Chapter 1 : Time
So it's been exactly one day, five hours, twenty-two minutes and fifteen seconds since she left the airport. One day, five hours, twenty-two minutes and sixteen seconds now, she thinks as she continues to stare listlessly at the clock on the wall in front of her.
One day, five hours, twenty-two minutes and seventeen seconds of anxious waiting - and this annoying, jittery feeling that she can't shake off. One day, five hours, twenty-two minutes and eighteen seconds of nothing.
She should really stop doing this. Ariadne sighed, stretched, and stood up from the sofa she'd been sitting on since she'd arrived back in her tiny, cramped up apartment.
What now? She thought. She couldn't very well stay holed up in her living room for the rest of her life, waiting for a job offer that she wasn't sure might even come. There were probably many more experienced and professional architects out there who would fare much better when it came to the art of extraction. Or inception. Whatever.
She frowned and slipped her hand into the pocket of her jeans, feeling around for her totem. Carefully sliding it out, she placed it gently on the coffee table and glared at it, unsure of what to do next.
Should she go back to college and pretend nothing had happened? That she hadn't taken part in a major heist that probably ruined a man's life? How could she just wander back into school and look Professor Miles in the eye now? After everything she'd been through?
Oh my god.
Realization dawned upon her. There was no way out, was there? Once you're in, well. You're in for good. She started hyperventilating.
It was raining reasonably heavily as a man in an expensive looking three-piece suit stepped out of a cab. He walked casually into an old, rather run-down building, as though it wasn't raining at all. Carefully, methodically, he climbed the chipped cement steps, counted three flights and came to an abrupt stop in front of a green door, with the number 5 engraved upon it. Hesitating for just a second, he raised his arm and knocked, thrice on the door.
Ariadne was interrupted in the middle of her panic attack by three sharp raps on her front door. Paranoia gripped her as she thought about the possibility of Fisher having somehow discovered that he had been tricked into dissolving his father's empire. That would mean his men were probably outside, waiting to kill her for her part in the deception!
She looked around and her eyes conveniently settled upon a stack of knives sitting on her kitchen counter. They'll have to do, she thought and wondered which would be more effective, stabbing her opponent in the eye, or going straight for the gut.
Again, three more knocks on her door. Taking a deep breath, she carefully turned the knob and quickly yanked the door open, her arm held high with the kitchen knife in hand, raised to stab whoever it was waiting outside.
Arthur had never ever been so thankful for his karate training and quick reflexes. A second too late and he probably would have been missing an eye, he mused, as he grappled with Ariadne - whose own eyes were squeezed shut as she attacked him.
"Ariadne!" He snapped, and the girl in question faltered, her eyelids fluttering open at the sound of his voice.
"Oh! Arthur!" She gasped.
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"Who else were you expecting?" He asked drily and stepped back, releasing her from his tight hold.
She blushed and shrugged, lowering the knife, her eyes meeting his and he feels a queasy something in his stomach.
"You're wet," She muttered.
"It is raining outside."
She knew exactly what her mother would have done if she had been in her position - she would have invited Arthur in and given him a hot towel to dry him off, or something like that. She wondered how exactly she was going to phrase her sentence so as not to sound absolutely retarded.
"Can I come in?" He asked, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips, "I have some issues to discuss with you."
"Y-yeah," she stuttered. Well, obviously she needn't have worried. He'd basically invited himself in.
"Alright then," she murmured, and gestured for him to enter.
AHHH. first fanfic ever! so yes. sorry if it's not very good. :)