Three years later...

At The End of it All, What Do We Have?

Aramis over the next two weeks had slowly recovered. He was moving around, if not somewhat slowly, and he still had lingering bruises and his arm in a sling, but he was home. Back in Paris with Porthos, Athos, D'Artagnan, Anne, the Dauphin and everyone else that he cared about.
Porthos returned to war tomorrow so the friends decided to celebrate thier last day together by doing what they always did. A visit to the tavern. Athos in particular was excited about the prospect. Constance, Sylvie and Elodie decided to stay behind and look after Marie-Cessette and Hubert. They knew the Musketeers had to spend thier last night alone.
As the four walked through the streets, Aramis got many looks and gasps and hushed whispers thrown in his direction, but he didn't care. For one night he could be Aramis the Musketeer and not Aramis the Minister.
The tavern that used to be owned by Christophe and had been fought in, bombed, hidden in and imprisoned in in its past had been renovated and flourished once again. Christophe had left a long time ago so it was under new ownership.
The four men exchanged sad looks before entering. The last time they were in there was in the aftermath of Lucien's attack on the Garrison. Clairmont and many others had died in here. Porthos had planned in here and Constance had saved the life of Grimaud, although he was unknown to her at the time.
Athos found them a table in the corner whilst D'Artagnan got the drinks. They weren't left in peace though. The four Musketeers were legendary and people tended to gasp when they recognised them, especially when all four were sat together. They blocked it out though.
"This place," Athos sighed. "It's been through a lot. The Red Guard attack, Porthos and Treville held hostage, the young King in hiding."
"And Grimaud's final attack," added Aramis.
"Who'd have thought we would, all these years later, face his brother?" D'Artagnan said.
"But we won against Lucien," Porthos said.
"And Georges too," Aramis said. The others looked at him. "We did. He had that information and God knows what he's going to do with it, but we made it out alive. We won."
"Yes," Porthos interjected. "Yes we did."'
"And it all ends here," said D'Artagnan. "We all must again part ways."
"At the end of it all, what do we have?" Aramis asked them. The others smiled. They knew where he was going with this. "We have glory."
"We have love," said D'Artagnan.
"We have honour," cut in Athos.
"All of the things that make life bearable," replied Aramis.
"We still don't have money," scoffed Porthos causing the others to nod and laugh.
"Still, I can live with that," said the Minister.
There was a few minutes of silence as the others reminisced and thought about what had just been said. All the things, well except for money but that was trivial and to be expected, in the last they thought they didn't have, they now had. And that was more important than anything. Together, they had brought each other comfort and happiness in life.
Each was more grateful to the other than could ever be described in words, but they knew mutually that they left still as brothers, still as the Musketeers that they once were.

Slowly as the night progressed, the four steadily got more and more drunk, sharing old stories, memories that had long since been buried in some minds, whereas it was still fresh as day in others. The one thing they all remembered though was how far they had come since the Inseparables had first met D'Artagnan.
"I'm looking for Athos," D'Artagnan exclaimed. Athos put down his mug and turned to face the boy sitting next to him.
"You've found him."
"My name is D'Artagnan of Lupiac in Gascony. Prepare to fight. One of us dies here." Then Aramis' head tips up in recollection of the memory.
"Now that's the way to make an entrance." There was a burst of laughter from Porthos.
"Oh that day. The day we unfortunately got landed with this... Thing," he said giving D'Artagnan a playful shove.
"And our lives have never been the same. You nearly killed me too. That dagger landed right beside me," Aramis said.
"Oh I am sorry about that," D'Artagnan said.
"It's OK. And... I am a touch emotional... I forgive you."
"Oi. Watch it. Or next time that arm will be gone for good," D'Artagnan replied to Aramis. The Minister gave a small smile and rubbed his arm protectively. Perhaps the encounter with Georges Grimaud had affected him more than he was letting on to his friends? He saw them laughing and joking and decided to clear his mind of the brother and join in with his own.
"Oh God, we're all drunk. How are we going to make it back tonight?" Porthos groaned.
"Ah, we'll manage," replied Athos. "We've been through worse."