It sounded like the transition would have been smoother and more merciful without those fractured memories, if the Light wasn't allowing the ultimate mercy of death. It also wouldn't have left Cayde with something to hang onto so doggedly, so the Exo in front of Tony would have been a different person, vital parts gone and replaced with something else entirely. "I think maybe...everyone does that," Tony ventured carefully, clearly a new theory that he wasn't confident in, handled like it might be highly reactive. "They form an idea of who they want to be, and that can come from anywhere, and as long as they're hanging onto that and trying to be that person, that's ultimately who they are. Even if it feels fake. The choices that you make, the ones that have any impact, that's who you are." In that way, what Cayde was describing was a pretty human experience. What Tony was left doubting was that he even had those parts that he didn't choose, maybe that was why it was so easy to 'play it through'.