Disclaimer: The Musketeers are not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.
Spoilers: 1.01 Friends and Enemies
A/N: Just after he kills Gaudet, d'Artagnan gets this look on his face, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. A "missing" scene for a very short span of time within the episode…
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"Athos's life is at stake." – Aramis to M. and Mme. Bonacieux, 1.01 Friends and Enemies.
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D'Artagnan hears Aramis's warning and has no time to think of the consequences before his blade is sinking into Gaudet's gut.
His father's murderer is lying dead on the ground in front of him and he doesn't really know what to think or feel.
He should feel relief or satisfaction or even elation at the fact that the man who has impacted his life in such a profound way is dead, but he doesn't. In truth, he doesn't really feel much of anything at all; it's as if he's gone numb.
The only thing he knows for certain is that his father can now rest in peace. When he had set out on his mission of vengeance, he was very much aware of the fact that the late Alexandre d'Artagnan would never have condoned his son's actions. There would have been no gratitude or congratulations from that quarter if he had succeeded in getting his revenge.
In letting Gaudet go so that justice could be done, he's managed to free himself from the stain of murderous revenge. The Red Guard's attempt to murder him transformed the act of killing from revenge to self-defense. He no longer felt his father's tacit disapproval or shame over of the path his life had taken in the last couple of days.
Perhaps now he could at last let himself mourn the death of his father.
That's when the consequences of his actions finally hit him and the numbness evaporates.
Aramis's warning may have saved his life, but in in killing Gaudet, he's condemning an innocent man to death at dawn. His father's murderer is dead, but at what price?
Regret and guilt begin to overwhelm him; Athos is going to die and it will be all his fault.
Aramis had said that Gaudet was needed to prove Athos's innocence and remove the tarnish upon the Musketeers' good name. But he had not thought and simply reacted to the threat thus sealing the fate of the greatest swordsman he'd ever seen and had been up against.
Then salvation comes with the sound of a whistle. Porthos has found the missing uniforms and Aramis believes that they and Dujon's confession will be enough to set Athos free.
He hopes to God that it will be so. His father's death and all he's been through recently cannot have been for nothing.
Perhaps he was meant to help save Athos.
Perhaps his life was destined to go in a new direction.
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The end.
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A/N: The Musketeers recently premiered here in the U.S. – yay! I thought the first episode was a lot of fun even though I know that BBC America cut bits out for time (you'll let me know if I mucked anything up because of that, right?). The best thing about the show is that it's helped to inspire my muse, which I was beginning to think that real life had permanently damaged.
Edited (7/16/14): A quote from the episode was added to the beginning so that this tag would better conform to my others.
No beta, so all mistakes are mine.
Thanks for reading!