A/N: Hi everyone! Welcome to update day! It's been crazy all week, I've had so much to do. I've nearly finished Season One of Musketeers. I've got 3 more planned episodes to go, and one very special episode which I've been planning since before I wrote this story! I'm so excited to share it with you all! x
Ellie smiled as Louis and Louis fought each other. It was probably the cutest thing she'd seen in a while.
'He's a precocious little thing, isn't he?' Louis commented as he blocked Louis blows.
'Louis Amadeus, careful.' The Duchess told him.
'Oh, let him do his worst. I need the practice.' Louis replied. They started fighting again and Ellie turned to the Duchess.
'Do you still long for Paris?' She asked.
The Duchess sighed. 'Savoy is my home. And motherhood is a great distraction.' She admitted. Anne sighed.
'So I'm told.' She said quietly. Ellie smiled sadly, looking up at Louis and Louis. King Louis took Louis sword and chucked it to the ground.
'Ha! You lose, I win. France beats Savoy.' Louis told him. Ellie sighed. Younger Louis bowed, and Ellie clapped as he walked off. She got up out of her seat.
'You're leaving, so soon?' Anne asked, grabbing her hand.
'I have to check up on someone. He's a been a bit sad as of late.' She told her. Anne nodded and let her go.
Ellie walked into the Garrison and saw Aramis sitting alone at the table, looking lost in thought. He'd discarded his jacket and hat, which were sitting next to him. Serge walked out, a huge pot in his hands.
'You want some dinner?' He asked setting it down on the table.
'No, thanks.' Aramis told him. Serge looked at him before hobbling away. Ellie slowly walked over to the table. 'Serge? Do you remember Marsac?' Aramis asked. Serge turned around.
'Oh I remember him! A good soldier until…well, you know.' Serge replied. Aramis didn't say anything. 'It's this visit from the Duke of Savoy isn't it? Stirs up bad memories.' Serge walked back into the kitchen. Ellie walked over to Aramis, and put her arms around his neck, leaning her chin on his head.
'You alright?' She asked as he stroked her hand with his thumb.
'Not really.' He admitted. Ellie pulled a chair over to her and sat down next to him.
'Do you think there's any truth in what Marsac said?' She asked, and Aramis sighed rubbing his hands over his face.
'I honestly don't know.' He told her. 'I don't want to believe it, but the more I think the more likely it is to be true.' He sighed, twiddling his thumbs. 'I'm fed up with being lied to.' Ellie sighed, an internal battle going on inside her.
'I do know Marsac.' She told him. Aramis turned to face her. 'I didn't want to say anything, because I don't like remembering my old life.'
'What old life?' He asked.
'I was a thief and pickpocket at my family's circus. I was small enough and innocent enough to get away with it.' Ellie started fiddling with her necklace again. 'Each day I had a target I had to reach. If I didn't reach that target…' She trailed off, her eyes getting misty. Aramis moved closer to her and rubbed her shoulder. 'My brother oversaw everything that went on in the circus. He was the one I reported to with the money. And he was always the one to carry out the punishment if I didn't get enough. And because he kept adding more money onto the target each day, until it became impossible to reach it; I was punished nearly every day.' Aramis didn't say anything. 'When I turned eleven, a fire burnt down the circus and my entire family perished with it.'
'I'm sorry.' Aramis told her, an arm around her shoulder.
'Don't be. They were horrible to me. Everyone except my second oldest brother. He looked after me and fixed me up after I'd been punished. He was the only one I mourned for, and he's the only one I miss.' Ellie looked at Aramis. 'He was a lot like you.' She told him. 'Whenever I'm with you, it feels like he's with me.' Aramis smiled. 'During the six months I lived in Paris, I met Marsac when he stayed with me for a month. We didn't see each other much. Only at dinner and on our way out. I didn't see him again after he left. And then Treville found me, and here we are.' Ellie took a deep breath. 'Not even Treville knows that much, Aramis. You have to swear to me that you will not tell anybody that. Nobody.'
Aramis looked her dead in the eyes and grabbed her hands in his. 'I swear on my life that not a word of this will get out.' Ellie smiled at him. 'What were the punishments?' He asked. Ellie stiffened, and her heart skipped a beat just thinking about it.
'Something that has scarred me and my body for life.' She whispered. Aramis pulled her into a hug, kissing her head gently. He looked up at where Treville was standing, a thousand thoughts running through his head.
Ellie sat on the stair, tucked in the corner out the way. The had a book in her lap, which he was engrossed in. Until Aramis walked up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Ellie looked up at him.
'Umm...Aramis?' She asked. He didn't answer as he opened the door and slipped inside. Ellie looked around her, before closing her book and following him inside. She stood in the doorway as Aramis went through all the drawers and cupboards in Treville's office. Ellie watched him for a bit, before putting her book down on a table, and helping him search. She felt under his desk, and found a key hanging from a nail. She threw it to Aramis who unlocked the cupboard the key was for. He began searching through all the scrolls, and Ellie stood next to him.
'Why are you doing this?' He asked her as she shifted some scrolls. He'd stopped looking to look at her instead.
'You want answers, and I don't like seeing you sad.' She replied, looking through the bottom shelf. Aramis smiled at her, before continuing his own search the other side of the cupboard.
'The Captain keeps a record of every Musketeer campaign since the regiment was founded, all except that one night. There's no documents for the mission in Savoy, no maps, no letters, nothing at all. Coincidence?' Aramis asked. They'd all assembled in Constance's house. Ellie and Aramis had searched every single nook and cranny of Treville's office and had found nothing from that night in Savoy.
'Perhaps you just didn't find them.' D'Artagnan suggested but Ellie shook her head.
'We searched every single nook and cranny of his office. There was nothing. Not a single scrap of paper.' Ellie told him. 'His filing is meticulous. There's nothing there.'
'The documents have either been removed or destroyed.' Aramis added.
'I'm still confident that there's a perfectly good explanation.' D'Artagnan told him.
'I'd be happy to hear it.' Marsac said from where he'd perched on a chair.
'I admit it's troubling, but I agree with D'Artagnan.' Athos spoke. Even though Ellie knew they were right, she was fuming. Yes, she didn't want it to be true either, but the evidence was overwhelming and D'Artagnan and Athos were clutching at straws.
'So, your content to do nothing?' Aramis asked facing Athos. 'How much evidence do you need that something is badly wrong?' Aramis took a step closer. 'What does it take to make you act?'
'I will never believe the Captain is a traitor.'
Aramis scoffed. 'You think I want to?'
Marsac stood up from the chair he'd been perched on. 'Let me help. I give you my word as a gentleman that I won't try to leave.' He held out his hands, bound by rope. Athos and D'Artagnan shook their heads. 'Aramis, tell them. You know me.' Aramis shook his head.
'I used to.'
'Every word I have told you has turned out to be the truth. Why would I deceive you now?' Aramis sighed, looking at Athos. Athos pulled out his dagger and cut the rope.