Evening My Lovelies

Apologies for no chapter yesterday ... There are two reasons for that.

1. This is the main one, I had the chapter written and then went back to read through it and noticed that the end of Ortiz seemed really anticlimactic. I didn't think that after 60+ chapters that the ending I had written really did enough for the story... It just didn't seem like the right ending for him seeing as how he's this story villain. Hence why I had to delay publishing it so I could re-write that entire scene for something different.

2. This is a much more minor reason but the part of me which is completely in love with this story was reasoning that if I didn't publish it then the story would not end lol

Notes On Reviews:

Deana: Thanks for the review - I've almost combined two chapters into one to make for a nice long ending for you all. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Tidia: Thanks for the review - No Ortiz is not dead quite yet but he will be dying today. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Athos was understandably angry at what D'Art suffered at Claude's hand but he's also very proud of the boy for handling it the way he did. Yes the devil still lives, though not for long I promise :) I'm really glad you enjoyed reading it, your daily reviews were always really nice to read. I kinda want to write a romantic interest for D'Art that's not Constance just in vengeance for the few moments in the series when she really annoyed me lol... Though I dont think I could do that, they are rather cute together. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Teddy2104: Thanks for the review - I know :( I really don't want it to end but I have several ideas for the next story and I promise I wont keep you all waiting too long (or I promise to try not to) I quite like the idea of Aramis having a romantic interest though i think that would involve a lot of flirting and I'm not sure how well I would be able to write that... though we'll see, I might just see how it goes when I write it and who she seems to just click with. I think we could see a return of Constance in the new story, there's definitely room for her to appear :) Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

watlocked: Thanks for the review - Gotta throw in some last minute whumpage for the boys :) I'm really hoping this ending doesn't seem too rushed as I never seem to know how to end fics. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Ruth (Guest):Thanks for the review - I'm glad you liked it :) D'Art's really beginning to return to himself now which is really nice to write. Gotta love some brotherly banter :D I'm really happy you think this story worth re-reading and I hope, if you decide to do so, that you enjoy it just as much the second time. Yeah, poor Porthos doesnt seem to have much romantic luck. I can't quite decide who's going to be the lucky fella so we'll just have to see who her character leans more toward when I'm writing. I have reasons to pair her off with each of them so it's just choosing which one fits the story best. I do agree with the whole Athos and D'Art are bound to their lady loves (as much as Athos may hate to admit it) so it's less likely it will be either of them... maybe the odd flirty comment or something but I doubt it will be either of them. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

pain in the mikta: Thanks for the review - Maybe save the happy dance for after today :) Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Katie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I'm glad you enjoyed it even if you don't know why you're laughing :D Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Helensg: Thanks for the review - Ahh so you remembered :) We'll be getting to that today worry not :) I don't want this to end either but sadly it must :( With regards to my next story worry not, it will be full of lovely H/C and whumpage moments, it might have a romantic element but it wont be the sole focus. I'm already planning for Athos to suffer (sorry Athos!) in this next one. He always seems to get off lightly in my stories and I don't know why? Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Issai: Thanks for the review - Lots of people after some romance for our lovely Porthos :) We'll see :D Yeah Ortiz wont go down quietly, hopefully you'll like what I have written :) Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - I couldn't resist that Athos moment so I'm glad you enjoyed it, I liked that both he and Aramis were on the same wavelength when it came to the boy. I'm loving writing the confidence returning our pup, he's making great strides to return to his normal self. Porthos was in a bad way but he's also in good hands and I don't have it in me to kill him so he'll be okay. I quite liked the role-reversal idea with Athos taking a hit meant for D'Art ... A lovey-dovey Porthos would be cute to write... Worry not the story will still be full of H/C, whumpage and brotherly moments. If I include the romantic element it wont be the sole focus of the story. Thank you for sticking with me :) Enjoy the new chapter! x

I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me through 63 chapters. This story is my most successful story, which is putting the pressure on for the next one :) For you awesomely lovely people who have reviewed every single chapter (you know who are you lovely people!) I can't thank you enough. The constant reviews made writing this story so much more fun to write and I truly loved hearing all your opinions as we've progressed through this.

Much love and many thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/reading this. Love you all!

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter Sixty-Three: Finale

"Athos," said Aramis, his voice having an almost dangerous quality to it that had D'Artagnan growing worried while the swordsman looked resigned.

"What is this?" asked the medic as he stared at his brother's back.

"Happened when the explosions went off," answered Athos, knowing from experience what delaying answering would get him. Aramis might be the most kindhearted person he knew but when it came to the medical treatment of his brothers he was a demon. "With everything that happened I forgot all about it, don't even know what caused it."

At his words D'Artagnan peered over his mentor's shoulder, his eyes widening as he saw the piece of metal sticking out of his brother's back.

Silence reigned for a few moments while Aramis assessed the injury. "You've got some luck my friend," he sighed relieved. "Had this been a few centimeters lower it would have hit your kidney, as it is it's safe to remove so brace yourself," and them without a moments hesitation he pulled the metal shard out of Athos's back, wincing slightly at the muffled scream of pain that escaped his brother despite the swordsman's attempt to stop it by biting his gloved hand.

"Breathe 'Thos," croaked D'Artagnan, a reassuring smile on his lips as he kept his hands on Athos's shoulder to ground him while Aramis set to work cleaning the wound.

"This is going to need stitches but I'll bandage it for now and we can stitch it up when we get out of here. I feel like we're tempting fate every second we remain here," stated the medic as he sent a worried look at their surroundings.

"Fine by me," grunted Athos as he attempted to stand with D'Artagnan's help. It was painful and he stumbled more than once as feeling hadn't quite returned to his left leg yet leaving him more than a little unbalanced and shaky.

It was then that Etienne and the men returned with the stretcher for Athos. They looked slightly surprised to see Athos standing, even if he was leaning quite heavily on D'Artagnan, who looked ready to collapse himself, but even their surprise couldn't hide the relief they felt seeing their lieutenant alive and well.

"Porthos?" Aramis asked as he moved to take some of Athos's weight off of D'Artagnan.

"Leroy and Galen have him, he regained consciousness before we left but they gave him something to put him under again as they were going to open up your stitches." Etienne explained.

Aramis sagged in relief, pleased to know that his dearest friend was in good hands and seemed to be doing well despite the circumstances.

"D'Artagnan," called Aramis quietly, gesturing for the boy to follow him once they had passed the barely conscious Athos over to Etienne and his friends, the events of the day finally catching up with the swordsman as adrenaline left his body.

Having a feeling Aramis might actually smack him again if he spoke D'Artagnan merely tilted his head to the side, hoping it was enough to express his confusion.

"I need to free Ortiz's legs," Aramis said grimly, hating the involuntary flinch that affected his little brother whenever Ortiz's name was mentioned. "Personally I would not be against leaving him down here to rot but he has a habit of escaping seemingly inescapable situations and I can't take that risk."

Waiting a moment for his words to sink in and seeing there was no verbal response from his brother Aramis took that as permission to continue. "I could do with some help, I completely understand if you don't want to or can't, no one will blame or judge you for that and I can get one of the other men to come and help me but I just figured seeing as how you're already here…"

D'Artagnan smiled softly as his brother's rambling, momentarily sending a hard look over to the gasping Spaniard, he could make out the pommel of his dagger sticking out of the man though he had no idea where he had managed to hit.

Returning his gaze back to Aramis he realized his friend was still rambling so to stop him he placed his hand on Aramis's shoulder. "I don't trust him around you," croaked the Gascon, his eyes hard and cold as they returned to glare at Ortiz, softening slightly when he turned back to Aramis, "I'll stay."

"If you're sure…" Aramis asked, a soft smile gracing his face at his brother's words. When D'Artagnan nodded he informed Etienne, who had stayed behind when he noticed they weren't following Athos, what they were doing and the musketeer stated he would find someone to help drag the prisoner out of there, none of the regiment willing to use a stretcher to carry him.

"That was an impressive throw D'Art," praised the marksman as he took note of where D'Artagnan's blade had ended up.

"Still… not good enough to actually kill me though," mocked Ortiz as he tried not to show the pain he was feeling.

Though the Spaniard did look slightly worried and confused when Aramis snorted at his answer. He had expected anger from the other Spaniard, for the man to jump to the young Gascon's defense, not to laugh at him.

Seeing the look on Ortiz's face Aramis took great pleasure in smirking at the man as he informed him, "The only reason you're still alive is that you weren't dumb enough to remove the blade. All we'd have to do," explained the medic, pressing the blade ever so slightly and smirking at the whimper of pain it drew from the Spaniard, "Is pull the blade out and we could sit back and watch you slowly bleed out."

"You wont though," stated Ortiz with more confidence the he felt.

"Why not?" Aramis shrugged, "You kidnapped and tortured myself and my brothers, you have repeated caused a great deal of pain to those I love, your attempts to cripple France by assassinating the King and his supporters failed so what reason do I have to save your life?"

Ortiz went quiet at that, finally realizing that the musketeer had all come to the same understanding – Ortiz had no cards left to play, none of his contacts were in any position to help him and now he was completely at the musketeer's mercy.

"Fortunately for you though," shrugged the sharpshooter, looking thoroughly disappointed to be saying what he was, "We wont do that… Unlike you, we have our honor." Without another word he yanked the blade out of Ortiz thigh, moving quickly to put pressure on the wound before thrusting out his hand towards D'Artagnan to receive the bandages he had been unrolling, both men taking a sliver of pleasure at hearing the man scream in pain at their actions.

It took a few minutes but eventually they managed to get the bandage tied tightly enough around Ortiz's leg that he wasn't about to die of blood loss anytime soon.

"He's all yours boys," stated Aramis as he left the breathless Spaniard to Etienne and one of the other musketeers. Turning back to D'Artagnan he offered the boy a soft smile, "lets get back to our brothers."

The pair had been back by their brothers' sides for all of about five minutes, just long enough to get a status update, before they were interrupted by a strangely serious King Louis.

"Musketeer Aramis, I see you got your men out," Louis stated, his voice uncharacteristically hard.

Aramis knew that now it was really important that he didn't lose his temper at the royal like he had during their last few conversations. He had no doubt that the only reason he still had his commissions was because of the situations that had surrounded his outbursts and that he was most likely on his last chance.

"Thankfully yes Your Majesty," nodded the medic as he offered the royal couple his best bow given he was still using both crutches. "May I enquire as to why you have decided to honor us with a visit?"

As Aramis spoke to the King, D'Artagnan grew curious and moved from his spot from a now sleeping Athos's side to stand beside Aramis.

"I take it nothing has happened that has changed the current chain of command?" Louis asked, his eyes widening ever so slightly at the state of D'Artagnan's face.

"No Your Majesty," stated the medic, his curiosity growing with every step of their conversation. "What can I help you with?"

"I…" faltered the King, his hard expression faltering for a second before it fell back in place. "I have just been informed that the Cardinal did not survive the wounds he endured in the explosion."

Aramis's eyebrows shot up to his hairline before his expression softened considerably, knowing just how much the young King treasured the Cardinal. "My deepest apologies for your loss my King," he said softly, eyes full of compassion.

Louis nodded, a little surprised by the honesty sympathy he saw burning in the musketeer's eyes. "I am about to inform Ortiz of his punishment for attacking myself and my subordinates and as he has done great harm to you and yours I felt you might wish to come."

For the second time in as many minutes Aramis's eyebrows shot up, "I would like that very much, thank you Your Majesty."

"Well if it isn't France's almighty King," remarked Ortiz mockingly, though Aramis could tell there was a slight semblance of fear in his voice.

"My Queen has been in contact with her brother the King of Spain," stated the King, watching as the prisoner before him paled at his words. "He has banished you from ever returning there because of your attack on his sister."

"Didn't think you'd let me live anyway," grunted the Spaniard, glaring hard at the young King.

"That depends on you," stated Louis, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared just as hard back to the chained man.

"Oh?" Ortiz asked, his curiosity peaking.

"You will be forced to answer for your crimes to those you hurt most," explained the King, "In one hour, you'll fight for your life," spat Louis before turning on his heels and storming off, bellowing for Aramis to follow him as he did so.

"Musketeer," called the King.

"Yes Your Majesty?" Aramis said, slightly out of breath as he tried to keep up with the speeding royal with his crutches.

"You and yours have suffered the most at Ortiz's hand. I will allow you to choose a champion between you, just have him prepared within the hour. I will not accept anything less than a win. Do not disappoint me."

Aramis stood stunned as he watched King Louis storm back towards the tent that contained his queen.

"Aramis?" called D'Artagnan, placing a gentle hand on his brother's shoulder as he stared worriedly at him.

"We need to get back to the others," Aramis called, nearly losing his crutches in his rush to return to his brothers.

"And he's actually asking us do this?" D'Artagnan croaked, looking completely stunned.

"Yes now stop talking you're supposed to be resting that throat of yours," scolded Aramis with a small teasing grin.

A moment of silence passed before D'Artagnan grabbed Aramis's shirtsleeve.

"D'Art?"

"I wanna do it." D'Artagnan stated, his eyes hard and determined.

"D'Art…" sighed the medic, knowing full well he should have expected this.

"I volunteer… Aramis I need to do this." Begged the Gascon, pleading with his brother to understand his reasoning.

"You can't hear his name without flinching!"

"Exactly!" cried D'Artagnan, effectively silencing the medic, "I let him almost break me… I need to do this. Please 'Mis"

Aramis sighed, internally weighing the pros and cons of such a task. "If you die…" warned the medic.

"I wont," grinned the young Gascon before he rushed off to get his blade.

"Please don't let me live to regret this," prayed the marksman.

An hour later and a small arena had been hastily crafted in the palace gardens and in the middle of it stood a chained Ortiz, a blade lying on the ground next to him.

"Name your champion musketeers," ordered the King, a sliver of pride flickering in his eyes as D'Artagnan stepped forth.

"This is a fight to the death, only one of you is exiting this arena alive," explained the King, waiting for Ortiz's chains to be removed before bellowing, "Begin!"

Without wasting a second Ortiz dived for his blade, his injured leg making his movements sloppy.

"Bring it on runt!" grunted the Spaniard as the pair circled around each other, slowly becoming less and less aware of the growing crowd.

It was the sound of clashing blades that woke Athos, his body instantly going tense as he sought to find the cause of the disturbance.

"Careful Athos," reprimanded Thierry as he handed the man a goblet laced with a pain draught.

"What's going on?" the swordsman asked moments later when another round of clashing blades caught his attention.

"King has Ortiz fighting for his life, from what I've been able to gather, the musketeer is winning." Thierry explained, trying to do his best not to squirm under Athos's stern gaze.

"Who's fighting?" Athos asked, dread bubbling up within he as Thierry refused to answer.

"Thierry," he practically snarled, "Who's fighting."

Thierry sighed, "D'Artagnan."

Leaning heavily against one of the still standing pillars Athos arrived at the palace gardens just in time to see Ortiz's execute a particularly dirty move on his little brother that ended with the Gascon gasping for breath on the floor.

"Still not good enough," jeered Ortiz as he plunged his blade downward, only to scream in frustration as D'Artagnan rolled out of the way at the last second.

Athos couldn't take his eyes off of the pair as he observed the numerous injuries now marring both of their skins. From what he could see D'Artagnan currently had the upper hand, most of his injuries consisting of small gashes that would be more of an annoyance than anything else whilst Ortiz was bleeding through the bandage on his leg as well as sporting several deep looking cuts on his arms and chest.

Out of the corner of his eye D'Artagnan saw Athos watching him and a great need to have his mentor see him win grew within him. He knew it was only a matter of time before Ortiz's leg gave out so he decided to help it along by charging at him, knocking him off balance just enough that he would be forced to put all of his weight on his weakened leg.

D'Artagnan then followed this up with a swift blow to the face, an audible crack piercing the air as blood gushed from Ortiz's nose.

Howling in pain Ortiz dropped to one knee as his hands rushed to cup his broken nose. Knowing he had lost the fight by the numbness that was spreading through his leg Ortiz decided to try one last ditch attempt and the second D'Artagnan's back was turned he threw his blade at him.

"D'ARTAGNAN!" screamed both Aramis and Athos in panic, their words reaching the boy just in time for him to spin on his heels and deflect the blade with his own, instinctively following it up by throwing the dagger he kept in his boots, though unlike last time, this time his blade hit his mark directly, piercing the Spaniard's chest and sending him crumbling to the ground as he struggled to breath through the blood filling his lungs.

"Good enough to do that," spat the Gascon as he watched blood dribble from the corners of Ortiz's mouth and as the light left the Spaniard's eyes for good.

SEVERAL DAY'S LATER

He was back in that familiar cell, the mere sight on the walls that had bared witness to some of the worst pain he had ever endured was enough to bring a dull ache to his healing wounds.

"You didn't think you'd be free of me that easily did you?" jeered a voice from behind him and before D'Artagnan could turn to face the voice a sharp pain in his finger had him screaming in pain. Looking down he could see his finger bent in an unnatural position.

"You're not real," breathed D'Artagnan as he screwed his eyes shut, willing away the shadowy figure of Ortiz who had now moved to stand before him.

"I'm as real as anything." Mocked the shadow, "As real as this…"

Another scream as a second finger snapped.

"As real as them…"

Weakly opening his eyes D'Artagnan was confused by the sight of the crowd before him.

"W-Who?"

"These are the ones you could have saved had you put a stop to me sooner," mocked Ortiz, smirking his flinch-inducing smirk as he knelt down by the boy.

"Instead," he continued, "Instead they suffered… Like them," he said pointing to a small group of people D'Artagnan vaguely remembered seeing around the palace on occasion. "Because of you they…" Ortiz clicked his finger and the group screamed before flying backwards as if hit by a blast. Several screamed in pain as their skin burned and other gasped for breath as blood filled their lungs.

"NO!" cried D'Artagnan as he tried to fight the invisible chains holding him down.

"D'ARTAGNAN!"

"These," commented the shadow, gesturing to a small collection of guards and soldiers.

"No!" whimpered the Gascon, knowing what happened to them and even knowing a few of them personally.

"D'ARTAGNAN!"

"Please…"

"Begging," scoffed the shadow, "just proves how weak you truly are boy, now watch the consequences of your inaction.

"D'ARTAGNAN!" bellowed three worried and familiar voices, their combined volume breaking through his unconscious mind as he jolted upwards into a seating position, gasping for breath as his hands clutched his shirt tightly as he willed his heart to slow.

"Jesus whelp, you really were out of it," remarked Porthos sleepily as he looked worriedly at the young man. "You okay?"

D'Artagnan opened his mouth to state that he was fine but all that came out was a pitiful whimper as his body reacted to the fear he had felt in his dream.

"Easy," soothed a voice, accompanied by a gentle hand on his head. "Just breath, it'll pass."

Leaning into his mentor's touch D'Artagnan allowed his eyes to close as he focused on his breathing and trying to stop his shaking.

"Guess it's a good thing we were coming to wake you anyway," remarked Aramis with forced cheer as he tried to take the boy's attention away from whatever he had been seeing in his sleep.

They had tried to get the boy to spend the night with one of them, at least for a few nights until his nightmares eased, each of them knowing they were likely to return in full force for a while now that Ortiz had left the world, but the boy was determined that now with Ortiz dead, that he was going to get better and one way to prove that was to return to his room at the garrison. He also hadn't wanted to get in the way of Athos or Porthos's recovery, especially as both were still feeling the events of a few days ago.

"Why?" D'Artagnan asked, his voice still slightly croaky from Claude's attack but doing much better as Aramis threatened to gag him if he didn't reframe from talking so it could heal quicker.

"Treville's returning briefly today," Aramis explained, hating that the Captain was forcing himself again but pleased that they could now put another matter to rest. "He's only staying for a bit but he wanted to deal with Claude so asked for everyone to gather in the courtyard.

D'Artagnan nodded and moved to get out of bed, his legs faltering for a second, almost sending him tumbling to the ground had Athos not caught him.

"Take your time, he wont start without us." Athos said quietly, watching with barely concealed worry as D'Artagnan hunted for his boots.

"In that case why couldn't it have waited until a nicer time?" grumbled Porthos sleepily as he glared at the barely rising sun out of D'Artagnan's window.

A few minutes later the four inseparables were standing amongst their brothers as a scowling Claude was dragged before them in chains.

"When I suspended you and your companions I had hoped you would take the time to see the error of your ways and return with a new attitude," remarked Treville as he stood stiffly at the head of the group, leaning heavily on a cane. When Claude did nothing but glare at D'Artagnan, who seemed to be giving as good as he got much to the amusement of his brothers, Treville continued.

"To physically attack one of our own, especially with the intent to kill them is not something I'm going to overlook just because of who your father is." At his words he noticed that Claude stopped glaring at D'Artagnan and instead had turned his glare onto him.

"I hereby strip you of your commission and the honor that comes from being a musketeer," Treville declared as he tore the pauldron from Claude's shoulder. "I am also arresting you for your crimes, Etienne and Thierry will escort you to the Bastille where you will await your sentence."

At his words both musketeers moved to grab one of Claude's now struggling arms in their own before dragging him out of the garrison.

Turning to address the rest of his men Treville stated, "We are a brotherhood here. Musketeer's look after each other and as such I expect to see no such actions from any of you again. Dismissed!"

"Bet you're glad that's over 'ey whelp?" grinned Porthos as he ruffled the youngster's hair, very much enjoying the fact that the boy refused to fight back against it in case he aggravated the larger man's healing wound… Technically he shouldn't even be out of bed but he needed to see Claude punished for what he put D'Artagnan through.

D'Artagnan said nothing in response, merely nodding tiredly, the effects of his restless sleep catching up with him.

Noticing this Aramis smiled softly and looked to his other two brothers, "Whose?" he asked, successfully confusing the sleepy Gascon.

"Mine," stated Athos with his trademark half smile, "I have the biggest bed," and with that the three men ushered the Gascon into Athos's rooms before actually blocking the exit so he couldn't leave.

"You need your rest to heal," reasoned the Gascon as he mock-glared at his mentor, "You wont be able to do that if I wake you up with another dream."

"We will all sleep better with you here whelp so shut up and get in," grouched Porthos as he slid into Athos's bed.

"What he said," shrugged Aramis as he clambered in, lying next to his friend.

"Athos…"

"You heard them," stated the swordsman with an amused expression, "Just get in."

Huffing D'Artagnan slipped out of his boots and hesitantly crawled in to lie beside Aramis, followed quickly by Athos who didn't hesitate to bring the boy to his chest.

"Just sleep."

This was the position Treville found them all in several hours later when he arrived to let them know he was leaving for the rest of the day. When none of them answered his knock the Captain let himself in and couldn't help the smile that appeared at the sight of his men all cuddled up together – Athos was laying on his back with D'Artagnan snuggled tightly against his side. Aramis had somehow managed to tangle his one of his legs with D'Artagnan's and the other, despite still healing, with Porthos's, leaving him lying in an almost starfish-like position with his head resting on Porthos's chest. The larger man had one hand resting lightly over his healing wound and the other wrapped protectively around Aramis's shoulders.

Shaking his head at his men Treville quietly scribbled a short note for when they awoke before leaving, content in the fact that things were now looking up for his men.