DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INCEPTION.

Updates will be sufficiently less regular from this point due to increased school work. It should pick up again in a few months.

Cobb

I paced the hospital hallways. Today was the day of the Extraction. Normally I was calm and composed about these things, but this was different. I was going into my best friend's mind, who happened to be seriously sick. Something made me feel like I didn't want to know what was going on down there.

The doctors were easy to pay off. We had Arthur for a few hours, all alone. It was all planned out perfectly.

I heard footsteps behind me.

"Ready?"

I turned to Eames, who was wearing an uneasy expression. "As I'll ever be."

He raised an eyebrow. "Think he'll suspect anything?"

"Shouldn't do. His mind is confused at the moment. Anything going on in there will be strange as hell."

Eames sighed. "Fine. Where's Ariadne?"

"She'll be here soon. Shall we go in?"

He nodded and followed me as I went into Arthur's room. Arthur was lying in his bed, staring at the floor. It was so disturbing. He seemed so…out of it.

Eames plastered on a smile. "Hey. How are you doing today?"

His eyes didn't falter from the floor. "…I'm a bad person."

Eames looked at me. "What?"

"I'm a bad person. I'm a liar, a criminal and an idiot." His eyes flickered up to me. "What do you want?" he snapped.

I blinked. "Um…well…we wanted to talk about your realise."

He seemed to perk up at that bit for a moment. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Yeah, sure. The doctor will be here in a minute. Want a drink?"

"Yes please," he mumbled. I looked at Eames who started pouring a glass of water.

"Here you go," he said, handing the cup to Arthur. I swallowed as Arthur sipped from it. I heard a small cough from behind me. I turned around and saw Ariadne standing behind me.

"Hi," she whispered.

"…Cobb…" I looked back at Arthur, who was now becoming weaker due to the side effects of the sedative.

"Just relax, Arthur."

Arthur flopped over, caught by Eames who was swiftly by his side. Eames looked at me.

"Lock the door," I instructed to Ariadne before walking over and taking the PASIV out from behind the chair. I handed the needle to Eames, who slipped it carefully into Arthur's wrist.

"So who's the dreamer in the first layer?" he then asked, rolling up his own sleeve.

"Ariadne," I mumbled whilst dealing with my own needle. "We'll have 3 days, but I doubt we'll use it. We need to do it as fast as possible, we don't want the projections catching onto us."

I pulled up a chair and made myself comfortable. "We need to do this right. Remember, we find the problem, then leave. No complications."

"Yeah, we'll see," Eames muttered.

I gave Ariadne a brief reassuring glance before slipping under into the darkness.