Everything That Is Real (Comes Around)

Part Twelve

            If Eames noticed her missing sweatshirt, and Ariadne was sure he did since it was his job to notice the little things, he did not mention it. For a moment she thought about going back up and taking it back because Arthur honestly did not deserve any of her kindness. She was convinced that if it was her, Arthur would have let her freeze. He did not care, he had said he never had, but Ariadne thought of all the times in the dreams during jobs when something had gone wrong. He had drawn the projections away from her, taken a bullet, killed her painlessly with his last bullet as the projections tore him apart. Why would he do all of those things if he did not care? His words said one thing but his actions were not lining up completely. He could not claim to not care and still have done all of those things. 'That’s why I keep doing it' he had said when she said she did not like being protected. Do you protect assets? She did not know what to think.

            When they pulled up to the hotel Ariadne wanted to confront Arthur again but this time on her own terms. They were going to have to go under by themselves so she could show him the dream and that was where she was going to confront him for the last time. She wanted to see if he truly meant what he had said and if it would reflect in his actions. If he walked away like it was nothing, Ariadne swore that she would leave him alone forever. A friend, a lover, a partner, she would cut all ties from him and if they had to work together again, it would be fine. However, if Arthur even flinched she would know he was lying about something. If Ariadne was honest with herself she wanted to go back and confront him right then. He was sleeping though, something she so rarely saw, and it almost seemed cruel to wake him up especially when he looked so tired.

            Eames wished her a good night before Ariadne walked into her room and fell onto her bed. Hating someone, she decided, was not as easy as it sounded. Even with all of the terrible things he had said she knew that if nothing else Arthur was dependable when it came to work. Even if he did not trust them Ariadne knew she could trust him to get the job done at any cost. So even with what he had said, and how much she resented him, 'hate' seemed too strong. She did not hate him, she was not sure she could, because he was Arthur. She did not love him, had never gotten to that point, but even as the happy moments from the last year seemed further away Ariadne knew that they would never fade. 'That's why I keep doing it' he had said and those words seemed to linger more than any of the horrible things he had said over the past week. Ariadne closed her eyes and tried to come up with the right words to describe how she felt about Arthur.

            The alarm on her phone went off and Ariadne had never been more thankful to get out of the nightmare. All she could remember was blood on her hands, lots of blood, and a crushing feeling that seemed to take over her entire body. There was an overwhelming guilt that felt like it was trying to consume her. Ariadne forced herself to take a deep breath and calm herself down. Nightmares after working with the PASIV now had almost no visuals but they became emotionally worse. It was as if in her mind the nightmares were worse because there were no clear pictures. Anger became fury, fear became terror, happiness became adulation, it was all so extreme that it sometimes seemed hard to keep up. After taking her sweet time getting ready she was much calmer when she rounded the corner to the office. Cobb's car was parked on the street and he was there with everyone else. The door to the office opened and she creased her eyebrows as she found everyone leaning over Arthur's computer.

            “What's going on?” Ariadne asked as she closed the door.

            “Fischer delivered the digital tour of Susana's apartment,” Arthur replied and everyone seemed surprised that he spoke to her directly.

            “I'll need my own copy so I can start adding specifics to the maze,” she said and he pointed to her desk. One of his extra laptops sat with the tour open and ready for use.

            “Already done. Let me know when you're ready to teach me the level,” Arthur said and she nodded. When Ariadne got to her desk her hoodie folded off to the side. She did not acknowledge it and began to work over the tour. There were plenty of places where she could add a paradox that would make things interesting if nothing else. When she looked up everyone was doing their own work. Arthur glanced up and caught her watching him before he looked back at his computer. Everyone made idle conversation and Eames even managed to get some entertaining responses from Arthur. He had called it their banter the first time she heard them talk to each other. The tension in the room seemed so much better and Ariadne wondered if disturbing it was worth talking to Arthur again. If everyone was working better now that meant that the job would go much easier. With the tension gone Arthur might even loosen up and then everyone would not be so worried about him being the dreamer. She was so lost in her head that she did not notice Arthur until he was nearly standing next to her. She jumped and made a noise of surprise when he seemed to come out of nowhere.

            “Arthur, do you ever announce your presenceso you don't scare the hell out of people?” Ariadne asked and he cocked an eyebrow. “What do you need? The maze isn't done.” Her voice sounded much more defensive than she intended.

            “You're good, Ariadne, very good, but even you couldn't get it together that fast. Would be very impressive if you did though,” he said before he leaned over to use the computer. “I need to show you something.” He began to move through the tour and Ariadne was very proud of herself for not reacting despite him being so close. Even before anything had happened between them he had made her stomach twist into a knot just by being close. She started to suspect he knew he had that effect on her not long after they started working together and he would make any attempt he could to innocently distract her. “I found information that she does have a panic room which is great considering it was the only angle we had. It's behind this wall here and the door opens from a latch underneath the picture, since she seems to think this is some cliché movie.”

            “Okay, great, but how am I supposed to design the panic room if I don't know what it looks like?” Ariadne asked and looked up him.

            “I'm confident that you can do it,” Arthur replied and he turned to look at her. “You're very good after all.” They were looking at each other now and there were only inches between them. He did not let that moment last long before he turned away and moved back to his desk. Ariadne blinked a few times and realized everyone in the room was staring at her. A quick glare sent them all on their way and all of her focus went back to the maze. As always this was just as exciting to her as the dream world. This was her background. She was a designer by trade and the creation aspect behind it all was still new territory. And despite the fact that she wished it was not true, Ariadne knew she wanted to impress Arthur.

***

            The hardest thing about this for Arthur was finding the time they needed to get the job done. He estimated that they would not need more than a day in the dream world to get things done and that was a little over two hours in the real world. Any longer in the dream and the chances of something unpleasant happening increased substantially. He did not want to default to suicide but if that was needed to get the job done, he would pull the trigger. After the tour came in and he managed to talk to Ariadne without giving her an excuse to clock him one, the tension within the team seemed to subside a bit. Eames did everything he could to get a reaction out of him and Arthur fought it with every fiber of his being. Cobb still gave him knowing stares and he knew that Cobb was trying to look out for Ariadne even when he did not consciously know it. Yusuf went over the compound he was going to use on them this time. It did not contain a sedative but it would give them a stronger sense of relaxation that could possibly make it harder to get an effective kick.

            He caught himself watching Ariadne more than he should have. When he had woken up with a start in the office in the middle of the night he was not entirely sure how he had gotten there. After putting two and two together and realizing that he had fallen asleep while working, he was surprised to find a sweatshirt draped over his shoulders. It was even more surprising when Arthur realized who it belonged to. It seemed too nice a gesture for someone to make towards someone they hated. He felt a strange combination of relief and frustration over what this entailed. He was frustrated because he was not sure what he had to do to get her to understand that he did not want anything to do with her anymore. At the same time he could not deny the sense of relief that she did not hate him completely.

            It was nearly a day later when everyone had left for the night that Arthur found her asleep on one of their benches with a line to the PASIV. Ariadne always looked so peaceful when she slept even if it was chemically induced. He was always jealous of the fact that she always looked so relaxed when in this state. He saw another line to the machine off to the side and thought for a moment that he should go in there and see if she was working on his level. It was a massive violation of privacy to go into a dream uninvited though and the last thing he needed was to bring that lovely tension back to the team. Every logical bone in his body screamed at Arthur as he set his things aside and lay down in the chair opposite of her. And that logic did not stop screaming as he pulled the line out, inserted the needle into a vein, and nodded off.

            Arthur stood in the middle of a massive city. There were projections all over that turned and looked at him for only a moment before going about their business. He did not need to look around to know that this maze was massive and would be impossible get through even if he knew every inch. It was eerie knowing he could get lost here even while knowing every inch. Arthur put his hands in his pockets and began to walk around. The detail to the city was even better than the city they had built for Fischer. He was impressed, very impressed, to see how good she really had become in the last year. When he saw her standing on a sidewalk, she was manipulating the dream world, changing the little things. Ariadne turned around and stared at him.

            “What are you doing here?” she asked and he was not surprised that she was angry.

            “I was curious to know if you were working on the level,” he replied and was not entirely sure if that was the truth. “It looks amazing by the way.”

            “Barging in on a dream is really rude, you know,” she said as the world settled and she walked up to him. “I think I need to add more details. It still feels off.”

            “Reality isn't perfect. If things were perfect here that would be a bigger indication that something was wrong,” Arthur said and she seemed to think on it for a moment.

            “I guess you're right,” Ariadne said and she seemed to relax a bit. “Well since you're here, I might as well give you a guided tour.” He walked with her for what felt like a long time as she pointed out the little details in the maze and the best places to duck in and out of sight. This was, without a doubt, her best work yet. She blushed a bit when he told her that and for some reason that made him smile.

            “It's going to take ages to memorize this place and we haven't even gotten to Susana's apartment yet,” Arthur said as he looked around.

            “I'm not showing you that yet; it's not done,” she said before she stopped and looked at him. “You look like you're not as rigid. Is that because we're in a dream or are you really feeling better?”

            “I was never feeling bad, Ariadne. I told you, this job has much higher stakes than what I'm used to. There usually isn't a lot of danger when it comes to the real world but this is different. This time I think the real world is going to be much worse than anything that woman can come up with in her twisted mind,” he said and it looked like she did not entirely believe him.

            “What did you do to get Walter to leave us alone?” Ariadne asked and he really wished people would stop asking that.

            “Why does everyone keep asking me that? I took care of it and that's all. I'll finish it when the job is over,” Arthur said. He realized she was standing in front of him, much closer than he anticipated.

            “We keep asking because we're worried about you, Arthur. I'm going to keep asking because I'm worried,” Ariadne said, her voice low. He tilted her head up with a finger on her chin and gave her the best smile he could muster.

            “I can take of myself. I don't like it when people try to protect me,” Arthur said and she smiled a real and true smile.

            “That's why I keep doing it,” she said. They stood like that, in the dream, surrounded by her projections that did not seem to mind that he was there at all. As he looked down at her he was once again struck dumb by how beautiful she really was. This was someone who did not belong in this world and he felt like he was somehow responsible for corrupting her. Were it not for him she might have gone back to Paris and lived like a normal person. Now she was in the middle of this mess with a murderer trying to hurt her to get to him. The guilt, he decided, was worse than anything else when it came to this job. If she got hurt because of him he would never forgive himself.

            “The timer is going to go off soon so we should probably look over the rest of the maze,” Arthur said as he moved away but she held onto his wrist. Ariadne stood completely still and her eyes watched him carefully as if waiting for something. He just stared back but did nothing when she moved in close, when she took his tie in her hands, and when she pulled him down into a kiss. This was not like when he had used his charm to get her out of his room; this was softer and somehow felt more intense than that moment. Her arms were around his neck and she pulled him in close. Arthur tried to tell his logical mind that he should push her away, that he could not do this anymore, that he would not do this, because it was only denying the inevitable and the waiting for it to all fall apart was too much. Even as all of that ran through his head he still wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and held her close savoring every second he had with her. He had to wake up, he had to get out of here, because when she was this close he could not control himself and this could not happen again.

            The sound of the PASIV timer going off was the sound that really pulled Arthur out of the dream. He stared at the ceiling of the office before he ripped the needle from his arm and stood to leave when Ariadne grabbed his wrist, just like in the dream, only this time she was sitting in the lawn chair, the IV hanging off to the side.

            “Let me go,” he managed to say and he did not like the sound of his voice. She was staring at him with that same intense expression that Eames had that just made him feel so exposed.

            “Arthur, you need to talk to me. What is going on?” she asked and he ripped his arm free of her grasp.

            “Nothing is going on, there is nothing here, there never was and there never will be. I won't let anything happen so you're just going to have to move on,” Arthur said but he could not look at her. She would look at him with her big doe eyes and there was no way he could resist those eyes. He would tell her everything and he was not about to express his emotions or fears.

            “You really don't want this?” Ariadne asked and her voice sounded small but not entirely upset and for some reason that eased the tension in his shoulders.

            “There is nothing to want so just let it go. We have a job to finish and after that I'll be gone,” Arthur said and he looked over his shoulder at her. She was watching him with that same expression and he turned away. “I'm sorry I intruded on your dream. Let me know when the level is complete.” He did not wait for a response; he merely grabbed his bags and walked out of the office without looking back. Ariadne had seen through his facade already, had seen that he did not trust, that he did not care the way she wanted, and he did not want to deal with that anymore. In his mind he repeated the 'I'll be gone' and wondered how much truth was in it. No matter what happened there was one thing he was sure of: he would be out of her life for good.