Gabrielle Larson impatiently tapped her finger on the table, her dark-hued eyes full of annoyance as she glared at the grey-eyed man seated to her left at the four-sided restaurant table.
Her striking beauty drew a fair bit of attention from other patrons in the restaurant, with so people passing by and peering through the glass walls, stopping to stare while asking if she was a model or sothing similar.
While many of the opposite gender noticed her first, no more than a few won had their attention drawn to the other two people seated with her at the table.
The grey-eyed, friendly-looking man with slicked back black hair to her left was the one older won stared at, though most were visibly let down after noticing the ring on his finger.
The younger ones, on the other hand, had their eyes on the younger grey-eyed man seated opposite Gabrielle, his cool, focused expression as he played a ga on his handheld console keeping many of them watching him.
The three of them made for quite the sight, and with all of them sharing similarly dark coloured hair, along with the similarity in eye colours between the two n, there were a fair number of people who assud they were a family out together.
It wasn't the first ti they'd been to this particular restaurant, so many other regulars who were familiar with them knew that the three of them weren't related.
For one, the man to Gabrielle's left was her ex-boyfriend's father, Vincent, while the teen seated opposite her, Evansen, was her ex-boyfriend's nasake and lookalike, who was actually the reincarnation of a boy from another planet whose original body her ex, who'd been sent to the world he ca from, was now inhabiting.
It was a story that would leave the jaws of many who heard it hanging in shock.
But setting their relationships aside, why exactly was Gabrielle glaring at her ex's father on this fine Saturday afternoon?
The reason was sothing that traced back nearly two years before this day, November 10th, AD 3105.
On November 30th, AD 3103, Gabrielle, Vincent, and Evansen were attacked by an unusual group of demons and gods with a rather convoluted objective.
That attack, carried out by demons from Pri World Gozon working together with gods, was aid at Evansen, who was present on Earth V, though its true goal was the elimination of Evankhell, Gabrielle's ex, who was on Pri World Aidos.
Evankhell, who was in Evansen's original body on Aidos under the identity 'Evan Eris', had been actively interfering with the plans of an organisation called the Demonic Hand, the group working with Gozon in their attempt to re-invade Aidos.
To stop him, they planned to capture Evansen, extract his soul from his current body on Earth V, and send it back in ti to roughly a month after Evankhell entered Evansen's body, before forcibly reinserting it.
At that point in the past, the body and Evankhell's soul wouldn't have been fully synchronised, and since Evansen's soul was now stronger and the body had originally been his, this would've resulted in Evankhell's soul being forcibly expelled.
With no body to anchor it, the Universal Law of Death would classify Evankhell as dead, sending his soul into the Cycle of Reincarnation and ending the existence of 'Evankhell Bourne'.
Because Evankhell was an Irregular with a high Causality Index, his past couldn't be interfered with easily or repeatedly, and they also couldn't interfere at the mont of Evansen's reincarnation due to the special circumstances surrounding it.
After extracting this information from the Demon and god Lords who attacked, Vincent had deduced that the fact demons and gods were able to cooperate pointed to the involvent of a powerful Main Entity capable of controlling both gods and demons and manipulating ti itself, an existence on par with the 'Supre goddess' Artemisia in power.
Gabrielle learned all of this back then, including how close the plan had co to succeeding and what it ant for both Evansen and Evankhell.
Her anger in the present wasn't only because of the danger she'd co to understand Evankhell was in and the level of power possessed by the beings after his life, but because the one person with both the power and the obligation to act had chosen NOT to do anything.
Not only that, but he'd also stopped her from doing anything at all, whether that ant going to Evankhell's aid herself or warning anyone else she knew who had power capable of matching Artemisia about the situation.
That person was Vincent Bourne, Evankhell Bourne's father on Earth V.
"Mr Vincent, I think it's high ti you answered her," Evansen finally said, lifting his gaze from his console, which now displayed a loading screen.
At that, Vincent, still not looking away from his fries, shook his head and replied.
"Regardless of whatever she says, my answer won't change. I'm not letting her go to Aidos."
"But Evankhell's safety!?" Gabrielle scread, slamming her hand against the table and startling the other patrons nearby.
Vincent sighed at the attention that began gathering, snapping his fingers to cast magic that drew so of it away, before turning his gaze to Gabrielle and speaking.
"For the thousandth ti, Evankhell's going to be fine."
"And how do you know that?!"
"Because I confird he was fine over 10,000 years ago," Vincent replied, his tone calm.
"Eh?"
Gabrielle blinked in surprise, her anger fading instantly as her expression shifted into confusion.
Even Evansen looked up from his ga with a puzzled look, just as baffled by Vincent's response.
This was the first ti in two years Vincent had answered Gabrielle with anything other than 'Evankhell's going to be fine', and it ca as a statent that sounded absurd no matter how it was taken.
But just as Evansen looked up, the console in his hand vibrated, signalling that his character had taken a heavy impact, and he quickly dropped his gaze back to the boss battle he was in.
"Oh shit!"
As he scrambled to try and salvage the situation, soone leaned in beside him and spoke, offering advice in a casual tone.
"Parry the boss's skill attack. He gets stunned when you do that, which should give you ti to heal."
Evansen sohow found himself doing exactly as he was told, and to his surprise, the boss really did get stunned, giving him enough ti to restore his character's health.
'Wait… who just said that?'
The delayed realisation that the voice had been unfamiliar finally hit him, and he paused the ga before looking up, just in ti to see soone sitting in the previously empty chair at the table and reaching toward his food.
"My paynt for the advice," the stranger said, picking up a few fries, dipping them in ketchup, and tossing them into his mouth under the stunned gazes of the other three people at the table.
Then, looking over at Vincent, he lifted a hand in a small wave and casually said, "Sup, Dad."
Silence settled over the table for a mont as everyone there, Vincent included, tried to process what was happening.
A couple who'd just entered the restaurant and walked past their table glanced at them, turned to one another, and muttered,
"Are they twins?"
"Maybe. They look so alike."
The couple's voices faded as they walked away, and only then did the other three at the table fully process what had just happened.
The first to do so, and the first to react, was Gabrielle.
**BAMM!!
Loud bangs rang out, several chairs hitting the floor as Gabrielle literally leapt out of her seat and tackled the newcor into a fierce hug, both of them ending up on the floor as she clung to him with all her strength.
Gabrielle didn't care about the eyes on them as she held the young man close, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes.
As for him, he wore an awkward expression at first, though it eventually softened into a smile as he patted her back.
"Can't say I didn't expect this."
Vincent sighed quietly at the scene, a wry smile crossing his face as he snapped his fingers, this ti not only diverting attention away from them with magic, but also freezing the flow of ti itself.
He glanced at Evansen, who was still staring in complete disbelief, then reached out and grabbed Gabrielle, pulling her back and freeing the young man from her grasp.
"What are you—?!"
"Calm down, Gabrielle. Keep that up any longer, and you'll crush him in your arms," Vincent said, scolding her.
"Excuse ? I'll have you know I'm not that squishy!"
That was the retort the young man gave as he got back up and properly sat down, before turning to Evansen, who was looking at him like he'd seen a ghost, and waving.
"Hello, Evansen. Nice to finally et you. I'm Evankhell."
With that introduction, Evankhell extended his gloved hand toward Evansen, who, after a mont, took a deep breath to calm himself before shaking it.
"…Nice to et you too."
After the brief handshake, Evankhell turned his gaze toward Vincent and spoke.
"Can you unpause ti? I wanna order. You're paying, by the way."
His casual attitude in such an unusual situation brought a nostalgic smile to Vincent's face, and he simply shook his head and snapped his fingers, allowing the flow of ti to resu while everyone nearby retained no mory of Gabrielle's actions just monts before.
Evankhell called over a waiter and placed an order before turning back to Evansen.
"Not gonna lie, I was very surprised to discover you were still around, as I really thought you were gone for good when Arlan Maddox's soul tried to take over your body."
"Wait, WHAT?!"
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