Chapter Twenty-nine, everybody! I'm very sad to say that the next chapter will be the last :[ Thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed this story and/or added this story/me to their favorite stories/authors. You have all truly been wonderful and I'm glad you've stuck around with Eames and Estelle until the end! Until Chapter thirty, enjoy this one :]
Estelle woke up with a pounding headache. She felt cold and so very alone. Wearily, she opened her eyes and blinked to regain her vision. Her entire body felt like it had exploded. Oh wait...
"Mmmmfff," she moaned out, holding her head and sitting up.
The memories of what had happened on level three of the dream had slammed into hard. Tears sprung to her eyes as she remembered what she had done.
"Greg..." she whimpered out.
She looked around weakly, ready to commit herself to a lifetime or two of being alone in limbo, slowly going insane. The first thing she noticed was the couch she was lying on. It was the same couch she had helped Mal pick out when they were furnishing her and Dom's house. Looking around more, she noticed that she was in Mal and Dom's house.
"What in the world...?" She sat up fully and eventually brought herself to a standing position. Clanking from the kitchen peaked her interest and she swiftly and quietly moved towards it. The noise stopped and a figure stepped out into the open dining room. Estelle stopped dead in her tracks and imagined she looked pretty silly, slinking around the house in broad daylight and wearing a full on snow outfit. She quickly looked down and realized she was dressed in jeans and a brown blouse, not a puffy jacket and boots.
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."
Estelle's head snapped up at the familiar voice and she gasped, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. At the same time, tears sprang to her eyes for the second time in less than five minutes. She had forgotten how much she had missed that voice, that person.
"Mal?" She was still looking for anything blunt she could throw. "What...wha?" She finished lamely.
Mal smiled and continued drying the dish that was in her hands. She was just as radiant as before, her smile glowing and the light of her personality shining all around.
"Don't worry, Stelly," she set down the dish, "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Is that what you said all those times before? To Dom?" Estelle replied bitterly.
Pain flashed across Mal's eyes at the mention of her husband, "This is different."
"How? Mal, you sabotaged every job he did. You tried to kill Ariadne. You were so...awful."
Mal hugged her arms around herself, "That was a different me."
Estelle blinked, "Explain."
Mal gestured to the seats of her dining table and sat down in one. Estelle hesitated for a moment before giving in and taking the one farthest from Mal. It was weird, sitting down with the best friend that she had lost years ago.
"Um," Mal looked around and fiddled with her fingers, "Dom...how is he?"
"Better," Estelle said truthfully. "Now, are you going to tell me why you aren't an evil vindictive bitch now?"
Mal winced, "Because you see me differently than Dom did."
"What?"
Mal pursed her lips and sighed, "I manifest for you differently than I do Dom. His projection of me was...the last thing he remembered me doing was jumping off of a building. I was insane. You...you keep me in your mind as your best friend, your sister. You remember the good times and as a result, I am here in peace. When Dom thought of me..."
"You came bearing pain," Estelle understood. "So, you're not the same Mal that did all of those things to Dom?"
"Yes and no," she continued, "All manifestations come from the same source. They're one of a kind, but they can come in different forms of that kind. Understand?"
"I think so," Estelle looked around. "Is this...are you stuck here?"
Mal looked longingly at the pictures of her and Dom around the house, "Yes."
Estelle gulped and looked at her sadly, "Forever?"
"At least I won't age," Mal said tiredly, trying to smile.
"But you'll go insane."
"Honey," Mal reached over and covered Estelle's hand with hers, "I'm a projection. I'm stuck in the limbo of your mind forever. The real me already went insane. I have...there is..."
"What is it, Mally?" Using the old nickname brought a bought of nostalgia to Estelle.
The other woman sighed, "I would like to show you something."
They walked outside and Estelle noticed plain white space. It was beautiful, breezy but warm, vastly big but comfortingly small, perfect.
"What...where are we?" Estelle wondered.
"We are in your mind, like I said," Mal informed her. "We are deep down in your
subconscious, where you meditate."
"How come I don't get stuck here forever when I meditate then?"
Mal raised an eyebrow, "Because you don't die every time you meditate."
"Oh," was all Estelle could say.
They walked until an apartment door showed up out of nowhere. The familiarity of the numbers pulled at Estelle's heartstrings and Mal gave her a sad smile.
"Come on," she beckoned. "There's something you need to see."
Mal opened the door and revealed the inside, "Don't go in. It'll mess up your subconscious. You can see from here."
Estelle peered in the door and saw what she had been dreaming of ever since first meeting Eames. There they were, the two of them, standing together in the living room and laughing. Eames held a little girl in his arms and he was swinging her around. She was no older than two, with Eames's sandy brown hair in little pig tails and Estelle's big green eyes. She was beautiful.
There were toys littered all over the floor and Estelle watched herself extend her arms out.
"Want to come to Mommy?" She asked the little girl.
The real Estelle watched as Eames smirked, "You're boring though."
"Oh, you're going to get it!"
Fake Estelle chased Eames around the house as he quickly maneuvered their little girl onto his shoulders. She squealed in delight as Estelle went after the both of them, all three of them laughing.
The real Estelle turned to Mal, "That's...?"
"Your life," Mal told her, "the life that you always wanted with him."
"But could never have." Estelle rubbed her flat stomach with sadness.
"I'm...I'm so sorry," Mal started.
Estelle held up a hand, "I forgave you a long time ago, Mally."
She watched as a single tear trailed down Mal's cheek, "Thank you."
"So," Estelle pointed to the door, "You...see them often?"
"Every day," Mal smiled, "It makes being here bearable."
"Why can't you see Dom?"
"Because you didn't put him here," Mal explained. "I am down here with all of the thoughts that you keep locked away. All of your hopes and dreams. Some things are down here that I don't even think you are consciously aware of."
Estelle stared out at the white space in front of her, "Am I...going to be stuck here forever?"
Mal looked at her sternly, "Not if I can help it."
"Mal," Estelle let out a defeated laugh. "This is limbo. You can't just wake up. There are no kicks here. I'm too far down," she looked at the ground, "My brain will be mush by the time I go back to him."
"No," Mal said firmly. "There is so no way I am going to let my best friend end up like me."
Estelle looked at her with curious, hopeful eyes.
"I made a bad choice," Mal said quietly. "I caused a lot of pain and sadness by not believing everybody. I gave up on everyone I loved. The least I can do is make sure that you get the happily ever after you deserve."
Estelle lunged forward and hugged Mal. It felt so good to hug her best friend again, to hug her sister again.
"Thank you."
"No problem," Mal smiled. "Now, let's get you to a cliff."
They walked until Mal pulled her back. Estelle looked down and saw her foot dangling off the ledge of a very high cliff. She didn't know how high because a white mist covered the bottom starting at five feet below the drop, but she knew that it was a really long drop. Everything was white still. She felt like she was in the common description of Heaven. Then she thought about Eames and realized she wasn't, she wasn't in Heaven at all.
She turned to Mal, "Are you sure this is going to work?"
Mal smiled sadly, "Yes."
"You," Estelle choked up, "You're saving my life."
"What are best friends for?" Mal shrugged with the same sad smile.
Estelle sniffled, "I'll...I'm going to miss you." And she would. Even if she had only just gotten her back. She didn't want to say goodbye so soon.
"You could always stay," Mal offered.
"I have to..." Estelle shook her head, "I need to go back. To them...to him."
Mal nodded, "Good choice."
"I love you, Mally."
"I love you too, Stelly."
Estelle looked around one last time before settling her eyes on her beautiful best friend, "Will I ever see you again?"
Mal smirked, "In your dreams."
And then she pushed her off the cliff.
Estelle's body crashed to the bottom and she sucked in air, jolting awake in the middle of the square in the devastated Moscow. She managed to see Mal in front of her with a shotgun before she shot her, sending her up to the meeting house in Prague. Mal flashed in front of her and threw a bucket of ice cold water at her. When Estelle blinked she was gasping for air in the back of the van, her friends missing. Mal turned around in the driver's seat and winked before turning the steering wheel hard and crashing them into the side of a building.
Estelle gasped and shot straight up, her breathing ragged and her heart racing. She noticed she was in someone's arms in Yolena's house on the floor. She turned and stared into the eyes of everything she ever wanted.
"Estelle?"
She smiled, "Eames."
