Author's Notes: We had our first game to perform for yesterday. I still have the adrenaline, so expect action. ^_~

Come Back to Me: Chapter 9

Trinity wasn't even what had happened. One second, she had looked over at Neo away from the door. The next second, she had ten bullets stopped right in front of her. It took about ten seconds for her brain to catch up with what had happened. In those ten seconds, Neo had dived towards the Architect and they were now rolling dangerously towards the edge of the building.

The gun had rolled back towards the door. Neo was hanging by his fingers on the side of the building. The Architect stood up, and dusted himself. Trinity inched towards Neo inconspicuously as Neo hoisted himself back onto the building. The movement caught the Architect's eye. He dropped kicked Trinity, and moved to sweep her feet out from under her. Instinct took over, and she sidestepped the Architect's dropkick. She was too close to the edge when the Architect tripped her up. Neo wasn't quick enough to grab for her. His fingers slipped through hers as true fear struck her eyes for the first time in years. He prepared to spring after her, but the cold metal of a handgun pressed into the back of his skull.

"We wouldn't want you to do anything rash, now would we Mr. Anderson?" The metallic voice of Agent Johnson came from behind him. The sound of gunshots rang through the air as they fired towards Trinity's direction. The sound of breaking glass filled the air as several of the bullets shattered the side of the building. Neo spun around top break the agents arm. He flipped the agent off the building as he stopped the rest of the bullets in mid air. They dropped uselessly on top of the buildings.

Now hell-bent on revenge, Neo only saw red as he attacked every agent on the building. He choked back the hot tears as he gave everyone who came across his path a bloody end. Not even the upgrades had seen this kind of fury. He let go of his sanity because nothing mattered anymore. She had been his lifeline, and he had failed to save her. If he died now, he would take every one of these forsaken machines with him. Something cracked down hard on his back, and he turned to see Agent Smith.

"We meet again Mr. Anderson. At the end of all things, it comes down to the two of us. The Architect will not interfere while two of his enemies battle it out. Don't you agree, Mr. Anderson?" Smith asked with a bored tone. It was almost as if he was mocking him.

"You were one of his creations. What changed?" Neo growled. He had gotten a shred of his sanity back, but it only led to suicidal thoughts. How could go on without Trinity?

"Why don't you ask him for yourself, Mr. Anderson?" The Architect drawled from behind him. He didn't take his eyes off Agent Smith as he answered,

"I set him free of your power. That's what went wrong. I set loose your most prized agent, and you wanted revenge. That's why you went after Trinity instead of going after me. You wanted to me lose the closest thing to me." Realization dawned on Neo. It truly was his fault that Trinity was gone.

Architect barked out laughter as he clapped his hands. "Very good, Neo! I thought the loss of Zion would have been enough to break you, but it didn't turn out as expected. Also needed you dead for you were the only One to figure out how to save humanity and your beloved. Of course, you've lost her now. A rouge machine like Mr. Smith also couldn't just be left to do whatever he pleased. He was clever enough to make exact copies of himself, even I couldn't tell the real from the copies without actually going up to all of them. I know now though. There's a minor change in the coding that can only mean he was the rogue one. I'll watch one of you kill the other, and then I'll kill the other myself, no?"

A silent look passed between the two enemies. One would think that Agent Smith and Neo were merely setting themselves up for battle. They were, but not against each other. "And why should we fight for you?" Agent Smith asked with an unusual gleam in his eyes.

"And why not? Neither one of you has anything left to lose," the Architect stated with an air of uncertainty. What were they planning? It could be conspiracy for they were renowned rebels. Rebels only did the expected.

Neo dove for Agent Smith, but Smith barrelrolled out of the way. Agent Smith used short jabs and punches as Neo blocked and placed his own. They were fighting a dance to the death in unison. One powerful right punch and one sharp left uppercut sent Neo flying into the door and Smith spinning towards the far side of the roof. Neo withdrew one of his poison-tip daggers, and sent it sailing towards Smith. Smith fired a round a bullets towards Neo, but Noe stopped them in midair. He then rerouted the bullets to fire right back at Smith.

Agent Smith dodged all of the bullets in slow motion. Smith somersaulted to avoid Neo's second poison-tip dagger. The leapt in the air towards each other, and Neo twisted Smith onto his back as the hit the ground hard. In normal conditions, he would have groaned from the pain, but it left Smith with the perfect opportunity. Smith reached up with his legs to twist the small handgun out of the Architects grasp. Architect was caught unaware, but was not unprepared. The handgun was gone, but he was still able to catch Smith's legs between his arms.

Smith groaned as the Architect twisted his left leg hard enough to dislocate it. Smith watched in horror as his body turned to coding before his eyes. Neo backed away from Smith as his coding deleted itself. "Curse you!" Smith shouted as he disappeared forever from the matrix.

"Where did you send him?" Neo asked as he watched the Architect like a hawk. The Architect couldn't do that to him since he wasn't created by the Architect in every sense of the word, but he didn't hurt to avoid his touch in that very case.

"Think about it, Neo. Where do I eventually send all my machines?" If the Architect wanted to play games, then games it was.

"Zion. Why aren't your agents attacking then?" Neo growled as he circled the Architect. He'd be ready to strike or fly at any time. The Architect was only correct on one thing. The only thing he had left to lose was the hope for the real world. It kept him alive because it was what Trinity had fought. He would keep her memory alive.

"Look up." The laughter no longer remained in the Architect's voice. It was a look of….annoyance? What could possibly be that far out of the Architect's control. Curiosity got the better of Neo and he did look up. He expected to see the agents training their weapons on him. He expected to see the sky full of helicopters and automatic scanners that led to the building. What he didn't expect to see was World War III.

It looked as if all of Zion were waging war on the agents. Occasionally, he would see a helicopter crash into one of the nearest buildings. The agents would climb out of the wrecked scraps of metal only to be attacked by…ghosts? Spirits? He wasn't sure. He gaped as the small figure of Mouse tore into one of the agents. They were doing exactly as he done to free Agent Smith. They weren't deleting the code as he had intended, but they were changing it. Why?

He could hear Niobe's voice above him as she barked orders out to people. They weren't flying as he did; instead, they seemed to hover in the air. It reminded him of the way Trinity suspended in air… No, he told himself sternly. That train of thought was a dangerous path at the present time.

They strangest thing was that, the people of Zion remained unscathed. Yes, they weren't technically alive, but how could they be solid? Actually, he didn't know if they were alive or not. The figures of Tank, Dozer, and Zee lowered down behind him. He didn't have to turn around to know who they were either. "Neo," Zee's voice came from so far away. "Neo, please." He had refused to look at them before. It was his fault that they were dead. He reluctantly looked at them now. "Live on with your life. Tell Link, I love him. I'll always be with him."

"It was Cypher's doing, not yours. We'll be at peace now. Please, say goodbye to Trinity and Morpheus for us. This was our last chance," Dozer pleaded with Neo. It jarred Neo back to reality. Why did the irony of all things affect his life? Why did everyone have to die so that the One could save the spirit of the fallen city?

"You can tell Trinity yourself, Dozer," Neo answered. His last hopes were gone for Trinity. One tiny spark of faith seemed to remain. Why couldn't they let Trinity go?

"She couldn't be dead. We would know," Tank's voice also sounded so far in the distance. It pained him to hear their words of solace. Denial had not taken him as hard as it had taken them. Why couldn't they see it?

"I saw her die, Tank. She's gone," Neo's speech was laced with his tears. It was all too much to take at once. He didn't want to be strong anymore.

"She can't be," Tank whispered as he dropped to his knees. She had always been the strong one of the group. Switch, Apoc, Mouse, and Niobe also lowered beside them. Neo barely managed to hold back the flood of tears. He wanted to see them all again, but not like this.

"She's gone. I'm the one who killed her," the Architect stated madly. The air was suddenly free of agents. Not a single one was in sight, but the building was surrounded by the people of Zion suspended in air.

"Think again," Trinity's voice came from the door. Her shirt was soaked in blood, and scratches lined all of her visible, but she was there. A sleek handgun was in her left hand pointed towards the Architect. Her right arm hung uselessly at her side, but the determination lined her features.

A pindrop was heard a few floors down. The sounds of keys filled the noiseless air as it seemed that all of New York had stopped to watch. Her hardly dared to breathe as he saw the differences between her and the people of Zion. They were unscathed, and she was completely covered in injuries.

But she was alive.

A.N.: I want a show of hands. How many people actually thought I killed my favorite character? Sorry, I know I shouldn't have done that to you guys. Alright, do you guys want a flashback for the next chapter or for me to continue on now, and come back to the flashback in a later chapter? The flashback would follow Trinity from the time she fell off the building up to now. If I get enough reviews from you guys, *wink, wink* I'll write the next chapter next weekend for you guys. Well, you could leave yourselves in suspense by not reviewing, but I couldn't really blame myself if the chapter took longer. Actually, I just need to know what you guys want me to write first. Ja ne ~Insane Pineapple from Naboo

Responses:

Satiana: *whistles innocently* I'll have both Persephone and Merovingian back into the plot. I already have it all worked out on that end, but unfortunately Neo just isn't going to be able to stop Trinity from doing whatever she wants to do to Persephone. *sighs dramatically* Its just so tragic. Ok, maybe not…

Sloans_interrogator: Hope you enjoyed it. This story still a ways left to go; I can promise you that. I'm just kind of letting myself go with the plotline of this story. Only my insane mind knows what is going to happen.

Divamercury: Your wish is my command. I already have that planned out. Wow, this is the first story that I've actually known what was going to happen beforehand. Scary…

Lovewildfire: hey! It's my favorite reviewer. I worked in Agent Smith just for you. He's still around…somewhere. Well, somewhere in Zion anyway. Persephone is going to seriously regret ever touching Neo. I think I might do Merovingian separately than Persephone. Now, I simply am going to have to write at least five more chapters just to balance out all the action with romance. Lots of other things happening as well.