Chapter 27

Author's Notes: The only actual reason that I've split this chapter and the following one up is that I thought it would be too much information to take in. The things being said in this chapter will come up in later ones... looks for connections.
And as always, thanks to all my reviewers! You're half the reason I update!

He stopped and looked at the familiar door, memories coming back like a flood in his mind.

He had been so unsure of himself the first time he was here, un-certain of everything in the world. He had just gotten the knowledge that nothing he had ever known had been true, that everything, even his very life, had been and was a lie. He could remember that he thought that if everything around him was a lie, then the very people he accompanied could also lie to him…

… but then he remembered why he had chosen to visit the Oracle that very first time. He remembered trust.

Trinity looked at him as he stood outside the door, his hand reaching for the handle, but hesitating to open it. She knew that his mind was probably racing, and that she should wait for him, and she did so. And when she had just straightened herself up some, and allowed herself to relax some, he reached for the handle.

But like always, the Oracles servant beat him to open it.

" Neo, Trinity, welcome. Please, come in, " the servant greeted them and motioned for them to come inside. They walked into the apartment and Neo looked around himself, immediately noticing some differences. It seemed that Trinity too noticed them, and they looked around the apartment as they walked further into it, the servant declaring that she would announce their arrival to the Oracle, and they both stopped when they reached the living room.

Usually, Potentials would be filling up the living room. But today, it was empty… even the ever present TV was turned off.

Neo looked at Trinity, who returned the gaze, then he looked around the apartment again, muttering to himself; " Changes…"

The servant returned to them, and she smiled at them. Trinity did not know why, but the Oracle's servant always made her feel uneasy, even though she knew she was an ally…

"The Oracle will see you now Neo… And she wants to let Trinity know that she wants a chat with her too, but that she's welcome to use the television meanwhile…"

Trinity looked at Neo, who looked just as puzzled as her. Both knew that the Oracle had known of their arrival even before they did, but what did she want to talk to Trinity about? Trinity hadn't talked with her since she had first come here all those years ago, and she could feel her stomach knitting itself.

Neo gave her one last reassuring look, and then made his way into the kitchen, happy to find that nothing had changed there…

… except from the light.

In stead of the usually present sunlight he had always experienced when entering the room, the sky outside was now grey, and rumbling, revealing the rain that was soon to come. Neo noticed a flash of lightning, and in that very moment the Oracle turned to him, revealing herself… but this time she was not smiling, like she always used to.

" Some say that the sky is the eyes daily bread, " the Oracle started, facing Neo. She knew he would catch on, but remained un-smiling… she had nothing to smile about.

" … and the humans are blind, we are facing darker times?" the Oracle smiled at him, picking out a bowl from one of the cabinets. She took another bowl on the kitchen counter and poured some tiny, tiny cookies into it, turning to face Neo, wiping her hands of on a piece of cloth.

" You catch on, " she commented. He remained standing, knowing that she was not going to ask him to sit this time. Last time he had been here she had joked about their first experience on that very topic, and then he had told her that he would remain standing for the future. And that he still did not like candy.

" But if that was all that I would have to say, then I would not be an especially serving Oracle, would I?" Neo knew it was more a statement than a question and let her continue, watching her lighting a cigarette, taking a long intake, closing her eyes. When she opened them, he could see the seriousness in them and swallowed down. Hard.

" The problem with our time is that the future isn't what it used to be, Neo, " she continued. " The changes that have occurred have changed the outcome; the future. Evolving is happening as we speak… and it grows with feelings, and for him that is something new and uncommon- even machines are afraid of things they cannot understand." Neo knew what she was talking about know, and watched her inhale another deep breath of the smoke. Oddly enough he came to remember that when he had been Thomas A. Anderson, he had never been able to stand smoke, it had always made him cough and flinch.

Now, it did not seem to bother him.

" Smith, " was Neo's only response. He knew he was right, and he knew that the Oracle had more to say on the subject.

" He thinks he hates you. Hate is the scared ones revenge for being frightened…" She went over to her small table, ever present by the wall in her small kitchen. Neo caught the door of her fridge then, the letters ' u, r, e, f, u again, t' being scattered randomly across it, and he knew the puzzle, but shoved the thoughts of it out of his mind.

"… and frightened he was, Neo. What you did to him is something unheard of. No man has ever done anything like that to an Agent before… but you already know this, I won't bore you."

" What does he want?" Neo asked, facing the Oracle, placing his arms behind his back.

" He has quite some power now… and even though he is a machine, he is also a man. He wants power, Neo, more, and he will not ever be satisfied, his need for it cannot be satiated." She put down the cigarette in the cigarette bowl and looked at Neo before standing. " Plus, he has a score to even with a certain someone."

" Neo, you are his opposite, yet his equal. He is a badsided you, one is a pool of minus, the other a pool of plus… you will take eachother out." He could see the flash in her eyes, but said nothing. She would comment on it later if it was meant to be elaborated between them.

" You see, Neo, Hate and Love grows from the same source, with the same passion... What makes them different is that one springs from darkness, the other from light. "

She arose from her seat and wandered over to the kitchen sink and washed her hands as she continued.

" But there is so many more things at stake here, so many other things that are happening, as we stand here, and that will take place. And you, my friend, are going to affect it all." Neo looked at her as she wiped her hands and then reached inside her pockets for something, but he could not see what it was… and he would not read the code like that, not in here, not with her.

" The war? Against the machines?" She did not nod, but neither did she shake her head.

She finally picked up her hand from her pocket, holding a small, green candy in it. She offered it to Neo, but he half-smiled and shook his head. It wasn't real, anyway.

The Oracle just smiled at him and rolled off the paper and put it into her own mouth, muttering something in a light-hearted tone about 'suit yourself'.