All The Survivors - Inception
Title: All The Survivors
Fandom: Inception
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Inception belongs to Nolan and Warner Brothers.
Author's Notes: Set after the movie takes place. A little bit of stepping off the edge of a dream. Thanks to fangie_yin and metafic.
---
You go down, further and further. You know you're supposed to be going up. It's not like you're alone in here. It's not like this job is different from the last. Or the one before. It's not inception, nothing will be like that, not ever. The architect isn't Ariadne this time, but everything's almost perfect. You slip in and out of disguises, you've never known a mark to have so many people in their life. So many games for you to play. Maybe it is different, you think as you take a stairway down.
Suddenly you wish you could change things, the way Ariadne does. You want the sky to change color, you want the beach to be winter, not summer. You want snow on the trees, wind in your hair. You don't care about the goal, about finding answers to questions that don't matter to you. You don't even need the money. You're here because Arthur asked, and he never asks for anything. You're here because all those other jobs were months ago. Because you haven't worked since you were mere minutes from limbo once before, after inception. And it's not something you want to live through again.
And yet you're here, in the depths of the mark's subconscious. You suddenly feel wet and you look down. Water at your feet. You look up, the river's rising, turning into an ocean. You know you should turn back. You're just wasting time now. Arthur and the new extractor (you can't believe you actually miss Cobb) have surely gotten what they've come for. Your distractions, the beautiful women, the men in their tight fitting jeans and fast cars, the butler who hates the mark, they're finished. They've been finished. You're just Eames now, walking along a pier.
The water's rising and then it's raining. You can just make out a rainbow and somewhere you think maybe you can hear Arthur calling your name. It's time to go, you think, but you keep on walking. You think maybe this is what Mal felt like, down in limbo. The rain turns into a downpour and you hold your arms out, tipping your head back. Maybe you don't want to go home. Maybe you're tired of playing it safe.
You look toward the pier and think about stepping off, into the waves, but then you'd have to wake up. You keep walking. There are no projections now, you'd find it weird if you could muster up the energy to care. No one to stare at you, to remind you that this isn't real. You don't stick your hand in your pocket, you don't want to wake up. Maybe this is what it's like for Yusuf's clients. Offhandedly you think about taking him up on that offer, four hours of dreaming every day, you could get used to this.
There's a crash, buildings around you start falling in. You turn and you see Arthur, he's running toward you. You turn around, walking away. It's chaos and you think about the first time you met Cobb. He'd blown your mind a million times over and then you met Arthur. He was everything you weren't and if he wasn't already in love with Cobb, maybe you'd've had a chance. You feel the wind swirling around you, Arthur's voice yelling your name and then you turn. You know just how late you are when you see the fear on Arthur's face.
Don't do this to me, he shouts and you don't have time to think about his words because he's running. Running full out, right at you and even though you try to step out of the way, it's too late. The pier is suddenly a cliff and you're falling, falling down and down and down and then you're awake. Everyone else is gone, it's just you and Arthur.
He sits up and looks at you. You can tell he's going to say something but you've had enough of this. You yank the IV out and stagger over to him. He goes wide-eyed and you wonder if he looked at Cobb this way. But you don't have a chance to think anymore because he's got his fingers curled in your shirt and he's pulling. He's rumpled, his hair a mess, and then he's kissing you. Mumbling against your mouth, don't leave me, you weren't supposed to change, don't be like this. don't leave me over and over into incoherence and maybe you had it wrong all along.
Fandom: Inception
Pairing: Arthur/Eames
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Inception belongs to Nolan and Warner Brothers.
Author's Notes: Set after the movie takes place. A little bit of stepping off the edge of a dream. Thanks to fangie_yin and metafic.
---
You go down, further and further. You know you're supposed to be going up. It's not like you're alone in here. It's not like this job is different from the last. Or the one before. It's not inception, nothing will be like that, not ever. The architect isn't Ariadne this time, but everything's almost perfect. You slip in and out of disguises, you've never known a mark to have so many people in their life. So many games for you to play. Maybe it is different, you think as you take a stairway down.
Suddenly you wish you could change things, the way Ariadne does. You want the sky to change color, you want the beach to be winter, not summer. You want snow on the trees, wind in your hair. You don't care about the goal, about finding answers to questions that don't matter to you. You don't even need the money. You're here because Arthur asked, and he never asks for anything. You're here because all those other jobs were months ago. Because you haven't worked since you were mere minutes from limbo once before, after inception. And it's not something you want to live through again.
And yet you're here, in the depths of the mark's subconscious. You suddenly feel wet and you look down. Water at your feet. You look up, the river's rising, turning into an ocean. You know you should turn back. You're just wasting time now. Arthur and the new extractor (you can't believe you actually miss Cobb) have surely gotten what they've come for. Your distractions, the beautiful women, the men in their tight fitting jeans and fast cars, the butler who hates the mark, they're finished. They've been finished. You're just Eames now, walking along a pier.
The water's rising and then it's raining. You can just make out a rainbow and somewhere you think maybe you can hear Arthur calling your name. It's time to go, you think, but you keep on walking. You think maybe this is what Mal felt like, down in limbo. The rain turns into a downpour and you hold your arms out, tipping your head back. Maybe you don't want to go home. Maybe you're tired of playing it safe.
You look toward the pier and think about stepping off, into the waves, but then you'd have to wake up. You keep walking. There are no projections now, you'd find it weird if you could muster up the energy to care. No one to stare at you, to remind you that this isn't real. You don't stick your hand in your pocket, you don't want to wake up. Maybe this is what it's like for Yusuf's clients. Offhandedly you think about taking him up on that offer, four hours of dreaming every day, you could get used to this.
There's a crash, buildings around you start falling in. You turn and you see Arthur, he's running toward you. You turn around, walking away. It's chaos and you think about the first time you met Cobb. He'd blown your mind a million times over and then you met Arthur. He was everything you weren't and if he wasn't already in love with Cobb, maybe you'd've had a chance. You feel the wind swirling around you, Arthur's voice yelling your name and then you turn. You know just how late you are when you see the fear on Arthur's face.
Don't do this to me, he shouts and you don't have time to think about his words because he's running. Running full out, right at you and even though you try to step out of the way, it's too late. The pier is suddenly a cliff and you're falling, falling down and down and down and then you're awake. Everyone else is gone, it's just you and Arthur.
He sits up and looks at you. You can tell he's going to say something but you've had enough of this. You yank the IV out and stagger over to him. He goes wide-eyed and you wonder if he looked at Cobb this way. But you don't have a chance to think anymore because he's got his fingers curled in your shirt and he's pulling. He's rumpled, his hair a mess, and then he's kissing you. Mumbling against your mouth, don't leave me, you weren't supposed to change, don't be like this. don't leave me over and over into incoherence and maybe you had it wrong all along.