who am i? what am i... here for?

experiment no. i of the replica program. imperfect replica of sora. puppet pulling its own strings. number xiv of organization xiii. keyblade wielder. vessel of unstable physique. borrowed memories. obscure existence. smoke and mirrors. broken duplicate. terminated sham. xion.

The purpose of the Replica Program was to create a replica of Sora as a safeguard for Organization XIII's plans to use the power of Kingdom Hearts to become whole. Under Xemnas's orders, Vexen conducted numerous experiments and was aided in his venture by Naminé due to her inherent ability to manipulate the memories of Sora and those close to him. Of the experiments, only two were ever utilized and only one was deemed fit for number status. No.i was given to Xemnas as it was thought to be the most promising of the lot. Xemnas gave the puppet the name Xion to give it purpose and proceeded to present it to Organization XIII as a new member among their ranks, Number XIV. Xion was not a Nobody, and so it was never truly a member of the Organization. However, only the higher-ups of Organization XIII were permitted the knowledge of Xion being a replica.

Xion was a blank canvas, an incomplete doll so much that it had no face for about its first two weeks with the Organization. Consequently, the hood of its organization coat was constantly pulled over the better half of its face to conceal it. During this time, it was monitored and contact with Sora's Nobody, Roxas, was restricted to ensure it would perform as expected. Eventually, Roxas and Xion began to be paired up on missions together. From there on out, Xion began to establish its identity as the instilled memories of Sora's strengthened. On their second mission, Xion spoke its first words by saying Roxas's name and then proceeding to ask if it was, in fact, his name. The communication stopped there. But by their third mission, Sora's strongest memories were able to affect Xion most significantly. Because those strongest memories were of Kairi, one of Sora's best friends, Xion took on the facade of this girl while with Roxas. At the start of their mission, she lowered her hood, revealing the face of Kairi from Sora's most recent memory of her, the only alteration being that Xion's hair appeared black rather than Kairi's red. As the mission progressed, Xion spoke out more freely than she ever had before and quickly took on a personality similar to that of Kairi. In fighting their target, a Darkside, Xion learned that she could use a keyblade. Once they accomplished their mission, Roxas rewarded the progress Xion had made by bringing her up to the clock tower for sea-salt ice cream. There, Roxas informed Xion that he was friends with Axel and Xion responded by asking if she could be a friend too. Roxas proposed they ask Axel once he returned from Castle Oblivion, and then perhaps they could all have ice cream together.

Roxas fell into a deep sleep the very next day, a tribute to Naminé stripping Sora of his memories in Castle Oblivion. Due to her newfound ability to wield the keyblade, heart collecting duties for the sake of Kingdom Hearts fell to Xion exclusively while Roxas remained in his comatose state for just over one month. For each day Roxas remained asleep, Xion brought back one seashell from that day's mission and placed it beside his pillow when visiting him. And when he finally woke up, they had sea salt ice cream. Both her interest in Roxas and her interest in seashells appealed to the memories that so manipulated her being. To her, though, it was real. And the factors that were responsible for her every action were hers.

News of the loss of all of the Organization members that had been assigned to Castle Oblivion reached -- blahblahblah continue later