distressedude | Appointments Post

[Arietta certainly isn't happy with the prospect of returning home, and she's already voiced as much outloud when the announcement was first made. The idea that staying could be something bad doesn't even begin to cross her mind- Ion is here, and that's all she cares about.

She'd been prepared to die for the sake of avenging his death back when she challenged Anise to a duel, in what seems like ages ago now, but now that she's gotten her so-called second chance, and has gotten to see Ion again, she doesn't want to go anywhere else.

Which is... why there is something she absolutely must tell Ion before anything else happens.]

Fon Master, we need to talk.

[Naturally, Arietta wasn't the only who whose thoughts were centered on the recent announcement. And while Ion had long since resigned himself to the fact that he would never be able to return to Auldrant, knowing he would be here while everyone else went home... it just seemed too soon. Especially after they finally made this world a better place to live...!]

[But when he sees the message from Arietta, his thoughts are quickly pulled somewhere else. That's right... he never did tell her about who he really was. It had already been so painful to tell her the first time, that perhaps he convinced himself it would be better to keep her in the dark after she returned again.]

[...but wait. She needed to talk to him about something? He can't help but feel a bit worried. Did someone else tell her? Did she somehow find out? She sounds so serious... what could it be?]

...yes, of course. Is there somewhere you would like to meet?

Over by... by...

[If there's anything Arietta should have done but didn't, it's familiarize herself with all the locations in Luceti, especially the ones that make for good spots to have private conversations.]

... By the Plaza, the fountain. [That sounds good enough.] And don't tell Anise, either! This doesn't concern her.

[Actually it does in a sense of speaking, but this is a conversation to be held between two teenagers who probably shouldn't be left on their own, or at least not Arietta.]

All right. I won't tell Anise. I'll be there as soon as I can.

[They can probably move somewhere a little less conspicuous from there. He's not sure what to expect from all this, after all. And Arietta is unpredictable on a good day...]

[But even so, he shows up just as he said he would. He's not sure what Arietta wants to talk about, but... considering current events, maybe he should stop stalling on telling her the truth about himself. He wouldn't want her to make a decision based on the lie she still thinks is a reality here in Luceti. And he can't just keep waiting around for the right time.]

[He'll hide it with a smile when he spots her, but at least while walking up, he won't look quite so cheerful.]

[Certainly, she's unpredictable- she never had a proper upbringing, after all, raised by ligers and all. But this is different. Arietta only has one thing in mind at the moment, which is the reason she waits here now by the fountain, waiting for Ion. As he comes into view, she brightens considerably; for a moment, she worries, because he doesn't look happy, but then he smiles and surely it was nothing, right?

He's happy to see her again. That has to be all there is to it.]

You didn't tell anyone, right? [She has to make sure of this before anything else, that Anise and the others aren't going to try to listen in.]

No, no one knows I'm here. [His smile is still only halfhearted, but hopefully that's enough to fool Arietta. He was already lying to her about so much -- what was one more thing, right...?]

[He takes a short glance around -- it's cold today, so not as many people were out and about. Maybe here would be all right.]

What is it you needed to talk about?

You heard what they said, right? About how they can't bring back people that died.

[As if Ion needed someone to remind him about that, but it's the catalyst behind why she wanted to talk to him. Not that she hadn't planned on telling him this to begin with, but the recent announcement has given Arietta the push needed to get this over with, and without anyone getting in the way and telling her not to.]

I'm not going back, Ion. I can't go back. After you died, I wanted to get revenge... I wanted to avenge you, I wanted to avenge Mommy, and I wanted to avenge Van.

I challenged Anise and her friends to a duel and I lost.

[Ion didn't need reminding, but for a moment, he felt a little relieved. Was she only going to talk to him about his situation? Maybe explain that she wanted to stay in Luceti to be with him, even though she could still go back--]

[But her next words quickly extinguish that train of thought. He forgets to keep his expression in check, his eyes widening in clear shock.]

[In the back of his mind, he can still recall Jade's words on the day he arrived in Luceti: "All I was able to take from the meeting was that Arietta is indeed alive and well, here."]

[Back then, Ion didn't want to think about what Jade was implying. Even knowing they were enemies, he still wanted to hold onto the belief that maybe, just maybe, Anise and Arietta could have found a way to work out their differences back home someday. He was too naive. Too foolish. And now, because of him, Arietta couldn't go home.]

[She threw her life away to avenge him... a replica. Nothing but a stand-in for the person she really wanted to protect.]

[He should have told her sooner.]

...I'm sorry. [It's only after he realizes he hasn't said anything that the words tumble out. He doesn't even realize he's shaking.] I'm so sorry, Arietta...

[By now, Arietta is shaking, too, perhaps both out of anger and sadness due to the current situation and their own unique circumstances as to why going home may not exactly be an option. She clutches her doll tightly, as if it too may slip out of her grasp if she doesn't, and it's a wonder the stuffing hasn't fallen out by now.

It's not fair. None of this is fair.]

It's stupid... I hate it! It's not fair! If I go back, I can't see you anymore!

[Is it selfish of her to want to stay? Maybe, but she doesn't care. All that matters is Ion.]

I couldn't avenge you... I should have been the one to protect you... I don't want to be alone again!

[He sees her shaking, thinking that it can only be his fault that she's hurting like this, and for a brief moment he even wishes it were possible for him to be the Ion she wants him to be. It wasn't fair for only the replica to get a second chance. Didn't his original want to live as well? Surely, he never wanted to leave Arietta behind.]

[But that's not reality, and no amount of thinking is going to change it. He needed to tell her the truth. He can't just go on pretending to be someone he isn't. As painful as it will be to tell her, it would be far more cruel to continue deceiving her after everything that's happened. There was a reason he always kept his distance from her back home, after all -- she would have noticed the differences eventually. And if staying here in Luceti is an option for her, Ion has no intention of making her stay here alone.]

...you won't have to be alone. If you want to stay, there's nothing wrong with staying. [He averts his gaze, eyes fixated on the ground.]

But before you make that choice, there's something I need to tell you. Something I... should have told you a long time ago.

... What?

[That catches her attention. Ion has something to tell her? What could it possibly be? For a moment, she worries that perhaps he plans to inform her of his choice to return to Auldrant, even though she can't exactly comprehend just why he would make that choice.]

What do you mean, Ion?

I've been lying to you for a long time now. Here, and even back on Auldrant. The truth is... I'm not the person you think I am.

[He can't face her. This will be the second time he's told her this, but that made it no less difficult. And now, knowing what he does about her fate back home, that only made it even more difficult to keep his composure.]

[But he can't just linger on this. He needed to tell her... she deserved that much.]

...I'm not the real Ion.

[“You're being... your usual self today.”

“Hm?”

“Lately... you've been almost like another person. I thought... maybe you hated me, and I was really lonely.”

“... I see. I'm sorry, Arietta. But there's no way I could hate you. After all, you're my... my one and only Fon Master Guardian.”

Back then, Arietta hadn't thought much about it. Ion was only acting different because he was sick; it never occurred to her during the times that he wasn't in bed that he could possibly be someone else masquerading as the Fon Master.

Back then, the only thing that had mattered to her was that he had told her she was his one and only, the only person who could possibly protect him as Fon Master Guardian.

She's speechless at first. What exactly is she supposed to say? Arietta had been left in the dark about the truth, even until she died. Nobody had told her that the Ion she knew had died two years ago and replaced with a replica.

Nobody had told her anything.]

I... on? [She's confused, still not entirely comprehending the words she just heard.] What do you mean? What do you mean, you're not the real Ion!?

[Now that he's started, the words begin to flow. It's no less difficult, and perhaps it's only because he's explained what he is before that he's able to do so now. But there's no going back now.]

I'm a replica. I was created to replace the Ion you knew. Back on Auldrant, before I... before I died, it had only been two years since I was born.

[The Ion she fought to save and the Ion she died to avenge wasn't even the real Ion. The Ion she cared about was already long gone.]

Just as with Luke and Asch, no one was supposed to know. So everyone who was close to the original Ion was transferred away... including you. After all, I had no memories of the life he had lived, and surely... you would have noticed the difference if you spent too much time around me.

[And just like that, the pieces begin to fall into place.

Why Ion had looked so pale in the last few months before her reassignment.

Why she hadn't been allowed to visit him in his room in the last few weeks.

Arietta had known that Ion would never simply allow for her to be replaced as Guardian just like that, and now she knew why Anise had suddenly taken over while she had been 'promoted' to God-General. Confusion quickly turns to grief mixed with anger at being lied to by Van and Mohs, but also the realization that she wasn't able to protect him as well as she thought if she hadn't noticed the original Ion's declining health as it was.]

He said he would tell me if he went anywhere... he said he wasn't going anywhere...!

[There's a part of him that feels grateful that he doesn't need to explain any further. That she seems to have pieced together on her own what must have happened to the original Ion, without Ion having to explain his death.]

[And he hates himself for it.]

I'm sure... he was only trying to protect you.

[That had to be it, certainly. Ion never had the opportunity to speak much with his predecessor, even when he was in Luceti for those precious few months. But even so, Ion can't imagine that he only wanted to use Arietta, just as Van did.]

Perhaps he though it would be better for you to live on thinking he was all right, rather than to live knowing he as gone, with nothing... nothing but a replacement living under his name.

Appointments Post

voice; january 20th...ish

voice; january 20thish!

nothing could possibly go wrong with this

Nothing at all...!

normal teenagers having normal conversations

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tales of the abyss more like tales of the breaking kokoros

MY KOKORO WAS NOT READY FOR THAT

ur welcome

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