Hi, this is a continuation of the eighth chapter, though it's technically the ninth. This story is only going to be ten chapters, though I might add if I don't get where I want the story to be in ten, so enjoy!
The shot still rang in the air seconds after Arthur shot the man. I sat on the bed, clutching my arm, in silence. We were both shaken.
"Hey, look at me," Arthur said, sitting next to me. "It's fine. We're alright."
I was still breathing heavily. I looked at his bruised hand. I curled my fingers with his. I still haven't told him that I liked him. That I was falling for him. That I had been trying to deny this. I closed my eyes and thought of what would happen after inception. Would I ever see him again? But the big question lingered. Yeah, we've kissed, once for "business", and another for comfort. The question. Ugh, it rang in my head. Did he like me too?
"C'mon, let's get going," Arthur said, getting up. Would he always be able to sneak away and dodge the questions that were making my head spin? Why was it so hard for him to open up?
I followed anyway. He pushed the heavy fire escape door open. We walked down the long flights of stairs in silence. Once, we encountered another man, but Arthur just pushed him off the stair case to fall to his doom. Suddenly, Arthur looked up.
"What?" I asked.
"The music. We have to go back up," he said.
"Can we use the elevator?" I asked.
"Fine," he said, still concentrating on the music. I couldn't hear anything.
As we walked down the hallway towards the room, Arthur stopped. "It stopped!"
And, as soon as he finished, we floated up in the air. I tried to scream, but no noise came out. I tried talking, but not a sound. Arthur couldn't talk either. How were we supposed to get to the hotel room? And why didn't the kick work?
ARTHUR'S POV
I can't believe it. The kick didn't work. The music had stopped, and now we couldn't talk and were floating in the air. I wanted to tell her that in Yusuf's layer, we were in free fall, because the van was falling off the bridge. But it was too soon. I waved my arms in the air, but I didn't move. Then I reached over, grabbed the wall, pushed off, and I flew slowly toward the room. Behind me, I saw Ariadne do the same.
We managed to get to the hotel room. I knew that we had to do death by explosion. I absolutely hated that, but it was the only way to get out of this layer. I spotted a long wire, and with Ariadne's help, we tied everyone together with the wire. We pulled them to the elevator. We pulled them in. I also pulled the explosives off the ceiling and took them with me. I pulled off the tile on the ceiling, so Ariadne and I could plant the explosives. We were practically sitting on top of the elevator. I sighed mentally and got to work.
ARIADNE'S POV
I watched as Arthur planted the explosives. They were set to go off in one minute. When there was only fifteen seconds left, he cut the lines holding the elevator up, and the elevator zoomed towards the bottom. We both held on tightly as we got closer.
5, 4...
My heart started racing.
3, 2...
Arthur took my hand.
1...
The last thing I saw before I died was the wild fire of the explosion dancing in Arthur's black eyes.
XXXXXX
I woke up, inside the water-filled van. Cobb and Saito looked dead. The look in Arthur's eyes told me that they were in Limbo. Eames finished using the oxygen mask and handed it to me. I inhaled the sweet air deeply, and then handed it to Arthur. I shoved the van door open. I swam through the water as fast as I could, barely able to hold my breath. As soon as I reached the surface, I took in as much oxygen as I could possibly take, and pulled myself onto the shore. Arthur came up a couple seconds later, his suit drenched. But I sighed with relief because he was okay.
Eames came up with a still unconscious Fischer. Then Yusuf, Saito and Cobb. They all stood in the distance, watching the setting sun. Arthur and I sat by the water.
"I can't contact you for three weeks, you know," Arthur said.
"Yeah." I sat in my misery. Even though I was happy that it was a job well done, I couldn't talk to Arthur for three weeks. If I hadn't fallen for the point man, I wouldn't have felt as bad.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"How can you not know what's wrong?" I burst out. "I've fallen in love with you, and I can't see you for three weeks, and you still don't know what's wrong?" I had started shouting, so now Saito, Eames and Cobb were staring at us.
Arthur sat there for a minute, thinking. I can't believe how ignorant he is to human emotions. And before I could say anything else, he took my face in his hands and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him even closer, if that was possible. I deepened the kiss, I mean, I wasn't going to see him for three weeks, this would have to satisfy me for that amount of time. He hungrily kissed my jaw. I tilt my head back, giving myself up to the senses.
We were both snapped back to reality when Eames cleared his throat from behind us. We pulled away, both blushing like crazy. But Arthur was determined not to be embarrassed, especially by Eames, so he smirked his heart-stopping smirk. I felt like I had to drown myself just to stop thinking about how cute he looked when he smirked.
"Time's almost up," Yusuf said, walking over. Indeed it was. Just a couple seconds later, a bright light blinded me, and then I was gone from the dream world.
I woke up on the airplane, about the same time as everyone else. We all sat up as quickly as we could, because Fischer looked around.
"Please fasten your seatbelts, we will be arriving shortly," the flight attendant said.
Yeah, we will be arriving at reality. The dream was over.
Within the next hour, we landed. I got off the plane as soon as I could, and I headed to customs. Afterwards, I watched Cobb and Miles walk away. Then Eames. And Yusuf. Arthur was last to leave. I watched his retreating back with longing. He stopped, turned around, and caught my eye. Then he was gone too, leaving me behind.
Ok, now I know that next chapter is the last chapter! But don't cry, I may write a sequel ;D Oh by the way, writing the kissing scenes is a lot harder than it seems! Please review!
