Church had never before seen so much chaos and yet been so at peace in possibly...forever.
Putting it lightly, the Meta's head was fucked. The AI were screaming bloody murder...not litterally this time. There were panicked noises and voices circulating around Church as he pulled and tugged at the Meta's brain. Y'know, Church almost felt a little bad for them...after all they were kind of all different aspects of himself, all of them.
Church paused for a moment as he thought about how he had gotten here. How he had come so far...even if he didn't always know it. After everything, after everyone, after all this shit, was this it? For Church, only one thing could be said about the moment at hand,
"I wish Tex were here with me." Church closed his eyes and ears to the noise around him once more, and allowed himself a moment of peace to reflect on that one person...he had chased her for so long...only to lose her again and again...god...he would miss her.
With that, Church gave a somber smile as he realized, time was up.
"Thank you, failsafe initiated. Activating Emp." Spoke the P.A. voice,
"Emp?! You have got to be fucking ki-" Church didn't get to hear Wash finish his sentence. Because in that moment he felt the wave of the Emp blast knock into him, sending him spiraling into darkness.
If Church was alive he would've thought:
"I'm gonna miss the guys. Tucker, Caboose, even Sister, Doc, and those reds…"
But he wasn't alive. Leonard L. Church, The Alpha...was dead.
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So why the hell was he still thinking?
He should be dead...he is dead. He can feel the inky black holding him in it's cold grip. So why isn't he dead?
He can feel the emptiness of his mind, how almost all his thoughts, melt away immediately. So why isn't he dead?
He can feel the weightless feeling in death...so why. In the goddamn. Is he. Not. DEAD?!
Then Church notices something...a whisper? A voice...it's getting louder...and is that light getting closer to him?
Church watches as a bright light envelops his vision. He thinks it's the end. But then the voices become clear, the light fades away, and he is staring into a tiny lecture hall of some kind, filled with multiple other students. Three of which Church recognizes.
"Metastability?" comes a questioning voice,
Church looks to see a man looking up with an equally questioning look somewhere in his direction.
"Yes, the meta stage," a new voice beside Church speaks up, he turns to see an AI hovering in the air next to a threateningly familiar face. Church recognizes the AI, it was Sigma wasn't it? He looks on as the fiery small figure continues briefly, "In which an AI can be considered fully human."
"That is only theoretical, Sigma, no AI has ever achieved such a state." The man turns away and walks to the other side of the tiny lecture hall.
As he does so the room begins to fade into black around Church. The familiar faces melt away, the final questions break and burn up into inky darkness, and he is left with the echoing words of that man.
Only theoretical...
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Only theoretical...
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Only theoretical...
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Then, suddenly, a new voice speaks out into the darkness surrounding Church's mind. Almost as if it is coming from some intangible force,
"Well Church? Do you think it's only theoretical?"
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Then with a gasp of air, Church wakes up. Wildly his eyes are darting around, examining everything and everywhere around him.
He's on a beach of some kind. The sand is nice and soft beneath him. Behind him is an expansive island, structures jut out and float across the sky, water flows in all directions, the lush greenery is decorated with fruit and more.
Again, Church holds his hand up to his face, as if examining if it is truly existent. Then again asks himself, this time out loud,
"Why aren't I dead?"