"Who are you? How could you do this to me?"
"We're not all gonna make it. You know that."
"Yeah. Hey. Always knew I'd go down fightin'."
"I'm counting on you... to protect her."
"Till the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight."
"Listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do... Give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. The hardest thing in this world... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life's full of tough choices. Such a simple realization that ultimately rips all of t he layers away from your body until all that is showing is who you truly are, and what you truly believe in. Looking back on his life, Neo could easily say that the last real choice he made that didn't play out every choice he would make thereafter was when he took the red pill. ~Actually, if I really thought about it, that was the only choice I ever made. Every "choice" I made in my life previous to that led up to it, and every "choice" afterwards brought me to where I am now. ~
Neo smiled softly to himself, his thoughts drowning out the fake reality around him as he walked towards his exit. So immersed in his thoughts, Neo didn't hear the approach of Seraph until he moved up beside him. The program's entrance was silent, waiting for Neo to start.
"Yes Seraph?"
"The Oracle wanted to tell you that some choices, even though they are made selfishly, could ultimately produce a positive end, but you left too quickly." Seraph replied solemnly.
Neo stopped walking and turned to face the shorter man. Various replies shot through his mind, but all he could do was nod and turn to continue on, leaving Seraph behind.
~~*~~
Once back on the Hammer, Neo sat up, his mind running through his conversation with the Oracle. He heard the familiar screeching of Rogue when he was upset. Cocking his head to one side, Neo turned to face the general area where Morpheus was moving towards after taking his plug out.
"What'd he get into that has him this upset?" Neo asked, arching an eyebrow.
Morpheus sighed before responding. "He zapped himself with one of the circuits that lead to the hover pads. One of his tentacles is now limp; I'm assuming that experience for him can be compared to novacain for us. What did the Oracle want?"
Neo noted the blunt change of topic and nodded his head before shaking it. "To inform me of some things."
"Some things? That's rather general." Morpheus moved closer to Neo, his tone skeptical.
"Personal things."
"Trinity?"
"Yeah. Along the lines of the fact that I've disrupted some equilibrium by bringing her back to life. The effects of which won't be known for quite some time." Neo explained with a shrug, still not completely understanding himself. "Up until the moment I brought her back in the real world, I had only made one true choice, and that was to take the red pill. When I was given a chance to make another real choice, it was for myself, something that unraveled the written future. I'm not sure."
"Trinity isn't supposed to be here then?" Morpheus surmised.
"Something like that. Just when I thought the problems of us being ripped apart from each other were over..." Neo trailed off, letting out an exasperated laugh.
"Both of your lives were never meant to be easy. The One is a singular person, not a pair. The fact that she was your reality, your life, upset the pattern, and the future. No one is perfect, not every choice is the right one, but we as humans can only look at the situation before us, and deal with it to the best of our ability. If that isn't good enough for the future, it doesn't matter. The future is unwritten, unknown. I prefer that it is kept that way." Morpheus clapped a hand on Neo's back pulling him up to stand before moving towards the operator's station.
Link had left some time ago to fly the ship in and Neo, to his surprise, had been so focused on the conversation beforehand that he didn't notice the operator leave. After lifting the headset to his ear and asking for time, Morpheus turned to Neo.
"We'll be back in less that forty minutes." A muffled clang reached both men's' ears. "I'll go see what he's done. Hopefully it isn't anything too damaging."
"You know, he doesn't damage, more of accidentally plays too hard."
~~*~~
"Captain Morpheus, could you and your crew follow us to Commander Lock's?"
Morpheus sighed inwardly at the man, but followed him silently. Neo felt Link's hand on his arm and moved in the direction Link pulled him. Stopping for a moment, Neo turned to Rogue.
"Go back to my room. If Trinity isn't there, go to Ghost's. Stay with her. I do not want to find out later that you were scaring half of Zion by flying around to stretch your tentacles like last time." A resounding screech was the only reply before Neo heard the sentinel leave.
The walk to Dead Bolt's office was relatively uneventful, aside from Neo overhearing a rather excited man find out that would be a father in nine months. The sound of the man yelling in happiness would be ringing in his ears for quite some time. Upon entering, Neo followed Link to stand behind and slightly to the left of Morpheus, awaiting Lock's reason for bringing them there.
"Captain Morpheus, may I ask why you left the dock with one of only a few working ships without gaining clearance from me?"
"The Oracle had asked to see Neo. I left to fulfill that request."
"Which ship was out to receive the request?"
Morpheus hesitated before answering. "The Fidelis, but you knew she was out anyway to check out the Matrix."
"Captain, even though this war is seemingly over, I still need order. I cannot have any man jump on a ship and leave without running it by me first."
"With all due respect," Neo broke in calmly, "If we ran it by you in the first place, we wouldn't be here because you wouldn't let us leave."
"The Oracle won't help us, Neo." Lock replied coolly. "The future of humanity is in our hands now."
"So it appears to be." Neo shot back, his voice level.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Lock's surprise and anger was the emotions that gave color to the sounds of Link and Morpheus turning to look at him.
~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks, yee Gods, how could I do that to all of you? One word: Midterms. Three down and four to go, joy. Well, a bright spot in the darkness of studying. Hope you liked.
"We're not all gonna make it. You know that."
"Yeah. Hey. Always knew I'd go down fightin'."
"I'm counting on you... to protect her."
"Till the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight."
"Listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. But this is the work that I have to do... Give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. The hardest thing in this world... is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life's full of tough choices. Such a simple realization that ultimately rips all of t he layers away from your body until all that is showing is who you truly are, and what you truly believe in. Looking back on his life, Neo could easily say that the last real choice he made that didn't play out every choice he would make thereafter was when he took the red pill. ~Actually, if I really thought about it, that was the only choice I ever made. Every "choice" I made in my life previous to that led up to it, and every "choice" afterwards brought me to where I am now. ~
Neo smiled softly to himself, his thoughts drowning out the fake reality around him as he walked towards his exit. So immersed in his thoughts, Neo didn't hear the approach of Seraph until he moved up beside him. The program's entrance was silent, waiting for Neo to start.
"Yes Seraph?"
"The Oracle wanted to tell you that some choices, even though they are made selfishly, could ultimately produce a positive end, but you left too quickly." Seraph replied solemnly.
Neo stopped walking and turned to face the shorter man. Various replies shot through his mind, but all he could do was nod and turn to continue on, leaving Seraph behind.
~~*~~
Once back on the Hammer, Neo sat up, his mind running through his conversation with the Oracle. He heard the familiar screeching of Rogue when he was upset. Cocking his head to one side, Neo turned to face the general area where Morpheus was moving towards after taking his plug out.
"What'd he get into that has him this upset?" Neo asked, arching an eyebrow.
Morpheus sighed before responding. "He zapped himself with one of the circuits that lead to the hover pads. One of his tentacles is now limp; I'm assuming that experience for him can be compared to novacain for us. What did the Oracle want?"
Neo noted the blunt change of topic and nodded his head before shaking it. "To inform me of some things."
"Some things? That's rather general." Morpheus moved closer to Neo, his tone skeptical.
"Personal things."
"Trinity?"
"Yeah. Along the lines of the fact that I've disrupted some equilibrium by bringing her back to life. The effects of which won't be known for quite some time." Neo explained with a shrug, still not completely understanding himself. "Up until the moment I brought her back in the real world, I had only made one true choice, and that was to take the red pill. When I was given a chance to make another real choice, it was for myself, something that unraveled the written future. I'm not sure."
"Trinity isn't supposed to be here then?" Morpheus surmised.
"Something like that. Just when I thought the problems of us being ripped apart from each other were over..." Neo trailed off, letting out an exasperated laugh.
"Both of your lives were never meant to be easy. The One is a singular person, not a pair. The fact that she was your reality, your life, upset the pattern, and the future. No one is perfect, not every choice is the right one, but we as humans can only look at the situation before us, and deal with it to the best of our ability. If that isn't good enough for the future, it doesn't matter. The future is unwritten, unknown. I prefer that it is kept that way." Morpheus clapped a hand on Neo's back pulling him up to stand before moving towards the operator's station.
Link had left some time ago to fly the ship in and Neo, to his surprise, had been so focused on the conversation beforehand that he didn't notice the operator leave. After lifting the headset to his ear and asking for time, Morpheus turned to Neo.
"We'll be back in less that forty minutes." A muffled clang reached both men's' ears. "I'll go see what he's done. Hopefully it isn't anything too damaging."
"You know, he doesn't damage, more of accidentally plays too hard."
~~*~~
"Captain Morpheus, could you and your crew follow us to Commander Lock's?"
Morpheus sighed inwardly at the man, but followed him silently. Neo felt Link's hand on his arm and moved in the direction Link pulled him. Stopping for a moment, Neo turned to Rogue.
"Go back to my room. If Trinity isn't there, go to Ghost's. Stay with her. I do not want to find out later that you were scaring half of Zion by flying around to stretch your tentacles like last time." A resounding screech was the only reply before Neo heard the sentinel leave.
The walk to Dead Bolt's office was relatively uneventful, aside from Neo overhearing a rather excited man find out that would be a father in nine months. The sound of the man yelling in happiness would be ringing in his ears for quite some time. Upon entering, Neo followed Link to stand behind and slightly to the left of Morpheus, awaiting Lock's reason for bringing them there.
"Captain Morpheus, may I ask why you left the dock with one of only a few working ships without gaining clearance from me?"
"The Oracle had asked to see Neo. I left to fulfill that request."
"Which ship was out to receive the request?"
Morpheus hesitated before answering. "The Fidelis, but you knew she was out anyway to check out the Matrix."
"Captain, even though this war is seemingly over, I still need order. I cannot have any man jump on a ship and leave without running it by me first."
"With all due respect," Neo broke in calmly, "If we ran it by you in the first place, we wouldn't be here because you wouldn't let us leave."
"The Oracle won't help us, Neo." Lock replied coolly. "The future of humanity is in our hands now."
"So it appears to be." Neo shot back, his voice level.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Lock's surprise and anger was the emotions that gave color to the sounds of Link and Morpheus turning to look at him.
~~~~~~~~~
Two weeks, yee Gods, how could I do that to all of you? One word: Midterms. Three down and four to go, joy. Well, a bright spot in the darkness of studying. Hope you liked.