What we leave behind. (Closed)

Glasgow had a reputation. The Independent, a British news paper, once dubbed it the 'Murder Capital of Western Europe' and it was a well deserved title. The champion had become lax in the past ten years but that didn't mean she was down and out.

Sal had seen brutality that put animals to shame, when he was alive and as a Shinigami. Men plunged blades into one another like it was a hobby, golf for the more psychotically inclined, for as little as looking in their direction the wrong way, or on the wrong day, or in the wrong part of town.

He actually felt rather cheated, and a touch amused, that he had survived 23 years in one of the most dangerous cities on the planet only to be killed in Tokyo by falling from a window, no less. Mundane to say the least.

She had her good points though. Glasgow was one of the most contradictory places he had ever been. Her occupants were both the most brutal and yet the warmest people all at the same time. They could knife you in the back or buy you a drink. He'd had more than one run in with both these types in the past and he still couldn't get his head around it.

The one good point, as far as he was concerned, was the discovery of one small, inconspicuous pub on Alexandra parade in the East End of the city. Which was called, surprise surprise, the Alexandra.

It wasn't especially large. A door in one corner, the bar directly ahead, and a horseshoe shaped area for seats and tables that lead into a back area, via an alcove to the right, with large almost dinner like tables, the old wooden kind you saw in medieval taverns in the movies.

Its walls were painted a very dark blue, almost black, with pictures of old rock and roll bands like the Stones, David Bowie, Elvis, The Kinks, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash among others.

It had been a hard night, and afternoon, when he had found it. Despite his best efforts he still couldn't kill the guilt that ate him up inside when he had to cut off a little girls head. She had been infected, no cure, no way back. She had killed Thirteen people by the time he had found the nest and he had taken down everyone of them with cold efficiency but after the battle had passed, when the adrenalin wore off, he felt the ache that he couldn't silence.

Sal had walked in to the sound of 'Black Sabbath-Momma I'm Coming Home' on the jukebox and almost walked right back out again. That wasn't a song you needed to hear when you felt the way he did.

Fortunately the call of booze trumps pretty much anything if you're Sal Norongachi and so he stepped up to the bar, kitted out in his new Gigai, and ordered a beer and a whiskey chaser.

He grabbed his drinks and wandered right of the bar, grabbing a table by the frosted glass window at the right hand side against the back wall.

The first drink vanished before his seat had even got warm, it seemed redundant to even sit down but he didn't fancy the idle small talk that bar staff felt inclined to indulge in. He took off his black hip length jacket and left it on the seat, as was customary when you didn't want some prick to steal your table, and grabbing the empty glasses wandered back over the the bar.

He was expecting the same Barman, a tall guy with thick black rimmed glasses that seemed to be all the rage, and a Thundercats t-shirt.
What he got was a 5'8" redhead with, you guessed it, green eyes. he didn't exactly fall over but his mind did flat line for a moment as be processed the pale pink lipstick, the lip ring and the sneak peak of a tattoo on her right shoulder that he was sure carried on a long way down her body.

"What can i get you?" She asked, English, posh English, Sal metaphorically melted where he stood.

"Ahem.." He coughed, clearing the rather large knot of Nervousness that had unexpectedly lodged in his throat. "A Carling and a Monkey Shoulder" He responded, trying to remain calm, despite the feverish school girl feeling coursing throughout his body.

"Yeah," She smiled, the jig was up before it had begun. "Coming right up."

He retrieved his drinks and retreated in a manly fashion, quickly and red faced. He drank his beer and downed the whiskey, to calm his nerves, never considering that he would have to face her again for more of the potent liquid sustenance. It was to late and he couldn't just sit here with an empty glass could he? No that was terrible pub etiquette.

He relocated his balls after a moment and went back up, to face the tasty bar wench once more. This time he was side swipped.

"That was quick." She said, cleaning a glass to pass the time, it was only 6pm and the place had few people in it yet.

"Its been awhile." Sal responded, his mind flying on automatic little realizing the response could be interpreted in another manner.

She laughed, and he was confused. "I'm Rachel, whats your name?"

"Sal, a pleasure." He responded and for some bizarre reason felt the need to shake her hand. Had he gone brain dead!?

"Are you from around here? I haven't seen you in here before" Rachel said, putting down the exceptionally clean glass and pouring out round 3 for Norongachi before folding her arms on the bar top directly across from him and leaning in, a lock of hair falling from its place behind her ear and partially covering her left eye. Why did she have to wear a tank top, was there really ANY need for that?

Well...several, he thought, and two were making themselves known to him at this particular moment in time. He focused an inch to her left ear and used all his willpower to fix his gaze there. He failed, quickly.

"Rach...darlin', do me a favor would you?" He said, his eyes doing the 'breast to face' dance.

"If i can."

"Put away the girls, its hard to think when they're giving me the eye." He said without a hint of humor. Which got a smile, she did comply however.

"That's the first time I've ever complained about a good looking girl showing too much skin." Sal said and picked up his drink and took a gulp. "Yeah i lived here for 23 years, down Parkhead way, then i moved to Japan."

"If you do it again I'll call for a doctor," She responded with a smile that broke his heart. "That's interesting, business or pleasure?"

"Ha! All business, it killed me. Literally." Norongachi responded, taking little notice of the evil eye he was getting from some old drunk down the far end of the bar. "So I'm back."

"Quit?" She asked and she was either genuinely interested or had gotten this whole bedside manner down to a tee.

"In a manner of speaking," Sal took another mouthful of his beer. "I had a different calling."

"Well as long as this job makes you happy, its all good right?" She genuinely thought she was saying something positive. Poor bitch.

"Yeah, happy, right." Sal's face said it all. He was as far from happy as you could get, his heart was hacked into so many pieces that all the kings horses and all the kings men didn't have a flying fuck in hell of putting it back together again "Good talk Rach, I'm gonna, yeah, i'm going back to my seat."

She wasn't sure what she had said but she watched him leave, his brown hair caught in the wind from the air conditioning unit on the ceiling, his dark brown eyes taking on a haunted look as he walked away. Was she intrigued? Definitely. She was famous for her 'vibes' and this guy was sending her spidey sense haywire.

The bar filled up quickly after that, students in various forms of black clothing filing in from the cold streets outside. None of them thought it wise to sit at Sal's table even though there wasn't a seat in the house and his could hold an addition Six people.

He didn't blame them for that. He wasn't the happy go lucky guy he was when he was alive. We are shaped by our experiences, they say, and all he had known was pain and bloodshed. What had that shaped him into?

A Mindless killer? Only when the situation called for it.

A Heartless Monster? These were desperate times, weakness couldn't be tolerated.

And so the excuses ran around his head, one after another as he justified everything had done and would do. He looked up from his drink at the humans, drinking and laughing, blissful ignorance.

"Stop pretending you wouldn't watch the world burn if it got you revenge." He thought and felt that black pit in his stomach ache when he thought of that little girl he never knew, his daughter dead before she was Four years old. "You're all those things and so much more but you have never been a liar, don't start now. You already have enough personality defects..."

Sal could always go two ways when he was drunk. He could be the most sociable fool ever to step into a pub or he could be an aggressive dickhead. Tonight, fortunately, he was the former.

He stood at the bar and the drinks were now in double digits. The dark pit had been filled with liquid nourishment and he wasn't thinking the black thoughts he had been a few hours ago.

The jukebox blasted out 'Johnny Cash- A Boy Named Sue' and there was a group of girls over by the foozetable laughing loudly with each goal scored.

"Same again Squire?" It was the Thundercats t-shirt wearing barman, who also turned out to be the manager. His name was Theo and he was from London, he was also cool as fuck. They had a long discussion earlier about the finer things of 80's-90's cartoons. They both agreed that X-Men was the highlight of their childhood and that the newer stuff could suck their balls.

"Why can't the pretty one serve me?" Sal asked with a drunken smile.

"You don't think I'm pretty?" Theo pouted instantly, a perfect imitation.

"Of course i do mate, you know i think you're a sexy beast." This seemed to suffice but before he walked away he grinned and said.

"You dirty Scotsman." To which Sal could only shrug. It was true.

Sal was starting to feel like the desperate guy at a wedding, whoring himself out to anything with tits and a pulse. Despite himself he just kept talking to this poor barmaid, he wasn't even sure what he was saying half the time but he had this insistent feeling that if he broke conversation he'd never see her again and the guy downstairs wasn't best pleased at that prospect. Its hard to get laid when you're dead damn it!

"So what is your job exactly?" Rachel asked, she finished at 10 and like anyone who works in a pub she stepped over the other side of the bar and was transformed into customer.

I make sure nothing rips out your guts and eats them, Sal thought but simply said. "Its boring stuff, so how long have you been in Glasgow?"

Girls like talking about themselves anyway, right?

Wrong.

"You like the whole mystery thing don't you." She said, one perfectly shaped dark eyebrow rising on her pale forehead.

"Doing anything for you?" He asked with his patented lopsided smile.

"Not in the slightest."

"I figured as much but trust me you wouldn't believe me anyw-" There were the dolcite tones of a drunk guy getting very pissed off by the bar. Its only a matter of time before a fight breaks out in a pub. You cant have this many different personalities in the one place, supply them with copious amounts of alcohol and not expect it to turn ugly.

"Bollocks..." Rachel sighed and was up and heading towards the ruckus before Sal could stop her. He didn't hear what was being said, just a lot of shouting and swearing that melded into the Sex Pistols song playing in the background.

He stood up, he didn't want any trouble, he had enough of it as it is, but he wasn't famous for being sensible. It all happened so quickly after that, one minute there's a whole lot of posturing between Theo and one of the three guys and little Rachel stuck in the middle of it trying to calm the whole thing down and then Theo has a bottle over his head and Sal's running through the gawking crowd.

"Who's had enough now you specky prick!" One of the guys was yelling at Theo who was on the ground bleeding from a cut on his head.

"Leave him alone or i'm calling the police!" Rachel yelled trying to place herself between the men and her boss.

"Shut it, bitch!" And that's when he made the biggest mistake of his life.

Sal got there just in time to intercept the fist, catching the guy by his wrist and pushing it aside while moving in as close as possible and slamming a knee into his ribs which gave a delightful crack.

The fella with the multiple broken ribs fell to the floor and the guy to his left acted immediately, he snatched up two handfuls of Sal's black shirt and dragged the Glaswegian in. He wasn't expecting the last thing he saw that night to be a forehead smashing against his nose and a quickly snatched bottle of Budweiser shattering across the side of his head. Exit stage left, thug number 2.

Thug 3 came up from behind and grabbing Sal in a bearhug tossed the smaller man against the side of the bar, which hurt, like a bitch. Sal recovered in time to see the glint of steel, this dickbag had just pulled a knife on him!

The guy swung the small lock back blade at Sal's face and there are two things you can do, with your back against a bar. Sal went with stepping into the slash. He caught the man by the forearm, just below the elbow, gave the arm a twist and then brought his elbow up and hammered it into the joint.

The man fell to the floor and fought back the urge to crunch a boot into the side of his skull. The guy wasn't a threat anymore.

"Get up and get the fuck out, if you ever come back here again. I'll kill you." Sal's tone carried an icy calm that left no room for misinterpretation. He would kill them without a second thought.

The silence was oppressive. This wasn't the reaction he was expecting. A thanks might have been nice but all he could feel was disbelief...even fear. He looked around the ones who had been brave enough to stay. They whispered to one another, scared to look in his direction but brave enough to talk shit under their breaths.

Rachel looked up at him from her position over Theo, who was still unconscious on the floor, and her green eyes said it all really. Monster, barbarian, inhuman, killer...murderer.

She was right, he was all those things and so much more. It just wasn't nice to see his own thoughts reflected in the eyes of another. Not nice at all.

"Get him an ambulance..." Sal said, breaking the hush, and then made for the door feeling like the leper at the party.

He got out into the cold night air and took out a cigarette. He stuck the filter in his mouth and lit up. The nicotine wasn't helping the anger festering in his gut. How dare they, he had helped, he had fought for them!

It seemed to be a pattern lately, you put yourself on the line for people and they stab you in the back. They could all go fuck themselves, he didn't need them. They didn't know what was about to happen, they had no idea what was out there.

He turned down an alleyway and stopped dead, the only lights coming from the street lights on the main road. His senses were filled with a familiar static, a hiss on the edge of his hearing, the feel of the unnatural.

Sal popped the soul candy in his mouth and stepped from his Gigai, letting it fall to the ground, a lifeless doll, and waited.

"I know you're there you ugly bastards...don't keep me waiting." He growled to the darkness.

((Hollow mask duration increase app))

They did come. Three of them, still in their human guises. Hybrids, two guys and a girl, in their mid-teens.

They looked perfectly innocent and that's the way they were designed, to look like butter wouldn't melt until they ripped out your throat.

"We want to see him..." The girl said, while the men stood there like dumb mutes.

"I don't think anyone i know is into monster chicks darlin" Sal responded, although what they meant he wasn't sure.

"The creator..." She hissed and her eyes took on an emerald sheen, the pupils turning to cat-like slits.

"Oh..." Sal finally got what she meant, they wanted to see Abaddon. Word travels fast it seemed, if the grunts knew then the higher ups would know as well. So much for surprise.

"It will be the last thing you ever see..." Sal warned.

"Silly man...we're immortal." She said with a smile that split her face, her perfectly white teeth elongating and turning a metallic silver, the skin of her face cracking and then it burst and her clothes tore from the disgusting sickly green body that grew out of her skin. The two men followed suit and soon Sal stood facing the three 7ft creatures, their arms elongated like that of a simian.

"Tell that to the hundreds i've sent to the afterlife..." Sal growled and narrowed his eyes. If they wanted to see the face of their makers, he would show them.

The air around his body began to tremble, the very molecules shivering as energy began to pour from his body. Sparks of electricity flew from his skin and clashed with the alleyway walls, gouging chips of masonry from the redbrick stone.

The blindingly white mask shone through his skin and then the living ebony metal gushed forth from it, covering his body in seconds. The brows of his eyes vanished as they became pupiless and neon-green that contrasted against the blackness of his unholy armor. The face he was left with was locked in a permanent grin, silver teeth forever smiling at their prey like a skull.

He whipped his arms outwards, feeling the animalistic urge for destruction pouring from Abaddon, and roared into the night. The howl shook the very stone of the buildings and car alarms blared to life such was the volume.

He looked upon them, the three, and watched the looks upon their disgusting faces. Did they really think they were immortal, could they feel the power resonating from his body?

The first began to tremble after a few seconds of his transformation, then the second and finally the girl. They backed away slowly, their bodies like jelly under the spiritual assault from simply being close to Norongachi.

"Be careful what you wish for children..." Sal's mouth never moved, the words left his mind and shot off on a current of energy entering the minds of his prey like a virus, lodgings itself in their skulls.

Sal was upon them like a predator. He lunged, clawed hands, ripping into the flesh of the girl, stabbing into her chest with such ferocity. She screamed as her skin was peeled from her bones until one of her comrades knocked Sal aside.

The demonic Norongachi flipped mid-air and landed on the side of the wall, his claws digging into the mortar and then me sprung off again. He raked his right hand down the face of the left most Hybrid, splitting it down to the skull, and spinning mid-flight landed a kicked against the chest of the other who ping-ponged off the alleyway walls before rolling to a rest.

Sal stalked over to the female hybrid again, who lay, very much alive, on the damp rubbish strewn ground, her ribcage exposed to the world. He crouched down beside her and examined the damage he had inflicted.

"Its no fun...is it...when you are the prey.." He said, feeling the pulse of telepathic energy leaving his body.

"Wait...please..you're like us, you're supposed to help us!!" She pleaded but Sal wasn't listening.

He looked at his hand, the black metal covering every inch of it and with a thought the living skin began to shift, to change, and his fingers melded into one, the metal elongating and thinning, shaping itself into a blade.

"Not today princess..." He responded and raised the blade hand and brought it down again and again, the living metal cutting through her body with ease sending spurts of that horrible purple blood splashing across the alley. He cut her body into so many pieces that it became nothing more than a pulp of flesh, jerking occasionally in its death throws.

When she stopped squirming Sal allows his hand to return to normal and looked around at the remaining two. The one he had slashed across the face was already regenerating and the stunned one was back on his feet.

They did the only thing they could, they ran but they didn't get far. Tendrils of black fired from Sal's body wrapping around their bodies and dragging them backwards like the limbs of some horrible sea creature. They hung in mid air, the ebony constraints holding them easily in front of Norongachi.

"Little pigs....little pigs...won't you let me IN!" Sal roared and from his chest spikes shot forward, dozens of them, impaling the Hybrids like pin cushions, stabbing into the walls behind them. They looked at him, those horrid green eyes that almost matched his own unable to believe what was happening to them. The spikes retracted and then he drew them close, feeling the hot stink of their raged breaths against the black armor adorning his face.

He turned them , this way and that, and then from his shoulders two more tendrils of dark living metal emerged, curling up above his head like tusks.
He plunged them forward, stabbing again and again into their vital area, the neck, the eyes, the chest, the throat, temples....he would not stop, couldn't stop the blood lust was too strong even for Sal to control.

Sal let them go, the living metal, retracing its steps back to the brilliant white mask and then that too vanished. Lastly his eyes returned to normal and he slumped against the alley wall. He felt like he had just gone ten rounds with Jin.

He heard a noise and turned, there she stood, eyes wide with fright. Little Rachel, she had seen it all,

((Final Word Count- 910))

She ran, as fast as she could and Sal didn't have the strength to follow her. What did he really expect to happen, he had just maimed three drunks in her workplace and then eviscerated three monsters in a dark alleyway, while looking like a Buffy the Vampire Slayer monster reject.

This is the life you chose, he thought as he stood up, you cant have what they do. It just can't happen, water and oil don't mix.

He staggered out of the other end of the Alleyway, the sound of police sirens screeching in the distance. They wouldn't believe her anyway, hell they might even lock her up in a nuthouse if she told them the whole story.

That wasn't his problem, he had done enough damage as it was.

The Gigai lay face down in a puddle, eyes vacant, unmoving. Sal wouldn't need it anymore, he was done with chasing the impossible dream...