It was a normal day, just like any other day. Ariadne returned from class taking the subway. She had a good half hour till home, but luckily it was only one line. Some of her friends had to take to or even three to get home. Not her. Just one line, the 10th. Ligne 10 entre Boulogne et Gare d'austerlitz. She'd take the Gare d'austerlitz direction to go to school, and headed to Boulogne to get home. And she had memorized the names and order of all estations, and their connections with other lines.

Sometimes he felt more at home in the subway than in her actual home. There seemed to be a perpetual night in the subway, and she liked the sensation. It reminded her of a time when dreams were the most exciting part of the day. Plus, you could see all kinds of people in the subway. From the elegant old lady who gives air to the whole wagon with her fan, the stereotypical japanase guy playing with a nintendo, a hot guy in a suit taking a nap...

Wait... was that...? No, it couldn't be!

Of all the places she had expected to find him, all the times she'd fantasized about running into him on the street, she never thought she'd find him there, in her very own line of the subway.

"Arthur... is that you?"

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the person speaking. Ariadne. God, he he was too tired to be a person right now, much more to be a social person.

"Hey, Ariadne! What a surprise! What brings you here?" he said, trying to sound casual.

"I live here, remember? I'm just going home after class. Nothing too exciting. And what are you doing here? You on a job?"

"No, just finished one. I'm here on vacation." Arthur answered, trying very hard not to let his eyes droop. He wanted to sleep so badly...but the thought that if he went to sleep he could never wake up again always cleared his mind.

"And why did you choose Paris for your vacation?" Ariadne asked, chatty. She secretly hoped he'd answer something like "because here I could ran into you, chérie " but knew that it was not going to be the case.

"I just caught the first flight from London." he said, in a soft tone. Very Arthur-y , having a logical and not at all emotional reason to be there. The stations continued to appear. They were in Duroc now, and a lot of people got off to connect with line 13, which allowed Ariadne to sit next to her former colleague.

"And what were you doing in London, if I may ask?"

"Job. With Eames. Very long." The realization that Ariadne was there and watching him was not a nice one. Usually, he'd love her company, but not now. He didn't want her to see him decline, to see him at his lowest. He had hoped he'd be left alone and silently pass in an anonymous hotel room. But Ariadne... she changed everything. She even gave him a will to fight. Now he just had to remain the best way he probably could, so she wouldn't notice something was wrong.

"Arthur, are you feeling all right?"

Well, maybe it was a bit too late.

Ariadne had noticed everything. Since she'd found him, she noticed the exhausted look in his face, the dark shadows under his eyes, the little wheezing sounds he made when he breathed. At first she thougth that he was probably tired after a long trip but the wheezing and the the strange form bruises in his neck (he'd tried to hide that, but to no avail) didn't match jet lag. Also, London-Paris was a really short trip, specially by plane.

"Yes, of course I'm all right." Arthur lied "And how are you? I didn't hear much of you after the Fischer job."

"I...just went back to college. I decided to finish my licence before I choose a career. That way, even if I don't do any dream-sharing jobs again, I'll have a title, something solid. And legal."

They both smiled.

"Well, look at you." Arthur said "And people thought I was the sensible one."

They were in Michel-Ange-Auteil when the woman in front of them dropped her bag trying to get out. Arthur, being the gentleman that he was, helped her lift it, and Ariadne saw that he had more of those strange bruises in his wrists, too, and how his wheezing became louder after the effort.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I..."

But then he took in Ariadne's concerned expression and decided to come clean. If he had taken another line, the next subway or the previous one, if he had simply sat in another wagon they wouldn't have found each other, and she would've never known. But there she was, and as they were reaching the end of the line (Boulogne- Jean jaurès) he spilled the truth:

"Ariadne, I... The last job went wrong, very wrong. People were angry, and I don't know when or with what, but I've been poisoned. Apparently, this is how they teach lessons, how they make sure no one messes with them. It's probably something that has no cure. I went to a hospital and they couldn't find anything. So I just resigned and... came to Paris to die."

And right there, in that moment, reaching that last stop of the 10th line, Ariadne thought she'd lost the ability to breathe. She looked at him, taking in everything. The perfectly gelled hair, the tortured eyes, the soft lips. He couldn't die. He just couldn't.

As the train emptied completely (arrivée au destination/arrival to destination) Ariadne took one of his hands softly and told him:

"You, dying? Well, I'm sorry, but I certainly cannot let that happen. Let's get out of this train and we'll figure something out. But you found me here for a reason, I'm sure of that. You are going to live, Arthur, no matter what it takes."

A/N: Yes, I wote it on the subway ^ ^ Did you like it? Hate it? I know it's a bit odd...Anyhow, leave any thoughts in REVIEW section! Would any of you readers would like a continuation of the story? I could feature different lines and places from Paris in the next chapters. You know you want to review!