Chapter 18

Author's Note: I want to say, even though I am not entirely sure of the reason, that I actually wrote this chapter way before even half of this story was finished. It was one of the absolute first things I wrote after having seen Reloaded. I don't know why, but I've always liked Hamann. Well, enjoy!

The city was humming. Humming with quietness.

Neo found the quietness, something rare in this city of peace, very comforting.

He smiled as he closed the door behind him, wandering out into the night. Memories, feelings of the night they had shared together flooded through his mind and they caused him to smile… he could not remember a night together for them with such intensity before. It had been exhausting for them, both emotionally and physically, and he room's comfort had been welcoming afterwards.

Unfortunately, it hadn't erased all his worries from his mind.

This was exactly what he had been needing, peace and quiet, so that he would be able to think, or if wanted, just enjoy the nothing and yet everything that would be surrounding him. He smiled at the irony in it all; he who was believed to be their Savior, their Messiah was almost running from them... But never them.

He was just running from the attention, really.

Did that mean he was running from responsibility? He had a bad consciousness, as he felt he neglected the people in the city he had sworn to protect. But he knew that he wanted to protect them, and that he would... if he only knew what to do.

Sighing, he never heard the footsteps that approached him.

" Enjoying the solitude?"

A voice gently asked, as the man it belonged to strode over and joined Neo at the railing, leaning over it to get the great view of the city. Neo looked at him and recognized him as the Councilor Hamann, one of the few that hadn't bombarded Neo with questions when he had first met the Council of Zion. He had seemed content with just meeting him, perhaps he was taking up that lost time now, wanting to cross examine Neo and his abilities, like they had referred to his being the One as, now?

" Well, I just... I like the quietness for a change, " Neo answered, and Hamann chuckled as an answer, nodding.

" Yes, this city is usually buzzing with life whenever you soldiers are given the pleasure to visit it..." Hamann looked Neo over, seeing the roughness of his appearance, knowing that he had most likely just gotten out of bed, also seeing the derangement of his clothes. He was glad to see that the man that so many people held to a pedestal could find some comfort, find some place just to be himself, and find love. He wished that for everyone.

" True, " Neo started and chuckled, " but it is a pleasure, every time." Hamann placed his hands on the railings, once again overlooking the giant city before him.

" I can imagine..." he spoke warmly, almost fondly as Neo leaned his elbow on the cold railing, sending familiar vibes of the cold ship that was his home most part of his life, the ship he lived in for months and months...

Hamann looked at him again, smiling. " If you want to be alone, I'll leave..." he started, almost about to leave but Neo shook his head, turning his gaze into the magnitude of what was before him. " No... I could use some company..." Hamann nodded, glad that he had asked him to stay... truthfully because Hamann felt the same way. Usually there weren't many souls up at this hours, but it was his favorite hour to be in a conversation. He did not know why, but he had always thought at his clearest in the night hours.

After some moments of comfortable silence, Hamann spoke. " It's big, isn't it? When you see it like this... the magnitude of what it really is hits you." Neo nodded, looking down on his hands as he cleared his throat, in an attempt to find the right words. He looked over at the Councilor as he spoke.

" Yeah, it is... That's why I came out here. It reminds you what you are fighting for...what we're fighting to protect." But Hamann let his comforting chuckle fill the air again, turning his gaze from the One's eyes out into the city's instead.

" The real and honest reason why you fight isn't to preserve this city..."

Neo looked at him, surprised and confused by him at the same time. Did he think so little of him, that he only fought for selfish reasons, as to save his own life? That he only did it out of a sense of responsibility, that he had to? What did he mean?

" Really?" Neo asked, hoping for an answer that would explain what he had just said.

" No, and we both know it. The real reason why you fight is inside the room behind you, son..."

And his words finally hit home.

The councilor was speaking of the thing, the person, that made Neo's heart beat, the person to which he was thankful to every day for his life, his being, his everything.

She was now laying in their bed, probably breathing still, content in her dreaming sleep.

Neo felt a wave of embarrassment flush over him, as if he was a puppy loved teenager facing their parent, and looked down at his hands, wanting to say something, finding his throat dry as paper. Instead of figuring something out, he said the very thing that was on his mind.

" Trinity..."

Hamann nodded, smiling at Neo as he patted his back in a friendly gesture, receiving a smile back from the younger man. He could see the sparkle in his eyes as the One merely thought of the woman behind the door, and he was glad to see it. He wished love for them all.

" A great feeling, isn't it? Love. It overcomes everything, it defies logic, reason... answers to noone but itself. It is a selfish feeling in its nature, but never selfish in feelings..." Neo nodded, the smile fading as the seriousness in which Hamann spoke overtook him.

Neo loved Trinity more than his own life, and knew that he would give his life for her if needs be, no matter what that would mean to the preservation of Zion... therefore it also was a dangerous love, and he wondered if the Councilor knew this.

" Have you ever been in love?" Neo asked him, straight out as it was an honest question. It did not strike the Councilor off guard, however, almost as if he had been expecting it. It was now turn for Hamann to look at his hands, his open palms which he held before him. He smiled knowingly back at Neo, and Neo knew the answer even before he opened his mouth to speak.

" Yes, I have... and therefore I understand the depth of your feelings, why you choose to endure, why you choose to fight... you do it for her. Never let anything come between that, son, it is the greatest power in this world or the Matrix- and everyone, even the machines I think, knows it."

Neo nodded softly, gracing a vague smile, knowing firsthand nothing could be more true than what the Councilor had just said.

" And that is why I will leave you to that love, now, my friend. The only advice this old man will give is nurture it. Precious it. You never know if something happens... But don't live in worry. Be happy for what you have, and if you have love, you have everything..."

Hamann began to leave, clapping his hands as if to wake them. Before he was out of his sight, he turned back to Neo who was now standing outside his and Trinity's door.

" Goodnight... and Neo, love her, show it to her. Life is short..." Neo nodded, replying his goodnight along with a " I try my best..." as he heard Hamann's footsteps fade away in the distance.

But in here, he thought as he approached the sleeping beauty of his, nothing is distant. It's us against it all, Trin. He leaned over and whispered in her ear as he snuggled close to her, turning out the last light, " I love you..."

And then he let the angels of sleep work their magic.