Posted: November 6th, 2014

Times Edited: 1

Last Edited: November 7th, 2014

Well, this one has been a long time coming, and I thought I'd try it. Nothing beats writing one of my favorite male characters ever… as a male SI-OC-into-a-canon-character.

Please enjoy! I know it's short, but…

Warning: Foul language, abuse mention, frequent (I mean, throughout the whole story) mentions of alcohol and crude descriptions of alcoholics that are not intended whatsoever to be offensive or necessarily true. Alcoholism is not the way to go, and if you or someone you know is suffering from this horrible way of life, please get some professional help before the lives of you, someone you know, or innocent family members and friends are ruined beyond repair.

Chapter One: Crispin Original

ABV (Alcohol By Volume): 5.00%

Style: Cider

Color: Golden

Description: Crispin Super Premium Hard Apple Cider is naturally fermented using a premium apple blend, with no added malt or spirit alcohol. Crispin's crisp flavor is smoothed with pure apple juice, with no added sugar, colorants or sodium or benzoate preservatives and cold filtered for crisp refreshment. It is advertised as "crisp, refreshing hard apple cider."

I didn't intend to become a raging alcoholic in my second life at all; in fact, it was the last thing on earth that I wanted to be. I'd rather have been dead. I started out as just a wannabe surfer from California who had a boring desk job where I stared at pictures of the men that I wanted to be:

Muscular.

Smooth.

I wanted to be the one with the dirty-blonde hair and the huge pecs with the huge… well, you know where I'm getting at…

The name's Brad and I'm a pretty simple guy. I'm nothing special and I'm no one in particular. I'm just a guy trying to get on with my life in the hell that is the United States of America.

That's who I was, anyway.

I always wanted to be secure and have a good job. And I did, you know? Like, it wasn't anything special; I hated the place! Everyone was always so gray and boring and business. I wanted to be free… and I got my 'wish', no matter what kind of hell I had to go through to get to it.

You know, some people are absolutely cursed. Their lives were meant to be screwed up and they had absolutely zip to do with it. I'm not about to say I'm one of those guys, but I can't say I was blessed with a loving family:

Dad's a drunk. He used to get fired regularly in my childhood because of it; he'd go to work drunk and come home drunk on a near-daily basis, but he was one of those tired-drunks. Came home and passed out on the couch like some kinda huge lump.

Mom's got a lot on her plate. Despite my dad's constant job-loss, she was a stay-at-home mother and took care of my sister and I. Even though I did have someone to take care of me, it was a shitty experience. I'm not about to get into that, though; I have no memories worth sharing with that woman.

My youngest and only sibling, my sister, her identity is unknown to me; after she turned eighteen and saved enough money up from her fast food job, she skipped town and changed her name. Haven't seen her since. I don't blame her, either; if mom had done what she did to her to me, I'd be getting the hell out of town, too.

Twenty-four is a young age to die, isn't it? In most people's terms, people who die that young are either plagued with a disease that rules their lives, victims of a tragedy, or maybe even both.

My death was not planned, but it was no accident.

I had gotten used to my father's alcoholic fits of rage ever since my childhood. While I was able to avoid it for the most part, That night, the night of October 10th, was the date of my demise.

However, on the flip-side of that coin, it was the beginning of my birth… or, not necessarily a birth, but a new beginning.

I spent more time than I could count in darkness after the final bottle hit my head, courtesy of the woman that I couldn't even seem to call my mother. She hadn't meant to, and even though I begged myself to believe that, I couldn't seem to do so. Deep down, I think I thought that she had wanted me to perish so that I didn't have to see what my father was and what he could turn into any longer. It was a mercy killing, but one that didn't need to be done.

From that moment on, I relived every memory, every feeling, and every moment of my twenty-four year old life through thought, not action.

Then, my eyes flew open at the moment the darkness should have looped around once more; when my final memory drew to an end. In that instant, it was beginning again. Not my life, but someone else's.

The sky; it was such a beautiful grade of blue. Not a cloud drifted into my sight as I lay face-up, gazing at it. There was a moment of peace before I started to feel something that I hadn't seemed to feel for a very long time; pain. My whole body began to convulse as my memories began to escape me:

My first kiss – gone.

Graduating high school – it never happened.

My girlfriend – forgot her name, her face… even her phone number!

My history – I never existed.

My identity – I am a blank slate.

It was all gone within a moment, and I was stuck, shivering in my own skin. It was a warm color now; almost like the one that I used to get whilst getting tanned in the Californian sun… but I got the sense that it was permanent.

I am now a blank slate with nothing to cling onto. Even the sky knew this; it openly mocked me. It knew that I had just lost everything that I could grasp onto; I could no longer hold anything close to my heart and it felt as though I had nothing to fall back upon… not even the memories that I knew I had previously possessed.

I am no longer to be called "Brad" like I was mere lifetimes ago. With my new body, name, and life, I am not allowed to become the failure that "Brad" was before me. I am no longer the stupid kid who wanted a way out, a way to become a free soul. Brad was the simple guy, the normal Californian who wished to be free amongst the waters of the Pacific Ocean. From that October 10th and beyond, I became a new person; someone with an entirely different set of advantages and disadvantages as "Brad" had.

I am no longer a simple man.

I am now the most complex of them all.

Xanxus.

Q&A:

What is with this introduction?

I decided that, instead of an actual typical death scene, I'd go ahead and introduce you all to Brad's personality early on (which, personally, is "dark, yet a bit cook-y"). I didn't really want to write what would be my millionth death scene, so… yeah, that's all. I'm just here… trying new things… I made it short and sweet as well!

Important: What is with that chapter title thing?

Well, I've decided that I'm going to copy off of myself and my "Flowers" idea and name all chapter-things after liquor products and give the readers a run-down on the particular piece of liquor I select. They're in no particular order and more-or-less random. This one is going to be in-depth. Any brands or companies mentioned in the chapter names/descriptions do not belong to me nor am I affiliated with them, and all information displayed is off of the internet site tcbeer dot com –without spaces and such, you know-!

What about your other stories?

My least favorite question. Nothing is (so far…) abandoned, and I don't usually get ideas this good. This one is definitely a keeper… but now I have to fit it into my schedule before people rage-PM me! I'm not sure as to how often I'm going to update this one (because the plot is still fairly new to me and I need to work out some kinks and everything so that it flows smoothly), but hopefully I can come out with another chapter soon. As for the rest of my stories (except for "Flowers"), they are also undergoing changes to their plots and the long and tedious efforts of editing. There is more information on my profile about that. Rest assured, I'm having fun. For now. Until someone asks this question. Then I won't be having fun.

Where the hell did you think of the name "Brad"?

I thought it was a simple name for a simple guy. Brad is no one in particular; he is a figment of my imagination and… now, yours too.

Is this story going to be in third person like your other one?

I'm going to try to go back to first-person with this one. In this case, I think that it'll work out.

Does he know anything about KHR?

Nah, I've always thought that that was boring. Knowing everything about the plot of a story just seems to take the element of surprise out of it… so, rest assured, "Brad" knows nothing.

Author's Notes:

The original plan was for Xanxus to be female, but… I thought that was getting a little… you know, old. Hopefully my take on this is… refreshing, to say the least! I know it's a bit overdone, but this is Fanfiction. It could always be worse.

Feel free to check out other stories by me!

Hopefully next chapter will be a bit longer; I hate having long A/Ns with short chapters… besides, I have a lot to share for next chapter!

I'm still not too sure on the title… I'll plan on fixing that if I can use my head to figure a new one. XXX just seems… meh.

Thank you for reading!

Reviews are the driving force of updates; I do appreciate them, and I try to answer all of the ones that are not rushed/or Guest reviews! :D Thank you to all in advance who do so!

~Teafully~