Disclaimer: Can't be bothered to write it, I think I put one in on chappie 1. Go read that you lazy people.
ROTA: (I still love that watchacallit shortened thing!) V V V SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!!! I really am evil. But now I have a beta, so it should be better (isn't that the point?).
Ok, my first flame here. But I don't like anonymous flamers, makes me think they don't want me to see the crappy fics they've written, but I have something to say to whoever.
I also edited chappie 6, with the help of ze vonderful Zanna (PoD). So yeah, big thanks to her for saying sorry to the chickens. No wait, for editing it for me! She's a wonderful person anyway!
~*~
Trinity walked away from Neo, holding her head high, although inside she was screaming. How could he be so cruel? He said he needed time, well hell, she needed time too, time with him. He'd just given his stupid excuses and wouldn't accept any other answer, even if it meant that they had to break up. With these thoughts swirling around her head, by the time Trinity reached her room, tears were fighting behind her eyes, desperate to get out. Taking a deep breath she sat on their bed, breathing in Neo's scent before she gave in to the sorrow filling her. Damn the Oracle, damn her to Hell.
***
Pudsey had seen the fight, just as everyone had; only Morpheus had been missing from the Mess Hall. She didn't know what had happened when they left, but neither Neo nor Trinity had been seen since. Link was in the core talking to Morpheus about whether or not she could contact Sarah. Everyone seemed to be calling her unicorn, why was that? Maybe it was her hacker name, like Pudsey was hers. She sat down, thinking. What the hell was she going to say to Sarah? She hadn't seen the girl in five years, not since Sarah had left town and she had run away. After what seemed to Pudsey like an eternity of nothing but unanswered questions running round her head, Link emerged from the core.
"Hey kid, you can go in now. Morpheus is contacting the Victress"
"Thanks Link."
"Think nothing of it." Pudsey nodded and entered the core, where Morpheus was waiting by one of the many large machines.
"She's waiting Pudsey, just speak into the microphone." He indicated the large microphone surrounded by speakers before walking away, leaving Pudsey alone. She approached the communications console warily; what if it wasn't the same Sarah she had known? Trying to calm her nerves, she took a deep breath and spoke,
"Sarah?" Her voice shook. It took seconds for the loud, over excited sound of her cousin to reply.
"Hanna! Shit girl, you had me worried""I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"Hey, it's cool girl, you're here now."
"Hey, what about you? You disappeared, I should be the one that's worried!"
"I know, I'm sorry. I shoulda told you, but I just meant were you ok with the whole unplugging, some people take it hard."
"It's not too hard to believe that the world that tortured you for years isn't real. But it's cool, I understand it all now."
"So how are you? Enjoying the freed life?" At that, Pudsey let out a small laugh.
"Everyone says that in there, you're a slave without even realising, but I knew. I was always a slave, so this life is way better. But, listen, I need to talk to you."
"What about?" Pudsey could hear the immediate concern in her cousin's voice. She wasn't like her friends back in the Matrix. If she had told them any of this, they would have gotten so nervous, and laughed, said it wasn't true. But for all that she loved to have fun and party, they both knew that in this life, a serious conversation, was deadly serious.
"The day Neo spoke to me, Mom came to see me."
"Shit, does that bitch ever give up?" Pudsey could almost see her sitting back in her chair, running a hand through her hair, thinking up a way to deal with it.
"I haven't heard from her in years otherwise, they pretty much left me alone when I left. Didn't even pretend to care, but she just really freaked me out. She said she wanted me to forgive her, you know? Build up bridges and all that shit."
"What did you say?""I gave her the speech about how she tried to kill me, and I ain't ever forgiving her for that, and then I told her to fuck off and slammed the door in her face."
"Nice. You know she can't hurt you now right?""Yeah, I guess."
"Hanna. Come on, you've just got away from it all, she can't touch you out here, why are you still not happy?"
"I don't know. It's just, what if she sees me on a mission in the Matrix and tries to talk to me? What if she slows me down and I get caught by the Agents? I don't want to be killed by my fears from the past." Her voice shook and Sarah was quick to reassure her.
"Listen to me. If you get tracked by Agents, you run like hell. You won't let her get in the way, I know. That's what we all do, unless you're Neo. Then you decide to be all super-heroy and fight them. He's supposed to have killed a lot of them."
"Yeah, Neo's alright. He and Trinity seem a decent couple, sort of."
"What do you mean, 'sort of'? They're bloody fucking brilliant together! What's happened?" Shock echoed through Sarah's voice as she knew immediately something was wrong"I don't know. They had a fight in the mess this morning. I think it had something to do with Latch. It looked nasty."
"What shit is this? Han, do you mind if I talk to Trinity? I'll see you later, 'k?""Yeah, whatever."
"And you talk to me if there's any problems. I know it's hectic being a soldier, but I'm your cousin, even if it is all lies, it's there, in our brains and in our hears and I ain't seen you for five years." There was a pause as they prepared for the parting they had long since memorised.
"Talk to me, ok?"
"I will Sarah."
"I know."
***
Trinity watched as Pudsey talked to her cousin. Although the two girls weren't really related, it was obvious they cared for each other a lot; Trinity could hear the venom in Unicorn's voice as soon as Pudsey mentioned her mum, and the way she comforted the younger girl as the fear crept into her words. They trusted each other, that much was obvious. As she continued down that line of thought, Trinity found it lead to thoughts of Neo. They had trusted each other before, with everything. Well, everything that actually mattered anyway. Why the hell was he acting like this? She could see where he was coming from, sure, but he didn't seem to care how she felt. Did he not realise that it was too humiliating to talk about? Did he not understand that she wanted to do something about it herself, for the first time since they had been together to do something on her own? Did he not love her anymore? That was the thought that scared her most- the thought that maybe he didn't, that he only could for a short time. Maybe the Oracle left out the part about him loving her because it could never be in the same measure. She could handle the fact that they were over, she would handle it like she had before but she couldn't handle the thought that maybe Neo just didn't love her anymore, she needed that love to wake up now.
As Trinity watched Pudsey and Unicorn talk, the depth of her thoughts allowed her to be startled when Niobe appeared behind her. However, it took mere seconds for Trinity to regain her composure before she turned to face the older woman.
"Hey."
"What happened?" Never one to mess around.
"What happened about what?" Keep up the cool pretence.
"You know what."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Straight face.
"Yes you do Trinity, you fought in front of the whole damn ship. Tell me what's going on."
"Shit." It was all she said, but on the inside she was, once again, screaming. Now people would be giving her a wide berth, shooting her pitying looks when they thought she wasn't looking. They all knew what happened when Trinity was on the warpath. But they didn't know what she was like when she was hurt, she had never been hurt here, not this badly.
"You and Neo broke up?"
"That's about it, yeah." Don't look away.
"Why Trinity? What the hell happened?"
"You saw, we broke up. End of story." Cold.
"No Trinity, what I saw was you getting your heart ripped out. Breaking up doesn't do."
"And how would you know?"
"Because I've been there. You think I wanted to lose Morpheus? Damn, he's the best thing that's happened to me since I was unplugged."
"Then why are you with Lock?"
"Because Lock needs me Trinity, Morpheus doesn't. And you and Neo need each other."
"I appreciate your concern captain, but I'm fine, I don't need anyone." Without Neo, that's all she ever could be, fine. Not good, not bad. Just fine. And a liar, she could be that too. Niobe gave her a look, but before she could say anything, Pudsey approached.
"Trinity? Sa- um, Unicorn wanted to speak to you."
"Thank you Pudsey, I'll be ready to do some more sims in a few minutes." The girl nodded worriedly.
"I, um, I told her I thought something was up." Pudsey looked scared out of her wits at facing a pissed off Trinity, but the woman allowed nothing to pass over her cold features. She marched easily to the console. Pudsey turned to Niobe and lowered her voice,
"Is she ok?"
"I don't think so. But then, you never can tell with the crew on this ship. The Neb makes people do some pretty strange things." Niobe watched Trinity for a second longer before heading off, deeper into the ship, leaving Pudsey to stand, mystified.
***
"Unicorn, it's Trinity. What can I do for you?" She was already having a bad day; she didn't need any more shit to make it worse.
"What did he do to you?""Nothing." Her tone revealed nothing of the hurt she was feeling; only the exasperation and annoyance.
"Trinity, I know you. You wouldn't sound like this if everything was fine between you two." So Unicorn could hear how annoyed she was. Interesting.
"I never said everything was fine Unicorn, I just said he do anything wrong."
"You did something? Trinity, you love him. Please explain the logic in messing it up."
"It is none of your business, or anyone else's for that matter. Nothing you've heard goes any further, I can't afford to be transferred to another ship, Morpheus needs me here." Always business.
"Bullshit Trinity, you can't leave because you need Neo! Christ, the guy loves you and you love him, what happened?"
"I made a mistake and now I have to deal with the consequences."
"What did you do?" Her voice was calm, and Trinity tried to sound the same after her outburst, Unicorn was only trying to help, she told herself, and she could hear the hurt in Unicorn's voice after she scolded her.
"I didn't tell him something."
"And that is cause enough to ditch the love of your life? What else Trinity?""In my opinion, it's not. But it's not my judgement to make and nor is it yours. This is between Neo, Latch and I."
"Latch? What the hell does he have to do with it? Oh, shit, please tell me I'm wrong, not guys fighting over you or something, is it?"
"And one doesn't play by any rules bar his own. I have to sort this out." The pain in Trinity's voice was evident, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
"Trinity, God, are you ok?""I'm fine." Always fine.
"Really?""I keep thinking of inventive ways to disable Latch, I'm fine."
"Ok, not how to get back with Neo."
"The ball's in his court on that. I have to go run Pudsey through some training sims. She pretty good, you should be proud to know her."
"Yeah, she's my cousin and no one can take that from us. We may only have shared a twisted nightmare, but that's what made us who we are. I love that kid."
"I'll make sure she stays in one piece." She said, the words ringing in her ears.
"Thanks Trinity."
"Don't thank me yet, I might lose her. I'll talk to you when we get to Zion next."
"Sure, you owe me a drink!" With a laugh, the connection was broken and the warrioress went to take care of her charge.
~*~
ROTA: Here are the reviews, I'm v high on suger, so sorry if your reply doesn't make any sense…
leeloo-dalas-multipass84: Thanks! You are very weird, and you should be proud. I know I'm proud of my weirdness. Have read chappie 2, and tis v good (and strange. Again!). You're name is… interesting BTW, where'd ya get it?
Sci-freak GrodySpork:Thanks, I love angst! I love ROTA too, another invention from the wonderful moi!… What do you mean I'm not wonderful? Of course I'm wonderful! Thanx again. Another interesting name.
Maddragon26: Now there's a name I can spell! Thanks, I aim to be different!
Trialia: Thanks, here is the next chappie ! (duh, otherwise you wuldn't be reading this!) I read some of your fics, hope I remembered to review, they're all very good!
Silverrain2: Halo! Happy Birthday for three days and however long it took me to post this ago. I'm not a good writer! I wish people would stop saying that! Ok, I have an idea. How bout I stop saying I'm crap and just accept what others say! Thanks for the review.
Bigjo: Heya!!! You know, I think it's customary to read before you review?
Nyx-Alia: I think it goes against everyones view of their relationship, even mine! Everything will be better, promise. I have to say that, otherwise I'd be overloaded with flames! Just off to go kick Latches ass when I've finished this. It's good for venting anger… or having fun… or when you're bored… or, anytime really.
Anon: Te aurdire no possum. Musa sapienum fixa est in aura. Like I say, I hate anonymous flamers.
Dark Trin: ow! Bullets hurt! Lol, thanks! If it helps, it hurts me to write it. I love being a teen writer! Did you write umm, I think it was called Green? V v good. Way better than mine. Everyone should read it.
Sherry: Thanks, it's good to know somebody gets what I'm saying! Thanks for the review.
Angel-Of-Lightness: Whoo! I'm a star! Twinkle Twinkle little me! Goes and rescues you from bottom of cliff don't fall, I need you to review, and write more stories!!! Neo is lush, gotta agree! It will turn out alright, promise. Everything will be good. Cuz I have to happy ending or I get real sad! Don't fall over, you might hurt yourself!
Protectress of Dalidon: Zanna! Whoo! Helloooo! Sorry. I am v crazy today. Well, I hope this chappies better, since you helped me with it! Thanks for all the help BTW, really appreciated. How about, on the next chappie, as you said you were away, I'll mail it to you, and if after, say a week, you haven't replied I'll post it here and repost it when it's edited? Snow minions! Love it! I added some extra describing stuff and all that. BTW, my straight hair is gone now :'(
There ya go everyone, hope it was worth the wait :D
Please review, can't ramble or owt today, gotta go watch American Pie! Tis funny!