She opened her eyes right as the water poured into the van.
Everything was a jumble for a few seconds, her eyes stinging from the water, her mouth hastily shut to let no water in, her nose still trying to breathe, occasionally snorting in some water. Finally, the she could see correctly, and managed to look around.
Fisher was pulling Eames, who he actually thought was his godfather, out the back, pulling off the bag on his head as he helped the other man swim to safety. Ariadne quickly looked away, unbuckling herself quickly as she could. She found it harder to unlatch herself, continually fumbling the latch, her hands cold from the water. A hand was placed on top of hers, causing her to look up.
Arthur was there, breathing through the air regulator. He pulled it out of his mouth and placed it to her lips, where she automatically bit down and breathed in. If she could have, she would have coughed up the water that came up her nose, but she had no time.
She nodded to Arthur while he gave her a thumb up. She handed back the regulator and he took a couple gulps of air, and then swam over to Cobb, shaking him, expecting him to wake like the others.
She grabbed his shoulder, shaking her head sadly. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Yusuf quickly get out the front seat, breathing through the regulator he had up in the front once before swimming to fresh air.
She took another gulp from hers and Arthur's regulator, then pushed through the door, waving to Arthur to leave Cobb. Arthur made a few noises of shock and sadness, muffled through the water. But he followed her, knowing she would tell him the truth later.
She kicked toward the surface, going slowly. She never was the best of swimmers, rather reading a book then going to a pool or the beach. She realized that she need to hurry up, she was already running out of breath, and tried kicking harder.
He saw her struggles, and swam toward her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, and she jumped, if you could do that underwater. He squeezed her, then started helping her go faster to the surface.
They both were gasping as the air finally met their freezing cold heads. It was still raining, reminding him how in this level, barely ten minutes had gone by while he was in the second level. It was a shock, to remember that barely any time had gone by.
He could only conclude that it was worse for Ariadne, she'd been in the third level. He hadn't known yet that she had went to Limbo.
They both followed Yusuf, who was a bit farther from them, going to a rocky shore under the bridge, where they could try to dry off.
They pulled themselves up, gasping still. Yusuf went a bit farther up then them, finally just laying down to gasp like a fish, laughing occasionally at how insane the situation was.
Ariadne and Arthur sat next to each, both catching their breathe. Arthur recovered first, always the point man, always having to be first. He looked at her carefully.
"What happened?"
"Cobb stayed."
"With Mal?"
"No, to find Saito."
"He'll be lost."
"No," she looked over the water. "He'll be alright."
Arthur smiled, pushing Ariadne's hair behind her ear. She looked at him, surprised at the touch.
"Did you guys get the idea in?"
"There were… complications."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Like?"
"Going to Limbo."
"WHAT?"
Yusuf jumped at the yell from the point man, and looked at the two below.
"What happened?"
"Ariadne went to Limbo," Arthur said angrily through his teeth
"Ah, is that it then? Well, let me sleep in peace now."
He flopped back down, and to what they could tell, went to sleep.
"Why, would Cobb take you into Limbo? I understand why he would, for Saito, but you? Why?"
"Firstly, it was my idea," she replied just as angrily back. "Secondly, don't yell at me. I knew the risks and I took them anways. Besides, it was the only way to get Fisher back."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Fisher? Fisher ended up in Limbo? Well, even though inception seems to be possible, I'm going to recommend to anyone who asks me to do it, don't even consider it, especially since this particular team ended up getting the mark killed and into Limbo."
Ariadne laughed, and he glared at her.
"What, excuse me for asking, do you find funny about this?"
She continued laughing, holding up a finger.
"You just losing your composure like that. I've never seen you yelling angry before."
He opened his mouth, then closed it with an audible snap. She giggled at his expression, then leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't be so upset. I'm fine, and Cobb will come back with Saito. Besides," she responded with a cheeky grin. "It's cute when you get angry like that."
She stood up and climbed up to Yusuf, waking him up and most likely making plans on what to do now. Arthur just sat there in a daze for awhile, his cheek warm.
He didn't know how he was going to deal with her and her sweet smile till they finally woke up from this dream.
It was going to be a long week.