10
"Dammit, Willow. How could you do this?! It's not even midday, and you are already drunk?!" She watched how he hissed at her.
Still too dazed by the seemingly real-looking image.
Of course, she saw him in the news, and on Scroll, when she looked, there was rarely any news in whose James wasn't even little mentioned. That was how big he became, but then, she always knew that, didn't she?
James was, is, and always would be the man who couldn't rest. He just didn't give up...
And...
It was something she liked about him. No matter how many times she rejected him, he always pursued her, and not because of some false sense of naivety.
But because it was just like him not to give up...
Until he did...
But then, it was she who crossed the line, wasn't it...
It didn't take long for Willow to realize that maybe, even if James wouldn't ever give up, he didn't want to be a homewrecker too...
Why didn't she see that?
That he is a man who respects others' relationships and decisions.
Just like he wanted others to respect his own...
She should know that James wouldn't ever meddle in another love life, if she just understood that fact much sooner, then she wouldn't take his invitation on a date, father's request to humor Jacques and give him a chance or not...
Oh, father, he saw her rejection of numerous of James' advances as a sign that she truly didn't want him, and so wanted to push Jacques on her, thinking that he would by better if James couldn't do...
Both of them were blind, weren't they?
But then, she wanted to see him finally move, to go before Jacques and take her. Maybe she shouldn't, no she surely shouldn't, but she always admired that fire he had when he met an unusual problem, and just for once, she wanted to be that unusual problem for him...
Just much later, she realized how greedy she was and that she should be satisfied with what she already had...
But, life has rarely gone as someone wants...
And so, she tried and somehow managed to forget James, just for a short while...
She truly tried, and before she married Jacques, before her father gave reigns of SDC into Jacques's hands, he seemed a wonderful man, always being present, always so flattering, always willing to listen...
How could she know that all of that was just a ploy?
At the start, when they finally married, and father left leading of SDC in Jacques's hands, he stopped coming home so early, rather staying at the SDC HQ, from then he rarely had time to speak to her or even listen to her's words as he once did...
And at the start, Willow thought it normal and understandable. After all, he had just inherited one of the biggest corporations in the entire Remnant. Of course, he would surely be overworked, so she was patient...
She waited into the night for him to come home, to welcome him in the bed, and maybe even unwind from some of his stress...
But he didn't come...
Another night, and again nothing...
And so on...
And Willow started to lose any patience, and even her father no longer had any explanation or excuse for Jacques's behavior...
But then, he came, and Willow was overjoyed, that is...
What came back wasn't the man she remembered, yes he still smiled, but now...
It was as if he had stopped trying...
That night they bedded, and Willow thought, hoped it would come back to normal.
It didn't...
But then, she gained some new wonderful news. She was pregnant!
She was so happy...
And hoped this news would make even Jacques happy, so she came to his office to tell him of the news, hoping this would reignite their passion...
Just to be told why it couldn't wait until he returned home...
It...
Hurt...
To see him so...
Uninterested, it was like he didn't care...
And the years went like this, Winter was born, and Willow had another target on who she could target her affection...
But then, the news of her father came, and she was so crushed...
But she had Winter, and so she stayed strong, for the little bundle in her arms...
That is until she started reading the news...
News about Jacques's where he promised changes and glorious changes that would make everyone happy...
And once again, she hopped...
And once Winter was much older, where she could already speak and learn, Jacques's asked her for help...
He told her that he needed her share of the company to make truly great changes...
He told her how powerless he was and how much it made him feel bad for those he took care of...
He told her how stressed he was, that he was sorry why he couldn't be there with her and that it was his fault...
Willow, as blind as she was, listened to him, and once against they bedded, and once again she became pregnant...
She believed him... Hoping that he spoke the truth...
Just for her heart to shatter once more...
She may admit that retreating to the blissful forgetfulness that glass of wine brought her was a mistake...
But at that time, she saw it as the best and the sole way to deal with the pain, the pain of knowing that the man she loved was nothing more than an illusion...
An act...
At that time...
She saw for the first time in years her...
Friend...
James Ironwood, who became Headmaster of Atlas Academy, was...
Willow was surprised. After so many years, she heard of him again...
What's more, she was pained when she saw his cybernetic hands, reading what had happened to him...
But at the same time, she was confused and a little angry...
Why he didn't contact her, not on her marriage, her birth of Winter and Weiss...
Why he ignored her? Did she mean so little to him?
But then, in the rare cases of sobriety, she understood...
Didn't she do the same? She, too, didn't contact him, too, wanting to pursue her relationship with Jacques, and so, maybe he did it for her sake too...
Not wanting to give her any problems in her marriage, even if there wasn't anything between them than feelings, it could damage her marital status, and so, maybe he respected her and so he didn't contact her, giving her freedom...
And yet...
In those times, Willow read about him more and more, until she got an enormous case of nostalgia and opened her box of memories, finding the necklace he gave her...
A crude little thing on the streets, it would cost just a few liens...
And yet...
It was one of her most valuable possessions at that time...
And when she wore it, it...
It could be just imagination, but she felt calmer, more...
Safe with that trinket on her neck...
But even that could help her, so she again retreated to blissful forgetfulness on the empty bottom of a wine glass...
She remembers that Whitley came from one of her's fights with Jacques's when he was angry that she wore that necklace, and her shouting that he if was so angry, then he could make her one too with his own hands...
Maybe she was too drunk at that time, but still...
She is glad that she didn't remember that sex that night...
Even if her little baby Whitley came out of it, so she didn't regret it so much...
"Willow... Are you again in your dreamland?" She looked at James, who now looked at her with a bemused expression. His anger seemingly evaporated. Meanwhile, she was lost in her memories...
"Maybe... What is it to you?" She spat, she didn't want to...
She really didn't, but...
How could she speak with him now?
She even didn't know what to tell him...
In all these years, she really didn't think of what she could tell him if she met him, and it seemed James was the same, as he never came into the balls and parties she was joining...
And she never came to his when they celebrated his newly gained position as General...
"What it is to me? I- Are you kidding me... No... You are right, and you are clearly old enough to know what is best, isn't that right?" James told her...
And her face scrunched as she wobbled and stood up, slowly closing the distance between them...
That tone...
How dare he use that tone!
How he dared use tone, he was speaking to her when they were young, and she did some supposed foolishness!
"H-How dare you! You weren't there! You don't know, jack-shit! Where were you, hm? WHERE WAS THE BOY THAT PROMISED ALWAYS TO BE AT MY SIDE!" She didn't shout, but she didn't hide her voice too.
"He grew up, but it seems he was the sole one, hm? Tell me, do you even know why I'm there?" James asked her, and that made her stop...
Why was he there?
"You don't... Of course, you don't... By the gods... Willow, when was the last time you looked at the news or even spoke to your children."
"Why. No, how dare you come there and ask me such questions. Why don't you tell me why you are there."
Willow almost shuddered at that look he gave her.
"..."
"Im taking Weiss and Whitley with me." What?!
"You what?! How dare you! Who do you think you are?! They are my children!" They were hers!
HERS!
"No, or maybe yes, but for a long time, it seemed they arent yours anymore too, Willow, I arrested Jacques, and I think you know why, he finally crossed the line, and with what I see... I can't leave them alone there with you." What...
Jacques finally lost control over his greed.
That's...
No...
That isn't important. Jacques can be fed to Grimms for all she cares. All love between them, or at least from her side, died a long time ago in an excruciating way...
But her children!
"You can't do that." Her voice felt much fainter than she wanted...
But with all she learned and remembered, some of her old her came back, and she understood that...
What if it came before the judge? She would be chosen as unfit to raise children...
"I... Willow... I can, and I will... But..." But?!
Willow couldn't think any longer...
Just the idea of losing them...
Winter already hated her...
Willow, Willow understood why but...
"SDC is now without a leader... And Weiss... She is too young to lead it, and they would eat her alive... Willow, do you wish to help your children? Make them happy? Something that, I think, they weren't for so long?" She understood where he was coming from with it...
And that even if heiress...
Weiss was...
Willow tried to, but she sometimes hurt her because she was too drunk, and just remembering that made her wish to drunk herself to forgetfulness once again, restarting that circle...
But, sometimes she tried, she wasn't blind, she saw how much Weiss wished to make that man she called father proud of her...
And Willow tried to open her eyes, but...
She couldn't...
She wasn't mother to Weiss for a long time, if ever she truly was...
And she couldn't, and she just couldn't take even her father away, no matter how fake that father was...
Always leading Weiss, making her think that she could earn his recognition, but Willow knew better...
Jacques wouldn't ever give her one. She could see how he looked at Weiss and Whitley, one was desired heir, and another was a tool to be married off for a better deal...
"If... If I take it... If I lead it, will you... Will you let me... Let me see them?" She shakily asked. She knew the disparity of power, and she was just a drunk woman with numerous embarrassing affairs on most public occasions, where James was Atlas General and Headmaster of Atlas Academy...
She knew who the people would listen to if he ever tried to take her children away...
"I... Yes, if you truly become the mother they deserve..." James gently said, and suddenly it was as if the flooded gates opened, and Willow wept as she found herself in strong pair of arms around her body...
She didn't notice when the room doors opened, with three pairs of white heads peeking inside at the commotion. All she now felt was...
She had a sudden sense of security she didn't feel for numerous years as she buried her head into the wide and hard chest, weeping her eyes out.
"Im sorry... Im so so so sorry... Im sorry..." She kept repeating, not knowing for how long, and all the while, these bulky arms held with strength and yet an unexpected amount of gentleness...
"...I know..." She heard James whisper...
Which made her cry even more...