Willow took a deep breath and flipped to her page as she continued nonchalantly, "I get it. You want to save your friends and stop Serah. Great! But, that doesn't mean she's a complete moron, like Elijah, otherwise she won't even be a match against him in the first place. Nope. From what I've heard about Elijah compared to her, things here are no doubt more tricky than before. If not, why would the gods call out another demigod aside from you? It's definitely not because they wanted a change. That'd be dumb. It's because those kids are becoming more rambunctious that they're calling for another chosen one. Besides, I don't want to be used by the gods for anything. This time, it's because we've struck a deal that I'm doing this and our interests aligned."
"Isn't that just being selfish?" Hannah looked to her in confusion as she said this without fear.
For her words, Willow would like to applaud her courage after seeing her display of fear from before if her book was not in her hands. However, that wasn't the case as she merely looked up from her book with a raised brow as if she was an idiot again, "Humans and demigods aren't that much different from each other. Only one has power and the other doesn't. Yet, when it comes to desires and emotions, we're no different with the gods. Why did the gods create the world?"
Willow shook her head with a sigh, "We don't have any idea about that sometimes, but they all have a desire much like that of humans and demigods. The desire for order, peace, relationships, and company. Since when have we not been selfish? It's just that some of our selfish wishes have bad or good side effects. Those that truly aren't selfish are either fools or benevolent people. Believe me. There are often more fools than there are benevolent people."
She looked to her with a smirk as she closed her book with her finger wedged between the pages, "Selfish desires have been around since the era of gods, but it's just that they're more well-restrained for the benefit of those around them. There's also the selfish desire to help others more than to care about yourself. Or the wish to save someone that doesn't want to be saved. Is that also not being selfish? So, like I said, some are fools while other are benevolent ones. There are good desires and there are some bad desires. Then, we have those that aren't in either sides. The gray zone."
Hearing her words, Hannah couldn't help but shudder ran down her spine and feel as though the woman before her is rather twisted in her mind, but, strangely, she didn't refute to her words because they sounded oddly correct in a lot of parts. However, she was still a little confused and unwilling to give in as she refuted, "But, if helping us can protect those you love, then wouldn't you join us to stop the children of Hades? I do think that your ideas are selfish and I understand that we all have selfish desires, but, if we let Serah and her siblings fulfill their selfish desires, there will only birth bad consequences."
"Would it only be bad consequences?" Willow questioned stunning Hannah silent, "If bringing their father back is a taboo, will it only be bad consequences? With their father back, those children might start to be able to reach out to him as often as they'd like with everything out of order and nothing prohibiting them from seeing their father. There's also the fact that there are still people siding with those children. Why is that? Clearly, Serah is not Elijah, so why are they siding with a teenage girl over a CEO of a medicinal company? When Elijah was around, there were only a few demigods around him. Yet, Serah had people reach out to America to catch demigods and even hijacked their communication lines. We also can't use our abilities without getting found and they are even using the dead to their advantage."
"Using the dead to their advantage?" Hannah looked to her in bewilderment.
Willow sighed and went on to explain the situation of the dead bodies and souls to her as well as the thievery going on. When she was finished, the woman on the bed stared at her as her jaw dropped.
"That's unbelievable!" Hannah barely managed much to her surprise upon hearing Willow's words, "So, you think that they're stealing souls from another culture's field?"
"How would they find us otherwise?" Willow turned the page as she continued, "Once someone dies, they'll become fodder for Hades and his children to cycle through. Why else would my father and the emperor seek out another demigod for something they can't do? Those in the Jade Emperor palace have their pride, Hannah. They won't just seek out their children for help on the whim."
"Then, what if that Serah just wanted the attention of her father or her siblings?" Hannah responded in confusion, "What if all she wanted was to be acknowledged?"
Willow sighed, "Just because you want something doesn't mean you'll be justified always."
"What do you mean?" Hannah shook her head in confusion.
Willow sighed, "Say you've found a tiger deep in the woods trying to kill a pregnant deer. You have the choice of taking your weapon and kill the tiger or you can choose to walk away from it and let nature take its course."
"I'd take the weapon, then." Hannah responded with a frown.
"But, what if you learn that the tiger was actually a pregnant tigress starving for weeks and trying to feed her cubs in her belly." Willow added, "If you kill the tigeress, you'll interrupt the natural flow and kill the cubs as well or you'll end up letting the deer die with the to-be fawn."
"That's..." Hannah for once was speechless.
Willow sighed, "It's times like this that not even those who can control time or space can answer this problem easily. Most are like that puzzle of whether to save a pregnant wife or the mother from drowning when you can only save one. So, if you really want to stop Serah, give this another thought. Also, make sure you keep your friends close to you. After all, no matter how powerful we are, we aren't our celestial parents and even they have their limits. After all, you're not alone like I had been."
With this, Willow got up then handed her a cellular phone of one of the victims and walked to the door, "I'll go check on your friend's side for a bit. I believe an acquaintance of ours is checking in on him anyway. I'll be back with food tomorrow and your clothes later. In the mean time, don't open the curtains no matter what. Our pursuers aren't stupid that they won't aim for the opened windows, even if it would mean randomly. If not, then they're not that bright minded. Also, don't use that phone to call. They'll track you down."
Just as she was about to open the door with the empty bowl in her hands, Hannah called out to her, "Wait!"
Willow turned around as Hannah asked, "Between the choices, what would you do?"
Willow shrugged, "What do you think I would do?"
Seeing that the woman didn't stop her again, Willow took her leave with a yawn. She was really tired and didn't want to do more deep thinking after all that had happened tonight. She's already notified Li Yun that they have newcomers staying in other rooms tonight, so she wouldn't be as alarmed as Willow would think of her to be when they do meet. Instead, she turned to Rayn's room and knocked on the door. A minute later, the door opened as Belen poked his head out, "Willow?"
"He's awake too?"
Belen nodded quietly, "We were just talking about you just now."
Willow smirked as she joked, "Great to know that someone has been talking about me behind my back."
Belen sighed and shook his head when he heard her joke but a weary smile also played on his lips as he said, "I was going to talk with him a little more."
"That's fine with me." Willow responded, "I need to go check on Li Yun. I'm just here to check if he's finished eating."
Belen nodded and disappeared inside before coming back out with the empty bowl.
"Thanks!" Willow smiled before turning to leave.
"Oh, wait." Belen called out to her, "Did you hear that explosion outside earlier?"
"Oh that?" Willow shrugged, "I was doing some testing. I'll be doing more in the future too, just to let you know."
"I-I see..." Belen wore a small smile this time when he heard this and sighed, "Just don't overdo it."
"Got it." Willow nodded before turning around to head for the room of the small family.
Now she just feels like the caretaker of this group and this building as she ran along doing all of the work for them. It wasn't like she can let the children run around the premises, though, and Li Yun was in no condition to leave her bed either. Now, with two newcomers, Belen was busy and she needs Akira to watch over the children and the mother.
She didn't wished for this outcome, but it still came, nonetheless. This was very tiring, but she wasn't too irritated by it aside from the fact that she has more burdens about making sure that they don't encounter anything more life-threatening. If they die, Hades will surely find trouble for her again. Moreover, Serah definitely won't let them go so easily. Therefore, she needs to plant some toys for her and her dog to play with.