The Ship of Theseus
He looks at this colorful, fabricated version of himself. This figment of a witch's imagination that is not only convinced it is him, but that he is more than what he was made to be.
That he is a husband, a father. That he is capable of love at all.
And yet…
"Your memory is not so easily wiped," the fool says, and drifts closer.
He allows it.
He allows a finger to be placed against the glowing spot in the middle of his forehead, the spot he objectively knows used to house the Mind Stone.
He has no reason to miss it, but suddenly he…
He sees .
He sees what this other false Vision meant when he said that perhaps the memories were the rot in the ship of Theseus. His memory storage was wiped before he was brought back to sentience, that much he already knew, and that much his counterpart had guessed correctly. With his influence, the flood gates are now opened.
He couldn't have guessed what the files contained. What memories were contained. What thoughts. He sees the witch, in days past. He sees his first memories, blinking awake with the Avengers looking over him with trepidation, sees the fear written into her features. He remembers how badly he wanted, needed , to prove himself. He sees himself lifting her into his arms from the falling city, sees the tears wetting her cheeks. Sees her smile at him over a pot on the stove, sees her curled against him on a sofa, sees her tucking herself beneath his arm to try to escape the cold breeze, and remembers subtly raising his body temperature to keep her warm, and to keep her close. He sees her eyes fluttering closed as he tugs her in for a kiss, sees her lounging on the bed looking well and truly fucked, a lazy smile turning her lips upward as she beckons him closer. Sees her crying, sees her heart breaking, and hears himself telling her that I only feel you .
He feels…
He feels .
He regards the fool, the man , the husband before him, his jaw slack. He feels overwhelmed. He feels everything . He wants to rush to the side of the woman whose head he just tried to crush between his hands like squeezing a tick, wants to take her into his arms, wants to comfort her and do unspeakable things to her all at the same time. He wants to get as far away from her as possible. He wants to make S.W.O.R.D. pay for what they've tried to make him into, what they've tried to make him do.
The last thing he ever wanted to be was a weapon, and look at him now.
He tried to kill Wanda.
He feels something he imagines is akin to rage, and finds it incredibly unfamiliar. Some part in the back of his… his mind , reminds him that he cannot act on such rage. That once upon a time, he was a fresh entity to this world, he was unbiased, he was kind. He wanted to help people. That Vision never would have wanted to kill anyone, for anything.
He supposes the ship of Theseus metaphor wasn't terribly far off the mark. He is the Vision. So is the man hovering before him. So was the untainted version that helped the Avengers save the planet on his first day of life and wanted nothing more than to be good and to win the affections of the sad, pretty girl in red.
He fears - fears! - that in the end, he has only succeeded in making her sadder.
"I am the Vision," he finally says, searching the eyes of his doppelganger. He receives only a grave nod in return.
Although unspoken, they come to an understanding. Only one of them can leave, and only one of them can stay. Only one of them can do either, and that is a sad truth indeed. He goes. He flies. He leaves the small town of Westview. He goes nowhere in particular. He goes to clear his head.
He leaves the temporary version of himself to tend to Wanda. Result of chaos magic as he is, he exists, he is sentient, and he will know what to say far better than Vision feels he would, right now. He remembers. He remembers sitting on her bed at the Avengers compound and feeling what he liked to imagine was his heart skipping a beat when her somber expression melted into a small smile. When he realized that he'd reached her through her grief. When he realized that out of everyone they knew, he was the one who found the right thing to say. He was the one who made her smile again.
It is difficult to mesh the new programming forced into his head with who he used to be. Impossible to expel it, painfully difficult to make it fit the man he was trying to become. The man who buys a plot of land to propose to his girlfriend with, to build a house on it so they can live out their days together in a quiet town, ever the adorable, boring, normal couple that they can never truly be. The man who wants to give the love of his life everything she wants, even if what she wants is nigh impossible.
So, he takes the parts of the true Vision that have been given back to him. He tends to them, pores over them. When Westview's Vision ceases to exist, he will remain.
He is the Vision.
After what's happened in Westview, the world fears the Scarlet Witch.
"And what do you want?" The pretty girl in red asks him.
"For people to see you as I do."
The Vision fears for Wanda Maximoff.