Complexity
A/N: Thanks for revewing! I've just realized I listen to more Britney Spears then ususal And this chapter is kinda dark, and kinda short, so... and plenty of curses...
Soundtrack: Love the Way You Lie- Eminem, ft. Rihanna
'I like how you say my name.'- Britney Spears (Break the Ice)
Chapter Three: Maybe One day I'll See You From the Iron Prison
She's having the nightmare again, and like usual, she realizes too late she's dreaming. But it feels real, almost tooreal, the blood dark and thick in the watery moonlight, the flash of white teeth, the sounds of the TV slipping into the entrance to her old apartment. The bang of the door, the thud of the knife, the scream itching it's way up her throat but never reaching the air. It hurts and it feels real, but all too soon she discovers herself in her bed, shivering under the covers.
But she has more to think about then nightmares.
She likes Arthur- as a friend. She doesn't want Carol to snap his wrist, like another boy who had the unfortunate experience of asking Ariadne out in front of Professor Miles and Carol. While Carol handled the boy, Professor Miles questioned Ariadne on why she hadn't said yes. "I don't have the time or patience for a relationship right now," she tells him truthfully, but he looks as if she's lying. And some of it is the truth, but most of it is not.
Right now she isn't sure.
She blinks under her blankets, feeling uncalled tears seep from underneath her lashes. She smiled at Arthur.
This ruins everything.
.later. Kyle.
The bitch was hanging out with him. He glares at his text book for another second, then snaps it shut and gets to his feet, taking another huge gulp of his beer. He's drunk, and he's going to kill him- at least bust his face in, and make her watch. At least. She's his girl, after all, and she should be godamn grateful. He slams the dorm door open and practically runs through it, his vision red and world spinning sickly under his trainers.
He finds them exactly where he'd assume he'd find Ariadne, because now the fucker is like a wart and hanging out with his girlfriend all the time. The library, poring over a sketch pad.
She looks up first, hair falling into her face from it's messy bun, and he looks up as well. The colour quickly drains from her face and she shoots a frightened look at the guy, who quickly gets to his feet.
"Fucker."
Ky tries to get to Ariadne, who scoots backward in her chair with a hard, blazing look in her eyes. Arthur moves to block him quickly, and Ky gets an eyeful of the scar running from his shoulder to his elbow. "Shit," he hisses, "where'd you get that?"
"None of your fucking buisness, Kyle," Ariadne snaps. Ky glares at Arthur. "Back off from her. She ain't yours."
"She's not yours, either. Actually," he tilts his head in Ari's direction, "I don't think she belongs to anyone."
Ky can't breathe for a second, and then impulse fills his veins like ice and he finds himself swinging at Arthur. He catches Ky's fist and retaliates with a jab to his stomach; with a swear Ky lunges for Ariadne and catches her elbow. She yells and wrenches her arm away. Then Arthur has Ky in a strong hold, and Ky nearly finds himself kissing the dusty library table.
"Why do you even hang out with her?" Ky spits out.
There's a moment of silence, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Ariadne staring hard at Arthur.
"Because I want to."
Then he lets go roughly. "Ky," Ari starts, then takes in a deep breath. "Get out."
He does, but not before doing a rude hand gesture at them.
.Ariadne.
Where the hell was the librarian? thinks Ari angrily. She sits back down at the table and pulls the book towards her. She flips through the book, taking pride in how it is strictly neat- no doodles, not unessesary scribbles, nothing. Just straight angles and lines.
"Ari? You okay?"
"Yeah." She doesn't look at him.
"He grabbed you," he says matter-of-factly, and he turns around to look at her. Ari can see the dust motes floating in the dank library air. Her bruise does hurt, but she knows that this will be an excuse for him to touch her. With a bland smile, she shakes her head. She tells herself it doesn't hurt, and she believes the lie for at least three seconds before the pain comes back with a feirce intencity. She grips the table so hard her knuckles turn white. Arthur notices.
"Where your bruise is?"
"No."
She's lying. They both know it. He moves around the table, and Ari quickly plasters a plastic smile onto her face. There's a deathly moment of silence while Ari tells herself that she isn't scared-what can he do- and then he lets go of her arm.
"I'm telling Carol."
Correction- he can't do anything except that. Even if the punch is way below the belt.
"Let's not be rash," she says, glaring. "And you wouldn't. Tattle-tale."
He smiles- evil, almost. "I would. If it's something serious."
"This isn't serious."
"Really? It's an injury."
"One she already knows about."
"Does she know about Ky coming here today?"
She falters, just a little, but enough for Arthur to know he'd won. A strange glint alights in his eyes. "I'm telling her. And walking you home."
If looks could kill, Arthur would be dead with blood pouring out of his mouth.
The night is unreasonably chilly for fall, even as Ariadne cruches her way through the leaves home. She's ignoring Arthur's prescence, even as he hums "killing me softly" under his breath. It begins to annoy her, and five minutes later she snaps and tries to distract him.
"How'd you get that scar?"
Arthur keeps humming, nodding his head a little. "Not exactly a happy childhood, you see." Ariadne nods, blushing. "Oh. I'm so sorry-" He cuts her off, smiling. "Don't be. It's not exactly your fault."
She smiles at him, letting herself what feels natral and relax a bit, because- (abitjustabit'schanged), and it's like a great iron has lifted off her chest. He's started humming again.
"So how old are you?"
"Twenty-four."
Ariadne detects a note of something (regretangersadnesspain) in his voice but decides not to press it. And he's a good three years older then her. She's twenty one. He's started humming again.
"Are you really going to tell Carol?"
"Yep."
"It's something I can handle myself."
"No. It's not. You feel trapped, Ari. Like you don't know which way to turn and you don't trust anyone. Ariadne, I know how you feel. I've been through...something...similar. Childhood abuse, if you want to really want to name it." He's stopped and they are now facing each other, wind rustling their hair and clothes and scattering their leaves at their feet. He's extremely close, and she can smell mint and smoke. Then he leans away and fixes her with a look that she can't name (amusmentaffectionlikelovewonderadmiration). His eyes are dark and soft behind long lashes."I'm sorry," she murmurs again, and he shrugs, the smallest movement possible. "Please don't be." They start wwalking again.
Five minutes later she discovers him humming again, "over the rainbow," it sounds like, and she struggles for a way to make him talk.
"So you like music?"
"A lot."
"What kind?"
They've reached her house. He smiles as she goes inside and he follows. "Any kind."
"So you, like, listen to Metallica?" She blushes as she says it, and hits the elevator button for the doors to open. He observes her, smiling. It hasn't occured to Ariadne that he hasn't answered yet. But it does as the elevator doors open. She turns to him, grinning. "Well?" She starts walking down the hall.
"I haven't exactly tried it, you see,"he says faintly. "Well." Ari inserts her card into the door slot. "You'd better reconsider telling Carol, 'cause-" The door swings open of its own accord.
"Reconsider telling Carol what?" she says flatly. Ariadne glances at Carol. Apparently Carol has the wrong idea, because her eyes suddenly look black in the dorm light, and she's looking directly at Arthur with a hard blaze. Ariadne can only remember one time she looked like that, and she nearly killed Kyle- the first time she'd discovered that he'd hit Ari.
...the longest moment of silence...
"Arthur, um-"
"She isn't-"
"WHAT THE FREAKIN' HELL, ARE YA CRAZY-"
Ariadne can hear Carol's southern accent, which only comes out when she's extremely mad. Ariadne tugs Arthur backward, who hasn't lost his composure. "Carol, it isn't what you think. Arthur just insists on telling you something. It isn't important," she adds, glaring at Arthur, "but he feels it is. I'm honestly just humoring him." Carol glares, sucking in a deep breath. "Then speak," she says aggresively to Arthur, who takes a step foward and starts to talk.
"Ariadne and I were studying in the library, and Kyle came. He grabbed the inside of her elbow exactly where her bruise is-"
Here Ari makes a noise. "It doesn't hurt," she cuts in. "In fact, this is all just a waste of time-"
Carol abruptly leaves and comes back, stuffing something into her shirt. "Okay, where's Ky?" she asks Arthur, completely ignoring Ariadne's protests. "I don't know. Ariadne told him to get out."
Carol gives Ariadne an approving gaze. "You guys should just go to bed," Ari sighs at them, before going into the apartment and glaring at the once again humming Arthur. "And you should really find a new song to sing," she adds. "Good night."
Then she shuts the door.
A muffled "no promises" comes through the door, and Ari fights the urge to throw it open and bitch at Arthur. But it passes, and she turns to Carol. "What did you stuff into your shirt?" she asks, and to her surprise Carol begins to babble. "Nothing important. Like, I wasn't really going to use it. I was bluffing. So, um..." Ariadne begins to advance.
"I am going to go to the kitchen and count all the knives, Carol."
Carol shifts uncomfortablly.
"They'llallbethere," she says quickly, with one breath. A little too quickly, if you ask Ari. She sprints for the kitchen and checks the rack.
"The forks?"
"SORRY!"
The forks have clattered to the floor, in a disarray, one landing periously close to Ariadne's foot. She jumps backward, unable to speak. Carol watched her closely, face red. Ariadne opens and closes her mouth, goes into the bathroom to change into her pj's, and climbs back into her bed. Carol is still watching her. It's after Ariadne has clicked on the song, it's then she can't possibly hold it in any longer.
"!"
Carol jumps about a mile into the air, but after she sees that Ariadne is choking on laugher she visibly relaxes. "Well," she says cheerfully, "good night!"
And with that she turned off the light.
.later.
"Well, class," says Professor Miles curtly, "I belive I want you to enter the dream state tommorow. By yourselves of course, I don't want you to do shared dreaming just yet, I think, we'll save that for later." He consults his clipboard. "Up first is Arthur at one o'clock, then Ariadne at one thirty, then Kyle..."
Ariadne finds herself drifting off. Her first controlled dream tomorrow, and she and Arthur had the hotel and bank nearly finished- that had to count, didn't it?
"And first. There are a couple of things needed to see if you're dreaming, but you only need one."
Ariadne's brought back to reality with a bump.
"Check to see if you've remembered how you got there, okay? That way you'll see if it's all real or not."
The thought of losing your grasp on reality...it makes her shiver.
A/N: And the end of another beautiful chapter! Things get a bit more fluffy and exiting and dark in the next chapter, which'll come out fast if you reveiw, okay? PRESS THE BUTTON. And then vote for Inception for the MTV movie awards, kk? Love you guys,
-Cass