Inception/The Vow
After a car accident, Ariadne no longer remembers her life with Arthur. Takes place after "Arthur's Other Woman", "The Family Man", and "Arthur's Daughter". Apart of my "Little Family" series.
Ariadne's Memories
~ Thirteen Years Ago ~
1.
~ Ariadne wasn't used to drinking. She had wanted to have fun after her first semester of art school and her new friends, Sadie and John, had taken her out to a local club. She had stayed out late, drank way too much and had to be taken home in cab.
She knew she probably wouldn't ever drink again. It was a hard lesson learned with Sadie holding back her hair as she wretched in the upstairs bathroom. Her adoptive mother, Victoria, disappointed in her, her adoptive father, Hugo, angry.
"You're grandparents are mad." Sadie whispered. "You're young, you're supposed to act stupid, yes?"
"They are not my grandparents." Ariadne said as she wretched again.
She felt much better after vomiting and wanted to lay down on the floor of bathroom. When she laid down, at least her head stopped spinning.
Victoria asked Sadie to leave, the leggy, spider girl apologized and she and John hurried out.
"Ariadne, I don't know what to think about you anymore. You used to be such a good girl." the older woman cried.
"Mother, just... leave me alone." Ariadne whispered as she curled into a ball. She wanted to go to sleep; wanted to block out how kind Victoria and Hugo were to her. Lately, she had been pushing her adoptive parents away more and more.
She could no longer be the sweet daughter they had wanted her to be when they took her out of that group home in America.
"Ariadne, we love you, but we don't love your choices. You have such potential in school. You need to focus on your studies and stop hanging around your friends. I don't like that Sadie girl; she is nothing but trouble. She dresses like a prostitute." Victoria's hand went to her mouth and she tried not to cry.
"Sadie is my friend. I'm not blowing her off, Mother." Ariadne groaned as she felt ready to pass out.
"Ariadne." Victoria said. "We just... we don't' want you to lose yourself. Alright? Just don't lose yourself."
~ Thirteen Years Later ~
"I'm not going to lose myself, Mother." Ariadne sighed as her head felt heavy. "Why would you think that?"
"Oh, Thank God!" a man's voice drifted to her. She didn't recognize his voice, but he sounded relived.
She could feel hands on her then. A large hand taking hers and giving it a squeeze.
"Ariadne?" the man said. "Open your eyes."
She didn't recognize the voice. Didn't understand it right away.
"Open your eyes right now." the voice commanded.
'He's so bossy! He's going to keep bugging you till you do it. Might as well.' She thought bitterly. Her adoptive parents must have called an ambulance or something. It was just like them. They worried over her so much it was annoying.
She opened her eyes and blinked at the brightness.
"She's awake?" came a familiar woman's voice in a heavy French accent.
"Sadie?" Ariadne croaked.
"Oh, she is awake!" Sadie shirked and Ariadne felt her new friend kiss her cheek. "We were all so worried about you, stupid!"
Ariadne focused on her friend.
She looked drastically different. Not in the normal, blond hair one day, black hair the next. Sadie didn't look like Sadie anymore.
Gone were the neon fish net stockings, the violent purple mini skirt she just bought. The pink high heels and the heavy false eye lashes. Sadie now looked like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine. Complete with Channel jewelery and a stylish hair cut.
"Sadie? Is that you?" Ariadne asked as her head hurt.
"Of course it's me." Sadie laughed. "You must have hit your head harder then you thought."
Ariadne looked around her. Her vision still not working right. She saw a man, her doctor most likely, in a well tailored suit. She ignored him and focused on her friend.
"Sadie, what happened? Did Mother and Dad call an ambulance?" she asked.
Sadie looked surprised. Her face, free of harsh make-up showed total shock.
"Your parents?" she repeated.
"Look, I'm fine. Tell mother I'm fine. They worry too much. I did really well in class this term, and we were just blowing off steam." Ariadne said sitting up in bed.
"Ariadne?" the man in the nice suit asked.
She looked at this man. He was handsome, but he glared harshly at her.
"Look, doctor, I don't know what my parents told you, but I'm alright." Ariadne told him. "I'm nineteen years old; I'm an adult. My friend John and I were talking about getting an apartment together." Ariadne said feeling so angry at her adoptive mother just now.
"Ariadne, it's me..." the man said coming closer to her.
"If I want to go out with my friends, I can." Ariadne insisted.
"Ariadne, don't you know who he is?" Sadie asked suddenly.
Ariadne looked at her friend. Not only was her make-up and style different, her face looked different to. It was like Sadie was a grown up.
"He's my doctor." Ariadne whispered.
"No, darling." Sadie said. "No, this is Arthur. He's your husband."
~ "Amnesia?" Cobb repeated as he scowled at the Architect sitting in her wheelchair. Sadie hadn't left her side and and was talking to her; the three men just outside her hospital room.
Arthur shook his head.
"She thinks she's nineteen years old again." the Point Man grumbled.
"She doesn't know you?" Eames asked in shock. "Doesn't remember you at all?"
"No." Arthur said sadly. "She remembers Sadie, but that's about it. Oh, and she thinks her grandparents, Victoria and Hugo are still alive. Even her accent is different."
"Oh dear." Cobb sighed.
"How could this have happened?" Arthur fumed.
"The car accident, the coma that followed. Who knows?" Eames said as the three men watched Ariadne and Sadie.
"Could have been a result of the compound? Some sort of long term use?" Cobb whispered.
"Nothing like this has ever happened in dream extraction." Arthur hissed.
"First time for everything." Eames said sadly.
~ "Sadie, whatever joke you're playing, you can just stop it." Ariadne snapped at her friend. Her head hurt and she wanted her clothes back. She would move out of her parents home today and not even call them.
"Ariadne, it's not a joke." Sadie said calmly. "You were in a car accident. You've been asleep for two days now."
The Architect shook her head.
"Telling me I'm married to that old man. What is he? Like, Forty years old?" Ariadne huffed.
"Arthur just turned thirty eight." Sadie told her.
"Old." Ariadne laughed. "And look at you." she said eying Sadie's new look. "You have a court date or something?"
Sadie smiled and sat up a little straighter.
"Tell me, what is the last thing you remember?" Sadie asked.
Ariadne sighed and had to think about it.
"We... we went out to a club and we went dancing. It was the end of our first term so we were having some fun. John and I were talking about getting a place. He had just broke up with his boyfriend and... I drank too much. I got sick in the street, in the cab and then at home. Mother was mad at me." Ariadne laughed.
"Our first term at art school?" Sadie asked. "When we first meet?"
"Yeah." Ariadne said.
"Ariadne, that was over thirteen years ago." Sadie told her.
Ariadne looked at the leggy spider woman like she was waiting for the punch line.
"Sadie... don't be stupid." Ariadne told her friend.
"I'm serious."
"I need to go home. I'm telling mother and dad that I'm moving out. I'm so sick of them." Ariadne fumed as she slowly stood up. Her whole body hurt and she tried to keep her balance.
"Ariadne, don't say anything else about Victoria and Hugo." Sadie warned.
"Why not? I'm I grounded or something? Oh, I would love to hear them tell me I'm grounded. I'm nineteen years old, I'm an adult." Ariadne said hotly.
"You're not nineteen; you're thirty two." Sadie said sharply.
Ariadne turned and looked at her friend.
Sadie took a deep breath.
"You're thirty two years old. That man, Arthur, is your husband. If you go home, Victoria and Hugo won't be they because they died in a house fire. A long time ago now." Sadie said breathlessly.
"That's not funny, Sadie. This isn't a funny joke; just stop it." Ariadne insisted.
"It's not a joke." Sadie told her.
"What's with your accent? You're English is so much better all of the sudden." Ariadne snapped at her friend.
"Ariadne." Sadie said trying to catch her hands. "Go look at yourself in the mirror."
The leggy Spider woman nodded to the bathroom and Ariadne, not sure of what to do next, wandered into the mirror.
It was like a bad dream. Ariadne didn't recognize this woman in her reflection. Her dark hair was longer and expensively cut. Her face was the same, yet, not as rounded and babyish as it normally looked.
"I..." Ariadne said as she examined her own reflection. "I look like... I look like someone's mom." She decided.
Sadie bit her lip. Not really sure how to explain that.
"I want to go home." Ariadne said at last.
"I'll have Arthur bring the car around." Sadie said with a sigh of relief.
"No. I don't know him!" Ariadne shouted. "I want to go home. My home! NOW!"