Three years later...

Suffering Makes Us Stronger

Athos was getting more and more worried about his friend. It had been two days since the former Captain had returned and Aramis continued to receive all the punches. They were the only two there. Both Porthos nor d'Artagnan weren't back yet. Why was Grimaud only targeting Aramis when he now also had the man who actually killed his brother?
Athos jolted as he worked out the answer. He knew if it was himself getting beaten up, he wouldn't have cared, he would have dealt with it. But because it was his friend, someone he was particularly close to, it was hurting him and angering him more. Someone else was being punished for something that was his fault. He would forever he indebted to Aramis. This was what Grimaud wanted. Athos realised that now.
Athos had never seen Aramis like this. When the four of them had been Musketeers together, Aramis had always been the sharpshooter of the group. He had always been alert and upbeat, always willing to do his duty and fight against people who wanted to cause him and his friends harm. Grimaud had completely taken it out of him. Lucien Grimaud hurt Athos the most out of the four. He plagued the Musketeer's memory and haunted his dreams, even after he had died. Now the same thing was happening to another of the Inseparables with Lucien's brother. Athos felt for Aramis. He knew what his brother was going through. He knew when he had Lucien on his back, he wanted to deal with him alone and didn't talk or worry his friends about it at all. He hoped Aramis would be more open than him and let the others help him. Where were D'Artagnan and Porthos? They needed to get Aramis out of here before he died.
And Sylvie. Athos worried about her. He knew Aramis had no choice but to let her go. She would have died otherwise. Both of them would. But he just prayed she was safe, that she'd got to Anne and told her of the Musketeers' capture.

This time when Grimaud's men came to cart Aramis upstairs, Athos tried to stop them.
"I'll do it. I'll stand there and willingly take the punches. Get Grimaud. Ask him. I'll do it. It gives him a break." One of the guards went back up the stairs whilst the other looked on the two Musketeers who were sitting at the back of the cellar. Grimaud rejoined the guard who'd went up to talk to him in the cellar.
"Nice try, but the Minister will continue to be the one taking the punishments. Nothing you can do. Get the Minister up here." Aramis was propped up between two men and escorted out as Athos looked on longingly at his friend. Aramis winced when they took his left arm, the one that had been hurting for days. It could possibly be broken, thought Athos.
Aramis was returned half an hour later, fresh cuts and bruises.

The cellar door opened. It was hours since Aramis' last beating. Athos gulped, knowing they were coming for his brother again. But this time a third Musketeer joined them in the cellar and they were locked in. D'Artagnan had returned. Athos breathed a huge sigh of relief. They were one step closer to getting away from Grimaud. Athos and D'Artagnan embraced but the Captain's attention soon turned to the First Minister. He looked at Athos, his face pale.
"I've only been back two days. He was almost at this stage when I returned. He gets beat up two or three times a day. I've offered to go in his place but they held me back and refused, saying that he has to go through it every time. Sylvie has hopefully returned to Paris. Aramis won her her freedom. He's deteriorating. He needs to get back to Paris and to Charles Michel as soon as he can. I'm so relieved you're back. Only Porthos and we'll be free to go." D'Artagnan nodded. He crouched down beside his injured friend.
"D'Artagnan? That... Is that you? Thank God... Thank God you're safe," Aramis whispered to his friend.
"Hey 'Mis. Yeah, it's me. We'll be back in Paris soon my friend where Luc and Michel are."
"Luc... I failed him. He... He can't see... Me like this. It... It will scare him. He thinks... I'm brave. I'm not. He... Looked up to... Me and I failed him. He'll think... This is what will happen... If he follows me."
"Aramis, you have not failed him in the slightest. He knows danger and possible deaths are part of the job. Hell, we showed him that at the monastery, when you and Porthos blew up the Spanish gunpowder. You were brave there. You are one of the bravest. You're sore and tired. Once you are well again, you will see differently." Aramis doubted D'Artagnan's words but appreciated the sentiment.
Grimaud came into the cellar. Both Athos and D'Artagnan stood in front of Aramis defensively.
"I've not come for him. This time. That will continue though."
"Why?" D'Artagnan interjected. "I'm willing to do it voluntarily. Why make him suffer more?"
"Suffering makes us stronger." A deathly silence followed those words. Athos went rigid. He felt like ice. Those same words had been uttered three years ago by Lucien Grimaud. The memories he had long since tried to bury were beginning to plague him again. He couldn't let it show or let it get to him. He had to be strong, for Aramis.
"Besides," Georges continued. "It's fun to see a man so beat he can't even resist. Knowing what you did to him made him that weak that he knows what you're going to do to him but still doesn't defend himself."
"You really are a monster aren't you?" D'Artagnan yelled.
"Stop!" Aramis said, slightly more audible than before. D'Artagnan looked behind him at the man in a heap on the ground and restrained himself from saying any more that could get him into trouble.
"Now what I really came to talk to you about, is what will happen when Porthos arrives. He is due to be here in two days' time. You will stay one more night and then ride back to Paris and live your lives again. My men know to leave you alone after that. I made a promise and I'm going to honour it."
"Honour," D'Artagnan scoffed.
"What did you say, Musketeer?"
"You, honour? You use that word in vain. We," he said pointing to himself, Athos and Aramis in turn. "We are honourable men. You should crawl back to the gutter, where you belong."
"Fine OK." Grimaud and the two men he had with him fought past the two able men and dragged the third up the stairs. "I told you anything you said or did had implications for your so called brother."
Athos and D'Artagnan were left in the locked cellar, the realisation that the Minister would be punished for his words setting into the younger one.