MulticoloredGypsy > Ghosts of Yesterday
- AUTHOR: MulticoloredGypsy
- TITLE: Ghosts of Yesterday
- CATEGORY: Drama, Romance, AU.
- RATING: PG-13
- SUMMARY: When they pulled Ghost out of the sewer, Trinity knew he was going to die. That is, if he wasn’t already dead.
- SPOILERS: This is using a character introduced in Reloaded, but I know nothing about him except his name and ship, so none of the stuff I wrote about him is a spoiler.
- AUTHOR'S NOTES: I’m just messing around with one or two seconds of that wonderful trailer for
Enter the Matrix and some interesting fueled conversations. And no, there is no ice cube involved in this. The lyrics around
the end are from Evanescence’s ‘Understanding.’
For all you people like Chord and Jenn who have a hard time seeing Trinity with anyone but Neo, just try to overlook that. ;) Trust the Gypsy, I won’t do too much damage to the relationship.
This is the REVISED version, fixed up some problems people noticed and reviewed about. Thanks for the CC! Hope I fixed all the boo-boos.
Ghosts of Yesterday
When they pulled Ghost out of the sewers, Trinity knew he was going to die.
That is, if he wasn’t already dead. He lay motionless on the cold metal floor, surrounded by faces that would be unfamiliar to his eyes if ever they opened again. He was pale from a lifetime without sun, yet his chest did not strain for breath, finally out of the water, but still not out of the danger.
Trinity found a spot behind a chair used to jack in and crouched behind it, hidden and out of everyone’s way, where every new crewmember belonged on the Logos; being the smallest ship in Zion’s entire fleet, there wasn’t very much room for things that didn’t belong.
It was frightening to look at Ghost, his plugs all intact, some bleeding, his body covered in slime and water, lying motionless as if he was dead. Trinity wished she could forget about her unplugging, but she knew the day would come when she would have to do it all over again. Watching someone after they were unplugged brought back memories for everyone. Circe, the second newest to the crew, who had been unplugged a year before Trinity, knelt down and rolled Ghost onto his back, her hands on his chest, waiting to see if he would breathe.
He didn’t. Circe let out a frustrated groan before her mouth came down on Ghost’s, forcing air into his lungs. One thing about Circe was that no matter how bad things were, she would never give up on something. She once had to be dragged to an exit when Niobe had been injured, but Circe fought and refused to return to the real until her friend was out safely. Although it almost led to her death, Circe’s determination was a quality Trinity wished she could have for herself.
“Breathe, you prick.” Circe swore during the time she had to take a breath, pushing down on Ghost’s chest with all the strength in her. Trinity was gripping the chair tightly, unaware that she had been holding her breath until she felt a pain in her chest and quickly let the air out. Just as she did, a loud, painful-sounding groan came from Ghosts lips, along with water and vomit, and his coughing filled the silence and brought the world back to regular speed.
Circe held up her arms to hold everyone back, giving Ghost room to breathe. Morpheus covered Ghost’s trembling form with the blanket he’d been holding and Dane carried him off to the med. bay, Niobe close behind. Circe got up, breathing heavily, making her way to help keep Ghost alive. Trinity was alone.
It was her job as the rookie to do the jobs others bypass, like putting away a mug or bowl, simple work that needed no downloaded skills to accomplish. For a few moments she considered on checking if Ghost was ok, but the sight of him filled her with fear and torturous memories of the past, so instead she went down the other hall to the galley, where she took a rag to clean up the floor.
Ghost sat alone in the galley, making lazy circles in his food with his spork, afraid to taste something that looked like it came out of a sewer. More like a toilet, he corrected himself, remembering that he had come from a sewer. Pretty dumb how the ones to save humanity were literally fished out of shit. It was enough to make anyone feel worse about themselves.
The door creaked open, and he jumped, turning to find a woman with short black hair standing in the doorway, a woman whose name he never bothered to ask for, despite all the times he had seen her. Walking eerily silent across the metal floor, she took a mug and filled it with water, taking a seat across from Ghost, who kept his eyes fixed on his goop.
Trinity sipped her water in silence, waiting to see if Ghost would say anything. But he didn’t, just kept staring at the table. She sighed, gently placing her mug on the table. Still no talking. Would it be too forward if she started a conversation with him? Would he even want to talk to her? That didn’t matter. They were fighting a war, being ignored was the least of their worries.
“I doubt that’s a very interesting view.”
She meant the table, which Ghost’s eyes were fixed on, but the man looked at her, puzzled. He held her gaze for a few moments, as if in a trance, then pulling away as if just realizing someone was aware of his existence. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
Trinity also shifted her vision to the table - it made her uncomfortable looking at him, knowing that months ago he had been just like her: weak, alone and hardly alive, like everyone was when they were unplugged, spending their days unconscious in the Med. Bay. Nothing could have prepared anyone for what would happen to them once they took the red pill. As hard as it was to believe, even Morpheus went through it, although he seemed as if nothing like that could ever make him liable to withdraw further into himself once realizing he was alone.
Ghost looked, well, like a ghost. Terrible, his skin deathly white, with dark, heavy circles waning under his eyes. He was thin too, thin and shaking from the cold. Trinity remembered how long it took her to adjust to the drastic change in temperature, and even now she would sometimes wake up shivering, her teeth chattering.
Ghost saw the woman shifting uncomfortably in her seat, her hands hidden beneath the table, and he could almost see the wheels turning inside her head as she pondered what to say to the rookie. Was he so hard to talk to simply because he was new? It wasn’t as if he had three heads, or was invisible like he was in the world of hackers. Silence. If silence could have destroyed the machines, the human race would have been free in no time at all. Trinity hated silence.
“How are you? You doing ok?”
Ghost nodded, but this time he whispered a response. “It’s hard.”
Trinity smiled, the rookie’s words painfully true. It was a tough life, but it was their life and they were in control, not a jack in the back of their head. Life was cruel and painful, the scars visible everywhere, but the longer one lived, the better they were at concealing their pain. Trinity raised the mug to her lips, thinking Ghost was through talking, but the man continued.
“I wish I was like you.”
It took Trinity much self control to keep herself from spitting the water over the table. She swallowed and blinked a few times - was she hearing right? Probably not. Why would anyone want to be like her? Everyone else on the ship was strong and independent, and none of Trinity’s traits seemed very appealing. “What are you talking about?” Had she any more hair she would have hidden her face behind it.
Ghost took another shaky breath. “I watch you,” His voice was hoarse and each word looked as if it caused him pain. “You’re not afraid of anything.”
Trinity shook her head. “No, that’s not true at all.” She paused, her memory suddenly bringing up an image of Ghost’s pale face as he lay dying, when they pulled him out of the sewers. She remembered how much that face looked like the face of another, one who never survived long enough to begin his training… “You don’t know what it’s like-”
“I’ve been here long enough to know enough.” He stopped, seeing the hurt on Trinity’s face. He waited to see if she would say anything against him before continuing. “I bet when you sat up that first time, you punched that bastard right in the face, or whatever the hell it is.”
Trinity shook her head again, but she smiled.
They were in Morpheus’s favorite training simulation, the Japanese dojo. Trinity hated this program - the lighting gave her a headache and the clothes were always a little too lose to achieve her full range of motion. But she was in the program fighting Ghost, she didn’t mind if the collar of her top slipped an inch or so below the top of her breasts as she flipped upside down - fixing it would throw off her concentration, and Ghost didn’t seem to care much. In fact, he didn’t even notice, sweating like a pig, trying not to be thrown into the wall again.
“You’re so slow.” Trinity commented, throwing a punch at Ghost’s face - he barely ducked out of the way in time.
“You know your stuff - none of this is real anyways.”
Morpheus had been reluctant about letting Trinity train with Ghost - she was still pretty new herself, but a skilled fighter. She had already performed a few successful runs in the Matrix, so what more was a training sim? The only thing he worried about was if Ghost could handle Trinity…
Ghost went to block, and was thrown into the wall again soon after that. The thin wood splintered and cracked against his back - his breath was heavy, his body wet with perspiration. He looked up at Trinity, who hadn’t even broken a sweat. Envy coursed through his veins. He wanted to beat her. Here he was in some Japanese costume in a dojo losing to a girl! A rather attractive girl, he noticed.
“Ghost,” Trinity put a hand on her hip. “It’s not such a hard concept to grasp. You’re not supposed to just sit here and let me kick your ass. You’re supposed to put up a good fight while I kick your ass.” She grinned, reaching a hand out to help Ghost up. He grimaced, muttering under his breath.
“Can’t I get some guns in here or something?”
From the Logos, Morpheus was watching the screens, quite amused. Trinity’s greatest weakness was her lack of patience. He already knew how the scene would play out - Trinity would continue fighting the rookie until he would catch on and take her by surprise. “If you don’t get her crazy talk, you can always free your mind.” He said into the microphone, knowing it would only aggravate Trinity, making no sense at all to Ghost.
Trinity waited until Ghost was ready to fight him again, but he took her by surprise - Instead of fighting back, he back flipped to the wall, picking up a long, jagged stick of wood from the shattered wall, wielding it as a weapon. He spun it in his hands with ease, but Trinity grabbed the stick, stopping it in mid spin and tearing up her palms with splinters - she tripped the unsuspecting Ghost, pulled the stick from his hands and aimed it at his neck as he lay, panting, on the floor.
She threw the stick aside, wiping her bloody hands on the white leg of her pants. “Man, you’re a mess.” He was bruised and aching from endless hours of fighting. “Where’s your concentration? Your mind sure as hell isn’t here.”
He sat up, using this precious time to catch his breath. “You’re too damn good.” He gasped. “Put me up against another rookie or someone else, you’re too good.”
Trinity shook her head, holding back laughter. “I’m the newest there is before you, so unless you plan on ditching us for another crew on another ship, you’re stuck with me.” She paused for emphasis. “Or do you want to test your luck and fight Morpheus?”
At this, Ghost jumped to his feet, clapping his hands together. “Bring it on, bitch.” Long, wonderful times, they spent in the dojo. Of course, it wasn’t just fighting that went on in there. Maybe that’s why it was Morpheus’s favorite sim…
His lips touched her shoulder, her neck, up to her lips. His warm hands slid down her cold arms and she shivered, taking his hands in her own and wrapping them around her body. He sat behind her, his back up against the cool metal wall, her back against his warm chest. She turned around to look at the face of her lover, lifting up a hand to the black fuzz covering his head. He blushed, grinning and looking down at the bed.
“You know I hate my hair.” Ghost complained. “I’m almost bald.” Back in the Matrix, his hair had come down to his ears.
Trinity turned the rest of her body around. “You talk too much.” She pressed her lips against his, their tongues playfully prodding each other. Ghost pulled her onto the bed so he was lying beneath her. Their arms wrapped around each other, and they couldn’t stop kissing. They didn’t want to. They were too in love to stand being apart.
Trinity’s dark hair hung over their faces like a shroud, but neither of them took any notice, Ghost pulling his pants off, his hands wandering to Trinity’s shirt…
Lying beside you
Listening to you breathe
The light that flows inside of you burns inside of me
Morpheus knocked on the door and opened it a few inches. “We’ll be docking with the Logos soon, so you should wake him up.”
Trinity was sitting in the bed she shared, Neo sleeping quietly beside her. He looked so peaceful, doing hardly anything more than sleeping during his recovery. Being brought back from the dead was never an easy task. Trinity hated having to wake him, but she also hated the reason, The Logos, who had come to help get the Neb off the sewer floors. Their last run in with the sentinels had left the Neb broken, unable to fly, an open target for future attacks. But they had gotten Neo out, and he was the One, and that was all that mattered.
Ghost was still on the Logos, that is if he was still alive. When Morpheus because the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, the Logos - smallest ship in Zion’s fleet - was crowded with a new rookie fresh out of the sewers. There was no room for her, and Trinity didn’t mind sharing a room (and a bed) with Ghost, but it was impractical, and Morpheus took her with him, leaving Niobe the captain of the Logos.
It was hard at first, because soon after the move to the Neb, Trinity had been summoned back to the Oracle’s to hear a of a new prophecy - the man she loved would be the One. She didn’t tell anyone, not even Morpheus, but it hurt to think that Ghost might just be the One. If indeed he was, Trinity wanted to be there beside him every step of the way, but the prophecy was confusing - she might fall in love with the One, not the other way around.
Trinity hadn’t seen Ghost since she moved to the Neb, five years ago. Her stomach was tight with anxiety - had Ghost forgotten her? What would Neo think? Was Ghost even alive? She sighed, wishing she could just ask the Oracle a few questions.
She gently shook Neo’s shoulder, her head bent close to his. “Neo, wake up.” He groaned, rolling over. “The Logos is coming soon.” Neo looked confused at first, struggling to remember the Logos - all that sleeping muddled his thoughts a little. He propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Trinity. “You alright, Trin?”
She pushed him back down, not wanting Neo to hurt himself. He still hadn’t healed from the multiple bullet wounds he received, and he almost cost the entire crew their lives to get him out of the Matrix. So many sacrifices were made for Neo, but he was the One. He would save them all.
“What’s wrong?“ Neo grabbed onto her wrist, he had seen the worry in her eyes. “Don’t say nothing.” He added - he knew Trinity all too well for someone that had spent most of his time with her sleeping.
She shook her head, trying to shake away her worries about Ghost. “It’s really nothing.” She said to Neo. “I was just remembering someone.”
But the imprint is always there, nothing is ever really forgotten
The End.
