Evening My Lovelies :)
So today's chapter catches us up to where we were in the first couple of chapters of the story timeline wise. Which means you get to see who's awake and who's fighting for their life... though I imagine most have guessed the latter one already :)
This also means that a few bits and pieces of today's chapter are from those two... just to bring it together (it's not much I promise)
Notes On Reviews:
Deana: Thanks for the review - Yeah I decided that being shot, whipped and having a broken leg just wasn't enough for our lovely medic lol :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
fariedragon: Thanks for the review - I'm glad they made it to Paris too... though that's because it means I'm nearing some really cute brotherly moments between our boys before even more whumpage :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I just couldn't resist having a whole protective-brotherhood feel with the musketeers so I'm glad you liked it :) Snuggly musky moments are a fave of mine so expect some more of those to come :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Who doesn't love a good snuggly musketeer moment :D Expect more of those to come :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
Katie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I know right :) Such a cute image :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
pain in the mikta: Thanks for the review - Haha I think I can guess which :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
watlocked: Thanks for the review - I just couldnt resist some musky-cuteness so I'm glad you liked it :) Bryce may come back at some point... maybe when Ortiz's punishment is decided? We'll see. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Tidia: Thanks for the review - Oh yeah it's not going to be easy keeping them all on bed rest as ordered... Fun times a head :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
CandyCakes: Thanks for the review - Ah i dont think they minded much but yeah I felt a bit sorry for them too. Enjoy the new chapter! x
GingietheSnap (Guest): Thanks for the review - Glad to hear you're enjoying the story so far. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Bookdancer: Thanks for the review - I know right! Such a great mental image *sighs contentedly* Glad you liked the chapter. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Issai: Thanks for the reviews - (Chapter24) Yeah D'Arts guilt is going to be quite the issue for the young man and it wont be long until the rest of our boys will be cursing his stubbornness regarding it as well. Porthos just likes punching things lol :D Aramis isnt coping too well with not being able to help thats for sure. Treville's in Papa-Bear mode at the moment i think lol :) (Chapter25) I know... Just one good snuggle scene thats all we need :D You'll have to wait and see what I have planned for Ortiz but it is coming soon. Yeah Ortiz is a dick, but by the time Lupiac had realized that they were in too deep. I might let Aramis and Etienne have a moment Etienne can apologize and deal with his guilt. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - Yeah I think there's definitely some jealously that's poisoning Bryce's attitude towards D'Art... As well as a bit of peer pressure as everyone else hates him for being different and wanting different things. Glad you're liking the secondary musketeer troupe... though I feel a little bad that the two I had in charge of Ortiz haven't been given names yet, might rectify that later at some point... :D Glad you liked the snuggles... it's too cute a mental image not to include and we'll have more on the way soon I promise :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Cookies and other yummy goodies to you lovely people who follow/favourite/review/read this... love you all!
Enjoy!
xxx
Chapter Twenty-Six: Upon Returning Home
Standing alone in the throne room waiting for the King to arrive was one of the most nerve-wracking things Treville had experienced… Not because he was worried about the King's reaction to having been gone for so long, if he was honest with himself he couldn't help but feel some anger towards the young monarch. In his eyes, had the King sent D'Artagnan with backup, then chances are he wouldn't have been taken… Or if he had been then word might have reached them sooner and they could have saved the young man a great deal of pain.
No, what was worrying the Captain was the state of his men. Whilst he stood to attention waiting on the whim of a naïve King, his men… his best men, could very well be dying.
"Come on!" growled Treville, though he was careful to keep his voice as quiet as possible.
"Ah Captain!" Greeted Louis jovially as he entered the throne room arm in arm with Queen Anne.
"It is good to see you returned to us Captain," smiled Anne, though the smile slipped momentarily when she noticed the tenseness in the musketeer Captain's frame. Frowning she tilted her head and asked, "Are you alright Captain?"
Before Treville could respond Louis interrupted, "Of course he's fine, my dear."
"I personally am well your majesty and I thank you for your concern." Treville responded, pushing down the desire to scream and yell at the King for his rash decision.
"And your men?" Anne asked, eyes narrowing as she picked up on the words the Captain had spoken.
"Yes your men!" exclaimed Louis as if he had just remembered what this was all about. "I trust they recovered my documents?"
Growling internally Treville straightened. "Athos assured me D'Artagnan recovered the documents and more," Treville explained, thinking back to the only moment on their trip home when his lieutenant had been lucid enough to question. Unfortunately his fever meant that his speech was still heavily slurred but Treville was able to gather that D'Artagnan had recovered the stolen documents when he had first arrived, something that made Treville grin in pride, and he had also uncovered some sort of conspiracy endangering many lives.
Much to Treville's annoyance Athos had passed out again before he could press him for more information.
"Athos?" Anne asked worried, he voice instantly capturing the King's attention. "Is D'Artagnan hurt?"
"Yes where is the boy?" Louis asked, also a tiny bit concerned at the lack of attendance from the young Gascon musketeer. The last time Louis had seen him the boy looked tired and a bit pale when he heard the details of the mission but determined nevertheless.
Surprised at the slight concern he thought he heard in Louis voice Treville decided to explain the situation as much as he could to the young royals, hoping the immature King would see the situation for how serious it was.
"You're sure of this Captain?" Louis asked, frowning as he listened to his Captain explain what he knew of what D'Artagnan had uncovered.
"I doubt D'Artagnan would have allowed his brothers to be tortured if he didn't deem the information he was protecting of the upmost importance." Treville agreed, absolutely no doubt in his mind that D'Artagnan had deemed the documents he had found worthy of protection at all costs.
"And the location of these documents?"
"Known only to D'Artagnan from the sounds of it." Explained Treville, remembering from his short discussion with Athos that D'Artagnan refused to tell them much regarding the letters.
"And the boy's condition?" Asked Richelieu grudgingly. The Cardinal had been summoned just before Treville began his explanation of events and the man was now silently fuming over the whole situation.
"Critical last I checked." Responded Treville sadly, worry churning his stomach as he thought of the state his youngest soldier had been in before he left.
"You may return to your men Treville," nodded King Louis, looking more serious then they had seen him in some time, "I want to receive updates about this situation as soon as things progress."
"Of course Your Majesty," agreed Treville, too relieved to be finally heading back to his men to really care about anything else. Bowing low to the young monarchs and nodding slightly to a now scowling Richelieu, Treville exited the palace.
Arriving back at the garrison Treville didn't know what to do with the concern growing within him. None of his men had come to find him since he departed to the palace, meaning that the physicians were still with his men. This did nothing for Treville's worry, as he had been gone several long hours by this point… The fact that the doctors remained with his men was telling in itself.
"Why is no one on guard?" Demanded Treville as he entered the garrison to find all the men staring anxiously at the infirmary.
Upon hearing their Captain the courtyard jumped to life with each man urgently trying to justify why they were not where they were supposed to be.
"Thierry!" Called Treville after brushing off the men's excuses. He had no cause to be angry with them when they were just worried about their brothers-in-arms but that didn't mean that the entire garrison could grind to a halt. They had a job to do and Treville wasn't about to let Richelieu use this as a reason to demean the regiment in the King's eyes.
"Why are you all out here?" Treville asked upon noticing that each of the men, beside Leroy and Galen, that he had taken with him to rescue the inseparables were standing sheepishly outside the infirmary door.
"We…" coughed Thierry, looking rather embarrassed as he explained the situation. "We got kicked out."
Treville honestly wasn't sure whether he wanted to sigh or laugh. "What did you do?" he asked resignedly
"Was hardly our fault Captain," offered Farrin as he glared at the infirmary door.
"Just… Explain please."
Treville almost wished he hadn't asked as Thierry began to explain that D'Artagnan had woken briefly once they arrived at the infirmary, but due to his extremely high fever the boy was completely out of it.
The Gascon had tried to fight the group's hold on him all whilst screaming how sorry he was and that he had no choice. D'Artagnan's eyes never left his still unconscious brothers as he pleaded for them to forgive him. In his delusional state D'Artagnan had it in his head that his brothers had perished at Ortiz's hands and so fought harder to at least be by their sides.
Unfortunately all that fighting tore open many of his healing wounds and restarted the bleeding in his leg… not that the boy seemed to even register the pain he was undoubtedly in.
Typically, as the inseparables seemed to have the worst timing, the three remaining musketeers had woken up to their youngest brother screaming their names, as doctors surrounded him, not that their minds registered that.
The three men caused such uproar that the physicians were forced to drug them to calm them down before they too further damaged their injuries.
"I'm still not seeing how this led you to being kicked out." Said Treville, though he too was now worriedly looking towards the infirmary door.
"D'Artagnan saw our weapons and freaked." Explained Etienne sadly, remembering how terrified, yet angry the young boy looked. "Doctor Pascal ordered us to leave before we riled him up even more… There's been no word since."
Nodding Treville made his way into the infirmary.
He hadn't been in the infirmary long, just long enough to get a brief run down on his men's condition from one of the assistants before a hiss of pain captures his attention.
"Easy," he soothed, by his musketeer's side in an instant, placing his hands gently on the wounded man in an effort to ground him. "You'll make it worse if you do that."
Watching the injured man who was clearly far from with it attempt to follow his orders Treville couldn't help but smile fondly at the man as he gently rubbed small circles on the man's shoulder.
"I am pleased to see you awake" Treville spoke, a small smile still on his face, though it became progressively more sad as he watched his soldier attempt to get into a more comfortable position. "How are you feeling?" he asked, instantly wanting to slap himself for asking such a question.
Hearing his solider ask after his brothers with such fearful expression on his face Treville couldn't help but admire the bond between them. Nodding his head over to where two more of the inseparables lay sleeping, watching with fondness as the injured man reaffirmed that his brothers were alive.
Treville then spent the next few minutes explaining what he knew of their conditions to the man, though both of their hearts stopped at the grim diagnosis of the missing musketeer.
"I need to know what happened if you're up to it" Treville asked minutes later once the pair had a chance to absorbed what the physician had said.
With a sad smile on his face Treville watched as the musketeer nodded slowly before he began his tale of what he and his brothers had endured over the last few weeks.
By the time the musketeer had finished his explanation evening had fallen and Treville was prevented from questioning the story further by the return of Doctor Pascal.
"You're still awake," remarked the doctor happily as he performed a quick check over the man.
"…'m hard to kill" responded the musketeer dryly, though his exhaustion was clear in his whole body.
"So it seems," smiled Pascal before he moved to the other two men, "Have they woken at all?"
"The odd moment here and there," Treville nodded, though his face betrayed his worry, "They were quick to fall asleep again though."
"Understandable." Nodded Pascal, "Both have quite high fevers, I imagine it's draining their reverses. That they woke up was a good sign, we'll just have to get these fevers down."
"What of the whelp?" Demanded the musketeer, practically growling at the doctor who had not mentioned the youngster since his arrival.
"Porthos" sighed Treville, though he understood that the musketeer's pain, exhaustion and worry had decided to combine itself and present itself as anger.
"They wake and 'e's not 'ere… They're not gonna take it well" warned the larger man, though his attempt to be intimidating failed slightly given how worried and tired he looked.
"Well that's why I'm here." Nodded the doctor, seemingly unbothered by the musketeer's attitude towards him. "We're going to move him over here now," placing a gentle hand on the musketeer's arm he added, "I keep my word, now you must keep yours and give that boy a reason to fight."
With that Doctor Pascal left to see to D'Artagnan, quiet mutterings could be heard through the door as the doctor checked in with Galen and Leroy who had insisted on staying to monitor the young man.
Knowing full well that he would get no more information from his soldier until he had seen D'Artagnan, Treville sat in silence as they gently carried the wounded musketeer to the bed in a stretcher.
"Please tell me…" growled Porthos, his voice dangerous low as got a clear look at his little brother who now looked more bandage than human. "that Ortiz still lives so I can kill him myself."
"Aye" nodded Treville, his eyes glued to the weak rise and fall of D'Artagnan's chest, "The King wanted more information before he decided what punishment to deal out."
"So long as it's painful for the bastard" snarled a voice weakly, its presence startling the two men slightly.
"Athos" nodded Treville, almost sagging in relief at seeing his lieutenant awake, if quite sickly looking.
"If the documents you mentioned confirm D'Artagnan's explanation to you then I imagine the King will not be lenient, especially as the threat is to his life as well."
"Course they will," stated Porthos, slightly angry that Treville doubted their youngster.
"Well where are they? King Louis… and Richelieu especially are not overly inclined to just believe your word on the matter."
"Whelp refused… to tell us" answered Porthos sadly, weakly reaching out with his injured hand to move a piece of the young Gascon's sweat-drenched hair out of his closed eyes.
"He hid them before going back for more information." Explained Athos, though it was quite clear by the way he spoke that the swordsman was hanging on to wakefulness by a thread.
Noticing this Treville smiled weakly at his men, "Get some rest, I'll relay your story to the King and put the men on alert. It's all we can do until our resident Gascon wakes up and can tell us where he hid those documents."