"So, what happened in Savoy?" D'Artagnan asks that night, once they are finally back together at the garrison.
Porthos inhales deeply, raising his eyes from the cup of wine in front of him and looking at Aramis. The musketeer is looking at the boy, his hand clenching and unclenching around Athos'.
"I don't think it's a good idea D'Artagnan," Porthos says, noticing Aramis' discomfort.
"No, it's alright. After all what happened the boy needs to know," Aramis says, taking a deep breath. "But I warn you, it's not a pleasant story and I still don't remember most of it," he adds, gripping tightly Athos' hand in his.
"Five years ago I was at the Monte Carlo Institute, when the news of multiple attacks from werewolves in Savoy arrived. The head of our institute sent me and other twenty-one Shadowhunters to investigate. We didn't encounter troubles during the journey and when we arrived we went from village to village to ask about it. No one saw anything, no werewolves, no trail, no dead bodies and no one went missing during that period. Only one man told us he saw movement at the edges of the woods. He pointed out the direction and we followed what he said. We entered the woods in time to see the first snowflakes falling from the sky. We knew we wouldn't find anything about the werewolves with that weather so we camped in the first meadow we found. Of course we reduced the watches, secure that we weren't in danger.
I remember that at some point I lay down under the tent I shared with Marsac. He was meant to be my parabatai once that mission was complete. We planned everything, who would be our witnesses, where to put the mark. Everything.
Then I heard screams, shots, and blades against blades. I ran out of the tent with Marsac behind me, my pistol and my rapier ready, and what I saw took my breath away. Our brothers were slaughtered, dragged away from their tent and killed like animals. Who was still alive was fighting for his life against an army. They weren't demons, vampires or werewolves for that I'm sure. They were mundane. I don't remember their uniform so I don't know from where they came, but I remember a man, I think he was in charge, coming toward me, his sword raised, and he wounded me on my side. I fought back, wounding him in the back but then someone hit me in the head and I remember only my hand soaked in blood before I lost consciousness.
When I woke up again I was propped up against a tree, far from our camp, and Marsac next to me, telling me to not move or speak. The next thing I knew I was alone, Marsac was gone and his pauldron left in the snow. I don't know how much time I spent there and I don't remember how I went back to the camp. But I remember the corpses, the crows feasting on them, and the snow soaked in blood. I didn't see any werewolf in the time I was there.
I know I ended sat against a tree, the snow still falling and my weapons ready, waiting for some kind of foe that never showed.
Porthos found me like that some days later." Aramis finishes telling him. He avoids looking at D'Artagnan, the knuckles of his hand white from the grip he has on Athos'. Porthos pours some wine in the glass Aramis has in front of him, encouraging his parabatai to drink it all. He then turns to D'Artagnan and picks the story from where Aramis ended it.
"The news of werewolves out of control in the Savoy's woods reached Paris and Treville sent some of us to investigate. I was still a recruit but he sent me there knowing that I had more experience than others. We travelled there, finding only corpses and no traces of werewolves. We found out they were Shadowhunters so we decided to give them a proper burial. While the others loaded some of our fallen brothers on the carts we had with us, I approached the only Shadowhunter that seemed be on watch when he died. Once in front of him I crouched, inclined to remove the weapons he still had on him, when I noticed he was still alive. He was barely breathing but he was alive. I took off my cloak and wrap him in. I lifted and moved him where we built a fire. He didn't shiver, so I knew there was something wrong about it. I found other cloaks and blankets, wrapping them around him. By the time the musketeers had finished, the only survivor started shivering, and moaning. I brought him with me on my horse, until we found a village. We spend three days there, trying to help him recover enough to bring him with us back in Paris, alive," Porthos explains, toying with his own glass.
"You saved me that day, and I knew that you would be a great parabatai," Aramis says, smiling at his brother. He fills his glass and Porthos' and after raises it, he drinks the wine.
D'Artagnan is still watching the two of them when Athos clears his throat.
"I need to apologize to you. I should have told you from the start who I was. But revealing that I was the Comte de La Fére meant bringing back memories I didn't want to remember and have to try and deal with. I come from one of the most powerful families of the Shadow World, the Lightwoods, and my parents were always proud of who we are. And they wanted the best for me and my brother. But I hated all of that.
Especially when I met Anne, Milady, I thought she was my chance to escape. She was a mundane and this could bring dishonor to our family. But my mother came out with an idea. Anne should be Ascended. Everyone would have what they wanted. But Thomas, my brother, found out who she really was, a thief, with connections in the worst part of the Downworld. So he blackmailed her, telling her to break with me, forget about the Ascension, and leave La Fére, or he would told everything to the rest of the family and worse, to the Clave. They fought and she killed him. My parent were so shocked and in mourning that I was the only one who could and would uphold the law. So I hanged her.
After that, there was nothing that could persuade me to stay there, not even my parents. I left everything behind, even my title. The Comte de La Fére died that day with his wife," he says, taking a long sip of his wine.
"Only that she isn't dead," D'Artagnan says grateful that Athos finally opened up about his past. He knows his parabatai will tell more to Aramis because they're together now, but it makes him smile that Athos reveals bad memories to all of them.
"She is a vampire so, actually, she is dead," Porthos corrects him, smiling when he see their younger deep in thought.
"You are so fussy!" D'Artagnan exclaims. "Is it why nobody knows who you were?" he asks Athos.
"Treville was the only one, because he needed proof that I was a Shadowhunter. I'm the only child and if Rochefort killed the heir of La Fére, the Lightwood name would be lost forever. From destroying one of the most ancient family of the Shadow World to annihilate the Clave it's a short step," he explains.
"It's why Treville has almost forced you to have a parabatai. First, because with a parabatai you'd have someone always with you, a brother in arm you could rely on and, second, because only common soldiers can have a parabatai," Aramis concludes for him.
"Yes, I think it was his idea from the beginning," Athos replies.
"I wonder what your parents will think. First a mundane and now a common musketeer," D'Artagnan says, deep in thought, after a couple of minutes passed in a companionable silence.
"I don't think they'll be angry, seeing that I come from one of those families," Aramis says, smiling at the boy.
"What?" Athos and D'Artagnan exclaim together. Both of them look at Porthos, who seems the only one to know, or at least suspects it.
"Fairchild." It's the only thing Aramis says.
"Why you didn't tell me?" Athos asks, looking at his lover.
"Because there wasn't time and a way to tell you. And because it's a stupid rule. Parabatai doesn't make you weak. It makes you stronger".