A/N I do not own Inception or any of its characters. Constructive criticism welcome.

Arthur got up, pushed his chair roughly and left the warehouse with a hard, tearstained face, wiping his tears with the back of his hand. He practically ran towards the door, as if the tears would make him a lesser man.

Eames and Ariadne sat in stunned silence, shocked at what they had heard.

One finds it easy to forget, especially on huge jobs like the Fischer job, that one's team mates have a past, have had some point in their lives loved, or hated someone with an overpowering passion.

Ariadne was trying to turn all the mass of information over in her mind, to make sense of a complex, yet real story. She gripped her bishop hard, determined not to lose her grip on reality, no matter how tragic it seemed.

How utterly paradoxical life was at times. Arthur, perfect with details, but a flawed lover. Calculated, yet impulsive. Impassive, yet emotional. How anyone cried with a face that hard, she could never fathom. It was a strange and unpleasant sensation to consider the analytical Arthur as one who could take off without a thought to the consequences of an action. With Arthur, everything was planned, and even improvisation had been to a certain extent, thought out. Was it not all the more paradoxical, that Arthur was most interested in paradoxes?

As she mulled over all these, a sudden realization dawned upon her. Both the girl and Arthur had said that her employers would be coming after them. Her team members all knew how to disappear and lay low. But she didn't.

Cobb must have seen the alarm on her face as realization dawned upon her and read her thoughts.

'Ariadne, they don't want the Architect. The Architect is merely a tool in which the Inception is laid out. They want to know how it is possible, and I am sure they know you are a complete amateur to this whole business. They don't want you, simply because you don't know enough.'

He held up his hand to cut her off as she tried to say something.

'Yes you were with us throughout the planning stage, and you were in all the levels with me. But the three of us, Arthur, Eames and I have always only given you as much detail as you needed to know. Put simply, you, like Yusuf never knew the full picture. You knew parts of the whole, but believe me; they don't want the trouble of finding you, coercing you only to find that you don't know the whole picture. And they know you don't have the full picture. Arthur had made sure of that.'

'What about you? And your family?' asked Ariadne.

'They cannot touch me. As Athena rightly pointed out, Arthur and I, and even Eames here have worked for enough powerful people that our disappearance will not go unnoticed. They will not touch us because we have reached the very top of our chosen professions, and they cannot do so without angering some of their important clients. As long as we stay in the big cities, where our powerful allies are based, they will not do anything to us.'

'Darling, no need to worry your pretty head about us. Use it to make more beautiful buildings, and think about how you want to build my house next time. It better have space for a bar I'm telling you,' as he wagged his index finger at her.

'We are all grown men and can take care of ourselves. 'Sides, the fact that they are sending her out to get information…their best extractor mind, shows just how desperate they are,' drawled Eames.

'But if she knew that your lives wouldn't be in danger…why did she come to warn us? What was there to warn?' asked Ariadne.

There was a short silence before Cobb answered.

'As Eames said, her employers were desperate to know the truth. And when she was given an opening, a chance to get out even if it meant certain death, she jumped at it. It was more a plea for us to hold our tongue, whatever the incentives that might be offered, than any actual direct danger. Therein, you see the Architect in her, the way she says things without actually saying them. From what I know which Arthur had told me, I think even a short taste of freedom was a huge incentive. They were desperate, so was she. And perhaps…just perhaps…she wanted to see Arthur too,' Cobb trailed off.

'Then why did Arthur have to pour out his life story to us?' Ariadne's brain was still not working properly. It must have been the shock, she told herself.

'Darrrrling,' purred Eames. 'I don't think it's very nice of Arthur to have kept us in the dark if we're going to have to look over our shoulders all the time to check if there's anyone following us. We have to take precautions against those bloody bastards too and know what we are facing, which would necessitate some form of story-telling. Though Arthur probably said more than he should have. Besides, if we were captured by them (heaven forbid), at least we know how to worm our way out of the situation better wouldn't you agree sweetheart?'

'Did you know her?' Ariadne directed the question to Eames.

He regarded the question for a moment.

'I worked with her professionally once, and I have heard certain rumours here and there. She was a beautiful girl. Beautiful and bloody briliiant. If she had been out here in the business, My God, I wouldn't even be sitting here. She would have outclassed me. With style too…what a poker player she would have been…' said Eames with a misty expression.

'Did you know her Cobb?' asked Ariadne.

'Professionally yes. Personally, only through Arthur. As Eames said, she was one of the best. Not to sound narcissistic or anything, I know that people say that I am the best in the business, but you see, technically she wasn't in the business. If she had been, I think she might just have become the best and held her own in the boys playground.'

'Is it me…or did she feel like…erm…you know…godly?' asked Ariadne in a small voice.

Cobb managed a small smile.

'What's in a name really?' he mused softly.

'She's an Illusionist Ariadne, as I think maybe Arthur or Eames might have mentioned.'

Immediately Ariadne thought of pulling rabbits out of a top hat.

'An Illusionist, is not unlike a Forger really. In a sense, a Forger is a physical manipulator, while an Illusionist is an emotional manipulator. A Forger is able to manipulate a Mark by looking like someone that the Mark knows, and the rest is just acting. An Illusionist on the other hand, is able to manipulate a Mark by making the Mark, feel a certain way towards them.'

'This gift is something that can actually be seen in real life, as you have just experienced, though I don't actually think she was doing it on purpose. Sometimes when your abilities spill over to the real world, such things do happen without you knowing. Forgers are a rare breed in the world, but Illusionists are even rarer, because emotions are really a lot harder to control mentally. Though persuasion is still needed, having an emotional illusion actually makes it a lot easier to convince someone of something. But it is possible to see past Illusionists if you have enough practice, just like seeing past Forgers.'

Now that Ariadne thought about it, she realized that Athena had seemed almost normal when she was lying on the couch. She had been bitter, philosophical, hurt and angry. She had been human. That was most certainly not like the godliness (if there was such a word) of her entrance and exit. The thought of her death weighed even more heavily on Ariadne's mind as her sense of kinship with the unknown girl deepened.

This is not your dream and she is not a figment of your imagination, thought Ariadne to herself as she gripped her bishop.

Silence fell over the trio.

For a long while, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air, punctuated only by the occasional shifting in a chair by one of them.

'What will they do with her body?' whispered Ariadne finally.

Cobb tensed up and Eames looked away.

'I think, that was what Arthur went to find out,' answered Cobb curtly staring at the floor.

There was silence again.

'Well darlings,' as Eames broke the silence.

'My plane is in another few hours. Please tell Arthur that I send my love. Though I still do hate him for being so organized, I now know that he is actually a lot more human. The thought of Arthur and a girl just tickles me. Much less that hell of a lovely girl,' a smile crinkled on Eames' face.

Then his face turned serious and looked at Cobb.

'Tell him I'm very very sorry for his loss. That girl of his was a wonder to work with, and she carried everything off with poise, grace and beauty. Really a dear, and her death is really a loss to the beauty of mankind,' said Eames in a sincere and regretful tone.

'I promise I'll keep my mouth shut. You know how to find me if you need me.'

Cobb nodded, and Eames turned and winked at Ariadne before striding off.

'Eames is treating this rather lightly isn't he?' asked Ariadne.

'No it's just his way of dealing with a rather grave situation really. Different people react differently. Under that light-hearted façade of Eames, he does actually understand the pain of losing someone so dear very well,' answered Cobb with a sad smile.

Both of them were silent, each contemplating their own thoughts.

'Cobb?'

'Yes Ariadne?'

'Is there any way to help those people in the place that Athena worked at?'

Cobb was silent.

'All these years, Arthur has always been trying to find a way to get Athena out. Ever since he came out himself, he has always cherished the illusion that one day he will be able to get Athena out, and ultimately shut that place down. And now this illusion is gone with her death, and his resolve is gone.'

'It's like snuffing out the only lighted candle in a room. There is instant darkness and it takes time for our eyes to grow accustomed to the dark. It was not the fact that he left her there that he actually obsessed about. It was that he never knew, and now will never know what happened to her, and what was happening to her. I think…and I can only speculate on this…that this is why Arthur always has a need to knoweverything, because of the one thing he never knew.'

He paused shaking his head.

'Their supply of extractors has been severely diminished, ever since adoption laws were tightened around Europe and the US. And it's very much easier to train people who are familiar with the landscapes of their targets, rather than outsiders. But there are still those who are in there and have no hope of coming out. He has never stopped trying you know. He never has. If there was a way, Arthur would have found it.'

'Will Arthur be alright?'

Cobb sighed.

'I honestly don't know about now, but I'm sure he will eventually come to terms with himself.'

He paused.

'It's never easy to forgive yourself Ariadne. Especially…not when you know that you have a direct bearing as to why someone is gone. I myself am an example of such. But for Arthur…it might take a little longer. Because he has spent so much time not knowing…because she could not forgive him…it might take him a lot longer to forgive himself.'

Cobb's eyes had turned a little misty, but he continued.

'It's like working so hard to keep someone alive, only to realize that person has died and there is nothing you could have done to prevent it, and nothing you could have done to even alleviate her suffering. Her suffering was his guilt, and not knowing just intensified it for him. Helplessness doesn't suit Arthur. In fact it's not a sensation many of us want to experience. Nevertheless, it will come. He will learn to forgive himself. Eventually.'

Ariadne gripped her totem in her pocket upon leaving the warehouse, trying to understand. What she had heard over the course of today and yesterday had shaken her up quite badly, but had humanized Arthur a lot more.

As the Parisian sun sank down, it flooded the sidewalk she was on with a beautiful pink and orange light. It spoke to her, reminding her that shadows cannot exist in pitch dark, but can only come about when there is a light source. She thought about Athena, about how she was beautiful yet terrible. About her life that was tragically cut short. Was it because she lacked the courage, or because she had more courage than she thought?

She thought about forgiveness, and what horrors that Arthur and Athena had to face, before they emerged. One in death and one in sorrow, but neither with forgiveness. Was forgiveness that hard to give? But then again she was just Ariadne, a university student, an amateur, an Architect. Who was she to judge if forgiveness was there to be given? Who was she to put a value on the emotional baggage that Arthur and Athena held?

Then she remembered the motley of bruises she had seen on Athena, and she remembered how there was this group of people out there who could never truly enjoy the thrill of pure creation, because they did it to stay alive. They were empty on the inside; hollowed out by a job they never chose, by a path they would not have taken. They were merely trying to string together their existence, and survive as they best could. The dream world offered possibilities, but only those who still can dream and create were privy to them. And to be able to dream, one needed freedom.

Athena had stopped dreaming a long time ago.

Ariadne was glad that she still could.

~The End~

This is the last chapter to this story and I thank you all readers for sharing this journey with me. Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

This has been one of the stories that I am most satisfied with (I have actually taken the rest of my stories down because I was unsatisfied with them), and I am really really glad to have written this. In this story, I feel that my artistic integrity (to use an oft used and abused term) has been fully satisfied, and wielding your own creative licence is sweet indeed.

I am not a plot mover...in that I do not write entire new stories with new twists, new turns, new antagonists. I like to examine one event and magnify it, put it under a microscope and (hopefully) write it well. If I liken myself to a painter, I would be the one doing still life, not painting one entire scene from a cafe in Paris.

Thank you once again for reading it, and reviews are most welcome. If you wish, below are some story notes that I have penned down because I just have the urge to let the world know my motivations, and for the sake of completeness so that my thoughts (and maybe yours) can have some form of closure.

Some Story Notes:

For Arthur, I don't actually think that he was in love with Athena, like Dom with Mal. Populist sentiments like to have happy endings, or to make Arthur into this person who is capable of selfless noble love, but I don't envision Arthur as someone like that (or Athena for that matter). The Arthur I envision, is one that probably has not figured out what romantic love is like, not because he is incapable of it, but because he just doesn't know and has never really seen an example of it blossom. As such, he is not selfless enough to love someone, and to care that much when he runs away. Self-survival is still the first and only instinct that comes to him. Arthur is human and his behaviour as seen in the contemporary sense, is a result of forces that have shaped him when he was young. You know...cause-effect.

Athena too is not perfect, and I actually envisioned her as a very bitter girl, who is halfway onto the road of forgiveness for Arthur, but running out of time, and out of an unwillingness to let go because she is constantly reminded of what she construes as Arthur's "betrayal". But within her, she has this inherent goodness and coupled with a sense of feeling trapped and desperate, she takes her life. She is not as totally altruistic as Arthur will have you believe, because she is in part (a large part in fact) motivated by her need to escape as well. And I think Arthur while knowing this, chooses to glorify her memory as a result of his guilt. I believe Cobb and Eames know this too (which is why Eames can take it as lightly as he did), but they never clue Ariadne into this. This is symbolic therefore in showing that Ariadne is still as yet untainted by the unsavoury side of the dreams-sharing business, while obviously the trio are no longer as "pure". At least one person will walk away, viewing her as a "Goddess", reflecting perhaps the optimist in me:)

I chose the name Athena because I wanted someone to look wiser than their years, to be godly and all things good that mere mortals like us aspire to be. But one must not forget that the Greek gods had their excesses too. They had scandals, they had affairs, they drank and did all sorts of things when drunk. In short, they were not perfect, and neither is Athena supposed to be. I have endavoured to stick to a not-so-linear narrative in hopes of portraying the movie (somewhat) in its full complexity and as a tribute to the master storyteller that is Christopher Nolan who is remarkable in this area. I chose to portray everything through Ariadne's eyes because Ariadne is THE person asking questions for the audience, and because she like us, is still as yet untainted. Ariadne is the bridge between the audience and the story, and what Ariadne's reactions are, hopefully they reflect yours as well:)

Thank you for reading my rather lengthy story notes, assuming that you did since you are reading this line now.

Keep dreaming:)

BnB (bruised not broken)