Trials & Tribulations
Innocence Shattered
Chapter 3- Memory & Explanations
Nemesis stood alone in the endless black, trying to forget the horrible thing that had just happened to her. But it sat there in her mind, a"splinter in her mind" as Morpheus would say, driving her mad. It gnawed at her, eating her from the inside out. So she turned around and faced the memory.
Chaos had raped her. The weird, quiet guy who she had, despite a few quiet doubts, trusted. She'd thought he'd snap out of this emotional phase he was going through. Everyone went through them out in the real world, eventually you saw a comrade fall. It was unavoidable. She'd thought.....
The blackness seemed to press in on her. She panicked and ran, or at least she tried to run. Her legs didn't seem to work too well. They were sluggish. It pressed even closer and enveloped her, like a blanket. It was warm. Nemesis's thoughts, despite her efforts, careened off in a thousand different directions.
Light, sound, color. It all came back to her. Her thoughts merged into one again. She blinked a few times, trying to focus on the nearest person. "Morpheus?" she asked in a whisper.
Morpheus looked down at her. "Nemesis, what....what exactly happened?"
Is that...fear I hear in his voice? Nemesis took a deep breath, steeling herself to tell him. "Rape," she answered.
His eyes opened wider. "Do we have anything to knock Chaos out with?" he asked someone outside her field of vision. "This guy is dangerous until we can get him to Zion, or at least a ship with better facilities to hold him."
Nemesis cared nothing for the proceedings around her. She fell asleep knowing, at least for the moment, that she was safe.
*****
Morpheus sat alone in the cockpit, cutting the transmission between the Nebuchanezzar and the Mechanical Folly. The Folly was a larger ship that worked closer to Zion. The ships had picked the closest point they could rendezvous at, both were now proceeding to it at all possible speed.
Footfalls outside in the corridor. Morpheus did not turn in his seat, he was lost in the pathways of his mind as his hands performed their tasks without him. He didn't notice Smith sit down in the co-pilot's seat next to him. The ex-agent studied the human's face. He could not tell what Morpheus was thinking, so he decided to ask.
"I believe the correct saying is...penny for your thoughts?" Smith asked, trying, for the moment, to be human.
Morpheus chuckled lightly, but the laughter in his eyes died away as quickly as Smith spotted it. "Nemesis."
"What exactly happened to her?"
Morpheus turned for a moment and looked the other man straight in the face. "She was raped. Chaos cracked....and he raped her." He looked away. "I thought what Cypher did was terrible, I always knew there was a possibility of being betrayed....but this? I never saw it coming."
Mr. Regan, hacking alias: Cypher. Smith mulled those thoughts over for a minute or two. "You can't foresee everything. You're only-," Smith caught himself in time, stopping before he could hurt feelings.
A sad smile formed at the corners of Morpheus's mouth. "Only human, Smith? Yes, I admit I am. But so are you. Could you have foreseen back then that you would be here now?"
Smith had to admit that Morpheus had a point. The two men sat in silence as Morpheus continued to direct the Nebuchanezzar towards the rendezvous point.
*****
Hawk ran to Nike's room, seeking some comfort. She was asleep, so he jumped on her to wake her up. "Oof! Wha-Hawk? What are you doing here?"
He burst into tears. "Jade s-says C-chaos is leaving! Why?" He buried his face in the girl's shoulder. Nike tried to think of a way to put it gently to the five year old.
"Chaos did a very bad thing," was what Nike finally settled on. "He broke the rules and he has to be punished."
"BUT WHAT DID HE DO?" Hawk wailed.
"He...hurt Nemesis."
A whole storm of emotions swept across Hawk's face. He was obviously trying to sort out that the brother he loved had hurt another person he loved. "Why?" Hawk asked, voice quieter but still quivering.
"He was mad, upset. Sometimes when people get mad, they take it out on someone when they shouldn't."
Hawk curled up in Nike's arms, trying to think on this latest piece of knowledge he had acquired. Eventually Hawk fell asleep. Nike leaned back on to the bed, pulling Hawk with her. As she drew up the blanket, Nike finished her thought.
"And we are no longer innocent," she told the metal ceiling as she followed Hawk into dreams.
