Hey Guys!
So I kind of just wanted to add a little disclaimer: I am not an experienced writer, I'm really just doing this for fun and thought I would share my ideas with you all for your enjoyment. Please forgive me if I have overlooked any details or have gotten anything wrong. Also, I made it so that Athos, Porthos and D'Artagnan already know about Aramis and the Queen. It's just kind of the way I wanted it to go in my story. Thank you all so much for reading! It really means the world to me! Please leave a review if you liked it! Enjoy and God bless!
"Porthos, is that your fourth chicken breast?" D'artagnan teased. He clapped the bigger man on the back as they sat at the dining table at the Garrison.
"Don't tease D'artagnan, Porthos is a growing boy. He needs to keep up his strength if he wants to be a Musketeer when he grows up," Aramis jested, joining them at the table.
Porthos shot him a glaring look. "That's all right coming from the smallest man in the company. Even the new cadet, Brujon makes you look like a child." Porthos ruffled Aramis' hair.
"So that settles it then, you are both children," D'artagnan said smugly. "Now, are you going to share some of that Porthos? Or am I going to have to get the cook to come out here and yell at you again?"
"Serge!" Aramis yelled. Porthos jumped over the table to put his hand over his mouth. D'artagnan took this opportunity to steal Porthos' plate.
"Ay! D'artagnan come back here!" Porthos chased him around the Garrison as D'artagnan threw Aramis a wing.
"Gentlemen!" Captain Treville shouted as he rode in on his horse. He looked tired and worn. "Get Athos and meet me in my office." The stress in his voice quickly changed the mood of the whole Garrison. The three Musketeers stopped in their tracks and looked at each other in confusion. The Captain's tone was disconcerting. Athos stepped out of his quarters at that moment and looked at the other three.
When they reached Treville's office, the Captain was taking off his riding jacket. He was getting increasingly frustrated at one of the buckles that was not coming undone. The four Musketeers looked at each other with puzzling looks on their faces.
"Captain…" Athos piped up.
Treville just snapped the buckle and threw his jacket on the ground. "I just came out of a meeting with Rochefort. He said that yesterday, you four started a fight with the Red Guard?"
Athos took a step forward, "That could not be further from the truth…"
"Athos, please, I know the four of you better than you give me credit for. Of course I know this isn't true. That's not what concerned me. Rochefort claims that the King has given him orders to hold one of you personally accountable for things like this should they occur again in the future."
When a look of confusion passed between the four, Treville explained, "I don't know much about Rochefort, but what I do know is that he spent a considerable amount of time being tortured as a prisoner in Spain. His mind is twisted from his experiences and that is what concerns me. What he means by holding one of you 'personally accountable' in the future, i do not know. But what I do know is that it is not good and I would not test him. From now on, you four are to be extremely careful when going about on missions and in going about your daily lives. He is out to get us and has been since day one."
After a moment of silence passed between all five of them, Athos spoke up again, "We will be, Captain. Rochefort will not control us."
"Ah, but I fear he has a hold on the king, and his influence runs deeper than we know. Please be careful until we know what we are truly dealing with here."
Rochefort stared out the second-story window. There the Queen was taking a stroll, carrying her son amongst the lavish gardens and fountains at Versailles. He admired her for her extreme beauty, but also for her strong character, her gentle understanding, her integral intelligence. He has lusted after her for years. He was tired of waiting and now that he has won favor with the king, he is right where he needs to be. The time to strike was closing in and she would love him and they would be happy for the rest of their lives. The King he could deal with. She was never attracted to him as a lover, even now in their marriage it is a well known fact that they do not love each other as husband and wife should. No, Louis was no threat. It was that Musketeer, the one that ladies swooned after. He was the real enemy and he needed to be broken. The Queen would soon come to realize how silly it was to love a lowly Musketeer once she fell at Rochefort's feet, looking for comfort when Aramis was destroyed. Yes, she would come to him for comfort. For solace… for love.
The first step to destroying him was already in place after he convinced the King to sign the notice, handing over sole responsibility of punishing the Musketeers to him. The King was foolish enough to believe that the punishments in question would hardly be punishments at all. What Rochefort had in mind was much darker, much more intense than he let the King believe.
"I have it." A voice woke him from his reverie. Marguerite, the Dauphin's nanny approached slowly. She reached into her pocket and presented Rochefort a necklace with trembling hand. It had a golden crucifix as the centerpiece. Rochefort took the necklace and pondered it closely. Examining every jewel and turning it over and over in his fingers, he closed his eyes and clenched it in his fist. This confirmed his fear that the Queen and Aramis were lovers. This necklace that had been around the neck of that Musketeer was first Rochefort's birthday present to the Queen when they knew each other when they were younger. He would know that Crucifix anywhere.
"Good. Now run back to your post before anyone notices you are gone." As Marguerite left him, he pondered in his mind how badly he wanted to kill Aramis. How good it would feel to have his blood flowing at his feet as he took the Queen to be his forever. He needed his end to be slow, painful, excruciating. The longer it took, the more satisfaction he would get out of it.
He turned the corner to retreat to his chambers, when he ran into the Queen. He bowed, "Your Majesty."
The Queen looked at him and smiled, "Good evening, Rochefort. How are you today?"
Rochefort replied, "I am doing well, but you must excuse me. I have some… business to attend to." With that, he went down the stairs, excited to plan out the days ahead to work out for his benefit.
The Queen noticed something shine in Rochefort's hand. It couldn't be…
Suddenly an overwhelmingly bad feeling came over her. She was not a fan of Rochefort ever since he made his escape and began taking up residence at the palace as Minister. There was something about him that made her uncomfortable. But this… this confirmed her suspicions that he was up to something. She had to send to word to Aramis and fast.
Back at the Garrison the four Musketeers were puzzled over the words of their Captain.
"What was he talking about?" D'artagnan asked.
"We've been mulling over this question for days and we still have no answer. I say let's just get on with our lives. Why should we be afraid of Rochefort?"
"Rochefort is the First Minister of France. He has more power than any of us and we should fear the influence that he has with the King," Athos answered. "We should get on with our lives as Porthos has suggested, but we cannot act in defiance of his warning. Plus, I'm sure that I'm the one he meant when he said 'one of us' would be held responsible."
"And how do you know that?" Aramis asked, coming to join the other three around the fire out in the courtyard. He was holding a letter in his hand.
Athos answered, "I know because I am the oldest and have captained all of our missions together. I am usually the one who takes the fall for failed missions anyway. I'm not afraid of him and therefore have no fear in my heart about what these punishments will be."
"Who's the letter from, Aramis? A lady friend?" D'artagnan laughed.
Quickly folding the letter up, Aramis answered, "Of course not. You know I'm a changed man."
Porthos smiled, "Sure buddy." The four of them laughed but it was quickly interrupted when they heard a shout just outside the Garrison entrance.
Running out to see what it was, the four Musketeers discovered a wagon of prisoners escorted by the Red Guard being overrun by commoners. They ran in to help the Red Guard by pushing the commoners away. Then Athos spied a man running towards the cart with a bundle of dynamite. Athos was too far away to stop the man, but he saw D'artagnan with his pistol.
"D'artagnan! Shoot him!"
D'artagnan saw the man that Athos was referring to and aimed his pistol at the man. He shot but missed his target by an inch. The man continued to run. D'artagnan had no other choice but to run after the man and try to cut him off before he got to the wagon. D'artagnan stood in his way, but the man plowed over D'artagnan so hard he saw stars as his head connected with the ground below him. An explosion destroyed the wagon and the surrounding food carts and merchant stands. The prisoners all jumped out and ran in all different directions.
Aramis and Porthos tried their best to run after the prisoners but to no avail. They returned to the wagon and found all but one Red Guard dead. The surviving guard shouted, "You Musketeers are useless! The Minister will hear of this!"
Athos went over to help D'artagnan off the ground. "Athos… I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop him."
"This was no accident. This was a planned attack," Porthos cut in, observing what was left of the dynamite. There was no way commoners would be able to get their hands on dynamite, it was very expensive and very hard to come by, especially in Parisian economy.
"Someone planned this for them, and gave them the means to do so. I've never seen ordinary commoners revolt to rescue prisoners like this before," Aramis said. "It's not like there was anybody important in there. Just a bunch of lowly thieves and drunkards."
"I don't think they cared about freeing the prisoners. Whoever did this was trying to make us look bad; To make us fail." Athos said with an air of mystery.
They stayed to clean up the remains of the wagon and to get things under control.
Upon returning to the Garrison, Treville was there to greet them. Holding a letter, he said in a low voice, "Rochefort wants to see you."
They looked at each other and with a wordless decision, mounted their horses and rode to the palace at Versailles.
The Musketeers were received in the Great Hall where Rochefort and about thirty Red Guard were waiting.
"I'm glad you could make it Musketeers," Rochefort announced.
"Oh get on with it Rochefort," Porthos quipped.
Rochefort glared at Porthos and continued, "The King signed a decree a few days ago, allowing me the power to overlook all punishment regarding the Musketeers whenever they fail their missions. Looking back over the past few weeks, you have failed in your missions too often and it reflects badly on the King. So, I have taken the liberty to inspire you all to do better in the future. Maybe we can all learn from our mistakes and move on."
"And what gives you the power to admonish us?" D'artagnan asked.
"As Minister of France, I am the King's right-hand man. It was the King's decision, not mine."
"How can you blame the prisoner revolt on us? It wasn't even our mission! You're lucky we were there, or it would have been much worse!" Athos shouted. He was getting tired of these games.
"Athos, you of all people should know that all actions have consequences. There were very bad consequences that resulted from the prisoners revolting and someone must pay for it."
Athos, knowing he wasn't going to win this verbal argument, kept silent. He knew that Rochefort was going to punish him personally for this. It was no secret that the two of them butted heads more than anyone. He prepared himself in anticipation of what was to come.
"Bring me… Aramis," Rochefort commanded.