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TITLE: Butterfly
AUTHOR: Danascully
Epilogue
All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid.
Can you hear me?
Trinity watched the crowd of supplicants separate her from Neo, watched his eyes grow dark and soft with pity as he listened to their pleas. She felt the weight grow on his shoulders - another life added by each person - as though it rested on her own. There were so many of them, tonight - so many gifts given out of the desire to repay him somehow, some way.
Her body burned with passion for him - passion too long held in check on the ship - but she would have to wait a while longer. She held back a sigh and turned away.
"Wait-"
She let her head swivel back over her shoulder, and her eyes were tender. "They need you," she reminded him gently.
"I need you." And he did - he needed her now - she knew that. Now perhaps more than ever. There was so little time left, if they were to repulse this terrible, overwhelming attack. And yet there still was time - time enough for him meet the needs of these anxious, pleading people before finally coming to her for comfort and release and rest. You will feel guilty if you leave them now, she reminded him silently.
"There's time," she said aloud, letting a slight smile reach her lips.
I know you're right, his eyes replied. And I love you.
Trinity turned away again and did not stop until she had reached the door of her - their - room. And as her body's desire for that ultimate communion with Neo finally began to ebb, she knew what she had to do.
She opened her door and threw her pack inside, but quickly closed it again and continued on to the next set of elevators. She rode down to the level of the Academy, ignoring the stares and the whispered murmurs.
"Look, it's Trinity…"
"The Neb has come back already? I wonder what's going on!"
You won't have to wonder long, she thought bitterly. Angrily. Less than seventy-two hours, now. Oh Sorcha, why, why did you choose the Osiris?
Trinity felt her footsteps slow as she approached Sorcha's room. She did not want to find it empty… but somehow, it seemed the only appropriate place in which to say goodbye.
She pushed the squeaky door open and stepped inside. The room hadn't been cleaned out yet, thank goodness - one of Ghost's books still sat on the nightstand, and two pillows were arranged at the head of the narrow bed. Trinity felt herself smile sadly. I need to find Pegasus… I may be the only one who can help her. If anyone can.
Trinity logged into the computer and pulled up her messages - opened the one from Commander Locke himself. Stared at the attachment until the screen grew blurry. Do I really want to see this? He says I need to…
Resolutely, she clicked on the attached file, and a video player popped up to fill the screen. Her jaw tightened involuntarily as she saw Thaddeus appear, one side of his face already bloody from a scratch on his temple. Goddammit.
Static rolled over the screen at frequent intervals, and the horrible sounds of metal shrieking against metal could be heard in the background. Trinity felt her fingernails bite into her palms, and clenched her fists more tightly. The pain steadied her, somehow.
"This is Thaddeus, captain of the Osiris. It is eighteen-oh-three on twelve-fourteen, and I fear this will be our last transmission." The picture trembled slightly, and Trinity knew that Sorcha, as communications officer, was holding the recorder in her hands. Her hands were shaking. She felt the tears surge in her eyes, and for once, she let them come.
"Less than two hours ago we were pinned between two search units near BZ two-eighteen. We tried to outrun them on the surface when our sensors went completely berserk. We didn't believe what our equipment was telling us until we ran smack into the middle of it. An army. Their army."
The recorder shifted to the front window of the Osiris… and Trinity gasped aloud. She had known what would be there, yes - but seeing it, honestly seeing the swarming hordes of sentinels roiling along the bleak surface, seeing their monstrous drills ravage the earth… she could not comprehend it. "It's massive," Thaddeus' voice continued in the background, "hundreds of times the size of anything we've fought.
How will we stop them? How will he? Dear God… is this the end?
The recorder swung back to Thaddeus. "We are under heavy pursuit and have sustained critical damage. We are going to attempt an emergency broadcast drop in the Matrix. After that, all we can do is hope that somehow this disk reaches Zion, and if it does, that it is not too late."
A loud crash came from somewhere behind him, and he spun around towards the noise, his pulse-gun held at the ready. "Authenticate that and download it to Jue, Sorcha!" he shouted over his shoulder, and ran towards the back of the ship. The recorder wavered, and suddenly Sorcha's face filled the screen.
The tears spilled over onto Trinity's cheeks.
Her face was pale and her eyes were wide - the pupils nearly blotted out the green. But as she faced the small camera, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath.
"This is Sorcha," she began in a voice that was trembling despite her best efforts, "communications officer on board the Osiris. I authenticate Captain Thaddeus' message with red alert code TSE3031, and corroborate his testimony." She swallowed hard. "The scans and footage are accurate. It's… it's an army. It's huge-" Her voice faltered, and she clenched her jaw.
Another crash sounded behind her, and she whipped her head around, then quickly turned back to the camera. Trinity saw her chest rise and fall in short, sharp breaths… but even as she watched, the girl mastered her panic and lifted her chin high. Miraculously, her voice, when she spoke again, was even and strong.
"I don't know if anyone in Zion will ever see this," she said clearly through the resounding din of the squiddies' attack. "But if someone does, tell Trinity that I don't regret anything. Not a single thing. That's important for her to know." She paused and swallowed again, and a sad smile crept across her mouth. Her bottom lip was bleeding. "And tell Pegasus that I love her. I love her, and I wish we could have had more time together… but I'm so thankful for the time we did have."
A note of steel crept into her voice, then. "If you're watching this, please, find a way to stop them. Neo can do it, I know he can. Somehow." Her eyes flashed green fire. "Long live the fighters for freedom!" she cried. And the screen became darkness once more.
Trinity leaned back heavily in Sorcha's chair… and started forward again when the sound of quiet sobbing penetrated her ringing ears. She whirled around and saw Pegasus crouched just inside the door, leaning against it and weeping into her hands.
"Oh, Peg," Trinity murmured, and slid down the wall to sit next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "I am so sorry. So very, very sorry." The words were inane, and she knew it, but they were all she had. Pegasus leaned her head into Trinity's shoulder, and her need for touch - for Sorcha's comforting, lover's touch - was palpable.
"I only got to see it once," she hiccuped into Trinity's sleeve. "They w…won't make me a c…copy. I think they're s…scared I'll hurt myself or s…something."
Trinity stroked her hair with a gentle hand. "And would you?" she asked, Peg's need helping her to maintain a steady voice.
"No!" she cried, jerking back from the caress and staring at Trinity with wild, wet eyes. "No! N…not even if I wanted to! Sorcha would never f…forgive me!"
Trinity pulled her closer again. "I'll make you a copy," she soothed. "Don't worry."
"You can't," Peg mumbled. "It's wr…rite protected."
"Not from me it isn't," Trinity countered in a hard tone, and this time Pegasus raised her tear-streaked face in hope.
"Really?"
"Really."
The girl sighed and curled herself into Trinity again, clinging close to the sympathetic warmth and shelter that was radiating from her lean form. Trinity felt Pegasus finally relax against her, and she held still, so very still, even though her legs were swiftly becoming cramped from her hunched position against the cold wall and floor. She ran her fingers tenderly over Peg's forehead, and hummed wordlessly until she felt her breathing change. She rose carefully to her feet, then, and lifted Peg's sleeping form without effort.
"Sleep here one time more," she murmured, carrying the girl to the cot and laying her down on it, as tenderly as if she were an infant. Pegasus rolled over onto her side immediately and murmured something that sounded like Sorcha's name. This time, Trinity fiercely blinked away her tears.
"We will beat them," she hissed harshly into the echoing room. "We will. No matter the cost, Sorcha - if I have to fight through hell myself to do it, we will not let them destroy us."
The sibilant words faded away into the walls. Sorcha would never answer her again.
"I swear it," she finished in a strangled whisper.
Sweet raptured light - it ends here tonight.
Finis
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