Inspired by Agent Alexandra Paris's hilarious Cinderella/Matrix crossover Agent Cinderella, this, fellows, is a crossover between Matrix and Sleeping Beauty. Hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as we liked writing it!
/Morgane and Meowen
Sleeping Handsome
Prologue
Once upon a time…
There were three people in the room: The unhappily married couple, and a cloaked man in shades.
"Canon? What canon?"
Merovingian's voice was as sharp as a wasp sting, his hands clamping and unclamping on the white table linen.
"Whatever imbecile' said so, I'll kill them!"
Persephone placed an appeasing hand over her husband's. "It's only temporary canon, dearest. Morpheus has told me so."
Slitted eyes turned to her. "You arranged this?" The Frenchman spat, but his wife just smiled secretively. "Why?"
"Couldn't you two be nice and cooperative just this once?" Morpheus sat comfortably splayed out in his precious armchair, his hands folded over a hardback book with leather covers. The Merovingian frowned at him.
"Ah, I was forgetting our guest. The reason for your visit - and I hope it's an adequate one this time?"
Morpheus took a deep breath. He'd traced the chain of events as far back as he could before coming here:
"Heart attack."
By Zion's mainframe, the Frenchman must think he was kidding him.
"Heart attack? Excuse me, I'm obviously not a doctor…"
"Sati's hamster Melvin died yesterday from one, which made her sad because he was her favourite pet, but nobody had time to comfort her, sans the Oracle who promised to read Sati a fairy tale to cheer her up." Morpheus put his feet down and leaned forward in his seat. "But then the Oracle's cookies got burnt in the oven, and I had to step in as the narrator of the fairytale while she bakes new ones."
With this Morpheus thought he had burned all bridges to further questioning, but he was sorely mistaken.
"...And what caused the hamster's heart attack?"
"Oh please, Armel!'' Persephone cried out, "we know your fad for omniscience, but there's no need to shove it down our throats!"
It's been said that men rule the world and women rule the men. At this moment it seemed to include the Merovingian and his wife, because after a brief perplex moment and a stern glare from Persephone he tried a more relevant question:
"Well then, Morpheus, why do you need to integrate the entire Matrix in your evening plans?"
"Because Sati has no idea what a spindle or a fairy is. I considered it easier to use elements she recognizes from her own world."
Tracing the rim of his wine glass with a pale finger, Merovingian put two and two together.
"Spindles and fairies… You're going to tell her the story of La Belle, hmm?" He faced Morpheus with renewed interest."Then who would play the part as the Sleeping Beauty? Is it going to be the beautiful Trinity or-''
"No, Neo will."
A moment of silence, then…
"What?" Merovingian shot up from his chair like a cork out of a bottle neck. "Why? 'La Belle au bois dormant' is a tale about a female person!"
"We're all trying to give Sati a good upbringing, and that includes breaking the stereotypes of traditional gender roles," Morpheus stated. "Consider the story renamed as 'Sleeping Handsome'".
Merovingian sank ack in his chair with a heavy sigh; he'd learned from experience that to argue against artistic license was futile. Eventually he'd regained enough composure to ask next question, gesticulating towards Persephone and himself: "What would our part in this be?"
"The King and the Queen". Stealthily, Morpheus opened his book; maybe they would get somewhere tonight. But once again, his thoughts were interrupted by the Frenchman.
"This means I get to order people around."
"How very clever of you, my love."
"Even the One?" Merovingian ignored his wife's snide comment, his cheeks reddening with either the effect of too many drinks or too much excitement.
Morpheus nodded slowly in response.
"Especially the One?"
"…Yes". Morpheus hesitated a moment.
A greedy glimpse lit up in the Frenchman's eyes, and his back straightened. "Well then, why not? Show your little friend in!" He was uncharacteristically hearty - but at the other hand he did not exactly wallow in chances to make the One suffer for rampaging his chateau…
During Sati's wait outside La Vrei's dining hall, even more people had come to join her. When Morpheus began reading, Niobe had taken her stand behind his chair surrounded by Sati, Mouse, Spoon Boy and the Kid.
"Once upon a time…"
I'd like to credit The Smiling Shadow for being the first I've seen to name Merovingian 'Armel' in her fanfic Asylum. Go read it, it's one of the best AU Matrix fics I've read!
A/N 14.02.2015: Minor edits and grammar corrections.
- Morgane