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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"I thought Arthur's totem was a dice," Ariadne said, frowning as she watched the point man.

"It is," Eames replied absently as he rocked back on his chair.

"Then why is he playing with that? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing Arthur would normally do."

Eames, always interested in Arthur, turned to look and almost fell off his chair. Arthur had a glass ball somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a baseball. He was twirling his fingers in such a way that the ball danced across the back of his knuckles. Then he twisted his wrist and held the ball in the tips of his fingers and stared into the glass as though it held the answers to the universe.

"Hm." Eames leaned forward so his chair was firmly on the ground again, and watched Arthur watch the glass ball. It was strange. Arthur was looking into the thing with the same sort of concentration he gave to jobs and it wasn't like him to give that sort of attention to something so simple and trivial. Eames stood and made his way over.

"Alright, love?" Arthur startled almost imperceptibly. Eames probably wouldn't have noticed, except that he noticed everything about everyone (especially Arthur). And Arthur definitely startled. That worried Eames even more. Arthur was always aware of his surroundings. He was scary like that.

"Mr Eames." He didn't break eye contact with the ball.

"Are you alright?"

It was the lack of endearment that clued Arthur into the fact that it was an honest question. He blinked rapidly a couple of times, and then looked up to meet Eames' eyes, dropping the hand with the ball in down into his lap.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You just seem distracted, is all."

"I really am fine." Arthur gave a half smile that managed to be irritated and reassuring at once. Then he tossed his head and slipped the ball into his pocket before getting up.

His shoulder brushed against Eames' as he passed.

Yusuf and Dom arrived shortly afterwards and they started planning. A teenage girl had been babysitting her little brother and he'd disappeared. She claimed to know nothing about what happened to him, but their parents weren't entirely convinced. They'd hired the team to go into her head and find out if she'd had anything to do with his disappearance.

"We're going to use two levels," Dom said. "We'll take her down two levels and make her feel at home there. We make a safe or something similar and try an extraction."

"Given the extremely sensitive nature of the information, she may protect it more vigorously than most marks. This could make her sub-security more dangerous than a militarised mind," Arthur picked up.

"That's why I said two levels," Dom said, patiently. "If she freaks out or wakes up, or even realises she's dreaming, we take her up a level to a police station type thing and interrogate her."

"The lower level," Eames said, "Should be fantasy themed. A castle maybe. And we should make her a princess and go in as knights."

He and Arthur had both been tailing the girl for only a couple of days but it was obvious that fantasy was her bread and butter. She lived with her head in the clouds.

"I can do that," Ariadne smiled. "I was thinking something Arthurian maybe."

"You hear that, Darling? She's going to make you a king!"Eames laughed and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"The standard compound should work fine for two levels." Yusuf sounded almost annoyed that there wasn't more for him to do on this job. They'd been working together as a team ever since the Inception Job. They'd gotten an excellent reputation in the dreamshare community since then, but the downside of it was that everyone wanted to hire them as a unit. They'd been able to get the odd job individually, but most of the time they had to work in twos and threes or all as a group. None of them were sure whether to be pleased or annoyed.

The only one who hadn't been negatively affected by the new team mentality was Dom. He'd only taken a few other jobs since Inception, and he'd only tried to work with the team. He'd been revelling in spending time with his children, but he'd been back with them for two years now and both of them were in full time education. He missed them, but he needed something to do sometimes. He only took jobs that seemed fairly easy, and only jobs that he considered to be morally right. He was never sure how much to tell the children about his job, and they were getting older, and Philippa had been asking questions. She was made of curiosity it seemed. He was careful, and he always came home.

"Remember, time is an issue here. There's a child at stake. I want to take her under in three days time."

"Cobb! There's no way I can have a layout ready in that time!" Ariadne was not happy.

"I know I'm rushing it, but the longer we leave it, the less likely it is we find the child alive."

"Dom, be reasonable man. We usually take a week, sometimes two on a job like this! Arthur, say something, he'll listen to you."

"Sorry, Eames. I agree with Cobb. Sometimes, time is of the essence. Think of it as a challenge." He smirked at Eames, and the forger found himself smirking back.

Arthur scrubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. He had a folder put together on the girl, but he felt like he was missing something, something obvious. He re-read it for the fourth time and Eames nudged him.

"It's 3 in the morning, and we have to be up to follow the mark at crack of dawn. Come on. Bed." Eames turned to the others who were gathered around a desk where Ariadne had been sketching various layouts. He raised his voice to call across the warehouse to them. "Oy, you three! It's nearly three. I suggest we turn in and look at it fresh tomorrow. Less haste, more speed as they say."

"Good idea." Dom sighed. Ariadne was wilting obviously. He'd thought she'd be used to pulling all nighters from her time as a student. Yusuf didn't look tired, but Dom was pretty sure he'd been sampling some of his own chemicals to keep him so bright eyed and bushy tailed. "You and Arthur have to be up early. Yusuf, Ariadne, meet me here at ten tomorrow. We'll have another go at it then."

They all packed up and headed back to the hotel. Usually, they acted like they didn't know each other during a job. Arriving separately and ignoring each other so they wouldn't be associated with each other by any witnesses. But this time Eames followed Arthur directly into the lobby and as they crossed reception towards the stairs, he reached out and took hold of Arthur's arm. Arthur did not look happy. He spun around and glared at Eames before snatching his arm back.

"Easy, love. I just thought you could use a drink. You've been odd since we got this job."

"Mr Eames, it's gone three in the morning. I am exhausted and I have to get up in three and a half hours to tail our girl to swim practice and then to school. The last thing I need is to be hungover."

"Alright. It was just a suggestion. No need to be pissy." Eames held up his hands. Arthur snorted and then turned and continued across to the stairs. Eames continued; "Although, I could take the morning shift, if that's what's bothering you. Let you have a lie in for once in your life."

Arthur stopped and turned back, clearly surprised. He always took the morning shift when they were stalking someone. He always got up at six anyway; a habit left over from his days in the army, and it just made sense. He was an early bird, Eames was a night owl. He could stay up for half the night without getting tired, but if you woke him before nine (at the absolute earliest) he'd bite your hand off.

"Are you sure?"

"Least I could do. Whatever's bothering you, sort it out."

"Who says something's bothering me?"

"Arthur, you were playing with your balls in the middle of the warehouse."

Eames was being deliberately crude to get a smile out of Arthur, but instead of telling him off or dimpling, Arthur frowned. His hand went to his pocket and he pressed two fingers to the bulge of the glass.

"Right. I'll meet you in front of the school at twelve," Arthur said, ignoring Eames's implication.

"Fine. See you then."

Arthur didn't wait to acknowledge the remark, he just turned and stalked away from the forger. He was glad though. He went to his room and fell asleep as soon as he got out of his suit.

Chapter Text

Eames watched the girl. She was pretty enough, he supposed. Tall with dark hair and a good figure. Pity she was only fifteen. She always seemed to be alone, which he couldn't figure. Her parents had said she was fairly popular. Maybe she'd lost her friends when she'd lost her brother. He couldn't decide if he she was guilty or not.

He fiddled with his poker chip and thought.

Not about the girl, about Arthur. He knew very little about the point man's background, pre-dreamshare. Which was a pain as he was pretty sure that Arthur had a file on him a mile wide which contained everything from the moment he was born to the results of his last prostate check. He'd never really been that bothered before. He had picked up bits and pieces about Arthur, the way you do, and it never seemed to matter who he was before. But there was obviously something about this job that was getting to the point man. Had he been kidnapped as a child? Had he had a child who was kidnapped? Did it have something to do with his charming loyalty to Cobb?

Midday came without fanfare, almost before he realised it.

Arthur pulled up to the curb on the other side of the street and called Eames.

"Darling! That time already?"

"Yes. You sound tired. Go take a nap before heading to the Warehouse."

"Yes, sir!" Eames saluted his rear-view mirror, knowing Arthur could see him. "Did you sleep well, darling?"

"Tolerably enough, I suppose."

"Did you have good dreams?"

Arthur paused. Everyone in the dreamshare community knew that too long using Somnacin led to the inability to dream naturally. He wasn't sure if Eames knew he hadn't yet succumbed to that side effect, or if he believed Arthur had spent the night hooked up to a PASIV.

"I had strange dreams," he finally replied.

"Hmm," Eames considered that for a moment, and then decided to forgo comment. "She's in the drama studio. A rehearsal for that play she's in."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

"Yes. Later."

Eames hung up and drove away. He looked in the rearview mirror at Arthur until he turned around the corner.

Arthur spent the afternoon thinking about Eames. Their conversations on this job had all felt strained to him, and he wanted to know why. He didn't have many people he could call friends and almost all of them were on the team. He didn't have the luxury of losing one of them. Everything seemed to have an underlying meaning, and they'd barely bickered at all. It felt wrong.

He wasn't sure if it was real, or if he was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Was it this job? Arthur could admit -without any feelings of resentment or blame- that it was getting to him. He had his reasons. Or was it something else? Something deeper. He honest to God wasn't sure. And that was wrong as well. He was Arthur. He didn't normally experience failure. Not in this way. He was used to knowing and understanding. It's what he did, and he was the best God-damned Point Man in the business.

He did not like being unsure.

Arthur kept an eye on the girl until 9 pm when her she went to bed. It may sound early for a fifteen year old, but she had to get up for swim practice, after all. Then he drove to the warehouse to meet the others.

They were scattered all around the warehouse, each working on their own individual projects. He could hear Ariadne's pencil scraping on the thick draughtsman's paper as she sketched out dreamscapes. Cobb was skyping his children before they went to bed (they were in a different time zone). Yusuf was working on a variation of Sodium Pentothal for use in dreams, but Arthur was pretty sure it wouldn't work. Eames was watching The Princess Bride. Arthur huffed a breathless laugh at that, and made his way over.

Eames looked up as he approached and smiled, his eyes shining.

"Arthur! How was she this afternoon?"

"She went to her lessons, walked home alone, did her homework, ate her dinner, watched the first Lord of the Rings movie and went to bed."

"Ah. I'm sure you were on the edge of your seat, love."

"And what are you up to?"

"Research. This is her favourite film. We were talking earlier and Yusuf suggested I forged one of the characters."

"Hmm."

Arthur tilted his head, then turned and walked away. He was back a moment later with his file and he lightly kicked Eames' ankle.

"Shift."

Eames grinned, delighted, and moved so that Arthur could share the dusty and possibly disease ridden sofa (they'd found it in a dumpster) with him.

"Do you want me to take it back to the beginning, darling?"

"Won't you be bored?"

"Nah, I love this film. Besides, I need to watch it as much as possible if I'm going to get the forge right."

"Okay then, if you don't mind."

"As you wish." Eames leaned forward to skip the dvd back to the beginning.

It was close to midnight. Ariadne's vague concept sketches had slowly come together to form a complex map. Yusuf had given up on being able to do anything interesting chemical-wise on this job, and was helping design escape tunnels. Cobb had added to and expanded the plan, figuring out exactly what they would do and say.

Arthur and Eames were halfway through The Princess Bride for the second time.

"My name is Inigo Montoya..."Eames started.

"...you killed my father..." Arthur replied.

"...prepare to die!" they said this line together with Mandy Patinkin.

Their shoulders were pressed tight against each other and they felt warm and comfortable.

At some point, there'd been Chinese food. Arthur was feeling vaguely hungry though, and he wondered how much chocolate Ariadne had in that bag of hers and whether she'd be willing to share. He'd gotten up to go and ask her, when the lights went out. Ariadne made a high pitched noise. So did Yusuf. Arthur drew a gun, and Eames did too a second later. Dom took a moment longer to reach for his.

There was an odd clattering sound, and they all looked up towards the window.

Silhouetted against the night, was a snowy owl. It was pure white and it fluttered against the window like a moth that was drawn to the light. It should have been funny. They should have all been laughing in relief because it was just a stupid bird.

But they didn't. They couldn't, because of Arthur's reaction.

Ariadne and Yusuf were already smiling, Dom had sheathed his weapon and Eames had started to turn, a grin on his face, to share the joke with Arthur.

Then Arthur dropped his gun.

The noise it made on the cement floor was magnified by the silence and the echoes reverberating around the room.

"No."

His hands came up defensively and he took half a panicked step backwards.

The lights came on and the owl was gone.

Arthur walked to the back of the warehouse, ignoring their questions and leaned his forehead against the wall. His right hand came down to his pocket and he pressed two fingers inside against the coolness of the glass. He closed his eyes.

Behind him, the others were having a furious silent debate about who should find out what the hell all that was about. Cobb seemed to think he was the best man for the job, while Eames was nominating himself. Yusuf didn't really care. Whilst the two men had a strange fight that consisted mainly of mime, Ariadne rolled her eyes and walked over to her friend. She stopped briefly to bend down and pick up the gun that Arthur had abandoned. She carefully spoke before she got within arm's reach. It wasn't good to startle a nervous soldier.

"Arthur?"

He didn't acknowledge her, so she stepped slowly closer and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Is everything alright?"

"I apologise. I reacted poorly."

He retreated into formality and took his head from the wall. He turned around, brushing off Ariadne's hand and facing his teammates.

"Arthur, what's going on with you?" Cobb asked.

"Nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing, darling. And we all remember what happened the last time one of us was having issues they insisted were nothing, don't we?"

Cobb shot him a glare and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"It's not a big deal. I won't let it interfere with the job."

"Arthur, you freaked out over an owl. You dropped your gun. You don't do that. You're Arthur." Ariadne seemed almost offended that he was not being his usual reliable self.

"We're worried, pet."

"This job is just bringing up some old memories. I'll handle it." Arthur scraped a hand back over his hair, forcing it into submission. Cobb frowned, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"What bad memories?"

"Nothing I wish to discuss. It won't affect the job." He said it with an air of finality, and they decided to let him have his secrets for now. If they watched him a little more closely after that, he pretended not to notice.

Chapter Text

Ariadne, Cobb and Yusuf went back to designing the world, and Eames went to sit in front of the film. He should have been watching Cary Elwes, trying to get his mannerisms right, but he couldn't stop his gaze from wandering to Arthur. The point man was standing in front of the mirror Eames had set up to watch himself as he tried to imitate the Dread Pirate Wesley.

Arthur squared his shoulders and the reflection did likewise. He carefully adjusted his tie and checked his hair. Eames smiled slightly. It was so Arthur to be worried about outward appearance after that. Then his smile turned to a frown and he looked around quickly.

"What's wrong?" Yusuf asked.

"I...nothing." Eames shook his head and decided he was too wound up. The stress of the night and all that. He'd thought he'd seen some flash of motion behind Arthur's reflection, but there was nothing there. Nothing at all.

Arthur, once again fully composed, made his way over to where the others were working on the designs, and peeked over Ari's shoulder.

"Not enough paradoxes," he said, and got a smile form Ariadne. "Can you put in a devil's fork?"

"I already put in the Penrose steps for you!" she laughed and he felt himself smile in return. She tapped a section of her design with the end of her pencil. "Maybe here would be good for the devils fork?"

"Good."

"What is it with you and paradoxes, anyway, love?" Eames asked, ambling over. They were all trying to be as normal as possible. Arthur knew this of course, but he appreciated the effort.

Arthur shot Eames a tight grin, shrugged and then spoke.

"I just have an unhealthy affection for Esher."

That got a laugh and the tension that had filled the air began to dissipate.

"Arthur's the one who introduced paradoxes to the dreamshare in the first place," Cobb volunteered unexpectedly.

"Really?" Ariadne asked, and Eames was glad to know that he wasn't the only one surprised at this revelation. Arthur looked at the floor, but shrugged and nodded when Cobb sent him a questioning look.

"Yeah. We were part of the government programme then. I went under with him, into his dream. A training exercise. My job was to kill him, either in person or with my projections, before the time ran out." He smiled fondly. "I was expecting a law office or something like that. All clean lines and metal and glass. But instead I got a castle that looked like Esher himself drew it. There were stairs everywhere all leading into each other and defying gravity. I spent what felt like hours chasing him around and never one got close enough to do any damage. Then he just... disappeared. I grabbed a grenade and blew a way out."

"Surprised it took you as long as it did," Arthur put in.

"When the dust cleared, I was standing in a long white corridor. Arthur was up ahead of me, but otherwise it was empty. He was staring into a mirror. I could see his reflection, and mine, behind him. 'Don't draw a gun if you want to live', he said, calm as anything, and motioned to these things on the wall. I looked up at them, hand going automatically to my gun, but when my hand touched metal, they began to move."

"What?"

"Weird!"

"Yeah. They were like vines made of stone. I didn't want to draw my gun after that!" Cobb laughed lightly. "I looked back, and Arthur... I still have no idea how he did it." He looked fondly at the point man.

"Still not telling!"

"He was in the mirror. Somehow, he'd become his reflection. He waved at me, and then turned and kept walking down the corridor. I ran over and stopped just in front of the mirror."

"Then you walked face first into it!" Arthur's turn to laugh, as Cobb blushed.

"Yeah, alright! No matter what I did, I couldn't get through the damn mirror. I ended up shooting the damn thing, but the mirror turned into a liquid like something from The Matrix and caught the bullet. Then the things on the wall came to life. They grabbed me, disarmed me, but they didn't hurt me. Just held me there until the timer ran out."

"The Colonel was not impressed," Arthur smiled.

"Why aren't you an Architect, if you can do all that?" Ariadne asked.

"I prefer to keep my feet on the ground and my head out of the clouds."

"And here, I thought you had no imagination!" Eames sighed. The others laughed. "Well, you can hardly blame me! I've been in your dreams, Arthur! And they're all bland and boring. Lots of straight lines and modern architecture."

"Of course. You've only been in the Tourist Sector."

"Your brain has a Tourist Sector?" Yusuf asked.

"Of course. It's a way of militarising."

"Not one that I've ever heard of."

Arthur shrugged, but he was beginning to look uncomfortable at all the attention.

"Come on, love. Let me practice my Wesley on you." Eames grabbed his sleeve and tugged, but Arthur went willingly enough.

The next day, Arthur and Eames both woke up at the crack of dawn and they went together to stalk the girl.

"Arthur, darling, are you sure you're alright?"

"Mr Eames, I've been dealing with this for a long time. A small reminder on a job isn't going to break me."

"I don't think you're going to break, darling. I just..." Eames ran a hand through his hair, trying to find the words. They didn't do this, he and Arthur. They didn't talk. "I worry. And you've been off this whole time. If you want to talk about it..."

Arthur snorted.

"If I wanted to talk about it, I'd talk about it. It's over and done with. It has nothing to do with the job."

"Are you sure? Pet, if it does have something to do with the girl and the missing boy, if you're hiding something relevant from us-"

"Would I do that?" Arthur forced his voice to stay level and quiet. "Seriously. Do you think I would do that? After everything Dom did?"

"No." Eames sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot around Arthur. "No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't risk the team like that."

"I'm sure it has nothing to do with it." Arthur looked out the window. "I... if it does come up, if it is part of what happened to me, I'll tell you everything. And you won't believe me. So I'll have to show you and then you might hate me, for what I'll have to do."

Eames didn't have anything to say to that.

When they got to the warehouse that evening, the others had completed a model of the dreamscape, and refined the plan slightly. They all stared at Arthur when he walked in, then glanced at Eames. Arthur ignored them, but suddenly he wondered if the whole day had been part of a ruse to find out what he was thinking. Whilst part of him was annoyed at how he'd been played, the rest of him was impressed. It was well done.

"Tomorrow is a Saturday. She sleeps in. Her parents will let us in at 9 am. We hook her up, take her down," Arthur said simply.

"Piece of cake!" Eames grinned and Arthur kicked him.

"Don't jinx it!" Ariadne put her hands on her hips and pulled a face. She had become remarkably superstitious towards anything related to dreamshare, but she always got irritated with herself when she said something about it.

"We should turn in early," Cobb said. "Let's call it a day, get some food and get to sleep."

Dinner had been fun.

They'd laughed and chatted and ate good food.

Now, Arthur sat on his bed, alone, and stared into a crystal ball. He played it across the back of his fingers.

"It is you, isn't it? I thought I was imagining it. That it was me being paranoid. It wouldn't be the first time I saw you somewhere you weren't." He pulled his lower lip in between his teeth and bit down, harshly. "Maybe that's all it is. My imagination," he smiled coldly, "running away with me. But, if it is you, and you can hear me, remember this. I've beat you before, I can beat you again."

Then he placed his glass ball and his red dice on the bedside table, lay down, and was asleep within seconds.

Chapter Text

Eames opened his eyes and found himself standing on a hillside in the shadow of a castle. Beside him was a white horse. He felt himself grinning fiercely as he swung himself into the saddle. Soon enough, he found the others. They headed to the castle.

"Yusuf and I will go in, find her and kidnap her. Tell her we're taking her to Gilder," Dom said. They all knew this of course; they'd discussed it over and over again. But it was one of Dom's nervous ticks that he felt the need to repeat the obvious ad infinitum when on a job. It always made Arthur smile.

"Then I come along, rescue her, get her to trust me," Eames added.

"Right."

They headed into the castle's grounds.

"Ariadne, where is she?"

"In the highest room of the tallest tower."

"Of course," Yusuf grumbled, but Arthur was smiling. It was his sort of world, the castle and the knights. As the two of them moved off, Eames grinned.

"Knowing our luck, the Princess will be in another castle," he said. Arthur groaned and Ariadne punched Eames' shoulder.

While they were waiting for Yusuf and Cobb to climb the stairs, kidnap the princess and climb back down, Eames, Arthur and Ariadne lay on the grass and watched the clouds. They didn't have anything else they could be doing, and it kept them from coming to the notice of the girl's sub security.

"Arthur."

"Yes?"

"Why don't you like owls?"

Ah, he thought. Ari's turn.

"I like owls just fine."

"Then why did you freak out the other night? And don't even try to pretend you didn't."

"Like I said. Bad memories."

"What? You were attacked by an owl as a child?"

Arthur shot a glare at Eames, even though he'd been silent thus far.

"Ari, it's not something I want to talk about, and it's definitely not something you should be bringing up in the dreamscape. You know that this world is full of things we imagine. By making me think about that, my subconscious could end up bringing part of it into the dream. I thought you'd had enough of that from Cobb."

"Right. Sorry." She shuddered, remembering a train tearing up the streets. She sat up, and took a few strands of grass between her fingers, shredding them.

That was when Yusuf fell from the window.

"What the fuck? This was supposed to be the easy part!" Eames snarled even as he drew his gun, got up and started running. Arthur was two strides ahead of them. Ariadne brought up the rear; she was the dreamer on this level and was desperately trying to imagine something soft for Yusuf to land on. Although, if he did die here, he'd just go to the upper level early. But then they might not find out what was going on till too late.

Her mind was rambling and Yusuf was falling.

She was surprised to find that he had landed in a large pile of hay on a cart. She didn't think she'd managed to imagine it.

"She's militarised!" Yusuf sputtered, spitting out hay.

"Impossible! She's a teenager, where would she have got militarised?"

"Eames, it doesn't matter if it's impossible or not. It is." Arthur shot a glance up at the tower. "It's a good job we built in a backup plan. We shoot ourselves up a level and set up the police scenario. I'll go up and shoot her and Cobb."

"There's only one way in. You'll be killed before you get through the door!" Yusuf shook his head. Arthur turned to Ariadne and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"I don't need to get in. I just need to get high enough to shoot through the windows. Where did you put the dragon?"

Eames laughed, and Yusuf just looked confused. Ariadne looked down and away from Arthur.

"How did you know?"

"We're in a fantasy castle. You said yourself you based it off Arthurian legend. If you didn't put in a dragon, then it would just be weird. Now, where is it?"

"The caves to the east. Not far."

"I'm going to go get the dragon. You guys have fun storming the castle! And don't let Cobb and the princess out of the tower. If we have to search this whole place for them..." He trailed off and grabbed the reins to Eames' white charger (it had followed them over) and swung up into the saddle.

"Hi yo silver!" he called, just for the hell of it. "Away!"

Eames' laughter followed him on the breeze.

Arthur loved to ride. He had been trained to ride horses by the army (don't ask) and it had always felt like the epitome of freedom to him.

He was about to find out that riding a dragon was even more freeing.

He reached the caves in a matter of minutes, as their Fantasy Land was only about as big as Disney's. Arthur had called it a microcosm of myth and legend and Eames had laughed and called him a ponce. Either way, the kingdom was small and that was a good thing.

Arthur dismounted. He tied the horse to a nearby tree (damaged by fire and leafless) and headed forward into the darkness.

He tried to walk silently. Toe-heel rather than heel-toe. He could barely see and he disturbed the rocks underfoot with every step. He was sure the dragon would hear him coming from a mile away.

"Damn it," he muttered as his foot knocked a particularly large stone into the wall of the cave.

There was a rumble of somehow warm laughter.

"Little thief, little thief, won't you come in?" The voice strangely reminded him of John Hurt. He was going to have to have a word with Ariadne.

Arthur closed his eyes and sighed. Then, he squared his shoulders and stopped trying to sneak. He walked right into the dragons' lair.

There was a golden glow about the beast, and it lay upon an enormous treasure pile. The dragon itself was red and huge and smoke came from its nostrils.

"I have not come here to rob you."

"Yet you don't deny you are a thief?"

"I am proud to be called a thief. I'm one of the best in the business."

The dragon laughed again.

"That is well, for thieves are something I appreciate. At least you aren't another of those tiresome knights here to kill me. I do get so bored of canned food."

"I'm sure. Actually I'm here to ask you for help. I need to kill my friend and a princess. They're up in the highest room of the tallest tower, and the only way I can get high enough to shoot them is on your back."

The dragon blinked.

"Well, this is a turn up. Usually I get people coming here to get me to stop killing princesses."

"Yes. Well. We think she killed her brother. Her parents hired me."

"And your friend. What did he do?"

"He got caught." The 'idiot' was implied, and the dragon laughed on hearing it.

"A worthy cause of death. But why should I help you? And why don't you just wait for them to come down?"

"Time is of the essence. And it won't be boring."

"Hmm. I suppose not. It has been a while since I've met a human worthy of riding on my back. The last was the once and future king. What am I to call you, little man?"

"My name is Arthur."

The dragon laughed again, long and hard, until fire spurted from his nose.

Arthur waited outside the cave for the Dragon to make his way out. Every time he scraped his scales on the sides of the tunnel, he laughed. When Arthur asked about it, the Dragon explained that it tickled.

The last time I heard a dragon laugh this much was in The Neverending Story, Arthur thought. I'm sure Smaug never giggled.

The horse had a panic attack at that point, pulled itself free from the tree and raced off, never to be seen again. Arthur didn't really care. It wasn't like he needed the horse.

He had a dragon.

When the dragon finally eased his way out into the open, Arthur climbed cautiously up onto his back.

"Grip the spike in front of you, Little Thief."

Arthur did as he was told, feeling a strange unreality he almost never felt, even in dreams. But part of his mind was just repeating 'I'm on a dragon', over and over again.

"What should I call you, dragon?"

"By my name, Little Thief."

"Very well. What's your name?"

"My name is Norbert."

Yep. He definitely needed to have a word with Ariadne. The amount of fantasy referencing she'd made in this world was mildly worrying. Also, he could not take a dragon called Norbert seriously.

The dragon flapped his wings and with a great heaving sensation, they took off. The wind whipped his face as Arthur whooped and laughed with the dragon.

They reached the castle in under a minute.

"Get me level with the window!"

"As you wish!" The dragon laughed, did a barrel roll and then swooped passed the window. Arthur already had his gun drawn, holding onto the dragon with only one hand. He met Cobb's eyes for a split second, and got a nod before he shot both his friend and the princess.

"Norbert! I have to go now!"

"What do you mean, Little Thief?"

"There are other worlds but this!" Arthur shouted over the roar of the dragon's wings and then shot himself in the face.

He awoke in a police station feeling strangely despondent. He looked around and saw the others, all at their desks, except Cobb and the Princess. They'd set this level up first, then gone down to the fantasy level. It struck Arthur that the castle, horse and dragon were all gone, back into Ariadne's mind.

"He must have already taken her to interrogation," Ariadne suggested, and they all headed towards the interview rooms. As they did, Arthur took hold of Ariadne's elbow and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"Norbert?"

She blushed and pulled away from him.

"I was re-reading Harry Potter," she muttered.

They stared through the mirror at Cobb. He was shouting at the girl, his eyes screwed up in anger, and she was crying.

"Oh dear," Yusuf said.

"We'd better go in." Eames made an 'after you' motion and followed Arthur through into the Interrogation room. Yusuf followed them. Only Ariadne stayed behind the mirror. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her torso. She disliked being in Cobb's dream. No matter how many times they went into his head she was always sure that Mal would show up.

"I'll have to ask you to stop talking to my client," Yusuf said, putting a briefcase on the table and standing by the girl.

"We have every right to question her. She's implicated in the disappearance of a minor," Eames replied, coolly.

"Well, this detective at least should not be allowed to question her." He motioned to Cobb.

"Very well," Arthur said, sitting down opposite the girl. "Detective Eames and myself shall handle it. My name is Arthur."

"Katie," she replied.

"Hi Katie. Do you know why you're here?"

"My brother's lost." She sniffed and he noticed the mascara that had run down her face in messy tracks.

"That's right. Did Detective Cobb tell you your rights?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I just have a few questions. What happened the night your brother got lost?"

"I was babysitting. My parents were out. He was crying and he wouldn't stop. Then he did. Stop I mean."

"What time was it?"

"About 9, half 9 maybe."

"Okay. Were you annoyed that he was crying?"

"Well, yeah. Sure I was. He wouldn't stop."

"Did you make him stop?"

"What? No!"

"If you know something, it would be best for you to tell us now. Ask your lawyer."

She turned from Arthur to Yusuf who nodded slowly.

"I... he wouldn't stop crying!"

"What did you do?"

"It was so stupid. I didn't think it would work!"

"What did you do?"

"It wasn't my fault! I swear, I didn't know!"

"What did you do?"

"It was just a stupid wish! I mean, nobody believes in goblins anymore. How was I supposed to know?"

Arthur stared at her and there was a moment of absolute silence. Then he closed his eyes, drew his gun and calmly blew his brains all over the mirror.

Chapter Text

He woke up gasping in a girl's purple bedroom. He pulled the line from his wrist, checked his totem and the glass ball, and then he grabbed his jacket and... he hesitated. Part of him wanted to run, as fast as he could. But it wasn't fair. The others didn't know. He leaned against the wall and waited for them to surface.

Eames was the first.

"What the actual fuck, Arthur?" he asked as he ripped out the line.

Arthur didn't answer.

The rest waited for the time to run out.

They told the parents they'd be in touch and got out of there.

No one spoke until they got back to the warehouse. Dom radiated cold fury and Eames and Ariadne were obviously worried. Yusuf just looked mildly annoyed.

"What the hell was that, Arthur?"

"Get off your high horse, Cobb! You've done worse!" Eames defended.

"It's fine. He has a right to be angry. I should explain."

They all looked at Arthur who had his arms wrapped across his chest in a gesture so un-Arthur that it deflated Cobb's anger in an instant.

"Let's go and sit down. I get the feeling that this is going to be a long story."Ariadne provided the voice of reason as she so often did.

When they were all settled, Arthur took a deep breath.

"She made a wish, she said. I don't know if she added to that after I... well. If she did I bet she said that the Goblin King came and took the baby away." Ariadne, Yusuf and Cobb all gasped. Arthur smiled coldly. Eames just looked confused.

"How could you know that?" Ari asked.

"Because when I was fourteen, I wished that the goblins would come and take my little sister away. And they did."

There was a tense silence that seemed to last for hours.

"Arthur, when you say goblins...?" Cobb asked.

"I mean goblins. Yes."

Again, silence followed.

"You have a sister?" Eames asked.

"Yeah. She's 12 years younger than me, youngest of four. Well, the four of us that are left." He smiled, and it faded slowly. "I didn't have the greatest childhood. My Mom was a drunk. Dad was dead, and we had a revolving door of temporary replacements. My older brothers got out of there as fast as they could, and I don't blame them. The only reason I stuck it out as long as I did was to make sure the baby was okay. But... there was a lot of resentment. I didn't want to be stuck taking care of a baby on a Friday night. Especially when she wouldn't stop crying no matter what I did. Mom was passed out in a pool of her own vomit, so she was no help. And... I got angry."

"What happened?"

"I made a wish. A stupid, stupid wish. I was a big geek back then. I read tonnes of fantasy and sci-fi. It was an escape for me. And I'd read this story about how the goblins came and took bad children. Or maybe it was a poem. I can't really remember. And I was angry and I didn't know how to make the baby stop crying. I was a fourteen year old kid."

"What was the wish?" Ariadne asked.

"I wished the goblins would come and take her away. Right now. And they did."

"Arthur, that's impossible," Cobb said it gently and Arthur wanted to laugh. He remembered using that tone on Cobb not so very long ago.

"I know. But it happened. I realised I'd made a mistake. The Goblin King offered me a chance. If I made it to the castle, beyond the Goblin City, I could take back the child he had stolen. I had thirteen hours. If not, he'd keep the child for himself."

"Did you make it?" Yusuf asked, his voice low.

"Yes," Arthur smiled again. "I made it just in time. I got her back. And he gave me this as well." Arthur pulled the glass ball from his pocket. In reality, Arthur had stolen the ball, but he always thought of it as a gift. He knew that was strange and probably unhealthy, but he couldn't stop himself.

"He gave you a glass ball." Eames' voice was flat.

"Yes. And if you turn it like this," he twisted his hand so it danced on the back of his fingers, "it can show you your dreams."

They were all staring at him, but Arthur didn't notice. He was gazing into the ball.

"Arthur..."

"I think I can get the child back." His voice was distant. "But I have to get his attention. Yusuf, if I wished that the goblins came and took you away, would you mind?"

Yusuf looked nonplussed, but after a minute he shrugged.

"I can't see what harm it would do."

"Say your right words, the goblins said," Arthur muttered, sounding less like himself every second. "I can bear it no longer. Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be..." he shook his head like someone emerging from dark, deep water. He met Yusuf's eyes and his gaze was hard and cold. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now."

Chapter Text

There was a flash of lightening and the bulb above their heads shattered.

"Jesus!" Eames shouted, hands up protectively. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah."

"Fine."

"I'm okay."

"Yusuf?"

There was no reply.

"Yusuf? Why aren't you answering?"

From behind Arthur there came a skittering sound that put him in mind of rats. They all turned to look. Another sound came, again from behind them. Soon it seemed like they were surrounded.

Eames and Dom both drew their weapons. Ariadne stepped close behind Arthur as she always did when there was danger, but he seemed perfectly calm.

"Your guns are no use," he said, and was echoed by laughing voices.

Eames looked at Arthur for a moment, the put his gun away. Dom followed suit. They were both a little wild around the eyes.

The double doors into the warehouse burst open. Thunder boomed. Lightning flashed. Framed in the doorway was a gentleman with gravity defying hair. He was tall, blonde, with mismatched eyes and he was dressed as though he was attending a renaissance festival or a fantasy convention. Arthur tried very hard not to laugh as his three friends all reached for their totems at once.

"Arthur!"

"Jareth." Arthur inclined his head slightly.

"I never thought you were one to make the same mistake twice. What do you want?"

"The boy you took, a few nights past. His parents have named me champion."

"I gave the girl her chance. She didn't even get as far as the Oubliette."

"Few do."

"True enough."

"I want the boy and I want my friend back."

"Then why did you wish him away?" Jareth smiled. "I do not make wagers I am sure to lose. You have already beaten my Labyrinth. What do I get from letting you try again?"

"If I lose, you get to keep the boy and Yusuf."

"I already have them. Do try harder, dear boy."

"If I lose, you get to keep me. Forever. And I'll tell you where Sarah is."

"You know where she is?" And Eames didn't think he was imagining the sudden interest in Jareth's voice. Arthur smiled coldly.

"I tracked her down. I wanted to see what the only other living person to best the Labyrinth looked like."

"Very well. I accept your terms."

"Wait. We're going with him. All of us," Eames said. He'd recovered his composure quite quickly.

"Fine, fine. But for that, you shall have to give up my little trinket." He held out his hand. Arthur frowned and looked down at the glass ball he still held in his hand. Now that it came down to it, he didn't want to part with it. And why should he? Hadn't to come to him? He'd found it. It was his.

"Arthur..." Dom's voice was low and commanding and it forced Arthur's eyes off the ball. After a moment, he nodded.

"I spend enough time in my dreams. I don't need a glass ball to show them to me." He handed it to Jareth and felt only the smallest pangs of loss.

"Very well." A clock appeared beside the Goblin King. "You know the rules. Thirteen hours you have." He waved and a maze appeared behind him.

"It doesn't look that far," Ariadne said.

"It's further than you think. Give up now, while you have the chance."

"No. We said we'd find out what happened to the boy," Eames said. "We'll take on your little maze."

"Thirteen hours to make it to the centre of the labyrinth. Of you fail your friend and the child shall be mine. Forever."

And with that, Jareth fade from view, leaving them in front of the maze.

Everyone turned to look at Arthur. Eames was grinning slightly, but the other two just looked worried.

"Bit melodramatic, isn't he, love?"

"Just a bit. He never had to grow up." Arthur smiled sadly and led the way towards the Labyrinth.

"Where's the way in?" Eames asked as they approached the outer wall.

"The way in where?" Arthur replied.

"The way into the Labyrinth"

"What about it?"

"Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"Damn it Arthur, why won't you give me straight answer?"

"Why won't you ask the right question?"

The two men squared off against each other.

"Where is the entrance to the Labyrinth?" Ariadne asked, trying to defuse the tension. Dom just walked away to examine the wall.

"Oh. Is that all? You get in there." Arthur pointed randomly behind him towards the wall, not taking his eyes off Eames. Dom squawked as a massive doorway suddenly appeared in front of him.

"How... that... Arthur?"

Arthur grinned.

"The doorway wasn't there till you said it was there," Ariadne said slowly. "That's like dream architecture." She reached for her totem and Dom did the same. Eames didn't seem bothered though.

"No. It's the nature of the Labyrinth. It changes almost constantly, usually just to be contrariwise. But if you ask the right questions, you get the right answers."

"Why couldn't you just point and make the door appear? Or ask the question yourself?"

"It doesn't work that way. Come on. We're on the clock."

They passed through the doorway into the Labyrinth. The walls were tall and ancient, maybe 20 foot high. There were vines and roots growing between the stones.

"Which way?" Eames asked.

"It doesn't matter," Arthur replied and immediately turned left.

The others shrugged and followed him.

"Yusuf's going to be alright, isn't he? I mean, the Goblin King isn't torturing him or anything."

"Ari, I never would have wished him away if I thought he'd be hurt. The worst Jareth can do is throw a goblin dance party. If he hurts him before the 13 hours are up, then he forfeits."

"Oh. Good."

"What's with Jareth anyway?" Eames asked, his voice carefully neutral. "He was looking at you like you were the desert tray, pet."

"He thinks he's in love with me. Me and Sarah. We're the only living people to have beaten the Labyrinth. He's a strange one, Jareth. He wants to win more than anything, but if you defeat him he says you're the only one for him. He tells people Sarah and I are his consorts." Arthur smiled almost fondly.

"And you offered yourself to this guy?" Dom shook his head.

"That only happens if we lose. And losing is not an option."

Chapter Text

They walked in silence for a time after that.

Then Ariadne tripped over a loose stone and would have fallen if Dom had not been there to catch her.

"Why do they even call it a Labyrinth?"she asked, frustrated. "There are no turns or openings or anything! I could draw a better maze in under a minute!"

"There are openings."

"What?"

"Arthur, are you kidding me? There have been no turns or openings and we've been walking for a while. It just goes on and on."

"No. It just appears to. There's an opening right there." He pointed to the wall behind Ariadne.

"No, there's not," she replied. "There's just wall there."

"Try walking through it."

She reached out a tentative hand and it passed right through where the wall appeared to be.

"It's a trick." She was understandably annoyed. "The whole thing is a perspective trick. Arthur, why didn't you say so sooner? I thought we were being timed."

"We are. But it wouldn't have been there before. At least, I don't think it would."

"What do you mean? Is it like the door?" Eames asked.

"Yes. In a way. The Labyrinth likes to think it's witty. It finds it hilarious to complicate things and to give you what you want when it will be least helpful. The opening appeared as Ariadne complained that there were no openings."

"It thinks it's being funny," Dom realised.

"Yep. Wouldn't it have been a great joke if we'd complained about there being no openings and then ignored the invisible opening?"

"How did you find an opening your first time?" Eames asked as they walked through into the Labyrinth proper.

"I got annoyed, shouted that it wasn't fair, then tried to lean against the wall." Arthur's voice was dry and it took the others a moment to realise the implications. Eames was the first to laugh at the idea of Arthur falling ass over teakettle.

"Yeah, it's funny now!" he said, annoyed. "But back then it was a concussion."

That sobered them. It was difficult to take it seriously. They were in a magic maze with a childish sense of humour, to try and defeat the King of the Goblins. It was especially difficult for the dreamers to remember this was reality and they could get killed here.

They walked on.

"We should look at this logically," Dom said after a while. "Anyone have anything to leave marks showing the way we came?"

"Logic has nothing to do with it." Arthur snorted. "But leaving a trail is a good idea. I didn't have anything to do that with last time."

Ariadne rummaged in her bag. Eames was expecting her to come up with some lipstick or something, but instead she pulled out her drafting pencil.

"Will this do?"

"That's great," Dom praised. "If we leave arrows showing the way we turned, we can at least stop ourselves from retracing our steps."

They walked on.

"So, Arthur."

"Yes, Mr Eames?"

"Do you know any other magical creatures? You seemed pretty at home on that dragon earlier."

Arthur laughed and Eames savoured the sound.

"No, Goblin King, Labyrinth, pretty much my only supernatural adventure."

"Good. I don't know what I'd do if you'd been away with the fairies."

"Fairies?" Arthur pulled a face. "Horrible things, they bite."

No one was sure if he was kidding or not.

Ariadne bent down to draw an arrow on the stone.

They walked on.

"Did you hear something?" Arthur asked, and they all froze. Eames cocked his head, and then nodded slowly.

"Behind us."

They turned as one.

"They've been changing my marks!" Ariadne cried, genuinely upset.

There was a small creature turning the stone with the arrow on it around so it pointed in the opposite direction.

It shook it's fist at them, shouted something and then retreated around the corner.

"Did he just call my mother an aardvark?" Dom asked, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it, mate, I'm sure your mother is a lovely woman." Eames grinned.

"It's not fair. How are we supposed to get to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth if we don't know where we came from?" Ariadne threw down her pencil in despair.

"It's not where you came from that matters," a voice came. "It's where you're going."

Arthur lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Hoggle? Is that you?"

"It's me alright. What have you got yourself into now, Arthur?" A dwarf came around the corner looking annoyed.

"How did you know I was here?" Arthur got down on one knee to embrace the little guy, much to their mutual embarrassment.

"You're the talk of the Labyrinth! Coming back in a second time, what were you thinking? Besides, I said we'd be here if you needed us."

"I need you Hoggle."

"You do?"

"Of course I do! I'm in the middle of the Labyrinth!"

"I don't know how much I can do. Jareth's cracked down hard on me and the others who helped you and Sarah. If he catches me even talking to you, it's the Bog for me."

"I don't want you risking yourself. I have my team with me this time." He smiled. "Have you seen Sarah lately?"

"Yeah, she's doing okay."

"What about Didymus, Ludo and the others?"

"Sir Didymus and Ludo are now knights of the maze, righting wrongs where ever they find them. I haven't seen the others in a while." Hoggle looked away. "He was angry after Sarah beat him, but after you... he was furious."

"I'm sorry."

"Why was it worse after Arthur than after Sarah?" Eames asked, curious.

"Who're you?"

"This is Eames," Arthur said, "and Dom and Ariadne. They're friends."

"Hmm. Friends is it? Well, it was worse for Arthur because he outsmarted Jareth twice."

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"They don't need to hear about that. We should keep moving," Arthur frowned, "Hoggle; I don't want to get you into trouble. If Jareth's looking in his crystal ball..."

"Yeah, I'm going. I'm going. But if you need me..."

"All I have to do is call, right?"

Arthur smiled at the little man, and then turned and headed further into the Labyrinth. His friends followed after a moment.

They walked on.

"Arthur, darling, what did he mean when he said you'd outsmarted Jareth twice?"

"Eames, it doesn't matter. The second time didn't involve the Labyrinth." He refused to meet Eames' eyes. "It's not relevant to the job at hand."

"I beg to differ, sweetheart. You're the one who's always saying that we need all available information. If it's to do with you and Jareth, then it's relevant."

"It's long dead history."

"Arthur. We need to know," Dom put in. Ariadne put her hand on Arthur's arm, and he pulled away. But he couldn't deny that they had a point. Besides, they had ganged up on him.

"After I beat the Labyrinth the first time, I began to feel like I was being watched. I thought I was just being paranoid, but then I tracked down Sarah. And she had the same feeling. I began to pay more attention to my surroundings. I got good at noticing things."

"And what did you notice?"

"Everywhere I went, goblins showed up. They were waiting for me to say or do something that would make me fair game for Jareth. They wanted me to screw up, or to get a friend of mine to screw up." He shook his head. "I tried to ignore them. I knew that if I engaged then I'd be playing Jareth's game. Then after about six months of this, I heard my little sister giggling in the living room. I went in and found her playing with a bunch of goblins." He sighed. "They hadn't hurt her, but I... I went mental. I got her out of there and then just tore into the goblins. But, because I'd hurt them, I came under Jareth's jurisdiction."

They were still walking.

"What happened?" Ari asked, her voice loud over the sound of their footsteps.

"He took me to his castle and we negotiated. He said that my punishment for harming his goblins would be to become his consort for real and stay with him forever. I told him that was ridiculous, and he agreed. It had just been his opening gambit. Eventually, we agreed that he'd pull surveillance on me and Sarah, let us live our lives, and I would stay with him for a period of one month."

Arthur smiled wistfully as he remembered.

"A month? That is hardly satisfactory. If I only get to keep you for that long, then I'll need some guarantees." He trailed a finger down the side of Arthur's face.

"Agreed. For one month. After that, you have no power over me, and you have to leave us both alone."

"Agreed."

Jareth's smile looked almost proud as they sealed the deal.

"What sort of guarantees?"Dom asked, his tone harsher than he meant it to be.

"Don't freak out, Cobb." Arthur sighed, frustrated.

"That suggests there's something to freak out about, darling." Eames frowned. Ariadne chewed on her lower lip.

"It wasn't a big deal. I was fifteen. It was part of the deal. I had to obey him in every way for a month and live with him as his consort."

"Oh." Eames' hands became fists without his permission.

"You were fifteen." Dom tried not to sound pissed off and failed.

"I was old enough. It was the best month of my childhood. I was a pampered prince. For four wonderful weeks, I was waited on hand and foot and I didn't have to worry about my little sister or my mother or her boyfriends. And when the month was done, it was like it had never happened. Only five minute of real world time had passed, and the goblins were no longer a risk to me and my family."

They walked on.

No one had said anything in what seemed like hours.

"He didn't do anything I didn't want," Arthur burst out suddenly. "He didn't beat me like my mom, or hurt me like her boyfriends. He asked, I gave. It was a fair deal."

They all stared at him. Arthur didn't lose his composure. He never lost his composure. But then, he never shared his personal life either. He always kept the details to himself. No one except Dom even knew his last name.

He blushed lightly, feeling like the awkward teenager he'd been the first time round the Labyrinth. Actually, there was a thought. Maybe his personality had reset to how it had been then. Either through magic or maybe through the experience bringing his repressed memories and so forth to the front of his brain.

"Dead end," Ariadne said after a moment, pointing to the wall in front of them. "We should go back."

They turned around and found a dead-end behind them as well.

"What the hell? Where did that come from?"

"I told you, it does that."

They sighed and turned around... to find the original dead end had disappeared and had been replaced with a pair of door, each guarded by a bizarre creature with a head at each end of their body.

"Oh great." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"What's going on, darling?"

"One of the doors leads to certain doom, the other door leads to the castle. Sarah told me about this bit. I got to the Oubliette another way."

"Oubliette? That's French," Ari said, frowning. "It means oblivion, right?"

"In this case, it means somewhere you put things to forget about them." Arthur scraped a hand through his hair. "I don't remember the answer. I talked about it with Sarah, years ago, but I don't remember the answer."

"Hey, we'll figure it out." Ari grinned and turned to the doors.

"Ah, you remembered us, did you?"

"Don't worry, we don't mind."

"What's the riddle?" Dom asked.

"One of these doors leads to the castle, the other door leads to..."

"BADADADUM!"

"...certain death!"

"Arthur already said that."

"Yes, well, you get one question. One of us always lies, the other one always tells the truth."

"Wait, how do we know you aren't the one who lies and you're lying about the doors leading to the castle, and certain death?" Eames asked.

"You had to make it complicated?" Arthur punched him in the shoulder. "Besides, if this is the one that lies, he's lying that one of them always lies."

"Right. Never mind."

"So one question, I guess it wouldn't help to ask which one of them lies," Dom mused.

"And it wouldn't help if we asked which door leads to the castle, we wouldn't know if it was true or not," Arthur added.

"We could just open both doors and see what happens?" Eames offered.

"What would he say if I asked him if this door led to the castle?" Ariadne asked, loudly.

The two guards looked at each other. The Red Guard, the one Ariadne was talking to, looked down and conferred with his lower head.

"Um, yes?" he offered.

"Then it's the other one."

"But what if he's telling the truth?" Eames asked.

"Then the other one is lying. Really, it's not the hardest riddle I've ever heard."

She reached out confidently and opened the door.

Ariadne moved to step through the open door into the passageway beyond, Arthur reached out and grabbed the back of her jacket.

"Hold up."

"What, you think I'm wrong?"

"No. If you're right, you're about to step into the Oubliette. If you were wrong, you'd already be dead."

"Okay..." Ariadne stepped back carefully.

"So what do we do? Edge around the hole?" Dom asked.

"Either that, or we choose up." Arthur said cryptically and then stepped forward deliberately into empty space. "Help!" he shouted and was caught.

"We are helping. We're Helping Hands."

"I know. Thank you."

"Now, which way do you want to go?"

"Up."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

And they tossed him up and Arthur was flying, catapulted out of the hole, up into the air and back on the path to the castle.

He turned around to find them all staring at him, and he grinned.

"Come on, it's easy! Just don't choose down!"

One by one, they put their trust in Arthur and stepped forward into the unknown. Ari shot out of the hole laughing, arms spread wide, and Arthur caught her, laughing himself.

Dom didn't hesitate, not even for a moment before stepping forward. He'd trusted Arthur for years. He didn't laugh, but he did grin.

Eames took a running leap into the darkness, whooping and laughing and came zooming back out, crashing into the others. They all fell down, laughing.

"Well, well, well. I see you're enjoying my Labyrinth a bit too much!"

Arthur looked up and smiled gently at Jareth who was leaning against the wall, trying to look like he didn't care.

"You know, I think it's gotten easier."

"Easier?" Jareth sounded annoyed, but then he laughed. "Oh, Arthur, I have missed you. Maybe the Labyrinth seems easier because you brought your little friends in. But I can fix that." He waved a hand in an elegant gesture.

In an instant, everything changed.

Dom found himself standing in the middle of a junkyard, and he thought he heard Mal calling to him.

Ariadne was suddenly teetering on the edge of a cliff over a stinking swamp.

Eames was standing in a tunnel, surrounded by darkness.

Arthur was standing a forest.

"No," he said, "not here. Anywhere but here."

Chapter Text

"Arthur? Arthur! Cobb! Ariadne?" Eames shouted, but the only response was his echo. "Arthur! Damn it." Eames smashed a fist into the wall, took a deep breath, and then got control of himself. He looked both ways, but he couldn't see a way out. He pulled his totem from his pocket (a poker chip) and flipped it.

"Right. Heads, I go left. Tails, I go right." The coin came up heads, and Eames turned left. "Arthur, damn it, you'd better alright when I find you."

Ariadne fell.

Ariadne screamed.

Ariadne teetered on the edge.

She managed to roll back to safety just in time.

"Ow."

"Ooh, what have we here then? Such a pretty little boy, looking for love lost, he is."

Dom picked his way through and over the pile of discarded stuff.

"Who's there?"

"Come and look, little boy. Come and find your lost precious."

An old woman emerged from the rubbish.

She had Mal's eyes.

Arthur seriously considered curling up in a ball on the floor of the forest and waiting for someone to rescue him. But he wasn't a child anymore. Yes, the forest had been the only part of the Labyrinth that had truly scared him. Yes, he was all about organisation and order, and what was hidden in the forest was the opposite of that. Yes, he was terrified. But he was an adult, and people needed him. That had always been enough, other people's need.

"Arthur, I'm serious, you'd better be alright, darling. If you've gone and gotten yourself hurt, I will not be happy."

"You do realise he's not here."

Eames turned and saw the dwarf from earlier standing staring at him.

"Ah. Hogwarts, right?"

"Hoggle."

"Ah. Right." Eames smiled. "Yes, I am aware he's not here. I was venting my frustration."

"Ah, of course. Do you want me to take you to him?"

"Can you?"

"Wouldn't have offered if I couldn't. Can't stay long though. If Jareth catches me..." he shuddered.

"You're afraid."

"Yes. I am. I'm a coward, I've never hidden that. Arthur knows it. Sarah knows it. I'll help him, but I won't risk myself." Eames had nothing to say to that. "Well? Come on then."

"My Lady! My Lady, be careful!"

"Smell bad!"

Hands on her arm, helping her up.

"Thanks." Then Ariadne got a good look at her rescuers. A small fox wearing a hat with an enormous feather in it, and a huge furry beast. "I'm Ariadne. What is this place?"

"I am Sir Didymus, and this is my brother, Sir Ludo. As for this place, it is known as the Bog of Eternal Stench. Although, I am not sure why. I have never noticed that it smells particularly bad, and I have a keen sense of smell."

"You don't smell that? Seriously?" Ariadne pinched her nose shut.

"Step in. Smell bad. Forever," Ludo said.

"I step in the bog and I smell bad forever? Great." She sighed. "I was with Arthur and our friends. Do you know where they are?"

"Of course."

"Will you take me to them?"

"Verily, My Lady! Um, which member of your party do you wish us to take you to?"

"They aren't all together?"

"No, they are spread throughout the Labyrinth."

She thought for a minute, but she already knew who she wanted to be with.

"Dom. Take me to Dom."

"Look, here's you totem, you loved your totem didn't you, yes. Never meant to lose that, did you, the totem you took from her, it isn't as good is it, no. And your wife, hmm, you never meant to lose her, did you, no, your pretty wife. Didn't want her thrown away, did you?"

Dom was shaking.

Arthur walked through the forest, stumbling over roots and hating the way the branches clawed at his suit and skin.

He embraced the darkness though. The darkness meant that he wasn't near THEM. THEY were bad.

THEY wanted to take off his head.

"Run! It's the Cleaners!"

"The what?" Eames asked, but he was already running.

"The Cleaners!"

Eames risked a look behind him. Coming towards him at breakneck speed was some sort of machine. It seemed to be made entirely of blades.

"Ah. Right." He picked up the little man and began sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him. Hoggle didn't complain.

"Left! Left, turn left!"

Eames darted into an opening and watched the Cleaners go past. It was distinctly less terrifying from the rear. It was being driven by three tiny goblins riding a sort of bicycle like contraption.

"Put me down!" Hoggle began struggling. Eames complied.

"Where now?"

"Now? Now we goes up."

Ariadne liked Ludo. She liked Sir Didymus too, but she had a special place in her heart for the big furry creature. She liked him on sight, whereas Didymus was more of an acquired taste.

"You know Arthur, right?"

"Oh yes, My Lady. We helped him on his first time through the Labyrinth."

"What was he like120? Back then, I mean. I've only known him a few years."

"He was determined. Very determined. And serious. One of the most serious children I've ever seen. He was focused entirely on getting to his little sister. But he was kind as well. He stopped to help a gelfling child who was being harassed by the goblins even though he was running out of time."

"That sounds like Arthur."

Ariadne followed Didymus (who was riding on Ambrosias) slowly across a series of stepping stones. Her foot slipped in the gunge covering the rocks and she almost fell into the Bog.

She screamed.

Ludo had one huge paw wrapped around her before she could hit the stinking sludge.

"Oh God. Thank you, Ludo."

"Ari. Friend." She had the impression that the big furry thing was smiling at her.

Dom's back was slowly being loaded up with various objects. Mal was perched at the very top, her legs over his shoulders.

"Don't you miss me?"

"Yes you love your dinosaur don't you, yes, and you love your bicycle and your Architects drawing set, and the model you made of the first building you designed. Yes, and you missed your wife too, didn't you? You never wanted her thrown away, no. And your wedding ring, you didn't want to get rid of that either, no."

Arthur hunched his shoulders, and chewed his lower lip, a nervous habit of his youth. He'd thought he was over it.

Suddenly, they were all around him.

"No, no, no," he moaned. He could see their campfire just ahead of them.

"Hey, it's Arthur!"

"Hey, Arthur!"

"Pretty little thing!"

"Want to play, Arthur?"

One of them rolled it's eyeballs on the forest floor and laughed when they landed pupils up.

"You want to play, don't you? We want to play with you!"

Arthur pushed his way through them and started to run.

"No, no, no, no, no."

Eames followed Hoggle up a ladder into the sunlight.

"I have to get to Arthur," he said as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"Of course you do!" Hoggle snorted. "He's in the Fire Forest, that one. Sooner we get to him, the better."

"Fire Swamp," Eames muttered, then raised his voice. "I don't suppose that there are Rodents of Unusual Size in there, are there?"

"R.O.U.Ss? Don't be soft. What's in there, it's much worse. Only time I ever saw Arthur scared."

Eames scowled.

"You had better be alright, you stubborn darling bastard. You'd just better."

They were right behind him. They were in front of him. They were everywhere and they were going to get him and tear off his head and turn him into chaos. He wasn't chaos. He was order.

He ran faster.

A head flew through the air above him, laughing manically as it went.

Arthur felt like he might cry. He hadn't been this scared since he was a child. Not when he was in the army, not when Dom went off the rails, not in years. Usually, when he got scared, he got cold. He got smart, and his fear went far away. Still there, but distant. Something he could use rather than something that used him. But right then, running through that forest, he felt like he might cry and scream and never stop.

Eames followed Hoggle through a complex hedge maze.

"Can't you go any faster?"

"Going as fast as I can, aren't I?"

"If he's hurt, I will tear this maze apart with my bear hands."

Hoggle didn't stop moving, he wasn't stupid. But he did turn his head to study Eames.

"Many have said that," the dwarf said finally, "but you are the first I believed could do it."

Eames grinned fiercely.

Since entering the Labyrinth, he'd learnt a lot about Arthur, and a lot about himself. It had clarified his feelings. He'd always lusted after Arthur, that was no secret, and they'd been friends for years. But there was something about being in the labyrinth that made you confront yourself and your emotions. And Eames had realised that is feelings for Arthur were deeper than he thought. He ran faster.

"You are waiting for a train."

"No, Mal."

"You don't know where this train will take you."

"Mal, don't. Get off my back."

"But you don't care."

"Mal, you're dead."

"Why don't you care, Dom?"

In the distance, there's a train whistle.

"You miss your life, don't you, hmm, yes, your life. You didn't mean to throw that away. No."

"Why don't you care where the train is going?"

"Because you'll be together." Dom's shoulders slumped under the weight of his wife, his life. He closed his eyes. "I was looking for something... I was with some people..."

"Oh, no, no. All you need is right here, yes. What else could you possibly want? Hmm?"

"DOM!" someone screamed it, and he half recognised the voice.

"Arthur and Eames are okay, aren't they? I mean, going to find Dom is the right decision?"

"My Lady, it is your choice, I cannot make it for you."

"No, I know. It's just Eames and Arthur can take care of themselves. They always have. And if they aren't together then the first thing they'll do is try and find each other. Dom... He isn't as strong." She sighed. "He needs me."

"If he needs you, you should go to him."

"How far is it?"

"It's just over this next ridge, My Lady. We will go with you further, if you wish, but we may draw attention. We aren't Jareth's favourite subjects."

"Thank you for bringing me this far."

"Goodbye, My Lady. And take care."

"Ari, friend."

Ariadne patted Ludo on the shoulder and shook Didymus' paw. Then, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked up over the last ridge.

She saw Dom's shoulders slump. She saw a woman who looked like Mal sitting on his back. She saw her dig her claws into his back and grin with a mouthful of fangs.

"DOM!" she screamed.

They were all around him. He couldn't get past. They were going to take off his head. He needed his head.

"Come on, take off your head!"

"Don't you want to be like us?"

"Ain't got no problems!"

"Ain't got no clothes to worry about."

"It's the only way!"

Arthur sank down and curled into himself. He protected his head as best as he could.

"We can show you a good time!"

"And we don't charge nothing."

"Shake your pretty little head!"

They were everywhere and they were laughing and they were putting their hands on him and they were going to tear him apart and make him like them.

He felt the scream starting low in his belly, and he tried to stop it.

Please God. Please, he thought. Please don't. Don't let them. Eames!

Chapter Text

Eames was going as fast as he could.

Hoggle had left him at the edge of the forest. Eames was honestly surprised that the little guy had stuck with him for as long as he had. But that was Arthur, he inspired loyalty.

Probably because he was fiercely loyal himself, Eames mused, dodging a tree root.

Eames could hear laughter, loud and manic, from up ahead.

That did not bode well. He forced his tired legs to pump faster, throwing caution to the winds.

He could smell smoke, dark and acrid and he tried to run even faster. There was a light up ahead.

There were long thin fingers, hotter than normal skin, almost burning. They picked at his suit and pulled at his skin. Two hands were twisted in his hair, tugging. Another clasped his ankle. They were going to tear him apart. But he wouldn't die. He'd be one of them. Insane. Chaos.

Then there were hands tearing them away from him.

"Arthur!"

And he was standing up again, and fighting. He didn't pull his gun, but he did draw his knife and he and Eames fought the Fireys off back to back, until no more came.

"Are you alright?" Arthur just looked at Eames, the blood bright orange as it dripped from his blade. "Arthur. Are you alright?" Eames took hold of his shoulders and shook him once, gently.

"I think so."

"Why didn't you fight? I've seen you win against worse odds than that. Besides, you had a gun."

"Guns don't work here," Arthur replied quickly and surely, with gut level certainty.

"How do you know that? You were just a kid last time."

"I... I don't know. I just know it."

"Hmm."

"Besides, this place is all about belief. The gun definitely won't work if I have doubts."

"Right. But that doesn't explain why you just let them hurt you. Why didn't you fight back?"

There was a long pause before Arthur spoke, his eyes fixed on the ground.

"The Fireys were the only thing I was ever really afraid of. They're completely mad."

"I noticed that."

"Yeah, well, once upon a time, they used to be adventurers like you and me. Then they got torn apart by the other Fireys, and then put back together wrong. You'd be mad too if you'd been torn apart like that."

"I suppose I would, yes." Eames kept his tone mild, and Arthur was annoyed that the man wasn't more moved by this.

"I dislike disorder."

"I know you do, pet."

They stood there quietly for a moment, just enjoying each other's company.

"We should keep moving. There can't be much time left on the clock." Arthur looked through the trees, trying to see the way back to the path.

"What about Cobb and Ariadne?"

"I'm sure they'll be fine. We can get Jareth to bring them to us when we get to the castle. Yusuf and the baby are the important ones right now." Arthur thought for a minute. "Besides, the way this place works, we'll get out of the forest and run smack into them."

They started to walk.

Ariadne ran.

She ran through piles of junk, and stumbled as she went.

"Dom!" she called. "Dom!"

He turned to her, his face blank, and the Mal-thing tightened her grip.

"I was looking for something..."

"Yes! You were with me and Arthur and Eames! We were looking for the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth. Yusuf is there, and a baby. We need to go."

"Hmm, no. We don't want her, no, we don't. We have everything we need right here, yes," a crone with a pile of junk on her back said.

"Dom, stay with me," the Mal-thing whispered.

"Dom, she isn't real! You know that."

"I miss her. I haven't seen her since Limbo."

"I know. But that's a good thing." Ari pushed past the crone to put her hand on Dom's arm. The Mal-thing hissed.

"How many times do I have to say goodbye to her?"

His voice sounded so plaintive that it broke Ariadne's heart a little.

"It isn't her." And then she played her ace. "Think of your children."

He kept staring, and for a moment, Ari thought she'd failed. Then, slowly, his eyes cleared.

"Ariadne?"

She whooped and threw herself at him, dislodging the Mal-thing. It hissed and skittered away. The crone tottered after it. Dom was obviously shaken, and it took him a moment to return Ari's embrace.

"You're okay," she said. "You're okay."

They held hands as they made their way through the tip.

"How did you find me?" Arthur asked, as they made their way through the trees.

"Your little friend. Hoggle?" Eames smiled. "He showed me the way."

"Where did Jareth send you?"

"Some tunnels somewhere. There was a blade thing chasing me."

"Hmm. The Cleaners. We must have really pissed him off." Arthur's tone was mild, but then he ruined it by grinning fiercely. Eames grinned back. They liked it best when someone was pissed off.

"Hey, look. Daylight!" Eames pointed. "Come on, darling! We have a damsel to rescue!"

"I'm going to tell Yusuf you called him that!"

"How are we supposed to find the others? Or the castle?" Dom asked, as they climbed through the junk.

"I think I've got a handle on how this place works. We came from over there. We go this way, and we'll just happen to run into Arthur and Eames."

"Didn't Arthur say this place is contrariwise?"

"Yeah... oh."

"Right."

"You think that...?"

"By saying that out loud you just jinxed us."

"Crap."

But luckily, the Labyrinth didn't seem to be listening. Or maybe it felt they deserved a reward for saving each other. Either way, as Arthur and Eames exited the forest, Dom and Ariadne came out of the junkyard, and they all came out in the same place at the same time.

There was much rejoicing.

Especially because they were standing at the edge of the Goblin City. They were a stone's throw away from the Castle.

Chapter Text

"Dom, are you okay?" Arthur asked. Dom shook his head slightly. Arthur was pale and his suit was wrecked, torn and dirty, with a few strange burn marks on it, and he was asking if Dom was okay.

"Yeah, I think I am."

"Where did you end up?"

"Some junkyard."

Arthur winced.

"The land of the forgotten toys." That's what he'd always called it. It figured that Jareth would send Dom there of all people. "Sorry."

"Mal was there."

Arthur winced again.

"How about you, Ari? Where did you end up?" Eames tried to change the topic.

"In The Bog of Eternal Stench." Dom and Eames both stared at her and Arthur laughed at their expressions. He really felt like a teenager again, all his emotions were closer to the surface, easier to access.

"Lucky you didn't fall in."

"Very lucky. I almost did fall, but a couple of friends of yours came along and caught me."

"Friends of mine?"

"Sir Didymus and Ludo."

They reached the city walls.

Yusuf was not happy. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming, or if his history of drug use had finally caught up with him. But his totem said he was awake, and hallucinations were not normally a result of long term Somnacin use.

But, here he was. In a castle. Surrounded by goblins. Goblins who really liked dancing. And he had a baby on his lap. Something was not quite right.

And it wasn't going away. He'd been here for hours, and nothing had changed. Well, except that the leader of the goblins had gotten slowly more irritated. Apparently Arthur was a uniquely infuriating individual.

Yusuf sighed and jogged the baby on his knee as the goblin king began to sing. Again.

"We need a plan."

"What's the layout of the Goblin City?"

"Have you seen the height of those walls?"

"As soon as we walk into the city, Jareth will know exactly where we are. Stealth means nothing."

"We can't do a full frontal attack. It would be suicide."

"We could split up?"

"How about we knock on the front door?" Ariadne suggested, annoyed.

"Look, if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they're going to get." Dom drew his gun and cocked it.

"Guns don't work here." Arthur frowned.

"You said that before," Eames said it in a tone of revelation. "Why are you so sure?"

"I. It just makes sense..." Arthur looked confused. It was a rare expression on him, and one that made him seem vulnerable.

Eames drew his weapon without hesitating and shot it into the air. The gunshot reverberated around them.

"That's... not possible."

"I think Jareth wanted you to believe that you couldn't use your gun here. Shooting is your strength. He's done everything he can think of to make you weak. It's all about confidence." Arthur just looked at him and Eames sighed, gentling his tone. "Darling, if you have a plan, you're good. But if you have a plan and a gun, you're unstoppable. Jareth's trying to take your power away from you."

"I was so sure..."

"I know, darling. But we've got a fighting chance now."

"I don't have a gun," Ariadne said quietly, raising her hand.

Arthur silently handed her one of his. She smiled, and he could tell she was afraid.

"I don't think it's the guns themselves," Eames clarified, and Dom was nodding. "It's the power Arthur has when he has a gun in his hand. This whole place is psychological."

"That makes sense. How come we didn't see this before? Everything that's happened has been some sort of mind game." Dom shook his head, annoyed.

"Does it really matter right now? Being brave won't help us fight our way to the Castle beyond the Goblin City!" Ariadne stared up at the walls in despair.

"Try not to kill too many of the goblins. It will make Jareth mad and give him reason to keep us," Arthur said. "Besides, in a fight, they're pretty easy to defeat."

"We go in through the front gate. If the city makes any sense whatsoever, it should be a straight shot from there to the castle," Dom said.

"Okay, but if we go in through the main gate we'll have to go up against the giant steam powered robot thing." They all stared at him. "I suggest that we go over the walls instead."

"Right. Sounds like a plan, over the walls to avoid the big, steam powered robot thing," Eames clapped his hands together, grinning, and Arthur nudged his shoulder with his own.

"If only we had a wheelbarrow, that would be something," Arthur said and Eames laughed, delighted.

They headed to the wall.

"Okay," Ariadne stated after they'd all stood and stared at the wall for a long, silent moment. "I think we need a new plan. One that doesn't include getting over the twenty foot walls."

"They aren't that high..." Dom said, hands on hips as he looked at wall.

"Please," Eames scoffed. "Even if we formed ourselves into a human ladder, we'd get nowhere near the top."

"I guess we'll just have to fight the giant steam powered robot thing," Arthur sighed.

"No, I'm sure we can figure this out. Maybe we can tunnel underneath!"

Ariadne laughed as Eames, pleased with his suggestion, crouched down to examine the base of the wall.

"Can't go over it, can't go under it..." Dom mused.

"Then we'll have to go through it!" Eames finished, delighted. The others just looked vaguely confused, and tried to figure out how they were going to get through the fortified city walls. Eames sighed.

"You all had terribly culturally deficient childhoods. Or did 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' just never make it across the pond?"

They all looked blank, and Eames shook his head, getting up from where he'd been examining the base of the wall.

"Maybe we can find a weak spot," Arthur suggested, dispiritedly.

"We have to do something," Dom frowned, looking at his watch. "We have less than an hour to get the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth."

They looked at the wall some more.

"You know, I think the stones look looser towards the top. If we had a grappling hook, we could pull them down and climb up the rubble."

"Eames, if we had a grappling hook, we could attach it to the top of the wall and climb up the rope," Arthur replied.

"Well, yes. I suppose we could."

"But we don't have a grappling hook."

"No. We don't."

They stared at the wall for a while longer.

"Ludo. Help. Friend."

They all turned around, Arthur mildly annoyed that he hadn't heard Ludo come up behind them, to see the great furry thing standing not far away.

"Ludo, what are you doing here?" Arthur shook his head. "If Jareth finds you..."

"Arthur, friend. Ludo help." Ludo tipped his head back and howled.

"Quiet, they'll hear you!" Cobb groused.

"It's okay. He's calling the rocks."

"What?"

"He howls, the rocks come, we climb over the wall," Arthur explained. He didn't really need to, however, as almost as soon as Ludo began howling, his purpose became evident as the rocks came rolling to the rescue.

"Ludo, be careful," Arthur warned. "I don't want Jareth to hurt you because of me. Take care of yourself first."

"Ludo. Help. Friends."

"You have helped! You helped Ari in the swamp, and all of us here, and I don't want you hurt because of me!"

Ludo tilted his head to one side and let out a confused growl. Arthur sighed, and then smiled fondly at the creature.

"Never mind. We need to go now. We're almost out of time." Cobb looked at his watch, and then looked at Arthur, waiting for him to lead them. It was strange; Cobb almost always looked to Arthur. For ideas, strength, support. And yet Cobb always appeared to be the de facto leader of the group, despite having been out of the field for so long. If Cobb was the leader though, Arthur was the heart and the glue that held the team together. Dom had never really thought about it before, but the Labyrinth seemed determined to teach them all something.

While Dom was contemplating Arthur (unassuming, brave and efficient Arthur), Ludo had been assembling a ladder of rocks under the point man's direction.

"Alright. We climb up, go over, and head to the castle at the centre of the city. We don't look back, don't stop for anything." Arthur looked around at them all and smiled. "Anyone who wants to stay here, I won't blame them. This is my battle. And I think, in the end, I have to face Jareth alone."

"No!" Ariadne gasped.

"Bullshit," Eames added succinctly. Arthur frowned. "That's your problem, Arthur. You're self sufficient to the point of madness. Jareth split us up when we were doing too well. You don't think there's a lesson in that?"

Dom was nodding, and Ariadne was smiling.

"He's right," Dom said. "We have to go together. That's part of it. We're family, Arthur, and it's time you got used to it."

"Yep," Ari hugged him tightly, startling him. "You're stuck with us." It was a long moment before Arthur's arms came up, but hug back he did, burying his face against the curve of Ariadne's neck.

Eames and Dom let them have a moment, would have been willing to let them have more. But then a voice came from behind them.

"Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but you need to move. His royal jerkiness is watching and you're almost out of time."

"My lords, my lady, he's right."

"Hoggle! Didymus!" Arthur grinned at them.

"Don't grin at us, get going! The clock's ticking," Hoggle said acerbically.

"My only wish is to accompany you on your quest, my lord."

"I wish you could dome too. But it's safer if we go alone. You guys stay here with Ludo."

"Arthur, Darling, I know you know this maze better than the rest of us, but aren't you rather missing the point? Didn't we just decide we need to go together?"

"We do. But I'm not about to risk them. Besides, when I became a adult, I put away childish things." He smiled wryly. "And as much as I love them, they're my childhood."

"You know the rest of that quote goes something like 'including the fear of being seen as childish'?" Dom asked. "It's okay to have fun and be a kid once in a while Arthur. You're barely even legal."

"I'm twenty six!" Arthur had been in the dreamshare business since he was eighteen, after he'd joined the army. He was not a child.

Ariadne sighed.

"We don't have time to debate it! That kid and Yusuf are counting on us!" she folded her arms and tapped her foot. "Come or don't come, it's their decision, Arthur. You can't protect the whole world!"

She turned away before anyone could respond and started climbing the rocks. Dom and Eames exchanged a glance, shrugged and followed her lead.

Arthur threw his hands up in the air and followed a beat later, pouting. Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo all came afterwards.

The goblins were waiting for them. Don't ask me how, maybe Jareth had been watching in his crystal ball, maybe the Labyrinth itself warned them. But they were waiting and ready to fight. It was a down and dirty street battle, and it was the team against thousands. But somehow, they won their way through, to the castle beyond the goblin city.

Ludo, Hoggle and Didymus stayed at the castle gate, protecting their backs.

Chapter Text

"How long?" Ariadne asked, looking at Dom, as they stepped through the castle door.

"Twenty minutes. There's no way we'll be able to find them in time!"

"Darling? What do we do?"

"They'll be in the Escher gallery." Arthur's voice sounded distant, and he tilted his head slightly, looking beyond them.

"Where's that?"

"This way." He led them through the castle as though he'd only left it yesterday.

Ariadne drank in the surroundings, loving the amazing architecture. It reminded her of dream building but somehow it felt real.

Eames was similarly entranced by the castle, but he was more interested in it as the place where Arthur had spent a chunk of his childhood. A small chunk, true, but it was obviously a big part of him.

Dom was between the two attitudes. Part of him was revelling in the way the castle was built, but the rest of him (the father part) saw the tension in Arthur's shoulders, and he wanted to make it better.

To get to the Escher Gallery, they had to go through the more normal art gallery. Arthur chewed on his lower lip. It was full of pictures, beautifully painted, of small children and teenagers. They started millennia ago, and slowly got more modern as they moved along. Arthur stopped and stood stock still, staring at Sarah.

"Is that her, Darling?"

"That's Sarah. I need to call her when we get out of here. Make sure she's okay."Arthur fidgeted, tugging at the cuffs of his sleeves. He continued, as though reassuring himself. "He doesn't know where she is."

"She's beautiful," Dom said.

Arthur just nodded. There were maybe twelve pictures of the girl, some in a simple blouse and jeans, with a baby in a striped onesie, and some in a beautiful ball gown. One painting was a nude. The girl was lying on a red couch on her side, her legs curled slightly, and her arms thrown up over her head. The only thing she was wearing was a heart necklace.

Then came Arthur's pictures. He looked so young. In the first one, he was wearing a t shirt and jeans and had a little girl cradled in his arms. He was looking at her and the expression on his face... it was pure, unadulterated love. The next one, he was still young, still a boy, but he was standing stiff and expressionless, dressed in a perfectly pressed suit.

One of his was a nude as well, and the tips of his ears went red. Dom pointedly refused to look at the picture; Ariadne looked for a second, then blushed and turned away. Eames, however, looked for a long moment and wolf whistled. Arthur jabbed his ribs with a pointy elbow, but Eames kept teasing gently, and it eased them all passed the awkward moment.

Eames was more than a little worried about Arthur though, and the boy he had been. He wanted to make it into a joke, but the Arthur in the picture was so skinny and young, and already scarred.

Then they were out of there and into the Escher Gallery.

"Oh. My. God."Ari stared around her in wonderment.

"This is...impossible," Dom agreed with the sentiment.

"So this is where you learned to love paradoxes," Eames grinned.

They could see Yusuf sitting on a staircase on the ceiling, holding a child. Cobb and Ariadne exchanged a look and mentally began mapping the paths, trying to figure out if they could reach him. Yusuf saw them and waved. He looked hopelessly confused, and Arthur didn't relish the idea of explaining this to him.

He walked to the edge of the platform they were on. He took a deep breath.

"Arthur, what are you...?" He heard Eames ask as he closed his eyes and stepped out into the abyss.

"ARTHUR!"

Arthur opened his eyes.

He was standing on a giant chessboard, pieces of masonry floating around him. He was aware of Yusuf and the child to his left, but all his attention was on the man in front of him.

Jareth looked as good as ever. Tall, handsome, ethereal. Arthur stared into his two tone eyes and was tempted.

There was a yell from behind, in front of, all around him and suddenly Eames was standing just behind his right shoulder.

"You can open your eyes, Mr Eames," Arthur said dryly. Eames opened one scrunched up eye slowly, and gave a sigh of relief, the tension draining out of him.

"Don't do that, Darling! You scared ten years off me!"

Seconds later, Ariadne and Dom took the plunge. They fell hand in hand, screaming all the way.

"Arthur."

"Jareth. I have fought my way here to the castle, beyond the goblin city, to take back the people you have stolen."

"Arthur, we can still be great. Just love me, let me rule you and the world can be yours. Do as I say and I will do whatever you want. I have moved heaven and earth, I have reordered time, defied the laws of the universe, all for you. Love me."

"I can't. My will is as strong as yours-"

"Don't."

"My kingdom is as great."

"Please. Don't."

"You have-"

"STOP! Arthur you belong to me. You're mine and you know it. This place is in you. I am in you! You can't just turn your back on this."

"You have no-"

"Enough! If you do this, I will never stop. I'll go after Sarah. I can find her, you know I can. Or this one, he has children doesn't he. How long before the girl tries to get rid of the boy?"

Dom's hands clenched and he took a step forward.

"Don't you dare. Don't you threaten them. We had a deal." Arthur's voice was completely level and as cold as liquid nitrogen.

"You've lost it, Arthur. You need dreams to defeat me. Imagination. Dried up old stick in the mud like you, no way. You're grown up! Give it up!"

"I live in dreams, Jareth and I don't need you."

"Dream a little bigger, Darling." Eames took a step forward.

"They don't love you like I do. They don't know you like I do. Stop this now and stay with me, forever."

"We love you, Arthur." Ariadne said it, she was the only one who could although they all felt it and she too took a step forward so they were all level. Arthur looked left and right, at the friends, no family, that were ranged beside him. Yusuf nodded to him with a small smile and Arthur nodded back.

"I can give you everything if you'll just be mine!" Jareth was begging now, and he pulled out a dream orb, the one Arthur had been playing with, and held it out. "Arthur."

If he'd done that a moment earlier, Arthur might have given in. But he had his friends supporting him the way he'd so often supported them, and just before Jareth had pulled the orb from thin air, Arthur's fingers had come to rest on his gun. He was Arthur, point man extraordinaire, dreamer, and excellent shot. He didn't need some cheap trinket to feel good about himself.

"You have no power over me."

It echoed around them.

Jareth's face fell and he turned away.

The orb dropped and shattered on the floor.

Somewhere, a clock chimed thirteen times.

Chapter Text

>

They were back in the warehouse. Arthur was standing a little away from the others, and he wasn't looking at them.

"What just happened?" Yusuf asked. He looked vaguely stunned and confused, like someone had hit him in the face with a fish.

"Arthur?" Dom said.

The point-man's shoulders were shaking.

"Arthur?" Ariadne asked, stepping forward, hand outstretched. But she stopped short of touching him, as though afraid of being burned.

Arthur's shoulders continued to shake and a baby started to cry. Yusuf looked down and was startled to find himself holding the baby.

"What?" Yusuf held the child as far away from him as possible, and tried to figure out what was dream, and what was reality.

"Darling?" Eames stepped forward, wary. He was worried that Arthur was reacting to seeing Jareth, or maybe to the way he'd revealed so much of himself to them. He was an intensely private person, after all.

Arthur turned around and he was laughing. It was relief laughter. The 'Oh my God we survived' sort of a giggle. None of them had ever seen Arthur laugh like that. Not even Eames and he'd spent a fortnight dodging hit-men with Arthur in Australia.

Like all good laughter, it was infectious, and soon even the baby was chuckling helplessly. The only one who wasn't was Yusuf. He just looked confused still.

Life went on. They returned the child to the family and assured them that it wasn't really their daughter's fault. Cobb went home to his children and told them to always take care of each other. Ariadne started using paradoxes more often, without prompting from Arthur. Yusuf carried on as he always had, maybe a little more wary.

And Arthur and Eames? Well, that's a story worth the telling. Arthur called Sarah, and they talked for hours. She listened to him as he explained how everything felt raw and real and how he was having trouble keeping emotions in check. How he'd given into the childish impulse to kick over Eames's chair and then he ate chocolate cake for breakfast, just because he could.

She laughed at him.

"Congratulations Arthur, you're human!"

"Shut up!"

"It's the lesson the Labyrinth wanted you to learn. You can feel and still be good at your job. You can be responsible and organised and still be a kid sometimes."

"When did you get to be so wise?"

"In the Labyrinth." Her smile was bittersweet.

They talked some more before finally hanging up with a promise to stay in touch.

Eames told Arthur his real first name that evening. He got down on one knee, and didn't ask for his hand or even for forever. He just asked for now. For whatever Arthur could give. He offered himself and his life. The years in foster care, adoption followed by despair, the drinking. Arthur drank it all up, and they held each other in the darkness.

Eames might not have asked for forever, but Arthur gave it to him.

Arthur and Eames made many other dreams and had many other adventures before they returned for good to the ordinary world.

And they lived, as heroes in fairy tales always should, happily ever after, till the end of their days.