A groan escaped from Athos as he slowly but surely regained consciousness. He felt like his body was on fire, pain racking through him and causing yet another groan of pain to escape.
His eyes flickered open to blink back the harsh light of his surroundings. He was met with the ceiling, heart hammering against his chest as his hearing and other senses slowly came back to him.
His breathing hitched as he noticed he was lying on a table, ribs aching from what Athos recognised was the too familiar pain of a musket wound.
Suddenly his vision was blocked by Porthos, leaning over him with a concerned look. Athos thought of the worst, believing the sight of his brother wasn't true.
It wasn't him; they were playing tricks on you.
"Athos..." Porthos' voice broke through to him and Athos' snapped his eyes closed, shaking his head slightly.
"No," he mumbled and Porthos glanced across at Aramis in concern, who was currently trying to stand up,
"Athos, look at me," Porthos said, a gentle hand going to rest on his brother's shoulder. Athos flinched away from Porthos' touch, eyes snapping open and breathing heavy as another wave of pain washed over him from the sudden movement.
Porthos could see the pain in Athos' eyes, the confusion that lanced the man's features and the sense of fear was radiating from him.
"It's me, Porthos," he began seeing the frown slowly forming on Athos' face.
"Porthos..." He mumbled before a sudden crash came from behind. Porthos' head snapped up to find Aramis sat on the ground, chair pushed back from where he had stumbled backwards into it.
"I'm fine," Aramis breathed as Porthos moved over to him. "Just lost my balance," he added and Porthos gave him a look of warning.
D'artagnan moved to stand, a little steadier on his feet than Aramis and managed to get to Athos' side without stumbling sideways.
"I need to check on him," Aramis mumbled and Porthos sighed but helped his injured brother up to check on his other injured brother.
"Does he know where he is?" D'artagnan asked as he looked down at Athos who had his eyes closed once again but was awake, his mind running as adrenaline began to build up.
"That, I do not know," Aramis replied as he and Porthos moved to the other side of the table. "Athos?" He then asked gently, leaning over the table to look down at him.
Athos took some time to respond but his eyes flickered open and focused on Aramis' face. It was a while until Athos registered who was talking to him, connecting the face with the name.
"Aramis..." He mumbled and Aramis smiled down at him.
"How you feeling?" Aramis asked and Athos took a steadying breath before replying.
"Like I've been shot," he grumbled and Aramis glanced up at D'artagnan, their eyes locking for a brief second before looking back down at Athos.
"Technically you were... By Treville," D'artagnan said and Athos frowned, his mind foggy and his memories all blurring into one another.
Realisation settled in and Athos glanced towards Aramis, his gaze flickering towards the medic's bandaged shoulder, the white material strained slightly with red.
"I shot you," he stated, eyes widening slightly.
"It was nothing, you were confused... Disorientated," Aramis said with a soft smile to reassure Athos he was fine, which did nothing for the man. He closed his eyes, his face pinched in pain.
"I still... I still did it," he mumbled out before trying to push himself up.
"Hey, take it easy," Porthos said, moving his arm from around Aramis to help Athos sit up. He noticed that Athos was beginning to shake, sweat dripping down his body and his skin warm to touch. "Aramis…" Porthos said in concern.
The medic leant forward slightly, placing an open palm on Athos' forehead which caused a deep frown to appear on his face.
"You need to rest," Aramis said and was about to push Athos back down when the man winced in pain, causing him to fall backwards onto the table. His breathing was heavy, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
Aramis looked up at Porthos and D'artagnan, nodding his head towards the other side of the room.
"He's going through withdrawal," Aramis stated once they were out of earshot and D'artagnan glanced behind at Athos.
"What do we do?" Porthos asked as D'artagnan ran a hand through his hair.
"We help him, keep his temperature down and make sure he doesn't hurt himself… or anyone else," D'artagnan said and Porthos nodded.
"We need fresh water and... Emm," Aramis began but lost his train of thought.
"You need to rest, you've lost a lot of blood," Porthos said and Aramis shook his head.
"I'm fine, trust me."
"Trust me, you're not," Treville said from the doorway. They glanced across at him and Aramis turned away, eyes looking down to the ground.
He could feel the tension between them and could feel the guilt slowly building up within him. He knew Treville was doing what he thought was right, he just hated seeing his brother injured.
"Let's get Aramis to his room, as well as Athos," Treville said and moved to help.
It was a challenging task but they eventually got both Aramis and Athos up to their rooms in the garrison.
D'artagnan stepped out of Athos' room, leaving the door open to be able to keep check off Athos. Porthos was waiting out on the balcony, looking more tired and drained than he did before. They all hadn't slept well ever since Athos was taken, unable to sleep knowing their brother was out there in pain.
"I'll look after him," D'artagnan said once he met Porthos on the balcony. The larger musketeer gave him a look as if to say are you sure? "Aramis needs to stay in that bed, you're the best suited out of the two of us to do that... Besides, I've been with Athos before like this," D'artagnan said, remembering the time Athos went through a dry spell with the wine.
"You can handle it?" Porthos asked and D'artagnan nodded, regretting it instantly due to it sending the world off balance.
"I'll shout if I need you," D'artagnan then said once he took a steadying breath. Porthos gave him a small frown up didn't push, simply squeezing D'artagnan's shoulder before leaving and going next door to Aramis' room.
A groan from behind broke him from his thoughts and he turned to see Athos trying to get out of bed.
"Hey, none of that," D'artagnan said, walking into the room and gently pushing Athos back down.
The man's eyes flickered open to stare blankly back at D'artagnan, his mind ticking away as if trying to put the face with the name.
The frown on his face was quickly replaced, a violent shiver running through his body as his eyelids slipped closed shut once more.
Thank you so much for the follows, favourites and reviews. Hope you guys liked this chapter. I was going to have them all in the same room but apparently when writing this chapter, I came up with putting Aramis and Athos in different rooms instead. Hope that's ok. Next chapter up soon, I promise :)