replicasquared (original) (raw)

Summary:
Anise creates a replica of the 7th Ion with all memories in tact. However, after the first attempt failed, she's driven into insanity even after the second Ion proves a success. Instead, she turns on him and tries to kill him.

Following the fall of Eldrant, a new method of replication came to light. It was a part of Van's plan that had gone undiscovered until well after the fact: the replication of memories. The key component to making a perfect replica, it could only be done in a very specific situation. Van had been trying to find a way around those limitations. But where he failed, Anise succeeded.

But it wasn't Anise alone. After learning about the possibility of this particular branch of fomicry, she sought out the help of the one man with morals loose enough to help her: Dist the Reaper. Twisting him into once more renewing his interest in reviving his beloved professor, the two set to work creating a replica.

At first, it seemed a success. Using the memories from her mind and those around her, she slowly gathered together the necessary components to rebuild two years worth of history. Compared to those who lives fuller lives, this was the easy part. The hard part was getting those memories into the replica. Unfortunately, there were limitations. The first replica was a failure.

The second was this Ion.

Devoid of the memory of the moment he died, Ion opened his eyes while laying on a table in a dark room. Anise was standing beside him, sobbing. The memories in his mind were a jumble, out of order and nearly nonsensical. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what had just happened or why his friend was so upset. It wasn't until she began apologizing that he realized what had occured.

He had died.

So why was he here? He had no time to figure out. The traumatic experience of losing the first replica had a larger impact on Anise than she herself wanted to believe. For as the Ion laying before her began to open his eyes, something snapped. She knew it was a success, and it terrified her. Surely if Ion knew what she did, he would be so disappointed in her...!

But he wouldn't know. This wasn't Ion. He had the same genetic make up, the same gentle eyes, and the same memories of all the moments they shared. But something was different... and in that moment, only Anise could see it.

She had to destroy him. She had to right what she had wronged and remove the mark she made in Ion's memory. But she couldn't do it now. In preparation for the Fon Master's "revival" Dist had already begun spreading rumors that Ion's death had been a set-up. Then, when the new replica turned up, there would be no question as to how it had happened! Which also meant losing him again would rouse more suspicion. And so, rather than lead him on and let him think he was the real thing, she told him everything.

He had the same memories, the same feelings, the same thoughts... in every sense of the word, he was a perfect replica. But he wasn't her replica and he never would be.

Months went by. Things began to get tense. Unwelcome by his best friend, Ion sought the help of the others. But it was uncomfortable and he knew it. They all knew he wasn't Ion. They all knew he was a replica... but more than that. He was a replacement. A replica born to take the place of person, with no ability nor desire to form a separate identity. For Ion, he was still Ion! He remembered meeting Luke in the Cheagle Woods. He remembered listening to Tear's fonic hymns. He remembered watching Sync fall to his demise. He remembered it all, and yet none of it was real. Everyone treated him like he was a different person now, but he wasn't. He was Ion! He spent so much time... no, the 7th Ion spent so much time learning to accept himself as more than just a replacement. To be brought back as a replacement was just too much to handle.

And so he ran away. He ran away from everyone and everything. Whether he liked it or not, he'd have to start over. But as long as he existed, he could never really start over. To Anise, the only way to fix things was to make like they never happened: she had to destroy him.

And so, the hunt began.

Notes:
-He still cares deeply for Anise and it tears him apart that she tried so hard just to see him again. He feels he's responsible for what she's become.

-Because the main party never fully accepted him as Ion, he feels uneasy around them. Unlike other replicas, Ion wants to be taken as the real thing, even though he knows he isn't. He has the same memories, thoughts, and feelings as the 7th Ion. He has no desire to give up what little identity he managed to build up over the past two years, even if others say that identity isn't really his to take.

-Although he knows of Florian, they've never met face-to-face. Anise sent him out of Daath very soon after he was "born" and he had no chance to meet him.

-He is from before Luke returns in Tataroo Valley.

Important Figures:

Anise Tatlin

- Essentially a yandere version of her former self, all of Anise's present cheerfulness is a guise for the twisted mind underneath. After the first replica failed, Anise was the one forced to put it out of it's misery. To keep from being overwhelmed with guilt, she locked her emotions up inside and tried to deny they were there. It was when the second one awoke that the guilt of the first came back to her, and she realized what a horrible thing she had brought into the world. Feeling she tainted Ion's memory, she sought to destroy him in order to right her wrongs. At the same time, she still loves Ion deeply, and honestly believes it's for the replica's own good that she put him away.

Dist the Reaper

- Turned into a pawn by Anise in exchange for her knowledge of manipulating memories. She made sure to keep just enough information away so that he's still indebted to her should he ever hope to revive Professor Nebilim. He isn't completely bending to her will, however, because he isn't exactly dead-set on reviving Nebilim. Instead, he wants to wait and see just how the replicated Ion works out in an attempt to see if "perfect replication" is as perfect as its name implies.

The First Replica

- For a "perfect replica" to be born, the last memories of the original must not be included. In this sense, the replica is made to be "a few minutes behind" the original. In the case of a dead person, the replica cannot have memory of that death. Anise mistakenly implanted those memories in the first replica, causing his mind to become unstable. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he did was scream as though his entire body were in agony. Although Anise calmed him down, his mind was trapped in a strange void between being dead and being alive, causing panic attacks every few hours. He refused to eat and eventually tried to kill Anise in the midst of one of his attacks. Anise mortally injured him while defending herself and he died shortly after.