Inception 2

Hello everyone. First off, I really like the movie Inception. The story, the characters, the soundtrack, and the atmosphere are kick ass. So in honor of that movie, I decided that I will go down the path of fanfiction and create a sequel for that movie, of course until Nolan announces a sequel, one can hope. I don't know if I will be updating this from time to time, depends on my schedule. As I type this up, I would definitely like input from you readers. Please criticize as much as you want if I'm off on something. Review always. Anyways enough babble, on to the story.

An idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules. -Dominic Cobb

Prologue: To Be an Architect Again

The events in this chapter take place about six months after the events of Inception.

Somewhere in the city of LA...

"Mr. Cobb? Cobb, wake up!"

Dominic Cobb slowly opens his eyes to observe the condescending look of his boss, Mr. Barnes.

"I need those plans for that new office building in Tokyo by Monday, so why the hell are you sleeping in your office?" Cobb got a hold of his surroundings before he answers.

"I'm sorry Mr. Barnes; I've just been tired as of lately." Mr. Barnes's frown says it all.

"Cobb, it's one o'clock in the afternoon. I don't have time for people sleeping on the job, the Japanese are already on my ass for transferring the project to you. Since your short time here, you have been one of my better architects, but your fellow architects and I are always wondering about your sleeping habits and your late project submissions. Some of your plans are brilliant, but you are lazy and I can't have that."

Dom mentally tries to forget that his boss was there and he is at home with his children, Phillipa and James. He often wondered why he became an architect again. He sure didn't feel like one. Sure, he had done some projects here and there, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Maybe it's just a thing that I felt like I needed to do."

Barnes' voice crashes though his train of thought. "Cobb? Cobb! Goddamnit, there you go again!"

Sighing, Cobb turns back to Barnes to reply. "The plans are almost done; I just need to figure out the materials needed. You want to have a look or no?"

Cobb gestures at the sketch on his desk. Barnes moves over to Cobb's side and looks at them.

"Wow, I am impressed Mr. Cobb. As I have said before you are very talented. If you had more motivation, I have no doubt that you would be building entire cities." Cobb merely smiles at the statement.

"Thank you, Mr. Barnes."

Barnes nods at Cobb and turns to leave before he notices something. "Mr. Cobb?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Is that your children?"

Cobb turns to Barnes pointing at a picture frame of Phillipa and James. He smiles at the sight of his children. "They are."

"Ah, I see you have the doting father look there. And whose is this lovely woman?" Cobb's smile leaves him as he observes a picture of a beautiful woman that he loved so dearly that it almost destroyed him when she left him.

Cobb quickly recomposes himself and says, "My wife, Mal."

"I assume she is taking care of the children as we speak?"

"No. Her mother is."

"Oh, divorced?" Cobb looks up at Barnes.

"No, she's gone." Barnes quickly realizes he may have stepped too far.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Cobb. Truly, I am. I tell you what, Cobb. Go home and be with your children. I guess I have dogged you with projects that leave you way up at night here at the offices. I can close up tonight." Cobb feels elated at that statement but always the man who keeps to himself, he simply smiles.

"I would greatly appreciate that, Mr. Barnes."

On some highway...

Driving home, Cobb thought about one statement that his boss said.

"If you had more motivation, I have no doubt that you would be building entire cities."

One point of his life, he did. Just not in the real world of course. The real world had limits. In dreams, entire cities and buildings that defied physics were created by him…and Mal. Cobb shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he observed the exit from the highway that would lead him home. To his children.

Cobb's Residence

"Daddy!"

That shout of jubilation always made Cobb smile so wide that it almost hurt. Even after six months, he has not grown weary of the joyful faces that always greet him. How could he? It's what kept him moving every day. James, the more inquisitive of the two, looked up at his father.

"You're home early today!"

Cobb could not resist picking up James, causing James to scream with joy.

"That's right and you what that means?"

The two look at him with grins on their faces.

"ICE CREAM TIME!"

It was always a tradition whenever Cobb came home early.

"Get in the car, you guys, I need to grab some money for the ice cream."

"Yeah!" Phillipa and James raced off to the car.

Cobb continued to smile as they ran off. Turning to the task at hand, he moved to the kitchen.

"Where is that wallet?" Suddenly, a glint of silver caught his eye.

On the dining table, laid his totem, Mal's top. It was his totem to let him know whether he was dreaming or not. He had not seen in almost six months. That first week when he had arrived home, he had forgotten that he had even had it. It was only James stepping on it that he remembered that he was suppose to test if this was all real or not. At first, he was fearful. He didn't want this to end. But then he thought of Ariadne's statement to him while they were in Limbo. "Don't lose yourself!"And so, Cobb let the top spin, pleading it to stop. And it did. That night, Cobb put it in a cupboard, never to be seen again. For six months, he didn't about that life that he had left behind. Now, the top reminds him of that life again.

"I used to build entire cities with Mal." Cobb closed his eyes, thinking of that beautiful face. The smile that she would give him whenever he whispered sweet nothings to her. The love and devotion that was shown in her eyes. He misses her dearly. It didn't help that his idea got her killed. It made him feel guilty. That guilt almost made his mission a failure a year ago. But his children were more important than him living in the past and become filled with loneliness and regret. So he moved on and he succeeded. But just because he moved on didn't mean he forgot her. His children always reminded him of her. This top made him remember her. Slowly, he picks it up. So simplistic, yet elegant at the same time. Her idea, of course. He lets out a deep sigh before putting the top in his pocket.

Finally successful in finding his wallet, he pulls out the top and puts it on the dashboard of the car. James suddenly pops his head from behind his seat.

"My top!"

Cobb turns to him.

"It's yours?" Phillipa rolls her eyes.

"No, dad, he found it in one of the kitchen cupboards."

James frowned, "No daddy, Phillipa lying! I found it, so it's mine!"

"No, it's not James!"

Cobb lets out a chuckle before speaking to the young boy, "Well, James, I would like to believe you but your sister is right. It isn't yours."

The look on James' face was priceless. He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out.

"Already picking up my bad habit of lying. Like father, like son, I suppose." Smiling, he shows the top to James.

"This top is your mother's."

James' eyes light up. "Really?"

Cobb nods.

"We will ever see her again, daddy?"

Cobb lightly smiles. "Maybe one day, but until then..,"

Cobb gives the top to James, "Keep this to always remind you of her."

James doesn't respond as he stares deeply at the top.

"Let's go get some ice cream, huh?"

"Yeah!"

That night...

Cobb opens his eyes. He is on a beach. The waves are lapping at his shoes as he stands by the shoreline. It is almost similar to the beaches of Limbo but he knows it's his dream. Walking away from the shoreline, he looks out at the great beyond before him. This was what Limbo was like when he and Mal had first arrived in Limbo. But again, this wasn't Limbo, it was his dream. He kneels to feel the sand beneath his feet. The same sand he and Mal used to create with. Tears begin to fall from his face. Rain begins to fall in his dreamworld. He can't help it; the world is tied with his emotions. Suddenly, he rises to his feet. As the rain continued to fall, Cobb looked out again at the beyond.

"How I am here dreaming this? I shouldn't be dreaming." Cobb inquired.

Before, he had to use the machine to dream. It was the only way he could dream. And yet, he was there. Truth be told, he has tried not to dream for fear of Mal's projection. It is the main reason why he is found taking naps so much. Too long and a dream might arise. Now that he is dreaming this, he is shocked.

"I have moved on." He breathes out a sigh of relief.

"So what now?" He thinks about Mal making things with the sand.

"If she were here, she would want to create."

He looks down at the sand again. He is amazed to find that he is staring at asphalt. He looks up again; buildings are starting to rise out of the ground right before his eyes.

"She may be gone but that doesn't mean she would want me to stop creating the impossible." Dominic Cobb smiles. As buildings continue to rise out of the ground, he walks to the building that was rising before him right now; it was a majestic building, made entirely of glass, it shone like a jewel in the dreamworld's sun.

"This is where it will begin," Cobb muses as it continues to rise. The building finished, Cobb quickly enters it. In the middle of the lobby, a plaque appears before him. In the plaque hold that same picture of Mal he has always held on to.

Cobb puts his hand on the plaque.

"For her."

Removing his hand from the plaque, he moves to a newly created elevator that will take him to the top office of this glass building. There is much still much work to be done here. It takes a moment, but it finally hits Cobb. He is truly the Architect again.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. It could be a one-shot if I have to but I have ideas for a great action adventure story. Review please. Need input!