Athos cannot help but wince when he sees the scar.
Athos cannot help but wince when he sees the scar.
When d'Artagnan first arrived to Paris, he only had one scar. It was a thin line that ran from his knee down to just above his ankle. When queried about it, d'Artagnan had said it was from an accident when he was only a young child. He had been running too fast, not looking where he was going when he fell over a rock which caused the large gash. It was old and it held no haunting memories.
Since joining the Musketeers, d'Artagnan now had three. This in itself wasn't uncommon for in their line of duty it was rare if you were unmarked, however there was one scar that Athos couldn't stand the sight of, one that he flinched at the first time he saw. It was his scar. The one his hand created.
The white line ran along d'Artagnan's left hip and Athos saw it every time the boy raised an arm, every time he changed, every time the guilt of his actions threatened to consume him.
He wasn't supposed to have it. The bullet was merely meant to graze d'Artagnan; it was only to look like he had been hurt worse. Except Athos had been careless. He mistimed the shot and instead merely leaving a graze; the bullet punctured through the skin and left a deep slit in its wake. It was his fault that the blood that pooled around d'Artagnan was larger than it should have been. And it was his fault that Aramis had been forced to sneak in d'Artagnan's room to tend to him, compromising their plan. Initially they were to only pretend a physician had come to see him. Because of him they actually needed one.
D'Artagnan never blamed him though. When Athos apologised after the whole fiasco was over he had just shrugged and said it was part of the job. That he knew the risks and he was fine now, no harm done. He said it was pure misfortune it happened or maybe even his own fault for being in the wrong position. Athos had been quick to dismiss that notion. D'Artagnan was not at fault. He was.
Athos himself has many scars, but none had hurt worse than seeing the one he inflicted on d'Artagnan.