"...Evangeline."

"Evans… my child."

​​

"Mother…

...motherfucker!"

A trail of golden sparks quickly emerged from Van's eyes before instantly disappearing from his spot, caving in the slightly moist ground behind him. The water also split apart as soon as he stepped on it before he used [Air Step] to lift himself up.

He continued to rush towards Evangeline without any pause in his movements, his eyes not leaving his target even for a second.

"Graaah!" Van could not help but let out a scream as his fist was only about a few feet away from Evangeline, "Fucking die!"

However, as he was only about a few inches away, his momentum completely stopped. "W… what?" Van tried to move his head, but the only thing that he could move was his eyes.

And seeing as Evangeline's hair was still flowing at a very slow rate, he still had his [Time Perception] on. Slowly, Evangeline opened her mouth.

"..."

Van's eyes could only tremble as he looked at Evangeline in the face, as it was the only thing he could do at the moment. He stayed like this after a few seconds before turning off his Skill and going out of superspeed.

"There's no nee--"

"Gaaah!"

Before Evangeline could even say anything, Van once again screamed at her, the trees trembling as his voice was loud enough to disrupt the birds that were peacefully hiding in the trees.

And soon, the water beneath them also rippled, its odd stillness disrupted by the tears that trailed from Van's eyes as his breaths let out hums of pain.

"E… Evans!?"

His screams of pain reached even the Encampment, Andrea, who was currently talking with Sarah, could not help but stand up as she stood up towards the direction of Van's voice. However, before she could rush towards him, Sarah stopped him.

"It's alright," Sarah breathed out.

"What do you mean it's alright!? That was Evans' voice just now, he is in pain!"

"He is," Sarah shook her head, "But I can sense the flow of his blood, he's not hurt physically."

"Then even more reason to go to him now!" Andrea tried to slap Sarah's hand away, but Sarah's grip did not even budge a single bit. "Let go of my hand!"

"The boy needs to go through this, Andrea."

"But--"

"I think she is right, Miss Andrea."

Before Andrea could say anything, Harvey approached the two of them, "Van said he would go alone, let's just wait until he comes back to us."

"His mother is a demon!" Andrea shouted, "She shouldn't even be allowed 1 kilometer within Evans! She… She…"

Andrea breathed heavily for a few seconds before starting to calm down. She then looked towards Sarah before nodding to her, "I'm okay now," she said as she let out one final deep breath, "Just… tell us if he's hurt."

"I've been monitoring him since he left," Sarah let out a slight smile, "You don't have to worry."

"A… alright. Thank you."

Andrea wiped the sweat on her face as she once again looked towards Van's direction, before proceeding to sit back down. It wasn't only him that was agitated, almost all of Van's friends were a bit on edge as they heard his screams that were filled with pain.

Harvey had his arms crossed, his eyes were calm, but his foot that has been fidgeting and stomping the ground gave him away.

Beatrice was currently biting her lip, the memories of Van being tied up like an animal resurfaced in her mind.

Victoria, even when she had already calmed the other people down with her Skills, still felt a bit restless as she heard Van's voice.

Nisha, Gil, and Cynthia also stopped their conversation. The history between Van and her mother might be unclear to them, but they knew of Van's relationship with his father.

Latanya who was just ordering the other Locals around was now nowhere to be seen.

***

Back in the lake, Van's screams continued, albeit a bit sedated now as he looked straight into Evangeline's eyes.

"There's no need for you to cry, child," Evangeline then slowly raised her hand, moving Van's hair and revealing the scar on his left eye. Evangeline then let out a slight breath before proceeding to touch Van's cheeks.

"I do not ask for forgive--"

"Grkh!"

Before Evangeline could finish her words, Van was finally able to move his head, and the first thing he did was to bite her hand. It wasn't enough to bleed, but still, Van tried to chew her hand off even though Evangeline's hand was as durable as iron.

"..." Evangeline looked at Van's crazed expression before letting out a slight whisper, "...Enough."

"!!!"

The lake then once again split apart as Van's body suddenly flew at a very high speed away from Evangeline, only stopping when his back hit a tree.

This did not affect Van, though. Instead, he found himself finally able to move his whole body. He quickly stood up, but before he could even rush towards Evangeline once again, she was already floating in front of him.

"...You can't win, my child."

"Who cares about that!?" Van once again screamed as he released another fist towards Evangeline, "I don't care about any of that!"

This time, he was able to stretch his arm, but alas, his fist only hit the air in front of him as Evangeline flew to the side.

"Why!? Why don't you let me hit you!?" Van once again screamed, his tears once again starting to fall from his face, "Why!?"

"Perhaps you need to calm down so that we may talk properly, my child," Evangeline once again landed on the ground as she looked at Van, her words still cold, "Everything that happened to you was for your sake."

"My… my sake!?" Van burst out in laughter as he heard Evangeline's words, "I was beaten and raped by father almost every day. How is that my fault!? I was a child! What… what the fuck did I do!?"

Van once again screamed, his words cracking and trembling as they resounded in the air.

"I had to eat shit, I had to steal, I had to do everything I could just so I could live," Van started waving his hands as all of the memories of his youth started emerging from the deepest parts of his mind, "I… I wanted to die. But every time, something pulls me back and I don't know what it is!"

"Why?" Van's erratic breaths echoed throughout the forest as his legs finally gave up, dropping him in the ground like a child as his tears continued to mix with the mud beneath, "Why…

...why did you leave?"

"I was always by your side, my child," Evangeline said, her tone still seemingly stoic, "But you had to go through everything yourself… and even now, you have to go through your trials, alone."

"I don't even remember your face," Van let out a small smile as he looked at Evangeline, "I look at you and all I see is a stranger. But… but I know you're my mother. Why?"

"We are connected, my child," Evangeline then slowly stepped forward, her silver hair waving in the air as she approached Van, "Like a string, your existence is tied to me, and I to yours."

"You… you left me," Van only shook his head as he looked to the ground, "You left me. I was… with father… why would you leave me?"

Van once again repeated his words as if he wasn't hearing Evangeline's words.

"You could have taken me away… We could have been together," slowly, Van's voice started to lose its strength, "You… you're supposed to be my mother, you were supposed to be there for me."

"I have always been with you, my child."

"No," Van's lips then started to tremble as he slowly stood up, "...You watched."

"..."

"You watched as everything happened," once again, golden trails of lightning started to emerge from Van's crying eyes, "You watched as the world turned me into a monst--"

Before Van could finish his words or use his skills, he felt a light thud hitting him as a warm soothing feeling enveloped his body.

"...What are you doing?" Van said, his whispers filled with rage as he tried to push Evangeline away, who suddenly embraced him out of nowhere. "G… Get away from me!"

"Get away from me!" Van pushed with all of his strength, even using his superspeed to get away from the arms of Evangeline, but alas, the difference between the strength of the first System Holder and him was too vast to even comprehend.

"I'm sorry, Evans."

"!!!"

"I…" Van's breaths quickly stuttered. Evangeline's tone, which seemed cold and distant from the start, now held a little warmth as she embraced Van, "Get… get away from me." Van's whole body started trembling as he once again tried to push Evangeline away. But soon, Van stopped resisting as he rested his head on Evangeline's chest.

"I… I don't need your apologies," Van whispered.

And finally, the tears that were endlessly gushing out from his eyes stopped, "I needed you then, but not now…

...I already have friends, Evangeline… and even if it was just for a short while, they were there for me. Andrea, Harvey, Victoria… I have met a lot of people that are there for me."

"...I don't need you," Van then slowly looked at Evangeline's face,

"You're not my mother."

"..." Evangeline let out a long and deep breath as she let go of Van.

"But we can talk," Van then said as he dusted off shoulders, "You at least owe me an explanation about everything."

"...That's good," Evangeline, as well, let out a short sigh as she nodded towards Van, "But first…"

Evangeline then raised her hand, and as soon as she did so, the leaves and bushes near them started to rustle. Van was going to put up his guard at first, but then he saw someone floating towards them, emerging from the bushes.

"...Latanya? What are you doing here?"