An Awful Quite Night (Hachiro's Awakening)

Hachiro stood behind the bar cleaning some of the glasses, which he had already cleaned once already. It was a rather slow night at Moriarty's Bar, the owner even made a comment that molasses would be more entertaining, before he left for the night. He told Hachiro to keep the bar open till 3 A.M. then he could close it, because if no one came during the peak hour...chances are no one would come later. Granted, Hachiro was long past the peak hour, it was 2:30 A.M. right now, and not a soul had come in the bar. Normally, this place was full of people drinking, making jokes, tears, and laughter. It was one of the more popular bars, and the owner made it happen by trying his hand at various stand up comedy routines....Moriarty wasn't a stand up comedian for sure, but the patrons were often too drunk to care.

The older man set the glass he was cleaning down at the bar and looked around the empty room. It was so eerily creepy to be here alone, without life or thought or laughter. It was amazing of how lonely a place can be when everything is gone. Granted, being alone didn't bother Hachiro any, he wandered countries alone without anyone watching his back, and he made it through just fine. He considered getting a drink for himself, it had been a long time since he had one. Great....was this going to turn into his urge to have a smoke too? The vices of life were such a damn nuisance, getting addicted was a hardship he would rather not face again. He overcame it, but sometime those urges surge forward as another hardship. He just had to keep reminding himself that not falling for such hardships would make him a better person. He picked up the glass and began to clean it with a rag once more, waiting for someone to come in.

It was a quiet night indeed. Especially for one lone man who would walk into a bar. He was a rugged older man, most likely in his mid-thirties in age. He was six foot four, white-skinned, had brown hair cut to the point where he was practically bald, and wore a camouflage uniform with a purple medal hanging on his chest. He looked like he just came home from the military actually. He had an obviously miserable look on his face, like he seriously needed a drink. Apparently that was exactly his plan as he walked over to the front bar and took a seat. “What is the hardest stuff you have? And mix it with the second hardest stuff you have,” he said, his eyes pure crimson as he looked into Hachiro’s as he made his request. He didn’t even seem to care how he worded it. “God, I fucking wish sometimes people didn’t bug me. You don’t know how much earlier I’d be here if I didn’t have so much shit to deal with,” the man ranted.

Hachiro placed the glass he was cleaning on the bar in front of him as a military man entered the bar, the man was six foot four in a camouflaged uniform with a bald look about him, and a purple heart pinned to his chest. He wasn't an officer, that much was evident. In fact, the man looked like he just came back from military, but instead of joy on his face...he saw an absolutely miserable look on his face. He had never seen such a sad face on a returning man's face. The solider asked what the hardest stuff he had was, and to mix it with the second hardest stuff he had. "I'll mix J & B with some Brandy, its the hardest mix I can make. Not many men can withstand it." The wanderer would say as he grabbed the drinks, while the man ranted a bit. When he had them gathered, he poured them into his mixer and began to shake them up for a few minutes. He didn't do anything fancy, he knew the man wanted the drink as soon as possible, he saw it in the man's crimson eyes.

"What kind of shit are you talking about? Looks like you just got back from the military, you should be out celebrating shouldn't you?" Evidently there was something wrong, Hachiro could only imagine what it was, he had no idea what it truly was. If it was something minor like paperwork, then the bartender would be upset. Though pissing off a military man would not be wise, at all. Eventually, he was done mixing the drink and poured it into a mug, the man would no doubt need it. He set the mug down before the man, it was a little frothy, but Hachiro always thought that is when you know a drink was at its finest. When it was at his perfect form, granted Hachiro was no professional or fancy bartender. However, the usually apathetic man thought he knew how to mix a mean drink or two. He set the kept the drink mixer close by in case the man needed another drink, which by the looks of it....he would.

Hachiro stood and listened to the man, who was obviously proud of the drink he had, and how he spoke of the prodigies and how they intend to make a change. The marine even made the mention of how a kid threatened him when he came home, that was rather surprising to see a kid mouthing off to a military man. The kid was either dumb or incredibly brave, Hachiro was betting on the former. The man was evidently tired and sick, and like the bartender had been through quite a bit. He watched the man hold his hands out begging to be agreed with. "The kid sounds incredibly foolish for threatening you a military man, in my own opinion, but you do have a point. These "prodigies" you speak of they have yet to encounter a hardship that will define who they become. They will either overcome it, and become good people who understand the importance of these hardships. Or...or they fail and then their hearts turn to evil. That's how I see it."

Afterwords, the man would say that those around here needed a good kicking if they wanted a more grateful outlook of life. Hachiro would nod, "They haven't seen what we've seen. They have not seen friends killed by horrible people, they haven't seen acquaintances shot for asking water or dropping a pan meant to sift through sand to find diamonds. They haven't seen innocents killed in the line of fire, or refugees struggling to survive. What they need is to face hardships so they can understand these problems, and then they will learn to not to complain about not getting a shiny T.V. or toy."

Hachiro watched the man's head rise the moment he began to speak of people facing their hardships. The man's crimson eyes met the bartender's there was something different about this man's stare. A sort of power that slightly unnerved the calm bartender. It was like the man before him could see his very soul, this trait said a lot about the man before him. Not even when he had a gun to his head, did he have this kind of feeling. The man before him would speak about how Hachiro was a smart human compared to everyone else, and how humanity grew stronger through discord but would prefer it on a silver platter. He watched the mug get set down as he leaned forward, he then said humanity was denying their true nature, and asked what he thought about that.

"Now I don't know about being smarter than others, but I just see things differently than most people. I guess you could say I've learned through observation. Though why do we relish things handed to us on a silver platter? Because we don't want to face the hardships head on because we can't overcome them. However, people need to understand that these hardships don't go away. It's like I tell people who come in and drink and then say they're trying to stop. 'You gotta kick the drink, the alcohol industry isn't going to roll over for you'. By advancing through the discourse or hardships we come out better in the end. People can't push those challenges away, and I'd be more than happy to teach them that. Heck, I already try to." The bartender would offer back as his stance on why humanity denies its nature.

The bartender watched the solider laugh, had he said something funny. Then the solider began to say that he was impressed by Hachiro, and his journey to make the reality his. Then he began to speak of how the journey must be hell due to his lack of resources. The man then asked how far he would be willing to go to achieve his goal, and then the man said his full name. The bartender would be shocked at how this man knew his name, but as the man was speaking his senses were getting cloudy and going dull. "How do...you know...what the hell is wrong with me?" He would stammer out as the pain in his head grew very sharp, and his vision blurred before everything went black. After a few moments he would regain his senses and composure, but it was evident that it was later in the night. The clock was 3:34 A.M. and a few things had changed, but that time couldn't be right...he wasn't senseless for that long was he?

After a few steps he managed to steady himself, and he noticed two things. In the middle of the bar there was a pink oval opening that showed images of a rainy city, that most certainly wasn't there before. What on earth was that? Some other city, how odd, but Hachiro's attention was soon drawn to a black spot of what looked to be bubbling oil that made noise. Wait....oil didn't make noise, and he nor the solider had spilled anything. That left only one question.

What the hell was it?

The older man felt as though it was beckoning him closer, and while it might of been against his better judgement to get closer, he did. He got out from behind the bar and approached the black liquid on the floor. He eyed it suspiciously, he was remaining calm so he could think clearly, but he could not help but take one step then another closer to it. Wondering what it would do, or more what it was. There was only one way he would find out, and it wasn't like he could do anything but get closer to it.

Hachiro watched a hand burst from the black sludge, and he instinctively took a step back unsure of what was going to come out of that sludge. Eventually a shape taller than him, which was impressive, clawed its way out. The shape became a feral beast clad in armor with an eye-patch, wielding a sword in his right hand, and claws attached to his left. This being was bred for combat or hunting, and it eyed him with interest. The creature said it was called to meet him? By who? He didn't even know where to start to call such a being, but then a voice spoke from the entrance of the bar. The wanderer would see the solider at the entrance, when did he get over there?

The solider asked if he saw what lied before him, the answer was obviously yes a very large feral beast armed to the teeth with weapons. However, the solider said it was something that could help achieve his goals, and that the returning solider could offer him this tool or true power. However, there was one condition, which didn't really surprise Hachiro there was always a catch. He was to find his purpose and claim, and not let the state of man steer him from claiming his goals, as that state would lead to his demise. He was to give the foolish what they deserved. He watched the creature kneel before the solider, indicating a hierarchy, and even then the beast was half his height. This creature was something that could be used to accomplish his goal of teaching those who wanted life to be handed to them on a silver platter a lesson. A way to make people better by forcing them to overcome him with this power, or at least making them realize their problems were a source of strength to draw from. Well....wasn't that what he wanted? For others to realize they should be grateful and accept the challenges they were faced with.

"I don't know who you are, but you have offered me one hell of a deal. A deal that I accept, you're giving me the chance to really open up the people's eyes to how grateful they should be, and how they should accept the discourse in their life and seek to overcome it. If the only thing I have to do is pursue this goal with the help of this power, then I'll do it. After all the world would be a better place, wouldn't it?" That wasn't exactly a question, but for once Hachiro cracked a knowing smile at the solider by the entrance. He may not know who this man was, but this was too good to pass up.

The solider seemed pleased with his answer, but also mentioned that something was going in his home. Well there was that criminal, and it wouldn't take a much bigger hint than that. Evidently, the criminal and the disappearances were not simply coincidences. Good to know, perhaps he would look into that, after all he would hate if this criminal was seeking the silver platter in life. He watched the man leave, and then saw the feral beast turn to him. It introduced itself as Bellerophon the slayer of the Chimera and his warrior and servant. The creature would lose shape and fly onto Hachiro covering and invading every orifice he had. It hurt like hell and the bartender grunted multiple times through the process, and it forced him to his knees. However, when it was finished he could feel the beast in his mind.

"Well Bellerophon, we're gonna be very busy. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but if you slayed the Chimera then we should be just fine." He would say, before glancing at the time he still had 19 minutes till his shift was over. He went back behind the bar and poured himself a small glass of whiskey, and looked at the portal. "I think I know just where to start too."