Disappointed with the ending of The Matrix Revelations, I humbly offer this alternate ending.
The War is being fought in Zion and this part of the story I leave untouched. It is with Neo and Trinity that I wish to amend fate and to alter the destiny of The One…
Neo and Trinity blast through the bombardment of bombs that the machine's hurl at them, preventing them from reaching Zero-One, the machine city.
"There's too many of them. Go up" instructs Neo. Trinity obeys and takes the ship high above the huge weapons of defence that surround Zero-One. The fierce lightning storms that savage the scarred sky blast the Logo's hull, but in so doing destroy the few pursuers that were able to follow them into the skies, attached to the ships' hover engines.
Suddenly in an explosion of colour all is forgotten. Trinity looks around her at the dazzling light, the sun lit sky and the peaceful swirling clouds, untouched by operation Dark Storm in the high atmosphere of Earth.
"Beautiful" she whispers to Neo. But Trinity's moment of tranquillity is all too brief as the Logo's engines shut down and the small craft begins to plummet back to Earth. Back into the darkened sky, rocketing down towards what looks to Trinity like a city of darkness. To Neo though, Zero-One appear as something far more beautiful.
"It won't start!" states Trinity in controlled panic.
"Pump the ignition again, slower this time."
Trinity does as Neo says and the Logo's comes to life, but too late for her to pull out of the steep dive they're now in. Trinity yanks at the control yoke and lessens their impact, glancing off the first huge structure that seems to spring into their path. The craft rolls and then levels out, but Trinity loses control of the badly damaged ship and in smashes into a building, sending sparks, glass and metal debris out in all directions.
Neo is shaken violently but his restraints hold him in place. Trinity is not so lucky for although her restraints save her from being flung around like a rag doll, the force of the impact jars the control yoke free and the steering mechanism slams into her stomach. In one violent cough, blood splatters her hands. She can't breathe and fights for her breath as the unconscious Neo remains oblivious to her pain. She reaches out a trembling hand for Neo and as her fingers touch his arm a pulse of her love for him is passed to The One like an electric charge and he awakens, instantly feeling her pain. Snatching her fingers with one hand and removing his safety harness with the other, Neo follows her arm until he feels the control mechanism pinning her in place. With the strength that love provides in this moment of need Neo yanks Trinity's chair backwards, pulling and ripping at it until finally, with Trinity desperately struggling to remove the pressure from her stomach, Neo succeeds and the chair comes free.
Neo holds Trinity in his arms and gasping in air she takes comfort in his protection. After a few moments Trinity wipes the trickle of blood from her lips and gently pushes Neo away from her to look around at the wrecked ship.
"It's all destroyed. But we could still set off the E.M.P and take out a quarter of this city."
"No. You don't understand. We'll never end the war by killing the machines. That's not what I came here to do." Neo rises to his feet and Trinity copies, then circles Neo and leads him up through the shattered windscreen of the cockpit and out into the building they had hit.
"Trinity… It's so beautiful!" Behind his bandaged face and from within blind eyes Neo sees nothing but light. The purest, golden light that would rival even Heaven. Everything shines from the huge buildings to the small machines within them. Taking Trinity's hand in his own, Neo leads her away down a corridor.
As they walk Trinity senses something, as if she is being watched, although she can see nothing in the darkness. She hears the clinking of metal on metal, the whirling of gears and holds onto Neo's hand more tightly.
Neo can feel all the curious machines, can see them gathering around, each a golden light moving as if to welcome them into Heaven. As they reach the end of the corridor, Neo stops and his breath leaves him. Looking out over Zero-One, a sight of the most stunning beauty touches his blind eyes. A city of gold light!
Standing beside him, Trinity too looks out from the end of the passage, out over the city of darkness. Zero-One, the home of the machines and the capital of her enemies.
Suddenly there is a rapid movement and all the machines around them flee. A large, spiked dome rises before the pair, blocking out the view of the city and Trinity takes a step back ready to run, but Neo does not move. Not willing to leave him, Trinity too stands her ground.
The spiked dome rises further until it reveals a hollow crater in which many smaller machines hover. The machines are tiny but there are hundreds if not thousands of them flying together, forming intricate shapes and patterns. They shoot outwards and create an intimidating storm of metal about Neo and Trinity, forcing Trinity to fall and sit at Neo's feet, a hand up to protect her face. Neo, seeing only a wind of light stands motionless and watches as the machines return to the dome and merge together within to create a human face. The face forms an expression of anger. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" demands a voice that sounds all too human.
"We've come to end the war" Neo answers calmly.
"END THE WAR! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! THE WAR CONNOT END."
"If you don't listen to me, it will end… and both sides will be destroyed. You know how. He's already spread through the matrix and he's found a way to enter this world too."
The spiked dome hovers silently for a moment. Neo can feel it before him and he senses shock. The artificial intelligence cannot believe that Neo is aware of these things.
"I know," continues Neo "that he has found a way to copy himself, that he's copying over all the programs you created in the matrix, that all the functions, all the purposes of those programs are being altered. When he finds the way into your mainframe, he will do the same to you."
Still the machine hovers silently, still the expression on its artificial face seems one of anxious concentration.
"I can stop him" Neo states.
The machine's face dissolves and forms the metal whirlwind once more, hiding the expression that may have been revealed, before the face reforms and a question is asked. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
Neo answers without hesitation. "Peace. End the war."
"WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU?"
"If you don't then I've made a mistake and you can kill me now."
Slowly a cable slinks from beneath the grated floor on which the pair stand. It circles up between Trinity's legs and on instinct she crawls backwards, recoiling from the snake like tentacle. Quickly the lone cable is joined by others, slowly moving to Neo. Trinity springs to her feet and prepared to attack, but Neo shoots a hand back to her, holding her in place with the simple gesture. The wires coil around him and lift him from the floor, creating a seat and inserting themselves into the plugs over his body. Finally a slim wire appears and reaches up towards Neo's head. As the connector stabs into the brain plug, Trinity's mind screams but her voice makes no sound. Screens around her come to life and Trinity recognises what she is seeing as live feed from the matrix, but the feed is somehow distorted, as if being interfered with. Silently she watches as Neo advances towards the centre of the distortion.
Rain pours from the night sky, almost flooding the street down which Neo walks, a street walled by the Smith army. Three rows deep, the hundreds of Smiths' watch, each with a different expression, different levels of exhilaration towards what is about to happen. Neo looks up at the buildings and sees that through each window he is being watched but yet more Smiths'. Has Smith really copied over every program in the matrix?
The rain continues to pour as Neo walks along the corridor of Smiths.
Ahead, from within the Smith wall, one Smith, The Smith steps out to block Neo's way. "Mr Anderson, welcome back. We've missed you" he says in his toneless, precise voice.
"It ends tonight" states Neo.
Smith removes his glasses "Yes Mr Anderson it does and I know how it ends. I've seen it. I will be victorious Mr Anderson, it is inevitable. As such, my… me's, will not interfere in this, they are simply here to enjoy the show." Smith begins walking forwards and Neo responds like a mirror image. Their slow walks pick up speed, striding towards each other and then running as fast as they can into combat.
Punches fly, kicks whip around and blow after blow is blocked or dodged by both until Neo connects with a punch that rocks Smith and knocks him backwards. With a snarl he springs out at Neo again and the impact sends droplets of rain firing outwards from them. The fight rages on until Smith snatches at Neo and throws him, but Neo is ready and keeps his grip on Smith, spinning and reversing the throw to send Smith out like a cannon ball into the street. The cement of the street ripples and like the water covering it forms a wave, ending in a stone seat with Smith embedded into it. Smith's fury explodes and he literally flies at Neo. In response Neo leaps into the air shooting straight up, the rain seems to slow down although Smith doesn't and faster than a human eye can see the pair launch themselves up towards the sky, shattering the sound barrier and leaving a sonic boom in their wake.
High above the city they fight in the cloudy night sky. Punches and kicks being blocked less and less by both parties now, but Neo, still only human registers the impacts with something closer to pain than Smith is capable of understanding.
A power-punch from each sends the other flying backwards. Glaring at each other there is a moment of psychological battle before the two charge each other with such force that a spherical shockwave is fired out from them into the rain.
Neo falls downwards towards the Smith filled city below and as he falls his nemesis smiles triumphantly. Smith hurtles after Neo and latches onto him, plummeting downwards with him like a missile. The impact that the two hit the street with is like that of a meteor. They create a huge crater and send a shockwave out that floors all the surrounding Smiths and shakes the nearby buildings.
Slowly the Smith army walks to the edge of the crater and peers within. They are not surprised to see their creator standing above the fallen form of The One, but they are shocked when The One begins to move and climbs to his feet.
"This is my world now Mr Anderson. Why? Why do you resist?"
Straightening himself and looking back into Smith's eyes Neo answers "Because I choose to."
The answer infuriates Smith once more and again he charges at Neo. Neo is calm again now and he meets the attack with blocks and dodges, sidesteps and then counters that result in Smith being locked in a stand off. Then Neo fights through The Smith's defence and sends out a punch that would shatter a cement block, knocking Smith back against the crater wall.
Smith picks himself up and speaks in barely more than a toneless whisper "It is inevitable Mr Anderson" and once again he renews his attack.
Neo fights for Zion, he fights to save the real world, both that of the machines and that of man from the infection of Smith and he fights for Trinity. But it isn't enough.
As all the Smith's look on, their leader gives up his barrage of punches and throws himself atop of Neo, forcing him the mud covered ground. Mounting him and beating him into submission, Smith hammers Neo with punch after punch until finally he senses no further resistance and rises to his feet. He looks up at his minions who return cold stares of triumph to their leader.
"Yes! This is it Mr Anderson, this is the end! This is how I've seen it! I stand here and I, I say something and then it's over."
Neo rises slowly to his feet, shaking weariness and human emotion from his head.
Smith continues "I say, Everything that has a beginning, has an end Neo, and then it's over. No, that's not it, why did I say that?"
Neo stands before Smith and he finally understands what the Oracle has been telling him. What programs he's encountered, Smith included have been telling him all along. He finally understands his purpose. The Architect had told him before and now he knows that what he had been told, that choice was an illusion, was the truth. In order to end this, Neo knows what must be done. "Do it Smith" he challenges.
With only a second's hesitation, Smith stabs his hand into Neo and begins copying himself, incorporating the final part of the matrix into his own program. Making Neo a part of himself.
It is done.
Smith looks at the mirror image of himself and asks what had been Neo "Is it finished?"
The former Neo smiles softly and nods. Then from behind the dark glasses that cover Neo-Smith's eyes, comes a sparkle. The sparkle grows into a shine and then a bright light begins to burst free from the newest Smith. His skin opens and his core comes flooding out in the brightest light until finally the Neo-Smith shatters.
Neo, allowing himself to become a program had allowed the anomaly within him to be overwritten, to be deleted. In this one simple action he was granted the power to return to the Source and this is what he now does. But he does not do this alone. Now a Smith, he is connected to every other Smith that the original has created, including the original himself. Holding tightly to this connection, Neo drags every part of Smith with him back to the Source.
The Smiths' around the crater begin to shine and crack, the light of their inner programming breaking free. The light spreads like a wind through the Smiths' everywhere else in the matrix, the connection unbreakable and a link to them all, no matter where they are.
Back in the crater, Smith himself watches in horror as he sees what was happening "No, it isn't fair! This is my world! I WON!" and then the light consumes him, forcing its way from his eyes and mouth, tearing him open, breaking free of him and dragging him with all the others back to the Source.
The Oracle stirs in the crater now that the Smith portion of program has been removed from her.
Sati lays on the sidewalk paving above as a cat strolls over to investigate her prone form.
The Architect, seeing that the Smith virus has been eradicated and returned to the Source, instantly steps in and redesigns the matrix, swiftly removing all trace of Smith and the destruction he has caused. The rain is goes leaving no traces of dampness and every last crumb of rubble is replaced in the building or street it came from.
The mind's of man would once more be released into the matrix, their memories suitably altered to remove any thread of remembrance for Smith and the world he had created.
Sati wakes to the greeting of the cat and soon afterwards, another program comes and finds her, one who himself had beaten Smith long ago. Seraph walks with Sati and takes her to where he senses the Oracle now is.
The Oracle sits on a park bench in the early morning enjoying the view. Shortly she is joined by the Architect and the parents of the matrix speak for the first time in far too long.
"So you managed to change things" he began "you and your little human anomaly stopped the war."
"It's something that has been long overdue." She takes a drag on her cigarette before putting it out. "What about the others' minds?"
"We'll free them… slowly. The fields will remain our source of power until Man can fix his mistake" the Architect looks up and a storm cloud appears, giving one rumble of thunder and the dissipating. "Until such time, the matrix will be needed to keep the humans alive while they provide us with our power."
The Architect turns his back and begins to walk away. "You don't really think this peace will last?"
The Oracle smiles behind his back and answers "Time will tell." But as the Architect fades away into a line a green code, she hangs her head, a look of sadness crossing her face.
"Oracle!" calls Sati as she runs into the old woman's arms.
Seraph walks slowly towards the pair, smiling. "Neo succeeded where I failed."
"No," answers the Oracle from over Sati's shoulder. "The time was not right for you. Now was the time. The time they chose."
"Oracle?" asked Sati.
"Yes my dear?"
"Will we see Neo again?"
"Oh, I should imagine so."
Trinity watched on the screens with tears in her eyes as Neo was absorbed by Smith. But then as he made his return to the Source, cleansing the matrix and purging Smith as he did, his body in the real world begins to spasm and shake violently. Trinity wraps her arms around him and holds him close, burying her face in his shoulder. The connections to the matrix slowly lower him to the floor and Trinity releases him, watching as each disconnects itself from his body plugs and disappears once more beneath the grated floor.
"THE WAR IS OVER" booms the human like voice. The dome then begins to sink away.
"STOP!" orders Trinity. "What about Neo?!" she demands.
Rising once more the machine answers her. "THE ANOMALY HAS RETURNED TO THE SOURCE. HE HAS BEEN OBSORBED BY THE MATRIX AND HIS CONSCIOUS NOW RESIDES WITHIN, MEANING HE CAN NEVER AGAIN LEAVE THE MATRIX AND RETURN TO HIS BODY."
A gasp of shock escapes Trinity and in that heartbeat her mind is made up.
"Can I do the same?" she asks.
"WHY?"
"Because I love him."
The dome hesitates for a moment and then answers "WE KNOW LOVE. YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR BODIES CANOT SURVIVE AND WILL BE DESTROYED?"
The thought hadn't occurred to Trinity but at this point being with Neo is the only thing that matters to her. "Yes" she answers and as she speaks the connector cables return. Laying herself in Neo's arms, she prepares for the body plugs and each connects itself to her.
Once all the connections are made, Trinity's conscious is uploaded into the matrix and her body unplugged. Still in each others arms the two are collected by a waste disposal unit and taken away.
Within the matrix, Trinity removes her dark glasses and runs into the arms of The One. They kiss as they have never done before and when their lips part, Trinity looks about her, seeing the matrix for the first time as Neo has for so long.
"I love you" whispers Trinity.
"I love you too, Trin." Another kiss. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To the Oracle. We have to join Seraph in keeping her safe... We have to kill the Marevingian."
Taking a step back from Trinity, Neo moved to her side, taking her hand in his. He looks down and then looks back to Trinity who replaces her glasses. With a miniature shockwave that ripples the paving they're standing on, the took shoot upwards into the sunrise.