Inception: Dreams or Reality? Part 1
A/N: Here's the final chapter of this story and next week I'll start posting part two. I hope you all are enjoying this so far.
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inception, Batman, or Doctor Who. I only own the characters that I created.
CHAPTER EIGHT: COBB'S DREAMS
Soon, Ariadne found herself in an elevator moving downward and she watched the buttons as they lit up, noting that the very last one had a "B" on it, and then the elevator stopped with a jerk; pulling back the grill, she entered a bedroom that clearly belonged to a young girl.
Next to a window was a beautiful red dollhouse, and the front was slightly ajar; Ariadne opened it and found a safe, she tried the handle and saw that it was locked. Just then, there was a noise that startled her – turning, she saw a doorway that led into a different room, and she moved toward the doorway.
Peering inside, she saw that it was a living room and seated on a couch was Cobb and Mal, who was running her fingers through his hair. "You remember when you asked me to marry you?"
"Of course," Cobb whispered, entranced.
"You said you had a dream," said Mal, gently caressing his face.
"That we'd grow old together," Cobb concluded, leaning in closer to her, breathing in her perfume.
"And we can," Mal agreed, looking deeply into his eyes. "You know how to find me… you know what you have to do."
Cobb gently shook his head, not wanting to admit what it was that she wanted him to do – just then Mal stared directly at Ariadne, who jumped backward, alarmed at the cold, hostile stare.
Looking around and spotting Ariadne, Cobb quickly stood and hurried toward her, leaving Mal on the couch; grabbing the young woman's arm, he hustled her back over to the elevator. "You shouldn't be in here," he hissed, shoving her inside.
"I wanted to know what "tests" you need to do on your own every night," Ariadne pointed out as Cobb shut the grill and hit a button on the panel, causing the elevator to start rising upward.
"This has nothing to do with you," Cobb muttered angrily, rubbing his forehead with his fingers.
"This has everything to do with me," Ariadne insisted. "You've asked me to share dreams with you."
Cobb sighed. "Not these," he stated. "These are my dreams." At that moment, the elevator jerked to a stop, and Cobb pushed aside the grill, revealing a beach that stretched out into the distance; Mal was sitting on the sand with their children, and they were building a sandcastle together.
"Why do you do this to yourself?" Ariadne asked as Cobb stepped out of the elevator, staring out at his family.
"This is the only way I can still dream," Cobb admitted, watching his wife and children with longing.
"Why is it so important to dream?" asked Ariadne, keeping an wary eye on Mal, who was currently unaware that they were there.
"In my dreams," Cobb said regretfully, "we're still together." That was when Mal just happened to look up at them, and he stepped back inside, shutting the grill once again, and he pushed a different button.
As the elevator began descending again, Ariadne frowned as she realized something about the dreams she was seeing. "But these aren't just dreams, are they?" she asked, worried. "They're memories. You said never to use memories."
Cobb nodded, not happy about breaking his own rule. "And I shouldn't," he admitted.
"You're keeping her alive," Ariadne pointed out.
Cobb shook his head. "No."
Ariadne didn't believe him. "You can't let her go."
"No," Cobb repeated. "These are moments I regret. Moments I turned into dreams so I could change them."
Ariadne glanced at the button panel, eying the "B" button, and she moved her fingers toward it. "What've you got buried down there that you regret?" she asked, less then an inch away from touching the button.
Cobb swatted her hand away and pushed the third-floor button instead. "There's only one thing I need you to understand about me," he said seriously as the elevator stopped and he stepped out, Ariadne following him this time; now they were in a hallway of a house, and they were heading toward the kitchen.
"This is your house?" Ariadne asked.
Cobb nodded. "Mine and Mal's."
"Where is she?" Ariadne asked, keeping an wary eye out for the woman.
"She'd already died," Cobb told her as they entered the kitchen, where a tall thin man was standing next to the table with an envelope in his hand, and then there was a shout of laughter; he nodded toward the backyard, where James was sitting on the ground. "It's James. My boy," he explained. "He's found something. Maybe a worm."
At that moment, Philippa ran up and crouched next to her brother, and seeing her, Cobb smiled sadly. "And there's Philippa," he said wistfully. "I thought about calling out, so they'd turn and smile those incredible smiles…but I'm out of time-"
"Right now," the thin man insisted, thrusting the envelope into his hand. "Or never, Cobb."
Nodding, Cobb turned from the porch and took the envelope and opened it, revealing a plane ticket. "Then I panic that I'll always wish I'd seen them turn, that I can't waste this chance…" he turned back to call out to his kids, but their grandmother called to them first, and they ran away. "But the moment's passed. And whatever I do, the dream's always the same…When I'm about to call…they run."
Cobb was so focused on his missed chance that he didn't see Ariadne backing away toward the elevator. "If I'm going to see their faces again," he muttered, watching his children disappear around the corner. "I've got to get back here in the real world." And that was when Ariadne ran back inside the elevator and slammed the grill shut, making him turn around.
Breathing hard, Ariadne hit the basement button and the elevator resumed moving downward, as the elevator descended, she watched the different floors passing by, and she jumped backwards when a freight train thundered past; soon the elevator stopped again, this time revealing an elegant hotel suite.
Ariadne pulled aside the grill and stepped into the room, noting that it'd been upended, almost like there has been a fight or even struggle; she stepped forward and something cracked under her shoe, causing her to look down to see that she had stepped on a broken champagne flute.
When she looked back up, she felt a draught coming from a nearby open window, where the curtain was moving, and then she saw Mal, who was sitting on the couch in a sleeveless purple dress; when the older woman turned to look at her, she froze at the cold look.
"What are you doing here?" Mal asked coldly.
Ariadne swallowed, trying to keep down her fear. "My name is-" she began.
"I know who you are," Mal cut in, standing up. "What are you doing here?" she repeated, moving around the couch toward her.
"I don't know," Ariadne admitted, breathing hard. "Trying to understand."
"How could you understand?" Mal asked coldly, walking around the young woman, who was shaking with barely controlled fear. "Do you know what it is to be a lover?" she hissed, leaning in close. "To be half of a whole?"
Ariadne shook her head. "No."
"I'll tell you a riddle," said Mal, facing her. "You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away." She turned and walked toward a small table that had a broken lamp and broken glass on it. "You know where you hope this train will take you, but you don't know for sure." She then faced Ariadne. "But…it doesn't matter," she concluded, leaning down and she picked up a broken champagne flute, gripping it tightly. "How can it not matter to you where that train will take you?"
"Because you'll be together," said Cobb, stepping out of the elevator, and both women looked at him.
Mal glared at him. "How could you bring her here, Dom?" she demanded.
"What is this place?" Ariadne asked, her voice shaking.
"A hotel," Cobb responded, keeping his eyes fixed on his wife. "We spent our anniversaries in this suite."
"What happened here?" Ariadne asked, referring to the wreck room; at that moment, Mal charged forward and Cobb grabbed Ariadne's arm, shoving her into the elevator, slamming the grill shut and locked it just as the crazed women threw herself at it repeatedly, trying to get inside, and Ariadne huddled against the back wall, cringing.
"You promised!" Mal screamed, yanking against the grill, her eyes and hair wild. "You said we'd be together!"
"We can," Cobb promised tearfully. "We will. But I need you to stay here for now-"
"You said we'd grow old together!" Mal screamed, not really listening.
"I'll come back," Cobb repeated, pushing a button on the panel and the elevator began moving upward. "I need you to stay here on your own for now. Just while I do this job. Then we can be together…" and he watched, heartbroken, as Mal continued to glare up at him, half of her face covered by hair, her eyes wide with cold fury.
Waking up, Ariadne removed the tubes from her wrist and watched Cobb, whose eyes slowly flickered open. "You think you can just build a prison of memories to lock her in?" she demanded angrily as he sat up. "You think that's going to contain her?"
Before Cobb could say anything, Arthur, Emma, and Saito entered the workshop, and Arthur turned the lights on.
"It's time," Saito announced. "Maurice Fischer just died in Sydney." The moment he received word, he'd tracked down the other team members to alert them and, discovering that both Cobb and Ariadne weren't at their lofts, he had convinced Arthur and Emma, they hadn't been thrilled at being woken up so early, to come with him to the workshop in order to let them know.
"When's the funeral?" Cobb asked, removing the tubes and stood up.
"Thursday," Saito answered. "In Los Angeles."
"Robert will accompany the body no later then Tuesday," Arthur added. "We have to move."
"It looks to be our only chance," Emma agreed.
Cobb nodded, rolled up the tubing, and then turned to the machine, putting it away, and turning it off.
"I'm coming with you," Ariadne whispered to him so that the other wouldn't hear; that experience down in the dream had her convinced that whatever Cobb was hiding, it was getting worse, and she had to do something about it before it was too late.
Cobb shook his head, remembering his promise to his father-in-law. "No," he whispered back, noting that Arthur and Emma were writing in their notebooks, while Saito was watching him closely. "I promised Miles."
"The team needs someone in there who understands what you're struggling with," Ariadne insisted. "If you don't want it to be me then you need to show Arthur and Emma what I just saw."
Cobb stared at her, surprised, and he could easily imagine what would happen if he was to show Arthur and Emma what he was dreaming about, especially if they were to cross paths with Mal; sighing, he turned to Saito. "We need one more seat on the plane." And he closed the case.
They had a lot to do and very little time to do it in.
A/N: And so ends part one of this story. See you all next week for the beginning of part two. R&R everyone!