I am so sorry I have not been able to update this earlier. I had exams, but I am now a free girl! no more exams- till my AS exams in January, that is, but I'm not gonna think about that now, I havent even started collage yet! I ask you to read this and if you have time, to review. Also, if you have time, I have the second chapter of my other Matrix fanfic up- Broken Trinity. I would really appreciate it if you told me what you think of it.
I would like to thank the following brilliant people for reviewing:
Angel-Of-Lightness, thankyou so much, believe me, it hasnt done a lot for my own sanity not being able to write for a couple of months straight. I'm just glad that I have these chapters up now, and thanks for all your help!
Agent Ahab, thanks for reviewing again! I'm glad youve enjoyed it so much, but i have more to come! just a few more chapters after this, then I'm on to the sequel, which has already been planned. thankyou again!
Kal Torak, oh, its good to be back mate! yes, I should have been studying, but how can I study, if I have a fanfic chapter that i can upload! I love writing them as much as you love reading them, so its brilliant to see my fics on the first Matrix page again. I especially love Niobe's character, too, its brilliant to write.
Richard the Pedantic! hello again! thankyou so much for you help over the last week or so, really appreciate it. I dont mind when you review, as long as you do, which I know you will! Oh, and you will find out about the dreams in the sequel- they are a majour part to it, which I have started to write in here.
AmbrosiaBunny, my brilliant beta reader, thanks so much for you help, and for your nail varnishes! Thanks so much for your help, I couldn't have done it without you!
Furious Angel303, hi, thanks for reviewing again, nice to see reviewers, i hope you like this chapter! I will be going on holiday soon, so I've got a nice long flight to write a lot of first drafts for several storys and chapters, so expect some big uploads when i come back!
Thankyou so much everyone, and enjoy!
"I'm here"
"Where?" he breathed, partially reassured by her voice, but concern pulled at her/him about her present state."Here."
Sapphire/Neo climbed out of the seat and slowly crawled forwards on the floor towards the voice, hands moving determinedly over the sharp glass and rubble littering the ground. His hand came upon a walm wrist and he grabbed for it as the hand closed around his own. He moved further up till he was above Trinity and put a hand on her shoulder so he knew where she lay.
"We made it." he said softly.
"You said we would." Trinity whispered, looking up at him sadly. Sapphire couldn't see. She turned her head and for the first time looked carefully at the orange traces of light, what Neo presumed to be the energy flow from the machines. She/he stared at it wondrously; he couldn't help but speak. "It's so beautiful, Trin. Lights everywhere. Like the whole thing was built with light. I wish you could see what I see"
Sapphire heard Trinity take a shuddering breath before she replied to Neo, her voice strangely soft and fragile. "You've already shown me so much." It was barely more than a whisper.
"What is it, Trinity?" Neo said, confused. "What's wrong?"
"I can't come with you Neo. I've gone as far as I can." She gasped for breath slightly.
"Why?" Neo asked, dread now filling him. Something was wrong. His hand drifted away from hers only to meet cold hard metal. It was too close. He tentatively trailed his hand down further until it met the soft material of Trinity's jumper. The fabric was mingled with a dangerously walm, rich liquid. It was her blood. The metal shaft had driven itself right through her.
Neo started to shake his head in denial. "Oh no. No, no, no."
"It's alright." Trinity tried to comfort. "It's time. I've done all that I could do, now you have to do the rest. You have to finish it. You have to save Zion."There were long pauses in her sentences, and Sapphire could feel she was steadily getting weaker and short of breath. Neo started to sob lightly. He hung his head in denial and sorrow. "I can't. Not without you." he pleaded.
"Yes you can." Trinity immediately responded, cutting into his thoughts. "You will. I believe it, I always have." She confessed. Neo started to fall deeper into denial. He reached forward and cupped the side of her face in his hand, whispering to her, "Trinity, you can't die. You can't." He heard her sigh slowly. No!
Sapphire had fallen asleep, her body slumped against the head stone, head resting carefully against the words of remembrance. Lock was furious. He marched up to her, half running, and grabbed her by the collar, pulling her forward, bringing her out of her slumber. Lock started shouting at her in a furious whisper.
"What in God's name do you think you're doing? This area is restricted, how did you get in here? Just what do you think you are doing, lying there, on their gravestone, over their bodies? It's disrespectful! You may not realise, but we owe a lot to these people, and whilst you obviously don't, we care about them. Especially now, exactly eighteen years after their death." He said, his voice deathly low.
"Lock, please. She didn't know, she was only looking-"
"Only looking? Looking? She fell asleep, Niobe. And don't tell me to calm down." Lock yelled as Niobe opened her mouth to speak. "It was eighteen years since we got them back. Disfigured, bleeding. Three metal rods through her chest, miss! She died an agonising death. They both did. She was drained of blood and he of energy. So what the hell do you think you are doing? Get out of here. And if I ever see you again-"
He couldn't finish. Sandman's hand had just collided with his face. Releasing Sapphire Lock brought his hand to his face and stared aghast at the red faced man in front of him.
Meanwhile, Sapphire, who had silently listened to his speech, growing steadily whiter by the second, had broken free from Lock's iron grasp and run off. She was as pale as a ghost. Niobe looked at her retreating form in worry. Zee took off after her, trying desperately to catch up while Lock just stood glaring at Sandman whilst he glared back at him, showing equal amounts of hatred. Niobe then turned to look at Lock who just continued glaring at Sandman before his arm, too, started to lift as if in slow motion. What did I ever see in him? Niobe thought.
As Locks arm swung round to retaliate, Niobe caught hold of it inches in front of the younger man's face. Lock turned round to look at her, slightly surprised, but silently thanking his lucky stars for her intervention, stopping him from getting probably a court-martial. Sandman just stood frozen looking at the man's fist, still grasped in the captain's hand, in surprise and horror. If she hadn't had such quick reflexes…
Lock turned to give Niobe a questioning look after Sandman's insubordination but instead was greeted by her own fist. She had hit him. He thought she would have at least given him her support, but no, apparently not. He just stared at her completely dumbfounded.
"How dare you? How dare you? The number of times that girl has disappeared while she's been here. She came here for a reason, Jason. Did you ever think of that? She was only unplugged just 5 days ago. They are her parents," Niobe yelled, throwing his wrist away to point furiously at the gravestone Sapphire had been lying on mere moments before. "You don't even know what she's gone through in her life, or what it's been like for her. I thought you of all people might understand that and give her even a little respect." Niobe screamed at him, panting hard under her breath as she regarded the man she had once loved with hate and malice.
She then turned her back on him and left, running in the direction Sapphire and Zee had taken, but then to that of Sapphire's allocated room. She hoped to find her there, however she knew the unlikeness of that situation. As expected, Sapphire wasn't in her room, but the room wasn't entirely empty. Link stood in the centre of the room, looking up curiously at Niobe's sudden entrance. His eyes asked her everything. "What happened-? Why are you…? How come…?"
"Link, did Sapphire come by here?" Niobe said in a rush.
"Yeah, how'd you know that? Came running here about a few seconds ago, ran back out as soon as she caught sight of me. What's going on-? Wait, what are you doing?" he asked, as she hurriedly pushed past him and collected the mostly empty large bag from the crevice in the wall, and forced it into his arms.
"Take this, get to the Logos and start it up. I need emergency permission from one of the councillors to leave Zion, preferably in the next five minutes." Niobe spoke hurriedly, and sprinted from the room, Links voice trailing out after her. "What? Why? Where are you going?"
"To go and find Sapphire. We have a code blue!" she yelled behind her, and Link chuckled slightly as he took the bag and started off in the opposite direction towards the great lift that reached the dock level. No one could overrule councillors orders.
Niobe ran back to the lift she had came out from, wondering just what to do. She then had a thought and quickly took out her mobile phone, silently cursing herself for not using it earlier and dialled Zee's number. The words of a panicked woman answered her call.
"Niobe, I think we may have some trouble-"
"Zee, where is she?"
"Where do you think? She's got access inside to their graves, she's got access to the restricted level. I'm waiting outside the entrance to the restricted level. She ran up, keyed in a code and let the door swing shut after her before I could get through. Look, I don't have access, Niobe, I need you here, I'm not a captain."
Niobe assured the woman she would be there, and at once sent the lift off to the twenty-seventh level. As Zee came into view, she started questioning her on how she could have gained entry. Zee theorised that Sapphire had hacked into Zion's computer system and granted herself access to both restricted sections Niobe agreed that it made sense, the kid was a genius hacker after all, and it seemed that nothing was too great for her. It was quite an astonishing feat, as it was one of the highest level secured areas of Zion, and there was the fact that the Zion computer system was arranged differently to Matrix computer systems, techniques of hacking Zion computers were sometimes very different to Matrix systems. However, nothing seemed too great for the young woman.
Niobe ran across the walkway, scrambling to the creaky stairwell door. If there was any place any more impossible to find her, this was it. Niobe just hoped that she was right. She entered a quick code for access to the level and the two women ran towards the old red door, wishing that their boots were somehow only half as bloody loud as they really were. It was not going to look good on either record if they together woke up half a dozen sleeping councillors and retired important people when trying to get to a destination that was incredibly unlikely to be the case, and equally as uneasy to prove. Still, they ran to the door and Niobe twisted the wheel round, yanking it open, and saw nothing.
She then spotted the figure huddled in the corner, shaking severely. Sapphire did not even acknowledge Niobe as she came in. It was like she was in her own world, like she was catatonic or something. Tears streamed down her face silently, but Sapphire was in too much shock to notice.
Niobe walked up to her and crouched down. "Sapphire?" No response.
Niobe put her arm around the girl's shoulders and pulled her into her arms, unlocking a long hidden maternal side to her. Sapphire then came alive and dove forward to cry into Niobe's shoulder as the chocolate skinned woman continued to comfort her, rubbing her back softly as the girl continued to cry. Zee knelt just behind the two, her hand also on the girls back, comforting and motherly.
Niobe rose, bringing Sapphire up with her, and together they moved towards the door, Niobe's arm still wrapped around the younger woman. The three of them made their way to the dock where they were met by Link as promised, beside the powered Logos II. Entering the small hovercraft, Niobe moved Sapphire into one of the rooms and gently sat her down on the bed, where the girl immediately fell into a slumber.
Niobe returned to the cockpit where Link was steering the ship through the reconstructed gate three, Zee sitting beside him. Niobe just lent against the wall behind them, deep in her own world, wondering just what horrors were going through the poor girl's mind.
Little did they know that in fifteen minutes, the newly found peace onboard the ship would be shattered rather abruptly by a loud scream and the cry of 'Mum' that echoed from one of the small bedrooms.
"You can't die, you can't."
"Yes I can." Trinity breathed. "You brought me back once, but not this time." she trailed off. Her voice was so hollow and fragile. Her words were starting to fade off into long silences after each sentence. It wasn't anything nothing like Neo or Sapphire had ever heard from her, and it just pained them to listen. Her breaths were long and painful. Sapphire could feel she didn't have long. Neo gasped in utter despair, and took her hand again, clutching it tightly. She was going to die, soon.
Trinity took another shallow breath. "Do you remember, on that roof after you caught me, the last thing I said to you?" she asked softly. Neo could see her pain wrought face in his mind. He felt empty now, so hollow, listening to what was going to be her last words. "You said, 'I'm sorry'." He choked out.Trinity's voice was quieter yet. "I wish I hadn't." She paused again, her pain filled breaths taking longer every time. "That was my last thought. I wished I had one more chance, to say how much I loved you, how much I was grateful for every moment I was with you."
Sapphire/Neo started to shake as she/he listened to her pain ridden words. "But by the time I knew how to say what I wanted to, it was too late." Trinity continued. Neo gasped and sobbed at the memory. She had only had one bullet pierce her just below her heart, but she had been screaming in agony till she died in fatigue. Now, she had one or more metal pipes slicing through her body, pinning her to the cold hard ground, her deathbed.
"But you brought me back. You gave me my wish. One last chance to say what I really wanted to say." Neo knew what she was about to painfully whisper, and he couldn't help himself from shaking even more.
"Kiss me, once more." Sapphire/Neo could feel the sheer emptiness of her words now, how much it cost her to even speak one syllable. It was coming to the end, and both Neo and Trinity knew it.
"Kiss me." Her last kiss. Her last breath. Neo felt ridden with guilt, but he didn't want to kiss her, he couldn't kiss her. He couldn't let her die in his arms; he could not let her die just as his lips met hers. It would be the last thing she ever felt, if she felt it at all. Neo was so terrified by her echoing silences that when he went down to kiss her, she would already be gone. He would not let that happen, could not let that happen.
He suddenly felt repulsed by his own cowardice, so dirty and vile by his thoughts. How could he not give her her last wish?
He slowly bent down to where he knew her face lay, and tenderly felt her lips on his. He kissed her softly with all the love he felt. But it was too late. Her head tilted backwards back to the floor, and the grip on his hand lost its pressure. Neo just knelt there, dumbfounded. All happiness and everything that ever meant anything to him just left the earth, along with his soul mate's spirit. Everything was completely empty for a few seconds, and then he fully realised. She's gone. Gone. Dead. She will never come back. Never. She's just died, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. She will never return.
Neo started sobbing desperately over Trinity's lifeless body. He could now feel other metal implements of death that pierced her body. They made him feel sick, if his grief and helplessness didn't already consume him. He just hung onto her disfigured and bloody body as if he could bring her back, but knowing the truth. He needed her more then anything, he could not mentally go on without her- this was the end.
It was there holding onto the remains of the only thing that ever mattered to him, did the full extent and realism of what had happened really hit him.
It had been a kiss that had taken her breath away. Forever.