Taking Root
Disclaimer: I do not own Inception.
Robert Fischer Jr. awoke with a startling realization. His father didn't want him to be him. It was such a novel concept that he could hardly believe it and yet, strangely, he did. He wished that he had known this before his father had passed away. Then again, what would it have changed? He was well-aware that his father wasn't very big on discussing his emotions. For God's sake, his father had told him that there was nothing to say when his mother had died; he wouldn't have had anything to say about his own death.
Robert hated that. If he had known that his father wasn't trying to raise a clone then it may not have changed how his father acted but it would have made the death easier on him. At least he knew the truth now. If only he'd been able to clearly hear his father's last words then he wouldn't have spent the last few days convinced that his worst fears about how his father had seen him had come to pass.
He might have spent the rest of his life believing that if it hadn't been for the dream he'd just had. He didn't quite remember the details but he knew that he was wrong about his father. Dreams came from the subconscious, he knew, so it seemed like he had always known, even if he didn't realize it. Perhaps that was why he wasn't as surprised as he thought he ought to be.
The only question was what to do with this revelation of his. On the one hand, the self-imposed pressure to become his father was now gone – and wasn't that a relief – but now he felt obligated to found some way to prove himself successful in his own right. The way forward seemed clear. His father's company, now his company, had cornered the energy market and only one company was really still managing to oppose them and that wouldn't last.
All he needed to do was follow the path laid out for him and he couldn't fail. And yet…he didn't know. That was his father's plan.
He was jolted from his thoughts by a commotion taking place behind him and he turned around to look.
"He's not waking up," a pretty brunette a few years younger than him cried, leaning forward and staring intently at the man behind him who was still asleep.
"Calm down, Ariadne," a smart-dressed man told her soothingly. "You were the one telling me that he'd be fine not too long ago, remember?"
"Arthur's right," someone with a British accent said, sounding quite surprised to find himself saying those words. "It's a little soon to start panicking."
"But times moves so much faster there," Ariadne pointed out. "Who even knows how much longer he's been there or how sane he'll be when he gets back?"
Robert honestly had no idea what these people were talking about but he supposed that it really didn't matter. He did notice that the Asian man who had also been sleeping had woken up and taken out his cell phone.
Before anyone could say anything else, the man behind him slowly opened his eyes. "About as sane as I ever was, I expect," he murmured.
"Ah, my mistake, she was right to worry," the British man said dryly.
"Very funny," the man behind him said, rolling his eyes. "We did it. Let's hope that this turns out better than it did last time." He glanced Robert's way and he stared back unapologetically. There really was nothing else to do until the plane landed and they were the only seven people in first class.
"It would almost have to be, all things considered," Ariadne said, fidgeting and looking like she was barely restraining herself from jumping up to embrace the man w ho had just woken up.
The last man in the room stood up suddenly and practically bolted for the bathroom.
"I've kept my word," the Asian man said as he shut his cell phone. "You will have no problems."
"That's a relief," the man behind him said, sounding as though a great weight had been lifted from his chest. "I would hate for my father-in-law to have driven all the way out to meet me only to see me get arrested when they look at my passport."
Oh, that sounded like quite a story. It seemed like everyone else in the first class knew each other. If nothing else, it was stopping them from trying to make small talk with him again. It would be unconscionably rude to just outright ignore a fellow passenger who did or to ask them to leave him alone if they weren't being particularly obnoxious but he didn't really want to deal with someone who couldn't take a hint right now as he had a lot on his mind.
Then, of course, there was his godfather. Robert needed to talk to him as well. It was ironic and maybe a little cliché but…his father's death really was a new beginning, wasn't it? And even if he wasn't sure about all the details just yet, he had no intention of wasting it.
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