"Don't speak as I try to leave, because we both know what we'll choose…"
Will could stop him, could reach out and grab his arm before either boy could blink, but it wouldn't change a thing. Will could call out to the retreating form in front of him, could cry out with sorrow as his life walked out the door, but Jem would still leave.
Will could throw things out the window and scream into the heavens, breaking anything he could get his hands on. He could cradle Jem's violin with all of the care Jem had ever shown it, or he could smash it to pieces with his bare fists. He could wrap Tessa in his arms as he cried into her shoulder, or he could let his heart grow cold from the severed chords within him.
And if Will could see the future-
if he could witness the birth of his children and how brightly they would shine, or how Tessa would cling to his arm as they walked through Hyde Park, laughing as he shied away from the ducks with a deep set frown, or even how he would watch, captivated, as Brother Zachariah played his violin for the first time in some eight decades, laying out all of his loss and love for the both of them as Will took his last breath, Tessa shaking with unshed tears as Jem took a seat beside him, grabbing his hand with a strength he had never possessed before, his dark eyes shining with the ghost of silver-
then maybe, just maybe, losing Jem would be that much easier.
Please R&R! ;)