I promised that I would be writing a chapter fic, oh and here it is. I really hope you like it. I don't have a beta, so the grammar/spelling in this might be really bad, I apologised for that. Please don't hurt me.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. –sulks-

Skimming the Surface

Chapter 1: Chased

Her breath came out in harsh bursts as the air was expelled from her lungs, her feet propelled her forwards as rain, sweat and tears all mingled as one on her skin. Her right hand was stuffed in the pocket of her jacket gripping the golden chess piece inside it, she was not dreaming. Ariadne's heart pounded painfully in her chest as she cast a cautionary glance over her shoulder at the three men who were currently pursuing her, they were catching up.

It had been four months since the Fischer job and Ariadne had been starting to wonder when she would be contacted by the others for another job, three weeks ago she had received a note from Arthur telling her to pack a bag and get on the next flight to Australia, she had been more than a little excited, the job was another Inception mission, apparently news of their success with Fischer had spread and people wanted to hire Cobb and his team. Cobb had come out of retirement, he wasn't a wanted criminal anymore and he needed some money, the job promised to be short. The idea that needed to be planted was to get something patented before someone else did, the man hiring the team was the mark's partner. He believed that he knew what was best and that that involved getting the idea patented which is partner refused to do. The idea had been implanted easily enough, but it was only when the job was done that they found out what the patent was for. It was a weapon. A very dangerous weapon, which would be put on sale as soon as the patent went through. At first Eames had tried to blame Arthur for once again not doing his research correctly, the Point Man had glared at him before glancing at Cobb who had been pacing back and forth, Arthur's job hadn't been about what the patent was for, he had been instructed to find out about the man they were planting the idea into, nothing else. Cobb however must have known what they were getting into.

"Well, Dom?" Arthur's tone was harsh as he glared the extractor.

"They..." he paused biting his lip guiltily, "...I knew it was a weapon." He spat the words out ashamed of himself; "I had to agree to do the job, before they told me what it was." The excuse was feeble and Dom felt responsible for it, he knew that if his team had been aware they probably wouldn't have agreed to do the job.

The reason Ariadne was currently running through the wet streets of Paris wasn't because of those who had employed her, but because of their employer's rivals, somehow they had found out about the Inception and had taken in upon themselves to hunt down the team who lost them Millions of dollars. Ariadne hadn't had any contact with the team so she didn't know where any of them where, if they were also being pursued or if they had managed to keep themselves better hidden. She was less than a block away from her apartment building, what she would do when she got there she wasn't sure, she wondered if they had already broken into her apartment. Then her body came into contact with someone else's, the collision would have knocked her off her feet had the person not caught her. An icy cold sliver of fear slid across her heart and she tried her best to hold it together, she was about to hit the person who was holding her, then she realised she could smell a familiar aftershave and as she looked up her breath caught in her throat as she smiled.

"Arthur." She whispered, but there was no time for pleasantries, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down an ally way; "When did you get here? Who are the people after me? Have they found the others yet?" the stream of questions left her lips like a waterfall, Arthur did not reply instead he motioned to her to get into the black Porsche 911 that was parked there. She ducked into the passenger's seat and sat in silence waiting for Arthur to answer her tirade of questions when he handed her a gun, her eyes widened and she looked up at him questioningly, she had never shot a gun before and didn't particularly want to either; "Will I need this?"

He chose to answer this question and gritted his teeth as he felt his throat constrict at the frightened tone of her voice; "Hopefully not, but if those men who were chasing you follow us...point and shoot." She nodded slowly before picking up the gun and gripping it tightly. He reversed quickly out of the ally way his eyes narrowed and glaring out of the rear windshield, something had gone wrong. Ariadne was the architect, she hadn't even gone into the dream this time so the fact that they had found her had Arthur on edge. Once they were on the motorway Arthur seemed to relax, they were heading south towards Orléans, he would glance at Ariadne every one in a while.

"What?" she sounded slightly annoyed as the Point Man glanced in her direction once more.

He gritted his teeth and raised a hand slowly; "You...uh. You're bleeding." His fingers indicated the mark on her forehead, Ariadne lifted her hand and touched in tentatively, she winced slightly before pulling her hand away to examine her fingers which were now coated in her blood; "What happened?" she was surprised that he had asked, he was the one who was supposed to know everything.

Her eyes lifted to his face, he was now concentrating on the road but she could tell his attention was still on her, his knuckles were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that they were now white; "Uh...well..." she then went onto explain how she had finished lessons for the day and had been carrying a very heavy case filled with research and sketches when she had noticed a man following her. Arthur's jaw was clenched at this but Ariadne chose to continue, the man had been wearing dark clothes and sunglasses trying to appear inconspicuous but Ariadne's training had taught her to look out for tell tale signs when someone is following you. She had known almost straight away, as she had sped up so had he, so she started taking a very strange route home, she had turned down an ally way, much like the one Arthur had parked his car in, and heard fast footsteps behind her before a hand fell on her shoulder, she decided that it would be best to not check who it was, so she just swung her heavy folder and smiled to herself as it connected with the side of her pursuer's head. She hadn't counted on there being more than one however, so as the first man clutched the side of his head a second man appeared behind her and pushed her into the wall, the side of her face met the cold hard stone of the wall, she was certain that it would leave a bruise, she had struggled but held her breath as the man leaned in close and spoke to her.

"You and your little team are in a lot of trouble young lady." The accent was from Northern England, Ariadne waited for the opportune moment, when she rammed her elbow into his gut and turned to knee him in the groin, he backed away clutching his crotch cursing as he ordered his cronies to catch her. Ariadne paused in her story telling as she noticed Arthur was pulling off the motorway into a small town, she glanced up at him and he glanced at her as a signifier that she should continue. She paused for a little longer as a wave of pain from the injury to her forehead made itself known once more.

"I didn't really know what I was doing, I started heading back to my apartment, I had hoped to grab some things before leaving..." she trailed off before reaching into her coat pocket and pulling her golden bishop from it and holding it tightly, having that with her was all that really mattered; "I was on my way there when I...uh...bumped into you." She smiled slightly trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work, Arthur's face was stony he didn't seem to be in the mood for her light humour. The sun had begun setting and Arthur's eyes kept darting into the rear view mirror, Ariadne realised then that she had been so busy telling him what had happened that she hadn't been looking to see if they were being followed; "Were they following the others? Have you spoken to Cobb?" Ariadne remembered the questions that he had neglected to answer before.

Arthur pulled up and turned to look at her, he sighed heavily; "Ariadne, these people are very dangerous, they managed to somehow find you," he paused for a moment as he gritted his teeth; "you weren't even in the dream, so the likelihood that they have found the others is very high." He watched as her face fell, she should have realised this; "We need to leave this car here and find another one. We're going to need to steal it." He sounded tired, as he explained it to her. Ariadne nodded understanding as she watched him slide out of the car, she was still in a daze as he moved round to help her out. He then pulled a large duffle bag out from the Porsche's boot, Ariadne raised a questioning eyebrow; "I knew they were coming for you...so I took some stuff from your apartment." He almost looked sheepish as he told her but Ariadne found that she didn't mind. He had after all saved her life. Ariadne followed Arthur as he walked along a winding lane in the growing darkness, they were looking for a car to steal, in an attempt to cover their tracks, the first car they came upon was a Land Rover. After a quarter of an hour Arthur had managed to break into it and jump start it without setting off the alarm.

Ariadne slipped into the front seat, she glanced at him expectantly; "Where to now?" she asked, her voice sounded so small that Arthur had to glance at her to make sure she had actually spoken.

"We will head for Bordeaux where we'll meet Cobb and Eames. We'll regroup and try and come up with a plan. Don't worry Ari, leave it all to us." He wanted to say me, but felt that that would sound too self-centred. Arthur was completely unaware of how Ariadne's heart had constricted as he had called her; 'Ari' a nickname that only her mother had used when she had been about four or five years old, the memory caused her to smile slightly; "You should get some sleep it'll be a long drive." Arthur glanced at before pressing his foot on the gas and moving from the side of the road. The car was nowhere near as nice as Arthur's Porsche, and Ariadne was sure that he was pretty gutted at having to leave it behind, but it would have to do. She hoped that changing the car would keep their pursuers at bay at least for a little while.

A/N: Well that was chapter one. Yeah. So it was kinda short just setting the scene really. Don't worry the next chapter will probably be longer. Reviews are lovely. Please and thank you. No flames.