Chapter 6 — Grimm

"For as long as humanity can recall walking the surface of Remnant, so do they remember this wicked force."
— RWBY,

World of Remnant, Episode 3

It was the strangest creature Serena had ever seen. It topped everything — from the movies to her worst nightmares.

Never had she seen such red eyes, gleaming maliciously at her. In them, she could see all the hatred and anger that the creature harbored — she understood why people were afraid of them.

The 'bear' stood on its hind legs, increasing its size drastically. Claws sharp as razors protruded from its paws, appearing as though they could shred her to pieces in the blink of an eye. The top of its skull was protected by what looked to be plates of bones and, as far as she could see, they continued to crawl down its back, tracing its spine.

Serena realized she'd stopped breathing upon her lungs aching in protest. Inhaling deeply, she tried not to make a single move — she knew enough about wild animals to know that they would react to any kind of sudden movement, most likely resulting in her being attacked.

But — even though she knew it could get her killed — she couldn't help but look into the creature's eyes. There was more than hatred and anger in them….

There was also pain and loneliness.

And, strange as she was, Serena felt sympathy for it.

The 'bear' continued gazing at her. It was as if it were sizing her up, debating whether or not she was a threat and if it should attack her. It slightly cocked its head to the side, leaning forward so that it was back on all four paws. Serena still did not dare to move — she feared that her accelerated breathing was enough to set the beast off.

But she had to remain calm. Panicking would not help her in this predicament. She knew that animals could sense fear and reacted to it, so she did her best to hide it, continuing to take in deep breaths, her chest heaving only the slightest.

Then a twig snapped somewhere behind the creature.

This seemed to be the trigger and the creature pounced at her, claws extended and ready to tear her up. For a second, Serena didn't even realize that it was actually attacking her. She just continued to stand completely still, staring into those bright red eyes. When the claws were just about to disembowel her, her natural defense instincts kicked in and she threw herself to the side, barely avoiding the razor sharp blades.

Quickly jumping back to her feet — for she had no time to lose — she turned around and saw the Grimm shift in her direction, lunging at her once again. This time however, she wasn't fast enough and one of the claws managed to graze her upper arm, producing a clear cut that stretched across the tender flesh. The cut immediately started bleeding, droplets falling onto the ground. Serena cringed at the pain, not having expected it.

Hold on; I'm bleeding! But this is Heaven. It should be impossible to get injured, let alone bleed!

If what she'd seen in movies and read in books was anything to go by, then Heaven was a place without any sort of pain. People and animals alike were supposed to live together in harmony. The fact that the nearly demonic creature had attacked her and that she was now bleeding made

Serena doubted her real whereabouts. But she didn't have the time to ponder upon this as she could hear an angry roar from just behind her.

She had momentarily forgotten the beast in her confusion, and when she turned to look at it, it was only a few feet away, ready to attack yet again. This time, the clear intent to kill her shone in its eyes.

Having literally no other option left, Serena held her hands out in front of her. It was the only thing that she could think of to try to calm the beast down and somehow leave this forest alive. She carried her weapons with her, though she doubted that she would be able to inflict any kind of wound, let alone stop the creature with them. The arrows would simply bounce off the bones and the spear's blades would most likely shatter upon contact. Plus, she didn't yet know how to really employ them — even when she had taken archery lessons in school. She wasn't even sure that the bow was the same as back then.

Strangely enough, the creature did not attack again. This gave the teenager hope and she started to talk as she would with a child — in a quiet, soothing voice. The talking seemed to calm it down. She was astonished when the animal slumped back onto all four paws again and started slowly approaching her, withdrawing its claws.

She knew that every move counted now, so she continued talking quietly and kept her hands up, just in case it changed its mind. The 'bear' was now close enough for the girl to see the individual hairs of its pelt. It cautiously began sniffing her.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. You don't have to be afraid of me," Serena muttered soothingly.

How ironic, she thought. I was the one scared to death not two minutes ago, and now I'm telling some big bear that could probably rip me to shreds not to be afraid of me.

She could feel its hot breath ghosting across her hands and slowly lifted one up to its nose, showing that she meant no harm. The creature moved up to her face and sniffed her up and down, inspecting her thoroughly...

Before licking her face.

Its tongue was rough as sandpaper, yet warm and wet with saliva. Coming out of her stupefaction, Serena couldn't help but giggle at the tender action so reminiscent of a puppy. She languorously lifted a hand up to its head. As there was no indication of the creature not liking it, she started to pet it gently, her fingers running over its head and the bones, amazed at the sheer trust this animal seemed to have in her now.

The bones were rough but also smooth, and she gently scratched the animal under its chin, much like she used to do with Aki. Surprisingly, the animal emitted a deep growl and she halted in her movement, fearing for a second that she'd done something wrong. But when the creature closed its eyes and tipped its head into the palm of her hand, she realized that it was actually purring in contentment, just like a cat.

She couldn't help but chuckle, and she had to laugh even more when the Grimm opened its eyes and looked at her questioningly, cocking its head to the side.

"Not as scary as everyone thinks you are, huh? I can't believe people are actually scared to death of you; you're just like my dog Aki. She also really liked it when I scratched her under the chin..."

The Grimm suddenly started nudging her arm gently, whining lowly. Only then did she realize that she had started crying. The memories of her beloved dog, as well as those of her family had made her sentimental. She didn't want to be like this.

But the thought of never being able to see them again made her heart ache in the most painful of ways. They must be grieving her death right now and she could see her mother undoubtedly crying all the time at her father's side. Oh, and her little sister Jasmine! They had always been close. She couldn't imagine how much her sister had to be hurting.

She wondered if they had already buried her body.

Had they even found it in the frozen river?

How many people had even survived?

Had any survived at all?

She couldn't think about it. Couldn't think about how many families were now grieving the loss of a son, a daughter, a mother, a father...

Shuddering, she petted the animal once more, then turned around to go back to her new "home". The Grimm followed her until she reached her home and then, giving her a final nudge and lick over the face, it trotted off into the forest.

When she couldn't hear it anymore, Serena went inside, got a towel and went back into the forest again. Just a small distance behind her cave, she had found a small pond filled with clear water. A small waterfall cascaded down on the left side and behind it she had enough privacy to bathe. Stripping off her clothes, she waded into the comfortingly cool water and submerged her head, wanting to wash away all the sadness that had overtaken her heart.

It would bring her nothing to start grieving now. Her family wouldn't want her to be sad if they knew she was still alive.

It would also do her no good sitting around all day. It would only provide opportunities for her mind to jump to painful thoughts. She had to somehow occupy herself for the time being. Pondering the idea, Serena decided that she might as well start training in how to use her new weapons. Some physical training like jogging or gymnastics also couldn't hurt.

She hadn't practiced her skills for a long time... But she still knew the moves and could feel that — with time — her body would remember them as well, and she would be able to leap from tree to tree and spin on branches like she used to do it in the gym.

But the most important part of training would be that with Grimm — if what she had encountered had in fact been one. There was little doubt that it was, but she had yet to see any other animals.

Maybe animals just looked like that here?

Furthermore, there was also the question of her whereabouts. She was seriously starting to doubt that she was in Heaven. But she couldn't — for the life of her — figure out where else she could possibly be if not in Heaven. She was sure she had died in that plane crash.

So where else could she be?

Unless she was in Hell.

I'll have to think about that when I'm done training myself back to good shape. If I am really in Hell, then I can't change anything about it. First things first: learn how to use bow and spear, and train with those creatures.

Decision made, she submerged once more, knowing exactly what to do.

Edited 11/12/2016

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.