Inception: Ariadne's Story

Book 1: Rescue Cobb

By: John Marie

Chapter 1: Here's to Reality

Ariadne stood in the middle of an empty, deserted city square. The sky was a light shade of gray, with many clouds in sight. No lights were on. No sound. No nothing. She walked around, feeling the building walls around her and the street light poles. Something didn't seem right to her. It was too…quiet.

"Ariadne" came of strange but yet familiar voice. It sent chills down Ariadne's spine, causing her to choke up on words, afraid to say something.

"He-Hello?" she stuttered. Noting replied. This relived her only for a brief moment before the voice came again.

"Ariadne" the voice came again. This time, the voice felt closer. Felt deeper, deeper that Ariadne can imagine. She slowly, hesitantly, turned around, only to see the man she's been seeing in her dreams everyday.

"Cobb?" She said, recognizing the man in front of her. Cobb nodded and smiled. He still looked like Cobb, with the same light, dusty brown hair. His beard was gone, and was left with a five-o-clock shadow. He was wearing a dark green jacket and a pair of jeans. Very casual for a more suit fitted Cobbs, but Ariadne was still relived to see him. She let out a small smile but looked at his face. It seemed sad, there was no happiness in his eyes.

"What are you doing coming into my dreams?" she had to ask. Cobb got closer.

"I came to…to reflect Ariadne. To reflect on…let's say reality, everything about it. In reality, people can't fly without wings, or survive a gunshot to the heart. In reality, people can live their lives day by day, and not be stuck…no…let me rephrase…not to be contained in a deeper, more darker part of reality where no man or woman can escape, even through dreams" He started getting more closer to Ariadne, circling her, causing Ariadne to shudder a bit.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked. Cobb shook his head and moved away from Ariadne a little bit.

"Don't you see Ariadne? I can't take this anymore! I'm sick of living in the same lie over and over again. I'm seeing pr-projections of my own children even though they're not the real thing. They're the same age, with the same clothes, acting the same everyday, it's just not right! How long has it been, a week, a month, a year since I've been here?" Ariadne couldn't answer, afraid of saying that he has been in Limbo for a year.

"You-you have been gone a lo-long time" she stuttered, afraid.

"And what did they do to my unconscious, sleeping body? Did you guy's just leave me on the plane? Did you throw me in the trash?" Ariadne flinched when he yelled. Obviously she was afraid of how Cobb was acting. Cobb's eyes softened, now with a look of sorrow. He went up to Ariadne and, hesitantly, gave her a hug. Ariadne thought it felt weird but hugged back in an attempted to calm down Cobb.

"I'm sorry Ariadne. I'm just tired of seeing that God damn totem spin endlessly" Ariadne nodded. Cobb let go of her and backed away.

"It's time for us to say goodbye" he said. Ariadne looked confused.

"Why?" she asked. Cobb laughed.

"Because Mile's has good eyesight when his students are sleeping in class" Before Ariadne could say anything, she was suddenly woken up. She looked up from her folded arms to see Mile's smiling face. She looked around and saw many students glaring at her. Miles winked at her, causing her to smile when he said "Students, class is dismissed early today" The class almost instantly closed their books and rushed out the door to enjoy what sunlight is left in the afternoon in Paris.

This is what has been going on with Ariadne since she and Cobb's team tried Inception. Many nights Ariadne would still be obsessed with the dream world It was such an interesting and experimental experience that she couldn't walk away from it. After parting ways with the rest of the team, she had no way of entering the dream world except for lucid dreaming. It was the closest thing she could get to the experience she had with Cobb and the team. Though she mastered it in due time, she always had one visitor in her dreams, Cobb. Somehow he kept entering her dreams, talking to her about his family and how great it was until the reality in his head caught up with him. Ariadne tried to talk to him, to try to calm him down but he wouldn't listen, he couldn't listen. He couldn't accept that it wasn't reality but eventually, he found out the truth. Ariadne though, wasn't convinced whether this Cobb was her creation or...if he was somehow...entering her dreams. The way he knew that Mile's was going to wake her up, to bring her back into reality was an important clue.

Ariadne closed her textbook slowly and yawned, packing up her books in her bag and leaving her seat before being stopped by Mile's English voice.

"Long night again my dear child?" he asked, erasing the board" Ariadne smiled. Mile's always had the ability to read her like a book.

"Um…yeah it was" she replied, walking towards his desk. Mile's turned to face her.

"Well I can see it clearly. You're falling asleep in class, your grades are slipping, and you're not focusing right" Ariadne looked down, face flushed in embarrassment and shame. She was once at the top of his class until she learned the world of the dream. Mile's put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up.

"It's ok Ariadne. I know how preoccupied your mind is right now…about Cobb…" Ariadne nodded.

"I know, I know Professor and I'm sorry. It's just…It's just that he's still finding a way into my mind" she replied. Mile's smiled and went behind his desk.

"Care for some Chteau Margau Ariadne?" asked Mile's, pulling out two wine glasses and a bottle of Chteau Margau wine.

"Professor, what's the occasion?" she asked and smiled while being handed a glass.

"Well today is my 40th wedding anniversary" Mile's smiled. Ariadne's eyes widened.

"Mile's congratulations!" she said, giving Mile's a hug.

"Thank you Ariadne. I was going to drink with my colleges but drinking and celebrating with my favorite student is better" Mile's raised his glass to Ariadne's.

"Here's to…reality" she said, touching her glass with Mile's before she took a drink.

"…Reality" She thought "This is reality"

Hey! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my Inception fan fic! Don't worry, it will get more exciting as the book goes along but I just wanted to set up one of the main plots and introduce what's been going on with Ariadne since Inception. This story is going to be in three books, maybe four if I can expand the story a bit further. There is romance in this story but I'm not going to tell you who (Though you can probably already guess :O) and Ariadne will face new challenges and face more dangers than ever before! Enjoy and chapters will be updated daily!