Part Two: Destiny

***

Neo once again found himself in a room. Only there was darkness this time, instead of blinding light. And then-

Code.

Somehow the last thing he had expected to find here. Pieces of code literally floating around the room.

A room that shouldn't have been able to contain it, but did anyway.

And then the little green tidbits started to form shapes.

They were people.

"Jesus," he muttered. He was looking at every single person in both the digital world and the real world through green coding.

All at once, there they were.

He could see the coding, but he could also see hands and arms and legs.

And facial features. All their eyes seemed to be glowing a strange reddish- green color.

He recognized some of the people.

Morpheus. Link. And, oh shit, Kid. Well, he truly could not get away from him, could he?

He could see them all. Plugged into the matrix and in the real world.

He could see what they were doing. Going about their daily lives.

Kid was talking to some orphans. Morpheus and Link were pacing around the Neb.

And-

Oh, God, they were crying. Why?

It hit Neo like a stack of bricks being dropped on his chest.

Trinity.

Dead. Gone.

No way for anyone to save her now.

He'd made his choice.

He knew what he had to do.

He surveyed the thousands of people. Sixteen female, seven male.

He tried his hardest to ignore the code that he knew was Trinity, smashed into the car and not breathing anymore.

Concentrate, Neo. Focus.

Somehow he knew what he was supposed to do.

"Must be in the programming," he muttered sardonically.

He squinted to try and discern more specific details about the people. Did they look strong, able-bodied?

Neo tried to tell if the women were attractive. All he could see were outlines of facial shapes, and Trinity's face, with its sharp angels and smooth skin, crept into his mind.

He immediately reached out to the shape of a woman, trying his hardest to focus on something other than Trinity.

He touched the outline of the woman's neck. He realized what was happening, but couldn't say that he fully understood it.

He was choosing her.

As he touched her, a bright orange glow spread around her code.

Neo took his hand off of her shape and touched someone else, a man this time. The same orange glow spread through the man as Neo touched him.

Sixteen female. Glowing a brilliant bright orange.

Seven male. Possessing an eerie orange glow.

Neo sighed when he finished selecting the last person.

He felt tears forming in his eyes, but he could not allow himself to cry.

He smiled slightly, remembering. Trinity didn't like to let herself cry much, either. Hated to show her weakness.

But she had shown it to him.

To him.

Neo fought back the tears and wondered what was to come next.

He ran his fingers through his hair.

In that instant, he saw a flash of yellow.

And then white.

And then blackness.

And he could have sworn that he heard voices.

The first voice.

"Ah, so we begin the cycle again."

The second voice.

"Will there be no end?"

***

The first thing Neo saw when he regained consciousness was Morpheus's face.

Neo half-expected him to say, "Welcome to the real world."

But Morpheus said nothing. He was just looking at him sadly.

Neo glanced around. There they all were. He had only chosen people that were already unplugged. It seemed kinder that way.

He sat up. The cold, hard ground somehow seemed even colder and harder now.

"Why are we here? What happened?"

Neo looked at his inquisitor.

Niobe.

Neo sighed. He didn't want to explain to any of them. Did it really matter if they knew, anyway?

"It doesn't matter. But we're here now."

"The fuck it doesn't matter. Where the hell are we?

Neo looked over at the man. Didn't recognize him.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you why we're here."

"Neo."

Morpheus. Speaking in that tone. That tone that indicated that no matter what happened, he would always possess his unwavering belief.

It scared Neo.

Standing up, Neo turned to face Morpheus.

"Morpheus," he began hesitantly. "I'm sorry. I'm not who you thought I was."

Morpheus's brow furrowed. "What?"

"The one was never meant to end anything."

"The prophecy."

"Was a lie. I'm sorry."

Neo saw the older man's world quietly crumble into a thousand pieces.

"So then why are we here?"

Kid. He looked scared shitless. Neo couldn't say he disagreed with that sentiment.

"We're all that's left now."

One of the women frowned. "What about Zion?"

"In twenty-four hours it'll be destroyed. In twenty-four hours the war will be over."

"We lost."

Neo couldn't tell which one said that. It didn't really matter.

"Yes. But we have to go on."

"Why?" Neo was surprised to hear Morpheus talk like that. Like he had lost all hope.

"We're all that's left. We have to start again."

"Why, so they can destroy us all over again?" Niobe asked angrily.

Neo could think of no encouraging answer, no heartening slogan.

"If we don't go on, then there will be nothing left."

"Like there's a hell of a lot left now."

Neo looked over at Link. Some sort of silver chain was dangling around his neck. It looked like a huge charm bracelet.

"I know we don't have much, but we can't quit now."

"Why?"

Once again, Neo couldn't think of the right words to say.

"Because we have to."

Neo tried not to grimace. He was sounding ridiculous to himself. He had no fucking clue where they even were and he was giving out marching orders.

Another woman approached Neo. "Why just us? Why didn't more of us make it out?"

Yet again, Neo chose not to explain. "There are enough of us here."

"Where's here?"

"Somewhere away from Zion."

Neo noticed Morpheus sitting down.

"Morpheus, what are you doing?"

Morpheus would not meet his eyes. "I'm resting, Neo. I just need some rest."

One by one, the other people began to sit down as well.

Neo sighed. Perhaps they did just need some rest.

Neo sat next to Morpheus on the dirty ground.

"Morpheus. Did you watch her die?"

Neo knew he didn't need to specify who he was talking about.

"Yes. She was very brave. She put up quite a fight."

Neo didn't talk for a while after that. He knew that if he tired to, his voice would come out as a choked sob.

They were all silent for a long time.

Finally, Neo got up and separated himself from the rest of the group.

He felt the need to be alone.

He stood by himself for a long time, looking at his dismal surroundings and thinking about the only woman he ever really loved.

After a while, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder.

It was Link.

"Hey, Link." Neo even surprised himself by how tired he sounded.

"Hey. I, uh, was wondering. If you're the one who chose who got to be here."

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever consider Zee?"

Neo's heart sank. Link's wife. God, he hadn't even thought about it.

For just a second he looked into Link's eyes and saw himself.

They had both lost the same thing.

Neo looked away and forced himself to speak. "I just didn't think about it."

He instantly knew that was the wrong thing to have said.

Link stormed away from him and walked towards the edge of a pier.

Neo thought he might jump for a second, but then he saw Link angrily yanking the charm off his neck and throwing it over the edge. Neo felt another hand on his shoulder.

He turned to see one of the women. She had remained silent earlier. Neo could see how young she was by looking at her eyes. She had the body and face of a full-grown woman, but her eyes betrayed her youth.

"Hello," she said nervously.

"Hello." Neo tried to keep his voice void of any emotion.

"Are you our leader?"

"Your leader?"

"Yes. I thought I heard someone call you The One."

Neo remembered the Oracle's words. "The Source. Where the path of The One ends."

He also remembered something that seemed so long ago, and yet, just like yesterday.

"The Oracle told me that I would fall in love and that that man, the man that I loved would be The One. So you see, you can't be dead. You can't be because I love you. You hear me? I love you."

Neo pulled himself back into the present and answered the girl.

"I'm not The One anymore. I'm just a man."

The girl smiled at him. "Maybe that will be enough."

Neo smiled at her apparent innocence. "Yeah, maybe it will be." He paused. "What's your name?"

"It's silly. Something I came up with in one of those dumb chat rooms."

Neo was curious now. "What?"

"Brink."

"Brink. Right. Listen, Brink, please don't take offense at this, but I really need to be alone for a while."

Brink nodded and walked off.

Neo sank back down into the ground. Still thinking of Trinity. Even when he was talking to another woman, always thinking of Trinity. Neo fell into a troubled sleep after awhile.

***

In his dream, Neo was holding Trinity. Clutching her as if his life depended on it. And she was clutching him too. He spoke to her, the love in his voice unmistakable. "I'm not letting go. I can't. I love you too damn much."

Half-asleep, half-awake, Neo began to cry. His sobs threatened to choke him.

For the first time, he cried for Trinity.

***

To be continued.

A/N:

Thanks to everyone who reviewed this so far, and thanks to everyone who read it and didn't leave a review. You both make it worth my time. There's some awful stuff on this site, and the summary is my only weapon against you thinking this is some of it. Thanks for stopping by!

I hesitated to call this chapter "Destiny" because there's an awful "Matrix" fic out there called "New Destiny" that everyone makes fun of. But I thought I'd stick to a theme for all my chapter titles. This fanfic is brought to you by the letter D.

Just thought I'd mention that while it does not follow the plot, this story is inspired in part by the Martin Scorsese film "The Last Temptation of Christ." I wouldn't want to not give credit to one of my sources.

In order to follow this plotline, I have to introduce some original characters. This is sort of breaking one of my own rules, for I am not a fan of original character stories. Some are well done; many go to Mary Sue land. I promise never to do that to you.