Rapier dipped his paint brush back into the yellow paint and then lightly pressed it back onto the paper, letting the colors meld together as he painted. Joan wondered if he know what he was painting, at first she hadn't noticed. It had at first looked like a bunch of squiggles on the page, red, yellow, and orange squiggles. Then, as he continued to paint it turned into fire works against a night sky. It wasn't that good of a painting but she could tell what it was now.
"Rapier," She caught his attention. "It's time for your treatment."
"I like me treatments," He said blankly. He set his paint brush down and got up from the art table, following Joan into the imprinting room. He was like a child, he didn't know about anything. He just followed Joan like a lamb that followed the one who was going to slaughter it.
"Alight Erin, hurry this up." Joan led Rapier into the imprint room and he sat in the chair.
"Yes, yes, I'm getting to it." Erin placed the wedge into the chair and watched as Rapier was imprinted with the new personality and memories that she had created for him. The chair lit up and Rapier jerked slightly and then it was over.
"Hello James." Joan smiled. "Come on, the car is waiting to take you to Renee."
George's life hadn't been the best for the last three years. His twin had died, he had spent a good four months completely silent and avoiding his family, then Percy and Ron had shown up at his flat and forced him out of his depression. Both of them refusing to leave him alone no matter how many times he asked. Truthfully, he was grateful, he wondered how much longer he could have stayed alone without deciding to join Fred in the after life. The only excuse he ever had for claiming his life was horrible was that Fred wasn't there. Fred was gone, completely and totally. George had tried to deny it to himself at some point, had tried to convince himself that Fred was still alive. After all, his body had disappeared from the Main Hall not twenty-four hours after he had died. It was as if he had just walked out, it had been a hard second blow to the Weasley family. First, losing their son. Second, not being able to even give him a proper burial. But, then George had to face the truth, if Fred had been alive, he would have come back. He wouldn't have left George alone, at least not without a damn good reason.
He had stopped waiting for him, and thanks to Percy and Ron, he was able to pick himself back up. He wasn't all better, far from it, he still felt as though there was a part of him with a gaping hole ripped into it. He felt like half of him had been torn away. Most days though, he was able to numb himself to this pain and keep the shop running. But, today was Saturday, today was his day off. If he stayed in home he knew that his depression would decide to visit and if he went out into the wizard world he'd just get the looks of pity that always seemed to follow him. So, he went out into the muggle world, walking through the streets of London and occasionally wandering into a pub for a drink and a girl to flirt with or into a restaurant for dinner.
"Hello, love." James smiled when Renee opened the door to her flat. "I'm sorry I didn't call after my treatment, it slipped my mind." He landed a kiss on her cheek.
"That's alright," Renee smiled.
"You ready?" He offered her his hand the two set off onto the streets of London. "You know, I heard there is this amazing Chinese restaurant around here, if you want to eat before the movie."
"Alright," She said and they set off that way. "You know, what we could do. Get it to go and eat at my place." She leaned against his shoulder as they walked.
"Yeah, ok-"
"Fred?" The voice sounded as though it was being strangled out of whoever had spoken the words.
James turned around and for a second he thought he was looking into a mirror. Then he noticed the man standing in front of him was missing an ear and James was positive he had both of his.
Renee glared at the man, he was ruining everything. "No, his name is James."
"Excuse me, I think I would recognize my own twin." He returned her glare then looked back to James, his expression softening. "I see his face everyday, in the mirror."
James looked back and forth between the man and Renee. He didn't know what was going on. He wanted to believe the man, after all they looked so much alike. But, that would mean his entire life was a lie. His mother who died last year to cancer, his little sister who had just been accepted into the school of her dreams. He remembered it all so clearly, he remembered the summer home his family would go to every year. How he and his sister would chase each other around that great big beach. How could any of that be fake.
He looked at Renee. How could what he was feeling for her be fake?
"I-I'm sorry man, my name is Ja-" He didn't get to finish the sentence as a fist connected to his left cheek, knocking him to the pavement.
Renee gave a surprised scream, which sounded quiet next to the loud crack that had sounded. James looked up and the man was gone. Renee was by him though. "Oh my God, are you ok? He punched! Who was that guy? Why did he look like you?"
James' mind felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Everything seemed muffled and his thoughts were miles away. "I don't know. But that name, what was it? What was the name he called me?" He asked. An image of two boys with flaming red hair flashed into his mind. Fireworks were exploding around them, not normal fire works either. These moved as though controlled by magic. The scene felt odd in James' mind, like it didn't quite fit there. At the same time it felt right, like it had been there the whole time.
"Fred, he called you Fred." She told him, raising an eyebrow. "Does that name mean anything to you?"
"James," A woman's voice cut him from his thoughts. "Would you like a treatment?"
James looked up at Joan. "A treatment sounds nice." He said, the words forming in his mouth before he could think of them. Every thing was going to be okay now that she was there. He got up and followed into the black van. He no longer cared about Renee or the man from the mirror. After his treatment everything would make sense.
"What do you mean he glitched?" Joan snapped at Erin as Rapier was being wiped.
"I mean he glitched. There was a spike in his thoughts. What happened?" She demanded, typing furiously on her computer.
"He was punched, the guy looked just like him, Erin. He called him Fred." Joan sat on the edge Erin's desk.
Erin immediately stopped typing. "Do we know if Rapier had a twin? Back before he was Rapier I mean?"
"You mean back when he wasn't a mindless zombie that we can make do anything we want?" Joan asked, looking at her nails, now bored. "I don't know, Dr. Archer never told me anything."
Erin stood up and walked over to Rapier who's wipe had just completed.
"Did I fall asleep?" He asked blankly.
"For a little while."
"Should I go?"
"If you like." Erin said as sweetly as she could and watched him walk out of the imprint room. "Well, I'll talk to Dr. Archer. Though, he never listens to me." She sat back at her computer.
"That's because you're always in here." Joan gestured to the room around them. "You spend half your time with the Dolls." Joan chewed on her lip. "Whatever, I'll talk to Dr. Archer for you and get back to you with that info on Rapier's family." She hopped of the desk.
"Hey, make sure Rapier visits Dr. King. His cheek looked really bruised. Something might be broken."
"Sure whatever." Joan waved at her as she left.
Erin shook her head, Joan never took anything seriously. "Screw my life." She muttered to herself as she ruffled her red mop of hair. She hated working with the handlers, all of them felt so self important. None of thm appreciated what she did. If it wasn't for her the Dollhouse would be nothing. Who else could imprint the Dolls? She furrowed her brow in concentration. Who had done it before she was there? She pushed the question from her mind and looked back to her computer and got back to work. Imprints didn't build themselves.
George didn't know what had just happened, when he had arrived back at the Burrow. He had apparated straight into his room, not wanting to bother the rest of his family who were most likely sleeping since it was late at night. Of course it wasn't actually his room, it was Charlie's old one. He hadn't been able to stay anywhere that reminded him of Fred. Heck, he hadn't even seen his flat since Percy and Ron had dragged him out of it. Going back there would just make him plunge right back into his depression. So he stayed in Charlie's room.
He closed his eyes and saw himself back in London. He had been walking down a quiet street, enjoying the peace that he was feeling. Then he saw him. At first he thought he was seeing things but that was him, that was Fred, walking on the other side of the street with some blond. Oh Merlin, what was he wearing? He looked like some filthy rich boy, wearing a blue polo shirt and slacks. George couldn't help himself. That was Fred, sure he was acting bizarre but that was Fred. He crossed the street and stopped them.
"Fred?" He said, sounding way too uncertain of himself.
Fred had turned around the second he had heard his voice and he was certain that Fred was about to say something or rush and hug George. But then that stupid girl had interrupted.
"No, his name is James." The girl glared at him.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Excuse me, I think I would recognize my own twin." He turned back to Fred, taking in the face he knew so well. "I see his face, everyday in the mirror."
He had never seen Fred so confused in his life. He kept looking between George and the blonde. Then, the worst thing he had ever heard in his life came out of Fred's mouth. "I-I'm sorry man, my name is Ja-" He never got to finish because at that moment George had felt a rush of anger that could have only been brought by Fred pulling something like this. George had punched him. His fist had acted on it's own accord as anger flashed through his mind.
"He doesn't remember! That bastard doesn't remember a thing!" George shouted as he opened his eyes, back in Charlie's old room. "James," He spat the name. "What type of name is that?" He threw himself onto the bed, screaming into the pillow, frustrated. After he had calmed himself, he looked up away from the abused pillow and towards the window. "I'm gonna find that bastard and make him remember. He left the whole family and he had better have a damn good excuse for doing that."