SUMMARY: TWINFIC! About 22 years ago, the Twins encountered a blind girl. She was their first and only friend. Now, this blind girl and her long-lost companions endure an exciting journey to discover the girl's past and their entwined futures.

Yay! I FINALLY have a Twinfic! wOOt! I don't know how I really came up with this idea, but I think One pasted all my little Twinfic ideas together and prodded me with a stick until I wrote it. Thanks, One! ;)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Matrix or it's characters--they belong to the Wachowski bros. and Warner Bros.
(The Twins are about 7or 8, in case you're wondering.)

I hope you enjoy my fic!
--Titan ;)

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"Mero? MEEERRROOOO!"

"PERSEPHONEEEE!" One and Two cried out between sobs. The two young twins were scared and alone. They had endured, that day, some of the worst jeering from children and parents alike about their appearance. And, to make matters worse, they had been separated from the Merovingian and his wife, Persephone, through the crowded streets. Now it was getting late and it started to snow on the now deserted sidewalk.

Two slumped down against the brick wall, closely followed by One. Both were shivering and holding themselves, both to warm and comfort.

"What're we gonna do, One?" Two asked his brother, wiping tears from behind his shaded eyes.

One sniffed, "I dunno, Two. I guess we could—" He was cut off by a soft clicking noise coming down the street.

"Hello?" a voice said softly, "'S someone there?" Immediately, both twins held their breath as they watched a small figure step under a street light. She was about their size—around the same age, too—with smooth blonde mid-back length hair that shimmered slightly in the light above. Her eyes were concealed with dark sunglasses not unlike those the Twins were currently wearing. The clicking noise came from a thin, white 'stick' in her hand with a red stripe near the bottom. The girl gently tapped the stick back and forth on the ground for a reason that eluded both twins.

"Is someone there?" She said a little louder. Two hic-ed and One immediately put a hand to his brother's mouth. She turned her head to their direction but proceeded walking. After just a few more steps, her 'stick' poked One in the shoe. Before the Twins could think about phasing or the girl to think to stop walking, she tripped over the Twin's outstretched legs. Two apparently couldn't take it anymore; he burst out wailing and crying. One soon joined in while the young girl was hastily apologizing and fumbling to get off of the Twins' legs. In her haste, her dark glasses tipped off of her face.

When the Twins quieted and had no more tears to cry, the girl retracted her 'stick', pocketed it, and flopped down next to One. "D'you know where my glasses are? I dropped them."

Two looked down at his lap, where her sunglasses had dropped. "Don't you see them?" He asked, picking them up and trying to give them to her.

She didn't take them from his hands, "No, actually, I don't." She shook her head, some snow shaking loose from her hair. "Oh, I'm Lily." She extended a hand to shake, far away from Two's own extended one with her sunglasses.

Two furrowed his brow, perplexed by what she said, while One, who recognized the gesture (he had seen the Mero do it before when he had guests), took her hand in his. He noticed her icy blue eyes were glassy and unfocused. "I'm One. And this is Two, my brother." He gestured toward Two. Two waved, only to remember that she might not see that, either.

When One released Lily's hand, Two gently took her wrist and placed her glasses in her hand. She giggled, "Thanks….erm…Two?"

Two smiled and wiped away the last remaining tears, "Right. Just curious: why can't you see?"

Lily nervously pushed her hair back with her sunglasses like a headband. "I'm blind." One noticed something in her ear.

"What's that mean?" Two asked, perplexed by this 'blindness'.

One answered for Lily, "It means she can't see. You know how when you close your eyes, all you see is black?"

"Yup."

"Well, for a blind person, it's like their eyes are always shut. All they ever see is black."

Two's eyes widened behind his sunglasses. He couldn't imagine life without sight. Experimentally, he waved a hand in front of Lily's eyes. She quickly grabbed his wrist, "And because I'm blind, my other senses have to fill in, mostly hearing and feel. That's why I knew your hand was there….Two?"

"Right again." Two smiled; no one but the Merovingian and Persephone had ever told them apart that quickly.

Lily giggled, "Anyways, you know how you can make a breeze by fanning yourself with your hand?"

One and Two answered at the same time, "Uh-huh."

"Because my sense of touch is more sensitive, waving a hand in front of my face like that creates enough wind for me to feel."

"Cool!" One smiled at Two's astonishment. He changed the subject back to Lily's disability, "One, 'cuz Lily's blind, that means she wouldn't care what we look like!" Two's smile grew.

"Why would I care what you two look like?" Lily was now perplexed.

One became grim, "People laugh at us because we look different"

Lily frowned, "I know how you feel. People stare at me, too. Well, I don't really see them stare, of course, but it's like I can feel their stares. I can't explain it well."

She heard both twins sob. One, though, was trying his best to not let Lily hear it. "Please don't cry." She gently stroked the Twins' dreadlocks comfortingly. She brightened a little and giggled again, "I like your hair." She felt their jaw muscles tighten in a slight smile. Lily brushed some flakes of snow from their dreadlocks before settling back against the brick wall.

"Lily?"

"Yes, One?"

One couldn't help but smile again; she was good at telling them apart, "What's that thing in your ear?"

"What, this?" She pointed to a small plastic device stuck in and wrapped around her ear, "It's called a 'hearing aid'. I'm what people call 'hearing impaired', and these help me hear better. Before I had them, though, I had to learn this special language to communicate, because I couldn't properly learn a vocal language."

Both twins seemed interested; "Can we learn some of this special language?" Two voiced both his and his brother's wishes.

"Sure. What do you want to learn?"

One thought out loud, "Well, we already know our names…—"

"Can you show me, please? I want to know what you've learned."

One blinked, confused, "How would you do that?"

"Well…have you heard about a woman named Helen Keller?" Lily asked.

"No." The Twins answered at the same time.

"Well, when she was young, she got a disease that left her blind and deaf. They didn't have hearing aids back in her time, though I doubt it would've helped—when someone is or is almost completely deaf, hearing aids aren't much assistance. She had to learn a way to communicate, so her parents got someone to teach her 'American Sign Language'. She learned it by observing by touch the signs she was taught. So, to learn 'S', for example, her teacher traced an S onto her hand, then shaped Helen's hand into the sign for S." Lily held up a fist, the sign for the letter S.

"So, hold up your hands, and I'll see….well, not really…whether you're right or wrong."

One held up one finger and Two held up two. After finding out what each twin thought their name was in sign language, Lily giggled. "I thought your names were One and Two, not D and V." She smiled at her joke. One at a time, Lily patiently showed the Twins how to spell out their names. After practicing a few times, Lily explained, "To make things easier, abbreviations are used for names. Just take the first initial of your name and put it to your head, chin, or chest. Like mine is—" Lily put an L above her heart. "I think yours will be…" she put an O over her heart, "One, and…" she shifted the O to a T, "Two. I always like using abbreviations like that because it always reminds me that it's not what's outside that matters, but what's in—" she placed a hand on each of the Twins' chests, "—here."

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After what seemed like maybe half an hour of talking about various things, Lily suddenly said, "Y'know, I think you guys are my first real friends."

"Same with us," Two responded, "I mean, I know I have One, but he's family; it's different." One nodded in agreement. It started snowing a little harder, now. Lily got up to brush herself off a little and open her mouth for a few snowflakes; the Twins followed suit. They were soon running around, playing a little tag and sometimes having to switch quickly to Marco Polo so Lily wouldn't stray off too far.

"MARCOO!" Lily shouted, prepared to run in the direction of the response.

The Twins shouted from either side of her, "POLO!" Lily ran towards one twin, latching onto him in a bear hug, laughing and giggling.

"UN! DEUX! Zeut alleur, where have you two BEEN?" (AN: I'm SO sorry; I hardly know how to speak French, let alone write it… ( ) Lily heard an outraged Frenchman shout. The twin she still had her arms wrapped around tensed; this man probably had a temper no one dared trifle with.

Lily released the twin (she was pretty sure it was Two) she was holding, reached into her pocket, extended her cane, and turned the other way, knowing it was time to leave.

She almost tripped again when both twins ran up and hugged her tightly. She could hear Two sobbing again and feel One racking with his own hidden cries. "Will we see you again?" One mumbled into Lily's shoulder as she returned the hug. No matter how hard he tried, One couldn't hide the tremor in his voice.

"I really, really hope so, Two." It took all of Lily's self control not to cry, but tears reluctantly leaked out of her unfocused eyes.

"I'm One." He let out a sob.

"I know." Lily started stroking their hair again. "Bad joke."

For what was only a minute or so, but what Lily wished could be eternity, she tightly embraced her two best friends.

The Frenchman was obviously getting impatient, "Come ON! Vite, vite!" Lily and the Twins reluctantly released and parted, each hoping as they headed their own ways that they would someday see each other again.

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Okay. I hope you liked it! Review, PLEASE!