By: Zandra and Axle

That night, Aztec slept fitfully. He dreamed of mysterious faces looming from a black void, calling his name and beckoning for him to come down a long, dark hallway. Unwillingly, he followed because his legs moved without his bidding, and he marched towards a golden light. As he walked towards the light, he saw the throne from his father’s chamber, and sighed in relief, until he saw the cuffs and chains hanging on it, ready to bind him to it until his dying day. He shuddered violently, and fell off the bed, whacking his head on the floor so that he woke up dazed and confused. He stumbled to his feet, dragged the covers off him, and staggered down the hall, not knowing what he sought. His uncanny ability to find things, even in the darkest of rooms paid off, as he discovered Axle, fast asleep on the leather couch. He sat himself by her, and watched her sleeping for a while. The look of exhaustion and pain had remained with her since the night before. He brushed a stray hair from her face, looking at her with his big turquoise eyes; his long hair slung over one shoulder in a rough attempt at keeping it out of his face. He sighed deeply, the way only a Saturnite male can; long, low, and mournful. He saw Axle shift, and sat quietly once again. For what seemed like hours, though in truth was scarce minutes, he watched and waited for some signal that Axle was returning to the land of the living.

Then she opened her eyes suddenly, and looked up at his worried face. Rather than reacting as he had expected, Axle sat up and laughed. "Gods, you’d think I’d been hit by a ton of bricks and was dying the way you’re looking at me!"

Aztec was completely taken aback and just looked at her in shock "So, you’re alright?"

Axle rolled her eyes as if she had been awake all the time. She smiled at him. "Course I am, but you look half dead, are you alright?"

Aztec laughed hoarsely, "Yeah, I’m fine. Just glad you’re alright, you were pretty tired yesterday." He looked at her sadly, but then his long, orange hair flopped down in front of his eyes, obscuring his view, and they both laughed. He tried to run his fingers through his hair, and failed miserably, laughing as his fingers got more and more tangled in the matted mess. Axle laughed as well, having pushed her previous pain and the night’s experience to the back of her mind, and started combing her fingers gently through his hair. After much laughing on her part at his sensitive head, and even more laughter, broken with loud ‘Ow!’s, on his part, his hair was draped back over one shoulder, out of his eyes so he could see her once more. He found his mind straying, and shook it off, looking into Axle’s eyes and feeling as though he could lose himself in them totally.

Axle turned away quickly, averting her eyes, trying desperately to change the subject, trying to stop her mind racing to those things that she had worked so hard to block the past couple of days. Aztec looked worriedly at her. "I’m sorry…I…" she shook her head sadly. "Aztec, it’s not you…it’s…," as she once again searched for words to explain the agony that she felt when she ever thought about ‘him.’ "We need to talk…," just then, she stopped, and she sniffed the air and smiled. "Stone’s doing breakfast. What say we continue this after a meal?"

Aztec nodded; somewhat distracted, obviously nervous over what it was that could be so serious as to make Axle seem so pained, yet not pressing enough to have to discuss it right away. Aztec got up slowly, and offered her a hand. Axle refused it but smiled at him, getting up by herself and leading him through by the hand to the kitchen.

Stone was creating the same breakfast he usually pressed onto Axle on her first day there. It had become a routine for the two of them. She showed up exhausted and beaten nearly to death. He patched her up, and forced her to eat his specialty eggs as payment. They were actually really good, but Axle loved to make a fuss about having to eat them. They were the most noxious looking concoction she had ever seen. She had always been afraid to ask what was in them, and he never left any clues as to the exact ingredients.

He looked up as he heard their footsteps and nodded briefly, before lowering his eyes back to his task. As Stone continued working, he absent-mindedly asked, "So, Axle, you tell him yet?" When he looked up and saw the look on Axle’s face, he knew she had not. She was standing stiff as a board with her eyes wide, silent as a grave.

Aztec looked at her, his mind racing, he longed to ask, ‘Tell me what?’ but the silence was too much. It was as though it was clinging to him, suffocating him. He was unaccustomed to this much lack of noise.

Stone caught Axle’s eye, and nodded, motioning for her to speak before the poor guy exploded. Axle nodded stiffly and motioned Aztec to sit down at the table off to the side of the room. He sat down, nervously, unsure of what to do next. He waited for her to sit, but for some time, she did not. Instead, she paced across the room a few times, stared at the floor, then walked back over to the table. When at last she did sit down, she put her elbows on the table and leaned forwards.

"Aztec," she began, her voice a tone lower than usual, "I’m sure you’ve already noticed that I don’t talk about my past. Well, the fact is that there’s a lot of things that I’ve never shared with anyone, except Stone, that is." He nodded silently and waited for her to continue. She sat for a moment, her eyes straying across the room, desperate for something to happen to break the cloying silence. She met Stone’s eyes, which told her to finish or face his wrath.

Axle took a deep breath. "Well, sometimes, we all have to show things that we’d rather others didn’t see, like parts of our past. This is one of those times for me. Aztec, last night an old friend of mine told me something that I didn’t wanna believe. But, most importantly, he forced me to realize that there are things you need to know." She went on to explain her history with Slash, the visitation, what he had said, what she felt, everything. The hardest thing was telling him the reason she had so many scars on her wrist, and why she always fought as if she wanted to die. She wished she could stop and forget the whole thing, but Aztec’s big, sad eyes enticed her to tell all that she could, and tell all she did. When she was done, she took a deep breath and watched Aztec, who was clearly in shock, and wished for the silence to break once again.

Aztec’s mind was racing, he longed to get up and walk out, but he had no idea where he was or what he would do. He was dependent upon Axle to help him retrieve his beloved bike, and felt utterly lost in the whole situation. He took a long breath and willed himself to say something, but try as he might, he was lost in the silence.

Stone, meanwhile, watched the pair with interest. Something about Aztec’s posture, the way he looked at Axle with a mixture of confusion and near guilt told him he had something to share also. He thought about saying something to remedy the situation, but gave up. There was not much he could do at that point, other than try to keep things as normal as possible. That is, if you could ever call anything about his life normal. He took three plates from a cupboard sat back into the wall. They were concealed in this manner so that if he happened to be in one of his ‘moods’, he would not destroy them as he had done several times before Axle suggested the reconstruction. He than piled generous helpings of his ‘famous’ eggs, homemade biscuits, and sausage onto the plates, setting one down in front of Axle, one in front of Aztec, and one in his own place at the head of the table. He nodded at the two lost looking mice and started eating. The three ate in total silence.

Despite his size, Aztec ate very little, but Stone assumed that was due to his emotions concerning what had just transpired. Axle wished she could say something to help him understand, but when she looked at his face, she too saw that he had something to tell her. She looked at him for a moment before pushing her plate away, telling Stone that he had once again surpassed himself, then motioning for Aztec to follow her. She realized that even if she was used to talking to or in front of Stone about everything, Aztec was not, and she respected that. She led him back to Stone’s den, and sat down on the couch, motioning for him to do so as well. Aztec sighed and instead of taking a seat, sat on the floor in front of her, one of his eyes concealed by a stray strand of bright orange hair. Before she knew what she was doing, Axle had leaned over and brushed it gently from his face. She virtually leapt back when she realized what she was doing, but Aztec remained sad and silent.

Axle shook her head, her exasperation beginning to show. "Look, Aztec, do you want to tell me something or not? I don’t want to sit here like this forever. I don’t have time to be awkward around you."

At this, Aztec was amazed, he had never met such a forthright female, and despite what he had just heard from her, he realized he loved her more than ever. He took a deep breath, and shook the awkwardness off. "You’re right, I do have something to say. I admire you for being so frank with me, for telling me the truth over what had occurred, and now, I think it is time for me to explain something about my past to you." Axle leaned forward, waiting for him to continue. "Well, you know I’m royalty. You know I’m bound to the throne by law, and the only thing that could save me from becoming the king, would be death." Axle looked somewhat taken aback, having not known it to this extent, but she still said nothing. "In the event of my death, the throne should pass on to a younger brother, sister or cousin, but I have no sisters or cousins." Axle noticed he had not mentioned brothers, and soon, the gist of what he was going to say hit her.

"What happened?" she asked him, sensing he needed some form of encouragement.

"Some years ago, my brother, Tharsis, fell in love with a Martian girl about his age. She was the youngest of a family who was very important where they came from, and I’m sure you’ve heard of her older sister, Carbine. Well, Tharsis fell in love with this girl, named Zandra, and shortly after, terrible sadness shook her family. She was forced to leave my brother behind as she was relocated to Earth for her own safety. My brother was heartbroken, and on the day that she left, he vanished.

"I’ve never seen or heard from him since. Occasionally, we have heard of sightings, but never with any positive outcome. Tharsis has gone, and now the government of Saturn has placed a new law. The have decided that it is dangerous for a Saturnite royal to even consider caring for a Martian the way I…, the way I care for you."

Axle opened her eyes wide at this statement, having been unsure of how to tell him of her true feelings, hoping that some other opportunity might present itself, and present itself it had, but she could not say anything.

Aztec lowered his head. "I care for you more than I thought I could care for anyone. But, I must tell you that if you were ever to return my feelings, you would be in danger from a group we call Monarchists. They believe that the Saturnite monarchy should remain strictly Saturnite." He looked completely dazed at what he had just said, which was nothing to what Axle felt.

She looked at him. "How fanatical about this are they?"

Aztec’s eyes grew distant, "I do not know, but I cannot risk yours or Stone’s life much longer. The Tecca will send spies soon, and I couldn’t bear to see you or Stone, who has shown me so much kindness and hospitality, hurt in any way." He lowered his head. "I think, perhaps, it would be easier to say goodbye now."