Escapism.
Disclaimer- it saddens me to say this but Inception does not belong to me. It belongs to Christopher Nolan. You know what, Nolan can keep Inception. I want my own Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And if that's not possible, then I'd take Ellen Page, thanks.
Light streamed in through the small plane window, temporarily blinding her as her eyes fluttered open. Had she pulled the window shade up before she went to sleep or had someone else done it for her? She doesn't remember. Even though she had stepped in to the aircraft no more than only thirteen hours ago, it seemed as though it was light years away. Her first instinct was to grab her totem and test it out. She patted her pockets frantically, only to find that it had fallen out and that she was sitting it all along. With a sigh of relief, she grabbed it and pulled out the in-flight tray table. A wave of contentment rushed through her when she heard the dull thud of the metal hitting the plastic table. She tested it out a few more times before she was satisfied.
Unfortunately, her satisfaction was short lived as she looked around 747 first class cabin. Cobb and Saito's bodies were still limp and their eyes were still firmly shut, meaning that they were still down under. What if they never woke up? Then what? After all, it was her fault that Cobb went down… if she hadn't told him that there was another way, then maybe he would be awake by now. Then again, that would mean having Fischer and Saito stuck in limbo forever, which would basically terminate the whole reason and purpose for taking the job. Plus, she could never live with the guilt of turning two men's brains in to mush.
She sank low on to her seat and breathed in deeply. This proved to be a bad decision- the air smelt of wet carpet. Suddenly, the smell of soap and peppermint toothpaste wafted out from behind. Arthur. It astounded her that even after thirteen hours on a plane, the point man could still smell so…clean and fresh.
"You okay?" Arthur's voice was gravelly from lack of use in the past 13 hours or so, but the concern and worry was still very evident.
"I'm fine." She replied unconvincingly.
Arthur craned his neck in order to see her face. He took one look at her sickly pallor and cocked an eyebrow. "Do you know that's the most common lie told?"
She gave him a half hearted smile and rolled her eyes but before she could say anything, she heard a rustle of silk and immediately whipped her head to the right to see Cobb sitting up and looking dazed. She relaxed and sunk deeper in to her chair as she heard the familiar key sound of an in-flight phone.
-pointmanarchitect-
Perhaps it was naïve and foolish of her to wish for a proper goodbye. All she wanted was a hug. Hell, even a pat on her head would suffice. They had spent weeks, even months together and yet, they all left without an actual farewell. She sipped her green tea quietly as she watched her team members leave one by one without more than a furtive glance and a ghost of a smile, except for… Arthur.
He was nowhere to be seen, it seemed as though he had disappeared in to thin air. This confused Ariadne very much- how could a man with a face like his blend so easily in to the crowd?
Little did she know that Arthur was watching her every move. He watched as she haphazardly gathered her things. He watched as she cursed to herself when she dropped her long white scrolls of architectural plans. He really wanted to step out from his hiding place to help her hold her bags, to accidently brush his hand against hers. He also very quickly, shook away those thoughts. It was his job to restrain himself, tie in the loose ends, to make the calls and to make sure that she was safe.
She had nowhere to go. Sure, she had enough money to travel around the world but what's the point? She could build things in dreams that would beat and surpass anything she saw in real life. There was really no point in studying architecture anymore, not when she got the taste of playing God. Everything in comparison seemed dull, monotonous even but where else could she go?
Paris was the only place for her. She needed to finish her degree, get a low-paying job in a company and work her way up, just like she had planned before… everything happened.
Tucking the long white rolls of paper under her arm, she rolled her suitcase over to the counter for Airfrance. A pretty blonde woman stood behind the counter with a big, fake grin.
"How may I help you?" she asked in a overly-enthusiastic tone of voice.
"When's the nearest flight to Charles de Gaulle?" asked Ariadne in a tired drawl. Time had caught on to her, draining away all of her energy, leaving her edgy and snappy.
"Well, there's a flight at 3:25 and there's also-" The blonde woman's voice began to grate Ariadne's ears.
"Look." Snapped Ariadne. "I just need to know when the nearest flight to Charles de Gaulle is. Don't tell me anything else. When is the nearest flight?"
The blonde woman looked visibly annoyed, her tone becoming bored and monotonous. "There's one boarding in around-"
"Great. I'll need a seat for one, thanks."
-pointmanarchitect-
Before the inception job, she was unpredictable, busy and always did things out of order. The young Architect had a routine now, a procedure, a pattern. She would sluggishly get out of bed, her body and mind working on autopilot as she grabbed clothes from her closet at random before trudging out of her apartment and on to campus. When her old friends asked her to hangout with them, the answer was always no. She preferred to sit on her sofa and watch crappy movies until it was dark. Even her teachers noticed a change in her. Ariadne still turned in her assignments on time but they were almost always too impractical, breaking budgetary constraints and going against the law of physics.
Five months had passed since the Fischer job. She tried to forget about dreams, inception, Cobb and …Arthur. Sometimes, she could still feel her lips burn when she thought about the chaste kiss they shared together.
When she walked from her little apartment to the campus, she would always see a sharply dressed man with slicked back hair lurking in the shadows but every time she looked back, he would disappear. She told herself not to be silly, that Arthur was probably halfway across the world right now with some beautiful, blonde bombshell.
-pointmanarchitect-
She picked up her bag, ready to go home when Miles told her to stay after class.
"Ariadne, I'm worried about you." He said softly. She thought he looked more like her grandpa than her professor.
"I'm really sorry, professor. I know my sketch was lacking in de-"
"No, no. Your work is great, as always. You are one of the best here, you know that right?"
She blushed and bit her lip, something that she always did when she was embarrassed.
Miles furrowed his brow and continued. "Now, there's no need to be embarrassed. Ariadne, I'm worried about you-"
She cut him off because really, all she wanted to do was go home. She wanted to go home and forget about her problems, forget about how distant she's been to her friends, forget about the job, forget about him.
"Me? There's absolutely nothing to be worried about. I'm fine. Really." she said earnestly.
With a sigh, Miles turned away from her and looked at the window, she followed suit. Light filtered in through the dirty glass, illuminating the dust particles. She gazed, entranced as the specks of dust danced around the room.
"Ariadne, the dream world is a very dangerous place. Beautiful and wondrous but highly addictive."
His words surprised her.
"Professor, I'm not add-"
"I know, dear." He turned to face her again. "There's someone here to see you, he's going to explain something to you. I'll leave you kids to it."
A multitude of thoughts ran through her head. Who would be here to see her? Maybe Fischer found out about the job and sent people to get her. But then again, Miles would never let that happen. Or maybe it was her parents, ready to whisk her away back home- they never did approve of her studying in Paris. Or perhaps it was Arthur, but she knew that it would never happen. Arthur played everything too safe to risk it just to see her.
"Ariadne?"
She gasped at the familiar voice. Perhaps she was wrong; perhaps he was here to see her after all.
"Arthur?"
A/N- I know this is quite short but I need to go now and I wanted to get it up today because I wont have access to a computer tomorrow. Ahh, I'm pretty shit at endings so there you go. I'm also pretty shit at updating but I'm trying to change that so let's hope that I have enough inspiration to finish this. Review if you want me to continue (: