Chapter Text
Church had known the whole time that he was still Church. But he had been reborn as Leon Chance Jr. Somehow he and everyone in his new family had been reincarnated (The Director and Allison ). A confusing notion that he did not care to think about or try to explain, especially since he had previously been an AI program.
He was also the only one who seemed to remember everything. Perhaps it’s because he had been an AI, specifically Epsilon, that he remembered. He could speculate all he wanted but he’d probably never get a true answer. A couple of times as kids he tried to subtly ask his new little sister Carolina about things that happened before to no avail. She just glared and accused him of making weird jokes. At least this new younger Carolina was a lot less scary than before.
Reincarnating into Leon while still having all of his memories as Church did come with unique challenges. For instance, he had been essentially a full grown man in the body of a child. He knew things an adult could that a child wouldn’t. He could fully write sentences by the time most kids learned how to spell their own name. Could solve reasonably difficult algebra problems he’d seen on the Director’s (Church refused to refer to that man as his father under any circumstances after what he’d done to the Alpha) desk before children could perform basic math. Of course, Church would be in trouble if Leon displayed signs of knowing any of that so he hid it and pretended to be ordinary. Aiming to be average and keeping to himself aside from Carolina.
On top of that, Church was 90% certain he was experiencing PTSD. He had gone through so much as both Alpha and Epsilon. “Died” multiple times before he actually died sacrificing himself for his friends. Hell, he’d been subjected to actual psychological torture until his mind literally shattered. But of course, he couldn’t talk to anyone about his experiences without earning himself a trip to the psych ward. So he tried to push these things out as long as he could until he had another breakdown before repeating the whole process. He knew it wasn’t healthy but what could he really do?
Not everything was bad though. He’d been given a second chance. Leon got to experience childhood since all of Church’s “childhood memories” had been fake. And while the Director was still an egotistical megalomaniac, Allison was a good mother and Church had already thought of the other Carolina in a sisterly way.
So when Chruch was graduating high school and applying for colleges and came across one called Blood Gulch University, he knew it would probably be his best chance at seeing his old friends again. (Not that he would admit out loud that he had thought of them that way.) They probably didn’t remember anything if his family was any indicator, but it was better than dealing with the horrible loneliness that plagued he’d subjected himself to.