Chapter Ten

Ariadne woke the next morning with Arthur's arms still around her. She had been curled into his body her head against his shoulder. His usually neat clothes had crumpled over the course of the night. She was still unsure if he was real. Or just an attractive part of her imagination. He certainly did feel real, the warm breath against her cheek the slow movement of his chest rising and falling as he slept onwards. She stared at him for a moment, compelled to run a finger over his smooth face. He looked so beautiful sleeping softly beside her.

He stirred at her touch and she quickly withdrew her hand. She didn't want to wake him when he looked so peaceful. She was only just beginning to understand the kind of demons that were occupying his head. She wanted to let him rest.

But it was too late, her light touch was enough to wake him as he shifted his position away from her. Ariadne immediately missed his warmth. He blinked slowly, his eyes struggling to adapt to the light. When they did he immediately moved away from, judging from his wide eyes, he seemed almost embarrassed to be caught holding her like this.

"Ariadne!" he said moving into an upright position before quickly hoisting himself off the bed, smoothing out the clothes he had fallen asleep in. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be inappropriate". He looked away, his pale cheeks getting as close to a blush as possible.

Ariadne couldn't help smiling. His embarrassment was almost cute. But that didn't distract her for long enough before the reality of her situation slowly crept in to her consciousness. Was this the real world or just another dream? It felt real, but Cobb and Arthur were the experts. How could she have been so stupid in loosing her totem? And why it was replaced with such an obvious fake? If Arthur really was at threat of loosing his mind because of the seekers, as Cobb believed that he was there was no way that he would allow sending Arthur back with her after she had just experienced a hallucination, or whatever it was. Nothing made sense. She felt like she was getting pieces but she was struggling to put it all together. Why was this happening?

She blushed when one pressing thought kept rising to the top of her mind. Had he really kissed her like that the other day? Surely, that couldn't have been real. As much as she wanted it to have been. She looked at his soft lips feeling a sudden urge to press her own mouth up against his. To see how it would compare to the kiss and touch that she could so vividly remember. But she couldn't think of that, not now.

"It's fine," she said turning away from him so that she could think clearly. There had to be another way to test this reality? Cobb may be a skilled extractor but he couldn't trick her into revealing all her secrets about everyone in her life No, if this was a dream she had to find out how to break it's boundaries. Cobb could only set up a certain scope and use one of the other team members to guide her through it. If so this was Arthur's job. But what Cobb have to gain through examining her subconscious?

Ariadne thought back to all the moments that could be questionable in reality. First there was Arthur appearing before her in her apartment, then he appeared again when she was with Cobb but only Cobb couldn't see him, then finally there was the appearance of Mal as she and Arthur were heading back to her apartment.

The first two visions of Arthur could be explainable, even if she hadn't fallen victim to the seekers, Cobb had warned that she may have difficulty reverting to a normal life. Dreams were likely to be more vivid, hallucinations were common, they weren't a sign of a disintegrating mind. No, she could almost ignore those first two occurrences but the fact that Mal had appeared before them, clear as day was troubling. That was a sign that something was seriously wrong. That her reality had been alerted, but by what and why she wasn't sure.

"Are you all right?" Arthur asked tenderly the embarrassment fading from his eyes.

"I'm not sure," Ariadne said only half paying attention to him. How to push the boundaries of this dream? Cobb had expected her to return to her classes before resuming her work with him. That was clearly what he had expected her to do. As if she could simply return to normal classes now, with all that was happening to her.

"What aren't you sure of?" Arthur asked his eyebrow furrowed. He looked so different with his clothes rumpled like that.

Ariadne looked at him quizzically. She was almost annoyed with the question. "Why aren't you telling me what's going on? What are you hiding from me?"

It was unlike her to go for the direct challenge. She wasn't sure what possessed her to do it but it definitely drew a reaction from Arthur.

He looked at her in surprise. "Ariadne I don't-"

"What's happening to me?" Ariadne asked. She couldn't still be in the dream now could she?

Arthur stepped back from her surprised at this sudden outburst it wasn't like her at all. "Ariadne, I don't know what you mean, your totem has gone missing, but you're in in the real world now, you always have been."

"And what about Mal?" Ariadne fired going straight for the hole in his logic.

Arthur shrugged. "I've spoken with Cobb, it is possible that we are both feeling the after effects of the dream share technology, we could both be hallucinating."

"And we're experiencing the same hallucinations?" Ariadne asked doubtfully. Was he lying to her? What wasn't he telling her.

"It's strange yes, but it is possible, we were both part of the same dreamscape, our minds have been altered to observe and exist in that reality, we may be carrying it over to the world we see now."

Ariadne couldn't believe him. It was true that what he said rolled off his tongue quickly and well as if it were solid fact but Arthur was an intelligent man. He could be just as easily making this up on the spot in order to deceive her. Ignoring him she got up from her bed and pulled a coat over her clothes.

"Where are you going?" Arthur asked staring after her.

"I've got to find Cobb," Ariadne explained quickly getting her bag together. "I've got to find out what's going on."