Chasing Ghosts [Sho/???]

How many months was he going to let this go on for? How many more months would he spend wasting away in dive bars drinking away the pain till he finally reached that point to where he would no longer feel the faintest itch of despair that had become his day to day neutral? How many more women would he chase around in a drunken haze only to wake up the next morning thinking that his perfect ten was more of a three honestly as he glanced over at them from the hotel room bed? How many more nights of debauchery? How many more bottles of jack? How many more? To be honest, Sho had none of the answers that he needed, not a single damn answer, and as much as he would love to find some semblance of actual stability to his life he knew for a fact that there was none coming for him. And to be quite honest...he was beginning to get used to the idea of not having any sort of stability. He was in fact loving the feeling of throwing all caution to the wind and actually just letting the current of the world drag him along for the ride like a ship without a sail.

It was exciting to say the least. The thrill of not knowing where you might be the next day or how many shots and/or mugs of beer you could take before even a man with a high constitution like himself had to call it quits. But even that thrill was beginning to dull. The feeling of getting plastered, the women, and the thrill of the unknown were beginning to ware pretty thin for him even though he enjoyed them. It wasn't like they didn't do their job of making him forget what had happened to him or more importantly what had happened to his squad mates, but now it was taking more and more to forget. More women, more booze, more thrills. He was beginning to self-destruct and he knew that, but he knew why things were dulling. Why things weren't having that normal kick like they used to:

Zwei

The name belonged to the being who had murdered his squad, caused him deep psychological trauma, and had left him the lone survivor of a failed mission to keep the peace. Peace. What a funny word. Sho hadn't known peace for quite some time and he wouldn't know peace for even longer as long as that monster Zwei was walking around. Revenge was a dish best served cold and this particular dish had been frozen at this point and Sho just wanted to stuff Zwei's damn face with it. Yet, despite his best efforts to find the little shit, Zwei was missing. A ghost flickering out of existence, disappearing from those that sought to bring him to justice. The last Sho had heard, he was with Monsuta (not that it mattered to the man who wanted to put a gun to his head pull the trigger till there was nothing left, but a splatter of gore and bone splinters). No, what mattered was that he was gone, and with him Sho's last safety net was slowly eroding out from underneath him.

Self-destruction didn't sound bad at this point to Sho though. Maybe he would get to see his squad mates again in the realm of non-existance that awaited him when he finally punched his clock? The thought was beginning to become more and more intriguing, the bottle of pills, and a loaded gun seeming like more and more of a better chance at finally releasing him from his suffering. Yet, the need for revenge kept his will to survive firmly in charge. Every time he got close to doing the deed, the thought of Zwei standing victorious over him, and mocking him for being so weak willed filled his mind and he would stop. He couldn't let the little shit have the last laugh, oh no, he would be a wrinkled bag of flesh decaying from old age before he allowed that mother fucker the satisfaction of seeing him off himself. He would keep on living, drinking, and flirting with anyone with a nice rack until he had seen his mission complete. Once that mission was done then and only then would he decide if his life was actually worth continuing.

It was with in that state of mind that Sho had decided to dress himself up fancily. Putting on a burgundy suit and collecting his severance money from the Vanguard in hopes of enjoying himself at a high class club. He was a man who usually liked the dive bars, they were less costly, and more his style, but that particular evening he wasn't looking to drink himself under the table and hit on every girl who happened to show any interest in his old Vanguard war stories. No, tonight he wanted to relax, and try something new. Maybe a new thrill was what he needed and maybe a change in scenery while he was at it! So, as he entered the club, and took his seat at a table, he would light up a cigarette. It wouldn't take too long for a waiter to find him and before the waiter could even ask what Sho wanted he had his order:

"Bourbon shots and keep them coming...I'm pretty sure it is going to be a long night."