Eyes Wide Shut

AthenasBlackNe0

It's been years since her father's death.
Everything has changed. But for the better; it's too soon to tell. He
brought upon a holy Truce between them. He sacrificed himself in order to
save them. Being very non-religous, it kind of makes you wonder if he
was the "Jesus" that everyone speaks of. But nothing has changed. No
one besides him has seen the surface, everyone is still very cold
underground, and the sludge they feed the ones that are left isnt
tasting any better. If this is what you call being free, then everyone
needs to be jacked back in.

Athena took it pretty hard. She was standing next to Morpheus
along with her twin brother, Thetan, when they realized what had
happened. It was a blow that she knew was coming, but was definately
not prepared for. Even though the twins always considered him their
father, he wasnt, but he always came real close. She cried for days,
and though Thetan tried to comfort her, it just was no use. It wasnt
always easy to lose the ones you finally found comfort and love in,
especially when there was no one else around for you.

But alas, the Matrix still exists, though not how it was before.
Thousands upon thousands have been freed. Three times as many
hovercrafts as there were, now permanently occupy crevices in broadcast
depth without being bothered. The Nebacadezzer still runs as if it was
its first time off the lot. And Athena and Thetan are still tied at the
hip, trailing behind Morpheus.

No one will ever forget the first meeting that Morpheus called on
the ship, since the end of the war. "A lot has changed since the war.
But the war is now over. Neo did what he thought was right to save us,
and it worked. For that, we owe him everything. But now is a time to
worship him. We need to get his body back. It belongs in Zion. It
belongs in his home." As soon as that was said, Athena initially knew
it was a bad idea. The Machines, after all, were prepared to destroy
each and everyone of them. Who really says that they have to stop now?
Questions came up about his plan being a breach of the Truce that his
"savior" worked too hard to achieve. Morpheus wouldnt hear anyone's
comments. He went on to terrorizing the Matrix by dropping code bombs
in well populated areas. No one is really sure how many Blue Pills that
killed off, but needless to say, there were many.

But Morpheus got what was coming to him. Some unknown person hired
an "Assassin" to take Morpheus out. Athena tried to warn him, to keep
him from jacking in, but he would not hear of such a thing. "You arent
invincible, you know? You arent Neo. Sooner or later, someone is going
to catch up with you, and you might not be around to see this through."

He turned to her, before sitting in that oh-so-familar chair, "If
anything should happen, I want you to gather a crew to carry on with my
plan. It's what I want. It's what Neo would have wanted." Irony she now
sees as she looks back at that day. Morpheus died shortly after he
jacked in. There was no saving him. He was too far gone a very long
time ago. Her brother Thetan also died, fighting under Morpheus' cause
days earlier. He was captured and killed, without even a second glance.
Athena was now alone for the first time since she was "freed."

Club Noir has become her favorite place to hang out at, while
being jacked in. Sitting at the bar, trying to drink herself into a
feelingless state, she turns around and looks at the dance floor. The
beautiful people always came out this time at night. She leans back
into the bar on the barstool and listens to the current song playing.

"Yes I'm alone but then again I always was

As far back as I can tell

I think maybe it's because you never were really real to begin with

I just made you up to hurt myself

And it worked.

Yes it did!

There is no you

There is only me

There is no **ing you

There is only me

Only

Now I am somewhere I am not supposed to be, and I can see things I knew I really shouldn't see

And now I know why

Yea now I know why

Things aren't as pretty

On the inside"

'How true is that,' she thought to herself. She flinched as
someone tapped her on the shoulder. She looks up at the dark figure.
Adjusting her eyes in the light coming in through the door behind him,
she sees a rather handsome man dressed in a red and black vest/shirt
combo and black suit coat. "Can I have a word with you," he politely
asks.

She looks back at the dance floor and then back up to him, "yes,
but you have to dance with me first." Before the man could blink, he
was thrown out onto the dance floor with Athena right behind him. They
danced for hours, and he actually seemed to start enjoying himself and
getting a little bit more laid back after the fifteenth song. Finally
they approached the bar, and Athena ordered drinks. She turned to him,
"what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"

After turning down his drink, he motions for them to go somewhere
more private. Athena follows him to an unused office room, carrying her
drink. He turns to her, "you dont know me, but I certainly have heard
of you. My name is Oranos, and I am the captain of the Valiturus, one
of the crews affiliated with the Guardians of the Seventh Gate. I
understand you were one of the last few that chose to work under
Morpheus' command. You have my sympathy, as I am sorry about his death.
But I wanted to know what you planned on doing from here."

She looked up at him with an eyebrow slightly raise, "as you can see, you have walked into my current plans."

Oranos shakes his head in disbelief at her, "you cant stay like
this forever. You have to have some plan on what to do now that your
captain is dead."

"Nope, none," she stands up and starts to walk past him to the
door. He grabs onto her arm pulling her back, rather forcefully, "I
know you dont believe what he said. Its written all over your face. You
think he was dumb for pulling the stint that he did. You are grateful
that he was assassinated..."

She pulls her arm back and pushes him a little, "I dont know who you
think you are. You sure as hell arent scaring me with this 'mean guy in
suit' routine. It's been done. You are a couple months too late. Now if
you will just leave me be." This time she successfully reaches the door
but he calls back to her, "wait."

Without thinking, she turns back
around, "yes?"

"You said 'it's been done before.' What did you mean by that?"

"You should know, they were one of your kind, with the suit and
everything. I dont remember what crew or fleet he was with though, but he approached me just the same."

Oranos lets out a small laugh but catches himself, "I know exactly who you are talking about and you have that
wrong. We have absolutely nothing to do with them. They are too
reckless, too self absorbed. We want to uphold this Truce, find a
better way of living for all of us Redpills."

She smiles, "what makes you think I want to work for the Machines anyway?"

He walks closer to her, "like I said, it's written all over your
face. You hate the fact that someone you considered a father was killed
by reasons that Morpheus put in his head. You hate the fact that you
lost your 'other half' because of Morpheus' actions. You resent Zion.
That is why you torture yourself, night after night, by coming to this
club and drinking yourself silly, in hopes that it will all go away.
But in reality, if we can even understand what that is anymore, you
have no one to turn to."

Athena stands there for a minute but then finally shuts the door.
She walks over to the small couch in the room and plops down, all the
while Oranos was watching her every movement, waiting for her to
attack. After a minute of silence, she puts the drink in her hand down
on the floor and looks up at him, "so what did you have in mind?"

To be continued....

Message Edited by AthenasBlackNe0 on 08-15-2005 07:04 PM
Message edited by AthenasBlackNe0 on 08/15/2005 18:04:10.

**StupidFly**

Message Edited by StupidFly on 08-16-2005 06:58 AM
Message edited by StupidFly on 08/16/2005 02:58:39.

Cognoscente

Surprised Oranos hasn't seen this already... :smileyhappy:

Good job Athena, btw... are you still playing? If you're going to continue to post on the forums, do you need a sig?

AthenasBlackNe0

:p cog.
yeah i still play, just not on our server as much, but i'll bb
soon. and actually, im waiting on urk to finish my sig...whenever
that is going to be :p

**ath3na**

I'm suprised that this almost slipped by me, too -- pretty much speechless.

I'm not the author (BlackNeo), but I'm as curious as all of you to see where this is going.

AthenasBlackNe0

Unfortunately,
I'm still undecided if i want to continue this. With moving to a
diff server and deleting previous characters (what can i say i like
being lvls 2-20) but yeah....any suggestions?