The Point Man and the Ringmaster

Chapter 1. Indirect introductions

Arthur is always controlled and calm. His subconscious never influenced the dream more than they should. He was always the person on the team whose past never reflected itself in the dream. That all changed with one phone call.

Everything seemed fine that day. They were in Nevada, looking into a possible job. Everyone, even Cobb was in the small warehouse Arthur had rented. He was typing away at the computer when his cell phone rang. Now this wouldn't have been strange if it was the cell phone he used for work, but this was his personal phone. One only a few people, including all those in the warehouse, knew the number to.

Ariadne looked at him confused while he studied the number. He answered the phone, sounding curious.

"Hello?" Then his face lit up in recognition and wide smile appeared on his face for a second before disappearing. "Oh hi! I haven't heard from you in a while, how are you?" He asked as he scrambled out of his seat, grabbed his jacket and headed out of the warehouse quickly. Ariadne couldn't help her curiosity, Arthur so rarely smiled, and it was usually aimed at her these days, she felt a speck of jealousy form in her stomach but quickly sweeps it away with the reminder to herself: 'He is not my boyfriend, I do not have a claim on him.' She feels foolish momentarily before she gets to the door of the warehouse and briefly considers tuning back before hearing his voice through the door.

"Yeah, I remember the date, how are you?" He pauses." I miss her too, she was very motherly, very warm. How are things with the others? They're your employees now right?" He sounds very happy, she realizes he rarely sounds like that. "That's fantastic, so where are you guys now?" He laughs and something inside of her clenches. "I can't believe it, you sound so domesticated Annie."

'Who's Annie?' She thinks to herself, the jealousy back and growing stronger.

"Well don't say I didn't warn you, now if you're ever near here you just call and let me know, I'm sure you could make money here. And maybe you might even be able to work with me, I have a position in mind for you."

"I'm sure he does." She heard Eames whisper behind her. She turns around, holding a hand over her mouth, hoping Arthur didn't hear her squeak of surprise. She pushed Eames away from the door.

"Were you listening in?" She whispered, sounding scandalized.

"Weren't you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"That's different! Somehow." She squeaked as she tried to rationalize her snooping.

Suddenly Eames was pulling her towards her desk she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing.

"Tell me about this design here." He said quickly, interrupting her before she began.

Taken aback she answered quickly. "Well I was looking into landmarks and figuring how and if they should be used in a dream and if they could be used to our advantage." She said, sounding a little confused, till she noticed Arthur sitting at his desk, typing away again. She realized he pulled her away so Arthur wouldn't suspect their spying. "Thank you." She whispered to him. He smiled and winked at her.

"Anytime, just try to snoop a little more carefully next time, I won't be able to help you out of your mess all the time, and I might not if I think him finding out will be funny." He said with a grin, low enough so Arthur wouldn't hear. She glared at him as he walked away. Eames was like a big brother, unfortunately at times he liked to annoy her too just for the hell of it.

Later Cobb, Eames, Ariadne, and Arthur all went under to look at something Ariadne had made. It was a large field filled with landmarks, she wanted to get the precision of them down, if she was ever going to use them in a dream she wanted them all to look and feel accurate.

"The Gateway Arch is slightly bigger darling." Eames said as he looked up at the monument.

"The area around Mount Rushmore has less vegetation." Arthur said.

"Is this the Shoe House from Hellam?" Cobb asked.

"Yeah,"

"It doesn't have laces, your thinking of a different one."

Ariadne focused on these and the other constructive criticisms and changed them accordingly. Everything was going well and good till they were just about to leave.

"That's not a monument, is it?" Cobb asked, pointing to what at first glance looked like a very tall pole in the ground.

"No, that's one of those tightrope things from a circus. But it's missing the rope and the second pole. Did you put this in here Ariadne?" Eames asked her.

"I didn't, who's that?" She asked, pointing to a girl climbing it. When she reached the top platform she stood and ran a hand through her long strawberry blonde hair. She looked down at them and she had such a look of despair on her face Ariadne had to hold back a sob. She looked about her age, but she was tall and trim. She seemed to be wearing a gray shirt and black yoga pants.

"I'm sorry Arthur." She called out, the others looked to Arthur in confusion and noticed the look of distraught on his face. "I'm sorry, but I can't take it anymore, forgive me, please forgive me." Then she closed her eyes, spread her arms and swan dived off the platform.

Ariadne screamed and Arthur turned away quickly, not seeing her plummet to the bottom or her twisted mangled body on the ground. As they all turned to look at him he pulled out a gun and shot himself in the temple.

When they all did the same Ariadne quickly took out the lead and looked around for him. She saw him on the raised second floor of the warehouse that located above the small offices where Cobb and Yusuf worked. He was staring out a window, one hand outside his pocket, clenched, the other in his pocket, no doubt wrapped around his totem. She walked up to him slowly.

"Who was that?" She asked softly, caught between not wanting to disturb him and needing to comfort him.

"Her name is Anais. She was my best friend before…" He trailed off, still not fully looking at her.

"Before she killed herself." Ariadne finished.

"She didn't kill herself!" Arthur yelled, before wincing as he sees her flinch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. She didn't kill herself, but she tried. It's a bit of a long story."

"I have time." Ariadne said, placing a hand on his wrist.

"We all do." Cobb says as he comes up the steps to see them. "You bring a projection of your friend into the dream, you owe us at least an explanation of who she is." Arthur's jaw clenched, he didn't want to say 'Well what about Mal?' That would be cruel, and would get them nowhere.

"Fine, but I at least want to sit down." he said before walking down the steps quickly and sitting on one of the cushioned chairs that had replaced the lawn chairs. After everyone, even Yusuf after Eames filled him in, had sat down. Arthur sighed and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped.

"Cobb, do you remember that girl I introduced you to the one time, Annie?" Cobb squinted his eyes then nodded.

"Yeah, you were talking to her and then she had to leave. She was in this strange outfit."

"That's the girl from the dream, her name is Anais Kale. She's been my best friend since I was seven. When she was thirteen her Mom died in a car accident. On April fifteenth, today's date, she tried to kill herself by, well you saw how."

"She survived that?" Ariadne asked, sounding shocked.

"No, she never leapt off, well she did, but her father grabbed her on the way down, he had been following her up. I wasn't there at the time, he had called me a few hours afterwards and related it to me. After that either her or I would call the other on this date, I had nearly forgotten." He said, the last part a little quieter as he looked down at his hands.

"Arthur, are we going to be seeing more of her?" He asked, his voice soft despite the seeming harshness of his words. Arthur shook his head quickly.

"Doubtful, it's just the day, it's… difficult for me to think about." He said, not looking up from his hands.

"Well, if you need to talk…" Cobb said waiving a hand.

"I have a question." Eames said, looking grave as he leaned forward, resting his arm on his knee. At Arthur's raised eyebrow and eye contact he continued, now pointing at Arthur. "Is she single? Because she's pretty hot." He asked, never losing the serious look. Arthur rolled his eyes and stood up, walking back to his desk. "What? You don't know, she could be my soul mate. Future mother of my children, this could be destiny!" He yelled as everyone got up and walked away, raising his hands in defeat. "Fine, I'll be alone forever!"

"The entire female race thanks you!" Ariadne called out with a laugh.