Ok, so this is just a small character study I wrote last week. It's a translation of my Polish story, so please tell me if you see any mistakes, I will be glad to correct them.
Trust
If there was something that saved Athos form going insane and ending in a gutter as a victim of robbery, when he was too drunk to make home on his own, that thing was the musketeer regiment. Olivier de la Fere might not have wanted to call himself a Comte, but he was still a son of nobility and an honorable man. Some things were not so easily erased. And this meant that when he started something, he made all he could to fulfill his obligations.
This is why his affiliation to the musketeers was so important. Because Athos was a good swordsman, and due to his education, also not such a bad strategist, he soon became popular and admired among other soldiers, and he was an unspoken leader among his friends.
Along with trust came the feeling of responsibility. Maybe Athos still sought comfort and oblivion in wine, but he had a good reason to pull himself out of the bed in the morning, dress and sober up, because his duties were waiting for him. The work as a soldier, frequently meaning that he spent all day in his saddle outside Paris, tired him enough to get a descent night of sleep without a necessary glass of wine.
Anyway, Athos never drank when he was on a mission, and when he had an evening for himself, there was always something or someone who stopped him from drinking that last glass, that would make it impossible to present himself in the garrison the next morning, should the reason occurred. And in this service, one never knew. Athos had something to do, he had a purpose and two friends ready to follow him to hell if necessary. Maybe he didn't laugh out loud, but there was often a melancholic smile or a sarcastic smirk on his face, and that was something.
It worked for almost three years. The three served together, each of them bringing something different into their small company, learning from each other and supporting, if needed. Athos got two friends, maybe sometimes too optimistic and careless. He knew them well enough to know that sometimes problems from the past were hidden under Porthos' genuine smile and Aramis' poetic mumbling, just like he kept his own behind a glass of wine, so as the older and more serious one, he involuntarily became some sort of mentor, leader, protector. He never really spoke about it, and his friends never questioned his informal leadership.
And then it turned up that sometimes three of them wasn't enough.
If you meet someone when he suddenly challenges you to a duel, without any reason you might accustom, when he forces you to fight not as a pleasure, but for your life, and when after that the same person makes everything he can to save your life - you don't just go away without a word and forget.
Athos had experienced enough in his life, so he saw quite a lot in the young d'Artagnan. A boy from the province, losing his way in the labyrinth of the streets of Paris, hiding his insecurity behind thin layer of arrogance. A kid, barely grown, with a head full of dreams about the great city and soldier career. A son, blinded after his father's death, a madman attacking three older and more experienced soldiers. And a surprisingly promising swordsman, though letting his heart rule his head too much.
Hatred and friendship are equally strong feelings, and d'Artagnan was enough honest and sensible young man to admit his mistake concerning Athos and not to be ashamed of that. He almost literally bumped into the three friends and as it was, he stayed, determined to fulfill his dream of joining the musketeers. In this company, it was hard not to like him, and soon the three friends changed into four.
Each of them had his own mysteries and burdens from the past, d'Artagnan being no exception, though he was a decade younger. More than once Athos watched him and saw himself from the time when he was at the boy's age. He saw the potential and talent, honesty and loyalty - the features of a promising soldier, even a musketeer maybe.
Sometimes watching d'Artagnan was almost painful. Athos observed the young man, buying people with his friendliness and smile, and annoying with his pride, and he saw his dead brother. Thomas, young and bright, the victim of the woman Athos loved to death, who should be dead, and who came back like a bad penny. Without them, and Athos tried to convince himself that it was without Thomas, not Anne, his family home was just grim, empty rooms, furniture under thick curtains and shut windows. It was impossible to live alone in these walls, which should be full of a child's laughter and merry music of parties, but which were only a witness of the Comte's drunk illusions, before he fled.
Until they burned. Athos would have shared the faith of all these furniture and paintings, had it not been for the young and stubborn Gascon boy, who didn't obey his orders and returned, when Athos didn't join them on the road. Drunk and broken, the Comte told his young friend about his wife, his brother and what he had had to do to obey the law. For the first time in five years he said more than he could choke out on a confession, more than Porthos and Aramis had ever heard. And he told that this kid, who was partly a younger brother to him, partly a protégée. Balancing at the edge of reality and drunken dreams, Athos almost called him Thomas.
Despite his fears, d'Artagnan didn't condemn him or try to judge him. He accepted the explanation, when they watched the burning building, and then he just dragged Athos to the inn in the village, kept him away from wine and made him sleep in the first empty bed. Next morning he didn't ask about anything, though he must have had many questions, and when Athos asked for his discretion, the boy just nodded and promised not to tell a word to their friends. This seemingly small gesture from him meant a lot to Athos. The young man trusted and admired him, despite the fact that he witnessed Athos' not the most grateful moments and he heard the truth.
Athos was willing to work hard to be worth this trust. And that was always a good start.