Author's Notes: This story is based off of CipherWrites's 'When you are Needed Most', part one of the ROWSE fanfic series, so it is NECESSARY to read that first, otherwise you'll have no context to what you're about to read. The Basic premise of his (or her) story is that, after the events of Volume 9, instead of being teleported to Vacuo, RWBY/J are teleported ten years into the past, and seek to change the future under new identities.

His story is a must read, as it's very entertaining, and they have plans to make it a five part series, with part two already at twenty chapters (as of the time of writing this). You can find the story on Archive of our Own. As I've said, I highly encourage you to read his story first, as, not only will it be supporting him, but you'll get the much needed context for this story, as we'll be diving right in as if you came from that story. Good? Good.

Where She is Needed Most

Exposed

Summer takes hold of Scarlet's mask and lifts it…or at least, tries to lift it. It seems… really stuck on there, and she pulls more and more.

"Dammit…what in the heck…?" Summer looks closer, and her eyes widen.

The mask, it's not just stuck on Scarlet's face. Strange tendrils emerge from Scarlet's face, hugging the mask close. They almost…they almost look like roots, digging into soil.

"What are you?" Summer asks, and for some reason that seems to set Scarlet off.

"That question…that stupid, rotten, no-good, terrible question!" Scarlet screams, and rose petals peel off of her, sending a pulse wave that destroys the bramble and the ice dome. It nearly throws Summer off, but she tightens her grip.

'No,' she thinks, planting a boot on Scarlet's chest and now having both hands on the mask, "You won't get off that easily!"

The pulse intensifies, and Summer feels like a hurricane is trying to sweep her up. But that actually works perfectly. She'd let Scarlet help her take the mask off. She digs her fingers into the mask, as Scarlet tries her hardest to push Summer off of her.

Then, with the sound of branches snapping, Summer flew back as the pulse blasted her off, feeling like she just got drop-kicked by a megoliath.

Then the screaming. Summer shook her head, trying to pick herself up from the ground, only to notice that Scarlet's mask was in her right hand. She looked to where the girl was, only to see Scarlet writhing in pain, blood seeping everywhere off of the girl's face. Summer's eyes widened, horrified by what she did, but also morbidly curious. She didn't intend to cause such pain, but she also finally had a good look at the girl (well, past the hands currently covering her face).

There was something oddly familiar. She knew the girl had silver eyes, but the hair, as well as the features on her face…a slow dread was creeping up, and she didn't know why. Snow White, having heard the scream, blasted away another bramble to see Scarlet-

"RUBY!"

Time stopped, as Summer heard those words. She didn't know why, but everything started to click. Scarlet looked like a younger version of her. On its own, it wouldn't mean anything, but Snow's words.

There was already something strange about team ROWSE.

Coming from all parts of Remnant.

Supposedly sent by the Brother of Darkness.

They knew about Fria, and the exact location of the Staff, and how to use it.

They knew about the Lamp, and waited exactly for the moment when Summer opened the door, which means that they knew she'd be coming here.

And the Lamp cannot ask questions about the future.

I mean, they already had magical Maidens, Vaults, relics from the gods, a resurrecting wizard, why not add time travel to it.

And now, with the knowledge that Scarlet's real name is Ruby…

"Ruby…" She muttered, invisible to the screams of her own daughter.

Her daughter…who she maimed. Her eyes began to shake.

"What have I done?"

"Snow!" Ruby roared, her face bleeding, "Do it!"

"Ru-Scarlet, you need-!"

"NOW!"

Snow sighs and hovers down, planting her blade into the ground. A sequence of sigils and glyphs appear beneath Scarlet… Schnee glyphs.

Summer doesn't say anything as she backs away, dark energy emerging and starting to surround Scarlet, wrapping around her like the closing bud of a flower.

And then, just as quickly, it blooms, and something emerges.

It's a towering figure, hunched back, a Grimm undoubtledly, but the scarlet cloak and hood remain, in no way concealing the snout of the wolflife, bipedal Grimm. But something about it is…even more wrong than that. Curling horns, the mask has silver markings on it, and it has a long whipping tail. As it moves, its head constantly shakes, and it moves as though it's a stop-motion creature.

"Why did you combine it with that?!" Oak exclaims.

"I-I didn't!" Snow defends. "Or at least, I didn't mean to if I did."

Summer's instincts, despite the fear in her telling her to run, forces her to take a step forward.

"Escape. Reconvene. Plan." The Scarlet Hound mutters. Summer's eyes widen, as she realizes they're retreating.

'No, no! I need to know! She needs me!' "Wait!" Summer runs, but the Scarlet Hound, as if on instinct, smashes her with the tail, sending her flying into a wall, which collapses on top of her. From the cracks in the debris, Summer's vision blurred, but she could see the Scarlet Hound clutching its head in pain, roaring.

"NO! WHY!? RUN!" It runs away as Summer's vision goes black.

Ringing was the first thing she realized when she awoke. She was lying on the ground, no rocks around her. She shook her head, the pain likely going to be there all day. She looked around, the vault still wide open, and no one to be seen. She saw where she impacted the wall, with a noticeable hole in it. She stood up, going to the vault, the Lamp missing, and sealing it shut. Clearly, someone had dug her out.

'Well, that was nice of them.' The ringing continued, only for Summer to feel buzzing from her hip. Her eyes widened, as it wasn't her head (okay, maybe it was), but it was here Scroll. Picking it up, she saw it was from Ozpin.

"Oz, what's happened?"

"I was about to ask you that question."

"I…may have been unconscious."

Ozpin began to explain the situation, how Lionheart had tried taking a kid hostage, but an unknown Grimm (Summer recognizes it as Sca-Ruby's transformed form), had bisected Lionheart in half.

"Summer, is the relic secured?"

"...Yes," Summer lied, "The Grimm didn't get into the Vault. However, there's a small hole at the bottom of the vault. It leads outside, and that could cause problems if something were too…"

As she spoke, she got slower and slower, as realization dawned on her, remembering the fight. ROWSE were trying to stop her from using the Lamp-No, Ruby was trying to stop her from using the Lamp. Why? Ruby said that Sumemr would take the fight to Salem, and Summer said she'd do anything for…for…

"Summer? Is everything alright?"

With a yell, and powered by her Maiden powers, she chucked the Scroll across the room, embedding and breaking it onto the wall. She collapsed against the wall, tears streaming down her face. It all made sense. Ruby knew that whatever Jinn would tell Summer, would cause her to take action. And that action was something that Ruby didn't want. The only logical conclusion.

"I died…" Summer muttered, "Whatever Jinn would've told me, it led to me dying." It only makes sense. And what child wouldn't want to save their parents.

'And what did my little girl get for trying to save me? Me MAIMING her!'

Summer brought her knees in, and cried into them.

"I'm the worst mom in the world."

Unaware to her, many miles aware, onboard Ketos, Scarlet/Ruby was inside her room, crying in the corner, small gusts of wind flowing around her. The others tried to comfort her the moment they got back, but she refused to acknowledge them, simply sealing herself in her room.

'I nearly killed mom. If Oak didn't pull her out, she might've…' "I'm the worst daughter in the world."

Author's Notes: So, yeah, might be a slight change in Cipher's timeline, don't you think. This story will primarily focus on Summer, with little bits and pieces on ROWSE, at least to a certain point. I hope you enjoy it. And, once again, take the time to appreciate Cipher's work, as this story wouldn't exist without his.

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