FicWad

-I-I-I-

Harry stared about him with wide eyes, trying to take in as much as he could as they strode down one of his new home's narrow, steel-walled corridors. It wasn't that it was particularly beautiful, or even impressive- in fact, what he had seen of the last human city so far was downright ugly.

Even the people were drab. Everyone wore the same kind of ragged, colorless clothing that he himself did, and there was no joy in their faces as they went about their business. What talking there was was quiet and to the point, but most of the men and women wandered silently through the stone and metal halls of Zion.

Ahead of him, Trinity used her magnetic personality- as well as a few well-placed elbows- to make a path through the crowd. Harry clung to her hand and was pulled along in her wake, as Neo walked along behind them.

By the time they reached wherever they were going, the boy's feet had begun to ache from their contact with the unforgivingly hard floor. The three walked into a high-ceilinged room, and Harry nearly flinched from the abrupt contrast of this chamber to the world outside. The walls were explosions of color, reds and yellows and oranges all vying for attention, with the occasional demure blue or green thrown in. Then there was the noise- that of over two dozen children forced into close proximity.

They were of all ages. The youngest Harry could see couldn't have been more than three, and there were two children, a boy and a girl who looked like twins, that were perhaps a year older than himself.

"Trinity, what-?" he asked, taking a step back.

The woman knelt and pulled him around to face her. "Harry, love, you need to stay here for a little bit. We are not leaving you here," she said sternly as he paled. "We're going to adopt you, Neo and I, but we need to report first and then get all the paperwork done so you can come home with us."

Harry started to protest, until Neo's fingers brushed gently through his messy hair. He looked up to see the man smiling reassuringly down at him. "We'll be back, I swear it," he murmured to the tiny boy. Neo knelt down next to his wife so he could look Harry in the eye. "I've only known you for a few days, and already I can't imagine you not being there," he said truthfully. "You're ours now. We're not letting you go."

Harry stared at him for a long moment, eyes wide and lips trembling. Then his lips firmed and he nodded. "How... how long?" he asked in an anxious whisper.

The two adults shared a glance. "Probably... until tomorrow," Trinity answered. "It depends on whether Morpheus has to pull out his hole card."

"Hole card?" the boy asked curiously.

She winced. "Well... I'm really not supposed to say anything yet, but... You liked flying in the simulator, right?" That got an enthusiastic nod, one that drew a chuckle from her husband. "How would you like to learn how to fly more stuff?"

The boy practically beamed. "Could I?" he asked earnestly.

Trinity smiled. "And to think, Morpheus was afraid he wouldn't accept," she murmured aside to Neo.

Neo blinked. "You mean...?" As far as he knew, Morpheus hadn't taken an apprentice in a hell of a long time.

She nodded. "Yep. And that way you can come with us on the /Neb/," she added, pulling Harry into a hug. Neo reached over and hugged them both.

After a long minute, they let go, and Harry smiled tremulously at them as the two adults rose to their feet. Trinity leaned down and gave him another brief hug, before walking over to snag the matron in charge of the orphanage's chaos.

"Ma'am?" she asked politely, standing a few feet away from the heavy-set woman berating a little seven-year-old who looked like he'd somehow found a dust pile to roll in.

"Yes, dear?" the gray-haired matron replied, after sending the child to the wash basin. "Can I help you?"

Trinity glanced over at her husband and their future child. The matron followed her gaze, and lit on the small boy. "Another darling for me?" she asked in a thick German accent.

"Only for a day or so," the brunette replied. "We're adopting him."

The older woman nodded with obvious approval. "Is he an orphan or an unplugged?" she asked.

"Both."

The matron winced. "I understand vhy you vant to adopt him, then."

Trinity nodded. "And there's more. He was abused, so I'm not sure how he'd react to strange adults or the other children."

The gray-haired woman sighed. "I see..."

"Yeah..." Trinity watched Neo say something to Harry that made the boy giggle behind a hand. "Just... just take care of him, okay?"

The matron gave her a gentle smile and patted her reassuringly on the arm. "Of course, dear. I alvays do."

-I-I-I-

Morpheus let out a weary sigh as the Council murmured among itself after hearing his report. He could see the disbelief and even anger on some of their faces at the admittedly farfetched tale.

Neo and Trinity both stood at attention off to the side of the chamber. They'd both been called forward several times to corroborate those parts of his report that they could testify to having witnessed themselves, though from the continuing buzz many of those of the Council seemed unwilling to believe them, either.

Finally, an older woman whose silver hair was pulled up into a bead-covered bun rose from her seat. "Captain Morpheus," she began formally, "Can you offer us proof of these assertions?"

He glanced towards his shipmates. Neither of them looked very happy at the thought, but Neo gave him the slightest of nods. "If Harry is willing, perhaps," he answered cautiously.

There was a doubtful snort from somewhere behind him, and Morpheus automatically stiffened at the familiar sound. "How do you wish to go about this, Councilor Dillard?" he asked the head of the Council, forcing himself to ignore his old friend-turned-rival.

"Should the boy be willing, bring him here. We can set up an interface and a viewing screen easily enough," she ordered, though as always it sounded like a request. There weren't many who could genuinely pull off coating steel with velvet, but the woman who had held the Council of Zion together for decades was one of them.

Morpheus glanced again at Neo and Trinity. This time it was the child's foster mother that nodded, anxious to see her Harry again and make sure he was all right, and then grabbed her husband's sleeve and pulled him out of the Council Chamber after a respectful nod towards that august body.

-I-I-I-

Harry pulled his knees to his chest and leaned back against the wall in the unobtrusive corner he'd chosen, trying to stay out of the way of the other children. It was harder than it seemed; the old rule about children gathered into a group adding up exponentially instead of numerically was very true.

He shrank back a bit further as a group of four children ran by, playing catch with a ball made of colorful yarn. They didn't seem to notice his presence as they flashed by, and despite years of avoiding other children, Harry couldn't help but follow after them wistfully with his eyes. They looked so /happy/...

Unnoticed, across the room the elderly matron in charge of the orphanage caught the arm of the female half of the single pair of twins. She murmured into her ear for a moment, gesturing towards the tiny boy seated against the wall, and the girl nodded.

Harry was broken out of his musings as someone settled down beside him with a rustle of fabric. He twisted to see one of the children he'd noticed earlier, one of the twins, staring at him with a determined expression on her pale face.

"Hello," she said quietly, pulling her knees to her chest in obvious imitation of the way he himself was sitting. "Who're you?"

The boy stared uncertainly at her for a long moment. He wasn't used to being around other children. Dudley and his gang had made a special point of threatening anyone who showed interest in Harry that wasn't in the direction of taunts and insults. "Harry," he finally answered, in a voice just as soft.

Apparently he hadn't managed to do anything wrong yet, because instantly her face broke out into a pleased grin. "Oh, good. I was afraid you were part of the wall for a second there." The grin faltered a little at the look of pure confusion he sent her, but the girl forged on anyway. "I'm Ruth. And I know you haven't met him yet, but that's Ethan," she said, pointing to where her twin had joined the group playing catch. "I'll introduce you two later, at lunch."

Harry stayed silent, still not having a clue why the girl was there and speaking to him, and even less of one about what he was supposed to be doing. It didn't seem to matter much, though, as she rattled right along without any need for his input. "Anyway, so where're you from? I mean, you're an unplugged, right? Well, it's kind of obvious, 'cause you have the sockets. What's the Matrix like? Me an' Ethan were born here, so we've never seen it. We can't do simulations, either, so we have to go to class and learn everything the hard, boring way. How old are you? You look a little young, but maybe we'll have some classes together..." She paused and watched him for a minute. "Well?"

It was a second before Harry realized she was waiting for him to answer her questions. "Er... I'm nine, I'm from England, and..." He shrugged his thin shoulders. How could you describe the Matrix? It just... /was/. Not to mention he didn't have anything to compare it with yet.

Ruth sighed. "Yeah, that's the reaction I always get when I ask the grown-ups. That or a really nasty glare," she added, scrunching up her nose. "Ethan says I should stop asking. That the adults don't want to be reminded, or something like that."

Almost despite himself Harry nodded. He could see why no one wanted to talk about it. He didn't really miss it himself- he'd been happier aboard the Nebuchadnezzar than he'd ever been in the so-called "real world". But he could also remember watching from the outside as others went about their lives in perfect bliss, or so it had seemed to him at the time.

Hell, compared to his life, it was perfect bliss.

The girl had by this point given up on getting him to say anything in response to her running commentary. Instead, she used the garishly-painted wall to push herself to her feet and brushed off her skirt and tank top. "Well? Are you coming?" she asked, staring expectantly down at him. "C'mon! I want you to meet Ethan and the others!"

Harry awkwardly rose, not entirely sure he wanted to meet the 'others'. Ruth seemed nice enough, if rather daunting, but then, so had some of the other children over the years. It had never taken Dudley long to convince them to change their minds. "Er..."

It was at that moment that Trinity stepped inside the orphanage for the second time that day, head swiveling as she scanned the room for his presence. Relieved, Harry took a step towards her, and she smiled as she spotted him.

"Sorry, kiddo, change of plans," she said, walking over to them. "Looks like you won't be staying here tonight after all."

"Why not?" he asked, though he couldn't make himself sound very put out.

The woman sighed. "We reported to the Council, and they'd like to meet you, and confirm a few things. Would you mind showing them, er..."

Harry frowned, worried. Did he really want to show a bunch of complete strangers how much of a, an abnormality he was? It was one thing with Trinity, and Morpheus- they already knew he was... odd. But... what would happen if he didn't do it? Would they keep him away from the family he'd only just realize he had?

Hesitantly, he nodded, and was rewarded with his surrogate mother's smile. "Cool." Trinity hugged him to herself. "Ready to go, then?" she asked.

Harry nodded again, and quickly found his hand again grasped in Trinity's as she led him out of the room. Just before they vanished through the exit, he glanced back once, to see a bemused Ruth standing and staring after them.