Where She is Needed Most

'Although, technically,' Neo(?) declared, 'You'd get a silver medal. I'm not Neo, but, rather, what came after her. Call me Hatter.'

'After? What are you?' Scarlet then widened her eyes, 'Ascension.'

'Correct.'

'But…why are you here? And why are we sharing a body?!'

From Scarlet's right side, a glass mirror began to form, revealing her new form. However, it moved on its own, with the mirror tipping their hat almost mockingly.

'Two complex questions, yet one has a simple answer.' Hatter beckoned Scarlet to touch the glass. Hesitating, yet somehow comforted knowing it wasn't her body, she touched it…and was granted a vision.

She saw all of it. Neopolitan tossing away all aspects that made her…her. Her transformation into Hatter…and the one wish she wanted Hatter to have, to make sure Little Neo was happy. She saw how she helped Little Neo during her vigilante episode, before the vision ended.

'So,' Scarlet narrowed her eyes, 'Why are you helping me? I'm not Neo.'

Hatter rolled her eyes, before waving her cane, more glass forming a scene from months ago, where Scarlet terrified Neo and Cinder.

'Little Neo didn't show it, but she was scared for you.' The vision shifts to show Hatter, watching from the shadows, 'And, with how much she adores you, if you are having trouble, then she will be affected by it.'

'So…,' Scarlet looks at her suspiciously, 'Why didn't you come after me?'

Hatter shook her head in amusement. 'I'm not an idiot. I may be stronger than who I once was, but I'm nowhere near your level. You'd quickly find out, and then it's bye-bye. I can't help Little Neo if the hat gets stomped. So I had to help in…other ways. If I couldn't change you, I'd need to change Summer.'

Memories of the Curious Cat made Scarlet scowl. 'If you-'

'Calm yourself, Scarlet. Yes, I did consider ascension, but that idea was quickly thrown out the window, since I'm not a hopeless idiot like you,' Scarlet scowled even further. 'Okay, maybe you're not an idiot, but you are hopeless at times. The first we'll get to later, but the second is that you'd know something was wrong. You wouldn't accept Summer's new form, whatever it might take, and who knows what would happen to Ruby Rose. Nono, I needed a different plan.'

Hatter waved her cane again, showing dozens of glass panels, each one showing events from Scarlet's past life, even ones she never took part in.

'What are these?'

'Memories of past battles. I needed to teach Summer the consequences of her actions. She's already suspected that using Jinn would have led to her death. I needed to show her what her death would lead to. With a more…personal touch.'

Hatter waved again, and the memories were altered. Scarlet watched as Roman Torchwick and Cinder killed her the day they first met. How team RWBY died in the train crash at the Breach. She watched as Adam Taurus decapitated her when she tried to protect Yang. How, during Yang's attempt to save Oscar from Salem, Ruby was grabbed by Grimm hands, and sunk into the ground, absorbed by the Grimm liquid.

'W-Why did you show her this?!' Scarlet's worry soon turned to anger.

'Because Summer was going into this thinking like you were Ruby Rose. But you aren't, like how I'm not Neopolitan. If she went in thinking that you were just her little girl all grown up, she'd have failed, and so my job would have failed. Unfortunately…things got out of hand.'

A new panel appeared, this time showing Summer rescuing the Malachite twins. A shadow raced along the ground, entering Summer, who got a headache.

'The Nightmare…'

'Yes. That thing got into Summer.'

'Why didn't you help her!?'

"I did! There wasn't much I could do without alerting the creature. And if I alerted it before she could get to you, then she'd be in a lot more trouble. So the best I could do was maintain the nightmares. However, it also used those nightmares to speed up the spread of the infection. After all, the Nightmares feed on doubts, and my dreams were making Summer seriously doubt herself. Then Summer did something completely mental. She turned off her Aura just before sneaking aboard. Without her Aura protecting her, nothing was stopping the Nightmare from going all out. I swear, if the Nightmare never got involved, my plan would've worked. But, it did, and, hence we come to it at last…The great battle of our time.'

Scarlet raised an eyebrow, 'Why do I feel like you're quoting something?'

Despite not having a mouth, Scarlet could see Hatter smirking.

'But, that doesn't matter. You have a mother to save.' The mirror of Hatter began to move as Hatter walked ahead.

'And why should I trust you to take me there?'

The mirror stopped.

'Because we both care about Neopolitan.'

Scarlet couldn't deny the logic in her statement when she heard a bunch of bouncing. Turning, she saw a giant rabbit man hopping towards them.

'Who's…that?'

Hatter noticed and twirled the copy of her cane. 'Just a tea time friend. He's very useful, though, speaking of which,' Hatter produced a tea cup, 'Care for a drink?'

Scarlet nearly went to attack her when the cup disappated.

'I'm kidding.'

The rabbit man hopped around Scarlet, clearly utterly terrified of her, and approached Hatter, still scared but less so of Hatter.

'You found her?'

Rabbit man nodded, and pointed in the opposite direction.

'Whoops, looks like I was taking you the wrong way,' She tossed her cane in the air, only to grab it, 'Welp, on we go!'

The trio began to trek through the forest, with rabbit man behind the group. Scarlet looked back at the man, who flinched in terror.

'Okay, seriously, who is he?'

Hatter smirked, 'That's the other reason ascension wouldn't work. Tell me, does he look familiar?'

Scarlet got another look at the man. He looks like something you'd find in the Ever After. He wore a fur coat too large for him, constantly trying to hide inside it when Scarlet glanced at her. He had large tufts of hair around his neck that could easily be mistaken for part of his coat. Most notably was the scar running down the middle of his body.

'He…looks familiar.'

'He's nice, but a bit of a coward. He also has no memory of who he used to be.'

Those two bits of information were all she needed to put the rest together.

'Lionheart!?'

'Yes. Imagine my surprise when he suddenly appeared.'

'Why is he here, though?'

'Because you killed him.'

Scarlet stopped. 'What?'

'You have your own form of ascension, Scarlet.' Hatter didn't elaborate any further, even when Scarlet prodded her. So she decided to go for another angle.

'Why am I you here?'

'Ah, see, now that is a good question. When Ruby Rose first went into Weiss's mind, what happened?'

'My…my clothes changed. Weiss imagined me as a child, so my scythe was a snowboard.'

'Now, with all the…,' Hatter tugged at her neck nervously, 'Damage I've done, what do you think Summer's perspective of you would be.'

Scarlet's eyes widened, 'Oh…'

'Yeah, you'd be lucky to find yourself at all if I didn't let you in,' the ground shook, 'Crap…I thought we'd have more time.'

'Time for what?'

'The Nightmare knows we're here.'

'Already?! Actually, this is good. I can just use my eyes and-'

'This isn't like the Nightmare team RWBY fought years ago, Scarlet. The Witch designed this one specifically to deal with Silver Warriors. But, more importantly, right now…you aren't you.'

Scarlet did briefly forget that she was Ne-Hatter right now.

'So, what do we do?'

'You need to fix Summer's state of mind regarding you. I'll keep it distracted.'

'How are you going to do that?'

Hatter smirked, pushing her cane hand foward…and out of the mirror. She kept her other hand in the mirror, and offered it.

'Mirror what I've done.'

Scarlet eyed it suspiciously, to which Hatter rolled her eyes.

'Do you want to save your mommy, or not.'

Scarlet scowled, but mirrored Hatter's actions. In a flash, Scarlet was now the one in the mirror, while Hatter was the one physical.

'There we go.'

The ground erupted, as a black, crystaline Grimm with a single red eye bursted out.

'That's new!'

'I told you,' she turned to the rabbit man, 'Take her to the house. When you're done, come here.'

The rabbit man stomped his foot in fear, as if to say, Do I have to? It's scary.

'Yes, come back here!'

'Hatter,' Scarlet yelled, 'How are you going to fight that?!'

'Don't you know? Dreams are my speciality.

Hatter stomped a foot, and a pillar of dirt launched her into the air. She kicked to the side, and another pillar of dirt went through the air, impacting her foot to boost her to the side. The rabbit man jumped around Scarlet, trying to goad her to follow him, which she did. Running through the woods, Scarlet soon found a dirt path. Going down it, she soon started seeing gravestones.

Ruby Rose, died defending a sister, Beheaded.

Ruby Rose, died defending Vale, digested.

Ruby Rose, died in defiance to the Grimm Queen, mutated into a Grimm Monster

'This…this isn't good.'

Eventually, a house was spotted in the distance…her house. The home she once had on Patch. Or well, that Ruby Rose once had on Patch. The rabbit man patted his foot at the front door, then started hopping away, reluctantly going to help Hatter.

As Scarlet started approaching the house, a single gravestone was at the front door.

Ruby, my greatest joy Then it changed multiple times, on a random loop.

Ruby, my greatest failure

Scarlet, my greatest joy

Scarlet, my greatest failure

Scarlet's breath would hitch if she had a mouth to hitch with. Hatter was right. Summer did see Scarlet as just a grown up Ruby. But, now…her perception of Scarlet is fluctuating. No wonder Hatter had to share a body. If she didn't…well, she'd probably have a thousand different versions of Scarlet and/or Ruby to deal with.

She opened the door, and the sound of crying could be heard coming from upstairs. Scarlet walked upstairs, finding that the sound was coming from…her old room.

Opening the door, her room was…much larger than she remembered. No, literally, it's huge. It's somehow bigger than the entire house. All along the walls were mannequins…

Of Ruby. Each one damaged in some form or another. In the center was Summer, crying as she desperately trying to fix one of the mannequins, having a spear through it's throat.

"I can fix this," she pleaded, "I can fix this."

However, as she said so, the spear merely turned, causing the neck to crack, and begin spilling out blood.

"No, no, NO!" Summer roared, shoving the mannequin off the table, onto the ground. The mannequin then levitated onto the wall, and hoisted itself there. Summer put her head on the table, hands on her head as she cried.

"I broke her. I have to fix this. Or she'll stay broken. "She raised her hand, and another mannequin floated down from above, lying on the table. Scarlet was frankly horrified. Summer thought that all the pain, all the suffering that she's gone through…was Summer's fault.

Summer's taking all of Ruby's failures, and piled them onto herself. Almost like the inverse of what Ruby did, having the expectation of being as good as Summer.

Summer tried to fix the mannequin, but it started to burn on one side.

"No, NOT AGAIN!" Summer shoved it off the table, and it floated onto the walls. Summer wailed, "Why can't I do anything right?!"

Scarlet…she had to help her. She took a step-

Summer's head perked up, and she grabbed her axe, shifted to rifle, spun around and fired. Scarlet barely had time to side step the bullet.

"Who are you?"

"I'm y-" Scarlet stopped herself. She couldn't introduce herself as Scarlet or Ruby. Summer's perception might alter her apperance, and she definitely didn't want to be a mannequin.

"You're who?"

"I'm Hatter."

"I don't know anyone called 'Hatter'. Why are you here?"

"What…what are you doing here?"

"I'm…trying to fix a mistake."

"And what mistake was that?"

A new mannequin floated down onto the table.

"Not being a good mother."

"That's…that's ridiculous. You raised m-From what what I've heard, you raised Ruby and Yang well."

"Did I?"

"Tell me why you think otherwise."

"I've seen what becomes of my daughter. The wonderful Huntress she rises to be…but also all the pain and suffering she goes through…all to live up to an expectation I never wanted her to have."

"I…I don't understand."

"I wanted her to grow into her own person."

"And you think she hasn't?"

"...I don't know anymore. I've seen her fail time and again, all while looking up to me! How can I say I've been a good mother when she fails following my example? How can I say that I've been a good mother when, at the lowest point of her life, she decides it would be better if SHE DIED SO I CAN LIVE!?"

The room shook with her voice…or perhaps that was the sound of distant battle, Scarlet didn't want to know which. Summer turned to her, tears freely flowing down her face.

"No parent should have to bury their child. Worse, no parent should be the cause of their child's death. And I've killed Ruby so many times. I've broken her so many times…that she had to become someone else completely. She had to become…me…Doesn't that tell you how horrible of a person I am?"

Summer turned back to the mannequin, and was about to work on it, when she stopped.

"Maybe…it would be better if I stopped trying. If I just…left, before I do too much damage. Maybe…maybe Raven had the right idea."

Scarlet's eyes widened in fear. She had to do something. She stepped to the table.

"Does that sound like the words of a woman that Ruby would look up to?"

Summer shook her head, "No. But it's the words of a mother who doesn't want to hurt her child."

Scarlet shook her head, "You never hurt her. Ruby made the choice to become a Huntress. Even if you were in her life, she'd want to help people, because that's just who she was. Do you really think running away like Raven did would stop that. I mean, Raven was never in Yang's life, and she became a Huntress."

"..."

"..."

"...Maybe," Summer's hands went to the mannequin, "But I still hurt my daughter."

"How?"

"Ruby tried to save me…and I maimed her because of it."

Scarlet knows what she's talking about. The battle at the Spring Vault.

"I wanted to know who Scarlet was soo badly…that I practically ripped off my daughter's face."

"You didn't know it was her. And...and I know that Scarlet wouldn't blame you for wanting to know."

'Just...just like Summer wouldn't blame me for hurting her.'

Scarlet then had another thought come in. "Who…who is Scarlet to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you've been calling her Ruby this entire time. Who is she to you?"

Summer turned to the mannequin, who was now growing a red cloak.

"She's…she's not Ruby. She can't be. Not anymore."

Scarlet turned to the side, dejected. "Yeah…I figured-"

"But that's not a bad thing."

Scarlet whipped her head back.

"Ruby is a joyous, wondrous spirit, but she was broken because I made the stupid decision of fighting Salem. Sure, she may not have realized it, and she might not even see it that way, but she adored me, and took on my burden, when it shouldn't have been hers to begin with. Scarlet, though…"

A Grimm Mask began to slowly form on the mannequin's head.

"She's just as wonderful. Such a strong, capable person," she chuckled, "Even managed to do the impossible, keeping Fria alive while still getting Winter's powers. Building a mobile fortress while keeping Atlas afloat. Saving me from ruining my life. She's so…so amazing."

Scarlet was stunned at the praise. She didn't expect this from Summer.

"She's not Ruby…but that doesn't mean she can't be my daughter. And I will love her, no matter what she chooses to be. Because, at the end of the day, she's my daughter. The one I love."

The mask of Scarlet formed on the mannequin.

"My…Scarlet Rose."

Scarlet's eyes widened, as if everything just clicked. She couldn't be Ruby anymore, and she didn't know if she could be Reaper now that Summer knew who she was.

But Scarlet Rose…she didn't know if that's who she wanted to be…but it's a good start.

Scarlet closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was lying on a table, with Summer looking down at her. Summer turned to the side, seeing that the stranger was gone.

"Where did…?"

"Mom." Scarlet declared, making Summer whip her head. The tears were still coming down, but they were now tears of joy.

"Scarlet?" Summer questioned, reaching her hands nervously, like she'd disappear if she did something wrong.

So Scarlet took the first move, leaping onto her mother, who responded in kind.

"Scarlet, I'm so…so sorry…for everything."

"It's alright. There's nothing to forgive. You…you did what you thought was right."

Summer choked on a sob, "If I did that, I wouldn't have left you in your past life."

"Maybe. But I also think Ruby would want you to save lives, even if it meant she couldn't see you as often. That's…just how you raised me."

Summer sobbed into her shoulder, only to be interrupted when the room shook.

"What's…what's happening? Where are we?"

"Your dreamworld."

Summer did a double take. "My dreamworld, what do you," realization dawned on her, and she smacked her face, "Gah, a Nightmare Grimm. GODS, Summer, you're smarter than this!"

"In your defence, you were trying to find me this entire time."

"I've got to fix this."

"And you will. But, as something Ruby and I have long learned," Scarlet offered a hand, "When you screw up this badly, you can't fix it on your own."

Summer gave a sad smirk, and took the hand, her eyes blazing with silver flames. Then Summer noticed the energy swirling around Scarlet.

"Scarlet…are you a-"

"Not a Maiden. But…the truth will be a bit of a long story. Just know I've got magic."

Summer smirked, "Then this should be easy."

White and red petals swirled around the two as they leaped up, smashing out of the house, and saw a crystal Nightmare Grimm, doing battle against the top hat stranger she met earlier.

"Shall we?" Summer asked.

"Age before beauty."

"Funny, I don't see a Faunus nearby."

Scarlet rolled her eyes as the two rocketed towards the battle.

Hatter casted down another lightning bolt, smacking the titanic grimm to the side, only to be smacked away by a crystal tendril. As she flew back, the ground she was going to impact molded, feeling almost like a water bed when she crashed. The rabbit jumped nearby, tapping his foot to the ground nervously.

'Yeah, yeah,' Hatter groaned, 'This isn't going well. The problem is, without the host, we can't-' Hatter then heard the cracking THOOM as the sound barrier was broken. She smirked, 'Well, it's about time!'

Summer and Scarlet zoomed past her, smashing into the head of the Nightmare Grimm, sending it falling back. The rabbit man pawed his foot expectantly, to which Hatter rolled her eyes.

'Yes, you can leave now.'

The rabbit man smiled and ran away while Hatter ran towards the battlefield.

Mother and daughter stood defiant against the Nightmare Grimm.

"This should be easy."

"Not really, mom. Salem designed this specifically to go against silver eyes. It might not even have the same weaknesses, so no shadows can help."

"Crrrap. Then we do this the hard way."

'I concur.' Hatter spoke up, having appeared between the middle of them, causing Summer to jump in fright.

"GAH! Where did you come from?! Wait, you're the one who talked to me, in the mannequin room."

Hatter turned her head to Scarlet, who simply gave a 'roll with it' look.

'Yes, I am. However, that isn't important right now.'

"Right, right, sorry."

The Nightmare Grimm got back up, and encircled the trio in three large tendrils. Hatter got her cane ready, while Summer's eyes blazed and Scarlet hovered in the air. Dozens of more tendrils launched themselves, but Summer and Scarlet's magic, combined with Hatter's dream manipulation, easily destroyed them.

"Oh, please," Summer taunted, "Is that the best you can do!"

Then the three tendrils stopped moving, and their surfaces glistened. Summer tensed up.

'You had to say-'

"I know!"

Then, in the reflection…Rubys appeared in each one. Each one dead in a different way, holding different weapons. And they began banging on the crystals.

"What the…" Scarlet was interrupted when the crystals broke, and the Rubys fell out. Now they were surrounded by hundreds of dead Rubys.

"Okay, this is MESSED UP!"

"Took the words right out of my mouth, kiddo." Summer's hands began to shake. Scarlet noticed this.

"Mom?"

Summer stopped, looked at Scarlet…and smiled. She turned back to the army of Rubys.

"None of you are my daughters. Because all four of them could kick all of your asses."

The Rubys then charged or opened fire. Scarlet ducked under a Ruby with leg weapons, Hatter tangled with a Ruby with eight swords floating around her, and Summer contended with a Ruby with a katana. Katana Ruby blocked every attack Summer had, then sheathed her sword, smirking.

"Mom, down!" Scarlet cried out, who ducked just as Katana Ruby swung, killing two dozen Rubys, who all turned to mannequins that fell to pieces. But the Rubys kept coming, Rubys with hammers, Rubys with bladed gauntlets. The trio fought them all, only for Scarlet to get punched in the face by a Ruby with blue eyes and enlarged blue arms…only for Curious Ruby to get its head bitten off by a spotted colored Jabberwalker. Scarlet turned to see Hatter, the cane raised towards her.

'That…felt vindicated.'

Scarlet smirked. Seemed like there was some part of the old Neo still in there. "Mom, there's too many of them."

'Then kill the puppet master,' Hatter declared, 'And this nightmare ends, literally.'

Hatter then stabbed the cane into the ground, sending pillars of rock to catapult Summer and Scarlet into the air, and towards the Nightmare, leaving her alone against the horde.

"Hatter!?" Scarlet cried out as the Hatter got buried beneath the Rubys, but she could see blasts of the elements coming out, indicating she was still fighting. The two flew through the sky, dodging crystal tendrils as the Nightmare tried to flee, in hopes the Ruby Horde would overwhelm them as more jumped from inside the tendrils.

"Mom, hang on."

"To what-?"

But she was interrupted as she grabbed onto Summer with her Semblance/Magic, and formed a vortex in pursuit of the Nightmare. Scarlet sent beams of ice, mixing with the vortex. Summer, seeing this, sent torrents of flames, creating a tornado of ice and fire, blasting everything away, and causing the shell of the Nightmare to crack viciously. Scarlet formed a bramble around Summer's waist, and chucked her, breaking the sound barrier. Summer, with Sundered Rose in hand, cut the Nightmare clean through. As she passed through it, the two Roses turned to it, on opposite sides, and unleashed every magic they could think of. Lightning, fire, ice, pillars of speared rock, smashed into the Grimm, as the crystals shattered, causing a shockwave all across the dreamland.

In the waking world, Summer's chest opened up, and a small crystal Nightmare flew out. Yang cocked her gauntlets, ready to attack, but the Nightmare twitched and writhed in pain, before dissipating into nothingness. The veins on Summer's body began to recede.

Weiss let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "She did it."

Summer and Scarlet fell to the ground as the crystals began to melt into the ground.

"We…We did it."

Summer smiled, placing a hand on Scarlet's shoulder.

"Yes…we did it."

'Well, it's about time.' Hatter's voice exclaimed. Turning, Scarlet could see she was bloodied, the gem on her cane was cracked, and her hat was chipped.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Scarlet commented, "But…thank you."

Hatter merely smirked, took her hat off and bowed. 'It was a pleasure to be working with you instead of…well, my past self's interactions should clear that up.'

"R-Scarlet," Summer corrected, "You've met her?"

"It's…complicated."

The world around them began to dissolve.

"Hatter."

'Hm?'

"Next time…ask before helping."

Hatter rubbed the back of her head, but giggled all the same.

'If you can find out that I'm helping, of course I'll ask. Unless it's with Little Neo, of course.'

Scarlet narrowed her eyes at the blatant refusal, but shrugged her shoulders. Then a thought occurred to her as Hatter walked away.

"Wait, the memories you should Summer."

"Wait, that was her? Not Jinn?"

'Correct, Mrs. Rose. A…method that grew out of control when the Nightmare showed up. I won't apologize, because it seems to have done the job.'

"Yeah," Scarlet slowly said, "But…how did you know about the stuff you weren't there for."

Hatter merely smirked, and continued walking.

"Wait, you can't just walk away afte-"

Scarlet and Summer both awoke with a jolt, though Summer immediately fell back down, the past year of work finally catching up. Scarlet and Yang were on her in an instant.

"Mom!" Both exclaimed, to which Summer merely began to cry.

"My…my baby girls…" Summer tried to reach for them, but her arms were too exhausted. Luckily, the two saw what she was trying to do, and picked her up. They brought her to Scarlet's bed, and gently placed her on it, then proceeded to hug their mother. Summer could only cry. Or, she would, if her tear ducts weren't dry as a desert from all the lack of sleep.

A year of searching, of having hurt her daughter, trying so hard to fix what she had caused.

A year of fearing what her mother would do, having nearly killed her.

They doubted it was the end, not by a long shot.

But they were right where they needed to be.

And, as Scarlet Rose dug her mask blocked face into her mother's shoulder, she thought, 'Maybe that's enough, for now.'

Author's Notes: Don't worry, this is NOT the end of the story. But, I guess you could consider this the climax, and we'll be entering the resolution. There might be one or two more chapters left, depends.

As for what happens after...I have a couple ideas, but that'll depend on CipherWrites, as I have no idea what future events will hold.

I really hope I did Hatter justice in his AU. I originally had the idea of showing Hatter and Rabbit Lionheart fighting the Nightmare, but, since I have no idea if Rabbit Lionheart even has a weapon, nor do I know of all of Hatter's powers, I tried to limit their combat as much as possible.

As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.