"What happened to you? Where have you been for the past two years?" "I heard from Avia that you suddenly disappeared during your second awakening alongside Crescent clan's Barbara." "Do you know worried I am?" "Why didn't you return to see your grandpa?"
"You were just a kid when you left the house. Now, look at you. You were all grown up" "But, why couldn't I sense anything from you now? Just a while ago, I sensed the presence of an Exalt realm expert. There's no way it can be you. Did I mistaken?"
Oakley continuously spoke whatever came to his mind without letting Azzy talk for a while. As for Ethar, he silently observed the grandfather and grandson pair from the side.
Azzy felt a bit strange as he had only seen him a while ago but he kept quiet and let him finish.
Once he was done, Azzy responded with a question, not intending to hide the truth, "Grandpa, first take a deep breath. I'll tell you everything but first answer me something. Do you remember your life from the Year 1994?"
"Eh? 1994?" Oakley was taken aback by a weird question. "I do but why?" He didn't understand what Azzy was trying to do.
Azzy then summoned his storage card and took out a wooden box. There were names carved on it, Oakley-heart symbol-Snieca. It looked familiar to Oakley, "where did you get this?"
"Aclein City," replied Azzy before handing it to him. "Open it and you will understand."
Naturally, Azzy's words didn't make any sense to Oakley, nevertheless, he did as his grandson said and opened the box to find a pack of photos. Affea didn't like to place them as albums and would like to see one after another. So, they were placed there.
Remembering his wife, Oakley felt a bit sad and took the photos into his hand. The first photo was their wedding photo.
"Grandpa, can you tell me the stories behind the photos, please?" Azzy placed a sudden request.
"But, why?" Oakley couldn't just understand Azzy's thoughts. They were reunited after six years and Azzy was missing for the past two years. But, the first thing his grandson asks him to tell his love story?
But then again, he was too happy to see his grandson once again, and he doesn't want to disappoint him. Whatever Azzy asked, Oakley decided to do it.
Letting out a sigh, he then explained to Azzy, "Your grandmother was a believer of Hercules. We married at the Temple of Hercules according to her wishes. Back then, we…"
As he walked through a memory lane, Azzy patiently listened to him while maintaining a smile on his face, like this feeling of spending time with his original grandpa once again.
Of course, Azzy liked the past Oakley too but he never attempted to get close to him so that the image of his grandpa from 2015 stays in his mind like that.
And now that he was back, he felt like he was chatting with Oakley that he was familiar. Not to mention, there's depression because of the deaths of Barton, Affea, and the missing Claire.
Hence, listening to his grandpa's stories made him happier.
Just like that, a whole hour passed. The grandson and the grandfather had lost track of the time as the latter was telling the stories behind each photo and Azzy was learning new things that he failed to learn when he was with them.
Soon, the story came to the mid-80s. "This is when my firstborn came into my life. Avia Night, I heard that she has taken you as her student?"
"Well…" Azzy didn't know what to say to that. At present, he was probably stronger than her and after spending with a child Avia, and treating her like his sister, it is tough for him to accept her as his master.
In the end, he said, "She taught me the basics of body tempering."
Oakley didn't read into his words too much and continued.
Sometime later, the photos from the 90s arrived. In the year 1991, Oakley and his family went on a trip to Snow city. He grinned as he said, "Your grandmother seriously beat me up with the paddle after Avia caught a cold. She didn't let me in the house for two days as punishment." It's not a good thing but every bit of those memories was precious to him now that he no longer has his family beside him.
In the Year 1992, they went to a concert. Oakley bragged to Azzy how he got a picture with a global pop star, Eclipse.
Azzy remembered her. She was the same singer who performed at the opening ceremony of the Champions League.
However, he didn't comment on it and let his grandpa continue to go to the next photo. He was waiting for the moment when Oakley gets shocked.
And very soon, that moment arrived.
Oakley was explaining about the night of January 8th, 1993.
"I still remember that day. After the tour of Sea Park is finished, we went for a movie and were returning to our house late at night. It was then, all of a sudden, a boy appeared in front of our car and was hit, losing his consciousness. Later on, he started living with us, becoming a family member.
It's been a long time ago. So, I kinda forget him, although I remember his name. His girlfriend told us that our memories were erased by him in order to protect us from his enemies. I wonder what happened to that boy… Sigh… Anyway, if he is still alive, he will be doing great."
"Then, didn't you ever think of looking for him?" Azzy didn't know what happened after he left the timeline. So, he was a bit curious. After all, Calder could remember him through the photos. Then, why not Affea and Oakley?
If that's the case, wouldn't Oakley recognize him as the past Azzy as soon as he looked at him? Then, he would have directly asked him about the time travel. None of this happened. So, Azzy wanted to know whether they just decided to forget him altogether. If such is the case, then, he would be disappointed, although it wouldn't change the nature of their relationship.
Oakley then explained to Azzy, "We would have done it had we remembered our memories of him but we didn't. Adding on top of this, Avia contracted a rare heart disease and Affea couldn't cope with sudden losses, one after another. As a result, she had a heart stroke.
No matter how strong she is as an Arcana Master, she was still 120 years old back then. It shows how fragile a human heart is. It took a while for her to return to her normal state and we decided to not bring Azrael's name up ever again.
Yeah, he shares the same name as you. In fact, your parents decided on your name because of him. He saved them from…"
While continuing to talk about the past Azzy he didn't remember, Oakley proceeded to flip to the next photo.
"What!"
All of a sudden, Oakley's expression was frozen and his hands started shivering as he picked up the photo dated the year 1994 directly.
In the picture, there was Affea, Oakley, and a 13-year-old Azzy celebrating Affea's birthday. Avia was nowhere to be seen as she was still at the Death clan.
He looked at the photo carefully and then at his grandson. "Azzy, this is…"
"You asked me where am I for the past two years. Well, I'm there with you, Aunt Affea, little Avia, back in 1993 and 1994, Grandpa. It was an accident time travel."
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