I'm really sorry this chapter is late; I left school last week and have had so many exams I didn't even realise I'd forgotten to write the next chapter! I've tried to make it longer than normal to compensate )
See first chapter for disclaimer
Chapter 13: The Dining Room
Morpheus sat up slowly, keeping his eyes on the floor. Trinity cursed and looked away.
"She isn't there, is she," Link said, more of a statement than a question.
"Who?" Asked Morpheus, suddenly finding the ability to look up.
"Apollo." Morpheus shook his head.
"But Artemis is, or so it would seem."
"Artemis? Well, Apollo did go in looking for her so that's good I guess…"
"No it isn't. Even if we know for sure that she's there, which is uncertain, we're still left with three other questions."
"What questions?" Asked Trinity.
Morpheus stood and made his way over to the monitors, only to sit down again, heavily. Link moved over to allow him a better view of the screens.
"Firstly, where's Apollo gone if she was heading for the right place? Secondly, why did Harendotes tell us that they were both there when they aren't? And thirdly, how much time do we have left before Haroeris asks for them? The circle evidently know that they're here…maybe they're allowing us time to get out of this fix first."
Trinity stiffened at the mention of Haroeris' name and moved to Neo's body, as if her being there could offer him some protection.
"I know you're impatient, Trinity, but some things take time." Morpheus was trying to be comforting, but there was very little he could say to soothe her, and his mind was on other things besides finding the right words. He struggled for a moment as he realised that his remark hadn't helped and tried to search for some better assurance. Link smiled. It was times like this when he most admired his captain, and his undying strength of character. Morpheus' mind finally faltered and he could only think of,
"As soon as we find the twins we'll go straight to Haroeris and see about getting Neo back." He paused. "You have my word." Trinity's hard expression melted slightly. She valued his word above all other promises and was moved that he had thrown it away on such an unpredictable event.
"But first we have other problems. Link, I take it you already know that the Virus Twins are involved." Link only nodded silently; Trinity jerked and her eyes widened in shock.
"You're not serious?" She put her hand to her head and shut her eyes. "Oh Jesus."
"That's why I came back. I do intend to pull Artemis out, no matter who the Merovingian employs, but I know that man better than to risk his henchmen alone."
"Very sensible, sir," said Link. "So what, are you and Trin going?"
"Shortly."
"We are?" Trinity was about to add an irritated 'thanks for telling me', but restrained herself. If Morpheus could be courteous when under pressure then so could she.
"I'm sorry, Trinity, but we have no choice. I didn't encounter anyone and I hope we'll have equal luck when we go in this time. But precautions must be taken. Especially where viruses are involved."
OoOoO
Hannah and I continued to looked at each other, her grip on my arm not loosening.
This place just gets weirder and weirder… at least they've gone. But we both knew they'd be back, and soon. So where do we go now? If they come back here we'd better move.
Yeh, but we won't know where they'll come back. They could be anywhere, they must have come out of thin air the first time I saw them. I guess we just try and find an exit as soon as we can. Come on.
Not knowing where else to go, we started to head for the door the other twins had come through. After all, we reasoned, it had to lead somewhere. We emerged into a connecting room, a dining room with a long table. It was set for 14, with enough cutlery for several courses and multiple wine glasses. There were 2 candelabras at either end of the table, with the candles lit and burning effervescently. We hesitated to stay as it looked as though the room was expecting its guests soon, but as Hannah was briskly moving towards another door, I noticed something strange.
I lent towards the tabletop and looked closer, trying to see if my eyes were deceiving me. They weren't. There was dust on the plates. And not even a light sprinkling as if they hadn't been wiped when they came out of the cupboard; the layers were thick. I brushed off the nearest chair and sat down, peering closely at everything else. It was all the same – blanketed with what had to be several years' worth of dust. I looked up and down the table incredulously.
What the hell is this place?
I absent-mindedly started to run my finger around the rim of a wine glass; my finger was damp with nervous sweat and the vibrations in the glass started to turn into an eerie echoing note. It's as if this Merovingian's been waiting for guests for so long he's habitually expecting them…why are the candles still lit? I wonder if he is still expecting people…and who it is… I could never have understood the irony of my thoughts. Until that day he had been waiting for people. He had been waiting for us.
Hannah stopped at the door and turned around. I met her gaze and we both knew we had to go. There was nothing normal about this place, and the sooner we left it the better. But before we could move, we heard movement in the next room, where we had just been. We didn't have to look to know who it was. Without hesitation we leapt for the door. I stumbled getting up as my leg got caught in the chair; I kicked myself free, leaving the chair to clatter noisily to the floor. We darted through the door and burst into a run.
For once, the castle of corridors failed to produce any, and we found ourselves streaking through a swift succession of large rooms, all connected by the same series of doors, one at either end of each room, in line with all the others. The absence of corners made our progression faster, but we were painfully aware that any advantage we had, our pursuers would also have.
Even if they didn't somehow psychically know where we were, we knew they would have heard us noisily fleeing the dining room, the crash of the chair resounding in my ears over and over again. They didn't need to pick up our scent, I had handed it to them on a plate. I silently apologised repeatedly to Hannah for giving us away, but all she did was reassure me that they would have found us anyway. Despite my guilt, I knew she was right.
At the end of the rooms, we came into a short section of hallway, with 2 doors – one facing us at the opposite end, and one on the left halfway down. We decided to take the latter, doing everything we could to be unpredictable and break our trend. We found ourselves in a large marble-paved entrance hall, facing a pair of titanic doors. On either side of us, two sides of a split staircase wound their way up the left and right walls, meeting in a balcony directly above us. The marble walls were covered, from floor to ceiling, in a collection of weaponry. I looked around in amazement.
Shit, if this place wasn't a simulation it would have cost a bomb! Is it real marble, do you think?
Depends what you mean by 'real'.
Point taken.
Suddenly, the doors behind us slammed open and the twins surged in. We didn't have time to stop and think about what to do; we just automatically separated and began to hurdle up the different staircases, in the hope that they would both pursue one of us, leaving the other one the opportunity to do something clever. They weren't that inexperienced.
It is at this point that I feel I need to tell you something about the strange world of twins, in the hope that it will explain the stupid thing we did next. Sometimes, twins can be subject to a phenomenon casually called 'mirror twins'. This means that without realising it or intending it, they mirror each other perfectly – if one turns left, the other will turn right. You've probably guessed that Hannah and I fit into this category, and that is why when we reached the balcony, instead of meeting each other and continuing the flight together, I carried on through the door on my left, and Hannah through the door on her right.
I got halfway across the room before I registered that Hannah was moving away from me, and spun round. It was too late. One of the men in white was standing in the doorway. He grinned demonically. I now didn't have a way out, a way back to Hannah. From her thoughts I realised that we were, almost humorously, still in a flawless mirrored situation, right down to the way her personal hunter was grinning at her in the same way as mine was at me. Our decision was simple and simultaneous. We ran.
It felt like I was repeatedly being punched in the gut to think that I was now running away from Hannah, whom I had come to rescue, and that I had no choice. I tried to push it from my mind and concentrate on escaping my stalker in time to still help her, it was the only thing that kept my legs moving. Fortunately for Hannah, she had more luck than me – she had only been through a few rooms when she dove behind a curtain, kicking the door to make it move as though she had been through it as she went. Her pursuer took the bait and she was left temporarily safe.
I, however, took longer. I stopped paying attention to where I was, stopped noticing my surroundings at all. It was difficult deciding what to do – I naturally wanted to get back to Hannah as soon as possible, but didn't want to lead the twins to her. The decision was making my brain hurt so I stopped thinking.
He slowly gained on me as I ran, until we reached a point where he could grab me if he reached out. There was a light behind us and I saw the shadow of his hand coming towards me; I almost screamed and tried to change direction. There was a door on my right and I tumbled through it, turning and slamming it behind me. I leant against it momentarily, trying to catch my breath. My heart was pounding so fast it hurt and I was close to hyperventilating. I could feel him trying to open the door and pushed all my weight against it. There was little point running again now. I was exhausted and he'd only catch me, there wasn't anywhere for me to go. As I looked around for a possible way out in case worst came to worst, I realised I was back in the dining room. But there was something different about it that I couldn't place at first.
When it struck me, my stomach hollowed. Everything was clean. In the time it had taken us to run down to the entrance hall and back, someone had been in and polished everything; the glasses glinted in the candlelight and the reflection of the candelabras could be seen in the plates. It really was ready for guests now – there were even name cards at each place. Distracted, my hand slipped of the handle and I moved away from the door, staring at the name card next to the head of the table. It had my name on it.
OoOoO
Hannah peeped out from behind the curtain nervously, scanning the room for any signs that she wasn't alone. Finding none, she cautiously stepped out from behind the curtain. Now that she wasn't being followed, she could find Sarah without leading anyone to her. She crept back the way she had come until she reached the great hall. She hesitated; Sarah was moving so fast that even if Hannah tried to follow her she'd never catch up. There was no indication of where Sarah was intending to go next, either, so she couldn't even try and meet her along the way.
Not really knowing where she was going, she began to plod down the staircase and into the main lobby. She stood for a moment in the middle of the floor looking, and feeling, dazed. Too much had happened too quickly and her mind was refusing to take in all the data, let alone compute it to come out with a rational decision about what to do next. She couldn't run away from the twins because she didn't know where they were, and she couldn't run after Sarah because she was changing situation too fast to keep up. It was hopeless.
Her common sense abruptly kicked in. What are you doing, Hannah? You're twin is in trouble and you're just standing there? Get a move on! Go after her! Hurry up, you don't know what might be happening to her!
She shook herself, and with new resolve, set off purposefully across the hall and through the door beneath the balcony. Fortunately, she sensed Sarah stopping still, and was able to pinpoint her rough location, giving her at least a sense of direction. As she was starting to build up into a run, Sarah suddenly began talking to her.
This is creepy, Han…I'm in the dining room and it's been all done up…there are name cards on the places and there are two with our names on. It's creeping me out.
Don't panic, Sarah, I'm on my way. Where's the guy?
What guy?
The guy following you! Sarah, what are you doing?
Oh that guy…shit!
Sarah?...Sarah?...
Hannah gulped as Sarah started to think about something else, she couldn't tell what but it involved fear. As panic started to mount, Hannah ran faster towards the dining room, through all the numerous chambers they had passed through before. But no matter how fast she ran, she wasn't fast enough.
OoOoO
I had completely forgotten what was going on, so drawn in was I by the peculiarity of the change in the dining room. Had Hannah not reminded me, I wouldn't have remembered until he burst in. Luckily, thanks to my twin's reminder, I had had enough time to leap behind the table by the time he entered. We stood looking at each other. He walked slowly until he was on the opposite me, the table standing between us. He took a step to the right; I automatically stepped to the left. He moved back to his original position and so did I. It was like some strange ballroom dance – we were certainly in the right setting. We stood still again for a minute and then he tried darting suddenly round the table, but I was too fast for him and we had exchanged places before he realised I was reacting to his movement.
He glowered at me from across the board and I smiled back seraphically. I enjoyed the brief moment of being able to taunt him, momentarily pretending that I had a change in hell of getting away. But we both knew he was my superior and he took the opportunity to prove it.
Slowly, he began to morph into his green ghost form. I felt my heart stop and my stomach drop as he rose into the air and floated over the table. His feet were passing through it. I backed away until I hit the wall and couldn't even bring myself to scream as he came down.
