Who am I

March 1, 1746 20 miles east of Bordeaux

Fifty men and women in white were on their way to meet with fifty men and women in black to discuss their terms of surrender.

"How can we do this Elder are we simply going to become the Shinigame's lap dogs," argued a young man to a hunched over figure supporting himself with a gnarled cane, "you know as well as I that they are not invincible, you know what we do is justice." They had been arguing for the past two hours and finally the old man had had enough.

"What do you suggest I do Stark?" the elder exploded "Do you think I like this, has it crossed that thing you call a brain that maybe we don't have a choice in the matter?"

"No Elder I just thought …"

"Leave the thought to those who can think about the big picture for a change. You think just because you happen to be one of the most talented Quincy of your generation that that gives you the right to tell us all how to do business?"

Stark looked away, then over the faces of his brethren, "I just can't watch as we give up everything, this isn't a hobby or even our lively hood were talking about here this is who we are as a people. I just don't want us to lose who we are."

The Elder put his hand on Stark's shoulder as though he was going to comfort the younger man with sweet yet false word; in the end he let his hand drop.

"I know boy, truly I do."

They all could see the old barn that would be used to conduct this meeting.

"This is a cease fire," muttered the old man, "nothing more." Stark turned so quickly he almost lost his footing. The old man grinned while keeping an eye on the younger, "At the moment we lack the numbers nephew but when we don't for the pride of the Quincy we wills show them just what we can do."

Stark couldn't help but burst out laughing at that, "'Show them just what we can do' is that really the best you can come up with uncle we've been walking for miles and that's your best."

At that the Elder cracked a smile of his own, "Shut that mouth of yours, you know I can't say what I really want on account of the ladies present."

As they reach the building the Elder pulled Stark to the side, a few of the other watched them but he told them they would be along in a moment.

"Stark I don't know how long this will take."

"Probably a few minutes at the most, I doubt old Yamamoto would enjoy being in the same room with us for any amount of time."

"No not that but how long it will take for us to repopulate."

"I'll do my part," laughed Stark.

"This is serious," said the Elder immediately Stark closed his mouth, "I don't think I'll live to see the day we're back at full strength and I just wanted you to know even though you're rash, emotional, and tend to get caught up in the details I'm proud of you and I believe that you would make a good leader. When I die I want you to succeed me."

For a moment all Stark could do was stare mouth slightly open, eventually he recovered enough to show his gratitude, "Uncle I don't know what to say I."

"Then don't we have places to be and I don't have forever." He shuffled off into the old barn with his nephew hot on his heels.

"And so it follows that the Quincy will use their abilities only to detain the hollows in preparation for the arrival of the shinigame," Yamamoto's voice is like listening to a bunch of rocks grinding together, it had gotten so bad that at times Stark would outwardly wince, "if any Quincy destroys a hollow that individual will be justly disciplined and if such behavior continues then this treaty is void."

Each leader of their respective faction signed two copies of the treaty and that was the end of it, no great fanfare no crying family members rushing to meet the family that had been off fighting the good fight. Just one hundred people standing in the middle of a dilapidated barn signing pieces of paper each planning to betray the other; for the safety of the world.

June 23, 1746 Bordeaux

"I'll just be gone for a month at the most," Start said to the younger girl as he finished packing before realizing she had once again taken one of his books; snatching it back and returning it to its rightful place he continued, "one month do you think you can stay out of trouble for that long Lilinette?"

Lilinette finally looked up from the different knickknacks she had somehow acquired, "I'll bet my mistress'll be glad you're leavin though I ain't never seen her so much as crack a smile at anything before in my life."

She stood and faced Stark and planted her feet as though getting ready to face an incoming tsunami, "And when you get back you'll marry me got that," she said it as though that was as indisputable as say the sun always sets in the west even though she knew what he would say in the end.

"Lillinette you're 14 you know it wouldn't be proper." At her crestfallen look Stark softened his voice, "Look I promised I wouldn't let them marry you off, when I get back I'll declare my intentions to take you as my wife but not until your old enough." With her continued silence he played his last card, "When I return I'll take you away from this place, you can stay with me and my family we've got a big house and all the books you'll ever need, why you'll …"

"You mean that," she whispered so quietly that it could have been mistaken for the wind outside the window.

"Of course I do, I would never lie to you."

She grinned at that and waved him off as she went back to fiddling with something on the hem of her sleeve, "Well then get outta here already, the sooner you get to Paris and talk with whoever it is the sooner you'll get back."

Stark smiled faintly at how nonchalant she was being about his departure on the other hand, he supposed, he had only stayed at his friend's house two months out of the year for as long as he had been fighting the shinigame. With the war at least temporarily over he could settle down and maybe, dare he even dream it, start a family. With that joyous thought in mind he grabbed his things, said farewell to Lilinette and again promising it would only be a month, and left for Paris.

Seven days later Lilinette complained to her mistress of an upset stomach but her mistress berated her and had her continue working. Three days after that Lilinette collapsed from a high fever while leaving her home. Ten days after Stark had promised to take her home with him as soon as he returned from Paris Lilinette died.

It was two weeks, not a month, in which Stark was away from Bordeaux but when he returned it was not to find the inquisitive yet troublesome young woman he had left but a fresh mound of dirt and stone to mark her final resting place. He called a friend from the city who rushed immediately to Stark's aid and, under the cover of darkness, the dug up the body to try and determine how things could have gone so wrong so quickly. After a time it was discovered Lilinette was killed by peritonitis, a ruptured appendix.

Stark left Bordeaux that very night with the intention to never return.

August 6, 1756 Bordeaux

To the untrained eye it appeared to be a ghost town, at least everywhere except where a horde of men in white seemed to be running about; but to those who had the power they would see the thousands of creatures with white masks and horribly disfigured bodies all pouring out of one old abandoned manor. Around the back of the building where there were no Quincy at the moment a Garganta opened and out walked the creature with brown hair, green eyes, and eight tentacles for legs.

He looked around as though he had woken up in a strange room with no idea how he got there or even where there was.

"Hello, any of you low level chumps know where I am?" None of the surrounding hollows so much as glance in his direction so he decides to look around and get his bearings. As he was turning the corner of the house he nearly barreled into a lone Quincy fighting off three hollows at once. Fortunately he had repressed his reitsu to the point where he was no different than the average human soul. Rather than stick around to find out how the Quincy's fight would turn out he changed the pigment of his skin to match that of the boards on the house and slipped through an open window.

Once inside he immediately noticed the lack of hollows, in fact there was no sign of life at all. He moved through the rooms trying to puzzle out what was so important about this place. After a time he reached the cellar and what he saw astounded him. There was a Garganta in the middle of the room pulsing with energy and alternating between widening and narrowing as though sucking in air and then blowing it out. But it was not the Garganta that gave the man pause but what sat in front of it. It had no concrete form but was as white as a sheet and shined like the sun, he could see no features but was sure it was watching him and waiting to see which one would strike first.

The man plastered a cocky grin on his face crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "So I don't suppose you could tell me where I am?"

"I don't know," it whispered. When it spoke its voice was that of a young woman, though full of sadness.

"Who are you?" he asked hoping to gain some insight into who this creature before him was.

"I don't know."

"Why are you here?" asked the man drawing a few feet closer and peering at what he hoped was her face, "Are you looking for something?"

"I'm waiting."

"Waiting for what," when he got no reply he guessed again, "or perhaps who."

"Waiting for an angel," at last he could see eyes peering at him from out of the light, "Are you an angel?"

At that the man laughed, he laughed so hard he almost doubled over, "No no I never have been nor ever will be anyone's angel."

The specter's eyes drifted down to the floor, "I've been waiting for so long, so long."

The man was about to say something when he heard a crash come in from the ceiling, "Well," he turned to the specter, "perhaps that's your angel now."

The man then walked over to some stairs that would take him to a trap door leading outside but be for he opened it he turned back to the young woman's ghost, "If that angel's wearing white and blue or carrying a sword you make sure you don't go with them." And with that last piece of advice he was gone.

As he was moving away from the battlefield a high pitched whistling made itself known to him. The man stopped and cocked his head to the side trying to identify the sound; in a few moments his eyes went wide and he began to move as quickly as he could away from the manor, unfortunately his body was not made for quick movements on land so he was not far enough away when the first shinigami made their way into the real world. They descended on the Quincy like a pack of wolves, tearing through them without remorse. The man was almost at a place where he would be comfortable opening a Garganta when four shinigame blocked his path.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the centermost one as he drew his sword the other three following suit, "You some kind of Quincy experiment?"

The man sized up each shinigame, noticing none had released their zanpactou's yet, "just more unlucky nobodies," he thought.

"My name's Loth Elcho and I'm just your run of the mill Vaste Lorde that got stuck in the middle of your war against the shinigame. Now normally I'd just cripple you guys to keep the old man off my trail but something tells me that's not going to cut it so if you would be so kind as to fall on your sword I'd really appreciate it."

The leader of the group scoffed at that, "Well Loth-chan I don't know what a Vaste Lorde is but you'll make a great trophy. My name…"

"Whoa," Loth held up his hands and two tentacles, "shut up for a second cause I have three things to say before you go any further. Number one," he held up one finger as the men looked on as though this were the strangest thing they had ever seen, "I applaud your bravery in rushing blindly into a fight with an opponent you know nothing about but really, you're going to call me a girl, try and have some class, this isn't a schoolyard fight. Two," a hollow was lecturing four shinigame, it was so absurd you just had to stop and stare, "do I look Japanese? Do I even look Asian? No, then get it right, my first name is Loth then you say Elcho; if I actually cared to learn any of your names I would have the decency to us the right one when I'm addressing one of you." Loth hung his head in false exasperation but was really only hiding the grin that threatened to split his face.

"And three Cero."

From the tips of his raised tentacles two beams of energy sped towards the furthest two shinigami obliterating the first from the waste up the second shinigame had better reflexes than the first though this was not a boon. He lost the right half of his torso from his collar bone down to his pelvis as well as his right arm. If you could stand the sight of it on could actually see his spine and watch his heart frantically beat. The man gasped for air and tried to continue stand before his muscles gave out and he collapsed in what remained of his liver.

"You son of a bitch!" the other two charged Loth from the left and right. The one on the right swung his sword at Loth's neck while the other held his blade over his head and shouted, "Smash Martello Gigantesco!"

Loth grabbed the first man by the ankles with a tentacle before he could get within striking distance and simply held at a distance. However, now the leader was holding what appeared to be a giant sledge hammer which he brought down on the base of the tentacle holding his colleague. This, surprisingly enough, freed the weaker man, then the hammer was brought down once again right on top of Loth's head creating a rather large crater as well as kicking up a lot of dust.

"Go, report this to the higher ups we may need a few more men on this one," said the leader to his recently released squad mate.

The other man quickly picked himself up, turned to go for help, and promptly fell to his knees.

The other man ran over and asked what was wrong. Instead of responding the first man rolled back his eyes, began to foam at the mouth, fell over and died. Now alone the leader began to look for signs of backup the hollow may have had.

"Whew that was load, heck my ears are still wringing," Loth walked out of the dust towards the remaining shinigame, "that was a pretty good hit you got in."

"How," the shinigame clutched his hammer to his chest, "I should have at least broken something in your body so how are you still standing there?"

Slowly, as Loth got closer to his hopeless prey, one of his tentacles snaked its way towards the man's leg, "Well I'll let you in on a little secret," it made its way over the man's knees making sure not to put any noticeable pressure that would alert its prey, "octopus', aside from their beak, don't have any bones," Loth was standing a mere foot away from his prey, allowing his tentacle to finish its work. It began to wrap around the man's waist and arms not tight enough to cause any pain but discomfort definitely existed, "Therefore I have no bones."

The man began to struggle against what bound him, "Octopus' are also able to inject neurotoxins into other animals, this normally takes a few hours but I guess with me it's only a few seconds."

At that the captive stopped struggling and asked in a voice about an octave higher than normal, "You mean I'm going to end up like him?"

"You know what takes the place of the my bones," without waiting for a reply Loth squeezed the man until he felt like his eyes were going to pop out of his skull, "pure muscle."

"I don't have any bones to break," he then twisted his tentacle in a way that turned the man's chest to be on the same side as his posterior while his head continued to face "forward", "you do."

Letting the corpse fall to the ground Loth Elcho opened a Garganta that would take him back to what he had come to call home. Before leaving, however, he turned back to see the last of the quincy being take out by the shinigame. He swept his gaze over to the manor and felt a way of sadness was through him as he thought about the young woman waiting for her angel.

A/N Yeah, Loth isn't the nicest guy in the world but hey it's early in the story and he's not meant to be. The guy's release is in Italian because I couldn't find the sight I use to translate words into Japanese without it coming out in kanji. I've got the beginning and end of this thing planned out but the middle is difficult to pin down.