Hello!
I'm sorry for the late. I've been traveling as I already said before. And it was SO FUN! I'm thinking about putting some of the landscapes I saw in the history. We'll see...
Anyway, I want to thank you for the reviews/story alerts/favourite story! That's what keep me writing.
This chapter is more talking. And the thin line between A/A. Arthur is probably bipolar. HAHAHA. Just kidding.
Enjoy!
Please say what you think about this chapter. Good or bad thoughts are more than welcome!
Love,
Isadora
Chapter 8 – Hard to do, worst to admit
"I'm sorry. I've ruined your shirt." Ariadne sobbed, leaning back to her bed. Her eyes were red after all that crying. Her tears never stopped flowing, like a river after months of dry weather. Arthur lifted her chin and gazed directly at her deep brown eyes.
"That's alright. Now tell me, are you really in pain?"
"No. I mean, it hurts, but it's not that bad. I don't even know why I was crying about." she lied. She knew very well why she was crying. She was worried about him. She... was afraid that something bad had happened to him.
They didn't talk for a while. She was trying to act normally, but she couldn't, something was bothering the back of her mind.
"How did you get in here?"
Arthur chuckled. "I've paid some quantity to the nurse. She's not supposed to bother us for the time being." his eyes were amused.
"Yeah. I should've guessed that was something like that..." there was a faint smile on his face.
"Do you want to know about the Extraction?" his voice was concerned.
She nodded, biting her lower lip. For what she knew, it wasn't good stuff. Arthur took too long to see her, which only meant that it was dangerous and very well hidden. Something that was nearly impossible to find, perhaps because of its contents.
"Well..." he was trying to make his voice light. "It's bad thing, Ariadne. He put a guy – Willian Keeling – in coma."
When he said that name she froze. Her cheeks drained colour and her eyes went blank. The Architect cleared her throat with some effort and wet her lips. "He can't know anything" she thought. She searched for words, but it was as if they were escaping from her.
"Well...? Just that?" she managed at least. Arthur's glare was doubtfully and puzzled. He was trying scrutinizing her face. She set a serious expression.
"Apparently, he was supposed to give 15,000 dollars to our mark, but he couldn't manage at that time." he gazed directly at her, studying her. "And Jeremy Carey-Lewis couldn't wait. So, he dragged him to a little house in the middle of the woods and tortured him."
Ariadne tried very hard to not picture Willian suffering. She concentrated in not showing any emotion, being completely detached to the situation. Arthur couldn't discover anything, not now.
"And now he is in a coma." she finished. "Poor guy." she said eyeing the Point Man innocently. "We have it, at least."
"Yes."
"I..." he continued. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. You wasn't supposed to get hurt."
"No. Don't start. It wasn't your fault. It was nobody fault." she was pleased that the subject had changed. The images of Willian being in pain were becoming visible, too real. But that statement made her mad at Arthur. How he could think that it was his fault? "It was... a risk, that everybody was taking. It could happen to any of us."
"We'll find who did that." he promised, taking her hand into his and pressing it slightly.
She looked at their hands and smiled secretly. His hands were warm against her chilled skin, and they were bigger than hers, making she feel protected, even when she weren't. She could feel something inside of her burning.
"Can you stay here?" she didn't want to be alone, after all. And Arthur would be more than welcome to be her company.
Arthur was caught unawares. That was a first. "Yes. I suppose I can."
"Good. It would be nice to talk to somebody, now that I can't sleep." soon after she said that she regreted. She hadn't told anybody that, especially now, after she being stabbed, she couldn't close her eyelids. She was tired, but she was more worried that somebody would attack her again.
"You can't sleep?" his voice was critical.
"No. I mean, I'm..."
"Ariadne, look at me." he rested his hand on her chin, leaving her hands empty and willing to grab something, somebody. "You have to rest. Nobody is getting in here." his words were flowing without stop. "You are safe here, all right?"
"I know, Arthur. But... what if I have nightmares and became frightened by reality? What if I start thinking that the Dream world is more peaceful than here?"
There. She said it out loud. These thoughts were tormenting her since she arrived at the hospital. She wasn't just worried. She was terrified. Terrified to loose the grasp on reality, terrified to become like Mal. To prefer the dream instead of reality. She would rather die than stay alone in Limbo, or whatever place she would be.
"You'll not have nightmares. And you won't loose the grasp on reality. You're stronger than that. And I'll make sure that you won't be like Mal." he knew that Cobb's dead wife was the cause of all this. "I care about you, Ariadne. More than..."
His phone rang.
It jolted them apart. Arthur was glad that it happened; he didn't know why he was saying all that things, it was true, but he couldn't say it out loud. Not to her. Now, he realized, that he felt something for her. Something that has been a long time since he felt this way again. The Point Man was afraid to admit what he truly felt for her.
"Hello?" his voice was composed.
"Arthur. I thought about what you said. And yes, we can stay here." Cobb murmured on the other side of the line.
"Thanks."
"How is she?" the Extractor was worried.
"Fine. Just a little tired." he wouldn't mention her fears. Now it was his, and only his, problems.
"Alright. Let her sleep and good night."
Arthur closed this phone and turned to Ariadne, his face blank and hard. He was already too exposed. She, on the other hand, was blushing slightly, like pink dust on her soft cheeks. Her hands were fingering with the blanket and her eyes were expecting his words. She wished that he would continue his phrase.
"We're staying here for a while." his voice was emotionless. "Until you get better and we find who did that." she was going to say something, but he continued, not looking at her. "I'll train you."
Ariadne nodded. She wasn't at all expecting that words. What he had said before was so sweet and different from his usual phrases, that startled her. And now, as soon as she was recovered, he would start training her. For combat, escaping or whoever knew what.
"Get some sleep, Ariadne."
"Yes, sir." the Architect said with some sarcasm. She was tired of being put off. But, what she didn't know was that her words, hurt him more than that day when she found out what he did, because now, it was his emotions that were on the table.
It was hard to keep up with the team. Cobb was showing her ways of defending herself when in a fight. But her mind was running toward Arthur, who was standing right next to her. She could feel his gaze upon her face, but she kept a straight face and tried to understand what Cobb was doing. The room where they were, was completely white, with no furniture. There wasn't a door or windows either. Just a blank and empty room, perfect for training lessons.
"Ariadne, do you understand me?"
"Yes." she left her reverie. It's been a week after she being stabbed and three days since she was in training. They had already gone into cold mountains, frozen lakes and the blinding sun desert. She was washed off, but had to keep up.
"Show me." Arthur interjected.
Before she could even think about an answer, she saw his hands closed into a fist and coming in her direction. Ariadne used her forearm to protect her face, and at the same time, tried to punch his stomach with her other hand.
The Point Man avoided it and moved to her left side, grabbing and locking her left arm. She urged to let it go, but he was strong. The Architect used her leg to kick his. She could see his amused eyes and a ghost of a smile creeping on his face. And in less than a second, she punched his right arm.
"I'm sorry." she murmured.
But Arthur was already knocking her down. She fell heavily on the ground. He was standing up and looking at her, with his hands already in a fist. Without thinking, Ariadne grabbed her newly-acquired gun and pointed at his head. Check-mate.
"Shoot me."
"I can't." she sighed. "Sorry."
"Don't worry. You did well." Cobb intervened, helping Ariadne to get on her feet. "But, think that killing somebody during a dream, can be the best thing you could do to them."
"Yes. Sometimes you are in great pain and this is like a painkiller." Arthur said.
"Let me try something." the Extractor pulled a knife and cut his right wrist, letting the blood flow. His face was anguished and contorted with pain. "Now, try again."
Ariadne watched the blood dripping on the floor, staining the polar-white ground. Her stomach churned. She could see Cobb's blue eyes pleading for her to kill him. It was enough. She shot right through his skull, and he was free.
Her hands went numb and the gun fell on the blood pool. Arthur hold her arms and pressed his head into her hair. She was in shock. He started making small circles in the back of her wrists and sighed heavily. He knew that it was heartless but it was necessary. So he pick up her gun and give it to her.
"Shoot me."
Ariadne looked terrified at him. Her hands were red with the blood in the gun. He could see that she was trying very hard not to throw it away and start crying. He knew that he what he was asking was killing something inside her. And yet, he had to know if she was capable of doing such a thing.
"No. I can't." her voice faltered on the last word.
"Shoot. Me." he pressed, while grabbing his own gun and pressing it against her small head. "Or I will."
There was no need to say that he meant her. He was going to kill her. But she didn't mind, she knew that it was only a stupid dream. However, this thought scared her more than anything: he could kill her. Without thinking twice about it.
"I can't." she droped her gun, ready to die.
Arthur smiled and let his gun fall. He was glad that she couldn't kill him.
He kissed softly her cheek, feeling the way his mouth touched her fair skin. And then the dream collapsed.
Like it? Review it!
xx