Part one of five
Denial
Arietta only pretends to not know the truth. It's a form of coping and it has saturated her memory almost entirely as reality. It is an illusion that Van and the God-Generals have no intention of shattering as long it keeps her stable and enables them to further their plans.
She knows that Ion is dead. The girl is not as cluelessly naive as everyone believes, she is not as stupid and childish as Anise continually says in order to taunt her. It is logical and answers all the questions she has concerning why she is not the one who is at Ion's side now.
But, to actually say that Ion is dead - the pain is too much. It is better to live with the lie. She tells herself is it true until it is, until there is no doubt in her mind that the lie is reality. To say otherwise is a lie, Arietta concludes, Ion is alive and Anise has stolen him away.
"You're a reckless idiot," Sync sneers, "Obsessing over that stupid Ion like he's your entire world. Pathetic."
Arietta glares angrily and throws her stuffed toy at his face.
"Don't insult Ion!" she shouts.
He hurls the toy back and smiles a horrible smile, like he knows something she does not. It's an infuriating smile and he turns away.
"How pathetic, that you can't accept not being with your stupid precious Ion," he laughs, a cold cruel laugh. "Always going on about how you want to go back to him. Well, he doesn't want you around anymore!"
Arietta clutches her stuffed toy tightly and turns away, so she won't see Sync's cruel smile and cry. Those words cut into her heart like a million knives.
"That's a lie!" she shrieks.
"That's right, Arietta." His voice changes and sounds like Ion's, kind and reassuring.
She looks at him in surprise with false hope. "Ion?"
He laughs again, that same awful laugh. "You're so gullible," he sneers.
The Ion she wants is gone, she knows deep down. But Ion everyone speaks and knows of, they're almost exactly alike. If they say he's Ion, then he's Ion.
She'll deny anything that says that Ion is dead when clearly, she rationalizes, he is not. She'll deny it, just like how she'll deny that she is crying at Sync's callous words.
Author: Apologies if Arietta and Sync appear out of character. I'm working on it.