United (Magics AU - Part 1)

Chapter 1 - Ruby

Thirty-five years later...

Queen Ruby sighed heavily and dragged her hand through her thick red waves that she'd inherited from her father's mother as the family she'd been speaking with was escorted out of the meeting room by two guards. She had just spent an hour and a half trying her best to reassure the stricken mother and child who had come to her begging for her help. This was the third time this week people of the Northern Kingdom, Ariel, had come to her - or her adviser - about a missing family member. As usual, she'd promised them that she would do her best to search fro the missing loved one, but for almost a month people had been disappearing without a trace.

Pressing one hand against her face, Ruby leaned back in the chair she'd been sitting in with another long sigh. She was beginning to get a headache, and not only because she was forcing herself to work harder than she ever had before; but because she was worried for her people and stressing over the things she had been able to do - like catch the culprit. 

Even her most trusted guardian, the Light Wielder Shintaro, had tried and failed to apprehend the mysterious abductor. There weren't many people Ruby trusted with as much certainty as Shintaro. Three years ago, the mysterious man wielding the abilities of magic and spells had appeared at the gate, battered and broken. After he'd healed from his injuries, he'd become friends with Ruby's adviser; therefore, earning the trust of the queen. She was the one who offered him the job of protecting the kingdoms walls, and he'd done an excellent job so far. But there was something about the faceless kidnapper that he couldn't pinpoint, and it unsettled Ruby - because she knew he was probably the most skilled man to thwart whoever was threatening her people. 

The most terrifying part of it all - Ruby didn't know when the royal family was next on the line. She didn't know where her people were being taken or what was being done to them, or if they were being murdered wherever they were. 

A knock at the now closed door made Ruby jump, and she dropped her hands into her lap, straightening her back and assuming her orderly appearance. "Come in," she called politely to whoever was behind the door, quickly smoothing down her shirt. 

The door opened, and her adviser and mentor, Falte Watson, strode in calmly. He was wearing his usual attire - creased pants, button-down white shirt, and a small ribbon that held his hair in a loose ponytail over his shoulder. He smiled warmly at her when he entered, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, which were concerned and tired. 

"I take it that sudden meeting wasn't just for a simple matter?" Falte asked, a slight tease in his voice. 

Knowing she could be herself and relax around him, Ruby slouched forward and propped her elbows on her knees with a sigh. "No. Another missing family member, this time the husband and father." 

Falte sighed with her, lifting one hand and absently running it through his hair. She'd gained that nervous habit from him, having known him since she was twelve. He had been a simple librarian boy then, the apprentice for the keeper of the books in the castle. Though he was five years older than her, the two shared a sibling relationship that couldn't be broken. When Ruby was appointed queen by her aging father, she was quick to assign Falte's role to him as adviser. He still remained a librarian, reading and organizing books in his spare time. 

"That's the third family this week, isn't it?" Falte asked with another sigh behind his words. There was another chair in the room, a few paces away from Ruby and against the wall, and he dropped himself into it tiredly. 

"Yes," Ruby answered, even though she knew that Falte hadn't really needed to ask that question. He was simply trying to make conversation - he tended to do that when he was stressed to let his mind keep working on the present.