Ok, sorry! NHL playoff hockey had be delay in posting this! I don't even know what to say about this one, so I'll just leave it. Thank you so much for the kind support throughout! There might be one more chapter after this!

Just wanting to repeat my warning about the violence...and maybe the need for tissues?

oOo

It took three tries for Porthos to knock down the door. When he did he immediately found himself engaged with one of the armed men. Athos too found himself in a similar situation with the other guard.

Porthos and his man were evenly matched in terms of strength and size as they grappled on the right side of the hall. Athos quickly dispatched his opponent with a few quick thrusts of his rapier. The thug was clearly no swordsman.

"Athos!" shouted Annabella just in time as Charles leapt from the shadows and began attacking Athos with a drawn rapier. The old valet was surprisingly talented and was fuelled by rage, making him a more difficult opponent than Athos was expecting. He recovered quickly and grinned at the sight of the man's smashed nose.

"Aramis is still alive!" thought Athos.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Porthos subduing his opponent, the men tangled in a strong chokehold.

"He's a disgrace," snarled the valet. "My master had the right to kill him"

Athos felt his blood boil. "No!" he shouted.

Rage momentarily overtook the lieutenant and before he knew it, the valet lay still at his feet, lifeless eyes gazing at the ceiling.

"You all right?" called Porthos as he dropped the lifeless body of his own opponent.

"Fine," said Athos. "But you're bleeding."

"Just a graze. Had a blade hidden in his sleeve."

Athos nodded. "Where's Annabella?" he asked just as the sound of gunfire erupted from the end of the hall.

oOo

Annabella stood at the back of the hallway as the musketeers grappled with their opponents. From the corner of her eye Annabella saw Charles slither his way toward Athos, rapier drawn. His face and the front of his livery were covered in blood.

Athos had just defeated his opponent and had looked over to where Porthos stood when Charles made to attack.

"Athos!" she called out to the swordsman, who rallied just in time to parry what would have been a deadly blow. Annabella gripped the pistol in her hand and ran down the hallway to the open door at the end of the hall.

She entered just as her father plunged the blade in her brother's bloodied body. She watched as the colour drained from his face.

"Cry for me," she heard her father hiss cruelly as he raised the blade again.

"No!" she screamed. Her father turned stunned for a moment, but recovered quickly and with an evil grin, went in for the killing blow once more.

Annabella did not hesitate. At the sight of the manic gleam in her father's eye, she raised Aramis' ornate pistol and fired, hitting her father in the side.

The force knocked him backwards and into the shadows, away from where Aramis was suspended.

oOo

"Aramis!" she cried and ran to her brother's side. Grabbing the blade that her father had dropped, she hacked viciously at the rope suspending her brother. Aramis dropped like a stone when the line was cut.

"Aramis!" she cried again, throwing herself down beside him and gathering his head into her lap.

"Don't move!" she said and began applying pressure on the stab wound. "I'm going to save you," she whispered urgently, brushing his hair from his face.

"You came…" Aramis sputtered, blood speckling his lips.

"Of course!" she whispered, tears falling. "I wouldn't let him hurt you. Not again. Not ever again," she sobbed.

A clanging sound startled her as she turned to see her father rising to his feet. He had his pistol drawn and was bleeding profusely from the gunshot wound on his left side.

"You…" he snarled at his daughter, as she clung to her brother protectively in her arms.

"You…You betrayed me. You disobeyed me…for him? For this bastard?"

"He is my brother. I will not let you harm him, you monster," she said defiantly. Green eyes burning as they stared down her father's pistol.

As her words landed, each like a dagger to his heart, the General howled with rage and took aim.

The air exploded with the sound of gunshot. Annabella sat there, unflinching, cradling Aramis in her arms as her father dropped the pistol in front of her.

She watched as he slowly crumpled to the floor, a dark stain on his chest growing to meet the one on his side, the fire finally extinguished from those violent eyes.

In from the doorway rushed Athos and Porthos, the pistol in Porthos' hand still smoking. Aramis' pistol.

Athos rushed into the room and fell at Annabella's side. Porthos stood roaring and circling, daring anyone else to try to harm his brother again.

"Aramis!" cried Athos cupping his brother's face. He lowered his cheek to Aramis' lip. "Good!" he thought. "He's still breathing."

"Aramis!" he called again, "What happened?" he said to Annabella.

"My father," she choked, desperately, her hands covered in her brother's blood. "He stabbed him with the dagger. He had him suspended. I'm not sure if I hurt him when I cut him down."

Athos checked the stab wound; it was still bleeding slowly from beneath his and Annabella's hands. Everything else would have to wait. Somehow he needed to rouse his brother.

Pinching his earlobe Athos muttered, "Open your eyes."

"C'mon, 'Mis!" called Porthos urgently as he hovered over them, his eyes full of fear and panic.

"Aramis," said Athos again, tapping the man's face. "Open your eyes!" he said, with all the urgency and command he could muster.

Nothing...

...And then Aramis' eyelashes fluttered as he tried to open his eyes. Annabella gasped as Porthos coughed out a laugh in relief, wiping tears from his eyes.

"'thos?" Aramis croaked, dark brown orbs peeking out from heavy eyelids.

"How are you," Athos asked.

"I'm – " Aramis began.

"Don't you dare say fine," warned Athos.

Aramis grimaced. "I'm...sore…and cold," he muttered, each word an audible strain for the man.

Annabella let out a soft sob.

"'nabella?" Aramis whispered, searching to find her face. "I couldn't let him hurt you…" he tried to explain as he continued the fight to not close his eyes.

"Nor I you," she said brushing the hair back from his forehead again. "He can never hurt us anymore," she said, her tears creating small rivulets as they washed the blood from her brother's face.

Aramis grimaced again, his features contorted by his pain.

"Aramis," said Athos, shaking him gently, "I know you are tired brother, but I need you to stay with me a few moments longer until we can treat the wound in your side, and then I promise to let you sleep, ok?"

Aramis opened his eyes once more, and making eye contact with all three pairs that hovered over him – blue, green and brown – he nodded. "I knew you'd come for me."

oOo