Prologue Part 2: Oath Undying

A field of white flowers came into view as Anon Hope opened his heavy-lidded eyes. His memories felt murky... One moment, he was on the roof of Beacon Tower but the next...

Then it hit him, like the Jabberwock's tail did.

He sighed heavily, the empty feeling and the grave-cold permeating his body confirming his demise. But as he let it sink in, he felt a soothing warmth beneath his head. He looked up, his blue eyes meeting beautiful silver orbs full of love and kindness. A mature woman of short stature with thighs like the softest pillows Hope ever had the privilege to lay his head upon Sat under his head. Wrapping her cute head with red-tipped black hair was an immaculate white cloak.

Hope sighed, closing his eyes.

"Did they win?" He asked.

Summer Rose smiled softly.

"They did."

"Are they well?"

Her smile faltered sadly.

"Alive and well but... Your death... Struck them hard."

Hope let a small mournful smile form.

"I never thought that I'd get to see the day someone would mourn my passing."

She began patting his soft hair soothingly, easing his sorrow.

"You were a wonderful friend to them. I would be appalled if they had disregarded your sacrifice."

She huffed cutely.

"I didn't raise my daughters to be callous meanies!"

Hope let a chuckle slip.

"No, you did not."

She beamed proudly in a way only a mother could.

"Damned straight!"

His smile disappeared.

"And... The Jabberwok? Is it neutralized for good?"

Summer cringed.

"No... Ruby managed to petrify it but her technique is super duper sloppy, so doubt it'll last more than five years tops."

Hope groaned.

"Kicking the can down the road... Well, with some luck she'll find Callavera on her way to Argus and learn how to control it..."

Hope sighed, knowing that the future was most likely going to be more uncertain than he wanted. Summer kept stroking his hair tenderly, reminding him of his own mother.

"Did..." He hesitated. "Did I do a good job?"

Her smile became radiant.

"Oh, Anon... Of course you did!" She spread her arms wide excitedly. "You worked so hard! You did so much preparation and brought so many people together to fight back against Salem's forces."

Her eyes began to twinkle.

"And that speech was so cool! And the blue light it was like 'AAAAAAAAAAH~!' like a temple choir and you just. refused. to. die!... Until... well, you know..."

Hope blinked before chuckling.

'She's Ruby's mom alright.' Hope thought.

Hope let the peaceful sounds of the flower fields ease his turbulent mind. Slowly but surely, his mind reconstructed the event from beginning to end but one last question disturbed his still heart.

"What... What happened afterwards? After I died... Did they... Did they bury me or?"

She scratched her head.

"Uhm... No?"

Hope blinked.

"The fuck you mean no?"

"You just died!" she revealed. "How can they bury you when you're still warm?!"

Hope paused.

"Wait, what?!"

Hope shot up to his feet. The scenery changed, the field of flowers falling into the cosmic void and was replaced by the tent where his life had ended. A brilliant light welcomed him, as the page became a paladin. Hope saw firsthand the effects of Jaune's awakened semblance as both Team RWBY and JNPR were rejuvenated, from battered and bruised to healthy and spotless. Jaune looked befuddled at his new power but as soon as he saw his compatriots' new health, hope shined in his tearful eyes. If their better, then surely Hope was as well. But unbeknownst to him, his lay-on hands only worked on those who had Aura.

And the soul-crushing reality set in. Hope was gone, as proven by the heartbeat sensor droning on his flatline.

Jaune staggered backwards into a chair, hiding his face as a sob overtook him.

"Please..." Jaune whimpered. "It wasn't supposed to be like this..."

Hope looked around at his bereaved friends, all mourning his sudden death. He saw as Blake bolted out of the tent with tears in her eyes, her reflex of running away from grief not having been worked out just yet. Same with Weiss, who staggered out of the tent with a dead look in her eyes. Yang was too busy balling her eyes out next to her unconscious sister to realize her teammates had deserted the tent. He looked to the doctor who had fixed him previously, holding her head down as she cursed herself for failing him. His gaze veiled in shadows as he looked down at his own corpse amidst the mournful wails of his friends. He felt a warm pair of hands hold his shoulders supportively in a hug.

"I know it's a shock to see... Your own body... But it's just the way things are."

His dark silence worried her, but as she moved to look him in the face, to tell him that he should take the time to process his passing...

She was met with the face of a man driven, one not filled with despair or shock but determination.

"That's where you're wrong, Summer." he exhaled, his hovering his hand over his body. "I've seen some fucking bullshit in my time as a Shaderunner... I've met the Falsely Living..."

He dug his phantom hand into his own chest, his digits wrapped around his own heart.

"And I know of a way that may work..."

Hope groped his own heart, it's damaged and burned form not registering any feeling in his hand. His fingers went through his biological pump, passing through like the ghost he now was. Hope let a breath of exasperation out as he tried over and over again to force his heart to pump, unable to properly control his ethereal nature. Summer winced pitifully, the desperate scene before her painting her poor motherly heart.

"Anon..." she tried to call out. "Please, you must understand that it's no use..."

She looked down, rubbing her arm.

"I know better than anyone how painful it is to be powerless before Death..."

She approached him, laying her soft hand on his forearm.

"So, please... Listen to me when I say that-"

"No one can defy Death?" Hope questioned.

Summer nodded immediately.

"Is that such a hard fact to face?"

A twisted grimace appeared on Hope's face as he shoved his other hand into his chest.

"It isn't..." Hope agreed "And if this was the world before God came down and cast his final Judgement on Makind I would've agreed with you..."

"Then-"

His gaze focused, a fleshy feeling at the very tip of his ghostly fingers.

"But I know of a way where I can try one more gambit."

Summer shook her head, not noticing Hope's headway.

"Why are you so adamant? You've done all you could! Nothing can-"

A cold wind blew, freezing Summer to the bone.

"W-What was that?!"

Hope's head shot up, looking around as the image of the tent vanished, leaving only him, his corpse and Summer in the darkness. The cold wind caressed his mind and reassured him...

It will work... It must work.

His hands glowed an ethereal green as they dived back into his chest.

...

The doctor shakily stood back up, her golden tears flowing like water.

"Crusader... I'm... So sorry..."

She reached over his eyes to close them until his intact eye glowed violently for a moment. Her hand recoiled away in shock.

"W-what?"

...

Hope gripped his heart with both hands, its form compressing slightly as it was covered by his hands. He squeezed it gently repeatedly in a regular rhythm.

...

As one of the assistant doctors reached to close the still flatlining heartbeat sensor, the line spiked up and down violently. Hope's chest heaved suddenly as a gasp escaped his mouth.

Everyone shot out of their seat, their eyes wide.

"What the heck?!" the assistant dried as Hope's body began convulsing.

"HOLD HIM DOWN RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" the doctor shouted.

Yang and Jaune sprung into action, holding down his arms and legs as he gasped spastically like a fish out of water.

...

"What... Is happening..." Summer breathed out.

The dead Huntswoman witnessed Hope breathlessly as his broken eye glowed violently an ethereal green. He kept pumping his heart as his body it struggled to come back to life. The sudden flow of blood in his still veins ruptured fragile blood vessels in his damaged eye, blinding it and tainting his sclera a bloody red. Hope groaned in pain as he lost vision in his left eye.

"Fuck's sake!"

A manic grimace of rage appeared as he threw one hand out of his chest and into his head. He massaged his brain, tinkering with shot neurons and shut-down synapses until they came back to life.

...

As suddenly as Hope began spasming, His eyes shot wide open as a scream erupted from his throat, his mind on fire and his heart in supreme pain.

"What's going on?!" the befuddled assistant blurted.

"Crusader..." The doctor muttered. "What are you doing..."

His spasms made way for violent struggling, trying to tear off everyone off of him.

"Anon!" Jaune exclaimed. "Stop! you're going to hurt yourself!"

"ANON, ENOUGH!" Yang screamed.

Nora joined the seemingly herculean effort to keep Hope still as he screamed his lungs out.

"CALM DOWN, DUDE!" She cried out.

...

Hope removed his hands from his mind and back into his chest. With his mind back to function, Hope worked to stabilize his heart rate.

It's nice that it's beating again but at this rate, it'll rupture or suffer a heart attack.

Summer shot to his side, looking on in shock and fascination as Hope was well on his way to bringing himself back to life.

"H-How?" she blurted out. "How is this even possible?!"

"I'm not going..." Hope exclaimed quietly, raising anger in his voice. "Not yet."

She looked over to him, taking a frightened step back as...

Something...

...Hovered above him, reaching for a denied embrace. It looked pained and unsure, as if Hope was about to get himself in a lot of trouble. Soon enough, many more of those Things came out of the darkness, some coming from above while others came out of the ground.

All indescribable and terrible to behold, even the luminous ones that inspired love and kindness looked too awful and strange to look at for too long. Those who came out of the ground were like nightmares from a frightened child's mind, of crawling horrors covered in the unspeakable.

Yet all looked to Hope with worry and fear for his safety.

A strange, uncanny love and kindness animated their many eyes and mouths as they frowned fearfully at his actions. Hope did not falter as he finished his preparations.

...

After an agonizingly long five minutes of struggle, Hope went completely limp. His vacant eyes stared at the ceiling, his mouth mouthing what he was saying on the other side of the coil. Nora, Yang and Jaune panted as they reflexively kept holding him down.

"Is- Is it over?" Jaune asked.

The panicked beating of his revivified heart settled to a stable, if slow beat. His extremities trembled and shook. His hand slowly rose up, grasping at something others couldn't see.

...

Summer approached cautiously as the frightful beings seemed to smile and rejoice at Hope's apparent success. Others among them were obviously happy but cautious and worried. One who emerged from the ground, a gaunt figure with a wry smile, pushed Summer toward Hope. The being made way for her, seemingly out of respect, as she approached a sighing Hope.

"What... Did you do?"

Hope looked tired as he held his hurting eye.

"I made myself fine... At a cost."

He stared at his living, if empty vessel.

"I have a feeling that won't be the only problem I brought upon myself."

Summer blinked incredulously.

"Why?" she asked. "Why would you go that far?!"

Hope looked at her, armed with a cocked brow.

"Wouldn't you?"

Summer looked down, rubbing her arm bitterly.

"I did... Once."

Hope's glare eased at Summer's powerlessness. He closed his eyes with a sigh.

"Then you understand."

The darkness gave way back to the tent as everyone sat back down, exhausted from trying to hold Hope down.

"That scared the crap out of me..." Nora admitted as she let go of Anon's legs.

Jaune did the same with his stump but Yang didn't, holding onto his hand for dear life.

"Anon, you bastard..."

Tears fell from her eyes and onto his face.

"I was so scared..."

Summer reached for her adopted daughter's face, but Hope beat her to the punch.

"You died far away from them," he said. "I died right next to them."

his hand passed through Yang's head.

"You died protecting those you love, alone. I died protecting those i love, surrounded by them."

He brought his hand to his face...

"You were long gone by the time they learned, watching them as they cried as a phantom."

...and closed it into a fist.

"I got to see it first hand."

he threw his hand to the side.

"Seeing this, wouldn't you do everything in your power to dry their tears?! Even if it costed you an eye, an arm and a leg?!"

She raised her head, looking at her daughter as she cried. Her expression hardened as she embraced Yang despite lacking physicality.

"I would," she confirmed. "I would too."

Hope held Summer's shoulder, his eyes burning with willpower.

"As long as I have people crying for me... As long as my work is not done... I will not yield to Entropy."

She looked up at him.

"Your work?"

Hope paced to his soulless shell, his stump reaching for him, muttering the words leaving his mouth.

"I've lived a terrible life..." Hope admitted bitterly. "I've watched as the world around me became worse and worse... and made it an even worse place..."

The beings approached him, reaching towards him with heartbroken faces. They wanted to reassure him and despite their appearances, Summer realized that they only wanted what was best for him. Suddenly... They didn't seem so bad. One in particular, the one that came to him first, the one who flew from above to try and embrace him, finally did as she initially wanted. She held him in a soft, sweet embrace as golden tears fell from the feathers where her eyes should be. Even the wry grinned one dropped the smile to hold Hope tightly. Hope held his hands in front of himself, palms toward him, as he continued.

"I drove my best friend to suicide... I failed to care for my mother... My twin brother almost raped my foster sister and nearly killed me when I stopped him..."

He looked up at the tent's roof.

"I've witnessed the depth of human cruelty... I've witnessed God's judgement and the resultant collapse of the world I once knew..."

he paused as the beings all finally reached him, hugging his back.

"But..."

His gaze fell on the people inside the tent, their heads down as their brains burned with worry over Hope.

"I've also witnessed the depth of human kindness... of love and devotion. Of friendship and brotherhood."

He chuckled dryly.

"And all it took me to realize that... Was a bunch of teenagers with crazy powers."

He looked outside of the tent.

"I've witnessed a world full of wonder and beauty..."

His expression became grim.

"But this world also has darkness."

Grim made way for viciousness.

"But that darkness has a master."

He waved towards the entrance of the tent.

"You know as much as I do that Salem, and Ozpin for that matter, are holding back the world from moving on."

He shook his head decisively.

"Knowing that, I can't abide by them." He waved his hand angrily. "They are robbing them of their right to choose their fates! They dream of adventure but these two immortal assholes would rather manipulate them into being pawns in their big game of chess!"

He pointed to himself, stabbing his fingers into his chest.

"I will not stand by while I see my friends in pain! I will not stand by as they are about to be sacrificed for some bullshit play in this game that's been ongoing for literal fucking eons!"

He walked over to his body, flanked by all of the beings that came to witness his return. All bore determined expressions devoid of doubt.

They will follow Hope through death and dismay.

Hope reached out to his body, taking his hand at last. His soul began to glow as it began the possession process. In the distance, a pair of twins with black wings overlooked Hope's defiance of their domain. Hope stared at them as his soul returned to his body.

"I've lived a terrible life... But I was given a second chance." He declared. "I won't waste it. I've sinned so much that the weight upon my shoulders is crushing! But now... Now I have another chance! My salvation, my redemption! It lies in their beautiful world! I will do EVERYTHING in my power to give them what has been stolen from them!"

His dirge reached a crescendo as a light welcomed him back into his body.

"I SWEAR IT: I WILL GIVE THEM BACK CONTROL OVER THEIR LIVES AS THEY DID MINE! I WILL NOT REST UNTIL I HELP THEM TAKE BACK THEIR WORLD FROM CRUEL, CALLOUS IMMORTALS! I WILL HELP THEM USHER IN A NEW AGE! A GOLDEN AGE OF HEROES AND LIGHT!"

His soul dispersed back inside his body with one final oath.

"I will not fall... Until my work is done."

...

His eyes flickered open, consciousness burning in his orbs at last. He let out a pained groan as he slipped his hand out of Yang's to grip his stump with a hiss. Pain and numbness mixed into an awful sensation of static, of a hundred million needles piercing frostbitten skin.

Yang recoiled suddenly at the burst of life from her dear family.

"Anon?!"

Everyone else snapped to attention, crowding the returned Hope and ready to hold him down once more.

"Fuck..." he moaned. "Fuck me... Living hurts so much more... Than dying..."

Yang hovered over him, her eyes wet once more.

"A-Anon?" she questioned.

She caressed his face with a desperate hope that her eyes weren't deceiving her. Anon let go of his stump and gently grabbed the back of her head. He brought her close and held her head against his chest.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

The slow but steady beat of a living heart, resting within a rebuilt ribcage. Nestled between burned but otherwise working lungs.

"Ah...Ah..." Yang began sobbing. "Ah..."

She wrapped her arms around his waist, refusing to let go. He was alive...

Hope, was alive.

"I'm here, Luv," he reassured. "I'm still here."

Hope went to pat her on the head until JNPR's more emotional pair jumped at him.

"ANON!" Jaune and Nora bawled. "You're alive!"

Jaune refused to let go of his neck and he cried.

"Anon!" he repeated. "You're not gone! You're not gone!"

Nora blubered as she nuzzled on the other side of his neck.

"Mah boy iz ztill alibe!" She blurted as snot dripped from her nose. "He'z alibe!"

Hope felt a large bead of sweat form behind his head.

The more reserved half of JNPR broke from their stereotype and joined their teammates, holding Hope in a huge group hug.

"You're ok, my friend." Ren managed to say quietly, masking his broken voice. "You're ok."

"Thank Light..." Pyrrha said shakily, holding onto his forearm. "Thank you for not taking him yet."

Hope held his arm and stump out, taking everyone in his embrace. He looked up at the foot of his bed, where the doctor stared at him in gladdened shock. She wiped the last remains of her golden tears before looking at the returned crusader gravely.

"What... Have you done, crusader?"

Hope looked down as his beloved friends

"I can't leave just yet..."

He paused, thinking back to the twins.

"I can't fulfil my covenant just yet..."

'I'm sorry, Samael.' He thought.

Hope looked back at the doctor, a driven glare in his eyes.

"My work is not yet done."

The doctor crossed her arms, nodding in understanding.

"Alright... I just hope Lady Samael will understand."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

The doctor nodded again as she finally broke off to do her job, saving and healing people. As she departed to do her Seraph-given mission, Hope held his remaining hand in front of him and flexed it...

Once, twice, thrice...

Once, twice, thrice...

Hope held his remaining hand in front of him after flexing it.

He leaned back into his bedding as he stared at his hand. It's been weeks since he came back from the dead and Tai had graciously allowed him to stay. Not that he had a choice, Yang made that very clear. He let out a lamentful sigh, the painful reality of his return, and the consequences thereof having sunk in.

Not having a functioning leg is a pretty bad detriment, let alone a missing arm and half of his sightline.

Even his emotions took a beating from the terrible reality that he had forced himself to live through. His emotions were far more vivid than before, often for the worse. His temper's fuse had shortened considerably, sometimes flaring at unfortunate moments. Yang was the one who got the worst of it, having taken it upon herself to be Hope's aid. More often than not, She would say something that Hope would take the wrong way despite Yang only having the best of intentions. Hope habitually beats himself over his stupid tantrums.

Not only emotionally, but physically as well.

His entire body felt like it was overrun with static, his movements were sluggish and strangely out of sync with his mind as if his mind moved faster than his body. Everything felt delayed and laggy.

Hope shook his head and sat back up, the strange feeling of disconnect manifesting as he felt he should have been upright a second sooner. He looked out of the window, again, feeling that he should have been looking at that bunny at the edge of the forest sooner than he had.

He almost missed the furry critter hopping back into the forest.

He sighed, looking at the bed on the other side of the room. Ruby was tossing and turning in her bed again. he frowned.

Why did that annoy him so much?

He already knew why, because she was probably having a nightmare right about now. In these times, a simple solution was required.

Summer's radio.

It was a strange piece of antiquated technology. As told by the patriarch of the Rose/Xiao-Long family, the old radio was found at an antique shop and Summer bought it because, quote, "it was super cool looking." For the first time since he woke back up, Hope had had a chuckle at it.

That was Summer alright.

It had taken a beating over the years but Summer, like her daughter after her, had a knack for tinkering with things. It took her months to find the blueprints and a year to track down the original parts so that she could recreate them with better material. But the sprout of her passion and labour blossomed and bore fruits, the result was a beautiful portable radio that could tune in to any local station with crisp and clear sound.

But it had a quirk, it automatically tuned in to a soft jazz station when turned on.

This was fine by Anon, as he was used to frequenting speakeasies and cabaret back Home but Ruby seemed to especially like it. He turned the radio on, the sound of a man's gentle baritones serenaded her as low brass eased her troubled slumber.

Hope smiled for the second time as Ruby's sleep became peaceful once more.

He put the radio back on the window sill, his expression returning to its now almost ubiquitous grim emotionlessness. As he brooded over his fate, he stared at the radio. He was reminded of the first time he held it and it sprung to life in his hand.

He remembered the tears of joy and nostalgia in both Qrow and Tai when they heard the radio play again.

He felt a soft warmth coming from Ruby's side of the room, a regular occurrence when the radio was playing. It became routine for him to look over, only to be met with nothing out of the ordinary.

He sighed, all too aware that something was up, but the pain made him not want to put any more stock into this mystery.

'Later...' He told himself. 'but not now... now...'

'Just rest.'

PROLOGUE - END!

NEXT ON PLAYLIST: CHAPTER 1 - PLAY?