The prompt for this was "Summer returns from her last mission. She's been...changed by the experience she went through."

Summer staggered along the pathway that ran into the woods of Patch. She was exhausted and starving, but the thought of reaching home gave her energy. She wasn't sure how long she had been gone, how long she had been dead, but she knew her girls needed her, and she wouldn't rest until she reached them.

That said, there was one biological urge that couldn't wait another minute. Stepping off the pathway, Summer walked over to a tree and raised a leg to do her business.

The idea of coming back from the dead was strange enough, reincarnating as a dog made it all the stranger. But somehow, the weirdest part of all was the fact that she now inhabited the body of a male dog.

Getting used to walking on four legs and relying on smell as much as sight was not as challenging as Summer would have expected. It seemed that her canine brain came equipped with the necessary pathways for those things.

The harder part was scavenging for food and water while she traveled across Vale and back to Patch. Stowing away on a ship had been no mean feat either. If anyone found her, they might send her to a pound or try to adopt her. Such actions might be perfectly well meaning, but anything that kept her from her family was the cruelest thing imaginable as far as Summer was concerned.

As cruel as the man who killed me.

Summer tried to think as little as possible about dying. It was a disconcerting experience to say the least. And to have been killed by one of Ozpin's former associates made it that much worse. Rainart was his name; she had seen him once when she was still a student. Ozpin told her that he had abandoned their mission, but Summer had never considered that he might come after her.

She would think about that later. Right now her only goal was to get home. She finished her business at the tree and returned to the path, moving at a steady pace.

When the cottage came into view, it looked much as she remembered it. The garden was a bit unkempt, but everything else was immediately recognizable as the house where she and Tai had lived together after Raven left.

And there, sitting on the porch with her head resting in her hands, was their older daughter. Summer had planned to act like any old stray dog when she approached, but then she saw the somber expression on Yang's normally sunny face and she needed to be beside her now.

Summer sprinted across the yard as fast as her little legs would carry her and practically bowled right into Yang. She stood on her hind legs and placed her front paws on the young girl's chest, reaching up to lick at her face.

"Ah!" squealed Yang, joy quickly replacing the shock in her voice. "Hi there, who are you? Yes, I'm glad to meet you too." Summer felt the girl's hand on her back, petting her.

Gods, how she's grown! Summer thought, love swelling in her chest just like the first time she laid eyes on Yang. That was before Raven left, but even then she had felt a connection between them. Summer would never understand how her teammate could have left behind something so precious.

"Doggie!" called a voice from the doorway, and Summer's heart nearly burst as Ruby stepped outside to join them.

She can talk now!

Summer moved away from Yang and towards her younger daughter, reaching up to lick Ruby's face while being careful not to knock the toddler over.

Soon both girls were petting her and accepting wet doggie kisses. Summer was overjoyed to be there. She recognized the sadness in her daughters' eyes and knew that it was her fault for dying. They didn't know that she was back and unless she could find some way to return to her human form, they probably never would. But at least she was here to comfort them in that way that only a dog could.

"Dad, come see!" shouted Yang, and at the thought of seeing Tai again after Gods knew how long, Summer internally fretted over how she looked.

I look like a dog, she reminded herself. There isn't a whole lot I can do about that.

It was another minute before Tai came out of the house, looking bedraggled and tired. It looked like he hadn't showered or shaved that day and maybe not the day before either. Summer was reminded of his breakdown after Raven left, and the thought that she had caused him similar distress broke her heart.

"Can we keep him? Can we?" begged Yang, hugging Summer around the neck.

"Please!" added Ruby, giving her most devastatingly cute expression.

Summer winced internally as she realized that her family was probably going to misgender her for the rest of her life, but she figured she could live with that as long as she could be with them. She looked up at her husband expectantly.

Tai opened his mouth to answer, but then stopped as he made eye contact with Summer. The two held each other's gaze for a moment as he stood there with his mouth open before finally recovering.

"I'll have to see if he belongs to anyone already, but yeah, I think we can keep him."

Yang and Ruby cheered and threw their arms around their new dog. Tai knelt down to scratch Summer behind the ears.

"I had a dog that looked a bit like you when I was a kid," her husband told her. "His name was Ein. I guess we could call you Zwei."

Summer gave a quick bark of acceptance at the name. She would certainly try to find a way to return to her human form, but she didn't have any real expectation of success. Instead, she'd focus on learning to live as her family's dog.

She would never get to be a mother to her daughters or a wife to her husband again, but at least she would be here with them. She couldn't teach Yang and Ruby to be women or to be Huntresses, but she could still support them along the journey. She could still play with them and cuddle with them. She could still dry their tears when they were sad and listen when they needed to talk. She could still protect them until they no longer needed her.

That would just have to be enough for Summer.

Author's Note: It took me about zero seconds after I saw the prompt to come up with the idea for this. But it took me a whole week to make this decent. I've been told it's exceptionally feels-y, and I thought that was exactly what you should get from Summer coming back from the dead.

As an aside, they mentioned her again! Volume 5 Chapter 8 broke the nineteen chapter streak of not bringing up Summer Rose. I don't know about you, but I was salty that it took them this long to remember that Ruby has a mom.

Anyways, thanks for reading!