Chapter Text
He wakes up in a blank white chamber.
He wakes up in a blank white chamber, and he knows, deep inside, that he is not the same.
The longnecks run him through tests, testing that he knows what he should and doesn't know what he shouldn't.
He passes. The longnecks are pleased. Another good soldier, picture perfect and empty inside and-
He is released, escorted to the barracks, to where his batchmates live. Are they still his batchmates? He is not him, was not in his head when they were decanted trained named themselves.
He’ll know when he gets there.
And so CT-2526 walks into the barracks.
It's the hope that gets him, in the end. Eleven near-identical faces the longnecks say they're identical but he knows, all the brothers know, can see the tiny little marks of unique lives and know all looking at him hoping that maybe-
But no. He knows what he knows what he knows. He is not whoever lived in this body before him. Those memories and that personality and that name and that life are gone. Reconditioning and decommissioning are two things with the same end result: the only difference is if the body gets reused.
He sees them looking and he sees the moment the hope goes out, for each of them. He watches it die, die with the lack of recognition on his face beyond that the longnecks allowed him to keep.
He is not who lived here before.
He was born a few hours ago.
And the boy who had his body before died.