It's Never Just a Dream... Is it?

Like I said, I just cant let them be happy. Not for long anyway. In truth, I'm not ready to let them go. Especially Sybil. Since I created Sybil, I'm not going to. Thank you all so much for the very kind reviews. You are what is truly keeping this story going. First lets review the characters and their meanings. I always thought it was interesting that Nolan had his characters names all mean something. I've tried to do the same.

Cobb- The Extractor, pronounced phonetically, Kwab, it mean "dream" in several languages. His wife's name, Mal, is Latin for "Bad" like in malcontent or malicious.

Arthur- The Point Man, King Arthur was a brave knight of legend. Always putting his people before himself. Many myths have King Arthur in an enchanted sleep, where he will awaken when needed.

Ariadne- The Architect, The Mistress of the Maze in Greek mythology. Ariadne aided the hero Theseus to navigate the labyrinth

Eames- The Forger, named after a couple named Charles and Ray Eames who were notable architects.

Saito- The Businessman, Saito is the tenth most common name for a man in Japan. It appears in many Japanese folk lore.

Yori- The Doctor, Saito's wife. Pronounced like "Lori", a type of Japanese writing that links a word.

Sybil- The Control/The Girl, The ancient Greek word Sibylla, meaning prophetess. There are many Sybils in ancient Greek myths.

Hecate- The Chemist, The goddess of black magic and witchcraft. Also of the crossroads. She is often interpreted as a death and vengeance goddess.

Braker- The Australian Forger, Broken. He was also called the Devil in the last story. The Devil being a angel who fell from grace and now spends all his time trying to lure people into hell. He may be dead in the waking world, but Mal was also dead and we saw how much trouble she caused.

Robert Fischer- The Young Businessman/ The Mark, Bobby Fischer was the great chess champion, known for his end game.

Saint Cloud, France

The Team had returned to where they started.

Arthur and Ariadne had brought their son home to the country where they had first met. Arthur had bought a large comfortable home for his family in town close to Paris. This way, Ariadne could still go to the college in the great city, and have a house large enough that all of the Team could stay with them at once. She had been unsure where her husband was taking them once they left Rome. But Arthur only smiled and allowed it to be a surprise. She had been very pleased by his taste in real estate. It was a charming home with seven bedrooms, set on a large plot of land. The Point Man had added a tall stone wall around the property with state of the art surveillance. All of which, were unseen by the untrained eye.

Alexander was a happy baby. He thrived, despite the tragic events of his early birth. His Mother was doting, his Father was proud. He had an extended family who would be there for him.

Seeing her son's face for the first time had give Ariadne the catharsis to wholly forget the Children with no faces from Limbo. To forget their names. Seeing Alexander, she forgave Braker for everything. He had been lost. She stilled missed the friend he had been, and that was how she chose to remember him.

Sybil had decided to accept Ariadne's invitation to live with them and finish school in France. In the mornings, she was at school. In the evenings, she was home to help with the baby. She was on track to be a very young graduate at only sixteen. Saito had promised her that if she graduated with top honors, he would buy her whatever car she wanted and pay for her schooling. The Girl accepted the Businessman's challenge. She wasn't sure what she wanted to study. Her talents were unlike anyone else in the Team.

As an unexpected consequence of Sybil staying with them, Eames was a frequent house guest. Ariadne put him up in her trendy Paris apartment since it had sat vacant for 3 years.

Saito and Yori had made the trip to Rome to see Ariadne and Arthur's son. Shin was already walking. Satio and Yori hadn't recognized Sybil at first and the Businessman was shocked to see the transformation of the Girl. Saito had Ariadne's sail boat "The Minotaur" especially shipped from Japan to a nearby French harbor as a congratulations gift on the birth of her son.

Cobb and Hecate returned with the Children to the States. Hecate had made Cobb promise to return to France by Bastille Day* to see their friends again.

Those first four months after the birth of his son had been a happy time. The happiest time of Arthur's life.

July 14th, Bastille Day. Saint Cloud, France

It was idyllic community near Paris. Loaded with all the charm one expects of France. Cobb, Hecate and the Children, had flown in privately from the States the day before and Eames would be down later in the afternoon. The storming of the Bastille was a holiday the French took very seriously. The French flag was draped over every elegantly styled building and hoards of people had descended the county for the celebrations.

"Ariadne." Hecate said holding Alexander, her accent was back to American. "The house looks beautiful." The Chemist was in the parlor of the large home that had recently been remodeled to exposed it's old world charm. From the kitchen, Ariadne and Sybil worked on the dinner they would have with their friends.

"Thank you, I couldn't believe Arthur bought a house for us without even asking me, but he did good." The Architect conceded.

She looked out the tall windows to see James and Phillipa playing contentedly in the back garden. She couldn't help but remember Cobb's dream of them. In almost the same positions, crouched down in the grass, their faces turned away. Only they were real this time. They were growing up. Phillipa would be eleven soon and James would turn eight before Christmas. The Architect was sad suddenly that their Mother could not be here to see her Children grow up. She felt sad also for the Children, that they had lost their Mother. That they may not remember her one day. She sighed and was pleased that at least Cobb had found someone like Hecate to be in their lives.

"I thought Saito and Yori would be here." Hecate said placing Alexander in the stylish bassinet Ariadne kept in the parlor. The baby slept peacefully.

"I thought so to." Ariadne said sadly. "Saito had to work. He said he would call." A small ding went off and Sybil went to a tiny closet near the kitchen. She opened the door to reveal a series of small T.V.s with black and white videos of the property. The intricate security system Arthur had installed.

"Eames is here." Sybil said buzzing the front gate for the Forger to drive up.

"Good." Hecate said with a smile.

The men had escaped from the women and children to Arthur's privet office. Why Arthur thought he needed an office Eames wasn't sure. It it was a pleasantly masculine room with comfortable furniture, a grand view and away from the noise. Arthur had his collection of original paintings shipped all the way from his apartment in New York and adorned them in his office. His wife wouldn't allow them in the family friendly home. She claimed that post war art was to creepy.

"So how is Fatherhood?" Cobb asked the Point Man. Arthur had to laugh.

"Exhausting." He said. "But nice. Ariadne plans to return to school in the fall so I guess I'll have more time with him."

"Excellent, I'm sure our girl always wanted a house husband." Eames teased.

Outside the office, the men never heard Hecate dragging Sybil and Ariadne's bodies to the garage. She placed each woman in the fine luxury car Arthur owned. She disabled the GPS tracking before going back inside for the Forger and Extractor. She reloaded the small tranquillizer gun with the sedative darts. Outside in the back garden, James and Phillipa still played. They had not seen the Chemist take out both women. Alexander slept silently in the bassinet. Hecate turned off the stove burners in the kitchen before she went in search of the men.

I always thought of Emily Browning as Sybil. I know she is older now, but in "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I think she looks a lot like Ellen Paige.

*Bastille Day, the storming of the French fortress and prison that is celebrated as the French Independence Day.