Disclaimer: Verses by Chloe Carpenter, from her song 'Fool's Parade'.
A/N: This is the final installment of 'Breathing Underwater'. Sorry its taken me so long. Evil school, and I do believe that the mother of all of Writer's Blocks has been residing in my house since December. Enjoy, and review!
A mirror shatters, the pieces break my heart.
My soul is scarred from dodging darts.
A shadow traces my mind, erasing what's entwined,
Keep my thoughts away from me.Ringing sounds from the room just beyond her clouded vision. She blinks the dust from her lashes and grins, a brittle smile that seems as if it will shatter at any moment. False expression, but her words as she draws her gun are true.
"God, I love that sound."
But the line is dead.
Something is wrong. Trinity's voice is urgent on her cell phone, confused. The operator doesn't answer – she questions Cypher. Then fatal, final words, filled with horror. "You killed them."
What?
Betrayal.
She looks beside her, at Him. His face is twisted into a frown, sunglasses in hand, not wanting to believe what they both know. Shocked gazes glance at each other, then quickly back at Trinity. She remembers to a time in a warm kitchen, the smell of cigarettes, and someone telling her…
Not Apoc.
Cypher.
Oh god, Apoc!
"Trinity…" He speaks her name. Trinity's. Not hers. Say my name! Just once more. Everything blurs before her, and only the shock that seems to go through his body brings her to action. The thud as he hits the ground.
No!
Her fingers dig into his back, her nails piercing through the material of his jacket. Cause pain, and it will bring him back. Pain brings life with it, awakens her to the world around her even as in its brief release she finds shelter. But he doesn't wake.
Cypher, you bastard.
Her eyes glisten as reality hits her. How much time had passed since the Oracle – damn the old woman! – had misled her? How long had she rejected him, out of fear of being hurt, believing that only she could cause herself pain.
And how many times had she been proven wrong?
Her fault. Her decision. Her misinterpretation. Her choice.
No one can see beyond the choice they don't understand…
And she's next.
"Not like this," she pleads. "Not like this…" Oh, please, oh, god, forgive her! She knows not who she begs forgiveness from; Trinity, for not warming up to the only other woman on the ship; Neo, for not being able to show him all the many things he still needed to learn; the Oracle, for not understanding; Morpheus, for failing him. There were so many others.
Apoc. I'm so sorry…
Her world goes black, then eternal white as her body is severed from her mind.
The body cannot live without the mind.
She understands the meaning of death.
Under my mask,
Fears like broken glass,
Threatening to tear me apart
My world's a masquerade,
Every day a different fool's parade
By this fool's parade,
I've been betrayed
A/N: Well, its finally over…*sniff* I know this took me more than a little while, but I'll miss not fretting over having to do a chapter without inspiration. It was a challenge. Forgive the strange formatting and lack of italics on the end of the first verse, the document manager doesn't like me. Now, press the pretty blue-purple button!
