Sorry about that evil cliffie, I did actually feel bad about that. But
they're not going to get any better... Check the title if you don't believe
me! And enjoy the next chapter! I wasn't too sure about it, so I'd be happy
to hear what you think! Oh, and sorry it's a bit short as well...
Chapter 6 - Deliverance
Asha's mind had nearly fluttered away when suddenly she felt a wrenching pain in her chest. Her mind suddenly returned, and her body was hit with a massive shock that made her gasp, and she fell to the ground. As she lay there, eyes closed, she was aware of movement around her. Something was happening. Warmth had returned to her body, but she didn't care. The shock had left her completely without strength. All she knew was that she was alive, and in essence, still herself.
Suddenly she felt herself being lifted into the air. She felt the sensation of flight. She was aware that someone was holding onto her. After a while, the sensation stopped, and she was put back onto the ground.
"Asha?" said a voice, "Asha! Wake up!"
I don't want to, thought Asha, I want to sleep.
"Asha, come on!"
Asha muttered a profanity and slapped the hand that was resting on her head. But she felt alertness returning to her mind, and her eyes fluttered open.
She was on the roof of a low rise apartment building. Around her was laid out the city of Manhattan, with the ocean gleaming in the distance. She shook her head slightly, and tried to sit up. This made her head spin, and a hand pushed her down again.
"Rest," said the voice, "It's alright. You've been through a lot, but you're safe now." Asha looked up at the source of the voice. She blinked.
". David?" She couldn't believe it. And yet there he was, on his knees next to her. His eyes were unreadable behind his sunglasses. But the fact that he had just saved her was confusing enough to be getting along with. "What. what happened?"
"I was late," said David, shrugging.
"But... but..." said Asha, "Why did you stop him?"
"I don't need to explain all my actions," said David. But there was something in his face that made Asha think. Asha stared at him, trying to figure it out, but he deliberately looked away. Suddenly it hit her.
"That was you, wasn't it?" she said, "The voice in my head? The night the agents came."
David reluctantly nodded. "Thought you'd realise that eventually."
"But why?"
"On the night the agents came for you, they were just going to kill you. I didn't want them to do that. What was the use?"
Asha shook her head. This was too incredible. He had been trying to save her? "And when I went to see the Oracle?" she asked, "It was you warning me about the agents then?"
"I wanted to meet you," he said, "Not get you shot."
"But-" said Asha. She'd just remembered - a voice had told her how to escape when she was being held captive. That couldn't have been David, why would he do that? Then who had that been?
"Have you been hearing other voices as well?" asked David. Asha blinked. She'd forgotten that he could sense certain emotions. David watched her face. "I can tell you have," he said. He looked out over the horizon. Asha watched the back of his head, still on the ground. She tried to get up again, but an overwhelming wave of tiredness prevented her. She propped herself up on her elbows, and tried to reach into his mind. But it took too much effort.
"Why?" she asked. David turned round, an eyebrow raised.
"Has Morpheus never told you why they know that you're the second hope?"
"I-" she began, but then realised that he was right. She didn't know why. "Why?"
David smirked. "That's not for me to tell you," he said, "Ask your precious Neo."
Asha tried to get her thoughts in order, but all this new confusing stuff was filling up her mind, making it very difficult. Plus, she was still shaken and exhausted from Agent Smith's attack; she found it very strange how tired she was, Neo had recovered in seconds.
"Why did you save me?" asked Asha.
David looked out over the city again. He was silent for a while. Asha was about to ask him again when he said "Something's happening, Asha. Something that'll affect the whole of the Matrix, and the real world. There's nothing I can do to stop it." He turned to face her. "But there's something you can do. I needed to tell you, so that you would do it."
"What's happening?" asked Asha, "Is it bad for humankind?"
"Yes," said David.
"Then why are you telling me?" she asked, "You're on the machines' side, remember?"
"How could I forget?" asked David, "But I'll say that it causes some bad things for me as well."
"What is it?" asked Asha again. David opened his mouth to answer, when he saw something behind Asha. His face went emotionless.
"You'll just have to find out yourself," he said, "It seems some members of your crew aren't as grateful as you for me saving your life." With that, he leapt down into the street below. At that second, Neo landed next to her.
"Asha! Are you all right?" he asked urgently, "What happened?"
Asha was too angry to care. "Why? Why did you come?" she asked, "David was about to tell me something important!"
"How can you still trust him?" asked Neo, "After what just happened?"
"It wasn't his fault!" protested Asha, "It was Agent Smith, he found out I was meeting him, and he got to me first, and - well, you know the rest."
"No I don't," said Neo, "We saw Agent Smith come, but then the code went strange. Morpheus immediately sent me in after you. What happened?"
Asha remembered the feeling she'd had, of her mind slipping away. She shivered - if David hadn't come... "He tried to turn me into him."
"He what?!" said Neo.
"Tried to turn me into him," said Asha, "It's something he can do, he can make duplicates of himself. And he would have succeeded if David hadn't saved me."
"Why?" said Neo, "Why would he want to save you? Asha, he tried to KILL you!"
Asha's head was starting to spin again. "He never actually has tried to kill me," she said, suddenly realising, "If anything, all he's ever done is try to stop Agent Smith from killing me."
Neo shook his head in disbelief. "We've got to get you back to the Nebuchadnezzar," he said, "We need to tell Morpheus. Can you stand?"
Asha, leaning on Neo, got shakily to her feet. But she immediately regretted it - the world span around her, darkness rapidly filled her mind again. She gave up fighting and fell unconscious.
* * * * *
As Asha began to fall, Neo reacted quickly and caught her before she hit the floor. He lay her down again. Her eyes were closed, and he couldn't see her breathing.
"Asha!" he called, "Asha! Can you hear me?"
She didn't respond. Neo swore loudly and pulled out his phone. He'd become very protective of Asha over the short time he'd known her, ever since he'd stopped the agents taking her away on that night at her house. He looked on her as his responsibility, and couldn't let anything bad happen to her. He shouldn't have let her go and meet David, he'd known something like this would happen. How could he have let this happen?
"Operator."
"Tank, is Asha still alive?"
Morpheus looked at the screen next to Asha's sleeping body. There was a pulse, but it was quite weak.
"She's alive, Neo."
Neo breathed a sigh of relief.
"But we need to get her back here. There's an exit nearby, in the teashop where Asha came in."
"Right," said Neo. He put the phone back in his pocket and lifted Asha into his arms. He then leapt into the air and flew as fast as he could back to the shop.
*****
I'm just going to reassure you - this story is NOT a Mary-Sue. And onto the callouts...
Luna - Well, not necessarily... *evil smirk*
Artemis - Yeah, that's one of my favourites as well. Sorry, I did over- cliche it... *shame* But in my defence, I thought that it made a good storyline, and interesting character development. It also means that I can show off to my English teacher, who really doesn't like me... "Yes, well, I'm just working on a story. There's some interesting character development as the story progresses..." Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you didn't find it too bad.
MollyJean - Me + muffins + compliments = HAPPY! Good guess about David, by the way! Smithy wasn't using a blocker, as you saw in this chapter. Glad you're enjoying it! In case you're wondering, the reason Neo didn't turn up till then was that it took a moment to find her.
Im a Brandybuck - Well, I'm sure he would be slightly worried. Maybe not very scared, but slightly worried. And, as Asha proves, ANYONE can be a hero! It depends on what you do with your life! *cheesy music starts up* OH NO!!! I'M TURNING INTO HARRY POTTER!!!
Kit19 - *ducks projectiles* Two? Two never came... *looks out into the garden and sees Two coming* AAARGH!!! STAY BACK!!! I HAVE CHEESINESS!!!
Two: NOOOO! *runs away*
Deity of Sorrow - Aah! I'm hurrying I'm hurrying! *doubles typing speed*
KnowInSight - Uh, short and to the point.
Alocin - Don't worry, lots of my reviewers are Smithy fans. Don't blame you. I thought about letting Smith Smithify her, but then I thought, 'Uh, haven't you got a story to finish after this?' Then I thought about letting his failed attempt affect her, so that she can hear things that are going on far away (like an agent's earpiece) but THEN Harry Potter 5 came out, and I thought 'OK, this story's enough like Harry Potter already...' What do you think?
Yilantri - Fie on me? Sorry that you don't like the fact that I exist... Would you like me to stop existing? Ahhh, but then you'd never find out the ending... Which is also going to be on a slightly different track from the Matrix: Revolutions...
Huntress - Well, I don't think it was. I deliberately didn't make it so that he couldn't - uh - Smithify her, as alocin put it. Otherwise she would be too much like Neo, and I'm really trying to keep this story from doing that.
Littlefurryscrubcreature - Yup. Sweet and innocent. That's me. That's probably why two girls in my year were so shocked when they discovered that when it comes to basketball, I am BRUTAL.
Sirocco.flow - That's another thing I'm brutal with - cliffies. Maybe I am doing too many... And yes, it was the trainman dude. He's supposed to be like Charon, who rowed the souls of the dead across to the Underworld, where Hades and Persephone lived... ring any bells?
Elektra, Becca and Claire - Oh dear. Penguins, stop stealing Elektra's sanity. Come and deal with the vampires in my wardrobe, or steal brownies for my Wob-Wobs. They're getting hungry.
Gone-to-jarmadanga - Did I send it to you? I can't remember, I've just had so much to do - my brain is actually full. As soon as I shove in another bit of information, an older bit is forced out. That's why people don't like sitting on my right hand side during lessons...
Theshiz - Of course I have! I saw it the day it came out! Sorry I - uh - cliffhangered you. You'd better get used to it...
Jack Cole - Mein Lieblingsfach ist Kunst. Ich mag auch Kunst, Religion, Mathe und Latein. Ich finde Deutsch in Ordnung. And naughty Hobbit-eyes broke a couple of site rules, not purposefully though. Naughty Hobbit-eyes breaks rules without meaning too, precious. Naughty Hobbit-eyes doesn't mean any harm. And naughty Hobbit-eyes is getting sick of talking in the third person.
Sci-freak GrodySpork - I know! My friend reads all my stories, and we went to see the Matrix: Revolutions together. When we saw that, we both turned and stared at each other in absolute shock, and I squeaked, "They stole my idea!"
Anyways, see all you peeps later! When I next update! Which should be soon, as soon as I now have the whole Christmas holidays to write my stories!
Chapter 6 - Deliverance
Asha's mind had nearly fluttered away when suddenly she felt a wrenching pain in her chest. Her mind suddenly returned, and her body was hit with a massive shock that made her gasp, and she fell to the ground. As she lay there, eyes closed, she was aware of movement around her. Something was happening. Warmth had returned to her body, but she didn't care. The shock had left her completely without strength. All she knew was that she was alive, and in essence, still herself.
Suddenly she felt herself being lifted into the air. She felt the sensation of flight. She was aware that someone was holding onto her. After a while, the sensation stopped, and she was put back onto the ground.
"Asha?" said a voice, "Asha! Wake up!"
I don't want to, thought Asha, I want to sleep.
"Asha, come on!"
Asha muttered a profanity and slapped the hand that was resting on her head. But she felt alertness returning to her mind, and her eyes fluttered open.
She was on the roof of a low rise apartment building. Around her was laid out the city of Manhattan, with the ocean gleaming in the distance. She shook her head slightly, and tried to sit up. This made her head spin, and a hand pushed her down again.
"Rest," said the voice, "It's alright. You've been through a lot, but you're safe now." Asha looked up at the source of the voice. She blinked.
". David?" She couldn't believe it. And yet there he was, on his knees next to her. His eyes were unreadable behind his sunglasses. But the fact that he had just saved her was confusing enough to be getting along with. "What. what happened?"
"I was late," said David, shrugging.
"But... but..." said Asha, "Why did you stop him?"
"I don't need to explain all my actions," said David. But there was something in his face that made Asha think. Asha stared at him, trying to figure it out, but he deliberately looked away. Suddenly it hit her.
"That was you, wasn't it?" she said, "The voice in my head? The night the agents came."
David reluctantly nodded. "Thought you'd realise that eventually."
"But why?"
"On the night the agents came for you, they were just going to kill you. I didn't want them to do that. What was the use?"
Asha shook her head. This was too incredible. He had been trying to save her? "And when I went to see the Oracle?" she asked, "It was you warning me about the agents then?"
"I wanted to meet you," he said, "Not get you shot."
"But-" said Asha. She'd just remembered - a voice had told her how to escape when she was being held captive. That couldn't have been David, why would he do that? Then who had that been?
"Have you been hearing other voices as well?" asked David. Asha blinked. She'd forgotten that he could sense certain emotions. David watched her face. "I can tell you have," he said. He looked out over the horizon. Asha watched the back of his head, still on the ground. She tried to get up again, but an overwhelming wave of tiredness prevented her. She propped herself up on her elbows, and tried to reach into his mind. But it took too much effort.
"Why?" she asked. David turned round, an eyebrow raised.
"Has Morpheus never told you why they know that you're the second hope?"
"I-" she began, but then realised that he was right. She didn't know why. "Why?"
David smirked. "That's not for me to tell you," he said, "Ask your precious Neo."
Asha tried to get her thoughts in order, but all this new confusing stuff was filling up her mind, making it very difficult. Plus, she was still shaken and exhausted from Agent Smith's attack; she found it very strange how tired she was, Neo had recovered in seconds.
"Why did you save me?" asked Asha.
David looked out over the city again. He was silent for a while. Asha was about to ask him again when he said "Something's happening, Asha. Something that'll affect the whole of the Matrix, and the real world. There's nothing I can do to stop it." He turned to face her. "But there's something you can do. I needed to tell you, so that you would do it."
"What's happening?" asked Asha, "Is it bad for humankind?"
"Yes," said David.
"Then why are you telling me?" she asked, "You're on the machines' side, remember?"
"How could I forget?" asked David, "But I'll say that it causes some bad things for me as well."
"What is it?" asked Asha again. David opened his mouth to answer, when he saw something behind Asha. His face went emotionless.
"You'll just have to find out yourself," he said, "It seems some members of your crew aren't as grateful as you for me saving your life." With that, he leapt down into the street below. At that second, Neo landed next to her.
"Asha! Are you all right?" he asked urgently, "What happened?"
Asha was too angry to care. "Why? Why did you come?" she asked, "David was about to tell me something important!"
"How can you still trust him?" asked Neo, "After what just happened?"
"It wasn't his fault!" protested Asha, "It was Agent Smith, he found out I was meeting him, and he got to me first, and - well, you know the rest."
"No I don't," said Neo, "We saw Agent Smith come, but then the code went strange. Morpheus immediately sent me in after you. What happened?"
Asha remembered the feeling she'd had, of her mind slipping away. She shivered - if David hadn't come... "He tried to turn me into him."
"He what?!" said Neo.
"Tried to turn me into him," said Asha, "It's something he can do, he can make duplicates of himself. And he would have succeeded if David hadn't saved me."
"Why?" said Neo, "Why would he want to save you? Asha, he tried to KILL you!"
Asha's head was starting to spin again. "He never actually has tried to kill me," she said, suddenly realising, "If anything, all he's ever done is try to stop Agent Smith from killing me."
Neo shook his head in disbelief. "We've got to get you back to the Nebuchadnezzar," he said, "We need to tell Morpheus. Can you stand?"
Asha, leaning on Neo, got shakily to her feet. But she immediately regretted it - the world span around her, darkness rapidly filled her mind again. She gave up fighting and fell unconscious.
* * * * *
As Asha began to fall, Neo reacted quickly and caught her before she hit the floor. He lay her down again. Her eyes were closed, and he couldn't see her breathing.
"Asha!" he called, "Asha! Can you hear me?"
She didn't respond. Neo swore loudly and pulled out his phone. He'd become very protective of Asha over the short time he'd known her, ever since he'd stopped the agents taking her away on that night at her house. He looked on her as his responsibility, and couldn't let anything bad happen to her. He shouldn't have let her go and meet David, he'd known something like this would happen. How could he have let this happen?
"Operator."
"Tank, is Asha still alive?"
Morpheus looked at the screen next to Asha's sleeping body. There was a pulse, but it was quite weak.
"She's alive, Neo."
Neo breathed a sigh of relief.
"But we need to get her back here. There's an exit nearby, in the teashop where Asha came in."
"Right," said Neo. He put the phone back in his pocket and lifted Asha into his arms. He then leapt into the air and flew as fast as he could back to the shop.
*****
I'm just going to reassure you - this story is NOT a Mary-Sue. And onto the callouts...
Luna - Well, not necessarily... *evil smirk*
Artemis - Yeah, that's one of my favourites as well. Sorry, I did over- cliche it... *shame* But in my defence, I thought that it made a good storyline, and interesting character development. It also means that I can show off to my English teacher, who really doesn't like me... "Yes, well, I'm just working on a story. There's some interesting character development as the story progresses..." Ahem. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you didn't find it too bad.
MollyJean - Me + muffins + compliments = HAPPY! Good guess about David, by the way! Smithy wasn't using a blocker, as you saw in this chapter. Glad you're enjoying it! In case you're wondering, the reason Neo didn't turn up till then was that it took a moment to find her.
Im a Brandybuck - Well, I'm sure he would be slightly worried. Maybe not very scared, but slightly worried. And, as Asha proves, ANYONE can be a hero! It depends on what you do with your life! *cheesy music starts up* OH NO!!! I'M TURNING INTO HARRY POTTER!!!
Kit19 - *ducks projectiles* Two? Two never came... *looks out into the garden and sees Two coming* AAARGH!!! STAY BACK!!! I HAVE CHEESINESS!!!
Two: NOOOO! *runs away*
Deity of Sorrow - Aah! I'm hurrying I'm hurrying! *doubles typing speed*
KnowInSight - Uh, short and to the point.
Alocin - Don't worry, lots of my reviewers are Smithy fans. Don't blame you. I thought about letting Smith Smithify her, but then I thought, 'Uh, haven't you got a story to finish after this?' Then I thought about letting his failed attempt affect her, so that she can hear things that are going on far away (like an agent's earpiece) but THEN Harry Potter 5 came out, and I thought 'OK, this story's enough like Harry Potter already...' What do you think?
Yilantri - Fie on me? Sorry that you don't like the fact that I exist... Would you like me to stop existing? Ahhh, but then you'd never find out the ending... Which is also going to be on a slightly different track from the Matrix: Revolutions...
Huntress - Well, I don't think it was. I deliberately didn't make it so that he couldn't - uh - Smithify her, as alocin put it. Otherwise she would be too much like Neo, and I'm really trying to keep this story from doing that.
Littlefurryscrubcreature - Yup. Sweet and innocent. That's me. That's probably why two girls in my year were so shocked when they discovered that when it comes to basketball, I am BRUTAL.
Sirocco.flow - That's another thing I'm brutal with - cliffies. Maybe I am doing too many... And yes, it was the trainman dude. He's supposed to be like Charon, who rowed the souls of the dead across to the Underworld, where Hades and Persephone lived... ring any bells?
Elektra, Becca and Claire - Oh dear. Penguins, stop stealing Elektra's sanity. Come and deal with the vampires in my wardrobe, or steal brownies for my Wob-Wobs. They're getting hungry.
Gone-to-jarmadanga - Did I send it to you? I can't remember, I've just had so much to do - my brain is actually full. As soon as I shove in another bit of information, an older bit is forced out. That's why people don't like sitting on my right hand side during lessons...
Theshiz - Of course I have! I saw it the day it came out! Sorry I - uh - cliffhangered you. You'd better get used to it...
Jack Cole - Mein Lieblingsfach ist Kunst. Ich mag auch Kunst, Religion, Mathe und Latein. Ich finde Deutsch in Ordnung. And naughty Hobbit-eyes broke a couple of site rules, not purposefully though. Naughty Hobbit-eyes breaks rules without meaning too, precious. Naughty Hobbit-eyes doesn't mean any harm. And naughty Hobbit-eyes is getting sick of talking in the third person.
Sci-freak GrodySpork - I know! My friend reads all my stories, and we went to see the Matrix: Revolutions together. When we saw that, we both turned and stared at each other in absolute shock, and I squeaked, "They stole my idea!"
Anyways, see all you peeps later! When I next update! Which should be soon, as soon as I now have the whole Christmas holidays to write my stories!