28
Neo leaned closer to the screens that depicted the Matrix coding, struggling to understand the complex formation of the lips of two teenagers. He had never expected lip-reading to be such a difficult skill to master, and as he was so used to be regarded as a fast learner, he had almost expected to pick it up immediately. Although he had to admit that he'd learnt more than the average person could in the amount of time he'd spent on it over the past two days, he still wasn't satisfied with himself at all.
"You're doing good, man." Raven praised from behind him, his tone carefree and cheerful. "Real good."
He swiveled around in his chair so fast that it shook and creaked, causing the startled Raven to jump back in alarm, clutching onto the tattered blanket he'd wrapped around his lanky shoulders even more tightly.
"How can you know if I'm doing well if you can scarcely read the code yet yourself?" He said pointedly, lips twitching into an evil smile while he rested one pale, frozen hand on the keyboard behind him.
Raven shrugged, moving back to stand behind his companion and regaining his composure. "Well…I can tell that you're concentrating real hard by the look on your face."
Neo sighed exasperatedly, half turning his chair back around to face the screens again. The neon, raindrop coding splattered down over the screens like the way brown and crusted leaves drop from the branches of trees and waft towards the grass at the beginning of the autumn season. Watching it for too long made him feel worn out, and his thoughts began to drift away from what he was meant to be doing to the lower deck of the ship, and the warming comfort of his bed with Trinity. His head felt heavy with exhaustion, and the muscles around his eyelids tightened in the effort to keep them open. He knew that there was no hope in continuing his nightly lessons with Raven tonight.
"Why don't we call it a day?" Neo suggested with a yawn.
Raven nodded, yawning now too. "You know, you were right when you said you were a much faster learner than usual. I didn't think anyone could be faster than me."
"If you're such a fast learner, then why don't you do so well in school?" Neo smirked.
Raven shrugged, staring avidly into space to gather his thoughts before he came up with a response. "Because I ain't interested in what they teach in school, you know? I wanna learn about politics, philosophy, and the rest of the world. I wanna learn what matters." He shook his head, lowering his gaze and smiling to himself. "Sorry, I'm probably not making any sense."
"No, you're making perfect sense." Neo replied meaningfully, intrigued by Raven's unexpected response. "I used to feel the same way about school. They don't teach you what you really need to know…though I guess none of that really matters now."
"Yeah." Raven smiled. "I should quit living in the past."
"No, that's where you're wrong. Facing your past can help you to move on." He turned away, a smile quivering in the corners of his lips. "As humans, our only consolation to sudden change is memory."
"Wow, that's deep, man." Raven replied after a pause, speaking in sudden respect and awe. "Who told you that?"
"Someone…someone very important to me." He stood, jerking his head towards the ladder that led to the lower deck. "Come on, let's get some sleep. Morpheus will be here to take the next shift before too long, and you only have about an hour before he'll wake you up to start training."
He led the way to the lower deck, where they parted and moved in opposite directions, both making their way to their separate rooms. Neo felt as if his very mind was going to cave in with exhaustion by the time he reached his metallic steel front door and turned the wheel sharply, biceps clenching around his arm plugs with the effort it took to finally push it open. Squinting into the darkness, he could just make out the faint outline of their unkempt bed, and the silhouette of a woman curled up in the corner on her side with the thick blankets tucked around her, her calming breath rebounding off the iron wall she faced.
He smiled to himself, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind him as softly as he could muster. It creaked, and she stirred, murmuring something inaudible in her sleep and shuffling a little before she stilled herself again. She looked so innocent when she was sleeping…it was hard to believe that by day she was a commanding officer…cold and unfeeling to anyone but him.
He crept across the room, perching on the edge of the bed and unbuckling both boots, setting them aside along with both shirts, which he tore over his head. He scrambled into the bed properly, pulling the blankets around him to protect his naked chest from the early morning cold and shuffled into the far corner of the bed, pressing up against her back and draping an arm over her stomach, holding her against him protectively, as if afraid that something should happen whilst he was unconscious in sleep, and she would not live to wake with him tomorrow…
"You seem tired." Whispered a muffled voice, hushed in the cold or the morning air. Neo drew in a breath of surprise, propping his head up a little to see over her. He heard her laugh beside him, stifling it in the limp pillow they shared. Sighing to himself with both amusement and relief, he lowered his head once more.
"I didn't mean to wake you up." He mumbled apologetically.
"You wouldn't have, if you…" She trailed away, once again finding herself too proud to finish her sentence. Instead, she freed a hand from the entanglement of the blankets and lightly ran her fingertips along the arm thrown across her waist, tracing a pattern between his silvery arm plugs. He smiled into her back, cheeks reddening slightly as his leg searched for hers beneath the blankets and found it, causing her to gasp at the shock of the sudden touch.
"I'm sorry. I just……I like being close to you."
She grinned at the lameness of his statement, and then found that she was slightly baffled with herself when she remembered the great deal of change that had taken place within her over the past two months. Two months ago, she would have clobbered him over the head for touching her in the way he did now, let alone for the statement he'd just made. Finding that she was now feeling a little uncomfortable, she decided to change the subject back to his exhaustion. He had been returning to bed this way for the past two days, and in truth, she was worried about him. She was worried that taking every night shift upon himself would be too much for him…she was worried he wouldn't be able to cope. As much as she hated to think that she was concerned for him, she found she could no longer deny it, and would have to talk with him about his health.
"Listen, Neo." She began, perhaps speaking with more force than before…almost as she would address anyone else who was below her in status. "Don't feel like you have to continue to work these nightshifts all the time."
He swallowed, puzzled that she should be so concerned by the fact that he was often exhausted. He guessed she knew from previous experience that a regular nightshift should not tire someone out as much as he was now, and was wondering why it was this way for him. He felt a sudden sense of inequality between them…as if she was looking down on him, and believing that he was incapable of the work she found simple. It angered him to know that this was obviously false, since his current lack of energy came from exhausting his mind each night with Raven. Only he could not blame her, as he was yet to tell her what he'd been doing in the core each night, thinking that it would be best to keep the information a secret from everyone for the time being, in case they should be banned from it. Already he could see just how important it was for him to learn all that Raven had to offer, if he would ever be able to interoperate the Matrix properly.
"If you want," She continued. "I could talk to Morpheus about it…he'd understand."
Neo struggled to keep his anger at bay, irritated and enraged that she would not consider him her equal, and believe that he was capable of work she had been able to handle in the past. No longer seeing reason in keeping things from her, he decided he would tell her the truth purely as a matter of his own pride.
"It's not the shifts, Trin, it's what I'm doing during the shifts that counts." He explained, half expecting her to want to turn to face him, although she made no effort to move. "Raven and I have…well, we kind of made a deal. I promised I would try and teach him how to read the code if he would teach me how to lip read in exchange. We've been practicing together in the core ever since I volunteered for the nightshifts."
"I didn't know Raven could lip-read." Trinity thought bemusedly to herself, after pausing to consider all that Neo had told her. Part of her was ashamed that she had thought him weak, while another part of her was too consumed with trying to understand why someone like Raven would want to learn to lip-read unless forced to.
"I think he knows a lot more than he's letting on." Neo said, speaking more to himself than to her. Over the past two days, he had come to see that Raven certainly was more intelligent than he first appeared.
"How did he learn? Who taught him?" Trinity questioned, beginning to stroke his arm once more.
"He taught himself, apparently. He just started to take note of the lip formations of others. Don't ask why…the reason is far too boring and complicated to explain. What matters is that he can do it, and it's a skill that we can use."
"He's smarter than he looks, isn't he?" She pondered aloud to herself. "What really amuses me is that he's actually really intelligent and he doesn't even know that he is himself."
"Then why didn't he do very well in school?" Neo reasoned.
"Because intelligence can't be measured in diagrams and tests, Neo. No…it's so much more than that. It's all very well to say that you know things, but what good is that to anyone if you don't understand them? They only teach you to know in school, which is why those that have a greater understanding of life, and who may be intelligent people, tend to fail most of their school subjects. True intelligence is not what you know, but what you understand."
"Then you must be the most intelligent person alive." Neo said with a faint smile, purposely thinking aloud.
"What do you mean?" She asked confusedly, finding herself too tired to lift her head from the pillow and turn to face him, much to his annoyance.
"Well…I've…I've never met anyone who could understand so much. You always have the most interesting things to say about topics, and that's what makes it so great to have a discussion with you…to be able to know you. You're always so profound…" He took in a great gulp of air, inhaling her unique scent and closing his eyes softly, pressing himself closer to her. "…and goddamn you're beautiful too."
She snorted with laughter as he brought his head up to the hollow between her neck and shoulder where he kissed her softly. She lifted the hand that was not stroking his resting arm and reached behind her, grouping at his short tuffs of hair. Relaxing to her touch, he kissed her once more before dropping back onto the pillows, and rolling to lie on his back, staring absentmindedly up into the ceiling. Moments later, he felt Trinity move towards him, shifting so that she was almost completely on top of him, where she began to sweep his hair back from his forehead soothingly with a single hand, keeping her face tight and firm, as it was when she prepared to jack into the Matrix. Neo smiled, eyes dancing with love and admiration before he could no longer keep his eyelids open, and drifted into a peaceful slumber.
Trinity reacted the moment she knew he'd fallen asleep, moving off him carefully, lest she wake him. She gathered a fresh set of clothes and pulled them on over her underwear and under-shirt, stuffing her feet into her boots and buckling them in record time. She did not look back on him until she had opened the door to their room, when she turned to smile upon his sleeping form briefly before she moved to let the door snap shut behind her.
(o)
"Today, we'll be sending Raven into the dojo for his first sparring session." Morpheus informed Tank, Trinity and Raven once they had all assembled in the core. "I think he's learnt enough combat training to give it a try."
Trinity nodded, trying and failing to appear interested. Same stranded procedure…they'll fight, he'll lose, and the next day they'll try again, and keep trying until Raven can land a punch in Morpheus's face…that could be an eternity away…more time spent on the ship that could be spent in Zion…with Neo…Neo was able to beat Morpheus the first day he tried…
She had only been out of bed for a few hours, and already she found that Neo was the one thing on her mind, whether she was taking a shower, eating breakfast with Tank and Raven in the Mess Hall, or standing as she was now in front of the consol, assisting Tank in loading both Morpheus and Raven into the construct. Her thoughts were strange and disjointed…fragments of almost forgotten memories that came about long ago. Stupid things, like her meeting with Neo in the club…talking with him…touching him…watching him sleep when he was still plugged into the Matrix…things that sent shivers running down her spine, igniting her on fire. She knew that there was no hope for her concentration, nor for her endurance on anything that didn't directly relate to the man she knew was sleeping soundly just below her, eyes closed gently in slumber…hair sprawled out over the pillow…almost completely buried beneath the blankets in an infertile attempt to shield himself from the cold…
"So," Tank stated cheerily, his tone carefree and unsacred once both Morpheus and Raven were loaded into the construct. "What do you plan to do when we get back to Zion?"
Trinity merely shrugged in reply, although she knew exactly what she planned to do. And this time she would not be afraid…this time it would be better…it would be what Neo deserved…payment for all he did for her, each day they were together…something she could never admit or express with words alone…
"You're pretty spacey this morning." Tank chuckled to himself, waving a hand flamboyantly in front of his companion's face. "What are you thinking about, anyway?"
She shook herself back into reality, turning away from him and staring intently at the ground below her, arms folded tightly across her chest. "Nothing."
"You had to be thinking about something." Tank retorted rudely. "I've known you a long time, Trinity. I know that you have something on your mind whenever you get that real weird look in your eyes."
"What look?" She asked menacingly, meeting his gaze with eyes that were ablaze with aggravation and fury, masking deeper feelings of sudden embarrassment. She was glad that Tank could not read her thoughts.
"That distant look, when you're eyes go all hazy. You know…" He tightened the muscles around his dark eyes, causing them to bulge and become the most expressive feature of his face in imitation of herself. Trinity frowned, but managed to remain silent, ridding herself of the anger that bubbled beneath her skin by clenching her hands into fists.
Tank beamed, opening his mouth as if to continue the conversation when they were interrupted by the sound of a voice crackling and blaring from over the communicator attached as part of the consol.
"This is Captain Niobe of the Logos. Morpheus, do you copy?"
"Morpheus isn't here, Niobe." Tank replied instantly, seizing the communicator in hand. Trinity felt the muscles in her shoulders loosen as she was claimed by a sense of relief. Something had arisen that was sure to take her mind off Neo. "He's taken one of our newbies into the dojo. Give me the message and I'll pass it onto him when he jacks out."
"Tell Morpheus that he and his crew have been ordered to return immediately to Zion." Niobe answered, her voice prompt and punctual as it was known to be in formal situations. "Under the orders of Commander Locke, and the Council."
"What?" Tank cried in astonishment. "Why?"
"Locke didn't say anymore than that." Niobe said. "That's the only message I received. Just as I was leaving Zion, Commander Locke came to me and made me swear to pass on the message to you. He said it's a matter of dire importance, and you need to return as soon as possible."
"How far away is it to Zion from our current location?" Tank said after a pause, glancing upwards to Trinity as often as possible. Although she managed to keep her expression solemn and bland, she was inwardly swelling with as much bewilderment and perplexity as could be shown in the eyes of the young operator.
"About half a days travel." Niobe answered. "I suggest that you leave at once."
"But…what about our newbie?" Tank asked, turning in his chair to face Trinity completely, although he clearly was addressing Niobe instead. "Raven's hasn't even been unplugged a full week and you expect us to return to Zion? Isn't it the Council's law that we ensure he has completed the proper training first?"
"Yes, but in this situation that law is to be ignored." Niobe sighed heavily, and Trinity braced herself for what was sure to follow. She knew how much Niobe detested any breakage of rules, and only spoke or acted in the manner she did now if she planned to do something she wasn't meant to. "Look, I can give you another three days. We can pretend that I haven't run into you yet, and it will give you time to train up that newbie of yours if you really think it's that essential. But that's all I'm offering, understand?"
"Thanks, Niobe." Tank grinned cheerfully. "I'll be sure to tell Morpheus everything."
"Right." Niobe replied. "I'll be seeing you soon."
The communicator stilled, and the main deck was instantly immersed in silence, painfully oppressive after the cackling of background static electricity. Trinity blinked at her companion dumbly, as if she'd only just awoken from a dream, and the conversation had been no more than a fragment or her imagination. Tank, however, had already returned to his keyboard, and was typing frantically in preparation for bringing Morpheus and Raven back into the real world.
"I'm pretty sure Morpheus will want to take the extra three days before we return to Zion." Tank muttered. "Unless he thinks that what's going to happen is so important that he needs to abandon Raven completely and take him to Zion so inexperienced that he doesn't know what a sentinel is. It's gonna be hard…cramming two weeks worth of training into three days, but it's better than just having to pack up and leave."
If the situation had been any different, Trinity would have instantly put him in his place, and resumed her control over him as his superior while on the ship. Though it was obvious that whoever gave the orders at this stage was irrelevant, and instead nodded in agreement, keeping herself silent.
"Phone Morpheus, and tell him what's happened." She instructed. Tank nodded promptly, immediately typing the appropriate keys of Morpheus's number on the keyboard, as she continued. "I'm going to wake Neo, and tell him what's happened."
She knew it was illogical to have to wake Neo, as there was no reason to consult him, though Tank did not seem to notice that her decision to wake Neo was impractical, having already immersed himself with this set task. Whether they spent a week or three days aboard the ship meant nothing to him, as by taking the nightshifts, he had become uninvolved with Raven's official training. But even so, it was her excuse to see him again.
If I just talk to him for a while, then maybe it will get him off my mind, and I'll be able to concentrate on what's going on.
She had not even thought to wonder why the Council may be summoning them back to Zion. Her rational mind, once again, seemed to have evaporated into thin air, as did any sense of her dignity when she opened the door to Neo's room. He lay just as she'd imagined him to – curled in a corner of the bed, the scratchy, shabby blankets pulled up to his chin, his breathing steady and thick, his sleep untroubled by the dim light of the ship's automatic lighting system. The mere sight of him igniting her on fire, so that she could feel a flame burning in the pit of her stomach.
She drew closer to the bed, forgetting to close the door behind her, and began to take notice of small things about him she'd never thought to consider before. The length of his dark eyelashes…his colorless, pastel white skin…the way his hair would rumple as he tossed and turned in sleep…the solemn way his lips would purse as he slept, only parting slightly to allow heated breath to escape them.
She found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing down at him and remembering how she'd once watched him sleep when she'd brought him food after he'd been training for the first time. She had felt a deep and unexplainable connection with him then…sensing a quality only he seemed to possess…feeling the power he had not yet discovered within him for the first time. This was the way she felt now. She could feel the fire burning inside him…the fire she had felt when she first realized she'd fallen in love with him.
Slowly, she began to kiss him awake, her lips pressing softly against his temple, and then traveling down towards his mouth. His lips were warm from his steady breathing, and she felt more than heard him gasp as he woke, realizing what she was doing. Keeping her eyes closed, she gently pushed him so that he was lying on his back properly, and held herself above him with the use of both her arms, placing a leg on either side of his waist, not once breaking their kiss.
Neo barely moved, feeling himself freeze beneath her with shock. He had not expected to wake and feel the warming sensation of her lips pressed against his, and did not understand what would drive her to such a state. She was kissing him harder now…almost heatedly, exposing a side of her that only he had ever seen before. Although he couldn't deny that he enjoyed it, he still found himself searching for an explanation as to why she was here in the first place.
Trinity felt him pushing her away and somehow managing to control herself, worried that perhaps she'd done something wrong. She allowed him to pry her away from him and opened her eyes, still holding herself above him, to look down into his, wide with astounded confusion. There was a smile quivering in the corners of his now wet lips, that told her she had been wrong to assume that he had disliked what she'd been doing.
"Trinity," He managed to stammer, his tone as puzzled and vivid as his appearance bedraggled. There was a strange, bright glint shimmering in his chestnut eyes that she had rarely seen before. "What-"
"Sssh." She cut him off, hushing him by lifting one arm and placing two fingers over his lips. He blinked up at her in silent understanding, seeing no need to question her any further. Like her, he knew that this may be the only time they'd have alone for what could seem like an eternity.
Removing her fingers and using her arm to help to stabilize herself above him, she began to kiss him again, with more strength and passion then she had before, sucking his lower lip up into her mouth. He moaned, relaxing to the sensations that overcame him, freeing his arms from the blankets that were still tucked around him to bring his hand to her cheek, finding and toying with a wisp of hair that had escaped the rest and fallen over her face. She sighed heavily as she broke away from him, then proceeded to kiss along his jawbone while he brought his hands down to her lower back, sliding them under the hem of her shirt and gently massaging the skin beneath. It continued to amaze him that someone so strong and domineering could feel so soft.
While he still contemplated this, his hands instinctively fell lower to her waist. Her hips had been moving above his subconsciously in a circular motion, to ease the burning between her legs as she kissed him. Without so much as a thought for what he was doing, he gripped the hem of her pants and was about to slide them down her waist when she pulled away from him, stopping his hands by snatching them in her own. He gazed up at her in confusion, unsure of what he'd done wrong.
"M-My boots." She murmured, having suddenly remembered she was still wearing them. He nodded, silently relieved she had not stopped him for anything to do with his actions. He remained motionless as she scrambled off him to the edge of the bed, and bent to undo the buckles that strapped her boots to her feet.
He sat up behind her, pulling away the blankets and pushing them to the base of the bed. It seemed as if they wouldn't be necessary to them any longer. He was still sitting when she turned back to face him, her boots now lying idol on the floor beside his own. For a moment, she barely moved, her rational mind coming back to haunt her when she met eyes with his own. But the burning desire yearning within her body proved stronger, and she cupped a hand under his chin, locking him into an intense kiss as she pushed him back onto the bed, moving back into her old position and continuing from where they'd left before.
It wasn't long before he began to tug at the hem of her shirts, easing it gently upwards and exposing the pale, flat stomach that lay beneath it. She whimpered as his hands began to trace a pattern across her stomach, still pulling both her shirts with him. Eventually she pulled away with him, lowering her hips until she sat atop him properly. He groaned the instant she touched him, eyes widening as she grasped hold of her shirts and pulled both over her head at the same time, tossing them to the floor on top of his.
He couldn't help but to gawk, taking in each feature of her body…the devilish smirk adorning her swollen lips when she saw his reaction…the mischievous glint that shone in her lust-filled, cerulean blue eyes from behind a curtain of bedraggled ebony hair…the contrast between the purest black of her bra, and the chalk white of her exposed shoulders and stomach, and the very tops of her breasts. Each defining feature of her body never seized to memorize him.
Trinity smiled, loving the effect she had on him. Even now she found it hard to believe that she were the cause for the hazy glaze in his eyes…his swollen lips…his arousal, which she now felt beneath her…all because of her, and because he loved her. She traced a pattern between the muscles on his chest with one index finger, glancing up into his eyes momentarily before she used both arms to steady herself above him, bringing her face back to his, planting a soft row of kisses along the outer edge of his left ear. Her tongue flicked out when she reached his earlobe, drawing the sensitive skin into her mouth. She felt more than heard him hum deeply in the back of his throat.
She moved back to his lips, which parted instinctively in anticipation, their tongues clashing together in a passionate frenzy. Already, she could feel his hands moving along her back to her bra strap, fumbling for the clasp that held it together. For once, this did not worry her…nothing seemed to matter anymore, other than being with him. Or at least until she heard the seemingly distant sound of a male sharply clearing his throat, so gruff and demanding that it could not be ignored. Reluctantly, she pulled away from their kiss, feeling his hands freeze on her bra strap. Below her, she noticed that he was gazing at the door disbelievingly, and turned to see what had caught his attention, immediately wishing that she hadn't.
"Ok, I may have seen this stuff on the internet before, but in reality…it just ain't the same." Raven said from the open doorframe, young eyes wide and accepting, taking in everything she saw.
Damnit, I should have thought to close the door…though he probably would have just opened it anyway. The little pervert could have been standing there the whole time and I wouldn't have even noticed. Trinity thought bitterly to herself, her cheeks burning red with both anger and embarrassment – angry with both Raven for his interruption, and herself for allowing her to fall victim to desire, and lose all sense of logical thinking. Although she was partly glad that Raven had brought her crashing back into reality. They were on a ship, where they could easily be overheard or seen by anyone at anytime, and the situation could have been worse if they had been stumbled upon some hours later. Glancing down at Neo briefly, she could tell from the expression on his face that he thought and felt the same.
"So I guess you guys are seeing each other, then. You know, you could have told me sooner, Neo." Raven beamed brightly, his teeth pearl white against his dark toned skin.
"Get out of here, Raven." Trinity snarled.
"Ok, ok." He eased, holding out his hands in protest, yet still maintaining the same childish grin. "Morpheus and Tank sent me here to find you both and tell you to meet them in the core. Tank said Trinity had gone to find Neo sometime ago, and hadn't come back. But I guess you're busy, so I'll just have to tell them-"
"You won't be telling them anything." Trinity spat with distaste. "Now get back to the others and tell them we'll be in the core as soon as we can. That's all you're going to say, understand?"
"Yeah, yeah. But I don't think it will matter if I do or not, 'cos I think they'll be able to tell what you two have been up to. Neo's lips look pretty swollen." Raven joked, ignoring the death treats Trinity was shooting him from across the room.
"Didn't I tell you to piss off?" She ordered harshly.
"Not yet, but I get the message." Raven grinned.
"Then why are you still here?"
"Ok! I'm going, I'm going!" He sighed melodramatically. "Gee, you're scary when you're angry, who know that?"
"Weren't you leaving?" She questioned sardonically, forcing Neo to bite down on the insides of his cheeks to stop himself from laughing.
He etched away slowly, disappearing from the view of the doorframe, only to shuffle back a moment later, a menacing smile imprinted upon his lips.
"By the way, Trinity, you've got one hell of a body." He winked. Trinity felt as if her entire face were on fire, and wished that Neo had not thought to place the blankets out of her reach, so at least she could have something to hide the exposure of her almost completely naked upper body.
"Get out of here, Raven." Neo ordered, jerking his head in the direction of the corridor that led to the ascending ladder.
Finally taking his cue to leave, Raven darted back down the corridor, his feet pounding on the steel floor as he went.
"How long do you think he was standing there?" She muttered darkly, clambering over him to allow him to sit up on the bed beside her.
"Knowing Raven, I'm guessing that he would have stood there for as long as he could before even thinking about interrupting." Neo smiled, watching amusedly as she bent to lift her over-shirt and under-shirt from the floor, retrieving his as well and handing them to him. He had never known her to address their relationship without blushing violently before, as it was for himself.
"So what's so important that we need to be in the core immediately?" He grinned playfully, basking in his new fond confidence. Not a thread of embarrassment…not a tinge of red in his cheeks. It was making it easier to talk with her – not that it had been a difficult task before.
"Niobe sent out a call to the ship." Trinity replied promptly, keeping her focus intently on her boots and ignoring the playful tone in his voice. "We've been ordered to return to Zion as soon as possible. We have three days before we need to set out."
"What?" Neo blinked at her in astounded confusion. He had not expected such a sudden change of plan." W-Why?"
Trinity paused, realizing that she had forgotten to even consider why they may have been ordered to return to Zion, being far to preoccupied with something…else. Once again, he had rendered her speechless, but not for the reasons he had done so in the past. She found she had no answer to respond with to his question.
"I suppose Morpheus must have some idea, and that's why he's ordered us to meet him in the core." She shrugged, swinging both legs over the side of the bed and stuffing her feet into her boots, Neo following her lead.
"You know," He mumbled, running an index finger across the outline of his lips. They were still wet, and swollen from her kisses. "Raven's right about-"
He stoped abruptly as she brought her fingers to his lips, tracing the pattern of his own. Trinity knew that he was right, though for not only his sake, but also her own, decided to make light of the situation.
"I'm sure no one will notice or care." She comforted. "And if they do, just tell them you just ate a rather large walnut."
Neo gazed at her in puzzlement, then erupted in a fit of laughter as a once clouded memory came flooding back into his mind…a conversation that had occurred between them when they had been repairing the cockpit together, and had somehow found themselves discussing what had been their greatest fears.
"I was never really afraid of anything." Trinity had admitted to him during their break, as they sat facing one another on the frozen, metal floor of the cockpit. "Up until around about my seventh birthday, my greatest concern was losing my baby teeth, and having to sit through swim tests at school."
"What happened after your seventh birthday?" He asked her timidly, hoping not to destroy the relationship between them by asking her a personal question.
"A lot of things. Mainly, I began to see the world in a different context." He couldn't have known it then, but she had been cryptically speaking of her older sister's suicide. "What about you? What were you afraid of?"
"Well, as a kid, I can remember being terrified of the dark. That lasted up until I was about six. And I never liked our family dog much either, mostly because it didn't like me…and then there's hospitals, which I've always hated and always will, just like I hate any kind of pain or illness. Other than that, it was mainly walnuts."
"Walnuts?" She asked him through a laugh, quirking an eyebrow in question.
"I was allergic to them." He explained. "Any kind of nut really, but walnuts especially. One walnut and I'd come down with a fever, and my lips would inflame dramatically before the fever rendered me unconscious. Next thing I'd know, I'd find myself lying in a hospital bed. The inflation in my lips wouldn't go down for weeks, and my family and peers would make it a living hell for me."
He had not noticed that his thoughts had carried him down the corridor to the ladder that ascended to the main deck.
(o)
"We're really going to have to work hard over these next three nights if we're going to make anymore progress." Neo informed his young companion later that night during his shift at the core. "You heard what Morpheus said today in the core. Since it most likely has something to do with the recording sent to Zion with Roland, then we'll have to be leaving in only two or so days from now. Which means you're going to have a lot of stress, having to keep up with all your training by day as well as this."
"Hey, I can handle it!" Raven protested crudely, jamming his hands into the pockets of his drawstring, ruff cotton pants. "I'm a whole lot tougher than you may think."
"I know." Neo smiled. "But even the strongest of people have trouble holding up when they have to work by both day and night with only a little hours worth of sleep in between."
"I hardly ever slept when I was in the Matrix anyway." He shrugged meekly.
"Yeah, I know." Neo smirked, swivelling around in his chair to face his companion. "I used to watch you."
"God, now that ain't a nice thought." Raven replied firmly, shaking his head in protest. "Stalker."
"It isn't any different to the way you were watching Trinity and I this morning." He muttered bitterly, barely loud enough for Raven to overhear, then immediately wished he'd kept his thoughts to himself.
"Yes it is. What sane fifteen year old would walk away from a scene like that?" He asked rhetorically, leaning his weight against the side of Neo's chair. "Especially when your girlfriend has such as great body."
Neo fell silent, rendered speechless by his words. Although he may have disliked Raven, and the carefree manner he used when speaking about Trinity's body (something that was held sacred to him, and he believed didn't deserve to be addressed in such a way, if not at all), he found himself contemplating some of Raven's words. No one had ever used the term 'girlfriend' to describe Trinity before throughout the course of her entire life. It sounded strange to hear…unnatural, and unsuiting for her character…and yet he had to admit that in a way, it was true.
I suppose in a way, she is my girlfriend. He pondered to himself. What else would I call her if I were introducing her to someone? My lover? No…she's more than that…but she's more than just a girlfriend as well…
"Keep your eyes to yourself from now on, pervert." He demanded, attempting to sound fierce and stern, though there was a small smile upturning the corners of his lips.
"Hey, I'm a healthy teenage guy, I can't help myself." He chuckled. "Maybe we should discuss something serious for a while."
"Yeah, that would make a nice change." He joked sardonically.
"You're lip reading's good." Raven continued. "Real good. You were right when you said you're a much faster learner than I am. You know all the techniques and lip formations now, so it's just a matter of putting it all into practice to perfect it."
"Thanks." He beamed. "You're a pretty fast learner too, especially for your age. But you still need a lot of practice, though no doubt you'll get all the practice you need in the academy."
"The academy!?" Raven gaped at him. "No one told me I was gonna have to go back to school."
"It's not like any other school you've been to before, Raven." Neo said pointedly. "I've never been there myself, but I can guarantee you that it will be the kind of school you've always wanted. They teach you what's important, and what matters, like the history of our war, and the current political and financial state of the public of Zion. The sort of things you've always wanted to learn in school."
"You better be sure about that, 'cos I don't think I could survive in a world where I need to go to school if there isn't any music."
"Oh, there is music in Zion." Neo commented. "Just…not the kind you're used to."
"For your sake, that better be true." He scowled. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna get a little shuteye. See you around Neo, man."
He gripped hold of Neo's shoulder briefly before turning and swagging away from him clumsily. Neo watched him go, a faint smile spread across his lips before an idea sprung to mind.
"Raven." He called, causing the boy to turn. "I…I would appreciate it if…if you didn't tell the others about anything that happened this morning."
"Too late." Raven grinned in the way a child would when they knew they'd done something wrong. "I already have."
"What?" Neo exclaimed, rising from his chair with annoyance. The level of frustration Raven had put him through since his arrival on the ship was immeasurable.
"I can't help it. Not only am I a perverted internet hacker, but I'm also a blabbermouth. Haven't I told you before that I have a problem with keeping secrets?"
Neo said nothing, stewing in his own irritation and rage.
"Don't worry. Three days and I'll be out of your way for good." He winked. "Talk to you soon."
Neo spun around in his chair once more, resting his head in his right hand and propping his elbow up on the edge of the keyboard, watching the Matrix code swirl past him unenthusiastically. He began to wonder, with bitter distaste for Raven, what Morpheus and Tank thought…what Trinity would think if she knew, and how she'd withstand Tank's constant taunting and snide comments.
Luckily, both Tank and Morpheus seemed to have miraculously forgotten anything Raven had told them, and the topic was never spoken of again.
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A/N: I hope the romantic moments in this chapter made up for the lack of romance in the last. I'll try to balance out the separate genres more in my later chapters. Thanks to those that pointed this out to me!
There will definitely be a sex scene in the next chapter, which will hopefully have improved from my last now that both Neo and Trinity are feeling more confident with each other, and my writing has – optimistically – improved. Also in the next few chapters, there will be more on the story of Lorena, and an what I hope will be an interesting twist with the character of Vivianna.
Thanks for reading, please review!