N.A: So this will be my first multi-chapter fic of Inception. I hope you enjoy it ^^

Left Behind

Chapter One

Peter

"I have found the paradox,

that if you love until it hurts,

there can be no more hurt,

only more love." ~ Mother Teresa

Arthur was tired. It had been a long week and it wasn't over yet. Ariadne was still revising all the levels and he knew that there were some really big gaps in some of them. She was tired too, that was the only reasonable explanation for her mistakes. Normally she would have done it in a stitch and still had the time for details.

But that wasn't a normal job. The whole team was tired; they had been working 48hours in days that only had 24. Even when they slept they had odd dreams about the job. Arthur wasn't sure any more if it had been a good idea to bring Ariadne with him.

Truth was he didn't trust any other Architect. After that first job, after seeing her amazing work, he knew she was the best. The fact that he had fallen in love with her had helped too of course, but he tried no to mix things. When it came to work Ariadne was an Architect, and one of the best he knew, when it came to their private live Ariadne was his…

He couldn't say "lover" without making her mad, he didn't knew why, but she seemed to have a problem with that word. Her face would get serious and she would change the theme of the conversation quickly. He avoided that word like little red riding hood should have avoided the wolf, as if that word could kill him on the spot.

She wasn't his wife, they hadn't married, but that didn't stop them to have over 50 different passports that stated otherwise. In France they were Monsieur and Madame Burn, in Spain Senõr and Senhora Gomez and Arthur could go on forever with their passports and fake I.D.s that they had created. So they were married, without being married.

When they had visit Ariadne's family a while ago, and had received a package for Mister and Misses Smith, her family had looked shocked. Ariadne had laugh and said it was actually a funny story and had made it up how Arthur just couldn't get his Visa to visit them and they had to get "married" so they could use the plane tickets they had already bought.

He still didn't think her family had believed them, but they hadn't argued and that was enough for them. He heard Ariadne moving inside their bedroom. She was sleeping, a nightmare most probably since she was twisting and turning in bed when he went there to check on her. He sited near her and caressed her skin. She smiled and stopped moving. He smiles. The nightmare was gone. He watched her.

Then he got up and went to the living room. His eyes looking all around, something is wrong and he knows it. He just can't figure out what. Then he sees it. The frames on the wall, with their pictures, the cosy couches full of pillows picked by Ariadne, the fact that he doesn't remember Ariadne going to bed or they getting to their house outside Paris, since they are working in Beijing, China.

He hears someone clapping hands and a man appears. He's tall, brown harried just like Arthur, tall and slim. He wears a suit, not a three piece one, just a normal black suit with a black tie. Arthur looks at him. He knows this man too well and he hates him.

"Hello Arthur!" The man is greeting Arthur. His smile is so big Arthur can see his white teeth. Arthur does his best to not kill him. His face is serious as the man walks into the living room looking at the pictures on the wall. Arthur closes his fists; he doesn't want that man to look at Ariadne. Even if is just a photograph.

"What do you want?" The man looks at him, he's still smiling and Arthur is starting to lose his patience.

"Arthur, Arthur… Why so icy? We are friends!" Arthur laughs. If that was supposed to be a joke, it was really a sick one."Yeah! Really great friends, OH! And then you left me to die, remember? – the man doesn't blink, he doesn't seam mad at all - If Cobb hadn't been there I would have been stuck in limbo until now!"

The man raises his shoulders, his face still calm. Almost as if Arthur is reporting the weather in a far away city.

"Oh don't be like that!" He ends up saying "I'm sure you could have gotten out of limbo just fine…"

Arthur laughs again then he rolls his eyes. "Easy for you to say, it wasn't you that was going there…"

The man shakes his head slowly and puts his hands in his pockets. Arthur pressed his teeth so tight he can hear them.

"So full of anger Arthur, you have got to learn to loosen up…" the man smiles "I always though that having a dedicated wife would help but it seams like it didn't…"

Arthur takes a step towards the men. They are still several steps apart, but their eyes are locked in each other.

"Don't you bring her into this…"The man laughs a bit. Arthur is so furious he doesn't even know where to start. The man picks a chair form a table near him and seats himself.

"Don't you stress over it, Arthur." he raises his shoulders "I didn't! The Ariadne in the other room is just your projection of her…"

Arthur can hear himself breathing but he doesn't care. He just wants to know why that man his there, inside his head, and how does he know Ariadne's name, how does he know they are together. And what does he want.

"What do you want?"

The man touches his nose like he is wiping it. Then he puts a hand in his shin.

" Well, this will sound weird, with us being friends and all…"

Arthur cuts him short. "I'm not your friend any more Peter, and you know it, so stop saying it…"

Peter. Arthur hasn't said that name in years. He's not even quiet sure Ariadne has ever heard of him. He's always trying to forget that Peter exists, that Peter even existed. Peter shakes his shoulders.

"Fine. Then it will be easier to take her…"

Arthur blinks. He's not quite sure he understands what Peter is saying, or that he wants to understand. "Take her?"

Peter smiles. "She's the best Architect on the market you see and I need the best Architect on my team…"

Arthur takes another step closer to Peter. In the other room, projection-Ariadne revolves in bed and calls "Arthur" in her sleep. Arthur can fell his heart racing; looking at Peters smile he's pulling all his strength to not kill him in the spot.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Peter rolls his eyes. "Why not? I'll let her go, after the job off course…"

Arthur can fell his fists shaking even thought he has closed them tight. He knows Peter too well, he knows what he's capable of doing and stealing someone because of their talent is something he would do. Stealing a wife from her husband is like stealing candy from a child to him.

He hates Peter, and he hates the fact that once he called him friend. He hates himself for having been friends with this monster. Projection-Ariadne is still moving in bed, her nightmare a mere refection of Arthur anxiety and fears.

"What the hell are you planning? What the hell is so important that you have to take my wife?"

Peter shakes his shoulders again. "Well you see Arthur, I can't get into details, but I can say you this… You're in an horrifying car crash, breaks my heart to say it pal, your wife didn't make it and you're gonna end up in some hospital wing for a month or two, enough time for me to get the job done…"

Arthur cuts him off. His range is tsunami but he has to admit that his subconscious hasn't even start to move towards Peter. So a part of him is still relaxed enough and doesn't consider him a treat.

"And then you'll just send her back? Like she's a pen you can borrow from me?"

Peter laughs. "My, my Arthur, you have to learn how to share, you were never quite good at it, but I never ever though that…"

Arthur cuts him off again. "If when I wake up she isn't with me Peter, you'll regret it…"

Peters eyes have an evil grim on them. Arthur thinks about how he was so blind. How he trusted Peter with his life and almost ended in limbo. Peter, who seamed amused until now has a mood swing, he's serious now. He's starting to understand that he misunderstood the whole Arthur Ariadne relationship; he never thought it was so serious. He though Ariadne was just one more girl. Apparently, he was wrong.

"I will?" He's trying to be sarcastic but Arthur notices that his old friend is not so confident now. With his wrists still closed thigh Arthur hears himself saying:

"I'll spend all my money if I have too Peter, but I'll hunt you down if you take her…"

Peter smiles. "My, my…" he starts as the smile in his face vanishes "How you have changed Arthur… You were a "One Man Band" and now look at you", he points at Arthur "all that money you have, just thrown out the window so you can have your girl with you…" Peters smile again, this time is an ironic smile "That's so sweet that's almost romantic…"

Arthur takes another step towards Peter. He's now at ten or seven feet away from him.

"I'm warning you Peter…" Peter shakes his shoulders. He doesn't care, Arthur knows why, but Peter still explains it to him, like Arthur was a kid who as never done this type of jobs before.

"You know I'll wake up first, a good five to ten minutes before you Arthur, you know I'm not alone, for all you know, she might not even be with you in bed right now…"

Arthur is still shaking, but controlling it. He's not going to lose control in front of Peter. His "old friend" doesn't deserve to know the impact he is causing in him. "There are dozens of Architects out there Peter" Arthur starts "some of them are better than Ariadne…"

Peter nods. "True, some of them are older, more trained and more skilled, but they all have a huge defect…"

Arthur blinks his eyes. He is not quite sure he understood what Peter meant with his last sentence. "What?"

Peter smiles before saying in a tone of "matter of fact" "They don't have you pushing them towards perfection…"

Arthur blinks his eyes again. In his opinion Peter has gone mad, and that's the only explanation possible. "What?"

Peter, who is still smiling, gets up and starts arranging his tie.

"You push people Arthur; you make them want to be the best at what they do." Arthur is looking speechless at Peter as he goes on "Ariadne is one of the best; it took her three years to get famous in our little dream world… And she's what? 20? 21?"

Arthur rolls his eyes. "25, next month…"

This time is Peter who blinks, like he's truly amazed. "You're only two years apart? I though she was younger…"

Arthur shakes his shoulders. "She likes bright colours, scarves and has a round childish face, which makes her look younger…"

Peter smiles. "Ah! And then there's that saying that a woman in love is more beautiful than ever…"

- Shut your mouth, Peter!

Peter is still smiling, he likes seeing Arthur mad, and it was one of his favourite hobbies when they were friends. He liked teasing Arthur by saying he was good enough. Peter knows that Arthur got to be the best point man ever to exist because he was pushed into it, like now Arthur is pushing Ariadne.

"If she were glowing, she would be pregnant…"

"I'm not warning you again!"

Peter laughs. It's like nothing ever happen and they are still friends. Making fun of each other and saying treats that they never intend to do. Only now they aren't friends anymore, now they are enemies, or something like it. Peter as nothing against Arthur, besides the fact that he's monopolising the best Architect around and well, Arthur hates Peter because of a "stupid incident" that happened years ago.

"It's strange isn't it?" Peter says still mocking Arthur "Why don't you kill yourself Arthur? Wake up and find out if she's still there, right by your side…"

Arthur grins.

"If I dream of a gun it will be to shot you, not me that I can guarantee you…"

Peter laughs. "AH! That's the Arthur I know…"

Arthur takes another step towards Peter. "If you take her, you take me as well…"

Peter shakes his head and moves a little further. Arthur is getting too close and he knows he can't die in dreams, but Arthur can make him suffer a bit before killing him. Peter never liked pain or torture as a matter of fact.

"No can do old chap!" he smiles at Arthur "You see, husband and wife working together against their will with one of their greatest enemies, you would betray me as soon as you could, and I wouldn't blame you, I would do the same…"

Arthur grins. "You did, remember?"

He stares blankly at Arthur. "No… Not exactly…"

Arthur grins again. Peter has to be joking.

- You left me, Cobb and Mary…

Peter shivers. Arthur sees it and finds that he has discovered Peter weak spot. "Don't say her name, Arthur…"

Arthur smiles, a triumph smile. "Why? Is this your dream? Do you have a Shadow, Peter? I never though you had enough conscience to create one…"

Peter smiles. "Arthur, Arthur…"

Arthur looks around; he's expecting a Shadow Mary any time now. Then he looks again at Peter "I don't have Mary on my conscience Peter; I wasn't the one who left his partner and forger behind…"

Peter shakes his shoulders. "It had to be done…"

Arthur rolls his eyes before asking: "Tell me, is she still in limbo? Still in coma at St. Matthews? Are you still waiting for her to come back after you left her to die?"

Peter pretends that he didn't heard Arthur and says in a dreamy far of voice "We were the perfect team, you know, you, my brave Point Man, Cobb my creative Architect, Mary my amazing forger, Sakura my perfect chemist… And then Cobb left us because of Mall, his love, his life, remember that? She was pregnant…"

Arthur smiles ironically. He remembers Mall all right, he remembers her all too well from that last job with Cobb. "Off course I do, I went to their wedding, not thanks to you I might add…"

Peter sniffs. "Hmm… I never quiet forgave him for leaving us you know, for saving you instead of Mary…"

Arthur sakes his shoulders, he doesn't care about what Peter thinks. He doesn't care if Peter doesn't forgive Cobb, there was nothing to forgive. "He had to choose, Mary was wounded, and she was yours to safe Peter, she loved you, she wouldn't take Cobb's hand, I did…"

"Hmm…"

Arthur looks at Peter who turned himself towards the wall and his looking at the pictures in it. In them there are pictures of Arthur and Ariadne from all over the world. They would always make a small tour of the country where they worked before they did a job. There was one of them in Spain, near the "Sagrada Familia", another one in Italy near the Pisa Tower, one of them in Australia with a kangaroo. Arthur stops looking at the photos and says:

"You lost your team Peter, because you cared more about having the job done that making sure your whole team was safe and that we all were going to return…"

Peter nods. He's looking at a picture of Ariadne with a panda, a picture that shouldn't be on that wall because they still haven't gone back from the job in Beijing. "True…"

Arthur wishes he could erase all the pictures from the wall but he can't. This isn't his dream, his Peters. Peter is creator and the intruder. Arthur can only watch. "And that's why I won't let you take Ariadne…" Arthur says, is voice in a low serious tone. "She's not going to be left in limbo, Peter! She's not getting into a coma from which she's not going to wake up…"

Peter turns to Arthur and Arthur notices that Ariadne isn't in the pictures any more. Mary is there now. It's Mary who is holding the panda, and its Mary near the kangaroo. Peters eyes and glowing with hate. "You don't know that!"

Arthur walks all the way until he is face to face with Peter. They are more or less of the same weigh and height. They competed with one another for so many years, since High Scholl as Arthur can recall, that their dressing style is almost the same, as it's their body shapes.

Mary, Arthur finds himself thinking, was short like Ariadne, but she was a ginger with big blue eyes, and not a brunette with deep brown eyes. Mary was full of spirit, like Ariadne, and like her, Mary wouldn't do anything to hurt the team. Arthur knows they all survived the last job with Cobb because Ariadne was there, she saved them all when she helped Cobb save himself. "I know that you don't care about Ariadne, Peter and I know that I love her too much to risk anything…"

Peter smiles. A crocks smile. Arthur thinks he was dumb to believe that his high school friend wouldn't change and that they would be pals forever, even after Peter changed and started to think just about the money.

Arthur thinks it was because he was young and because Peter was his best friend, and he just couldn't believe that his best friend would leave him to die. Yet, he had so Arthur had changed friends. Peter looks him in the eyes before asking "What makes you think I haven't taken her yet?"

- The music…

- What music?

Arthur smiled as Edith Piafs "Non, je ne regret de rien" plays softly. He had been hearing the song for some time now, and he knew that it meant that Ariadne was fine. That she was waiting for him to wake up. Since it was Peters dream, he couldn't hear the song.

Arthur goes to a draw where he knows there's a gun and taking it, he points the gun at Peter saying:

"Goodbye Peter, and please don't come to visit ever again…"

Ariadne catches Arthur's hand when he wakes up. He's all sweaty but even so she puts her hands around his face and hears him calling her softly. "I'm here, Arthur… I'm here..."

Arthur puts his hand behind her neck and smiles. She's still there, he didn't take her. Nothing else mattered.

They leave the hotel they were in, switch names, and continue to work on the job in Beijing. They're more careful now. Arthur has called Cobb and he has told him, that Sakura is missing and so is Carlos, a very famous Spanish forger. Whatever Peter is planning is big, and he is looking at the market and taking the best of the best with him.

Arthur sits with Ariadne at a small Korean restaurant in Korean Town and thinks it's funny that China has Korean Towns just like the USA have China Towns. After a while he has told Ariadne most of Peters story. Ariadne is amazed and shocked at the same time.

"He just left her?"

Arthur nods. "Yes…"

Ariadne blinks, for a few seconds its like she can't find words to express herself.

"Wow… That's…" she looks at Arthur curious "And she's…"

Arthur raises is shoulders. "In a coma, for more than five years now I recall…"

Ariadne whistles. The waiter leaves the food before them and leaves. Ariadne shakes her head slowly.

"She's not going to awake, is she Arthur?"

It's Arthur turn to shake his head.

"I don't know Ariadne, in limbo years can be minutes and minutes can be years." Ariadne nods at him, she knows that "She can still be young in her dream, still running all around, or she can be very old and dying, the problem is if she knows she's in limbo…"

"I know… If she doesn't know that, she can't return…"

Arthur takes a deep breath. "Her brain will just shut down when she dies in her dream if she doesn't get it straight, if she doesn't believe that she's in limbo…"

Ariadne smiles, a sad smile, Arthur smiles sadly too. Ariadne has got a good heart. She doesn't know Mary and yet he knows she's feeling sorry for her. "If it was before Malls time, then you didn't have tokens…"

"Exactly…"

Ariadne shakes her head. "She can never be sure?"

"I suppose not…"Arthur picks up his chopsticks. He doesn't want to talk about Mary or Peter any more. Ariadne decides to finish the conversation. "That's sad…"

Arthur shakes his shoulders. Mary wasn't a big friend of his, he liked her because she liked Peter and Peter liked her. Peter was his friend, so was Cobb but Mary was just Mary. Sure, he fells sorry that she's in a coma because of Peter but there's nothing he can do. Now its all up to her. "Cobb tried to save her, you know, but she wanted Peter to save her, she believed he was going to put her above the job…"

Ariadne nods. She understands why Mary would believe that, she knows Arthur would come back for her. "Did Cobb believe it?"

Arthur shakes his head. In his head memories of the job he did so many years ago with Mary, Cobb and Peter are coming back. He can see himself lying on the floor and feeling himself swinging into limbo. Only one more moment, Cobb is screaming for Mary but she's screaming for him to go away. Then Cobb calls Arthur and picks him up. He can hear Cobb's voice

"When you see your team leader, leaving his best friend to die, you don't hope that he's going to save his girlfriend…"

Ariadne nodded. She remembers how Cobb has so angry at Arthur when Saito was shoot during her first job. It was probably because it reminded him of Mary and of how Peter had left them. Maybe, for a second, he though Arthur had become just like Peter. That was stupid though, Arthur was nothing like Peter.

"Do you think, he's going to come back?"

"I think he understood my message…"

Ariadne opened her mouth in shock.

"Don't tell me you shoot him slowly!"

Arthur raises his shoulders. "It doesn't matter, if he touches you, even if he will "return" you, like he said, at the end of the job, he's a dead man, mark my words Ariadne, you are not going to work with or for him…"

Ariadne smiles and picks up her chopsticks. "I'm a big girl Arthur…"

Arthur smiles, Ariadne starts eating. He looks at her and thinks how lucky he is for having her. "I know…"

Ariadne points her chopsticks at him before saying: "But don't you let that bastard take me…"

He laughs before saying "You have my word."

Ariadne woke up. Something wasn't right; she could fell it, although she could quite put her finger on what it was. What was it? She had left her mazes covered, she remember that. She also remembered turning the lights off and since they were in a hotel she hadn't check the gas. So what was it?

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, turned in bed an stretched her arm so she could touch Arthur. She didn't found him. Opening her eyes, she wondered where he had gone. She started to get up, sitting herself slowly on the bed and started lifting a hand towards her eyes when she saw him.

A stranger was sitting on a chair looking at her. She shivered; knowing that he was the reason she had woke up. The stranger studied her for a while, if she was shocked she wasn't screaming, which was good. The liked people who manage to remain calm even in stressful situations.

"Good morning, Miss…" then he stopped and smiled "what name did you use this time?"

Ariadne rolled her eyes. Looking better at the man she had an idea of who he was and she was glad that was snowing in Beijing and she had her warmest pyjamas on, instead of the usual top shorts.

"Mrs Smith…"

The stranger laughed. "Mr and Mrs Smith? Ah! Arthur always had a sense of humour although he hides it very well" then he relaxed on the chair "did you know that once he painted "Z" on our boarding school wall just because the Director banished him from "Spanish"?" he smiled "never got caught if I recall it right…"

Ariadne narrowed her eyes. "What do you want Peter?"

Peter smiled at her. A childish, careless smile that made Ariadne hate him. "Oh! I see my dear friend Arthur has told you about me…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes and hold tight to her blanket. "Arthur isn't your friend any more Peter, friends don't leave friends to die…"

Peter rolled his eyes. "It's a shame Ariadne that Arthur sees it that way, I can assure you, it was a big misunderstanding…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes again. "Arthur assured me otherwise…"

"I bet he did… And I also bet that you are wondering where he is…"

Ariadne opened her eyes in shock. Peter smiled.

"What have you done to him?"

"Not with him?" He sounded disappointed "gosh, you're good…"

"Where's my husband, Peter?"

Peter rolled his eyes and stood up fixing his coat.

"What's up with you two and the husband/wife conversation, you aren't even married… " he looked at her curious "unless you married secretly in Las Vegas…"

Ariadne got of bed, again happy that her pyjamas weren't childish, just plain white, and stood four steps away from Peter. Her arms crossed, her feet tapping the floor, she was mad, Peter could see that.

"Where's my husband? Where's Arthur?"

He smiled to her. "Oh! The poor chap needed vacations, you see, too much work, I sent him to a very nice place, and I didn't even send him alone… Well, Mary was already there, but I bet she took him in…"

Ariadne trembled, before closing her fists and walking in a quick pass to Peter closing the distance. "YOU SON OF…"

"AH! AH! AH!" Peter said stepping back "Language Mrs Smith, married or not, I'm older than you…"

Ariadne rolled her eyes, she was mad beyond believe and trying to stay calm. She pull a bit of her hair behind her ear. "What do you want?"

Peter smiles, Ariadne wants to shoot him but somehow knowing Arthur is in danger, she decides not to. Peter is the only one who knows where Arthur is. "Ariadne, Ariadne, Ariadne, you shock me… Being an Architect and all, what do you think I want?"

Ariadne rolls her eyes. She's not that dumb.

"A maze…"

"Bingo!"

Ariadne took a deep breath. She trembles a bit, its cold in Beijing, it's winter and it's snowing. and Arthur isn't there. "Why me?"

Peter raises his shoulders slightly before saying:

"Let's say this, I need a very special Architect to do a very special maze, and I need to be sure the Architect doesn't quit on me…"

"Why is that?"

Peter fixes his tie on a mirror of the room and uses it to look at Ariadne who's looking at him trough the mirror also. "You see, I recently discovered that Mary has a piece of information I need, and I just have to get to her and know I'll return…" he smiled at her "so you see, I need the best, so they can create me a maze for limbo…"

"That's impossible…"

He raised his shoulders slightly. "Then I suppose, dear old Arthur is lost…" he saw with amusement Ariadne trembling "I heard that after a while you forget that you are in limbo, it sort of becomes your reality…"

Ariadne bit her lip, she knew that was true. That was limbo's most dangerous trap of all. She remembered how Saito almost had gotten trapped there and how Cobb and went to pick him up at his own risk. She crossed her arms to warm herself up. This was Arthur they were talking about. Arthur. Not Saito. Not Mary. Not a complete stranger. Arthur. Her Arthur.

She could die in limbo. But she would do everything she could to get him back. She looked straight into Peters eyes. His smirk was giving her the will to punch him in the face.

"I need to see the original plans" she demanded "After that I'll only need a couple of hours…"

Peter clapped once. A sign of victory. "See Ariadne, I knew you would understand me… Now, as for the plans only Cobb knows them, he was the Architect at the time…"

Running to pick her suitcase, where her clothes where, Ariadne rushed into the bathroom and said as she was closing the door:

"Soon as I get Arthur I'm bailing on you!"

Peter laugh and Ariadne could hear him say as she closed the door "I know sugar plum, I know…"

End of chapter one.

A.N: Any good?