I don't have much to say about this little piece. I wrote it all in one day -- a good fourteen hours of work -- before shoving my muse away from the computer and telling her to think up something for Harry Potter. She has yet to get back to me.

Disclaimer: Nothing and no one found here is mine.

Thanks to Centress, known around here as Nithke, for her wonderful editing. She had some great advice for me, and this is what came of it.

xxxxxxx

Something wasn't right. I could feel it, like a chill in my bones.

Out of the darkness that surrounded me, a shrill scream cut through my heart. The scream was one of pain, of horror. But I couldn't 't see a thing. What was going on? The cry ceased, leaving an even louder silence in its wake.

I could feel someone in my arms. It was a familiar feeling, a comforting one. But something still wasn't right.

The black slowly faded until I could see my surroundings. I was in a cabin on the Neb, resting on a cot with my back against the wall. My chest was sticky...so were my hands. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't look down, couldn't see who I was holding on to.

Sharp, jabbing pricks panged all over my arms and shoulders. They hurt, but not enough to make me cry out. Then I heard the scream again, louder and more frantic this time. It wasn't me, but I recognized the voice. But it couldn't be...

A painful stab in my back made me gasp with pain...but somehow I knew that this wasn't my pain, but another's. I vaguely heard a knife clank to the ground before my eyes flew open.

I took a deep breath as my sight adjusted to the dimly lit room. I was awake. But...something really, really wasn't right. Telling myself that it really was just a dream, I looked down. Oh, no...no, no, no!

There was blood all over me...but it wasn't mine. It had all seeped from Trinity's lifeless body onto my chest, hands, arms, shoulders... There was a large gash -- a stab -- in her back, where her lifeblood had left to stain the sheets. Her face was pale, a look of pure terror and pain forever etched into her features. She was dead...so very dead... No. No, no, no!

The knife, jagged and bloody lay on the floor beside the bed. Someone had killed her! Murdered her! How...? My breath caught in my throat and my eyes started to burn.

This isn't real, I heard my subconscious say. This. Is. Not. Real. Wake up!

She was dead, by some stranger's hand -- by a stranger I will never find or know. Such a horrible death, so painful and long... What kind of evil person could do such a thing?

Wake up, Neo!

Trinity... No.... I didn't save you...

Come on, Neo...

You died in my arms and I couldn't do a thing to stop it! All I could do was hold you...

Neo!

No... No, no, no, no... "No!"

Neo!

"Trinity!" I'm sorry...so sorry!

Neo, wake up...

I couldn't save you...

You're dreaming, Neo...

"Trinity..." A sob, so pathetic and hiccuped.

Neo!

My eyes snapped open for the second time.

"Neo?"

A dream...it really was a dream. A nightmare, but a dream nonetheless. Trinity was alive, blissfully alive and breathing...and her face was hovering over mine. Before she could even see that I had fully woken, I pulled her against my chest, more roughly that I should have, and held her tightly.

I could hear her muffled voice as she spoke. "It's okay, Neo," she said, "You're awake now...it wasn't real."

I must have been crying out, otherwise she wouldn't have woken. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

She didn't move. "For what?"

"For..." -- not saving you -- "waking you." I closed my eyes tightly and tensed my hold on her. I never wanted to let go.

Her hands were pinned between my chest and hers, but her fingers gently traced little patterns out on my shirt...it was something she did when she was trying to soothe me but was unable -- as she was now, in the difficult position I had put her in. With the consideration that I might be crushing her suddenly reaching my mind, I eased my arms a bit and let my eyes open.

"You didn't wake me," she replied quietly. "Though I think you may have woken Link." Her lips curved up a bit at the corners. Link's room was beside ours.

"God," I breathed, mere air through my lips.

"What happened?" She tilted her head slightly to look at me. Her blue eyes were wide, understanding. She's had nightmares before...she knows how real they can be.

"Someone..." My voice died off, not sure how to put the absolute horror I had felt into words. "Someone murdered you -- stabbed you in the back...while we were sleeping. I could feel the pain -- your pain..."

"Well," Trinity sighed and looked at the far wall in semi-concentration. "That--" Her voice wavered slightly. "That won't happen, not to me and not to you."

"Yeah," My arms squeezed her slight frame. "But I thought I had already woken when I found you..."

"One of those double-dreams?" Her fingers had stopped moving.

I nodded, knowing she could feel it even if she couldn't see it. "You can't die, Trinity,"

"You know that I'm going to," she pointed out gently, her fingers starting their movement again. "Just as you know that you will, as well. It's part of life, as ironic as that may sound. You may be the One, but you're not immortal...and neither am I."

"I know, I know," I cut her off, not wanting to hear any more of this bleak truth.

Quite suddenly I was hit with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. So many lives had already been lost...if she were to die, she would just be another body. People would forget her, just as they'd already forgotten all the others. I'd seen the crematories, when we brought our crew there on my first visit to Zion. There had been so many bodies, so many nameless, lifeless bodies. She couldn't go there, not to add to the count. I pushed her off of me and stumbled from the bed. "Trinity..."

"Neo?" She sat up, an alarmed look on her face.

"I think I'm going to be sick..."

I barely had enough time to get to the toilet before I vomited. Trinity was at my side in the blink of an eye. She rubbed my back and pressed a cool cloth -- where had that come from? -- to my face, wiping residue from the corner of my lips. I knelt there, quite uncomfortable with the situation, my arms around the toilet bowl.

"I'm sorry," I shook my head, not looking at her. "This is embarrassing..."

"Hey," Her long fingers brushed down my cheek, turning my face toward hers. "It's me, not Morpheus or Link. Besides," she grinned slightly, trying to lighten the mood, "I've already seen you do this before."

"Yeah," I wiped at my nose. "That was embarrassing, too,"

"Neo," Now she was running the cloth over my lips again, then my chin. "What happened? Are you coming down with something?" She pressed her palm against my forehead, checking my temperature.

"I'm fine," I took her hand into mine and held it over my heart. "I just... I don't actually know. But I'm fine."

"Okay," Her voice was soft, and just hearing it helped calm my nerves. "C'mon, let's get you a clean shirt and go back to bed."

I nodded and let her secure a hand on my elbow. I leaned on her as we walked back into the main part of the tiny cabin, not steady on my feet. She stopped me in front of the small dresser as she pulled out one of my few clean shirts. When she turned to me, I saw a strange glimmer in her eyes but she didn't meet my gaze as she pulled the shirt I was wearing over my head.

The worn piece of fabric fell to the floor as she ran her delicate fingers lightly down my chest. "No scars," she murmured. "Maybe you are immortal."

"I hope not," I said quietly, watching her unfold the new pullover. "I couldn't live without you."

She looked up at me then, and I saw that her crystalline eyes were shining with emotion. "You're sweet," she said, her voice strangely choked as she refocused on finding the neck of the shirt.

"Trinity," I took her face in my hands. "I love you. I love you so much it hurts, and just the thought of losing you haunts me in my sleep."

All she did was smile. A real smile, not a mere twitch of the lips. I like to make her smile. After a moment she asked, "Does your throat hurt?"

When I nodded, she said that she'd go get me some water. As the door closed behind her, I picked up the discarded shirt from the floor and placed it in the laundry bin before laying on the bed. How odd... I've had bad dreams before, but not many were so real as this last one. At least I can hold on to the fact that this one could in no way be prophetic. No one would be able to get close enough to stab either of us, let alone have the stupidity to even try.

There was a quiet mumbling outside the door before it opened. Trinity entered, a small smirk on her lips. She handed me a tin of water.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked, wanting to know what she was so smug about.

"Link," was the answer. "He wanted to know why you were screaming so loudly."

I eyed her suspiciously. "And what did you tell him?"

"That we were making hot, passionate love and you just couldn't be quiet."

Her voice was so serious that I almost choked on the liquid I had just taken into my mouth. I leaned over and put the cup on the metal floor.

Trinity chuckled. "From that look on your face, I'm starting to wonder if he knew I was kidding..."

"No one knows you're kidding when you sound so serious!" I shook my head, amused.

"I don't have much practice at joking, I guess." She shrugged, a small grin tugging her lips.

"I can help you learn." I smiled at her, taking note for the hundredth time about how incredibly lucky I was. She sat on the bed beside me and looked down into my eyes, reaching out to take my hand in hers. The other stroked down my cheek.

"You know," she said quietly, laying down beside me, "I feel like I can actually be myself around you. It's nice."

"I'm glad." I wrapped an arm lightly around her waist as she curled against my side, her head resting on my chest.

"Neo," Her voice was a whisper now. "How many nightmares have you had about...about me dying?"

I didn't reply at first, thinking wildly about how to get out of this uncomfortable topic. She poked me gently in the side, prompting for an answer. My grip on her tightened slightly. "A few," I said finally.

Trinity was silent, her fingers once again tracing imaginary patterns over my chest. "I want you to know something," she said, stilling her fingers momentarily. "I want you to know that I will never voluntarily leave you, not if I can help it. I want you to know that if I were to die, I won't go down without a fight."

I chuckled at that last part. "Thank you," I breathed into her hair.

All was silent. For a few minutes I thought she had fallen back to sleep, but then she turned her head to look up at me. "And Neo?" She blinked slowly, tiredly. "I love you, too."

I smiled, contented, and could feel sleep tugging at me once more. As I let myself drift off, though, I could still feel Trinity in my arms, very much awake as I left her behind.