Author's Note: I don't own Inception or any of its characters! If I did, I would be rich. All credit for Inception goes to Christopher Nolan.
He lied. The next morning when Ariadne woke up, she wasn't wrapped in his arms the way she had been the night before. She slowly got up, looking around.
Calm down. He didn't leave; he's probably just taking a shower… Or something…
She jumped out of bed and slowly walked to the bathroom, hoping Arthur would be inside, gelling back his hair. But he wasn't. Hyperventilating, she sped over back to the bed. Ariadne paced around the room, breathing heavily.
How the fuck could he do this to me?
"'I love you" my ass! Fuck you, Arthur!" Ariadne shouted to no one as she flopped onto the bed, sobbing.
As the architect turned her head towards the night stand, she noticed a hint of red glowing on top of it. She lifted her head up to see a single red rose, sitting daintily on the night stand. She grabbed the rose and attached to it was a simple card that said, "I'm sorry" in rushed handwriting. Arthur's handwriting.
Ariadne threw the rose across the room and buried her head back into the pillow. She and Arthur were supposed to be on a flight to France right now.
"Fuck you, Arthur… Fucking liar…" she mumbled into the pillow.
She lied. Three years after the incident Arthur returned to Paris to see Ariadne. He found out where she was living and he was determined to march up her and kiss her as soon as their eyes met. He even bought her a scarf. But when he got there, everything fell apart as soon as Ariadne opened the door.
"Arthur? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I-uhm. Well…"
"Who's at the door, ma cherie?" a deep, French accented voice asked from inside the house.
Arthur was paralyzed. Words couldn't describe the mixture of feelings that were jumping around inside of him. He was at a loss for words. A first for him.
"I- well. Obviously, this isn't a good time."
"Arthur… I'm so sorry… Just… come around tomorrow and we'll talk."
"You promised, Ariadne."
"Oh please, Arthur, you lied to me first. Now please, just leave… I'm sorry."
Ariadne bit her lower lip as she slowly closed the door. Arthur stood at her door for a few minutes, in shock and then turned on his heel as he sped away from the apartment complex.
The next day, Arthur showed up at Ariadne's apartment at the same time. He contemplated simply running away and forgetting all about Ariadne, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He stood outside, thumbing his totem for what seemed to be ages before he finally built up enough courage to knock on her door.
Snap out of it Arthur. You can find every single little detail about anyone who ever lived. You can take down 5 men at once. But you can't even knock on her door? You sad little-
"Arthur!" Ariadne said, bombarding Arthur's train of thought.
"Please, come in." He was greeted much more warmly than yesterday. Arthur raised his eyebrow, sensing something was suspicious about this, but reluctantly padded into the apartment.
It's only Ariadne. Nothing suspicious about her…
Suddenly, his cheek was met with a burning slap.
"Ariadne! What the hell was that for!"
"You're such a fucking prick! I hate you! Why did you leave me?"
Arthur could see the tears filling up in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I got a call that morning, before you woke up. I had a job. I thought it would only be for a few days and then I could see you again, but they kept dragging me back in. I just… I'm so sorry, Ariadne," he explained as he grabbed Ariadne and hugged her.
"No! Let go of me, you liar!" she screamed as tried to break free, but he just held her even tighter.
"You said you weren't going to leave me! But you lied!" Ariadne sobbed. She gave in to Arthur's hug and dropped her hands as they instinctively curled around his body. She held her bishop in one hand and set it on the table Arthur was leaning on and tipped it over. It fell over easily. This was real.
"You lied too. You have a boyfriend now."
Ariadne blinked. She had almost forgotten that she had a boyfriend.
"Right. Christian… But even though we're together, you're all I think about."
"Fuck, Ariadne, don't lie to me!" Arthur growled, letting go of Ariadne.
"You lied first! I needed consistency, Arthur!" she yelled as she turned away from him and crossed her arms.
Arthur sighed as he wrapped his arms around Ariadne's stomach and kissed the top of her head.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want to leave you. Really. But I had to…"
"Hm. Is it always going to be like this with us?" she pondered, letting out a small laugh.
"Like what?"
"Yelling at each other and then hugging and then more yelling?"
"Nonsense. You know, sometimes we'll kiss instead of hugging and sometimes we'll scream at each other instead of yelling," Arthur joked, chuckling.
Ariadne loved it when he chuckled. It made her entire body heat up and her knees go weak. Suddenly, her smile turned to a frown as she turned to look up at Arthur.
"Arthur, we can't be together, you know. We're not good for each other."
"But. I… I love you, Ariadne."
"I know, I do too. But this can't happen. It won't happen because it won't work."
"Well… Can I least give this to you first?" Arthur asked, pulling out the scarf he bought for her from his pocket.
"Oh my god, Arthur. It's beautiful," Ariadne said, beaming at the white and yellow paisley scarf.
She pulled off the red one she was wearing and put on the new one.
"I love it. Thank you, Arthur," she whispered as she hugged Arthur.
"Well, it was all for you, love," Arthur said as he kissed her, his lips gently brushing against hers.
"Oh, fuck it. We can't be together forever, but let's just be together for today," Ariadne giggled as she jumped Arthur, knocking him onto the couch.
"That's going to hurt tomorrow morning, probably… But I don't give a damn," Arthur muttered, smiling as he continued kissing Ariadne.
At the end of the day, Arthur stood outside once again, his face filled with grief.
"Don't worry. We'll still see each other," Ariadne promised, pecking Arthur on the lips as she intertwined her fingers with Arthur's.
"Pinky promise?" Arthur asked, smirking as he held out his pinky.
"Arthur, you child… But, if you insist…" Ariadne giggled as she wrapped her pinky around his.
They shared one final kiss before Arthur finally walked away and they were out of each others lives forever.
The next time they saw each other again was a week later at a small café near Ariadne's apartment. Ariadne was with her boyfriend and Arthur was alone, as usual. Ariadne wore the scarf Arthur bought for her.
"Hm. That's a new scarf, isn't it?" her boyfriend asked.
"Yeah, it was a gift from a dear friend," Ariadne confirmed with a smile as Arthur passed them, sitting at a table near Ariadne's where he could face Ariadne but remain unseen by her boyfriend.
"It's lovely," Ariadne's boyfriend noted.
"It's one of my favorites," she said, smiling even more at Arthur.
Arthur looked down and then back up, smiling bashfully.
They couldn't be together, but they both knew they would always love each other.
