All in Black verse: For Ariadne

[loadedparadox]

It had been three years since the team had completed the Fischer case and made inception happen. Three years since Arthur had realized he was on his own. Cobb had gone back to his family, Ariadne to school and Eames had disappeared into the ether of the Mombasa underground. Mal was dead, and he'd finally seen her grave, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. He had two choices. Find a new team, or give it all up.

His family, the family he'd had before, accepted him back without a second guess. He was the boss' son, Arthur Tossi, and no one questioned him. Especially not after he'd shot Danny Sanducci in cold blood, leaving the body to bleed all over the floor of his new office. That was three years ago. He was no longer the man he'd been, not the one that the dream share community had known. He couldn't be that man. Sweet and kind and tender yet determined. He had to be cold, distant, and the world was another place than it had been. He might not smile anymore than he had before but at least then his eyes had seemed warm.

Her name was Ashley. She'd been with him for a year the night she was killed. Smart, funny, easy to talk to. Petite and pretty and she reminded him of someone else - someone he hadn't realized he missed until he was standing over the grave site of another woman in his life.

Research still came second nature to him, finding her address and making his way there the next day. Dressed in black raw silk, his shirt blood red and the tie midnight with a tiny red pattern. Hair slicked back and a slight bulge under one arm as he knocked on the door, jaw covered in a couple days of stubble and his jaw set in a hard line.

Comments

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to hear."

His hand curled into the fabric of her sweatshirt, pulling her to him even as he kissed her. Hard. Fierce. Three years of trying to forget and being unwilling to forget. A man used to taking what he wanted and not being refused. Not by anyone.

"I wrote you out of everything I owned. I never wanted them to be able to find you. I wanted you protected, safe from me and everything I've become. Except my advisers, my enemies, all of them have been looking for the Bishop," he admitted softly, still over her. "I think they believe you to be an assassin."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

The kiss was a mix of need, anger and lust. She wanted it, she thought about it, over and over. But she was angry, bitter, over how life was now. And it was all coming out in one kiss. Breaking the kiss, her eyes closed a moment, gathering her emotions. Wanting to be the Ariadne he use to know. The one he left, with no word, three years ago.
"You're shitting me?" She asked, catching her breath. Eyes focusing back on him. "I didn't do anything. Hell, you just admitted, you wrote me out of your life." Her brow furrowing, jaw tensing, as she watched him.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

For a moment his eyes focused on her mouth, aching to push her down onto the couch and take everything he wanted. Seeing that anger in her eyes and knowing what it would be like, how much of a wildcat she'd be in his arms. It took every ounce of self control to drag his gaze back to her eyes, to swallow down that need and focus on telling her everything.

Hand dipping beneath his jacket, he pulled out the pistol he carried. Letting it slide down so the muzzle is in his palm, he showed her the side of the butt. Inlaid was the outline of a bishop done in brass. "A form of one of the tattoos I have," he admitted. "Rumor started I took this off a woman who tried to kill me."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

The look she gave Arthur, was one of more disbelief then anything. How could someone, obviously keep her in his thoughts, yet, never once contact her. Check to see if she was okay. When obviously she wasn't okay, at least in her opinion.

Focusing on the butt of the gun, she shook her head. Not sure what to make of it. Knowing full well, it referenced her. Unless there was someone else, with a gold bishop running around, Arthur's apparently new life. And that was highly unlikely. "Is this your slick attempt, at saying; sorry, I ditched you, left you to figure everything out on your own. Only to turn the memories of you, into something unlike, anything you could have thought?" Pausing she looked him over, a slight smirk appearing on her face. "You have a bishop tattoo? Seriously?"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"If that's all I was doing, I'd show you the ink first,' he said, voice a bit gruffer. "Hurt a helluva lot more." Yet he dropped the gun on the side table with a thunk, his fingers brushing her cheek if she lets him. "I'm sorry, Ariadne. I screwed you over and then convinced myself it was a favor to you. I was an ass and that hasn't gotten any better. You deserved better than what I did," he whispered, staring into those beautiful eyes of hers.

He nearly smiled. "One of several I have, yeah. First one I got." He took her hand. "I swear, if you laugh, I may leave." Said even as he placed her fingers to the left side of his chest. "It's nearly three years old. I need to get it touched up."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

Not even a second thought was given to the firearm, finding a home on her table. It was becoming second nature now, having them around from time to time. So his was nothing new to her. Though, she did note, his was a high quality one. And found her self, oddly jealous of that fact.

"Yeah, you did. And you were." She sorted out, as she shook her head lightly. Her eyes closing at his touch, not moving towards it, or away from it. Just. Remaining. Still. As if she was debating, if she wanted to slug him, or do things, she has only thought about in dreams. "Don't try to tell me, I deserved better, Arthur. I know I did, but it didn't happen. None of you gave me a second thought. I was just something you all used. You got what you wanted, and then you left. Can't change that. I just found ways to deal with it." She said, her eyes opening again, focusing back on his.

"Seriously?" Said in a hushed tone, tracing her finger lightly over the area her hand now was. "Arthur. Why are you doing this?" She asked, a slightly pained tone. Now suddenly worried, she was going to let herself get hurt, before all of this was over.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"No."

He said it in a suddenly pained voice, sinking to one knee there on the floor before her. His hand stayed over hers, unwilling to lose that contact, not until she shoved him away.

"I never meant to use you." He wouldn't deny they had, but he had never meant to, no matter what Dom's goals might have been. "You're right. I can't changed I fucked up, and I did. I know that. What I can do though is not keep screwing it up. Or at least try not to."

He looked down, considering his words, her words, watching her fingers move against his shirt. Raising his head, staring into those eyes so rich with emotion, and all ones he'd caused. "I buried one of the few people in this world I care about two days ago. I stood over an open grave and all I could think about was you." He winced. "Which wounds wrong. I just... How long before I was standing by your grave like I had Mal's and never the right words to you? So... so I got on a plane. You throw me out, I accept that. Tell me to go to hell? Hit me? I deserve it all. Give me a chance to get to know you, Ariadne. Not the girl we... we abandoned, but the woman you've become. Come to Las Vegas.

"The syndicate is all dreams now. So much of it is the dens and the secrets and it's why I'm who I am. I'm the best, Ariadne. No, I'm one of the best. Even if you tell me to fuck off and die, come be with me as my architect, at my side, as something more than the next shade to haunt my dreams," he whispered.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

Running her hands down her face, a faint groan coming out. Trying to figure out how she wanted to attack this. "I have a life here, Arthur." She stated, running her hand through the top of her hairline. "Not that I like it." She admitted for the first time out loud.

"I want to trust you. I do. Hell. I keep telling myself, there is not reason not to. Just because it is you." Pausing, her brow furrowed, intently focused on him. Trying to find a flick of the old Arthur, she once knew. "How do I know, you aren't just saying all of this? Saying shit, just to get me to follow you, like you know I would. How do I know, you wont just leave me to fend for myself?" She asked, her tone filled with doubt and nerves she wanted to so fight away.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"So make a life you would like, Ariadne. With me. Without me. Don't settle for a life you aren't happy with." He'd seen it too often. Was living it. Maybe Eames was too. They had for enough years before they ever met her. "Whatever you need, make it happen."

Sitting back on his heel, giving her the most open look he could, honest. "I can't tell you to trust me. I can't say believe me now because I know my actions speak a million times louder than my words. I didn't know you would though. I was... I was fairly certain you wouldn't let me past the door," he admitted. "Give me a chance to give you back what we took from you. Even if you never come to Vegas. What can I do to fix it? How can I set this right," he asked, knowing one thing. How to fix problems and make everything run smoothly.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

Her brow pinched in a tight line, watching him. "You can't fix something, already broken, Arthur. There is nothing you can do that can fix that. You can only start over." She said, admitting in her own way, she would do what he asked.

"I wanna kick your ass so bad Arthur." Shaking her head, she pushed her self back into the couch more. Eyes not wanting to leave his. Just wanting to burn them into her memory. "Do you have any idea, how many times, I've wanted to check if this was a dream already?" She shook her head, pulling out her totem. Only to wave it in front of him, a frustrated look on her face. "I never had to do that, till I went to the those damn dens. Hoping one day, I would come across one of you." She sighed, tossing her totem to the side. "And now you want me to go back to that?"

Her hands rubbing over her face again, she groaned to herself. "Damn it, Arthur. "I know I shouldn't do this, it's utterly crazy. But I can't not do it. Hence why I wanna kick your ass more." She finished, somehow letting a ghost of a smile show.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"Bet me," he said in a low, pained voice. "A broken piece, reset, can be stronger than the original if you do it right. I'm responsible for this, let me help repair what I did?" Almost desperate now, realizing what he had done, unable to hide from the damage while staring into her eyes.

"Do it. Hit me. I won't stop you and..." And he reached for his die, even as she tossed the bishop aside. He jerked as if she had hit him. "Pick it up," he whispered, voice low and hoarse. "Please." He couldn't have her doubting this now, not like Mal, not and die like Mallorie had.

"Why would you go there? Jesus. Ariadne." And it hit him. He'd done this to her. He had. "Fucking hell."

Pushing back, scrambling to his feet, pale, almost shaking. "I'm sorry. I hadn't... I didn't realize..." He clutched at the die so hard it was going to leave bruises on his palm, and Arthur didn't care. "I thought you'd go back to school, to your home, family, a life without us leading you into..." Into crime and the dens and everything she'd found on her own.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

"You sound like me." Or how she use to be. "I don't know how you can though. It's there." She said, her tone slightly quiet.

"And I'm not going to hit you....yet." She smirked at that, rolling her eyes, before picking up her bishop again. Giving him a look, as if saying: happy. "It's just an object, Arthur. And I'm not going to let myself become Cobb. Always checking his. I wont do it." But she would, and she had, but she was going to fight the doubt tooth and nail, if it killed her.

"I'm not even going to get into why I did, what I did, Arthur. I did it, and I can't change that." Tucking her totem back into her pocket, she sighed, focusing on him. "I did go back. I have my masters. I have a job, with my family no less. So that part, you got right. The rest." She shrugged. "I guess, you just didn't know how stubborn I was"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"Then it can only get better," he said, pacing the room again, the die still in his hand. He wanted to run. Deep down he'd never let himself and yet fight or flight tried to kick in and he fought it. Fought it for her.

"No. It shows you that this is real and you never need to escape it," he said. He'd learned some things in that airport, why he'd run. "I can't ... I can't bury you," he whispered, choking on the words. "I stopped checking mine until today. I knew it was real because my dreams were never this empty,' he admitted, pausing to look at a picture, his back to her, blinking rapidly as he regained his composure.

He looked over his shoulder at her, ached to move closer and fought against the desire. Not because she might hit him but that he might kiss her again. "No. I thought you were a survivalist enough to realize we'd hurt you, I would hurt you. I just made it a self fulfilling prophecy."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

She cringed at his words, not wanting to focus in on them too long. "That's the thing, Arthur. I won't let myself become her." She paused, inhaling a long breath, not taking her focus off him. Sensing he was bothered by this. But a part of her didn't care, as she did blame him or the others for it, in some small sense. Something she would never have done before. But over the last three years, something that just built up.

"If I stop questioning what is real, and what isn't, then I've lost all that I've tried to become." A snort of annoyance at the idea of that came out, when she spoke. Pulling her knees to her chest, her eyes searching over him. Finding herself lost in the site of him, realizing just how much, she missed having him around. Having his presence near her. "I need to question things. I need to doubt things. If I don't." Her hands going to her face, trying to rub away her frustration. "Well, it just doesn't matter. I won't let it happen."

There was a long silence that filled the room, focusing her attention back in on him. Wanting to just touch him, feel him, knowing it was real. God she finally was admitting, how much she really missed him. "Damn it. Will you sit the hell down? You make me nervous." She shot out, a faint laugh following. "There is a part of me, saying: stay the fuck away from you. But then there is that other part, that says: Go with him." She smiled a crooked smile at that, head tilting to the side as she watched him. "You know anything about me. You know which part is winning." And she hoped, he knew her some. Enough to know, she would follow him, almost anywhere, even now.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

When Ariadne had walked into that warehouse in Paris she had been bright, shiny, a brilliant copper penny, all shine and flash and youthful vibrance. Now she was something entirely different. Rough around the edge, sharp lines and a strong core. She saw herself as broken, had said as much, yet Arthur saw something that had drawn him to her in the first place. Kindred spirits. Someone that could understand now, could accept the man he'd become.

He'd boarded that plane afraid she'd see him, see the darkness and death, and throw him out. Perhaps the woman she had been would have but now, now things had changed yet again.

When she snapped at him to sit down, Arthur did smile then. Crossing the room and sitting on the end of the couch opposite her. Leaning forward, his elbows on his knees as he half turned to face her, watching her. "I want you to question everything, Ariadne. Me most of all. Everyone caters to me, gives to my every whim and need, second guesses what I'll want and does it. I want the woman that told me I was a fucking fool for following Cobb. I want the woman that went into Limbo without a second thought. I want someone who is likely going to kick my ass before the night is over, even if I kiss her again," he added, his gaze on her eyes. "And I want to."

He knew she was right. He did know her. He knew enough to know she'd come with him; had known it when he demanded, nearly asked, she come with him. He took a gamble, an echo to a time when they had been two entirely different people.

"Kiss me."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

"Oh trust me, I plan on reminding you, just how much of an ass, or fool, you can be." Her brows rising, a smirk on her face as she watched him, her focus entirely on him, and his action. Her emotions on a mental roller coaster, she wasn’t entirely sure how to slow down. She hated him, she didn't. She knew she couldn't stay away from him though.

"Goddamn it, Arthur." She growled, leaning over, a mix of anger and need in her eyes, her fist tensing, as she swung at his shoulder. Only to grab at shirt, pulling him toward her, crashing her lips into his, with a kiss filled with need, pain, anger and all that was in between. "What the hell are you doing to me?" She groaned, as she bit on his lower lip, before pulling back, eyes focused on him.

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

It was no less than he deserved, and in his mind, letting him of the hook. He had let her down and didn't deserve a second chance he'd stormed in demanding. "Not sure that will change," he admitted. Not with how he was in public, the way others saw him and expected him to behave.

He'd been expecting the swing since he walked in, but it was an entirely different blow that left him reeling, leaning into her as his fingers tangled into her hair, pulling her closer. All teeth and tongue and that demanding way he had no, insistent and unwilling to accept no for an answer. "No less than you're doing to me," he whispered, hoarse as he tangled his fingers in her hair, refusing to let go.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

"Damn it, Arthur." She snorted, shooting him a quick glare. Only to crash her lips back into his, her hands tightly gripped into his shirt. Almost as if she was afraid, letting go, would cause him to disappear.

Jerking away suddenly, trying to keep her emotions in check. Knowing she so badly wanted to be in his arms. But that part of her kept nagging, saying he would leave. And she would be where she was before. She tensed, her face going frustrated, her eyes fixed on his. "When do you leave?"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

Every fiber of him ached to pull her into his arms, slide that petite body onto her lap and holding her close, kissing her until he even forgot who he was.

The words were like the physical blow she had yet to strike him with. Even now, with all he'd said, she was waiting for the floor to fall out beneath her once more.

"As soon as you're packed."

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

Her eyes closed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I can't just leave." She stated, her eyes focusing on him once again. "I have a family here." Rolling her eyes, she got up, making her way to the kitchen flipping open her notebook. Scanning over a few notes, she made for herself that week. "I need to take care of a few things first."

Glancing up, her eyes softened, a flicker of curiosity showing in her eyes. "Can you wait a few days?"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"Why not? You did it before," he pointed out, rising to follow her. "Tell them you're going on vacation. Or that you met an amazing man he's whisking you away,' he added with a small smile.

But he managed to nod, pulling a phone out of his inner breast pocket. His finger tapped at the screen, pulling a few things up. "Come stay at the Ivy with me then. I can get us into the Superior and make arrangements at the spa and ..." And he stopped, looking up to check her expression.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

"Because the last time I left, they thought I was dead." She snapped back, going back through her notebook. Trying to keep her focus on the book a moment, glaring at the pages all the while. Annoyed she ever let herself do that to someone.

"I can't do that to them anymore. I won't just leave, without saying something." She looked up at that, almost giving him a subtle jab at the comment.

"The Ivy?" She smirked, head tilted, watching him. "Is that suppose to impress me?" She asked, closing the book, to lean against the counter, not breaking her focus on him. "If I say yes. Then what?"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

As someone with no family at home, it had never occurred to Arthur that she would have been missed like that.

"Then we wait until you've settled things. I won't ask you to do to others what I did to you," he murmured, sliding a bit closer, not certain if she would hit him or not.

"Not impress so much as spoil you,' he said, tensing though at her question. "I wasn't going to assume you would want me to stay here, and they have good security and a spa where I can get you pampered and ... right." He bowed his head, used to handling things with money and commands.

[dreamsofmazes.livejournal.com]

"Of course you wont ask me, because you know, I might kick your ass." She lightly teased, a faint smile on her face. Something she found, oddly easy to do with him, even in these circumstances.

"Arthur." Pausing, running her hand along the back of her neck. Her expression softening. "I don't need to be spoiled, even now." Her nose crinkling, she nodded as she mind settled on a thought. "Do you really want to stay in a hotel, a few blocks from here?"

[loadedparadox.livejournal.com]

"At this point I think a lot would be easier to deal with if you did," he noted, fingers moving over the phone screen once more, tapping rapidly though he glanced more at her than the screen. "Okay. Cleared for three days, can get more if we need it. Just need to make a call later to Jamie and make sure he's comfortable in my stead and..."

Again pausing, realizing just how he had changed in his mannerisms and yet stayed the same. "What you need and what I wouldn't mind doing are not the same. As for what I want..." He took a deep breath and pocketed the phone, clasping his hands behind his back. "What do you want?"