Authors Note:

I am so extremely thankful for all the great reviews for the first chapter!

I am very happy you all like the twist in the ending. Well, I hope you like this chapter too!

Please remember to review!

Chapter 2

If there was one adjective that could describe the elevator ride, down to the lobby level, it was docile. Ariadne was expecting Cobb to ask her questions, intrude her mind, like she had done to him on countless occasions. But he had done the exact opposite. He kept quiet and to himself, acknowledging her only when he held the exit door open.

She wanted to whisper a 'thank you' to him, but she knew that this was no time for manners. They had to find Saito so that they could wake up in the real world. It wouldn't talk too long, would it?

She followed Cobb, as he walked down the pathway and shook her head at her thought. No, it wouldn't. Two heads were always better than one. They would be out of there in no time flat. Well, at least she hoped.

Cobb suddenly stopped, his eyes transfixed to his right side. Ariadne asked baffled "Hey, why are we stopping?" But when she turned her head to the same direction, she saw Mal's child hood home vanish into thin air.

Ariadne took a few steps towards Cobb and asked "Did you do that?"

Cobb shook his head and answered "Not exactly."

Ariadne scoffed at the familiar words and at the fact that Dom started walking again, leaving her unsatisfied and speechless.

"Hey-" she called slightly after him, he steadying his pace to hers. She asked in a soft tone "What do you mean by that?"

Dom turned to look at Ariadne and replied "We're in Limbo, Ariadne. Mal had constructed that building and now she's gone. And well, so is everything else she ever built."

He waved his hands around, pointing to the empty spaces that were once buildings. The majority remained but Ariadne could still feel a vast difference in the area and in the air.

"Let's head that way." Cobb spoke, breaking the silence. He had said goodbye to his wife once and for all but that didn't mean that he didn't love her. It pained him to see every architectural treasure she had made disappear around him.

"Do you know where Saito is?" Ariadne asked, the beach and ocean coming into her eye view.

Cobb shrugged his shoulders once and answered her question truthfully "There is no possible way to know for sure. This place is limitless."

"Oh great and I thought this was going to possible," Ariadne muttered sarcastically under her breath, as they made it to the brim of the beach.

Cobb sank his shoe wearing feet into the sand, touching Ariadne's arm just for a moment as he whispered "Nothing is impossible, Ariadne." And then he let go of her and started to walk into the middle of the beach.

Ariadne placed her right hand above her eyebrows, her hands acting as a shield against the blazing sun as she watched him stare upwards, at the falling buildings.

She made her way to him, her feet plopping a few meters away from him as she took a deep breath in. She wasn't going to lie, she was not only dying of thirst but her feet were starting to hurt her. And they had just begun walking.

"Are you thirsty?" Dom asked as he observed her carefully. He noticed the way she was panting and holding her chest, as if she was in dire need of a refreshment.

She nodded once, curious as to what they were going to do for food and water. Shelter they had, but the necessities? Would they have nothing to drink but salt water?

Ariadne watched his eyes close for a moment and his knuckles tighten. What the hell was he doing? Was he trying to make a water bottle appear? Oh. He was trying to perform a miracle. Ariadne wanted to laugh as he tightened his eyes, his nostrils flaring.

"What are you-?" She started but he interrupted her by raising a finger upwards, as if, to silence her.

"Okay." Dom opened his eyes, his mouth a small smile.

"Okay?" Ariadne asked, her eyebrows lifting in a confused manner.

He pulled on her arm for a moment, leading her to the ocean. Oh. He did want them to drink salt water.

Cobb let go of her and placed his hands together, as if to form a small bowl. He lifted his hands to his mouth and took a drink, sighing in pleasure as the cold water hit his lips.

"Are you insane? You can't drink that. Do you know how sick you could get?" Ariadne accused him, stomping her foot on the sand like an angry child. He could not die. She would not be left alone here to find Saito, all by her lonesome.

Cobb wanted to laugh but he held it in while saying "Just trust me."

His blue eyes glared at her for a moment and she sighed, slightly dramatically, as picked up some of the water and drank from it. Her eyes widened as she realized that the water was icy cool and fresh- not salty.

"How did you do this?" Ariadne was shocked. When they had come out of the water, it was not fresh water.

Cobb smirked at her and bent down over the water while replying "Limbo is here for us to change. We can do what we want with it." He lifted some of the water and splashed his face with it. He wasn't going to lie, he was dying of heat. Well, he could always change that too.

He bent down to see Ariadne copying him, taking the water and freshening herself up and then he smiled. Well, maybe he would let Ariadne do it one day. They were going to be together for quite some time. He had never went looking for another person in Limbo before. The last time, he had all he needed. Except for reality, of course.

"How long do you think its going to take us to find him?" Ariande asked, her figure slowly standing up and looking down at him.

Dom bit down on his bottom lip and looked out onto the horizon. The sun hadn't started to set. The day light would be significant for their search. He could change everything he wanted about this place except for the day structure. That he could not change. He had tried once with Mal and their results had been disastrous.

"I don't know, Ariande." He shook his head, standing up and continued "Days, weeks, months...maybe even years?"

He turned his back to her suddenly and her eyebrows knitted. "Years?" She asked loudly, making him turn to her once again.

"Yes, it all depends." His voice was soft. He wasn't worried, time went extremely fast in Limbo.

"You mean, I might be stuck here for years?" Ariadne asked, her voice shifting in power. She didn't mean to sound so harsh. She didn't want him to believe that she didn't want to be there with him. She did. She chose it.

"You're the one that wanted to stay." Cobb's blue eyes forced themselves upon her small brown ones. She didn't answer, so he asked softly "Why did you?"

Ariadne tore her eyes away from him and looked around her slowly. They needed to start walking. "Which way do we go?"

Cobb noted the fact that she didn't answer his question but she was right. They needed a direction. He breathed out quickly and said "Its your word against mine. You choose."

And she choose forward, along the beach path.

There was a silence for a few minutes. Neither of them spoke to each other because neither of them knew what to say. They just walked side by side, along the beach, the waves crashing far away from their bodies.

"So, if I can create what I want here," Ariadne finally broke the silence and continued "can I create a magic carpet that can take us anywhere we want?"

Dom chuckled at her question. Knowing the fact that she was joking. Maybe it was better that she was here. He wouldn't have liked to be alone.

"You can try." He responded as a larger wave crashed against the bottom of his pants, "But I don't think you will be very successful." He let out a two second smile at her and then focused his attention back on the long beach.

She smiled back at him and replied "Well, I thought I should ask, just in case." And they continued walking side by side for another few moments.

"You see that?" Cobb asked, his eyes gleaming at the spiral shaped building up ahead. Ariadne focused her eyes on the building, nodding slowly as he continued "I don't remember building that."

Ariadne's mouth dropped open as she said happily "Which means that someone else built it, right?"

Cobb nodded, trying to keep his hopeful emotions in tact. "It can't be all that simple, Ariadne."

"Or maybe it is." Ariadne stated, her arms crossing across her chest. He was not going to destroy this moment of hope for her.

Dom took a deep breath in and his eyes examined the building. The building did not look as if it was composed from Japanese architecture. It couldn't be Saito. Or maybe, it could?

"Cobb, let's go." Ariadne spoke lightly, tightening the muscles in her calves to get a good start on running.

Dom picked up his legs and ran towards Ariadne, not knowing if this was a good idea or not. If it wasn't Saito's land. They could be in big trouble.

xxx

Arthur's eyes popped open wide. He had awoken and he- couldn't breathe. He was under water and he couldn't breathe. He held his mouth closed and moved his arms around in a swimming motion, trying to get out of the van.

But two things caught his attention; Ariadne and Cobb. He moved himself towards their bodies, one hand on her and one of him. He started to scream angrily and worriedly. Why hadn't they responded to the kick?

But water was filling up his lungs. He needed to push himself out of the water. He swam upwards, cursing endlessly in his mind at both Cobb and Ariadne. But what he couldn't understand the most was, why didn't Ariadne wake up? Had she chosen to stay in Limbo with him?

He quickly looked down, seeing Saito's body laying still. The red blood encircling him. Oh. Maybe they stayed to find Saito. The only problem now was, would they ever come back?

xxx

"What is this place?" Ariadne asked, a hand flying through a branch of her long brown locks. Her eyes were examining the area. Almost everything was green, red and white. Those were three very strange colors to design architecture with.

"I'm not sure." Cobb's face was tough. The only thing that he was sure of was the fact that this couldn't be Saito's land. He wouldn't have chosen this layout and he would not have had enough time to build everything.

It looked like a giant town. Their were grocery stores and a shopping centre. He couldn't understand who could have built something like this. He knew that he never had.

Suddenly, a tall and slender woman dressed in a loose fitting dress came out one of the stores. She was holding a sewing needle in her hands. "Mi scusi, siete qui per la parte?"

Dom looked immediately over to Ariadne. The woman was speaking italian. He didn't know a word of it and from the look on Ariadne's face, she didn't either.

"I'm sorry?" Cobb asked, his eyes fixated on that needle.

"Oh, me sorry." She laughed, a very thick Italian accent coming from her mouth as she continued "I know no English." She held up a finger and went inside the store.

"Cobb, who is she?" Ariadne asked, moving her frame towards him, as if for protection.

"She's a projection from the mind that built this land." Dom answered her and then said "Come on." as he lead her towards the store.

"Ah, excuse me." A short brunette man with long eyelashes held the door open for both Cobb and Ariadne while saying "Please, excuse my-a daughter. She no speak too good." He smirked as he closed the door behind them.

Ariadne let her eyes roll around the shop. It was filled with formal wear. Anything from dresses to suits and high heels.

"You are here for Sig. Vito's gathering, yes?" The man smiled at both Cobb and Ariadne who tried to keep their expressions light.

"Yes." Ariadne quipped in, a small smile exiting her lips. Maybe Saito had been invited to the gathering too.

"Essi sono così sporco," the tall woman put her hand on Dom's shoulder, examining his sand ridden clothes.

Ariadne felt her muscles stiffen at the slight brush of contact between the two.

"My daughter is right. You two are-ah very dirty. Sig. Vito would not allow this." The middle aged man shook his head and sighed.

Dom took a few steps towards Ariadne and said "Well, Sig. Vito told us to come here and that you would fix us with new clothing for tonight's festivities."

The middle aged brunette man clapped his hands together from happiness and said "He said that? Well, this is a very good news. Yes. I will help." He smiled cheerfully and shouted "Maria! Per favore aiutatemi lei!"

Maria nodded in her father's direction and then took Ariadne by the shoulders and lead her towards the dressing room. "Yes, I ah-help you." Ariadne's eyes widened. Where they really going to high jack an Italian party? Cobb really seemed to have a death wish.

"And Sig, Paolo, that is ugh, me. Will help you, Sig- ugh, what is your name?" The man let out his hand for Cobb to shake.

Cobb took the hand in his and replied back "Please, just call me Dom."

"Domenico? Oh, yes. Like an Italian name, yes?" Paolo asked, his voice softening. "And your ugh- innamorata?" He slowly lead Cobb towards the back section of the store, where dozens of suits stood tall on mannequins. Who ever had imagined this place really loved fashion and the spoils of life, Cobb noted.

"My what?" Dom asked, he was confused at what he was asking him.

"Your, how you say- ah, girl?" Paolo smiled, a hand resting on Cobb's shoulder. "What is her name?"

Cobb couldn't help but chuckle. If he had told him her name, he defiantly would have not understood it. So, he smiled and replied "Just call her... Ari."

"Arianna? Yes, Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Paolo laughed loudly, causing Dom to laugh back with him.

Paolo pointed to the four suits in front of him while saying "Now, please choose." His voice had suddenly become really low.

"I'm not sure. Which one do you think?" Cobb asked, resting his hands by his sides.

"I think you should choose the girl." A dark voice suddenly came from behind him.

There were two men dressed in black suits with round sun glasses. "Let me go!" Ariadne shouted at the two men, who had a firm grip on her.

Oh fuck. "Let her go." Cobb's voice was calm. Who the hell did these projections think they were anyway? All he had to do was think of a gun and he could get themselves out of the situation in no more than two seconds flat.

Cobb started to picture a gun in his left pant pocket. 'Think of the feel of one' he told himself. But nothing was happening. Why wasn't anything happening? Shit! How long has this Italian bastard been here anyway?

Paolo placed his hand on Dom's shoulder, pinching the skin in between his shoulder blades "Sig. Vito has not been expecting any new visitors. You lie to me."

Cobb glared at the short man for a moment. And then he turned his head back to Ariande for a moment, who was struggling to set herself free. But suddenly she stopped as she felt a gun on the middle of her back.

A tall blond haired man smiled from behind her "Principessa, would you please follow me?" Her eyes were wide. What the hell had they gotten themselves into? They were supposed to be looking for Saito, not being captured by projections!

"Take me too." Cobb announced, taking a step toward Ariadne, his hands in the air, as if he was surrendering. At this moment he was, but he wouldn't let anything happen to Ariadne. The pain in Limbo still felt real, even though it wasn't.

"Very well." The tall blond announced with a smirk on his face. "Take them to Vito." Cobb was pushed by one of the two large men into Ariadne. "Buona Notte." He whispered to them and then smacked them across their heads.

And then there was black.

Authors Note:

Did I surprise you with the ending of this chapter? I really hope I did.

Please review to let me know if you like it so far.

PS. I am kind of basing this on 'Lost' to a certain point. So, its going to be a little more complex than my other story. But hopefully, you all will like it just as much. Maybe more?

Please Review!

Thank you!