Silver Keys

Chapter Two: Red Stone

Axel sat in his wheelchair, watching as Marina walked to and fro, grunting and mumbling inaudible words. She seemed to be contemplating on what to do with him and he decided what's best was to choose his next words very carefully. What he had done with himself was a secret he needed to keep for now, at least till he was sure he was completely in sync with himself.

“Marina,” he called out gently, exhaling as he anticipated the weight of his words on her. “You need to talk to me, still, I know it's not just me you are pissed at.” He said. “Come on, we should face these problems together.”

She turned around in annoyance, Axel didn't know her eyes could get angrier than it had been, he sighed realizing he had made things worse.. “Together?” she echoed bitterly. “What do you know about togetherness, Axel? You’ve spent the last three years hidden away from the world, relying on me for everything. You think that makes us a team?”

She walked towards him a bit then stopped. “I have been carrying us all this while, every single time. And now you dare use the word together. What's happened is easy to see. My brother already won, there isn't a chance in hell I can get my own legacy back. I have to watch it slip away from my fingers!” She sighed.

He wanted to reach out to her, to bridge the widening chasm between them, but the words caught in his throat. “I think I understand,” he said softly. “I see how much you’re hurting, and I want to help.”

Maria grinned, a wicked and baleful gin. “Help? You’re not in a position to help anyone, Axel. You’re just… you’re just a burden.” Her voice broke, and suddenly, all the pain she had been trying to bite back broke out and she began to sob. Soon enough , tears began to stream from her eyes. “Do you have any idea how it feels to be the laughingstock? Rumors are spreading like wildfire that you’re using my money to support some mistress while I sit here, feeling like a complete fool!”

“What?” Axel asked in shock, he didn't leave the room much so gossip didn't really get to him.

“My brother released your spending files and told me. Now the whole house and everyone related to the organization knows. They know who I am and what I am going through, how could you?”

The explanation shook Axel and he glanced up, an underhanded tactic from her brother obviously.. The pain in her voice made him realize how much she actually did like him, even though she tried to pull up a facade everytime. “Marina, please, listen to me. You know that’s not true. I would never—”

“Wouldn’t you?” she interrupted, her voice a little shaky. “You’ve done nothing to defend my honor, Axel! You’ve let people think I’m a fool for marrying you, a man who can’t even stand on his own two feet. I feel like I’m drowning while you sit there and do nothing!”

He kept silent and didn't say a word. He contemplated what to do next and started to rethink if he should actually tell her what was going on with him. How he just needed to set up a few things before the big reveal.

She glanced at him and began to speak again. “Do you remember the stone you gave me?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, smooth stone, holding it up for him to see. “I was always told that the one who loves you is the one who saves you on the battlefield. This stone represents that love, the love of a true warrior. You’ve lost yours, Axel, and I can’t keep carrying yours for you.”

Axel stared at the stone, his throat tightening as memories flooded back. He had carried a similar stone during his time in the military, a token from Marina, a symbol of their love and commitment. He realized now that he had lost more than just his physical strength on that battlefield; he had lost the very essence of who he was, the man she once admired.

“Marina, please,” he begged, desperation lacing his words. “Don't do anything out of anger, just… give me time, all I beg for is a little time..”

She shook her head, her face stoic. She had made up her mind and she didn't want to hear any more of his pleas. “You don’t get it, do you? I could never love a man who relies solely on me. You may have fought bravely once, but the man I fell in love with is gone. You’ve become a shadow of your former self, and I don’t know if I can keep living in your shadow.”

Axel decided to get a little nostalgic, anything to make.him survive this argument. “So that’s it? You’re ready to give up on us?” His voice cracked as he struggled to hold back his own tears. “After everything we’ve been through together?”

She shook her head. “I can’t be with someone who doesn’t believe in themselves, Axel. I need someone who can stand by me, not someone who clings to me like a lifeline.”

“I am not clinging, what I am doing is trying…”

“But you haven’t tried!” she shouted, her frustration spilling over. “We have been at this for an entire year, in that year, the only thing you brought to my life was decline and bitterness. “ She sighed.

Axel began to understand the source of her pain and he knew even if he had been in the same shoes, he would be doing the same thing and with that silly rumor, she probably doesn't even trust him anymore.

Marina glanced at the stone in her hand, what was supposed to be a beacon of hope was nothing but an empty promise. To think she had ever believed in that fairy tale dream. She was stupid, and that one stupid mistake had cost her her entire life, her dreams shattering before her.

She could still remember the face of her brother when he came to her with the files and ledgers claiming it was time he took control of the company, she had thought it was some bluff, but he had planned it all.

In three days, a vote would be made by the board members and the executives, most of them she’d helped and the first chance, they bit her hard. She began to realize that people only smile to power, once there is a shift in control, they fall in line without any pestering.

She knew she lost already and she didn't want to, that was why she came here. To see if there was any hope for her, if she had the chance to fight, if this man would ever be what he was again; what she fell in love with.

Apparently it was just an illusion, a vanishing glass like they say. He was never a strong man, he was a projection of it. She glanced at him again and saw the emptiness in his eyes, this man had no spirit, no will. What had she seen in him?

“You are a mistake,” she whispered silently. “I should never have even tried to marry you,” she sighed. “This was a cursed endeavor from the start.”

She glanced at the red stone in her hand, a pearl he had found in one of his battles, he used to have the blue one but he lost it in the sabotage. When he gave it to her, she had seen it as a promise, it was the symbol of their union.

The memories of those days filled her head and she shook with trepidation. “Don't say that,” she said silently.

She didn't reply to him, even now he had not just become weak but he also broke their trust, although she didn't believe Victor very much, he was lying to her about how he spent the money. Why else would he lie if.it wasn't something shameful.

She exhaled and placed the stone silently on the floor in front of him, she glanced at it for minutes then shook her head. “It is over between us,” she sighed and then turned around, weeping into her own palm.

It was the worst moment of her life, as it is now, her entire life was over.