Freed (Magics AU - Part 2)

Chapter 7 - Aaron

Aaron wasn't sure if he had completed the impossible or if he had just never experienced it before, but almost every part of his body was in some sort of pain. His shoulders, neck, back, and hips were incredibly stiff and sore from the rock-hard floor that he was forced to sleep on, his feet hurt from pacing endlessly in a circle around his cell sometimes for hours at a time, his head pounded with a continuous headache, his knees hurt from kneeling on the stone floor under him, and his chest was burning from the thick, dust-riddled air around him. For five months he'd been forced to breathe the horrible particles, and it was having its effect on him. 

The waking moments were the worst. When Aaron opened his eyes from a hazy, half-remembered dream, it almost felt like he hadn't breathed in years. Every morning, he struggled to sit up and draw in enough air to satisfy his lungs. His chest ached every hour of the day, but the mornings were bad enough to make him never want to sleep again. 

Not only was Aaron in a lot of pain, he was also extremely angry and - though he didn't want to admit it to anyone - afraid. He knew that there was nothing wrong with being scared, especially because there was a very valid reason to, considering what he was afraid of; but he hated being frightened. Besides, his anger outweighed his fear. He was angry that he was separated from his daughter, his son-in-law, his granddaughter, and his friend. He was angry that the world had to end this way. He was angry that there was nothing they could do. 

It angered him that he could do nothing. 

He knew that this was a flaw of his - that he always felt responsible for everything. Aaron realized that some things were too big for him to handle, but he always felt like there was something he could to do to help or fix the problem. Even when people told him there was nothing he could do, he always tried to prove them wrong just because he felt like he needed to do something. He figured that this problem was mostly because he'd taken on the roll of king and queen for years, and he was always doing everything. 

When he'd handed his daughter the crown, Aaron had expected to retire peacefully without any more strife. He'd had his share of hardship even before his wife died, and he didn't want to experience any more. It was like a punch in the gut when he'd suddenly gotten sick, which happened to be another problem that would continue to torment him until his end. 

The end which he guessed wasn't far off. 

That was another thing he was angry about. He had a normal, human reaction to death - he was afraid, but he also knew that it would be much more peaceful - but he also was frustrated about it. Mostly because of the knowledge that he would have to die and rot away in a cell like this, under the harsh rule of Darks. 

He never had any plans to die this way, yet it seemed to be getting closer with each day. 

"Aaron?" Gabriel's voice called tentatively from the cell several rows down. The former king and the blacksmith couldn't see each other because of the solid walls on their sides, but they were close enough to carry conversation back and forth. Most of the talks they had were quick and simple, without much emotion behind them. There wasn't much to talk about. 

"Hmm," Aaron mumbled, just to show that he had heard Gabriel. He didn't find much pleasure in speaking about pointless things, but it seemed to make Gabriel feel better. Aaron tried to hold conversation with the young man, but none of them lifted his spirits, no matter what they spoke of. 

"Do you hear that?" Gabriel asked, his voice quiet as if he was listening to something far away.

The question made Aaron lift himself away from the wall he was leaning on. As long as they had been here, the only people that the men had heard or seen were Dark guards. Neither of them paid much attention to them, so if Gabriel was asking about something he heard, it had to be important.