October 2.
Taking a deep breath, the unforgettable surge of people who began to appear on the Matrix set had doubled. Billy stretched his arms, the laziness still clinging to his bones, and as he loosened up from all the exercise he had been doing, a fight script landed in his hands. Karate was a practice of hard work, but he dismissed martial arts, finding nothing beautiful in fighting or expressing oneself through it, when art in its true era was meant to be cherished. A brushstroke was more necessary than any strike, and words could become the finest shield, much like money does.
Billy turned left, dodging a massive film set that covered nearly an entire street, no one daring to approach the life of a rejected entity.
The scene was a parking lot. From the back, he saw everything he needed to see—the bold mannerisms of the Merovingian, who stood just one step away from mortality, from an exit perhaps. Beside him, Persephone, a charming woman who always gave exactly what was expected. Charlize stretched her smoothly bronzed legs, her blue eyes sparkling, laughter flowing easily during breaks. She was simply another actress, though one with keen emotional intelligence balanced on her shoulders.
Sadly, and misunderstood by many, she had to play the part of a woman utterly trapped in the despair of time pressing down on her, when love had left her relationship, and the point now leaned toward inconvenience.
The studio was a storm of traffic, where hundreds of extras moved across the rubber floor, illuminated by a yellow spotlight that reflected all the magic of The Matrix. The interest it drew was undeniable, and the movement across what was actually just a small room of a few meters, built to look like a grand hallway, was astonishing.
…
Less than fifteen days. October 13, the date for Billy, found him completely consumed by hard, relentless work, where effort and labor left him deeply immersed. At the same time, the flame he had shared with Carrie-Anne Moss flickered out, the once vivid sexuality now little more than a quiet relief for them both, easing the weight of the public eye and the endless scenes filmed from every angle, pressed between the corner and the wall. It forced him to reckon with the truth—that people are bound to a limit of time that is unreachable.
Quick, direct, and to the point, leaving no room for childishness or the petty indiscretions so common in any rehearsal room.
-Scene 47, take 1.-
Trinity: I'm ready.
Neo: Trinity… There's something I need to say. Something you need to understand. I know I'm supposed to go. But beyond that, I don't know…
Trinity: I know. You don't think you're coming back. I knew it the moment you said you had to leave. I could see it on your face. Just like you knew the moment you looked at me that I was coming with you.
Her eyes were intense, almost like sparks of passion caught from different angles. The destiny set upon Neo, to save at the cost of his life and his love. Or at least, that was the truth he believed above all else. For Billy, though, it was a contradiction that marked Neo—a man becoming aware of the fall he was about to endure.
Neo: I'm afraid, Trin.
Trinity: Me too. It took me ten minutes to lace up one boot. But I'll tell you something. Six hours ago, I told the Merovingian I was ready to give anything for you. Do you know what's changed in the last six hours?
Neo: No.
Trinity: Nothing.
(The Hammer: weapons bay/pilot's cabin)
Roland (v.o.): You done loading that ammo?
Mauser: Almost, sir!
Roland: Let's move, we're out of time.
Niobe: You're not leaving them anything?
Roland: He said he didn't need it.
Everyone was already caught in the middle, tied to an inevitable outcome they couldn't comprehend, closing in on themselves. They were all ready to perish within a matter of hours, facing the end of destiny and life itself, wishing they could be more, or better—but it was impossible for any of them. Nothing left to say but words of support, their morale depending on what little courage or tenderness they could still muster.
(The Hammer: main deck)
Link: (embracing Trinity) I'm not saying goodbye. I'm saying good luck.
Trinity: Thank you.
Morpheus: I can only hope you know what you're doing.
Neo: So do I. It's been an honor, sir.
Morpheus: No, the honor is still mine.
Though flawed or tied up in different perspectives, Morpheus's performance seemed dimmed beside Billy's. His Neo carried a continuous growth, one that made him more decisive, his transformation fully functional in every way.
(The Hammer: pilot's cabin)
Mauser (v.o.): We're ready, sir.
Roland: It's time. (to Niobe) We're late, Captain, so let's hit hard and hit fast.
Niobe: Goodbye, baby. Take good care of them.
(The Logos: pilot's cabin)
Trinity: Ready?
{Neo nods. Trinity presses a button, and the lights go out.}
Trinity: Engine's still running. Must be a fuse. I'll check it.
-Cut.-
Billy exhaled, but understood that the scene would need to be repeated from different angles, for reasons both inevitable and undeniably true.
-Great work.- A voice sent key feedback through the monitors from multiple angles.
Whatever the job, the new comics launched by Billy proved remarkable, each one delivering the kind of story no one expected would become such a success. Eyeshield 21 debuted in a mix of Billy's school and several others in San Jose, especially through Anne, who brought in her brothers' school, putting San Jose in the spotlight at its fullest.
Though Billy's sales slipped out of control, Fullmetal Alchemist, Naruto, and Eyeshield 21 each faced different outcomes. The first two sold fewer than 100,000 copies, trailing far behind by nearly 400,000. Yet Eyeshield 21 sold at least a million copies in its very first week. Dave Anns asked Anne to double the print run after reading through the entire series. By the second week, another 500,000 copies had sold, giving it a strong and committed start that already promised a gratifying future.
-It was good work,- Anne muttered to herself from the office. Though the sales weren't massive, they far surpassed any orders close to their timeline, enough to justify the company publishing three new series, each exceeding sales within a considerable margin.
Anne took less than fifteen minutes to reach the factory, breathing deeply, sighing inwardly, eager now to present Dave Ann's opinions along with the latest sales numbers from the last semester, from advertising, licensing deals for toys, and figurines.
-Boss, I was told you were waiting.- said Dave Anns.
-I came to check on the company's status and your ideas, which I'll be happy to pass on to Billy. He values talent greatly.- replied Anne.
...