Chapter 22 — Trauma

"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds."
― Laurell K. Hamilton,

Mistral's Kiss

"The shock of any trauma, I think changes your life. It's more acute in the beginning and after a little time you settle back to what you were. However it leaves an indelible mark on your psyche."

— Alex Lifeson

The day was ridden with rain and wind, so Serena had decided to stay indoors. The food she had conserved from previous times would suffice for her patient and herself, and if not, then she still had some canned goods she could offer.

Since the weather did not allow for much to be done, the girl had decided to return to her meditation. Ever since the unexpected guest had stumbled into her life, she had neglected the daily meditations that she used to do in favor of tending to the Faunus. But his wounds were better now, so she could finally find the peace she needed to meditate.

She felt the Faunus' eyes follow her as she made her way to the exit of the cave, and felt his surprise when she plopped down on the solid floor cross-legged. She paid him no heed, taking in a measured breath. Placing her fingers atop her knees and folding her hands so that her thumb and pointer finger were touching, she closed her eyes and let the sound of the rain wash over her.

These were the moments she felt the most at ease, at peace. The whole world around her faded out, and all she could hear were the sound of her own heartbeat and — in this case — the dripping of the rain.

The sounds of the Faunus cleaning his gun intruded into her mind, and Serena pushed the noise back, trying to concentrate on anything else. But the motions and sounds were so rhythmical, she soon stopped trying to banish them and instead included them in her practice.

The sounds persisted for a few more minutes, then abruptly stopped. She heard something click, and then a sudden explosion flew by her head and outside, into the rain. Her eyes tore open at the noise, and she looked at the man who now held a smoking gun in his hands, looking at it critically. But that was not what had frightened her as much.

The sound was the exact same one as when the plane had broken through the frozen Potomac and then in two.

Serena suddenly grasped at her chest, noticing how out of breath she seemed when she'd done nothing to warrant the effect. She rather heard than felt the short gasps leave her mouth, and gulped a few times, trying to ease the pain in her throat and chest. But that only made it worse, and she felt her heart slamming erratically against her rib-cage, as though it was trying to shatter the bones and escape her torso.

"Hey."

The sound of spoken words reached her as though she were under water, and she only grasped harder at her chest, her knuckles turning as white as the bone plates on Napoleon's back. She noticed her eyesight deteriorating, and everything became unfocused, blurring in front of her.

"Hey, you okay?"

Serena managed to look up and at the one that had spoken, only able to identify a blurred human shape with red hair before the loss of oxygen took its toll and she collapsed to the side.

Adam's finely tuned ears picked up the girl's heavy breathing, and he glanced over at her. She was still sitting on the floor, but something was off about her. She was grasping her chest with one hand while the other unconsciously wandered to her throat, shaking lightly. He noticed the sudden paleness of her skin and felt a sliver of worry spread out inside him.

"Hey," he called to her, but she did not react to his voice. Whatever kind of attack it was she was having, it seemed like she was unable to register anything from outside.

The worry inside him grew — this was unusual for him; he was not the type to worry about someone else's well-being — and he stood up slowly, placing Wilt and Blush on his seat. He watched how her eyes flitted around but never focused on any specific point.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked, stepping closer. This time, she actually looked up at him, and he froze at the sheer terror and pain that was written in her eyes. Then, she tipped to the side, and her body slammed onto the hard ground.

Fuck, Adam cursed in his mind, marching over to the human. She was still gasping, almost choking. It looked as if she was having a sort of panic attack, though he did not know why. There had not been anything to instigate such a violent reaction.

What if… The whole thing had started when he'd fired a test shot to see if Wilt still worked fine. Maybe that was the trigger for this. Although he wondered why — sure, a shot was loud, but not loud enough to cause this.

Another desperate gasp for air and he returned his focus on the human still lying on the floor. She looked to be in severe pain, and he was not sure how to help her. He did the next best thing and — without really thinking, though he would later on hit himself for it — pulled her head into his lap, turning her so that she was looking at him.

Her eyes were screwed shut and her hands were still grasping at her chest. He feared that she might black out from her erratic breathing. "Calm down," he commanded, speaking loudly in hopes she would hear him. "You're breathing too fast; you need to calm down. Take slow breaths."

The only thing Serena could hear were the sounds of the crash, the plane hitting the water and splitting in two… and then the screams. They echoed in her mind, like ghosts she was trying to run away from, but that did not let up. She felt tears building up in her eyes, and clutched her chest in hope of crushing the agony she was feeling.

Then she felt hands on either side of her body, and felt how she was turned so that she was lying on her back and no longer with her face pressed into the dirt. Then the same set of hands placed themselves on either side of her head. She lost contact with the ground for a moment before feeling something soft and warm beneath her.

Sounds were slowly penetrating the blackness that surrounded her. She identified it as a voice. It was so warm, so welcoming. Instinctively, she reached for it, trying to grasp it in the hell she was reliving. She felt warm skin beneath her fingertips and, finally, the words the voice was uttering became clear.

"That's right; just breathe."

She recognized the deep baritone, but instead of the usual gruff edge she had come to know so well she was sure she could recognize him anywhere solely by the sound of his voice, there was a tinge of warmth, of kindness. Serena no longer concentrated on the words spoken, but simply on the voice. Gradually, she came back into awareness. She released the hold she'd had on one of his arms and rested both hands on the ground, the sturdy feeling of it reassuring her that she would not be sucked back into that nightmare.

The voice had quieted the minute she had removed her hands, and already she longed to hear him speak like that once more. It was so much nicer to hear him being kind than being his usual irritating self.

She slowly blinked her eyes open and stared into deep red ones. Unlike what she would normally have done when she'd been so close to a member of the opposite sex, she maintained the eye-contact. It gave her something to focus on, and his eyes really were such a magnificent shade of red.

To her surprise, he did not attempt to break the eye-contact and remained in place, letting her rest on what she only now realized was his lap. Normally, she would have blushed, but she was so exerted from the panic attack she'd just experienced that she was content to simply remain like this — quiet and close to him.

For those of you interested, my illustration for this chapter can be found on Deviantart:

caroline982. deviantart art / BREAKDOWN- My- OC- Serena- from- RWBY- 699412770?ga_ submit_ new= 10: 1503010166

(Just need to remove the spaces)

ADDED 05/07/2017

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.

I had the idea to put this in the sequel that I'm working on, but then I thought that it would actually be better to add it as a completely new chapter. As you may have recognized, Serena was hyperventilating. I'm not an expert on how such an attack usually progresses, but I saw it once in Naruto and I hope that it's close enough to the real thing.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this new chapter. If you did, like and review!