so hard to die - arthur x eames

Chapter 11 - Eames

He had come to a point, Eames realized, where every single decision he made was a matter of picking the lesser of two evils. Get out of bed, or don't? To get out would be to breath, to walk, to function without Arthur. And Eames felt his soul collapsing whenever he thought of doing a single thing without him. Arthur had died for him, after all. He wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him. It wouldn't be fair to live for him, when he was gone.

And to stay in bed? To stay in bed would be to face the dreams.

The dreams came every night. His monsters would rip him to shreds, each cut as painful as the last, until death finally brought him the temporary relief of waking up. Of gasping, his hand clutching his chest and his heartbeat raced. And still, the little voice in his head told him - he died for you. He didn't know it, but he did. And the crazy fucking thing is, if he knew, he would die for you a million times over. Would you do the same for him?

Would he do the same for him?

Would you?

"Why did you leave?" Eames whispered to himself. He looked over to where Yusef was sitting. "Yusef?"

His friend looked up, caught his eye and smiled widely, his teeth on display. "Ah, hello! You're up! Any luck today?"

Eames shook his head. "We're going to need a stronger sedative. If Arthur's even trying to reach me, of course."

Yusef frowned. "Oh no, no! Don't think like that! Of course he's trying to reach you. He loves you."

"Do you think?" Eames sat down next to Yusef, and watched him mix a few chemicals together in a bottle, wait a few seconds for a reaction, and then mix some more in. Yusef looked up, concern lining his eyes.

"You don't die for the people you hate, silly," Yusef smiled. He patted Eames on the shoulder awkwardly.

"Well, he didn't know he was dying for me, did he?"

"Nope," Yusef winked. "Just shows how true love works, huh?"

"Sometimes you make no sense at all," Eames frowned. "Are you saying... this was fate?"

"I'm saying you both are living in a star-crossed romance."

Eames smiled, but his eyes were pained. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Well, ever since my ex-wife and I got divorced, I've been finding it hard to find purpose. And, I can see that you two are in love. I just can't let fate get the better of you two. We have to save it."

Eames felt a lump in his throat. "In that case... thank you."

Yusef smiled. "My pleasure. Right, this one should work. Lie down, please."

Eames lied down. "If this doesn't work... thank you for your help anyway. I couldn't have made it through without you."

Yusef looked embarrassed. "Thank YOU. I hope it works out."

Eames smiled. ""Wish me luck."

"Good luck. Okay, I need you to drink this."

"Sure." Eames started to raise the drink to his lips, anticipating the moment the sedative touched his lips. "Uh, can we run through the plan again? Just want to double check."

Yusef smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Okay. The sedative will put you in a deep state of sleep. This allows you to connect with people in another dimension, who might be trying to reach you. This all depends on, you know, if he is actually trying to reach you."

"This all seems very, y'know, vague."

"Well, it's our only shot."

Eames took a deep breath. He held the bottle up to the light. He swirled the liquid round and round, and watched it glimmer as it caught the light from the ceiling.

"Here goes nothing," Eames muttered, then tilted his head back and drank it.

"How long does it take to work?" Eames asked.

"About five minutes." Yusef's eyes were filled with sadness. "To tell you the truth, Eames, I lied."

The room began to spin. "What?"

"It's not a sedative. It's a poison." It took a few seconds for this to register. Eames tried to get up, to run, to do anything, but it felt as if his legs were filled with lead. His head began to droop. Shock registered vaguely, then panic. Thoughts began to swirl in his head, a hurricane of thought and colours and friends and love and everything that had ever mattered to him, crumbling in front of him.

Would you ever die for Arthur? The voice is his head relentlessly asked. Yes, he thought. Yes, he would. Because, like it or not, he was going to.

"The thing is," Yusef was still talking, his voice barely above a whisper. His voice sounded like a drone in his ear. He couldn't see, couldn't blink, couldn't breath. "Cobb payed me to finish off his job. That's how I knew about Arthur. But-" His voice cracked. "I'm not the bad guy here. I'm not. I just want you to be together with Arthur. And what better way to do that if you're both dead?"

A small smile tugged as Yusef's lips. "Some day you'll thank me for this. Or not."

Slowly, Eames' vision faded to black.

***

"Any luck?" Arthur asked Robbie, a frown creasing his troubled features.

Robbie pressed a few keys, then the screen cut out. "Shit!" he cursed. "Must be a power cut."

"Uh... well, we could go check with your Parent?"

Suddenly, Robbie started hyperventilating. "No, no, no, no. We can't do that. No. No."

Arthur was by his side in seconds. "Hey, it's okay. You're going to be okay." He paused. "Why can't we?"

"They'll h-h-urt me-"

"It's okay. They can't hurt you anymore. You've got me."

Robbie smiled, though his perfect tears clouded his features. "You're the best dad a boy like me could ever wish for."

Arthur felt tears well in his eyes. How could anyone hurt him? His hands clenched in anger at anyone who would ever consider hurting him in any way.

"Wait!" Robbie suddenly jumped up, an idea come to him. "The lights went out! That means one of two things - a power shortage, or a new arrival!"

Confusion registered. "But - wouldn't that be way too often? Wouldn't you have power shortages all the time?"

"Not in this section of 'heaven'. It means they're having trouble getting the new arrival to accept their new life. Like-" Robbie nudged Arthur, laughter glinting in his eyes. "Like you did when you first arrived."

Arthur frowned, but couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, we're making jokes about that now? I'll show you!" Smiling, Arthur grabbed hold of Robbie and flipped him upside down, dangling from his feet. Laughter filtered through the air, a joyous, beautiful sound. Arthur hugged Robbie with such ferocity it startled even him.

When Robbie was finally put down on the ground, he was flushed, happy, and positively beaming. "Thank you."

"For what?" Arthur grinned.

"For showing me affection. For loving me. For being an amazing Dad. I don't get that a lot."

"I can imagine." Arthur gave this miracle boy one last hug.

"So! Are we going to see who this new arrival is?" Robbie asked, clapping his hands in excitement. "I hope They won't make me show them around."

"Your Parent?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you've got me to show around, right? It's all good."

"Yeah," He said quietly. "It's all good." A smile so bright it lit him up on the inside. Arthur felt his heart spit open with affection for this boy.

"You've actually got to finish showing me around after-" Before he could finish, he stopped in his tracks and his heart contracted. Arthur's mouth formed an O of astonishment.

He fell to the floor in shock.

Because there, in front of him, was the star-crossed love of his life.

Eames.