Evening My Lovelies
First off I am SOOOOOO sorry there was no update yesterday. I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately and it finally caught up with me last night were I pretty much clonked out as soon as I got in from work and didn't wake until like 5am this morning.
I'm really liking this chapter so hopefully it'll make up for leaving you all hanging :)
Also notification emails for reviews and chapter updates seem to be fixed now if the barrage of emails i got today were anything to go by :)
Notes On Reviews:
Deana: Thanks for the review - Sorry about keeping you waiting, Enjoy the new chapter! x
A reader (Guest): Thanks for the review - Mwhahaha I know :D Hopefully this chapter follows that ending well :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
pain in the mikta: Thanks for the review - I know :D My evil mind was ecstatic to write that and then this chapter :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Tidia: Thanks for the review - Glad you liked it. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Issai: Thanks for the review - I am very tempted to kill the cardinal just for our boys, we'll see. Worried Aramis is very cute, couldnt resist adding it :) If you think Louis should have been punched after the last chapter then you're really gonna want to punch him after today's :D We'll have to wait for Thierry as well... I am leaning more to letting him live though. Hahaha I quite agree I wouldn't run if Aramis wanted to arrest me either :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
watlocked: Thanks for the reviews - Yeah it's been causing lots of trouble but hopefully is fixed now. (chapter 35) We'll have to wait for Thierry's fate but I am leaning more towards letting him live. Glad you liked the flashback as well as D'Art/Athos moment. (chapter 36) Hehehe Glad you liked the ending. I know arent Aramis and D'Art just too cute :) We learn a bit more about Ortiz's evil master plan today but I've kinda split it into 2 parts, purely because I fell in love with the sentence I ended this chapter on. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Yeah Queen Anne's awesome and Louis just a bit of a douche... Especially in today's chapter. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Helensg: Thanks for the review - Ooooh yes I have some Athos whump planned, it'll be a couple of chapters but there's some more coming worry not. Thank you for your kind words they made me smile :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - Hahaha yeah your thoughts on Athos's reaction are pretty much dead on :) I thought you might like the snuggly moment, I'm pretty much including them at any point were they would fit, it's too cute :D Yeah Louis panicked a bit much over the Cardinal's attack but he was a bit stupid in not realizing Treville would have had something serious happen for him to be delayed. Louis is also a bit of an ass today as well. Just wanted to hug D'Art when he started whimpering. Aramis's nose is fine, just a bit sore. I was tempted to have it bleed loads but D'Art has enough guilt to contend with. Enjoy the new chapter! x
As always much love and many thanks for supporting this by following/favouriting/reviewing/reading. Apologies again for the delay with this chapter.
Enjoy!
xxx
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Request I
"As I said, I will tell you everything you want to know… BUT I will tell it to Charles and Charles alone."
It took all of Athos self-restraint not to launch himself at Ortiz the second those words left his mouth. Ortiz was the reason D'Artagnan had not slept and entire night through without at least one nightmare. He was the reason their little brother was almost being destroyed by the guilt Athos knew he was trying to hide.
Swallowing the urge to punch the Spaniard who looked at them smugly as he waited for their answer, Athos grabbed Treville by the elbow and dragged him out of the room.
"There is no way we are letting D'Artagnan anywhere near that piece of trash!" snarled Athos, his eyes alight with fury as he dared the Captain to say otherwise.
"We may not have a choice Athos," Treville said calmly though it was obvious that it pained him to say so.
"NO!" refuted Athos, slamming his fist into the wall as he spoke, anger causing him to take deep breaths. "You would actually put D'Artagnan in the same room as that son of a bitch?" snarled Athos, barely containing the urge to punch his Captain. "After everything that bastard put him through?!"
"I don't want to!" yelled Treville before sighing and visibly sagging. "But you know as well as I do that should word of his request reach the King, Louis wont hesitate to order D'Artagnan in there and D'Artagnan will have no choice but to do as ordered."
Athos sighed, his face visibly pained. "This will break him Treville," he whispered brokenly. He knew, as did his brothers, that D'Artagnan's recovery was a very tenuous thing. They had made some progress, they had gotten him to talk to them and even occasionally laugh and smile again but the young Gascon was still heavily guilt ridden and Athos just knew that if he was alone with Ortiz the Spaniard would not hesitate to use that guilt against him and tear their brother's fragile recovery to shreds.
"Not a word of this makes it back to him," Treville stated firmly, fully understanding Athos's worries having watched Aramis suffer similarly when he returned from Savoy. At that point, had the sharpshooter been forced to meet the Duke of Savoy Treville had no doubt that the best outcome would have been that Aramis resigned his commission.
Nodding Athos sent Treville an apologetic look. He had not meant to insinuate that the man did not care about those under his command; something he knew was not true. The musketeers were lucky to have a Captain such as Treville, the man would not hesitate to do anything in his power to protect and defend those in his command.
Athos remembered when he had first lost a musketeer during a mission in which he was the leader. Treville had not said a word upon his return, merely taken him into his office before pouring the two of them a glass of his best brandy, refilling it and sitting with him until he was ready to deal with the loss. Afterwards Treville hadn't coddled him, hadn't let him wallow in the death or let him doubt himself, he had acted like everything was normal and showed him that the men would still follow him and that they did not blame him for the death of one of their brothers. That belief and faith had meant everything to Athos at the time and it was something he doubted he would ever be able to truly thank the Captain for.
"Now," grinned Treville, placing a strong hand on Athos's shoulder in silent acceptance of the unspoken apology, "Let's see if we can't get our Spaniard to talk."
"Captain Treville," called a voice, interrupting the Captain as he and Athos attempted to break the Spaniard.
"What?" Growled Treville as he turned to look at the Red Guard who had entered the room.
"The King requests your presence." He stated, a knowing look on his face that worried the two musketeers.
Nodding his acceptance Treville motioned for Athos to follow him, not entirely trusting his lieutenant not to kill the man in his absence if Ortiz continued spouting the derogatory comments about his brothers he had been spouting for the last few hours they had been attempting to interrogate him.
Walking into the palace throne room Athos felt his heart stop at the sight of his brothers all standing, barely, in front of the King looking very confused as to why they were there.
His fear then turned to anger at the King as the monarch had not only brought his injured brothers out of their recovery room but he had forced them to stand, despite the fact that Aramis had a broken leg and was heavily leaning on his crutches or that Porthos was freshly recovering from an attack and only returned to consciousness that morning.
When he saw D'Artagnan though, that when he realized why they were here, the young Gascon clearly had no idea what this was all about given the openly curious look adorning his face as he forced himself not to wince whenever he shifted slightly.
Athos quickly turned to look at Treville, a panicked look on his face that was matched by his Captain and quickly concealed as the King entered the room, though it was not covered quick enough for the musketeers not to spot. Aramis sent Athos a quizzical look and the swordsman noticed how the medic subconsciously moved closer to their youngest.
"My men should be resting in the infirmary Your Majesty," Treville said, his voice diplomatic whilst having an underlying element of anger, "Why are they here?"
"A better question would be why are you not allowing the one request our prisoner asks in return for his complete confession?" King Louis asked, his eyes narrowing at the Captain.
"Since when do we bargain with terrorists?" Athos asked, trying very hard to keep the growl from his voice as he spoke to the King.
"Since I said so musketeer," sneered Louis, "I imagine it was your input that influenced the Captain against accepting the request so I would watch your tone if I were you."
"IT WAS AN UNREASONABLE REQUEST!" Athos exclaimed, unable to accept that the King was seriously going to go through with this.
His outburst was met with shocked gazes from his brothers who had never seen their friend and leader lose it so much, especially in front of something like the King.
"Athos?" Aramis hissed under his breath, feeling very much out of the loop but knowing whatever was going on was something none of them were going to like very much.
"Watch your tone with me musketeer!" spat the King as he turned to Treville. "Control your men Captain or I will have their commissions revoked."
"Athos," commanded Treville, who had moved to the furious swordsman's side before the King had spoke. "This is not helping and you'll be doing no-one any good losing your commission." He added quietly so only Athos could hear him.
"He was not wrong Your Majesty," Treville state calmly once Athos had calmed down enough for him to move from the musketeer's side, "I did not act upon it as it was an unreasonable request that will do more harm than good and I will not allow my men to be put through that when we have other leads to follow."
"And how many people will we lose while you're running down these leads of yours?" Louis asked, sounding thoroughly fed up with the whole situation. "They have already targeted Cardinal Richelieu and for all we know there is an attack on either myself or my Queen just waiting to happen… No I will not allow that to happen. This, Ortiz, has information we need and you will do as he asks."
Treville swallowed, looking over his shoulder to his men, his eyes lingering longer and with more sadness on D'Artagnan.
"No!" roared Aramis who caught the action and finally understood what was going on. "You can't do that!"
"ENOUGH!" Yelled the King, glaring at the men before him. "You are the King's Musketeers. That puts you under my jurisdiction, you have no say in the matter." Looking to a very confused D'Artagnan Louis summoned him forward.
"Your Majesty?" he asked tiredly, though there was an underlying fear to his words that only his brothers seemed to catch.
"Ortiz has agreed to answer every question and tell us everything relating to his plan." Louis stated.
D'Artagnan's eyebrows furrowed, that did not sound like the man he knew, something more was going on he was sure. "If we do what exactly?"
"You," Athos whispered brokenly, hating the terrified look on his brother's face as he spoke, "He'll tell it to you and only you."
Protests quickly started up from the musketeers, not willing to let their brother anywhere near Ortiz.
"D'Artagnan," said the King, his anger at the musketeer's continual refusal very clear on his face.
"S-S-Sir?" D'Artagnan said, grimacing at the fear in his voice.
"You do this and I'll forget about the complete lack of respect your fellow musketeers showed today."
"And if he doesn't?" Treville asked, slightly glaring at the King
"Then I revoke the commission of all four of them," stated the King, ignoring the shocked expressions on the men before him. "I can't have men in my regiment that wont follow my orders."
D'Artagnan's jaw dropped open at Louis words, but he also knew his decision was made for him. He had already been the cause of their injuries, he would die before he let himself be the reason his brothers lost the job and family they loved.
"F-Fine."
"Whelp," Porthos said softly
"No, I can do this," D'Artagnan said with more determination in voice, "I'll be fine." He added with a sad smile.
"Good choice," smiled Louis, "Show him the way Treville. The rest of you can return to your garrison."
"Do as he says," whispered Treville when he saw the men about to protest. "I'll keep an eye on him as best I can but you'll do him no good doing this."
The inseparables nodded reluctantly but stayed in the throne room until D'Artagnan was long gone from their sight.
"Are you sure about this D'Artagnan?" Treville asked for at least the tenth time as they reached the door to Ortiz's cell.
"…No" said D'Artagnan quietly, not looking his Captain in the eye. "But I've got to do this."
Treville sighed, though his eyes were beaming with pride for the young man, "I can't be in there with you but I'll wait right here until you're done. If you feel like you need to leave, do it, I don't want you pushing yourself too far for this. Is that understood?"
"Understood Captain," smiled D'Artagnan before he took a deep breath and entered the cell.
"Well, well, well" smirked Ortiz, "I was wondering how long it would take them to send you to me cachorro (pup)"
"Let's just get on with this," growled D'Artagnan, doing his best to keep the shaking out of his voice.
"But it's been so long since we've seen each other and we had such fun the last time."
"Are you going to answer my questions or not?" sighed D'Artagnan, doing everything to avoid looking at the chained man in front of him.
"Of course," Ortiz nodded, "I'm a man of my word after all."
D'Artagnan snorted at that.
"Well that was rude," scowled the Spaniard, "I did promise not to kill your brothers did I not?"
"Not from lack of trying," spat D'Artagnan, now glaring at the Spaniard.
"Their pain is on your conscience cachorro not mine," smirked Ortiz, his smirk growing wider at the look of shame that passed across D'Artagnan's face. "Had you told me what I wanted to know they wouldn't have suffered."
"… We're not here to talk about them."
"That's true," shrugged Ortiz, "How about we make this game?"
"A game?" said D'Artagnan, his voice full of disbelief.
"Sure, why not. It's not like I have anything else to keep me occupied in here."
"What sort of game?" D'Artagnan asked cautiously.
"I answer a question of yours if you answer one of mine."
Getting the distinct impression he was going to regret this D'Artagnan agreed.
"Excellent, well you're up first."
D'Artagnan thought for a moment, "Why attack the Cardinal?"
Ortiz sighed, "Really D'Artagnan I thought you were smarter than that. The Cardinal is one of the few people your stupid King trusts completely. To have him dead or even just injured would wound the King in a way no physical pain could ever."
D'Artagnan nodded having already thought it might be something like that.
"Now" Smirked Ortiz dangerous, "what should my question be? … Oh I know. How have you been sleeping? Any nightmares?"
"Fine and no," snapped D'Artagnan
"It's bad form to lie cachorro" teased Ortiz, "In fact if you continue to do so I might be tempted to do the same with my answers."
"…Badly and some" grumbled D'Artagnan, not about to risk getting false information because of his pride. Ortiz's grinned at his answer.
"About what I wonder?"
"It's my turn," stated D'Artagnan, brushing off the question. Once Ortiz had nodded at him he continued, "Is poisoning the populace the main goal of your followers?"
If anything Ortiz's smile grew at that, "Oh no," he teased, "They have a much more… dramatic, end game in the works."
"Which would be what?" D'Artagnan asked, his worry growing.
"It's my turn cachorro" chided Ortiz, "Now, what are these nightmares of you about? And don't forget to be honest."
D'Artagnan was silent for several long moments as he tried to gather himself enough to answer the question. He hadn't even spoken to his brothers about the contents of his nightmares and now he was being forced to speak of them to the man who caused them.
"You should know," snapped D'Artagnan irritably, "You're the reason behind them!"
Ortiz grinned, "I know but seeing as how I hold the information you seek you'll tell me whatever I want to know… Now what are they about?"
D'Artagnan sighed, "You torturing my brothers. In some they survive but in others they die but no matter what outcome they all end with them blaming me, condemning me for what happened to them." D'Artagnan admitted quietly, turning his face away from Ortiz so the man wouldn't see the tears he was desperately trying to blink away.
"If it's the same dream every time then I would say it was something your subconscious is trying to tell you… Maybe something you're having trouble accepting?" mocked Ortiz, looking all too smug for D'Artagnan.
"What is their end game?" D'Artagnan asked abruptly, trying not to think too much on Ortiz's words.
Ortiz grinned, bring his chained hands together, "Boom," he laughed, his hands moving outwards to illustrate an explosion as he spoke.
"Why did you agree to talk to me?" Ortiz asked whilst D'Artagnan was still stunned from his revelation.
"The King threatened by brothers' commissions," grumbled D'Artagnan.
"Ah" nodded Ortiz, "And there's only so many injustices a person can be responsible for until it destroys their soul… Not that there's much left of yours I'd wager given how you threw your brothers', men you profess to love enough to die for, to the proverbial wolf, aka me."
D'Artagnan flinched at Ortiz's words; something the Spaniard took great pleasure in seeing. The Gascon was trying so hard not to let Ortiz's words get to him but… but he was only repeating things he had already come to believe, it made ignoring them all the more difficult.
"How long until they plan on blowing up whatever it is?" D'Artagnan asked weakly, just feeling tired of the whole thing.
"Soon," Ortiz said vaguely, "Within a week providing they stick to the plan."
D'Artagnan nodded; noting it down in the book Treville had given him before he entered.
"In your heart of hearts do you think your brothers have forgiven you?" Ortiz asked, sounding equally knowing and curious.
"No," D'Artagnan answered immediately, "I don't and nor do I think they will anytime soon."
"Only natural I suppose," Smirked Ortiz, "It was because of you they got involved in all this and that Aramis can't walk, Athos can't move properly and that Porthos was too weak to defend a friend." He explained, smirking dangerously at the end.
"That was your doing?!" D'Artagnan asked shocked, Porthos had been adamant that the attack had nothing to do with Ortiz and what he was planning.
Ortiz chuckled darkly, "Please tell me you didn't actually think I only had five or six people behind me in all this?"
"Why?"
Leaning in as far as he could given his chains Ortiz looked directly into D'Artagnan's eyes. "A reminder that even in here, you'll never be free of me," jeered the Spaniard darkly.