Athos didn't know when he closed his eyes or what woke him but when he opened his eyes, he was staring at two children, sitting at the table with the book he found in the cellar open and quills in hand. A little boy and little girl lifted their heads from the book and smiled before going back to what they were doing in the book before sliding the book over to him. He took it, his eyes never leaving the children, and opened the book passed the second page and looked down to see a new drawing. There on the page was a person lying on a bed, black scribbles coming from its shoulder. Turning the next page he saw another picture of the same person standing in front of a smaller bed with a person laying down, arms raised above his head with what looked like a scythe. Face going pale with realization he frantically went to the next page to see the same person with the scythe but this time it was a bigger bed with a person lying down. Turning the page once more he saw the drawing was now a kitchen, a person sleeping at the table and the person from the previous pages stood behind him, scythe raised above his head.
He raised his hands to mouth, now fully understanding but before he got up from the chair, the children shook their heads and pointed to the book. They wanted him to finish. Frantically turning the page he saw the cellar they were in a few moments ago, and three bodies lay on the ground in a hole and the person with the scythe now had a knife to it's wrist and what looked like blood dripped down.
BOOM!
Athos's body jerk with the sound of what sounded like a cannon ball hit the house and looked around the kitchen for the cause. Lightning lit the darken room and he turned to look across the table, expecting to see the children, but there was no one there. Rubbing his face with his hands, he stared down at the book and with shaking hands he opened it. The first two pages he knew and turned to the third, blood draining from his face at the drawing he's seen before. Hearing footsteps on the stairs he shot out of the chair, knocking it over, and stopped in the doorway when he saw the front door wide-open, rain hitting the porch and footprints leading from the door to the stairs. Darting up the stairs, taking two at a time, he checked the room d'Artagnan and Aramis were in but only saw Aramis sleeping on the bed. Where was d'Artagnan? Remembering the drawing he turned to the middle room and stopped when he saw d'Artagnan stand in front of the bed Porthos occupied, drenched and holding a scythe in both hands.
"d'Artagnan?" he whispered. He didn't want to startle the young man, not with the scythe in hand. He looked to the bed and noticed Porthos eyes wide open but not making a move or sound. Slowly taking a step forward and hands out he tried calling out again. "d'Artagnan? What are you doing?"
"This is not how I wanted to wake up," Porthos whispered, still not moving. He had heard the door opening and opened his eyes to see a soaking wet d'Artagnan walking into the room, scythe in hands. He was going to say something but then he saw Athos walking into the doorway and knew he was going to be okay. d'Artagnan, however, he wasn't sure. This was now starting to creep him out and truth be told, he wanted to leave the house now, storm and captains order be damn.
"Come on d'Artagnan. Give me the scythe," Athos said, stopping just arms length away from d'Artagnan. "You do not want to do this." He could see d'Artagnan shaking with each clap of thunder and wondered how he was going to get that scythe out of his hands. He heard Porthos start to sit up slowly in bed but never took his eyes off d'Artagnan.
"So what's the plan?" Porthos asked.
"Not get killed." Athos took a breath and took a step closer so he could reach out and grab the scythe, his hand over d'Artagnan's and started to pull the scythe and then all hell broke lose. d'Artagnan let out a yell and turned his body to face him, bring the scythe across his body as he went. Athos released the scythe and stepped back just in time but he didn't have time to recover as d'Artagnan started swing the weapon back and fourth, determination on his face. He felt his back hit the wall and knew he was trapped. He watched as d'Artagnan slowly made his way towards him, raising the scythe above his head and brought it down. Closing his eyes, Athos hoped death was fast, but nothing happened. Opening his eyes, he was met with the sight of both Aramis and Porthos holding d'Artagnan back, scythe disregarded on the floor.
"If this is how he's going to act when he's sick, I suggest letting Captain Treville watch over him for now on," Porthos grunted, trying to grab one of d'Artagnan's flailing arms. With Aramis's help, he was able to get behind d'Artagnan and grabbed both of d'Artagnan's wrists in one hand and pushed them into the boy's chest while wrapping his other arm around to pin his arms as well.
"He's not sick," Athos said, collecting himself. He pushed off the wall but stepped to the side when d'Artagnan used Portho as a support and lifted his body up to kick his feet out. When d'Artagnan kicked out again he grabbed his legs and held them still.
"Bring him back to the main bedroom," Aramis said, walking in front of them. He blocked out the screams that came from his young friend and waited until his friends brought d'Artagnan into the bedroom and placed him on the bed.
"Check his wound," Athos grunted, trying to hold d'Artagnan's legs down.
With Athos holding d'Artagnan's legs and Porthos pinning d'Artagnan's wrists above his head, Aramis was able to get to the wound and pulled the shirt to the side. The stitches looked okay and there was no blood but then he got a closer look and saw that the veins had a tint of black in them. He quickly grabbed his bag off the floor and pulled out a knife before going back to the task at hand. Taking a deep breath, he cut the stitches and gasped when black blood oozed out instead of red.
"What the hell is that?" Porthos asked.
"Perhaps the reason why our young friend wanted to kill you," Athos said.
"Whatever it is, we need to get it out of him," Aramis said, setting the knife down and pushing on both sides of the bullet wound, trying to get as much of the black blood out.
"NO!"
Without warning, d'Artagnan pulled his arms down so hard that he shoved Porthos into Aramis, knocking both of them to the floor. Athos, who wasn't ready for that as well, lost his grip on d'Artagnan's legs and got a foot to the chest, sending him to the floor. Getting off the bed, d'Artagnan took off out of the room and down the stairs. He could still do this. Running out the front door he looked around until he spotted the shed and took off to find what he needed to finish the job.
"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Porthos asked, getting off the floor and helping Aramis up.
"Aramis, do you recall anything Captain Treville might have said about his friend?" Athos asked, standing up. "Anything about how he died that you might have neglected?"
"He slit his wrist," Aramis said.
Athos nodded and motioned for his friends to follow him to the kitchen. He prayed that everything he's seen in the book wasn't part of too much wine. They reached the kitchen and he picked the book up, opening it before sighing and handing it over to Aramis.
"Where did you find this?" Aramis asked, flipping through the pages.
"In the cellar. I came down here once you got d'Artagnan settle in after the whole sleepwalking and I guess I dozed off because when I opened my eyes, two children sat here drawing in the book."
Aramis nodded and stopped at the last page, the page with three bodies in a hole and a fourth standing above them with a knife to its wrist.
"This is messed up. Forget the orders, we're leaving tonight," Porthos said, slamming his hand on the table. He knew what those drawings meant. He knew who those three bodies were and who the fourth was. There was no way he was staying in a place that could cause harm to his brothers.
"First we have to find d'Artagnan," Athos said. He had a feeling he knew where to look so he took the lead but stopped by the open front door at their swords and pistols. Picking up his sword he never thought he would have to protect himself from one of his brothers. Walking into the rain he took off across the grass and looked between the shed and barn. d'Artagnan could be in any of the two.
"Due to d'Artagnan not in his right mind, might I suggest we don't split up," Aramis said, shouting over the rain and thunder.
Nodding, Athos walked to the barn first, sword out and ready to defend himself. Opening the door, he peered inside before stepping in, Aramis and Porthos behind him. Looking around, he didn't see any sign of d'Artagnan and even the horses seemed to be okay.
"I don't see him in here," Porthos said, pushing some hay to the side with his pistol.
"If he was in here, the horses might have gone crazy," Aramis said.
"Lets check the shed. Be ready for anything," Athos said, walking back out into the rain. He walked over to the shed, looking through a window and saw d'Artagnan standing in the middle of the shed. "He's here." Slowly walking around to the front and opened the door.
"How come you don't want me to see my father?" d'Artagnan asked, when the three Musketeers walked in. He just stood in the middle of the shed, eyes black as ink and unseeing.
"It's not that we don't want you to see your father," Aramis explained, "it's just that we don't want you to se your father at the moment."
It seemed to not have been the answer d'Artagnan wanted to hear because the shed started to shake like the devil himself was angry. Lifting his right arm out, a shovel suddenly flew into his open hand and before anyone could blink, he hit Aramis in the side of the head, knocking him out.
"That's enough, d'Artagnan," Athos said, raising his sword.
"No. It's not enough. I'm going to make sure I see my father and you're going to help me."
Before Athos and Porthos could do anything the roof of the shed completely collapsed right on top of them. Athos lifted his head, fighting back the blackness that threatened to take over his vision but it was a losing battle. Just as his head hit the ground and his eyes closed, he saw d'Artagnan standing in front of Aramis with a demon like figure standing right behind him.