the matrix
second cycle

part ii: ghosts' story

Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life.

England, 1883

Two young boys watched three suited men walking towards them. Each was the mirror image of the other, from the short white hair to the odd silver-grey eyes to the white breeches and shirts. They had no names, only numbers, 1 and 2 respectively, or the Twins collectively. They were programs, of course, and they knew it well. They also knew that they had been created to be assassins, though they weren't entirely sure at this point what an assassin was. They assumed it had to do with killing people; after all, that was what they were being trained to do.

But 2 had heard the old men talking. They were taking too much pleasure in their training. Neither child understood why this was a bad thing. Wasn't it a game of sorts, something amusing to do? That was how the old men had been explaining it to them from the start. But 2 had heard that they were to be deleted, and of course found and told his Twin.

Eventually they had decided that deleting someone was the same as killing them, and neither Twin wished to be deleted. They had decided to leave, and were about to do so in a rather spectacular manner. They had a certain ability that had not originally been provided to them: the ability to phase, to become insubstantial and thus pass through obstacles. This also allowed other things to pass through them, and 1 had discovered on accident that utilising this ability healed any injuries they had sustained.

They had attained this ability four years earlier, when a pretty lady had walked into their room, saying she knew of the project behind the creation of the Matrix's first - and failed - ghost programs. She told them what exactly had gone wrong with the System's version of phasing programmed into them and had fixed it. Not being fools, the then-six-year-old Twins had never mentioned the visitation to anyone, not even to their two-year-old sister. The old men had named her 3; they had named her Valkyrie and reacted violently when she was called otherwise. They also took to calling themselves One and Two, which were closer to names than 1 and 2.

Perhaps it was this independent streak of theirs that worried the old men, or perhaps their high intelligence. Finding their fixed ability to phase useful, they had scanned each other's programming to discover the makeup of their patch, then wrote an upgrade for Valkyrie. They had also taken over her education, insisting that she learn with them. They only allowed her to be separated from them during combat training.

Even now, as they were preparing to escape the old men and their facility, she was with them, trustingly holding One's hand. One turned to his Twin. "Are we ready?" The Twins, being acutely aware of each other's thoughts and emotions, tended to view themselves as one being in two bodies and therefore referred to themselves and each other in the first-person plural.

"Yes, we are," Two said with a cold smile. "We have them." With that, he strode quickly towards the suited men. Each one of the three raised a strange-looking gun and opened fire, but One, Two, and Valkyrie all phased, avoiding the bullets. One of the three men had time to look surprised before Two was upon them, bringing to bear a large shard of glass he had palmed after "accidentally" breaking a window during their escape.

The glass slit the throat of that first man, spraying Two with crimson blood. Two barely noticed as he leapt up and snapped the second man's neck, confiscating his firearm and, after taking a moment to figure it out, shot the third man twice in the chest. "Let's go," he said, dropping the weapon and reaching for his latest victim's gun. One had already grabbed the gun belonging to the first man. Two phased, ridding himself of the sticky blood, before sliding his new weapon into the waistband of his white breeches.

Thus did the Twins escape with their Sister, leaving a trail of blood in their wake.

Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice.

Scotland, 1885

Two slipped into the barn he, One, and Valkyrie were currently using as their hiding place, bearing the food he'd managed to steal. He delivered the goods, then drew his brother aside to talk quietly while Valkyrie ate.

"We cannot go on like this," he said, absently toying with the horsetail he and One had taken to wearing as their hair grew longer.

"No, we cannot," One replied, casting a look to Valkyrie. "If we are caught, they will surely delete us."

Two also looked at the female program. "We cannot allow that."

"No, we cannot," One agreed.

Two considered the problem, as did One. Finally, Two offered, "We could always do as we were trained. We overheard some men talking when we were out."

One accessed the memories, then nodded as he reviewed the conversation about hiring an assassin to kill a certain man. "We will have to be careful," he cautioned. "If we aren't, it is likely they will try to cheat us."

"Yes. That is human nature," Two answered. "We could pretend to be fronts for an adult killer," he said after a moment.

One nodded. "That would be good. They might condescend to us, but they would not mock us if they thought we were go-betweens."

Two's mouth twitched. He hated being spoken to as if he were a stupid human child. "Perhaps we," he indicated his brother, "should make the deals. We," he now indicated himself, "would most likely end up killing them out of rage."

One nodded. His temper was notably longer than his brother's. "Besides," he added, "it is probably best that only one of us are seen. We stand out quite a bit."

Two nodded, for even in this cold land, they had seen no one else with skin as pale as theirs, or with white hair. If they were seen together or with Valkyrie, it would surely call the attention of the strangely dressed men to them.

"We will go out once night has fallen," One said, and Two nodded agreement.

They had gotten the job – or rather, their cover story had gotten the job. One had pretended to work for a man named Gemini – a task made extremely hard given the fact that both he and Two were unable to lie. Fortunately, he seemed to be very good at twisting the truth to suit his purposes. It wasn't lying, but it wasn't telling the truth either. Being cryptic seemed to be a loophole as far as lying went. Someone had thought ahead as far as their programming was concerned.

One returned to their barn to let his brother know about their new job. Two volunteered to do the deed, and One nodded. He had acquired the job, and one of them needed to remain to guard Valkyrie. Once she was older, she would be able to guard herself, but for now, they could not leave her alone. Separation annoyed both of them, but it was for the greater good of their Sister, of whom they were fiercely protective.

Valkyrie was eight, and would be ready to defend herself accurately in two years if the Twins had anything to say about it. They made sure to train her near to exhaustion, but if their methods seemed cruel, it was all swept away by how they treated her after the training. They were attentive older brothers, massaging her sore muscles and helping to treat the wounds she received during training. Her ability to phase took care of wounds made in the physical plane, but they had discovered that they were able to wound each other when insubstantial to humans. The Twins' wounds would heal, albeit slowly, after returning to the physical and phasing again, but Valkyrie's would not, leaving them to make sure the cuts would not get infected.

She had a strong distaste for fighting, but she told them that she understood why they were teaching her to do so, which helped ease their collective guilt that rose from their harsh treatment of her during the training.

Two gave their Sister's white hair a farewell stroke before slipping out of the barn and into the night. One watched him go, and soon contacted him. We stick out, he told his Twin. We need to find a way to darken ourselves so as not to be caught. Two agreed, and managed to locate a large puddle of mud. They were about as rare in England as beer was in Germany, after all.

He coated himself thoroughly in the gunk, expressing his displeasure at this the entire time through his link to his amused brother, who gave him the needed encouragement and told him to move along.

The deed was done swiftly and efficiently, aided by Two's phasing ability. A swift cut across the throat with a razor, and their target was dead. Two liked the feel of the razor and brought three back with him.

The next day, when the lord was discovered murdered in his bedroom, One collected their pay as the go-between and returned home to train Valkyrie and to learn with Two how to use the razors as combat weapons.

Gemini was in business.

Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is best.

Ireland, 1889

The Twins were fifteen, their sister eleven. They weren't sure when their operation had collapsed in on them, but they were now on the run, Valkyrie with them. They had made it to Ireland without much incident, except for a man tailing them. He looked like any other human, but something about him made the Twins wary. He had turned up everywhere they went, and was solely responsible for their nomadic lifestyle.

They were not fond of this man.

One had gone off to "negotiate" for tickets to either Europe or America; Two was keeping lookout with Valkyrie. Passers-by were giving them odd looks, but Two understood that humans considered albinos a rarity and were uncomfortable around them. He and his family weren't albinos, but they did resemble those humans with that genetic defect. Valkyrie tugged on Two's sleeve. "It's that man again," she whispered. Two looked up to see the brunette and hissed a curse. One, he's back! Two cried mentally to his brother.

I have the tickets. Get out of there! One called back.

Two wasted no time in taking Valkyrie's hand and running away from the ticket station. The man came after them, and Two wasted no time in phasing. Valkyrie followed his example, and they passed through a wall.

-

Seth swore as screams erupted from the boy and girl's ghosting. He ran through the wall after them, only to impale himself on a knife that had been waiting for him. He choked, but yanked the knife out of his chest and glared at the ghost that had ambushed him.

The ghost's eyes went wide as he realised that the blood pouring down Seth's chest wasn't causing him to weaken and die. "One!" cried the little girl, and he ran. Seth bolted after him, cursing the young ghostlings' speed, but lost him, his brother, and his sister.

"I need a new assignment," he muttered.

Not all who wander are lost.

Oklahoma, America, 1890-92

The Twins eventually settled down for a time in the so-called Wild West. When they had arrived in New Orleans, they'd heard about the outlaws that supposedly populated the western states. Figuring they'd like a bit of chaos with their new home, they headed out on the Transcontinental Railroad, only to discover that the towns were filled with veterans of America's Civil War. All of them had guns and none of them would have let some punk with a six-shooter terrorise their town.

Deciding they liked it there anyway, One and Two settled down with Valkyrie. Oddly enough, despite the amount of time they spent in the sun in the two years they lived there, neither One or Two gained any colour to their skin.

As the scorching summer turned to fall in 1892, a stranger walked into town looking for the Twins. By now, One and Two were tired of running. They made Valkyrie stay out of the way and attacked the mysterious stranger, who not only fought back, he defeated them.

Them.

The undefeated.

One and Two were shocked. The stranger was fast, faster than they were. He had allowed them no time to phase. They most humiliating part came when said stranger used their favourite combat moves against them to defeat them.

As they recovered, the stranger had discovered Valkyrie. She took to him quite well despite the sound beating he'd handed her brothers. Two limped over. "Who are you?" he demanded harshly.

The sable-haired man smiled mysteriously. "You may call me Wingless," he told them. "I am here with a proposition for you."

"What sort of proposition?" One asked, joining his Twin. Wingless gave the Twins the same pitch Seth was giving Cain and Abel in Kusel, explaining about the château and how the hierarchy worked.

The Twins engaged in a quick mental conversation.

Do we believe him?

We think he could have killed us. He did not.

But do we believe him?

We do.

A slight hesitation. What about our Sister? Both of their heads turned to Valkyrie, then Two repeated the last question aloud.

"She will be provided for," Wingless answered. "She may stay with you if that is what all of you desire. The deal of course extends to her as well as you both."

More rapid-fire mental conversation between One and Two.

Finally, One turned to Wingless. "We agree to your... terms."

Wingless stretched a bit and stood, removing a key from deep within his jacket. "Come with me," he said.

Those who live by the sword are probably pretty fucking good at it.

One and Two were impressed by the château. Standing there in their once-white clothing, their dusty hair hanging around their shoulders, they both felt an almost overwhelming surge of inferiority. This was quickly quashed between the pair of them.

"Tiger!" Wingless called.

A small boy appeared from a room, looking curious. "Entertain Valkyrie, Tiger. Her brothers are going to see the Merovingian," Wingless ordered. Tiger nodded and shyly approached an equally shy Valkyrie.

As the two played the age-old game of "Getting To Know You," Wingless took the Twins to their new boss. Right after they got there, the doors opened again, and the man who had been chasing them all over Great Britain walked in, leading two young men with him. The Twins regarded this new pair coldly. The taller of the pair had black hair and brown eyes; the shorter brown hair and grey eyes. Both of them watched the Twins through narrowed eyes, as if calculating their strength of will. Two leaned towards One and whispered, "They do not look like much. We think they will be easily defeated." One looked them over again and shook his head. "We do not agree. They both bear battle scars; their eyes have seen death and their hands have caused it. We think that they would make formidable opponents and even better allies."

The taller of the new pair glared at them before telling his companion, "I bet we could take them," in a language neither Twin understood. The shorter sized them up for a moment, then replied, "I don't know, cousin. Both of us are here because we killed those men earlier, and because we helped defeat that vampire colony. I have a feeling that they're here for similar reasons."

Seth and Seraph exchanged knowing, superior smiles. Both hands of the Merovingian could sense the rivalry already starting between ghost twins and wolf cousins. Judging the moment to be right, they simultaneously uploaded knowledge of French and the language of the rival pair to their charges: German to the Twins and English to the cousins.

All four boys jumped in surprise, then glared suspiciously at each other. "Come," said Seraph. "He's waiting."

The Merovingian smiled as he regarded the four teenagers. At last, he had the assassins and bodyguards he wanted. As the only ghosts, the Twins would answer to neither of the two hordes, and the werewolf cousins would most definitely defy Cujo's pack. Exactly as he had wanted it.

There was a ripple in the Matrix as the Second Cycle ended and the Third Cycle began. As anticipated, the werewolves and vampires in his territory were unaffected.

The Merovingian was well pleased.

After forever and a day, the Twins' story is out! Worship me!

…

I said worship, damn it!

Kidding, you know I love you guys.

EDIT 21 Nov 05 - Author's notes deleted as per new rules.