A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I updated. I was planning to update on Friday, but obviously that was impossible due to technical errors. Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter, and I hope you enjoy this one.
25
Neo placed the receiver down with a clatter, and stepped out onto the crowded street, eyes taking in the people hurrying past him. Adults grumbling and tugging on the arms of young children, whining and complaining for one reason or another….teenagers linking arms with their friends and chattering to one other about celebrities and music – the pointless things that seemed to account for so much in the simple mind of an adolescent….children skipping home from school, backpacks slung over one shoulder….elderly people queuing up together to wait for the bus that would take them home….workers bustling around the streets, swerving through the crowd.
None of them noticed him. To them, he was no more than a placid face in a sea of civilians (despite his attire)….his outward appearance resembled that of someone who was one of their own….like the swarms of others, a man who was waiting for a bus, or trying to return home to his family. In a way he supposed he was like them in the sense that he wished to return to his own…but his idea of home had changed from what it used to be, and therefore set him apart from them.
What was home? Not the dingy apartment where he had once dwelled alone, living a life of solitude and oppression, not fully understanding who he was, or what he was meant to be. Now, home was in an entirely different world…surrounded by what may not have been as safe and comfortable, but what was real. What he had come to cherish in the course of the past two months. What he had come to love. All of a sudden, that home seemed an eternity away.
And here were these people, continuing to live out their lives….probably not even caring that everything around them was a lie. They were happy in their own paradise of lies and computer simulations. They didn't care that they were being controlled…their bodies giving energy and power to a source that would destroy them. They didn't want to know the truth. They didn't want to leave what they had come to know. The Matrix was the source of their comfort…it was what they depended on….it was what drove them.
These people may have lived in a false world, but it was a better world with fewer problems, and a world that offered safety and protection from the metallic harshness of reality. But these people were not only doing unknown damage to their own kind, but they were hurting themselves. They would never know what it truly meant to be cold…what it felt like to breath pure air for the first time….that sensation of cleanliness and of purity upon awakening in the real world….the amazement of looking down and seeing your own hands for the first time, and of realizing that these had been your hands all along….not what you had come to know as them. These people were deprived of these such simple pleasures that he had come to love so much. Love……they would never know what it felt like to feel real love.
He thought of Trinity. Trinity, looking down upon him when he awoke in the real world, the first real human face he ever saw…..Trinity removing her welding mask when he walked past, capturing his attention and bringing him to realize the true essence of her beauty….Trinity leading him to his chair the first time he jacked in….Trinity protecting him, accompanying him in the Matrix….Trinity telling him that she loved him, her voice driving and guiding him during his battle with Smith….Trinity dressed elegantly in Zion….Trinity kissing him….Trinity making love to him. She was his strength…..her very being an essence of beauty….beauty in strength….
The strange and unknown controlling voice that had forced him to enter the phone box in the first place - that had forced him to speak words he had not considered or thought of before – was now telling him to reach into the pocket of his overcoat and produce the pair of sunglasses he had placed in his pocket what seemed like so long ago, when he had been waiting in the car for Trinity to return with Raven. As he did so, he blinked the coding into place, seeing the artificialness of the scene close in around him….binding him, deterring him from the truth. It was silently driving him mad, yet he showed no sign of it as he stood stiffly in the center of the crowded street.
The strange force from before caused him to jolt his head upwards, and to look into the synthetic sky, its fading vanilla clouds broken by the misted afternoon sun no more than a simulation….not something to be believed, and yet accepted by everyone around him. He could not see how others could believe in something that now looked so remarkably fake. But even in a computer generated world, the sky still spoke the same message it always had. It was his gateway to freedom, his only escape from the imprisonment of the code.
A final image of a smirking Trinity sprang to mind, and he pushed up from the ground with both feet suddenly, driven by something beyond his control, once again letting his unknown abilities as the One take ownership over his virtual body. There was a rush of air around him as his feet sprang away from the ground, and he heard the startled voices of the crowd fade below him as he felt himself rise further into the distant sky. He smirked, hoping somehow that he'd left a message with that crowd…told them to believe that anything was possible if they only would free their minds.
The air around him felt crisp and cool on the surface of his pale skin, real or not sending a breeze ruffling through his long, mattered tufts of brunette hair and a sensation of invincibility coursing throughout his entire being. He was flying, soaring past the tips of buildings and clusters of birds, hearing them caw with surprise as he penetrated his body through the untouched mists of a cloud, then feeling the virtual sun on his back, warming him, comforting him. How he managed to do what he did, he did not know. But this, he realized, was definitely the most favored quality he possessed as the One thus far.
He blinked away the coding briefly to better see what lay around him, and looked down to see his own feet suspended well above the city bellow him, so that it was no more than a spectacle of lights blinking brightly through the clouds at him, as if to applaud him on his new achievement, or perhaps it was merely a signal sent by the machines, to do the exact opposite of what he had first hoped.
He didn't care. He couldn't care. The machine world seemed miles and miles away now, like the troubles that had weighed on his mind recently, and any sense of fear or anxiety left within him about fulfilling his duties as the One. He felt unconquerable…invincible…eternal, and all-powerful, like he had felt after making love to Trinity. It was a wondrous feeling, encouraging him to be free, and to feel. To defy the system….to seize control of his destiny. He now saw his purpose more clearer than ever. Destroy the Matrix….defeat the machines….save mankind. It all seemed so simple when he looked down upon the scene, from God's own point of view. How a god might see the world, and see his people.
He soared about the sky for a time, then decided that it would perhaps be best if he found Trinity, and was able to tell her of his new achievements. Surely, she was still inside the Matrix, waiting to assist Morpheus when he needed her help whilst unplugging Raven? There would be no need to find the exit Tank had directed him to. Flying was much faster than any other means of transport, and he was certain he could make it to Trinity in a matter of short minutes.
He blinked the coding back into place, then searched the vast landscape for that single, familiar thread of it that could only belong to her. He found it shortly enough, as if driven to it, then hurtled towards it, flying downwards and eventually lowering himself below the clouds, landing atop the flat roof of a nearby office building that she stood upon so solemnly. At once, that feeling of freedom and of control was lost from him, and replaced with his usual sensation of uncertainty, and of meekness, perhaps tinged with perplexity, the quality that drove his unusual and now well known sense of profound curiosity.
She was standing in the same place she had been when he had first seen her from above, as if she had been waiting for him, and had known that he was searching for her. Figuring that she must have seen him fly towards the rooftops (despite the lack of awe and amazement on her face), he approached her with a smile. Oddly, she did not return it, her face hard and firm.
"What are you doing here?" Neo asked, coming to reach her side.
She smiled then, causing some of the unaccounted tension in his muscles to be released. He couldn't help but notice that there was something different about her. The black dress and sunglasses she wore were far too tight, even by her standard. And there was something different about her face….something unnatural.
No, I'm just being paranoid. There's nothing wrong with her. She's the Trinity she's always been. It's just because we're inside the Matrix and I'm still adjusting to seeing her in her 'Residual Self Image'. I guess this happens to every newbie.
"Last I heard you were at the warehouse with Raven and Morpheus." He continued, smiling warily. "So what are you doing here all of a sudden?"
"After I delivered Raven to Morpheus, I was sent to find you." She said, in a voice that was somewhat different from usual, but he just couldn't decide how. It sounded very much the same, after all.
"Oh." He commented lamely, rubbing that back of his head with his hand. This didn't sound like something Morpheus would do. Morpheus would have called Tank if he'd been worried about my location. "Well….um…..ok….err…well, now you've found me, I guess. So….should we return to Morpheus, or search for an exit?"
She was silent for a moment, eyes scanning his body from beyond her dark sunglasses. A sense of uneasiness shot through him wherever she glanced. Odd. He pondered. Very odd. Usually, something very different happens to me when she looks at me like that. What's gotten into her?
"We're not going to do either." She said with a smirk, taking his hands in her own. They were bitter and cold….unfeeling and limp….almost dead. "We have some time. Why not use it while we can?"
Ok, this is VERY unlike her. He thought worriedly to himself. Trinity was not one to make these sorts of suggestions, especially when in the Matrix and under prying eyes. It was then that he knew for sure that this was not the Trinity he had come to know and love. But by then, it was already too late.
Already her grip on his hands was too tight even for him to break free of….
(o)
Trinity leant on the steel frame of the back door of the abandoned warehouse, staring fixedly at the wire fence opposite her, but allowing her mind to drift somewhere else. Just as it had been the day Neo became the One, when the sentinels had attacked and she stood beside his jack-in chair having granted herself the task of unplugging Neo when she knew he was free from the system, some odd connection was able to tell her what was happening, and what needed to be done. As if she was given a brief glimpse into Neo's mind…and was able to see what he saw, and feel what he felt.
She could therefore tell that something was horribly wrong. Like an upset in the pit of her stomach, a gut instinct informing her that Neo was out there somewhere, and he desperately craved her help. There was something not right about the situation….she felt ill-at-ease, and droplets of sweat began to break out along her forehead.
Maybe it's because I left him to fight those Agents alone. She thought to herself. That's why I'm so worried about him. But there isn't anything to worry about. He is the One. He'll be fine.
But her words of self comfort did nothing to rid her of the burning in her throat…the pounding in her heart. Her intuition, telling her that Neo was in grave danger. In an attempt to clear her cluttered mind, she retrieved her phone and dialed Tank.
"Operator?" He said upon answering curiously, perhaps sounding a little shocked.
"Tank, it's me." Trinity replied hurriedly. "I need you to find Neo for me, and tell me where he is."
"What do you mean?" Tank said disbelievingly. "He's with you."
"No, there has to be some mistake. I'm at the warehouse with Morpheus."
"No way." Tank protested. "That's got to be wrong. I've been following and recording all of Neo's actions from the moment he entered the Matrix today. And let me tell you, he's been putting on an incredibly good show! It's been amazing! The Council will have to believe us now!"
"That's great, Tank, but we need to discuss this first." Trinity rebutted, allowing a small smile to creep onto her face when she heard the compliments made about Neo. "Where's Neo?"
"Like I said, he's with you. He's been fighting you, to be more precise."
"Fighting me?"
"Don't ask me. You just launched at him, for no reason at all. Hell, you're actually a challenge to him. I think he's struggling to win this." He paused, then gasped in sudden realization. "Hang on. How can you be fighting him, and talking to me at the same time?"
"That's what I've been trying to tell you." She muttered irritably, wondering what sort of game he may be playing that had led him to speak such nonsense. "I'm at the warehouse. Try and find me if you want."
She stilled the upset nerves quivering throughout her body, listening to the sounds of him typing frantically on the keyboard in the background.
"Holy shit, you're right!" He exclaimed. "What the…..my God, just when I thought I could only handle one, there turns out to be two of you!"
"Two of me?" She questioned worriedly, trying to make sense of all that he said, hoping he wasn't playing a cruel joke on her as he had done so frequently in the past.
"I don't know….gee, it could be your twin. Because whoever it is looks and acts just like you, everything from facial expression to fighting style. Hell, she even reads exactly the same as you do on the code! And she seems to be beating Neo up pretty bad….if I were you, I'd go and check it out."
She barely listened when he gave her directions, her stomach no more than a slushy mess of nerves and anxiety. He mind was a flutter of words, strung together in unstructured sentence fragments. Twin…style…hell…code…beating…bad…Neo…
She hung up the phone and left the warehouse without hesitation, starting off slowly and then breaking into a run as she drew closer to him, partly led by Tank's mumbled directions and partly led by her own instinct. Neither failed her, and she soon found herself standing outside an office building, hearing the sounds of launched bullets from the flat-surfaced rooftop. Fear claimed her, bouncing all rational thought from her mind. She darted into the foyer of the building, summoning the lift and using it to carry her to the top floor. From there, she spied the entrance to a fire escape, and used the stairs that lay beyond it to reach the rooftop.
No word other than horrific could describe the scene that lay in front of her when she kicked down the door, arriving upon the desolate rooftop of the building. She could see herself, as if she were looking on at something no more than a dream…but this vision of her was sinister, snarling, eyes dancing with delight from behind the dark glasses. There was something odd about the figure…something tight…unnatural, and not the woman she recognized as herself in the Matrix. It was strange…like looking into her own reflection, and seeing it step out from beyond the glass to meet her, to talk to her in reply…but at the same time, the woman had no resemblance to her whatsoever…
But it was what lay in front of the woman that caused Trinity's nerves to erupt and explode within her, the anxiety to come to an end and to be replaced by a succession of different emotions. Fear….doubt….disbelief. Three of the qualities that needed to be disposed of when trying to free your mind. This was entwined with the worst sense of desolation imaginable…as if the woman standing opposite her had pierced through her skin with the smoking gun she held in her hand.
Neo lay before her on the cement surface, body crumpled into a still heap and eyes snapped shut…solemnly…sadly…as if grieving for something now lost. He was still…cold….motionless….not a breath escaped his frosty lips – the lips she so adored to kiss. So cold…so empty….so lifeless. Blood leaked from a wound in his shoulder and mangled with the fabric of his black overcoat. So much blood…..too much blood….but still she would not bring herself to think of the word 'death'.
No, I'm dreaming. I have to be dreaming. She comforted, feeling her whole body tremble as she stood rigidly to the spot, taking in all that she saw. Yes, that's it. It's only a dream, and soon I'll wake up and be in bed beside him again. I'm seeing myself in a dream…I'm seeing a nightmare…my worst fears brought into an image to send me into despair…yes, that has to be true. It's the only logical explanation.
The woman who resembled Trinity stared at her doubly blankly, as if surprised by the other woman's sudden appearance, and perhaps a little astounded. A split second later, her eyes were ablaze with triumph, and with delight. She threw her head back, cackling malevolently.
"Ah, how nice it is of you to join us." The woman said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Too bad you had to arrive at such an…inconvenient time."
I can see myself in the dream…that's never happened to me before. Perhaps I am not dreaming. Maybe I really am seeing my double; that or I am going crazy. But then…then…no, no, no that can't be true. He can't be…can't be. But that's the only explanation. I'm not dreaming. He's dead. It's all real…or as real as it gets in the Matrix.
Tears choked up into her throat, and brimming in the corners of her eyes, and slowly began to drip down her cheeks. She pulled off her sunglasses, tossing them aside, barely hearing them come into contact with the roof's floor. She never cried in the Matrix…but this was different. He was dead. This time she couldn't bring him back.
She took a rigid step towards his limp form, then another, and another, feeling the tears leak down the sides of her face, staining her cheeks. She made no sound, none at all…refusing to show anymore emotion to this new foe, but unable to control herself from eventually sprinting to him, kneeling beside him and gripping the fabric of his overcoat, turning him over to face her, so that she could look down upon his cold and lifeless face.
Empty…cold….nothing. There was nothing there anymore. He was gone. Gone. Dead. She shook his body fiercely, as if it may somehow bring him back to her, somehow give his lost soul access to his more earthly form. But it was worthless. He would never come back.
"I never knew you cared for him so much. I didn't think you were the type. But I suppose it doesn't matter now. You must understand that it needed to be done….the anomaly had to be taken care of." Said the cold voice from above her, and Trinity became aware of eyes on her back
These words were spoken in her own voice, as though she was hearing herself say them…like a conscience lingering in the back of her mind. In amongst the overwhelming emotions claiming her, she felt a sudden surge of anger to what lay behind her. It was her fault….that creature was her….she had taken Neo's life.
"Why did you do it?" She asked bitterly, struggling to keep her voice level and even. She turned behind her, keeping her trembling hands on Neo's still chest, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"I had to." The creature answered, tossing the gun aside, a smile gracing her face when she saw the flicker of fear dance through Trinity's exposed eyes. "Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you too. You, a minor and insignificant character at this early stage of the game, and not yet any threat to me. It is he that I wanted dead, and now he is gone. The One is no more, and I have accomplished what I set out to achieve. There is no reason to spill more blood today. Besides, I think that by being alive when he is gone, you're going to do more damage to yourself than I could ever do to you."
"What are you?" Trinity questioned in the same state as she had before.
"I am everything." Replied the vision of herself, smirking as she turned her back and marched towards the descending stairwell, calling over her shoulder as she walked. "Don't worry, the answers shall come soon enough. Just do yourself a favor and don't come after me, or your life may be short-circuited. You don't want to end up like him now, do you?"
In truth, Trinity would have liked nothing better than to be dead. She had never felt so alone…so lost, and so insecure. So many emotions to accept and take on, and yet not enough space nor time. Soon, she would have to leave him, and return to the warehouse to break the news to Morpheus. No. She couldn't leave him…never.
The creature had already left her, descending down the steps of the fire escape to make its way to wherever its destination may be. She didn't care….one day she would see that whatever it was ended up dying a slow and painful death at her hands. But now was not the time. Now was Neo.
She was alone. No one would hear her cry, and if they did, they wouldn't care. No one cared that Neo was dead, other than those who knew he was the One. Those plugged into the Matrix would continue with their daily routine….oblivious…uncaring….
Unable to control herself any longer, she clutched his overcoat even tighter as she bent her head, sobbing into the wound on his shoulder…tears blending with his blood, and the stains on his clothes. The blood was still warm…still flowing….marking her now damp hair and her cheek. She could almost feel his body heaving…almost imagine that he was lying beneath her…completely alive.
"Neo," She whispered through her sobs, shutting her eyes….clinging to the memory of his moving chest. She could literally feel him breathing now. "God, Neo…."
"Trinity…"
She heard him say her name in the memories of her mind….as he had uttered it so sacredly when they'd made love. His voice soft….meaningful…very much alive. She heard it again, the memories teasing her and toying with her mind. The third time he said it was much more forcefully…stronger…as if he wanted to take her attention…
"Trinity!"
Her eyes sprung open, wide with shock and disbelief. Yes, she had not imagined it…it was not simply a fragment of a memory…it was real…it was now. He was breathing…moving…shifting beneath her…his voice had been present. He wasn't dead. He was alive.
She lifted her head to meet his eyes. Just to make sure…to make sure she hadn't imagined it. This was confirmed when she looked upon his face, the colour back into his normally pale skin, brown eyes hazy, shimmering, reflecting the sunlight as he stared up at her joyously, a smile playing on the corners of his lips. All at once, a sense of unexplainable exuberance overcame her – just as strong as the emotions experienced when she had believed him to be dead. It was these emotions that gave her permission to express it, regardless of where she was. It didn't matter. He was alive.
She began to cry again. She wasn't certain why…perhaps the happiness within her had become too much for her body to control, and it required a means of escape, falling from her eyes as tears. It didn't matter, she realized, as she leant down to kiss him. Lips no longer frozen and dead….but warm, soft and wet. She kissed him passionately, with all the energy she had, as though she was afraid he may disappear if she was to stop. When she finally broke away, and began to kiss along his jaw, she heard him laugh, and he brought his hands to her bloodstained hair, playing with it between his fingers.
"Trin," He laughed, closing his eyes to the touch of her lips on his skin as she kissed a path down to his neck. "God…it's alright."
"I know," She whispered, pausing between her passionate kisses. "I was just….afraid."
Afraid. It was a word that had often come to mind in the course of the past two months, but it was a word she rarely spoke. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time she had allowed herself to utter the word, even when she was in her own company. It was a strange feeling: unnatural, and yet familiar at the same time.
"It's ok." He whispered softly, bringing his hand from her damp, blood-soaked hair to her cheek, a streak of his own blood smudged across it, bright against her pale skin. She felt wet, tears still streaming down her cheeks, warm and salty between his fingers. "Don't cry."
She sniffed, wiping her eyes hurriedly with the back of a leather gloved hand, placing a final, lingering kiss on his bottom lip before lowering her head and nestling against his chest. It was as if the world had begun to move once more, and time was no longer frozen. She could hear the sounds of the traffic speeding by below them…hear the ringing voice of the civilians…feel the cool autumn breeze tickling her face. She sighed, not wanting to spoil the silence, but finding that some of Neo's unique sense of curiosity had rubbed off on her.
"Neo, what happened? Who was she?" She asked him gently, shuffling off him and allowing him to sit up beside her. He drew in a painful, shuddering breath as pain shot into the back of his skull upon movement, sending spurs of it coursing down to his shoulder, which was still bleeding. Sensing his discomfort, Trinity remained sitting upright beside him on his right, rubbing his back soothingly.
"Let's take this off." She suggested, helping him to slide his bloodied overcoat off his shoulders and cast it aside. He inspected the wound on his right shoulder, large and deep, the blood thick and oozing, cutting the area of shirt that had once covered it to shreds. Both could tell that this was no ordinary bullet wound.
He turned his face to stare into the depths of her penetrating blue eyes, so sharp and cold, but also filled with love and admiration, hidden beneath sheer curiosity…a desire for answers. He shuddered againwhile opening his mouth to speak, but found that he couldn't due to the unbearable throbbing in the back of his head. He cringed, bringing his hands behind him and feeling a lump forming in amongst his hair, a result of coming into contact with the cemented surface of the rooftop so suddenly.
"It's alright." Trinity eased, seeing the pain expression twitch into his face. "Just take your time."
He nodded slowly to prevent further pain, then leaned forward slightly, shutting his eyes and taking in long gasps of air. Despite her yearning to have answers to her many questions, Trinity remained silent, bringing the same hand that had been rubbing his back to the back of his head, running his dark strands of glossy, brunette hair between her fingers.
"I'm still not too sure about it. It happened so fast." He finally said, still keeping his eyes closed to recount the recent events of the fight. "I thought she was you, because she even appeared the same way you did in the code. But after I spoke with her for a while, I could tell there was something wrong…she felt different somehow. But by then it was too late. She attacked me, catching me off guard. I was so surprised that it took me a while to attack her back, and when I did….I don't know….I just couldn't."
"Was she too strong?" Trinity asked worriedly, unable to believe that any creation could match the strength of the One.
"Yeah, I guess." He shrugged, exhaling a pained breath as her idle-running fingers grazed the lump on the back of his head while toying with his mass of hair. She shot him an apologetic glance, which he observed through half-closed eyes. He couldn't bring himself to tell her the true reason for being unable to fight back against his new foe. The creature was strong, but nothing he couldn't have defeated if the circumstances had been different. But she had looked just like Trinity…spoken just like Trinity….acted just like Trinity in both her manner and her fighting techniques. Every now and then, his mind played upon him, telling him that this was the woman he loved. He couldn't hit her…couldn't hurt her….so she had had the advantage.
"Like I said before, her best technique was her surprise. She produced a gun out of no where, and shot me in the shoulder numerous times. I can't even remember how much. All I remember is that I knew I couldn't win at this stage, and there was no way I could have run in this state. So I decided to play dead. The wounds in my shoulder were enough to suggest it was a possibility, so I just dropped down and pretended that I had died. She shot me again a few times to make sure, and I had to keep quiet, as much pain as it caused. But then I heard you coming….so I held my breath, and waited until I knew she'd gone before I sat up."
It had been difficult to feign his own death, as he had never prided himself on his acting talent, and even more difficult to remain still as shot him continuously in the one place, sending shots of pain streaking through his entire body. He knew it was enough bullets to kill someone. For a while, he almost wished he was dead if it would mean eliminating the pain in his shoulder and in the back of his head. But his abilities as the One had kept him alive, which was something he was now more than thankful for. But the most difficult part of the whole ordeal by far was lying silent and still until he knew that the creature was gone….when Trinity was clinging to him, shaking him, crying for him. He wished he could have spared her from grief…wished he could have sat up and held her…kissed her. But if he had, they would have both been killed. He had to lie still…couldn't react to her…the soft touches she gave him when she bent her head and sobbed into his wounded shoulder…This was another thing he couldn't bring himself to tell her, resulting from his constant and natural sense of shyness.
"Did she say anything in the fight to suggest who she was?" Trinity questioned, bringing him back in reality.
Neo shook his head carefully. "We didn't really have the time to talk when she was attacking me, and I was struggling just to block her attacks."
Before she could respond, Trinity heard the sound of a phone ringing from behind them, and both she and Neo turned to see that the noise was coming from the pocket of his discarded overcoat. Fingers abandoning his hair so that she could reach behind him and retrieve it (much to Neo's silent protest), she answered the phone and then pressed it against her companion's ear.
"You just keep coming back to life again, don't you?" Tank joked the moment Neo answered the phone, causing the other man to laugh. "I swear, Neo, I don't get it. I'd only just got off the phone with Trinity when I saw that other Trinity shooting you. You died, and then the real Trinity came. After the old one left, you came back to life. I don't understand it."
"I didn't die in the first place Tank, I was pretending to. Otherwise that creature would have really killed me." Neo attempted to explain to the obviously highly confused operator.
"But….those injuries were deep enough to kill an ordinary human. Are you sure you didn't just die and come back to life like last time?" He inquired.
"Yes, of course I'm sure." Neo laughed again. "Those attacks may have killed someone else, but they didn't kill me. I'll explain later, when we get back on the ship. What should we do now?"
"Well, Morpheus seems to have things under control with Raven. He'd just accepted the red pill last time I checked, and I think Morpheus can manage the unplugging himself. I suppose the two of you can just jack out."
"You sure he won't need us to help?" Neo asked, remembering that the entire crew had assisted Morpheus during his unplugging.
"He seems to be fine. If he needed you to return to the warehouse, he would have called ages ago." Tank reasoned. "I suggest you get out of there before anymore weird clones decide to turn up and attack you. The nearest exit is the one I described to you earlier, Neo. The one at a nearby construction site."
"Ok, thanks." Neo smiled, lowering the phone from his ear in preparation for hanging up when he was interrupted by the sound of Tank's voice.
"By the way, nice show you put on before." He commented slyly. "I got it all on record, ready to send off to the Council."
"Oh…thanks." Neo said warily, believing that he must have been speaking about the flying act he'd performed earlier.
"Pass on my compliments to Trinity." Tank said, still upholding the same, sly tone. "I never knew she was such a good kisser."
"Oh!" He exclaimed, finally coming to understand what Tank had meant by the word 'show'. "Oh….erm…..."
"Don't worry." Tank laughed. "I'll be sure to cut it all out when we send this record off to the Council. But that doesn't mean I'm just gonna throw it away. I have power to blackmail Trinity now."
"Somehow I don't think she'd like you for that." Neo replied. He could almost feel the shrug of Tank's shoulders.
"Oh well. By the way, amazing thing you did before. I didn't know you could fly!"
"Neither did I. At least not until today. It was kind of a….spur of the moment thing."
"The Council are bound to believe us now." Tank beamed. "Hey, are you interested in trying to see if you can do it again? You know…fly to the exit?"
"I-I could try." Neo mumbled uncertainly, unsure if he would be able to repeat his actions from before.
"That's the spirit!" Tank grinned. "I'll be waiting for you."
The line went dead, and Neo set the phone in the pocket of his dress pants, turning to Trinity and fixing her with a smile.
"What was all that about?" She asked, in confusion from his one side of the conversation.
"Nothing much." He replied, deciding to keep most parts of the conversation to himself to prevent her from losing her temper with Tank (as much as he had to admit that this would be amusing). "Tank says that we should just get ourselves out of the Matrix, and leave Raven to Morpheus. I have an exit…and I want to show you something."
"What?" She asked curiously.
He merely smiled quietly in reply, using his left arm to help him to his feet, cringing with pain nevertheless. Smiling sympathetically, Trinity stood and followed his lead, allowing him to lead her to the edge of the building, overlooking the city that lay so far down bellow them. She stood beside him, blinking up at him in confusion, and wondering why he had chosen to lead her away from the door. Did he plan to jump off the side of the building? He did not turn to her until she was standing directly beside him on his left, and then he faced her with the broadest smile she'd ever seen grace his face, illuminating his eyes…bringing colour to his pale cheeks.
"I want to show you the sky." He finally said, speaking softly…cryptically.
"What?" She blinked. "Neo, what do you mean?"
He didn't reply, staring up into the murky clouds to try and remember what he'd done before. Forgetting to be shy, he spoke again in the same, soft tone, keeping his gaze upwards. "Put your arms around my neck."
"What?" She gaped in bewilderment. "Why?"
"Just trust me." He said, not tearing his eyes away from the sunlight pushing its way through the clouds. Hesitating a little, and raising one eyebrow in confusion, she did as she had been told, bringing both arms to his neck and wrapping them around him tightly, pulling herself against him, careful not to touch the wound on his opposite shoulder. As soon as she'd done this, his left arm slipped out, encircling around her waist.
For the second time that day, Neo pushed off the ground, defying the laws of the Matrix and spurted up into the sky, Trinity clinging to his left side tightly, letting out a stout cry of surprise when she felt the wind whisper across her face. He flew vertically so that he could better support her in his arms, penetrating through the clouds and emerging under the full strength of the sun, well above the virtual world.
"Neo….when did this happen?" She managed to shout in a voice tinged with pure bewilderment, exuberance and astonishment. A voice barely audible above the rush of the wind.
"Only a while ago." Neo shouted back. "Tank recorded me doing it for the first time, and he plans to send it back to the Council."
Trinity beamed, remembering the phone conversation she'd shared withTank earlier that day, and the excitement evident in his tone. She could clearly see what he meant when he'd told her that Neo was amazing. There she was, soaring through the sky, clinging to the body of the man she loved. It was a scene that seemed to belong in a childish tale of romance…not something that happened in reality. Although…they weren't in reality. They were in a world where anything could be possible. At least for Neo, at any rate.
As much as she couldn't deny the rush of freedom that overcame her, she couldn't deny that the high altitude was not working as well with her lungs as it was with his. The lack of oxygen was causing her breaths to come out thin and raspy, and as much as she tried to defy the rules of the Matrix, she found she could ignore it no longer.
"Neo…" She breathed, and he nodded to show he'd understood, lowering back through the clouds, soaring briskly through the crisp, cool air. She immediately felt ashamed, and infuriated with herself for being unable to stand such an altitude, but let this slide away to better enjoy the moment shared between them while it lasted, before he eventually came to land in the desolate construction site, abandoned after the day's work.
Without uttering a word to the other, Neo and Trinity followed the sounds of the ringing emergency phone, walking in perfect alignment. Both staggered and swerved a little, often bumping into the other due to either the pain in injury, or the shock of landing after shooting through the sky moments before.
"You first." Neo smiled shyly when they reached the phone, taking it in his hand and pressing it against her ear before she could protest. He observed her for the last time, standing before him in her now crumpled leather dress, hair once sleek now disheveled and wild,streaked with his own blood, as was the smudge on her left cheek, ice blue eyes wide with excitement from the rush of zooming through the sky. She smiled tightly upon him for a final time, before her 'Residual Self Image' melted away into a thin trickle of watery light before disappearing completely, leaving the phone swinging loosely before him.
(o)
Neo gasped as he felt the metallic needle being wrenched from the back of his skull, shuddering with agony doubled from what it was in the Matrix. Here, where his body was much weaker, powerless and venerable, the pain was magnified, excruciating and exhausting. He pushed himself up in his chair, examining the wound on his shoulder only to see fine traces of blood already seeping into the surface of his scratchy cotton over-shirt.
"Shit, that looks bad." Tank commented from his right, settling the needle back behind him. Trinity stood at his other side, taking the cuffs of her sleeves in her hands, eyes alert with worry. "I should know, I've been in a similar condition. If I were you, I'd go straight to the Med Bay."
"What about Morpheus and Raven?" Neo questioned through his pain. "Where are they?"
"Raven's been unplugged, and I'm gonna get Morpheus out of the system now. After that, we have to fly to the location pinpointed during the unplugging, so that we can pick him up. We don't want to leave him floating in the middle of nowhere for too long." Tank explained with a smirk. "Interesting being on the other side of things, isn't it? You get to see what the rest of us were doing while you were getting unplugged."
Neo nodded, bending forwards to undo his foot clasps and finding that Trinity had moved to do the same. Once he was free, he stood slowly to prevent pain in both his head and shoulder, pushing past Tank to make his way to the Med Bay, hoping to be finished before it would need to be used for Raven. Trinity followed him, striding to his side and glancing at him worriedly, as if afraid he may topple over at any moment.
"I'm a fast healer." He reassured her. "I have been all my life. I'll be ok."
She nodded, taking his arm and escorting him to the Med Bay, leading him to a medical table and then moving to one of the nearby benches to gather equipment necessary. As she did this, he grasped the hems of both his under-shirt and over-shirt, pulling them up over his head at the same time and automatically wishing he hadn't, due to the overwhelming sense of agony that accompanied the movement.
Trinity returned to his side, bringing a tray of medical supplies with her and placing them beside him. He grinned in an effort to show her that he was alright, but she was too focused on the task at hand to notice, drenching an old cloth and preparing to cleanse his wound.
"Do you feel sick at all?" She asked, guiding the cloth slowly over the injury. She remembered the first time she'd done this…how anxious she'd been about the whole affair. Now, touching him seemed like nothing at all, something considered as an everyday affair. It was then that she realized how much she took these few simple moments they shared for granted.
"No, I feel fine." He replied, loving the way her fingers would slide across his skin, bringing a tingling sensation to his body. "Except for my shoulder, and the lump on the back of my head."
"I can get you some ice for that." She said once she'd finished cleansing the wound, and proceeded to bandage it in a fresh cloth. He sat stiffly, unmoving as she did it, until she brought the ice and ordered him to hold it to his head.
"You should go back to our room and rest off the pain." She instructed. "The sooner you heal, the better."
"What will you do?" He asked.
"Help Morpheus and Tank with Raven." She answered simply, seeing the downcast look in his eyes when he realized that this was something he would not be involved in. "Don't worry. You're not missing much. It really isn't all that exciting."
"Still, I haven't seen it before from the point of view of someone who'd been previously unplugged." He said sullenly, dropping to the metal floor nevertheless.
"You'll get plenty of chances no doubt." She replied, adapting to her usual commanding tone. "Make sure you get plenty of rest, and I'll come to see you later."
"Alright." He said, perhaps sounding a little cheerier. He allowed her to lead him down the hall in the direction of the core, until he separated from her to descend the ladder to the lower deck with only a gracious nod in parting.
He returned to his room quickly, before the cold could take claim over his naked chest. He slid into his bed slowly, pulling the thick blankets around him and shivering, snapping his eyes shut to block out the automatic lighting system of the ship that could not be switched off. As he nestled within the covers, his thoughts drifted to the floor above, where Raven was soon to emerge, weak, pale, wet, shocked and bald, just as he himself had once been. He smirked to himself; it was hard to imagine Raven without his dreadlocks.
I wonder what his first thoughts will be when he is taken on board the Neb for the first time…when a stranger wraps a blanket around his naked shoulders…I wonder what he'll say just before he finds himself passing out…what he'll think, feel and see when he opens his eyes to find himself in the Med Bay, surrounded by faces that look so foreign, and yet so familiar at the same time. I wonder if he'll see things the way I did…think what I thought…if years later, he'll have a completely different story to tell about his unplugging when compared to mine. I wonder if the first person he sees is Trinity…and if he'll think she's a dark angel, and then assume that he's dead…
(o)
A/N: Again, I appologize that I haven't been able to update. The whole ordeal with the Trinity look alike will be revealed in time, but I wanted to add a little mystery and suspense to the story. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I promise to update as soon as I can!
Remember, I am still open to requests if anyone wants a scene orsome dialouge included in this story, although I'm not making any promises that I can, but I'll try my best! Please review and I'll update soon!
Reviews motovation :)