These Scars of Mine (12b/13)
Eames really didn’t know how he made it to Arthur’s without getting a ticket, or worse, getting into a wreck and killing someone. Then again, the drive was a little bit of a haze. He wouldn’t remember it even if he tried.
He had called Yusuf on the way out and told him about Gabriella and that she was the one that had poisoned Arthur. Yusuf was going to call the authorities and have her arrested or something like that. Eames didn’t really care about what happened to her at the moment. All he cared about was getting to Arthur as soon as possible. He would deal with everything else later.
Eames pulled into the driveway and darted for the house. Eames wasn’t even sure if the car was even off, or in park for that matter. But he didn’t care.
He didn’t even knock. He just burst through the door and ran up the stairs. Once he reached the top, he met Ariadne, who had just walked out of Arthur’s room.
“Eames?”
“Ariadne. Look, I know I am the last person on Earth Arthur would want to see right now, but I have to see him. Yusuf told me what happened and I have to. I just…”
“Eames.” She said with a smile, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You can go in and see him.” Eames just smiled and walked passed her and towards Arthur’s room.
He stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. He really hoped that Arthur wouldn’t kick him out. He knocked lightly. He wasn’t going to just walk right in. This was Arthur’s room, completely different than the house in general. He couldn’t just walk right in now.
The door opened and Eames came face to face with Dom Cobb.
“Eames.”
“I heard about Arthur. I wanted to see him, if that is okay?” Dom just nodded and walked out of the room. Eames let out a deep breath and walked in, closing the door behind him.
The room was dark, like always. But something about it just seemed so much darker than normal, like the room knew that someone was dying in it. Arthur was lying on the bed. He had his eyes closed but Eames could tell that he wasn’t sleeping. He probably couldn’t, not now.
“Eames?” Arthur whispered.
“Hey.” Eames walked over and sat down next to the bed. Arthur still kept his eyes closed. Eames took the chance to glance around the room.
Everything seemed to be the same as it was the last time he was here, although the broken china on the floor was new. It looked like someone had tried to clean it up but had gotten distracted and just left it there. His eyes then found one lone cup sitting on the nightstand. He reached out and picked it up, a small smile coming to his face.
Arthur had kept his cup.
“You should take that home with you.” Eames looked over and saw that Arthur was now looking at him.
“I know.” Arthur let out a small cough and pulled himself up a bit.
“Why are you here?”
“I came because Yusuf told me about what happened. I should have been here sooner and all I can think about is that this is my fault.”
“Unless you poisoned me yourself, this isn’t your fault.”
“But it is. Gabriella was the one who did this to you.”
“Gabriella?”
“Yeah. She thought that by getting rid of you she could have me.” Eames reached forward and grabbed Arthur’s hand. “How wrong she was.”
“I’m just going to die anyways. There is nothing that can be done now.”
“I should have been here. I wasted a month of being with you because I was stupid and selfish.”
“I gave you every reason to hate me Eames. It is understandable.”
“But I didn’t hate you.” Eames leaned forward. “Arthur, I could never hate you. I am madly in love you with you.” Arthur’s eyes widened as he looked over at him.
“What?”
“I love you Arthur. It has taken me a bit to fully catch on, but yeah, I do. I love everything about you which is why I don’t like that you seem so fine with dying right now, leaving all of us behind like this.”
“Truth is, I’m scared to death.”
“Then why act like everything is alright. That no one’s feelings matter.”
“I thought if I hid my feelings nothing would bother me; that I would be alright with being alone and dying alone. But then you came along and threw that plan out the window.”
“I came along?”
“Yes. You threw everything off, especially when I realized that I loved you too.” Eames stopped breathing for a few seconds.
“You love me?” Arthur looked over at him and smiled.
“Of course. I believe I have been in love with you since the first time I saw you. It just took me awhile to realize it.” Eames grinned. They were silent for a bit, just smiling at each other.
“I hate that it has to end this way.” Eames said, his smile fading as the tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Oh don’t be so melodramatic.” Eames jumped and turned around. There was a woman leaning against the doorway. She smiled at them before walking in.
“Mal.” Arthur whispered.
So this was Mal. Dom and Ariadne walked in right behind her. As Eames looked at her, he could see why she would make the perfect witch. She was beautiful and very alluring. She could get anyone to do what she wanted just by looking at them.
“Arthur still has a few days left. Why are you here?” Ariadne asked. She sounded quite distraught. Of course, she should, her best friend was dying.
“Does he?” She replied. “I would say by looking at him that he has less than that, especially with the poison spreading throughout his body.” She looked over and smiled at Eames. “Hello Mr. Eames.”
“Why are you here?” Dom asked. Dom looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Of course, Mal was his wife, his dead wife. Eames was sure he would be right there with him if he would have seen his dead wife again.
“Poison is not how Arthur is supposed to die.” She slowly walked over to the bed.
“Are you here to kill me?” Arthur asked. She smiled and reached over and cupped his cheek. Eames was sure that he wasn’t breathing right now. He had no idea what was going on or what would happen.
“Leave it to you Arthur to realize the message behind the curse at the last second.”
“What?” Eames blurted out. He felt like he was the only one here who had no idea what was going on.
“I put the spell on Arthur because he was incapable of love, of caring for someone who wasn’t himself. The spell would only be undone if he could learn to love and have someone learn to love him in return.”
Eames was about to respond when Mal put her hand over Arthur’s face. A green light appeared around him. Eames just watched in shock as the light slowly flowed into Mal’s palm.
The green light slowly dissipated only to be replaced by a bright gold light. Eames backed away, covering his eyes as the light illuminated the whole room.
When the light finally died down, Eames glanced over at the bed.
The man lying in the bed was not the Arthur Eames knew. But Eames did know this man. He worked at Saito’s office. Eames had seen him a few times here or there but the last time he had seen him was at Saito’s party.
It all made sense now why Eames hadn’t see him since.
After all this time, Arthur Callahan was the gorgeous man Eames had a crush on at the office.
“Wow.” Eames took a step forward.
“What?” Arthur asked, sitting up. Eames watched as Arthur looked down at his hands, realization hitting him. Arthur jumped off the bed and ran towards the cracked mirror that he still, for some odd reason, kept in his room. “I’m back.” Arthur reached up and touched the glass. He turned around and smiled. “I’m back!”
Eames just smiled as Dom and Ariadne ran over to him and pulled him into a big group hug. He wasn’t about to interrupt their group moment. After all, they had known Arthur for much longer than Eames had.
“Good luck Mr. Eames.” He looked over and saw Mal standing right next to him. She was looking at Arthur as well.
“With what?”
“With life.” Eames turned back and looked over at Arthur. Arthur was smiling and laughing. He was so beautiful and perfect. He was everything Eames ever wanted and more.
“Thanks but…” He turned to look back at Mal, but she was gone. He glanced around the room to see where she had gone. He looked through the open door and saw her looking down the stairwell. If Eames could guess, he would say she was looking at her children. But there was no way to tell for sure.
“Eames!” He turned back again and saw Arthur making his way over to him. Eames just smiled and walked up to him slowly. He slowly raised a hand and placed it on Arthur’s face. It was weird without all the scars and extra hair. Eames had grown so used to it lately.
“I can’t believe I am seeing you right now. The real you.”
“Well, what do you think?” Eames knew that Arthur was nervous about this. Arthur had strived on his looks for his whole life. And Arthur had deemed himself ugly for almost a year, so of course now he was looking for some compliment. To see what Eames thought about him.
“I didn’t fall in love with your looks, Arthur.” Arthur just gave him a small pout. Eames just laughed. “You are just as beautiful as you were the first time I saw you.”
“But, you’ve never seen me like this.”
“Of course I have. We worked together Arthur, at the same company for years. I may not have known who you were, but I definitely saw you. You aren’t very hard to miss.” Arthur let out a small sigh and looked up at him impatiently.
“So?” Eames just smiled and pulled Arthur forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
“You look fine.” Arthur just smiled at him. “But there is something.”
“And what would that be?” Eames slowly reached out and tugged on Arthur’s ears.
“I really miss your other ears.” Dom and Ariadne just laughed as Arthur shoved him back.
“Fuck off.” Eames just smiled as he pulled Arthur into a hug.
Eames knew that everything was going to be just fine from now on.