Part 9: Mirror, Mirror

-Seconds before waking-

It had been several minutes and Ariadne still hadn't surfaced. He was growing increasingly concerned-as the team idly chatted about the mark Cobb kept finding his eyes wandering to the pond. It was a single slate of clear glass that looked as if it had been freshly cut, no edges discernible from where he stood. She had just jumped-after looking at Arthur of course, and that ached with a surprising force…of course they belonged together…so why did he even care? Maybe because Arthur was being absolutely atrocious to her-he'd seen her face when Lacey lay against him like some pathetic ragdoll. He'd seen the flash of pain in her copper eyes, the snarl she couldn't take back-she didn't deserve that. She deserved to be respected, at the very least, for her extraordinary talent-for being her. He stopped his thoughts right there, for this didn't sound right…what the hell was wrong with him? He was questioning his Point-Man, the one team member he was supposed to trust most-and was putting too much faith in Ariadne for her to just be a coworker.

But did he want that? Did he want everything between them to be more than colleagues? Did he want to give her everything he had left, entrust her with all his secrets?

Shaking his head, Cobb rubbed his stubbly cheek, examining the crystal grass beneath his feet.

"Arthur-" The name was cut off with a huff of air-Cobb glanced up to see Lacey farther away from Arthur than before, looking up at him with an air of betrayal. Eames appeared to be amused, his smile barely kept under control, and Yusuf watched on, faithful as always.

Lacey took in a huge breath of air, gasping out: "What is your problem?"

Arthur was the angriest Cobb had ever seen him, his eyes burning like hellfire, pale hands unclenching and clenching by his sides.

"I'm not the one who has the problem, Lacey."

Lacey rolled her eyes, replying with: "Obviouslyyy. That little architect's the one who has problems-"

Arthur was there so fast Cobb hardly saw him move-but all of a sudden he was in Lacey's face, staring her down viciously. "Don't go there." he growled. Lacey stared up at him, fear skipping across her face like a pebble thrown into a puddle. Her silence seemed to only invigorate him further-he murmured, "Come with me." Before turning and stalking off into the direction of one of the hallways. As the shadows engulfed him she remained frozen for a prolonged moment-before her face turned to ice, all the sharp edges seeming to stand out as she followed him into the hallway.

"There you go again, always trying to control me-"As soon as the pair was in the hallway, it seemed as if they had left the earth. No noise interrupted the silence that lay across the garden, the remaining team members the only witnesses to the argument.

But once again, Cobb found his eyes wandering to the pond. Eames began to speak-the word quiet was most definitely not in his vocabulary. "Well. I'm hoping you two aren't into cat-fighting; I think I've seen enough for today." The snarky comment was followed by an awkward silence-Cobb's eyes dashed to the pond again-this time Eames saw it.

Striding to the Extractor's side Eames threw a friendly hand on his shoulder. Cobb's eyes snapped up, meeting Eames' gaze.

"She'll be back. She's not the kind to harm herself, too strong-spirited." Cobb eyed Eames friendly self up and down before looking at the pond again; yes, he knew she was strong-spirited. "I know that." He murmured. "But she was emotionally unstable-you know as well as I do that emotions can affect dreams." He met Eames gaze again, his eyes a deadly sapphire-Eames nodded, dropping his hand. Cobb looked at the pond for the millionth time-Eames regarded the Extractor with a wise moss-green gaze.

"You and Arthur are causing quite a storm, ya know. Really tearing the poor thing up."

Cobb's heart seemed to go on pause as he turned on Eames, his words flinty.

"What do you mean?" Eames ignored the hint of danger in Cobb's voice, continuing fluidly.

"Oh, come on. It's not a secret-"

This was too much for Cobb-he snapped almost instantly under the weight of Eames implication.

"There is no secret Eames. And I suggest you stop looking for one because you are not going to find any. This is a team of professionals and I suggest you start acting like one."

Eames seemed genuinely surprised-he stepped away from Cobb, his hands raised in the surrender gesture that was becoming routine for him.

"I'm just-"

Eames was suddenly silenced by Yusuf, who ran over to them, alarmed. Amber eyes wild he pointed to the hallway Lacey and Arthur had entered. "Something's going on, look-"

Cobb peered around Yusuf just in time to see a crack spreading across the surface of the grass, flying across the garden to the other side; Eames cursed under his breath as the sun went dark, as the sound of the ocean faded away to naught.

"What's happening?" whispered Yusuf; the color was rapidly fading away from the garden, the brilliance draining out, leaving grey crystal behind.

"The dream's ending." Cobb murmured-and then, without warning, everything exploded.

Chips, shards, circles of glass flew at them from every direction, thousands of pieces flying downward as the dream folded in on itself. He only witnessed the deadly beauty for a few seconds before a wave of sea-glass smacked him in the face.

Pulse flying, Dominic Cobb's sapphire eyes slid open. The only memory of his death was the pounding of his temple where the glass had hit-it throbbed as he sat up, as his eyes searched for Ariadne. What could possibly have made the dream collapse? As he regained balance, the effects of the somacin that lay in the PASIV fading off with a swirl, he found the words tumbling from his mouth.

"What happened?" The question seemed to reignite his senses-his vision was restored to crystal clarity around the same moment his hearing returned. It was at that moment that he finally saw Ariadne-she lay bent over in her lawn chair, head in her hands. Arthur knelt at her side-his hand resorting to removing the needle from her arm. As he attempted to extract the slim silver piece she slapped his hand away, a slight sob wrenching from her throat as she did so. Neither of them had realized she was this upset; Cobb leant forward the same time Arthur spoke:

"The dream is over, Ariadne. Its okay now-"

"I'm FINE, Arthur." Her voice was shaky-to be honest Cobb had never seen her torn-up; he never ever wanted to see her like this-on the border of tears and breaking down-ever again. She was still bent over, her chocolaty locks hiding her face from view. Arthur covered up his surprise at her sharp comment quickly, once again taking a shot at reason.

"Ariadne, you're shaking. That's not my definition of fine, and-"

"Arthur-" she sat up, her face now exposed before them-her tawny eyes glittered with a frosty mix of unshed tears and fury. She stared at the Point-Man for one long moment before giving up.

"Forget it." Her voice was low, broken-the anger in her eyes gave way to confusion before she dropped her gaze, hurriedly reaching her feet. Arthur's jaw tightened, a sure signal of stress as he straightened with cat-like grace, watching as she brushed down her outfit. She glanced up at him for a mere second before looking back down, brushing past him and heading for the exit at a furious pace. Arthur stayed frozen for one moment, looking down on the place where she had left with a disbelieving smirk. As her honed footsteps began moving farther away Arthur seemed to regain some semblance of control and turned to witness her exit.

"Ariadne-" Cobb couldn't help saying it-he wanted to know what was going on as well. She paused at the back door, her hand on the metal handle, facing the Extractor from a distance.

"Cobb, I'm sorry the dream collapsed. I'll do better tomorrow-"Cobb, at his feet now, reached Arthur's side, his gaze cautious as he took in Ariadne. He hadn't meant that at all and he was ready to leap into an explanation but Arthur seemed to be in a strange mood tonight.

"This part of town is worse during this hour. Just let me take you to your car-"

"I can handle it, Arthur-"

"I'm just suggesting." Arthur supplemented-his voice was harder underneath however, as if he too was getting annoyed with all the arguments he'd been through today.

Ariadne opened her mouth to retort but Cobb stepped in quickly.

"Ariadne-"His voice was at its most soothing and factual in his hopes to appeal to her good side. At Arthurs' questioning glance, Cobb met it with an all-knowing gaze as if to say: 'I got this.' He turned back to the Architect once more- her eyes were gratefully on him, their icy appearance softening at his tone. "This part of town is shady during this time of evening. It would be better if you had someone to escort you to your car, at the very least. I would even say to your apartment door-just as a safety precaution. You never know who's out there."

By now the rest of the team was waking-Lacey arrived from the back part of the warehouse, where she'd undoubtedly been peering into a compact for some time-Yusuf was gathering up his materials and muttering while Eames was strode up with a simper.

She regarded Cobb gentler now, as if she was honestly considering his proposal. Arthur stared on, his face dead-Cobb knew his partner well, knew that this was his way of covering up all that lay underneath. With another hardening over of her eyes she nodded, raising her voice so that Arthur could hear her response:

"Then you can take me home, Cobb."