"You're save, Aramis." D'Artagnan tried again, not able to give up his hope.
But Aramis stayed silent as he stared at Athos, eyes full of stubbornness.
Porthos started pacing through the tent, unable to keep his emotions in any longer. If Aramis wouldn't be able to explain them that he wasn't a traitor, that he still worked for France, there was no way they could protect him. And Porthos was unsure if he wanted to protect him. He didn't want to believe that his brother was a traitor, but if he truly was one, Porthos won't protect him. If Aramis really had betrayed France, he had also betrayed them. Maybe everything had just been an act? Had he ever been loyal? Porthos didn't want to have to think about these kind of possibilities, but he had to.
"It's your last chance, Aramis. Tell us or we won't be able to save you from the usual procedure for prisoners."
Aramis didn't answer, instead he spit some of the blood that had gathered in his mouth on to the floor beside Athos. The Captain stood up, the softness gone from his eyes.
"Make sure he won't escape. We will discuss what to do with him outside."
After Athos had left the tent, Porthos and d'Artagnan took some rope. It felt so wrong to tie up their friend – but that probably was now the wrong word to call him.
Through the whole process of his hands being tucked behind his back and his ankles being bound together, Aramis kept silent and cooperative. There was no chance to escape this tent without help anyway. He had to hope that the Spanish would send some soldiers or he would be at the mercy of the French. And knowing how prisoners of war were treated, he hoped to be freed soon.
Porthos and d'Artagnan left without another word.
"And now?" D'Artagnan sat down on the ground beside their Captain, watching the fire flicker in the wind.
"We need the information. We have to question him and hope that he gives us what we need."
"And if not?" Porthos crouched down on the other side of the fire.
"We will question him more… insistently." Athos didn't like the thought of torturing their former brother, but war had his own rules. Aramis was now a prisoner of France and to win they needed these information. He would be treated like any other prisoner would have been, there was nothing he could do now to save him.
"This is so wrong." D'Artagnan sighed, fiddling with a branch. "He's our brother. There has to be more behind all of this than him being a traitor. We can't risk that anything happens to him if he's still on our side. Maybe there is a reason he can't tell us?"
"I know, mon ami. I've had the same thoughts as you. But what are we supposed to do when he doesn't want to tell us? We can't risk it to let him go, if he really is a traitor."
"You know what's strange?" Porthos asks after a few moments of silence, causing the others to glance over to him. "Aramis had fought in a war already and is a quite experienced soldier. Why was he all alone and unprotected between our defense lines? Even recruits now that this is a save way to die. He wouldn't be so stupid to go so close to our camp if he hadn't a reason to."
"He wanted to be caught." Athos eyes widen as he understands. "But why?"
"Maybe he tried to get back to France? Get help or something?" D'Artagnan suggested.
"Or he had been ordered to by the Spanish." Porthos sighs. If Aramis would only tell them what's going on. All this thinking that he could be a traitor but also wanting to believe that he is not was tearing him apart. He needed answers.