Chapter 34: Missing Brother
Cosette D'Artagnan was infuriated. Infuriated with Athos, infuriated with her brothers, infuriated with everything!
After the incident with Emilie, Cosette said far away from Athos as possible. That stunt she pulled, going into Emilie's campsite with the Queen and Constance, was not the best idea they had in mind. Cosette hoped that she would never have to go through with that again.
Athos had scolded her for half an hour and then they got into a major argument that ended in a stalemate. And that was just now. She began muttering while practicing with the dummy.
"Stupid Athos!" She snapped in a whisper. "Men! Always think they know everything!" Cosette frowned and took her dagger and threw it at the target. Porthos walked by but he stopped when the knife nearly killed him. "Porthos! I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!"
Porthos nodded and smiled. "Clearly." Cosette took the dagger out of the dummy.
"What did Athos do now?" Porthos asked.
"Oh, you know, the typical 'You've done something stupid again' by going into Emilie's camp with the queen and Constance without stopping. I Gave him the 'it's my duty to protect the Queen' retort and then it came to the 'your being ridiculous' shout. Look, I already heard the speech from Aramis. I didn't need to hear it from him. Again!" she stabbed the dummy again. "honestly, I don't even know why he keeps belittling me! I'm sick of it!"
"Well, I wouldn't say belittle, Cosette," said Porthos. "More like 'guide'."
Cosette glared at him.
"Or, maybe not," said Porthos.
"But I'm also mad at him because he thinks I betrayed him by pretending to be a man." Then she stopped. "Oh wait, I did."
Porthos shook his head. "Well, you know Athos. Cautious, calm…
"...Except when it comes to lecturing to me, apparently..."
Porthos smiled and shook his head.
"Oh, Cosette D'Artagnan," Porthos said, making sure no one was around to hear him say that to her. "You're just like Athos."
Cosette dropped her mouth and crossed her arms. "And why, pray tell, would you say that about me?"
"Well, you're both stubborn," said Porthos. Cosette glared and then, she groaned in anger. Cosette threw her now free dagger out of the mannequin, which nearly hit Aramis.
"Or, maybe not," said Porthos. Cosette looked at her brother.
"Uh, sorry," Cosette apologized.
"Well, uh, it's nice to see you got a good aim," said Aramis. He took the Dagger out of her target.
"Aramis, where's Athos?" Porthos asked as Aramis handed her dagger back.
"Well, that's the thing, Porthos," said Aramis. "I don't know where he is. I checked everywhere in the Garrison." Aramis looked at Cosette. "Uh, Cosette, see him?"
Cosette glared while Porthos was signaling Aramis not to bring anything up. Cosette glared.
"No, I haven't," said Cosette. She stormed off. Porthos looked at Aramis, annoyed.
"Aramis, we discussed this," said Porthos. "Never mention Athos in front of Cosette."
"Well you already, did," Aramis said. He followed Cosette back into her room. The girl looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Cosette, I know you and Athos haven't been getting along lately..."
"There's an Understatement," said Cosette, glaring at Aramis.
"I know, but I really need you to help, Cos," said Aramis. She shook her head.
"I can't help you or Porthos. Not like this. I could just get him killed." Cosette would have walked away but Porthos was already standing at the door to make sure she wouldn't leave.
"Please, Cosette. I know you and Athos are fighting, but he could be in real danger," Porthos said. He sighed and looked at Aramis but Cosette missed their looks. "You know Athos wanted to rescue you when he thought you were held hostage by Emilie."
Cosette was surprised.
"He did?" Cosette asked, feeling slightly touched at her friend's dedication to rescuing her. "But I was so mad at him for yelling at me.
Aramis came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look I know you and Athos are not getting along, but he could be in real trouble."
Cosette looked up to Aramis and decided to consider it. She may dislike Athos right now, but Cosette didn't think she could live with herself if something bad happened to Athos, even if it was not her fault.
"So, you're saying he might be in trouble," said Cosette. "Maybe he wanted to get drunk because of me, lately."
"Yes, a possibility," said Aramis, "but that's not the reason. Let us go and try and find him."
Cosette nodded and went to follow him and Porthos.
Of course, Cosette was not expecting this search to last for three days. A couple of days later, Cosette and her brothers couldn't find Athos. She began getting worried. He could be dead in the streets for all they knew. Actually, that had come across her.
Second day, she did go to the morgue and ask Pourport if he had Athos. Of course, she had to describe that he was a tall man with pale skin, black hair, and blue eyes with a beard. However, the man he showed her was NOT Athos. She shook her head and stormed out of the room, relieved that he was not dead. She exited the morgue when she was found by Aramis. She looked ashamed.
"I had to be sure he wasn't dead," Cosette said. Aramis nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll find him, Cosette," said Aramis.
Later, Henry tried helping but he returned with one answer: he couldn't find Athos either. Defeated, Cosette walked to Treville, seeing him work on the stables. Recently, her godfather had been demoted by King Louis because of his failing to protect a Spanish envoy. Honestly, it wasn't his fault but the king's mind has been poisoned by Rochefort's lies.
"Uncle!" Cosette said. Treville was spooked by his goddaughter's outburst. "Athos is missing!"
"Cosette..." Treville began. "Perhaps it's best you start from the beginning.
She did. She explained the entire situation to him while he was shoveling the horse's droppings.
"He wouldn't just disappear without a word to anyone," snapped Cosette, the worry in her voice. "Something's wrong."
"Why bring this to me? I'm no longer your commanding officer, Cosette" said Treville. "I'm just an ordinary Musketeer on work detail.""
"Athos would not just vanish, Uncle," she said.
"Athos is drunk somewhere," Treville said. "He'll turn up when he's sober."
"No, we checked all the usual taverns. No one's seen him in days."
"If that was the case, I'd blame myself because he is drinking himself to death because of me!"
"Did you go talk to Porthos and Aramis about it?"
"Yeah, and they said for me to come to you. Come on, Uncle Jean, we've checked all the usual taverns - no-one's seen him in days." Cosette sighed. "Uncle, I'm not giving up finding him."
"Easy, Cosette," said Treville.
"Please don't call me that," said Cosette. Her father had called her that. And no man would be allowed to say it. That was when Treville remembered why he never called her that nickname. "And yes, there is a reason. I'm afraid, what if he's drinking more because of me?"
"Cosette, I know you and Athos have been fighting for a while, but you forget Milady de Winter is back. I believe she has more of a bad influence on him than you do," said Treville. Cosette nodded.
Treville knew a conversation like this would have happened one day. He just wasn't expecting it to take this long since Athos learned her secret. "It's not your fault. Athos has always drunk himself to death, but if it's concern for Athos' safety."
"I hope your right," Cosette said.
Treville nodded. "Then the sooner this is done, the sooner we can look for him."
Cosette smiled. She grabbed a rake and began helping her godfather with the horse droppings.