So this chapter I struggled with. I put Aramis in the catacombs and I couldn't figure out how I was getting him out. Tessinciucy and I went through all sorts of scenarios and in the end I am pretty sure I chose none of them haha. She kept encouraging me to keep trying and that it would come to me... and it did! obviously since you all will be reading it.

I hope you like it...

Also I am really glad everyone seems to like Thomas :) I didn't realize until after I wrote the whole thing that Thomas was the name of Athos' brother... oops.


Aramis sighed, he was alone in the catacombs and stuck down here until someone came to get him. He never could sit still for long, he was always the fidgeter, the mover, the nervous habit amongst his Inseparables. They'd always and forever be finding him things to do to distract him and it was only when they'd leave him to his own devices that trouble followed; which was why joining the Monastery as a Monk was irony in itself.

Father Michael and the brothers welcomed Aramis with open arms, and Aramis quickly learned to trust the man. He'd confessed to Father Michael of his treasonous deeds and had been assured forgiveness in the eyes of God, but that great sacrifices would need to be made on Aramis' part to ensure that forgiveness. He taught Aramis patience and how to slow down, and most importantly he helped Aramis understand why Athos had pushed him away.

Now, however, knowing his brothers were outside these walls, contemplating a deal with the devil all that nervous energy Aramis had learned to let go through prayer and patience was rearing his ugly head. He had managed to sit up again and his uninjured leg was bouncing up and down on the ground. His good hand had crept into his unruly mane and was tugging at the curls with increasing intensity.

He knew he needed to get to his room here at the Monastery as that was where he kept his weapons and his clothing. The monks robes he was wearing weren't going hold up in the upcoming confrontations, in fact, it was already ripped and torn in places that probably should be kept hidden from prying eyes. He looked down at the robe, considering it for a moment and remembering he had put on his small clothes underneath. Those would be much easier to move around in and made the quick decision to remove the tattered robe.

It was a painstakingly slow process and when he was done he was breathing heavily as pain lanced through every fiber of his being. He took another large gulp of the wine that the brothers had supplied earlier and braced himself on the bed. He needed to get this part over with before he put much thought into it and agonizingly pulled his injured knee over the side of the bed. He paused there giving himself a moment and glanced around the room he was hiding out in. It was a storage room containing several barrels which Aramis assumed held the Monastery's wine, there were candelabras and candles to go with them. There was a tall shelf along one wall that contained many cubby holes with rolled up pieces of parchment paper and several other items of in-consequence. Aramis was puzzled as to why there was a random bed in this room though and he wondered if it had once been occupied by someone else hiding out here.

He grabbed the nearest candelabra dragging it towards himself and grasping it firmly he used his good leg to push himself upwards using the long pole as support. You can do this! he thought, he managed to get himself into a full standing position and sighed happily leaning his forehead against the cool metal of the candle pole. The pain was racing up and down his leg and even his shoulder had joined the pain brigade, also his head felt like it was going to explode.

For the second time that day, Aramis heard the scraping of stone against stone and he looked around frantically trying to locate the source, afraid that the Spaniards had found him down here. He'd hoped that his hiding down here would go undiscovered a bit longer. He wanted to ensure that his fellow monks could get far enough away from the Monastery to be considered too inconvenient for them to retrieve.

He startled visibly nearly knocking himself to the ground when two ice blue eyes and a mop of the blondest hair he'd ever seen peered around the corner of the room's entrance. Aramis yelped none too quietly and he let go of the candle pole attempting to put some distance between him and the unknown young lady. Unfortunately, the candelabra was the only thing helping hold him upwards and he flailed his arms in near panic and hit the back of the bed with his calves.

"No no! Monsieur," She cried out, racing towards the monk and grabbing his elbow to steady him. "I'm not one of them! I am merely a kitchen worker, I promise."

Aramis didn't exactly trust her, but he sighed in relief of not falling back down to where he would not be getting up from in the near future. "Pleased to make your acquaintance Mademoiselle. May I ask how you came to find me down here?"

She looked down at her feet suddenly and nervously fiddled with her apron. "I've burnt the stew," she timidly said.

Aramis laughed humour dancing in his eyes, "You burnt the stew and chose to hide? how did you find your way down here?"

She looked up at him sharply trying to determine if he was mocking her with his laugh, but seemed to find no judgement and settled into his side wrapping an arm around his waist helping support his weight, "Quite by accident actually, I threw the ladle and it landed under the counter. I moved one of the cabinets hoping to retrieve it so that I didn't catch more trouble for losing a cooking instrument, and found a small passage in the back."

"This Monastery is full of surprises Mademoiselle? I am called Rene here," He responded.

"And outside these walls?" She asked. "I am called Bernadette in this place"

"Outside these walls I am a completely different person, one that should remain a mystery and one you shouldn't meet," He said. "Again, pleased to meet your acquaintance, Mademoiselle Bernadette"

"And I, yours Monsieur Rene," She responded dipping her head in an informal curtsey.

"Can you show me the way you came in Bernadette?" Aramis asked after a moment. "I must get out of this basement, it is not safe."

It was as though a light had been turned on in the girl eyes and she suddenly stood up straighter and stiffened. " You are the escaped prisoner!" She gasped. "They are very angry with you. They killed two of the guards that were supposed to be watching you."

Aramis smiled grimly and nodded, "I need to know that I can trust you, Bernadette, if you intend to turn me in then I will take measures to ensure that you will not reach them to reveal my position."

"This will get me killed for sure," She responded panic lacing her voice "The Monks are missing as well, Carlos is going to rip apart this Monastery and if he sees me with you, my life is forfeit!"

Aramis' face fell and he squeezed her shoulder with his good hand and implored her to look at him. "Bernadette I will do all that I can to ensure that does not happen, but I need out of here first. I've friends on the outside who will come with backup to recover the monastery and I need to be prepared to meet with them. I would appreciate your help, but understand if you must leave and hope that should you choose that route you would remain silent about this meeting and my whereabouts." They were still awkwardly hanging off of each other though it had shifted to Aramis supporting her weight and he was beginning to tremble with the exertion. "And who is Carlos?"

" My employer," She responded looking up at him puzzled, "He said he knew you?"

Aramis merely nodded thoughtfully, realizing that Tobias' brother now had a name and he wished that when the Captain had forced him to visit his dead brethren's families to relay the news, that he had paid more attention. Instead, he had been selfish and self-absorbed in his own grief and had missed out on offering condolences. Maybe his time at the monastery wasn't entirely complete he thought to himself as he realized he may have more to atone for than he had previously realized. Shaking the thoughts away, he focused once more on Bernadette who was still staring at him puzzlingly.

"Are you with me?" He asked and she nodded slowly. Her fingers tightened around his waist and she took on a large chunk of his weight as they began inching towards Bernadette's hidden entrance into the catacombs.


Porthos was going to kill Aramis, he was currently plotting the man's death by several different methods trying to determine which would offer him the most satisfaction. "What about if I strangle him until just before he fully stops breathing, let him recover and then do it all over again?" He asked no one in particular. Of course, since Athos and Brother Thomas were with him and he was speaking aloud he received two very angry glares from them. "What?! he was told to stay in one place and he can't even follow simple instructions, he's been gone 4 years and he's learned nothing."

"Porthos, please. Now is not the time." Athos pleaded. They were standing in the now empty room of the catacombs where the monks had left Aramis. It had been fairly easy to breach the walls of the Monastery and their way to the room where the Monks had left Aramis had so far gone unchallenged. Athos, of course, had been pleased because it meant that it was unlikely that his captors had found their friend. Athos could see the remnants of the supplies used to patch Aramis up and it made his stomach roil at the sheer amount of bandages he saw. He glanced at Porthos worryingly, noting that the larger Musketeer had the same concern for their friend.

Brother Thomas caught the worried exchange between the two Musketeers and put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Superficial wounds on his arms and head, my friends. They required no stitching and a few of the longer ones were easily bandaged. I admit myself quite surprised and more than a bit curious as to how he got out of here, however." The Monk bent and picked up a small puddle of black silk from the ground beside the bed and smiled holding it towards Captain. "These are his robes."

Porthos sighed in partial relief and snatched the robe from Athos' waiting hand. He held it up and growled softly seeing how blood stained and torn it was. "Still the idiot was told not to go anywhere and if you say his knee was dislocated he shouldn't have been able to move."

"Be that as it may," Said Athos. "Our wayward friend is no longer in this specific room and we have more pressing matters to attend to, one of which is retaking this Monastery. It will be a bit before d'Artagnan can make his way back here, so I suggest we come up with some plans on how to achieve that."

Athos watched as Brother Thomas quickly walked to the shelf with the cubbies and began rifling through the rolled up pieces of parchment paper. He glanced over to the Porthos who was suddenly standing quite rigid next to him, clenching Aramis' robes in his fists.

"Athos I am not comfortable with just leaving Aramis to his own devices down here. He's going to get himself into trouble again I know it." Porthos whispered furiously. "I want to go looking for him."

"What do you think he's been up to for these past four years?" Athos replied, slightly distracted by what Thomas was doing. "He's been on his own without us to protect him for long enough, that I am sure the man can take care of himself!" As Athos was speaking, he could see the anger light up in Porthos' eyes and his pleading face turn stony and angry.

Porthos growled threateningly at Athos and moved into the Captain's personal space, foreheads nearly touching. "He wouldn't be on his own if you hadn't of sent him away from us. We could have helped him come to terms with that child's death, but you never gave any one of us the chance. Now if you'll excuse me I will do a quick search of the nearest rooms for Aramis and don't try and stop me!" He huffed and turned swiftly from his commanding officer.

Athos grabbed Porthos' arm swiftly and pulled him back slightly. "You have no idea how hard it was to force him to leave and you need to know that I have not forgiven myself for the distance it has put between us. But I will not apologize for the actual act of sending him away." He said with no little amount of anger and anguish in his voice, "And YOU would do well to not try my patience as your Captain. Go and scout the rooms directly connected but do not Porthos, I repeat, do not go any further."

Porthos stiffened at Athos' words and paused for a moment taking in what his comrade had said and finally, shoulders slumping he nodded in agreement. He shook his arm loose from Athos' grip and stared at the man a moment longer before leaving the room in search for their sharpshooter.

"Well, that escalated far quicker than I had imagined it would." Athos sighed, speaking to no one in particular.

"Ah ha!" Brother Thomas cried suddenly, startling Athos who was still staring at the doorway where Porthos had left. "I found the Monastery's building plans!" He brought them over and laid them out on a nearby table. Athos followed a short moment later with a couple of candles in his hands that he placed on the table to keep the map flat.

"There are entrances here, here, here and here. Oh and here." Thomas said, rapidly pointing to five access points on the plans. "The last two are completely secret to anyone who does not have this map in their possession. The first two are well used by servants, worshippers and, of course, the monks in this Monastery. The other one is the doors leading to the chapel, but that is where they were keeping Rene so it will be the last place we would want to go."

"Or the best, because if you've removed Aramis from that room they will assume he won't go back to the place he was held captive." Athos responded and he could see Brother Thomas think about it for a moment before nodding in agreement. "How about access to the upper levels from down here? are those on the building plans?."

"Ahh yes, plenty, actually. More than I plan on showing you. A man has to keep some secrets safe." Thomas replied smiling.