Ariadne did not jump into the world of dreaming right away. She prided herself on that because while the inception job had been breathtaking it had also been terrifying. So when Arthur offered to contact her when the next job popped up she was honest and told him she was not sure. He seemed surprised but did not push the matter. After a day in Los Angeles Ariadne hopped back on a plane to Paris and decided that finishing school sounded like the best idea. She had not put all of this time into it just to leave it unfinished now even if it proved completely useless in the long run. When she returned to Miles' class he visibly brightened when he saw her and they got coffee to discuss the dreams and what she could tell him about the job. He told her about Cobb and the kids and how he hoped she could meet them someday. It made her smile, the thought of meeting the people behind the projections they had followed through limbo, and she realized she liked the idea very much.
It was several months after the inception job that she was walking to a lecture when someone hit her shoulder so hard it took her right off of her feet. Ariadne blinked back her surprise and looked at the young man next to her who seemed just as shocked as she was by their collision.
"Oh dear god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he stammered as he tried to gather her things. Ariadne thought that he was about her age, a year or two older maybe, with buzzed short blond hair and pale skin. His fingers were long and thin, they looked strangely well taken care of, and his eyes were the lightest blue she had even seen on a guy. "Sorry, sorry." He was German though his accent had faded considerably over the years.
"It's fine, really, I'm okay," Ariadne said and she tried to wave him off but he looked genuinely upset that he had knocked her down.
"I'm so lost in my own head these days," he said sheepishly after helping her to her feet. Ariadne caught the title of a few of his books and tilted her head to get a better look. He noticed and looked a little embarrassed. "Medical school and the sort."
"Neat," she said and she meant it. "I'm being rude, sorry; my name is Ariadne." He gaped at her as she held out a hand.
"I knock you straight off your feet and you're the rude one?" he asked surprised. "I'm Justin, nice to meet you Ariadne." Ariadne was about to make small talk when the bell tower rang out and Justin swore loudly in German. "I'm sorry to cut this short but I have a date with a cadaver." He hesitated and chewed on his lip like he was very nervous. "And if that statement didn't completely put you off I'd like to make up for our collision with coffee sometime?" Ariadne blinked back surprise; she could not remember the last time someone had asked her out on a proper date.
"What kind of university student would I be if I turned down free coffee?" she said and he grinned as she wrote down her number and handed it over. He raced off across the campus and she watched him go fondly. Despite the fact that she knew he was going to be digging through human remains soon he seemed like a nice enough guy. Ariadne straightened her clothes and walked across the campus to head back to her apartment.
The first coffee date with Justin went well as did the second. She was not sure if she could call what they were doing 'dating,' neither of them seemed eager to put a new label to it, but that seemed enough for now. She was on one of those coffee dates when her phone rang listing a private number. There were only several people who would call her from an unlisted number and she flashed Justin a smile, saying she had to take the call.
"Hello?" Ariadne said.
"Ariadne, it's Arthur," the point man's voice said over the clear line. "Is this a good time?"
"Depends on what you're calling for," she said and Ariadne could almost hear him frowning from the other end of the line.
"I have a job offer and I was wondering if you would like to be my architect. I know you have holidays next week and the job, or at least the levels, should be done by then," Arthur explained. Ariadne stood and thought about it; she still was not sure what she wanted to do but the summer holidays were coming up and she had no plans to take any summer classes so in theory she had the free time.
"Is it complicated?" Ariadne asked.
"No, one level down, simple extraction. Just you, me and the extractor I hired for the job. As far as the research shows there is no indication they are militarized either but I will be double checking on that." Arthur sounded a little bitter but she decided it would be unfair to comment on it. Justin was giving her an odd look now and she realized that she had been on the phone for quite a while.
"Sounds good I guess. Send the information my way and I'll talk to you when I get home tonight," Ariadne said.
"Talk to you then," Arthur said and the line went dead. She walked back to their table and continued their conversation about the concert they were going to attend later in the year.
"That was a friend of mine," Ariadne said as they gathered up their cups. "I'm going to be out of town for a majority of the summer."
"Good," Justin said without hesitation and she stared at him.
"What do you mean 'good'?" she asked offended.
"You being gone means I might be able to have some savings in my bank account again from not buying you mass amounts of caffeine," he said and Ariadne hit him on the arm. They laughed all the way back to their respective apartments and Ariadne promised to stop by before she left to 'visit a friend.' When she got back to her apartment there was an email with all of the details for the job and a ticket to Miami. She smiled as she started to gather all her things and picked up her bishop from her bedside table. It felt strong in her hands, like an anchor, and she was almost giddy to start dreaming again. It was ironic that she could hardly sleep that night.
Justin opened his door at eight in the morning in pajama bottoms and an undershirt when she stopped by to say goodbye. Ariadne raised an eyebrow and she swore he turned a little red. "Wow, you managed to book a flight quick."
"I have my connections," she said and offered him the cup of coffee that she had bought as a joke. He raised an eyebrow and did not seem to understand. "Helping with that bank account of yours."
"Very funny, Ari," Justin said but he was smiling. "Have a good trip, keep in touch, all right? Without you dragging me out into the waking world the textbooks might just eat my brain again."
"Will do," Ariadne said and she turned to leave but Justin took her hand. He looked like he was about say something, shook his head, and released her hand so she could leave. When he shut the door Ariadne could not ignore the fact that her cheeks were a little pink. She had a private little smile on her face that did not go away until she was well off the ground and leaving Paris behind for several weeks. The job was easy and Arthur seemed to have done most of the research already. It involved a wife who suspected that her husband was sending off stock information to outside clients and making extra money on the side. Ariadne settled into the comfortable first class chair and closed her eyes as her mind thought up twists, turns and impossible things.
It was summer and she was expecting it but the heat and humidity still hit Ariadne like a punch to the gut. She was wearing capris and a short sleeve shirt and wanted to slap Arthur for looking right as rain in trousers, a white button down and a blazer. He was standing at the curb and smiled lazily when she walked toward him. "Enjoy your flight?"
"Nothing like sitting around for ten hours," she replied and looked him over. He looked the same, more or less, maybe even more relaxed than the last time she had seen him. No one would pay him a second glance, she realized, because he was someone who caught eyes but was simultaneously forgotten at the same time. Ariadne could not understand why, Arthur was the definition of striking, but there was something in the way he moved that kept people away without showing how dangerous he really was. The windows were down as they drove through the city and pieces of his hair were beginning to come loose; it made Ariadne smile.
They were working in a small studio apartment and their extractor was a woman who only answered to 'Blue.' She was a little snotty and extremely pretentious but seemed to know her way around a mind. They got to work right away and Ariadne could not hide her smiles as she designed the maze. Since it was going to be such a basic job she knew she did not need to come up with an elaborate maze but that did not stop her from having a little fun with it. The first time Arthur took her back under it was just as big of a rush as it was during the inception job.
"You seem like you're back in your element," Arthur said one night after Blue had left. Ariadne looked up from her model and flashed a smile.
"It's fun but being back in school has its perks as well," she said. "Paris has better coffee for starters."
"This is very true," he agreed and he smiled, a small but real expression that showed off showed off his adorable dimples. "Want to get some dinner?"
"Love to," Ariadne said and she set her things aside. They drove for a little while before ending up at a restaurant right on the water. The conversation was easy going and she remembered that despite how uptight he appeared Ariadne had never had trouble talking with Arthur. Most of a bottle of wine was gone and she was eating the last of her dessert when she realized that Arthur had been watching her silently for a little while now. "Everything all right?"
"Just fine," he replied without hesitating. Like the gentleman he was Arthur got the bill and gave her a glare when she threatened to try and pay her share. Ariadne rolled her eyes and they talked some more as they made their way back to the hotel. Ariadne was expecting Arthur to hold the door for her, walk her to her room but she was not expecting him to lean down and kiss her gently. The press of his lips was so light that she was not entirely sure that it was happening at all until he pulled away. "Have a good night, Ariadne," Arthur said and he left her at her suite door. Ariadne smiled to herself and walked inside of her room.
Only Blue and Arthur were going into the dream and that made Ariadne anxious. Their mark, Kory Jones, was sedated in his living room. Their employer, Maria, had left for the weekend but given them a set of keys so they could knock him out. Still Ariadne did not like the idea of being the one to keep watch in the real world; it was one thing for something to go wrong in the dream, it was another if something went wrong topside.
"You're going to be fine," Arthur said and he squeezed her hand. "In and out, no problems."
"Push the button and let's get this over with," Blue said sounding bored.
"Good luck," Ariadne said and she watched her two teammates fall into deep sleeps. Since the night of the dinner she had been out with Arthur two more times and both times they had done nothing more than kiss each other goodnight. The kiss the night before had been a little more heated, but she still did not know if she wanted to take it to another level. Arthur loved his work, she could tell by the way he smiled when he found some small bit of information or how his eyes lit up when he spotted a good paradox, but Ariadne still had two more semesters of classes before she was going to graduate. She could not do this job and school at the same time, the worlds could not overlap, and despite this rush she really did not want to have a criminal record for the rest of her life.
The architect looked at the PASIV as the timer clicked down. The timer was set for forty-five minutes but Arthur had said that they should not need that much time. If they finished early he was going to kick himself out of the dream, she tried not to think too hard about that, and they would pack up and leave. Ariadne looked at Arthur and brushed some hair off of his forehead and smiled to herself; he really was a very nice guy but she was not sure if he was the type of man that she could see herself with in the long run. She had feelings for Arthur, she knew she did, but it was the doubts that kept her from acting on them.
The sound of someone moving brought Ariadne back to the real world and she turned just in time to see Jones awake and backhanding her hard. She tasted blood and she reached for the gun that Arthur had given her but Jones had managed to find Arthur's gun and had it pointed between her eyes.
"Who are you? What are you doing here and what are you doing to me?" he asked and his voice was shaking. Ariadne felt frozen, unable to move, all she could do was stare at the gun pointed directly at her. "Tell me what's going on or I'm going to blow your fucking brains out!" She was not sure what the protocol for this was; did she keep her mouth shut and die or spill the beans and live? She did not have to think about it too much before Arthur was awake, disarming the mark and knocking him out. Blue was screaming something or another but all Ariadne could hear was her blood pulsing in her ears. Arthur injected Jones with a syringe then they got out of the mansion and took their cars back to the hotel.
"And those are the names that he is sharing information with," Arthur said over the phone. "He woke up in the middle of the job though so we had to use a chemical to scramble his brains a bit to keep him from finding anything out." There was a long pause. "Wire the money to my account and I'll take care of it." The point man hung up the phone and stared straight ahead. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Ariadne replied a little too quickly. "I think I'm ready to go back to Paris though." Arthur nodded and they did not say anything all the way back to the hotel. In fact all Arthur did was help Ariadne pack her things wordlessly and they did not even talk about her going to the airport now, he just took her there without a word, but when he pulled up the to departures gate she did not get out right away.
"You're not going to take anymore jobs," Arthur said making it a statement not a question.
"No, no I don't think I will," Ariadne replied. There was a beat of silence between them before the point man stood up and walked over to get her bags out of the car. "Aren't you going to ask why?" she asked as she stared at him but Arthur just looked back.
"There are millions of reasons to walk away, Ariadne. I don't need to know which one it is," he replied evenly and he took her hand without looking away from her eyes. "Ask Miles for my number if you ever need me for anything but just take care of yourself, okay?"
"I can't believe how understanding you're being about this," she said without taking her hand from his.
"Facts are what I do and the facts say walking away now, while you can, is the best judgment call. I won't try to talk you out of this because I know as much as you do that it's the right choice. This is not a good life to jump into. You have to cut off ties to family and friends, there's always the risk of prison or worse from belligerent clients. It's dangerous, it's addictive in the worst possible way and if you have the chance to walk away while you still can I not only agree but encourage it." Arthur leaned forward and kissed the corner of her mouth and released her hand. "Have a good flight." Without another word Arthur turned, climbed into the car and left her on the Miami airport sidewalk.
"Goodbye, Arthur," Ariadne said as she watched him go for only a moment before turning and walking into the airport.
The sound of someone banging on her door at four in the morning woke Ariadne from a deep sleep. She was not due to be at her firm for five more hours and Justin did not have any really early classes in medical school so she had no idea who would be banging on her door at this hour. Though she had been with Justin for nearly two years now they still had their own places. Their engagement had not changed that either because they both still needed their own space. Ariadne still had a lease and did not want to deal with breaking it. The banging on the door was beginning to sound more frantic and for a horrifying moment she thought it was her neighbor again after her boyfriend decided to get a little too rough. She did not bother to change out of her tank top or pajama bottoms because it was her house and why should she have to do that?
There were many things she was not expecting to see when she opened her door. At the top of the list was Arthur, bloody and bruised, eyes wide as if he could not quite focus on what was going on. Two years had passed since the job in Miami and she had not heard or seen him since. Ariadne kept in touch with Miles and she assumed that he would have told her if something terrible had happened to any of her former teammates. She had heard about Cobb getting remarried so something like a death would have come up at some point. Still she could not stop her mouth from falling open at seeing him standing in front of her.
"Ariadne, sorry to drop by, but I seem to have misplaced my cell phone, may I use yours?" Arthur asked and his word slurred together. His knuckles were torn to shreds and she could see glass and dirt in the wounds. He was far too pale, his right eye was an ugly black color and his lip was split. There was a nasty cut on the side of his head with a large bump forming underneath it and he favored his left side like his torso hurt.
"Arthur, what the hell happened?" Ariadne managed to ask breathless before he swayed. "Come in right now." Despite being so much shorter than him she was able to help him over to the couch without too much trouble. After that she double locked the door and turned around to look at him.
"Was on a job in Belgium and stopped here to catch a flight back to the states. Wanted to make sure no one tracked me but I screwed up. I got jumped outside of my hotel but managed to get away from them," Arthur said and he blinked as if realization was dawning on him. "And now I've left a trail right to you. I need to go, now." The point man tried to sit up but winced painfully; Ariadne pushed him back onto the couch.
"If you go back out there now you're going to get yourself killed," she said as she looked him over. Upon closer inspection she could see that his suit was splashed with blood all over it and she hoped that it wasn't all his. "Wait here." Ariadne stood and went into her bathroom digging out one of the first aid kits that Justin had brought home. "You shouldn't fall asleep; you probably have a concussion," she said as she knelt down in front of him. The first thing she did was clean the wound on his head. She hoped that the butterfly stitches would be enough to stop the blood. If not the only other option was to call Justin and she was not quite sure how to explain this. Ariadne went into the kitchen and came back with an ice pack wrapped in a towel. "Put this on your head," she said and he did so without hesitation. Using tweezers Ariadne began to pick the glass and dirt out of his knuckles. His fingers moved and touched the engagement ring on her left finger.
"I heard from Miles," Arthur said touching the diamond. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," she said not looking up at him and resuming the task at hand.
"I shouldn't be here. I don't know what I was thinking coming here and getting you involved in this," he said after a long silence.
"You needed somewhere to go and I'm in town. Logically it made sense," Ariadne replied as she bandaged up his hand.
"Still it's reckless of me," Arthur said and she looked up at him. He was watching her with those big brown eyes of his and he looked worried. "You have a life now and I had no right to come barging in at four in the morning when you don't want anything to do with dreaming anymore."
"It's okay, Arthur, really," Ariadne said and she squeezed his hand. "It's good to see you again. I figured you were doing well if I hadn't heard anything otherwise." He released her hand and touched her cheek with his rough fingers and smiled just a little.
"Thank you for this," he said and the tone of his voice made a lump form in her throat. She thought about the last time she had seen him, the feeling of his lips barely touching hers, the dates they went on where neither of them made a move to make it something more. She had felt something back then, she was not sure what, but there had definitely been something. Ariadne was not sure exactly what happened next but before she could think straight they were kissing. It was soft and gentle but the moment their tongues touched she pulled away quickly.
"That shouldn't have happened," Ariadne said trying to slow her breathing.
"I'm sorry," Arthur said and he sounded like he really meant it. She looked back at him and saw that blood was seeping through the bandage on his head; he needed stitches.
"I'll be right back," she said and stood to walk into her room. Ariadne hesitated before she dialed Justin's number. It was barely five in the morning and she knew that she was waking him up but she really had no other options. She had faith that even in this state Arthur could cover his tracks fairly well but that did not mean she wanted to take him to a hospital if she could avoid it.
"Hello?" Justin's voice said over the line and he sounded half asleep still.
"Justin, it's me, I need your help," Ariadne said.
"Ariadne? What's wrong? You sound really shaken up," he said and immediately he sounded more awake. It suddenly dawned on her that she had no idea how to explain who Arthur was or why he was hurt to her fiancé.
"I can't explain it right now but I have a friend here who is hurt and needs stitches," she said.
"Why don't you just take them to the emergency room? I'm mediocre at stitches at best," Justin said.
"It's not safe," Ariadne said in a low voice and there was a heavy silence. "Look, I can explain it to you when you get here but please he needs your help."
"I'm on my way. Try to keep the blood flow to a minimum so he doesn't pass out," Justin said and the line went dead. Ariadne swallowed the lump in her throat and changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. When she went back out into the living room Arthur was lying still but watching her.
"My, my fiancé is in medical school and I asked him to come over to stitch up your head so we don't risk a hospital visit," Ariadne said hesitating and Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"What are you going to tell him?" the point man asked.
"As much of the truth as I can," she replied. "Just him coming over makes him involved in something that could be ugly. The least I can do is tell him what's going on." Arthur nodded and Ariadne sat down on the floor next to the couch. She kept a towel to the wound on his head and neither of them spoke. There was a knock on the door and when she started to stand Arthur took her wrist.
"Check the peephole before you open the door," he said and she understood what he was saying. Ariadne walked over and looked through the peephole to see a very tired looking Justin. She opened the door and let him in.
"Jesus Christ, what happened to you?" he said after one look at Arthur. The point man raised an eyebrow but did not respond.
"It's a long story," Ariadne said with a hand on the small of his back. The two of them walked back over to the couch and Justin removed the towel to look at the cut on Arthur's head. "Can you stitch it up?"
"Yeah but the scar is going to be ugly since I'm not a professional," Justin said and Arthur shrugged.
"I just don't want to bleed to death," the point man replied to which Justin scoffed and pulled out his medical kit. It took a good ten minutes for the wound to cease bleeding before they could even get started. He had just enough medication to numb the spot and went to work stitching the wound without further comment which was odd for him. Justin usually had a comment about anything but this situation obviously had him on edge. Nearly forty-five minutes later a bandage was over the wound and Justin was peeling off his gloves.
"Anything else you need me to look at?" Justin asked and Arthur shook his head. "Stay still and rest for a little while." He stood and turned to Ariadne and gave her a look that seemed to say 'time for an explanation.' The two of them walked into her bedroom and she shut the door behind them. "Okay, what the hell is going on?"
"There's something you don't know about me," Ariadne said and she chewed on her lip. She went on to explain the inception without giving too many details or names. When Justin asked why she told him how illegal the entire thing really was. She told him about how dangerous the job could be and how Arthur was a former co-worker. She explained about being an architect and how she had walked away from the job in Miami after what happened. Justin sat down on the edge of her bed and seemed to be having some trouble taking it all in.
"I've heard about the dream tech but I never knew that much about it," he said. "Are we in danger because he came here?"
"I don't know," Ariadne replied honestly.
"You have feelings for him," Justin said after a long pause. Ariadne was offended and wanted to defend herself, to say that such an accusation was off base, but she did not want to lie to him.
"I had feelings, I might still have them, but that doesn't mean I want him or that I want to go back to that world. I left for a reason and those reasons haven't changed," she said and she took his hand. "I love you, Justin, and I want to marry you." He looked relieved by the prospect and seemed to relax just a little. Ariadne rested her head on his head and intertwined their fingers. She did not need to tell him that she had kissed Arthur because it did not mean anything. The world of dream crime was a dangerous one that she did not want to go back to and she could not even know Arthur without doing that. "I'm going to go check on him." Justin nodded and she stood to walk outside. When she opened the door the room was empty. Arthur was not on the couch, the cloth and bandages with his blood on them were gone and it looked like the table had been wiped down. It was like he had never been there. Justin joined her when she did not move but did not say anything, he merely took her hand, and Ariadne sighed.
"He looked a lot worse than he actually was," Justin said. "He'll be okay."
"Oh I don't doubt it," Ariadne replied and she squeezed her fiancé's hand as she silently said 'goodbye' to Arthur for the second time.