edited on 3.29.15
Disclaimer: I don't own Inception(if I did, it wouldn't have ended with Ari and Dom living happily ever after.) but yeah I don't own it. Inception belongs to its respective owners.
Lost and Found
Things had changed.
Dom walked down his neighborhood, looking for someone.
He noticed that everyone was stopping and staring at him. He heard them whispering.
He heard someone mention her name. Mal.
He stiffened but continued to walk.
He stopped in front the park, his eyes drawn to a sculpture, with its twists and turns and colors and magical properties (it looked never ending), he knows who designed it.
He remembered long nights in the garage, them drawing and laughing. He remembers sitting with her as they tried to make a vase. He remembers her brown eyes meeting his blue ones as they laugh and smile.
He remembers her scent- like fresh roses when it rains.
He continues on and stops when he hears piano music floating out of a church window.
The music reminds him of her trying to teach him how to play.
He enters the church to see everyone staring at him in shock. He realizes it's a wedding.
He moves to leave but then see her.
Ariadne.
She is in a red dress. She takes one look at him and grabs his hand, pulling him towards the door. Just as he steps out, he hears his name.
The voice is so familiar. He turns to see her.
Mal.
She is in a white dress, a wedding dress.
He stares at her in shock. He remembers proposing to her and her rejecting him.
"I don't want to marry you and wait for you to come back from war. I'll wait for you."
He was 18 when he left. He is back now, 29, and he knew it was ridiculous to think she would wait, but a part of him thought she would.
She is getting married.
He walks out and laughs.
It's ironic. The day he arrives home, is the day his ex-girlfriend gets married.
God must hate him.
He sees her standing there.
Ariadne. She is still as small as he remembers. She was 15 when he left, now she's 25, turning 26 in a
few weeks.
Her hair is longer, her lips redder, her face more flush, she has grown but still is shorter than him.
She looks at him and then hold out her hand.
He takes and they walk to the beach.
He lets his fingers feel the calluses on her fingers.
She is a hard worker, an artist. He remembers teaching her wood carving, building a car engine, a tree house, and so many other projects.
They sit down with their feet in the water and she rests her head on his shoulder.
"Long time no see soldier." She teases.
Dom can't help but smile.
"How are you Ms. Artist?"
They talk, light banter, nothing serious.
For now its' enough, the little things.
They just want to enjoy the fact they he was home.
He walked her home.
They stopped in her yard and sat at the picnic table. She got them beer and they drank.
Dom couldn't help himself.
"Mal and…."
"Lawrence. They met on the road. She had a flat and he saved her. They dated and got married quickly."
Dom scoffed. In their small town, a quick marriage meant 1. The man was going to war or 2. The girl was pregnant.
For some reason, the thought of his ex, with a baby didn't bother him.
Mal didn't approve of whenever he was with Ari. It was something she hated. She used to accuse him of cheating on her with the younger girl.
However, he never looked at Ari that way…. Only once.
He had looked at Ari that way once.
He had gotten home from a party to see her in a pair of shorts and lacy top. She had left the party earlier than he had. She was in her studio being creative. He walked in and asked her if they could make one last thing, before he departed to training camp.
They were making a bowl and she was laughing and her brown eyes glittering. Her hair seemed lighter and he couldn't stop staring at her lips.
He still had no idea what possessed him to lean down and kiss his best friend.
He remembered running his fingers through her hair and kissing her lips until her lipstick had been ruined. When he pulled away, her eyes were widen and dazed. He too was in shock.
He turned and walked away.
That was the last time he saw her.
He sent a few letters to her. In one, he asked her to take care of his dogs- James and Phillipa. He also, for an unknown reason, sent her his dog tags.
His way of telling her he was coming home.
And here he was home. Sitting in her backyard, drinking beer.
A lot had changed since he left.
The town, his ex getting married, Ari.
Ari had changed.
She was still his pretty girl, but now he figured she was someone else's girl.
"How's everyone?"
"Eames and Arthur are married. Yatio is in school. Your ex is married. I'm in charge of landscaping and in need of a partner."
Dom grinned, he and Ari had talked about opening a business together. He was glad to see that the dream was alive.
He went home that night, with his dogs, and with a smile on his face. He went to sleep thinking of pretty brown eyes and woke screaming seeing blood and his fellow soldiers dying.
James being the smart dog he was ran outside through the doggy door to get Ari and barked until she got up and followed him. Ari crawled though his window and managed to calm him down.
He fell back asleep with her in his arms.
When he woke up, the only clue to that she was there was his pillow smelling like her.
He saw her planting flowers. When she saw him, she pointed to her lawn mower and he took it as a sign to get to work. They planted about 100 flowers and he mowed about 10 lawns. The seniors were grateful for his help and praised his homecoming.
They worked all day and when he headed home, Ari ordered him to come by at 6.
When 6 came, they walked to the park where he found himself to be the guest of honor for a party.
All evening, he had people thanking, women flirting, men getting him beers, and Ariadne by his side.
She was always there, holding his hand, touching his shoulder, wrapping her arm around his waist, and kissing his cheek.
He was happy to run into Arthur and his husband Eames. They talked for a while and Arthur threaten to kill him if he hurt Ari.
Dom learned at Ari was devastated when he got hurt a few months back. Ari also never dated, she didn't date before he left nor during when he was overseas.
"Not that anyone would ask her, everyone knows she is off limits."
Dom is confused by this statement but is unable to ask for an explanation, as Mal and Lawrence have arrived.
Everyone is quiet as Mal marches in with her new husband.
"Dominick!"
He tensed as she ran and hugged him tightly.
"Mal."
She began flipping in her hair and talking, trying to flirt and simultaneously rub in the fact that she was married.
It was Ariadne, who came to his rescue.
"Mal. Congrats, I wanted to come to your wedding, but I wanted to see my soldier."
She flashes a smile and Dom realizes that she has on his dog tags.
Mal glares at Ari and her eyes drop to the dog tags and she stomps away angrily.
Everyone begins whispering and gossiping and he can't help but kiss her cheek.
She blushes and he laughs.
They spend the whole summer together, helping the town, making art. He puts his muscle and degree in architecture to good use, in building a new adoptive center for animals.
He also begins to work on a secret project for his Ariadne. He was not sure when it happened but she became his. Maybe she was always his. Mal faded into a distant memory and it was always Ariadne.
She spent most nights with him. He had trouble sleeping because of his nightmares from the war. Ariadne would wrap her arms around him and they would fall asleep like that, calm.
He made breakfast for her often and then they would head to work. During his break, he would work on his project.
He knew why the kiss meant so much to him, he knew why he gave her his dog tags, he knew why Mal was jealous.
She had a reason to be.
Ariadne was his girl. He always liked her. He was in love with her. He chose Ariadne, a long time ago, even if he was unaware of his choice.
Mal never stood a chance
Ari was his angel, she had always been there for him, and was still there. She never left him, even when he tried to push her away. Her stuff slowly ended up at his place and some of his stuff at hers.
They reached a comfortable relationship but he wants to take it to the next level.
He wants her to be his.
Forever.
He begins designing the project, a gift for her. Once he has the plan done, he begins calling for help. Most of help comes from his old combat friends.
The town was shocked to see so many people, all who had fought in the war. Some were obvious, others not so much.
Ariadne tried not to get jealous when she saw a blonde girl pull Dom away one day. When she saw the girl and several other people in his house, she put on a smile and greeted them.
She became distant once Dom started hanging out and whispering with his friends. It wasn't until, she saw the blonde, Claire, by the beach. She was holding hands with a man who had on a prosthetic leg. She watched Claire take off her shirt and she saw the angry scar running down her stomach and down her legs. She watched the man kiss her stomach and she realized she had no competition.
Later the night, she asked Dom and the others told her their stories.
She went to bed that night, holding Dom close, tears on her face, and flashes of the horrors they faced.
His friends ended up leaving after a month. Claire ended up inviting them to her wedding.
As summer began drawing to a close, Ariadne gets scared that it's just summer fling. It doesn't help that Mal keeps telling her it won't last.
Dom acts more secretive that usual. He wants his project to be perfect. Everything needs to be perfect.
Ariadne knows something is up, but no one will tell her anything.
A part of her is terrified that she is going to lose him.
Maybe that's why she goes to her old studio and sits down and starts molding clay.
That is where Dom finds her. Arthur begins yelling at how he is neglecting his girl and that she thought it was just a summer fling. He rushed home immediately.
He finds her molding clay, just like that night when they first kissed.
She knows he's there but she ignores him and instead focuses on the clay between her fingers.
Dom walks up behind her and sits behind her on the bench. He wraps his arms around her and puts his hands over and together silently they mold something.
Then she looks up and he leans down to kiss her.
"I missed you." She whispers as they pull away.
He touches her face.
"Come with me."
Ariadne looks at him surprised, but lets him pull her out and into the street. They walk for awhile until he picks her up and swings her over his shoulder causing her to gasp.
"Close your eyes, Ari."
Ari closes her eyes curious and nervous.
She trusts him and knows that no harm will come to her.
They walk for a while before he puts her down and puts his hands on her waist.
"Open."
She opens her eyes and finds herself outside a maze.
"What?"
Then she pauses as she catches a sigh. The name of the maze.
"Ariadne's Labyrinth" Dedication: To the reason why I came back home.- Love D
She looked at the map and realized that it was her maze. One that she had drawn for an art class, a maze that she had seen in her dream. It was real. It was hers.
She turned to look at Cobb who was on one knee.
She gasped.
"Ari. "
"Yes. Yes. Si. Yes."
She pulled Cobb to his feet and kissed him. She smiled as she felt his fingers slid the ring onto hers.
They pulled away and smiled, their foreheads pressed together.
Then Ari was pulling him into the maze and Cobb smiled bigger.
He would follow her wherever. He knew that as long as Ari was by his side, nothing else matter. He could never get lost.
And if he did, he was glad to get lost with her.
She had found him when he lost his way.
She was his light in the dark.
His string in the maze.
His other half.
Tell me what you think.
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