Inception Big Bang: Arthur/Cobb; Part 2
in a phrase to cut these lips
part two
When Dom sat down Ariadne to go over the requirements of their latest job, she shook her head back and forth.
“I don’t like the sound of this.”
Cobb’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. He’d been so sure that Ariadne would want to dive right in. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he needed Ariadne for this one; or at least he could admit it in his own head, if not out loud. “So you’re not going to do it, then?” he pressed.
“Oh no, I didn’t say that. I just said I don’t like the sound of it. We need to have this one planned out before we even attempt to enter that man’s subconscious.” She hesitated then, her mouth remaining open but no more sounds came out.
Dom closed his eyes tightly, as if he could hide his frustration that way. “Okay then, spit it out. What is it you want to say?”
“Well, I…”
“What?!” Dom suddenly snapped, his uncontrolled irritation getting the best of him. He didn’t have time for this. He had a job to do. She wilted, and he couldn’t help feeling a brief flash of guilt for yelling at her. Very brief, though.
“Cobb, we need Arthur for this. Do you really not know where he is?”
That was the rub, wasn’t it? Because whenever someone met Dom Cobb, they in turn met Arthur, his right-hand man. Then over time the person just started assuming that they would always be together, that they were psychologically tied at the hip, at least. And if Dom appeared, and Arthur didn’t soon follow, then something was wrong.
At least that’s the way it was before he married Mal, and then Arthur only showed up half as much. After that, Dom and Arthur no longer saw each other every day. And then Mal was gone, except she really wasn’t, because wherever Dom went the shade of Mal would follow.
Either way, Dom couldn’t fucking win.
“Cobb!” Ariadne’s hand was on his shoulder, shaking him until he jerked under her touch. “Cobb, you’re starting to scare me. You keep doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Drifting off. Are you sure you’re prepared for this? Because if you’re not, if there’s any chance your subconscious will bring Mal back…”
“It won’t,” he said firmly. “She’s gone now. Forever.” A deep-seated part of him didn’t want that to be true, no matter how dangerous his projection of Mal was, but he knew that it was the truth.
“I want to believe you, but - I guess I’d just feel better if Arthur was here.”
“I’m sure you would,” he responded before he could stop himself. And then he couldn’t help it, couldn’t restrain his malicious laugh. It wasn’t jealousy, not at all, no way. Not even a little bit. “Is that what you’ve been wanting all along? Just a chance to see him again?”
“What is wrong with you?” she asked, instead of giving him an answer, the tiny frown lines on her forehead becoming more pronounced. “Oh yeah, I decided to follow you to another country for some crazy, unknown job that could get me killed or sucked into limbo so I could see Arthur. Instead of just, you know, picking up the god damn phone and giving him a call like a normal human being.
Yeah, that makes perfect sense.”
“All right, so it wasn’t a perfect theory, but you keep pushing it. I thought you might get the hint and let it drop by now.”
“Okay, well, I must have missed that memo. Sorry for not realizing that Arthur has suddenly become Voldemort.”
“Voldemort?” Dom asked. She’d lost him.
“He who must not be named? From Harry Potter? Jesus, don’t tell me you haven’t read Harry freaking Potter.”
Dom shook his head, and Ariadne just giggled. Fucking giggled. Dom could have slapped her, but he managed to restrain himself, just barely. What did she expect, he thought to himself, after he was mentally stuck in limbo for nearly a lifetime? That he would finally come back to reality and the first thing he’d want to do is catch up on the latest pop culture? And then he shares this thought with her, and she just nods soberly. And oh god - now she was looking at him with fucking pity, the last thing he wanted.
“Don’t do that,” he commanded.
“What?” she asked softly, barely a squeak.
Dom sighed, and decided it wasn’t worth it. She’d figure it out on her own eventually; she was smart like that. “Just, let it go,” he finally said, and graciously she did. He returned his gaze to the plans laid out before him on the table, his eyes blazing holes into the papers indicating that they were very much done here.
Ariadne stood up and pushed her chair in before turning around to leave their current hub. As she opened the door, she turned around to say one more thing. “By the way, Dom,” she started, and he lifted up his head at the sound of her using his first name. “I’m not trying to steal Arthur away from you,” she finished.
The door was closing behind her before Dom had the chance to ask what she meant.
*
Dom tried to get Eames in on the job with them, but he turned out to be otherwise occupied with a different job or poker game or something else equally insignificant. Dom didn’t buy it. For all his talk of disliking that “stick in the mud,” Dom couldn’t help thinking that Eames wasn’t interested if Arthur wasn’t involved. It was silly, ridiculous, and paranoid.
And maybe Ariadne had been right about everything, and he needed Arthur around to maintain his sanity. Damn her.
They didn’t need Yusuf for this one. The dream only had to be one level deep, two at the most, and so heavy sedation wasn’t necessary. Dom would have refused the job anyway if a sedative that powerful was required, “interesting” job or no. If he was going to die in the dream this time, he damn well wanted to wake up in reality. So… he didn’t need Yusuf’s help, but that didn’t mean Dom didn’t miss having the chemist around, oddly enough.
Consequently it turned out that Saito, Ariadne, and Dom were alone on this one, something that terrified Dom much more than he was willing to admit to anyone.
Saito was insistently confident that everything would work out perfectly fine. Dom couldn’t decide if he was just being unrealistically positive to keep up appearances, or if he really did believe so strongly in their abilities. Perhaps after performing inception, any other job seemed commonplace and simple to him. Dom took the opposite view: the art of dream-sharing now appeared infinitely more complicated than he could have ever, well, dreamed of.
At least the dreamscape Ariadne created for Lee was incredible. She had become pretty damn good at all this, even with the small amount of practice and limited time she’d had to prepare.
They were in a Japanese tea garden, inside of a life-sized maze made out of the greenest hedges Dom had ever seen, real or otherwise. Lee and Saito sat conversing, while Ariadne and Cobb stood guard. They each held their own weapon, and Lee seemed uneasy at first, but he calmed down once Saito explained to him that they were his personal security.
Dom hadn’t been sure that Lee would fall for it, that his subconscious would leave them alone, but apparently the bond he shared with Saito was strong enough for there to be complete trust. Or perhaps Lee’s damaged mind just didn’t realize yet that there was something foreign in his dream. Either way, for the time being, they were safe.
The only problem was, Saito wasn’t getting anywhere with Lee, even after an hour of talking in dream time. And they were almost out of time. Lee had barely said anything at all since they’d entered his dream, deflecting every one of Saito’s questions with the shake of his head. Dom would have tried to steal the answers from Lee, as was his way, but Saito had refused to invade his brother’s mind in such a manner. As if they weren’t already violating him by entering his dreams sans permission, Dom mused.
Without warning, Dom saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He cocked his gun, and pointed it in that direction.
“What’s wrong?” Ariadne asked immediately, standing off to the distance, but Dom shrugged her off and kept his weapon poised. He could feel Saito’s eyes burning into him, but he ignored that too. He heard Lee begin to cry, a pitiful sound that he couldn’t possibly ignore.
He lowered the gun. He let it fall to his side, the metal pressing against his thigh, but he still felt his shoulders tense up. Now Lee’s crying had dissolved into a soft whimper.
“Dom, what are you doing?” he heard a familiar voice ask, but it wasn’t Ariadne’s. Or Saito’s. It was a voice he knew even better than his own. His eyes widened in recognition, and his throat felt instantly dry. His grip on the gun changed, loosening until it was practically slipping out of his fingers.
“Arthur?” he croaked out, his tongue feeling too heavy and sinking to the bottom of his mouth like lead. They hadn’t seen each other or even spoken in months, and Dom hadn’t realized just how much he missed him until now. Even if he was only a projection, which he most certainly was. Just a shade.
Arthur appeared from behind the entrance to the maze, and Ariadne let out a small gasp. Arthur took the time to smile in her direction, nodding his head towards her. “Always a pleasure to see you too, Ariadne,” he said. Dom felt the instant coil of something resembling jealous in his stomach, and had to mentally slap himself.
It was ridiculous, to feel jealous of someone getting the attention of a fucking projection. His own projection in fact, if the army uniform Arthur sported was any indication. It had to be his; the others didn’t even know that Arthur had once served in the military. Or at least, Dom didn’t think they had any idea.
“Saito,” Arthur acknowledged the businessman with a tilt of his head. Saito didn’t say anything back, just continued to look at Dom, and he didn’t look very happy.
“So what’s he doing here, then?” Saito finally asked.
“That’s what I came here to ask you guys,” Arthur answered. While Dom knew he must look flabbergasted, he was entirely thankful that Arthur answered for him because he really had no idea what Arthur was doing there at all. He continued, “That’s why I came along. Dom, I ask again, why are you here? You already know what happened to Saito’s brother.” Dom shook his head in disagreement, because he really, really didn’t.
“Oh, come on,” Arthur said, sounding damn frustrated for a projection. “You already know the answer. If you didn’t already know, then I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”
“Cobb, what the hell is he talking about?” Ariadne asked, looking just as confused as he felt.
“I have no idea,” Dom said. “Arthur, stop talking in riddles.”
The projection of Arthur chuckled loudly, a sound so out of character that he knew for sure this wasn’t the real Arthur. “Always so demanding, aren’t you, Dom? And riddles, huh? Isn’t that what you do best yourself? Talking in mazes and riddles and loops. Of course it’s just like you. I’m only talking because you’re thinking these thoughts yourself. Or your subconscious is, anyway. Well, you know how that part works. I hope.”
“I don’t remember your subconscious ever being this rambly before,” Ariadne pointed out.
“Neither do I,” Cobb agreed.
“Would somebody please explain-” Saito began, at the same time Lee started mumbling incoherently. The only words Dom could make out were “Not real, you’re not real,” as the man rocked back and forth. Of course Lee was off his fucking rocker, but at least he was right about this one thing. It was incredibly distracting, though.
“Could you please shut him up!” Cobb snapped. He saw Saito put a protective hand on his brother’s shoulder, right before he looked at Dom with a glare that could kill.
“Clearly he is not in his right mind,” Saito articulated slowly, as if he was talking to a very dense child. “A little sensitivity is required, perhaps?”
He mumbled an apology under his breath.
“What was that?” Saito asked.
“Look, I’m sorry. But I’m trying to think here. That’s why we came here, right? To figure out what’s wrong with your brother’s mind. I’m going to help, but I can only do that if he remains quiet so I can hear myself think.”
“You better figure it out quickly,” Arthur said with a flourish of his hands, an impatient gesture. “You don’t have much time left now. Now that they know what you’re doing here.”
“What? Who are ‘they’? God damn it Arthur, you’re in my head and you’re still not making any fucking sense.”
Arthur shook his head in a disapproving manor. “No, you’re just not thinking about this the right way. That’s why you need me to explain it; you always did need my help.”
Even though he knew the pointlessness of it, Dom pointed his gun at Arthur when the projection didn’t continue his explanation. “Look, you better start ta-”
“Okay, okay, point that thing somewhere else, would you? It’s the projections, all right. The other, not so helpful ones. Lee’s projections are on their way.”
“Shit,” he said, just as a gun was fired. Ariadne began screaming in pain. Dom ran to her side, pulled her to him and covered the wound in her shoulder as best as he could. “Jesus Christ!” he cried out. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“The hedge maze, of course. They have you surrounded right now,” Arthur paused, his expression softening. “Dom, you should shoot her. Wake her up. There’s nothing else you can do now, no need to make her suffer any more.”
Cobb looked at Saito for approval, and after a beat the other man nodded in acquiescence. He could barely look at Ariadne, but he heard the barest whisper of her agreement. She looked on bravely, staring her dream death in the face as Cobb went back for his gun and then shot her cleanly between the eyes.
“What now?” he asked, but there was no need. The projections appeared from their hiding spaces in the greenery, and all hell broke loose.
*
Dom woke up with a start, his body jerking up out of the chair in Lee’s hospital room. The first thing he saw was Ariadne, and seeing her not bleeding and not crying in pain with the IV already detached from her arm made him want to jump up and give her the biggest bear hug. He refrained though, somehow. No sense in actually crushing her in reality.
Saito woke up next. He didn’t waste time, or mince any words. Typical. “Cobb, what the hell happened in there?”
Dom shook his head in annoyance. “Just give me a minute, all right? I did just get shot by ten or so different machine guns.”
“I did too, if you will recall. And I’d like to know right now what in the world your subconscious was going on about, and what it means for my brother!”
“I don’t know, okay! Well, clearly I do know, but I haven’t gotten it all straightened out yet. Those must have been trained projections, coming prepared with such weapons, but you didn’t say anything about your brother’s mind being militarized-”
“It isn’t,” Saito interrupted. “The only involvement Lee has had with the military was a two month recruitment training program in which he failed miserably… wait.”
Cobb’s eyes widened as he was hit with a sudden wave of realization. “Oh my god, that’s what it is, isn’t it? You forgot to mention the little detail that your brother was trained in god damn dream-sharing!”
“I didn’t realize it was important to mention,” Saito argued. “And you never asked,” he added with a sneer.
“Will you girls stop arguing, please?” Ariadne said, being the first thing Cobb heard her say since he woke up. It shut them up pretty quick. “And now explain to me what the hell you’re talking about.”
Cobb turned to look at her as if he was just seeing her for the first time. “You remember how we told you that the military designed dream-sharing as a training exercise?” he asked, and Ariadne nodded to confirm his statement. “Well,” he continued, “it wasn’t always conducted in a civil manner. They didn’t understand how real-like the dreams could be or what lasting negative effects from the training might occur.”
“So what you’re saying is that Lee went through the military’s dream-sharing program and it screwed up his mind somehow?”
“Definitely. I’ve seen it happen first hand to someone else… once. Before,” he dragged out. Ariadne blinked a few times. Stared. He felt like a specimen in a petri dish. It made him squirm internally.
“So, let’s recap. You clearly have a significant connection to the military. You’ve seen this type of psychological torture before. And a projection of Arthur showed up in your dream to explain it to you, wearing army fatigues. Does that about sum it up?”
“Yeah, something like that,” he answered, not able to meet Ariadne’s gaze. But out of the corner of his eye he could see her giving him that look, the one that meant the gears were turning in her head, putting the final puzzle pieces in their place.
“Something like this happened to Arthur, didn’t it?” she asked.
He couldn’t answer her, but he was pretty sure his dumbstruck look told her everything she needed to know. His gut wrenched and his head reeled at the sudden influx of bad memories that he had buried (as best he could) a long time ago. Dom felt dizzy and had to reach out a hand to the nearest table to steady himself.
“I think you have some explaining to do,” Ariadne said.
Saito stated almost simultaneously, “I would just like to know if this means you can fix my brother.”
“No I don’t, and yes I can,” were his answers.
Ariadne glared at him, while Saito looked relieved. This suited Dom just fine. He didn’t want to talk about what had happened, not now or ever. All he wanted to do was go over the plan, finish the job, and then get the hell out of dodge.
“So what do we do?” Saito asked. Simple. To the point.
“We go back in there, into Lee’s mind, and convince him that this world is real while the one inside his dreams is dangerous. We remind him of his past, before the military training. You’ll need to dream up every memento you can think of that will remind Lee of his former life. And most importantly, you’ll need to show him love.”
“Love?” he asked, clearly caught off guard.
“Yes, love. One of us will pretend to be an enemy sent to kill him, and you will have to convince Lee that you’ll be there to protect him no matter what, probably by taking a bullet for him. That would be the best way.”
“You want to help my brother by shooting me in a dream?” Saito scoffed in disbelief. “I don’t see how this will benefit his psychology.”
“Because it’s not the fear of being attacked that bothers us the most; it’s the idea that when we are unable to defend ourselves, nobody cares enough to protect us from harm.”
Dom caught Ariadne’s eye this time. She was still staring at him, but now her expression had softened. “You’re sure this will work?” she asked him.
Dom shrugged. “It worked for Arthur,” he said. Not wishing to go into any more detail, Dom turned around and headed towards the door. “I’m going to check on James and Phillipa,” was the final thing he said before leaving, ignoring Ariadne’s protests that he stay and re-live his past.
*
Eventually, inevitably, Arthur woke up. This time he noticed the needle sticking in his vein that didn’t need to be there. The experiment had officially ended, and now it was time for Cobb to explain.
“What do you mean I wasn’t really shot?” Arthur protested, although it was really more like shouting.
Cobb felt that all too familiar coil of guilt starting to wrap itself around his stomach. He was the one who’d designed the levels of the dream. He was the one who the government had paid to assist in their experiment. It was entirely his fault.
“Look, I’m going to need you to stay calm,” Cobb said in the most re-assuring voice he could muster for the situation, when what he really wanted to do was hold Arthur, stroke his back and sooth him until everything returned to normal between them. Instead all he could do was remove the IV from Arthur’s arm. No need to pump any more Somnacin into him now.
“I am very fucking calm,” Arthur annunciated each word with purpose. “Now explain to me how I could feel the pain of a bullet wound, or why I’m in this god damn hospital even, if I was never actually shot?”
“You were dreaming, I told you that. The pain was just in your mind.”
“No. You told me I was in a dream the last time we talked while in this same position. But that was after I got shot on the battlefield.”
“It was a dream within a dream. You were never on the battlefield, Arthur. There is no actual war going on. Think, can you remember what battle you were fighting in?”
The pupils of Arthur’s eyes narrowed into two tiny dots, his brow furrowed in anger and frustration. “No. I don’t. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Cobb shook his head sadly. “I just want you to know the truth. That’s why I’m here right now, and why you need to be restrained in this hospital bed. They warned me that your psyche might be damaged once you woke up.”
Arthur looked away, all around the room, looked everywhere but at Cobb. His eyes were wild and he seemed completely dazed. Cobb had to cling to some sense of hope that Arthur wouldn’t be permanently brain damaged. He had to fix him, had to help him through this. He just had to.
“If I was dreaming before, just like this, how do I know that any of this is real?” Arthur paused for a moment before continuing. “How do I even know that you are real?”
Cobb gave a sigh. “You don’t. But I am.”
Arthur still looked unconvinced, and who could blame him? Cobb didn’t know if he would believe himself either, if he was in the other man’s shoes. He knew dream-sharing could be a fragile thing to begin with, and adding levels to that only complicated the process. How could he expect things to simply return to normal between them when he had lied to Arthur about what was real?
All of a sudden Arthur was taking in a deep breath and he appeared to be much calmer than before. He continued to look at Cobb for a few moments before speaking. “Okay, I believe you. I believe that you’re real. I’m sorry I had such a meltdown. Now could you please undo these restraints? My wrists are starting to chafe.” Arthur gave him a small smile, and Cobb figured he owed him that much.
Cobb reached over the bed and set the other man free.
Arthur ran.
*
They returned to Lee’s subconscious and everything seemed to go all right. Lee didn’t run away, so that’s the first sign that they just might have a chance to get this done. Ariadne volunteered to be the crazy projection sent to kill Lee, an idea that Dom thoroughly rejects at first. He didn’t even know that Ariadne could shoot a gun.
Ariadne proves to him that she can. She admitted that Arthur took a bit of time to train her in this too. Dom can see that he trained her well, that or she’s just a quick learner. Either way, she’s able to get the job done. It all works out.
Saito was surprisingly good at comforting Lee. He reminds Lee of what reality is and what is not, talking him through it patiently while explaining the danger of staying there. Slowly Lee began to nod as if he understood. Ariadne approached from the maze with gun in hand, and Saito took the bullet for him like a good soldier. And still playing the role of bodyguard, once again Dom had to kill Ariadne. This time he doesn’t mind as much.
As Saito’s mind began to succumb to the psychological pain, Dom admitted to being impressed by Saito’s amount of control. He barely even winced when the bullet pierced his skin.
But the pain that Saito must have been feeling was still palpable, even if it was just in a dream. Lee immediately ran to his brother and appeared to sober up. He looked at Saito with concern, but Saito simply looked back at him with strength.
Lee held down the wound to try to keep the blood from flowing, but eventually it wouldn’t be enough and Saito would die. Still, he took care of Saito with a kind of controlled frenzy. It was admirable to see the relationship that the two obviously shared, and Dom couldn’t help feeling the slight twinge of sadness in his chest at the fact that he’d have to shoot a bullet into the back of Lee’s head.
Finally the dream was shattered, and once again they all woke up in Lee’s hospital room. This time, Lee woke up as well.
“Saito!” Lee shouted once they all returned to consciousness, the first thing he’d said the whole time they’d been there. Saito stood up, bullet wound gone, perfectly fine for all intents and purposes.
He walked to Lee’s bedside, and the other man pulled him into a hug. Saito looked uncomfortable at first, but he soon returned the man’s embrace. As he retracted from the hug he appeared just as composed as ever, but Dom could see the underlying sense of relief that was rushing off of him in waves.
“Are you all right? You were shot!”
“I’m okay, I promise. I will heal before you know it. You’ve been under for a while, and I’ve already become much better during that time. When I found out you were not conscious, you had me so worried. Now tell me, what do you remember? This is important.” Saito said all of this, just as Dom had instructed him to do. He spoke in English, for Cobb’s benefit.
And Lee began to tell him all that he knew from before, how Saito had come to rescue him from the prison of his dreams from a crazy, evil little girl with a devilish glint in her eye. Pretty accurate description.
Good thing Ariadne had remembered to leave the room before it was time for Lee to wake up.
Lee re-lived all of his memories from the past year in the span of a few minutes, and the important thing was that he could remember any of it in the first place. Dom stood in the doorway, and nodded along as he spoke. So far, so good, and there was no mention of his military service or any other terrors. Dom counted this job as a success.
“You’re going to be just fine,” Saito told his brother, as he turned to Dom and winked. Good enough for him.
As Dom left to re-join Ariadne and his kids at the daycare section of the hospital, Saito ran after him and asked him to wait. Dom paused and slowly turned around. “You can mail me my check,” he stated. “I assume you already know my home address.”
Saito nodded. “Yes, I do. But that’s not why I came after you.”
“What is it? You should be spending time with your brother.”
“I wanted to tell you thank you, I really appreciate all you have done. I may appear to be cold to others, Mr. Cobb, but family is very important to me. Perhaps the most important thing.”
“You’re welcome,” Dom replied simply, turning once again to leave. He had never really been good at this kind of thing.
“There is one more thing, Dom,” Saito said, and he froze at once again being called by his first name. Dom had paused mid-step, but he still kept his back towards Saito as the other man spoke.
“I know how to find Arthur.”
Dom looked back.
*
The flight back home to America felt so much longer than the original flight to Paris, even if it was actually about the same amount of time.
James and Phillipa slept mostly, tired out from their short adventure in Japan. Ariadne, on the other hand, was wide awake and just as chatty and inquisitive as ever. Dom wondered again why exactly he let Ariadne convince him that her coming along was a good idea.
“It will be great! I’ll rent an apartment somewhere nearby, and that way I could come around and help out with the kids. You know, whenever they’re getting to be a handful for you. Being a single dad must suck. I mean…” she paused, instantly recognizing her slip.
“You’re right,” he agreed, sighing. “It can be difficult.”
Satisfied that he wasn’t going to lose it, at least not right then, she continued on. “And now since I have my degree, I’ll look around and start applying for a job, and you can be my reference! That way I’m sure I can get a job in no time.” She turned to look out the window dreamily. “How soon do we land? I can’t wait.”
He couldn’t help it, he laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“I thought you said you were bored. Why would you want to come back to the states with me and get a regular Joe Shmo job?”
“Because Cobb, I know being with you could never be boring.”
He smiled. Perhaps she was right.
Dom tried not to let it show, but he was continually distracted by thoughts of Arthur and the last thing Saito had said to him. He knew where to find Arthur. He knew where Arthur was. And he was going to find him and return him to Cobb. These thoughts consumed him for the remainder of the flight.
After they’d landed and were finally home, Dom slowly began to realize that although Ariadne said she’d look for an apartment, of course she didn’t have one yet. That really left only two viable options; she could spend the rest of her savings on a nightly hotel, or she’d have to stay in one of Dom’s guest rooms.
Never one to turn down a lady, Dom knew what he should do and offered her a place to stay. Though that didn’t mean he’d have to like it.
She seemed to be perfectly content with the situation.
*
It took about a week for him to hear from Saito again, and each day that passed was filled with an anxious kind of longing. When his phone rang and he recognized the number, it took all of his composure not to jump into the air from anticipation.
“Mr. Cobb?”
“Saito, finally. Have you heard from Arthur? Is he okay?” He knew that Arthur was usually more than capable of taking care of himself, and that’s why Dom told himself he hadn’t tried to find Arthur before. But he had to admit there was always that nagging thought at the back of his mind that was something akin to worry.
“Arthur is just fine. He should be calling you shortly, I would think.”
“You think? Why don’t you know?” He could hear the edginess starting to enter his own voice, and knew he was going to have to try to tone that down somehow.
“One of my business partners heard that he is finishing up a job back in Mombasa. My partner found him and assured me that Arthur should be returning to America very soon. Then he should be getting in contact with you.”
“Mombasa?” he asked, stuck on that one word. Could that mean what he thought it meant? What was it that Eames had said he was busy with, again? And what about Cobol Engineering? More questions swarmed in his head than could be answered.
“Yes, Cobb,” Saito replied in a resigned tone. Apparently his first-name basis was officially over.
“Well,” he started, not sure what else to say. “Thanks for your help, then.”
“Any time. Truly, if you require any further assistance in the future, well you know how to reach me.” And with that, he hung up.
Dom sighed and returned his gaze to the yard, where Ariadne and Phillipa were playing a version of “Pretty, Pretty Princess” with James playing the role of the evil dragon out to get them. The scene was virtually perfect, and so he didn’t want to interrupt them. He’d have to wait until later to tell Ariadne that they just might be seeing Arthur, the real Arthur, soon.
At least he hoped so.
*
Cobb hoped, prayed, begged to find Arthur. After almost twenty-four hours of searching, he finally did.
When Arthur had initially run away, Cobb had been too stunned at first to do anything. Another moment to regret. He stared at the Arthur-shaped impression left in the hospital bed for a few seconds too long, just a few moments and Arthur was already out the door and lost to him.
He searched the military base up and down. He looked through the surrounding area. He had been thorough in his search, at least he thought, and yet it still took Cobb nearly a day to find Arthur.
When he finally did find him in the woods outside the base, he was curled up into a fetal position at the trunk of a large tree and rocking back and forth. Cobb felt an overwhelming sense of relief as he sat down next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
After a brief moment of offering comfort, Cobb asked, “What the hell are you doing out here?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know where else to go.”
Cobb squeezed a hand tighter around his shoulder before pulling back and lightly smacking the man’s arm. “Snap out of it,” he said. “This isn’t like you.”
“How the fuck would you know?”
“I’ve gotten to know you over the last few weeks. You’re smart, capable, in control. Definitely nowhere near insane.”
“That was before I found out that you’ve been playing around in my head for two weeks, at least you told me two weeks. Or has it been longer?” he asked suspiciously. “I could have been stuck in the dream for a year or more or who knows how damn long.”
“You weren’t. It really has been two weeks. You woke up intermittently during the dream which threw off you’re perception of time, in addition to the fact that time moves slower in the mind than in reality. But I promise you that’s how long it’s been.”
There was a pause, and for a moment Cobb was frightened that he wouldn’t hear Arthur speaking to him ever again. Finally, thankfully, he said as he let out a breath, “Two weeks of my life I’ll never get back.”
Cobb nodded, sobered, before reaching for Arthur’s hand and just holding on for as long as he dared. He knew any moment that Arthur might lose it again; throw a hand back in his face and be running off to who knows where. For some reason in that moment he thought of Mal, his beautiful fiancée who was waiting for him in Paris. Waiting for him to come home. He knew he couldn’t stay here much longer.
The work paid well, but he had to get back to her.
“I found this in my pocket,” Arthur continued after a minute of silence. Cobb started at the sound of his voice, looking down to the red cubed object that Arthur held out in his palm. His die. Cobb had nearly forgotten about it.
“I remembered you gave it to me,” he pressed. “But I didn’t think it was real.”
“That part was real, Arthur. You were awake during that time. You were awake for most of the time, really. I just wasn’t allowed to tell you yet that you hadn’t been shot.”
“I remember the first time you said we were actually dream-sharing. That was the second level of the dream, correct?”
“That’s right.”
Arthur wore a conniving smile. “This is real, huh?” he asked rhetorically, before letting the die slip from his hand and watching it roll.
It landed on six.
Both men stared down at the minute object. “I admit, I feel a little better now,” Arthur said.
“You’re not going to run?” Cobb finally asked.
Arthur leaned in just a little closer to Cobb, such a small gesture that he probably wouldn’t have caught it if he hadn’t been paying so much attention to Arthur’s every move.
“Not anymore. Not ever.”
“Good.”
“But there’s one more thing I need you do for me before all is forgiven.”
Cobb swallowed. Anything. He’d do anything, he realized. And that scared him more than anything.
“Share a dream with me, one that I’m aware of beforehand. No lies, no pretenses. Take me into your dream and show me how you do it. Let me see which world I believe in.”
He didn’t have much choice but to agree. The military wasn’t going to be very pleased with his decision when they found out he was playing around with their own technology.
Maybe next time he and Arthur would be running away together.
[ Part Three]