Dream Space
Arthur awoke to a sunset. Ariadne had just come in the room and sat beside him on their bed. She was wearing the White Kimono but had the modesty to wear silk pajamas under it. He breathed in the sight of her.
"You were most unladylike." He said softly. "I feel taken advantage of." She giggled.
"Are you hungry?" She asked "I made coffee and toasted some English muffins." He smiled at her as he twined his fingers in hers.
"I'm afraid." He said.
"Of what?" She asked looking worried.
"That this is a dream and I'm about to wake up." He admitted feeling the luxury of a warm bed and a beautiful woman.
"Well, if you do decide to wake up, I'll be in the kitchen." She said kissing him on the forehead.
After getting showered and dressed, Arthur joined his Team for breakfast. Ariadne (fully dressed) was showing Cobb and Sybil some of her photographs.
"The markets." She said pointing out each one. "Trust me when I was in them, if felt like a maze. I thought they would be an excellent maze for the top level. Now here is the catch, what really makes the markets confusing is the different languages. If the Roy is the dreamer, and I stay with him while the rest of you go deeper, my subconscious can help to populate the dream. I can fill it with projections of foreign speaking people. This can confuse Edwards projections."
"That's brilliant." Sybil declared looking up from the colorful Greek market. "How many languages do you know?"
"I can get by in France, Spain, Greece, Japan, and Italy." Ariadne said nonchalantly.
"Hmm. You can get by in all those places speaking English. I can get by in all those places plus Brazil and China." The Girl said. "Cobb it should be me on the first level, I know more languages." Cobb sighed.
"We have already been though this." The Extractor said. "Ariadne, this is great. I want you and Roy on it right away. What did you have in mind for the second and third level?"
"Do we have our simple idea yet?" Ariadne asked. Cobb shook his head.
"Edwards is a self made man." Arthur said helping himself to the coffee. "Self made men are not afraid of much. They are not easy to manipulate."
"Satio is a self made man." Sybil said "Maybe if we find out what he's afraid of, we can find out what our boy Edwards is afraid of." Cobb cast the Girl/Control a look. A look that he reserved for Team members who came up with great ideas.
"Before Limbo, I was mainly concerned about foreign powers taking over." Saito admitted. He had joined them in the meeting the Team had assembled. "After Limbo, my priorities changed." He tried not to look at Yori.
"The threat of foreign influences on your country? Or foreign companies taking over?" Hecate asked.
"Both." Saito told her
"Japan can be a very isolated country." Yori explained. "Much of Asia is distrustful of western influences."
"The same can be said of many Americans." Eames said. "I bet Edwards is just a xenophobic as anyone." Ariadne nodded.
"Sure, there is a fear of immigration and outsourcing." She said. "There always hot button issues. Right up there with religion and abortion."
"How can we suggest that abandoning dream extraction will save his country?" Arthur asked. His small notebook and pen in hands.
"In America, Dream extraction is not illegal, but not thought highly of. They use it for memory regression, Therapy." Braker said. "Could we suggest he pay a senator off to make extraction illegal?"
"Right, Maybe campaign to put the genie back in the bottle?" Eames said.
"How would that stop him from utilizing extractions? Politicians preach things all the time and go right around a do them." Sybil said
"Make him believe that dream extractions and inceptions will hurt him." Saito said. Eames smiled and pointed to the business man.
"That is our simple idea." He said.
A few days went by. The Team was obsessed with planning the large extraction/inception. All of them worked day and night on the project. They were so busy Ariadne had not noticed Arthur had left for several hours. He returned later that evening to see his Lady working on sketches of mazes.
"Hello." He said taking off his coat. She looked up at him and frowned.
"Where did you go?" She asked. He looked distracted. "Umm, just out." He said.
"With Edwards people out for us?" She said suspiciously
"Yes." I was fine. He seemed nervous and went strait to their room.
"Save the date, Ladies." Eames said. "In one day, we go in."
"How?" Arthur asked.
"Edwards and his oldest son Hector* are taking a flight into Berlin. Satio's airline, first class, 13 hours at least." Braker told them.
"That sounds perfect." The Australian Chemist said.
"To perfect." Sybil accused. "What if it's a trap?"
"We can gas them, the same way COBAL did us." Cobb said.
"I can prepare that." Hecate told them.
"We would have to stay in coach till we were up in the air." Arthur added
"Excuse me!" Sybil said shouted. "What if it's a trap?"
"That's why we have you as Control, Little One." Eames told her with a smile.
Later that evening Arthur watched Ariadne go to the bathroom for her shower before going to bed. He waited till he heard water running and drug out the PASIV device and hooked himself up.
Ariadne came out of the bathroom to see the Point Man dreaming peacefully on their bed. The hiss of the device telling her he was in a dream. She had to smile at him. The old game of meeting in the dream world made her feel giddy. She hooked herself up to the PASIV and fell into the dream after him.
She awoke to Paris. The city of lights was empty of people and had all the reminders of the Paris Arthur had created for her while they had kept their relationship secret. She felt where Arthur was. She walked a quick path to the warehouse the Team had used while working on the Fischer Inception. A short elevator ride up and she arrived on the floor she thought she remembered. It must have taken Arthur a long time. Moroccan style lanterns were hung from the ceiling. They cast a beautiful, colorful glow in the warehouse. Japanese water lilies were in a small pond. She had to cross a little red bridge to get over the pond and saw Koi Fish swimming around. She crossed over the ruins of a Tibetan temple and into a French Cafe. All of this, inside the disused warehouse. Arthur was standing by a candle lit table. He was dressed beautifully in a very fine suit. He looked so handsome then that it put the world he created for her to shame.
"I wanted to bring you little pieces of our home." He told her lightly indicating the lamps and the pond. "I was never sure what you liked best."
"My God Arthur," She gasped, approaching him"This is beautiful. Why?" She almost regretted the question as the Point Man knelt down before her. She wanted to tell him no, to stand up. But he looked so handsome, he looked up at her with sincere eyes.
"Ariadne..." He stated, looking nervous. He took her hand gently in his, his other hand holding a large stoned ring. "Ariadne, I want you to be my wife." She said nothing as she felt her self start to shake and tears begin to fall. "Please to me this honor. Please be my home, forever." He asked. She smiled at that. She found herself nodding.
"Yes." She said softly "Yes, of course I'll marry you." tears of joy were falling over her cheeks. He quickly slid the ring on her left ring finger and stood. For what seemed like a long time, they stood there in the dream. Holding each other. The beauty of a dream they didn't want to wake from.
*Hector, Price of Troy during Trojan War