Author's Note: You know I love you guys. But seeing that I have over 120 subscribers, and that I'm getting less than 10 reviews for each chapter, kinda bums me out. They take less than five minutes, guys, and it really helps the writer know what they're doing right or wrong. So please, PLEASE review.
On another note, Arthur's POV takes place right after they capture him. Ariadne's POV, on the other hand, takes place months after they've kidnapped Arthur. So that's to clear up any confusion.
I edited this chapter so many times it's not even funny. So hopefully you guys are happy with it!
Disclaimer: Not mine :(
Chapter Fifteen
Arthur's POV
The minute Browning left the room, Arthur's strong and determined demeanor fell away. His shoulders sagged, and he dropped his head into his hands and sank into the bed. Though he refused to let Browning get to him, Arthur couldn't help but think about what he had last said. "You are her weakness, Arthur. And because of that, you became her own nightmare."
What the hell was that supposed to mean? He paced within the small confines of his room. Whatever it meant, that was what sparked Ariadne's reaction to seeing him. He was expecting surprise and relief, but instead he saw fear and panic in her eyes. Browning had done something to her, and he was going to find out what.
Already, a plan was forming in his mind.
Ariadne's POV
Work and sleep. Each and every day, those were the only things she did. The food Browning gave her at breakfast, lunch, and dinner grew cold at the corner of her desk. Ariadne could feel herself growing thinner, getting weaker. Purple shadows under her eyes gave Ariadne a haunted look; like she had seen too much of the cruelty of the world. Her ribs protruded from her chest, and the clothes provided for her soon became baggy. If someone were to look at her, they would see a thin frame hunched over a model of a maze, shoulders tensed as if they were holding the weight of the world.
Ariadne sometimes couldn't help but think that maybe if something were to happen to her, say over exhaustion, then the team wouldn't be able to pull off the expulsion. Would it be worth it? Sacrificing herself, her brilliant mind, and all of the small details of the inception job that Browning and his team didn't know or catch, so that this monstrosity of a job couldn't be pulled off? Of course, they were getting all of that information from Arthur now.
The warehouse door slamming shut snapped Ariadne out of her thoughts. Browning sauntered across the floor, followed by his usual bodyguards. "Alright, team," he yelled, clapping his hands together once to get their attention, "enough of the paper and pen aspect. Time to go into the field."
Many emotions ran through Ariadne. Terror, relief, stress. But not one of them was surprise. It had been four months since Browning had kidnapped her, and she had been working non-stop ever since. She was more than ready.
"We will be taking the sedative in order to travel three levels dep. However, at this point, we will not be practicing the expulsion. This will just be a test run of the levels and their mazes," he continued, sparing a glance at Ariadne.
She rolled her eyes. As if she wasn't already prepared for this job. As horrible as the circumstances were, Ariadne was proud of her work. The mazes were more elaborate and well thought out than the inception job. She could only hope her sleep and food deprivation wouldn't cause her to slip up at some point. Not like they could catch any mistake I made, she thought, snorting out loud.
Browning stopped in the middle of his rant. "Something funny, Ariadne?" he asked.
"Not at all," she answered, smiling sweetly. "Just thinking of what fun this will be."
The men broke up into their groups, and Browning made his way over to her. "You will control all of the dream layers. I wouldn't have it that way, but that's the way it has to be. Fortunately, my subconscious will also fill every layer. So not only will you be sent to limbo if you try anything funny, when I finally get you out, there will be hell to pay."
Her expression remained calm, collected. "I'm not scared of you, Browning. After everything you've done to me, you're the least of my worries." Arthur's bloodied body on the floor flashed in her mind, and she struggled to repress a shudder.
He didn't reply, only giving her a dangerous smile in response.
AxA AxA AxA AxA AxA
Only one layer under, and they're already this impressed, Ariadne thought, rolling her eyes as some of the men's jaws actually fell open.
She used the Penrose steps again, which blew their minds. Honestly, had they never the use of paradoxes in dreams? Off to the side, she had built a door. Within this room was one of Arthur's memories that he had shown her after the inception job. She gestured the men inside, and their eyes widened in fascination as they watched the memory.
"And that, gentlemen," she said, closing the door and watching it disintegrate into nothing, "is how you close a loop."
The second level contained another paradox. Ariadne wasn't sure of the name, but it certainly did come in handy when needed. The group of men stood clustered around her, all of them standing in the second floor lobby of a hotel. There were no walls, only a staircase that hit every other corner diagonally. She could sense the men's confusion and waited patiently for someone to ask. Ariadne examined her fingernails, feigning boredom, until one man finally stepped forward. Greg, the one who had stepped up last time.
"Uh…" he said, sounding meek, "how exactly is this supposed to help us?"
"Go to the opposite corner," she ordered him. Without hesitation, he walked over to the opposite corner and waited for further instructions. She was surprised at the speech with which he had obeyed. "Now, I want you to walk down the stairs." Greg looked at her like she was crazy, but complied. By the time he finished the flight of stairs, instead of being a floor down, he was again standing beside them.
"That," she emphasized, "is how it's going to help you. They only look like stairs, but in the end, they are their own loophole." At this point, even Browning looked impressed. Now it was time to pull out the big guns.
The third level consisted of all of her best material.
Both paradoxes featured in the earlier levels were included, though not too much as to tip the opposing side off, along with a paradox she had invented herself. After explaining the maze throughout the bottom level, Ariadne clapped her hands together to get the men's attention.
"I have one more paradox to show you all." She waved forward Greg, also gesturing Browning to step up. "Browning, if you will." Looking skeptical and suspicious, he walked until he was next to Greg.
"Now, I want you two to walk to the roof. It's only three floors." Not offering any more information, she crossed her arms and waited for them to start moving. Browning and Greg eventually began walking towards the door marked 'Stairs', and it wasn't long before they were coming out of the same door. Browning looked around in bewilderment before looking at her. Greg just looked confused. Raising an eyebrow, Ariadne allowed a smug smile to grace her face before turning away in satisfaction.
Oh, yeah. These men would be a piece of cake.
AxA AxA AxA AxA AxA
Ariadne sat on a lone bench while the men around her studied her paradoxes and maxes. Sighing, she let her mind wander. Arthur's face came to the front of her thoughts, and her chest tightened in response. This was her fault. If only she hadn't run like a scared child, they wouldn't be in this situation. But something tells her that this would have happened, regardless of her fleeing. Struggling to keep Arthur out of her thoughts, Ariadne absentmindedly watched as one of the men walked up the Penrose steps. Concentrating, she closed the loop, and before the guy realized what had happened, he ended up in a heap on the ground. She snickered.
Browning sat down next to her, oblivious to her little prank. Careful to keep her face expressionless, Ariadne kept her face forward. "So how exactly will this work?" Out of her peripheral vision, she saw him raise an eyebrow in question. Mentally rolling her eyes, she explained further. "You've given me the layouts and mazes for each layer. Don't think I haven't noticed they're exact replicas of the ones I made for the inception job, only including my new paradoxes and updates of the mazes. You hired me for a reason," she finished dryly.
"Do not overestimate yourself or your abilities. It can get you in a lot of trouble." She scoffed, but otherwise held her tongue. When he was satisfied she wasn't going to retort, he continued. "We need Fischer's mind to recreate the inception job. Obviously, your paradoxes and mazes are for restraining his subconscious. If we can get his mind to replay the inception, we can find where the root of the idea took place in his mind."
Ariadne stood and paced, her mind racing a mile a minute as she digested his words. "I don't think you understand what you're doing. Yes, you want to expel this idea from Fischer's mind. But simply recreating the dream layers and expelling instead of incepting isn't going to work. It wasn't just level three that made the idea grow in his mind. Levels one and two set it up. Simply stepping in at the end of the job won't completely hinder the process. Because the development of the idea didn't take place in one level, there won't be a place where the root of the idea resides in his mind."
"But that's just the thing. We don't need to find the entire idea. We just need to find the root. If we find the root of the idea, we can destroy it," Browning explained.
"Along with everything now connected to that idea," Ariadne quietly added.
The silence stretched on. "That's your one weakness, you know," he said finally. She didn't bother to ask what he meant. He would explain soon enough. "Your feelings. Your feelings for Arthur are what got both you and him where you are now. Your feelings are that this job is wrong. You feel that it's wrong, therefore it is wrong. You're brilliant, kid, but that will keep you from being the best."
With that, he walked away, leaving her to contemplate his words until the world around her being to crumble into nothing.
A/N: I told you this was longer! NOW REVIEW! That button down there, right there, YES! Click it, write some stuff that will make me check my email constantly, and write chapters more quickly. Ready, set….GO!