4

Neo sat upright on his bed, his back pressed against the cold wall behind him and his arms wrapped tightly around his heads as the neon lights above him flickered before illuminating the small room he occupied, informing him of daybreak.

Unfortunately, he hadn't taken Trinity's advice in getting a good nights sleep. Several times he had attempted and failed to get the rest he truly needed, eventually realizing that his mind was bubbling with an overload of information which prevented him from sleep. So he had spent what remained of the night sitting alone in his darkened room, running things through his head.

Suddenly, his door flew open with a loud creek to reveal Tank's form filling the doorframe as a wide grin graced his face.

"Morning, did you sleep?" Asked Tank, continuing when Neo shook his head firmly. "You will tonight, I grantee it."

Tank's statement only caused Neo further puzzlement. From what I've heard, this training definitely doesn't sound like fun. But what really caught his attention was the eagerness in Tank's voice. An eagerness to build up a friendship. Trinity was right, Tank does seem like the social sort.

"I'm Tank." Said Tank, marching into Neo's room and holding out a hand in greeting. "I'll be your operator."

Two things caught Neo's attention when he took Tank's hand in his own and shook it. The first was the strength in Tank's grip compared to his own. He supposed this was simply because his own muscles were still weak and feeble after not having used them until now, which made him wonder if his body really was ready for training. The second thing was the lack of plugs on Tank's biceps.

"You don't...you don't have any..." Neo began, not entirely sure how he should finish the sentence.

"Holes?" Tank shook his head, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Nope. Me and my brother Dozer, we're both one hundred percent pure old fashioned, homegrown human. Born free. Right here. In the real world." Tank stated proudly. "Genuine child of Zion."

"Zion?" Neo questioned. Is Tank and Dozer's mother on board the ship as well?

"If the war was over tomorrow, Zion's where the party would be."

"It's a city?" Neo concluded.

Tank nodded, speaking with sadness. "The last human city. The only place we got left."

Tank's words only left Neo filled with more curiosity. From what he'd seen of the real world when he was inside the construct, the atmosphere didn't really seem ideal for the location of a giant city. Especially with machines running around and terrorizing the place.

"Where is it?"

Tank crouched on his knees, placing his palm against the floor of Neo's room. "Deep underground, near the earth's core. Where it's still warm. You live long enough you might even see it." Tank finished with a sly grin. Neo decided to pretend he hadn't heard that comment. Rising to his feet again, Neo noticed the hopefulness hidden in the kind smile Tank was showering upon him. "Goddamn, I gotta tell you, I'm pretty excited to see what your capable of. If Morpheus is right and all."

Oh great, Neo thought bitterly to himself, realizing at once where this conversation was taking him, just what I need right now. More pressure.

"We're not supposed to talk about this, but-" Tank continued, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. "If you are....damn, it's a very exciting time."

Neo frowned, unsure of how to take this. He thought of all the people living underground in the hopes that someday, the war would end and they could live in peace. All the people depending on him to save them. How was he supposed to do that if he was still having trouble looking out for himself? He couldn't lead an entire race on his own...he was just one man. A nobody, with no special powers or abilities. And if he failed, if he let everyone down....this was just too much. Not only did he have to deal with recovering from the shock of knowing that everything he thought was real is a lie, but also coping with having to be some sort of hero.

Maybe I shouldn't focus on being the One right now. Neo decided. Like Trinity said, I should just try to get over jacking out of the Matrix by staying in a positive frame of mind before I worry about anything else.

"We got a lot to do." Tank said, breaking Neo from his thoughts. "We better get to it."

Trinity awoke at a surprisingly late hour of the day. This was unusual, since she was always the first person up on the ship, waking before the lights even turned on. She had programmed her body to do this so she could avoid eating breakfast with the rest of the crew, and also so she could get a head start on her day's work.

She figured her tardiness came from spending almost the entire night sitting in the Mess Hall and engaging in conversation with whoever came by, but using most of the time to sit alone and think about Neo.

"Why does he have to be so damn attractive?" She said aloud, lying back amongst the blankets on her bed. "I hardly know him, unless you count all the times I watched him in the Matrix. Yet somehow, I feel like I know him so well."

One thing was certain. If she was meant to fall in love with the One, she was glad it was prophesized to be him.

Wait, does that mean I'm actually admitting to myself that I love him? Trinity shook her head fiercely in denial. "No, all I'm saying is that if it was a choice between him and Cypher, I sure am glad that it's him."

Pushing the mound of tangled blankets aside, Trinity swung her legs over the bed and jammed her feet into her boots. In her exhaustion last night when she had finally retreated to her room, she hadn't even bothered to take off her over-shirt and was still fully dressed in the clothes she had worn yesterday.

As she made her way to the door of her room, Trinity raised a hand to her hair, feeling how tangled and disheveled it felt against her fingers. She had never really bothered much with her appearance in the real world since she had much more on her mind other than fashion. But now, she felt conscious of her work-worn attire and disheveled hair, realizing it had been three days since she had last taken a shower.

Turning and hurrying back to her bed, Trinity rummaged through the nets that hung on the wall beside it, searching for bathroom supplies. She paused halfway through her raid as the not-so-absurd idea popped into her mind.

Am I so bothered with my appearance now because Neo is on board the ship? Am I making an effort to look nice simply because I want to impress him? Trinity shook her head once more to dismiss these thoughts. "Of course not. I'm not trying to look nice for him; I want to look nice for me. I'm the only person I ever bother worrying about anyway."

She didn't have much choice when it came to clothes. Overall, she only owned two pairs of pants, two over-shirts, one under-shirt and a few pairs of underwear. Since her current outfit was the cleanest, she had no choice but to wear it. At least she could do something about her hair. Taking the supplies in hand, she made her way to the nearest bathroom.

"Trinity," Switch exclaimed as Trinity entered the Mess Hall. "Where have you been? No one has seen you all day."

Trinity shrugged, refusing to answer Switch properly as she squished onto the single seat at the end of the table. Dozer, who was closest to the food taps, leaned over to get her a bowl and pushed it across the table towards her. Accepting it with a grateful nod to Dozer, Trinity gazed briefly around the room before realizing that four crew members were missing: Morpheus, Tank, Mouse and Neo.

Morpheus's absence hardly bothered her. The captain never ate with the rest of the crew anyway. But Mouse never missed an opportunity to talk everyone else senseless, nor had Tank ever missed a meal. But what really unnerved her was Neo's lack of presence. Had something happened to him? Had Morpheus overestimated Neo's strength capacity and had Neo collapsed from lack of energy?

"Where's Neo?" Trinity finally asked, trying and failing not to sound too worried.

"Why the hell should you care?" Cypher scowled, jealousy and anger entwined with each word.

"Neo's still in training." Dozer said. "Tank has been operating for him, and Mouse has been pretty keen to watch."

"How long has he-have they been at it?" Trinity asked anxiously, deciding to change her choice of words accordingly.

"About ten hours." Switch replied, the corners of her lips twitching into a smile at Trinity's obvious attention to Neo. "Without a break."

"Shit." Trinity muttered under her breath. Morpheus was definitely pushing him hard. Trinity wasn't sure how much more of this Neo would be able to take.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Cypher said with a slimy smirk. "If Neo's meant to be able to stop an army of agents, then a couple of training programs shouldn't be too much of a problem. Right, Trin?"

"Trin?" Said Switch, becoming alert at the sound of the unfamiliar name.

"Just thought it was about time our second-in-command found herself a nickname." Cypher shrugged idly, pushing his empty bowl aside.

"You call me that name again, and my foot will magically find its way to your ass." Trinity scathed, casting him her most terrifying look as the others tried to hold in a laugh.

"Maybe I should go and take Tank's shift so he and Mouse can come and get something to eat." Dozer suggested.

"Hell no." Apoc ordered, almost threateningly. "Don't spoil the one opportunity I have to spend some time without Mouse getting in my way. So let's all just sit in silence and enjoy our chance for a peaceful meal while we have it."

Unfortunately, Apoc's 'peaceful meal' only lasted twenty minutes. The door flew open suddenly to reveal an excited and hyperactive Mouse. Trinity didn't have to wait long to have an answer to her unvoiced question.

"Morpheus is fighting Neo!" Mouse exclaimed, turning and dashing back towards the core again.

Trinity got to her feet so quickly that the chair she had been sitting on toppled to the floor. She burst out of the Mess Hall, reaching Mouse and a matter of seconds and shoving him aside so she could reach the core first, hearing the others scramble around behind her and all the while running things through her head.

Morpheus is fighting Neo already? But fighting Morpheus in the dojo is usually one of the last tests of your training! In order to even stand a chance against Morpheus, Neo would have had to begin his Combat Training. But we all know that you're supposed to start with the operation programs first. He has been in training for the past ten hours, but that's hardly enough time to upload all the operation programs into is mind as well as enough combat skills to make him strong enough to fight Morpheus. This is insane!

Finally arriving in the core, Trinity paused in shock at the site on the screen in front of her. As the others filed in around her, pushing her aside so they could better see the screens themselves, she felt as if her heart had been lodged in her throat, preventing her from even voicing her earlier thoughts.

None of the others seemed to care that Neo had obviously spent the last ten hours in Combat Training when he was supposed to only be on operation programs. This was most likely because they were all equally impressed with the amazing movements he was pulling off. He was doing things in the dojo that Trinity had even thought of attempting until much later in her training.

"Jesus Christ he's fast." Mouse exclaimed excitedly, his hands fluttering to a screen to the left. "T-take a look at his neural kinetics, they're way above normal!"

Trinity's emotions were a mixed blur as she watched the fight. Each time Morpheus hit his opponent, she cringed with both anger and a senseless pain, as if the captain had been hurting her instead. Each time Neo came close to finally landing a punch on Morpheus, she felt an alarming large sense of pride and happiness, only to have it demolished when Morpheus blocked the oncoming attack. This was mingled with both fear for Neo, and anger with Tank for ignoring the proper training procedure, leaving her disoriented and anxious.

When Morpheus defeated Neo in the first round, she felt Cypher's eyes on the back of her neck, and yet refused to turn her head, too intent on watching the screens. She immediately felt relief seep over her: at least she wouldn't have to endure the scene any longer. However, the relief did not come without disappointment. Secretly, she had been hoping that perhaps Neo would be able to defeat Morpheus, although her rational mind knew that it was virtually impossible. But if he had been able to...if he had been able to prove that he was the One...

Unfortunately, Morpheus commanded they fight again, washing away the relief in Trinity's being and letting fear reclaim her. Amazingly, the fought even better the second time, compared to the first. Even so, this did not give Trinity any more comfort. At least not until Neo finally succeeded in landing a punch squarely in Morpheus's face.

"I don't believe it." Mouse gasped in awe, voicing the very thoughts that were consuming the minds of his crewmates.

Tank began to prepare to jack the pair out when Morpheus shouted in a commanding voice to Tank. He wanted to take Neo straight to the jump program. Shooting an anxious glance in Trinity's direction, Tank changed his typing pattern.

"No," Trinity cried, finally finding her voice. "Tank, you can't.... he's not ready for that yet. You were only supposed to take him through the operation programs today. Why did you start on combat training?"

"I wanted to see what he's capable of." Tank murmured apologetically. "Come on, Trinity. Don't tell me that you're not as excited to see this as the rest of us."

Nodding grimly, Trinity folded her arms across her waist. Tank is right. If Neo makes this jump, it's almost certain that he is the One. If he doesn't...

"What if he makes it?" Mouse asked, gnawing on his fingernails anxiously.

"No one's ever made their first jump." Tank reasoned, stretching over to reach the other keypad.

"I know, I know." Mouse replied. "But what if he does?"

"He won't." Apoc said sternly with a shake of his head.

As Neo prepared for the jump, Trinity felt her heart catch in her throat again as her stomach clenched in anticipation and she silently willed him to make it. Why, she hardly knew herself. Most likely it was because she knew that, as she convinced herself before, if she was meant to love anyone, she sure as hell hoped it would be him.

"Come on," Mouse begged.

"Come on." Trinity repeated in a voice no louder than a whisper, urging him to make it.

He jumped. He fell. Part of her knew he would, but that still didn't improve the situation or ease the hurt coursing through her at the moment. Her heart had slipped from her throat, but had fallen into the pit of her stomach with depression and disappointment holding it down. Tears began to swell in the corners of her eyes as Tank prepared to jack the pair out. Afraid the others would notice the state she was in, Trinity hurried away, retreating to the safety of her room.

He isn't the One. Morpheus got it wrong. I got it wrong. This is what I get for putting trust in my heart.

Arriving in her room, Trinity collapsed onto her bed, allowing salty tears to spill down her cheeks as she wept into her pillow. Although she had been unplugged for eleven years, this was the first time she had allowed herself to cry in the real world. The tears stung her eyes and pasted strands of hair to her damp cheeks

She knew how childlike she must have appeared to anyone who opened her door. Finally calming her emotions, Trinity huddled against the wall, tucking herself in blankets and moving her head into a drier place on the pillow. She hardly noticed the door open and the sound of boots plodding softly across the floor towards her.

"Trinity." Said a gentle voice as a hand rested upon her back. Drying her eyes with the sleeves of her over-shirt, Trinity swiveled around in her bed to see Switch standing over her, concern etched into her eyes.

"Is Neo ok?" Trinity questioned, relieved to see that her voice has regained its usual strength.

"He's exhausted." Switch grinned. "After you left, he sat up in the chair in shock because of the blood in his mouth. After Morpheus told him that if he died in the Matrix, he'd die here, he tried to stand up and nearly collapsed. Morpheus had Apoc take Neo to his room and no one's seen him since."

"Why are you here?" Trinity muttered, sitting up and pushing away the blankets covering her.

"I came to make sure you were alright." Switch frowned. "And also, I came here to apologize. When you told me that you were meant to fall in love with the One, I only focused on the advantages it would have for us in the war. I forgot to think about how you might be feeling. I know what it's like to be told that you're going to fall in love. It's terrifying because you know that you don't really have any choice in the matter and you're worried you'll fall for the wrong man. It must be even worse for you, because every time we free a new mind, you're worried that this person could be the One. You're scared to get close to anyone until you know for certain if they are the One or not. You must have feelings for Neo- yes, I can tell so don't even try to hide it- but if he's not the One, you're scared of heartbreak. If he is, you're scared of loving him."

"I don't know how to be in love." Trinity confessed. "Frankly, I don't know what it is because I've never experienced it before. So how will I know when I'm in love or not? My only clue is the prophecy. But, as Tank said, I don't want to love someone for their title."

"Exactly." Switch sighed. "I was putting too much pressure on you. You might even say I was trying to force you into loving Neo so that we could be sure we'd found the One. I want this war to be over so badly that it was all I could think about. I forgot to even consider what my words might mean for you. I'm sorry, Trinity, I really am."

"It isn't your fault." Trinity said sadly. "And it doesn't matter anyway. He fell. Neo isn't the One."

"So what?" Switch cried irritably. "Everyone falls the first time, whether they are the One or not. Even you fell, and you're one of the strongest people I know. There isn't one person alive today who has been able to make that jump. And considering he's only been unplugged for about a week, I think he's doing pretty damn good. Didn't you see him fighting Morpheus in the dojo?"

Trinity nodded, grinning despite the sadness lurking in her eyes.

"I rest my case." Switch finished, folding her arms across her chest. "Now, are you hungry or what?"

"No, not really." Trinity answered meekly.

"I bet Neo will be when he wakes up." Switch smirked. "Why don't you go and bring him something to eat?"

Trinity approached Neo's door, pausing outside briefly to run a hand across the metal, bathing in the knowledge that he lay behind the barrier of steel that held them apart. Pushing the door open with one hand, and using the other to balance the tray nursing a bowl of goop, a spoon and a mug of water, Trinity crept into the room as silently as she could.

Neo lay on his stomach; his limbs sprawled out across the bed. He had obviously moved in sleep after Apoc had escorted him to his room, as he lay tangled in blankets with his feet, still encased in boots, uncovered and drenching the sheets around him in dirty scuff marks. His left arm had fallen from the bed, hanging limply over the side and his head was turned away from the wall, eyelids locked over his eyes in sleep and his lips parted slightly, allowing ragged breath to escape them.

Crouching beside the bed, Trinity placed the tray on the floor and prepared to leave. But as she lifted her head, she caught sight of his face, masked in an aura of exhaustion and bitter cold. With only his stubble of hair and careful breathing, his innocence captivated her and only seemed to bring her closer to him in a way she couldn't explain. It was as if now, her only desire was to sit and watch him.

Resting her arms on her bent knees, Trinity smiled softly to herself at the peacefulness that seemed to surround him, the comfort he gave her by simply being in her presence. She didn't know how long she stayed there, watching his chest heave as he breathed and taking in the unique scent that only he seemed to posses. All she knew was that, when she finally stood to leave with trembling legs, that there was definitely something about him, a quality that he and no other seemed to own.

Am I feeling like this because I love him? She wondered. Maybe, maybe not. I suppose only time will tell. And I have all the time in the world.

As she shut the door to Neo's room carefully, the warmth and peacefulness in her eyes evaporated when she saw what awaited her on the other side. Cypher leaned against the wall, grinning almost idiotically and moving towards her in a slithery fashion.

"I don't remember you ever brining me dinner." Cypher said slimily, moving against Neo's door and tracing it with his own fingers.

Me? Bring you dinner? Don't make me laugh. Trinity scowled but said nothing, merely waiting to see where this conversation would lead. Cypher, who had followed Trinity silently when he noticed her heading to Neo's room with a tray, was struggling not to appear hurt when he saw the look of love consuming her eyes when she locked them on Neo's sleeping form. He now knew what she mightn't have known herself. She was already in love with him.

"There's something about him isn't there?" Cypher sighed, trying to provoke her into forming the dreaded words herself.

"Don't tell me you're a believer now." Trinity replied in a tone that wasn't her own. She almost, dare Cypher even think it, spoke girlishly. However, he was too frustrated to daunt on this. This was not the response he had wanted to arise from her, as what he was speaking of now had nothing to do with the One whatsoever.

"I just keep wondering. If Morpheus is so sure, why doesn't he take him to see the Oracle?" Cypher questioned sinisterly.

"Morpheus will take him when he's ready." Trinity folded her arms across her chest, still upholding that foolish voice she seemed to reserve souly for Cypher. Turning on her heel, Trinity marched away, the skin on the back of her beck prickling when she left his eyes following her.

Once Trinity was gone, Cypher's smirk faded and he kicked Neo's door in rage, sending a pang echoing throughout the ship's hall. He stormed away, cursing to himself brutally, arriving at his own room and falling against the wall.

She's falling for him fast. If I don't do something about it soon, I'll loose her forever...