Title: Resting In Our Hands
Keywords: AU; Matrix I
Rating: I guess the language makes it an R now
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money for me, no movie franchise.
Author's Notes: I know, I know, I keep talking about these Mary Sues of mine, but it'll all tie in. Please R/R. Let me know if I should continue.
The Next Day . . .
Despite the popularity, there were always a number of Zion residents who didn't actively participate in the annual ceremonies. This population usually included the very old, the very young, and diligent Academy students.
Random had stood on the sidelines for as long as he could remember. He was relatively young, but had good memories of himself and his friends sneaking into the catacombs of the meeting hall and watching the festivities from above. Someone had always managed to get their hands on hooch, and Blink always had home-rolled cigarettes.
Tonight was a dry night. He wanted to be alone and he wanted to stay sober for tomorrow. Tomorrow he would spar.
In a meeting with Council earlier that day, he was informed that he had been chosen to join the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus, the captain, had no problem reminding Random he'd been Council's choice, not his own.
Numbed with shock at the man's honesty, he'd agreed to prove his worth in a sparring match the very next morning, bright and early.
Returning to the orphanage after business was complete, he'd shrugged off the company of his longtime friends and asked to be alone, to think. As if finally being assigned a ship weren't enough, he now had to fight his way onto one most soldiers feared.
"Random?!" A harsh, eager whisper came from behind him in that momentary lull between prayer and the beginning of the music. Random rolled his eyes before turning to face the voice's owner.
"Kid," he said flatly. He should have known the eager teen, a worshipper of all that had to do with The One, would have heard the gossip by now and would be looking for him. "What're you up to? There are plenty of pretty girls down there who'd love to dance with a guy who just got into the Academy." He waved his hand to gesture down to the floor, hoping this would encourage Kid. He really wanted time alone.
"I just found out about your assignment." Kid beamed, and it blew Random's mind. He was eager to fight the war, just like anyone else, but he didn't think it appropriate to grin like an idiot over an assignment. "Congratulations. I wish I could join the Neb, too, but I'm still too young." Kid was 16 to Random's 18, and in their case, two years felt like eons.
Random opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He was conflicted, and had no idea what to say to Kid. On one hand, he was afraid, and tired, and wanted to contemplate what was happening to him all by himself. On the other hand, he knew that soldiers who isolated themselves would not win the war. Everyone in Zion was a team, they were all striving to a common goal, and even though Kid had an approach very different from his own, they both wanted the same things.
Those thoughts, plus the idea that he would only have four people to talk to for months at a time if he did earn this assignment, pushed him to maintain conversation. He rubbed a hand over his black goatee before speaking again.
"Give yourself some time," he offered a smile. "There's plenty of space on that ship, and I may not even get on."
"I'm not so sure about that." Kid shook his head. "Council's trying to fill it up two by two. In fact," he paused, and pointed over Random's shoulder. "There's Isis. She's the other one they chose. Had to get the scoop from her friends; she doesn't talk much."
Random turned in the direction Kid was pointing, and saw the young woman sitting alone in a nearby catacomb, knees hugged to her chest. He was sure he had seen her at the Academy before, but couldn't tell from that far away.
Moving past Kid, Random gave his intention of going to talk to Isis. Kid would escort him only as far as the tunnel to the catacomb where she was; there was something about her unavailability that scared Kid, and he wasn't going to push her buttons.
Random walked quietly over to the small figure huddled on the ground. Isis had flaming red hair; arms and legs roped with muscle, and stood no more than 5'4" tall. He definitely knew of her from Academy. Her battle stats were out of this world.
"Can I sit?" He asked quietly, brushing a hand on her elbow, trying to respect her self-protective posture.
Her wide, gray eyes flicked up and examined his brown, almond-shaped ones. "Shouldn't you be down there? Partying?"
"Eeh, there's not a whole lot to party about when you've got a big job interview in the morning." He sat down a few feet to her left anyway. "Guess that's what happens when Council tries to strongarm Morpheus; the little guy has to fight harder."
She turned to Random and scrutinized him. He seemed genuine. Before replying, she reached over and grabbed a bottle that had been sitting on the ground next to her. Isis took a long swig of the amber liquid and let it burn her throat. Then she spoke.
"It's not so bad; just pretend he's an agent. Morpheus is tricky like them."
"You're done?" Her nonchalant attitude took him aback. Then again, maybe she'd been rejected and wasn't surprised by it.
"Fought him this morning. He makes you do it on the ship, in his own construct. He seemed pissed that I could keep up a fight." Her eyes flickered, and it looked like amusement to Random. "I'll cross my fingers for you, since you'd be the only crewmember I've met besides him."
"I take that to mean you got in." It was a statement of the obvious, but he didn't know what else to say, and he didn't want to stop talking to her, she intrigued him.
"Yep, and I've spent the last hour and a half getting slowly drunk and trying to see the rest of them from up here. Kid tried to come up and point out Neo to me, but I growled at him and he ran off. I think I scared him."
Random laughed. "You did. He wouldn't come near you after I said I was going to try to talk to you."
Isis passed him the bottle, and shrugged off his attempt to pass at a drink. "If you're trying to stay dry for the 'tryout' tomorrow, don't worry about it. Either you get it or you don't. Morpheus is all about fate, anyway."
"What about you?" He asked after taking a drink. "What are you all about?" Random studied Isis carefully, and realized for the first time after years of passing her in town and glancing over at her battle sims, that she was pretty. Her hair wasn't in its characteristic braid; her face wasn't wearing its customary soldier-in-training look. She looked so small sitting next to him on that slab of rock; her guard was down just a bit, whether from fear or drinking he'd never know.
She shrugged at his question. "I don't always know. I mean, when I was freed, the captain of the Logos took me to see the Oracle."
Random shook his head. "The captain of the Patriarch didn't believe in that. I never went, but of course I've heard the rave reviews."
"I hate to say it, but I'm one of those people who likes to keep what she told me a secret, although for the life of me, I don't know why." She turned her face upward and laughed. The laughs broke off into giggles as she spoke again. "It's not like she told me I'm the one who's going to go pull the power plug on the whole fucking Matrix. At this point, I think I might actually be too drunk to remember what she said."
In reality, she wasn't. Isis was much more intuitive than she let on at that moment. She knew that Random thought she was attractive, and she thought that he wasn't too bad, either. But it would take more than fleeting mutual attraction to get her to share what she'd heard about her future.
She remembered her meeting with the Oracle as if it had been five minutes ago. She remembered the way the woman's kitchen smelled, she remembered how her voice was slightly different when she talked while exhaling cigarette smoke.
Isis had been 13, new to the "real" world, when Captain Naiobe had taken her to the rundown apartment complex. At the time, she thought it strange that a woman she'd overheard saying she didn't believe in prophecies was allowing the visit, but she hadn't questioned the captain of her rescuing ship. To this day, the concept was strange to her, but like many other things, she shrugged it off to contemplate later.
Five years ago, they'd still been searching for The One, or at least Morpheus had been. The Oracle was taking every visitor into consideration at that point, as a favor to him. Isis hadn't even known what this "One" thing was all about, but the first words out of the old woman's mouth had confirmed she was not it.
"Don't get me wrong, little one, you still play an important role. You'll know The One eventually. You'll share quarters with whoever it is. I see you working together.
"You picked an appropriate name for yourself. Isis, the Goddess of Fertility, the Mother. You'll play that role; you'll do well at it. You're one of the rare ones whose heart and brain work at the same rate.
"Comfort whomever needs comforting. Console the frightened. Reassure those who need reassuring. Give everything of yourself to others. This is the choice you've made, the life you've given yourself.
"Your shipmates will need you the most. Give all of you to them."
"What if I can't do all that?" She had been skeptical. She was tired, scared, alone. How could she give herself to others when she didn't know who she was?
"You already have."
Snapping herself back into reality, Isis convinced Random to drink more, to watch the crowd, to get lost in the music.
"You'll get it," she laughed when he told her of his intention not to drink any more. He really wanted to live up to the expectations of the Council and earn his way onto the Nebuchadnezzar. "I promise."
"Well, if you promise," he replied with a grin, taking a big drink, and then appraising her again. He was wrong before. She wasn't pretty, she was beautiful. Maybe it was just the hooch or the atmosphere talking.
She knew what he needed. He needed comfort, and there was only one way he was going to be able to get it. The concept of giving her body to him didn't frighten her, but it didn't strike her as simply a duty, either.
He was scared because he knew deep down that he was going to be assigned, and he may never find anyone to love him, or at least to give him comfort for one night of his life. He was scared that the first time taking off in a ship or fighting in the Matrix might be his last time. So was she. She was terrified of the same things, maybe even more. They were just kids, 18 years old, and fate was coming for them, and they were scared.
But she wasn't scared of what they were about to do.
That's why she didn't hesitate a few minutes later when he leaned in to kiss her.