Chapter 1: Getting Shot Twice ... or was it Thrice

In the center of a blank room white room laid a man with midnight black hair and light green eyes. He slept without a care in the world, unaware that another was watching him, with a look of amusement portrayed by a large grin on its face.

"Wake up Aaron, there is work to be done" the being who was more of a silhouette than an actual being. It was pure white black dots making up the outline around its body and with the only visible feature being a grin that seemed plastered on its face.

Despite being deep asleep the man jolted awake at the sound of the being's voice, quickly surveying his surroundings. He was astounded by what he saw, a pure white room, with no imperfections; no shadows, no lines, nothing except a black canvas whose beginning and end, could not be seen. Despite the weirdness of the location he couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with the room as if he had been in this situation once before.

He turned to where he heard a voice, only to see a figure that only remained in his memories as a fictional character from Full Metal Alchemist; Truth.

"Hello," Aaron asked cautiously.

"Good, you're awake, now we can continue on with our business. First, I believe you have some questions you want to ask me" Truth said finishing with a grin.

"Who are you and Where am I?" Aaron asked cautiously trying not to offend a potentially omnipotent being.

"You may call me Truth, a nigh-omnipotent being. As for where you are, you are currently in the void of your multiverse." Truth answered shocking Aaron for a few moments before he let out a sigh.

"I'm dead aren't I," Aaron said receiving a quick nod in reply.

"Could you please tell me how I died, my memories are still blurry. I can't seem to remember anything" Aaron questioned while trying to pull up his memories.

"Here let me help," Truth said before producing a gun, and without giving Aaron a chance to react shot him in the head.

Aaron felt like he was being slammed into a tight space and when he gained consciousness it seemed he was back in his body.

'Goddammit, Truth' Aaron thought while trying to clear his head of the nauseous feeling that came with how he was transported. As he looked forwards, he noticed that he was standing in front of a group of people who were cowering before him.

'Where the fuck am I' Aaron thought trying to look around, but he found himself incapable of turning his head. It was as if he was a backseat passenger following whatever movements preordained by his past self.

Instead of trying to take control he focused on what he could see, mapping out everything he saw trying to understand his current situation. In his hand seemed to be a black handgun, that had its serial number scratched out.

In front of were around 20 people, including women and children who were cowering in fear, some were even crying. To his side was a man dressed in pure black baggy clothes and a Spiderman mask. He was also holding a gun towards the group while threatening to kill all of them if he made a sound.

The seemed to in some kind of store, and if the shouting from behind his was any indication, he and a group of other men were robbing it.

'F***, what am I doing' Aaron thought, hating that he may actually be a part of this group causing this mayhem.

As his body moved and looked around, he kept getting a clearer vision of what was happening. Near the counters was an old man dressed in uniform quickly pulling out all the money in the cash registers while pleading with the criminal in front of him not to hurt anyone.

Suddenly Aaron began to hear a child start wailing, so his body turned towards the sound only to see a small 8-year-old boy crying his eyes out.

"Shut that f***ing kid up" a robber in an iron man mask threatened, as a woman tried to keep her young child from crying. Try as she might, the child was too frightened to stop crying, and most the mother could do was try and muffle his sobs while trying to pacify him with a small toy car.

A few more minutes passed before the robbers had finally almost finished getting all the cash, causing ghost Aaron to let out a sigh.

'Well at least no one got hurt' Aaron thought, thanking God that the situation had not escalated.

*Clang*

'Fuck I just jinxed it didn't I' Aaron thought while his body turned towards the source of the sound. The wailing child had just dropped his toy metal car a few feet away from Aaron, causing a sudden noise that spooked the thieves. One of the more trigger-happy gunmen immediately pointed his handgun at the child about to fire. The woman quickly realizing the severity of the situation pulled in the child into her embrace and turned her back towards the gunmen making herself a human shield.

At this moment time seemed to freeze for Aaron, as fought to take control of his body and forcefully moved his body in front of the pair; tanking the gunshots. Being shot was an odd feeling Aaron thought, first feeling the instant pain from the bullets puncturing the skin, and then the continuous pain that came from his ruptured organs.

'I did it' Aaron thought as his body was racked in pain, as he felt the blood gush out of his wounds.

Seeing their accomplice shot resulted in the other armed thugs quickly scampering off, carrying a bag of cash, while leaving their accomplice on the ground dying.

'So quick are people to abandon their own' Aaron thought as he lay on the ground slowly feeling the pain die out, as his senses began to blur.

Surrounding the dying man was the mother and son pair who were trying to save him. Well, at least the mother was trying to save him whilst the child was just continued crying. The cashier who had just called the police, and also surprisingly tried to help the man while the rest were just remaining in the corner watching from the side.

"Damn, so this is how I go, huh. Well, maybe I earned enough points to go to heaven, despite my past" Aaron said while his voice became weaker by the second. He turned his head so that he could directly look at the child.

"Make something of yourself kid," Aaron said as he coughed out blood smearing the inside of his mask. He received a shaky nod from the child before he started staring straight up at the ceiling.

'I guess what they say is true. You really do see your life flashing before your eyes when your dying' Aaron thought as he looked over his past.

His name was Aaron Zamora, a 21-year-old petty thief who made profited by exploiting others. There was nothing especially remarkable about him, he was an orphan who never really made anything of himself. He went to school for a few years but dropped out, because of his lack of resources. Not Aaron tried that hard in school in the first place.

He did try a few times to improve his situation but when that was met with failure, he decided to just turn towards a life crime. Nothing too major like joining a gang, the mafia or selling hard drugs like in breaking bad. He just was a petty thief/drug dealer, who made a quick buck by stealing objects such as purses or wallets and also selling weed on the side. (Author's note: For the sake of the narrative, weed is still illegal.)

In fact, his first major crime was this robbery and resulted in him dying with two bullets in his torso.

'well, at least I now know how I died' Aaron thought before he felt a tugging feeling on his back and felt himself being pulled to another direction.

"You truly are an anomaly," Truth said as Aaron landed in front of him back in the void.

"You weren't meant to die saving the woman. You were meant to die moment later when you picked a fight with the trigger-happy bastard who killed the woman in the first place. You were meant to threaten him with turning yourself in resulting in you being shot 5 times in the back as you walked away.

You were meant to just watch what was happening while you were stuck in your body's subconscious but instead, you actually ripped back control changing how you died in the first place. Maybe sending you back in time was a mistake, but you've just piqued my interest even more than before" Truth said while its grin grew large enough to cover the lower half of its face.

"Why are you interested in me in the first place? What makes me special?" Aaron asked somewhat fearfully; he really did not want to be used as a pawn in someone's plan.

"Don't worry about that you'll find out in the future. And no, I really don't need you for any plans. Like really, I'm a nigh-omnipotent being, only being surpassed by the akashic records. What use would I have for a mortal soul, regardless of how unique you are. I brought you here because I'm bored and decided to do something all the other R.O. Bs consider fun. I am going to have you transmigrate to another dimension, so I can see all the changes you bring forth. You basically my version of a reality show" Truth said with a frown thinking about if he should maybe reconsider this decision.

The shocked Aaron, causing him to mentally shut down for a few minutes before his brain rebooted. Aaron was giddy with the anticipation of having a second chance.

Noticing Aaron's excitement, Truth began to smile.

'The second time around is going to be so much more fun' Truth thought as he waited for Aaron to calm down.