Okay guys, so some have been asking what about Salem and Watts.
Well you got to remember this is a different timeline, the fall of vale didn't happen the same way it did in the show, Cinder didn't get the fall maiden yet, Ironwood is aware of the rigged election due to Winter telling him about the show, so they know how to stop Watts from hacking into the system. But don't worry, there will be something coming.
After all remember Melania did resort to terrorism and Salem and her goons used that. So its not uncommon to use that kind of fear again. But first I have to get through this arc.
Anyways, I felt really motivated to get this chapter out. So hope you all enjoy it.
"So this is it." Jem said as they were waiting for the results.
"I still can't believe you threatened to kill my father on live television." Winter was shaking her head a little bit.
Jem however didn't really care too much about that. He finally had an opportunity to quote Tombstone and he was going to use it.
"For the record, the only ones who would know I was threatening him would be people who have seen Tombstone, and theres maybe a handful of people in this world that actually know about it." And they were all from Earth.
Jem had taken a look at the most recent polls. They had him at fifteen percent, Jacques at thirty five percent, and Robyn at 50 percent. The gap was so large that if anyone tried to hack the election, it would look suspicious. So in other words, if this was just like back home, he would be a third party candidate trying to be a republican and democrat candidate. It just would never happen. He didn't mind though, Jacques wasn't going to win this time. And as much as he disliked Robyn, she certainly wasn't Jacques. Even if he personally didn't like her in the show.
"Are you seriously drinking a beer right now?" She asked as Jem had a Busch Light Apple he brought back from Earth.
"Well yeah? I may have quit drinking for the most part, but its keeping in tradition, you have to have a beer on Election night, because chances are you're screwed no matter what, so may as well have some alcohol to dull the eventual disappointment." He said as he sipped on it while Nala drank grape juice form a sippy cup.
Willow was currently sleeping. Thats the only reason Jem had brought out the beer. And he only had the one since he knew if he kept more in the house, then Willow could fall back into old habits. Nobody who had been that dependent on alcohol for that long could quit Cold Turkey overnight. Even if it had been a week since the debates. Jem knew he couldn't risk her falling back into it. In reality the withdrawal symptoms would stop after roughly a week, but he wanted her sober for at least two weeks before he risked keeping more than one beer in the house. And even then he still wouldn't want her knowing about it.
"Dad, you could win." Nala said as Jem smiled and rubbed her head.
"Nah, I was pretty much only in this to take votes away from Jacques. Plus Robyn's campaign putting out commercial after commercial calling me a 'brash, obnoxious, bloodthirsty psychopath' probably didn't help my reputation." He said as Winter rolled her eyes.
While she would admit Jem was acting too aggressive during the debates. She thought calling him a bloodthirsty psychopath was a bit too much. Especially since it had caused tension between Lost Liberty and the Happy Huntresses. Even Fiona did not spend as much time around Jem due to that whole trick he played on Robyn at the debates. It didn't seem to hurt her numbers too much, but it was enough that she didn't want to spend any time around him anymore.
"Besides look, Early votings already coming in." Jem said as he watched the TV.
Sure enough, Right now it had Jem at only a hundred votes, while Robyn and Jacques were already in the thousands.
"See? No reason to get excited." He said as he went into the kitchen.
At Robyn Hills Camp
"Well, I say this is a celebration to a job well done." Robyn said as all the happy hunttresses cheered.
It had been long and exhausting. But it was finally over, and now they could focus on giving the people of Mantle what they needed. It seemed Jem was good for one thing and that was taking away votes from Jacques. Crazy bastard had really dug himself his own grave the minute he started attacking both of his opponents. It didn't look professional at all. All he did was make his two opponents look calm and collected by association.
"It really is a shame though." Fiona was depressed over losing a friend over all this.
After Jem pulled that trick on Robyn she just couldn't be around him anymore. She knew about the incident, but it was dirty to use that on a debate stage. It didn't seem appropriate to hang around him after that. May had been happy about that. She never liked Jem or Lost Liberty. Referring to them as a bunch of 'arrogant cowboys'. Both groups weren't outright hostile with each other, but they definately didn't want to associate with each other.
"Such is the way of the world, but sadly this had to happen." Robyn said as in order for her to improve Mantle, she would have to get her hands dirty.
Did she go a little bit too far with some of the ads? Maybe a little, but it wouldn't matter after this. He would go back to living a normal life, and they could all forget this ever happened.
"Now, why don't we sit down and watch the results." Robyn said as they had snacks to go around.
Life was good
Jacques Schnee
Jacques was furious. He was certain he had this campaign in the bag! How did that stupid country bumpkin take away that much of the vote! He threw some office items off of his desk. He was down by 15%! How was he supposed to come back from that! He poured out a small fortune into campaign ads and it had done nothing! It seemed that idiot Jem appealed to the lower class peons when he referred to Jacques as a 'man born with a silver spoon up his ass.'
Some had even dared to call him a blue collar hero.
Jacques was disgusted at the very idea of it.
He found himself stalking the hallways of his mansion. Determined to find his wife. He had a lot of frustration he needed to unleash on someone. There was just one problem. Klein hadn't see her. And he had been stalking all of the hallways and rooms. And he couldn't find a trace of her.
"GUARDS!" He called in his private security force.
"Yes sir?"
"Where is my wife?!" He asked as they looked at each other.
"Sir, she hasn't been in the mansion for about a week." THAT caused Jacques to pause.
"Come again?" He asked as he looked his security in the eye.
"Sir, she hasn't been back here in a week. However your daughter was here a week ago." That caused him to pause.
"My daughter? You mean Weiss?" Why wasn't he notified of this?
"No Sir, your other daughter, Winter." The guard said as Jacques was even more confused.
Why would Winter be in the house? He had practically all but cut off contact with her after he found out she was dating that gun toting inbred redneck.
Later that night
Jem was humming to himself as he was working on tonights dinner. He had been smoking this brisket for about eight hours now. He figured some good food would help make this night go by faster. And he would be lying if he wasn't trying to look as good as possible in front of Willow. The past week had been...not exactly good but not exactly bad.
Willow wasn't really opening up to him. Again, he expected that. But she would barely say a word to him. The only time they interacted was her asking what time the food was going to be ready. She did warm up to Nala and his mother relatively quickly. So it was just him he was having an issue with. And he couldn't understand why. Was she still that mad about him being the reason Jacques had been even more of an asshole lately?
He wasn't entirely sure. But he was letting the meat rest. It was almost time to take it inside.
Winter had told him that Willow did get some enjoyment out of antagonizing Jacques at the debate. But it still wasn't enough for her to have more than a minutes worth of a conversation with him. He was hoping she would warm up soon.
He looked at his watch. The meat had rested long enough, now it was time to bring it in.
"Alright everyone." He said as he brought the brisket in and he could already see Nala's smiling face.
"Hope everyones hungry." He said as he sat down with the meat in front of him.
He held out his hands as he sat down.
Willow and Winter chose to remain out of it. But Nala joined and they bowed their heads.
"Bless us O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive, from they bounty, through Christ our lord. Amen." Both him and Nala made the sign of the cross as everyone got ready to dig in.
Willow chose to stay out of the prayer since she simply had no opinion on religion. And Winter was the same way. It had been a point of contention for her and Jem since he was hoping to bring her to church more. But his grandfather always told him 'Son, you can never force someone to believe. It is better they come to the lord of their own volition.'
Jem wasn't sure if Winter would ever believe in what he believed. But as long as they both cared about Nala. He was fine with that.
"Theres...a lot of meat eaten in this house." Willow said as she had noticed the last week had been a meat fest.
Not that she was complaining. She had been eating good ever since she arrived at this house. She had also been able to see her daughter more often. Which was more than she could ask for.
"We do have some sides too." He said as she looked at the massive mounds of mashed potatoes and green beans.
"Yes indeed..." She said as she took a bite of her brisket.
"Is that a smile I see?" He asked as she tried to hide it.
"Its good. I'll give you that." She said as she took another bite to avoid smiling.
Well, it was still progress. Before he would try to make dinner conversation and she would focus on her food. Not that he could blame her, usually conversations died when the food arrived. So that was normal no matter the family.
Nala of course was inhaling her brisket like there was no tomorrow. Jem had to remind her multiple times that she wasn't living on the streets of menagerie anymore and that she didn't have to eat as quickly as possible.
"Dad is it okay if I watch TV now?" She asked as Jem looked at her plate.
Licked clean.
"Sure, but make sure to clean your plate." He said as she looked confused.
"I mean without your tongue." He said as she made a 'oh' face.
She washed her plate and then immediately went to the living room.
"I'm going to go wash up." Winter said as she gave Jem a look.
Jem recognized that look. It was the 'Please try to talk to her when I'm gone' look.
He noticed Willow was eating slower than usual. Almost like she was trying to avoid a conversation completely.
"It's not what you're used to is it?" Jem asked as she kept chewing.
"Look, I know you don't hold me in higher regards right now, I don't blame you, if someone was dating Nala, I would probably be protective too." He said as she spoke.
"Thats not the problem." She said in between bites.
That had him confused. He thought the whole reason she disliked him was because he was dating her daughter.
"Well, not entirely." She said as Jem made a 'oh' face.
"Look, I can't take back the last few months, but its important to Winter that you and I get along. Frankly I got no issue with that. Nala enjoys having you around, and so does Winter." He said as she almost smiled a little.
"I just wish she wouldn't call me grandma, it makes me feel...old." At that Jem looked her over.
He wasn't entirely sure how old she was supposed to be, late 30s? Early 40s? He wasn't sure. Anime characters didn't age the same as human characters for obvious reasons. But he had learned a long time ago that you NEVER ask a woman her age. It usually led to a slap in the face.
"Honestly thats a good thing, she must really be fond of you if shes calling you that already." He said as she seemed to go silent.
"Miss Schnee?" He asked as she sighed.
"I'm sorry its just that...never mind." She said as Jem realized something was bothering her.
"No its okay, you look like you need to get something off your mind. What is it?" He asked as she looked like she was debating whether or not to tell him.
Jem stayed there for five minutes waiting for a response. But eventually he figured she wasn't going to crack. So he sighed and stood up.
"Here, I'll do our dishes." He said as he walked over to the sink.
"This is what I always wanted my life to be." Willow finally said as Jem stoped.
He put the plates down by the sink and turned around to look at her.
"Back when I married Jacques, I was happy, I felt like I had that dream come true marriage, I had a husband who worked hard, and we had three beautiful children together." She almost seemed to smile fondly at the memories.
"But then one night he missed Weiss's recital. And I was so angry that I stormed up to his office to yell at him. And that was when I learned that my life was all a lie." She said as Jem knew the story, but he was going to let her vent.
"He told me the only reason he married me was for the name recognition and the money, and it all came crashing down that my life up until then had all been an illusion. And when that happened, I went back to my room and I cried for what felt like an eternity. All the times he said he loved me was a lie, all the times he acted happy to see his children was a lie, everything was just one big game to him." Her hands starting shaking a bit.
"His attitude drove his daughters away, and I felt like I was also losing my children, so I drank it all away, next thing I know I'm drunk and hanging out on a park bench, and I find you there." She said as Jem stopped her.
"I see, and Jacques wouldn't let you see Winter or Weiss at all, and you saw me as a continuation of that pain." He said as she nodded.
"Yes."
"Look, I don't blame you for being mad. And for that I'm sorry." He said as he had nothing else to say.
They stayed like that for ten minutes. Until finally she said something.
"I know you are, but you just can't take away years of bad memories away with an apology." She said as Jem nodded.
"I understand."
"No you don't...because you're not the one whos to blame." She said as she stood up.
"Jacques and Jacques alone is to blame." She said as she walked over to the fridge and got a drink of water.
"Well then...Good Talk Miss Schnee." He said as she cut him off.
"Please call me Willow." She said as Jem smiled.
"Alright! Willow!" His happiness was soon cut off.
"Okay, easy not so enthusiastic. We're not THAT friendly yet!" She gave him a small glare.
"Er yes Maam." Jem suddenly understood how his dad felt dealing with his mother in law for the first time.
Seems like they had a way of scaring the living shit out of you when you wanted. And Jem was someone who would gladly shoot a Grimm point blank in the face while laughing maniaclly. Yet somehow his girlfriends mother was scarier. Shit didn't make sense.
"DADDY! DADDY!" Nala came rushing into the kitchen.
"Whats up Sweetie?" He said as she looked out of breath.
"The polls! You're-" She said as Jem cut her off.
"I know honey, I'm not doing so well, its alright, sometimes things ha-"
"NO! YOU'RE WINNING!"
...
...
...
"What?"
Robyn Hills Camp
"No no no no no!" May said as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
At first early voting was going great! Jacques was trailing behind Robyn as expected. And Jem barely even registered on the screen. But then after 5 PM. Suddenly things started to change for the worst. Jacques and Robyn were getting less votes. And then Jem had overtaken Jacques. It was a surprise to everyone at first. But then they all celebrated because this insured victory for them no matter what.
But then Robyn's lead shrunk from 5% to 3%. And then from 3% to 1%.
And now Jem was up by half a percentage point.
"This can't be happening!" Robyn was pacing back and forth.
It made zero sense!
Jacques
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Jacques couldn't believe it either.
He could handle defeat by Robyn Hill. At least she was a competent speaker. But now he was behind her AND Jeremiah Cotton! The very thought made him sick! There had to be something wrong! There was no way the people of Mantle would vote for that that...THAT CLOWN!
Back with Jem
"This seriously must be a glitch." Jem had pretty much figured he wasn't going to win.
But he never expected to be in the lead!
"No..." Winter said as she couldn't believe it either.
Willow however had a different thought on her mind.
"Man, Jacques must be so pissed right now." She thought with a smirk on her face.
Her husband was a prideful man. And to know he was sitting in their mansion all alone realizing that a country bumpkin was beating him. Oh she imagined it had to be gold. She did however make a note to bring Whitley out when she could. Now that she had been sober. She realized she couldn't leave any of her children behind. She looked at her scroll.
Jacques had only blocked her from communicating with Winter and Weiss. However Whitley's number remained active.
RING RING RING
Immediately she got a response.
"Mother?" He asked.
"Whitley, I need you to pack your things and take an airship to mantle.
"Mother its been a week! WHere have you-"
"Its alright sweetie, I'll explain everything."
The phone line went dead. And she was hoping Whitley would listen.
He wasn't a bad kid. He just had bad mentors.
At the news station
"Well...uhm...everyone..." Lion Skelter was nervous and his hands were literally shaking as he looked at the paper in his hand.
"W-We have officially counted all the ballots." He looked towards his producers.
"W-We're sure this is right?" He asked as they nodded. Equally as shaken.
"We have the official results and and..."
"Jeremiah Cotton has won the election."