Anomalies

“It’s time.”

Kila pushed herself away from the dirty floor of the Nebuchadnezzar and walked towards Morpheus, who put a hand on her shoulder and nodded. She smiled weakly and sat on one of the chairs, preparing herself to be connected to the Matrix.

“I’m going with her.”

“Neo, you’re not…”

He silenced her with a move of his hand and smiled. “I want to.”

Kila sighed and lay down, her tense hands clutching the armchairs as the cold long needle entered her brain, freezing her to the bones.

~*~

“Come with me.” She heard Neo say, and she turned around. He was standing beside her; dark glasses shielding his eyes from the harsh sun the program had created. Putting a hand on the small of her back, he helped her to move through the sea of unaware and oblivious prisoners. He knew she hated to see them looking so deadened and he ushered her to walk faster.

“Don’t worry about them, Kila. They aren’t unhappy, you know that.”

She shrugged, biting her lip. “That’s not the matter. They’re fucking batteries! If only they could see it… See it with their own eyes…”

“Do you think that would make them feel any better? To know that the reason for their survival is because the Machines need them?”

Kila ran a hand through her glorious curly blond hair, her beaten eyes lowered as she stared at the floor. “I don’t know. But maybe they would help us, and Oz wouldn’t be in the situation he is now.”

“I’m sorry, Kila.”

She actually smiled, and turned to look at him. They had stopped walking, and he took off his sunglasses. He towered above her, and she held a hand up, putting her slim hand between herself and the sun to be able to look at him clearly.

“Don’t be, Neo. It’s not your fault.”

“Somehow it is, you know it as much as I do.”

“Let’s just go, ok?” She avoided talking about it with him, because she couldn’t blame him for the mess. It was their routine, almost. Living in the Matrix was dangerous, they all knew it, death and danger was at each other’s door. Especially for them. Oz knew it, Kila knew it, and they had made a choice. Now, they had to deal with it.

Kila walked closer to Neo as a woman in a deep red dress almost knocked her down to the ground. Cursing softly, Kila turned to watch the woman in red flounced away, swaying her hips sensually. She looked up at Neo and sighed in relief that he still decided to come with her.

When she first was introduced to the Neb, Neo had frightened her. He was the One, the Chosen. He was very cold at first, very much tortured by his own demons. But, little by little, they had learned to live together and to appreciate each other. She saw him as a brother, and he was very protective of her, almost as much as he was with Trinity.

“You sure she will tell me what I need to hear?” She asked Neo, her hands deep in the pocket of her black leather jacket that hugged the curves from her upper body.

“She will tell you what you want to hear, Kila. It’s like that, with the Oracle.”

“But I already know what I want to hear!”

Neo turned to look at her, his head titled slightly. “Are you sure?”

He left her wondering, as he turned into a dark alley, entering a building. Slowly, he guided her through a maze of hallways and a continuity of doors, all similarly identical. Finally he knocked on one of those doors, and Kila wondered how he could recognize it in the first place.

A black woman let them in and they waited for a few minutes in the living room of the little apartment. Kids were playing with different objects; twisting spoons, making cubes float. Kila smiled as she watched Neo talk to the spoon twister. She could see that they knew each other, instantly she had sensed a sort of connection between them. Suddenly the boy looked right at her and made signs for her to sit besides Neo. She followed his instructions and he gave her a spoon.

“There is no spoon.” He told her, his bald little head nodding as she smiled.

She concentrated on the Matrix and the fact that there wasn’t any spoon in her hand and it began to move, to bend under her stare. It was fairly easy for her, but Neo looked almost impressed.

A hand touched Kila’s shoulder, and she stood up, giving the spoon back to the boy and thanking him. The black woman motioned the kitchen for her, and she went through the curtain of pearls.

“Would you like a cookie, Kila?” A nice looking old black woman asked her, sitting down behind the kitchen table.

“I’m not hungry.” The young woman answered.

“I know.” The Oracle said, lightening a cigarette. “Please sit down, young girl.” Kila obeyed.

“I know you’re not hungry, but you haven’t eaten in days, if I recall correctly.”

“What do I have to do?” Kila asked, ignoring her question.

“There’s nothing you can do. Support him and he might live. Let him go and he will die.”

Kila stood up forcefully, pushing the chair away from her and it fell to the ground with a muted thud. “He can’t die!”

“You know perfectly well that he can. Oz is human after all, he’s not invincible.”

Kila turned around, a hand on her face. “Don’t blame yourself, Kila. He saved you, yes, but he still would have done it if it was someone else.”

“Not like that.” The tortured young woman whispered, replaying the events in her head.

Kila running to go back to the Neb, a Machine following closely behind. Oz jumping from the ship, a weapon in hand, firing with an uncontrolled rage at the mass of steel and intelligence. Kila jumping into the Neb, then holding out a hand to help Oz. The feeling of his cold skin against hers as she and Morpheus brought him back on board. The sight, unbearably painful, of her lover drenched in his own blood, the gaping gash on his stomach and his leg bared to the cold air.

She shivered, coming back to reality.

“He wouldn’t have left the ship if it wasn’t for me.”

“It was his choice, Kila. Choices are the only thing one can’t control.”

“Will he survive? Please, tell me that!”

“I don’t know. That’s his choice.”

~
Author's Notice: This story has no real time frame. It is just bits of Oz and Kila's life, but this chapter is a two parter. You want to know what will happen, right ? Then push the little review button ! *smiles sweetly* *bats eyelashes*