Chapter 2: Recruitment

12 Years before Canon

It's been 13 years since god has chosen me to save the world from extinction, and yet I am still here in this void training with my new powers and weapons. Fighting against the Grimm the Dragon creates with its blood, they are surely stronger than the regular Grimm I faced before, even the Grimm knight I faced before my untimely death pales in comparison to the Dragon's Grimm. It's a good thing I'm already dead though, or else I would've had another one-way ticket to the afterlife on day one.

Whenever I'm not fighting the Dragon's Grimm – which I will call 'Omega Grimm' now – I often ask god on the secrets of the world, to which he would always answer without fail. Either that or I my friends through a vision mirror god had generously given me for my free time. I'm glad Glynda and Ozpin got together, though I'm a bit confused as to why they want to keep the relationship hidden from everyone, and if anyone says they're doing it to not affect their professionalism, then I call bullshit.

My team has been doing…. Well? I guess? Florina had rebuilt my old family home and used the surrounding town as a Faunus-only settlement. Richard and Mary on the other hand… Well, at least they have kids, so that's a plus for them. You can forgive me for being overly concerned about Mary since we were dating when I died, but she's not entirely happy about her marriage. In fact, the only thing she's happy about in her life right now is her two daughters, one is a prodigy while the other is a talented singer, though the two daughters should keep their attitude in order, their starting to act like Richard before he went to Beacon, which is a pain for anyone.

As for my old friends of team STRQ, they've been doing well, though Qrow could really lay off the booze. Taiyang got married with Raven which is unsurprising given how he flirted with her non-stop back in our Beacon years. What is surprising is that Raven left not long after her daughter was born, and Taiyang re-marrying Summer, now that was a twist. I honestly thought Summer would end up with Qrow give the fact that Qrow was dating Summer in their Beacon years. The web of relationships in team STRQ is a complicated one. Whenever I watched Summer through a vision mirror, she would always turn around to face the direction I was watching from, I wonder if she can sense me? I was brought out of my musings when a portal opened and god stepped into the void.

"It's time to start recruiting." He said with his hands behind him, his usual pose whenever he talks to someone, I can't tell if he's copying me or I'm copying him in the last 13 years.

"About time, I'm getting tired of just watching my friends live their lives without me. It gets boring after 5 years. So, who's going to be my first recruit?" I asked.

"It's one of your friends. Summer Rose, I believe you know about the mission she accepted from Ozpin recently?"

"Ah, the suicide mission. Honestly, I can't tell what that guy is thinking most of the time, sadly I can't exactly listen to what they're saying and I'm forced to watch a soundless movie for the last 13 years." Ozpin had asked Summer to go on a mission out in the badlands, a term used for places outside the towns, outside the kingdoms. I managed to get a peek at the mission file that was on Summer's phone, and the mission was fighting a growing Grimm horde 50 miles out in the badlands. It had 'suicide Mission' written all over it, and she accepted it anyway.

"Well, she's going to die if you don't go there, but you will have to make sure everyone else thinks she's dead." I nodded.

"Alright, how do I make it official?" I asked.

"On your hand is your emblem, the mark of the 'Seraph'. You will put your hand over hers to place the mark on hers, and she will receive a similar emblem depending on her given rank. Summer will be the 'Cherubim', the foresight. Your second-in-command so to speak."

"Alright, so what happens after?"

"You do not have to gather all of the angel ranks just yet. You will only need to gather two more after recruiting the 'Cherubim'."

"Which is?"

"The 'Archangel' and the 'Dominion', the protector and the leader. These will help you find them, look for them after recruiting the 'Cherubim'." Two emblems appear on his hand, one is a depiction of two crescent moons next to each other, while the other is a heart with stitches all over it.

"Very well then, open a portal. Wouldn't want to keep the new recruit waiting." With a flick of his wrist god opened a portal for me and I walked through it.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Third person POV

Summer was breathing hard as she held her hand on the side of her stomach where she was bleeding. She had just finished her mission that Ozpin gave her. What was a simple extermination mission turned out to be an ambush when someone attacked her out of nowhere with a bow aimed at her. She was too tired to engage, so she ran, but not after getting shot through the side of her stomach with a piercing arrow, causing her to bleed as she ran from her assailant. The assailant had pitch black hair, and amber eyes that was as much as she could see before she ran. She wondered if the assailant was the source of her near constant feeling of being watched.

She have had the feeling watched for the past 13 years come and go, but she hasn't found who was watching her, that feeling disappeared when she started fighting the horde. The feeling was strange, it didn't feel like a stalker or an assassin was following her, it was more like an old friend was watching over her. Her thoughts drifted to Zwolf, they were close friends despite him being a 4th year and her a 1st year. Probably because he had actually made a friend with someone his age. Soon enough Zwolf and his team became close friends with her and her team. Those were happier days, but of course that happiness vanished when Zwolf died, and since he was the connection between team STRQ (Stark), and team ZRFM (Seraphim), the two teams drifted from each other.

She was broken out of her thoughts when another wave of pain came from her wound, she staggered and fell backwards, laying on her back and looking to the starry night sky where snow had just started to fall. She was bleeding out, it was only a matter of time before she died.

"I'm sorry Tai, Yang, and Ruby. I guess I won't be coming home. I guess that's another broken promise added to the list. On the bright side, I guess I get to see Zwolf again before you guys, heh." Tears started flowing from her eyes as she remembered her daughters. Granted, one of them was Raven's daughter, but she still treated her as one of her own.

"Well, Zwolf. I'll guess I'll be joining you soon." She said to no one in particular since she knew no one would be listening as she started to close her eyes. Suddenly she heard a very familiar voice.

"If you're talking about the afterlife then you won't be joining me as soon as you would think." Came a voice behind her.

Summer's eyes snapped open when she saw a recognizable face above her. She smiled as more tears ran down her eyes.

"Come on Summer, crying is really not for a grown woman like you." Zwolf smiled as he looked down on her.

"You're alive." Was all she said before she started crying again.

"And you will too. I didn't come all the way here to see an old friend die on me." He knelt down and placed his hand on hers as it started to glow. When Zwolf pulled back his hand, there was an emblem placed on her hand, it was a circle with 4 wings and 3 spikes pointing inwards. Almost immediately, her wound healed, her aura re-charged and her stamina re-invigorated. She felt as if she never fought a Grimm horde earlier. Her breathing stabilized and she was no longer bleeding.

Summer got up and searched her abdomen for any trace of her wounds, the only remainder of it ever existing is the blood stain on her white cloak. She turned her head to look at Zwolf.

"What did you do?"

"First of all, you're welcome. Second, I just saved your life. Your time is not over yet, Summer."

"How are you still alive right now?"

"I know you have a lot of questions. But now is not the time to answer them. The world needs to believe you died. Now take off your cloak." Her face showed a look of horror when he said those words.

"What?!" She nearly screamed. "Are you crazy? I've had this for almost my whole life. I can't part with it." She started cradling said cloak like a baby.

"Summer, come on. I can easily get you a new one. Besides, it's drenched in blood. Now take it off." He grabbed a part of the cloak which ended up being a game of tug-o-war.

"Nooooooooo, give it back." They pulled on opposite ends of the cloak until suddenly….

It gets a tear.

They both froze, one froze because her lifelong treasure was torn, the other was frozen because of the horrible mistake he has made.

She screamed and lunged at him, what started as an incidental game of tug-o-war, turned into a scuffle. She let out a scream as she attacked the person who tore her cloak, or at least she tried to.

The scuffle made the cloak get even more tears which angered her even more. Eventually they dropped the cloak and took their little scuffle deeper into the forest.

Zwolf was finally able to subdue her when he used Demeter's Will, one of his newfound powers. He tied her up by using the branches of a tree to both tie her up and gag her. As Zwolf looked back to where they dropped Summer's cloak, he was greeted with the sight of Qrow Branwen, the 'Q' of team STRQ.

Qrow ran through the foliage in search of Summer, he prayed to whatever deity is out there for her to be safe. He stopped when he was met with the sight of Summer's cloak in the middle of a forest clearing, torn and drenched in blood. He knelt down in front of it and picked it up, his hands were shaking like a leaf. Fearing for the worst, he cradled the cloak close to his chest as he cried. Let it be known that this was one of the very few times Qrow Branwen was seen in a moment of weakness.

Zwolf felt sorry for him, truly he did, he didn't want it to be like this. Oh how he wanted to let Summer free of her bindings so she can run out there to comfort him, but this has to be done. He only hoped that this is one of the very few times he will hurt his friends, or more preferably the last.

It was a good five minutes before Qrow stopped crying and stood up, tears still streaming down his face. Zwolf could see the look of anger in his eyes, he knew it all too well. He had the same look when Sylvia died after all. As Qrow left, he released Summer as she fell to the ground, who stayed simply looked at the ground as she cried too.

"I know that you treated me and my team. Me and Qrow especially, as your friends. I know for a fact that you would much rather die than hurt friend." She sobbed in between her words before looking up at him. "So tell me, is what we're going to do that important that you would discard the very principle you've lived by your whole life?" he could tell she was furious, though she desperately tried to hold them in, if only barely.

"Yes. You know very well I would rather kill myself than hurt my friends, and that I would sacrifice myself just so they could live to see another day." He didn't even try to look at her, his mind was still fixated on the scene that had just unfolded in front of them.

"You said I would've been dead right? If you hadn't come I would've died anyway? What happens to me, to us after all of this is finished?" Her question was answered by a voice I've known for the past 13 years.

"Then you will move on to the afterlife as you should have been." Came the voice of god as he walked through one of his portals. "But I will let you say goodbye to your loved ones first before you go. Your bodies will turn to stone, so it won't be painless, just numb." He opens another portal. "Now, I think you have two more people to recruit." Summer wiped her tears from her face.

"Are all of the people we recruit on the verge of death? And how many of us will there be?"

"Sadly, you two are the only ones who are already deceased in your would-be group of ten. I know this is a bit hard for you two, but the reason you two are a part of this is because I knew you two will give your lives just so your loved ones could live. So please, just bear with the pain, and it'll be over much quicker." Summer only stood there in silence when Zwolf placed his hands on her shoulder.

"Come on Summer, the faster we do this. The faster you can see Qrow and your family again to apologize." She nodded before we walk through the portal.

There were many things plaguing Zwolf and Summer's mind right now, but only one thing stands out from the rest.

"Will all recruitments end like this?"