headache forming behind his eyes. He went to move back into a lunge, moving his right leg forward this time. As he felt the strain in his muscles, Roach started to bite his lower lip, opening his mouth a few times before shaking his head. "Yes?"
"How much worse is it now, compared to back then?" Ghost let out a hum as he thought, watching Roach fidget again.
"It...could be worse. I haven't been strung up on a tree with a hook through my side yet." He subconsciously ran a hand over the front scar he had, remembering feeling the pull of the hook lifting him up, everyone standing around him watching with fascination as he screamed in agony-
"Uh...don't tell me about it." Roach muttered out. He had averted his eyes, rubbing his arms to distract himself. Ghost noticed Roach was avoiding eye contact, and after their conversation a few days ago, he realized why.
"Sorry...but really? I'd say you being here is making it tolerable. But Gonzalo does have a different sadistic streak than Roba."
"What do you mean by that?" Ghost could feel Roach watch him with unnerving attention and still avoiding eye contact, getting out of the lunge and moving to start some push-ups.
"Roba was a nutter, he knew how to mess with your mind. How to push certain buttons in your head to make choices you wouldn't think of, choices that he wanted you to make. But Gonzalo? By trying to imitate how his father ran the cartel, he actually, hate to say it, is worse."
"Worse?" Roach said with worry.
"Oh, definitely." Ghost paused, considering if he should elaborate. He decided against it. "At least you aren't getting a round two." Ghost pointed out with a huff, pausing his push-ups to wipe his forehead. As he started again, Roach moved to sit closer.
"I can tell you have a lot of questions." Ghost grunted out. "You're allowed to ask. I can't promise you'll like the answers. Curiosity killed the bug and whatnot."
"It's 'curiosity killed the cat and satisfaction brought it back' smartass." Roach corrected smartly.
"You sure? Coulda sworn it was bug when I was a kid."
"You know it wasn't."
"Cultural differences."
"Hardly." Roach scoffed. Ghost turned to look at him, Roach sporting a grin on his face. This he was waiting for. The nervous energy the sergeant was putting out earlier wasn't what the both of them needed. "What."
"Just waiting for your question." Ghost rolled onto his back, stretching his arms up. The slightly nervous energy came back as Roach wrestled with his question.
"Oh uh...I just was wondering...what your family was like." Ghost froze as Roach fidgeted. "I mean you don't have to I was just curious an-"
"It's fine." Ghost said softly. He let out a soft sigh. "You're curious and it's fine to be." Roach fidgeted again before he pulled his knees up to his chest.
"What was your mom and dad like?"
"Dad?" Ghost frowned. "Awful. Mum was a Saint to stay with him as long as she did. He was a heavy drug user, raging alcoholic, and thought a great father-son bonding trip was taking his ten year old son to a rager full of things no ten year old needed to see in order to 'toughen him up.' Mum blew a gasket when she found out where he took me." Ghost let out a chuckle.
"Your mom sounds awesome." Roach said quietly. Ghost nodded slowly, old memories popping up and distracting him momentarily.
"She was. Very loving, very forgiving, almost to a fault. But she was great."
"You have any siblings?"
"One, my younger brother Tommy. He took after my dad a bit, all the drugs got to him. I had to drag his busted arse out of a drug den into rehab before I shipped out to Mexico."
"What was your brother like?" Ghost could see Roach leaning in slightly, listening intently as he thought for a moment.
"He was stupid and hardheaded at times, smart and kind at others. Before I joined the military we used to get into fights at least twice a week for his drug habit, until he ran off. After he got clean, he was a very sociable person. Managed to defuse any awkward situation." A small smile flashed across his face. "Then he met Beth, and she helped pull him from all the negative shite he had been through and gave him something to actually smile about. Mum loved her, and they got married. Had a baby boy. Light of everyone's life, really. He'd be about ten now." Ghost trailed off for a few minutes. He could remember playing with Joseph the night before everything had happened, and he smiled faintly.
"What was your nephew's name?" Roach asked, breaking the silence.
"Joseph. My mum suggested the name. Think Tommy did it as a sort of apology. He wasn't too happy about the name until Joseph was born."
"Joseph is a nice name. Kinda strong sounding." Roach commented. He stretched out, letting out a huff of air. "How did your mom take...all of this? Your dad, your brother, you leaving?"
"She dealt with it...she made excuses for my brother a lot. Sayin' how much he took after my father. Like it made everything ok that he did. Eventually she got out from under him. Well, more like he didn't come home for...years...and she accepted it." Ghost looked down. "Then when he got cancer, she told me I should make amends. Or at least see him. That was awkward." Roach raised an eyebrow. "The last time I saw him I was wanted for murder. Heard he was shot in his hospital room."
"Yeesh." Roach grimaced. Ghost gave a shrug.
"Mum was strong in her own ways. When they got news that I had been located and was returning home I don't think I ever heard her as happy as she was." Ghost huffed a laugh. "She was patient, helped me get on my feet."
"So what got you to join the military?" Roach asked. Ghost blinked a few times, noticing that a few tears had slipped out when he didn't realize reminiscing.
"Uh, the terrorist attacks in America. I figured, if they could do that there, why not at home? Plus I needed some structure. Before I joined I was a butcher's apprentice, didn't do much with my life after school. I was a smart kid, just didn't have a drive to do anything."
"A...butcher? Well, that explains a bit." Roach mumbled. Ghost looked at him sharply, slightly affronted.
"Excuse me?" Roach let out a laugh, slapping a hand over his mouth. "What is so bloody funny about my old job?"
"It's nothing. Well, I mean I've seen some photos of the interrogations you've done, and in one of them I remember seeing a giant piece of meat that was sliced up with a cooking knife. I didn't realize it was old work skills shining there."
"I remember that interrogation. The twat was being difficult and said I had no knife skills. So I had to show him that I did, in more ways." Ghost crossed his arms, watching Roach let out another giggle. "Well, what about your family?" Roach raised an eyebrow as he turned.
"What?" The confusion was apparent.
"Well you heard about my family. What about yours?" Ghost shrugged. "Never heard you talk about them."
"Yeah...they kinda...disowned me." Roach mumbled. Ghost gave a hum after a moment, giving a small nod. "You never mentioned that." Roach returned the nod.
"Yeah." He repeated. "When I joined, they...well I won't say they were abusive but it got heated a few times, dad laid a haymaker and gave me a black eye, my mom yelled at me for joining and my dad for hitting me. My older sister just...stopped talking to me and my younger sister….she gave the waterworks any time she saw me saying she won't see me alive ever again." Roach frowned in thought. "My brother...he well, he didn't take well either. He really tried to talk me out of it. And since it was the first big rift between us since we were born, it kinda ruined me for a while. But I had already enlisted and was a few days away from boot to just not go in. I don't think I made a mistake in joining, but it kinda sucked, ya know."
"Why such negativity? Thought Americans were all about joinin' the military?"
"Both my parents had their parents in the military, and so I just had my grandmoms. And they were angry how quickly their husbands had, well. Died. It got more complicated as it went. Basically my extended family had a lot of issues with losing spouses in the military too. They think it's a curse to, like, join the military or something because most of them never survived past first deployment." Roach shrugged.
"And look at you, ya lucky bugger." Ghost smirked. "Proving family generations wrong by surviving three deployments." Roach gave a dry smile. "But why did you join?"
"Good question. I guess I was a rebel? Something different? New experiences? Patriotism?" Roach shrugged. "I mean, I'm what, thirty? We got thrown into an age of war that's still going on since I was sixteen, everybody was talking about joining the military as soon as they got out of high school. I guess I joined the bandwagon."
"Anybody that you went to basic with still in contact?"
"Uh...well, actually a newer guy in the One-Four-One was a guy I knew before. Aeon was in my class. Flicks was, too, actually." Roach frowned slightly. "But other than that, I don't know what happened to them. Think most of them jumped ship after their four years."
"But you didn't." Ghost pointed out. "Didn't want to go back to civilization?"
"Didn't really have a need, or want to. You go out and everyone either worships the ground you walk on, or look at you with like, pity in their eyes. It got to a point with me that I just...never left base." Roach started to trace patterns on the ground, deep in thought. "I'm not saying anything negative about the military or anything like that. I just didn't go in to get the hero worship or pity. I just...joined. And got good at what I did." He continued tracing random patterns. "How did you join the task force?" Ghost gave a grumble before he spoke up.
"I had just finished...well, I was recruited-" Ghost paused for a minute, trying to gather his thoughts. "After my family was killed, I just thought of revenge and nothing else. So, I...tracked down Roba's cartel on my own. Had my revenge. And after I did, I just...wandered the jungle on my own. I didn't really have a plan for after. I figured I could just...keep walking until I either died from exhaustion or someone I didn't off at the compound offed me." Ghost could remember walking aimlessly for several hours, an empty pistol with the slide locked back hanging from his loose grip. Shuffling through foliage and getting smacked with branches, mind empty from thought and oblivious to any predators that may have been watching him through his trek. "I ended up in a clearing, about two kilos out when I heard rotor blades. Like a goddamn angel of death descending towards me, Shepherd had managed to track me down. Apparently he had been looking into their cartel for a few months after Sparks and Washington...left...and somehow was planning a raid there the next night. They thought I was a trigger-happy enlisted from his regiment. But Shepherd took one look at me, told me to get in." He let out a short laugh. "He knew who I was. Said I could either join the task force with no repercussions or get shipped back to Manchester and await a large, public, trial."
"So, what did they do about, the whole, your identity? I mean no one really knew other than him and 'Tavish. So did he just basically say you don't exist anymore?"
"More or less."
"Explains the code name." Roach let out a long sigh, slowly laying down. He turned to Ghost, frowning. "So you became a John Doe, joined the one four one, and from there just...worked?" Ghost nodded. "That's...crazy."
Before Ghost could respond the door slammed open, a very haphazard looking Gonzalo stumbling through. He could smell the alcohol almost immediately afterward. Gonzalo stomped forward before pointing to Ghost, almost snarling as he spoke.
"I have been missing two men for nearly a month. The last anyone had heard of them, was when they had escorted you two to your cells. I was not alerted of this departure until this evening. Who were they?" Roach flinched as Gonzalo stepped forward again. Ghost sat up quickly. He just now found out?
"Dunno who you're talking about-"
"Do not lie to me Simon!" Gonzalo yelled. "I have heard through other sources that teams of two had appeared into other cartels and had left within a month. The two here were only here for three days." Gonzalo stomped forward, kicking Ghost in the chest until he was flat on his back again, his head making harsh contact with the ground and leaving him dazed. "Who were they?!"
"We-" Gonzalo cut him off with a yell, turning away harshly and stomping a few steps away.
"They were associates of yours. I know it!" Ghost glanced at Roach, who was visibly shaking. He tried to sit up slowly subtly moving in front of Roach. "Tell me!"
"We don't know who you're talking about. You think we remember everything we've been through?" Gonzalo huffed angrily, resorting to pacing. He mumbled to himself in Spanish, gesturing wildly with his hands. Roach leaned closer to Ghost, muttering quietly.
"How...how bad was his family drunk?" Ghost only shook his head. Roach let out a small noise of discomfort. They watched Gonzalo pace, still mumbling. Before they could move, Gonzalo changed direction haphazardly towards them. He kicked Ghost back down on his back, and the next step had Ghost seeing a blurry view of Gonzalo's boot fly towards his face before everything went black.
Longer than I'm used to lmao ;-; This gives a bit of background for Roach since he's such a blank slate (literally)
Also how is everyone doing? Everyone getting vaccinated? Still keeping safe out there? Being nice to those considered essential workers? (fast food, grocery stores, health care workers, sanitation, utility techs?)
Right, though, this chapter kinda kickstarts shit. So. Yeah. (I updated before a month was up cuz I have like...three more chapters backlogged and being edited so thought this one was ready dunno when the next chapter is gonna be up)