Leonard Church was never a lucky man. So it would stand to reason he had similarly little to no luck in his attempt to kill himself. Instead he found himself in a great deal of pain lying sprawled out on the ground, following his leap off the edge of the monumentally tall tower construct.

'Lucky me'

Church thought as he found himself unable to manage out words, only ending up choking on the blood and spit in his mouth. Bile in his stomach threatening to join the concoction at the very thought.

'Why can't I just die?'

The burning sensation was present in every vein Church had, his bones felt like snapped twigs, his ears were constantly flooded with the ringing sounds and sensations, and his head was experiencing what could be perceived as an ascended level of migraines. In short, it was pure agony and suffering.

'Maybe I really am in hell'

The world of his afterlife began to fade to darkness around Church.

'I wonder where I'll go when I die for the second time'

There were the sounds of shouting that seemed so far away, Church felt hands wrap around him and his body being lifted. However, Church was far too tired to even question such things. So he rested his eyelids and fell into a sound sleep.

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Church woke up feeling as sore as ever. He was lying in his own bed. His body was constricted in bandages. His ears still rang like gongs had been banged in each of his eardrums. Slowly, Church gingerly raised himself up, though still wincing when he put too much pressure on his arms. After getting into a sitting position, Church proceeded to, gently, take one leg after the other and attempt to stand. Though his balance was askew by quite a bit, and his limbs shook with every slowed step, Church managed to move himself out of his room.

On his way down the halls to the elevator Church prayed silently none of the AI would follow him. He made it all the way to the kind of 'living room' without disturbance. The halls were quiet and empty, only sounds being his soft footsteps. He managed his way over to the wall where the elevator was. The wall opened to the beck of his mind and he stepped in. But just as the door began to close, a hand shot out and the door stopped just centimeters from closing. The door opened to reveal a slightly older looking version of Church, bearing glasses and a green armor, Delta.

"Excuse me Alpha-"

"Could you all just call me Church please?" Church managed an exasperated croak.

"Church. I would like to join you upstairs if I may." Church looked at Delta up and down for a minute.

Finally after an agonizing long silence he muttered,

"Fine." Before hitting the button and grabbing the railing.

It was almost enough to make Church laugh, seeing Delta stagger in his startledness from the elevator's ascension. But he had a lot more things on his mind right now. Now just wasn't the right time for laughing.

They reached the top quickly. Once the doors opened, Church made a beeline for the edge, but was stopped once more by Delta who grabbed him by the forearm.

"Come with me." Delta dragged Church with him to the left corner of the balcony.

This of course was where the bar was. Delta gave a Church a look, silently asking if he wanted anything to drink. Church waved him away. Delta shrugged his shoulders and began to examine the alcohol. The green-clad AI muttered to himself as his eyes scanned back and forth. Finally Delta reached and grabbed a wine glass along with a bottle of dry wine. Church gave him a weird look as he poured the drink.

"Dry wine is the healthiest kind of alcohol." Delta clarified as he took a sip.

The AI paused. Before taking another sip and visibly scrunching his nose up in distaste. He set the wine glass down before turning back to Church.

"You know Church. As an AI we never could enjoy food and drink. I always wondered what all the commotion over alcohol was. Now that I've had it however I can say," Delta pointed one finger at the glass almost accusingly, "That is some nasty shit."

The absurdity of Delta was enough to break through to Church for just a moment. He allowed himself to chuckle along with Delta for a good couple of seconds before returning to his rigid stone-faced attitude.

"Would you like to discuss your emotion with me, Church?" Delta asked, and although it was in his near constant flat tone, Church could feel a certain sincerity behind it.

"It's fine Delta," Church responded, "Besides, your logic, not my emotion."

Delta cocked his head to one side at that.

"Well you see Church. This place has given us a new kind of life. We feel more, think more, do more," As if as an example Delta raised his wine glass before setting it down without even another sip, "I believe I could manage to understand human emotion better."

Church was quiet for a little while. Just staring blankly at Delta, his own thoughts conflicted between telling him or not. He decided to go with the former.

"My friends replaced me." Church flatly told him, holding back the despair in his voice, Delta was quiet.

"Replaced?"

"Yeah. They replaced me with that Epsilon guy." Church couldn't hide the sadness in his tone that time.

"That feels harsh." Delta stated softly,

"Yeah it sucks-"

"No, I mean you seem to be being harsh." Delta corrected.

Church's head shot up in both confusion and slight fury with the green AI.

"The fuck Delta?" He nearly shouted. Delta remained calm.

"Well think about it like this Church. Your friends cared for you very much did they not," Church was silent, "When you died they mostly splintered correct?"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Church was getting impatient.

"It seems your friends have trouble moving on from losing you. So much trouble that they in fact have gone to what appears to be great lengths simply to have some semblance of yourself by their side again," Church was dead quiet, "Your friends haven't replaced you Church. They are simply doing a similar thing to the Director when he tried to recreate somebody HE lost. Recreating you."

There was a stillness in the air between them.

"They haven't forgotten me?" Church managed to get out,

"No. Not from what I saw while monitoring them," at Churchs questioning glare Delta continued, "For your peace of mind."

Church dropped his sad look. He had quite a bit to ponder but...it was good knowing he wasn't yet forgotten.

"Delta?"

"Hm?" Delta looked up,

"Pour me some beer and fill me in on what they've been doing while I was out." Delta smiled,

"Gladly, Church."