You were sitting next to Smith in your everlasting clearing, inhaling the overwhelming scent spreading all around you. Somehow you both were not eager to talk. Everything was so different, you were now... how had he put it? His natural enemy...

It had been six months since they got you out of the Matrix and you've only seen Smith briefly during that time. You had been a smokescreen for the rest of the redpills, a distractor, or if necessary, a living shield. There had been even one quite funny moment when during the action the policemen started shooting you, Mouse, and Morpheus. The situation had been critical, fortunately, Smith showed up soon. It was the first time you saw the genuine terror on his face. He stopped the shooting policemen with a few sharp sentences and rushed to see if you were still alive. You pretended a little, that you were in shock. In fact, you didn't even have to make too much of this pretending. You had been convinced, for a long time that you would die. While you complained to Smith, Morpheus and Mouse managed to escape.

However, despite these emotional meetings, you hardly had any time for normal conversation, let alone anything else. This was your third meeting, that wasn't a cover for any resistance action. A meeting just for a meeting on which, you thought Morpheus agreed for the greater good. And although you were happy to be with Smith again and to have a momentary peace, you had somehow moved away from each other for the elapsed time. It was hard to pretend everything was alright when it wasn't at all.

'You've visited the Oracle, miss (Y/LN).' Smith said finally. It wasn't a question; it was a statement. You were grateful that he broke that awkward silence.

'Yes, but if it was up to me, I wouldn't go there. How do you know?

'I have my sources...' He shrugged, giving you a long look. He didn't have glasses, so you could see his eyes in all their glory. He also took the receiver out of his ear. 'And what did you say, if I could ask?'

'That you love me,' you answered without thinking.

He laughed a sonorous laugh at these words, and you felt your heart melt with happiness. He laughed so rarely, recently you heard his sincere laughter in ancient times when you were still an unaware battery. 'It's probably not very revealing. Did she say anything else?' He was as calm as ever, but you could feel a hint of unease in his voice. As if he was afraid of what he might hear.

'That I love you too.'

'Mm,' he muttered, seemingly indifferent, but grinned at the same time, what spoiled the effect.

'And that I will probably lose my mind soon.'

He caught your resigned gaze. 'It must have been the worst visit to the Oracle in history.'

'Quite possible.'

***

Smith was soaked to the skin in five seconds. You even liked it, he looked damn hot with his shirt sticking to his body. If only he wouldn't spew all this nasty nonsense earlier, otherwise you might have told him. You, in your inseparable rain jacket, were protected from the raging sprinklers. You threw the hood over your head and with a smile you noticed: 'I guess something's wrong here.'

Smith put the receiver back into his ear at the same time his buddies appeared in the doorway.

'What are you doing?' asked the one who had pushed you into the car so brutally as you had made your way to this place.

Smith didn't answer. He seemed to be listening for information on his handset.

'He doesn't know yet.' The other agent muttered. 'They're trying to save him.' He couldn't mean anyone else but Morpheus.

You grinned, rubbing your hands with delight as you headed for the door. 'So, I will be going then, sending you cold farewells guys!'

'Miss (Y/LN), where are you going?!' Smith called after you.

'Oh, I just thought that I would do some sightseeing. You guys have other things to do now anyway ...'

'We have to keep an eye on him.' The brutal agent said, paying no attention to you. Together with the other one, they shot you impassive glances and left the room. Smith, looking confused, followed after them, also losing interest in your actions. He didn't even close the door behind him. You couldn't dream of a better turn of events.

You left the room and followed the agents into the opposite office. You saw Morpheus right away; sitting in a chair, handcuffed and glued with electrodes like the ones Trinity had put on you when they had pulled you out of the Matrix. He was in a deplorable condition.

You ran up to him, kneeling on the wet floor (the sprinklers were still sprinkling on everyone and everything around).

'Morpheus?' You lifted his chin slightly, trying to see his eyes. His gaze was completely absent. 'What did you do to him ?!' You shouted to the agents. You turned to look at them and to your amazement, you saw a pistol pointed at your face.

'Enough,' muttered agent Jones, or maybe Brown. The bigger one, anyway. You saw in horror as he is pulling the trigger. Before he could fire, however, the gun was knocked out of his hand and Smith stood between you and his colleague.

'Calm down,' he said calmly, albeit with an audible ominous purr. 'Killing her won't do any good!'

'Won't?' It sounded a little sarcastic. Apparently, it wasn't just Smith who could use sarcasm. 'If it helps you get back to the normal state, it definitely will.'

'I'm in the normal state ...'

'Negative! That girl destroyed you. We have to get rid of her. If not for her, the resistance would have long been gone.'

'Agent Jones, this is my last admonition, calm down,' Smith growled.

'I'm calm, unlike you. You're against us ...'

'Attention!' The third agent shouted, interrupting the undoubtedly fascinating exchange.

You all looked at him. He was pointing at the window. However, before you had time to see what was so dangerous there, Smith jumped on you and pinned you to the floor. Immediately after that, shots started, the window shattered into pieces, and shards of glass crumbled all over the place.

The bullets flew everywhere, but Smith didn't even let you twitch, effectively protecting you with his own body. Unfortunately, he paid for it. All agents paid.

When the cannonade ended, you threw off the dead body of the unknown policeman and finally looked out the window, which at that moment was one big hole in the wall. There was a helicopter in the air, with Neo and Trinity on board. So not everything was lost! Without thinking, you quickly released Morpheus from his shackles, but almost at the same moment the office door opened, and agents burst in again.

'RUN!' you screamed, pushing Morpheus towards the helicopter. You wanted to somehow stop the agents to give him a chance to escape, but Morpheus pulled you with him and you both jumped ...

If it weren't for Neo, you would have fallen about thirty, maybe forty floors down to the street. Fortunately, he jumped out to meet you in the air. He was secured with a rope, so when he grabbed Morpheus, you all hung on it, swinging hard, while the helicopter began to fly away from the hellish building.

Morpheus was holding your trouser belt, you were hanging in a rather uncomfortable position, but you couldn't help to look at what you had left behind.

Agents stood in the broken window, staring after you. You waved at Smith, fury mingled with regret on his face. But you didn't have time to wonder about his humor, there were more urgent matters to attend to ... As always ... If you had known then, how this adventure would end ... Maybe you would have acted differently. In any case, you'd at least say better goodbye to him.

***

'Miss (Y/LN), ...' Smith began threateningly, but you shut his mouth with a kiss. Meanwhile, Trinity raced to the telephone booth. You hugged him tightly, kissing him fervently, hoping that he would give it up completely and forget about everything else.

The situation was terrible. All three agents were chasing you, what hadn't happened before. They had been getting active lately, it looks like maybe you did find the One. Trinity chose the worst escape route, roof jumping. You could hardly keep pace with her, at such moments all the deficiencies in your training emerged.

After all, you decided that you weren't there to run away. You were recruited because you were the only way to hold back Smith, if only for a while. Now was the time to exclude at least one agent from the action.

'Go, Trin,' you groaned as you nearly killed yourself, jumping from the roof of one building, through a small window to another. You fell down the stairs with your momentum and lay flat next to your companion. 'I'll take care of Smith.'

Trinity had already risen, ready to run on. 'Imp ..., no. It's too big a risk this time ...'

'Trust me! Just go!' you ordered, slowly getting up.

You left the building, she, urged by you, ran to the phone booth at Wells and Lake and you just waited, ready to face Smith.

You were lucky, he jumped around the corner a moment later. Upon seeing you, he stopped, apparently not quite sure what to expect.

You fell on the sidewalk, groaning mournfully and clutching your side (which was actually really sore after you fell down the stairs). Smith swallowed that thick bait. A blink of an eye later he was crouched over you, clearly worried.

'What happened? Have you hurt yourself?'

'I am hurt ... but not physically.' You squealed theatrically, moving closer to him. 'My lover is such a bad boy, you know? He harasses as pure as the driven snow women all over the neighborhood and gives them no peace ...'

He frowned, realizing you had fooled him. 'Miss (Y/LN) ...' he began threateningly but did not finish because he was drowned in your embrace.

When you released him, after a long, long moment, he didn't seem angry. Anyway, the way he kissed back spoke for itself.

He pressed the receiver to his ear and announced. 'I hope you are satisfied with your actions, miss (Y/LN). Your companion managed to escape...'

You couldn't hold back a smug smile, on which Smith added. 'But I won't let you go that easily, Miss (Y /LN) ... You will stay here longer...'

That night you made love for the first time since you were disconnected. Smith led you to a very nice hotel which had a room that looked exactly like your old Matrix bedroom, even the bed was just as comfortable. You felt a little guilty at first for allowing yourself to do this, but Smith's warm hands and his hungry lips quickly melted away any remorse and doubt.

You spent long hours in each other's arms, first in bed and then in a small bathtub in the bathroom.

You forgot yourself.

And so did he.

For a very long moment, you completely forgot everything but him. It was like the old days again. As if nothing had ever interrupted your wonderful dream, full of tenderness and love.

***

Smith was gone.

Fell apart.

He was kicked out of the simulation ...

Ceased to exist.

You weren't crying. It was far too early for that. You were just standing between Tank and Morpheus, staring at the Matrix code and you couldn't believe what you were seeing.

You, Trinity, and Morpheus returned to the ship after being freed from the agents' headquarters. Nebuchadnezzar seemed so empty, it turned out that Cypher had betrayed you and contributed to the death of almost half of the crew. Switch, Apoc, Dozer also Mouse died earlier... It was terrible news, but also hard to focus on at the time since Neo was left alone in the Matrix.

He was fighting Smith.

You watched it shaking all over your body. As Neo managed to escape the agent and rushed to the phone to get back to you, hope flooded into your heart. Unfortunately, not for long ...

Smith shot him. You thought then that your heart would break, it was terrible. But a few moments later, Neo stood up as if nothing had happened and simply smashed Smith into a million pieces.

Then you completely stopped feeling anything.

That's not the ending you had in mind in your last conversation with the agent.

(Okay, so this ends pretty badly, but it will be continued ;) )