Int. Hospital fortress - day

 

Eames throws a GRENADE, blowing up the security forces trying

to ascend the terraces. He DUCKS to the ground to avoid HEAVY

FIRE- starts unpacking the charges and setting them along the

base of the terraces-

133.

 

INT. DUCT SYSTEM, HOSPITAL COMPLEX - CONTINUOUS

 

Saito looks up as he hears a Security Guard climbing through

the duct... he raises his gun, TREMBLING with weakness...

And we-

 

CUT TO:

 

INT. KITCHEN, PENTHOUSE (LIMBO) - DAY

 

Mal laughs at Cobb.

 

MAL

(laughs)

Up above? Listen to yourself. You

judged me for believing the very

same thing.

 

Mal points at the children-

 

MAL

These are our children. Watch.

(turns to the kids)

Hey, James! Philippa?!

 

The children START TO TURN to us- BUT COBB CLOSES HIS EYES.

 

COBB

They're not real, Mal. Our real

children are waiting for us-

 

The children run off. Cobb opens his eyes.

 

MAL

You keep telling yourself that but

you don't believe it-

 

COBB

I know it-

 

MAL

And what if you're wrong? What if

I'm what's real?

 

Cobb is silent.

 

MAL

You keep telling yourself what you

know... but what do you believe?

What do you feel?

 

Cobb looks at Mal. Struggling.

 

COBB

Guilt. I feel guilt. And however

confused I might get.

(MORE)

134.

COBB (CONT'D)

However lost I might seem... it's

always there. Telling me something.

Reminding me of the truth.

 

MAL

What truth?

 

COBB

That you were wrong to doubt our

world. That the idea that drove you

to question your reality was a

lie...

 

MAL

How could you know it was a lie?

 

COBB

Because it was my lie.

 

MAL

(realizing)

Because you planted the idea in my

mind.

 

COBB

Because I performed inception on my

own wife, then reaped the bitter

rewards...

 

ARIADNE

Why?

 

COBB

We'd become lost in here. Living in

a world of infinite possibilities.

A world where we were gods. I

realized we needed to escape, but

she'd locked away her knowledge of

the unreality of this world...

 

INSERT CUT: Mal opens the doll's house. Takes the spinning

top, lies it down in the safe. LOCKS IT AWAY.

 

COBB

I couldn't make Mal understand that

we needed to break free. To die. So

I started to search our world...

 

Cobb turns to Mal, but keeps talking to Ariadne...

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb WANDERS the streets of Limbo...

 

COBB

Searching for the right place in

her mind...

135.

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb stops outside the VICTORIAN HOUSE, MAL'S

CHILDHOOD HOME, looking up at it. He heads inside...

 

COBB

And when I found that place, that

secret place where she had shut

away her knowledge years before, I

broke it open...

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb looks around Mal's childhood bedroom. Comes

to the doll's house...

 

COBB

I broke into the deepest recess of

her mind, to give her the simplest

little idea.

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb throws open the safe doors. Sitting on the

shelf of the safe is a spinning top. On its side.

 

COBB

A truth that she had once known,

but had chosen to forget...

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb picks up the totem. He SPINS it in the safe.

IT SPINS AND SPINS WITHOUT END. Cobb CLOSES THE DOOR of the

safe...

 

COBB

That her world was not real.

 

INSERT CUT: COBB AND MAL ARRIVE AT TRAIN TRACKS CUTTING

THROUGH WASTELAND.

 

COBB (V.O.)

That death was a necessary escape.

 

They lie on the tracks looking into each other's eyes. Mal is

crying. Cobb takes her hand, reassuring. He starts to speak-

 

COBB

You're waiting for a train. A train

that will take you far away. You

know where you hope this train will

take you, but you can't know for

sure. Yet it doesn't matter...

 

Mal looks at him across the railroad tracks. Replies-

 

MAL

Because you'll be together.

 

The train comes, OBLITERATING the lovers.

Back in the present- Cobb looks into Mal's eyes. She is

crying.

136.

 

COBB

I never thought that the idea I'd

planted would grow in her mind like

a cancer. That even after we woke...

 

INSERT CUT: Cobb looks around the HOTEL SUITE, confused. He

moves to the CURTAINS... Mal is on the ledge opposite.

COBB

You'd continue to believe that your

world was not real...

 

Crying, Mal nods-

 

MAL

That death was the only escape?

 

INSERT CUT: Mal PLUNGES to her death.

 

MAL

You killed me.

 

Cobb looks at Mal. Whispers-

 

COBB

I was trying to save you-I'm sorry.

 

Mal comes in close to Cobb. Looks him over.

 

MAL

You infected my mind. You betrayed

me. But you can make amends. You

can still keep your promise. We can

still be together... right here. In

our world. The world we built

together.

 

CUT TO:

 

INT. ELEVATOR - NIGHT

 

Arthur hits "Play" on his music player- Edith Piaf starts to

ring out, Arthur checks his detonator and we-

 

CUT TO:

 

INT. ANTECHAMBER - DAY

 

Eames races back in- in the relative quiet he notices MASSIVE

LOW-E MUSICAL TONES. He drops his gun and goes to Fischer's

side...

137.