United (Magics AU - Part 1)

Chapter 7 - Aaron

Although Aaron appreciated the fact that Falte was concerned for his well-being with the amount of unwelcomed stress Aaron was annoyingly experiencing, Aaron didn't particularly care for that opinion - even though he knew he could do nothing about it, nor would his family allow him to. For that, he couldn't decide whether to be grateful that was he was able to sit back and simply be there for support or if he was upset that he was able only able to sit back and be there in the background. He could tell how stressed Marcus and Ruby were, although they were both doing their best to hide it, and Aaron wanted to do something useful. 

But if he so much as offered to do something that didn't include encouraging them to work through it together, Aaron knew his children would disagree and tell him that it would overwork him. Aaron knew he was getting old and gradually growing worse, but he could still walk and think on his own, which to him counted as being able to help. 

However, a part of him was grateful that he didn't have to do anything, because he knew if he did, he would eventually get overworked and become more exhausted than he liked. Every time he had an attack or simply couldn't gather a lot of his strength, he'd felt the worst he'd felt in his whole life. He didn't like that feeling, which meant he would have to stick with being the support in the background. 

As much as he disliked that. 

Aaron had been having to do that more often recently, ever since citizens had started dying. Two weeks had passed since the first killing, and now thirteen more people were dead. The killer was slowly picking off the guards, but three days ago they had moved on to innocent citizens - parents, siblings, elderly. Because so many people had already died, Ruby and Marcus had a lot more piled on their already full plates, causing them much more stress. No one had been able to figure out how to capture this murderer, even the guardian Shintaro. 

Since then, Aaron had been drawing nearer to his daughter, keeping her close so that if she ever needed comfort, she knew he was there. He admitted that he wasn't the greatest father there was - he was almost always in bed, and even before his illness, he had hardly had time to be with his princess because of the double responsibilities he'd had to take on after his wife's death.

Aaron would never forget the night he'd found out his wife had been killed. 

He remembered falling asleep that night with Lucy folded against his chest, her even breathing synchronizing with his. The next thing he knew, Lucy's younger brother, Prince Titan (Aaron had married into the royal family), was slamming open the door in total disarray. Aaron and Lucy's two year old daughter, Princess Ruby, was squealing in his arms with tears streaming down her face. Titan himself looked exhausted but energized, his green eyes wide and alert. Aaron remembered him crossing the room with four limping steps, urging Aaron to wake up hurriedly. 

"Wh-What?" Aaron spluttered, struggling to sit up and comprehend what in the world was going on. "What happened?" he asked, trying to blink away the sluggishness of sleep. "What are you doing in my room? Where's Lucy?" After a pause, Aaron began to grow more frantic. "Titan, what happened?" 

"Get up," Titan ordered breathlessly, his voice strained and laced with pain. 

Aaron smothered a yawn and threw the blankets away from his legs, a moment later standing up and rolling his shoulders. "What made you think to take Ruby in my room in the middle of the night?" he asked Titan, smoothing down his nightshirt. 

"Mommy," Ruby whispered through her tears, her fingers clutching Titan's hand. 

"Aaron-" Titan tried, and Aaron again noticed the pain behind his tone. 

"Are you all right?" the king asked Titan, narrowing his eyes and looking his brother-in-law up and down. His eyes caught on a dark patch just above Titan's left hip, one that was gradually getting larger. Because it was still dark in the room, it was hard to tell what it was - but Aaron grew nervous anyway.