Wishing Tree |Alternate Ending |

The Refusal To Die

Akiko's POV
I head inside the cabin to find my mom at the window "The Calvary has arrived" she peaks through the curtain.

Not trusting anyone but Levi I go to the closet and pull out a hand gun "Yeah, real reassuring." I say sarcastically, checking the chamber, then grabbing a clip from the suit case on the table.

My mom sighs "Now do you really need that Akiko? There is ten of them outside" she scolds, not wanting me to fight anymore than I already have in my lifetime trying to protect her.

"Mom we both know that anything can happen" I stash the gun in my boot, standing to tie my hair back into a ponytail.

She moves to sit on the couch, flinging her hands in an exhausted wave "Akiko I warned you that this marriage would be dangerous."

I huff "Mom, why are you even doing this? Levi and I are already married and have been for a while."

"Well it's not too late for us to leave. Ever since we got out of Redress there is danger. Even when nothing was happening and Levi took over for Queen Historia, your life was being threatened practically everyday. You can find someone way more safe, or at least be somewhere safer than this." She advises in that all knowing tone, like she knows better than me.

"Where is this coming from? Levi has been nothing but generous to you, even makes sure you're as safe as the children." I cross my arms over the jacket Annie lent me from her old training gear as an MP.

"Thats only out of obligation to you. But it doesn't change the fact we Redress wanted to end Paradis and now The Kingdom? I may not be in those meetings but I have learned a few things and honey im insisting we take this time to leave it all behind and start a new. We could go to those starter villages." She rambles on about the things we could run to, while fixing her belt, acting as if this idea is ideal.

My brows furrow with distain "You are selfish." Her hands pause on ber belt, her calm expression twisting in disbelief "Dont you realize that running away from your problems is what got you captured, put me in that position to work for the Reds? Levi's friends saved you, and you want me to abandon the man that would lay his life down to protect me?" I scoff, unable to take in her logic.

"I only care about you." She says in a manner that sounds to console herself, and not me. I think that she is scared because so far she has never left my side. She knows that if I am there, nothing will happen to her.

"Then what about them." I wave my hand towards the stairs where the kids are "you want me to leave them too? Do you not care for them?" My annoyance becoming evident.

"of course I care but we can care for them at a distance too." She slaps her thighs, trying to get her point across.

I shake my head, clenching my jaw when I hear footsteps creak on the bottom steps. My eyes widen and I move to see Asher standing there with an emotion of hurt, staring at his feet. I move to him and his gaze jerks up "Are you going to leave us?" He ask me slowly. My heart breaks at the sight, when I hear footsteps rush away at the top of the steps with the slam of a door.

"Dinah.." I murmur, when Asher moves upstairs before I can say anything. I turn to glare at my mother "Today will be the last day you bring this up. If you want to leave, leave. But this is my family that Levi and I have made..."

She stands, lip flattened at my defiance "but you're not their mother, you dont owe them..."

An anger I never thought to exist within me cuts her off sharply "Finish that sentence and you will be loving me from a distance." I growl.

With a scoff she folds her arms "You turn into him everyday." She mumbles, leaving me to stand there, trying not to hate her for her words. Knowing, just like Levi, I could lose her tonight and I dont want our last words to be something I regret.