This is my second Inception fanfic (the other was just a one-shot), and I'm really excited about this one. The idea just came to me one day and like Cobb says, ideas are the most resilient parasites, and once they take hold, they are impossible to remove!
Any review you would like to leave would be very much appreciated :) I will try to update once a week as my schedule allows and my creativity flows.
It had been four months since we had successfully performed our first inception. During those months, Cobb had become more and more distant from us, preferring to spend his time with Phillipa and James; something completely understandable under his circumstances. So while Cobb vowed to make up for lost time with his kids, Yusuf, Eames and myself continued to work with other extractors, none of which were the same compared to Cobb. The differences in personality and their general way of doing things was so drastic a change, that after three months, we vowed to work only for Dom and no other extractor. The three of us together tried to convince Cobb to at least go back to doing extractions part-time, for the sake of supporting his two children. He agreed, and once again we were a team. No, a family, and a highly dysfunctional family, at that.
However, you may have noticed that I left out one very important member of our team.
Our favorite architect had decided to go back to her studies and return to dream sharing only when she graduated from the university. For Eames and Yusuf, it was spirit-dampening to know they wouldn't see her again until that time. But for me, It was worse then bitter-sweet. For in the months of her absence, I had come to an unsettling and unnerving revelation; that I had developed a strong fondness for the girl and for her well-being that was nothing short of passionate.
In Laymen's terms, I liked her a lot. Now normally I'm very skilled when it comes to staying focused, as it's one of the qualities required of being a point-man. But ever since the day Cobb brought her to the warehouse and put her under, I became distracted by her beauty. My distractedness was what lead to my big mistake during the inception job, nearly costing all of our lives. Her life... . That thought alone was too bothersome to even consider finishing. So in a way, I was glad that she was out of harms way for the time being. It would give me a peace of mind that I could not otherwise obtain. The other side of that coin, however, was that she was still very much on my mind from the aforementioned revelation, and therefore my hope for peace of mind was quickly abandoned.
Ariadne just happened to be on my mind while I attempted to gather information on Cobb's latest mark, making it virtually impossible to achieve any goal I had set for the day. No matter how hard I tried, it seemed the longer Ariadne was gone, the more I was going to think about her, and the more I think about her, the less I'll get done at work.
And because Cobb was now back on the mend mentally, he was able to play the part of the extractor and the architect for this particular job, which meant one empty seat in the warehouse. I found myself glancing over to that seat a lot the last few weeks.
I closed my eyes for a moment and rubbed them vigorously. I had been staring too long at the computer screen, which had been showing the same internet page for the past fifteen minutes. In that time, I had managed to read the same paragraph too many times to count, and had learned nothing about our mark. I knew that if I didn't pull myself together soon, the others would start noticing and get suspicious.
"Feeling a bit tired, are we?" I groaned inwardly as I recognized the voice of our forger. I guess I had spoken too soon.
"Eames, go away, I'm trying to do research and your distracting me." Eames smiled and chuckled.
"I have the sneaking suspicion that you were already distracted before I walked over here, darling."
I gave nothing away as I glared at him. Eames just kept smirking as he leaned against my desk, watching my face. If there was one person who never needed to know about my being distracted, it was him. And I was determined to keep it that way.
"What are you talking about? I was not distracted; I was simply frustrated that I could not find all of the information I need."
"Arthur, you are a horrible liar. You forget how easily I can read people and their emotions. YOU were distracted!" I rolled my eyes.
"Don't you have someone else to pester and annoy?"
"Not since Ariadne left." I did my best to remain expressionless at that comment, but my attempts did not go unnoticed by Eames. "What's bloody wrong with you, Arthur? Are you hormones out of balance because you've finally hit puberty?" Naturally, Eames had raised his voice, which caught the attention of Cobb and Yusuf.
"Did I hear Eames say something was wrong with you, Arthur?" asked Yusuf.
"Yeah, are you okay, man?" Cobb asked ready to stand up from his desk. I shook my head.
"No, really I'm fine; Eames is overreacting."
"Arthur," interrupted Eames, "you really haven't been yourself lately, and I'm determined to find out what or who the culprit is."
"That's really not necessary..." I tried to say, but Eames was no longer listening to me. I turned to Cobb, hoping he could settle Eames. But when Cobb met my gaze, he sighed.
"I hate to say it, but he's right. You haven't really been the same since the inception, and I can't risk loosing anymore lives in limbo on this job." I sighed at Cobb's words. As much as I knew he was right, it was still upsetting for him to go against me.
"If only Ariadne were here to help us." mused Yusuf in a whisper to Cobb, "she had such a skill for reading people that she would be able to figure out what is wrong with Arthur.
In the next moment, Eames turned to me and grinned meticulously. When I saw that his eyes were gleaming and full of mischief, I just knew he had figured it out.
"Eames don't you even-"
"Gentlemen," he began, cutting me off mid-sentence, "I believe I have found the cause for our dear Arthur's demise!" Yusuf and Cobb turned to him expectantly.
"Well, what is it?" Cobb asked impatiently.
"First, let's think back to how Arthur was before the inception job began. As we all know, he was very much a stick-in-the-mud, and was unable to handle any sort of teasing or prank whatsoever. Need I remind you all about the incident with the USB ghost typer?"
I clenched my fists to keep from lashing out; the event Eames was referring to was a very embarrassing and unwanted memory. Fortunately I had no time to dwell on the flashbacks, for Eames continued speaking.
"Now during the inception job, he had somehow managed to control himself, and actually ignore my wonderful teases and disses at his personal life. Very uncharacteristic of our Arthur, is it not?" Yusuf and Cobb nodded. "So that can only mean that some time between the inception job and now, something, or someone, has caused our Arthur to act this way. So then, what was a change between the inception job and a regular extraction?"
"Could the side-effects of the sedative be accountable?" asked Yusuf. To my dismay, Eames shook his head. It seemed that no amount of glaring from me was going to keep him from telling them the truth.
"If that were the case, then we would have all been affected. But at this point, Arthur is the only one who is different. My theory is something that has actually been spoken of before, and yet has been overlooked completely. Something that, now that he has been exposed to it, is eating away at him and he cannot stop it, for even he himself does not know it has happened."
"Come on, Eames, we don't have all day. Get to the point." Cobb said, obviously exasperated by the tone in his voice. I continued to stare at Eames with hateful eyes, an ounce of me hoping that he would be wrong in his guess. Eames grinned again before continuing.
"Arthur, our ever withdrawn point-man, is in love."
Brief moment of silence.
"That's it, I don't have to sit here and take this anymore."
I stood up and walked right for the door, grabbing my coat as I reached for the handle. When I was safely outside (and with the wall between myself and Eames), I let out the breath I had been keeping in my lungs. I heard Cobb yelling something to Eames, but could not make it out (although part of it sounded like cursing), and didn't particularly want to. I didn't even want to think about the words Eames had just spilled to Cobb. I tried to calm myself so that I could be civilized about the situation, but I couldn't. And what made everything that much more serious was the fact that Eames was right.
I didn't flinch as the door to the workshop opened and footsteps approached me. And I didn't even look up as the person cleared their throat to let me know they were there.
"Why don't you come back into the shop?" said Cobb in a calm voice. "If Eames does anything stupid like that again, I promise to kill him for you." I forced a chuckle.
"That won't be necessary, Cobb."
"Of course it is, your my friend." He smiled, but after a moment the smile faded. "Arthur, what Eames said about you and Ariadne...he was telling the truth, wasn't he?" I cringed, and didn't need to guess how he had put all the pieces together.
"...yes." I replied, getting even more nervous. Cobb's face fell, and he studied me carefully.
"Does she know?" was his next question.
"Know what?"
"How you feel, of course." I shook my head no. "So you haven't told her?"
"I haven't even talked to her."
"Do you plan on telling her?" The way he asked the question made me hesitate, and now I was the one having to study his face.
"Cobb, you know I can't do that. Ever since..."
"Yeah, I know." Cobb stopped me, holding up his hand, knowing what I was referring to.
"I just don't think I could go through that a second time." Cobb nodded in understanding, not meeting my eyes. Finally he looked up, and stepped forward.
"You were the one who helped me win Mal over, and I was never able to return the favor. So now I'm going to help you win Ariadne's heart. And while I'm 99.999% sure that Ariadne is NOT like that person, you will never have to go through that experience again." I looked at Cobb with eyes that expressed excitement and hope.
"You would really help me do that?"
"Of course I would, Arthur." Cobb proceeded to give me a hug that lasted several seconds.
"Thank you, Cobb, but how exactly do you plan on accomplishing this?" Cobb just smiled.
"By inception, of course."