Chapter 3: Run Fast

Arthur was standing behind a bar, waiting for their target—Mr. Kirk—to arrive. There were no lights inside the room except for the dimly lit ones over the tables and above the bar table. Arthur dress in his usual business attire—button up dress shirt, vest, tie, dress pants, and slicked back hair, just no blazer. Jesse—the extractor for their team—was sitting in a far corner of the hotel's bar by herself at a table, drinking and eyeing Arthur. Jesse was short, barely hitting five feet, with big green eyes, fair skin, and short, curly brown hair. She was wearing a black fitted lace dress and black stilettos to impress the target. Justin—the architect—was in the lobby playing as the manager, persuading Mr. Kirk to visit the bar.

After watching Mr. Kirk, Arthur had come to the conclusion that he visited the bar every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday at the hotels he travelled to for business. It was all supposed to be played out to seem as real as possible.

Arthur touched the chess piece in his pocket. He couldn't forget her.

Jesse took another sip of her drink, eyeing Arthur once again. As Arthur served a drink to another customer, their target walked in. Jesse noticed just as quickly as Arthur. She put her drink down, sat up straight, readying herself for Arthur's signal to come over.

Mr. Kirk sat down at the bar stool, pinching the bridge of his nose, looking exhausted.

"What can I get you, sir?" Arthur asked him.

Mr. Kirk looked up at him. "An Amaretto Sour," he said, and went back to pinching the bridge of his nose. Arthur had already known what he was going to order; Arthur had seen him order it four times when he followed Mr. Kirk to the bar one Saturday. Arthur had learned the recipe as well.

Arthur shook the drink—the signal for Jesse to come over. She took one last sip of her drink before making her way over to the bar and sitting on the stool.

"I'll have what he's having," she said. She put her hands together under her chin.

"Of course, ma'am." Arthur replied, smiling casually at Jesse. He turned around to make the drink. Jesse and Mr. Kirk's conversation began playing out just as planned. He served Jesse the drink right as Kirk took a sip of his own.

Arthur began talking to another random customer about his day, but he was really only listening to what Kirk and Jesse were saying.

After about four more minutes of letting the conversation play out, Arthur turned his attention back towards Jesse and Kirk, but didn't say anything to them. He noticed that Jesse had already finished two-thirds of her drink, while barely a fifth of Kirk's was gone.

"So," Jesse said a low, soft voice. "Do you have a room here?" She took a sip of her drink and raised her eyebrows, never taking her gaze off of Kirk. Arthur could feel the uncomfortable but most important part of the conversation coming on.

"Um," he looked uncomfortable himself, but was smirking. "I'm here on a business trip."

Jesse didn't make any sort of reaction to the statement.

"And I just ordered this drink…" He was obviously very turned on by Jesse, but for some reason continued to make excuses.

"You can take it to your room," Arthur chimed in. Kirk looked at Arthur, then back to Jesse, but Jesse kept her seductive gaze on Kirk the entire time.

"I, uh…" Kirk mumbled. Arthur raised his eyebrows at him, as if to say "just go". "Let's go."

Jesse and Kirk got up from the table at the same time. She took the glass and tossed back the rest of the drink. Kirk took his glass they began walking towards the exit together.

Arthur was to follow them approximately fifteen seconds after they left the room. He counted, leaning over the bar and staring at the floor. When he got to eleven, he noticed two feet, each wearing a black stiletto, connecting to long legs. Arthur's eyes travelled up the pair of legs, up to a fitted, strapless black dress. In it, he saw her, with her big, beautiful, brown eyes and long brunette hair that curled at the ends. She was wearing black smoky eye shadow and was holding a drink with cherries floating on the top.

Arthur's breath caught in his throat. He felt around in his pocket for the golden bishop—not to make sure it was real, because he knew he was in a dream, but merely out of instinct.

She just stood there, in the back of the bar, in the darkness of the room, behind the crowd, watching Arthur. She was standing there, as if she was waiting for Arthur to do something.

Arthur, not knowing that he had already wasted minutes of the mission, jumped over the bar's table and weaved through the crowd, making his way over to her.

"Ariadne," his whispered. He stood in front of her for a moment, not doing anything. Ariadne put her drink down on the table next to her. In one swift movement, Arthur took her face in his hands. "Ariadne," he whispered again.

Had he finally found her? Had she found him?

She couldn't have found him. It wasn't possible.

But she was there. Her face was in Arthur's hands, inches away from his nose. Her lips were parted, and he could feel her breath on his skin. He felt her breath quicken, as well as his own. He pressed his forehead against hers with eyes squeezed shut and whispered her name a third time in shaky breath, as if he were about crying. He pressed his lips against hers, pulled away, then kissed her again as her lips did the same.

It felt so real to Arthur.

Ariadne stood but ten feet away from Arthur. Their clothes were messy and their lungs out of breath. They were in the middle of the hideout they used to plan in the inception mission. They were both staring at a gun that sat in between them. They looked at each other before lunging for the gun.

Ariadne's hand was on top of the gun, but Arthur's was around the side, about to click the trigger, putting a hole into Ariadne's stomach.

Her eyes flew open. She hadn't been dreaming lucidly. She hadn't been lately. She had been having nightmares about Arthur. She was afraid that he wasn't looking for her—that he had sincerely joined Cobol in everything that had happened. She was also having dreams about Cobol agents finding her, but for some reason, they didn't scare her as much.

Her hands shook and her breath felt heavy. Her cheek felt sore; her face had slid down the window of the train compartment she was sitting in. She rubbed her eyes; they were about to pull into a station. She felt around in her pocket, touching the red die. Ariadne would spend the next day or two wandering around the city, looking for Arthur. She had been searching for almost two months now; it felt like it would be impossible to find him. At times it even felt like Arthur was hiding from her.

It pained her to think about it that way.

As the train lurched to a stop, Ariadne got up from the seat, grabbed her luggage, and left the apartment. As she headed towards the exit of the train, she heard a couple of women behind her whispering. She tucked her hair behind her ear to hear better.

"Isn't that the girl that basically lives on the trains?" One of the women said in a thick Cockney accent.

"I think so," the other replied. "It's a bit odd, don't you think."

Ariadne turned back to look at them, making them jump a bit. They had no idea why she was on the trains so much; they shouldn't be judging her. But Ariadne didn't say anything. She simply exited the train.

She took a cab down a couple miles south to find a hostile. She checked in, put her stuff down in the room, and went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and realized what an ungodly mess her hair was. She brushed a comb through it, helping it a bit, and got on a bus. She tried not to fall asleep on the bus. Ariadne hadn't gotten much sleep on the train the night before; she was scared to have more nightmares. She carefully scanned around the town until she came to the more populous city where Cobol might be.

Cobol never labeled their buildings, just to keep themselves more 'low key'. If Cobb and Arthur knew she was walking around Cobol buildings aimlessly, she would probably throw a fit.

Ariadne stopped suddenly, yawned and rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling a bit hungry. She went to the nearest café and grabbed a sandwich. She sat down on a bench and pulled a drawing notebook. She liked to design and build when she wanted to clear her mind. She opened the notebook up to previous sketches, reviewing them. She was in the process of creating a human game board, but looking realistic. It was designed on a street, with buildings like cathedrals and schools and cafés and office buildings. But it was to be a game when finished, when she could figure out the strategies.

She took a few bites of her sandwich and began to space out for a second, absentmindedly grabbing her notebook. She only stopped when she could've sworn she saw a tall man with slicked back hair in a suit carrying a silver briefcase disappear around the corner of a building. At first Ariadne thought she was just hallucinating from the exhaustion, but there was something nagging at the back of her mind, telling her that it was real. And she would never know if it really was him if she didn't go look.

Notebook in hand, she jumped up from the bench and ran through the stopped traffic towards the other side of the street, where she thought she had seen Arthur. She stood at the corner, turning around in circles, scanning over the crowds. She stopped and rubbed her eyes. She felt as if she was going to go insane, and she wanted to cry.

She looked back to the bench with her abandoned sandwich. There were two men standing in front of it, wearing nice suits, staring at her. Ariadne could tell they were observing her intently, slowly walking closer to her.

Ariadne could see it, even from across the street. Their eyes widened in almost the exact same instant. They knew it was her. They had found her. They went for her, dodging a car as they went across the street.

Ariadne's heart thumped in her chest as she turned to get away. She began running down the block as fast as she could, but they were gaining on her. She threw her notebook into her bag and ran into a coffee shop. She hoped that they wouldn't follow her in, but subconsciously she knew that they would, and they did. She picked up a chair and swung her whole body around to hit one of the men with it. A woman in the shop shrieked. He hit the floor, but he hadn't been knocked out.

Ariadne reached a street with apartment buildings. She was on the backside of them. The two men were trailing about fifteen feet behind her now when she saw the fire escapes. She looked back at the two men and realized she wouldn't be able to run like this forever.

She jumped right up onto one and climbed up the stairs, not at all quietly. She looked back; they were gaining on her again. Ariadne might as well have thought it was a dream. Not sure if she could even make the jump, she leapt over to the next set of stairs, only able to grab the bars from her hands. Hanging from the fire escape, she looked back again; they stood at the edge of the fire escape she had jumped from, staring at her. Ariadne pulled herself up and began to run up more stairs again. She was about twenty feet above them when they fire escape ended, and the next one wasn't anywhere in jumping range.

Ariadne looked up and saw flower beds extending from the open windows above her. She had no choice. She jumped up and grabbed the edge of the windowsill. As she hung from it, she looked down and saw one of the men pulling out a gun and aiming it at her. Ariadne began to panic, knowing she was done for, and squeezed her eyes shut.

She hung there for another moment before opening her eyes, seeing that the gun wouldn't shoot.

"Does it have bullets—!" One of the men shouted.

"Of course it has bullets!" The one with the gun shouted back.

It must've been jammed, Ariadne thought. She had to use all her upper-body strength to push herself up and through the open window. She extended her arms in front of her and landed on her side with a thump. She opened her eyes and immediately saw a pair of short, skinny legs in skinny jeans and a t-shirt. She had short, curly brown and big, olive-green eyes. She was staring down at Ariadne, extremely confused.

Ariadne immediately jumped up, faulting to look in the girls eyes, and began to move past her. "I'm sorry—" Ariadne began.

The girl grabbed Ariadne by the arm and stopped her, turning to face her. "Uh uh," she said, staring intently at Ariadne. "You don't just jump through my window and run away. Who are you?"

But before Ariadne could answer, another man ran into the room.

"What was that?" He said. He had dirty blonde hair that was spiked up and a bit untidy. He stared at Ariadne. "Who's this?"

There was a clunk outside the window. The one of the guys following Ariadne had made the jump between the two fire escapes.

"I'm sorry—" Ariadne croaked, panicking. "I really have to go—!"

She tried to get away, but the girl stopped her again. "We're in the middle of a mission." She said, her eyes still fixed on Ariadne. "You can't just—"

"Are you with Cobol?" Ariadne suddenly cut her off. The girl's eyes widened in complete shock.

Ariadne knew she was right, and she felt like she had to run, that they would only hold her back to be killed or captured. The girl looked as if she were going to ask who Ariadne was and how she knew about Cobol, but they both knew they was no time.

"Justin," she suddenly said to the man, "hide her!" She pushed Ariadne towards Justin.

"Where—!" He couldn't even finish the word before the girl cut him off.

"Anywhere!" She snapped at him. Ariadne was confused as to why she was even doing this for her. Justin dragged her out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He looked around the hallway to where he could hide her. They heard a thunk from the bedroom they were just in. Justin quickly pulled her further down the hallway, past another bedroom. Ariadne could see a figure sleeping on its bed.

He pulled her out through a door to an elevator room. Ariadne could see the controls and that it needed a key to work. She didn't understand why they had it or where it even went, but she didn't have time to ask. Justin unlocked the door. "Get in," He ordered. "I'm going to shut it down until Jesse tells me it's okay." He said as Ariadne got until the elevator. She assumed Jesse was the girl in the bedroom.

The doors closed but the elevator didn't move. Ariadne stood for a moment, then the lights shut off, making her jump. She backed up against the side wall, trying to steady herself. She was trembling and had no idea what was going on. Jesse and Justin didn't seem to know who Ariadne was, but they were from Cobol. And they were helping her, though Ariadne wasn't sure they even knew what was going on.

She stood in the elevator, almost motionless, for awhile until she heard footsteps running around outside. Ariadne's heart jumped, but she tried her best to stay still. Her body began to tremble again. She heard the footsteps begin to fade away and calmed down a bit, sliding to the floor in relief when she couldn't hear the men anymore.

After a few moments of waiting, the elevator lights turned back on and the doors opened, Jesse's disgruntled face staring down at her. Justin stood behind her, simply staring at Ariadne. Jesse held out a bottle of water to her.

"T-thanks," Ariadne stammered, taking the bottle of water.

"Why were you running from Cobol agents?" She asked.

"Oh, um—" But before Ariadne could even begin to explain, she felt dizzy and passed out on the elevator's floor, dropping the bottle of water.

"Jesse, what—?" Justin stared down at the motionless Ariadne.

"She's the girl Arthur's been dreaming of," she explained simply, staring fixedly at Ariadne as well.

Justin stared at her in disbelief. "The same girl that Cobol's looking for?"

"We should put her into the bedroom," Jesse said suddenly. "She's going to be asleep for awhile."

Justin looked at Jesse for a moment, down at Ariadne, then went to pick her up. Scooping her up, he took her back into the bedroom that she had jumped into and laid her down on the bed, closing the door when he left.

Arthur laid on a bed in the hotel room in his dream, staring into Ariadne's eyes. She was staring right back into his, smiling. Arthur was fingering strands of her hair. Sheets were covering their bare chests. Arthur wasn't sure how to explain the happiness he felt. She was here with him—they were together now.

Arthur's eyes slid open. He knew that he was dreaming, but he didn't expect to be the only one in the room. He wasn't even hooked up to the PASIV device anymore. He thought someone else—Ariadne—would be as well. He expected her to be laying somewhere in the room.

But she wasn't.

"No," Arthur whispered to himself. He couldn't believe it—she hadn't been real. She was just a projection. For a good while he thought he had finally found her, and now that belief had just been shattered. He felt like screaming and crying. He sat up on the edge of the bed, looking calm for a second before grabbing a pillow and throwing it against the wall as hard as he could. A deep noise erupted from the bowels of his throat and he cursed.

Then he stood in the middle of the apartment room, finally calming down.

Then he remembered what had happened before he brought Ariadne up to the hotel room. He had abandoned Jesse and Justin in the middle of a mission. Kirk should've been in the room with him as well. Arthur wondered how long he had been asleep as Jesse and Justin came through the door.

"Arthur," Justin began, "you're awake—"

"What the hell happened to you!" Jesse exploded. "We were in the middle of a mission! You were supposed to follow us out!"

"I know," Arthur said calmly. "I'm sorry."

"You're sorry!" She hissed. "The whole mission could've fallen because of you!"

"I'm sorry." He said, not looking her in the eye. "What happened?"

"We carried on the mission, without you." She spat at him. "We got the information, and now Kirk's gone." She explained, crossing her arms. "I'm tired; I'm going to sleep for a bit."

Justin and Arthur each raised an eyebrow at her as she left the room. She lightly ran down the hall and grabbed the PASIV device. She tiptoed back to the hall and to the other bedroom, hooking Ariadne up, then herself. She laid down next to her on the bed and drifted off into sleep.

Ariadne stood on the side of a building, on the balcony, in a place she only recognized as Cobb's limbo. She had been sedated. She wasn't completely sure on how heavy the sedation was—if she jumped over the edge, whether she would wake up or not, so she tried it. She turned her back towards the open air and leaned over the edge, falling.

It didn't work. She was still awake. Ariadne began to panic, thinking that when she fell and hit the ground, she would die hitting the ground with such impact and fall into limbo. But when she hit the ground, it felt like water, and she simply sunk into it.

She surfaced the water, taking in a deep breath. She swam over to a balcony, realizing that it seemed Cobb's limbo world had been flooded. She grabbed a railing and pulled herself up, entering the apartment room. She had nothing to do—she was going to be under for however long Jesse's sedative lasted. She took the elevator to the top floor.

Ariadne was scared—she was afraid of what Jesse was planning on doing to or with her as she slept. Whatever she did to Ariadne in the real world would only have more effect in the dream world.

Ariadne's legs almost turned to Jell-O when she exited the elevator and saw the room. It was hotel room 428—the hotel room Ariadne and Arthur were together in during the inception mission. She felt a bit like crying, though she didn't understand why her subconscious chose that certain setting for the top floor of all things.

She jumped when she heard the elevator door open behind her. Ariadne turned around and saw Jesse step onto the floor, holding a gun. Ariadne began to tremble. If she killed her now, she would drop into limbo, and Ariadne had no means of protection at the moment.

Ariadne found what Jesse was wearing a bit odd—a woman's business suit, all black, but subtle sparkles, and boots with heels on the ends. She wondered why she would've wanted to be dressed that way at a time like this.

"This is an interesting place," Jesse said, looking around and stepping a bit closer to Ariadne, who backed up. "Is this your own subconscious?" She asked, looking at Ariadne. She shook her head, telling Jesse 'no'. It wasn't completely true: this room was, but Ariadne was completely clueless as to why it was here. Jesse's expression suddenly turned much more serious. "I know who you are, Ariadne." She stepped closer, and the other backed up again. "You're the girl Arthur's been dreaming of; the girl that Cobol's been looking for."

Ariadne's heart jumped. Arthur had been dreaming of her; she had showed up in Arthur's dreams. But this girl, who was part of Cobol, knew exactly who she was.

The only way for Ariadne to escape was the window behind her, but even if she jumped from it, there was nowhere for her to go.

I'm the architect, Ariadne thought. She could do whatever she wanted to the world she was currently in; it was her dream.

She turned to the window, whose glass immediately shattered as she did. She grabbed the edge of the window and heard the gun fire, but didn't feel any bit of pain.

"Why are you trying to shoot me!" Ariadne shouted at Jesse, who didn't answer. Ariadne looked out the window and saw a rope hanging next to her from the roof. She grabbed it and slowly began to slide down the side of the building. Jesse looked down from the window, put the gun into her boot, and jumped out after Ariadne, grabbing the rope as well. Ariadne only had to think about it for a second and the rope broke between the two girls. Ariadne put one hand above her head, used the other to plug her nose, and straightened her legs. She made a clean pencil dive, hitting the ground that—again—dissolved into water.

When she surfaced, she looked back up at Jesse, who was stilling hanging from the rope, pointing the gun at Ariadne. She fixed her eyes on Jesse for a moment when the water began to rise in a gigantic, rapid wave with Ariadne at its top, raising her up to the other girl.

The waves engulfed Jesse as they rose up to her and disappeared as Ariadne was able to grab onto the top edge of the building. She looked down at the other girl who was falling. A bridge between two buildings began forming under Jesse, causing her to slam on top of it. Ariadne let go of the edge of the building and a parachute appeared from her back, letting her float down to the bridge.

Jesse, still lying on the concrete structure, aimed her gun at Ariadne and shot. She missed, but put holes into the parachute. It disconnected itself from Ariadne's back—by her command—and floated away, dropping the girl. She would've missed the bridge, but the structure suddenly shifted itself over a few feet and she unpleasantly hit the concrete.

Ariadne stared at Jesse's gun and it exploded, its previous holder jumping back a few feet in shock. She stood there, stunned for a moment, then lunged for Ariadne. She clasped her neck in her hands as Ariadne grabbed the collar of Jesse's blazer. Jesse was trying to push Ariadne to the ground as she tried pulling and pushing Jesse over the edge of the bridge, but it wasn't working.

When they had completely switched places in the process, Jesse pulled out a knife. Ariadne pushed off of Jesse as hard as she could and the bridge shifted to a forty-five degree angle, causing Ariadne to slide backwards, Jesse skimming down after her. Ariadne didn't understand how it worked, but it did.

From every direction, every material came together in front of Ariadne and formed a gun. She grabbed it and immediately began shooting at Jesse, barely missing every shot. The bridge collapsed from under Jesse, but it continued to collapse near Ariadne. Both girls ended up falling onto what now was concrete rather than water. They got onto their knees, completely out of breath, and stared at each other before lunging again. Jesse knocked the gun right out of Ariadne's hand and brought the knife towards her face. Ariadne had to clasp her palm around the sharp edges of the knife to stop it, immediately causing her hand to bleed.

"How can she be tired," Arthur asked no one in particular, though Justin was still in the room with him. "We were just asleep."

"None of us were sleeping for very long, Arthur." Justin explained. Arthur looked at the blonde as if to say 'oh, yeah'. He was still pretty shaken up from what just happened. He had to forget about her. He tried to push her away from his mind and to think about work, though he was touching the golden bishop in his pocket.

"So," Arthur turned towards Justin, "how do we reach Kirk's employer, then?"

"Oh," Justin stuck his hands into his pockets. "I'm not sure; Jesse wrote it down, but I'm not sure where." He explained.

"Hm." Arthur stared off. "I should ask her, just so that we can continue working."

Arthur was already heading into the other room before Justin could stop him, but he wasn't even sure if he wanted to stop him, or even if he should've. He was only afraid of how Arthur was going to react. Justin hesitantly reached for Arthur as he began to open the door, but ended up backing off.

Arthur stood there, motionless, not being able to believe what he was seeing. "Ariadne," he whispered her name, wondering if he was hallucinating or perhaps even dreaming. He took the golden bishop out of his pocket and set it down on the dresser, knocking it over.

He was awake—this was real. Ariadne was really in front of him this time.

But she was hooked up to the PASIV device with Jesse. Arthur suddenly felt terrified of what Jesse might be doing to her.

"Ariadne!" Arthur cried, lunging for Ariadne, but Justin held him back. He felt like breaking down. Ariadne was in front of him, sleeping, as Jesse could've been inside her mind, torturing her. Arthur struggled in Justin's arms until he elbowed the blonde's nose, letting him free. He ran towards Ariadne and began to shake her violently. "Ariadne!" He yelled again in an attempt to wake her, but nothing was happening.

"Arthur!" Justin dragged Arthur back by his jacket. "She won't wake up; she's under a sedative."

Arthur didn't hesitate to grab Justin by his t-shirt and shove him up against the wall. "What did you do to her?" Arthur hissed through his teeth.

"Jesse gave her a sedative!" He croaked. "She's been asleep for several hours already; she shouldn't be under much longer."

Arthur loosened his grip on the blonde's shirt and took one long, last look at Ariadne.

Ariadne was still struggling to improvise. All the windows in the building behind them exploded, and the broken glass began flying towards the two girls. Jesse let go of the knife, leaving it in Ariadne's palm, and covered herself, dropping to the ground. Ariadne held the handle of the knife in her right hand as Jesse got up on her knees, but stumbled back. Ariadne threw the knife, missing. It was close enough to cut through Jesse's short hair as it hit the ground, but it left Jesse herself unharmed. She only lied there, stunned.

As Jesse began to jump back up, a chain popped out of the ground and tied itself around her wrist, holding her down. Ariadne jumped back a foot before going for her gun. She hesitated for a second before shooting Jesse, wondering if she had taken a sedative before going under, but decided it didn't matter as she put a hole in the other girl's chest.

Ariadne took in a deep breath and dropped to her knees from all the commotion, instantly regretting it as the broken glass cut open her hands and knees as well as get caught in the gash in her palm.

"Ariadne." She heard a voice and distant footsteps on the broken glass. She looked up, eyes widened in shock, and she only had one thought, one impulse.

She jumped to her feet, grabbing the gun, and pointed it at him as he walked over to her. He held his hands up in defense. The glass on the ground began to rattle, then flew back towards the building, reforming the windows. They both had to cover their faces to keep from getting glass in their eyes.

When the flying shards cleared, he began walking towards her again, hands above his head. "Ariadne," he said again. "It's me. Arthur—"

"You're not real!" She cried, the gun aimed at him. "You're just a projection!" She was trembling. She could only think that he wasn't really there, like in all her other dreams. She couldn't have possibly found him when not searching; she had been looking for him everywhere. He was either a projection or some trick of Jesse's, she thought.

Arthur stopped five feet in front of Ariadne. "Ariadne," he said calmly, "I'm real. I'm really here." She didn't move. She continued to hold the gun in her shaky hands, pointed at him. The only thing she could think about was being killed and falling into limbo; she was terrified of it.

Arthur slowly dropped his right hand into his pocket, making Ariadne flinch. He pulled out her golden bishop and opened his palm to show her. That was when she lowered the gun, staring at it in disbelief.

He had once told her that you could simply look at your totem to tell if someone was messing with your dream. It looked as if her totem was right there, in Arthur's palm, but she was afraid to step close to him. If it was really her totem, the exact weight and all, Arthur was real. He was the only other person that knew the balance of her bishop.

She slowly took steps towards Arthur, who didn't move. The only sound was the light wind in her ears. She reached her hand out and touched it. She didn't even have to fully pick it up to realize it was hers. Everything about it felt familiar—the texture, the weight, the way it fell back into Arthur's palm. Ariadne looked up at him, feeling as if she were about to start sobbing.

"Arthur!" She cried, throwing her arms around his waist. She buried her face into his chest as he put his arms around her, pulling her closer.

"I finally found you," he whispered into her hair. He missed her hair, her scent, her short height—he missed everything about her. He brought his lips up to kiss her forehead. They stood there for a moment, holding each other, until Ariadne pulled away a bit to look up at him. They both laughed and she threw her arms around his neck, jumping back into his arms.

They began to walk together, talking about what had happened in the past months they had been apart. Neither one of them was sure what was going to happen when they woke up, so this was their only time to talk. Sometime along the way, Arthur grabbed Ariadne's hand and intertwined their fingers. They were both so happy to see each other.

They walked until they came to a cliff. They couldn't see the bottom of it; it was covered in fog.

"Justin said that the sedative Jesse gave you shouldn't last much longer." Arthur explained, looking over the edge of the cliff. "We've been walking for hours, so I would guess now is the time." He said, taking a step forward. "I'll go first to hold off anybody who might be waiting for us."

"What if it's not time yet?" She asked, squeezing Arthur's hand.

"You'll be fine." He looked at Ariadne and gave her a small smile before letting go of her hand. She hated the way it felt—his hand leaving hers. She wanted to stay in the dream for as long as possible, until time ran out. Arthur turned towards her and leaned back, falling over the edge of the cliff. Ariadne couldn't tell if he had left the dream or had just disappeared in the fog.

Ariadne waited quite a few moments before jumping over the cliff. She was scared of waking up. She had killed Jesse—she should be waiting on the other side for Ariadne. But she took a deep breath and did what Arthur told her to do, jumping over the side.

She felt that dropping feeling she disliked in her stomach as she fell backwards into the fog.

Ariadne's eyes flew open and her chest heaved for air. Almost immediately she was dragged off the bed. She could barely tell what was going on; she had just woken up from several hours of sleeping. She saw Arthur being held back by Justin near the window. Arthur looked as if he were going to kill someone.

Ariadne realized it was no longer day time. There was a lamp in the corner of the room providing light, but other than that, it was hard to see people's faces.

Jesse was dragging Ariadne out of the room by her shirt. When they reached the doorway, Ariadne used her hands and feet to stop herself, grasping the doorframe. Arthur was struggling to get away from Justin, but the blonde was much larger than him, and he didn't get any closer to Ariadne but a few inches. Justin put his arm around Arthur's throat.

"No—!" Arthur choked.

Jesse used all the force and strength in her arms to yank Ariadne away from the doorframe, thrusting her onto the floor. Ariadne propped herself up by her elbows when Jesse suddenly pulled a gun on her. Ariadne and Arthur both froze.

"Give me one reason not to kill you." She said darkly.

Even Justin, who was still holding Arthur but didn't struggle to keep a grasp on him, was shocked. Even he didn't understand what Jesse was doing. Ariadne, breathing heavily on the floor, stared up at Jesse in disbelief.

"You said you've never actually killed somebody," Arthur said suddenly. "Why start now?"

"Why should I let you go?" She hissed, turning towards Arthur, but keeping the gun pointed at Ariadne.

Ariadne knew it was stupid to try, but she felt as if adrenaline was pumping through her system. She jumped up, snatching the gun from Jesse's grasp, and hitting her over the head with it. Blood immediately began running down her forehead as Jesse slammed against the wall, holding her head in pain.

"Jesse!" Justin cried, running over to her as Ariadne ran in Arthur's direction. They both stared at Justin in shock, at how he wasn't paying attention to either one of them.

"What are you doing you idiot!" She hissed at him, still holding her head. "Don't let them get away!"

Justin started towards them while Jesse stumbled to get up. Arthur took the gun from Ariadne, pointing it at Justin, and yelled at her to jump out the window. Ariadne did as she was told, almost falling onto the fire escape. Twice as fast as she had run up, she ran down the stairs. Arthur followed, making a clean jump out of the window and easily keeping up with her.

This put Ariadne back where she started before she had been sedated. She was running for dear life from two Cobol agents that—at least one—looked like they wanted to kill her.

Arthur and Ariadne ran down the fire escape and down the street, Jesse and Justin following twenty feet behind them. Ariadne followed Arthur; he seemed to know where he was going. She could smell the ocean as they began weaving their way through cars, people, and bikes. Then she could see the boats and realized he was running for the bay. Ariadne looked back—the two were a bit far behind them now, but they didn't look like they were stopping anytime soon.

They ran onto a helicopter's landing pad. The helicopter's propellers were spinning as if it were about to take off. Jesse and Justin had to push people out of the way to keep up. Arthur and Ariadne stopped at the edge.

"Jump!" Arthur yelled over the sound of the helicopter, not taking a second to look over the edge like Ariadne.

"But—" She began. It was a long drop to the water.

"Jump!" He yelled again, panicking as Jesse and Justin came closer. "You'll be fine! Just stay under the platform!"

Then the helicopter took off, blocking the agent's views of Arthur and Ariadne. Ariadne pressed her hands against the wall, propped her feet off, and jumped, not making such a clean dive like the dream. She stayed under the water, swimming until she felt one of the pillars. She heard another body hit the water, and Arthur's head bobbed up the same time hers did.

"Come on," he breathed heavily, blowing water away from his mouth. They both swam as fast as they could to another pillar farther under the platform. They were both all but gasping for air as they grasped onto the cement. Ariadne could hear her heart pounding in her ears, wondering if Jesse and Justin would follow them into the water.