Chapter XIV

"Whoa. Déjà vu." He shook his head in a sort of bemused and bewildered state.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, frozen in time for a millisecond until Trinity demanded, "What?"

"It's nothing. Just had a little déjà vu, that's all," he replied non-chalantly. His expression grew immediately concerned as the other members of the resistance exchanged distressed glances. "What is it?"

"A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something," she answered curtly, not allowing her own sense of impending doom to interrupt her defense-mode.

His eyes grew wide, even though the severity of the situation did not sink in fully. He could sense something though. He replayed the circumstance of seeing the duplicate black cats through his mind again as Morpheus barked orders and they raced up the stairs. He noticed something he'd merely dismissed before. When he had turned to continue his ascent up the stairs after seeing the first cat, he caught a flash of green out of the corner of his eye, which made him turn back again in time to see the second cat go by. He had no idea what to make of it but made a mental note to ask Trinity later.

"You have to get Neo out! He's all that matters!" Morpheus's strained and hoarse voice carried to Neo's ears inside the wall. He wanted to burst out of his confinement and kick the asses of all the Agents who were doing this to the man who had freed him. As the Oracle's words rang in his mind, he felt like he could've done some serious ass kicking too. He yelled something, but was not completely sure what, before a hand grasped his ankle and threw his weight down the narrow shaft of the wall interior. He felt the boards break as he fell into them but all he could see was the image of Morpheus, lying beaten and bloody on the floor of the bathroom. Damnit! He wanted to scream, though he had no choice but to follow Trinity as they found an exit out of the building.

Trinity's mind raced as she led her remaining three crewmembers to safety. Neo's dream had been far more real than either of them wanted to acknowledge. Had he had similarly correct dreams in the past… like her own? She almost dared not finish her own train of thought. She had thought he knew; hoped he knew, but it didn't seem likely. Until now.

***

"Trinity, I'm not the One." The matter-of-fact words hit her harder than a swift punch in the gut.

"But, you have to be." Her response sounded meek and unconvincing, even to herself. She hadn't known what else to say in her shock at his denial.

"Sorry, I'm just a regular guy. The Oracle hit me with that, too." Too? What else had the Oracle mislead him to believe? In her shock she mistrusted the revered guide's words.

"No. That's not true. It can't be," Tell him! She pleaded with her brain, but couldn't bring herself to say anything more.

"Why not?" Her shock became anger as he turned away from her after she offered no response. Anger at herself for missing yet another chance to tell him, anger at the Oracle for messing with her own feelings, and anger at Neo for believing the Oracle and not himself. She mentally kicked herself before turning to follow him.

As she punched numbers into her stat screen, she thought of how long she'd known she loved him. Damnit, Trinity why are you so afraid?! Why can't you even face your emotions? I mean, hell, you're going on a suicide mission with the one you love and you know damn well he's The One and you haven't got the guts to tell him. What the hell is wrong with you?! She was pulled away from her mind's self-destruction when she felt him turn to face her.

"What are you doing?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'm coming with you." She answered through teeth clenched in self-loathing.

"No you're not." He replied with authority that was self-evidence to him being the One. In his resolve, he didn't seem to notice.

"Oh no? Well, let me tell you something that I believe. I believe Morpheus means more to me than he does to you. I believe if you were really serious about saving him, you are going to need my help. And since I am the ranking officer on this ship, if you don't like it I believe you can go to Hell because you're not going anywhere else." The staccato of words flew out of her mouth with the anger that had been welling up inside her. She had meant every word too, except that she felt like she should be the one burning in the fires of Hades, not him. At any rate, she'd proved that she could exert authority too, and it shut him up with his guilty conscience about losing Morpheus. She knew the capture of their leader had been the work of a traitor, not Neo, but it was too difficult to reason with him.