It Was He Who Chose
The one Ren trusted most was the architect of the lie
"There is one memory," Vance said, "that I have saved for you until the very end."
Strange as it seemed, Ren still trusted the calm man who had just confessed to horrors.
It was Vance who guided him back to the vault marked with his own initial.
"You have wondered who edited the man with your face," he said. "Let me show you."
A new recording began, and in it a younger Vance sat across from the scarred man.
It was that scarred man, not Ren, who had first discovered the truth about Halven.
Strange as it felt, Ren watched a version of himself argue for the truth.
"It was he who wanted to everything," Vance said, "and it was I who stopped him."
In the recording, Vance leaned forward and offered the scarred man a terrible, quiet choice.
"Forget all of this," he said, "or be erased entirely and rebuilt as someone ."
It was fear, not courage, that had won that night in the white room.
The scarred man had refused to forget, and so Vance had chosen the second path.
"I could not delete such a useful mind," Vance admitted, "so I copied it instead."
Strange as the truth was, Ren finally understood the shape of his own beginning.
It was he, Ren, who had been built from the copied memories of that man.
"You are the version," Vance said gently, "the one who never asks dangerous questions."
For nine years Ren had erased memories, never guessing that he himself was an edited copy.
It was Vance who had chosen his name, his history, and the mercy he believed in.
Strange as it was to hear, Ren felt not rage but a cold, clarifying calm.
"And Mira?" he asked, because it was her that mattered more than his .
"She refused my offer," Vance said, "as, I fear, the original you once did as well."
It was that answer, more than any recording, that finally turned Ren against his mentor.
"You call it mercy," Ren said, "but it was always that you were selling."
Strange as is, it hurts most when the still speaks with a kind voice.
"It was you who made me," Ren said, "but it is I who will decide what happens next."
Vance's smile faded at last, because he had never edited Ren to say those words.