The Matrix: Legacy
Twenty-Three
Party
Alex greeted Horizon and Avalon with, "It's Karaoke Night."
Horizon groaned. "Alex, if you make me sing the Macarena one more time...." Alex did a double-take as Avalon came into the light. Source, but she looked like her sister...
No, wait.
Hot pink coloured her bangs and a section of her hair, as well as accented the vinyl catsuit in the form of a leg belt, a glove, a wrist band, and an armband. Nice move. Horizon had done the same thing, only in neon blue and every accessory on the opposite limb from Avalon's. It made for an interesting mirror image, even with Horizon's shorter height and longer hair. For some reason, it reminded him of the Twins. Alex gave them an appreciative wolf whistle. "Drinks on the house for both pictures of loveliness before me," he grinned.
Avalon stuck her tongue out at him, signing, 'Underage, moron.'
"Eh, it's Halloween, in't? Live a little, Avvy. You hang out with a mafia enforcer and a hacker, for Pete's sake. Why do you care if you have a little alcohol? Hey, Joe," he added as his menacingly large cousin Suddenly Loomed over his shoulder.
This was common, as Joe was a Loomer. It often happened Suddenly. (1)
"Machine's set up. Horizon, the first song's yours," he told her. The Hispanic woman stuck her nose up in the air and flounced off, Avalon following with an unholy grin on her face that meant trouble of the sort that even the Twins wouldn't look for. Once they were out of earshot, Joe leaned over to tell Alex, "I heard from the fortuneteller that Wingless and the Brown Wolf are coming tonight."
Alex shot Joe a stricken look, and the bouncer ginned. "Apparently, Wolf came out of desire to see one of them," he jerked his thumb at the departing pair, "and she sent Wingless to, quote, 'get him a social life,' unquote."
Alex couldn't help but laugh at that. He couldn't picture the Chinese program with a social life.
In the distance, he heard the opening notes of a song, and a Sudden Feeling of Doom came over him. "Shit," he groaned as Horizon picked up the mic. "They planned this."
"Yup," Joe answered as Horizon began the song Alex hated above all.
"At first I was afraid, I was petrified
"Kept thinking I can't never live without you by my side..."
Alex groaned and slunk back to his bar, where he downed a tequila and tried to ignore the song and Avalon's dance.
"Oh now go, walk out the door
"Turn around now, cause you're not welcome anymore
"Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
"Did you think I'd crumble? Did you think I'd lay down and die?
"Oh no, not I, I will survive...!"
"Make it go awaaaaaaay," Alex wailed from his barricade.
"Some things never change, eh, Benny?" came a familiarly arrogant tone.
"It's 'Alex' now, Wolfy. Don't forget it."
He looked up to see Abel grinning at him. Abel grinning and showing teeth was never a good thing. "Take it somewhere else, wolf-boy," Alex growled. "This is our place, our haven."
"Relax, wall-crawler," Abel shot back. "I'm not here to cause trouble."
"That's a first."
Abel opened his mouth to retort, but he hung off as he noticed Avalon doing the Hustle. Alex grinned. So she was the girl that had Abel acting odd. It did make a kind of sense, though he couldn't fathom where the attraction had started.
The question was: Did she like him back? The programs working under the Merovingian didn't take rejection very well. As Avalon and Horizon stepped off the stage, Abel moved away to intercept her.
---------
At the Gathering, Krsna had volunteered to sing the memorial. He had chosen to sing a tune from a musical that was surprisingly appropriate for the survivors of that last battle.
"There's a grief that can't be spoken
"There's a pain goes on and on
"Empty chairs at empty tables
"Now my friends are dead and gone
"Here they talked of revolution
"Here it was they lit the flame
"Here they sang about tomorrow
"And tomorrow never came.
"From the table in the corner
"They could see a world reborn...."
Zee and some other women were openly crying, and even Locke had to blink back tears. Danaë, remembering Ice and the rest of the Gnosis' crew, who had pulled her out of the Matrix, pulled back to stand against the wall, knowing AK would worry if he saw her crying. A warm hand grasped her shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly; she looked up to see Ghost, not looking at her, but with tears running down his dark face.
"Oh my friends, my friends forgive me.
"That I live and you are gone
"There's a grief that can't be spoken
"There's a pain goes on and on
"Phantom faces at the window
"Phantom shadows on the floor
"Empty chairs at empty tables
"Where my friends will meet no more.
"Oh my friends, my friends, don't ask me
"What your sacrifice was for
"Empty chairs at empty tables
"Where my friends will sing no more..."
There was a long moment of silence following Krsna's song, broken only by the sounds of muffled crying. Ghost drew Danaë to him in a close embrace meant as much to comfort him as her. They were shrouded in a dark corner, so no one could see as Danaë gently drew Ghost's head to her shoulder, allowing him to soak her shirt with his tears for Trinity.
Niobe and Morpheus were gone, as were Zee and Link. Krsna had vanished, not wanting any compliments on his tribute to the fallen. Sparks stayed, but he was for once solemn. It was then that Danaë remembered that Sparks had had a relationship with another operator on a fallen ship. It was a casual one, but losing Minx still had to hurt.
She could smell the alcohol on Ghost's breath, and gently drew him away, into the crowds and towards his room. He somehow got hold of another and drank it on their way back to his room. Ghost didn't drink much alcohol, so his tolerance level wasn't too high. He was stone drunk.
Danaë sighed as she found his room and somehow got the door open. Ghost was a surprisingly quiet drunk. She would have figured, what with his normal quietness and Zen-like behaviour, that he would have been a loud, obnoxious drunk. Ghost never reacted how she expected him to. Of, course, no one could have predicted that she would grow feelings for the much older man.
For Pete's sake, girl, he has to be at least fifteen years older than you are! she thought as she dragged Ghost to his bed. She tipped him onto it, but his arms had locked around her waist, pulling her down with him. She froze, wide-eyed, as his lips brushed her neck.
Okay, he's a horny drunk? Jesus H. Christ....
"Trinity," he murmured, and Danaë felt her heart shatter. Oh, God, he was so drunk he thought she was Trinity? He was kissing her neck again, and Danaë moaned softly. Just for tonight... pretend you're Trinity....
"Ghost," she whispered at last, turning so that her lips were against his.
Just for tonight....
---------
Before Abel could get to Avalon, a new voice came on the mic, sounding smug. "This one's goin' out to all the ladies," the man said just before the music kicked in. As one, Avalon and Horizon spun.
"Some girls are crazy!
"Just listen to what I have to say about it:
"Ya gotta watch out for the beautiful ones..."
The singer was a handsome blond man. As he sang about the beautiful ones, he pointed directly to Horizon, who was strangling the air in his general direction. He smirked as he sang the next lines.
"They'll twist your head right off your neck
"And laugh about it with their friends
"That's just one night for them..."
"You're a dead man, Henry Higgins!" Horizon shouted at the singer, who had launched into the chorus.
"She shuts you down with her voice again
"And now are you listening?"
Wingless was quite amused by this little interaction. Abel was not. The singer smelled familiar. Another familiar scent caught his nose, and he turned his head to see the big black man who had emptied two clips into his chest and been very startled when he'd gotten back up.
Gunner did not at all look happy.
"Three years," he said, almost to soft for even Abel to hear. Cujo would've had no problems, but Abel was not Cujo, Thank Source for that! "Bastard vanishes off the face of the earth for three fucking years, and now he just turns up? He is fucking not getting off the hook for this."
Abel grinned to himself as the singer started a new verse.
"These girls are crazy!
"Just listen to what I have to say about it:
"Ya gotta watch out for the younger ones..."
Now he was pointing at Avalon, who flipped him the bird.
"They'll tightly wrap you 'round their finger
"And brag to all their friends
"It's nothing but a game to them.
"They target you with their eyes
"And move with their lips
"And it pulls you in...."
The two girls were laughing now. When the blond finished his song and stepped off, they both hugged him from either side. Abel cocked his ears, wishing he could trade his sense of smell for Cujo's hearing. He barely managed to catch Horizon's end of the conversation.
Ah, so the man's name was Davis.
Abel looked back at Gunner, who looked very suspicious of the blond. Wingless was beside him now, and they were talking quietly. Abel casually sauntered in their direction, picking up the tail end of Gunner's sentence, "... don't trust him."
Wingless nodded, but remained silent. "No one can vanish like that and then turn up like nothing happened. Davis is fucking somebody over, and I don't want to know who."
Intrigue bored Abel. He'd had more than enough of it at the château. He instead turned back, intending to snatch Avalon away and talk to her, but she was gone as a new song came on, dancing like mad. Abel leaned against the wall, content to watch as he got his first taste of Avalon break dancing in vinyl.
"Don't drool all over the floor. The janitor hates that," a deep voice rumbled in his ear.
Abel jumped and whirled, glaring daggers at the big program behind him. Source, but he hated how that blasted mercenary program could disguise his scent. "Maverick, you son of a bitch," he greeted the other.
The leonine man grinned toothily at him, running a hand through his grey-streaked hair. "Don't hate, Nose."
Abel snorted. "How're things with your girl now that she's in Zion?" he asked.
Maverick shrugged. "All right. She comes back to visit, and she's working on making it so programs from the Matrix can visit or live in Zion, if they want to."
Abel blinked. "Come again?"
Maverick grinned. "You know some programs want out. Take that Red fella. One of his nieces' great-great grandkids is running around Zion now."
Another blink. "How the hell do you figure?"
"Phantom did, actually. Said the kid looks like a scrawny female version of Red."
Abel shook his head, and Maverick caught him in a headlock, earning a yelp from the werewolf. "Now that we're comfortable," Maverick grinned ("The hell!?" Abel sputtered), "what is it you want with Avvy? Joe, Alex, an' me, we're rather fond of that girl."
Abel, knowing Maverick would understand him, spoke in German. "I don't want to hurt her!" he said quickly. Theoretically, only silver bullets could kill him... but no one had tried strangling a werewolf before. He didn't want to find out that he could die of asphyxiation the hard way.
"So talk, Nose," Maverick replied amiably.
"I love her, all right? Get off!"
Surprisingly, Maverick did. "You what!?" He had switched back to English, so Abel did as well.
"You heard me," Abel growled as he adjusted his collar. "I just want to talk to her."
Maverick could only stare. None of the Merovingian's programs had dared fall in love with a human after Seraph's defection - though it was not for love, Seraph still had sided with the humans.
"Good luck to you with that," Maverick told him. "If the Frenchman finds out, there's going to be problems."
"Keine Scheiße," Abel muttered.
Morgain wrinkled her nose. The man trying to come on to her was drunk. Even worse, he didn't understand sign language and her friends were all occupied. She could barely understand his slurred speech, but she understood his intent and was starting to get angry.
Just walk away. Don't make me kick your ass, pal.
A hand slid around her shoulders as another voice said, "She's already taken, buddy. Get lost." Morgain looked up and felt her jaw drop open when she realised she was staring at Abel's profile. The man was smiling toothily at the drunk.
Morgain didn't realise that with Abel, any smile showing teeth was a threat. Some primal fear got through to the drunk, however, and he left without a word. Abel didn't remove his arm, just looked down at her and asked, "Are you all right?"
She blinked a few times, then signed 'What are you doing here?'
He smiled. "I'm not here to hurt you, Avvy. I just want to talk."
She thought about it, then nodded. 'Come with me,' she signed, taking Abel's wrist and leading him out of the club.
Out of the corner of his eye, Abel saw Avalon's friend corner Seraph and kiss him. He grinned. He had never seen such a terrified expression on Wingless' face. Source, he wished he could have had a camera. Had no one come on to the angel since Shyama left? He lost sight of them just as Seraph regrouped and took the offensive on that kiss.
A pity, but since he had similar plans in mind, not much of a pity.
He and Avalon walked in silence until they were in the very park where he had caught her nearly two years beforehand. She turned to him. 'What did you want?'
Abel's breath caught in his throat. She looked so beautiful in the starlight, it took him a moment to gather his thoughts. While he tried, he looked up at the moon. New moon's tomorrow... good thing I decided to talk to her today. He looked back down at her, then began to talk.
---------
Cain had easily followed Abel's scent to the city and to the club, where he'd kept carefully downwind of Abel at all times. It was a good thing Abel was so lovesick, or he would have noticed the other werewolf. He watched the pair walk to that park, then watched from downwind.
Cain liked this wind. It was bringing Abel's words to his ears. Come on, Luna, he thought. Show me what you can do.
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(1) Props go to Terry Pratchett for the Sudden Loomer lines.
The songs are I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Misérables, and Boy-Crazy by New Found Glory. I do not claim them, I was just borrowing the lyrics. Morgain doing the Hustle was inspired solely by the jail scene in The Replacements, where Keanu Reeves proves that he cannot dance. Of course, as he is very pretty regardless, this doesn't really matter. I just think it's good for a laugh.
Current music: Linkin Park's Pushing Me Away.