21.

Ariadne felt her heart race as she snapped open her eyes. Another dream? She sat motionless for a few moments, trying to steady her ragged breathing and work out where the hell she was this time. It looked vaguely familiar, like a place from a half-forgotten dream. But where?

She was dimly aware of someone whispering in her ear, soothing words that sent a wave of déjà vu crashing over her.

'It's okay, you're all right. You're okay.'

Ariadne blinked to clear her blurred vision and turned her head to the left. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she found Arthur kneeling down next to her, his hands resting on the arm of the lawn chair, his dark eyes searching for her own.

' ... Arthur?' she murmured. 'Why are you talking?'

It was an absurd question – to anyone who had not been sharing her most recent dreams. That Arthur had been silent, never uttering a word even when spoken to. His expression had never changed, even when shooting people dead; it was cold, hard like his eyes. As though there was nothing to him but lethal reflexes and a deadly trigger finger.

But this Arthur ...

His eyes were soft, kind as they bore into hers, as though searching for an answer to some deep-seated question. His expression was full of concern, not blank like white marble.

This Arthur had to be a dream, too. The real Arthur had never looked at her in such a way.

'Ariadne, you're back,' Arthur said, his fingers inching toward her elbow as it rested on the arm of the chair. 'You're not dreaming anymore.'

Ariadne stared at him, trying desperately to comprehend the words that were coming out of his mouth. Of course she was still dreaming. She had accepted that long ago – she was never going to stop dreaming. She looked away from the new Arthur and found Eames, standing a few feet away to her right. They were all here, just like before.

'Ariadne, look at me.'

Cobb? No, that couldn't be right. He wasn't supposed to be there. It was just the three of them, like always.

'Your totem,' Arthur murmured, his breath tickling the small hairs in her inner ear. 'In your pocket.'

Her hand reached into her pocket before she knew what she was doing, obeying the irresistible note of command in the Point Man's voice. She felt the cool, smooth metal beneath her fingers and pulled it out. But she didn't test it. She didn't want to know the answer, the one she knew she would receive if she tried to topple the small chess piece. She had pushed it so many times, but it never fell. Not once.

'Test it,' Arthur whispered.

She could feel his breath on her neck, could smell his aftershave as he leant closer to her. She inhaled the appealing aroma, marvelling at how near he was. She could so easily reach out and touch him, should she feel the urge. She didn't think she had ever been close enough to smell him before. Even when she had kissed him, in a dream so long ago, she didn't remember noticing such a pleasant scent. CK One, she thought with a smile. Her favourite.

And that was when she knew.

Her fingers trembled around her totem as she looked at Arthur once more, examining his face, his eyes, the frown lines on his otherwise smooth forehead. His aftershave drifted over to her again as she breathed in, seeming to clear her head.

With a shaky hand she placed her bishop on the small table next to her and pushed.

'Oh my God,' she muttered as she watched it fall. 'This isn't a dream ... '

'Well, I'm glad we finally got that sorted.'

Ariadne started at the sound of the voice; rich and deep, one she had never heard before. She looked up, scanning the room for its owner. She saw the smirk before she noticed the crop of blonde hair and black suit.

'It's nice to finally talk you in the real world,' the man said. 'Ariadne, is it? What a charming name.'

Ariadne felt her chair shift slightly as Arthur gripped onto the arm. She glanced at him as he stood up and found no trace of the anxiety she had seen before. His eyes were empty once more, and she wondered if she hadn't been dreaming, after all.

'Once Saito is ready we'll press on,' the man continued. 'Unlike the rest of you, I'm very busy and haven't got all day to discuss the matter at hand.'

Ariadne stared at him as she tried to wrap her head around just what the hell was happening. She was in a warehouse, that much she could tell. In Paris? It certainly looked like the same one. But ... the chairs were different. The one she was currently sitting on was a pale green, not white like they had been before. And the door was on the opposite wall.

'Gunther, what's taking so long?' the blonde man shouted, making her jump again.

'I'm sorry, sir, but he hasn't recovered enough,' someone else called back from the far corner of the room. 'He's still drowsy.'

The blonde let out a frustrated sigh and cracked the knuckles of both his hands. The sound reverberated through Ariadne, making her cringe. She had always hated people doing that.

'We'll just have to do this without him,' he said, looking at the others standing around him. 'It won't take long. You all know what we're expecting of you by now.'

Ariadne sat in silence, wondering just how long she had been kept dreaming. She seemed to remember Arthur telling Eames and her that 'they' wanted to know how the team had performed the Inception on Robert Fischer. But who were 'they'? She glanced around the room, her eyes finally finding someone else she recognised besides her colleagues. Browning. Yes, Arthur had mentioned him. So who was the blonde man?

'Robert will be making his announcement on Friday morning,' Browning said gruffly, blowing out a puff of smoke from the cigar he clutched in his hand. 'So we need to get to him before he goes to sleep on Thursday night.'

'Thursday?' Cobb said. 'But that gives us even less time to figure it out. I'm telling you, there's no way – '

'Yes, we all know what you think, Cobb,' the blonde cut in. 'And you know that you still have no choice in the matter, if you want to see your children again.'

A terrible silence descended over the group. Ariadne thought she could hear her own heart beating in her chest as she sat there. She willed it to stop, for someone would surely hear it soon enough and turn to look at her.

But she was worrying over nothing. Everyone's attention was focused on the blonde; Arthur was standing as still as a statue beside her, his right hand gripping the opening of his trouser pocket, turning his knuckles white; Eames was staring at the stranger, his face unusually devoid of any expression; Yusuf was lying in one of the other lawn chairs, looking mildly confused; and Cobb ...

Ariadne hadn't seen Cobb so furious since the first layer of the Inception, when he had ripped into Arthur for failing to spot the fact that Fischer had undergone training against Extraction. She really thought he was going to pounce on the blonde man and tear him to pieces. And she was surprised to find that the thought frightened her, despite all she had been through with him.

'I'm sorry, did we not mention that we had a tail put on them after you left the house?' the blonde said, stroking his chin in mock thoughtfulness. 'Hmm, I'm sure we did.'

'You're bluffing,' Arthur growled, his voice completely at odds with his ever-pristine appearance.

'You better hope so.'

Browning took a step forwards and cleared his throat, throwing a glance at the man that managed to look both nervous and annoyed. 'Anyway, back to business. You now have four days to prepare.'

'The idea needs to take a hold in his mind before he makes the announcement to the media,' the blonde continued, as though nothing untoward had happened. 'Which is why we can't do it on the Friday morning. He would likely still stick to his original plan and break up the empire, even though he would start to doubt his decision. Doing it the night before gives it time to ferment in his mind, eroding the damage you did before, and making him believe it actually was a dream when he wakes up in his own bed.' He paused, taking in the others as they watched his every move. 'Now, Browning and I won't be back until Thursday afternoon, but that doesn't mean we won't know what you're up to. My men will be here in our place, and will be checking in with me every few hours. We also have the warehouse wired with CCTV, and someone watching over it twenty-four-seven. If you even think of trying to escape, I'll know about it. And I don't think I need to remind you just how ruthless I can be when pushed.' Another pause as he allowed his words to sink in. 'Just in case that doesn't deter you, my men have been ordered to shoot to kill if any one of you tries leaving here without permission. Not to mention the other ... added incentives.'

Nobody said a word. The tension was becoming so unbearable it was all Ariadne could do to stop herself from screaming, just so she could break it. She could feel the urge welling up inside of her, forcing its way up her dry throat and fighting to get past her clenched teeth.

'I think that's all,' Browning said with a sidelong look at his colleague. 'I expect everything to be ready when we come back.'

'Until then,' the blonde said, mimicking a soldier's salute. 'Happy hunting.'

The two men departed with three of their lackeys, leaving the group to stare after them. Ariadne still wasn't sure what was going on. She felt so far out her depth – even worse than when they had performed the Inception. At least they'd had a plan then, something she could stick to and follow through to the end. Even when things had gone wrong, her logical mind had come up with a solution, calming her with the knowledge that it wasn't real, that she would get out eventually. But here ...

This was reality. And there was no escaping it.

'That fucking piece of shit!' Cobb roared as he kicked the nearby bin, sending it flying into the wall.

Ariadne jumped out of her seat as the remaining three men aimed their guns at Cobb, startled by his sudden outburst. They held them there, level with his head, until Arthur marched over and placed his hands on his partner's shoulders.

'Dom, look at me. Look at me.' Cobb did so, and Ariadne flinched at the hatred that burned in his eyes. 'We can do this. I know we can do this. I think I've got it figured out. Come Thursday, we'll be ready.'

Cobb seemed to visibly relax as Arthur spoke, though whether because of the Point Man's words or something deep in his eyes, she couldn't tell. But she realised, in that moment, how much trust he had in his partner. She had always known how much respect Arthur had for Cobb, how much faith he put in him, but had never seen it reciprocated until now. It made her feel better, somehow. Safer, as though simply perceiving the deep bond they shared made her trust them with her life, too. Right then, she wouldn't have wanted anyone else.

Arthur turned back to the rest of the group and rubbed his hands together. Ariadne could see the determined glint in his eyes, the same one she had noticed when he had been rigging the hotel room with explosives in the second layer of the Inception. If anyone could find a way out of the mess they were in, it was him. Everything hinged on the little details – and details, as he had told her many times before, were his speciality.

'Right,' Eames chipped in, speaking for the first time since Ariadne had awoken. The resolution that shone through in his voice, through that one word, calmed her even further. 'Where do we start?'

A/N: Okay, so I know I promised you the backstory of the foursome in this chapter, but it turned out longer than I had planned. So, I've decided to cut it off there and continue in the next one instead, which I will hopefully have up tonight when I get back, provided I'm not back too late. I hope this was one was all right though, and the return to Ariadne's POV wasn't too jarring! There will be some more substantial A/A content in the next one, assuming it all goes to plan ... this time. I shall do my best. :)