Disclaimer: I don't own "Tales of the Abyss" or any of its characters and I don't make any profit with this story.
Two halves make a whole
Ever since that day seven years ago, Asch had felt somehow... incomplete.
As if some part of him was just out of reach. Close enough to get a insistent feeling of its whereabouts but too far away to ever actually touch it.
It felt awkward, to say the least, made him restless in his behavior and angry when he thought about the reason.
After all, it was once again the fault of that stupid replica, not only taking away his family and his life... no, obviously he had also taken half of Asch's very essence with him during the creation process.
And now that half was gone.
No longer far away, not just out of his reach... it was completely gone.
For good.
Yes, of course Asch had told his replica that he could die on his own. If this stupid excuse of a human being was that eager to throw away his life together with the other replicas... well, who was he to stop him? There were some things, after all, that still needed to be done before his own body would stop functioning as well.
But Asch had never thought that he himself would feel that hurt, that empty and that lost after the idiot had actually succeeded with it.
Asch stared at his gloved hands which had gripped Luke's back tightly until a moment ago, holding his replica in a firm, yet helpless embrace while the other's body had become brighter and brighter and at the same time more and more transparent until he had finally vanished completely with a last, almost inaudible whisper.
"Thank you... Asch..."
Asch's fingers clutched around the small orb that had materialized itself just the moment Luke's fonons had started to disintegrate. That stupid replica had absorbed the Jewel of Lorelei back then at the Absorption Gate without even noticing it! And now he had dared to disappear before Asch had even had a chance to lecture him about his stupidity!
Without the God-General realizing it, a sole tear formed at the corner of one of his emerald eyes, making its way down his cheek and finally dripping on one of the dark red ornaments on his tabard, making its color even darker, even more reminiscent of the color of blood.
Slowly Asch lifted his head and stared accusingly into the sky where the last shiny bits of what had once been his perfect isofon had rapidly disappeared, his yell tearing through the now clear skies:
"You damn stupid replica...!"
How dare you leaving me behind like that!