'I can't believe it,' Trinity muttered as she followed Neo out of the Oracle's apartment, meeting Morpheus just outside the door. Neo's head was hung, not saying a thing, too afraid, too disappointed, too ashamed. Just from once glance at him you could tell the news he had just received. Morpheus' face dropped as he saw Neo and Trinity approaching, Trinity looked as if she were in some sort of trance, just like the first time she had ever been to the Oracle's.
'No,' Morpheus said quietly, shaking his head slowly, 'no, it can't be.'
'I'm not the one,' Neo whispered, he ran one hand through his hair, and then looked up, telling his mentor, 'I knew I wasn't.'
It was a shock to all of them, especially Trinity though; she had risked the most out of anyone. She had put her heart out to this man, she had given up her reputation, she had given up her principles, she had been prepared to do anything for Neo, and now it was for nothing, she was meant to love the one, not Neo.
Trinity pushed past the two men, starting by walking quickly, but soon running off down the corridor, heading to the stairs, and then down them, two at a time, rushing to get away from it all. This couldn't be happening to her, it wasn't fair.
Morpheus' concerned turned to Trinity, as had Neo's. Morpheus said, 'follow her and talk to her, Neo, I'll phone Tank and the others; we must get back quickly.'
'Ok,' Neo said running after Trinity, following her exact route, chasing her down the flights of stairs, calling after her, 'Trinity, wait.'
Trinity didn't stop though, she kept going, running out of the front of the building, needing to get away from everything, but she didn't know where to go, there was no where safe tat she could get to, apart from the Nebuchadnezzar.
Tank was talking to Morpheus, tracking Trinity while he spoke, 'I've found her, sir, Neo's coming after her, but she's still on the move. I don't know what she's planning on doing, but I'm receiving a call from her.'
'Answer it and then tell me,' Morpheus instructed.
'Yes, sir,' Tank said, putting Morpheus' call on hold, and then answering Trinity's call, 'Operator.'
'Tank, I need an exit,' Trinity said, her voice wavering before she recovered again.
'Trinity, Neo's not far behind you, you can both get to Blacks and Greens and I'll have a call waiting there for you.'
'I'm not waiting, just get me out, that's an order.'
'But, Trinity…'
'Tank, I'm going to this exit and I want it to be ready be the time I'm there, is that understood?' Trinity spoke wit authority.
'Yes, ma'am,' Tank sighed, shutting off her call. He switched back to Morpheus, 'sir, she's heading to an exit now but won't wait for Neo. Neo doesn't have a phone so I can't contact him.'
'Don't worry, just keep an eye on them both, hopefully Neo will follow her all the way to the exit and get out. Cypher and I'll drive to the exit anyway. Call Apoc and tell them to go back to the hotel room and leave immediately,' Morpheus instructed.
'Ok, I'm working on it,' Tank said, switching off this call as well. He dialled Apoc's mobile and passed on the information, and soon three of the crew were back on board the Nebuchadnezzar. Switch asked, 'what's happened? Why didn't we stick to the original plan?'
'I'm not sure yet, but after leaving the oracle's Trinity ran away from Neo and Morpheus, Neo headed after her and is still following her as she heads to an exit. Morpheus told me to get everyone out and keep an eye on Neo and Trinity,' Tank explained in an absent minded manor as he tapped commands into several of the keyboards, bringing up more information on the screens. He hit the dial button as Trinity rounded the last corner to the pay phone by Blacks and Greens. She picked it up inside the matrix and quickly awoke on the Neb. Dozer unplugged her and helped her out of her seat, and then she disappeared, hurrying off through the ship.
'What's the matter with her?' Apoc queried, staring after their second in command.
'I'm not sure about that either, but it looks like it's related to why she ran off earlier at the oracle's apartment. She was called in to speak to the oracle as well as Neo, they were there together, but I'm not sure why or exactly what's happened,' Tank replied, brining up the view of Neo, who was racing down the last street to Blacks and Greens.
Neo wandered over to the pay phone, pretty sure that Trinity, who was no where to be seen, had returned to the ship. He had never been pulled out of the matrix before, but it was likely that phones were the answer. He replaced the phone on its hook and suddenly it started ringing. He answered it, discovering his theory had been correct as he opened his eyes on the Neb.
Tank phoned Morpheus, who was heading to the same exit with Cypher, having opted to take the car as far as they could before getting out and walking the rest of the way. Tank told their captain, 'both Neo and Trinity are back on board, sir, but Trinity has disappeared to a different area of the ship. I have the exit waiting for you and Cypher when you are ready.'
'Thank you, Tank, we'll be there within two minutes. Keep Neo in the core and do not send anyone else after Trinity,' Morpheus told the operator just before hanging up. He put his phone back in his pocket as the car pulled up by an alley way. Both he and Cypher climbed out, and Morpheus led them down the narrow street to the phone. He put the phone on the hook and spoke to Cypher as it started ringing, 'take the first call.'
Cypher nodded, picking up the phone; Morpheus watched as his coding disappeared into the phone, and then replaced the phone once more. It rand immediately and he answered it, returning to the Neb as well, the last member of the crew to go back. Dozer unplugged Morpheus as well, helping him up, and then saying, 'everyone's back fine but we've still not heard from Trinity.'
'Neo, come with me,' Morpheus said, 'everyone else is to resume duties until otherwise instructed by either myself or Trinity.'
Everyone showed their understanding and agreement in the form of a nod, and Neo followed Morpheus out of the core and along the corridor leading to the quarters. He told Neo on the way, 'I need you to talk to Trinity once we find her, this has been a shock for her and no doubt she'll be upset.'
'Why though? Just because the oracle said I'm not the one…' Neo trailed off towards the end.
'She's never spoken to you about her prophesy, has she?' Morpheus asked, stopping in his tracks causing Neo to stop as well.
Neo shook his head, 'no, she tried but she never could say. I didn't pressure her because I didn't want to make her say anything she didn't want to say.'
'Neo, do you mind me asking you just how far in your relationship you and Trinity are?'
Neo replied slowly, 'I think the only way I can really put it is that we're like best friends in love. I respect Trinity in every way possible, so we each let things happen as they happen and don't pressure each other.'
'Have you had a…physical relationship so far?'
Neo blushed, looking down at the floor and then replying as his eyes raised again, 'we've not had sex yet, but we've spent nights together just chatting or kissing. We've never seen each other properly; it just doesn't seem right at the moment. We've shared a bed though, still clothed.'
Morpheus nodded, starting to walk again, 'that's all I needed to hear, Neo, thank you.'
They approached Trinity's cabin, and Morpheus reached out to knock on the door. There was no reply, so Morpheus said through the metal, 'Trinity, if you are in here, please can you just say. You don't have to come out or talk yet if you don't want to. We just need to know that you're safe.'
'I'm fine,' Trinity said calmly in response to Morpheus' request.
'Do you want to talk to anyone? Neo's here if you want to chat to him, or you can always talk to me.'
'I'm fine,' Trinity repeated, and then continued, 'just leave me alone.'
Though Trinity had persisted that she was fine, upon seeing her it was a completely different matter. Trinity had returned to her quarters with the intention of simply spending time on her own to sort out her mind, she would talk later, but not then. She had opened the door, then closed it, and then once more the feeling of light headedness and a queasy stomach had hit her. She fell to the floor, passing out, knocking her head as she fell, her wrist snapping in an attempt to break her fall. She recovered a few minutes later. Her wrist was extremely painful and looked very bad, and her head was bleeding lightly. She winced as she snapped her wrist back into a more natural position and then bound it with a piece of torn clothe. She found another piece of old material and applied pressure to the cut on her head using her non injured hand. She should have gone to the medical bay or got help, but she hadn't had time to let everything sink in yet. She couldn't be seen as weak on top of everything that was already going on in her mind. If she kept passing out for no cause of her own others might think that she was unable to work properly any more or not fit to go into the matrix or construct. She was stronger than that, she could look after herself. The cut on her head was only small and soon clotted, but she didn't dare wash it in case it caused further damage. She didn't move off the floor for fear of hurting her wrist even more, and she tried to keep her voice as calm as possible as Morpheus spoke to her and she replied.
On the other side of the door, Neo wasn't sure that Trinity was ok, something didn't sound right. Morpheus turned to leave, but Neo quickly stopped him, 'wait.'
Morpheus turned back, looking at Neo questioningly. Neo moved forward and opened the door to Trinity's cabin. Morpheus remained in the doorway as Neo quickly went in to see if Trinity was ok. 'Shit, Trinity, what happened?' Neo muttered, seeing the mess her hair was in and noticing her wrist. Her looked at her head, seeing blood there, just as Trinity replied, 'nothing, I'm fine.'
'Trinity, your head's bleeding and your wrist is broken. You're not ok, come on, we need to get you sorted out,' Neo said, helping her up, supporting all of her weight.
Trinity was close to tears, but she wouldn't let herself sink that low, she whispered, 'it hurts, Neo, just leave me alone.'
'No, you can't be left alone when you're like this,' Neo said, and then turned to Morpheus, who told him, 'take her straight to the medical bay and take the bandage off her wrist, we may have to operate, and we'll certainly have to clean up her head. I'll get Tank and Mouse and we'll be there shortly.'
Neo nodded, helping Trinity to walk along to the medical bay. She said once he had helped her up onto the bed, 'why'd you have to do this? I was fine.'
'Trinity, you're not fine. You can't just run away from injury. If I hadn't come in you wouldn't have told anyone and eventually you would have blocked the door from being opened, who knows what could have happened to you,' Neo said, looking down into her eyes.
'I would have been fine,' Trinity spat out as Morpheus, Tank and Mouse entered.
Tank helped Trinity to sit up, telling Mouse, 'do you want to start you miracle healing on her head injury, and then we can check out this wrist. Neo, can you take the bandage off.'
As Mouse got a small bowl of water and some alcohol, Neo started to unwrap the cloth from Trinity's wrist, slowly revealing the smashed up mess. Neo's eyes locked with Trinity's as he held the delicate joint in his hand. Trinity turned her eyes away, tears welling in the corner before she blinked them away. Neo wasn't sure whether the tears were out of pain, whether she was cross with him, or if she was upset about what had happened in the matrix. He knew it must have been serious though; Trinity never cried, he had never seen he cry throughout all the time he had been free, and he knew that no one else had ever seen her cry, it was just something that she didn't do.
Mouse cleaned the wound and applied the alcohol, causing Trinity to wince slightly. Once he was finished with that, Tank checked Trinity's wrist, assessing how much damage had been caused. He consulted Morpheus, and they decided that she would have to be operated on in order for the bone to fix in a natural position. Neo watched as Trinity was put under anaesthetic and her wrist was corrected. It was painful to see, but he wanted to be with her. Morpheus didn't bother suggesting that he left the room, knowing that really Neo felt obliged to stay and that he'd never leave her side.
After the operation as completed, Trinity's wrist was put in a cast and her arm into a sling as she slowly awakened from the anaesthetic. She remained in the medical bay to rest, seeing as she was still drowsy. Morpheus stayed with her and Neo, asking her, 'how did this happen?'
Trinity was very reluctant to answer, but eventually replied, 'I passed out after returning to my quarters and I fell over, hitting my head. I tried to break my fall but ended up crushing my wrist.'
'Do you know why you've been passing out? Could it be related to anything?' Morpheus further questioned.
Trinity shook her head, saying quietly, 'it's at random.'
'Ok, well you're going to have to rest for a few days until you can have your arm taken out of its sling, but it'll be a couple of months until your wrist is fully healed.'
'What about my duties?' Trinity asked, 'I'll still be able to go into the matrix, won't I?'
'Maybe not the matrix, but you can go into the construct after a while. Trinity, you have to understand that you are injured, and while you are injured you have to concentrate on getting better.'
'No, I should be able to continue as normal, it's my own bloody fault that I hurt myself, it's out of my weakness that I passed out so I should push myself further to be stronger.'
'You may feel that way now, but soon you'll see that it's not your fault, you couldn't prevent your black out, and now you just need to rest. I'll leave you with Neo for now.' Morpheus left the room. Neo sat in the chair next to Trinity's bed, taking her non-hurt hand in his, kissing her knuckles, before she drifted off to sleep.
Unlike most people, Trinity found it surprisingly easy to think while she was asleep, so she used this to her advantage, taking this time to be on her own and to contemplate. The oracle had told her that she'd fall in love with the one, but she had fallen in love with Neo. The oracle had also said that Neo was going to be the one, but he wasn't already, because they didn't have the connection of love. This was something that she felt though; she knew that words couldn't express what she felt, so why wasn't he the one now. The oracle had very clearly told Neo that he wasn't the one; she said that he had the ability and the talent, but he wasn't ready for it, maybe in another life though. The two things clicked together in her mind, another life- save his life. Neo was going to die. That was it. Neo wasn't the one, she had fallen in love with the wrong person, but he was going to die and she was going to have to save him in order to fulfil the prophesy.
She sat up in the dark, sprung from her thoughts into reality, covered in cold sweat. She looked around the darkness, letting her eyes adjust to the light. She could now see that she was in her own quarters, having obviously been moved. Neo was sat in the chair next to her bed, asleep himself. She relaxed, falling back onto the cot, resting her head on the pillow, falling back to sleep, this time dreaming though. She saw Neo; she saw how hurt he looked when she tried to refuse his help, when she ran away from him, whenever she had hurt him in the past. He had always remained by her side, loyal to her, giving her the space she needed, understanding of her, and being a best friend whenever she most needed him. He was there for her no matter what. Maybe that's what the oracle meant as well. He still loved her even though she was always taking but not giving. Neo had still found it within his heart to look after her and fall in love with her. He needed her as much as she needed him, but slowly the pressure was building on his shoulders. Again and again she refused his help, she made him feel unimportant, inferior at times, and she didn't show how much she truly loved him. Could he have just said that he loved her when he didn't really mean it, could he have been saying it to give her more and to let her take it. Could this be a lie?
Neo woke in the morning as the lights flickered on throughout the ship. He looked down upon the face of Trinity, seeing tears slowly rolling down her cheeks as she slept. She cried as she slept now, unable to hide her true feelings. He sat on the edge of her bed, wiping the tears off her face gently, and then kissed her forehead, watching her for a few minutes, before pulling on his tops and boots and then leaving the room, glancing back at her once more. He headed straight through to the mess hall, meeting his captain there, who asked, 'how's Trinity?'
Neo paused before saying, 'she's fine.'
Morpheus nodded before turning back to his food, finishing the last of his goop. Neo picked up a tray, filling it with goop from the dispenser, grabbed a spork and then sat down opposite his captain. Morpheus, once finishing, stood up, taking his spork and tray to the sink and then returned to sit back in front of Neo. He told the latest member of the crew, 'Neo, no matter what the oracle said, I still believe in you.'
'But…' Neo started.
'She can't tell who you are or who you're going to be, only point you in the right direction, you have to choose the right path and take it. I'll see you in the core in a maximum of fifteen minutes to start some training.'
Neo nodded, and then watched as Morpheus left the mess hall, greeting Tank and Mouse on their way in. Mouse and Tank both grabbed their own tray of food and sat opposite Neo, Tank asking, 'is Trinity ok?'
'Yes,' Neo said, and then added, 'thank you for helping her yesterday.'
'Hey, it's all part of our job,' Tank beamed, 'I'm just glad you found her, she didn't look like she was willing to go to the medical bay herself.'
Neo nodded, and then asked, 'do you know what could be causing Trinity to pass out like that; it's happened twice now?'
'Sorry, no idea,' Tank admitted, 'usually it would be down to a bump on the head or a fever or something, but nothing like that has happened to Trinity to start that off.'
Mouse suggested, 'maybe it's a kind of bug, like the ones computers can get.'
'But Trinity isn't a computer and she isn't jacked in, so how can that work?' Tank asked.
'Well, when you're inside the matrix you're able to have your codes screwed with by viruses and bugs, so maybe that happened to Trinity and that has been carried over into her body when coming out of the matrix, causing these black outs,' Mouse explained.
'How likely is that, and how serious?' Neo queried, not having any experience with these kinds of topics.
'It's extremely rare for it to affect a human who can jack in or out, and it's near to impossible for it to affect them outside of the matrix. If it has happened then it's not too serious; we can just load the person up into a medical clean out in the construct program. We can perform a simple virus/bug check and clear out. It only takes about half an hour,' Mouse told Neo.
'Is it worth checking then?'
'Ask Morpheus, it would be his decision overall,' Tank said. Neo ate the last mouthful of the goop he was just beginning to get used to, and then placed the spork and tray in the sink. He poured a new lot of goop and grabbed a clean spork, telling the other two men in the room, 'I'll take Trinity some food for when she wakes up.'
'Good idea,' Tank said as Neo left the room.
Neo carried the food along to Trinity's quarters, passing Cypher on the way, who also inquired about Trinity after greeting Neo. Neo entered her room, seeing that she was still asleep, and then placed the food on top of her side board where she would see it but wouldn't knock it over. He stroked her hair quickly, and then headed out to the core. Morpheus was waiting there, selecting a couple of disks ready for training. He asked Neo, 'have you had the manual tasks uploaded yet?'
'No, Tank chose not to do those first,' Neo told his superior.
'Ok, well we'll start with that and then a quick fight in the spar program,' Morpheus said.
Before moving over to his chair, Neo asked Morpheus, 'is it worth running a virus/bug check on Trinity to see if there's any possibility that she's passing out because of a copied hitch in the matrix?'
'When she's up and moving again we'll try it, we don't want her hurting herself again,' Morpheus said as Neo sat back in his chair. Morpheus came over, strapping Neo in and carefully inserting the plug. He hit load on the computer, starting up the session. Within half an hour, everything was loaded up. When Neo opened his eyes, Morpheus was no longer there, instead it was Tank, who congratulated him, 'well done, Neo, that's another for the Zion record books. All manual tasks uploaded in half an hour. It takes an average person about three hours for all that information to process.'
Neo didn't know how to respond to Tank's cheery remark, so he remained silent until Morpheus returned, merely excepting that he was able to do these amazing things. He and Morpheus were plugged in and inserted in the spar program in the construct. Rather than a real fight, Neo found beating Morpheus surprisingly easy, not having to work at all, he was testing his powers more than anything, powers that he thought he ought not to have. Morpheus said after being beaten for the third time in row, 'see, Neo, you are not an ordinary guy. You are the one.'
Neo sat down on the mats sighing heavily, letting himself lay back, staring up at the ceiling. He spoke after a minute or so of thinking through what to say, 'everyone still thinks I'm the one, I have all these abilities, I'm able to do more than the average guy, but really that's all I am. I'm Neo, not the one. I'm no different from anyone. Even the oracle said so.'
'Did she really tell you straight that you are not the one?' Morpheus pushed.
Neo thought for a moment, running her words through his head "Know thy self. Neo, you have the ability and you have the talent, but…" that's where Neo interrupted her, "I'm not the one" the oracle apologised "I'm sorry kid, maybe in a next life".
He told Morpheus, 'No, she didn't, it was more like a riddle. I know there's something I'm missing in what she said, but I don't know what.'
'No one can tell you your path Neo, as I've said before, it's up to you who you are. Tank, bring us out,' Morpheus said loudly, before he awoke on the Neb. Neo, however, did not sit up awake on the Nebuchadnezzar; there was a fault, he was sent straight catapulting into the matrix.
Trinity, who was stood by the screens, watching the dripping codes which resembled either blood or rain, she hadn't decided yet, saw Neo appear before her eyes, and was quick to ask, 'what's going on?'
'What is it?' Morpheus asked, noticing Neo hadn't woken up next to him.'
'Neo's been sent into the matrix somehow…God, it's a trap,' Trinity muttered the last bit.
Morpheus and Tank rushed to the screens, Tank taking the operators chair while Morpheus stood. They could see at least four agents approaching the figure of Neo in the matrix. Trinity was quick to react, pushing back and moving swiftly to her chair. She sat down, telling Morpheus, 'I'm going in. Don't argue with me now, he's in trouble and I'm going to help him.'
Morpheus took one look and saw the determination and love in his daughter's eyes, and was quick to plug her in, setting up her screen, and then having her sent in. In the construct she quickly collected her guns, placing one in either holster, each with unlimited ammo. She was wearing her black tank top, her tight black latex pants, her usual sunglasses and her black boots, her hair gelled back like normal under her crash helmet. She checked her arm, seeing that by changing her RSI it was currently fixed, but she knew that if she injured it further in here it would only get worse back there. A black Ducati appeared at her side, which she quickly mounted as she appeared in the matrix, racing to Neo's location. She parked up just less than a block away, pulling her helmet off and picking up her phone, dialling Tank, 'I'm in.'
'Good luck,' Tank said just before she hung up. Pulling out her guns she ran towards the scene in front of her, she saw that Neo was swiftly dodging all the bullets. A couple of guns appeared before Neo, who was fast to pick them up and start shooting at the agents. Trinity joined him, shooting as well. Neo asked as they fought, 'what's going on?'
'It's a trap,' Trinity told him, just as she managed to hold an agent long enough to shoot him through the head. The task was difficult, and the odds were against them massively. Trinity led Neo through back as quickly as they could, heading to the bike while still shooting at the agents. Trinity got Neo to climb onto the bike and start it up as she continued to shoot at the agents. Then she jumped on the bike and floored it, Neo's arms wrapping tightly around her waist. When they got off, Trinity phoned Tank, saying, 'we need an exit and fast.'
'Spills repairs about two blocks from you, but the agents are hot after you,' Tank said.
'I know,' Trinity said just as agents appeared, taking over peoples' bodies. Trinity started shooting again, as did Neo; with the combination of both guns they managed to shoot one of the agents down, leaving only two to chase them. Hanging up the phone and getting back on the bike, Trinity and Neo sped away to the exit. Upon arrival, Neo made Trinity take the first phone call, just as an agent rounded the corner and shot at Neo. Trinity dropped the phone before she could be transported away, grabbing her guns and shooting down the agent. Trinity could see Neo falling to the floor as the fourth agent entered. Trinity's pure hatred for the agents and ultimate concern for Neo gave her the power to kill the last agent. She dropped her gun, falling to her knees next to Neo. She started to cry, sobbing over Neo's body, blood stains from his pierced heart on his shirt. She never expected to ever cry like this, but after all she had realized, about how badly she had been treating Neo after he had been only kind to her ever, she never had time to apologise him, to let him give her a second chance. Her world felt like it was at an end as the rivers flowed out of her eyes, every tear in her body surging out after all the ears of blocking of emotions.
'No, Neo, no, you can't be dead,' Trinity cried, her head resting against his chest, 'I love you too much. The oracle told me I'd fall in love with the one, Neo, so you have to be the one, you can't be dead, because I love you.' She kissed his lips sweetly, and pulled back, more tears streaming down her pale face. Neo gasped, his eyes flicking open. He saw Trinity crying by his side, and sat up, trying to calm her, 'shush, Trin, I'm here.'
Trinity cried even harder, clutching to Neo, saying everything quickly, 'it thought I'd lost you, I thought you were dead, I love you so much, don't die Neo, don't leave me again, I need you.'
Neo kissed her lips passionately focussing her attention on that; he was alive and with her again and he wasn't going to leave.
