Author's note: I'm really scared about posting this because I've never posted anything for Inception. Please review and tell me what you think.
COBB'S POINT OF VIEW
"I love you, Cobb" she whispered softly as she stared into my eyes. She tried not to show it, but I knew. She was in the lower levels of the pain now. Soon, she would be gone into limbo. But I refused to admit what I saw.
"Don't you do that, don't say your good byes. Not yet, do you understand me?" I yelled as I felt the tears roll down my face.
"Just listen Cobb, please" I watched her beg me to let her talk.
"I should have told you before. I was so scared to though. I used to stare at you when you weren't looking and think 'God why can't he be mine?' I almost told you, you know" she coughed, blood protruding from the bullet sticking out of her stomach.
"On your wedding day when you turned and looked at me. When you started having second thoughts. My heart broke when I told you Mal was perfect for you" she said as a tear ran down her cheek.
"Abs, promise me. Promise me you'll never forget. Limbo is designed to make you forget till all you know is that world. You can't let it get to you, Abby. Promise me" I pleaded.
"Man this sounds like some corny romance movie doesn't it?" she laughed lightly, coughing up more blood.
"Promise me" I demanded feeling the life go out of her.
"I promise" she whispered as she let out her last breath.
FOUR YEARS LATER
"What's the most resilient parasite?" Cobb asked.
"A bacteria? A virus?" Cobb continued.
"An intestinal worm?" he suggested gesturing towards the table. A old Japanese man stared at him curiously from across the long table.
His fork paused mid-stance. Cobb smiled.
"What Mr. Cobb is trying to say…" Arthur tried to explain trying to keep the pitch moving.
"An idea" Cobb answered. The Japanese man looked at him even more interested than before.
"Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea's taken hold in the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. A person can cover it up, ignore it but it stays there" Cobb gestured to his brain.
"But surely to forget…" the Japanese man protested.
"Indeed Saito. Information, yes. But an idea? Fully formed, understood? That sticks in there, somewhere" Cobb explained.
"For someone like you to steal?" Saito asked bluntly.
"Yes. In the dream state, conscious defenses are lowered and your thoughts become vulnerable to theft. It's called extraction" Arthur answered.
"But, Mr. Saito, we can train your subconscious to defend itself from even the most skilled extractor" Cobb continued the sale pitch.
"How can you do that?" Saito asked obviously hooked.
"Because I am the most skilled extractor. I know how to search your mind and find your secrets. I know the tricks, and I can teach them to your subconscious so that
even when you're asleep, your guard is never down" Cobb said banging his fist against the table.
This was where Abby would cut in and say something smart Cobb thought.
"But if I'm going to help you, you have to be completely open to me. I'll need to know my way around
your thoughts better than your wife, your analyst, anyone.
If this is a dream and you've got a safe full of secrets, I need to know what's in that safe."
"For this to work, you have to let me in" Cobb continued shaking Abby from his brain.
Saito smiled briefly gesturing to his bodyguards.
"Gentlemen. Enjoy your evening as I consider your proposal" Saito said good naturedly as he exited the room.
"He knows" Arthur said abruptly after Saito was gone.
"I know, but there's nothing we can do" Cobb admitted.
"We have to be careful Cobb, you know what happened the last time someone knew they were in a dream" Arthur reminded him as
Arthur and Cobb looked at each other in surprise, then at the glasses on the table. They were trembling as if in an earthquake. Cobb glanced at his watch. The second hand of the clock is frozen.
"What's going on up there?" Arthur asked carefully.
IN A DIRTY BATHROOM
A old man in his forty's looked out the window fearfully. A distant explosion rippled through the room.
He cast a longing glance at the bodies of Cobb and Arthur. Cobb was sitting in a chair on a platform above a bathtub and Arthur was sitting in a rocking chair on the floor.
Both were asleep connected by wires to a silver briefcase. "What have you gotten yourself into Nash?" the man asked himself, dabbing his forehead to stop the sweat from pouring into his eyes.
WITH COBB AND ARTHUR
"Saito knows. He's playing with us" Arthur explained.
"I can get it here. The information's in the safe. He
looked right at it when I mentioned secrets" Cobb whispered looking over his shoulder.
Arthur nodded then stopped. "What's she doing here, Cobb?" Arthur asked cautiously. Cobb turned to see what Arthur was talking about.
There was a beautiful woman with a pixy haircut, elegantly dressed, wearing dark gloves. She walked towards the nearest window and looked out longingly.
"You just get to your room. I'll take care of the rest" Cobb told Arthur mesmerized by her.
"See that you do. We're here to work" Arthur reminded him brushing past the woman.
"If I jumped, would I survive?" she asked softly after Arthur left. Her eyes were full of sadness as if her heart were broken by just saying those words.
"With a clean dive, perhaps" Cobb admitted.
"That's what Abby would say. She'd finish with 'but don't you even think about that Mal because the whole world already knows that you can't do a clean dive to save your life" Mal laughed lightly.
"Mal, why are you here?" Cobb asked his mouth tightened.
"I thought you might be missing me. After all Abby doesn't remember you does she? Abby always kept true to her promises. It's too bad she couldn't keep the one that meant the most. Her promise to never forget" Mal said bluntly.
"Don't you bring up Abby to me, Mal" Cobb said angrily.
"You probably haven't seen her since inception. When it all went wrong right? That doesn't surprise me, Cobb. I knew that one day something would happen and you would be mine again. That you'd follow me into the real world and leave all the bad memories behind" Mal said, her voice just above a whisper as she caressed his hair.
A COUPLE MINUTES LATER
Mal sipped champagne as she flipped through a book on paintings. She came to a page and laughed.
"This picture used to hang in Arthur's house. Abby would always laugh at it saying 'it was the one painting that everyone hoped the world had forgotten, but that Arthur would be the one to remind everyone of it" Mal sighed remembering.
Cobb looked out the window at the guards patrolling the building. Cobb pulled out a piece of black rope and knelt at Mal's feet. He wrapped it tightly around the chair leg.
"Tell me do the children miss me?" Mal asked softly touching his hand.
"You can't imagine" Cobb said staring sadly into her eyes. Mal looked away uncomfortable.
"What're you doing?" Mal asked as Cobb climbed out the window holding onto the rope.
"Getting some fresh air" Cobb answered as he started to climb down.
Cobb repeled down the wall just a couple feet from the ground when the rope jerked sending Cobb flailing onto the concrete.
"That's one thing they have in common. They both love to drop me in the worst possible moments" Cobb grumbled.
R/r I know it sounds like the movie and it will follow the movie's plot, but it will also be very different… Please review!