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The heat of the hot summer sun beat down heavily upon my unprotected neck; it was barely 9 am and I could already feel my skin starting to burn. Groaning under the weight of my bags and adjusting my grip I continued on, reaching the nearby crossing, where I slammed the button a few times before retreating into the shade of the corner store shopfront.

I rolled my neck and sighed before turning my blue-grey eyes to the road in front of me and the cars that drove past before they inevitably stopped as the lights turned red. The signal went and the crowd and I crossed over before the sounds of screaming made me look behind me. Feeling my eyes widen in horror, I watched as a black car going way to fast around a corner ran straight at a little boy only around six years old who had run onto the road and was trying to cross to his mother, who had been talking on the phone and was now screaming behind me.

It didn't even occur to me that I had dropped my bags or that I had started running to save him even though the car was now too close for there to be a way to save the both of us. Making a split-second decision, I shoved the kid out of the way right as the car hit my side. I felt my bones crack and the breath being forced out of my lungs upon impact before I crumpled to the ground with the sounds of screams, screeching tires and crashing cars ringing in my ears

My vision swam and began to go dark as I was rolled over onto my back and I noticed how hard even breathing was now. A man's face came into view, his mouth moving even as he moved my bleached blonde hair out of my eyes, though I could hear nothing but a loud buzz. Suddenly I was feeling tired, so very tired, what was the point in fighting to stay awake when sleeping seemed so inviting.

I closed my eyes and was enveloped by a peaceful nothingness.

I felt weightless as if there was nothing anchoring me to the ground, not even gravity, and I was just floating away on currents of air. No pain or fear, absolutely nothing except for a deep sense of peace, though it didn't last long and soon a flood of pain, emotions and memories overwhelmed me making me double over and cry out. Though it stopped almost as soon as it had come.

"Jesus Christ." I hissed before groaning loudly and opening my eyes to see a vaguely familiar location.

"Please tell me I'm actually dead" I deadpanned.

Not actually having been back here, since I had killed my waste-of-a-space sperm donor for the murder of my little brother and done a runner to the streets.

I didn't even try and fool myself, I knew no one would really miss me, after all, Jason's death had turned me so cold that I couldn't even recognize myself anymore.

And then surviving the streets for 7 years by becoming an assassin, well… there really weren't a lot of people who would truly care that I had died and quite a few would even celebrate.

I had no illusions about myself. Not anymore. I might've made a middling to good brother when I wasn't taking hits and died saving the kid, but I had also killed my first man when I was at the tender age of eleven and thereafter never really stopped.

Oh, there had been lulls and thanks to being picky about my jobs, most of the time I ended up taking out some of the truly sick fucks but it was as if once I had gotten a taste of death I never forgot it, nor how easy it was to dole out.

My survival instinct, which had been cultivated by paranoia and living through what would have killed most others, was, even I could admit, second to none and was now screaming that I had failed to listen to it in time, though I can't say I truly regret it.

I was tired.

Tired of everyone having expectations of me, even as they tried to turn around and stab me in the back. Once was more than enough, thank you very much.

Tired of having to explain, again, that no, I wasn't interested in some bastard and then having to kick said bastard's ass for not taking 'no' for an answer.

Tired of people trying to get close to turn me into their favorite bankroll, after all, it wasn't like you have anyone else to spend it on.

But most of all… I was just tired of all the bullshit.

And now unless this was a drug-induced psychotic trip, I could finally rest.

Sighing, I blinked my eyes and wearily climbed to my feet, absently noticing that my old secondhand black jeans, blue shirt, and sneakers, that I had been wearing before my run-in with the car, were now clean and that the clothes now fit me perfectly while looking brand new. Around my neck hung the stainless-steel locket that I had had made with my first paycheck, the inside engraved with my brothers' favorite animal; the wolf and my callsign: Umbra Mortis (Deaths Shadow), which I never took off.

The comforting weight of my weapons was missing, and I felt their noticeable lack when I was startled by a rasping but soothing and gentle voice that spoke up from behind me. "Sorry, little one. But far be it for me to forsake one of my favorites in such a way."

"FUCK!" I yelped and turned around to face the direction it had come from, my previous feeling of peace long gone.

"Tsk-tsk, a young one such as yourself should not be using such language."

I eyed the other man – if a man was indeed what the other figure was – and found that he looked… utterly normal in just about every way. I knew some people on both sides of the law who would kill to have his seeming blandness, that ability to be everyone and no one all at once. Grey hair, a sober face that was handsome but not overly or memorably so, soft grey eyes and dressed in a suit with a mandarin collar, there was nothing remarkable about him not his looks, his middling height, nothing.

Nothing at all save his voice which had a resonance to it that struck me to my very core.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked.

"I have no given name; some call me death and others an angel. As for where you are, you are in the in-between, the Netherworld, or probably better known to you as Limbo. But that is not important at this point in time." Here he gave me a gentle look before saying, "What is important, however, is that the world you once knew is not the one you were truly destined for and as such, we have a bit of a dilemma."

Closing my eyes, I braced myself for the latest blow and asked "Dilemma?"

"There was a bit of a mix-up and your soul was sent here. And while you have served this world well, having saved far more lives than you have taken, there is no place in this world's afterlife, and you can not remain here at the crossroads, not without becoming a mindless wraith."

By this point, I was not ashamed to admit that my composure cracked. I had just died and then been told that while I had earned a rest, I wouldn't be able to do so because someone had fucked up with my very soul and that apparently, I would become a 'mindless wraith'.

Just as I was starting to panic, Death spoke once more, and I forced myself to listen as I doubt that he would've wasted his time by turning up here just to tell me this without at least a very good reason.

"However, there is an alternative, this is after all THE crossroads: there are more choices than merely forwards and back."

"Such as?"

Here, Death smiled and waved his arms; the scenery changing to a train station just as a train was pulling in, it was a dark grey and covered in strange symbols that, even though I had never seen before, looked familiar. "I can send you back to the world you were meant for."

"I know I don't want to become a wraith, but do I want to bite the apple that's been offered to tempt me?"

"It isn't poisoned; I can reassure you of that much." Death smirked. "But neither is it without struggle or conflict. Choosing this option means that you will have to complete your destined task, that would have been given to you had you been born there."

"What else can you tell me?"

"Not much, just that you will be being completely reborn and as such will have time to grow before you are needed and that I can give you some basic information and skills that while proving useful, you would actually need to put in the effort to learn."

I turned that over in my mind, before asking "What about my stuff? Would I be able to take anything?"

"I cannot touch that which isn't yours alone." Death said slowly, thinking over how best to answer. "And while I could send you on with some things, you will be being completely reborn, there wouldn't be any real point as it would be useless to you for quite some time."

"What about my locket?"

"That I can do." Death agreed. "I can make it so that it finds its way to you by the time that you had received it in this world. Of course, this is all dependent on if you choose to go."

"Yes please." I said before drawling with a half-smile "And I think we both know what I've decided. I really don't want to be turned into a wraith. Besides, I'm still curious enough to take the bait."

"As you wish."

"Ok, is there anything else?"

"Just this." Quick as a viper Death reached out and pressed the palm of his hand to my forehead.

I couldn't contain the scream that tore through my throat as information was literally shoved into my mind, tearing through my thoughts like they were tinfoil and making my nose drip blood due to the strain.

When Death finally let me loose, I hunched over, placed my hands on my knees and cursed a blue streak that would've made a sailor blush before saying "What the fuck was that?"

"That." Death said softly as he escorted me over to the train "Was what you would call an information download. Not pleasant in the least but effective. You should at least have a basic understanding of what's coming now." He waved one hand at the open doors and beckoned me forward. "Meditate while you travel to sort through the information and your memories, where your going is no little distance away and while you are being born again, the calmer you are upon arrival, the better it will be for you in the long run."

"Okay." I took a deep breath before slowly letting it out "Meditate, prepare, survive. Any other advice before we part ways?"

"Just one:" Death said softly. "This life has taught you to block yourself off from others, to withhold your trust and guard your heart; and those were and are necessary skills for you to survive. But..." He held up a warning hand when I went to protest. "But… there will come a time when you will need to trust to survive and to open your heart if you want to live, not just survive."

I nodded, once, shortly, at the implied censure before Death spoke once more.

"You will be born in the year 1990. However, your task begins in 2007. The time in between is yours to do with as you wish but it would behoove you to use it wisely."

"Ok." I said as I stepped back and onto the train, before cocking my head and asking one last question: "What is this task you keep referring to?"

Death's grin was borderline malicious as he answered, raising his voice just enough to be heard over the closing doors and the squeal of the train wheels.

"War."

I laughed darkly as I settled into a compartment of the moving train. The irony was, even I had to admit, rather wonderful. I had passed from one life as a death dealer only to walk willingly into another. It had a delicious sense of symmetrical macabre to it that I could enjoy.

Sinking into meditation to process the migraine-inducing information overload and felt an eyebrow rise at one of the first things I found: Dynamics.

Dynamics were extra genders, which are as follows: male alpha, female alpha, male beta, female beta, male omega, and female omega. Alphas could mate with either gender of the omegas and a female beta, but a female alpha would have a lot of trouble conceiving and carrying to term, with the opposite being true for male omegas. However; it was considered a very bad idea for a straight beta/omega pairing without an alpha due to the instincts of the omega. And on another note, apparently, polygamy was legal there.

Alphas were physically the strongest and could have issues with aggression if not taught and socialized properly and could be triggered into a rut by a compatible and receptive mate. Betas made up about sixty percent of the world's population and were what I would have considered normal in my old world, only with very short heats once every blue moon. Omegas were considered nurturers and fell into heat one to four times a year and had the best chance of carrying a healthy child to term if it was sired by an alpha, with no one being sure why that was.

And those were just the basics that Death had given me.

Another thing included was soul-marks; which represented a person's soulmate, the literal holder of the other half of your soul. And unlike what the media liked to bullshit they didn't have to be spouses or mates as they were called here, they could be a best friend or lifelong companion. It was really up to the ones involved. Though I did see that about ninety percent of soulmates did end up mated to each other.

Wave after wave of instincts and habits began to flood my system as I felt the train start to slow down.

Standing up and taking a slow breath before steeling myself and moving to the train's door to start off my new life filled with unknown challenges – save that it was going to be a challenge, Death wouldn't have warned me so much if it was going to be easy.

But then, I chuckled, somehow, I doubted a soft, easy, normal life was ever going to be in the cards for me. And if I was being completely honest with myself, that kind of life sounded boring as shit to me, anyway.

This thought would be the last one I would have as who I was and afterward, I would never truly be that person again. They would become an echo, something like a half-remembered dream or more accurately, a nightmare even as it forever drove me onwards.

I was Alex. A boy who became a man far before his time, tempered by darkness.

I became Adrian Witwicky. Cousin turned older brother to Sam Witwicky.

And so, my story begins.