One Chance
Chapter 1
Summary: If you had one last chance to see the person you loved, would you take it? Neo tries to figure out the answer to this harrowing question.

Neo couldn't handle the nightmare again. Night after night, his mind visited the event, playing it over and over again in his mind. The shattering glass, the gunshots, everything from the first second to the last breath. He groped around in the dark, feeling for the familiar body, but his eyes flew open his hands touched nothing but thin air. His stomach rolled over at the cold truth that she had died. Died on that horrible day, along with part of his heart.

The curtains fluttered in the gentle breeze, bringing with it the fresh sea air from the bay across the street. Every once in a while, he could hear a car whizzing by, playing tag with the stoplights. The waves slapped the side of the harbor, ships' bells ringing from the marina on down aways. Neo remembered what it used to be like, when he lived in the Matrix. He had never experienced love yet; Morpheus had said it was just an emotion that your mind thought it felt. Neo had to think that in the Matrix, there had been no spoon.

But a day with Trinity had been like no other, and Neo soon grew accustomed to watching her patrol the hallways of the ship, her boots hitting the cool metal every five seconds. Even now, with those days long gone, sometimes he swore he could hear it. But Neo had just shaken his head, and declared that it had been his mind playing tricks on him. It had gotten away with it before, in the Matrix, so how should Neo knew now that it was telling the truth?

Morpheus, Sparks, Link, they had all been there for him at the beginning. But soon other things had interested them more then their friend moping around, and they went to go live out their lives in peace. Neo's life. He felt it passing by, it being too quick to grab a handle and hang on. At first he had tried to, but he soon had found himself in a relentless war, and a battle that no matter how hard he tried, his denial would always lose.

Three months ago, they had buried her, and three months ago, his life had come to a complete stop. His whole world had shook as he watched the casket being lower into the ground. Before, she had been five feet high, now she was six feet under, and every day, getting deeper.

He sighed and rolled over, once again trying to let the wonderful sensation of sleep capture himself, but it didn't come. Groaning after a while, he flung a pillow across the room, taking pride in the crash that came after it. He didn't care anymore. He actually wondered when he did last care, for it certainly hadn't been in a while.

Lights dotted the long street, the nearest one pouring light through his bedroom window. Using it as a navigator, he got out of bed, slumped through the doorway, and flipped on the dome light in the kitchen. Grabbing a cup of day old coffee, he flipped through last week's newspaper, wondering what had happened while he had what one would call an emotional breakdown. But no, he didn't call it that, nor did he want to. It was more like facing reality, and relearning the facts.

Neo had never been that great at taking the same subject twice.

He yearned for this to be a horrible dream, a nightmare of what to come if he didn't act quickly. He wanted to hear Mouse shaking him awake, telling him to get his ass in gear for the big fight against the machines. But most of all, Neo wanted to feel Trinity's lips on his one last time. He'd give anything in the world to have her be alive.

But then again, Neo had never been all that great at letting go, and when the time came to say goodbye, it'd probably hit him harder then this time. He couldn't even bear to visit her grave anymore, because it would be too painful to leave. His life had faded away into what seemed like nothing, and the only options of getting back out were dead to him. Dead to the world.

A knock came at his door, and a small squeak, "Neo? You still there?"

He nodded to himself, and replied, "Yeah, I'm here. What do you want...?" He opened the door, and there revealed to him was Mouse.

But Mouse didn't stay Mouse for long, and soon the human morphed into Agent Smith. "Good evening, Mr. Anderson."

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A/N: First off, sorry about the short chapter. Longer one next update. Secondly, I really suck at updating stories the next day, so I'm not even going to say 'Update tomorrow!' on this one. More like 'Update this weekend!' But yeah, I promise there will be an update soon, just probably not tomorrow. Unless I get all my homework done tonight. Which will never happen. Ever. Anyways, I hope you like it so far, and please leave reviews! Or just say 'Kumquats', or something, so at least I know you like it. Seriously people, two clicks and one word can't kill you.

Next Chapter: Neo gets an offer of a lifetime, and he just can't refuse. Plus, will he ever lay his eyes on Trinity again?