Info: Only changed the name of this chapter; content is still the same as before.

Chapter 10 — Revelation

"It was like a nightmare. It's painful for me. Because nobody wants to die too fast. Remember the day of grief."

— Attack on Titan,

OST Reluctant Heroes

The short walk to her home was quiet and Serena could feel the stares of her two guests, as well as the tenseness that resided within them at Ajax's presence.

Their reaction was not a surprise to her, however; she had gained the same reaction back when she had gone into the city the first time, right after her arrival here in the Afterlife. She still remembered the scolding the woman had given her for not knowing about Grimm and how horrified she had been when Serena had told her of her plans to live in the forest.

She could tell that the two girls were both wary of her and the creature at her side, one sign being that the one with silver eyes still held her weapon in her hand. When Serena spotted her home, she turned around to them and gave them a slightly forced smile.

"We're here; this is my home. I hope you won't mind the lack of furniture."

Both girls looked around several times, looking for something it seemed.

"Um, where's your house? I can't see it," the girl with the scythe asked.

"Oh, that's because I don't live in a house," she replied with a small smirk, then pushed away the few bushes that hid her home and stepped forward.

"Wait, you mean you live here? In a cave?" It was the little girl that spoke this time, the stutter having left her voice to be replaced by confusion.

"Yup. Come on in."

Both girls gave each other a glance, then followed the bizarre woman inside. She had been right; there really was no furniture. Only rocks and some pillows and blankets that were lying at the end of the cave on a long rock.

"Take a seat," Serena invited them, showing them to the fireplace. They each took a seat on a rock while she went to get her tea kettle. She walked over to the exit, quickly telling them that she was going to get some water and would be right back.

The girls inspected what the ravenette had referred to as her home, noticing the lack of anything superfluous like a mirror, books or anything of the sort. It was completely utilitarian.

"This is freaky," the scythe-wielder stated. The girl beside her could only nod in agreement.

When Serena got back, she put some herbs into the kettle that was now filled with water, put on the lid and hung it over the fire by the same thread which she used to dry meat (which was now securely stocked in an envelope that she'd made out of leaves). When the tea was finished, she lifted the pot off the fire with the help of her staff and gave each one a cup of it.

"It's just some herbal tea. I made it out of some herbs that I know from school. It's not poison or anything like that, so you can drink it," she reassured them after seeing their wary looks regarding the drinks offered to them. To prove her point, Serena sipped some from the same container she had poured theirs from, and when they saw that nothing happened after about a minute, they also drank theirs.

"So, um, Miss…"

"I'm Serena. Serena Cauldron," Serena introduced herself.

"Right, Serena. Can I call you Serena, or should I call you Miss Cauldron?" the silver-eyed girl asked uncertainly.

"Serena's fine. I'm not that old," she replied jokingly.

"Okay. So, first I want to thank you for saving her," the girl continued while looking over at the smallest of them all.

"I'm Azuna."

"And I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. I'm training to become a Huntress," the scythe-wielder introduced herself proudly. Serena wondered what a Huntress was but decided that she could find out later.

"It's nice to meet you two. I hope you didn't get hurt by Deion earlier, Azuna. He can be quite the handful."

"Um, no, I'm fine. But how did you do that?" Azuna asked.

"Yeah. That Ursa over there," Ruby said while pointing at Ajax, who looked very much like a comically large dog lying down, "seems to listen to you. I've never seen anyone being so close to a Grimm without being attacked or killed. How do you do it?"

"Uh, well, I don't really know to be honest," Serena replied while scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

"What do you mean you don't know? They listen to you, do what you say! I've never heard of anything like this before," Ruby exclaimed excitedly.

"I don't know. I met one of those in the forest one day and he attacked me, but then he just stopped. Ever since I've started living here two weeks ago I met more like that one and I became close with Ajax and Napoleon and all the others. I seriously don't know why, but they seem to like me. Aeolus even lets me fly on him-"

"Whoa, hold on a second! Fly on him? You wouldn't mean a Nevermore, right?" Ruby interrupted, eyes widening. This woman couldn't really be able to tame a Nevermore; that would just be crazy!

"Nevermore?"

"It's a Grimm that looks like a big black bird," the Huntress quickly clarified.

"Yeah, that's Aeolus."

"What?! You mean you can fly on a Nevermore and get along with a whole lot of Ursa and they don't do anything to you?!" Ruby's eyes were so wide, Serena feared they would pop out of her skull.

"Yeah, they're kinda like pets, you know? They're not as bad as everyone thinks."

Ruby's incredulous face only got more amazed. She swore she was close to having a heart attack. Another question popped into her mind. "And this cave here is your home? You live here, in the middle of the forest where tons of Grimm are?"

"Yeah. I don't have anywhere else to go. And I like it here; it's so peaceful and quiet," Serena explained with a content smile.

"What about your family?" Azuna asked. She had kept quiet the entire time, but hearing that Serena lived here all alone made her worry for the older female.

Serena looked over at the blonde girl and gave a sad smile. "They're not here. Or rather, I'm not with them. I died before them, so I'm all alone here. What about you?"

"Died? What are you talking about?" Ruby butted in. "You're right in front of my eyes, you can't be dead." She ddidn't get it; how could this girl think she was dead? A heavy frown took residence on her face as she watched the girl's reaction.

"Oh, then I guess you guys don't know." She paused for a moment before carefully speaking. She did not want either of them panicking. "This might come as a shock, but this is the Afterlife. We're all dead, so we ended up here. I died in a plane crash. How did you pass on?"

"What? I never died! I'm alive and so are you! This isn't the Afterlife! We're in the Kingdom of Vale!" Ruby declared, beyond confused at this point. Now why the hell would she be dead? She was seriously starting to worry about this girl's mental health.

It was Serena's turn to be confused. She had died, she was one-hundred percent sure about it. She could still remember the impact, the pain and the freezing water into which she had slowly sunk. She had a scar from that wound!

"But… I died," she said almost pathetically in an effort to assure herself. "I know exactly how I died."

She was almost about to think that Ruby was the crazy one when she remembered something. The light… Before she'd closed her eyes she'd seen a white light! She still remembered the way her body had been torn every which way.

"Are you sure that this isn't Heaven, or Hell, or whatever?" she asked both girls and they both nodded in the affirmative.

Could it be that that time I didn't die? No way… I've heard theories about parallel universes and all that science fiction crap, but I never thought that they could really-

"Hey, you okay?" Ruby asked, carefully placing a hand on Serena's shoulder. The girl had suddenly gone quiet, eyes wide and unblinking as if some horrible truth had been revealed to her, and now she was crying, although Ruby doubted that Serena was aware of it. She looked like she was caught in her own thoughts until she registered the pressure on her shoulder and looked up at Ruby with wide, teary eyes.

"I'm alive…"

It came out as barely a whisper, but due to her proximity Ruby could hear the words. She really thought she was dead, Ruby realized sadly, only able to imagine what had to be going on inside the girl in this moment. But, if she thought that she was in Heaven, or Hell, or whatever… Then what happened to her to make her think that?

It was then that Serena broke down, crying and screaming out her soul. She was alive! She was alive and alone and just… lost. Ruby and Azuna did their best to console her, but there really wasn't much they could do. This was something Serena had to go through on her own.

Once she had calmed down somewhat, Ruby asked her what made her think she was dead all this time. She told them everything — from the plane crash to the time where she woke up in the middle of the forest, to the time where she met them. The two girls still had some lingering doubts about this more than crazy story, but once Serena showed them the large scar that ran across her stomach, all doubts vanished into thin air. The thing looked awful, and probably felt as much.

They stayed for a few hours, asking questions about how Serena had learned to tame Grimm, and she even taught them how to do it with the help of Ajax.

Ruby never once thought that she would see a Grimm be so kind and gentle towards a human, and she could see the great respect the creature held for the black-haired woman. The Ursa, now known as Ajax, even let Ruby and Azuna pet it. The red-hooded reaper now understood why Serena would say that he was almost like a pet — he was big and furry and something entirely else than what she had learned at Beacon.

Here, with Serena, the Grimm was not a bloodthirsty monster that was only out to kill.

When dusk came they each said their goodbyes, but before she left with Azuna, Ruby had to ask Serena one final question.

"What are you going to do? You have a power nobody has ever seen before. How will you use it?"

Everything depended on the woman's answer. The power she wielded was too great to be left alone. If she wanted to she could summon enough Grimm to overwhelm Vale, maybe even the other kingdoms. The Huntress had to make sure the girl wouldn't use her powers for evil. But the smile that she received already answered her question.

"Nothing. I'm going to continue to live here and try to keep anyone that comes into the forest out of trouble. I'm not planning to use my 'power' — as you call it — to cause anyone harm. All I want is to live in peace and for the Grimm to stop attacking humans."

Ruby gave a relieved sigh, "That's good." Then an idea sparked. "Hey, if you don't mind, then I'd like to drop by sometimes. You know, to talk and stuff."

"Sure, I'll be happy to have the company."

Turning away, Ruby accompanied Azuna back to Vale. She had heard the loneliness in Serena's voice. She might enjoy the peace and quiet of the forest, but she could tell that the girl was lonely. So she wanted to be a good friend and visit her, so that she wasn't alone for too long. And she could also learn a lot from the older female, she was sure of that.

Edited 28/12/2016

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. All I do own are my OC and the idea and plot of the non-canon parts of the story.