[Canon] The Ion Replicas
Ion, Sync, Florian, and a little bit of Arietta and Anise. Prepare to have your hearts broken.
Taken from the Tales of the Abyss Namco Forum. Credit belongs entirely to taleslations
The Ion Replicas
from Shiro no Ashita vol.2, Ion side
This is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever read. The situations were pretty horrible in themselves (especially for Florian), but Yajima Sara was really good at writing them with simple words, in the "naive new-born replica" point of view, and that makes it all the more moving.
There was also an interesting bit where Mohs was being nice, for once. He's done plenty of wrongs, but he has some redeemable qualities deep down, after all.
Creation
In the Ion manga gaiden, original Ion destroyed the first replica himself. In the novel, it's said that "Van and the others" disposed of it immediately, because it was completely defective.
The other six were created more or less together, one after the other. Basically, they would create one and analyze its abilities, physical abilities etc. If it wasn't good enough, they'd create another one. They repeated the process several times until the seventh replica, which was not perfect either, but good enough for them (and which, coincidentally, would have been the last created for that day to not put too much strain on the machine). Van and Mohs are present during the whole thing, and the experiment is lead by a guy named Ahmed and his assistants.
The Replicas
Mohs ordered the others to be left by themselves in Mt Zaleho (they'd disappear as soon as they die anyway), but the guys who brought them there threw them in the crater and were pretty cruel about it. None of them died immediately, but I'll go into details later.
Everyone (except maybe Ahmed but he didn't voice his thoughts) treated them like they really were nothing more than disposable objects.
Ion
From the beginning, people from the Church who were in the know were charged with teaching him everything he needed to know to replace the Fon Master. They were actually pretty respectful, calling him "Master Ion" - probably to get him used to it, I guess. He knew his replica status and what he was supposed to do, and never really questioned anything. For him, everything was normal, as it should be.
Ahmed is impressed at how calm and peaceful he is.
Ion suspected from the beginning that Anise was appointed to him by Mohs as a spy, and later regrets not to have said anything. He thought he could have saved her if he had acted, but at the time he thought it was normal and didn't question it.
Meeting Luke and seeing him change himself, together with their struggle against the Score, changed his vision of replicas. He realized that they were there for a reason other than being simple replacements, that there was something they could do.
Ever since Sync's "death" in the core, Ion had been searching for a way to die. Not that he necessarily wanted to die (up until then, he hadn't cared whether he lived or died, but now was different), but he wanted to choose the way he'd go, he wanted to die the death of someone who had lived for something-- he wanted his death to be meaningful. That's why he came up with the idea of taking Tear's tainted fonons: he wouldn't mind dying to save her. But before he could do it, he was brought to Mohs and forced to read the Score.
Ion:
I didn't want to use my Seventh Fonons for that. Please forgive me, Tear, everyone...
He thinks that all that happened because he had lost too much time trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
But the others arrive in time to hear the end of the Score, and for him to cure Tear. He is happy he was able to do it, because it is a choice he and only him made.
Ion, as he cures her:
I am here now for this instant. This is the future I have chosen for myself, a pure white future untainted by others' ambition. I am... happy...
Sync
Got this name from Van because the first time they met, he kept repeating a sentence Van had said ("The synchro level is the problem").
Was more or less aware of what was happening when the guys kicked the other replicas in the crater, so he let them throw him and took the first chance to hide under a rock. That's where Van found him (what was he doing there anyway? Making sure they really disappeared?). Anyway, he took him away, placed some kind of fonic glyph or whatever on his body (to allow him to use the 7th Fonon or something?) and decided to train him. Basically.
Anyway, back to Sync when he was found. He was hot and hurt and the glyph hurt too. He started to develop emotions - pain, sorrow and anger, but didn't know how to express them, so he just went along with Van.
As they were leaving:
He wanted to look at the other boys one last time, but eventually gave up. They would disappear soon, and were probably better off than him. Climbing the slope when Van called him had been a mistake. When he realized that, jealousy and regrets appeared on his face once more.
Van kept him in a shed inn the woods outside of Daath, and started training him in combat, with the hope of making him his subordinate in the Order later. Sync didn't necessarily dislike this training (and everything Van's done for him so far), but he didn't see the point - he was born to replace the Fon Master, after all, so why did he have to train and learn artes?
Conversation with Van:
'It is true that another replica than you will take Ion's place, but I do not think that his life will be better. Even if he will revered as the Fon Master, everything will be decided for him - he will be nothing more than a puppet. On top of that, he will have many enemies. This isn't freedom.'
'...Freedom?'
Sunlight was piercing through the sky and glimmering on Sync's mask.
'Yeah, I may be under restrictions, but I'm more free than the seventh Ion. But what does that change? Don't try glossing things over. You're only trying to use me as you please.'
Van's eyes twinkled.
'I am putting your potential into practice. If you don't like it, you can go back to Mt. Zaleho. If you want to hate something, hate the Score that brought you to life.'
'...Yeah. I think I'll do that,' Sync sarcastically replied. 'I'm free. You've gone out of your way to acquire me, but it's still up to me whether I live or not.'
Impossible!, Van wanted to shout. A replica would consider suicide...? I never thought of the possibility. Seems we should have programmed them so that they avoid self harm.
His having picked up the boy at Mt. Zaleho brought him satisfaction again. With him, he could learn more about replicas than he would ever be able to with Luke.
But Sync, I will not let you die until I can no longer see value in you. You can throw yourself to the depths of the earth all you want, I will always come and pick you up.
Van then tells him how he hates the Score as well, and this peaks Sync's interest.
Some time later, Van shows him the seventh replica and how he is treated, and Sync starts feeling jealous of him. He can't help but notice the nice bedroom, the fine clothes, the respect with which he is addressed with. He wonders how they can be so different when they were created from the same data source.
Back in his room:
What's so different between us? I'm the fifth, he's the seventh... I was born first! Why didn't they choose me?!
He felt he was becoming mad with jealousy. He hit the bed's wooden frame, kicked the chair, and, lastly, flung off his mask. Trembling with rage, he traced the outline of his face with his fingers.
'We have... the same face... If you don't need me, don't keep me alive!'
As his fingers slid on his cheeks, he recalled the scene in the chapel.
'Arietta protects the Fon Master, and is protected by her monsters...'
Sync believed that people spent their lives creating bonds with others by protecting them and being protected in return.
No one protects me, and I have no one to protect. I don't have any bond with anyone.
He was just alive, completely excluded from this circle called the world. No one truly needed him. He had no place to call his own.
Sync couldn't forgive the ones who created him. They may blame it on the Score, but it is humans who rely on the Score the most.
Who should I take revenge on, then?!
Sync cried and cursed his foolish existence, that held no hope for a future.
He knows that Van is just using him, but he doesn't really care. He muses that it must be the same for the other God Generals; that they all were attracted by Van's strong resolve.
Sync always toyed with the idea of appearing before Ion without his mask to see his reaction. When he finally did in the core, he let out what he had been thinking the whole time, even though he had promised himself not to do it. He also wondered as he jumped if Van would allow him to die this time, or if he would come to pick him up like before.
Van did indeed bring him back, but in the end, he eventually got his chance to go once and for all.
Sync, dying:
Everything will disappear... Doesn't that fit me, Van? I'm grateful that you gave me a chance to take revenge on the world, but... but I don't care anymore about what's going to happen next. I have finally won this instant. Me, who had only kept losing until now...
Florian
Managed to survive a few months before he was found by Mohs.
Mohs, upon finding him, actually displayed sympathy and a bit of kindness. He got him something to drink and to eat, and just was generally nice. I think he was impressed that he'd manage to survive that long. He wasn't sure what to do with him, so eventually decided to keep him in case there was a problem with the seventh replica.
In the prologue:
"Anise is gone," said Florian. His shoulders dropped. He stood in front of the church's entrance and whispered the name he had just received. He had known about what a name was, but he didn't know - couldn't even imagine - what it meant to have one. Until then, nobody needed to call him, and he just existed, nothing else.
He stared down at his hand. It's the hand that Anise was holding earlier. He had the feeling that as long as he didn't forget that, this hand would never disappear. He vaguely remembered about how three bodies looking like him disappeared on a hot rock.
They didn't have a name. That's why they disappeared...
He was with the other three replicas, and they all died one at a time, leaving him the last survivor. At first they didn't know what was happening, but after the second one disappeared, they realized that it would happen to them as well. However, as they had just been created, they still lacked emotions and couldn't be afraid of death, though when the last one disappeared, Florian felt something akin to sadness, and felt a little relieved too. He then started to develop survival instincts.
The first thing he ate was flowers, but then he found mice, which looked more appetizing.
Florian catches a mouse:
With his right hand, the one which had held the other boy's hand when he had disappeared, he seized the first mouse that would keep him alive.
Arietta
Van's pretty nice with her, often gentle. He once found her crying because Mohs wouldn't let her visit original Ion when he was sick, and wondered what would happen to her after his death. He then remembered how Sync was talking about killing himself, and even though he wasn't sure if he had been serious or not, the fact that a replica could consider the idea convinced him that she would choose this path if she lost her Ion. That's why he decided to hide the truth from her.
Sync, however, has little sympathy for her, and can sometimes be harsh with her. He remarks that she has it easy, not knowing that she was being deceived and that Van was using her.
She hates Anise because she became Ion's Fon Master Guardian, taking her place.
Confrontation with Anise:
'Anise!'
'Huh?!'
It was Arietta.
'Oh, it's you. What do you want?' she replied curtly.
Arietta gripped Anise's arm and started shaking it.
'Give back my Master Ion! Come on, give me back my Master Ion!'
'Are you stupid? I didn't steal him!'
'Then why am I not Fon Master Guardian anymore?!'
'I...'
Anise lost her temper at this point.
'I've told you already, I don't know! It's our job. It's not something I can decide. You know that, too!'
Arietta's big eyes filled with tears in an instant.
'Uuh... They wouldn't let me into his room because he was sick. And now that he's better again, I can't be with him anymore... That's mean!'
It's so that Mohs can keep him under surveillance, Anise almost said, but she refrained herself.
'Master Ion doesn't like you, Anise. Master Ion is my Master Ion!'
'Oh, for god's sake! Are you always like that? Are you sure your name's not "Gloomietta"?'
Arietta's blanched when Anise teased her.
'Anise, that's mean! I'm not gloomy! I'll never forgive you!'
'Let me go, that hurts!'
After the final battle, Anise goes back to Daath to find Florian.
Anise ran down the Albiore's gangway and all the way to the cathedral.
'Anise, you will fall if you do not slow down!'
'Anise!'
She heard Natalia and the others cry after her, but didn't slow down.
Today, she was coming back to what she left behind when she went to fight Van.
'Florian!'
After hearing of his whereabouts from Maestro Tritheim, Anise had flown to his room. He had been lying on his bed when she barged in, but had quickly sat up upon hearing her voice.
'I'm back, Florian!'
'Anise!'
She took the replica's hand and showed her joy at seeing him again. His eyes were sparkling.
He's got the same face as Master Ion...
She chided herself for thinking that. He didn't know anything about the original Ion, the other replicas, the war, the Score.
'You look exactly like him, but you're different.'
'Huh?'
'Nothing. Florian is Florian, that's all.'
Her laugh made him smile.
I wonder why... When I am called by my name, I feel like I become myself.
Florian put his hand on his chest. The warmth he felt showed him he was alive, here. His self without a name was gone forever.
'I'm Florian,' he softly muttered.
He then lifted his face.
'I'm Florian!'
Taken from the Tales of the Abyss Namco Forum. Credit belongs entirely to taleslations
The Ion Replicas
from Shiro no Ashita vol.2, Ion side
This is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever read. The situations were pretty horrible in themselves (especially for Florian), but Yajima Sara was really good at writing them with simple words, in the "naive new-born replica" point of view, and that makes it all the more moving.
There was also an interesting bit where Mohs was being nice, for once. He's done plenty of wrongs, but he has some redeemable qualities deep down, after all.
Creation
In the Ion manga gaiden, original Ion destroyed the first replica himself. In the novel, it's said that "Van and the others" disposed of it immediately, because it was completely defective.
The other six were created more or less together, one after the other. Basically, they would create one and analyze its abilities, physical abilities etc. If it wasn't good enough, they'd create another one. They repeated the process several times until the seventh replica, which was not perfect either, but good enough for them (and which, coincidentally, would have been the last created for that day to not put too much strain on the machine). Van and Mohs are present during the whole thing, and the experiment is lead by a guy named Ahmed and his assistants.
The Replicas
- 2nd, 3rd: like the 1st, too weak and not enough 7th Fonons
- 4th: also too weak
- 5th(Sync): more agile than the original, but so far the worst in terms of 7th Fonon
- 6th(Florian): another weak one
- 7th(Ion): good level of 7th Fonons, the closest to the original (and as frail as him, but they figure it can't be avoided and decide to go with this one)
Mohs ordered the others to be left by themselves in Mt Zaleho (they'd disappear as soon as they die anyway), but the guys who brought them there threw them in the crater and were pretty cruel about it. None of them died immediately, but I'll go into details later.
Everyone (except maybe Ahmed but he didn't voice his thoughts) treated them like they really were nothing more than disposable objects.
Ion
From the beginning, people from the Church who were in the know were charged with teaching him everything he needed to know to replace the Fon Master. They were actually pretty respectful, calling him "Master Ion" - probably to get him used to it, I guess. He knew his replica status and what he was supposed to do, and never really questioned anything. For him, everything was normal, as it should be.
Ahmed is impressed at how calm and peaceful he is.
Ion suspected from the beginning that Anise was appointed to him by Mohs as a spy, and later regrets not to have said anything. He thought he could have saved her if he had acted, but at the time he thought it was normal and didn't question it.
Meeting Luke and seeing him change himself, together with their struggle against the Score, changed his vision of replicas. He realized that they were there for a reason other than being simple replacements, that there was something they could do.
Ever since Sync's "death" in the core, Ion had been searching for a way to die. Not that he necessarily wanted to die (up until then, he hadn't cared whether he lived or died, but now was different), but he wanted to choose the way he'd go, he wanted to die the death of someone who had lived for something-- he wanted his death to be meaningful. That's why he came up with the idea of taking Tear's tainted fonons: he wouldn't mind dying to save her. But before he could do it, he was brought to Mohs and forced to read the Score.
Ion:
I didn't want to use my Seventh Fonons for that. Please forgive me, Tear, everyone...
He thinks that all that happened because he had lost too much time trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
But the others arrive in time to hear the end of the Score, and for him to cure Tear. He is happy he was able to do it, because it is a choice he and only him made.
Ion, as he cures her:
I am here now for this instant. This is the future I have chosen for myself, a pure white future untainted by others' ambition. I am... happy...
Sync
Got this name from Van because the first time they met, he kept repeating a sentence Van had said ("The synchro level is the problem").
Was more or less aware of what was happening when the guys kicked the other replicas in the crater, so he let them throw him and took the first chance to hide under a rock. That's where Van found him (what was he doing there anyway? Making sure they really disappeared?). Anyway, he took him away, placed some kind of fonic glyph or whatever on his body (to allow him to use the 7th Fonon or something?) and decided to train him. Basically.
Anyway, back to Sync when he was found. He was hot and hurt and the glyph hurt too. He started to develop emotions - pain, sorrow and anger, but didn't know how to express them, so he just went along with Van.
As they were leaving:
He wanted to look at the other boys one last time, but eventually gave up. They would disappear soon, and were probably better off than him. Climbing the slope when Van called him had been a mistake. When he realized that, jealousy and regrets appeared on his face once more.
Van kept him in a shed inn the woods outside of Daath, and started training him in combat, with the hope of making him his subordinate in the Order later. Sync didn't necessarily dislike this training (and everything Van's done for him so far), but he didn't see the point - he was born to replace the Fon Master, after all, so why did he have to train and learn artes?
Conversation with Van:
'It is true that another replica than you will take Ion's place, but I do not think that his life will be better. Even if he will revered as the Fon Master, everything will be decided for him - he will be nothing more than a puppet. On top of that, he will have many enemies. This isn't freedom.'
'...Freedom?'
Sunlight was piercing through the sky and glimmering on Sync's mask.
'Yeah, I may be under restrictions, but I'm more free than the seventh Ion. But what does that change? Don't try glossing things over. You're only trying to use me as you please.'
Van's eyes twinkled.
'I am putting your potential into practice. If you don't like it, you can go back to Mt. Zaleho. If you want to hate something, hate the Score that brought you to life.'
'...Yeah. I think I'll do that,' Sync sarcastically replied. 'I'm free. You've gone out of your way to acquire me, but it's still up to me whether I live or not.'
Impossible!, Van wanted to shout. A replica would consider suicide...? I never thought of the possibility. Seems we should have programmed them so that they avoid self harm.
His having picked up the boy at Mt. Zaleho brought him satisfaction again. With him, he could learn more about replicas than he would ever be able to with Luke.
But Sync, I will not let you die until I can no longer see value in you. You can throw yourself to the depths of the earth all you want, I will always come and pick you up.
Van then tells him how he hates the Score as well, and this peaks Sync's interest.
Some time later, Van shows him the seventh replica and how he is treated, and Sync starts feeling jealous of him. He can't help but notice the nice bedroom, the fine clothes, the respect with which he is addressed with. He wonders how they can be so different when they were created from the same data source.
Back in his room:
What's so different between us? I'm the fifth, he's the seventh... I was born first! Why didn't they choose me?!
He felt he was becoming mad with jealousy. He hit the bed's wooden frame, kicked the chair, and, lastly, flung off his mask. Trembling with rage, he traced the outline of his face with his fingers.
'We have... the same face... If you don't need me, don't keep me alive!'
As his fingers slid on his cheeks, he recalled the scene in the chapel.
'Arietta protects the Fon Master, and is protected by her monsters...'
Sync believed that people spent their lives creating bonds with others by protecting them and being protected in return.
No one protects me, and I have no one to protect. I don't have any bond with anyone.
He was just alive, completely excluded from this circle called the world. No one truly needed him. He had no place to call his own.
Sync couldn't forgive the ones who created him. They may blame it on the Score, but it is humans who rely on the Score the most.
Who should I take revenge on, then?!
Sync cried and cursed his foolish existence, that held no hope for a future.
He knows that Van is just using him, but he doesn't really care. He muses that it must be the same for the other God Generals; that they all were attracted by Van's strong resolve.
Sync always toyed with the idea of appearing before Ion without his mask to see his reaction. When he finally did in the core, he let out what he had been thinking the whole time, even though he had promised himself not to do it. He also wondered as he jumped if Van would allow him to die this time, or if he would come to pick him up like before.
Van did indeed bring him back, but in the end, he eventually got his chance to go once and for all.
Sync, dying:
Everything will disappear... Doesn't that fit me, Van? I'm grateful that you gave me a chance to take revenge on the world, but... but I don't care anymore about what's going to happen next. I have finally won this instant. Me, who had only kept losing until now...
Florian
Managed to survive a few months before he was found by Mohs.
Mohs, upon finding him, actually displayed sympathy and a bit of kindness. He got him something to drink and to eat, and just was generally nice. I think he was impressed that he'd manage to survive that long. He wasn't sure what to do with him, so eventually decided to keep him in case there was a problem with the seventh replica.
In the prologue:
"Anise is gone," said Florian. His shoulders dropped. He stood in front of the church's entrance and whispered the name he had just received. He had known about what a name was, but he didn't know - couldn't even imagine - what it meant to have one. Until then, nobody needed to call him, and he just existed, nothing else.
He stared down at his hand. It's the hand that Anise was holding earlier. He had the feeling that as long as he didn't forget that, this hand would never disappear. He vaguely remembered about how three bodies looking like him disappeared on a hot rock.
They didn't have a name. That's why they disappeared...
He was with the other three replicas, and they all died one at a time, leaving him the last survivor. At first they didn't know what was happening, but after the second one disappeared, they realized that it would happen to them as well. However, as they had just been created, they still lacked emotions and couldn't be afraid of death, though when the last one disappeared, Florian felt something akin to sadness, and felt a little relieved too. He then started to develop survival instincts.
The first thing he ate was flowers, but then he found mice, which looked more appetizing.
Florian catches a mouse:
With his right hand, the one which had held the other boy's hand when he had disappeared, he seized the first mouse that would keep him alive.
Arietta
Van's pretty nice with her, often gentle. He once found her crying because Mohs wouldn't let her visit original Ion when he was sick, and wondered what would happen to her after his death. He then remembered how Sync was talking about killing himself, and even though he wasn't sure if he had been serious or not, the fact that a replica could consider the idea convinced him that she would choose this path if she lost her Ion. That's why he decided to hide the truth from her.
Sync, however, has little sympathy for her, and can sometimes be harsh with her. He remarks that she has it easy, not knowing that she was being deceived and that Van was using her.
She hates Anise because she became Ion's Fon Master Guardian, taking her place.
Confrontation with Anise:
'Anise!'
'Huh?!'
It was Arietta.
'Oh, it's you. What do you want?' she replied curtly.
Arietta gripped Anise's arm and started shaking it.
'Give back my Master Ion! Come on, give me back my Master Ion!'
'Are you stupid? I didn't steal him!'
'Then why am I not Fon Master Guardian anymore?!'
'I...'
Anise lost her temper at this point.
'I've told you already, I don't know! It's our job. It's not something I can decide. You know that, too!'
Arietta's big eyes filled with tears in an instant.
'Uuh... They wouldn't let me into his room because he was sick. And now that he's better again, I can't be with him anymore... That's mean!'
It's so that Mohs can keep him under surveillance, Anise almost said, but she refrained herself.
'Master Ion doesn't like you, Anise. Master Ion is my Master Ion!'
'Oh, for god's sake! Are you always like that? Are you sure your name's not "Gloomietta"?'
Arietta's blanched when Anise teased her.
'Anise, that's mean! I'm not gloomy! I'll never forgive you!'
'Let me go, that hurts!'
After the final battle, Anise goes back to Daath to find Florian.
Anise ran down the Albiore's gangway and all the way to the cathedral.
'Anise, you will fall if you do not slow down!'
'Anise!'
She heard Natalia and the others cry after her, but didn't slow down.
Today, she was coming back to what she left behind when she went to fight Van.
'Florian!'
After hearing of his whereabouts from Maestro Tritheim, Anise had flown to his room. He had been lying on his bed when she barged in, but had quickly sat up upon hearing her voice.
'I'm back, Florian!'
'Anise!'
She took the replica's hand and showed her joy at seeing him again. His eyes were sparkling.
He's got the same face as Master Ion...
She chided herself for thinking that. He didn't know anything about the original Ion, the other replicas, the war, the Score.
'You look exactly like him, but you're different.'
'Huh?'
'Nothing. Florian is Florian, that's all.'
Her laugh made him smile.
I wonder why... When I am called by my name, I feel like I become myself.
Florian put his hand on his chest. The warmth he felt showed him he was alive, here. His self without a name was gone forever.
'I'm Florian,' he softly muttered.
He then lifted his face.
'I'm Florian!'