"It is...not quite so simple. When I say I am not quite the same person I was, I don't mean merely in terms of having changed as a person."

He touches a hand to his chest, and a dark mist rises from it.

"Part of my sacrifice was allowing the person who originally tore my heart from me to place a portion of his own in the space left behind. While I have it mostly under control, I cannot consider everything truly behind me so long as that lingers. Besides..." He manages a small smile, and pats Ken on the head. "My associations with the name 'Vexen' are not wholly negative. Even would have had no motivation to create Xion, or the Riku Replica."