Le Mousquetaire Femme

Flashback 6

He stumbled through the connecting rooms in the chateau, occasionally crashing into things all while clutching the bottle in his hand.

He stopped at the room he had been avoiding for weeks; that room. His eyes instantly flicked to the spot on the floor that the servants had spent hours scrubbing at but had resorted to covering with a rug when the reddish tint to the floorboards wouldn't leave.

He lifted the bottle to his lips and closed his eyes expecting the cool liquid to embrace his lips as it had been doing since he woke up, instead they snapped open when nothing dribbled past his lips. With a growl he threw the bottle at the wall and watched it smash into thousands of shards that lined the floor.

He stood watching the sun reflect off the coloured glass for hours until the sheer weight of his body became too much and he slumped to the floor.

Cradling his head in his hands he allowed his eyes to flood and attempted to ignore the feeling of his tears gliding down his face as the gentle tap of heels approached him.

He felt her move to sit beside him against the wall but refused to raise his head even when her fingers laced through his.

The pair sat in silence; his tears flowing freely as she watched the sun set and the moon cast it's ominous glow into the room and focus on the newly placed rug covering their last memory of Thomas.

Slowly but surely Athos' almost silent sobs ceased and his light snoring filled the room, Anna turned to face him and gently brushed a rogue piece of hair from his face as his head rested against the wall. She dragged an exhausted hand down her face, glad that he was finally sleeping, and rose to her feet.

She strode from the room and made her way to the kitchen.

"Lock the wine cellar." She told the servants who had only just stirred. "Lock it all away and give me the key."

She slumped into one of the chairs around the oak table in the centre of the room and watched as the awake servants scurried around collecting all the wine they could find and moved it all to the underground cellar.

"Miss..." A key was placed on the table in front of her. "...What if the Master wants-"

"Tell him to come to me." She told the woman as gently as possible. "It's time he sobered up."

Athos awoke when the sun reached the highest point in the sky and became too intense to ignore. Reaching blindly for a bottle of his favourite elixir, he frowned when his hand grasped at nothing but thin air.

With a grunt, he heaved himself up and sluggishly wandered to the wine cellar. He pushed the heavy door gently, expecting it to open as easily as it had done over the past weeks. When the door did not budge, he found himself almost throwing himself into in an attempt to access the release on the other side.

"Open that door!" He thundered as he strode into the kitchen. "Open it."

"We...we can't..."

"Why?" He scowled at the timid servants.

"Mademoiselle-" That was all he had to hear.

He threw open every door he encountered as he searched the chateau for the woman denying him his escape.

"Where is she?" He stopped a young girl he seen with Anna.

"She said to tell you she's in the village." He strode past the girl and towards the grand doors at the front of the chateau. "But that what you're looking for is in the parlour." She added, causing him to stop and turn to towards the room he had stormed through earlier.

He entered the room and his eyes narrowed as he spotted a piece of paper with her cursive on it.

You won't find what you're looking for at the bottom of a bottle.
Remember how you and Thomas used to relax?

He crumpled the paper and picked up the pistol it was propped up against. His fingers slid over the barrel of the gun and found comfort in the weight of the pistol in his hand.

He clutched it and strode from the chateau to the spot he and Thomas had learnt to shot at.

A gentle breeze filled the air as he wandered back to the chateau after an afternoon spent reminiscing and practicing his aim. He stopped as the chateau came into sight and a small smile fell onto his lips as he beheld it all lit up against the darkening sky.

The doors opened for him and he handed the pistol to a waiting servant before entering the parlour.

"How was your day?" Her question filled the room as he stood in the doorway. His eyes roamed over her curled up figure as she read on the setee.

"Better."