Dream a Little Dream (Inception: Arthur/Dom) For Me

Dream a Little Dream (Inception: Arthur/Dom) For Me (Chapter Nineteen)

            Cassie stared at her hands, not even registering everything that was going on around her. She was vaguely aware of Alexia shouting, fighting against Dom to be freed, to go and look for Chandler, but her shouts quieted. They must have forced her under, just as they had forced Robert. Only Richard and Eames remained, but Eames was preoccupied holding the door. Richard paused, needle just above his arm. His piercing sky-blue eyes stared at Cassie, and she stared back, unable to move or do anything. Richard leaped, running over to crouch by her.

            “Cassie, Cassie, you need to be calm. You need to be calm. You won’t help Chandler if you’re like this.”

            “I can’t help him anyways,” Cassie whispered, voice dead and flat from emotion. “He’s going to die out there.”

            “You can’t think that,” Richard said with such fervency that it made Cassie look up. She had known Richard to be completely emotionless, uncaring of what was going on around him as long as he got what he wanted. The fact that he was trying to convince her of Chandler’s safety…it meant much more than anyone else’s protests.

            “Thank you,” she threw her arms around him, acting like the teenager she was. Richard awkwardly patted her back, leaning away after a few seconds. “You need to go under. They’ll be wondering where you are.”

            “Good luck up here,” he replied, jabbing himself. She watched him fade into limbo. She got to her feet, shaky. She needed to be strong. She needed to be strong for Chandler.

            “Eames, what are we going to do?”

            “Hope that Chandler is smart enough to keep moving,” Eames said grimly, gun gripped tightly in both hands. His knuckles were white, and he wasn’t giving her any snarky answers. He must be worried, she realized with horror. If Eames was worried, things were worse than she thought.

            “Do you think he’ll make it?”

            One look from Eames was all she needed to get an answer. She covered her mouth, feeling tears welling up. She couldn’t be weak now, though. She could only hope that the others would accomplish their work             quickly, and Chandler would come up with the kick. She prayed that he was okay. She didn’t know if she could handle losing him, not now. Not after everything they’d gone through to get to this point.

            She stared at Alexia’s sleeping face, the brown waves hanging around her face. She now looked utterly peaceful. Cassie hoped that everything was going well. Please, let it be going well, was her constant prayer and mantra as she closed her eyes, listening to the gunshots ring out.

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            “Dom,” I whispered, rolling onto my side. Dom lay next to me, eyes closed. They slowly fluttered open, blue meeting blue. I tried to hold back a smile, glad to see that he had made it through. I reached out, tentatively touching his face with my fingers. His hand came up, holding my fingers there. Memories of the previous level came flooding back. Chandler. Gun shots. Cassie crying. “Chandler…”

            “He’ll be okay, as long as we do our job right,” Dom replied softly. I realized that we were in the ocean, salt water coming up by our faces. We got to our feet and I stared in fascination at the crumbling cliffs supporting tall skyscrapers and buildings. It was beautiful in the most eerie way possible. I turned to Dom, who was staring up at the buildings with a mixture of amazement and trepidation.

            “Are you okay?”

            “Now that I’m here, I’m a little nervous,” he admitted, scratching the back of his head. “This is where I last saw Mol. What if she’s still here?”