Evening My Lovelies!

I'm kinda hyped up on sugar at the moment which is making writing somewhat difficult as i just want to dance to the music playing in the background rather then get anything done lol.

Now I'm not too sure what you all are going to think of the idea of this chapter BUT it is going to lead to some more fabulous whumpage so stick with me :)

Oh and I have over 100 reviews now! :D so happy about that especially as we still have some more chapters to go till the end :D

Notes On Reviews:

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - The whumpage is only going to get worse for our boys before it gets any better. D'Artagnan's back is going to be giving him plenty of trouble but he also has several other injuries which are also at risk at getting infected so we'll have to wait and see. Enjoy the new chapter! x

romirola: Thanks for the review - I'm glad you think so. Things are about to get tricky for our boys so expect some more whumpage to come :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Tidia: Thanks for the review - Mothering D'Artagnan is taking a short break but will be back soon... mainly as its too cute an image not to write lol. Although Matthieu is waking up it's going to be a little bit before he's going to be able to stay awake long enough for him to tell anyone what happened and his first mission is going to be telling Athos so he understands. Enjoy the new chapter! x

CaroH: Thanks for the review - D'Arts stubbornness is one of the only things keeping him from just collapsing right now... though it cant last forever. We wont find out about Matthieu until our boys are back in Paris but I might give a sneak peak at what happened before then. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Buckeye01: Thanks for the review - Haha I'm glad you liked that line as i loved writing irritable D'Art. I dont think D'Art would ever leave Athos, no matter what's happened between them he still sees the man as a brother and wont abandon him... He will however feel guilty for thinking about doing so. Enjoy the new chapter! x

nurse13: Thanks for the review - Ah another truncated review... Honestly how you have the energy to write such a long one after the length of shift you had i dont know, i would be an insensible mess in your shoes with the only thought going through my head being to go get some sleep :) D'Art still carries a lot of love for Athos that's just masked by the pain the man has caused him recently but all that is now happening is forcing him to push that pain to one side and focus on getting the pair of them home. Athos's was the worst but is going to momentarily improve for a bit... not too long as I'm too mean for that...You would also be correct in thinking that i'm not done yet. My evil meter is on full for this story so there's still a decent amount of whumpage to come for both boys. Matthieu's going to be a bit too weak to be having a conversation with anyone for a bit but the fact that he's showing signs of waking is good. As for him knowing about the traitorous musketeer he doesnt know much as the man wasnt directly involved in what happened to Matthieu and D'Art, needing the alibi of being at the garrison. Matthieu will be planning to have a serious talk to Athos when he learns about him blaming D'Art for his injuries. Congrats on saving a little life thats amazing :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - Oh thats not all i plan on doing to them *cue manic laughter* I have some more whumpage planned, which of course will eventually lead to some cute fluffy musketeer moments. In my stories Athos is usually the protective figure whilst D'Art gets hurt and whilst that's still happening here i wanted to try letting D'Artagnan having some protective moments so i'm really happy you liked them :D Aramis needed something to stop him disobeying a direct order from his king and what better task then tending to the man that one brother risked his life to save and the other loves like a brother. Although what Porthos was doing to keep himself distracted from the fact that their brothers were missing i dont know... maybe beating the living daylights out of some recruits and calling it training? Now if Matthieu wasnt so injured he might be offended that everyones forgotten him lol. He'll be having a chat with Athos later on and giving in a good talking to and leaving the musketeer feeling quite guilty mwhahaha. I'm thinking with all D'Art gets himself into that Athos's drunken rants are now more focused on him then Matthieu lol. Enjoy the new chapter! x

A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Haha glad to have perfect timing :D I'm determined to keep updating daily... mainly as i love hearing what you all think and get too excited to wait any longer then that lol :) Hope you had fun at your concert :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

Issai: Thanks for the reviews - I'll respond to both here. You have creepy timing as i was just thinking "hmmm Issai hasnt reviewed yet" and then literally seconds later my email dings with your reviews... spooky... :D Yeah Louis an idiot I'm debating guilting him into realizing that either through Treville or Aramis in a later chapter when our boys are back in Paris. On foot it would be a long journey, which is kinda one of the reasons why this chapter happened... not the main one but it helped. I plan to make this story as long as i can I have a couple of idea which could extend it and if i can work out how to implement them into the story i will do dont worry :D Aramis isnt liking a lot of things at the moment and its only getting worse the longer our boys are away from Paris and the worse their conditions deteriorate by the time they get home. We will be seeing a full on mother hen Aramis in later chapters which should be fun :D Falling on his back definitely caused D'Art a lot of pain especially as he has some damaged ribs which might have become even more damaged in the fall. I agree that Treville wont be happy that this had to happen to make his plan work and he'll be feeling guilty for noticing the traitorous musketeer beforehand as well. Enjoy the new chapter! x

I cant thank you all enough for the support you continue to give by following/favouriting/reviewing/reading this story. I'm loving that you're all enjoying it so much so thank you for continuing to stick around :D

Enjoy

xxx

Chapter Fourteen: Predator and Prey

When Athos awoke hours later it was to the familiar rocking of a wagon. His first thoughts, that weren't cursing the fever that was still ravaging his body, were full of pride for his protégé's ingenuity to have been able to find a wagon in the first place.

However even in his hazy mindset Athos knew that his first assumption couldn't be true when he spotted the painfully bruised face of his little brother laying unconscious beside him in the wagon.

Forcing his tired mind to work with some semblance of clarity Athos slowly moved his head from side to side, trying to get a view as to where the were going and how many people they were being held by.

A pained groan from beside him drew his attention away minutes later as the senior man couldn't hide the sigh of relief that escaped him when he saw signs that his brother was about to wake.

"D'Artagnan" he whispered, eager to see the young man awake and alert but also wanting to warn him of the dangers surrounding them. However all he received for his efforts was a small, yet heartbreakingly pained whimper from the unconscious young man.

"Hey Fabien!" Called a voice, instantly recognizing the man who was being called Athos tensed, ready to defend his brother to the death if the situation called for it.

"What!" Gripped the mentioned man, judging by the volume of the man's voice Athos deduced that Fabien was leading their little procession.

"Elder one's awake" responded the man with equal annoyance in his voice, though there was something in his voice that told Athos that the man was not as annoyed with the situation as he seemed to be portraying.

Silence reined for several moments as the wagon caught up with Fabien and his horse.

"Really must thank you Athos" sneered the man once the wagon was level with him.

"And why's that?" remarked Athos dryly, trying his best to not give away just how bad he was feeling all while trying to protect D'Artagnan from the man in front of him.

During their brief captivity Fabien had been in charge of guarding Athos and the musketeer had not missed the sick glee the man seemed to take at the mere idea of inflicting pain on others. He would not let that man get to D'Artagnan… not even if it killed him.

"You and you're …'brother'" he stated, sneering at the word brother. "Fell right into my path… Practically guarantying us victory"

Athos couldn't help the confused look that graced his face. He remembered falling vaguely, his foot had gotten caught on something and sent a wave of agony through his injured ankle, bringing him back into full consciousness for a short moment. Long enough to hear D'Artagnan scream before blackness took over once again.

Seeing the look on Athos's face, Fabien let out a booming laugh full of malice. The loudness of his laugh was enough to help bring D'Artagnan back into the waking world, though he was still out of it enough to have not brought any attention onto himself.

"You didn't really think we'd let you get away that easily did you?" mocked the man, enjoying the crestfallen look that had appeared on the musketeer who now realized that he had clearly been too wrapped up in getting both his brother and himself out and to safety to even consider how easy it was to get out of a building full of adversaries.

"I'll admit" Shrugged Fabien, a dark glint in his eye, "the explosion was unexpected but really worked in my favour… helped remove some of the competition."

"For what" Athos asked hesitantly, getting the distinct impression that he was not about to like what was about to be said. He was thankful that his pounding headache and blurry vision had cleared up enough for him to think and process things with a decent amount of clarity as he had no doubt he would need it very soon.

"It's a game Athos," jeered Fabien, "First group to bring you and the runt to our base near Paris wins quite the sizable coin purse"

"We're hunting and you two are the prey" snickered the man who had spoken when Athos had first awoken; given the striking similarities between the two men Athos presumed they were siblings.

They continued riding for some time, all the while Athos kept switching his attention from gazing worriedly at D'Artagnan, who after a brief moment of wakefulness had slipped back unconscious, and glaring at any of the small group of bandits who dared get too close to the unconscious boy.

By the time they stopped to make camp for the night Athos was feeling slightly more like himself as Fabien had ordered one of the men following him to give him something to help fight the infection and fever, not wanting to risk losing his bounty should the musketeer die before they reached the base.

"Get your hands off of him!" Roared the musketeer as he sat tied to a tree watching two of the men, Fabien's brother and the man who had given him medicine, pull D'Artagnan roughly out of the wagon and begin to drag him to the same tree as Athos was tied to.

The men of course ignored him, even laughing under their breaths at him, but he had to try. D'Artagnan was his brother who was already in serious amounts of pain and these men were only making it worse. What sort of older brother would he be if he didn't try?

That thought sent another wave of guilt through him as his mind thought back to all the times in the past few weeks where D'Artagnan returned from a solo mission; banged up and hurt and he hadn't even tried to help the man. He had ignored the youngster's pain and had let the situation deteriorate further than he doubted either of them ever expected it to.

"Get some rest boys," ordered Fabien, "Tomorrow we go and collect our bounty!"

Athos scowled at the man, his distaste for him growing every time he opened his mouth

"…'Thos" whispered a quiet voice behind him. The sound of that voice almost brought tears to Athos's eyes.

"D'Artagnan" he breathed, relief heavy in his voice and he quickly, and quietly, informed the recently awoken man of the situation they now found themselves in.

"Sorry" mumbled D'Artagnan, the slightly slurring informing Athos of a possible concussion.

"For what?" he asked, genuinely confused as to what the young Gascon could be apologizing for. Though a part of him was hoping that it wasn't anything to do with their recent discord, as this was neither the time nor the place to discuss such heavy topics.

"Wasn't watching where we were going"

Athos blinked, surprised that of all the things D'Artagnan could ever apologize for it was something that wasn't even his fault. "It was my foot D'Artagnan, there is nothing for you to apologize for."

D'Artagnan went silent for several moments and Athos began to think the boy had fallen asleep when he spoke up, startling the senior musketeer more then his pride would ever allow him to admit.

"You're better?" D'Artagnan asked, his voice small and tired yet Athos could hear to worried concern lying underneath and his heart warmed.

"They treated my wound and gave me something for the fever earlier… Apparently they don't get paid if one of us is dead," Athos said nonchalantly, missing the slight flinch D'Artagnan exhibited at the thought of his mentor dying. "You on the other hand" Athos began, already preparing his mind for the boy's usual answer to questions about his health.

"Me?" the Gascon asked

Athos sighed, just knowing the lad was going to make this difficult, "You were unconscious for a while are you okay?"

Although overjoyed at his brother's concern D'Artagnan was glad that his brother couldn't see him now as he was pretty sure his usually tanned skin now, at least the parts not covered in bruises, was looking very much like snow. Both his chest and back throbbed painfully and he couldn't seem to get a full breath of air into his lungs before his body rebelled against the action, sending shockwaves of pain through him.

"I…" D'Artagnan started, fully intending to give his usual brush off, but when an agonizing coughing fit rocked his body to the point where his vision went bright white he knew he could get away with it. "…Landed on my back," he admitted after a moment

"Shit" Athos winced, straining his head over his good shoulder in an attempt to see the boy. He had seen the pain the young man had been in before the fall. Despite the Gascon's best attempts to hide it Athos found himself watching his brother for any and all signs of pain. To have landed straight on the wounds would have caused his baby brother unbelievable amounts of pain. "How bad?" he asked, his voice grave and holding an order forbidding the young Gascon from lying to him about this

"I'll live" D'Artagnan said weakly. It was the most honest answer he could give his friend. It would do neither of them any good to know just how much pain he was in when neither could do anything for him. He very much doubted that they would be able to persuade their current captor to give him something for the pain. Athos had said so himself, their captors needed them alive, not comfortable.

"Get some sleep D'Artagnan" Athos said fondly, hearing the underlying exhaustion in his brother's words. The boy, of course, tried to protest but Athos simply pointed out that in the last week he had probably had an average of four-five hours sleep a night. Hearing this seemed to remind D'Artagnan's body just how tired it was and within minutes his breathing had evened out as slumber took him. Athos's fond smile at the boy actually listening to his order quickly vanished when he heard the shallow but heavy labored breaths coming from the sleeping young man