The sound of plodding boots emitted through the darkness in lonely rhythm. Their master silently glided on, aimlessly wandering this place of gloom, finding himself on a plain of sand. The ocean breeze contained an unnerving chill as it blew past him, slightly disturbing his white-grassed, over-layer of his lower body attire. This caused him to stop, his turquoise eyes turning to the dark ocean, before he completely turned to gaze out at it. The moon provided little light to glisten on the shore as it did in the light world, his memories told him. His false, borrowed memories. He looked down, clenching his right fist tightly, his gaze falling on it. His heart belonged in this place, he reasoned. A place for people like him, convincing clones, replications, copies – fakes. Rather, so he assumed, as he had yet to talk to some of the other beings that wandered here.
His eyes narrowed to near slits as he folded his arms across his chest, the sound of footsteps on the sand reaching his ears. "I didn't know anyone else could come here." The voice hinted to its' users' feminine gender, and the age of twelve or thirteen. He stiffly glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyes widening when he saw her full appearance. She grinned at him, pulling her hands out of her blue jacket as she trudged over to him. Extending her hand, she introduced herself. "I'm Danielle. Dani, for short."
He glared at her hand, as if it had deadly creatures crawling beneath its' innocent exterior, but then he glanced at her expression. He gave in hesitantly, taking her hand; he gave it a firm shake. "I have no name. Just call me Fake." He failed to hide his anger and self-hatred as he spoke those words, his gaze falling to the tide as it crept towards his feet, before retreating. He felt her scrutiny of him, penetrating his defenses of overall calm. She made him feel… anxious.
"Fake, huh? How'd you come up with that name?" He lifted his chin, gazing out to sea in silence. After a moment, he turned to her.
"Do you even know what this place is, Danielle?" He watched her shift her weight, using one foot to scratch her ankle before she shook her head. "This is the after-life, for nobodies, clones, replications, and overall – fakes." He turned back to the sea, refolding his arms across his chest. "Those who don't have a heart or memories to call their own; they're mere copies of the Originals, which makes us fakes." He eyed her, noticing her blue eyes diverted to the tide in reminiscent silence. "When we are destroyed, we come here. We are not fit for a true place of eternal rest, unlike the Originals." This flowed into another moment of silence, giving him time to conceive a translatable continuation for their little symposium. "My name comes from what I am – a phony, a fake. I'm an exact replication of someone else." He allowed the silence to wash over them again, another salty, bone-chilling breeze following pursuit. His posture remained, even when he felt her gaze upon him.
"You're not a fake," she stated boldly, her hands locking into fists. "You're just as real as anyone else, because you have your own heart." He narrowed his eyes again, looking at her.
"No, it's not my own heart. It's an exact replication of a real heart-"
"It's still yours," she cut in, folding her arms across her chest with grace of stubbornness, eyes narrowed in determination. "Your Original came into existence by birth, you were created and that makes you just as real as he is." She paused for a moment, noting his reaction of turning to the sea with a relaxation of her arms and a sigh. "Look, if you're worried about having the same emotions and memories as him, then don't. You have memories that are all your own, too." In payment to her point of theory, she received a token of silence, his gaze falling to the ground, and his silver-hair shaded the upper-half of his face. She stared at him thoughtfully, as if waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, she decided to say something else. "You must carve your own path to follow, make your own friends, find your own hobbies, create your own memories and feelings. It might take time, but the difference between you and him will eventually become obvious." She smiled warmly when he looked at her, his turquoise eyes scanning her face. She extended a hand to him, still smiling. "So, what do you say? Wanna be friends?" She giggled. "The 'original', as you call him, doesn't have me as a friend – or a ghost girl, for that matter."
The replica finally smirked, taking her hand in a firm grip. "So, that's how you got to this place, is it?" The girl nodded once, and then shrugged.
"It's not the place you make it out to be – it's no after-life, it's another dimension." When he gave her a confused look, she clarified. "It's like giving you a second chance at life. All you have to do is find the way out of here." She paused for a brief second. "And maybe get a different name. Like, Raiden!" He shifted his weight in discomfort, casting his gaze to the darkened sky in apparent thought. Danielle grabbed his arm in excitement, jumping up and down. "Aw, come on! It means lightning thunder in Japanese." He blinked, looking down at her. When she had calmed, she smiled again. "I am also a replication, though a more failed attempt – but my Original does not have an interest in Japanese culture or language. I do, though. That's just one of the things that makes us different." He nodded in consideration, finally smiling.
"Yeah, sure, Raiden it is," he agreed, chuckling as she jumped up and down in excitement. He looked out to the sea, realizing that it was not as dark as he had always made it out to be. It was beautiful, a normal sea, but this world was always wrapped in darkness – this was the other side of light.
"Ready to go back?" He blinked in surprise, looking at her as she took his hand, looking up at him expectantly. When he failed to respond within five seconds, she began to pull him towards the water. Her sudden pull on his arm was unaccepted, and stumbling after her was all he could do to keep from falling. He gasped in alarm when he realized that he was walking on the water! He looked up at her, the girl giggling with excitement as she rushed to a speck of light. He blinked, narrowing his eyes at the light as it began rapidly growing in size, changing shape, and forming a rectangle of light. He had the sudden urge to turn back and run to the familiar… but another part of him pushed him onward; to the unknown, to the adventure, to his new future, to his life as his own person, not just a copy.