crack_van | The Labyrinth, by Eustacia Vye (PG-13)

Fandom: INCEPTION
Title: The Labyrinth - PG-13
Pairing: Gen
Length: about 10,000 words
Author on LJ:

eustacia_vye28
Author Website: masterlist of fic on author's LJ
Why this must be read: My friends and I have been talking about a House of Leaves/Inception crossover since about 2 seconds after we all saw the movie, and we were enthralled when we finally got our wish. If you're familiar with Mark Danielewski's meta-textual postmodern horror masterpiece, then you know how well the stories of Inception and The Navidson Record fit together. You also know exactly both how unbelievably cool and how incredibly difficult such a crossover would be to pull off--for reasons both literary and stylistic.

Eustacia Vye has more than pulled it off. In this fic, she's managed to weave the insidious, permeating dread of the house, with its ever-expanding layers and endless mazes, seamlessly into the world of the dreamscape--with Ariadne as the leader of her team, the only one who can help them escape the minotaur. Just as in House, the textual effects spiral out of control along with the plot. Along with innumerable horrors, numerous formatting tricks lie in wait for you in this fic, including textual codes, meta-references, subliminal hovertext, and more.

Even if you're not familiar with House of Leaves, "The Labyrinth" is a mesmerizing experience. This fic is an amazing feat of worldbuilding, suspense, and meta that everyone should read.

Holloway was perhaps ten feet ahead of the rest of them, featureless gray all around him. The darkness beyond the scope of his flashlight seemed to swallow up the light greedily, though he didn't seem to notice that at all.

Eames stepped away from where he was touching the wall. "There was that sound. We've heard it three times now."

"Three is the magic number?" Holloway scoffed.

"Non sum quails eram," Arthur murmured, looking closer to the wall of the hallway. Flecks of ash came away on his fingers.

Subtly, there came another groan. The ash on Arthur's fingers was looking more like burnt letters falling from the sky— ashes, ashes, we all fall down—

Eames reached out and shook Arthur's arm. "You can't say those things," he said. His voice shook as Arthur looked at him as if he was insane. "Not in this house."

"But why?" Ariadne asked, brows furrowed as there was another groaning sound. "So what? We're at the end of the five and a half minute hallway anyway."

Eames spun around, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

Ariadne blinked as another groan sounded. "I don't know. What did I say?"

"Nothing important," Reston assured her. "We should continue. Eames is being tiresome."

Holloway up ahead started to laugh and kept moving. "Beware the minotaur."

Eames had to hurry and catch up. The darkness around them seemed hungry and waiting, and the groaning sound started again.

Sleep. Perchance to dream.

The next time the groan sounded, Holloway had turned down a random corridor. Ariadne watched his fascinated expression with amusement, and Arthur was simply taking in the ambience of the place. Reston was impressed, and kept telling her so.

Eames was the only one afraid. He was the only one that seemed to recognize the significance of the place, of the color of the hallways, of the groaning sounds as they reverberated through the empty, darkened hallways. He nearly wailed when another groan sounded as they turned yet another corner, going deeper into the maze.

Short, short, short. Long, long, long. Short, short, short.

SOS

***

Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.

Raise the knife.

Climb the walls. Descend the stair. Enter the house.

***

The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth, by Eustacia Vye (PG-13)

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