4.
~ "It's snowing." Ariadne said sadly. Her gaze was transfixed on the delicate snowflakes falling down to the earth. Already the ground was white from the sudden blizzard. Coating everything and sending the world into a deep sleeping spell all it's own.
Night had finally come and the infirmary was still and empty except for the Team, the Doctor and the DA.
The Monster, was an ordinary looking woman. Her hair had been dyed the color of fire. Tattoos littered her arms. Her painfully thin body sleeping on the infirmary bed.
"I hope, sir, that this will be alright." The Doctor said to Cobb as the District Attorney stood close by. His eyes fixed on the slumbering Monster.
Several armed, uniformed Police officers stood nearby.
"It'll be fine." Cobb said as Ariadne looked at the armed guards nervously.
The petite Architect took off her red wool coat. Placing it on a nearby chair as she settle herself on one of the infirmary beds.
"How long will this take?" the District Attorney asked as Arthur set up the PASIV device. Handing each of them a white thread.
"As long as it takes." Arthur said coldly. The DA gave the Point Man and hard look.
"Son, those women your looking for, they may outside. You saw how cold it is. We have to find them quickly." The DA said.
"We will." Cobb said as the Team took positions on the hospital beds.
"Sweet dreams." the Doctor said before sending them into the dreams of the Monster.
~ "It's snowing." Ariadne whispered as she opened her eyes to the dream.
What awaited her was not the dream she built at all but a vast, ancient wall. Heavy snowfall softening the roughly hewn stone work. She slowly turned around to find herself completely alone. Surrounded by the open, haunted corridors of a maze.
The rock walls were black from age and decay. All around them grew thorny, vine like roses. Creeping their insidious life into the cracks of the stone facade. The blossoms were a blood red. A stark contrast to the white snow and black wall. A unexplainable knowing loomed within her. This place was evil.
"Arthur?" Ariadne called. Pulling her red wool coat on tighter. Fighting a chill that could not be real in the depths of the dream.
'What had happened?' She wondered. Had the Monster taken possession of the dream like the Joker did? Impossible, they had prepared for just such an event.
Her breath was escaping from her lips in delicate puffs. Crystallizing in the dead world of rocks, snow and roses.
"Hello? Cobb? Eames! Arthur!" She shouted. Hoping her frail voice would carry over the walls and she could find her Team.
The snow was falling heavier now and her basic animal instinct told her she could not stay in this desolate, dead place. The sky was fading from a stormy gray, to an inky night. Only the moon was able to shed light on her as she marched along the maze. Pulling the roses off the vines. Leaving a trail of red rose petals in her wake. Part of her knowing sadly that the falling snow would obliterate any trail she tried to leave for herself.
She had spent the past few months designing mazes. She knew the tricks. She stayed close to the right side. Almost hugging the wall. When ever she came to a fork or cut off, she kept right. Such a practice would lead her around to the opening, a way out.
The black walls towered over her and the creeping evil roses caught her coat and scratched at her pale skin. Deep enough to draw blood. She gasped as seeing her own red blood escaping her flesh and falling onto the snow. The walls were broken in places, their bareness like an open wound. This was a place not visited in a very long time.
"Arthur!" She called out helplessly again. Nothing but silence greeting her. She wanted him here. Wanted to follow and trust him. She had become so helpless lately. Not at all like her normal nature. Her confusion becoming worse over the past few days.
'How many days had it been since Gotham? The last time things made any sense.' She thought as she tried to ignore the things moving in the dark recesses of the labyrinth.
Just out of her field of vision, out of sight, she caught a glimpse of small, animal like creatures. Hugging the walls and scurrying away form her. Laughing as they did so.
The brutal snow was falling heavily now. Coating her in a white blanket that clung to her coat, hair and eye lashes. She was so tired. This maze had no end. No way out. It just went deeper and deeper. The cold was penetrating and painful. She stumbled over a rose vine buried in the snow. Falling face down into the snowy depths.
The laughter of the things in the darkness coming out. Mocking her.
She felt a specter close in above her as she closed her eyes. Falling asleep in the dark cold empty maze. She could feel she was no longer alone, but was too tired to care.
~ With delight, the Child found the door. She had awoke to discover herself wandering the maze. Renewed sense of energy and life. The cold not bothering her as she wadded through the snow bank. She spied a door. Heavy, metal and almost obscured but the creeping rose vines. Their sharp thorns waiting to prick her. Hungry for her blood.
The door was locked fast but a rusted, forgotten key was still held in it's lock. Inviting entrance.
'Stay away.' The thought jumped into her head. Without a reason or origin. 'It's a bad place.' The thought persisted.
Ignoring it, the Child turned the lock. It's tumblers clanking and falling away. The metal door giving way as the Child pushed with all her might against the door. As if my magic, the Child left the desolate snow fallen world behind and found herself in an building. Modern but disused and, like the maze outside, left to rot.
It was a strange industrial building. Probably once used to build things. A factory. A cold institutional place even when it was still alive. Now, it was dead and decaying.
The Child felt her footfalls were too loud. That she was not supposed to be here, empty and unloved though this place was.
She had to find Cobb, Arthur and Eames. She couldn't sense them in this place. Knowing that meant the Red Queen could be upon them. Cutting their skin, sewing their flesh. Humming that morbid little tune of hers.
And what of Arabella Marks? She had never shared a dream with the Monster before, but her skin shivered at the idea that she was helpless before such a ghastly creature.
A fleeting gimps of movement caught her attention. Not one of the creatures that hide in the shadows. Nothing so malicious or cowardly as them. Instead it was a figure, brass and bold. Ignoring the Child as she walked just out of her line of sight.
"Wait!" The little girl said giving chase. A tangible link to another person. Hopefully a member of her lost Team. An explanation as to what had happened to the dream.
The strange figure was fast and flitted out ahead of her at an impossible speed. It's movement's so quick that the Child could not see them until it was several strides ahead. It's face hidden.
"Hey!" She called again. Her voice small as she hurried on her small legs to catch up. "Wait!"
The figure pulled a door free and vanished behind it. The child just reaching it in time for it to close and lock soundly.
As much as she tried, she could not force the wretched door open. It was too heavy and the locks were too sure. She resulted in banging on the metal. It's noise creating a nice echo through the dead building.
With a click, she heard the door unlock it's self.
The Child stepped away. For the first time she listened to the thought.
'It's not too late to run.' That voice inside her whispered softly.
The Child pushed the idea away as she pulled the door open. A warm, bright light greeted her. An impossible place.
Arabella Marks stood before her in magnificent glory. Her flame colored hair giving her all the wrathful beauty of a demon from hell.
"Tis some visitor, entreating entrance to my chamber door. This it is, and nothing more." She said with a wicked grin.