I'm back and totally not dead or anything! I apologize to any past readers of BoH, but I wasn't completely satisfied with some of the things in the previous attempt at my writing and story. BoH was a good platform for me to start writing and now I would like to go back to this story and do it justice. After all, this is my personal (as well as first) OC. There will be similarities, but I plan on changing some things completely. One last thing I want to say is to anybody who's reading this, gives feedback, and enjoys my writing, thank you. It really does mean a lot to me. So without further adieu I present the Redux of Beacon of Hope. I hope that you enjoy.

Wandering Soul

The view from Vale's rooftops was one to behold. The shattered moon hung in the sky framed amongst the dark blue of the night. The city below had lights from streetlamps, stores, and homes that broke up the darkness of the night. Lance took in a deep breath of the crisp night's air. He found it refreshing and calming on nights like these, where sleep's embrace was nowhere to be found.

The town was quiet tonight as shops were closed or beginning to close. Few stores, shops, and restaurant remained open at this hour. Most of the people of Vale were at their homes in bed. Lance wished for that luxury. His own mind wouldn't let him sleep as his thoughts wandered to that of topics he'd rather not remember. He rubbed his eyes as those same thoughts crossed his mind.

Lance continued to look off into the distance, focusing on his thoughts more than the sights before him. As he gazed something moving in the air off in the distance caught his eye. The moving shape heading towards him and the noise it produced took him out of his day-dreaming state. As the object got closer Lance saw more details come into view. It was an airship seemingly of a smaller size, but large enough to hold a dozen people. The ship flew over him and continued on beginning to land not too far from where he was.

His curiosity growing, he began to run towards the ship. He jumped from building to building trying to save as much time as he could. He ran to the edge of the last rooftop. Looking down from his spot on the roof there was a crew of men clad in black and red, unloading crates off of the ship and into cars.

Lance noticed that a few of the men were also armed. Amongst the group of similarly dressed men some had pistols while others carried curved red swords.

"Can we move this along please? The police will be looking for us, and I'd prefer it if I didn't have to spend the rest of my night behind bars," a fairly smooth male voice said.

A man with orange hair wearing a black bowler cap and white coat stepped off of the airship as he twirled a cane around with one hand. "And make sure not to break any of the product," He added, leaning on the cane.

Lance stood from his crouching position, determination written on his face as he hopped off the roof. When Lance landed some of the nearby goons took steps back out of the suddenness.

"Just great," the orange haired man said. "And who might you be?"

Lance grabbed his elegant double edged sword, Regalia, from his back, twirling it before he rested the blade on his shoulder, the dark blue from the blade highlighted the golden accents that made up parts of the hilt.

"I'm Lance. Lance Azure," He said.

The man let out a sigh as he brought a hand to his face.

"Well, Lance. I don't suppose you're here for friendly conversation, and I'm not quite in the mood to chat anyways. So…"

He held out his hands in a presenting manner as armed men started to surround Lance.

"Mind taking care of this punk for me? I've had to deal with one pest tonight already."

The men had him cornered, their blood red swords drawn and at the ready. They pressed onward towards Lance who smirked, keeping his composure. One of the men noticed this and rushed towards him with his sword raised above his head. Lance locked swords with him, his smirk gone. He stepped back out of the sword lock, flourishing as he did. The man readied another attack, but his swipe missed as Lance side stepped it. Preparing an attack of his own he batted the man away with the flat of his blade.

Another one tried to go on the offense but his blade met Regalia causing him to recoil at the force of the clash. Despite the slight knockback the man unleashed another attack which glided off of Lance's blade as he himself slid under the attack. Lance came up from his crouch, spinning as he did, and unleashed a roundhouse kick that hit the man square in the jaw. The thug took a few steps back from the blow, but Lance didn't give him time to recover. He closed the small distance slashing the weapon out of the man's hands. Lance swung his blade wide over and around his head unleashing a second slash at him, knocking the goon to the ground.

As soon as that enemy was taken care of, Lance heard rushed footsteps behind him. He turned to see another red blade heading straight for him. Lance stepped back as quick as he could, avoiding the attack by a hair. The man continued his offensive as he unleashed another attack that Lance was more prepared for. Raising Regalia, He blocked the overhead attack that followed the last. Lance shoved the blade away and attempted to make a horizontal swipe at the man, but he jumped back. Lance felt another presence behind him as he heard more footsteps grow louder. Turning, he instinctively raised his sword which fended off the slash from yet another thug.

The other goon started up his second round of attacks as he lunged towards Lance. Lance spun and flourished Regalia to deflect the oncoming stab. He continued his spin, clashing with the second man's sword. With the effort Lance was putting in to keep up with each strike he began to feel exhaustion taking a toll, but during the onslaught he spotted a single opening. Spinning Regalia around to deflect one last blow, Lance changed his grip so he held it inversely and swung for the initial attacker's legs. After the trip he spun back up to clash with the second goon. As the blade glided the attackers slash away from Lance, he unleashed a side kick that sent the man flying back.

Lance turned his attention to the man who was on the ground as he was getting up. Running over, Lance easily closed the short gap and unleashed another kick that seemed to knock him out.

Lowering Regalia, he heaved a few short breathes and smirked at the man with the cane, who had his head in one of his hands. He looked back up, an irritated expression on his face.

"Unbelievable. It's one thing after another today."

"Now now, Roman," A feminine voice said.

Footsteps came from the airship as a woman in a red dress with yellow accents walked from the ship. Her face was hidden due to the night, but Lance saw few features, most notable among them were her piercing, glowing eyes. They glowed along with the yellow on her dress.

"Allow me," She said, raising her hand as flame rose from her palm and enveloped the entirety of her hand.

Lance felt a chill run up his spine. She threw the ball of flame straight at him. It hurtled so fast, that he barely had time to roll out of the way. He felt the heat of the flames as the fire exploded. He looked back at his new target, but before he could properly asses the situation, another three flaming balls were careening towards him. He raised Regalia in a desperate attempt to block the oncoming attack. The fireballs impacted one after the other in rapid succession against the dark steel of the blade, but the sheer force sent Lance flying into a wall of a building behind him. He sat there propped against it.

Lance couldn't quite recover despite trying. He already felt that his aura was critically low as his vision was swimming in and out of focus. He looked back up and noticed the cars drive off and blurry shapes boarding the ship. Then nothing. His vision turned to black.

"Hello? Are you alright, young man?"

Lance began to open his eyes. He felt his sore body waking up as he came to. He looked up at the voice. The owner of it wore black and green and he also had glasses. His hair was greyish silver, he stood fairly tall with a distinct cane in one hand, as well as having a pale complexion and brown eyes.

"Just sore… Could be better," Lance said.

The man grinned and offered him a hand, to which Lance took. Once he was on his feet his legs felt weak and he started to feel light headed. He reached a hand up to his head in an attempt to somehow cease the feeling of slight faintness.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay…" Lance said, removing his hand from his head.

The man walked over to Lance's sword that was lying on the ground. He picked it up and inspected it.

"Elegant. Surprisingly light as well," The man said.

He walked back over to Lance, handing him Regalia.

"Ozpin."

"Hm?"

"My name is Ozpin. Might I ask what's yours?"

Lance replaced his sword on his back.

"My name is Lance. Lance Azure."

"Hmm… Azure," Ozpin said.

He had a curious look on his face as he stood there.

"Well, Mr. Azure, what might you be doing in a place like this?" He asked.

"Well, uhm, y'know…" Lance stuttered, trying to find any excuse.

"Up to no good?" He asked, with a smile.

"I wouldn't call it 'no good.' I had good intentions…"

Lance noticed Ozpin giving him a blank stare, almost as if he was analyzing him.

"So I take it you didn't just decide to take a nap outside?"

"Well, that wasn't my intent, but…" Lance once again found himself fishing for an excuse.

"You don't need to explain yourself."

Lance let out a sigh of relief at his words.

"What you did was brave. Not too many people would've done that."

Lance's relief was short lived. His eyes widened and his posture stiffened.

"So you know what happened then, huh?"

Ozpin just nodded a response.

Lance sighed and leaned up against a wall.

"Lance."

"Hm?"

"Have you heard of a school called Beacon Academy?"

Lance perked up, his attention fully on Ozpin.

"Yeah, of course."

"Then, you know what the school specializes in."

Ozpin walked over towards Lance. He handed him a card.

"What's this?" Lance asked, taking it.

"Consider it an invitation."

Lance had a puzzled look on his face. He took the card and inspected it. It had the name Professor Ozpin on it as well as a few other things he didn't really care for at the moment. The card had the official Beacon Academy symbol on it as well as Ozpin's signature. He looked back up at the man standing in front of him.

"An invitation? Isn't it a little late for me to start school? Besides, I didn't exactly graduate any prior combat school," Lance said.

"Being the headmaster, I think I can decide who joins my school or who doesn't," He smiled.

"Headmaster?"

Lance looked back down at the card. Next to Ozpin's name there was his title. On top of being a professor, he was the headmaster.

"So this is real then?"

Ozpin nodded, "As real as the card in your hands."

"This is too good to be true," Lance said, letting out a small laugh. His excitement was barely containable.

"Thank you, Ozpin, this is just… Wow."

"I feel you'll make a great addition to the school."

"That means a lot to hear, Ozpin," Lance said as he turned his gaze up from the card back to Ozpin.

Lance took a step forward to shake Ozpin's hand, but as he shifted his weight to his other foot, he somewhat stuttered in his walk. He caught himself before he fell all while trying to play it off as naturally as he could.

Ozpin shook Lances hand and smiled.

"Seems like you're still not one-hundred percent."

"I'll be fine, I just think I need some rest or something."

"Well, you go home and get your rest. I'd like to continue this conversation though, so how about you come by Beacon Academy tomorrow? We can talk more then."

"Sure, sounds good to me," Lance said, giving a toothy smirk.

"Good. I will see you at Beacon tomorrow. Let's say we'll meet at noon," Ozpin said as he started walking off.

"Uhh, wait. How will I get there?"

"Don't fret over the details. Just meet me tomorrow at the school. We'll talk more then."

Ozpin gave him a small smile and began to walk away. Lance looked back at the card and then at the man who was walking away.

Ozpin turned and continued onward, rounding a corner and out of sight. Lance leaned back against the wall, staring at the card. His smile only grew as he saw how official the card was. He looked back up at the night sky.

"What a weird night…"

He gave the card one last look before putting it in his pocket. A yawn escaped from him while he raised his arms to stretch. He felt his sore body again and fatigue was setting in.

"Well, guess it's about time to hit the hay," He thought as he started to walk back to his home.

Lance struggled finding the key hole with his room key. He managed after a few unsuccessful tries and opened the door to his apartment. It wasn't anything fancy. It really only had three rooms and at the moment it wasn't the tidiest of places either, but it wasn't a total mess.

He shambled over to his bedroom, leaned Regalia against one of the walls, and raised his fist in the air in a casual victory pose, smiling all the while. Letting out a sigh, he collapsed on his bed. He laid there for a time before reaching into his pocket to pull out that card. He looked at it again and smiled. Memories from his past rushed to him. Times of playing as the heroes he's always wanted to be.

Lance felt his eyes grow heavy. He got up and got ready for bed as quick as he could. He got into bed just a fast.

"Well, today was… interesting. I wonder what tomorrow will bring," He thought as he closed his eyes, allowing sleep to sweep over him.

I hope you enjoyed this entry of BoH: RE. If you liked it, please let me know and follow either my account, story, or both for future updates. I hope to update this more often in the near future. Also, please leave feedback and let me know whether you liked it, or if you have constructive criticism, or anything. I'm still a growing writer so I appreciate the positivity and critiques. That aside, I hope that you have a great rest of your day/night! Until next time