Chapter 27: Balance

Serena picked up the roll of bandages that she had stowed away, grabbing a towel and bucket. Walking over to Adam who was watching her from the entrance of the cave, she held the bucket out for him to take, asking him to go get some water.

"But take the one from the waterfall, not the one that's already in the pond. It's cleaner when it comes down," she told him and with some reluctance, he did as told and returned minutes later with a bucket full of fresh cool water. "Thank you."

Dipping the cloth inside, she proceeded to cleaning her wound, gritting her teeth when water touched torn flesh but not saying anything. Adam watched from the side as she grabbed the ointment she always put on the wound on his chest and applied some of it onto the cut before wrapping it in bandages. This proofed to be difficult with only one arm and after having watched her fumble with the material long enough, he let out a sigh and walked over, kneeling in front of her so that he was eye-level and taking the roll of bandages from her. She didn't object when he did so and let him take care of it, him wrapping it around the arm before tying it all off with a knot.

"Thanks," she said quietly, noticing how close he had been to her. Even with him crouching down, he still to slightly look down to look her in the eye while she was sitting down on a rock, reminding her that he was much taller than her petite self. He didn't say anything when he got back up and walked over to the fire, sitting down at his usual spot. She busied herself with putting everything away again when his voice drifted over to her.

"What happened back there?" he asked, eyes narrowing at her face. Serena went over and took her place by the fire, stirring it and putting another log inside before looking up at him, eyes calm and focused.

"He noticed it."

He only cocked one eyebrow, not getting what the Grimm had noticed.

"He noticed all the negative emotions that you are feeling. You're not at peace, don't have balance inside you and that's why he attacked. I take it that you know that Grimm are attracted to negative emotions, right?" He nodded and she continued, "Ajax felt those negative emotions within you and reacted to them."

"So you're saying it's my fault?" he questioned, voice raising slightly in volume and eyes turning a lighter shade of red, almost crimson instead of the usual burgundy, indicating that he was angry. She'd noticed that his eyes always grew brighter or darker depending on what mood he was in and briefly wondered if hers were the same before telling herself to focus on the matter at hand.

"No, it's not. It's my fault. I should have seen it and done something different. But I didn't and it almost got you killed. I'm sorry." Her tone held an edge of guilt to it and she looked at him with sad eyes.

"So what now?" he asked, looking at the fire instead of her.

"We need to approach this matter differently. Since you have a lot of negativity in you, we first need to get rid of that before doing anything else. As long as that's not done, I can't let you go near them."

He understood her reasoning; it would be suicide to go near a whole pack of them if they attacked him every time. He was still a little flustered though after her comment. It was not like he could have known that they would attack him if he only felt a little of the negative emotions he harbored inside. He was actually a little surprised that she had figured out that he even carried those emotions with only looking at him. Most people hadn't been able to tell that he felt them since he always kept them hidden, but she had been able to point them out. Though he did wonder what she had in mind for getting rid of them.

"And just exactly how do you want to 'get rid' of those negative emotions?" he asked, making air quotes. It sounded like she wanted to tear them out of him.

"I guess the best way for that to happen is meditation."

"Seriously?" he questioned, one eyebrow lifting in the air, wondering if she really thought that everything could go away if he simply meditated. It sounded far too simple-minded to him, but the look on her face told him that she was in no way joking.

"Yes. It helped me a great deal when I first got here three months ago and I do it ever since back then. You might think it too simple-minded…" Which it might be, she thought to herself, "…but it will do the trick. Besides, I don't think you know any other way to lose all that negativity."

It wasn't a question but a statement and she was right; he knew no other way to do it. So, instead of arguing, he simply scoffed once to show that he still found it a silly idea but agreed nonetheless.

"Good. Then I guess there's no point in just sitting around here. We should get started."

Standing up, she went over to the wall at the left and sat down cross-legged near the entrance of the cave. Patiently waiting for him to do the same, she watched him come over too and sit down beside her, mimicking her position. Closing her eyes, she told him to close his too and take deep breaths while concentrating on those negative emotions.

"You need to see them in front of you. See all the memories that are creating this negative aura around you. Try and accept them, let them go," she instructed, breathing in deeply, her voice calm and soft. He did as told and tried doing so, but it was hard. The memories weren't pleasant and it was anything else but easy to relive and simply accept them. He furrowed his brow in concentration.

"Don't let them get to you," she said when she felt him getting irritated. "They are in the past. There is nothing you can do to alter them. The only thing you can do now is accept that it happened."

"It's not so easy," he retorted, his irritation growing. She made it all sound so easy but it wasn't.

"I know, but you have to. You have to make peace with your soul. Otherwise you'll never be able to let go and gain the trust of Grimm."

So he continued doing so, not noticing how the time passed and soon he was sitting there alone while she was cutting vegetables for their dinner, always checking if he was alright. She knew from experience that it could be a painful experience to go through such memories again, but there was no other way.

"You can stop now. It's enough for one day," she told him when she had prepared dinner, setting the plates on the kitchen rock and putting the frying pan with the meat beside it. Shoveling it onto the plates in equal portions, she saw him open his eyes, blinking several times to get used to the sudden light again. "Dinner's ready. Come eat."

He got up and walked over, both eating in silence. He was still thinking about the memories he'd seen, some of which he had long forgotten, or at least tried to. It was, to his surprise, actually helping. He could feel that he was feeling different and was surprised that such a simple method really did help. They soon went to bed afterwards with him taking another bath and when he came back she was already asleep.

She's a clever girl. Though I wonder how long she needed until she was able to control Grimm like she does now. Ruffling his hair with the towel again to dry it some more, he soon lay down and fell asleep, actually looking forward to the next day with the human girl.

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.

If some of you are thinking Oh no, not the technical, boring part again, then I can ease your mind. This was the only part where it will be duller. The next one will hold something else, though it's still about controlling Grimm.

Looking forward to your review and thoughts on this.