Authors note: This is from an idea by 'criminally charged'. I hope it fits with what you were thinking. There will be d'Artagnan whump and Aramis whump/angst.

Prologue

The small rural house was old and dusty d'Artagnan had been unsure about climbing the rickety steps. He was sure one or two were rotten, we would not have been surprised to have put his foot through the wood.

They knew Robert was there somewhere, the wiry young man had evaded them for several hours, but fortunately, Aramis had spotted him slipping into the old house a few minutes before.

As d'Artagnan reached the top of the stairs he turned into the first room, it was empty apart from dust motes floating about lit by the sunlight streaming through the unshuttered window.

A creek from the ground floor told d'Artagnan that Aramis was still performing his own search and had not found their quarry either.

D'Artagnan continued into the next room, he pushed the wooden door open and stepped in. A quick scan of the dim room found nothing of interest. The window opened onto an old tree whose branches almost touched the walls of the house. Sighing the cadet crossed the room. He guessed that Robert could have made his escape via the tree after climbing out of the window.

He peered out, but there was no sign of the skinny man. As he was about to turn he found himself grabbed and spun around. The move so quick he could not react. He caught sight of a thin blade in the man's hand. The blade was thrust forward. D'Artagnan closed his eyes. He felt a pull on his doublet, he opened his eyes to find the dagger had been pushed through the arm of his doublet, only catching the leather, into the wood of the window frame behind him.

Robert punched d'Artagnan before he could regain his composure, the stunned man could do nothing as his weapons were pulled from their sheaths and clips. As his vision cleared he saw Robert take a couple of steps back, raising d'Artagnan's own gun as he did so, aiming the weapons squarely at his chest.

Aramis appeared behind the fugitive rushing into the room and knocking the man who fired the gun. The shot going wide, burying itself into the wall harmlessly but close enough for d'Artagnan to flinch away.

The two men were quickly engaged in a fight. D'Artagnan turned his attention to the dagger which was pinning him to the wall. He could not believe he had been caught so easily. If they got out of this unscathed d'Artagnan knew Aramis would take great delight in telling Athos and Porthos what had happened. Athos would be disappointed and Porthos would find the incident hilarious and would probably remind him of it frequently for weeks to come.

D'Artagnan grabbed the handle of the blade and tried to pull it out, the blade had been buried deep in the wood. The house was not prepared to give up the blade and consequently d'Artagnan easily.

He glanced back at the fighting men. Despite being slighter than Aramis, Robert was giving the marksman a hard time. Aramis was already bleeding from a cut to his cheek and had a blossoming bruise to accompany the injury.

The marksman was being forced to move around by the wiry man. Aramis had managed to push the man back a few times and swung some punches of his own, but Robert did not appear to be tiring. Unlike Aramis, who was visibly suffering in the fight. Aramis was not being given the chance to pull his gun and could not risk using his sword on the man, they wanted him alive and uninjured if they could manage it.

They had been pursuing Robert for several days, Athos and Porthos were following a separate lead, they were not due to meet up again until the following day. None of them had slept well, d'Artagnan was not surprised Aramis was struggling.

D'Artagnan continued to pull at the dagger keeping him against the wall, he was moving it back and forth in an attempt to loosen the weapon.

Robert kicked out at Aramis causing him to stumble back a few paces and knock into the wall beside d'Artagnan. He pushed himself back toward Robert who took a step to the side and grabbed Aramis' arm to knock him off balance. Aramis was forced to take another step. Robert swung himself around wrapping his arm around the marksman's neck. Aramis reached for the arm and pulled at him. Robert proved to be strong enough to keep hold of Aramis.

D'Artagnan watched as Aramis stumbled backwards, pushing the man into the wall behind him. Robert did not loosen his grip, Aramis was losing the battle. His friend was clearly unable to take a proper breath with Robert's arm wound tightly around his neck. D'Artagnan pulled at the dagger in his sleeve with renewed vigour.

Aramis continued to scrabble at the arm around his neck as he pushed Robert back into the wall a second time.

Both men stopped moving. An eerie silence descended on the room.

D'Artagnan paused in his attempts to free himself, watching Aramis. The marksman looked confused. Something had happened but neither of them knew what.

Slowly both men sank to the floor, remaining still.

D'Artagnan stared at the two bloody holes in the back of Roberts doublet. He looked up at the wall and saw the reason for the injuries. Two rusty hooks protruded from the wall. The force with which Aramis had pushed himself and Robert back causing the hooks to penetrate the attackers back, the left hook probably hitting the man's heart. Robert was dead.

Aramis had not moved from his position sprawled on the floor, but he was breathing now that the pressure around his neck had been removed. The marksman was taken short gasping breaths.

With another tug, d'Artagnan yanked the dagger from the wall, he threw the blade down and moved to the side of the fallen men. He pushed Robert's lanky body off his friend. Then gently turned Aramis over.

The marksman looked unfocused, his breathing was ragged. D'Artagnan pulled him up to sit, leaning the panting man slightly against his chest, unsure that he would be able to support himself.

They stayed that way for a few minutes until Aramis' breathing, although still laboured, had settled down.

'Can you get up?' asked d'Artagnan.

When Aramis did not respond d'Artagnan pushed the man away from him slightly so that he could look him in the eyes. Aramis leaned forward and began to look for signs of life on the body lying next to them.

'He's dead, Aramis...he couldn't have survived that,' d'Artagnan tried to pull Aramis away from Robert.

When Aramis spoke, his voice was quiet and croaky, 'I didn't mean to kill him…'

'Shh...save your voice. It was an accident...he was trying to kill you.'

'I should have been able to overpower him.'

D'Artagnan could tell he would not be able to reason with his friend. He wished Athos or Porthos were there, they would have known what to say. D'Artagnan had not known them for long enough to know the right words to bring his new friend around.

It took a while for d'Artagnan to persuade Aramis to leave the body. They slowly descended the stairs, d'Artagnan was not convinced Aramis was alright to be walking on his own, he was still struggling to breathe properly and was visibly shaking.

'We'll meet the others and arrange to get the body removed,' he said as they reached the horses.

Aramis managed a nod as he mounted up. D'Artagnan hated to see his friend so melancholy, but he was sure that there would no doubt be other times when they found themselves dealing with the aftermath of an unfortunate fight.

D'Artagnan knew it had been kill or be killed for Aramis, he wondered how long it would take Aramis to see it the same way.

MMMM