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Athos' Memories
There was no time to register what had happened. Athos saw the bullet whiz through the air to hit Porthos. And then there was nothing.
The world seemed to be in black and white, the complex rainbow drained and compressed into one colour. The colour of blood.
The darkness conquered.
There was pain, nothing else.
For what seemed like days.
Everything was silent.
Occasionally the silence was interrupted by a slow thump like of a heartbeat. A dying heart beating in slow motion. His.
Then a pinpoint of light, shining. Not in front of his eyes, they remained closed and motionless, but in his head. It grew until it was everything and slowly the faces of his friends swan into view, calling out his name.
They told him what he wanted to hear.
He could sleep.
He didn't have to hold on any longer.
It was alright.
He could sleep.
He could just let go.
He had been holding on for so long, too long.
All the doors had closed, it was okay.
There was no other way now.
Then suddenly there was.
The doors had been flung open.
The eternal sleep no longer called so strongly.
Beyond that door his brothers waited.
He would go to them.
He opened his eyes.
D'Artagnan was the only one who saw but they all fell silent at once. They could sense the shift in the atmosphere. Athos' eyes fluttered closed almost as soon as they had opened and remained so for several minutes. No-one dared move, barely even dared to breathe. They opened again; he blinked a few times, squinting against the sudden flood of sunlight.
"Athos?" It was d'Artagnan who was first to speak.
"D'Artagnan? Where's Porthos, is he alright?"
No-one spoke. D'Artagnan could tell that they were all thinking the same thing. Athos' first words after waking up were asking after Porthos. Did he know how close he had come to death? How terrified they had all been?
"I'm fine Athos, we were all far more worried about you" D'Artagnan could tell that Porthos had to struggle to keep his voice even.
Athos sighed and his eyes closed again, they all cast worried glances at the doctor.
"He will be fine now, he just needs rest."
"More rest? He's been asleep for days!" D'Artagnan exclaimed.
"A coma isn't exactly the same as sleep.
"He really will be alright now d'Artagnan, we need to let him sleep."
"The injury itself was not overly severe, the is a good hope that it will not result in brain damage, although of course there is always that chance. I believe that he went into shock. Of course, you should wake him every few hours and he should have someone watching him. I have to return now, Xavier will be waiting."
"He really will be alright?" D'Artagnan questioned
He knew he would have to leave. He couldn't leave whilst Athos was still asleep. He didn't want him to wake up and find d'Artagnan gone.
"He'll be fine d'Artagnan" Aramis assured him.
D'Artagnan remained silent. He would have to leave tonight. He couldn't risk Xavier carrying out his threat.
"Monsieur d'Artagnan? You are the one who spoke to Xavier, yes? He enquired after you, he said he would be honoured to have you round for dinner tonight" She smiled at him warmly
"Yes, that would be... that would be great... looking forward to it"
Aramis frowned at him slightly but said nothing.
For a reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on, Antoinette felt like she was doing something terribly wrong. What was bad about asking her brother's old friend round? Nothing, surely, the boy had said he would like to. But if that was true, why did he look so scared?
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