Arthur was silent, his brow furrowed as he watched the scenery slip by outside the window of the train. A tense calm nested between the group as the car swayed rhythmically. The evening sun, stretching out over the fields of dry grass, stung his eyes and he blinked hard.

"Hey, sleepy head." A soft voice caressed his ear, and Arthur opened his eyes. He smiled at the curved silhouette blocking the sunset and holding out a glass of wine.

"Was I sleeping?" He took the wine, scooting over in the oversized Adirondack and making room for the woman.

"I don't blame you." His companion joined him, resting her head on his shoulder, curving her knee over his. "It's the first break you've gotten since this whole stupid business began."

"It's gonna be big." Arthur frowned, staring at the glass of wine as he spun the stem between his thumb and index finger, watching the splotch of pink light it cast on the arm of the chair dance. "If your brother -"

"Let's not talk about my brother." The woman pleaded exasperatedly. She rolled slightly, her leg draped over him as she reached up, balancing the glass of wine above his shoulder and looking him and looking him in the eye. "Let's not talk about anything."

Arthur smiled as she leaned in, his free hand moving to caress her leg, clad in an easy, flowing chiffon skirt, and up to the soft warm sweater keeping her warm against the cooling autumn air. He set his wine glass down as he kissed her, losing himself to her lips, and the faint scent of dry grass and nearby orchards blowing on the gentle breeze.

"Arthur!"

Arthur woke with a start to Ariadne staring indignantly at him from across the car.

"Where are we going?"

Arthur looked out the window. The scenery was growing darker, and more darkly familiar. They were nearing their stop.

"We're going to need help." He answered, standing and crossing the car.

"Not actually my question." Ariadne rolled her eyes in frustration and rose, making the quick cross to where Arthur was trying to roust an unconscious Dom Cobb, who had spent the trip passed out on the edge of the long seat, slumped against the side of the car.

"We're going to find someone who can help." Arthur only partially clarified as he reached into his pocket and produced a miniature bottle of hotel vodka.

"You really think this is the time to start making cocktails?" Ariadne remarked snidely over his shoulder. Arthur set his jaw and splashed the contents onto Dom's shirt before gently slapping his friend's face.

"Come on, wake up."

Dom's eyes opened heavily.

"What? What is this?" He mumbled blearily as Arthur, with the help of Ariadne, hoisted him to his feet.

"You really did a number on him." Ariadne's knees buckled under Dom's clumsy weight. "What did you give him?"

"Never mind that. Get the bag" Arthur retorted, shouldering the bulk of his partner's weight so Ariadne could reach for the duffel bag containing the dream equipment.

"What's going on? Where are you taking me?" Dom slurred, still seemingly only half awake.

"Anybody asks, his dad just died."

Nobody asked as the two eased what appeared to be the stumbling drunk down the aisle of the train and out onto the platform.

"Now what?" Ariadne side glanced Arthur as they stood on the concrete slab.

"This way."

Arthur led them through the small station, past a dilapidated news stand and out to the curb, where a taxi idled, the driver leaning against the hood, waiting expectantly.

"Mr. - "

"That's us." Arthur didn't wait for introductions as he opened the door and shoved Dom into the seat. Ariadne slid in next to him and Arthur closed the door, giving the cabby quick directions before going around the back of the taxi and taking the window seat on the opposite side, leaving Dom unwillingly but helplessly sandwiched between the two.

Ariadne looked around at the rolling fields, peppered with the occasional cluster of trees. The sky to the east was dark, stars just beginning to glimmer above the horizon.

"We're going to find someone to help us way out here?" She sounded as skeptical as Arthur felt.

"I'm not sure." He said at length as the cab clicked down the weary miles.

Arthur sat in the darkness of the cab. Memories, like shadows in the night, traced thin outlines in his mind as he clung to the edges of consciousness. The tires, grinding away on the concrete outside, seemed to hum. In the white noise the remnants of a conversation seemed to repeat.

"No more, Arthur. Please. It's too dangerous. We've only been pretending to control it."

"Okay. No more."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

His own words echoed in his head, as steady and unending as the broken yellow stripe stretching down the center of the road. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise.

"Where are you?"

The static in the call made Dom's voice almost impossible to understand.

"I need you to be on the next possible flight to Amsterdam, okay? I've got a friend there, he'll tell you where to go next."

Arthur looked around the quiet living room. In the gray hours of the early morning, the room seemed exceptionally still. All around him, out the floor to ceiling windows that accounted for the bulk of the room's walls, the tall wild grasses bent and swayed, as though just starting to wake up themselves.

"I – I can't, Cobb." Arthur tried to keep his voice down, casting a quick glance over his shoulder, toward the upstairs loft that led to the master bedroom.

"I can't do this without you." His friend's voice crackled over the line. "I need a point man, okay? Someone I can trust. These men I'm working for, they don't let sloppy work slide."

"Yeah, but Cobb -"

"I need you, Arthur." There was a silence as Arthur let the desperation in Cobb's voice settle in, shockingly clear over the bad connection. "This is my life at stake. I wouldn't ask if there was anyone else I could trust."

Arthur glanced at the clock on the mantel. The sun would be coming up over the horizon soon. The room seemed lit with the last of night's ambient light.

"Arthur?" Cobb's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah." Arthur said, after a pause. "I'll be there."

"Where are we, anyway?" Ariadne strained to see signs of life outside the window.

"There's nothing out there." Arthur looked down at his hands, outlined blue by the pale light of the moon, shining through the rear window of the car. "Nearest city is the vacation town we just left... about half an hour NorthEast of where we're headed."

"Where is that?" Ariadne looked across the car, past the unconscious Dominic, who sat sandwiched between them.

"I know someone who lives out here, who knows the ins and outs of dream sharing better than...I don't know, better than anyone, maybe. Might be able to help." He found himself getting anxious as the cab barreled ever closer to their destination.

"Another architect?" Ariadne asked?

"No." Arthur met her gaze. "An engineer."

The party returned to silence and Arthur's thoughts returned to him, expected yet unwelcome, like the party guest who was only invited for politeness' sake.

The feeling of the paper as he creased it between his fingers, the quickly-written but carefully chosen words as he penned them, the click of the keys in the lock as he let himself out, and the crunch of the tires down the driveway joined the rhythm of the road, composing a symphony of guilt and regret to the steady refrain I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise.