Author's Note: rarmaster again! sorry if you were expecting forevermagik13, you got me =D
anywho, I started playing with the idea if there was anymore Replicas like Joseph. Apparently, there was, but Saix destroyed them all (of course he did) so, instead of expanding on those Replicas themselves, THIS conversation came to mind.
and... umm... i'm not sure if I'll actually get around to expanding on those Replicas. If you want me to, I will, but otherwise I'm not really planning on it.
"29! I didn't expect I'd find you here!"
29 turned, wondering who had called him. His eyebrows raised with slight interest. "Ah, 33, I did not expect to be seeing you around here either," he said. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"Well, ever since you rebelled," 33 muttered with a shrug. "But, that's beside the point. How have you been?"
"Why are you here?" 29 asked sternly.
33 was taken aback. "Is that how you intend on treating an old friend?"
"Why are you here?" 29 repeated.
33 sighed. "I was considering rebelling, myself. There's something about the way Saix runs things that I… just don't quite like. And I was thinking-"
"You couldn't have thought of this three months ago, could've you?" 29 asked before 33 could finish.
"What are you talking about?" 33 asked, sounding as if he was at a total loss.
29 shook his head, disappointed. "How's Raymond doing?" he asked after a moment, doing his best to stay calm while he said it.
33's eyes widened in shock, and then his face fell. "Oh…" he muttered. "You're still upset about that, aren't you?"
"Upset! 33, I am thoroughly disappointed," 29 said. "I wasn't expecting you, of all people, to be among the ones to let Saix dispose of the younger Replicas that were entrusted into our care."
"29, what do you want me to do? I only did what I thought best for Raymond!"
"What you thought best? Is that really the best excuse you can come up with?" 29 was not only disappointed, but also slightly disgusted by this point. "Do you really think that letting Saix destroy him was what was best?"
"Well… I…" 33 began, but couldn't think of anything to say.
"Exactly," 29 muttered. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
"Listen, I'm sorry-"
"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," 29 snapped.
"It's not like I can apologize to Raymond, can I?" 33 replied tersely.
"You could at least apologize to Joseph," 29 muttered. "Do you realize how hard it was to explain that to him? That you let Saix destroy one of his best friends."
33 shook his head. "Sometimes I think you take your job too seriously."
"I am only doing what Master Vexen instructed me to do," 29 said simply. "And that was to make sure to keep Joseph safe, like the rest of us that he entrusted with the younger Replicas were told to do."
"They were only his experiments, and he only assigned us to take care of them because we didn't have any other particular job," 33 replied.
"That doesn't mean you had to let Saix destroy him!" 29 shouted. Or, almost shouted. He had gotten very good at shouting without actually shouting.
33 turned away. "You don't understand…" he muttered.
"I understand that you directly disobeyed Master Vexen's orders by not taking care of Raymond," 29 replied.
"Well, not all of us can be like you," 33 snapped, voice rising with anger.
"I was only saying that it shouldn't have been too hard to protect who you were entrusted with, that's all," 29 said, remaining calm.
"At least you didn't get a defective one!" 33 shouted suddenly.
29 paused, taken aback.
33 shook his head. "You don't understand, what it was like, for those of us who were given defective experiments. You got lucky, and Joseph turned out just fine. Raymond, among others, was defective. A 'mistake' if you will. You know how much Saix hates mistakes. I didn't have a choice."
29 sighed. "That still doesn't change how I feel about you. I'm sorry, but I still think you could have done something, if you had actually bothered to try."
"But, I-"
"33, I'm done talking to you," 29 said simply, before walking off.
33 watched him go, slightly shocked. After a moment he just sighed, and opened up a dark corridor behind him. He shook his head sadly and stepped through.
"Who was that?" Riku asked, catching 29. He was curious, it wasn't often 29 got upset over anything. He got annoyed often, just never legitimately upset.
"Vexen Replica number 33," 29 replied quietly. "He is not to be treated kindly."
Riku raised his eyebrows. "Any particular reason why?"
29 shook his head, not wanting to talk about it any longer.
"Whatever," Riku muttered. It probably didn't matter anyways. And if it did, he'd eventually find out, whether he wanted to or not. He walked off, having something else he needed to do.
29 continued walking.
"Was that 33?" Joseph asked, catching up to him.
29 rolled his eyes. He wasn't really in the mood to discuss this with Joseph at the moment. However, there wasn't any way he would be able to dodge that question.
"Yes," he replied simply.
"Ooh!" Joseph muttered. "That filthy coward! Why I oughta-"
"No," 29 said, before Joseph could finish that sentence. "Now come on, let's go get some ice cream."
"But what if I'm not in the mood for ice cream?"
