Inception - Mind over matter

Ready Or Not

The first class waiting lounge faced the plane bay. The room was vast and the team sat separately from each other to appear like strangers. Dom stared out of the window, watching planes take off. Saito joined him.

"If I get on this plane, and you don't honour our agreement, I go to jail for the rest of my life."

"Complete the job on route," said Saito, "I make one phone call from the plane, and you get to go home, to your family."

Dom turned and locked eyes with Tiffany. She could see the desperation there, beyond his mask of calm. She nodded in an attempt to reassure him. They could do this. She could do this.

Tiffany sat with Eames. She was supposed to be sitting with Arthur, because, by now, it was quite likely that any enemies had figured out that Eames was her guardian. But he had put his foot down. Arthur sat with Ariadne. Yusuf had his nose in a book.

"You know I am dead set against this right?" said Eames.

"You guys need me," Tiffany rolled her eyes.

"So? You can still sit this one out."

"Not a chance."

A young man in a black suit stepped up to the window, not far off from Dom. He stood with his back to everyone, watching the ground crew load a box, which was clearly a coffin, in to the plane. 

Tiffany felt the ice in her heart burry a little deeper with a pang of sorrow. Robert Fischer turned towards the lounge and momentarily met her eyes through her sunglasses. Tiffany jumped, like she'd been hit by lightning. He continued past, oblivious.

"I'll be right back," Tiffany took off her sunglasses and tossed them to Eames.

"Keep your hat pulled down!" he warned her, as she made for the bathroom.

She did as he told her, until safely locked in a cubical. She took it off, ruffled her curls, then sat on the toilet with her head between her knees. 

Her head pounded with pain, as if her synapses had caught fire and the brain cells were banging on her skull. Nausea came over her in waves. She breathed in, counted, one, two, three, and released the air from her lungs slowly. She did this several times over, until her stomach stopped rolling. 

What was that about? Were these the strange happenings Eames warned her about? If she told him now, he would definitely stop her from taking part in the job at hand.

"Tiffany, are you ok?" It was Ariadne.

She plonked her hat back on and slid open the lock.

"Yes I'm fine, thanks,"

"Whoa, you are pale,"

"Oh, great, it's probably the light in here,"

Tiffany fixed her hat in the mirror, and pinched her cheeks, slapping them when that failed to bring up some colour.

"Are you nervous?" asked Ariadne.

Tiffany choked on the laugh that got stuck in her throat, "No, that's not it."

"Then what? Wait, is this to do with that minor detail you were going to tell me about? Back when I first entered a dream with you?"

"Maybe. Sort of. I don't actually know, to be honest,"

"Well?"

Tiffany rounded on her, "You know you can be kinda stubborn and bossy sometimes?"

Ariadne flinched.