[Ion's breath hitches when he feels Anise's arms around him. The tears don't stop, even as he leans into the hug and weakly wraps his arms around her as well.]
[The only other time he's ever cried in front of Anise was when Sync "died" before their eyes. The pain of seeing someone who shared the same existence, but was unable to deal with the card they'd been dealt in life... "like losing a brother," as Natalia had put it. And that was someone he barely knew.]
[This was different. This was someone who, essentially, was the reason he born at all. Someone whose death hadn't been a thing to mourn, but just a part of life. The start of his own life. He had been a face, a figure, that he was only meant to emulate. Someone who was replaceable. It was only in Luceti that Ion had finally begun to see past that, knowing now that neither he nor his original were replaceable. No one could truly replace the original Ion for Arietta, just as no one could truly replace himself in Luceti.]
[And no one could replace his original for Ion, either. Although he barely knew him, there was so much he still wanted to say to him. So much he wanted to talk about, to learn about him, and maybe someday, they could have become friends...! Even knowing that maybe, maybe, he could come back... it hurt. It hurt knowing there was no happy ending waiting for him. It hurt knowing Ion may, in fact, never see him again.]
[It hurt knowing there would be no one to mourn him on Auldrant.]
[He tries to murmur a soft apology -- for losing his composure, perhaps -- but it drowns in a choked sob, cuing the arrival of more tears. And yet he stays quiet; if she weren't so close, she probably wouldn't even know he was crying without looking at him.]
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[The only other time he's ever cried in front of Anise was when Sync "died" before their eyes. The pain of seeing someone who shared the same existence, but was unable to deal with the card they'd been dealt in life... "like losing a brother," as Natalia had put it. And that was someone he barely knew.]
[This was different. This was someone who, essentially, was the reason he born at all. Someone whose death hadn't been a thing to mourn, but just a part of life. The start of his own life. He had been a face, a figure, that he was only meant to emulate. Someone who was replaceable. It was only in Luceti that Ion had finally begun to see past that, knowing now that neither he nor his original were replaceable. No one could truly replace the original Ion for Arietta, just as no one could truly replace himself in Luceti.]
[And no one could replace his original for Ion, either. Although he barely knew him, there was so much he still wanted to say to him. So much he wanted to talk about, to learn about him, and maybe someday, they could have become friends...! Even knowing that maybe, maybe, he could come back... it hurt. It hurt knowing there was no happy ending waiting for him. It hurt knowing Ion may, in fact, never see him again.]
[It hurt knowing there would be no one to mourn him on Auldrant.]
[He tries to murmur a soft apology -- for losing his composure, perhaps -- but it drowns in a choked sob, cuing the arrival of more tears. And yet he stays quiet; if she weren't so close, she probably wouldn't even know he was crying without looking at him.]