Evening My Lovelies
We did it! 300 reviews! *happy dances* You guys are awesome! Can't thank you enough for the support!
Now I'm going to admit that I'm not too sure about this chapter. I'm absolutely exhausted and almost fell asleep several times... Might have actually fallen asleep at one point. So anyways I'm apologizing in advance if it's not good.
Notes On Reviews:
Deana: Thanks for the review - Glad you liked it :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
pain in the mikta: Thanks for the review - Treville's been quite cool these last few chapters, it's been fun to write him :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - D'Artagnan just kinda wanted to get away from his brothers, though there was no way Treville was going to bring him. Men are on the way to get the documents so hopefully they'll return in time :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
CandyCakes: Thanks for the review - Papa Treville is so cute :) Glad you liked it. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Katie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Hehe glad you liked it :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Tidia: Thanks for the review - D'Arts guilt is sky-high at the moment. Treville is in full on papa-bear mode at the moment. Enjoy the new chapter! x
watlocked: Thanks for the review - Yeah I dont know how the parade would happen but now for some bizarre reason I have an image of our four boys making Treville a cake (I'm very tired hence the weird thoughts lol) Louis will be showing up most likely in tomorrow's chapter so hopefully you'll like it :) Anna may have to have words with out child-King. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - XD Ah I'm so happy you loved the chapter. Our boys are going to have to have a nice long chat with D'Artagnan. I want going to have it be Tristan but figured I've introduced enough new characters and he was feeling lonely :) And well done on being my 300th reviewer :) Thank you very much for your continual support, your reviews always make my day as you always have such lovely things to say *gives cookie* :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Glad you enjoyed it :) I have quite a bit more planned for this story so I'm hoping i might be able to reach 400 by the time the story's over. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Issai: Thanks for the review - Your impression would be correct :) Poor D'Artagnan is quite guilt-ridden at the moment. Aramis definitely wont be offering Ortiz any mercy if he gets the chance. Glad you like Tristan :) Whumpage is coming... its a few chapters away but it is coming! Enjoy the new chapter! x
As always many thanks to you lovely people who follow/favourite/review/read this... Love you all!
Enjoy!
xxx
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Brothers II
True to expectations within the hour of Tristan leaving their room Aramis had woken, amusing the two awake musketeers as the medic struggled to get his still sleep-clouded mind to understand why they were in a new location.
After a while though Athos decided to take pity on the man and explained what Tristan had told him.
"He was awake?" asked Aramis, his voice still slightly raw from the damage screaming had done to his throat, though even with the hoarseness of his voice the hope and relief in his words could still be heard.
Athos was about to respond when the door to their room slammed open. Having spent the last god knows how many days trapped in a room where the sound of a door opening usually meant pain, had conditioned the men to react quite negatively to the sound.
Both Aramis and Athos had pushed themselves forward, doing their best to cover D'Artagnan's still sleeping form with their bodies while Porthos had pushed himself up to his feet, swaying alarmingly and unable to hide the proof of how much the movement hurt him but he was standing nevertheless.
"Oh sit down before you fall down boy!" chided an all too familiar voice.
"Morning Serge," grinned Porthos, though it quickly turned into a grimace as he tried to get himself back into bed, his broken ribs causing him a whole world of pain as he moved.
"Afternoon," corrected Serge, though there was clear relief and amusement in his eyes as he scolded them for sleeping so late. "I've brought up some porridge for you" at seeing their unimpressed looks he shot them a glare, "I aint gonna have you throwing up my good food by cooking ya something you aint ready for" scolded the chef.
"Our thanks Serge" nodded Athos as he took the bowl offered to him, he knew better than to rile up the man who cooked his food.
"Brought some for the boy too," Serge informed them, frowning as he looked at D'Artagnan's sleeping form. Even with the many bandages and blankets covering him it was still obvious from looking at his slightly hollowed out cheeks that the boy had not had a decent meal in some time.
"Jesus, was he even fed at all the whole time you were gone? I know he's a beanpole at the best of times but Christ!"
The three senior musketeers' expressions darkened at the mention of how their little brother had been starved, the only comfort they took was that now that Serge knew, the man would be practically forcing the boy to eat and get his strength back.
Serge had taken it upon himself when the boy first started hanging around the garrison to slip the skinny young man some extra food whenever mealtime came around… Never enough that it was noticeable to the other men who could then tease the boy about it but just enough to help put some more meat on the Gascon's bones. Now that the boy was skinnier then when he joined the musketeers had no doubt those extra helping would soon be returning and in larger quantities.
"He's…" Sighed Aramis, looking sadly at the still unaware boy, "He's had trouble keeping things down since our rescue."
Serge nodded, understanding the trouble one who's been denied food for a while would have when they tried eating again…Especially in D'Artagnan's case where his whole body was in pain and he was fighting infections, these would only serve to further upset his already unsettled stomach.
"Good thing I watered he's down a bit then" Serge smiled, "Can we wake him? Best to eat while it's still warm."
As if on cue D'Artagnan began to show signs of waking, only for the musketeers' relief at the notion to quickly turn to horror when they realized it wasn't waking but rather entering a nightmare.
"D'Artagnan," soothed Athos, quick to grip the boy by his wrist, ignoring the pull on his injuries as he did so… He could handle the physical pain of his tight burns being stretched if it meant he could pull his baby brother from whatever was tormenting his mind.
When D'Artagnan began to thrash however was when the men knew they had to wake him up fast.
"D'Artagnan!" they cried in unison, each man grabbing a part of the now whimpering Gascon in hopes that their words and their touch might ground him – Athos had his wrist, Aramis had his unbroken hand and Porthos was stroking the boy's sweat-drenched hair.
"NO!" Cried D'Artagnan as his eyes shot open and his body flung upwards into a seating position, only to let out a heart-breaking scream of pain as the sharp movement aggravated his numerous injuries.
At D'Artagnan's cry of pain Athos decided to ignore the agony that was his back and swung his legs over the edge of his bed so he was facing the now crying Gascon. "It was just a dream D'Artagnan," he said, his voice soft and soothing as he trying to calm his shaking brother, his hands had moved to cup the boy's face in an effort to ground him.
D'Artagnan's head snapped up at the sound of Athos's voice and the young man couldn't help the fresh wave of tears that gathered in his eyes, nor the impulse that had him throwing himself into a startled Athos's arms, crying into his chest.
"W…Was… So…So…Real!" hiccupped the boy as he clung desperately to the swordsman's shirt.
Athos, although being startled, had wasted not time and had brought his arms around to pull the boy into a tight embrace, being mindful of the injuries on the young man's back as he did so. If he was being honest with himself he needed this… needed to have proof that he had not lost another brother to someone's psychotic rage.
He had no idea what the boy had been dreaming of but given the events of the last several weeks he could certainly guess. Instead of allowing his rage to overtake him like it wanted to, he focused his energy instead on calming down the trembling boy in his arms.
He was reminded of times during his childhood where Thomas would have nightmares and react in a similar way to how D'Artagnan was acting, so out of instinct Athos began to run a hand softly through D'Artagnan's hair as he whispered soothing words in his ears.
Aramis and Porthos did what they could to comfort their brother from their beds, both aching to be right next to the boy and to take away his pain but both knew that D'Artagnan needed Athos right now. The pair of them, despite not knowing each other that long, had developed a deep and strong bond. As terrified as D'Artagnan was, he needed Athos now.
It didn't take long for D'Artagnan to come back to himself and realize he was clinging onto Athos… a man he deeply respected and idolized, for dear life. As his face darkened with an embarrassed pink tint the Gascon pushed himself away from his brother's chest, looking down in shame as he did so.
"There is no shame in tears D'Artagnan," Athos frowned, having noticed the look in D'Artagnan's eyes as he pulled away.
The Gascon merely nodded lightly, too ashamed of himself to speak.
"Hell I think we're all due a few nightmares before this is over," Porthos added, hoping that his words would help calm the boy, remind him that he wasn't alone, though again all D'Artagnan did was to simply nod in response.
"Here," Aramis said, forcing his voice to be chipper and not to display any of the worry he was feeling at D'Artagnan's behavior. "Serge made it," he added, passing the bowl of watered down porridge to the young man.
Unfortunately as soon as he got a whiff of the food D'Artagnan's stomach rebelled against him as he threw up the tiny amount of stuff he had in his stomach into one of the buckets that had been placed by each of their bedsides.
"Breathe D'Art," soothed Aramis as he attempted to help the young man as he dry-heaved into the bucket. Lifting his gaze from his sick brother the medic shared a worried look with his other inseparables before continuing to mumble a stream of comforting words into D'Artagnan's ear.
"Try this instead," Athos suggested, offering the boy a goblet of water that was laced with a pain-relieving draught, he hoped that when the pain in his brother's body had gone down it might make him able to stomach the idea of some food and maybe he'd even be able to keep the food down.
It took several long minutes and much pushing and persuasion from the three elder inseparables but eventually D'Artagnan finished the entire contents of the goblet.
The drawback for this was that the strong pain draught the water was laced with had an immediate effect on the sick young man and within minutes he was asleep again.
Aramis sighed as he saw his brother sleeping, though he was glad he had been able to keep something down even if it was just water. His concern for the boy's health was growing and he knew his brother was going to run into some serious problems if they didn't get him eating something soon.
This continued for the following few days and whilst D'Artagnan's health did slowly improve enough to keep down small portions of soft foods like porridge and broth, he had yet to speak to his brothers.
It wasn't for lack of trying on the elder trios part, each man constantly tried different tactics to get their brother to open up to them, each of them failing miserably as D'Artagnan continued to not even look at the men.
And if that wasn't worrying enough, the three men still had D'Artagnan's fever to worry about. Whilst their own significantly improved with rest, food and medication, D'Artagnan's continued to plague him, making it so it would be a guess when the boy woke up if he was going to be lucid or not.
If he was then the musketeers had to deal with a silent and solemn little brother who had withdrawn back into himself in preparedness for when his brothers' decided they couldn't forgive him for what he had done… Something that the injured Gascon was convinced was only a matter of time coming. In his mind he had decided that it would hurt less if he was already as distant with them as he could be, that way when they did leave him it wouldn't come as such a shock.
It was his delirious moments however that really broke the three men's hearts. Whenever their little brother was awake but feeling the affects of the fever he would be convinced that they weren't really there, that they had perished because of his actions and his lack of ability. None of their words of protest had any affect on the delirium that tormented their brother and so they were forced to endure their baby brother crying out for their forgiveness and he continually said how sorry he was and blamed himself.
Each time D'Artagnan was in one of these moments the three men would try to connect with him, to ground him as best as they were able but again it had little effect other than taking the slightest edge off of it.
As the days progressed D'Artagnan's delirious moments decreased slowly as his brothers health increased.
Several of the men's smaller stitched wounds were healed enough that the stitches could be removed. Porthos's infected bite wound had also significantly improved, though was still showing slight signs of infection.
Aramis was still having trouble moving without being in agonizing pain from his back and leg but his infected shoulder had completely cleared.
Athos's burns still plagued him and gave him much trouble moving but his fever had also completely gone and he was able to attempt so light movement which generally consisted of walking to one of his brothers beds and back again, or to their supply cupboard in the hopes that overnight someone had put some wine in it…. With everything that had happened and was happening in terms of D'Artagnan the morose swordsman was in dire need of some alcohol.
"He thinks he's weak," commented Aramis sadly a few days into their brother's silence.
"What?" asked Porthos as he and Athos pushed themselves up in their beds to look at the grim faced medic.
"He's acting like he did whenever he was haunted by memories of his father and would show up at my door." Aramis explained, not missing the slightly hurt looks on both Athos and Porthos's faces. He ignored them for the moment though so he could finish explaining. "Whenever he showed up he would never be able to look at me. Took me longer then it should have done to realize he was ashamed of me seeing him in a weak moment."
"The why go to you in the first place?" Asked Athos as he looked sadly at the resting boy who had pulled up his blankets to cover most of his head. There was a sadness in Athos's voice that spoke to how hurt he was that D'Artagnan hadn't confided in him that he was struggling, as well as some anger in himself for not noticing it and allowing the boy to suffer.
Aramis shrugged, explaining that sometimes you just need people regardless of how weak you think it makes you seem. He then went on to explain the situation that led to D'Artagnan seeking comfort with Aramis on bad nights.
"I think he was afraid of how you would react," stated the medic as he looked at Athos, answering the man's unasked question.
"What did he think I would do? Throw him out?" questioned the swordsman, no longer trying to hide his hurt.
"No!" Aramis denied, quick to throw that notion out of the window. "He…" Aramis sighed, "He looks up to you Athos… More than you think he does. I think he was afraid that if you saw him in a weak moment then you wouldn't deem him worthy or other such nonsense."
"Makes sense," Porthos nodded
"What!?" Athos exclaimed, turning to look at the large man, his eyes full of disbelief
"'Thos, whelp has a serious case of hero worship when it comes to you, course 'e's gonna want ya to see him as anything but weak."
Athos sighed, rubbing his temples in an attempt to stave off the growing headache. "And you think that is why he's giving us the silent treatment… because I saw him in a weak moment?"
Aramis grimaced, "Partly" he agreed, "You're going to need to talk to him… Chances are he wont listen to us if it doesn't come from you first."
Sending one last look D'Artagnan's way Athos nodded. He wasn't one for emotional talks but if it got D'Artagnan to open up to them, to get him talking again, then he would do it.