Nothing Quite Like It - Ch. 7

Chapter Seven: Extracting Secrets

It was all coming back to her now. Right there, standing in this peculiar niche within the wall, in the corridor of a building that did not exist in reality, memories of a half-forgotten dream were returning to her in a flash. All those details she had never been able to recall before. Now, she remembered everything that had happened within that dream she had shared a few weeks ago, even the exact dialog that had occurred between her and the Point Man.

'What's happening?'

'Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream,... which is making his subconscious look for the dreamer,... for me. Quick, gimme a kiss.'

'They're still looking at us...'

'Yeah, it was worth a shot... We should probably get outta here.'

That finally gave Ariadne the answer to one of the many questions she had been pondering for weeks: It was indeed Arthur who had initiated that kiss. Or at least he had gotten her to kiss him, but the whole idea of them kissing within the dream had been his. It had been meant to be a diversion, to make the projections stop looking for the dreamer in one of them. Much like that kiss in the corridor just a few dream seconds ago was meant to make the projections stop following them or walk past them. Or was it...? And just like during the Fischer job, right after the kiss, Arthur had left to carry on with the job, being all business again. Or was he...?

The more Ariadne thought about it, the more she felt the need to pose all those questions that were still left unanswered to Arthur. But at the same time, she was afraid of it. And she knew she could not possibly ask him while they were still in the middle of the job. Almost jumping away from the wall she was still leaning to, she decided to proceed in the maze, wondering if Arthur was waiting up somewhere nearby or not. As she had taken but one or two steps, suddenly a familiar voice reached her ear: "You 'ave to ask 'im."

With a start, Ariadne turned around to see Marie standing in the very spot she had just left, wearing her nightclub outfit, looking at her in an empathetic, yet expectant way. After a few moments of shock, Ariadne rolled her eyes at the projection and hissed in a low voice: "I know, but not now! We're in the middle of a job!"

In response, the projection of her friend gave her a cheeky grin, saying: "Well, 'e kissed you in the middle of a job..."

"But..." Ariadne tried to find something to retort, then started pondering what this part of her subconscious was trying to tell her. After a few seconds, however, she snapped out of it, reminding herself of the dangers of bringing own projections into a job. Closing her eyes, she focussed her thoughts on the fact that this was not Marie talking to her, but a projection of her own subconscious, just like she had done before at the encounter of her projection of Professor Miles. And once again, when she opened her eyes, the projection was gone. Ariadne sighed with relief. Gosh, maybe I should've gotten some more training before this job...

Shaking her head as if to shake off the thought, Ariadne got going again, proceeding through the maze at a quick pace. She did not know how far Arthur had come without her already, or if he would be waiting up somewhere, so she decided to move on as fast as possible. At the same time, she tried to avoid drawing any more attention to herself, slowing down her steps whenever she was approaching a turn in the maze, cautiously looking out for projections in each new corridor. After about three or four turns, she caught sight of Arthur rounding the next corner at the end of the corridor. Quickening her pace again, she made sure to catch up with him.

"Arthur, wait!" she called as soon as they were in the same corridor, causing Arthur to stop and turn half-way around to look back at her, standing a few feet away. The moment his gaze met hers, Ariadne uttered in a firm voice, as if in a reflex action: "There's something I need to know."

The very next moment, she exclaimed in her thoughts: Oh no, what am I doing?! I can't ask him now! Ariadne felt her heart sink and pulsate through her whole body. Utterly shocked by the words that had just escaped her mouth, she could not help but gape, desperately trying to think of a way to take back what she had just said.

With a questioning look in his eyes, Arthur inquired: "Yeah, what?"

For a brief moment, Ariadne thought she had heard his voice tremble a bit. But then she figured it must have been her imagination, as she could not find any traces of uncertainty or anxiety in the Point Man's expression. Unlike her, he seemed to be the impersonation of nonchalance right now, like always. While he kept looking at her in an expectant way, Ariadne's mind was racing like her heart did, trying to think of something to reply. As she could not seem to come up with anything, she started worrying about her emotions running wild and what might happen in case another projection came onto the scene. At that, suddenly she thought of something. Another question that had crossed her mind the night before...

Silently clearing her throat, Ariadne carefully formulated her reply, lowering her eyes every now and then, talking in a voice just loud enough for Arthur to hear her: "I don't really know how to put this... This is all... happening so fast, I... I don't know if I'm ready for this. I mean, I... What if I... mess up?"

With a slightly confused expression, Arthur asked: "What do you mean?"

At first, Ariadne felt confused herself by his reaction. Only when her gaze met his again, she became aware of the ambiguity of her words. Mentally slapping herself, she tried again: "I mean, down on the second level. I mean, I... I've never dreamed a level in a job before. What if I mess up?"

That caused Arthur to frown and reply in a soothing voice: "Hey, no..." Closing the distance between them with three or four steps, he softly placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Ariadne to feel warmth spread through her arm, all the way down to her fingertips. When she looked up at him, Arthur continued in his soothing tone: "Don't talk like that. You won't. I'm sure you can do it."

At that, Ariadne breathed a deep sigh of relief, becoming aware of a new feeling of confidence. Being at a loss for words to express her gratitude, she formed a smile on her lips and simply nodded at him. Arthur returned the smile, causing Ariadne's heart to skip one beat. As they kept smiling at each other, Ariadne started feeling the sudden urge to hug him, pondering whether it might weird him out if she did. Remembering how he had kissed her without warning just a few dream minutes ago, she figured: It's worth a shot, right...?

But as she was about to initiate the hug, a sudden low vibrating sound startled her, causing her to freeze to the spot. Half-wondering if that sound could be a musical countdown, she noticed Arthur was looking down at his jacket, using his left hand – the one that was not resting on Ariadne's shoulder – to pull his cell phone out of his pocket. He did not speak as he accepted the incoming call, but replied twice, first saying On our way, then Good. As he hung up and put the cell phone back into his pocket, he told Ariadne: "We got him."

At first, Ariadne had no idea what he was talking about. But after a few moments, she remembered that they were still within the dream, hunting down their mark De Vos. As she nodded her understanding, Arthur said, slowly taking his hand off her shoulder, motioning his head into the direction he was going to earlier: "Let's move on."

A few dream minutes later, they entered the room at the end of the maze, where Eric was already waiting. Sure enough, De Vos and the blonde projection were lying on the king-size bed, passed out, red wine spilled from their glasses that had fallen onto the tiger-striped carpet on the floor. While both Eric and Ariadne were still taking in the sight in front of them, Arthur produced the PASIV device from its hiding spot and set it up in the middle of the bed. Without further ado, Eric was at his side to grab one of the IVs, then sat down on the floor, his back leaning against the side of the bed, and prepared himself. While Arthur went to attach De Vos and the projection to the device, Ariadne hesitated for a moment, before grabbing an IV herself and sitting down on one edge of the bed, right next to the steel suitcase. Just as she finished connecting herself to the device, she noticed Arthur appear to her right, typing the dream time into the small displays.

"Are you guys done yet? I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said an impatient Eric at that point. Both of his colleagues chose to ignore that comment.

As Arthur finished typing and placed a finger of his left hand on the button, Ariadne looked up at him. Meeting her gaze, he gently touched her left arm with his other hand and asked: "You ready?"

Slowly, Ariadne let out the breath she had been holding and nodded her head. Returning the nod with a subtle smile, Arthur replied in a lower voice than before: "Alright. You can do it."

Then he pressed the button to send Ariadne into her dream. The last thing she saw was Arthur's smile. The last thing she felt was the touch of his hand, slowly lowering her onto the bed. The last thing she thought was that she did not want to leave him...

*~*~*

The next thing Ariadne thought was that she was within her dream now. The next thing she felt was a warm breeze on a sunny afternoon. The next thing she saw was a city that did not exist but in this dream. Standing on the sidewalk of a lively street, wearing one of her favorite outfits, Ariadne took a moment to behold her surroundings. The architecture of this place did resemble Paris, yet it was unlike any part of the city she knew, with higher buildings, more rounded structures and more trees and plants integrated. It was like a city design she always day-dreamed about.

She could not admire her work for very long, though, for after a while, a deep red car pulled up in front of her. Inside was Eric, opening the passenger's door with a casual Get in. Ariadne climbed into the seat, closing the car door. While she was buckling up, Eric turned his head to watch the traffic, asking her: "How do we get to the bank from here again?"

Ariadne thought for a second or two, before replying: "To the right at the end of the block, then left."

Nodding his head, he followed her description. While he was driving, Ariadne looked out of the window, taking in the sight of her dream city with awe, watching the projections of De Vos' subconscious wander about. As they turned into the street they were headed, Eric parked the car in front of a school. Across the street was a building with the name of De Vos' bank on it. As Eric turned off the engine of the car and pulled the parking brake, Ariadne asked him in a slightly concerned tone: "So, now what? You're not gonna rob the bank to get the idea, are you?"

"No, we'll wait for De Vos to enter the bank, then I'll go in and check if he's hiding his idea in there like we want him to," Eric explained.

"And then?" she inquired.

"We'll drive around or hide out some place. And when it gets dark, I'll break into the bank," he replied.

So I'll be stuck in my dream with this guy for a few hours..., Ariadne thought unenthusiastically. Looking out of the window at the cloudless blue sky above the city, she started wondering how long it would take to get dark and if it was possible for her to dream a faster sunset, without attracting the projections' attention.

After a few minutes of silent watching, she heard Eric say out of nowhere: "You know, Ariadne, to be honest, I had my doubts about you. But I have to admit,... this is all pretty impressive."

Barely looking at him, she answered in an almost sarcastic tone: "Well, thanks."

"No, seriously," he replied with emphasis. After a few moments, he added: "And I'm sorry if I was a little rude at first. But you see, when Arthur told me about this amazing architect he had worked with, I was expecting someone... well,... not a college student, that's for sure."

"...let alone a college girl, huh?" Ariadne retorted, trying not to show any emotional reaction to the part about the amazing architect.

"Well..." Eric smirked, then added in a low voice, as if he was talking to himself: "I couldn't understand why he insisted on hiring an architect for the job himself."

At that, Ariadne's head shot back at him, as if struck by lightning. Had he really just said what she thought she had heard him say? Totally taken aback, her thoughts started racing, bringing up questions she had already been pondering at some point: So, Arthur insisted on working with me? But why didn't he try to contact me then? He couldn't have known I would call him, could he? Unless Cobb informed him, but...

She could not finish that thought, because all of a sudden, Eric said: "There's our man!"

Slightly confused, Ariadne followed his gaze, then knew what he meant when she saw De Vos enter the bank, carrying a black briefcase under his arm. A few moments after the Mark had gone inside the building, Eric was about to get out of the car, but turned to address Ariadne once more: "Do you wanna come along, or are you waiting here?"

Surprised at the offer, Ariadne pondered the question for a few seconds, then answered: "Uh, I think I'll wait here. I could, you know,... keep an eye on the projections."

"Sure, do that," he replied in a slightly amused tone. "I'll be back in a few."

With that, he got out of the car and walked across the street to enter the bank. While she watched him go inside, Ariadne tried to pick up her line of thought from before: So, why didn't Arthur try to contact me? Hang on, when I talked to Cobb on the phone, he did mention a visit from Arthur not too long ago. Maybe he tried to ask for my number, but Cobb didn't want Arthur to contact me because of the promise he had made to Miles. Gosh, if only I could find out what's been on Arthur's mind since the Fischer job! I really wish I weren't stuck within this dream right now, so I could just try and ask him...

Absent-mindedly watching the projections walk by, Ariadne suddenly became aware of someone standing right in front of the car she was in, apparently waiting to cross the street. Fixing her gaze upon the person, the figure struck her as somehow familiar. As the man started looking from the left to the right and back yet again, she caught a glimpse of his face. Blinking in disbelief, Ariadne tried to make sense of the sight, not entirely comprehending its meaning. No, that's impossible. He's not even in this level, she pondered. When all of a sudden the projection turned to look at her with a subtle smile, Ariadne gasped, utterly shocked: Oh no...!

At that moment, her projection of Arthur crossed the street, walking straight towards the bank. With horror, Ariadne watched him draw a gun. God dammit, Ariadne, stop projecting right now! she tried to command herself, squeezing her eyes shut, but her rapidly beating heart prevented her mind from focussing. In panic, she tore open the car door, almost rushing across the street without looking, as the projection entered the building...

*~*~*

Ariadne's eyes fluttered open, as the flight attendant approached her. A little disoriented, she looked down at her wrist to notice the IV was still attached to it. When the flight attendant was about to remove the IV for her, Ariadne automatically sat up a little, shaking her head, forming an apologetic smile on her lips and attending to her wrist herself. Disconnecting herself from the PASIV device, she tried to collect her memories about the last events within the shared dream. Did we make it? After handing the removed IV to the flight attendant, who then left, Ariadne leaned back in her seat again, taking a look at her surroundings. As her gaze fell upon Arthur, who was seated on the opposite side of the cabin, he turned to look at her, giving her a subtle smile and nod. At that, Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief. Yeah, we made it.

Remembering how her projection of Arthur had almost gotten them discovered down on the second dream level, Ariadne figured there must have been a great amount of luck involved. After she had raced into the bank, trying to stop her projection from harming anyone, there had been no sign of him. Instead, almost everyone inside the bank had been staring at her in a confused way, even Eric, who had been standing at a table opposing the counters, pretending to fill out a transfer form or something like that. Avoiding the projections' looks, she had walked towards one of the tables near the one Eric was standing at, looking through some brochures lying there, trying to stay calm. After a while, the projections had stopped staring, and she had slowly returned to the car. When Eric had come back a few minutes later, he had asked her about the incident, but Ariadne had managed to work up an excuse. There had been no more incidents after that. They had hidden out in the maze until sundown, then Eric had successfully broken into the bank to steal De Vos' idea. Ariadne remembered a police car following them, but they had been able to get rid of them in a multi-story car park, where she had created a closed loop.

Now, they had all been kicked awake from the dream, as the plane was approaching Paris. Sorting out her memories, Ariadne noticed they were much clearer than they had been after the Fischer job. For the rest of the flight, she could not help but think about one particular memory from the first dream level over and over again. On the one hand, remembering how Arthur had kissed her within the dream filled her with bliss. On the other hand, it made her worry, as it reminded her of how she still had not had the chance to talk to him about it. And right now, she did not even know if she would get the chance at all...

*~*~*

To her pleasant surprise, the team did not go their separate ways this time. After having landed in Paris and retrieved their luggage, Ariadne watched Eric walk up to Arthur and talk to him. At that, she assumed she was welcome to join them. As she did, Eric reminded both her and Arthur that there was still some of their stuff from the preparation phase left at his cousin's garage, and they would have to clear out the place before his return on the next day. So, the three of them took another limousine ride back to the garage together.

It was almost noon when Arthur and Ariadne were almost done getting rid of the last pieces of evidence, while Eric was in the entrance room, talking to his employers on the phone. As Ariadne packed away one of the paper models she had created, she kept looking at Arthur every now and then, pondering whether or not she should try and talk to him. But her fear of being interrupted by Eric kept her from doing so.

After a few minutes, Eric indeed returned from his phone call, announcing: "They'll be at the Eiffel Tower in twenty minutes for the exchange. Are you coming?"

Arthur, who had just set up his notebook on the table in front of him, replied immediately: "No, you can go without me. I'll stay here to start working on my next job."

As Ariadne shot a surprised look at him, Eric said with a smirk: "You know I wouldn't bail out on you with the money, you still have one of my cousin's keys."

In response, Arthur briefly returned the smirk, then turned back to his notebook. At that, Eric turned to look at Ariadne, asking: "What about you, Ariadne? You wanna come along?"

Ariadne hesitated, distracted by her racing heart and thoughts. This might be my only chance to talk to Arthur... But what do I tell Eric? After a few seconds, she replied nervously: "Uh, actually, I... I think I'm gonna... head home. I... still got some... work to do,... for college tomorrow, you know."

With a frown, Eric inquired: "What about your share?"

Once again, she had to come up with something. "Well, I... you know, I can... give Arthur... my account number – right?" she tried, slightly turning her head to look at Arthur, secretly hoping he would not notice her nervousness.

Still typing on his notebook, Arthur turned his head and said after a few moments: "Yeah, sure."

To her, he had seemed a little caught off guard. But before she could think about that, Eric approached her. Still feeling Arthur's gaze upon her, Ariadne turned to face the Extractor, who addressed her, offering his hand: "Well then, Ariadne, it's been a real pleasure." As she carefully took his hand to shake it, he added with a subtle smile: "I wouldn't mind working with you again some time. Maybe once you've graduated from college?"

With a weak smile, Ariadne replied: "We'll see about that. But thanks, it's been nice working with you, too."

Releasing her hand, he gave her a nod, then looked into Arthur's direction, saying: "Arthur, I'll be back soon."

With that, Eric turned to leave the garage. When she heard him walk out of the front door, Ariadne silently gulped and took in a quiet breath, before slowly turning around to face Arthur. As she did, she noticed he was still standing in front of his notebook, but with his head turned to look at her, like before. Only now, he was wearing a subtle smile on his lips and a somewhat expectant look in his eyes. Remembering her dialog with Eric from before, Ariadne figured he was probably waiting for her to tell him her account number. But she did not want to talk business right now. This was her chance, the moment she had been waiting for so long. Her chance to ask him what she needed to know. But at that very moment, her pounding heart caused her to feel at a loss for words and unable to move.

After about one minute of silence, that had felt like half an eternity to her, Arthur took his hands off his notebook to fully turn around and face her, saying with a smile: "You know, it's really been great working with you again. You did an amazing job."

Mentally rolling her eyes, Ariadne thought: Oh, come on, Arthur! Is this really all you have to say? Let me tell you something about this 'amazing job' I did... Aloud, she carefully replied: "Well, yeah, but... I almost messed up, down on the second level..."

Giving her an incredulous look, but still with a subtle smile, he retorted: "You didn't mess up. We got the information we needed."

"Yeah, but... when I got into my dream,... I was very... distracted," she forced out between her rapid heart beats, trying to prove her point.

By now, any trace of a smile had disappeared from Arthur's face, as he carefully inquired: "Distracted by what?"

At that, Ariadne was no longer able to retain her composure. Breathing a deep sigh of frustration, she blurted out: "God dammit, Arthur, I was distracted because you kissed me within the dream... again!"