THE MATRIX: THE REMAINING FATE
By Michael Carruthers )
HUGE SPOILERS FOR "THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS"
For the purposes of this story, everything that happened in "The Matrix Revolutions" happened, except Trinity's death. I need her in this story, so just think while reading this fanfic that her death never happened and she survived the ordeals in the final entry into the trilogy.
Please also note that this story has no connection to my other Matrix fanfiction.
Chapter 7: The Sharp End of Things
Trinity jerked upright in her seat, just entering the real world as she exited the horror of the Matrix. As Trinity sat up, she realised it was the first time that she had ever felt her bruises from the artificial world upon entering the Matrix. Her entire body ached as she arched her back and felt her heart pumping, pumping so hard it felt as if it would break through her chest.
No one dared spoke, not for a long while. Morpheus was studying Trinity intensely with Niobe at his side, Zee and Link were sort of looking at Trinity and at each other, and Fior was reading a magazine - barely paying attention, while the Deliverer and Burfay just waited quietly for something to happen. The Deliverer finally spoke.
"My mistress...she is dead!" he cried.
"The Oracle, she was our one and only link to the higher powers of the Matrix, other than the Architect," Link said quietly.
"Who's the Architect?" Fior asked, not even looking up from her magazine.
"Maybe if you paid a little more attention to what goes on around here, you would know that," Niobe said, raising her voice slightly.
"Don't go criticizing me. I have full knowledge of interpreting Matrix data and can drive a damn ship better than you can drive your own man!" Fior said, throwing her magazine away.
"You're out of line!" Niobe said, standing up.
"Oh, come on, you know we're all thinking it. We've been on this ship for about six hours and you and Morpheus have been busy making doe eyes at each other," Fior shouted. All eyes were on her and Niobe. Morpheus spoke up.
"That's not correct and you know it," he said wisely.
"Oh, go eat another burger!" Fior threw at him.
"Shut your mouth, Fior." Burfay said quietly, but with an intent in his voice that made it loud and clear. "Morpheus is a brave - a wise soldier. You dare criticize him and look at what you're doing - lying back during the chaos reading a magazine. This isn't a time to bitch fight. This isn't a time for slapping, and calling each other 'fatso'. We have to figure out who Trinity was talking to. We have to figure out why the One killed the Oracle. And if you can't accept him, I will personally turn this ship around and you can walk your ass off to Zion from here."
Again there was a long period of silence. Some members of the crew looked as if they were to speak and then stopped, not really knowing what to say. It was Niobe this time to break the ice.
"All this pointless arguing and still Trinity has said nothing." Niobe said. Trinity was once again the centre of attention. She was looking pale and sick, looking at the green numbers flowing through the computer by Link.
"Trinity?" Morpheus said quietly, as though it wasn't even a question. Trinity snapped out of her temporary daze, and stared right at Morpheus.
"I can't do this, Morpheus," she said. She walked out of the jacking-in room, leaving the door open and fading away into the long hallway. No one followed her, and everyone was silent, and still. The room was glass about to be shattered, and the atmosphere intense. They were not people; they were chess pieces, waiting to moved, waiting for an absolution or revelation, one that wouldn't hit them for a long time yet. '
Trinity sat on her bed, her back leaning against the hard, cold wall. A couple of cold tears fell down her face, and Trinity didn't wipe them away. She didn't have the energy, she thought she would never have energy again; she was just tired, and needed to rest. She felt the tears harshly rap against her lips and felt the salty, uncomfortable taste.
"Trinity?" Morpheus said in a small voice.
"Don't say it, Morpheus," Trinity said, her eyes blurred with tears, staring at the ground. "Don't ask me if I'm OK. You know I'm not OK."
"I know you're not OK," Morpheus said, now speaking in a natural, comfortable way that reminded Trinity of a psychologist. "With the ordeal you've just been through, it's not surprising that you would be shaken. But, Trinity, you can't sit here forever. You need time to mull over what has happened, but do not allow yourself to be overtaken with grief – it will only lead to anger."
"My mother always told me anger was healthy," said Trinity, her voice and hands trembling. "But she wasn't my mother at all, was she? Just another program, waiting to be offed just like the next unfortunate in that inhuman world."
Morpheus didn't reply, Trinity's trembling voice now took a more bitter tone.
"I hate this world, Morpheus," she continued. "I hate living in it. I just want to go back to my old world, where everything was sweet and artificial, and things had form and colour. This world, everything is dark and colourless, there's no life here."
"Trinity, this is exactly why you cannot let the grief override you," Morpheus said after a long silence. "Life is always worth living, no matter what the challenges. We have to keep fighting, and trudge on through the darkness, it's the-"
"But why?" Trinity interrupted him. "Why bother fighting? What's the point when in the end the pain is just going to keep on coming? It's like blood…once the pain starts flowing it starts and then it never ends."
"Why fight, you're asking me?" Morpheus replied. "Fighting is what keeps us going – keeps us human. We have to have challenges so we can rise above them, and become better off for it. If we give in to our instincts we're just as much machines as the octopus creatures that roam our land – free to align ourselves with anyone we see fight, taking orders without hesitation. If we don't fight back, we're nothing, we're stale."
Trinity digested these words and couldn't think of a reply. As she mulled over her thoughts that Morpheus had just invoked, she decided it was time to tell Morpheus the truth.
"It was Neo, Morpheus," she said in a quiet voice. "Neo killed the Oracle."
"What?" Morpheus said, red-alert.
"Neo – I heard a gun shot, the blood hit my face. The Oracle fell down onto the table, and Neo was there, smiling at me, so hollow…" she continued, a painful lump in her throat. "And in that moment I saw him, I was relieved. I knew I shouldn't have been, but part of me wanted to rush at him and kiss him, to make myself feel better, even though an important part of the Matrix, of the real world, had just been destroyed. It was Neo, through and through."
Morpheus did not reply, but his eyes became very intense, though he did not move at all, staying calm. Trinity took this as a signal to continue her story.
"Agent Smith…Neo…back, together," she said.
"Agent Smith, you saw him as well?" Morpheus asked, turning to her.
"Yes. He was there, with Neo, the two of them," Trinity continued. "All these months of thinking he was still out there somewhere, that some part of him had to be alive, and I was right. It was so wonderful, in that second, to see him again, and now he's evil, against me." Trinity was now crying again, her voice breaking. "You tell me to keep fighting, that there's a point, a purpose behind all this? You're wrong."
Morpheus now appeared to be extremely alarmed. His facial expression was still very complex but Trinity knew that he was disturbed by this news, and trying to figure out how it was at all possible.
"Get out," Trinity said harshly.
"Trinity, you will need to continue you're story with the group. We have to figure out how this is can be happening; will you do that for me?" Morpheus said in a cautious and slow voice, as though scared Trinity might suddenly attack him.
"I will. I'll tell you the story," Trinity said. "But I'm not fighting anymore. Leave that to your crew.
Get out."
To be continued...