A/N all I can say is I am so sorry for this chapter and those to follow! This was not easy to write. Please keep your thoughts coming.

Chapter 5

For a few brief seconds the world seemed to stop. Then as if shaken out of a trance, Aramis pulled away from Athos's grip, racing the last few feet to his home. He flew through the door, the cries leading him to the kitchen where he froze at the scene that greeted him. Constance was sat on the floor, Marie cradled in her arms. Aramis's eyes fell on the blood that was quickly staining her dress.

"I am sorry Aramis she stepped in front of me to stop it hitting me!" Constance sobbed. Aramis didn't say anything. Instead he fell by her side taking his wife in his arms.

"Marie, my love, open your eyes," he pleaded. To his relief she opened them, looking up at him.

Athos knelt down across Aramis, a horrified look etched on his face. But Aramis had eyes only for his wife. He reached for her hand, cradling her face in his palm.

She smiled. "I am sorry love. He said it was a message for you all..." she rasped her breathing becoming shallower.

"It's okay. Don't speak. You are going to be okay," Aramis soothed placing his hand over her wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He looked at his brother in law, anguish making his voice raw, "Athos, God, Athos, do something!"

Athos nodded, grasping Aramis's shoulder. "The physician has been sent for," he said. He looked at his sister, trying not to panic at how quickly she was losing blood. She had been shot in the chest, and her breathes were becoming more and more labored. "Just hold on darling, it's going to be okay."

Marie shook her head, and squeezed Aramis' hand. "It's okay love, it's okay. Take care of Thomas, tell him… tell him that mama will always love him."

Aramis' eyes were overflowing now, he shook his head. "You're going to be okay, and then you'll tell him yourself."

Marie took a deep breathe, coughing up blood. Her eyes burnt furiously though as she tried to talk, "No… No, Aramis, listen to me! I don't have long," her eyes sought out Athos, and the older man was surprised at not seeing any fear in them. Sadness and pain yes, but not fear. Athos could not have been more proud of his sister, even as he felt like it was him who had been shot. She looked at him silently beseeching him, and Athos understood. The two of them never had needed many words.

Marie smiled at her brother, "You have to promise me that the two of you will be okay." Athos returned the smile for what it was worth, nodding silently, as tears fell from his eyes.

Aramis sobbed, clutching his wife hard and pulling her near, "Please, god, please, please don't do this."

Marie had tears streaming down her eyes too, as she gasped for breath, "I love you, darling. We will…. We will be together again, I swear."

"I… I love you too," Aramis whispered, just as Marie's eyes closed. Her body went limp in his arms, as the last bit of life left her.

"No Marie wake up. Please. Please darling you can't leave me. You can't. Please, oh god, please. Come on I beg of you wake up. Don't leave me!" he pleaded, pulling her body closer to him. "I love you so much please don't leave me."

Athos sat there watching, watching as his sister lost the fight and took her last breath, watching as his best friend's world came crashing down around him.

"D'Artagnan, take Constance back to the garrison and inform the captain of what has happened." he finally spoke, his voice coming out shaky as he fought back his emotions. D'Artagnan just nodded before leaving. Athos continued to watch Aramis. The musketeer was sat rocking back and forth, still begging Marie to wake up. Taking a deep breath he reached out to him.

"It's okay the physician will be here soon. Don't worry Athos, she will be fine," the man whispered resolutely and Athos felt his heart break.

"Aramis… Aramis, brother, she is gone. I am so sorry." Athos told him gently, Aramis's brown eyes glared up at him.

"Don't say that! How can you say that? She wouldn't leave me!" he hissed, Athos started to reply when Porthos arrived followed by the physician and another man. Athos knew they had already feared the worse, their trained eyes had known there was no way Marie would have survived that shot.

"Aramis please she is gone. She isn't going to wake up. Brother, I am so sorry," Athos said wrapping an arm around Aramis's shoulder his other hand gently prising Aramis's hands off his wife's body, Porthos knelt down on his other side helping Athos.

"No she wouldn't leave me she wouldn't leave us!" Aramis muttered over and over.

"Take her please," Porthos said to the two men stood by him.

"My deepest sympathy gentlemen," the physician said sadly before they left with Marie's body.

"No, no! Why are they taking her?" Aramis cried, looking up at Athos. Athos said nothing as he watched realization fill Aramis's eyes as his whole body started trembling. He fell against Athos, tears falling heavily, the understanding that he would never see his wife again unleashing a torrent of tears.

Athos held him tight as he felt the musketeer's entire frame tremble as the sobs racked through him.

"I am so, so sorry Aramis," Athos said, knowing his words weren't being heard. Not really. He himself felt numb.

By the time Treville arrived at the house Aramis was sat silently on a chair, his hands and clothes still covered in his wife's blood.

"Athos I am so sorry," Treville said greeting the two men. Athos just shook his head, his eyes not leaving Aramis.

"Let's get him back to the garrison. Get him cleaned up, I will get the physician to give him something that will let him sleep tonight," the captain suggested. Porthos nodded going to his best friend and kneeling down in front of him.

"Aramis. You need to come with us. Let's go back to the garrison. Get you cleaned up," Porthos told him gently, feeling him tremble under his touch. Aramis didn't respond, instead he continued to stare blankly at the floor.

"Aramis please," Porthos begged him, hating the silence. Sighing the big man got up, and easily and carefully pulled Aramis up allowing the smaller man to lean against him as he led him out his home. Athos and Treville following them silently.

Athos wiped at his eyes surreptitiously, straightening his shoulders. The grief at having lost the last of his family, his little sister, was threatening to crush him, but he fought it off. He would grieve for his sister alone, later. Right at that moment the broken man needed his attention. He knew all too well what it felt like to have all that you love snatched away in a single instance, to have the world as you know it crash down around you

He wouldn't let Aramis go through this alone, he vowed. He had a promise to keep.