I think I might start to like year-round schools. Gave me a chance to write this. Actually made it in 2 1/2 weeks. Yay. : ) ...just don't get used to it.

***

Death and Rebirth

Chapter Eleven

Prophecy

***

Her attempts at ignoring a persistent thought only worked half of the time, same as it had always been. Unsurprising, but frustrating as hell.

It was amazing, really, how a few words of an overheard conversation could torment her mind this much. In less than twenty-four hours, she had come up with at least a dozen explanations for it, and among them, of course, was the thought that she may well have dreamt up the entire thing.

Trinity easily flipped over the sword, swung low to the ground in a move that would leave any normal person unable to walk, permanently. It was completely ridicules, she thought as she stopped Ghost's sword with her own. Oracles didn't know the future. Oracles followed intricate rituals, fasted, and went into an underground temple for God only knows how long. They did not speak prophecies. Their notions of the future were illusions, brought on by the high of unhealthy gasses seeping form cracks in the temple floors.

Ghost jerked her back to reality with three successive swings, at eye level, her legs, and up again. She blocked all three.

"Ghost," she said quietly when they both sat with their backs against the wall. "Has anyone on your ship mentioned something about...."

"What?"

She leaned her head back, wondering if she was willing to take the risk of looking like a fool for asking such a question. "I heard Niobe talking last night. Dozer asked her when they were going to take me to see the Oracle." She watched him out of the corner of her eye. "You know anything about that?"

He shook his head slowly. Trinity sighed and twisted her sword on its end, cutting into the simulated matted flooring. "Are you sure you heard right?"

"No." She stood, suddenly restless, twirling her weapon with broad strokes. "But I think that was it." She felt him watching her as she paced back and forth for a minute, recalling the previous night. He didn't flinch when the blade came within inches of his face. "She's worried about Morpheus' reaction to whatever she's supposed to tell me."

"Maybe they were talking about something else." His unwavering and persistent calm - indifference - about almost everything was beginning to get on her nerves.

"Maybe."

***

Distractions, however short, could be found in almost anything. For now, it was the goop that they called breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ironically enough, thinking about it was a very good way to ignore the actual taste of it. A week, they had said, and it became as boring and routine as anything else.

As she swallowed the last spoonful, Dozer opened the heavy metal door to the mess hall and joined the rest of the crew at the table.

"Found a good spot," he commented absently, as if to the wall. "Well up into broadcast depth. Shouldn't take us more than an hour to get there."

Speak of the devil.

"Good." Trinity caught an excited glint in Morpheus' eye before it disappeared. Her cup was half full, and she emptied it in one long drink, watching him carefully.

She forced herself to seem indifferent, that she would ask her question without caring about it's answer. "What are we going up for?"

She saw Niobe eye him cautiously, as if she was warning him of something. He caught the look, but it did not deter him. "We're taking you in, actually." Surprised glances circled between Phoenix, Silver, Apoc and Tank, - she didn't miss them. "We're taking you to see someone."

He said nothing more.

***

She descended the ladder faster than usual, muscles more tense than they normally would be. Trinity was pissed, to say the very least. None of them had said a word about it after Morpheus, and it was quite obvious that she shouldn't be asking in that situation. It didn't help to ease her mind about the next day.

She told herself, repeatedly, that it wasn't anything particularly serious, but blatantly lying to herself never did any good. She hadn't heard much of it, but she had heard enough to know that it was important, likely more so than she realized.

Trinity's room was the last door on the left. Tank's came two doors before that. She stood in the middle of the hall, watching his door as if she expected him to come out. She had made her decision and knocked after a brief moment. When he opened the door, about half-way, and saw her, he seemed surprised.

"Who's the Oracle?" No room was left for an answer. "I heard Niobe talking, I know that's who they're taking me to see. Now who is it?"

Sighing heavily, Tank opened the door wider and sat on his bed, soon joined by Trinity.

"The name pretty much says it." He leaned his head against the wall with a thud. He wasn't sure if he should be telling her this. "She knows just about everything."

"Why am I going to see her?"

He sighed again. "A lot of the people in the Resistance have seen her, and Morpheus takes everyone he frees. She's supposed to tell you what's going to happen. For the most part, she's usually right."

For several minutes, she waited in silence, letting his words sink in. She left his cabin, muttering a quiet "thank you" as she went. Suddenly, she was exhausted, and she pulled off her boots with great weariness. Barely bothering to pull the blanket over herself as she lay down in bed, she was drifting off within seconds.

She barely registered the ship taking off, just before sleep overtook her.

***

When it started, the feeling was barely detectable, and only in retrospect would she realize it had been there so early on. It had started when they plugged her in, when it hit her that she was actually going to see a woman who was to tell her the future of her life. But she didn't realize that she was feeling anything unusual until she sat in the back seat of the car, and only after several minutes of silent driving was she able to give it a name. She was nervous. Nervous as hell.

But she didn't know why. Although she hadn't bothered to ask Tank why anyone would be taken to see the Oracle, she didn't much care, or at least that's what she told herself. She didn't believe in fate, destiny, or other such bullshit, so why would it matter to her what this woman would say? Choice was the basis of everything in life, and nothing and no one was about to convince her of anything different.

So why the hell was this eating at her?

Soon enough, Trinity resolved that she wasn't going to come up with an answer any time soon, so she pushed the thought from her mind, willing herself to be distracted by something else. But it didn't matter whether or not she was distracted. Her mind was playing tricks with her again, the same way it had before she first met Morpheus. In part of her mind, everything was rushing by faster than she could comprehend, and in another part, they were moving at a snail's pace. By the time they stepped out of the car and into the run-down apartment building, the only clear thing in her mind was her nervousness. She didn't like the implications of that. Morpheus alone had changed her life so much, and she felt this same way then. So what was this Oracle going to do to her life?

"Are you all right, Trinity?"

She pulled herself reasonably back into reality, eyes snapping up to look at him, noting that she didn't recall walking into the elevator. Staring at her reflections in his glasses, she opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out. What would she say, anyway? Again frustrated by the fact that he could read her eyes, but she could not do the same, she turned away, staring into the corner of the floor. She was grateful when he didn't press her.

The doors opened, and she followed him silently down the hallway. She nearly ran into him when he stopped, and started when the door the stood before opened on it's own. The woman behind it wore a plain white dress, her black cornrows pulled into a ponytail. She welcomed them inside, commenting on how long it was since she had seen him, how unusually long.

Okay. She took several deep, calming breaths. Focus, Trinity. You're here, let her say her prophecy bit, leave and forget it. She was ushered into the living room, slowly forcing herself back to reality. She was told to wait here, and it was only then that she realized the oddity of the setting.

An apartment. A run-down apartment complex in the suburbs. This was where the Oracle delivered her prophecies? No underground temple, no priests, rituals.... She hadn't known exactly what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it.

There was a strong smell of smoke to the air, and everything in the room looked like leftovers from the sixties. And children, well over a dozen, ranging from young children, to one boy not more than a year younger than Trinity. A few were reading, some watching an old TV. Others were practicing telekinesis - and that didn't surprise her one bit.

She watched three children, none older than ten, had taken a handful of poker chips from somewhere. One held them, and dropped them in the center of the three. They spun in a ring once they had fallen a few inches. Then they started spinning them in intricate patterns for several long minutes.

"She'll see you now." Pulling her out of her reverie, the woman ushered her down the hall. She stood where she was, gathering her nerves as she glanced back to the other children. None of them seemed worried.

You're being ridiculous, Trinity. She steeled herself and continued, ducking under a beaded curtain, as she entered the kitchen. This, too, was like everything else in the apartment - straight out of the sixties.

"Now was I right, or was I right?"

She froze. Elderly black woman, short hair, and looked like someone's grandmother. She knew this woman. Forcing her lips to move, she uttered a shocked, "You're the Oracle?"

"The One and Only." She wasn't looking at Trinity, and instead pulled a coffee mug from a cabinet. For her part, Trinity's mind was filled with too many questions for her mouth to keep up. She remained where she was, unmoving. "You wanna sit? There's a table just behind you."

She took the advice, and ran one hand slowly through her short hair. There was a loud whistle from a teakettle and she watched absently as the Oracle poured the steaming water into the mug and added coffee.

"You like yours black, right?"

Nodding slightly, she found herself reminded of Switch, and missing her more than usual. She took a small sip of the coffee. She wasn't a dependent person by any means, and could easily fare on her own. But, more and more, Trinity was beginning to realize just how much better life was with a best friend.

"Oh, now." The Oracle leaned against the end of the counter closest to the table, arms crossed. "Don't worry about her. She's just fine, you'll see her soon enough."

She stared down into her drink as if everything would make sense if she watched it's surface long enough. After a seemingly endless silence, she spoke, if only in a whisper. "Why did you do that?" Placing the mug on the table, she raised her eyes to the woman. "Why did you tell me about him?"

Shrug. "Not such a huge secret. You're a good hacker, good fighter. Good addition to the resistance."

"But why me?" Confusion and inability to understand the situation made the words harsher than she had intended. "There's got to be plenty of other people who could have done the same thing."

"Oh, not quite." She smiled reassuringly. "Everybody's got something to do in life, some of it has to do with ending the war. And certain people just need a push in the right direction to get them there." Trinity looked away, hardly comfortable with such close scrutiny from someone who knew more about her than she cared to imagine. "That's how it is. One time in your life ends, another begins. Death and rebirth. That's why I told you about Morpheus."

She risked a glance at the Oracle, trying not to seem as unsettled as she really was, ridiculing herself for how difficult that was. There was a knowing look in her eyes, and she turned away to tend to a small pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Trinity felt oddly relieved that she was no longer the center of attention.

A baking pan, likely used for brownies, was the first thing she picked to clean. "He didn't tell you about the One, did he?"

"He... I've heard them talk about it a little. But I haven't figured out very much, other than that it's supposed to be the only person who can end the war."

The pan was left to soak in the sink, and the Oracle dried her hands on her apron. The look she gave Trinity was intent and serious, waiting. Waiting... for what? What was she supposed to know? The One was supposed to end the war, and....

... and compared to what the others had told her about their own training, Morpheus was pushing her to move faster. She had been taken into her first fight unusually early, the same with the jump program. The unmerited looks of pride he constantly gave her... oh, God....

"Morpheus thinks I'm the One," she whispered, the realization hitting her like a brick.

"Bingo."

Trinity fell against the back of the chair, unspeakable stress and pressure washing over her instantly. "I'm the One...?"

"No, you're not. You don't have to worry about that."

Why, oh why was it that every time one thing started making sense, ten others stopped?

"So... why would he think that? Why would he even think that he would be the person to find the One?" She felt a headache coming on. The freest of the free minds could not overcome this one.

The Oracle shrugged, and said as though it were nothing, "That's what I told him. He will find the One, so when he found you, its understandable why he would think he had succeeded."

Knowing that somehow made her angry. She couldn't say why - he thougth something, and was wrong. It wasn't a crime. But still, she found herself barely able to contain the anger that fact brought about. "That's ridiculous - he shouldn't be so confident based off of just that! I mean, Jesus Christ, anyone could be the One!" She was out of the chair now, pacing in frustration.

The Oracle, however, was unaffected by Trinity's temper, and remained passive and kindly smiling. "Oh..." Her tone made Trinity look up at her, even if it did not cease her pacing. "Not quite anyone." That stopped her.

A long silence. "What do you mean?"

She pulled a plate from the pile and began cleaning it. The smile she wore was one Trinity had begun to loath. It spoke volumes about how much she knew that you wish she didn't - how much she knew that you were far from realizing about yourself. "You've never been a huge fan of love, have you?"

Regardless of how much more pissed of she was at the subject change, she complied, crossing her arms, fists clenched. "No."

"Humor an old woman, will you? Why exactly is that?"

"Not that it's any of your business." Slowly, she resumed her place in the chair, taking a drink of the lukewarm coffee. "But I don't have some huge hole in my life that needs to be filled by someone else, I'm fine on my own. I certainly don't need to be tied down like that." Her eyebrows furrowed at yet another smile. And I certainly don't need you treating me like some naive child.

She sat back in her seat, telling herself to calm down. Anger wouldn't help her here.

"That's what love is to you?" She dried the plate with a hand towel, looking over her shoulder to Trinity, who stared her squarely in the eye, an obvious yes. That plate was set on the counter, and she pulled out another to clean. "Well I do hope you'll get over those notions. Unrequited love is not the kind of thing I think you'd enjoy."

If ever anything could catch her attention. "Excuse me? Unrequited love for whom?"

"The One."

Neither spoke, quite literally, for several minutes. The Oracle formed a small pile of clean dishes. Trinity let her own prophecy sink in.

"Pretending for a minute that I would ever fall in love with someone I had never met, how the hell is that going to help the war?"

She abandoned the dishes, for the time. She took the mug with it's now cold coffee, which she poured down the sink. "He may be the One, but believe me, he's as human as everybody else. And everybody else needs someone to turn to now and then. Savior or not, he's only human." The mug, now containing fresh coffee, was replaced.

She swallowed away the lump that had formed in her throat, and reminded herself to stay calm about this. "So I'm supposed to just fall head-over-heels for some random person and give up everything I've worked so hard to get? And then be expected to live happily ever after?" Trinity halted all other protests when she saw the look on the Oracle's face. She no longer sported a smile that only served to complete the grandmother image. Instead, she had become solemn, looking at something beyond the glass of the window above the sink. "What?"

"Happily ever after is highly overrated."

"... what's that supposed to mean?" Trinity's stomach sank.

"It's not an easy thing to hear."

"What did you mean? Tell me."

"When you tell him that you love him, he will die."

She felt nothing. She didn't know what to feel. Angry at having no control over what was to happen to her? Sadness that, once she would supposedly find love, she would loose it? Anger for the same reason? If only she could snap out of this as easily as the Oracle could. The Oracle, who was back to her cheerful demeanor.

"But, so far as the rest of it goes, the only thing you're supposed to do is make up your own damn mind." She smirked, in a fashion very much like Trinity's. "You're own decision to believe what I have to say or not. I'm not here to make any choices for you, you're on your own there. Whether or not you have enough faith in yourself and everyone else to make those choices is entirely up to you."

And still, nothing. She could do nothing more than return the Oracle's smiling face with a perfectly blank one.

"Oh, now, don't look like that. Come on." She gestured her to get up. "You'll be fine, you know that. You go on and finish that coffee on the way downstairs. Just leave the mug by the front door." She walked with her to the end of the hallway, patting Trinity on the back when they reached the living room. "Nothin' to worry about, kiddo."

***

Morpheus said it was normal. Niobe said it happened almost every time. Everything the Oracle said was either a huge weight to bear, or too cryptic to understand. A lot of the time, it was both. She would keep to herself for tonight, and by tomorrow, she would be back to normal.

But still, Tank was worried. It had only been mid-morning when they returned from the visit with the Oracle, and since Trinity left the core, she had not been seen. He had unplugged her, she sat up, staring at nothing and no one. And a moment later she left, seeming not to realize that there were other people there.

After nearly a half hour in the mess hall with no sign of her, he finally decided to bring her diner. After all, she hadn't had anything since breakfast this morning.

He knocked twice, but there was no answer either time. Thinking she was asleep, he turned the rusty handle as slowly and quietly as he could, only to find her awake inside.

"Hey, Trinity." Leaving the tray on her desk, he waited a moment. She lay on her bed facing the wall, her blanket bundled over her feet to keep them warm. "Are you okay?"

Silence. He waited a few seconds more, but was only granted more of it. He took the hint, and left without a word.

***

Her headache had turned into a full-blown migraine. It had taken a while, but everything had eventually begun to sink in, enough for her to process it.

First, it was the worry that it would all come true. That the Oracle wasn't wrong, and things would play out exactly like she said they would. But her rational side proclaimed itself immediately, reminding Trinity that fate, destiny, whatever it was called, was complete and utter bullshit. It was nothing more than an excuse selfish people used to disclaim all responsibility for their actions. It was a way to explain away some problem, be it big or small, when you could not understand it. She was neither.

She had always chosen what happened to her - she wasn't about to fall in love on command. If - if - she ever did fall in love, it would be with the person of her choosing, be it the One or not.

But there still remained a tiny, persistent voice in her mind, pulling up her first encounter with the Oracle. She had said things then, too. They had come true.

So what was to say that this wouldn't?

***

Not as long as I intended, but oh well. Might add on to the end later. Oh, and writing Oracle/Trinity dialogue is hell.