It had been only a month since the Inception. We all went our separate ways, but still kept in touch. I decided to go back to Paris to finish my studies and continue working in the dream field on breaks between semesters and summers. But I decided to do this job with the team. It would only take the weekend and it was a very easy job at that.

Eames and I were walking from the market, carrying grocery bags full of snack foods and drinks. Even if it was going to be a quick and easy job, we still needed to remain healthy. It wasn't until we reached the darker part of Paris, with only a few flickering lights of stores, bars, and the spaced out old Victorian lamp posts to light the way, that I felt someone watching us. I muttered under my breath to Eames to walk a little faster.

"Afraid of the dark now, are we?" he said in a teasing tone.

I gave him a glare trying to say without words that we needed to get out of there fast. But Eames didn't get the message. We soon reached a corner to a dimly lighted block. A deep chill ran up my spine as I stepped out onto the cobbled street. Eames lagged behind a little; he seemed to be listening for something.

Without warning, three men dressed head-to-toe in black ran out from the shadows and descended on Eames and me. We instantly dropped our bags, groceries smacking into the ground and going every which way. One of the men came at me, though was called back to help the others restrain Eames. He was kicking and punching and flailing about with all of his strength, getting one of the men in the jaw. But soon one had restrained his arms, and then the other two turned to me.

"Ariadne run! Go! Get out of here!" yelled Eames, his face now slightly red because the man who restrained him was now holding tightly onto his neck.

I gave a reluctant look back, hesitating. The glare Eames gave me told me to run for my life. I hesitated one more time, sending once last sorrowful glance at Eames, before I sprinted off. Not even five seconds later I heard two sets of pounding footsteps behind me. I sprinted down cobbled streets, breath coming in hisses, the echo of our stomping feet resounding through the empty streets of Paris, and then an opportunity came. There was an alleyway that leads down to the river, and going down this alleyway could give me some distance between the two men.

Once the alleyway came up, I made a sharp turn into it, catching the two men off guard. I came out of the alleyway and saw a set of stairs that lead down to the river. I quickly jumped down the whole set of stairs, stumbling slightly, and started running towards a nearby bridge. As I reached the underside of the bridge, one of the men leaped down from the top edge of the bridge, which was a good fifteen foot drop, and blocked my path to the stairs to the upper part of the bridge. I had no choice but to go under the bridge to the other side. The underside of the bridge was almost pitch-black as I ran quickly to the other side.

No sooner had I reached the middle of the underside of the bridge did the other man step out and painfully grabbed my arm. The man wore a wool-knit black ski mask, but I could see his eyes. They were hazel. The man with the icy hazel eyes smacked me into the wall as his friend came jogging up, this man had hard, dark brown eyes. I promised myself that I wasn't going down without a fight.

As soon as the brown-eyed man came closer, I placed a good kick right below the belt. He fell to his knees in agony. The hazel-eyed man then slammed me back onto the brick wall, fireworks exploding behind my eyes. I recovered and then started to punch and kick him, getting a good kick to his jaw. The man I hit below the belt slowly stood up, faced me, hatred filling his glare, and then swiped a punch at my temple. He threw another punch which hit me in my nose,and it started to drip blood. Before I could react, he slammed his knee up into my gut and I gasped in pain. For the finale, he lifted me off my feet and threw me at the wall with all his might, another fireworks show occurred before I crumpled to the cold ground at his feet. I let out one last cry of agony.

Everything went black.