So, I make no promises on update times as I have very little but this has been kicking around my brain and must come out - sooner or later.
Rated T for possible future A/A situations and future violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything about Inception except a new-found obsession for both it and Chris Nolan!
1.
Ariadne spent absolutely no time in Los Angeles. She breezed through customs with her carry-on case and headed right to the nearest airline counter and booked the next available flight back to Paris. After a quick spot wash and change in the airport bathroom, she had just enough time to grab a cup of coffee, smutty magazine (Brad and Angelina were on the rocks again! Each was taking 3 kids in the divorce!) and climb right back onboard a 737, coach class, bound for home.
Ten hours back. Ten hours of dissection and re-playing what had happened over and over and over yet again. Ten hours of wondering what had happened to the others on each level. And ten hours of tipping her bishop over. Checking she still had a firm hold on reality.
By the time the plane landed at Charles du Gaulle at 9 am, Ariadne realized that she probably wouldn't experience any jet-lag as she hadn't really had adjust to any time difference. She took a taxi home and walked into her apartment. Everything was just how she had left it, what was it? Two days ago? Could it only be two days? She sat on her couch and tipped her bishop again. How drastically her life had changed over these past two days. She had been so much more than an architect in the end. So much more...
She woke up the next morning, tipped her bishop and then got dressed for school. She slipped back into her old routine. Everything on the outside appeared normal. She attended class, she handed in projects. However, her bishop was always with her. Mal's words rang in her head. "So sure of your reality". That would send her scrambling for her bishop, tipping it in desperate haste. "This is reality, this is reality" Like a mantra.
Three months later, Ariadne sat on her couch again. Sleep deprived after pulling an all-nighter to get her final term assignment in. It was good, really good. She was positive she would receive high marks, but it just didn't seem so important anymore. However it was all she had left, her only creative outlet left.
There was a knock at her door. Ariadne frowned, wondering why there had been no phone call to ask for permission for entry into the lobby. She considered ignoring it. She wasn't expecting anyone and they'd go away if it were a salesperson. There was another knock. Again ignored. A third knock.
Ariadne, now curious, double-checked the chain guard was on and then pulled to door open.
"Arthur!"