Disclaimer: I do not own Albert the Fifth Musketeer or the characters

Chapter Two

As the sun rose, four pairs of eyes slowly fluttered open. The owners of each pair felt pain ripping through them horribly from the numerous wounds they'd acquired the day before. They each clenched their teeth and let out grunts of pain.

The doctor entered the room at that moment. "Wonderful, you're all awake."

"How can it be wonderful?" Porthos asked.

"If you didn't wake, then you could've died." He set up four glasses of water and tipped some powder into each. He put a straw in each cup and moved to each cot, allowing the Musketeers to drink the medication. "This will help with the pain. It'll take a few minutes. When the pain's ended, you can have some broth." He looked to D'Artagnan. "He fell asleep by your side last night."

D'Artagnan turned his head slightly and saw Albert had his head on the bed, resting on the arm he'd extended in order to hold D'Artagnan's hand. He smiled sadly. "He needs it. He wore himself out."

"Now, while you lot are recovering from physical injuries, at the same time, your friend will be recovering from emotional scars. You will all be working together, I hope?"

"Of course we will," Athos responded quietly.

"Good. I'll go and report your conditions to the Captain, and then I'll be back with broth for breakfast." The doctor left to do exactly that.

"Gentlemen, Albert feels he's at fault for us winding up this way. The doctor's right about him needing to recover from emotional scars. No matter what I'd said last night, he continued to blame himself. Eventually, he cried himself to sleep," D'Artagnan explained. "While we all work on getting ourselves back in shape, we have to keep letting Albert know he was not at fault for what had happened yesterday. And we have to assure him that no matter how bad our conditions were, there was no way we were going to give up and die. That's what upset him the most, he feared that we would all die through the night."

"Poor Albert," Aramis whispered.

"No matter how we look at it, even though he's always helping us out of scrapes, he's still younger than the rest of us. He looks up to us and wants to do everything he can to help us out, to make us proud of him. This is much worse than our first mission with him, and we all know how upset he was at that time."

Athos would've nodded if he could. "We'll all do our best to help Albert. He'd do the same for us."

"And he will do the same for us while we all recover together," Porthos added.

Just as the doctor entered the room carrying a tray holding five bowls, Albert stirred and awoke. "What time is it...?"

"It's morning," Aramis replied.

"Aramis?" He rose to his feet and saw everyone was awake. There were all pale from blood loss, but otherwise, they looked rather well considering the extent of the injuries they'd acquired. "Porthos? Athos? Are you all alright?"

"Not quite, but we will be," Athos responded. "What about you, Albert? D'Artagnan told us about last night."

He couldn't even bring himself to blush. "I'm sorry..."

"What for? And don't say for worrying. We're glad you care, but we didn't mean to make you worry," Aramis responded.

"I think I allowed my guilt over what happened to mix with my fear and..."

"No. It's alright. This battle hurt all of us in different ways. I have a few cuts on my arms and legs. Porthos has some on his stomach. Athos has one on his face and three along his back. And D'Artagnan has many cuts everywhere. Even though you have no physical injuries that can be seen, in the end, you were still hurt."

"My friends, I..."

"And don't start saying you're to blame for everything, because you're not. You arrived when you could, so you were still with us. We'll tell you again and again if we have to," Athos added.

"This sort of thing happens all the time, it's not as if this is the first time we were overwhelmed in combat and wound up in a similar condition," Porthos commented, remembering back to when it was just him, Aramis and Athos in the squad after many others left the Musketeers and joined the Cardinal's Guards. That was the same time D'Artagnan had applied to join.

"Even so, we know that what you saw frightened you, and without fear of sounding childish, we all feel the same way. It's never easy seeing someone you care about injured the way we are."

"That's why we'll all work on recovery together. Your wounds are just as important to heal as ours are," Aramis concluded.

Albert nodded. "Alright then, gentlemen. Thank you." He appeared thoughtful. "I can work on some inventions that will help make getting around easier for all of you until your wounds have completely healed. I'll be in my workshop."

"Hold it!" the doctor exclaimed. Everyone had forgotten he was still in the room. "You need to have your breakfast before you go and do anything."

He nodded sheepishly and approached the table so he could eat his broth.