* Here's yet ANOTHER Arthur story. In case you haven't noticed, I love him :] haha, but anyways... READ AND REVIEW!
Eames knew as well as the rest of the team that Arthur was the most collected, and composed person that walked the Earth. His voice was always level, his hair slicked back neatly, his three-piece suits smooth and clean, and his expression had become almost signature, it was always emotionless, pure Arthur.
Little did Eames know that in only a few hours he would see Arthur lose control. It was not in Arthur to do so, and so it was very rare. He was always in control of himself, the situation, and any conflict the might arise, he was prepared and never surprised when something went wrong.
Even when Arthur was hurt, he would of course grimace in pain, but never allowed others to tend to him, he could take care of himself, because he knew he was always in control and he wanted it to always be that way.
It was today that it happened.
It was an average day, but ever since a truely horrific operation with Inception, Arthur had been acting rather strangely. No one was concerned at first, they figured this was just the emotionless Arthur's way of coping, little did they know what had happened.
A flashback. A memory. A nightmare.
They had gone on a mission, which unfortunately had failed and they'd abandoned, and they were doing terribly, facing complications in the third level. Things had all been going wrong, nothing was according to plan. All the information Arthur had dug up on this guy was wrong, he had somehow hacked into every record of himself and changed it so that he seemed less dangerous then he truely was. He was trained against them, and his subconscious had already taken Dom hostage, and shot Eames in the leg.
Eames and Arthur were trying to figure out a plan, while staunching the bleeding to keep Eames from departing to Limbo, when a man walked in, and Arthur gasped.
Eames watched in horror as the man backed Arthur into a wall, and was shocked to see that Arthur looked terrified, and more vulnerable than Eames had ever seen him before. The man flipped open a pocket knife, and pressed it roughly to Arthur's throat, spilling a little blood in the process.
"Arthur! Grab this!" Eames had managed to yell, sliding his gun across the floor to Arthur who picked it up and pressed it weakly into his attacker's chest.
"Arthur! Shoot him already!" Eames yelled, pain building in his leg.
The gun clattered to the floor, and Arthur was against the wall, a blade to his throat, when Cobb came bursting in, having freed himself from his captors. He spotted Arthur and was about to shout out when the first Kick came, and they awoke in level two. Yusuf, Eames, and Dom were surprised by the fact that the man was with them still, his blade still on Arthur's throat. Second Kick, they were back on the first level, and once more the man was there. Last Kick, administered kindly by the new Architect. Finally they all awoke in the warehouse.
Arthur's hand jumped to his neck and he felt around it for any sign of a cut. His breathing was heavy, and he gripped his seat alot harder than necessary to try and get ahold of himself, being Arthur he managed it. But not as well as he usually did.
"You alright, Arthur?" Dom asked curiously, unhooking himself.
"F-Fine..."
It was since then that he'd been acting strangely. He was rather jumpy, and every time they asked Arthur if he'd like to join them in a test run, he always declined hastily coming up with some kind of excuse.
One night, Eames became curious to find out what it was that was bothering the Point Man so much, and so he crept slowly up to the armchair in which the young man was sleeping, and was hooked up to the machine. Eames noticed him twitching in his sleep, looking if possible for Arthur, terrified. Eames had never seen him like this before.
He hooked himself up to the machine and taking a seat, he closed his eyes...