Athos woke with a pounding head and an awful taste in his mouth. His three amigos Amaris, Porthos and D'artagnan sprawled across the pub floor. Standing with a moan he kicked the heap of bodies on the floor and with a few odd noises the heap formed into three men.

"Im never drinking again." D'artagnan said, stretching his back and looking around at last nights venue. A small worn down family owned inn. Nothing fancy but private and cheap alcohol.

"That's what you said last time." Porthos grinned, checking his pockets to make sure he hadn't lost his small pouch of money that hung by his belt. It was gone, but there was little money in there, he had spent it all on booze.

Amaris chuckled as D'artagnan and Porthos groaned in pain. "I think we have all learned a lesson here about our drinking habits." he gave his friends and sideways smile and all four burst into laughter.

"Yes, no matter how many how bad the hangovers, we drink even more than the last time. " Porthos said with a bright smile.

"Come on, Captain Treville will be excepting us." Athos said dusting off his hat and placing it on his aching head, walking out of the pub he winced as the bright sun light washed over him.

The four men walked together in a line back towards the musketeers courtyard, reminiscing of the night before.

Serena walked quickly through the market, keeping her head down she avoided eye contact. She bought a small loaf of bread some cheese and apples, she would share with Rose when they met later. The brightly dyed materials and jewelry on the other stalls caught her eye but did not dare buy any, in case she got stopped and accused of stealing. She wished she could have enjoyed the markets as she once used too when she was a child, but being in such a busy area made her anxious and all she could think about was making sure Rose was safe and getting out of there. After a while Serena ducked into an alley and took a drink from her water flask, the midday sun was hot and there was not much shade in the busy streets of Paris but the cool stones of the building behind her gave some relief as she pressed her back against it. She stepped back out into the open street and began walking back to were she said she would meet Rosella.

A loud thundering noise echoed across the cobbled street, but the source of the noise was no where to be seen, Serena recognized it as horses hooves and froze still, it was getting closer. Her imagination began to run wild with all sorts of thoughts until it stopped and again she back sixteen years ago standing behind her farther, frozen in terror as six black beasts caged her in their hooves threatening to crush her with every step forward. The fears were made up in her head, she knew she was acting like a child but every muscle in her body screamed at her to run.

Unable to ignore her memories anymore she ran.

Serena ran, pushing her way through the people and earning angry shouts. She ran until she hit something hard, blinded momentarily by the sun she looked up to see what or who she had crashed into.

A winded Amaris grabbed the shoulders of the person that crashed into him, he looked down and loosened his grip as he realized it was a woman.

Serena pulled away from the man, he was with three other men and from their dark eyes and slumping postures, they all looked like they had spent a night in the pub. The blue cape attached to their shoulders made her panic. Musketeers. "My apologies Monsieur, I was not looking where i was going." She said quickly before trying to get past the wall of musketeers that now surrounded her.

"You seem in a hurry, are you in trouble?" The youngest asked her.

"No, im just late to meet someone." She answered quickly, looking up only once and returning her eyes to the ground.

"Are you hurt at all?" The man she crashed into asked.

"No i am fine, really i must go." She said, beginning to get nervous.

"Whats in the bag?" Another asked, he seemed like the leader.

"Just food that I bought." Serena snapped, of all the people in Paris she ran into it had to be a musketeer and his friends.

"Then you wouldn't mind us looking." A darker skinned man smiled as he took her bag from her shoulder.

"Actually i would." Serena said keeping a grip on her satchel.

"Just hand over the bag gypsy." The leader said in a tired tone.

Serena went pale and her amber eyes looked at the man as if he had hit her. She knew she would have difficulty escaping them now. She passed the bag over and looked down at the ground again. She had nothing to hide but musketeers could accuse her of anything and have her hand crushed or cut off, maybe hang her for witchcraft. She swallowed hard and looked up at them.

D'artagnan looked at the gypsy in curiosity, she looked completely innocent so why Athos decided to search her bag was completely beyond him but he didn't question him.

Porthos closed the bag back up and handed over to her. "Nothing interesting." he said with a smile.

Serena glared at him, her only possessions in a bag and all he could say was 'nothing interesting' but that was better than 'your arrested'
. "Can i go now, if you are finished?"

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