"You guys, what is happening? This is crazy!"

"Oh, no, it's not. It's all finally making perfect sense and I'm not going to miss a moment of it." (Promptly falls drunkenly to the floor, missing the chair.)

Buffy and Giles from "The Yoko Factor"

"I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute... alone."

"The Slayer."

"The first."

"I am not alone."

"The Slayer does not walk in this world."

"I walk. I talk. I shop. I sneeze. I'm gonna be a fireman when the floods roll back. There's trees in the desert since you moved out. And I don't sleep on a bed of bones. Now give me back my friends."

"No... friends! Just the kill. We... are... alone!"

Tara, Buffy and the First Slayer in "Restless"

"Came back a little less human than you were."

"You're wrong."

"Then how come you're so spooked, luv? And why can I - do that?"

"You're wrong."

Spike and Buffy in "Smashed"

Some days, you wake up, and within ten seconds, you wish you didn't. Other days...well, they can be a bit subtler. One choice, one movement, one slip, and everything can end up in the shit house.

Paz wearily sat up in the plug-in chair, nausea overtaking her. It was too much information to process in such a short time. Just too damn much. Groaning, Paz slipped out of the chair. As she prepared for the painful-blackness that would occur after her head hit the deck, Paz felt two pairs of arms grasp at her, stopping her mid-crash.

"You okay?" Sparks asked, his eyes wide.

Paz paused a moment, if she wasn't so sick, she would make a comment, but instead shook her head.

"Let's get her to the bathroom." Niobe looked to Sparks before they both helped her up.

Moments later, the lavatory door was kicked open, allowing Niobe and Paz to rush in. Sparks stayed in the hallway, shutting the door halfway for privacy. However, a moment later, a thought occurred to him- privacy from who, the crazy pipe people living the in faucets? Shaking his head before cringing at the sounds coming from within the lavatory, Sparks moved further down the hall.

Paz leaned her head against the edge of the toilet, listening as everything was flushed down. She could feel the heat in her face, and the cool hand upon her back, rubbing in soothing concentric circles. Sitting back, Paz collapsed in a heap, bracing herself against the stall wall. Looking wearily at Niobe, all she could do was blink. Anything more complex, and acid would come up next.

Niobe's eyes were soft as she allowed her first question to be voiced, "Feeling any better?"

A moment passed before Paz broke out in a grin, her head bowed and eyes closed. Laughing softly, she could only shake her head at the stupidity in the question. Sighing, she leaned her head back against the wall.

"I'll take that as a maybe before I continue." Niobe paused, waiting for any response. Receiving none, she posed her second question, "What are you going to do?"

Silence again met Niobe's inquiries. As Niobe sighed heavily, Paz placed a sweat-drenched palm on her arm, stopping her from standing.

"I don't know yet, but tell me this, did my Dad ever really die, or did you guys just do a major cover-up so that he could hide from the world?"

Niobe allowed a moment to pass before sighing and closing her eyes. Leaning back against the opposite wall of the stall, Niobe cast a long look at Paz.

"He knew what he was doing when he left. Not even the Oracle knew he was alive, as you could tell. When Trinity died, his world went with her. He loved you and your brother so much, but I don't know. Sometimes you cannot understand the choices people make."

"He abandoned us?" Paz asked, her voice quivering.

"That's how I used to look at it, but then I came to understand why he did what he did. The reason he was so strong, was Trinity. He knew he would have to confront the machines, and make sure they wouldn't try anything in case they knew he would never be strong enough to protect us again. Morpheus and I took you and your brother under our wing when he left, hoping he would make it. Taking his disappearance as a sign that he had done his job, we moved on with our lives. Now, hearing what the Oracle said, I'm not so sure he ever made it."

Paz blinked back tears as she absently spoke, "Every memory of my father is of a strong, loving and relatively quiet man. What you say is killing those memories."

"I'm sorry Paz. We do know that he's alive from the occasional Matrix coding mess-up when he enters the Matrix to check up on the world. He keeps an eye on it, and helps people learn the truth, which helps us get more out."

Paz's head snapped up. "When does he usually go in?"

"Not for two more weeks. He has a monthly entry, but Paz, no one, not even Morpheus, when he was alive, could find him inside the Matrix. He's a ghost."

"Only if you don't know his games." Paz smiled softly, remembering the hide-and-seek games Neo had taught her and Emmanuel when they were kids.

"What do you mean?" Niobe cocked her head to one side.

"I'll show you in two weeks." Paz smirked, "We're going in to catch him, or, at least I am. Until then, I need to learn how to fight in the Matrix."

Niobe warily watched Paz stand before shrugging and standing up. "All right, training begins tomorrow. For today though, let's go get some food."

"You're here early." Sparks glanced up from the consoles at Paz, who entered the main deck slowly, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Couldn't sleep." Paz replied quietly, "Never slept much anyway."

"Your dad was like that, though he had some sort of bad dreams that woke him up." Sparks replied, shrugging.

"Prophetic dreams." Paz nodded in agreement.

"Right, those quirky little buggers." Sparks smiled before his gaze ticked over Paz's shoulder. "Cap'n."

"Morning Sparks. Paz." Niobe smiled, placing a hand on Paz's shoulder before squeezing it gently. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah. I don't know if I'll catch him, but, I want to try." Paz smiled nervously before moving towards her chair.

"Can you even do this? Discounting that little trip to the Oracle, you've only been in the Construct, and for the last two weeks, training sims. What makes you think you have the ability to do what your father does?" Niobe inquired as she moved over to her own chair.

"We'll find out soon enough." Paz took a deep breath before feeling the world slip away from her.

Hard boot touched dusty cement. Paz, clad in a tight, all black, leather getup- much to Niobe and Sparks' comments about the similar styling choices between herself and Trinity- moved slowly to pick up the ringing phone.

"Niobe not coming?"

"No, she said she'd only slow you down." Sparks replied quickly.

Dropping the phone back in its' cradle, Paz walked up the stairs in the building she was in. Reaching the roof, she allowed the Matrix to course through her, trying to feel for her father. Niobe would later tell her that her code would glow a bright green when she did this, much like when Neo did something the Matrix couldn't comprehend. Nearly five minutes passed before a warm tingle shot through her left ring finger. Moving suddenly, Paz jumped down from the roof, landing beside a black Ducati in an alley next to her entry building.

She had learned quite quickly how to fight and move within the Matrix, and learned even faster the same things Neo had discovered over time. Kick starting the motor, Paz shifted gears and pulled out of the alley before jumping into and moving quickly through the midmorning traffic. As she felt the tingle get stronger, she took a left down a one-way street before parking quickly. Running up the stairs silently, Paz kicked in a door on the fifth floor. Immediately, a foot collided with her face, spending her reeling.

Slamming into a bookcase, Paz ducked the second kick and rolled before springing back up. Blocking an assault of punches and upper cuts, Paz finally landed a solid punch to the attacker's jaw, quickly followed by an elbow in the gut, and much to the amusement of Niobe and Sparks, a scorpion kick to the attacker's head. The attacker- now quite noticeably a male, in his mid thirties- retreated, his glass-covered eyes warily sizing Paz up. Paz stood and a defensive, yet neutral position, watching him.

"Who are you?" The man suddenly asked.

"You attacked me, I should ask you the same question." Paz replied quickly, jutting her chin out.

"I was protecting the man who lives here, I thought you would try to keep him from being freed." He replied, his voice level- no anger or suspicion in its' tone.

"You could always ask first."

"If you remember correctly, it was you that kicked in the door."

"I was looking for Neo." Paz replied.

The man was silent for a moment before dropping his hands to his sides, "You found him."

Long wait- I'm lazy. A lot of soccer crap has been surfacing lately, and I have just recently acquired the first season of Dark Angel, so, sorry again. I'm only promising a few more chapters; I need to finish this bitch up fast (bitch used in an affectionate way) before I accidentally turn it into one of those "never-finished" stories. Lataz!