Evening My Lovelies :)

Got a little bit more whumpage today... It's kinda more implied then actually seen but worry not it will come up again soon.

I'm really hoping you like this one as it is a prelude to tomorrows chapter which I absolutely ADORE! I can't wait for you to read it as it's one of my favourite chapters I've written for this story so far so hopefully you'll all be excited for that :)

If you have any ideas or suggestions of things you want to see happen feel free to let me know in a review or pm and if it's something i can do I'll try to include it :)

Notes On Reviews:

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I was tempted to have the boys more injured then they were by the explosion but considering the ideas I have planned for them I figured I'd let them get off a little bit easy for now at least :) I don't have the heart to kill them... especially not right when this are about to get deliciously evil :D Glad you liked the Spanish bit. There'll be the odd bit that's in Spanish when they deal with Ortiz in some later chapters as well. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Tidia: Thanks for the review - Hehe glad you're like Ortiz as a bad guy. I think the townspeople have been under his control for so long and his take over was fairly gradual so they didn't really realize how bad it was until it seemed too late to do anything to stop him... Plus they still get some benefits from helping him so I think that helps keep them in line. I think it's one of the reasons they did nothing to salvage anything from D'Artagnan's home, D'Artagnan's family was always at odds with Ortiz so they feared the repercussions of helping him. Enjoy the new chapter! x

romirola: Thanks for the review - Glad you're loving it so far :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Deana: Thanks for the review - Oh Yeah things are about to get seriously bad for our boys :D Enjoy the new chapter! x

Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - Yep Ortiz is loving having the musketeers right where he wants them... though D'Art's stubborness isnt making his plan easy for him. Tomorrow's chapter is both going to alleviate (a teeny tiny bit) and increase (a fair bit) their worry for each other so I'm excited to see what you'll think of it. Ortiz set the explosion knowing the musketeers would go there at some point but he doesnt want them dead as he needs them as leverage so it was just enough to knock them out and give some impressive bruising but not overly hurt them (that'll come later mwhahaha). I felt the boys were kinda on guard for trouble like an ambush or something so that wouldnt really work in terms of capturing them hence the explosion :). Glad you liked the D'Art bit after the explosion. It was just as heartbreaking to write as it was to read trust me. The Spanish is going to turn up every now and again as well... usually when Aramis is particularly upset or angry. Enjoy the new chapter! x

Guest: Thanks for the review - Sorry if it was a bit too quick but I couldnt really justify them hanging around Lupiac for much longer without confronting Ortiz which would have led to their capture anyway and I wanted something to happen that would get D'Arts attention as well. There's a LOT of pain and suffering coming our boy's way very very soon. Enjoy the new chapter! x

I don't know what's going on with the reviews not showing up on here but they're coming to my emails (at least I hope they all are) so I should still be okay replying to you all but if I've missed anyone out I'm sorry!

As always many thanks to you awesome lot who follow/favourite/review/read this story!

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter Eight: Captivity

The days the followed their capture were possibly the worst the three musketeers had experienced since their tightknit family had expanded to include their young fourth.

They had been lucky enough to be left relatively alone by both their host and their guards. But being alone meant that they felt the gap left by their missing brother all the more keenly.

They were unsure as to why they hadn't seen more of Ortiz since their initial meeting, especially as he made his intentions to them quite clear. This led to a great deal of worry for what was befalling their little brother while they were being left alone.

In fact the only time they saw anyone was when one of the guards entered to check on them or to leave them food. These visits often resulted in bruising for at least one of the musketeers as they would do something their guard didn't like and get a beating for it.

Athos had the brunt of the men's anger for the first few days as although Aramis and Porthos would yell insults to them when they entered, Athos would glare at them, his eyes almost daring the men to do something. The guards had also noted how protective the three men were to each other so if one of them insulted them then they would beat a different musketeer.

After Athos had endured a particularly nasty beating due to an impressively creative barrage of insults from both of his brothers that left the musketeer with a split lip, almost completely black eye and some badly damaged ribs the musketeers were a lot more silenced when the guards entered.

Everything came to a head a few days into their capture however, when they were each jolted from their sleep by the heartbreaking screams of their little brother.

Each musketeer had paled instantly and began their assault on their chains with renewed vigor while their thought focused solely on the young Gascon screaming in a distant room.

Porthos had taken to yelling obscenities at everything and everyone, the only ones who avoided his ire were his brothers but chains, villagers and the guards who stood on constant watch did not as the larger musketeer unleashed a vocabulary that only one who grew up in the Court Of Miracles could ever develop.

Unfortunately their guards once again did not take too kindly at being insulted in such a way from the musketeer and entered the room several times to beat him… This of course then caused outrage with Aramis and Athos who tried their best to leap to their brother's defense, although this only caused the guards attention to turn to them, leaving them with some deep bruising and lots of aching muscles and ribs.

Aramis, unlike Porthos, was quiet with his rage at the sound of their little brother's screams. He unlike his brothers knew just how much their stubborn Gascon could endure before he would cry out, having treated the young man from numerous injuries of varying intensities, and as such he was now having trouble doing anything else but imagining just what horrors were befalling the young man for him to vocalize his pain as he was. Because of this he barely even registered the hits he himself took when the guards turned their annoyance at Porthos's words onto him and Athos.

Athos… He was probably suffering more than either of his two brothers due to his closer bond with the young Gascon. The swordsman knew it was wrong to do so but he had realized that ever since D'Artagnan had arrived in Paris he had been unconsciously drawing parallels between the man and his own deceased brother Thomas. Both men were close in age and shared a reckless passion for justice that often drew them in to trouble and dangerous situations.

He had already lost one brother to a madwoman's anger, he could only now hope he wouldn't lose one to a madman's.

Ortiz couldn't help but smirk as he watched the young man in front of him tremble in pain as tears fell unbidden from his eyes.

"This can all end D'Artagnan," stated Ortiz with a sickening grin as he threw his arms wide to gesture to the small damp cell the boy had spent the last week in. "All you have to do" he teased, kneeling down in front of the still violently trembling Gascon, grasping a fistful of the boy's hair, yanking it backwards to make the man look at him whilst ignoring the gasp of pain his action produced. "Is to tell me where you hid it"

Breathing through the pain that was tearing apart his body, D'Artagnan glared at the Spaniard, defiance heavy in his eyes as he spat a mouthful of blood into the man's face, "Never!" he swore, instantly bracing himself for the backhand that followed.

"Mocoso!" (Brat!) Ortiz growled, the look of anger quickly turning to a dangerous smirk that would have set D'Artagnan on edge had the boy the strength to hold his head up and look at him. "Not even to save the lives of the three musketeer's currently in my cells?" he asked innocently, relishing in the slight falter in the boy's stubborn determination.

A pit grew in D'Artagnan's stomach. This was what he had been waiting to happen, for Ortiz to try and use his brothers' lives as leverage to get it back. Had it been anything else, anything not so crucially important and the Gascon might have seriously considered it, given up what was requested in the hopes that the four of them could then rectify the situation when the 'inseparables' were whole again. But as it was he knew they could never stop what was about to happen without it and that his brothers' would never forgive him for choosing them over the lives of those who would be in danger.

"Not… even… then" he growled weakly, tears streaming down his face now as he realized he might have just have sentenced his family to death.

Ortiz's eyebrows rose as the youngsters declaration, inwardly impressed with the man's determination whilst he was outwardly annoyed. Though he had to admit he was enjoying seeing just how far he could push the lad before his spirit completely broke. A dark grin spread across his face as an idea blossomed.

"How about we make a deal?" he inquired lightly as he rose to his feet, ensuring his foot was on D'Artagnan's fingers as he did so.

"I… Told… You" growled D'Artagnan, gasping ever so slightly at the growing pressure on his hand. "I… Won't… Talk"

"Oh not about that" Ortiz waved him off, smirking at the look of exhausted confusion that appeared on D'Artagnan's face. "That got you're attention" he added, chuckling when the boy attempted to glare at him, though it was slightly nullified by the pain, exhaustion and general swelling that marred his face.

"The task is quite simple" he explained, "all you have to do is not scream for thirty minutes"

"And… if I win?" D'Artagnan asked weakly, intrigued as to why he suddenly didn't want him screaming when he certainly hadn't cared before.

"You get the choice between two prizes" Ortiz explained, still grinning evilly, "One… you get some food"

D'Artagnan's stomach cried out at the mention of food, having not eaten in almost four days. It would almost be worth putting up with the pain if he could get something to eat.

"Or two" Ortiz teased having seen the intense longing in the boy's eyes at the mere mention of food… "One hour alone with a musketeer of you're choosing"

D'Artagnan didn't even waste a second, "Deal!"

"It's been quiet for a while now" Aramis whispered, staring longingly at the door as if he could make D'Artagnan appear behind it, completely fine and healthy with just his will alone.

"Whelp's fine" grunted Porthos, instantly knowing where Aramis's mind had gone. His own had gone there too but a small part of him held onto the hope that their brother was still alive.

"Ortiz wants something from D'Artagnan, something more important than some stolen documents I would wager given D'Artagnan's capture" Athos said, speaking for the first time since they heard D'Artagnan's screams, "I doubt D'Artagnan has given it up so there's a need to keep him alive"

At Athos's words silence settled amongst the group as the fact that D'Artagnan would most likely suffer more pain before this was all over sank in.

They were torn from the silence by the sound of a key in the lock of their cell door. As soon as one of Ortiz's guards sauntered into the cell the three musketeers began yelling at him as one, each demanding to know where D'Artagnan was.

The guard ignored them all and stood in front of Aramis, who looked at him with questioning yet defiant eyes. "You Aramis?" grunted the guard. The medic was tempted to deny, more out of an attempt just to piss off their captor then anything else but realized that might not end well for any of his brothers so he simply nodded, narrowing his eyes as the guard fished out a key from his jacket pocket and moved to the chains on the wall that connected to the cuffs around the sharpshooters ankles.

"What's going on?" Growled Porthos as he watched the guard pull the medic to his feet, really not liking how Aramis was about to be taken away from the limited safety of their cell.

"You've been requested," grunted the guard as he pushed the still cuffed musketeer hard towards the door, the force behind it causing the sharpshooter to land hard on his shoulder against the door, "get moving"

Aramis didn't have to be told twice and limped out of the room, moving awkwardly thanks to the guards having stomped and kicked his legs earlier.

They walked for several minutes, during which time Aramis was desperately trying to create a mental map of the place, until they stopped at what he assumed to be a locked door.