AN: And after my long absence I finally return! Albeit with a rewrite of the first chapter rather than anything new. Well, I'll let you all get to reading the new and (hopefully) improved first chapter of this little story of mine.

The crash was sudden, like most are, the car that caused the crash coming out of nowhere, plowing through the opposing traffic, traveling several feet before finally coming to a stop. The man driving the car had been killed on impact, though he was not the only casualty, the trail of devastation his vehicle had left in its wake had claimed several lives, and would likely claim several more in the minutes to come. Unnoticed by all, the panicked onlookers, the few brave, heroic souls who rush to aid those they can, and those just arriving to the scene, a tall, pale man stands amongst the crowd. His features are extremely gaunt, his cheekbones sharp and prominent, his eyes deep and dark stare over the scene before him, scanning it for...something. Seemingly spotting what he is looking for, he passes between the crowd, touching none of them despite their close proximity. Again, his presence goes unnoticed, though not unfelt, as those closest to him feel their skin crawl, though the reason for why is unknown.

The man makes his way over to the edge of the devastation, to a car whose entire front end is unrecognizable as once being a vehicle. The metal is twisted and warped horrifically, the windows all shattered into naught but dust, and there, sitting in the driver's seat, a large piece of metal through his chest, is the young man he has come to find. The young man's breathing is ragged and wet, blood clogging his lungs as the hole in his chest slowly saps the life from him. He turns his head at the sounds of footsteps, and unlike all the others, his eyes, slowly beginning to dull, focus on the man suddenly at his side.

"No living family, a dead end job, a few 'friends' that would leave you behind in a heartbeat if it benefited them...When you pass there will be no one who will mourn your loss, and for that I am sorry, no one should die alone and forgotten." The pale man says to the young man, no more than a child in his eyes.

"W-w...ho?" The young man manages to choke out between labored breaths and bloody coughs.

"I am that which comes for all things, in time. You mortals have many names for me, Shinigami, Charon, Grim Reaper, but the name I have always carried is Death. You will die here, I am sorry, but there is nothing that can be done for you, not in time." The man, no, Death, says to the boy in the car.

"R-R..eal..ly? T-th..at….suc...ks." The young man says, his breaths becoming even more haggard and the coughs coming in greater numbers.

"It is always difficult, having to collect one as young as yourself, who never really got the chance to live before your life has come to an end. I do not relish my work, but it must be done, lest far worse outcomes be made reality. Your life may end here...but what if I were to offer you a second chance? A chance to live again?" Death asks.

"Th...a...t'd...be…...ni…..ce." The boy says with an ever so faint smile on his lips, even as the light in his eyes fades more and more as the seconds pass.

"I shall warn you, this does not come freely, you will have a monumental task ahead of you if you accept. It will be dangerous, it will be difficult, and your new life may be cut short once more. Do you still wish to accept my offer?" He asks, a serious look in his dark eyes.

"Y-Y...es….I….acc...ept." The boy says. The light finally fading fully from his eyes, his breathing has stopped, and his body goes limp.

"Then the bargain is struck. For little it is worth, I shall think you shall do just fine. You were destined for greatness after all, before you were cheated by a man with a grudge." Death says. He then reaches his hand into the young man's chest, hand passing through bone and flesh as if it were no more than smoke, fingers curling around an object before His hand retreats. There, clutched in his hand is a small orb, seemingly made of either crystal or some other glass-like material. Inside the orb is a swirling silver mist, which flows and moves like the tides, constantly changing and never remaining still. He clutches the orb tightly to himself, before He leaves, just like he appeared, disappearing into the ether as the sky begins to rain.

Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown

A matronly woman, dressed in a long, flowing sundress, tends to the plants in her greenhouse with a faint smile on her face as she hums a tune to herself. The woman's smile faint as it is, shines brighter than the sun streaming in through the roof, her very presence seemingly radiating warmth and kindness in abundance. The feeling that surrounds her is so very much the opposite of the man who appears near the entrance of the greenhouse. The woman pauses in her work, dusting her hands to rid them of the dirt that covers them as she turns to greet the man.

"Well hello there Death, to what do I owe the pleasure of this little visit? Usually you are far too busy to visit little old me here." The woman says to Death. The woman's warm green eyes, the shade shifting from moment to moment, shine upon seeing the guest in her little slice of paradise.

"I'm here regarding that favor you asked of me, I believe I have found one who fits the criteria you have given me." Death says, preforming a small bow to the woman, before extending his hand which holds the sphere of silver mist to her.

"Really now? Well then let's have a look shall we?" The woman replies, taking the sphere from Him gently. She brings the orb close to her chest, her eyes closing as she does so, concentrating on the feeling of the orb in her hands. She offers a small gasp as her eyes flutter open moments later and she brings a hand to her mouth as her eyes soften.

"Oh dear sweet child, you've been through so much in such a short life. Do you really think he is capable of the task ahead of him? It would tear me apart inside to think I sent a child with as difficult a life as his to his second death." She asks Him.

"I think he could, he would have accomplished great things in his life, if it weren't so callously stolen from him by a Deal-Maker. His heart is strong, and while he may have been non-confrontational at times, sometimes that is for the better." He answers.

"Indeed...well if you believe he is capable then I suppose I shall trust your judgement in this matter. You deal with Mortals far more often than myself, so if either of us would know what they are capable of it would be you. Thank you Death, you may consider us even now...now go on and get out of here, I know you don't mean to do it but you're ruining my magnolias." She says, before shooing off the physical embodiment of the concept of death with her hand.

"Of course Lady Gaia, I shall now take my leave." Death says, offering up another bow to Her before he takes a step backwards and once more fades into the ether.

"That child I swear…why can he not simply call me Mother like his siblings?" Gaia says to herself, shaking her head in exasperation. She then turns her attention back to the silver mist in her hand, bringing it up to eye-level, before she speaks directly to it.

"For what it's worth child I wish this was not needed, but fear not, I shall not send you off on this task without giving you a boon to help you complete this task ahead of you, I believe this boon would be somewhat familiar to you even. Though this boon doesn't come without a cost, in exchange you'll have to give up your memories of this life, is that acceptable?" She asks the sphere in front of her. There is no audible answer to her question, but the mist does glow slightly brighter in response to her question.

"Thank you child, now then, let's get you ready shall we?" She says, the faint smile returning to her lips as She speaks. She then turns around and strides towards the exit of the greenhouse.

Location: Unknown

Time: N/A

P.O.V Shift

The next thing you're aware of is an endless void, devoid of anything, save yourself and the floating screen in front of you. You don't remember how you got here, or even where here even is, you don't remember anything quite frankly, save for the voice of a woman who filled you with a sense of warmth at the only memory you possess. You turn your attention away from that, and instead focus on the only other thing in this featureless void, the floating screen. Reading the text on it comes naturally to you, even though you lack the memory of learning to read, you don't have any trouble with it.

Hello child, you likely don't remember this, but I am Gaia, and you accepted an offer of mine, a second chance at life, after yours was cut so tragically short. As a token of my appreciation for you accepting, I decided that you should have some input on your appearance in this new life. This interface was created for this purpose, and once you are finished your new life shall begin, simply press the button in the bottom corner of this screen to proceed.

You press the button that the text indicated, and the text from before is replaced by an image of what you assume to be yourself, which currently is just a blank silhouette, and looking at your hand you find that the image in front of you is accurate. Your hand is devoid of features, which you hadn't actually noticed until now, and looking over the rest of you reveals the rest of your body is similarly featureless. Before you even get the chance to inspect the options on the screen in front of you another screen pops up in front of the other one.

Oh! I almost forgot! Before we get into the nitty gritty of your appearance we should determine your stats. You have Six total stats, three physical and three mental, you have twenty points to put into them as you wish. Each stat starts at ten, the average for a normal person, go ahead and distribute those points now.

Once you finish reading that bit of text, the smaller screen disappears for a moment, before coming back with six rows of text off to the left side, followed with the words, points remaining, next to the number twenty. The six rows from top to bottom read, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, each of them has the number ten next to them, along with an arrow to the right of the number. You figure you might as well put the points pretty evenly...though you do give into the temptation to put a few more points into Strength and Charisma. At the end your little spending spree the screen reads as this.

Strength: 15Dexterity: 12Constitution: 13Intelligence: 13Wisdom: 13Charisma: 14

It asks you if you're sure about your choices once you hit the final area, and you confirm that you are indeed sure about where you put the points. That screen then blinks out of existence as well, being replaced by yet another screen, this one smaller than the others before it.

Great! Now that that's taken care of, go wild! Fair warning though, each of the two races offers its own bonuses and drawbacks.

It then disappears, leaving you with just the original screen in front of you, and you begin playing around with the various settings for a while, and you think you're looking pretty good, and then that's when you find the race selector. When you click on each of the two races it gives you a little bit of a description of them, humans are pretty self explanatory, and they're the majority of the population of this world you're going to be reborn in. Then on the other hand is the faunus, people with an animal trait in addition to the normal human anatomy, they're the minority, one who seems to be pretty universally mistreated and disliked by the majority of humanity. On the flipside, they're strong, faster, and have better senses than normal humans, plus they all have night vision, no matter what animal feature they have. It takes you longer than you'd like to admit, but you eventually decide on the faunus race, the strength and dexterity boost in your opinion are worth the hit to charisma the screen tells you you'll take if you select it. You had put in enough points into the stat to offset the negative it would take. It does prompt you to select a type of faunus and a trait, but you decide to leave those as random, after all what's a life without a little bit of surprise? You finish up the rest of the appearance customization after that, which only takes a little while longer...well you think it only takes a bit longer, there really isn't anything to mark the passage of time here in this featureless void. Once you finish everything involving that whole ordeal, the screen vanishes like the others earlier, again being replaced by a text box.

Alright, now that you've finally decided on your appearance, it's time to send you off, I know you won't remember any of this, but I'd like to offer what few words of comfort I can. Though at times it may seem like you're alone, and that things may seem bleak, but know that you shall never be alone, and that the world will get brighter, for you and others will make it so. Now then, time for you to go, and may Luck be with you.

The screen disappears, along with your consciousness, and you close your eyes and let the remnants of who you once were drift away.

AN:Well how did you all like it? feel free to leave a review, they fuel the muse after all, let me know what you liked, what you didn't like etc...The next chapter of the Rewrite will probably be a litle while, got some. things coming up irl that I need to take care of. Until next time! This is Flame's Wrath, signing off.