Wow 9 reviews over night!? You guys have made a not so little girl very happy! You really made me grin with glee at such kind and humorous feedback! I'm literally over the moon at how you all recall your favourite parts of the plot or a characters' turmoil, it makes me feel special to have written it and more importantly ever so happy at the communal involvement that we are creating together *hugs*

I intended to transition back to Athos in this chapter and show the aftermath of the boys at the end rather than the actual meeting but our lovely guest, Sarah was expecting a debrief, so for you, I have conjured one!

Sorry about the late update- I have been out all day for a change ;) The original chapter will be posted right after this one though! (so 2 chapters!)

I hope you enjoy!

It was nearing evening as Treville stepped out into the cool brisk air, white jets of warm air running from his mouth and nose encouraging him to tighten his jacket against the biting wind and shove his stiffening, gloved hands into his deep pockets.

Squinting through the snow, he took a cursory glance around, the street was now half lit and covered in a thin layer of untouched snow. Not many people seemed to be out at this hourmeaning the boys would probably be holed up at the closest tavern.

Walking slowly as to avoid slipping on patches of ice, Treville made his way to the Rams Head, it seemed fitting what with how bull headed his men could be and he smirked at this.

Pushing wide the heavy oak door, Treville quickly stepped into the glorious warmth of the tavern, smiling as he watched the patrons drinking merrily, singing off key hearty songs and warming their boots by the fire place.

Most of the men were his own musketeers, spending their coin on the social life and having a good time doing it. As expected, Porthos, Aramis and D'artagnan were present too, though none of them seemed to be joining in with the celebratory mood.

Instead they were glaring at one another, bickering and accusing each other about the mistreatment of their dear friend, Athos, trying to saddle the blame onto a primary suspect -which at the moment turned out to be the youngest member of the group, D'artagnan.

Shaking his head as Aramis pushed Porthos over accusing the boy and Porthos in turn shoving him back forcefully, Treville quickly stepped into the verbal arena and placed himself between the two, stopping the brawl before it could undoubtedly start.

"No offence captain but I don't need your protection over this matter" Aramis declared, trying to twist around the man to grab at Porthos. Treville simply gave him 'the look;' a scathingly ferocious stare that could make even the most fearsome of men back down.

Upon meeting 'the look,' Aramis did just that, even taking a step back to be sure he did not incur its wrath while staring at his boots shamefully.

Porthos seemed to enjoy this particular punishment for a moment but his snickering abruptly died when Treville turned to give him the same treatment, effectively 'disarming' him too.

Meanwhile D'artagnan looked on with an innocent expression though his eyes shone in delight.

"Take a seat" Treville instructed, his men almost tripping themselves up in haste to obey until finally they all faced across from each other around the table, three pairs of eyes looking down nervously, one pair of steely blues judging them harshly.

"It would appear that you men have taken advantage of our dear friend, Athos, on your duty through the town today" Treville bluntly reported, drilling holes into their scalps.

"Would you care to explain yourselves or would you rather I point out your immensely dim witted flaws and pick your punishments for you?" he stated, forcing his men to give him their full attention.

Coughing nervously, Aramis approached the tender subject first, "Well you see, it all began because we were trying to keep Athos from one of his moods, you know, when he drags himself down into his drunken states" he began.

Porthos chose to add to this positive trail of thought, "-yeah, an' so D'artagnan here-" he clapped him on the shoulder, "came up with a brilliant solution" he concluded, handing the metaphorical hot potato over to D'artagnan, putting him on the spot.

"er, yeah, I um, well…" D'artagnan stumbled around his words under Treville's expectant, barely composed stare, " er…WE decided to play a few games with Athos, you know, just a few jokes between men to keep his spirits up" D'artagnan alluded, rubbing the back of his neck, eyes darting around.

Aramis leant forward as if to seem more convincing, arms beckoning as if he were trying to sell something "some may call these jokes pranks, but what is a prank really?" he smiled charmingly, Porthos' head bobbing up and down rapidly.

Treville didn't move, "Go on" he commanded, three guilty eyes coming to meet each other, swallowing anxiously.

Porthos cleared his throat before continuing, pulling at his uniform to loosen its seemingly tight neck, "Well one may got out of hand…"he admitted quietly.

"But we didn't mean for it to!" D'artagnan blurted out desperately.

"We couldn't possibly have foreseen that he would fall off his horse too" Aramis stated matter-of-factly though seemed to be trying to convince himself at the same time.

There was an intense silence as each man stared wild eyed at Treville, hoping to have soothed his angry mood.

"So, what you're telling me is, you pranked Athos and it went disastrously wrong…" Treville summarized, staring at each man and receiving quick nods of approval.

"Though of course you failed to mention that you had dragged him around town for two hours, tainted with purple berries and clothing-making him look most unprofessional and then letting him fall dangerously from his horse into the filthy street, allowing civilians to taunt him mercilessly and destroy what was left of his pride, confidence and self esteem" Treville finished icily.

By this point, Aramis, Porthos and D'artagnan all held an extremely guilty, pained expression dominating their features, reminding them of their initial guilty admissions before they had turned on each other.

"You should all be disgraced with yourselves" Treville suddenly barked, making them flinch in unison. "I for one, am very disappointed in your behaviour, both as musketeers and close brothers of Athos" Treville continued, not bothering to disguise his cool demeanour any longer.

"So, as punishment, you will each be attending to guard detail outside the palace walls, on night shift for the next month-" Treville growled, "- share responsibilities for maintaining the stables for every musketeer in the regiment for the next two months, and apologizing to Athos, immediately and begging him for his forgiveness for acting as such lowly scum in his hour of need" Treville ended, now towering above them as they looked away at the floor in fear.

Seeing that he had made himself clear, Treville turned from the table and stormed out of the door, the tavern seeming to become brighter at his exit, leaving three very shaken musketeers with grim expression across their pale faces.

Once out the door and back into the night air, Treville rolled his tense shoulders and let out a long slow breath, a smile coming to his lips as he began to laugh quietly.

Yup, I've still got it he concluded cheerfully and began walking back to the garrison, a new hop in his step.

I hoped you liked the humour of Captain Trevilles impact on the boys and the underlying pain they endured in this chapter! Please leave a review and let me know!