-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Reality Bleed
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Summary: While testing a new drug for Yusuf that is supposed to enhance senses in a dream, Arthur starts to panic and ends up getting far more than he bargained for.
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong, or should completely belong, to Christopher Nolan.
PLEASE NOTE: I am, as near as I can tell, tweaking things a little. If projections don't mind if the dreamer (as opposed to the person in the dream with the dreamer) is changing the dream, then I apologize. Artistic license and all that. If you're someone who cannot bear to read a story unless it's perfectly in line with the rules of canon, then be warned that this might not be for you. Hopefully, however, everyone can suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys rock!
-o-o-o-o-o-
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Chapter Two: Gone Wrong
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
-o-o-o-o-o-
Eames ran a careful eye over Arthur and noticed something strange almost immediately. There was a shadow around his eye, as though he'd been punched. It hadn't been there before, right? His eyes travelled lower and he noticed that there was something red and wet on Arthur's stomach, so out of place that he actually reached out and ran his finger though it instead of immediately thinking blood. He peered at the smear on his finger and knew what it was. "Yusuf!"
The others rushed over while Eames pulled up Arthur's shirt. A great, bloody slash had appeared on Arthur's stomach, so awful it couldn't have been there before. "Fuck! What's going on, love?" He asked Arthur worriedly. "Yusuf, he's bleeding."
"He's bleeding? There's nothing in this that would cause an old injury to…" Yusuf said, stopping when he saw what Eames had seen. "That isn't old."
Dom immediately saw the problem. "Wake him. Do the kick!" He yelled, grabbing the IV line in Arthur's arm and pulling it out.
Eames grabbed the legs of Arthur's chair and shoved upwards, hoping to make Arthur feel like he was falling. All it did was make him moan in pain. He didn't wake up, "Not working!"
Yusuf swore and started mumbling under his breath, "Too strong, too strong… need a counter…"
"Get something!" Dom yelled.
"Look at his side," Ariadne said, her voice sounding almost as pained as Arthur's moan had been. They all looked to what she was talking about. Slowly and in front of their eyes, a deep gash was opening up down Arthur's ribs where Eames had opened his shirt. Blood started running down immediately. Ariadne grabbed one of their discarded jackets, Eames' maybe, and kneeled down next to Arthur to press it against whatever she could.
Dom swore again, "Arthur, wake up! You have to wake up!"
Not even a direct order from Dom was doing anything. Eames tried to initiate the kick again, abruptly shoving Arthur's chair back for the second time but keeping the legs in his hands so Arthur didn't actually fall. It didn't make any difference and blood started dripping down from Arthur's hairline out of an unseen wound.
Out of nowhere, Saito appeared with a towel to press against Arthur's head. His chair was completely surrounded, but none of them were doing much good. Arthur was still trapped deep in a dream that might kill him for real. Blood and bruises kept appearing in front of their eyes.
"Arthur!" Dom called again. Then, his eyes shot to where Yusuf was going through his apothecary of drugs, "Yusuf, hurry up!"
"I'm looking!" He called back, more than a little frantic, "I don't know what will interact, what will make it worse… there's too much risk!"
Eames looked worriedly at the wounds on Arthur's body, "Soon enough and we might not have a choice." He and Dom shared a grim look.
"Get some water, Yusuf." Dom called before turning back to Eames. "We'll do the kick again, shove the chair all the way and I'll catch him while Ariadne throws the water. Hopefully both will work."
"If it doesn't?" Saito asked quietly.
Dom didn't say anything. Arthur's head reared back as though he'd been struck. Blood leaked out of his parted lips.
It took only seconds for everyone to fall into place. They didn't have any time to waste, with Arthur getting pummeled and beaten inside and outside of his dream. Saito and Ariadne had to abandon their efforts to stem the bleeding and with each drop of blood that slipped out of Arthur's wounded body the situation seemed to grow more and more dire.
"Ready?" Eames asked, hands on Arthur's chair. Ariadne and Dom nodded, so he shoved the chair back for the third time, praying this time it would be enough to counteract whatever hellish prison Yusuf's drug had trapped Arthur in.
As Arthur fell, Ariadne threw the water over him, hoping to shock him awake. The water fell all over Arthur and, just before he hit the ground, Dom grabbed the back of the chair and slowed his descent.
Arthur jolted awake with a hoarse cry, confused, in pain and soaking wet. Dom was in his vision immediately. "You're awake, stay still. It's going to be alright."
"Dom…" Arthur gasped. He was going to explain, to try to tell them something, but Ariadne pressed the towel to his wounds again and whatever he had been going to say was lost to pain.
"You can't fall asleep, Arthur." Dom said, and it was clear he didn't just mean because of the head wound. They had never encountered a drug that could make the dreamer enter the same dream that they had just woken up from without the PASIV, but there was no telling what this new drug could do. They couldn't risk him falling back into it and them being unable to get him out again. You woke up when you died in a dream, but if those wounds were being imprinted onto your real body, then you might just die both in and out of the dream. It was too much of a risk. Dom looked at Eames and knew that he would understand better than Ariadne and Saito. "Keep him awake, I'm going to get help."
Eames nodded and knelt down on the floor next to Arthur. "We're going to get you to the couch, love. Let us do the work."
Saito got the unspoken request and knelt down on Arthur's other side to help. Before Eames and Saito could start moving Arthur, Dom leaned down to whisper into Arthur's ear, "You're going to be okay. I'll be back soon, I promise."
"Dom… 's too much…" Arthur moaned and Dom honestly wasn't sure if he was talking about the pain or the dream.
He didn't linger, even though it took physical effort to pull himself away from his team. Within seconds Dom was gone and Saito, Eames and Yusuf were carefully carrying Arthur to the couch.
Saito slid his hands out from underneath Arthur and saw instantly an all too familiar red stain on them. "His back," Saito said.
Eames rushed to the other side of the couch so he and Saito could turn Arthur over, "Damn," He said, seeing yet another bleeding cut. Luckily, if that word could even be applied by then, it didn't seem as bad as the others.
They let Arthur lay on his back, confident that the wound on his back wasn't an immediate concern. Once Arthur was laying flat again, Eames could see his eyes fluttering. "Arthur, darling, keep your eyes open. Cobb will be back with help soon."
Arthur's eyes lazily focused on Eames, so the Forger kept up a steady stream of encouragement as the others tried to tend to Arthur's wounds.
"I… I've never seen anything like it." Arthur said to Eames, sounding a little like he was in awe.
"Like what, love?" Eames asked, hoping that if he kept Arthur talking, he could keep him awake until Dom got back.
Arthur looked like he couldn't put into words what he wanted to say, "The colors…"
It didn't make much sense to Eames, but it did to Yusuf. "A drug to enhance your senses." He groaned, "I never thought it would go like this."
Eames didn't pay him any mind. "Things were more colorful?" He asked Arthur.
Arthur nodded and Eames wished he could have stopped him. It was pretty clear that it wasn't a gash that was bleeding on Arthur's head, it was the result of some sort of blunt force trauma. He was clearly at least a little concussed. That, coupled with the blood-loss, shock and possibly some of the drug still coursing through his system, completely explained how out of it the usually in control Point Man was. The simple movement of his head set off another wave of pain, and this one took Arthur with it.
"Arthur, Arthur you have to keep your eyes open!" Eames called, tapping Arthur on the cheek. It didn't do any good, he was already unconscious. Eames just hoped they could get him back a second time.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Reviews are love!