It was like wandering around in the construct, except it was sunk in darkness, not bathed in light. Occasionally there were noises, images from somewhere else, the softness of a cloth on her face, the comforting voice of the woman, who had looked so different before, in her mind's eye. There was the coolness of water trickling down her throat when she could find the energy to ask for it and the light that burned her eyes when she tried to focus on the world beyond the comforting dark. And there was the replay of her brother's body crumpling, falling heavily to the cold tiled floor, his confused look as he watched her trying to protect the man. Had she managed to save him? After David/Tristan had stopped standing things had started to mist into the black that held her. She tried to estimate how long it had been, tried to add it to the time she had missed the person who could bring her out of the gloom. An image stuck to the blackness, the flowers that had sat at the edge of the playground creating a sense of reality and stability. There was a seat near it too, she remembered, frowning slightly. The memory was so clear. They had sat there the day after he had asked her to tell him the question, saying that he would tell her the one that he couldn't get out of his head. It had been raining when they had said,

"What is the Matrix?" As one voice not two, sitting in detention.

*

"You'll need a name." He said, eyes the colour of mahogany focused somewhere beyond the world they could touch, beyond the yard.

"Rose." She supplied, liking it. "Because then I can have thorns and people won't mess with me." He had shaken his head.

"What about Harregale?" He reached behind her head to where the flowers were blooming.

"Harregale? What's that?" There was a cluster of small purple flowers on a stem in his hand, he took the thorns off and pushed it gently behind her ear.

"This kind of rose. You be Harregale and I'm David." She laughed.

"No, you be Fabian, Fabian Fleetshadow." He smiled at her.

"Ok Harregale Deephaze. We better get to work." She nodded seriously, talking for the rest of the day together.

*

That was where she had written the time on the concrete supports. In blue chalk, the numbers smudged as she changed them every day. The harder she tried to get a different colour, the more she found blue. That had been his colour, just as she had been the deep purple of her namesake, he had been the blue of the clear sky. She looked sadly where the numbers had been and slowly she could make out the last number she had written there, 118. She swore, staggering backwards, that wasn't right, it had only been 48 when she had etched it into the grey slabs last! She can't have missed that many days! She called out,

"Fabian!" No answer. "Trinity?" Dead silence. "Neo? Morpheus? Link?" Her voice strained, the fear now edging its way in. Why couldn't they hear her? She pulled out her phone, dialing the number she had learnt by rote. A static line answered her, the voice fading in and out.

"Get me out, I want to get out of here." The blackness turned to white. She screamed. Why was it that the thing that children fear had become her shelter from what others ran to? It seemed she preferred the tunnel to the light at the end.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They had been amazed, ten days had passed since she had been shot, ten days and still she would only wake for a few moments, enough to stumble to the lavatory, to sip water, to say how sorry she was she had failed again. And once, she had told them how much she missed Fabian, the boy whose name still hadn't found a reference to Neo or Trinity.

"I think that there's more to this lack of recovery than the physical difficulties." Morpheus said one evening, watching Trinity's vigil over the girl's bed.

"She can't accept that it was her brother. What did Locke say?" They were pulling at straws.

"He was surprised but he has dropped all charges against her. She is to be placed on another ship, when I am satisfied with her recovery." Her blue-grey eyes caught his dark brown ones. They both knew that something was holding her back. Then she flexed her fingers, frowning and mouthed the word 'no'. The captain rose, getting a cup of water. Then the girl spoke again, clearer and much more definite.

"Get me out, I want to get out of here!" Her eyes opened suddenly and she screamed, the same one they had heard once when she had started to go into the construct. Trinity swore.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The plugs were inserted, both opening their digitized eyes at the same time. They were standing in almost total blackness, but they could both see, the girl holding herself back so she didn't throw herself at the first person she to come to her aid. Trinity smiled slightly, watching the emotions flicker across the screen. She had wanted to be the one to help Arre but Neo had insisted and so she waited on the outside.

"Can you see?" She asked.

"Yes." He replied, looking around. "How long has it been like this?"

"On and off since I got back I guess," the bench was within sight so she walked over, indicating that he should sit. Neo did so quietly, watching her as she stood a little way off. She looked up, eyes questioning.

"I am still going to be considered the traitor?" He shook his head,

"Morpheus made sure that you wouldn't have to face that when you get better." She nodded.

"I need to tell you something…" He nodded,

"Ok."

"I failed you and I'm sorry. I just can't do everything that Fabian and I did, I can't handle the responsibility we shared. I can't keep you both safe." She was pacing, running a hand through her hair, she felt so guilty. She had been out of the real world too long and now she couldn't get back, she was endangering one of the people she was meant to protect.

"What are you talking about Arre?"

"I… I really tried. But you need to have a pair of us, not just one." She lowered her eyes. "I miss him too much to keep this up, I'm so very sorry, my King." She dropped a curtsy, biting her lower lip.

"King?" He asked, brows knit together. "I'm the King from your game?" She looks up, nodding.

"And Trinity is the Queen, it was my job to dispose of those who wished her harm. You were Fabian's, and I've been too self-absorbed to do anything useful for over ten days. I need to get out of here and get back to my job, atleast until you find someone to replace me." Here she started to get more worried, finally telling someone her troubles. "But I can't get out, there's no doors, no phones, no nothing. I know that you've loaded me into the construct otherwise you wouldn't be here. You can leave anytime you want. But I'm stuck." She searched his eyes with hers, hoping he understood. "I'm so sorry."

"We can get you out, there's a way where there's a will. Can you tell me anything else that may help?"

"There's a file, it's called 'Alleyway." I think this is part of it, somehow. I don't know how, but I can feel the walls, they're brick and go up further than I can reach, even jumping." Neo nodded, handing his phone to her.

"This will give you a way to contact us. We'll get you Arre, don't worry." She smiled.

"I know you will, even if it means you have to unplug me, you'll get me out of here." Before he could reply she had walked over to a computer that appeared out of nowhere, typing away at a program to stop her from going mad. He left silently, not knowing just how much they could help but determined they weren't going to pull the plug on her, not yet.