[Hearing that name is like a switch being pulled, a gunshot-trigger right through the heart, and Asch's child eyes widen, his sword arm finally dropping to his side. It's not like he'd forgotten everything that had happened. Those memories were always there, impossible to forget or wipe clean. But living here, being with his family, his friends, his wonderful, near-perfect life had been enough to make him believe that it had all just been a bad dream. He was never Asch the Bloody, some horrible, unhappy soldier who'd lost everything he ever loved to a fake. Things like that just didn't happen to people like him, who was to carry the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders. He was destined for greatness, not a life like that. Not a death like that.
But standing here, face to face with that... fake, that copy, that replica- his replica- it's impossible to keep denying it. The memories are there, fighting with the mind of a child, and he begins to tremble.]
You... you're a...
[Liar. Thief. Enemy.
Replica.
Warm hands suddenly touch his shoulders, and he doesn't have to look to know who it is. His mother is speaking now, quietly asking if he's alright again, gently scolding the replica for startling her son, asking her husband to summon the guards to escort him off the premises. He doesn't look at her. Doesn't have to.
She isn't real. She isn't real and none of this is and they need to get out.
no subject
But standing here, face to face with that... fake, that copy, that replica- his replica- it's impossible to keep denying it. The memories are there, fighting with the mind of a child, and he begins to tremble.]
You... you're a...
[Liar. Thief. Enemy.
Replica.
Warm hands suddenly touch his shoulders, and he doesn't have to look to know who it is. His mother is speaking now, quietly asking if he's alright again, gently scolding the replica for startling her son, asking her husband to summon the guards to escort him off the premises. He doesn't look at her. Doesn't have to.
She isn't real. She isn't real and none of this is and they need to get out.
But he can't bring himself to move.]