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Arthur knew that it would be okay in the end. Eames and Cobb were coming – they could help. They wouldn’t let—
“Ah!” Arthur cried out.
He looked down as far as he could from his position on the debris-covered floor to see Mal smearing crimson blood across his stomach with the knife she was wielding. The blood was his.
“God, please, stop--“
“All of it’s your fault,” she hissed into Arthur’s ear, “You stole him from me! And now he won’t wake up.”
She pressed the knife against his arm and slowly drew it down towards his wrist. Pain followed the glistening red path and Arthur could feel himself going light-headed.
“Mal, we’re awake,” he gasped out, “I- I’m not a projection.”
A haunting cackle drew him back into full consciousness but it stopped with a sudden growl.
“I WANT MY CHILDREN BACK! You alone are keeping Dom in this dream but you need to listen to me – THIS IS NOT REAL! We have to wake up!”
She suddenly broke down into hysterical tears and while she was occupied, Arthur tried to move away from the knife held in her delicate fingers that was swinging perilously towards him. He yanked desperately at the rope tying his hands together but it was to no avail. A choked cry left his mouth, as he must have almost broken one of his fingers.
Mal moved her elegant hands around his neck and Arthur's eyes began to tear up as she squeezed, her long perfect fingernails burning crescent shaped marks into his throat. Arthur looked into her half-crazed eyes and pleaded silently for her to let go. His lungs and throat were burning from her actions. Attempting another gasp, Arthur was stopped once again. He started feeling dizzy and drunk from the blood and breath-loss but was hopelessly unable to do a thing.
"Goodbye, my Arthur."
The hotel door moved open and Arthur heard Cobb and Eames chatting casually about their newest mark. With one last attempt to remove Mal from his person by lifting the lower half of his body off the ground, he embarrassingly whimpered again with the breath that he had gained from the action, finally causing his teammates to look his way.
“What the hell?” Eames said under his breath as he caught sight of what was happening.
It took both Cobb and Eames a while to understand what they were seeing and meanwhile, Arthur was still struggling to find any breath. He attempted to make a noise to gain their attention but his head was going fuzzy and it was hard to concentrate on anything anymore.
Hearing a faint moan, Eames jumped into action, grabbing at Mal and pushing her off Arthur. He gently placed a hand under his chin and lifted his eyes to his own.
“Arthur, are you okay? Can you concentrate for me?”
Arthur was almost choking on the air he was trying to force down his throat. Absently, he felt a warm palm rubbing his back and a soft voice comforting him as his breathing rate slowly returned to normal.
He was okay. He’d be alright.
Eames would always save his Arthur.