Title: The Waiting Game
Author: SuperiorityComplex88
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these awesome characters or plotlines from The Matrix – that credit goes to the Wachowski Bros.
Summary: The end of The Matrix, from Trinity's POV. Fluffiness abounds...
Author's Note: This is my first Matrix fic, set at the end of the first movie as Neo runs toward the exit and Trinity sits beside him in turmoil – I wrote it while waiting for Revolutions to come out. (And what a movie it was, eh?) So go easy! :-p
Watching Neo's heart beat quicken, I felt my own do the same. I knew that the sentinels were getting closer to destroying us with every second that passed by. All I could do was wait for him.
Wait to see if he lived or died.
I hated waiting. I hated anything that was beyond my own control. But something like this, someone like Neo... I tried not to think about what would happen if he didn't make it out... if I never got the chance to tell him...
I chastised myself for the fifth time. He was The One – he would make it out. He had to. I knew he denied it: him, with his brown eyes that tried so hard to mask his curiosity, confusion, and fear. I wished I could have convinced him that he was indeed The One before now, but that would have meant telling him the truth: The answer to his question of "Why?" after I'd told him that he had to be... the answer to his question of what The Oracle had told me...
I'd almost told him everything: in the Matrix, down in the subway outside of that telephone booth. If I hadn't wasted so much time trying to explain it to him, maybe he would have made it out right behind me. The whole incident, aside from scaring the hell out of me, painfully reminded me that none of us have time to waste by being vague or playing hard to get... or letting feelings interfere with the war at all.
This was what I told myself constantly before his mind had been freed, when all I knew was what The Oracle had told me, and the fact that Morpheus was so sure, so damn sure, that Neo was The One. Surprise, surprise - he was right this time...
I looked up at the monitor and noticed that his heart beat was slowing; he must have been nearing the exit. Without thinking, I put a hand over his. Normally, I would never do such a thing, never let down the Ice Woman façade I was known for... but this, of course, was different. I hoped he would realize his place soon just as I realized my own...
A loud clanking noise interrupted my musings. I could hear an alarm going off at the front of the ship, and listening closer, it was obvious that the sentinels had gotten inside. My heart began to sink. Not now, when we were so close...
I looked down at his still form again and let out a nearly whispered, "Hurry, Neo."
A few seconds passed. His heart beat stayed steady... but a moment later it seemed to skip a beat. And then it began.
His upper body began to jerk. Oh God, no, I thought, holding onto his shoulders as if it would keep him alive. I could tell he was being shot, undoubtedly by an agent. The look on his face nearly killed me as well – it was screwed up in pain and determination.
Everything in me wanted to stop it, but I knew I couldn't. Short of breath, I tightened my grip on his shoulders as he continued to jerk for a few more seconds. Then I felt his body tense and saw his face do the same. His chest rose and fell as he let out a last breath.
And then the line went flat.
I stared in horror. There was no way this could be happening. He couldn't do this, he was The One. He was The One, I thought over and over again. Because I loved him. I was in love with him...
Switching my glance from the monitor to the Neo again, I ignored everything, including the ever-louder growing sounds of the machines I know would kill us all any minute. "Neo," I choked out, leaning close to him, "I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man... the man that I loved would be The One." I swallowed, not knowing if doing this would be of any good or not. But I kept my eyes on his expressionless face and continued.
"So you see... you can't be dead. You can't be... because I love you." Tears threatened to fall following that proclamation, but I held them back and edged closer to that beautiful face of his. "You hear me? I love you."
And, too absorbed in him to take myself by surprise, I closed my eyes and lowered my lips to his, willing everything in me to bring him back, for him to hear me, feel me... I had never thought that this was how I would ever have proclaimed my love for a man, but there I was...
I pulled away from him and waited uncertainly. Five seconds passed... and then I watched as his head tilted back and he inhaled.
Breathing again, both of us, I looked up at the monitor to make sure I wasn't imagining things. I wasn't. His heart was beating again, and I was immensely relieved to see his chest rising and falling rhythmically again in front of me.
Sparks were sent flying behind me, and I remembered – the sentinels.
I looked at Neo once more. "Now get up," I commanded softly, somehow knowing that he could hear me.
More sparks were sent flying. I turned and sensed the machine digging from above. Two seconds later, a laser sliced through the ceiling, and I watched disbelievingly as the Nebuchadnezzar was destroyed, little by little, piece by piece... There was no way the ship could be salvaged if Neo didn't get back within the next minute.
I whipped around and, vaguely noticing his regular heart beat, screamed his name over the noise behind and above me, hoping he would get to the exit quick and that Tank had the EMP ready.
CRASH.
Once more I turned, and my eyes widened at the sight of the machine now in the room, tearing everything in its path to pieces. Walls and staircases fell with deafening clamors. Parts of the room were obscured in smoke...
And then the machine turned and froze as it saw us.
"No!" I screamed in anguish, and, feeling the rush of energy I knew was the EMP, I threw myself over Neo and waited... waited for it to pass and be over.
Finally, I lifted my head to a complete silence and semi-darkness. Looking into Neo's face, I realized that his eyes were open. Open and looking at me like they never had before... and it was then that I understood.
He had felt me, heard me – heard everything.
There was so much I wanted to say... but instead I lifted a hand and stroked his cheek, not believing half of what was going on.
He lifted his head to close the space between us and kissed me, and I was thoroughly glad that he was conscious this time. Everything around us melted away and left our minds – the war, the partially non-existent ship around us, the possibility that Morpheus and Tank could walk in at any second...
And now that I think about it, I can say with full heart and confidence that there are some things in life that are worth waiting for.