Conviction

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The Matrix and all the characters are property of the Wachowskis. You've heard it all before.

6. Cold, hard steel

Eve left her room the next morning, feeling more alert than she had for a long time. She wandered down the hallway of the ship, looking for breakfast. She turned into the mess room to see Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and the rest of the crew sitting and eating.

'Hey,' she said. Most of the crew glanced up at her, and then continued eating.

'Good morning,' said Fathom, before eating again.

Eve was a little off put by this reception. She had expected talking, smiles- hell, at least a hello, especially from her sister. But Trinity was acting as if she wasn't even there anymore. She was feeling surprised and ashamed about her outbursts of concern for Eve yesterday. Now she was becoming her usual self again- the cold, hard soldier. Moved by nothing.

Eve sat down, and began eating with the rest of them. Not long after, Trinity left the room, followed closely by Neo. Eve finished quickly, and followed her. She came to her door and knocked loudly.

'Who is it?'

'It's me, Eve.'

'Oh. Come in.'

She swung open the door and entered the room. Trinity was busy tidying things away from the day before. She looked up, and then returned to her work. Eve took a step towards her.

'What's up?'

'What do you mean?' Trinity frowned, before walking past Eve and placing something in a drawer.

'Why are you ignoring me?'

'I'm not.'

'Then what was going on at breakfast?'

'Nothing. I was eating, that's all.'

'Exactly. You didn't say one word to me throughout the whole meal.'

'Well, I don't usually talk that much. Why should anything change?'

'Because I used to be your sister, Madison. But I guess now that you're the famous Trinity, that doesn't matter anymore.'

Trinity glared at her, but remained silent.

'I should have known better. You were barely a sister to me in the Matrix.'

'That's a lie.'

'Oh, come on. You were never there! All the time, all the problems I had with Mom, with Dad, and you were never there.' She pointed furiously at Trinity, remembering the suicide, her sister's supposed death. All the pain. 'I guess I should never have expected anything to change.'

She stormed out of the room, wanting to get away from Trinity, from everything.

'Wait.'

Eve turned slowly.

'I'm sorry, OK? But you have to see that I did what I did for our own good- for your own good. It just took a little longer than expected.'

Eve looked to the ground. Cold, hard steel. This was real. None of her past life had actually happened. None of that mattered now. All that mattered was here, now, the real world. 'Well. Now that you've settled your little guilt issue, you might wanna start acting like you know me.'

'Eve, you don't understand. We're soldiers now.'

'We may well be. But more than that, we're sisters. You can't just throw that away.'

And with that, she strode away, leaving Trinity standing at her door. Neo approached from behind her and put his arms around her waist.

'What's up?'

'Nothing.' She paused, and looked ahead of her. She could trust this guy, right? So why wasn't she telling him her problems? Maybe there was something wrong with her. 'Alright, so maybe there is. It's Eve.'

'Well, she's new. It takes a while to get used to everything, you know that. Plus, she thought you were dead.' He smiled and kissed her neck.

'I guess so.' It was strange, the way Neo never said anything concrete, no strong facts, but it always seemed to comfort her. She turned around and slipped into his embrace.

'She should be starting the training program later. I think you two would be good sparring together.'

'Mmm,' she murmured, her face buried in his chest.

Well, sorry its been so long, but with holidays and exchange students and the like, its been hard. Ended this one with a liiittle bit of fluff- hope ya don't mind. :) So- on to the thankyous.

Da Buffster- I've tried to correct some of the things you pointed out from the last chapter. And also added some anger. :) The review comment wasn't directed at you personally, I was just generally kinda sick of three reviews every chapter. But I have six this time, so yay! Thanks for the support. I'm not planning to send Trinity to Guides in the near future, but that could be the subject of another, more humorous story! ;) Again, thanks for reviewing.

shorty62100- Thankyou! Possible damsel in distress-ness coming, if I can fit it into the plot. Also action sequences. I'm probably going to try and bring them in after Eve has gone through the training, so keep on reading!

thereisnobrain- Nooo! Oh dear. Well I just hope there's not too much blood. I'm still going, slowly, but I had a bit of a block with this chapter- and the above reasons got in the way. Stick with me…in spirit!

angel of darkness 4585- Thankyou- especially for the originality comment. I hate reading stories that have obviously stolen ideas. Keep reviewing!

Agent Josey- I'm sorry. You make that comment about nobody updating, and then what do I do? I leave it about two weeks before updating. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to annoy you. ;) But then you did say you came under the category yourself, so you must understand. Thankyou, and congratulations on being my most faithful reviewer to date. Keep it up!

followthewhitering- Thank for the comments. I've tried to rectify that a bit with this chapter- hope you like it. As for the jealousy idea, I will tread with the utmost care. Keep reviewing!