A 2016 fanfic for Spec Ops: The Line written by Unfaithful. The morning after his disatrous mission, Walker awakes in Konrad's penthouse and attempts to make his way home from Dubai. But the city's not quite finished with him yet.
You can read it here
on Archive of Our Own or here on FanFiction.Net.
Afterglow contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: Well, as bittersweet as you can get with a game like Spec Ops The Line. After spending days wrestling with his hallucinations and his guilt, Walker comes to terms with his actions and peacefully lays down his weapon when the soldiers come to rescue him.
- Continuity Nod: The fic states that Walker was an Army Ranger before being selected for Delta Force. This is Truth in Television for the majority of Delta operators but it doubles as a nod to the earlier Spec Ops games, which featured Army Rangers as protagonists.
- Dead Person Conversation: Walker with Lugo and Adams. Walker initially believes that Adams is still alive and in need of rescue and is proven extremely wrong. When Lugo shows up, he doesn't bother pretending he's still alive.
- Determinator: Among Walker's Fatal Flaws is his utter inability to give up, ever. It's also implied to be the reason he won't kill himself.
- Driven to Suicide: According to the fic, Walker's been suicidal since his Near-Death Experience in Kabul.At one point he attempts suicide by deliberately walking into a sandstorm, but he backs out before it can kill him.
- Due to the Dead: Walker buries Lugo and Adams in what's left of the refugee camp:Walker: Sleep tight, gentlemen. I'll see you again someday.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Walker's in dire need of "a shower and a beer or five". He eventually starts drinking his way through the Damned's leftover booze.
- The Insomniac: Walker. When he actually manages to fall asleep, he has nightmares.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The sandstorm's treated this way in-uinverse; there are theories that it could be anything from an inexplicable natural phenomenon to the work of aliens to the literal wrath of God. Also, Walker tries to convince himself that his hallucinations are actually ghosts or some other kind of supernatural phenomena.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: You really can buy caviar-topped ice cream sundaes in Dubai.
- Sanity Slippage: At the end of the game, Walker was...not quite right, to put it lightly. He does not get better as indicted by the fact he's hallucinating a dead Lugo and Adams alongside sporting a Beard of Sorrow:
- Redemption in the Rain: Attempted by Walker. It doesn't quite stick; he decides that the rain was intended for the dying refugees, not for him.
- Rejected Apology: Walker tries to apologize for causing Lugo's death and generally running their mission into the ground. Lugo's response? He brushes it off and tells Walker to kill himself.Lugo: Just saying, you already killed off most of the city. Might as well pick up the spare.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Walker encounters a soldier from the Damned who is attempting to flee the city.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Walker's still having hallucinations about dead people. The narration implies that the sandstorm is sentient and actively trying to hunt him down. And when Falcon-1 shows up at the end, Walker initially assumes that they are yet another hallucinaton.
