A Walk through Hell:

((DISCLAIMER: This story is in no way meant to do anything outside Matrix canon. (i.e. returning the dead to life in the Real) Instead, this story is meant to show what I believe would happen to a man like Dezreki after his death, and in the afterlife.))

A room with no doors and no windows traps a plethora of solemn men, women, and children. The expression on their faces in this cold, stone room does not change as they stand in a line to walk through a small, dark-as-night tunnel at the end of the room. Some cry, while others keep their eyes closed tight. It is clear to each and every one of them that their fates are to be decided by some type of divine host.  The self-righteous, amongst their arrogance, stand amidst this group, confident in their choices in life - confident that they have done only right in this world. Among them, is the Fallen Commander, Dezreki, whose fate is not what he had expected.

"Where the hell am I?"

The Commander glanced around the room in a state of panic and observation. It was in Dezreki's nature to identify his surrounding as quickly and efficiently as possible as to ensure survivability in any situation. He was standing in a long line of people, whose expressions were randomized amongst them. The Commander lightly tapped the shoulder of a man standing in front of him. "Hey, buddy," Dezreki spoke softly to the stoic man.

There was no response; the man's expression did not change, nor did he show any sign of noticing the Commander's attempt to gain his attention. Dezreki quickly realized that it would be futile to continue trying to get his attention, so he shifted his focus towards the head of the line. People who were at the head of the line waited for awhile until stepping into a tunnel, where they were not seen past that point. As they walked through the tunnel, the line systemically moved forward without any questions or resistance.

The line moved forward once more, and this time, Dezreki noticed a peculiarity about the movement. The line moved forward. He moved forward. However, he did not walk forward; he could no longer feel his legs moving. It was at this point he realized there was no longer choice. There was no longer freedom. He was, in fact, a prisoner to a dark master. Dezreki was now truly afraid, and he had every reason to be.

Like sheep to a flock, the line kept moving forward, as per the request of the shepherd or leader. The Commander had always dictated his own choices, and the choices of others. For him to be in a place where his choices were no longer his own was his own form of a personal hell. He could only wait as the line continued to march forward, into a dark tunnel that seemed to represent freedom from this makeshift prison.

"Something's wrong here; how did I get here? What happened to me? Damnit! I can't remember anything!"

The sound of a single, loud footstep resounded in the small room. All the prisoners were obviously under the same control, and moved in the same fashion every time one of them entered the tunnel. Dezreki had lost track of time as he waited in the line of prisoners. His mind was elsewhere; his thoughts were of his friends, wherever they were.

"Recession, Caine, Trinas, Shiboo...where are you?"

The tone swept through the room once more, only this time, Dezreki was at the head of the line. He looked ahead into the dark tunnel where others had disappeared into. It was his time to try to break free of these hellish chains.

"So, you are the one who calls himself Azrael?" a voice echoed throughout the room, though it seemed to be heard by only Dezreki himself.

"Yeah," Dezreki snapped back, "what of it?" the Commander attempted to remain sarcastic and casual, despite his fear.

Dezreki felt a long, dark silence between his statement, and when the voice next spoke. He wasn't sure whether it write it off as his imagination, or if things were only about to get worse.

"Come, Leon," the voice spoke through the room once more, "step forward."

Dezreki obeyed unquestioningly.

Only this time...

He was the one who controlled his movements.

A room devoid of life and shape and form dictates the future of every single man, woman, and child who enters. Its decision is merciless, and goes by a system which it will not deter from. Is it a program? Is it a human? Or is it something else? The Commander walks to his future; he walks towards his uncertain fate.

As the Commander walked through the lifeless, black tunnel, he glanced back to look if he could still see the room he was once in. By now, there was nothing left that could be seen behind him, so, he continued his march forward. After what seemed like hours of walking, the familiar voice seemed to come through the black void around him.

"Do you know where you are, Leon?" the voice questioned inquisitively.

"I'd prefer not to be called that," Dezreki spoke towards the darkness, seeming as though he was addressing no one but himself.

"Don't run from your past, Leon," the darkness responded to the Commander's statement, "haven't you done enough running in your life as it is?"

Dezreki grit his teeth forcefully as he clenched his fist. "I don't run."

"Funny, as it seems you dead sister might disagree. After all, you did run from the attack on your house years ago."

"Shut up!" Dezreki yelled. It was now clear to the enigma that he had aggravated Dezreki; it had gained the ground it wanted. It pressed Dezreki into a state of panic, being defensive on his statements whenever he was questioned.

"My apologies, ‘Commander,' that was rude of me," the voice stated politely, though it was evident that it was either joking, or lacked human emotion or understanding. "I do wish to ask you something, though, Leon: Do you believe you are a good person?"

Dezreki was taken by surprise. He had never taken the time to consider if he believed he was or wasn't a "good person," nor did he ever expect that the enigma would ask him such a question. He stood there, dumbfounded for a few moments before shrugging. "I guess," Dezreki responded in an apathetic tone.

"What makes a good person, Leon?" the voice asked yet another question, causing Dezreki to become paranoid of his surrounding, even more than he was before. "Is it what they do in life? Is it what they stand for? Is it the end result of their cumulative actions in their life? Tell me, Leon, what does a person have to do to be considered ‘good' and ‘righteous.'"

"Hell if I care," Dezreki responded in a dismissing manner as he began to walk around the void of black, desperately looking for an exit, but hiding his panic amongst his sarcasm and wits.

"That is just it, Leon, you don't care. That is why you did what you did in your years on earth. You betrayed people, murdered people, destroyed families. Could you even begin to imagine the pain you've caused?"

"It doesn't matter," the Commander responded, clearly irritated by the questions, "I did what I believed was right. That's all that matters. None of it was real, anyways. None of this is real."

"No, Leon, that's not all that matters. You've caused an indescribable amount of pain in this world. What you may not realize, however, is that you did cause true, real pain to others. You've destroyed not only lives of people, but the lives of their families and friends."

Daddy!!

Brother!!

No!

Cocoa!

You killed him...

...he was murdered

He was killing in a bombing...

By the terrorist Dezreki...the bastard took him from us. He has ruined our lives...

"Stop it!" Dezreki screamed into the black void and reached for a weapon inside his long, bullet-hole-ridden black trench coat. He withdrew a semi-automatic pistol and began firing it into the darkness until he heard a scream from a figure that began to slowly walk towards him.

"B-Brother...why?" the figure was a young girl, no older than twelve, who was struggling to walk towards the Commander as blood dripped from her side. "Why did you let me die?...Why didn't you save me this time?...Did you truly not love me?..." the girl continued to walk up to Dezreki, her blonde hair covered in blood that was not her own. Dezreki stood there, unable to move in his state of shock. The dying girl made her way to Dezreki after what seemed like hours, and looked up into the Commander's dark green eyes before two tears dripped from her blue eyes and disappeared, becoming one with the void again.

Dezreki dropped his gun and fell to his knees. The Commander then acted in a way no one had ever seen him before. He covered his face in his palms and cry profusely before looking up into the void again and screaming curses towards the darkness. Dezreki viciously reached for another pistol in his trench coat and slammed it underneath his jaw and pulled the trigger. It was no use, though, the gun clicked, as though it were laughing at the Commander's futility.

"What good do you think that will do, Leon?" the voice questioned, this time with a slight sense of compassion, "do you not yet realize where you are?"

"What the hell is this, you bastard?...Where the hell am I?!"

"Purgatory, Leon, and the decision of your eternity has already been made."

"What?..."

"Whatever you saw and felt here is nothing compared to what you are about to experience, Leon. Your damage, destruction, and creations of pain have earned you nothing but punishment. You are to be a prisoner amongst other pain-bringers in Hell."

"Hell?..." the words barely escaped Dezreki's mouth before he began to fall deeper into the void. Agonistic screams could be heard all around him, as though to foreshadow what was to come for him. He had not yet imagined the extent of the upcoming pain - he was still unsure if any of this was even real. Everything else up to this point, in his mind, never was real, and never really mattered. As he continued to fall, he could begin to feel an increasingly-rising heat from below him, as well as a subtle illumination. The source of illumination soon became apparent.

Fire, how cliché.

The Commander gritted his teeth forcefully to prepare himself for the upcoming pain. As he fell, the fires came up around him and began to burn away his trench coat, causing the first to burn directly on his skin. Dezreki screamed almost-demonically as he fell through the relentless and unwavering flames until he landed in a bed of sand.

He was no longer recognizable.  

A faint voice appears in the background.. A voice of a friend..

"I can't watch this any longer.."

Resident wrote:

A faint voice appears in the background.. A voice of a friend..

"I can't watch this any longer.."

Obi-Wan!

Wait, wouldn't that make Dezreki Hayden Christensen?

~V

(( I think this is ironically going to end where Dezreki's "soul" or after-life spirit is going to be reunited with the simulacrum. Yay. ))