RATING: PG 13
AUTHOR: Sólia
STORY: What would have happened if, when the whole crew was in the wall in the first movie, Trinity had rushed to the aid of Morpheus, rather than forcing Neo to leave him?
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I noticed in previous Matrix fanfictions (in my own, and also in others) that in fanfiction, Trinity talks too much. In the movies she rarely speaks unless it's very important or if she's on a phone – she's an actions-not-words type. But unfortunately, in Deja Vu I relied too much on Trinity's speech and not enough on her actions. To cure at least myself of this bad habit, I decided to stop letting Trinity talk at all in this fiction. You'll see once you've read this chapter.
Well, unfortunately, school starts on Wednesday, and even though it's my last year there I really don't want to go. (groan) Because of this HUGE inconvenience we call 'education' chapter-uploads will probably become few and far between. To make up for this likely possibility, I'll try to upload two chapters today.
And thanks heaps to: ChloroformxCandy, Pure Innocent Sin, ReDblooDpassioN, Brooke, Mystic Kyra and Q. My reviewers. You guys rule the world.
Chapter Five
The plan was simple – two would go in the front, two in the back way. Neo and Switch were lucky enough to get the back door as their entry, while Morpheus and Apoc went in the front doors. They couldn't be having an easy time with the security, but what could Neo do about it?
He and Switch crept up the back stairwell, unhindered by guards, agents or anyone else they hoped to avoid. The building was many dozens of storeys high – Neo lost count of the levels at about fifty – and the two couldn't use the elevator because Morpheus and Apoc were going to use it.
Exhausted, Neo staggered down what he guessed was the right hallway of the right level. Switch was a few steps behind him, gun out and ready to kill anyone who hindered their progress. Neo counted doors until he found the right one, and kicked in the door.
"Trinity!" he shouted immediately, but it wasn't her room. Instead, four men sat around a table, all looking at him in surprise. "Who are you? Where is she?" he asked finally. Switch looked in over his shoulder.
"Wrong room?" she hissed. The men looked between the two, worried.
"You're looking for Trinity?" the doctor-looking one asked hesitantly. Neo didn't answer. "The psycho is being questioned upstairs."
Another man gave him a shove.
"Don't tell him anything, he's with her," he muttered. "They're here to get her back."
"Of course they are," the doctor said. He looked back to Neo and Switch. "She's lost her mind. Crazy. She thinks she knows the secrets of the world and…" Here he sniggered, "… she's convinced that Mr Smith is out to get her. I wouldn't bother with her."
"What are you talking about?" Neo asked, annoyed.
"Your friend," said the doctor. He deliberately hit himself in the head to emphasise his point as he continued with, "She's a lunatic – a nutcase. I've never met anyone like her. I thought she was just acting crazy. Maybe she was. I don't know. I promise she's not in a normal state of mind. Unusually unresponsive to the serum I gave her, though."
"You're the one who drugged her?" Switch asked furiously. Neo didn't stop her from barging through the door. He left at her nod. As he ran back down the hall he could hear Switch loading her silent gun.
At the stairwell, Neo remained indecisive for a moment, trying to choose between going up a level or down one, then recalled the doctor's words: The psycho is being questioned upstairs.
He ran up the steps, ignoring his tiredness. A guard accidentally intercepted him at the top, but he couldn't hang around long enough to be kind, so he cracked the guy over the head with a gun. As the man tumbled limply down the stairs, Neo shoved open the door and hurried down the hall, counting doors.
The doctor had said that Trinity was crazy – that she'd lost her mind. Had that really happened? Was he too late for her?
He was just about to crash through the right door, too, but he wondered suddenly if the room was full of agents. Very cautiously, he reached out and turned the doorhandle, quietly opening it a crack.
There were no agents in sight. The room was large and spacious, with little furniture except a lounge sofa, a desk and a few steel chairs. One chair was occupied by a shaking figure with dark hair.
Neo pushed the door open completely and jogged over to her, falling into the seat opposite her.
"Jesus," he muttered, studying Trinity quickly. She made no sign that she had any idea of his presence. Her eyes were almost closed, but what was visible was white. Her skin was white and sweaty, with a horrible blue bruise on her jaw. Her breathing was as shuddery and ragged as her twitching, but her inhalations were more like silent whimpers, moans and retches. She had wires stuck to her temples.
Neo searched his pockets for the syringe and pulled it out, standing quickly. He checked it over once before carefully injecting the bright green antidote into Trinity's neck. Yes, he did have a few issues against injecting something suspiciously bright green into his best friend's bloodstream, but it was his best chance of seeing her okay again.
Once done he tossed the needle aside and walked around behind her. He spotted the handcuffs around her bloody wrists and took out his gun. With one bullet the chain between the two rings was broken. He also removed the bindings around her ankles and ripped the white circles holding the wires off.
"Come on, come on," Neo muttered, sitting in front of her again. She had ceased to move at all, but her breathing was still audible, more relaxed and even. Her eyelids twitched as she tried to force them open.
"Come on, Trinity, wake up."
Trinity's eyes fluttered open, and she blinked a few times. She tried to focus her vision, and she raised one hand to her temple as though she had a killer of a headache, which she undoubtedly did. But she was conscious.
Overjoyed, Neo took her face in his hands and kissed her squarely in the centre of her forehead. She blinked some more and touched his hand, on her cheek. Her usually clear, cool blue eyes were still a little cloudy, but at least they were focussed. Very confused and disbelieving, but focussed. She tried to say something, but no sound came out from her mouth. She swallowed and tried to gather a little more strength to try again.
She couldn't speak, though. Maybe she'd lost her voice screaming. Realising this, Trinity sat up and, when she tried to talk, she made sure her lips made clear and exaggerated formations. Neo had to watch her mouth carefully to figure out what she was trying to communicate, but he wasn't any good at lip reading. He told her that, and she rolled her eyes. It was amusing, because she was such a mess, but she still managed to get annoyed like that.
"What are you trying to say? Can you make it easier?" Neo asked. Her face fell, she closed her eyes, and a tear slipped between her eyelids, wetting her black lashes before it slid down her cheek, eventually landing on Neo's hand. He glanced at it once, slightly disturbed.
Eyes still closed, Trinity made no effort to exaggerate the words, "I love you". Neo did nothing for a few seconds. She didn't open her eyes, but another tear trickled down her other cheek, leaving a shiny trail. She wrapped her arms around his neck and let her head fall forwards, her forehead touching his as she mouthed something repeatedly. Neo moved his hand from her cheek to behind her head, and after a moment held her away a few inches, just far enough to see what she was saying.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she said silently, tears running down her face.
"Why?" he asked softly. Trinity opened her eyes and immediately started saying something, but there could be no way he'd understand, so Neo shook his head. "Forget it. I don't care."
She looked slightly hurt but Neo chose that moment to pull her close again and kiss her on the mouth.
---
It was so unexpected. Trinity was too shocked to respond at first, but a mere second later she realised what she would miss if she did nothing, and she tightened her arms around Neo's neck and pulled herself closer for a deeper kiss. It had been so long since she had been kissed like this… Actually, she'd never been in love like this before, so she'd never ever been kissed like this. Never like this. Never like mutual love. Was that what this was? She could only hope as Neo slowly pulled away, letting his hand fall to her shoulder.
"Come on, we aren't out yet," he told her, slipping his arms around her middle and standing, pulling her to her feet, too.
"How did you get in?" Trinity asked, before recalling that she had lost her voice. Those screams had taken away her voice, leaving her throat raw and sore, although that was the least of her troubles. Her head throbbed, her eyes were still aching and her whole body hurt more than her throat, though she had forgotten during the euphoria of kissing Neo. Now she remembered.
Neo obviously had no idea what she was trying to get across to him, so she gave up talking. At least she could hear.
"Come on, we have to go. Can you walk?" Neo looked around as he spoke, perhaps nervous that he had spent too much time here already. Trinity nodded, but didn't object when he kept one arm protectively around her waist as they walked to the door. He carefully opened it and stepped out, looking around worriedly, before leading her down the hall quickly. At the elevator, he pressed the 'down' button and waited silently beside her, watching the doors of the lift.
They opened. There were people inside. Neo tensed, evidently ready to drop Trinity and fight, but the occupants of the lift proved to be only Morpheus and Apoc. She was so glad to see them and not an agent that she almost collapsed. She only relaxed against Neo, who caught her immediately, in case she should fall.
"Neo, is she alright?" Morpheus asked instantly, stepping out of the elevator. "Are you alright, Trinity?"
Apoc stepped out, too, and the doors closed. He asked the same question. Trinity nodded, unable to speak. Her captain noted her bruise and tears.
"Are you sure?" Morpheus checked worriedly. Trinity nodded again, giving Neo a quizzical look. Hopefully he would get it. Why was it that her captain sounded so worried?
"Those two serums reacted badly," Neo explained to her. She nodded, trying to signal that she knew that already. "We weren't sure how long you'd last before we got to you." He turned to Morpheus and Apoc, who both seemed mystified by Trinity's lack of speech. "She lost her voice," he added.
"Oh," Apoc said, comprehending.
Morpheus led them down the stairs, which were near the elevator, to the next level, where Neo said Switch should still be. She was, standing alone in the hallway, gun out and ready. She was talking on her phone, looking relieved. She held some papers.
When they stopped beside the elevator, she turned and ran over.
"I was waiting in case anyone came to check on these ones," she explained hurriedly, indicating a door quickly. "I didn't want them to arrive and find them all dead." She gave Trinity a once over. "You look healthy enough," she added finally.
Trinity nodded to her, but Switch frowned at the absence of a smart-ass remark.
"Can't talk," Apoc said lazily by way of explanation. Switch nodded.
"Hold these, would you?" she asked, handing the papers to Neo. He took them without even asking what they were, and folded them in half, slipping the lot into an inside pocket of his coat. Trinity wondered briefly what they were about, because Switch's idea of important meant very important. "So you're fine, then?" Switch added to Trinity.
Before Trinity could nod and roll her eyes, a shadow appeared over Switch.
"She appears fine to me," Agent Smith said coolly. Switch's pale eyes widened in shock and she bolted forward, brushing straight past Neo and Trinity. Morpheus and Apoc turned and followed her to the elevator.
"Shit," Neo muttered, stumbling back with Trinity. When Smith advanced with one step, Neo let her go and threw her to the side, giving her a moment of advantage. In that moment she could escape. She could run for the elevator while he fought for her.
But that wasn't the kind of person she was, even weak and sick as she was then.
In the background she could hear the elevator doors opening and a small cry from someone. She stood and glanced over as Morpheus pushed the poor janitor aside and squeezed into the lift space with the cleaning trolley. Apoc and Switch joined him.
"Go," Neo ordered, never taking his eyes from Smith's face. Trinity hesitated, then shook her head firmly and stayed beside him, perfectly prepared to fight. She had never fought an agent before. Running was usually a brighter and more appealing alternative option. But she couldn't leave Neo alone.
Neo surprised everyone with a solid punch from nowhere, knocking Agent Smith at least three metres back, to the floor of the hall. He turned and grabbed Trinity's hand as he ran for the elevator. She didn't protest. Neo paused at the doors, glancing over at the agent, who was getting up from the floor. Apoc kept the doors open, but Trinity noticed what Neo had – with the cleaning cart that Switch was trying to move, there wasn't space for all five of them inside the lift.
"Get in," Neo said suddenly, giving her a light push towards the others. She threw his hand off her shoulder and glared at him in what she hoped was a defiant manner. With a flicker of a smile he touched her cheek briefly – too fast for the others to notice, but it instantly made her stop fighting him – and shoved her, hard, into the lift. Switch and Apoc caught her and held her by the arms, forcing her to stay in the elevator with them.
"I'll meet you at the bottom," Neo told Morpheus as the doors closed. Trinity froze and stared in horror as the doors closed, locking her in. And locking him out.
She fought against her friends' grips as the elevator started down. Morpheus started speaking.
"Trinity, he'll be fine," he said unconvincingly. He sounded surprised that she was overreacting like this, though.
"What the hell did that serum do to her?" Switch mumbled grumpily, trying to keep Trinity from scratching her eyes out. When no one answered, she asked of Trinity herself, "What's going on with you, you psycho?"
Tearing herself free of their holds, Trinity slammed her fists against the steel elevator doors, desperate to get back to Neo. They had left him there alone to deal with an agent – and Agent Smith at that! He wouldn't survive – she doubted whether he was smart enough to run away.
"Trinity, what on earth…?" Apoc asked, worried about her. He kept back for his own safety. "Since when do you want to go back to an agent?"
"You don't understand!" Trinity screamed, before remembering that she couldn't speak. No noise emitted from her lips as she mouthed the words. "I can't just leave him there, none of us can! He saved my life – I love him! Go back, please, go back!"
She pounded her fists on the doors again. The others exchanged nervous glances. They didn't understand. They all thought she was mentally unstable, like Garrison had. And maybe she was. But if she was crazy, she wasn't the one at fault. Love was to blame for her craziness for Neo.
Sólia