Bijin: What is with me and these one-shots?! This isn't like me. Anyway... this is an idea that came to me suddenly, though it had kind of been festering for a while.

Throughout my playing of Tales of the Abyss I seemed to be able to predict the things that were going to happen. When the idea of isofons was first introduced into the story, I knew right away Asch and Luke were original and isofon, though was Wasn't completely sure what that meant. All I know is that in the opening theme, they have the exact same frikkin face. Video games don't do that on accident. XD

Either way, I saw a thing on youtube on accident that showed Luke cutting his hair (put spoiler warnings on your descs! XD) and the first thing that came to my mind was a reason, though it wasn't the real reason. This story kind of takes that idea and gives it some form. Hope you like this. Enjoy!

"Whoa! Asch! You cut your hair?"

Luke nearly winced. How was it that after having his spirits lifted over the course of the last day or so, they were suddenly plummeted. And it wasn't with an action or a lecture... it was with six simple words. He couldn't get out a sentence, something swirled in his gut and, like he had when he and his original had first met, he found himself feeling as though her were about to be sick. He didn't this time, however. He suppressed the emotion and stared at Anise, some anger disgised behind his eyes.

Asch... the real Luke fon Fabre. It had only been around a day since their minds had been meshed together as one, and the two of them together had lead Luke's comrades through the dangerous Ortion Caverns. The two of them had been of one mind, one power. But Luke was happy to separate himself from that. After all... they shared the same face, the same hair... the same DNA... the same fonon frequency. That was enough without sharing a mind as well.

Up until he had learned the truth of his own origins, there never really was any thinking to be done about his identity. Though now, it was difficult to escape. Like Akzeriuth, his foundation, everything he believed himself to be had collapsed and he found himself groping in the darkness for an identity. Though... that had only been the initial problem.

He had been born... created... to be the new Luke fon Fabre. At least as far as he could tell. Though not only was he now not Luke... he also was face to face with the real Luke. A Luke that anyone could mistake for the other. Even their personalities had similarities, though Asch would never admit to that. It was that stubborn streak combined with a general carelessness that seemed to link the two spirits. Fiesty and arrogant beyond what was standard.

Luke put a hand to his hair, and stuttered, "I-I'm..." His hair had been cut recently, allowing wind to tickle his neck and his bangs to dance at the tip of his nose. His eyes were easier to see, giving him a more friendly look than the one given off by his longer hair.

The hair had been severed mainly as the tangible form of his promise to change. He wanted to let Tear, the only person who remained near him, know that he was serious. He wanted to change the kind of person he was. In his mind, perhaps it wasn't just a choice, it was simply a willingness to go along with the flow of his life. After finding out the nature of his birth, he had no choice but to become someone other than the one he was impersonating.

But there was another reason.

He would not freefall. The foundation of his identity had been collapsed, leaving him with no idea how to explain who he was. Though a stubborn mind like his would not simply allow himself to fall. Hand would reach out and grab whatever it could, outstanding vine or ledge to grab onto and halt himself. Even though he couldn't prove who he was... he could prove who he wasn't. He was not Asch. They acted the same, sounded the same, and were genetically identicle. He couldn't very well replace his eyes, nor use a fonic arte to change his skin tone or hair color. He couldn't make himself shorter or taller, nor could he un-learn his sword techinques... all the same as Asch. He couldn't remove his voice box and find a voice that did not match Asch's, nor could he erase the face that his parents loved and that his original's resembled. Grasping for some way to separate himself from his original, he had taken a knife to his hair. It was not just a symbol of his promise. It was a way of physically differing himself from Asch. The only thing that Asch could not control. The only thing that he could do the change his physical appearance to make himself different.

And yet he had failed.

"Whoa! Asch! You cut your hair?"

The line went through his head again, almost ignoring the next few unwelcoming things Anise spouted. After all that... he was still mistaken for Asch. And rejected for not being the one they mistook him to be. Granted, some of their rejection was due to his previous irresponsible actions. But there was resentment buried under their tone, perhaps that they couldn't control. The anger that he was not the real Luke. He was a fake... and artificially created being. Technically not a human. A replica...

Who still looked like Asch.

Bijin: Very short, but whatever. I hope to write a real story for ToA soon. I have a few ideas brewing anyway. Review and tell me what you think!