10. Ultimate Paradox

Author note:

Hi again! I originally had difficulty of thinking a way to write this particular chapter but then I had a stroke of genius or a brainwave and realized what I could write. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Interesting chapters are coming ahead. Woo!

Arthur (just like the previous day) spent the next couple of weeks to follow suffering. Seeing the sight of Tom and Ariadne together just…did something to him. He couldn't bear to look at them two together, let alone Tom. Arthur was allowed to isolate himself again from the group in his office to contain his emotions but one day, the young woman that was making him feel this way, decided to show up and talk to him like nothing was wrong.

"Hey Arthur" He had his head on the desk along with his arms. He opened his eyes at the sound of her voice which had died out of resentment from the tension that was between them much earlier. Actually, the resentment didn't die out. It just passed onto Arthur. He lifted his head to see a content Ariadne. She smiled at him unaware to Arthur's bitterness. "Hi. I was thinking while doing some papers that I hadn't done a particular something in a while then I looked at your office and figured, it was our paradox sessions I was missing" Ariadne illustrated. Arthur sat upwards and held his grimace. "I thought your boyfriend would be teaching you or something" He turned around on his chair and opened a cabin of files.

Ariadne's face abruptly changed to a bewildered yet a faintly panicked expression. No one knew, right? About her and Tom? They on purpose didn't want to show their relationship. She said so as well. Who found out then? Her mind was filled with alarm and confusion. Arthur could sense due to the delayed moment of silence before she answered sensibly "You mean Tom? Well actually, I'm teaching him. I also taught him paradox techniques and he found them as genius moves. Of course I gave you credit. It was just a turning of tables since he actually helped me and taught me things during my 3rd year of university. It is just what true friends do for each other I guess" As Arthur straightened his back up and grabbed the bundle of papers, he could sense the obvious clarification made by Ariadne to defend that she wasn't with Tom but Arthur knew what he heard and saw in that dream the other day. He just let it slide though and let Ariadne be as he commented "Hm, great" he turned back around with the papers and dropped them hard on the desk. Ariadne was relieved that Arthur went along with her response but knew something wrong was going on with him which probably distracted him from further questioning about her and Tom. Ariadne has seen him glance occasionally at her and Tom together and she could see Arthur reacting slightly bitterly time after time. "Are you okay? You seem a bit… tense and pissed off" Ariadne observed. "Oh I have never felt finer" Arthur remarked. Ariadne ignored his sarcasm and let him be. She sighed before deciding to address the issue between them possibly contributing to Arthur's mood.

"Look, I know what…happened between us has backtracked some things and that includes work and…personal relations but I want you to know that all is forgiven and forgotten. On my side I know for sure. But I'm sorry if I've offended you in any way. If it's because of Tom, I only brought him because I've known him for a while and I've seen him at work with architecture so I knew he was eligible to join the mission. He's one of my closest friends and a great team mate. Speaking of, I really do miss us working together…especially as friends" Arthur just shifted his eyes upwards at Ariadne while not moving a single rigid muscle in his body as he stayed in his chair. For the first time, he felt a slight reaction at the mention of the word 'friends' from Ariadne. He didn't show it though as he remained silent looking at her. "Please Arthur. I just…it's not the same with you during work. Not the same as old times. I mean, yes I have Tom but there's just not the balance of your…existence in the system of our group" Ariadne continued. This whole speech from Ariadne was on a borderline of ignorant bullshit excuses and genuine sorrow to Arthur. Or maybe, it was just that he couldn't process what Ariadne was saying or meaning due to his own personal demons of emotions and interpretations being built up in his mind. Either way, Arthur had to make a choice to either play along with Ariadne or cause commotion again by rejecting her. He had dropped his vision downwards and he stared a mid-air contemplating. Ariadne quietly watched him before he inhaled and exhaled loudly to utter "Fine. We'll do a session"

Ariadne's face lit up with a grin as Arthur struggled to half smile. "I'll set up everything outside in the warehouse space" She got up but before heading through the door, she simply thanked him. Arthur nodded then sighed in exasperation thinking he was going to regret doing this and lose even more control. He didn't even know what technique to show her but then…it came clear. Arthur stood up with some sense of determination and went out the door of his office with the perfect technique to teach.

Arthur soon entered the warehouse space to see Ariadne with everything set up. It had been a long time since he had done this with her. Times were so much simpler then when they were just co-workers but it felt like such a harsh journey till now. At least he was coping with bitterness better than she was before. Ariadne kept her smile as she saw Arthur walk closer towards the chairs. He couldn't help but notice Tom's desk on the other side of the warehouse was empty. "Where's Tom?" Arthur hoarsely asked. "He's in a meeting with the other guys" Ariadne responded. Arthur made his way to the chair and rolled up his sleeve. "It's actually his first meeting and even alone so I'm really proud of him. As friends should be" Ariadne persisted. Arthur raised his eyebrows then dropped them quickly in annoyance at the mention of Tom and how she was still trying to keep the lie about their romantic involvement. Soon, they were both prepared and wired on. "Are you ready?" Ariadne couldn't hide her eagerness. Arthur just simply nodded with a straight face that kept hidden his intent plan. They both got into a comfortable situation in their chairs and closed their eyes.

Ariadne found herself in a completely new environment. A city in broad daylight and colour…it almost seemed similar to Tom's. "What happened to the white room and the hallway?" Ariadne enquired. Arthur kept walking and couldn't help but haughtily smile to himself. "This technique requires things to be kicked up a notch" Arthur answered. Ariadne was half curious, half unsure about what Arthur meant. They walked through streets until they reached a wide park showing the buildings at a distance. "For today's technique…it is quite special" Arthur commented. It was most definitely special for him. Ariadne stared at Arthur with anticipation. "So, what is it? Does it involve gravity? Illusions?" Ariadne listed. "With all of this-"He gestured around in a circle at the buildings and sites. "I want you to collapse it all"

Ariadne was taken by slight surprise by the request. "What, as in make the dream collapse?" Ariadne didn't think this was a particular paradox dream technique so it truly perplexed her at today's teaching involving collapsing dreams. "I guess so" Arthur simplified. "But isn't it kind of easy to do? Haven't I done it before? Even unintentionally?" Ariadne questioned. Arthur strolled a few steps forward. "I don't know, have you?" He countered. Ariadne exchanged a puzzled look and so, Arthur had just kicked off his plan for this session.

"You have to stop and think about it. Some people do say it's easy. Some people say it isn't because you have to take it from the start. So, you think you've just created or entered a decent, great maybe even perfect dream and enjoying it. But soon enough, let time take over, problems and mishaps will appear" Arthur had started circling around Ariadne as she listened. She was still confused though but it was Arthur's clever idea to use the dream collapsing technique: something so simple to paradoxically fit as a metaphor. A metaphor for what? Ariadne was still listening to Arthur to even think about figuring it out. "You have your applied changes to the environment that maybe you try to adapt to" Suddenly the grass ground elevates to reveal a sort of cone or pyramid shape that Arthur stands 3 steps above Ariadne. She climbs up to one step below Arthur but he walks slowly around which she follows. "Next you have some changes to the environment that are very different to what you wanted but you try to not let it get to you" Ariadne starts to see everything turn to different colours. The sky became a mauve colour from blue. The sun was white from a yellowish colour. The ground was an orangey brown and the buildings skyline was slightly distorted as the firm straight shape outlines of the buildings changed to have curves.

"Before you know it, imperfections and flaws show that you can't help but pick on and you realize that trying to ignore or cope with the odd changes was just a pure distraction to try and stay in the dream" Ariadne sees some of the buildings crumble and fall and the ground starts to form lumps showing unevenness. "After all these drastic changes and progress, the projections just come on after the other" As soon as Arthur stated those words, she could see oncoming projections. Ariadne starts to become concerned as the crowd of projections draw nearer. "Of course you need control, patience and passion to maintain a dream but sometimes, it gets out of hand. You could try and fix it but-"He pauses looking at the projections whose faces they could all see clearly now. "The alternative way in majority terms is that…it has to collapse" The projections are now grabbing Arthur and Ariadne. "How do I collapse it?" Ariadne yells. Arthur doesn't answer as the ground caves in and Ariadne wakes up.

"It happens naturally" He replies. Ariadne stays staring at him trying to take in his deep analysis of collapsing dreams but she still hadn't caught onto Arthur's metaphor. "The dream can be collapsed by oneself or someone else, the other person or… it just happens itself" Arthur remarked. Ariadne had sat up straight still looking at Arthur. "Under all that pressure and through those stages from complete proclaimed perfection or decency to a flawed illusion, dreams will result in collapsing. It's just when you've found the right control and passion for a dream that it will remain" Arthur concluded. He caught gaze with Ariadne and he could see she was purely speechless yet maybe baffled. He wondered if she could read between the lines and see the hidden message of his metaphor but if she did know it, it was only for her to take into account. The fact that romantic relationships are like dreams. They are first seen great and well but over time, it will be affected with changes and problems that will come after the other. At chance, they may or may not end or collapse. It just depends on the commitment, attention, passion and control in that relationship. Arthur would know from personal experience.

Ariadne sat still in silence. "To answer your first question back in there, yes. You probably have collapsed a dream or two. If you did so unintentionally? That seems quite quick in cognitive matters. It isn't important though how you do it. What is important though is the knowledge of whether to do it and the timing of when to collapse it. It's just for personal benefit or maybe for someone else's" Arthur added. Ariadne's mind was fuzzy at this intricate explanation about the dream collapsing but still hadn't caught onto Arthur's metaphor. She was still thinking heavily on Arthur's explanation to do so. He stood up like nothing was wrong or different and was going to head back to his office. He was so caught up with explaining his hidden metaphor that he hadn't noticed that Tom had come around the corner of the hallway to his desk.

"Oh hey Arthur" He stopped in his tracks and that irritating chirpy voice of Tom snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. Arthur moved his jaw side to side vigorously before he turned around with a half smile towards Tom. He nodded in Tom's direction. "How did it go?" Ariadne stood up and she herself had been snapped out of her deep serious thoughts when she heard Tom. "It actually went great. They liked the designs and I get to show everyone around afterwards some time soon. And it's all thanks to you" Ariadne was surprised as Tom lifted her up slightly as he hugged her tightly. She reacted in delay by putting her arms around his neck and patting him on the back. Arthur rolled his eyes and looked at the wall towards his left away from them. Even though it wasn't a kiss and it was more like a platonic gesture, Arthur really just didn't like them less than an inch apart. They broke apart and turned towards Cobb who had entered. "Great work Tom. I really enjoyed your visions of your designs. It was quite well done" Cobb praised. "Thanks" Tom returned. "Well, since you've done well on creating the entire design, I suggest that you start working as well on shortcuts or most importantly environmental defense" Cobb suggested. "Alright. I guess it'll be more work together Ariadne" Tom grinned at Ariadne which Arthur watched as well before turning away again but he caught glance with Cobb who briefly looked at him then towards Tom. "Actually, I know another person you are yet to work with and who knows this sort of field inside out" Cobb revealed. "No" Arthur suddenly realized that things were going to get a lot worse. "You sir?" Tom directed towards Cobb. "No. That'll be more with combat and projections on my side but it's actually the person to your very left" Tom looked over to Arthur. "Oh! That's great. It'll be fun working together" Tom grinned again while Arthur had to retain a grimace from spreading on his face. It could not be more of a hellhole.