Note: I apparently can't write fluff. I couldn't comprehend a situation in which my version of Arthur would actually admit his feelings to Ariadne, but then this literally exploded in my head. It helps if you've read my version of Arthur's backstory though it's not required! Warning, it's not for the faint of heart, I think my love for Tarantino and Sin City came out in this. This fic will have multiple chapters!

Rain pounded down on the hotel building. Lightning flashed in the sky bringing sudden light into a very very dark night.

Ariadne stood at the window of her hotel room, the small pistol that Saito bought her a week ago was held firmly by her left hand. At the time she thought it was a ridiculous gift. Eames even laughed at the very image of their innocent little architect holding a gun. Arthur hadn't said anything at the time, approving of the gift no doubt. Now, though, she was thankful for it. She'd never thought that she would see the day that they would fail. Eames, Arthur, and herself. They were talented, they were the best in the business, yet here she was terrified for her life.

It had started out like any other normal job. The Crestfall pharmaceutical company fired one of their best and brightest scientists when she created a miracle drug. Eames' guess, a cure for AIDS. The scientist, Allison Monroe, refused to hand over the formula of the miracle drug unless the company agreed to share it with all of the countries of the world for reasonable prices. Yes, that got Monroe a pink slip. So their job? Infiltrate Monroe's dreams and get the formula of the drug, simple enough. Arthur did the research on the logistics, Eames studied Monroe's husband, while Ariadne created a generic bar that bar hopper Allison would appreciate. It all should have gone to plan...but it didn't.

They slipped up. Ariadne forgot to add the components of Monroe's favorite cocktail to the bar; therefore, making her realize something was strange right off the bat. Eames' impersonation of Monroe's husband made her ask him if there was something wrong. As a last ditch effort, Arthur decided to pull a Mr. Charles. It didn't work, Monroe's projections attacked them immediately. They failed, and the Crestfall pharmaceutical company still didn't have their formula.

All three of them were wanted. Dead. Not even alive for a profit, dead.

Eames ran off to Mombasa right away, knowing that he was safe there. He encouraged his partners to do the same, but didn't bother to stick around to make sure that they did. Ariadne booked a flight for Paris, but it didn't leave until the next morning. There was nothing she could do. Arthur? He disappeared.

Ariadne bit down her lip, remembering how Miles warned her against this life. That it was glamorous at first but incredibly dangerous. Ariadne always thought that it couldn't be that dangerous if you simply woke up if you were killed. But that was in dreams, she never thought that someone would try to kill her in reality.

All she could do was wait. She was too afraid to call anyone from her tiny hotel room. Who would she call anyway? Cobb? The thought crossed her mind, but he wouldn't be able to tell her anything that she didn't already know. To leave the States and not look back. No, there was nothing that anyone could do for her.

She was utterly alone and terrified.

The rain showed no sign of slowing. Thunder was building around her now, getting louder and louder with each lightning strike. A new bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. One, one thousand, two, one thousand, three- Another thunder clap. Ariadne was never afraid of storms before, but it certainly wasn't putting her at ease tonight.

The phone rang.

Ariadne practically jumped out of her skin, her heart sped up so quickly she could feel each beat in her throat. She didn't give anyone the phone number to her hotel room. It had to be the main office downstairs...but what would they need? Maybe she wouldn't answer. She couldn't. Hesitantly, she moved to the phone waiting for it to stop ringing. For a hint that someone didn't care too much to get a hold of her. That it was normal, it was unimportant. As soon as the phone stopped ringing she sighed in relief. "God, you're paranoid," She whispered to herself running her hand along her forehead.

The phone rang again.

"Shit," She hissed. "Fuck it." Grabbing hold of the phone, she pulled it to her ear but didn't speak.

"Ariadne."

"Oh God, Arthur," She breathed in relief. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Arthur said rapidly his voice gravely serious. "You need to leave your hotel room now."

Ariadne's knees gave out, and she dropped down to the floor. "What...what why do I have..."

"Ariadne, listen to me, you need to leave the hotel now. Get on the closest bus and just ride it as far as you can. I'll find you. Just run, you don't have the-" The phone went dead. No dial tone, nothing.

For a moment, the architect stared at the phone. Then her adrenaline kicked in. Ariadne placed her pistol in the back of her jeans, and grabbed her small back pack. Hurriedly, she left her hotel room and closed the door behind her. She peered up and down the hall way to make sure that she was alone. Only a small child was on the floor, playing with a toy train.

A chime from the middle of the floor indicated that she wouldn't be alone for long. Someone was coming up the elevator. Time to take the stairs. Ariadne propelled herself down the steps of the hotel, swearing to herself as she went. Why the hell did she have to get a room on the eighth floor? When her feet landed on the fifth floor, she heard shouts above her. Grunts, to move faster.

Ariadne bit back a cry of despair only focused on moving quicker. Reaching the ground floor. Running. She slammed her body into the ground floor door, and pushed past all of the people in the lobby. Yes, she knew that she was drawing attention to herself. A twenty something girl, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, running at top speed through a posh hotel, but she couldn't care right now. Not now.

Another lightning strike welcomed her onto the streets of New York City. Being hit with a downpour of rain, Ariadne paused trying to gather her bearings. Where could she find a bus? Where did she need to go?

Glancing back into the lobby of the hotel, she saw three men in suits breaking up the crowd. They were running towards the exit.

Ariadne darted across the street without bothering to look both ways. Car horns blared, breaks screeched in protest.

"Get the bitch!" A gruff voice yelled from behind her.

She didn't dare look back anymore, instead she just ran. Her heart was pounding now, her whole body seeming to be energized by the rapid beats. She didn't even realize how soaking wet she was. How her clothing clinged to her body, and how her hair gathered together. However, she did notice that they were gaining on her.

The pounding of their feet on the wet ground was getting louder and louder. They were faster than her. She was just a college student who had never played a sport in her life. These guys...they did this for a living.

"C'mere!" A hand reached out and grabbed hold of Ariadne's hair.

She screamed and jerked her head away from the goon, ripping hair from her head in the process. Her feet led her down a side street, to evade them, anything. It couldn't end like this, she refused to die like this. Then she saw it.

It was a dead end.

Ariadne felt the air fly from her lungs. "No," She whispered. Now she was forced to turn around. They were waiting for her. All three of them. Their leader smiled deeply, like he couldn't wait to "do his job."

"Looks like you ran out of places to go. Whatever will you do?" He asked her with a harsh laugh. "Pity that you gotta go, so young. Not exactly pretty, but you'll do won't you? Whatta think, Pierce? You think she'll do?"

Pierce, the goon to the leader's left, licked his lips. "Oh yeah she'll do."

"Please," Ariadne whispered her hands in the air, her body shaking in fear.

"Now she's gonna beg boys, I like it when they beg," The man on the right said huskily. His face was covered with pimples. "We can have some fun before we waste her can't we, Tal?"

"Why not?" Tal, the leader shrugged. "Might as well get our use out of her."

Ariadne immediately reached back and pulled out her own gun, raising it up to aim at Tal's forehead.

"Oh, kitty's got claws," Tal laughed heartily, the two other goons rushed Ariadne before she could pull the trigger. Pierce grabbed the gun, and threw it aside. The pimpled goon pushed Ariadne to the ground, and climbed on her body.

"I know she's gonna be a squirmer. I like squirmers," He mumbled reaching for his belt.

Ariadne screamed at the top of her lungs, kicking, and punching her arms out, but it was all in vain. He was stronger than her. "Gather round boys, we're gonna have some-" Tal's words were cut off, as a bullet was lodged into his neck. Blood splattered down from his wound. The goon raised his hand to stop the bleeding, but another bullet cracked through his skull. Tal fell to the ground, dead, although his body continued to bleed.

"Fuck!" Pierce shot towards the street.

"You gotta make this complicated bitch," The pimpled goon groaned. "Fine, we'll just get to the good part." He raised his own gun to her temple. She reached up and grabbed the man's hand digging her nails deep into his flesh. So deep she drew blood. The goon screamed in pain, and Ariadne shifted up and punched him which forced him off of her body. She pushed herself away from him and tried to gain her footing.

There were more gunshots, Pierce fell to the ground, his knee cap blown to pieces. The pimpled goon turned around, and called out, "Come on you bastard, you don't have-" Arthur stepped forward into the light, and shot the pimpled goon straight into his crotch.

Ariadne pressed her back against the wall, almost hoping to fade into it as she watched the goon fall to the ground, holding nothing but a red mass between his legs. Cries from the two goons echoed in the alleyway.

Arthur saw to it.

Turning to Pierce first, he raised his gun and shot him in the head. One cry stopped. Looking back at the pimpled man, Arthur raised his gun again. "I'm going to let you live," He practically whispered, although Ariadne heard a clear bottled rage inside of each syllable. "You tell Crestfall that an editorial piece has already been written. Explaining how millions of people could be cured if it weren't for Crestfall's greedy practices. You tell them that if one Crestfall employee comes after any of my associates, that piece will run. Even if I'm killed it will make its way to the public knowledge and they can kiss their company good bye. Do you understand me?"

The pimpled goon's face was covered in tears now, whining in pain, but he managed to nod.

Arthur looked up at Ariadne for the first time. "Are you all right?" He asked putting his gun into the holster that hung on his hip.

Ariadne could barely breathe, but she gasped, "Yes-yes, I'm okay."

The point man walked towards her, and reached out for her hand. "Come with me. We'll be safe." Ariadne's eyes met Arthur's, there was no panic there. Only worry. Only concern. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure stand. "Arthur!" She screamed as the pimple faced goon raised his gun to Arthur's head.

A second passed by, and Arthur's hand moved from his waist pulling out a knife. He twisted his body swiftly to plunge the knife into the goon's neck. A bullet fired from the pimpled man's gun, but it was shot in the air. Arthur took out his gun again. Taking a step closer to the pimpled goon, he raised his gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Blood splattered across Arthur's body, as what was left of the final goon crashed to the ground.

Ariadne covered her mouth with her hand as she struggled to simply be in this moment. She felt bile gather up in her throat, but she pushed it down. Not now, she needed to be strong. Somehow.

Arthur's body was still for a moment. Then he placed the gun in his holster. He moved in slow motion, despite the rain that seemed to continue to pour down on them unaware of what just happened in the alley.

"Arthur," She cried wanting to run to him and away from him at the same time.

"No one is ever going to hurt you, Ariadne. Never," He murmured his eyes on the blood that coated the ground beneath them.

It was then, standing in the rain starring at Arthur's face covered in blood, it was then she realized that he loved her.

"But if you hurt what's mine I'll sure as hell retaliate."

-"Safe From Harm" Massive Attack