The weeping Willow

Arthur soon took the seat across from the woman, Weiss and Winter's mother, though he didn't know her first name he silently joined her in watching the dying willow tree, glancing to the glass of red wine Arthur, slowly raised his hand and picked up the glass by the bowl, the stem resting between his middle and ring finger.

Slowly swirling the wine to let it breath, before bringing it up to his nose, smelling a light apple aroma as well as much subtler vanilla and caramel aromas from the wine. His face remaining calm as he brought the rim of the glass to his lips and took a mouth full of the wine, immediately feeling the rich taste of the fermented grapes whilst also feeling quite refreshing, whilst also leaving the normal burning sensation at the back of his throat that travelled up to his ears, which he always found weird.

His hand along with the glass lowering onto the arm rest of his seat, "How is Weiss?" ms. Schnee asked after several minutes of silence, her voice sorrowful and without motivation.

Arthur looked to her seeing her gaze had not shifted from the tree for even a moment to look him in the eyes when she asked, "About as good as she can be after what happened" Arthur replied, taking another sip from his glass.

"Will she get better?" she asked again after several sips from her glass, lightly coughing, letting Arthur hear the slight wheeze in her breathing

"Given enough time and support, she's having trouble being alone with people she doesn't know or trust" he told her.

Ms. Schnee went quite for a few minutes, "Can I make a request?" she asked, immediately continuing with her request, "Please be there for her. If you can, get her out of this vile household once and for all, this is no place for her", she brought the wine glass up to her lips and threw her head back downing the rest of the wine before placing the glass on the table and refilling it up halfway, placing the bottle on the table if Arthur wanted a refill.

"I was always intending to stay by her side for as long as she needs me" he said, "But getting her out of this household is something only she can choose, I can try to guide her, but in the end I will not force her"

"Thank you" she softly said, taking another sip from her glass. Both of them going silent as they sat in the garden, only the sounds of the leaves rustling.

"I love this tree…" she muttered, "I planted it myself thirty years ago as a lovestruck, naive child, with a man who didn't love me" her voice sad as she raised her glass and looked through the wine to the willow tree.

Arthur silently listening to her, "I was such a stupid child, falling for the first man to serenade me and take me to picnics by the lake" getting more depressed as she spoke and drank more, "I even had it brought here when Jacques had this mansion built"

"Every day I would come out, feed it fresh fertilizer, sat under it's hanging leaves, read a book, stroked that man's hair as we spent our days in leisure, it grew and grew over the years and I kept finding my love for him grew as the years passed"

"I even began to believe that I was connected to this tree, whenever I was tired it's branches seemed to hang a little lower, when I grew sick the leaves began to wilt, when I was angry it would roar like a storm was raging even when there was no wind"

"And now it's wilting away and dying, and here I sit, wallowing in grief in a marriage where only I loved, destroying my own body as I drown myself in alcohol and spirits" she began to to chuckle to herself.

"I even brought an axe and was about to cut her down the night I learnt the truth of our marriage. Yet the moment I raised the axe I saw the first of the wilting leaves fall and turn to dust, I couldn't do it, I dropped the axe and fell to my knees, bawling my eyes out for the rest of the night" she downed her glass, and swirled the bottle seeing only sediment left in the bottle.

Putting the bottle into an empty basket she brought out a new bottle and quickly and skillfully opened it with another 'Pop!' which she poured into the glass. Arthur quickly downed what little remained from his first glass and held it up to her, letting her pour it in, before placing the bottle on the table and returning to looking at the willow.

"The weeping Willow, wallowing away as she neglects her body"

"The weeping Willow, that stood on her toes under the Mistletoe"

"The weeping Willow, wilting away as I sit and watch, wallowing like a willow in rain"

"The weeping Willow, that fell for a man, what a fool that weeping Willow"

"The weeping Willow, standing astray, solemnly awaiting the day she will die"

"The weeping Willow, tomorrow her first will come"

"The weeping Willow, that wallowed in grief and sorrow at a man she could not follow"

"The weeping Willow, oh how I forget the sorrow when I am with you"

"The weeping Willow, wilting away, what worth has she left to stay?"

"The weeping Willow, wallowing away, maybe tomorrow's her final day"

Arthur was silent as he listened to the poem, a story about a girl's, her life, her love that soon broke away to her wallowing in grief as she realized the truth. Willow's voice getting weaker and trembling as she sang the poem to herself, tears already slowly trickling from her eyes.

"I wrote that years ago, long before Winter, my eldest was born. It was raining and yet I came out to the tree that had grown after the years of care I had given it, I had begun to get a fondness for tragedy, stories of love lost, of love that wasn't true… how ironic, how things just seem to fall into place" she muttered with a weak chuckle.

That was when Arthur realized she wasn't talking to him, she was speaking to herself about her own sorrow's. Arthur sighed, his hatred for Jacques only getting worse as he listened to her, his eyes shutting as he listened to the wind. His vision soon filled with dull green and brown lights from the trees and plants around him, and yet, he could also see a light blue flame buried deep within the willow, his eyes opening to ensure he was actually looking at the willow tree and not Willow herself"

Shutting them when he saw it was indeed the willow tree, as he stared at the flame he found something strange about it, it was dim, dimmer than even the trees and plants around it. Indicative of its soon approaching death, yet that wasn't what caught Arthur's attention.

Instead it was the thin tendril that fell from the bottom of the flame, running down the centre of the the trunk and into the ground, the thin stream of flame digging through the earth as it travelled towards Arthur… no Willow, as his eyes followed the stream he soon saw it split into two streams that entered through the soles of Willow's feet and climbed up her body before converging onto her her own light blue soul-flame, connecting them both together as one.

His eyes shot open in realization, his hair and eyes returning to white as he chuckled to himself as his gaze returned to the weeping willow, 'So you really are connected' he smiled. His head darting to Willow when he heard her begin to wheeze and violently cough into her hands.

Quickly hoping out of his chair he ran to her side, only to be stopped as she raised one hand to stop him, her hand covered in speckles of blood, "You needn't worry about me" she said, pulling out a white handkerchief and cleaning her mouth and and hands of blood, "I'm used to it"

Yet Arthur didn't let her words hold him back as he kneeled in front of her, "Give me that" he said, pulling the handkerchief away from Willow and also gently grabbing her right hand and pulling it down her palm facing up as he gently began to wipe away the blood on her hands, "Does Weiss or Winter know?" he asked her.

"No, only I and my doctor know, they do not need to worry about a dying alcoholic" she answered him, causing a frown to appear on his face at her words.

"What is it?" he asked her, placing the now bloodied handkerchief on the table while still kneeling in front of her.

Willow silently stared at him, letting out a small sigh, "Stage four lung cancer, it started in my right lung and metastasised to my left and liver, my aura's been slowing it movement to my brain and bones" she explained, moving her hand to pick up her wine glass, only to have it flung away as Arthur tore it from her hands and threw it away, shattering it and dying the snow red.

Willow seemed unfazed by this as she looked up into his eyes, "That, was a waste of Atlesian red.9" she said, her expression uncaring as she pulled out another glass only for it to be torn out of her hands once again.

"Do you really want to die so badly?" Arthur's question struck a cord in her, that made her lip tremble.

"Yes, I have nothing except money and a dying tree. My husband cares only for the name not me. My daughters hate this family and are running away further and further just to escape this family. My only son is growing to become just like his father, it's only a matter of time before he breaks a girls heart just for a name" tears trickled down her cheeks.

"I can rarely ever leave this mansion without fearing that some rogue terrorist will kill me and hang me in public. No book I read any more connects with me, no painting I view strikes me, no poem I write is ever real, every drink I drink is never enough"

"My fathers legacy is flourishing in the hands of a man who will bring ruin to everything father built up over decades" her voice falling to whimpers, "And I am trapped here, I can't divorce him, then my fathers legacy goes with him, both our names dragged through dirt and mud, and what's to stop him from sending Nacht to make my death look like a tragedy or a White Fang attack?"

"I'm dying, let me die how I want, sitting here, watching as the days pass, drowning myself in grief" she pulled out yet another glass, and filled it up, Arthur standing back, the other glass cracking as he clenched his hand around it until it shattered.

Arthur stared down at Willow who had downed the entire glass of wine in but a second, red overflowing and running down her cheeks onto her blouse. Opening his hand Arthur threw the shards of glass away and turned around walking away from Willow.

"Thank you" she said and resumed staring at what remained of her tree whilst sipping from her glass, her eyes following Arthur's back as she noticed he wasn't following the path, instead stepping over it and onto the grass and snow walking up to the willow tree, under it's dying branches and wilting leaves.

Stopping an arms length away from the tree, both his hand rising up as he pushed them onto the bark, his eyes shutting as he focused on the dimming soul-flame in the tree's core. His aura flaring up as he pushed it into the trunk, his death aura separating from his life aura and remaining in his body.

As Arthur pushed his aura into the trunk he could see it begin to move like veins across the various minuscule holes that the tree used to transfer nutrients to supply it's growth, creating a white veined outline of the willow and it's various leaves and branches.

From Willow's view she could see that from underneath the bark the tree was beginning to shine, her eyes following it up as the light flowed up the trunk and into the crown, entering the branches and running down it's leaf-less sprays.

Her eyes widening in shock as she saw small buds beginning to sprout at the beginning of the sprays as pure white leaves began to emerge all around the tree, the new leaves sprouting up rapidly as they rand down the hanging sprays until they came to the dull, silvery white, wilting leaves that remained on the sprays.

The moment the light touched them they came lose and turned to dust as new leaves popped up in their place. Yet it didn't end there as even these new leaves began to fall from the tree turning to bright particles of light that drifted in the wind before being replaced by new pure white leaves.

Arthur was watching this entire process with his eyes shut watching as his aura flowed up into the leaves and watched as they broke away and were replaced constantly. His eye returning to the lightblue flame of the tree's soul which was quickly absorbing his aura, it's flame growing more the more Arthur gave the tree, converting the life aura into light blue flames, until it took no more.

At which Arthur heard the leaves of the tree rust as he felt something stroking his back, opening his eyes Arthur turned around and saw that while he was nourishing the willow, it's sprays had begun to move ever closer to him, moving as if defying the wind. Raising his hand Arthur brought his fingers through the soft leaves, that seemed to tremble in happiness and thanks as they pulled away from him, falling through his fingers creating a curtain of it's spray all around him, lighting up the area with the faint light they gave off, "You're welcome" he said getting another rustle of leaves in thanks.

As she looked around the magical sight of the glowing willow tree he saw a hand slowly come through the curtain as Willow opened it and leaned down slightly to enter under it, her eyes wide and her lower lip trembling as she couldn't hold back her tears any more. Her eyes wandering around the crown of sprays that hung above them.

She seemed less tired, even looking as if her wrinkles had begun to fade away, Arthur found this curious so he closed his eyes to see her soul-flame was now as bright as the raging flame in the willow tree, the tether connecting the two having grown more solid and pronounced looking more like a rope than it's previous thin string like stream.

She collapsed onto her knees as she stared up, falling onto a bed of white bluebells that had appeared within the willow's curtain, "They don't hate this family" Arthur said, Willow looked to him, "They hate Jacques, not this family, he is tearing you're family apart with his actions, he forces Weiss and forced Winter into meeting suitors, and when they leave and disobey them he cuts them off from the fortune, strips them of their titles and leaves them on their own"

"They do not hate you, they could never hate their mother, they are not the type of girls to hate without reason, at most, they miss you, the mother that once raised them, read them stories, played with them, cried with them when you watched something sad, that, is what they miss. They don't want to see their mother drinking her life away alone and in agony" Arthur's voice was soft as he gave her a small smile.

"You have so much more than money and a tree, you have two daughters that love you, a legacy that is more than just a company, but a name, a name that has lasted generations, through wars, through sickness, through fires and storms and tested the trials that some names next get passed, and lived to continue on for generations more" Arthur kneeled down slightly, plucking one of the white bluebells from the ground and began to walk up to the crying Willow.

Kneeling next to her Arthur gently wiped the trail of tears on her right cheek away whilst also sweeping her bang back over her hair, "You do not need the SDC Willow, what you need is you're daughters, build something that Jacques can not touch together with them" he said as he pushed the stem of the bluebell into her hair.

"Like this willow tree, you have a second chance, you're daughters have always been nearby for you, you just need to be willing to go to them" Arthur's smile made Willow, blankly stare for a moment before her tears began to stream out even more, both her hands raising to grasp Arthur's hand as she just held it, the weight on her shoulders seeming to have decreased to just a light feather.

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"Goddamnit Arthur" Ashe groaned as she face palmed, "Why do you have to be so kind" she whined as her head soon found itself falling onto a desk she often sat at whilst she watched Arthur, between her legs Siri's head popped up from the black waters of Arthur's soul, "No… not now Siri, we can play later" she sighed as Siri sadly returned to swimming in the ocean of black water.

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Life is but a starting point (1/5)

* Raise 5 spirit trees

- {Reward: Ability - Origin of life}

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Alternate Chapter names: [A Second Chance] [Willow Schnee]

Words: 3,201

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Polls

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If you do not see the character you would like please check out Akashic: the Tome chapter 2, it is linked in the synapsis on both Webnovel and Royalroad.

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