Chapter 14: In death there is hope…

POV: Boss

I heard about every single one of the things Ryker did before he came and rescued me. Hell he was a chip off of me, but I guess according to them less of a prick. I wanted to hold a dedication ceremony in his name and Angels. It was only proper to do so to such valiant Saints, and luckily despite the differences before Viola and Zimos agreed to come back. We decided to hold the services off of the port formerly known as Port Pryor, and now named Port Santo. It was the least the city could do to dedicate a hero and they agreed to it. It took a little bit to clear up the media masses in the stir of the chaos but they agreed to leave themselves out of it. It was the day of the dedication and I was waiting for the other Saints to get ready. It didn't take long for them to do so since some of them already had proper attire. The ones who surprised me most were Kinzie and Shaundi. Both of them had professional looking black dresses and of course the signature purple shirts somewhere. Kinzie actually tied her hair up in a tight knot and Shaundi had it in a bun.

"You two look nice. Why don't you do this more often Kinzie?" I asked. "Because I had no reason to." She stated. "This should be your look when we win the election." I said. "Don't look forward to that." She said. Apparently in some of the confusion Ben King my old friend from Stillwater heard about this incident and wanted to join the service there as well. He knew plenty of Saints gave their lives, and he wanted to come to the service as well. I have a feeling I would need him somewhere down the road, but that will be saved for another day. We made our way downstairs and loaded up in different vehicles to drive to Port Ryker. We were all silent on our way, and we knew Zimos, Viola, and Ben would meet us there. We managed to get there without killing anybody since Pierce was driving, but there were definitely a lot of people there. It seemed like nearly all of Steelport, and by the looks of it survivors of his hometown were here.

"I thought the Saints would be the only ones here?" I asked. "People knew about his heroics. It isn't like this is a private funeral. All of the world heard about it." Pierce said. We made our way to our seats and waited for it all to begin. Pierce would be the one opening the funeral since he was the one who knew him longer than anybody, then I would say a few words, followed by Shaundi, then Ben would have poetry involved as well, and then closing statements would be given by all of the Saints. Pierce made his way up to the podium all set up and he tested the microphone.

"Hello everybody. I would like to welcome all of you to the funeral for Angel De La Muerte, and his nephew Ryker Santo. Not many of us knew the story behind Ryker Santo save for the only people who knew him. Some of you may also know that Ryker shares a bloodline connection with the late Samuel "Prophecy" Santo. When Samuel retired years ago he married a woman who would later give birth to the hidden child. Ryker was born twenty-one years ago, and it was only two years after that his parents were involved in an accident that resulted in death. I was the one left in care for the child, and by the time he was a teenager, he felt ready to live on his own, and I left him. I regret not spending much time with him, and I regret ever promising my return when I knew it would never happen. His twenty-first birthday was only a few days ago, and I promised I would celebrate with him. I didn't. I kept a promise I couldn't possibly keep. That is until he made his way to Steelport, and he met the Saints. He didn't like the idea at first, but soon he became one of the best we had in just a mere few days. Brave, resilient, valiant, honorable, strong, and he never backed down. Even when we Saints doubted him he continued to press until he went on his own or we came with him. He would have taken on that entire ship alone just to bring the boss back. He told me that whatever it takes he would bring the boss back alive even if his death were in place of hers. Now we know for sure that wherever he is… He's kicking ass with his family…" Pierce finished.

He waved me up to the stage and I went up to the podium. "I felt like a speech like this should be said better from the heart rather than paper. I met him only those few days ago in his hometown. I had no idea he was related to such a fierce person as Angel, but when I knew what he had done I knew that they were related. They have the same mind, Angel never backs down, Ryker never did, and they would stop at nothing. He didn't die in vain, and neither did Angel. They knew the cost of what was to happen if they went through with the plans, and in place of them I stand before you. We stand before you as a collective group of people honoring such deaths. I will admit I had an affection of Ryker, I loved him, and I wanted to keep him safe, little did I know it would be him keeping me safe for such a short amount of time. His last words to me were his confession of love, but he also gave me something to look forward to. He said…" I stopped myself before I could continue.

I looked over the crowd and in the back I saw his familiar figure, but he soon disappeared in thin air. "He said I would find hope again. Hope is the light we can make in place of death. In all honesty I wish hope could last forever, but I know it may not. There will be a day where we lose all hope and all that will be left is just sheer will. I loved him, and he did me. Thank you for your time." I said as I walked down the stairs and sat next to Pierce. "What was up with you?" He whispered. "Probably not best to tell." I said. "You saw him didn't you?" He asked. "Did you?" I asked. He shook his head and put a finger over his lips as Shaundi made her speech and Ben read poetry about death and new life. Then all of the Saints made their closing statements about Angel and Ryker one at a time. We had some of our Saint soldiers shoot guns into the air to honor them. I know they weren't military, but they were heroes. I still couldn't get those words out of my head, and Ryker said he would be back? Was that Ryker at the funeral?

"I will be back after you have achieved your greatest victory…" How was I supposed to know what my greatest victory is? I would think that killing Killbane permanently would have been my greatest victory, but I guess it isn't. Could he be my conscious now? I really hoped not. I love him, but him telling me what to do and what not to would be somewhat hypocritical. I knew I was on my way to having a great campaign for presidency, but at some point the polling's went low and I knew calling Ben King would help me. Finally we won the election and the Saints were officially in the white house. Or as Ryker would have wanted it to be named: The White Crib.

A/N Ryker held a lot of decisions for the future of the Saints didn't he? The point of me killing Angel was because they didn't even mention him as people who died on earth as part of the Saints. They mentioned Viola and Zimos even though they clearly weren't with the Saints after they got the White House. See it's somewhat canon! Just kidding. I figured the reason why they had absolutely no mention of Angel is because he was dead, and for some reason they mentioned Zimos and Viola even though they clearly didn't even make a cameo in IV, and they were no doubt still alive. I also figured that Killbane had to be permanently put down somehow. This timeframe like I might have mentioned before takes place between 3 and 4, and I am aware that this story didn't really have a full five years, let alone one year, but I figure I can probably do episodes after, but the epilogue takes place after the story of 4 is complete. So I still have about four years to account for here. Volition was pretty vague on what happened in between, but I figure they left it up to the fans imagination and thus this fiction was born! Stay sweet readers!