A/N: Saw Inception a couple days ago, and fell in love instantly with the movie, and this couple just makes my heart melt. It's been a long time since I've written anything, so I hope you guys enjoy. ;D
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own anything.
"What are you going to do now, Ariadne?" Arthur spoke solemnly toward the young architect who had raised her head from her luggage to get a good look at the point man's expression.
It had only been a few moments since they realized that Cobb wasn't going to come back, and that he would be stuck wherever he had landed himself- but to some degree, every member of the team felt relief for him. He was finally content with himself- wherever he may have ended
up. They could all feel that sort of contentment when they got off that plane and realized the job had been completed and there was no more danger lurking behind every corner. Each one of them fiddled with their totems; flicking, rolling, flipping; anything to help them gain a grip on the reality that had just been set back into motion after being held up in three consecutive dreams at once.
Ariadne gave her Bishop an extra squeeze before finally releasing it from her death grip, returning to Arthur's question. "Honestly...I really don't know..." She gazed down once more, peering at her luggage that looked especially boring now that they had nowhere else to go but home, wherever that was; she thought. "After all of this it's somewhat hard for me to think of school as exciting anymore. Through all of this, it's hard to think of anything as interesting or exciting anymore..." She stuck her chin out a little to get a better look at the rest of the team, who had surrounded each other.
Arthur looked down at the petite girl who he had grown rather fond of through the past months they had been working together. "Isn't it interesting how bland our lives seem when there isn't a
dream for us to be lurking in?" He gave a small chuckle before Eames joined in, "Now now, Darlings; my life wasn't that boring before this job." Arthur looked briefly at Eames before they all continued to laugh. "Eames, you were in a foreign country doing god only knows what-" "Gambling I'm going to assume." Ariadne surprisingly caught on to what the forger had hiding beneath his cloak. "Hey now, let's not all gang up on the Brit here." Eames defended. "Who says we have to break up the team anyhow..?" Yusef interjected joyously.
They all looked at each other one final time before the Point Man, now seemingly the boss of sorts; spoke up again. "Ariadne, it's up to you whether you'd like to stay or not. The rest of the team and I have already discussed post Inception matters, but we assumed you would want to return to your studies, which I would hate to pull you away from."
The Forger sighed and spoke truthfully, "We'd love for you to stay, Darling. I mean you are the only one who can keep peace between us all, and we are all very fond of you and see you as sort of the glue of our team..." Eames smiled kindly toward the young girl, who was seemingly overwhelmed by all the kind gestures and remarks.
"Ari, you don't have to stay if you feel going back to school is what's best for you, but Eames is right, we're going to miss you. I've never in my life met another architect like you, and I'd hate to have to hunt for another anywhere near your talent level; and who could possibly put up with us all, and have the same personality you do. You're irreplaceable." Ariadne wasn't caught off guard by the nickname as much as she was thrown off by his somber expression, an expression that she hadn't ever seen on Arthur's face; and almost never wanted to see again.
"..How can I possibly say no to all of you? When's our next job?" With that, Eames head locked the short architect and ruffled her hair while Yusef chuckled happily beside them. Arthur looked back at all three of them, and just continued to smile; but his smile seemingly grew and he too was laughing a little to himself.
"I'm sure Saito will probably have some more work for us sooner or later; why don't we all just..Go home." the word 'home' slipped from Arthur's lips so effortlessly that it made his heart feel somewhat warm and it did the same thing to Ariadne. "Home..." she reiterated; "I have a home.."
After a few long car rides, and an emergency bathroom stop somewhere completely off track from where they were supposed to be; they arrived 'home' at the warehouse.
Arthur was the first to step in, as the rest of the team seemingly sidestepped the entrance so that the point man could take his appointed leadership to the next level by being the first to enter. He sighed once more as he let the blatant fact of Cobb's absence sink in. Ariadne came up beside him and put her hand on his arm, tugging a little. Words were hallow in a moment like this, so they refuse to utter any.
Eames hurried in with his bags in hand and tossed them every which way, pulling Arthur reluctantly out of his thoughts. "Hey let's not get carried away here. We all need to designate areas accordingly; this isn't going to be a fun house." Authority rang through in the point
man's tone as he spoke toward his team. His team, he thought again.
"So are we all going to live here or what? If I remember correctly, Ariadne; don't you have a place of your own not far from here, same as you, Arthur?" Yusef finally spoke up after lugging his bags in from the van outside.
"I don't think my landlord is going to be too happy with me for not paying the rent for the last few months..." Ariadne let out a nervous laugh that shook a little in her throat.
"I sold my apartment when Cobb and I decided on the Inception job." With this, the problem was then solved, "So, this means we're all staying here! How lovely!" Eames let his excitement ring in his tone as he lounged himself comfortably on one of the rickety lawn chairs.
Ariadne stopped Arthur before he could protest against Eames' actions and spoke up, "First things first, we're getting new furniture for this godforsaken dump...no offense." she looked at Arthur. "None taken, this place is horrid."
"So what is the beautiful little architect going to design for this bloody hell hole of a warehouse? Something better then these retched metal traps you call chairs, I hope?" The Brit had a point, Ariadne thought. "Give me a couple days and I'll have the place all designed up and ready to be redone, okay?" She finished with a noticeable yawn that caught everyone's attention. "Someone's sleepy." Eames added.
"C'mon you, let's get you settled somewhere so you can sleep." Arthur pulled lightly on her elbow as she continued to yawn once more, making it harder for the point man to keep himself from yawning, as well. They exited the main room and made their way into a side room where a couch had been placed conveniently for Arthur to sleep on when he decided to actually sleep on those long nights of researching. "Here, there's a blanket here too." He spoke softly as he could see her eyelids drifting down. "You'll be okay here, right?" Ariadne couldn't utter anything over a mumble before she was taken over by sleep, by her own dreams. "..Enjoy those dreams while you can, Ari..." Arthur whispered as he laid a blanket over her shoulders, watching her
retreat into a curled up position on the couch.
Three hours had past, and by this time the rest of the team had all passed out in their own secluded areas of the warehouse, all aside from one. Arthur sat awake as ever in front of his laptop, typing away at something seemingly important. The point man had leaned back and looked satisfied with what was typed on the screen before him when he heard a faint whimper from the other room. His ears perked up and he raised his head higher, hearing the whimper again; this time a little louder. He knew where it was coming from, and who it was.
Arthur rose from his chair and walked quietly toward the couch where he had laid Ariadne down not but three hours ago, to only see her cowering on one end of the couch, still curled up but this time her face was strained. Ariadne's eyes were tightly tucked shut, eyebrows furrowed and her face so crunched together it looked as if it hurt. Tears were slipping from her eyes and she let out another pitiful whimper that made even Arthur want to burrow his face in a pillow and cry. He looked down longingly at her, crouching down to her level, and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "Ari..." She was trembling, and it frightened Arthur slightly due to her lack of response. "Ariadne.. c'mon wake up." He gentle nudged her again, this time with a little more force. Suddenly, without any warning; Ariadne's eyes bolted open and she stared out into the darkness of the warehouse, unaware of what was going on and where she was.
She breathed heavily and focused on the face that was before her, "It's okay it's okay, it's just me, Arthur..." She gasped and tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Arthur placed a hand gently on her face, wiping away a few of the salty tears from her cheek.
"I was afraid of this..." he spoke softly as her breaths started to even out."I'm still afraid that we're not awake yet, Arthur. I'm afraid you and I aren't real and that we were and never will be
real..."
"Where's your totem?" He spoke through the darkness. Ariadne proceeded to pull out her shiny golden totem out of her pocket, as Arthur did the same. "Do it with me," he instructed as he rolled his die and watched her flick her bishop on the ground. The totems reacted the same, they both reassured them that what was going on just then was in fact real. "We're as real as real gets, Ari. Our totems say so, themselves."
He placed his hand once more on her small porcelain-like face, gently rubbing his thumb down her cheek. She closed her eyes and sighed into his hand, letting one last tear fall before she looked up at him again.
"How long are these nightmares going to last, Arthur...They terrify me." Ariadne spoke almost silently in the bleak darkness that was the warehouse, as Arthur ran his thumb over her face once more.
"I can't answer that, but if you get scared I'm always near, don't forget that." He let his hand fall from her face as he began to see her eyelids droop down again.
"Stay with me until I fall asleep?" She asked innocently, closing her eyes cautiously. "Of course." He assured her as he took a seat down on the floor, leaning his head back against the couch as she rested her hand near his face. Before either of them knew it, they were both fast asleep.
A/N: Don't worry; the plot should appear in the next chapter. I'm just making sure I set up the mood and such for everything that is to come in the next chapter. Thanks for reading guys, please review so I can hear what you guys think! More fluff next chapter ;DD