July 7th, 2020 update: Changed a few minor things on "Raven's" introduction to the situation (Now Raven doesn't know that she lost Summer's scroll and cloak 'till it was too late), fixed a few typos, and extended Raven's line to the moon in the ending.

Original author's note below:

So, new story that now forms part of the pile of projects that are unlikely I'll ever complete [Facepalm]. This' an idea I had while reading some "Summer Rose isn't dead/returns/is resurrected" stories. Mainly it revolves around the interesting fact that Summer is in fact dead as canon dictates, but is having her identity usurped by a person with a ridiculously OP shapeshifting/imitation semblance and a penchant for living other people's lives and fucking other people's partners.

This story begins about a year before Volume One. Counting from the moment Qrow encounters "Summer".

Chapter One: "A Rose's Resurgence"

Raven Branwen is a woman whom has many words which people usually associate with her name: 'Ruthless', 'Headstrong', 'Traitor', 'Psychopath', 'Annoying', 'Bitch' - Just to name a few.

But if there's one word nobody would associate with her? That would be 'Regretful', and yet, that's exactly what she is right now.

Now, Raven doesn't regret leaving Taiyang and Yang to fend off for themselves. After all, knowing herself, she probably wouldn't have been a good mother for Yang. Not to mention the whole 'Ties that bind' schtick simply doesn't click with her. Besides, she knew Summer Rose would pick up on the sloppy seconds because of her crush on Taiyang, with her wayward brother Qrow tailing her everywhere she went because of that hopeless crush he had on Summer.

Fortunately, both of them did a better job at being at Tai's side than Raven ever did. Plus, there's the fact that, despite her aloof demeanor and excessive naïveté, Summer was the strongest out of the entire team, both in sheer will, skill, and strength. Raven unfortunately learnt that first-handed when she tried to defy her leadership back at Beacon Academy, when team STRQ was still a thing. Raven thought those were enough qualifications for her to entrust Yang's upbringing to Summer Rose.

No, Raven doesn't regret any of that, those were lessons learnt and previsions taken. What she does regret though, is not helping her former teammate when she was ambushed by Salem's minions in the wilderness of Mistral ten years ago.

Raven thought she had the situation under control as she was perched on a tree in her avian form, judging by how she had plowed through the hordes of Grimm that were swarming and attempting to flank her. Those silver eyes weren't just for show and doing sad puppy eyes after all. Plus her skill with her weapon was unparalleled, there's a reason why she fast-tracked two years of combat school before ending up in Beacon, and why her, along with the rest of team STRQ, were the best team when they all graduated.

But then Hazel and Tyrian appeared. The Grimm were just a ruse to wear her out. She held out for half an hour until her Aura finally gave way, allowing Hazel to knock her out and for Tyrian to maim her into a bloody assortment of body parts deformed beyond recognition, Callows even gouged her bloodshot eyes out after puncturing her heart for sick fun. Hazel claimed her weapon, probably to show to Salem as proof the deed was done. After all, anyone who ever knew Summer Rose would know that she never let anyone touch her weapon, let alone take it.

There weren't many things that could faze Raven Branwen, but this, seeing the strongest person she had ever met and held true respect for meet a gruesome end like that? It definitely took a toll on her psyche. She still doesn't know what made her take Summer's scroll and signature white cloak that day before the wild animals and Grimm came by to claim her body as either nourishment or some kind of sick entertainment. But she did, as a memento of her cowardice, most likely. Still, she held those two items dear. Even if she never used the scroll for anything other than shift through long-forgotten memories of their time at Beacon, and the wonderful job both her and Tai had done with both Yang and the little clone of Summer named 'Ruby'. And then there was the cloak, which just hung hidden in her closet, still stained with her blood.

And then, after a Huntsman nearly managed to get a drop on her tribe, she had inadvertently lost those two items that served as a window to a bygone age.

If she only knew that them dropping and losing that scroll and cloak would cause? She probably would've gone back despite the risks and picked the items back up once she realized they were missing, since it allowed for her to appear, wearing her dead teammate's appearance like some sort of skinsuit, seeking to live her life...

An armed woman with short, dark blue hair, a pair of mouse ears atop of her head, hazel eyes, tanned skin, and black traditional Mistrali garb was running through the lush forests of Mistral, fleeing. Her cover was blown, or at least, it was close to blowing itself up. Lionheart was suspecting of her being a rat (And she was masquerading as a mouse! How ironic!), and with good reason, after all, she had uncovered Leo's dealings with a person very interested in dwindling Mistral's hunter population. She had managed to get enough evidence of it before pulling out. Who thought that playing Deputy Headmistress of Haven Academy would've been so interesting? She thought it would've been a long drag of paperwork which she could've only broken by seducing and teasing some students, but the gig definitely proved profitable!

Not that she was gonna go to the news with this, or even report it, she was probably going to use it to keep Lionheart quiet. But then she ran away from Haven and so, the point of having the intel was moot now. She was still gonna keep it regardless, who knows how useful it was gonna be at some point.

The woman eventually reached a clearing in the forest, she had to watch out. If she started having nasty thoughts now she would be a lighthouse for Grimm, and she didn't need that. What she needed was to regain her breath for a minute, then keep going, find a dead civilian or huntress (Preferably not in training, screw going back to school) along the way, take her shit, then masquerade as the poor idiot. That's how she's been living her life for so long, or rather, she's been living other people's lives for plain amusement.

She splayed herself against a tree to relax for a while with a sigh before continuing her journey for a new identity.

"Ahhh... The things that would happen to poor old Leo if anyone got wind of this..."

As she regained her breath, she started to examine the clearing surrounding her, eventually spotting a speck of white hanging from the tree above her.

Now, what's that? She thought to herself with a squinted eye and a tilted head at the white above her.

Now forgoing the rest due to her rising curiosity. She approached the white dot on the tree, and pulled. Revealing what seemed to be a white cloak, stained with long-dried blood judging from the brown color of the stains.

"Huh, interesting. It should help conceal my identity until I find a new one" She mused to herself as she analyzed the cloak.

Further inspection of the cloak made a scroll drop and clatter to the ground. She picked it up almost immediately.

"Hahaha! Luck seems to be on my side today!"

The thing was very old, and seemed to be in ultra power saving mode, which she promptly disabled, revealing the scroll to have less than ten percent of battery life remaining. Fortunately, it seemed to support reverse charging, so she put the thing against her 'own' scroll in order for its battery to feed of the one that actually had a charge. Then it began the daunting task of analyzing the scroll for identifying data. She proceeded to wear the cloak to shield herself from the sunlight that was now shining down on her.

A couple hours later, she had obtained everything she needed to know from the scroll. It belonged to one Summer Rose - Beacon Academy honor roll graduate, Vytal Festival victor, mother of two (One biological daughter and a stepdaughter), a resident of Patch Island in Vale, living with a Taiyang Xiao-Long (To her surprise, she's not actually married to the guy). And a former member of Beacon Team STRQ, which had disbanded because the 'R' of the team fled after giving birth to her stepdaughter (Now that's some tasty gossip right there).

Of course, then came the task of running the info against the inter-academy hunter database. Due to her last identity this became easier than pie and she even had access to more in-depth records on her 'own' scroll, Lionheart hadn't cut her off just yet, but it could happen at any second, so she had to hurry.

And then more interesting stuff came through, Summer Rose had been missing for nearly a decade now, following a botched, highly confidential mission issued by Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon himself. No remains were ever found, and neither was her scroll, which she was now somehow holding in order to assess the situation at hand. She found this along with several videos of her fighting, which could be put to use should she decide to become Summer Rose.

After a few hours of shifting through records and records of Team STRQ, discovering she wasn't teammates with not only one but two Branwen bandits, that she was what could only be described as 'Huntress extraordinaire', that she had one hell of a hunk for a significant other, and two absolute sweethearts for daughters. She began to weigh the pros and the cons of playing the role of Summer Rose.

"Well, well. Now this is interesting..." She raised her left hand in the air, signifying the cons. "On one hand, she's a prominent huntress, from one of the best teams that ever graduated from Beacon, and she's been missing for nearly ten years, which is bound to raise some eyebrows if she was to suddenly reappear..."

Then her right hand arose, with an open palm, signifying the pros.

"On the flipside, she has a stable job, with a family that most likely misses her dearly. Her possible death had no witnesses, she's still listed as 'MIA' rather than outright dead allowing me to pop up and claim I'm her. Her looks are similar to how I once was before I learned to handle my semblance, making it easier for me to hold the illusion... And then there's that absolute hunk of meat Taiyang..."

She then began to balance her hands up and down like scales.

"Decisions, decisions, decisions... To be? Or not to be Summer Rose...?"

With a smirk on her face, she closed her left hand and both of her eyes, allowing her semblance to work. The mouse ears atop of her head receded back into her skull, her hair started to grow until it reached her shoulders, with the color changing to black fading into red at the tips. Her face also morphed and her skin tone changed from tanned to pale white. Her physique remained mostly unaltered excepting for a slight reduction in cup size, a rather abrupt reduction in height, and a slimmer waist. When she opened her eyes once again, instead of the hazel orbs she held before, they were now a bright silver, and when she spoke, instead of the voice she held moments ago, the voice of Summer Rose (Which she got a sample from a birthday party video) came out from her mouth.

"Well, despite all the things that might go wrong. I'm a sucker for both children, tear-filled family reunions, and muscly husbands. I just have to study the role of Summer Rose in depth to make sure I don't slip up..." She then clicked a button on the scroll with all of Summer Rose's records, along with the evidence incriminating Lionheart of treason, and passed them on to Summer's actual scroll. "And I have to train in her fighting style and work in my imitation of her semblance - 'Short-distance teleportation in a flash of rose petals'? That I can manage to replicate. I can argue her weapon was lost a long time ago, and that it took her - now me, such a long time to return because of a case of amnesia"

She stood up, a determined look on her face mixed with a grin, and spoke boisterously.

"Watch out, world! For Summer Rose is coming back from the dead!"

After her little boast, she looked back at Summer's scroll, browsed her received messages for a while, and then snorted.

"Judging from her text messages, this is something she would actually say! Haha! This role is gonna be easy to play" She then looked at the scroll from her time as Deputy Headmistress of Haven Academy, walked to it, and then stomped it with all of her might, destroying it. "You've served me good, but if Summer Rose has that scroll people are going to start asking questions, questions I won't be able to answer without incriminating myself. Nothing personal!"

She took a hand to her chin, and thought something important. "Now, I haven't been a housewife for a while. Here's hoping I'm not rusty..."

The woman - now going by 'Summer Rose' backtracked to Haven Academy, from there, she would take a bullhead to the City of Mistral, and would work on her performance as Summer Rose for the next two years...

Right now? Qrow Branwen was a very, very, very pissed off man.

Ever since the sighting of Summer at Haven two years ago, he's been going through hell and back, and then some more just to get some information about any whereabouts of Team STRQ's rogue Shortstack, and then to face her as to why in the hell she would pull a Raven out of all things on them.

Yes, Tai and him agreed to call stunts like this one: 'Pulling a Raven'. Just to spite his annoying psychopath of a sister.

Right now Qrow, with the sponsorship of Ozpin who was as confused as Qrow and Tai were about Summer's sudden resurgence, was in Argus. Summer (If it was even her) was only seen on major settlements and the odd key village, moving from place to place so fast Qrow couldn't possibly get there in time. But now? Summer has stayed in Argus for quite some time. Allegedly building a weapon according to his sources.

Some things never change... The drunken Crow thought to himself as he took a seat in a bench.

He looked around in the public square where his contact sought to meet him. It was meant to be a small memorial park but the local governance hadn't decided just what to memorize, so the square's name was literally 'Blank Memorial Park', with the base of a statue built in the center but no statue to speak of...

Yeah, what a mess Remnant Politics are.

As he took a swig from his ever-present flask, he felt the weight on the bench he was sitting on shift, he continued to drink from his flask for a second before putting the cap back on. But not without noticing several rose petals being swept away by the wind and onto his face.

To top it all off, it was a very specific kind of two-tone rose petal, the kind he thought would never see again.

He looked around, alarmed. Only to see nothing in neither his right, left, or behind. He closed his eyes.

"I must be seeing things..." He muttered to himself.

And then came the chipper voice of a supposedly dead person, who would put him on edge, right in front of him. "Well, yes but actually no, Slits"

Upon opening his eyes, there she was in all of her white-cloaked glory. The runaway Silver-Eyed Warrior and former leader of team STRQ, Summer Rose. Leaning forward to him with her hands behind her back. That dreaded pose she would make whenever she would be up to anything. The smirk on her face didn't make things easier.

"You-you're..." Qrow stammered, before regaining his bearings and his face shifted into a scowl. "You're meant to be dead"

"But I'm not, right? That's what counts..." Summer sighed before letting go of her pose and plopping down on the bench alongside him. "For what's worth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for my mission to drag on for twelve years, but I guess a case of amnesia does that to you"

The information shocked Qrow to his core, the anger quickly replaced by confusion and curiosity. "Amnesia? Sum, what the hell happened in that forest?"

"Qrow, I just said I had a case of amnesia. You think I know myself?" She retorted with an 'Are you serious?' look.

"Right, right... Sorry as well..." He shot a look at her. "So, what you've been up to? Twelve years yet it looks like you haven't aged a day"

"Awww, you flatter me!" She teased with both hands on her chest. "But oh well, I've been trying to build a new weapon. My old one was lost in battle, as much as it hurts. Also I've been trying to regain my memories, and I'd say I've done great progress so far"

"How much do you remember?" He asked, curious.

"Well, I suppose the essentials. Who I am, my family, friends..." She punched his shoulder playfully. "My weapon smarts, how to fight, the fact that I owe Ruby a bowl of homemade cookies..."

"The mission, Summer. What do you remember about the mission? About well... What we're fighting for, our enemies?" He clarified, pressing on.

"I am a huntress, right? A defender of the people, slayer of Grimm?" Summer puffed her chest. "And the best there ever was too...! As for the mission? I can't say I remember anything, sorry. Ozpin didn't exactly give me a written mission brief in case things went astray"

"This is messed up..." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated.

"Okay, now you're hiding something. I know that attitude, Qrow Branwen"

"Yes, but I am hiding something you should know, Shortstack. You were the first among us to know this"

"Well, normally I'd come up with a snappy comeback regarding my amnesiac status. But this is a serious matter, so now what? You can't exactly say this here, in public, risking to spill the beans around so many people, right?" Summer asked, apparently puzzled.

Ozpin told me to try and lay a trick answer for her, just to see if she's actually Summer and not one of Salem's Agents using a disguise to deceive us. Qrow reminded himself.

"First, let's go back to Vale. Oz wants to see you" He answered, but she wasn't pleased with the answer.

"No no no. We're going to Patch first, I haven't seen my family in twelve years and I don't want to miss another day of their lives. They've been through enough and I'm not like Raven to skewer the definition of family at my advantage and leisure. I need to face the music even if I have an excuse" She then glared daggers at him. "And if you don't want to take me to Patch first, I'm disappearing and making my way to Patch on my own, and you know you can't put that past me. Ozpin can wait, especially since he's the reason I nearly died to begin with"

Qrow, for the first time in two years, smiled genuinely. Tears threatened to leak from his eyes.

"Oh my god... It really is you... Welcome back, Shortstack"

"C'mere, Slits!" She said before enveloping him in a bone-breaking hug, one he reciprocated as quickly as he could.

Qrow latched onto Summer for as long as he could, fearing that the moment he let go, she would stop being there.

"I've missed you all so much, I want to make up for lost time..." She muttered onto his chest with a sniffle.

"I know, Sum... I know..." He said, and the floodgates opened. He started babbling incoherences in Summer's hair, relishing on the aroma.

Unbeknownst to Qrow, the woman whom he thought was Summer Rose was grinning like a mad woman during their embrace, proud that her impression of Summer was so convincing to the point one of her closest friends swallowed it whole.

Okay, I took the first step at the park. But now I gotta seal the deal. Thankfully I've got six hours of flight to do that. I need to sell that I'm Summer Rose and hope Qrow Branwen out of all people is willing to buy the bullshit. She thought to herself as she washed her face in the airship bathroom. After drying her face with a paper towel, she stared at the reflection on the mirror. I am physically a 1:1 copy of Summer Rose right now, I can't let my acting slip up or else he'll sense something's wrong. And judging by how he acts? He's got plenty of enemies who wouldn't be past using an illusionist to mess with him. I need to convince him I'm up to no harm, which is true. After all, I just want a taste of Tai~!

Her cheeks heated up at the thought of Summer Rose's significant other. If she managed to sell the act to everyone, she would be able to 'fool around in bed' with him.

She stepped out of the bathroom and walked back over to her assigned seat in the airship's economy class. Normally she would incapacitate one of the first-class passengers and take their place, but this convincing was a very important thing to achieve. There was no time to complain about the shitty economy class seats.

With a gentle smile on her face, she sat down next to Qrow, who was drinking from his flask.

According to everything about Team STRQ that was in Summer's old scroll, he wasn't an alcoholic when she left. He was hooked on cola, not alcohol. I can use that to start up a conversation.

"Sooo~! When'd you switch up the cola for booze? You know that's awful for your liver, right?" She then remembered Summer's children. "Not to mention that if you've been close to my girls smelling like a Whiskey distillery I'm gonna smack you upside the head"

Qrow gagged on his booze before putting the flask away, looking at her with an alarmed expression.

Checkmate. She thought, and smirked accordingly.

"Qroooowwww~!" She said in a tone so saccharine-filled it might as well give auditive cavities.

"I-I-I... I was pretty down when you went away..." He stammered, and for grown-up, badass huntsman? It was very cute seeing him like this.

"And that's suddenly an excuse for becoming a drunkard Uncle in front of my girls? I think not" She sighed in apparent resignation. "At least you didn't train them drunk, did you?"

Qrow paled, seemingly caught with his hands on the cookie jar.

Oh my o-what the fuck is wrong with this guy?!

"Qrow..." She then glared daggers with those silver eyes. "Did. You. Train. Ruby. Or. Yang. Drunk?"

"A-a-a few times..."

"How many times?"

"Most of the time..."

"QROW BRANWEN! WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! TRAINING MY DAUGHTERS INTOXICATED?!" She snapped, both in character and because she was actually angry at the guy. Who the hell trains a kid drunk?

"I-I-I Just..." He tried to defend himself but she cut him off.

"You were just 'what', exactly? - You know what? I don't want to hear another word! When we get back, we're having that rematch I owed you back at Beacon, and if I win, you're going to AR!"

"Y-you remember that?! I thought you had amnesia!"

"Oh Slits, anger can make you remember maaaaaany things. This being one of them!" She explained with her saccharine voice, and he looked terrified.

"Please, Summer! Everything but Alcohol Rehab! I wouldn't last a day! And my semblance..." He started drawing excuses out of thin air, and that was her cue for doing another Summer-ism.

She placed both of her hands on her ears, and then started to loudly say: "Lalalala! I can't hear you! I've set the conditions, and as your team leader I order you to suck it up!"

During their little spat, she didn't notice a flight attendant approaching them until said flight attendant touched her shoulder. She made sure her personality did a complete one-eighty when facing the attendant, since according to many, Summer was great at keeping her anger directed at a target.

"Oh! Can I help you?" She asked, her tone back to chipper mode.

"Ma'am, your fight is upsetting the other passengers. Could you please keep it down?"

She blushed and shrunk on her seat. Was she really that loud? "S-sure! I'm sorry!" She then shot a glare at Qrow. "This. Isn't. Finished"

He gulped and she laid back on her seat with her arms crossed in apparent discomfort. But she was cackling like a hyena on the inside, seeing Qrow squirm around in his seat, twice as pale than he usually is? It was golden.

Looks like Summer Rose is returning for quite a while. Because so far? This life is great... She thought as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Focusing on keeping her illusion up even as she took a nap.

"You have no idea of what you're getting yourself into..." Said an eerily familiar voice.

"Wait, who said that?" Now that's a voice I hadn't heard in a while. My actual voice.

Looking around, I noticed I was back in the Mistrali wilderness, a little ways from Haven Academy.

"Wha-how did I get here?" I asked myself, having forgotten all about the voice for a second.

I looked around paranoidly, until I saw a sight that shocked me to my core. An feminine figure whose face was covered by a white cloak.

"A-am I dead? Did the airship crash or something?! You death?!" I asked warily, taking a step back.

The figure took ahold of her cloak and took it off her head, and what I saw made my jaw hit the floor.

"S-S-S-SUMMER ROSE!" I stuttered loudly.

There she was, standing in the center of the forest clearing, those silver eyes of hers glaring daggers at me.

"You have no idea of what you're getting yourself into. Of what are you doing..." She said coldly, sending shivers down my spine.

She took her hands to her back, revealing the clothes she was wearing under said cloak... Including the gaping, bloody hole she had on her chest.

"My enemies will hunt you down, they will take your life, thinking you are myself..."

She walked toward me, I shrunk on the spot, and she was suddenly a giant to me. She leaned forward and downward to me, hands still behind her back, and a knowing smirk on her face.

"And this will happen because you couldn't keep your hands off Tai..."

Out of nowhere, a Scorpion Faunus with a deranged expression on his face appeared, lunging at me with his stinger.

It was far too late to react, and then everything faded to black.

Now I'm probably gonna go to rehab because of her... Geez, she's been back for barely a day and she's already berating me for doing her favors with Ruby and Yang.

Qrow Branwen was deep in thought as he took a glance at a sleeping Summer Rose, peacefully dozing off in her airship seat. Just like she had been all those years ago, when Team STRQ was still kicking Grimm ass around, taking missions all over Remnant. He took a sip from his flask.

And even with the threat of having to ditch the booze soon, I wouldn't change it for anything else in the world. Shortstack's back. I never thought we'd see her again, yet here she is. It feels so... Surreal. So good to be even true.

All of a sudden, Summer woke up with a jolt and hyperventilating, startling the (for now) sober Qrow at her side.

"Woah! Shortstack! What's wrong?!"

It took half a minute of pats and rubbing circles in the back to calm Summer down, and so he pressed on with questions.

"Alright, so are you gonna tell me what the hell was that about?"

"I don't know... I think it was a memory flash..." She replied, and this got Qrow on edge.

"What? What'd you see?"

"A forest... Looked like Mistral..." Summer drifted off to the window. "A crazy Scorpion Faunus, a hit from his stinger... Then nothing more"

"Shit. Oz's gotta know about this, and fast" He mused to himself, running a hand through his hair.

"Wait, we're not changing course, are we?! We're going to Patch first, and that's final!" She argued, leaning forward on her seat, her face still facing Qrow's.

"No no no, we ain't gonna skip Patch, Sum. I'm pretty sure you owe Tai and the girls an explanation, but I'm just saying, the sooner this gets to Ozpin's ears, the better"

"I'm in no position to argue that, aren't I?"

"Nope" He replied, popping the 'P'.

Summer giggled at that. "Soooo~! Which Rose made you out of all people say 'Nope' like that?"

He grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Awwww~! C'mon, Slits!" She pouted as shook her head, before facing him again, this time with a serious expression on her face. "But, what do you think that flash means? I can't make heads or tails out of it"

Qrow looked at the floor in thought for a second, before facing Summer one more time. "I think... I think you were ambushed, and judging by the description you just gave me? I'd say you held off Tyrian Callows"

Summer looked shocked at the reveal. "Callows? The insane Anima killer?" She averted her gaze, dumbfounded. "What could he possibly have to do with my mission?"

He looked at Summer with an uneasy expression. "I wish I could say it here, but I can't, too risky with all these prying ears around. I'd rather have Oz explain it to you... But first, are you one-hundred-percent sure that you don't remember anything about our enemies? Anything at all?"

She turned to him, and looked at Qrow dead in the eyes. "Not a thing, Slits. I swear. It took me years to remember my family, and now it turns out it's just the tip of the iceberg"

He nodded in agreement, sensing no lies on her beautiful face. "That's alright. I believe you, Sum. We'll pull through this"

"Esteemed passengers, we're now in our final approach to Vale International Airport. It is suggested that all passengers should fasten their seatbelts and have their documentation at hand. Armed individuals must also present a valid Huntsman or Huntress license to the local authorities. Thank you for flying Air Mistral"

"Drat. My huntress license expired six years ago" Jokingly complained Sum.

He ruffled her hair as she giggled with a grin on his face.

"Never change, Shortstack"

Just what the HELL was that dream?! She thought to herself as they disembarked the ferry in Patch Island and boarded a rental car Qrow had waiting for them.

The dream she had on the airship from Mistral kept bugging her over and over. Just what the hell did Summer mean? And then you have Qrow pushing for answers over whatever happened to her. Thankfully she was able to spin the dream into a convincing lie. She didn't know if Qrow was stupid, playing stupid, or she was just so good at playing Summer that he swallowed the lie as truth. And then you have Tyrian Callows entering the mix as one of the supposed many enemies of Summer Rose. And then brew it for long enough so it's a complete mindfuck for everyone who hears it, let alone experience it, yet that's exactly what she's doing! Experiencing it without previous notice!

I can't make heads or tails out of this mess. I just wanted to be a housewife for a while, score with a widowed huntsman, play huntress, then disappear. But now I've got to deal with Summer Rose's enemies and crap. She paused her train of thought before resuming. I guess this plays into the role of being a huntress. After all, hunters are bound to piss off deranged people. Guess I can keep the act for a while. Summer Rose can't reappear and disappear this fast. It would cause one hell of a ruckus. Not to mention what Qrow would do if he found out what I'm doing...

"Sum, what's wrong? Got your mind on something?" And speaking of drunken birds...

"I... Guess I'm just nervous. I'm going back home after pulling a Raven on all of you..." Qrow snickered at her. "Okay, what's so funny?"

"Well, Shortstack... It's just that..." He barely managed to talk in-between snorts and snickers. "Tai and I had come up with that on our own, didn't know you found out about that"

A smirk creeped up on her face as she leaned in Qrow's direction from her seat. "Who says you came up with it first?"

"How long it's been since you regained your memories about us?"

"About ten months ago, why?"

"We came up with it as soon as we heard people saw you at Haven, two years ago" He said with a smug smile on his face.

"Eep...! Still..."

"Wait up a sec - Royalties. Now, Shortstack"

"Nuh-uh! Back off! Where's the copyright on that, huh?" She then remembered a movie reference she needed to make. "Show me the papers, Carmine!"

They both laughed their asses off at their bickering and at the brilliantly placed movie quote, she was seriously having a good time and no crazy dream with a dead woman claiming that had powerful enemies and she was method acting as would take that away from her.

"But seriously, what's on your mind? You're really nervous about going home?" He asked, still smiling.

"Why yes, I am. I don't know how Tai will react. And don't even get me started about the girls. Would Ruby even see me as her mother? Would Yang resent me for doing the same as Ray did? I just can't stop worrying" She explained, going over the reasons she had so carefully selected when she began rehearsing and researching this role.

He pondered for a second before replying.

"Tai knows, I still haven't told him about the amnesia, though. That should come out from your mouth. As for the girls? They'll tackle you to the ground and probably hug the crap outta you before Ruby demands the cookies you owe her, and Yang tells you that you shouldn't worry, because you at least came back unlike my fatalistic bitch of a sister"

"Still doesn't make me feel better... But I hope you're right"

As she glanced at the road, Qrow took a turn into a dirt path. A sign on the side of the path read 'Xiao Long-Rose Family Home - Up Ahead'.

There's no turning back. It's time to be Summer Rose. She thought as the car driven by Qrow was taking her to a new life, one she actively sought to appear to fit into for the last two years.

Raven Branwen scoffed at the remains of another Anima village pillaged by her clan and currently in progress of being razed to the ground. The shattered moon providing a source of illumination other than the fires of the village's buildings.

Weaklings didn't even last an hour.

She surveyed the area in search of any survivors to finish off, but much to her satisfaction, all she saw were burning buildings and scattered bodies. She then sought to return to her tribemen in need of her leadership.

"Raven!" She heard a feminine voice scream in alarm. When Raven turned, she saw nobody else than her fellow tribe member, protegé, and decoy maiden: Vernal.

"What is it? A hunter? We're already on our way out"

"No no. They didn't have enough time to raise the alarm, we're safe from hunters. But, you need to see this" Said Vernal, before presenting a scroll to her.

The scroll proudly displayed her daughter's profile in a social network. She scoffed at this.

"Why should I care about this? I have no ties to her which matter, nor an obligation to know anything about her. After all, if I didn't care to raise her, why should I care now?"

"Again, no" Vernal then went to move a few things on the scroll, before turning the screen back to her once again. "What you need to see, is this"

Her eyes narrowed at the small screen before widening in surprise, confusion, shock - hell, all three at once. The sight there shouldn't be possible by any means. One of the people featured in the picture was most definitely dead, she saw how Salem's lackeys dismembered her, and she took her scroll and cloak as a reminder of how much of a coward she was to face them and help her when she needed it.

But then, there she was. sitting cross-legged in the ground along both the little clone Ruby, Raven's daughter and ex-husband, and her traitorous brother. The little clone was latching onto her for dear life, Yang not far behind along with Taiyang who enveloped them all with his strong arms. With Qrow himself doing Yang the favor of taking the selfie.

In that picture was a doppelganger of Summer Rose, white cloak in tatters, smiling wide, silver eyes boring into her soul through the screen. And to top it all off, the caption did nothing but taunt her.

"The family's whole again!"

"Vernal, let's finish things off here as soon as possible. I have... Family business to settle" She took one long look at the shattered moon before muttering to herself:

"Now. Who are you? And why you've decided to take the place of a dead woman?" Her hand lowered to Omen's pommel. "I may have no obligations with my family whatsoever - But I won't allow anyone to take and taint your name or place, Summer. It's the least I can do for my cowardice that day"

Uh-oh, Raven's coming. And she's not bringing a "Welcome Back" fruit basket.

As for the original character supplanting Summer? Here's a very basic (And incomplete for the sake of the mystery factor) character sheet:

Name: Unknown.

Age: Unknown.

Gender: Female.

Place of birth: Unknown, Remnant.

Abilities: Undetected infiltration, method acting, seduction, advanced combat.

Semblance: "Mimicry"

Semblance description: "Mimicry" allows the subject to morph her body to become a perfect or near-perfect copy of someone else's appearance, it also allows the subject to "mimic" their voice, aura pool levels, fighting styles, aura color and essence, and semblances along with their after effects. This is usually used in conjuction with the subject's unparalled acting skills in order to provide an indistinguishable copy of a person. The subject is able to "mimic" basically every female (Human or faunus) she is able to come across by simply watching and processing their appearance, but can also provide excellent approximations to the real thing by using gathered information such as pictures and even descriptions.

The subject is able to hold up the morphed status of their body for unknown, yet lengthy periods of time. Sleep or sensorial overload is also unable to break the morphed status. This semblance is particularly useful in infiltration jobs as well in getaways.

Weapons: Various (Depends on person "Mimicked" at the time).

Aura pool level: Variable (Depends on person "Mimicked" at the time).

Fighting style: Variable (Depends on person "Mimicked" at the time).