Chapter 19: Surprise

He had already stayed for two days. Two days together with a human who now knew what he looked like and who told him what to do and what not to. He didn't like getting ordered around. Especially not by a human.

Adam hadn't really talked much with the human in those past two days. Why should he? She was his natural enemy; even if she was acting kind now, he was sure that she was just like the other humans. Sure, she had saved his life by getting him away from the Grimm and treating his wounds, even if he didn't want to admit that fact. It was what he got from his semblance to a bull; the stubbornness and he was simply too proud to admit that he was indebted to some human.

The girl seemed not a big threat to him and he made a mental note to silence her once he was fully healed and could return to the White Fang. He did not trust her one bit and assumed that she would go to the military as soon as he left, telling them everything and what he looked like. She could even be as stupid as to follow him and report the location of their hideout. No, he could not let such a risk live on. Plus, it would be easy to dispose of her. She had no apparent strength and the only weapons he could see she had were a stick and bow and arrows. He would destroy the bow and dispose of the arrows when he had the chance, then it would be easy to kill her.

To his surprise she had actually given him his weapon back. He had asked for it the day he had woken up to this new predicament and had noticed that his weapon was not where it should have been. When he'd asked, she'd told him that she had gone and looked for it after she had found him and was keeping it under one pile of her clothes in case someone should walk by or anything, which he thought to be a silly thought. He thought her to be a complete idiot when she had immediately given it back to him, not even considering the possibility that he could be an enemy. The girl trusted him blindly and had no second thoughts whatsoever.

Adam was currently sitting on the makeshift bed, cleaning his sword and taking care of the pistol that was integrated in the sheath of it. He had not cleaned it since that fight and when he didn't take care of it, the blade would get dull and the pistol could start making problems the next time he needed it. He was still wearing nothing but the bandages that the human had applied since his shirt was torn and he had nothing else but the equally torn coat to wear. He continued his methodical cleaning until he heard the girl's voice approaching. She was talking, but he could not detect anyone else's presence.

Maybe the human is crazy? It would certainly fit into her profile, he mused to himself, finding her overall behavior odd.

Serena had been out fishing with Ajax. The Grimm could actually help by snatching fish with its claws, making it easier for her to get something to eat that day. She had decided that she would cook some roasted fish with some fried potatoes and some carrots she'd bought in the city lately. It would be a change from the plain meal of meat with berries and she was sure that her guest would also appreciate it. Fish had lots of vitamins and it could only help healing his wounds. After about an hour or so of fishing, she had an entire basket full of fish, enough for at least four people.

Maybe I overdid it a little, she thought to herself, brooding over just how the two of them would be eating so much fish. Well, I can still smoke it if there is too much left over.

"Hey Ajax, you like fish right?" she asked the animal who simply snorted in reply, licking its snout to emphasize his answer. "Maybe you'll get lucky today if I have enough left over."

They began their trudge back home, Ajax carrying the basket full of fish on his back with her riding on it, keeping their meal steady so that it wouldn't fall off. She wondered just what she should do these two weeks that she had the man living with her. He needed to rest for at least another four days, then she would have to check on his wound and see how it was doing. If it was good enough so that he could move more, maybe they could go explore the forest together and he could help her fish and hunt.

She would a least have some company for those two weeks.

"Now that I think about it, I don't even know his name. Didn't tell him mine either. Mom would be so mad; taking some stranger in, giving him a weapon and letting him sleep in the same room as me without even knowing who he is. She'd have a heart attack if she knew this," the girl said quietly, more to herself than her friend, a slight smile coming to her face at the memory of her mother and how she always told her that her carelessness would be the death of her some day.

She'd had some nightmares since she had found out that she was still alive and just in another universe. It would mostly consist of her being torn from her family, or seeing them at her funeral with an empty coffin. She would be like a ghost; unheard and unseen, calling out to them, telling them that she was alive and well but no one would hear. They would pass through her and she would always wake up crying, she even woke up from her own screams once. It had been one where she was reliving the whole crash again. Everything would be so real; the pain, the screams, the people, the cold…

She tore herself out of her thoughts, feeling tears already forming in her eyes at the sheer memory of the dreams. It was bad enough that she couldn't really sleep at night; she didn't need nightmares when she was awake, too.

"I wonder how they are doing? If they're healthy and what has happened. Jasmin should soon be coming into her last three years of high school. Mom and dad should be doing fine, probably still bickering about petty things like usual. I want to see them. I want them to at least know that I'm okay."

She got off Ajax when they neared her home and, immersed in her thoughts, she forgot about the person inside and didn't tell Ajax to stay back. Only when she heard a surprised gasp and the sound of a blade being drawn did she snap out of it. Looking up, she saw that the red-haired male had his sword in hands, standing at the ready, his red eyes narrowing at the creature that was beside her. She could feel Ajax tensing beside her, reacting to the weapon the Faunus was pointing at him. The Grimm growled and bared his teeth, ready to attack at any second but he didn't.

Adam couldn't believe what he was seeing. The girl had just walked in with a Grimm at her side.

A Grimm!

He had immediately drawn his sword that he had finished polishing just moments ago, jumping up and into a fighting stance. He glared at the animal, seeing that it, too, had noticed him and was just as ready to attack as he was. Only the presence of the girl beside the monster seemed to hold it back, which did not make sense to him.

Why would a Grimm of all things listen to some weak human?

The girl looked in between them before putting up both hands, one directed at him and the other at the monster, motioning for the both of them to calm down and for him to lay down his weapon. Like he would do such a thing!

"Ajax, this man is not an enemy," she said in a calm voice, looking the animal-look-alike into its red eyes.

Ajax?

"You don't need to attack him. Please, calm down. He is no threat and will not hurt me."

Oh, how wrong she was.

"And you," she said, turning her head slightly towards him but keeping her eyes locked on the creature that was still ready to pounce. "You should lay down your sword. He won't do anything."

Now he was positive that she was crazy! All Grimm lived for the sole purpose of exterminating mankind and they did not show mercy. How could she possibly think that it would harm neither of them, let alone listen to her command. But the fact that the creature had not attacked yet made him think.

Why doesn't it attack? There's nothing keeping it from killing me or the human. Except…

"I will only repeat myself once," she repeated in a more stern and serious tone now, the calmness still there but not as prominent as before. "Lay down your sword and calm down, both of you."

The animal seemed to heed the warning as it slowly relaxed and took a step back, getting back on all four instead of just its hind legs. Adam was still reluctant to put away his only means of defense, but if the monster really did listen to her, then he had no other choice. He loosened his stance and sheathed his sword, still keeping it at his side in case things should go wrong. The girl seemed pleased as she smiled at the two before gasping as she looked at him. Looking down, he could see the bandage on his torso reddening, new blood seeping into it.

"I will have to change your bandages. I guess the wound reopened from your sudden movement. I told you not to move around so much," she scolded him with her voice still holding that serenity which it seemed to always have.

"Fine. Just get to it human," he replied gruffly, not pleased by the fact that she would touch his wound. He didn't trust her and if she wanted to then she could make his wound become worse.

"I just need to get one thing. Lie down already but don't touch the bandages. I'll do it as soon as I'm finished," she said, going out shortly, leaving him alone with the Grimm, both staring at each other warily, before she returned with some yellow plant with big leaves. He sat down on the bed, watching as she put the plant into a bowl and mashed it with a mortar. She added some other plants and something that looked like oil, mixing it all with a spoon until it became a sort of cream.

She walked over to him, setting the bowl down beside him before getting onto the bed herself and climbing behind him. He could feel her hands fumbling with the knot that kept the bandages together before they loosened and she started taking them off, arms moving around him quickly and skillfully, as if she'd done this a few times already. When she had taken off all of the bandages, she got back in front of him.

"Sit back so that your back is against the wall, please," she instructed him. Although he didn't like to listen to a human, he followed her instruction and leaned his back on the stone wall that was behind him, giving her access to his torso.

Serena looked at the wound; it had ripped open again from him suddenly jumping up and moving about, but the bleeding wasn't as strong as she had feared. Deciding that she should clean it again, she quickly went to the pond and gathered a bucket of water, grabbing a piece of cloth from the first aid kit as she made her way back to the male. She soaked the cloth in the water before carefully dabbing around the wound to clean the skin of any blood that had trickled down. Then she moved to the edge of the wound, much like she had done it the first time, receiving a light hiss from the person opposite her sometimes, but surprisingly he never said anything.

When she had cleaned it up enough, she grabbed the bowl with the ointment and smeared some onto her fingers. But before she could administer it to the wound, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her movement all together. She looked up at him and could see him glaring at her, his deep red eyes slightly brighter by the light the fire cast on them. She had seen that he was wary of her and knew that he didn't completely trust her, but she would never try to hurt someone who was already hurt and needed help. She was a gentle soul, as her mother and father had often said, far too soft to hurt anyone intentionally.

"What is that?" he demanded, his glare intensifying as he scrutinized the yellowish-green substance that was on her fingers.

"It's only ointment to help heal your wounds," she explained, though she knew that he would not be satisfied by that simple answer.

"What's it made out of?"

"I only used herbs to make this. It's some Gindo mixed with Akara and Zewa, and some natural oil that I bought for these kind of things. It's nothing bad." But she could see that we was still not convinced. "Please, I only want to help you and this will also abate the pain," she explained calmly, looking into his eyes so that he could see that she was telling the truth. She was a terrible liar, anyways.

He seemed to debate this for a few seconds before letting go of her wrist, allowing her to continue what she had been doing. Serena carefully smeared the ointment around the wound, careful that it would not enter it or come into contact with the sensible flesh. When she had applied enough of it so that the whole wound was covered, she put the bowl away and washed her hands in the bucket before going over to her personal things and grabbing a roll of bandages. Going back over, she told him to come sit on the edge of the bed and, when he had done so, she wrapped the bandages around the wound again, careful not to tie them too tightly.

"Tell me if they're too tight or too loose," she said from behind him. Receiving no response, she assumed that it was okay and knotted the ends together, securing the bandages. "You should lie down and rest some more. There isn't anything else to do anyway and it is good when your injury can rest a little. By the way, we're having fish with potatoes and carrots tonight. I'll wake you when dinner is ready."

The red head only nodded his head before lying down so that his back was facing her. Serena sighed before dumping the used water and getting some new one so that she could wash their food. She cleaned the fish and vegetables before cutting everything into pieces. When it was starting to get dark, she put the fish into the pan and the vegetables into a pot, setting everything on the edge of the fire. It only took about twenty minutes until everything was prepared and ready to eat. Serena gently woke her male guest from his slumber and they both sat in front of the fire, opposite each other. Neither spoke a word and Serena guessed that he didn't want to socialize with her, though she could see by the few glances that he gave her sometimes that he had a few questions regarding what had happened that afternoon with Ajax.

Adam looked at the human opposite him carefully, eating his food slowly. He had a lot of questions regarding this strange human. How did she manage to tame a Grimm? Why did the animal even listen to her? Why did she treat him so nice? He thought hard about an answer to any of these questions but could never really come up with a satisfying one. He had the luck to have been saved by a very strange human girl and, although he scolded himself for it, he wanted to know more about her. Where she came from, why she lived here all alone…

I guess I'll have to ask her someday, even though she is a human. But that power of hers could be useful and help us attain our goal, he thought, knowing that Spike would be interested in this kind of power.

Their dinner ended in silence and both soon went to bed, Serena drinking some more tea before lying down in front of her occupied bed. She looked into the flames a little longer until the heat and constant dance of the flames made her eyes tired and she was soon asleep, off into another dream that would most likely make her wake up crying the next morning.

A/N: I do not own RWBY or its characters. I do, however, own my OC Serena and any other OCs that appear in this story.

So what do you think of this one? I made them interact some, although it's hard with a character like Adam. I hope that I got his character somewhat right. Anyway, I have a lot of fun writing this story and I guess it will become one of my best, well, considering that I only have one so far.

Anyway, tell me your thoughts and anything that you might not like. I always do appreciate criticism, it helps me evolve and better my writing. So don't forget to review!