12. Inferno
A/N
I am so sorry people! This has been long overdue so I am sorry. I guess I was on writer's block as I had some difficulty trying to write this and fit it. Anyway, enjoy I guess and I'm sorry again. Heads up: big cliffhanger at the end which will be answered at least within the few days as to make up for the lack of updating, I've already prewritten the next chapter so huzzah! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! I'm so sorry.
By the way, here's a quote that applies well to this chapter.
"Love sees sharply, hatred sees even more sharp, but jealousy sees the sharpest for it is love and hate at the same time." – Arab Proverb
"What the hell Arthur!" Ariadne's frustration echoed along the hallways. Arthur wasn't sorry. He kept walking towards his room as Ariadne followed him expecting an apology. "What happened to him? Why is his face injured like that?" Ariadne questioned. Arthur kept silent. He unlocked the door to his room which allowed Ariadne to finally catch up with him.
"Give me a damn answer!" Ariadne demanded. He entered his room leaving it open for Ariadne to come in and commence her anger. Arthur sat down at his office desk still holding a poker face which kept making Ariadne furious. "Okay" Ariadne calmed down. "I'm guessing you're not replying to my angry rants so can I at least ask one decent question?" Ariadne continued. She saw him raise an eyebrow which was one conveyance of answer. "Alright" She swung his office chair around to face her keeping hold of the arms of the chair. "Tell me what you think of Tom. Your honest opinion" Ariadne interrogated. He looked straight into her eyes secretly enjoying this position he was in. Finally, Arthur answered. "Firstly, I'm not even sorry. Secondly, you might want to take a seat because I have a long honest opinion on him" Ariadne let go of the arms of the chair and sat down on the foot of his bed. "Typical" she scoffed. Arthur turned his chair fully towards her and began his opinion on Tom.
"Alright, let's start." Ariadne folded her arms while waiting. "Let's refer back to something that you told me. Whatever happened to being into mature guys? Tom is such a head-in-the-clouds person; he might as well be a child. Plus, he won't shut up, ever! He just keeps rambling on about love and crap. It seems like it's a distraction point that takes him away from the focus of being an architect. Why'd you bring him here then? He just serves as some distraction to you and this… older guy friend crap? Yea, it's a total way to hide it from the others and you think your romance is safe just in the dream world? Think again" Ariadne held a disgusted, outraged expression and interrupted "Excuse me! Why the hell are you tackling about that? And how dare you invade our privacy? Which dream did you see us? No wonder you kept acting bitterly whenever Tom and I were close by"
That was when it hit Ariadne. "Wait, you were jealous!" Arthur rolled his eyes at the accusation. He still wanted to deny it right in front of her. "Do you really think I would stoop so low like that? By being jealous? Of course not. Not everything is about you Ariadne" Yet, it was about her. Everything was about her. No matter what through Arthur's bitterness. "Well you're stooping quite low right now after punching Tom and lying to my face right now" Ariadne countered. "I am not jealous Ariadne. I'm over that sort of stuff already. I'm just heavily concerned about you due to the fact that Tom is incompetent" Arthur added. "Stop saying that about him. He is the sweetest guy here and he doesn't deserve this pack of insults coming from you" Ariadne had to scoff again in exasperation.
"Well that's the thing, he has to learn to be better then maybe I'll back off and stop pointing out his flaws. It's so easy for you to support him just because he's your boyfriend or best friend or whatever other relation you guys have" Arthur contended. "I don't hear Eames or Cobb complaining about him so obviously, it's just you who is creating all this hate about him and that explains now why you punched him. You are jealous!" Ariadne pointed at him angrily. "Give me one good reason why I would be" Arthur was trying so hard to evade this allegation.
Ariadne stood up and started pacing the floor from the far wall towards Arthur. "There's plenty Arthur. Firstly, Tom is the new guy of the group and he's receiving all this attention and reward through his genuine good work" Arthur shook his head. "I don't need attention Ariadne and I've been the new guy before just like Tom and it's a place that I'm pretty indifferent about" That was one argument shot down but it was only the beginning for Ariadne. "Oh sure. Well, there's also the fact that he's a really nice guy and trying his best around here –" Arthur scowled "Are you saying that I don't do my best around here or I'm not nice?" Ariadne shrugged her shoulders. "Would you call punching Tom in the face nice? And you still haven't answered my question or more like my demand of why the hell you punched him in the face"
Arthur stood up and turned to face the other way. Ariadne's anger was starting to seriously harass him. He couldn't exactly tell straight up of why he punched Tom as it would unravel continuous points and denunciations from Ariadne. He couldn't afford that. Especially jealousy. It was such a pitiful sentiment especially to him but then again, it had been what felt like forever that he'd gone through this process involving jealousy. It was also something to note that it did involve another girl – if he could dare to say it – that he was in love with. If it all corresponded with that fact, what did it make Ariadne in terms of the whole process?
It seemed that Arthur had frozen while staring at the other side away from Ariadne. "Arthur? I'm still waiting and I'm not leaving until I get an answer" That was it. He needed her to get out of here or away from him before he would lose control and make history repeat itself. Arthur faced her again with a neutral expression and came up with an ultimate contradictive cover up. "It was an accident. I'm sorry and I've told Tom I'm sorry as well" Ariadne's face expressed utter disbelief. "No it wasn't! And you said so yourself that you're not even sorry. Stop lying" He knew it himself that it was completely fabricated but he was only trying to retain his sanity and control. Yet, Ariadne could see straight through him which was not helping. It wasn't going to finish in a simple snap. This argument was going to stretch and verge onto deeper territories. "Just admit it okay? Admit the truth" Ariadne stated. "I am admitting the truth. It was an accident. The whole thing was an accident. It just…suddenly happened and I saw him on the floor" There were some aspects of what Arthur proclaimed occurred that were true.
It was a spontaneous action that happened between them. Arthur stood in shock realizing so many things while Tom was almost slumped on the ground. Arthur had no idea what to do and wondered if any others saw that he committed the crime. It was an ultimate release of frustration but he didn't intend for such a drastic action. He had desires but never thought he would actually pull it.
Tom was slowly getting up and sat upright. Arthur was contemplating decision to either uncomfortably help him up or run away like a criminal. He remained frozen on the spot as Tom grunted in pain getting up. "I am so sorry" Those words escaped Arthur's mouth in a panic. Tom had looked up with a half frightful, half perplexed expression at Arthur but to truth, the only reason why Arthur had uttered those words was in his rightful attitude of knowing and respecting honor and integrity especially to another person but he had just violated that moral by snapping at Tom.
Arthur had made one small step towards Tom but he slightly flinched. "Oh no, it's alright. It's fine. I'm fine. Just…I'm fine. It was an accident and-" He was gesturing in a hurry as if dismissing the complication of this confronting situation or also in a way for Arthur to back away from him. Arthur flexed his hand which was still containing the impact of the hit. There was a noticeable red swelled spot just below his eye of where Arthur's fist made direct contact with. It was slightly horrifying to see the sight and it was dawning on Arthur so much that this was going to be hard to clarify everything.
Things felt to become worst as Eames entered the scene. "Hello again guys. How is working – oh whoa! What happened here?" Eames had caught immediate sight of Tom and his bruised face. Arthur remained silent switching vision towards each person. Tom had finally gotten up with assistance of the table and nervously laughed. "I just had a nasty tumble but I'm fine" Arthur still couldn't comprehend why Tom was…possibly excusing and covering up what he had done. "Do you need to go to hospital or something?" Eames asked. "Uh…I don't know. Is it bad?" Tom hadn't seen yet what the damage was and barely looked at Arthur. "I would say so. Don't you reckon Arthur?" He reacted in delay and gazed at Tom again who still didn't avert his vision that was focused on Eames. Arthur simply nodded while Eames was oblivious to the situation. "Well, let's go to the hospital then. Arthur, tell Cobb and the others we'll be back soon" Tom decided to go with Eames so they headed towards the exit of the warehouse.
Arthur was still dazed on what was happening. He didn't know whether to feel at panic and in trouble or to be satisfied and calm due to the two way outcomes of this action he pulled. Arthur only knew though that he would have to confront the consequence soon enough as it all laid on how Tom was going to deal with it. Let alone, when it would be discovered. It was some stress for Arthur and he was verging onto territory of regret.
"It was only then when I went to the hospital that I found out what happened to Tom. When I asked him what happened, he was kind of vague on details but I knew one thing: you were the last person with him before he had to go to the hospital" Ariadne brought the story full circle. Arthur couldn't elaborate any further on how the story went but he was holding a facade on how he truly thought about the situation. On some terms, he felt satisfied after committing the release and stood for his opinions against Tom but it felt all to make an opposing stand against Ariadne while Tom had to suffer the hit. It was self-conflicting and debatable for Arthur on what his true intention was after that action. Overall though, it was a huge mess up in flames.
"For the love of –" Arthur glimpsed back at Ariadne who is was in utter frustration. "I know you did it Arthur and I just need to know and have confessed of why you did it. What is it that you have against Tom? We need to…sort out this business because I know what happened between us has been put behind me but I'm not so sure about you" Ariadne clarified. Arthur folded his arms. "I snapped. Okay. I was really stressed and unfortunately Tom was within range. Too bad Eames wasn't there in that range so everything would've been a lot better" Silence lingered for a moment which Arthur felt relieved and surprised thinking that it had wrapped things up for their discussing. He thought too soon.
"Why though? Why were you stressed?" Arthur inhaled deeply trying to keep patient as Ariadne kept cascading with questions like an interrogation. He needed all of this to stop but it didn't as the bicker continued for another half an hour with repetitive mentions of jealousy, Tom and work. It was a vicious cycle of arguments but Ariadne and Arthur kept their opposing sides up and straight. With her trying to break Arthur in terms of the truth and him attempting to stand his ground and honest thoughts about Tom to Ariadne, it seemed to be endless of the fiery rage being shared between them.
Soon enough, Arthur couldn't take any more of Ariadne's rage. He had lost the ability to keep his straight face and to keep control. He stood up and wanted to leave the room. "Where do you think you're going!" Ariadne stood up as well. "There's no way you're leaving now. After all, you're the one who started all of this. The whole fire!" Ariadne explained. He put his hand to his head as if he was getting a headache. "Alright!" Arthur blasted. "You want your apology? Fine! I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I punched Tom in the face. I'm sorry that he's a love-sick little child. I'm sorry that he is not a devoted architect. I'm sorry that he's just a plain distraction. A distraction for you. A distraction for me due to the fact it makes me deny everything and a distraction that you chose him over me" Arthur ranted. He breathed in and out to calm down. Ariadne stood there taking in all that he just said. She had so many ways to react to him. She could've slapped him, she could've pointed out it was him who said no to her or she could've walked out. No, the one thing she did do which she couldn't explain was kiss him.
