A/N Inception and its characters do not belong to me.
I just wanted to experiment with a new way of telling a story, inspired by the genius called Christopher Nolan. Basically how this story works is based on his film Memento. The non-italics are in reverse chronological order (or sometimes happening at the same time), while the italics are in chronological order starting from the very beginning. So basically if you want to find out the real chronological order of the whole story, read each block of italics downwards from the top, after which read each block of non-italics upwards from the bottom.
Or you could just torture yourself and read the whole thing from top to bottom (which was what I intended anyway:D)
He was on a plane. On a plane to meet Cobb for his first job. His first job after training for around half a year to navigate dreams and everything he needed to know about dreams. Cobb had found him and given him an offer he could not refuse, quite literally a dream offer. He was offering a whole new world that was his for the picking; he was offering an irresistible challenge. Arthur knew from the very first moment that this was what he wanted to do, even if it meant leaving.
In her changing room, her fiancé came to give her a bouquet of flowers and kissed her on her cheeks.
'You were magnificent darling. You surpassed yourself. Half the audience was crying, and the rest were just so enthralled with you that their mouths were hanging open.'
She scanned the people standing beyond her door. Arthur was not there.
'He left right after your solo honey,' her fiancé said.
She nodded silently. He had kept his promise.
'Just give me one last dance. Just one last dance that is all I ask of you, before I disappear from your life forever,' pleaded Arthur.
Her head was bowed, but now she raised it and looked into Arthur's eyes with such anguish that his resolve nearly wavered. Nearly.
They stared at each other in silence, but that silence spoke volumes.
In her eyes, she was begging him not to go, begging him to stay and be content with whatever life had for him now.
In his eyes he was trying to show her that his current life was over, and that this life which was being offered to him would revive him, but take him away forever.
The silence in the air was thick with unspoken words and unshed tears.
Finally after an eternity, she knew she had lost. She lowered her head again.
'Just one last dance Arthur.'
And she got up and left.
As she exited on stage left, she narrowly avoided the pillar and nimbly skipped over the wires that led to the stage manager's screens.
'You were great!'
'You really gave all your heart!'
'Wonderful!'
'A really emotionally charged performance.'
The compliments flew in thick and fast. She grabbed her towel and gingerly patted herself dry, being careful not to mess up her makeup. She knew she had done well. Hell, it was the best she had ever done and ever would do. But throughout her solo, she had focused all her grief on the one thing she could not control.
Arthur leaving.
They had given her two complementary tickets of the best seats. After all, how could they deny their up and coming star tickets to her own performance?
Instinctively she knew who to give it to.
As she took her place on the stage, splayed out in the middle of the floor with her scarlet dress, she felt a grief that she had never felt. While Cio-Cio san had sung of her hope, she dared not hope that Arthur would not leave. She could only hope that Arthur kept his promise and stayed for her solo.
But somehow she knew he did.
'Uuuuuuuuun bel di vedreeeeeeemooooooo…' the music rang out
She gave in to her grief and moved.
Arthur sat there in a tux with a bow tie. As the first strains of the music came on, he saw that she came to life.
As her arms and legs became entwined with the music, they moved with an unbelievable grace and beauty. Her limbs obeying her every instruction, to paint a picture of fluid beauty. She moved like a sculptor lovingly caressing his sculpture, a potter trying to shape his finest artwork. She melded into one with the music, leaping and gliding with a passion that seemed boundless. She poured her grief into her last solo, her arms and legs moving exquisitely, fluid like water, yet strong like a waterfall. She rolled over the floor, she soared above it, and she twisted around herself until she was like a blur of scarlet that was her dress. Her arms were like delicate gentle waves, slow deliberate movements that were soft and feminine. Her legs were strong, leaping, flying and turning, giving strength to her performance. She was a picture of grief and strength, of a grief so strong that no one could help her. She was beyond beauty, beyond real.
For those few minutes, time stood still as she performed for an audience of hundreds, but danced for one alone.
Tears filled Arthur's eyes and threatened to fall down his face.
All too soon the solo was over, her scarlet dress cascading down to her sides, hugging her slim body. Her body glowed, bathed in perspiration and the strong stage lights. With one swift motion she took her bow, and the audience rose to their feet, thundering into an applause that seemed deafening. Several women were dabbing their eyes, and even her fiancé's eyes were wet.
Arthur stood up and clapped enthusiastically like it was the last time he would ever applaud.
Then he turned to her fiancé. He understood what Arthur meant to do.
'Thank you for coming and staying. It really means a lot to her. Take care of yourself Arthur…if...at any time you are in trouble you can always come and find us.'
Arthur nodded while trying to swallow back fresh tears.
'Thank you very much for your offer. Take good care of her you hear me?'
Her fiancé nodded. 'I will love her with my life.'
And Arthur left the theatre to catch his plane.
'I will be in a performance at the end of this month. One last dance was all I promised you Arthur. One last dance is what you get. I have two tickets, one for my fiancé and one for you.'
Arthur nodded. 'Thank you,' he said in a strangled voice.
There was a pause as she contemplated what to say next.
'I have a solo right at the very end. It will be to the music of Puccini, Un bel di vedremo from Madama Butterfly. The version sung by the Opera Babes, you know the two sopranos.'
'I will be there to see your solo.'
He had understood her request.
She nodded at him and walked off.
He had sat there next to her fiancé throughout the entire performance. He had seen them twirl, leap, dart and glide with a grace that only dancers could possess. He had seen their group dances, he had seen their pairings. She had been in some pairs, some groups, big and small. But the highlight was her solo right at the very end.
He saw one lone figure taking her place on the stage and he knew it was her.
She was at her makeup table trying to put on her false eyelashes when her fiancé pushed open the door.
'Nervous darling?' He grinned at her.
She laughed. 'How many times I have performed on this stage, and every single time still feels like the first time. I'm always nervous,' she smiled.
'My chauffeur just called to tell me that he has picked Arthur up already.'
She laughed softly. 'Well he was the one that wanted this.'
Then her smiling face slowly morphed into a serious, sorrowful face.
He fiancé came towards her and gave her a kiss on her cheek. 'Arthur has a right to choose honey. He has already made the choice.'
'Of renouncing his family and thereby never seeing them again? What kind of choice is that,' she looked away blinking back tears.
Her fiancé hugged her, not knowing what to say.
He had reached the theatre in good time, thanks to the chauffeur that her fiancé had sent for him. He felt a sense of foreboding weigh upon him as he nervously adjusted his tux and bow tie. The chauffeur would be here waiting to take him back to his apartment to grab his bags, and then to the airport to catch his plane.
'Save the last dance for me,' murmured Arthur as he stepped into the theatre.
She was warming up on the stage as the curtain was down, trying to make sure she got the feel of the floor one last time before the actual performance. Jumping around in her legwarmers, she felt a twinge of anxiety. 'Stage fright,' she thought to herself. Arthur was here. She knew it. Her fiancé had gone to welcome him and show him their seats.
If this was the last dance he wanted, she would give him everything she had and more. But nothing would stop him from taking the plane tonight and she knew that. She was determined to leave a legacy for him to remember her by. God knows how long he would take to forget this sister he had. Would he still be alive by her next performance season?
'Ten minutes to start. Dancers please be on standby,' the stage manager spoke into the microphone which was connected to backstage.
The backstage was a flurry of activity as girls were checking each other's makeup and trying to stretch and warm up. The guys were jumping around to warm up, or doing push ups, chattering less than the girls. Tension filled the air as all the dancers prepared for the last night of their performance.
All this while she sat in her dressing room, staring at a photo of her and Arthur.
'Five minutes to start!' the stage manager announced again.
'Goodbye Arthur,' she said swallowing the lump in her throat.
And she got up and left her dressing room, shutting the photo in a drawer.
Please do play Un bel di vedremo sung by the Opera Babes (available on youtube) to have an idea just what kind of music I have in mind. In case you have no idea who Cio-Cio san is, she is the main character in the opera Madame Butterfly, and in this song she is singing about how her lover will come back to her. See the parallels? :)
Basically like Cio-Cio san, the nameless girl in this story wishes for Arthur to come back, but like the tragedy Madame Butterfly is, (where her lover never comes back as her lover but as a married man) Arthur will never return and even if he does, he has altered so much that he will no longer be the Arthur she knew.
Please do review and tell me if it actually works or is too confusing:)