TITLE: Deja Vu
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY/ORIENTATION: Alternative universe – what would have happened if the black cat HADN'T deja-vu-ed itself? A completely different course of events… But will it lead to the same result as the movie? Trinity died in Neo's arms, and was then revived by Morpheus's sacrifice, only to lose Neo to the agents. Niobe has escaped, and it looks like everything is over for Trinity – but guess who is back to stop the agents!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I love you, reviewers! Thanks to Mystic Kyra, Brooke, Lyidia, and to Sydney Andrews. I'd also like to thank anyone else who has been reading this story, even if you're not reviewing. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
Chapter eight – Return
"What the hell?" Niobe demanded, staring at the screen in disbelief. But Ghost, Mouse and Sparks had no answers for her.
-
Trinity barely noticed that she had stopped breathing. Agent Smith hesitated in surprise and disbelief, his fist still and unmoving in Neo's grip.
Neo?
It was impossible but inevitable that he should be standing there, perfectly alive and well, keeping her conscious. It wasn't possible that he was alive, but it was also impossible that he had died in the first place, right? Who was she to complain?
"Impossible," Smith murmured. Brown and Jones stood, silent, at the other end of the hall. Neo didn't answer, but he twisted the agent's arm back painfully and held it. Smith took his hand away from Trinity's shoulder and went to punch him, but Neo blocked.
Suddenly realising that she hadn't breathed for a while, Trinity swallowed a few uneven mouthfuls of air, caught in shock and rapture.
He was alive!
Neo seemed slightly surprised to find that he was able to block and deflect all of Smith's furious punches with ease. He looked amazed but bored. For every punch Agent Smith threw at Neo, he was able to push it away with the most amazing speed Trinity had ever seen, although he seemed to think he was moving at normal speed.
He blocked a blow of Smith's that Trinity herself would have copped if she were the one fighting, then kicked the agent into the wall, shattering the plaster. Neo launched himself at his enemy, and, to everyone's disbelief, his hand disappeared inside the agent. Smith gave a furious howl but was unable to do anything as Neo jerked his wrist and yanked something inside the agent's gut.
Brown and Jones watched on.
Neo closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating, then pulled his hand free of the nervously sweating agent. He opened his eyes. On his hand was a single drop of blood.
Smith flickered and disappeared. A few assorted objects landed on the floor – a hammer, a packet of throat soothing lollies, a candle, a model car… the most irrelevant of random items.
Agents Brown and Jones glanced at each other once then exited the bodies they had inhabited. Two police guards crumpled against the wall, groaning with their headaches. They couldn't know what they had been present for.
A few seconds of near silence followed. Neo stood there, staring at the pile of objects.
"All of these are just various programs inside the agents," he explained, almost to himself. "They're the coding for the speed, strength, and quick-thinking of the agents, but to you they must look like clocks and magazines and stuff. And this," he added, looking at the drop of blood on his hand, "is the code that allowed Smith to be able to take big blows without being deleted. So I removed it and kind of wrecked his insides a little." He let the drop trickle off his hand and onto the candle.
Trinity stared at him. She had little to no idea what he was talking about but she didn't care. He was actually alive, standing there.
She didn't say anything, but took the two steps necessary to reach him and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a fierce hug. She touched the back of Neo's neck with one hand, lightly holding him still as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, the kind one gives to someone they have been worried sick about. She tightened her grip and let her chin rest on his shoulder as he slid his arms around her and pressed his cheek against the side of her face. He was alive and everything was fine.
"Everything's okay," Neo said quietly. Trinity nodded, closing her eyes. She wasn't quite ready to let go.
"It will be," she answered. "Soon."
Neo nodded and squeezed her tightly, then let her go. Reluctantly she released him.
"Why did you say before that those things looked like clocks to me?" she asked. She nodded at the pile of random stuff.
"Because to me they're a whole jumble of green numbers and codes," he said. "Everything is. I can see the Matrix for what it really is now." He slung one arm around her shoulders in a matey sort of way and turned her around, leading her to room 303, which, to her minor surprise, didn't contain a ringing phone. "The Matrix doesn't have program language to display those, so it turns them into random-"
"You can see in code? Now that you've gone and died and then come back? You see everything here in code?" Trinity indicated the hall as she stepped into room 303. Neo nodded and continued looking around.
"Everything. It's all green and black. The walls, the floor, the stuff inside the walls… even you," he added, finally looking at her directly. But she wasn't sure how much she wanted his eyes on her now that she knew he wasn't actually seeing her.
"What do I look like?" Trinity asked, a little disappointed when he removed his arm from her shoulders upon reaching the exit. He hung it up and waited for it to ring back.
"Green." Neo smirked. "You look beautiful in green." He avoided her light shove. "I can see your pulse. It's fast. I can see into your head. Your thoughts."
"Don't look into my thoughts," she said, giving him another light push. He grinned. "They're private."
"Too late, I can see some stuff," Neo answered. He was teasing her.
"Like what?"
"You're in love."
Trinity was silent. Oh, well, it would have come out sooner or later. Again, for the third time.
"You're going to have to tell me who it is that you like so much," Neo said. He reached for the phone that lay on the table and had started ringing. "I'm going to tease you forever."
"I'm sure you will," she said, disappointment settling in. Again, for the third time.
"Hey, what are friends for?" Neo asked with a grin, picking up the receiver and holding it out to her.
"You first," she said, and he disappeared into it. After a moment, the phone dropped to the floor, bouncing on its cord. She replaced it, repeated Neo's words. "What are friends for?"
He hadn't seen whom it was that she loved. Maybe that wasn't written in her coded thoughts like the fact that she was in love did. Was that a good thing? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. But even if Neo never knew, she would be in love with him for a very long time.
The exit rang again. She didn't hesitate. She wanted to see Neo and the others in the real world quickly. She answered it, and felt herself being sucked into reality.