To Take a Leap of Faith

"All men whilst they are awake are in one common world:

But each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own."

Plutarch

~It almost felt like expectancy. Ariadne flushed her dinner the American Nurse gave her in the toilet and felt remarkably recharged. The Australian Forger had been right. There had to be something she was being given.

She fell asleep with ease, but slept lightly because she woke up when the American Nurse came in with a silver briefcase. She knew she was being taken into a dream and pretended to be asleep while the American Nurse, with suddenly rough strong hands jerked her arm out and hooked her up.

Suddenly she was in the dream. Her mind was sharper now. She remembered her training with Arthur. She was the Subject. Which means her mind populated the dream space.

She was in the warehouse again. Arthur and Eames were there. They were laughing. Yuseff and Cobb were in the other room. But things were different. She willed Arthur and Eames to look at her and they stopped what they were doing and did.

'Who is the Dreamer?' she asked them in her mind. The men looked from her to her projection of Cobb. His back was turned and it came on her. The American Nurse was also a Forger like Eames and the Australian.

She had assumed Cobb's appearance to make sure the Architect dreamed the same each night. Her own fears about Arthur and the Team caused her projections to kill her each night. She looked back at Arthur and Eames. She decided her best recourse was to not allow the American Nurse to know that she was onto her. Ariadne stood.

"No!" She screamed and ran out of the warehouse. "Your not going to kill me!" She shouted melodramatically over her shoulder. She feared she had over acted, surely no one would fall for that. But when her dream timed out and she woke up, the American Nurse was there and seemed very pleased.

"Not another nightmare, Dear?" She asked. Ariadne tried to remain calm. To give nothing away.

"Yes, those people who tried to hurt me. Cobb and the rest." She said rubbing her head in mock fear. "But I ran away from them. It took so long for me to believe what they had done. I feel so stupid for not seeing it before." The American Nurse went away very happy.

Ariadne took Braker's advise and tried to stay focused on her life before. On the people she trusted. Hopefully they would get her out. Her mind was returning to her. Memories of the mission, memories of Arthur.

~They were in the hotel one the second level. Cobb's "Mr. Charles" Gambit had put her and Arthur in real danger from Fischer's projections. The well tailored men and women kept looking at them. Arthur and Ariadne had abandoned the lobby where they watched Cobb bring Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream. Arthur's gait was strong and sure. His pace so fast Ariadne had trouble keeping up with him.

The Point Man's large hand took hold of hers and pulled her towards him away from the encroaching projections. The two of them vanished down a stairwell paradox.

"What if they reach us while were asleep and in the third level?" She asked as they hid in the shadows. A projection of a man in a suit walked past them.

Not seeing them.

"I wont let that happen." He whispered back. His large body concealing hers.

Suddenly the floor shifted. As Yuseff's erratic driving made the dream world turn and lean dangerously. Arthur's arms were around her waist, keeping her close to him.

"Careful." He whispered in her ear as he kept her from falling off the stairwell into the paradox. The sharp movements of the van making traversing the hotel difficult.

Arthur seemed to have no trouble maneuvering around the shifting floor. Ariadne was starting to feel almost sea sick.

"How can you do this? The dream is so unstable." She finally asked as he took hold of her hand. Strongly but gently pulling her away from more projections. He smiled. His eyes bright.

"You get used to it." He said.

Suddenly, a projection was in front of them. Ariadne didn't have time to scream before Arthur's quick and graceful movements floored the projection. The large beefy man soon lay unconscious on the floor. Arthur's large hands were over hers again.

"Stay close." He said.

She did as she was told. Trusting him completely.

She held these memories close as Jim called his stolen Team into the dream one last time.

~Down in the dream Jim had her build, Ariadne felt stronger.

She devised a way to trap her capture. Trap him inside his own dream.

'The trick is to trap the projections not the dreamer'.

Arthur had told her this.

She could almost hear his voice in the remembering. She would do the opposite. She planed it carefully. The Forger and Point Man had gotten very good at tag teaming Jim to keep his distracted. She even found herself playing a role in it so the Australian and Russian could talk alone.

She felt that her people were close. That at any time they would come.

~"Bloody Hell" Eames gasped. Inside the building the Mole Man had been watching, was a maze of beige walls meant to confuse intruders. The Mole Man and the Australian Team had helped them break into the building and fend off the guards before they found the work shop. Ariadne, Jim, the Australian Forger and the Russian Point Man were all under. Hooked up to a complicated PASIV machine.

"Shhh" Arthur hissed and he and the Australian Point Man disappeared. Cobb and the rest of the Team stood silent, out in the open when there was screaming. Arthur and the Australian Point Man had the American Nurse and her weapon secured.

"What kind of sedation were they given?" Cobb asked kneeling down to met her face. The American Nurse said nothing but looked violently angry.
"Looks like a basic mixture." Yuseff said looking over the PASIV device. I've never seen one this intense. It can administer per-arranged mixtures without pulling them out. Keeps them in the dream much longer."

"Pull them all out." Arthur ordered.

The Australian Extractor was pushing his sleeping Team mate out of his chair. Attempting to "kick" him out.

"He won't wake up that way." Yuseff said "I can't bring them out. Its a preset mixture. If we pull them out before the mixture releases them, their brains will fry. The dream has to collapse, or they have to chose to come out."

"Only one escape." Eames chimed in.

"We have to go in." The Australian Extractor said in a huff. "Convince them to come out."

"Right. Once more unto the Breach, dear friends." Eames said taking the IV from Yuseff. Arthur, Eames and Cobb took nearby chairs as they hooked themselves up.

"You don't have much time Mate." The Australian Point Man said. "Security will be on us in less then 15 minutes. Its get them out by then, or not at all."

"Give us as much time as you can." Cobb said before his world slipped away.

~More complex then anything in any dream they had shared before, the fun house showed the true range of Ariadne's skill as an Architect.

"Our girl built all this?" Eames sighed. "We don't pay her enough." He looked at the ceiling where a stair well ran upside down and projections walked across it defying the basic law of gravity.

~Ariadne and her fellow hostages felt Cobb's Team as soon as they cam into the dream.

"Someone else is here." Jim said sensing them as well.

"I'll go check it out." he Russian Point Man said seeming ever loyal to Jim. The Russian vanished behind a moving glass wall. The Australian Forger gave The Architect a knowing nod and Ariadne knew the time had come.

She walked away from them.

"Hey!" Jim called to her as she quickly escaped up a stair well that ran up the wall then across it.

Like Alice chasing the White Rabbit into Wonderland, Jim followed her into the trap she designed and he dreamed.

~The Russian appeared out of the wall to Cobb and his Team. Arthur and Eames pointed their weapons at him, but the Russian Point Man remained calm.

"Hold you fire. My name is Fedor." The Russian said to Cobb. "Did my people send you?" He asked.

"No, were here for a girl named Ariadne and an a man named Braker." Cobb said. "Where is she?"

"Da, the American Woman... and The Australian. She and Braker are with the Pig. But you need to wait here." The Russian said.

"No, well follow you."Arthur said curtly

"No." The Russian said even more harshly. "Your Lady Architect designed this to be a maze to trap you forever. It's to dangerous if you don't know the way. I'll bring her to you." He walked off and a staircase moved from the floor below to seal the team off from the Russian.

"The Pig?" Eames said in almost a laugh.

~Jim followed Ariadne into a massive room and suddenly felt different. He felt like he was standing on his head and blood was rushing to his brain. He looked up and realized her was standing on the ceiling. The Architect was standing on what would normally be the ground and looking up at him.

"Paradox." She said softly.

"Impressive." He said "How do I get down?" He asked.

"You don't" she said more boldly. "My people have come for me and I'm leaving. Your the dreamer so the dream will still exist when we leave. But that nifty little PASIV device you built will keep you here forever."

"Nice try sweetheart." Jim growled. "All I have to do is kill myself, and I wake up."

"Try it." Ariadne challenged. Jim walked to what appeared to be a ledge but melted into a door that took him further away form the Architect. She sighed and stood up. "You wanted a maze to catch the best. I think I caught you a little to easy."

She turned around and left the changing room while Jim howled with rage. The door sealed shut and Jim was trapped.

~"Braker!" She shouted catching sight of the Australian Forger. She had almost lost herself in her own maze and was out of breath.

"Is it done?" He asked taking hold her her. She nodded when Fedor walked in from a set of stairs running upside down.

"Our rescue is here." The Russian said. "Time to go."

The three of them ran through the maze. The Architect had to stop them at several points to wait for the right staircase to move into position. It seemed to take ages. Finally, they arrived at the entrance and when she laid eyes on her old team, Ariadne screamed.

~"It's alright!" Arthur said trying to reach for her, but the Architect cowered behind the Australian Forger. The sudden appearance of the men who killed her in her dreams each night frightened her with their suddenly being real and before her.

"We need to get out." Braker shouted, allowing Ariadne to hide behind him.

"Right." Cobb said turning to the door they cam out of.

"Not that way." The Russian said. "We have only one way out." The Russian lead them past moving walls and stair wells that led to nowhere.

Arthur tried to take hold of Ariadne but the Architect stayed close to the Australian. The colors of the dream were all the same and had no reference points or landmarks to tell them where to go. The Russian had to stop often and ask the Architect fro directions.

"Time is an issue kiddies." Eames said looking around at the confusing layout.

"It was designed to be not just a maze but a trap." Braker told them, his arm around the Architect.

"This way!" The Russian shouted and led them from the relative comfort of the maze to an impossibly high cliff. Its bottom was black and seemed to fall forever.

"The kick." Cobb breathed. "He turned to his Point Man "Arthur you take Ariadne. Eames and I will take the rest."

"What?" The Architect stammered as Arthur put his arms around her. "You aretrying to kill me! You sent those men to kidnap me and kill me!" She screamed.

Hot tears burned in her eyes as fear pounded through her body. She tried to brake away from Arthur's arms.

"No!" He shouted taking her face in his large hands and looking her in the eye. "Were going to leave. Were going to wake up and go home." She met his eye and tried to believe him.

"You know what's real. This world is not real. We have wake up." He said.

Her tears fell onto his hands as she nodded. Arthur let go of her face and took her hands. The two of them walked off the cliff.