A/N: ok, this is an….odd chapter. Hope you like it anyway, it's a little long. As always, R&R, and I might make some more! Well, I'll make more anyway, but R&R cos it's fun :)
Thanks to Annika Moss, I'm a fool of a Took
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Paradox opened his eyes in the real world to find Reflex standing in front of him with a grave look on his face. Behind him, Mace who had very strong feelings for Turb0, sat on a crate of tools, weeping into her hands.
"Cap't wants to see you in her quarters." he said as he helped Paradox to his feet. Paradox nodded slowly, wiping tears from his eyes that had somehow been spilt in the real world too.
He knocked on Lewar's door, and entered. She was siting on the floor, against her bunk, and he was half surprised to se her crying into her knees. He sat next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and smiled weakly.
"Are you alright, Lee?" he asked. "Before, you didn't let it get to you at all, you were stronger and more in control that I've ever seen you before."
"Well, let's just call it postponed emotion. I needed to stay in control before, as you weren't."
He blushed, and then felt hot tears forming in his eyes once again, but lifted his head to look her in the eyes, those deep, blue eyes.
"You know it wasn't your fault. There was nothing more you could've done for him," she said strongly.
"I was too slow," he said bitterly. "I should've felt the Agents, I should felt them coming! If I wasn't so slow, Turb0 would still be here!"
"No, Dox, I don't think anything you could've done would've stopped this from happening. She told me…." She trailed off, but drew a breath and continued. "She told me that everything would start today, and if one lost means hundreds found, then so be it, as cruel as it is. I didn't know who was going to be the one lost or when they would die, and she refused to tell me."
He breathed in with regret. "I guess you're right. It's not like it won't be painful. Turb0 is gone, and no matter how much good comes from what happens in the future, this will always hurt."
She nodded, and the pain and sorrow reflected in each other's eyes was so intense Paradox had to look away.
"What did she tell you?" she asked.
"She said I was important," he began slowly. "That my being able to feel the Agents and feel what was going to happen a split second before it did, is a result of us filling the gaps of Neo's abilities."
"Us?"
"Trinity, Morpheus, one other…. and you and I."
Lewar's eye's widened. "You and I are to fight along side some of the greatest hero's Zion has ever known?"
"That's what I gathered. She told me clear enough, but she has a history of having second meanings."
"Did she say anything else?"
"Only that that stunt I pulled last night was too risky, because I was valuable too lose, not just in my role for whatever is meant to happen next."
"She's right you know."
Here we go, thought Paradox. One 'I told you so' coming up.
"You are too valuable. To this ship…" She hesitated on something that had been on the edge of her lips for a long time. "…and to me."
Slowly, she pressed her lips against his. For a moment, Paradox was confused and almost in shock, but then all doubt was gone, as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her with a passion he had never known was there. After what may have been an age pass by in a second, Lewar gradually withdrew. Paradox could feel an emotion he had never felt before, but could see that Lewar felt it too.
He stood up with out a word, and walked to the Core for his shift on watching the Matrix, feeling both deliriously happy and shrouded with a terrible grief at the same time.
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The crew of the Shadow came back to Zion for the burial of Turb0. The funeral was the same as for every warrior of Zion that had been buried there. The crew dressed in the ships formal uniform, a grey shirt with black pants, and the logo of a person's shadow on their shoulder. On the grave, Lewar placed one of Paradox's drawings, a picture of Turb0 standing next to his two loves, his Hotrod, and Mace.
After the somber burial, the Lewar needed to cheer up and catch up on news, so they headed straight for The Rusted Hull, a tavern for the crews and ex-crews of ships. Nodding to some familiar faces, they sat down with the crew of the Orion, and ordered four glasses. Unfortunately, the only drink available was a strong mix of rum, scotch and vodka, making it very difficult to get down.
"Hey, what's with all the fancy clothes, Lee?" slurred Socket, captain of the Orion. He was usually much smarter than he looked, but after a few drinks, he tended to be a little slow.
"We lost Turb0," answered Lewar shortly.
"Oh God, I'm sorry" he said as his face fell. "I didn't think. He was a good man, and then best damn driver I've ever seen."
"He sure was," said Mace, raising her glass that had just arrived. "To Turb0, who died for the resistance."
"To Turb0, who died like a hero," they replied, the traditional reply to a toast to someone who died in battle.
"So what's the word here?" asked Paradox.
"Well, there's been a lot of rumors about odd Squiddie activity in the area about 9000km south of here, in the thin pipes," answered Gold, gunner of the Orion. Her long blond hair usually caught the attention of young men, and sure enough, two were trying to get her attention in that very bar. Unfortunately for them, she had been married inside the Matrix, and her husband had been killed by Agents while she was being unplugged, and she had stayed loyal to him. "Weak Squiddie signals would reach scanners of ships in that area, and then disappear," she continued. "Unfortunately, all the ships available right now are too large too fit through those pipes. Only 2 ships in Zion can do that."
Paradox and Lewar exchanged glances.
"Looks like we just volunteered," said Reflex. "Council are bound to bring it up while we're there anyway."
"Why are you going to the Council?" inquired Socket.
"We've found a new potential, and we thought we may as well let them know about it."
"They'll be pleased about that, there's been a drought of potentials these days."
"Looks like we're in for a busy few weeks then," said Paradox.
"Seems so," sighed Reflex. "Oh well, it's better than doing nothing, I guess. We better be off again, Cap'n. We're due in front of the Council in fifteen minutes."
"Ok then. Good to see you guys again," said Lewar, shaking the other crew's hands warmly. "Stay out of trouble, Socket."
"I try," he belched.
The meeting with the Zion Council didn't go all that badly. As they expected, they were given the task of examining the odd Sentinel appearances, and the fate of Fear, the new potential, but they didn't really mind. As Reflex said, it's better than doing nothing. To all their relief, Lewar declared that the rest of the evening was theirs to do as they pleased, and that they had to be at the ship at 11:00am the next day.
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Paradox headed straight to his small room that served for accommodation during these short visits, where he changed into a shabby rust coloured T-shirt and baggy black pants, ripped at the knees. He pulled out drawing materials, and started a drawing of the combined crews of the Orion and the Shadow, when Lewar knocked on the door.
"Hey Cap'n!" said Paradox, imitating Reflex's address.
"Hey, Doxxie!" answered Lewar with a grin. Paradox hated that name.
She came in, and they sat on the small bed, with the room lit with half a dozen candles to get rid of the mechainical feeling the neon lights gave off.
"Are you ok after this morning, Lee?" he asked.
"Yeah. I was more worried about Mace. She really loved him."
"I know."
"Really?"
"I usually had the night watch on the Core, and they had to walk through that to get to each other's rooms," he grinned. "I remember once when Turb0 thought I didn't know he was there, and he crashed into a box off tools. It certainly gave him the fright of his life."
"I always wondered what that big crashing was." She sighed. "I sometimes wonder why I decided to become a captain. I'm not prepared to take the loss of a crew member and a friend, and then remain in command."
"Bullshit. I was the one shooting a dead body of an Agent that wasn't there anymore."
They sat in silence for a while, with nothing but the scratching of Paradox's pencils and the occasional pop from a candle. Lewar was absorbed in some of the works covering the walls. Paradox looked at her for a little while, and then put down his pencil and took her hand in his. She looked a little surprised, but didn't try to remove her hand, so he thought that must be a good thing.
"Does this count as a 'stupid life wasting risk'?" he asked, teasing her.
"No," she grinned. "But this might." Leaning forward, she kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and Paradox couldn't think of anything else except for how much he loved her, although he probably wouldn't tell her for a while. He never could get the courage to say these kind of things.
Ever so gradually, she withdrew. "We can't go too far, you know. I mean, we do have a ship to run, and quite a few things on our 'To Do' list," she smiled at him. "I came to ask you if you wanted to go visit and Reflex's family. We were all gonna visit them, and I noticed you got along well with his brother."
"Sure," he answered. "I wanna talk to him about the updates in code translation for the construct, he's done quite a bit in that field." They walked outside, into the streets of Zion, hand in hand. Reflex came up to meet them, smiling to himself at the sight of them. He was wondering when something was going to happen between then.
A/N: did I just write that? holy crap, I'm loosing it. *dances in a cirlce* I'M A CRAZY NUT! IM A CRAZY NUT! YAAAAAY!
TRA LI LA LA LI LA!!!!!
that was odd. ANYWAY! R&R tell my im crazy, make me write more!
*mutters "I can't believe I just wrote that…what's happening to me?!"*
