"Friendship is one mind in two bodies" – Mencius.

Aramis was smirking to himself as he listened to Porthos' complaining as they stepped over branches through a forest searching for an escaped thief. A group of their fellow Musketeers had chased a thief through the streets of Paris before the man had run out of the city and into the nearby forest. Usually they would have let him go and keep an eye out for him in case he tried to steal again, but this time he had stolen from a Duke who had been invited to the Palace by the King. So Treville had ordered a mass search for the thief. While Aramis had been unhappy at the prospect of spending a hot summer's afternoon traipsing through a forest, Porthos' constant curses as he tripped over branches entertained him greatly.

He stopped and turned to see Porthos pulling his cloak from a bush, "Having fun there?"

"Be quiet Aramis" glared Porthos, as he gave one more big pull setting his cloak free of the bush, but sending him stumbling into another. "Argh!"

Aramis stifled a laugh and walked over to his friend and set to work setting Porthos' cloak free from yet another branch. "Hold still!" commanded Aramis as he looked up at Porthos, "Struggling is only going to make this harder."

"Just hurry up" muttered Porthos; instead of meeting Aramis' gaze he scanned the surrounding area for any sign of the thief. Treville had given them orders that if they were unable to find the thief they were to return to a disused barn he had commandeered as a meeting point.

"There all free" said Aramis as he got to his feet, Porthos smiled in thanks, but his smile vanished when Aramis added, "Just don't go stumbling into anymore bushes."

"Come on" muttered Porthos and he began picking his way carefully through the forest.

Soon they were walking alongside an embankment which steeply led to a hollow in the middle of the forest. They made sure they walked a few feet from the edge, neither having any intention of falling down the embankment and into the hollow. With the various branches and rocks sticking out it looked like it would hurt a lot, not even the long grass or moss looked like it would cushion the fall. At a snap of a twig not too far away they crouched and slowly continued walking, they saw the flash of a dark jacket which they knew didn't belong to a Musketeer.

"Stop!" shouted Aramis as he sprang up to his full height, but the thief ran, Porthos took after him. Aramis wasn't too far behind, but as he put one foot down the earth beneath his foot crumbled and broke away sending him tumbling down the embankment. "Ahh!-" his yell cut off when he whacked his head on a branch knocking him unconscious.

Porthos was charging after the thief and he was gaining ground, but then he heard a yell. One he knew was Aramis, he stopped and turned to look behind him, he then heard Aramis' yell cut off. He panicked because he couldn't see Aramis.

"Aramis!" bellowed Porthos as he looked from side to side; he heard the thief's pounding feet as he made his getaway. But he didn't care about that. Aramis was hurt and he didn't know where he was.

He then looked at the path he had taken chasing after the thief and noticed part of it was gone. His eyes widened when he realized that the ground must have given way sending Aramis falling down the embankment. With the sharp branches and rocks.

"Oh no. Oh no. Please no" chanted Porthos as he jogged cautiously towards where Aramis had fallen. The rocks and branches could have caused serious injuries to Aramis, and that Aramis hadn't responded to him only caused his worry to increase tenfold.

He reached the edge of the embankment and peered over it, there he saw Aramis sprawled out not moving.

"ARAMIS!"

Aramis flickered open his eyes groaning as the sunlight aggravated his head. As he came more into awareness and the ringing in his ears began to fade he became more aware of the throbbing pain in his left leg. And then he heard Porthos calling his name and he opened his eyes fully and looked up at the figure of Porthos at the top of the embankment.

"Porthos" called Aramis in a croaky voice,

"Aramis! Oh thank God!" exclaimed Porthos,

"Why are you thanking Him?" wondered Aramis, not really remembering what had just happened to him.

"Because you're alive you idiot" stated Porthos, as he looked down at his friend trying to judge how badly injured the other Musketeer was.

"That's always a good thing" responded Aramis as he tried sitting up.

"Yes it is" nodded Porthos in relief, from what he could see Aramis didn't appear to be too badly injured.

As Aramis sat himself up and began to stand his left leg buckled and he crashed to the ground groaning in pain. He went to try again and ended up on the ground again.

"Aramis?!" called Porthos worriedly,

Aramis was lying on his back and wiped the sweat off his brow with a shaky hand; he turned his head and looked up at Porthos. "I think my left leg is broken, I can't stand."

"Hang on I'll come down!" shouted Porthos, suddenly Aramis remembered how he ended up in the hollow.

"Stop!" hollered Aramis, Porthos froze and even from the distance between them Aramis could see Porthos' worry increasing. "You have to go and catch the thief!"

Porthos shook his head, "He'll be long gone."

"You don't know that!" countered Aramis; he watched as Porthos still considered a path down to him so he added, "Your duty is to catch him!"

Aramis watched as Porthos backed up and turned, he walked off in the direction Aramis remembered he was running in until he fell. He let his head thump back onto the ground and considered what to do. He couldn't stand up and therefore climb out of the hollow. He and Porthos were the only two searching this area so he knew he had a long wait. So he closed his eyes deciding falling asleep will help pass the time away. He squirmed about trying to find a comfortable positon but stopped in a gasp of pain as his movements intensified the pain in his leg. He heard snapping twigs and rustling leaves behind him, before he opened his eyes he heard a pair of footsteps stop beside him. A hand squeezed his shoulder and he opened his eyes to find Porthos leaning over him.

"You caught the thief?" asked Aramis confused; he didn't think he had fallen asleep. Porthos shook his head and Aramis realized Porthos had not gone after the thief. He sat up a little as he exclaimed, "Porthos! You should have left me here!-"

"Do not. Finish. That. Sentence" warned Porthos. "The choice between helping you and catching that thief is no contest. I will never leave you alone, whether you're injured or not, just in this instance you are injured so I will most definitely not leave you. Despite you're complaints."

Aramis sighed knowing he had lost and yet again let his head thump back onto the ground. But before his head could touch the ground, Aramis felt himself stop mid-air; Porthos had caught him, preventing the chance of Aramis further injuring himself.

"Now let's get you out of here hmm?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"And how do you purpose we do that?" countered Aramis, "I can't even stand, let alone climb!"

"The embankment I came down is far less steep than the one you fell down. I'll lift you onto my shoulders and then I can easily get us out of here" smiled Porthos; he gently pulled Aramis so he was sat straighter. It took a few minutes but Porthos had managed to get Aramis draped over one of his shoulders, although by the time they managed this Aramis was groaning in pain.

Porthos walked carefully towards the embankment he came down and began walking up it, he only needed one hand to help himself up, and so he could use the other hand to steady Aramis. His friend didn't need to fall off his shoulder when he already had a broken leg.

Aramis had fisted Porthos' doublet as the pain and swinging movement made him feel nauseous, he clenched his eyes shut and begged himself not to be sick. He knew Porthos was walking slowly so to not aggravate the pain in his leg but Aramis found himself internally pleading Porthos to hurry. But he knew if he voiced his thoughts Porthos' worry would increase and he didn't want to do that to his friend.

What felt like hours later, but was probably half an hour at most, Porthos and Aramis arrived at the disused barn. Porthos shouted to nearby Musketeers where he had last seen the thief, those Musketeers began charging out of the barn believing the thief had injured Aramis. Porthos wasn't going to correct them, as in his mind's eye the thief had caused Aramis to fall by running into the forest. Porthos gently laid Aramis on the ground and Treville and Athos quickly came over.

"What happened to him?" demanded Treville, as he looked from Porthos down to a pale and sweaty Aramis. Who was obviously in pain.

"Why didn't you say you were in pain?!" exclaimed Porthos as he took in the lack of colour in Aramis' face.

"Had to get here soon to get other Musketeers to go after the thief" murmured Aramis.

"What. Happened?!" commanded Athos, as he knelt beside Aramis' head and looked at his friend's left leg and winced seeing the angle in which Aramis' leg pointed.

"He tripped" commented Porthos; he couldn't look at Aramis' leg not wanting to know how much pain his friend was in.

"Don't say it like that" groaned Aramis from the pain and embarrassment of Porthos' answer.

Porthos rolled his eyes smiling a little, "We were running a few feet away from the edge of an embankment and the earth gave way under Aramis."

Treville nodded, he then grabbed some wine and pushed Athos to Aramis' feet, "Let's get this leg sorted then." And he began pouring wine into Aramis' mouth, Porthos knelt at Aramis' other side and prepared himself to hold Aramis down while Athos reset his broken leg.

There was a crack and Aramis half gasped and half screamed in pain, but both noises were drowned out by the choking noises Aramis was making.

Porthos spun to face Athos and growled, "You could have at least let him swallow before resetting his leg!" He then turned back to Aramis and held his friend up as he coughed; Porthos thumped Aramis' back with his hand telling Aramis to breathe slowly. While Athos and Treville went about making a splint for Aramis' leg.

Treville had acquired a cart to take Aramis (and Porthos) back to the garrison, as Athos helped Porthos settle Aramis in the back of the cart he patted Aramis' shoulder.

"Sorry for almost choking you."

Aramis smiled, "It seems I have more to teach you in terms of caring for injuries."

Athos' lips twitched upwards as if he was going to smile, he didn't, but Aramis still counted it as one. As it was the nearest Athos ever came to a smile.

Soon the cart was slowly making its way along to the city gates, the jarring movements caused Aramis to grimace. The wine may have dulled most of the pain but every dip in the road caused the pain to flare.

Porthos sighed as he looked at Aramis, "You really are an idiot."

"What did I do now?! I haven't done anything other than fall into a hollow. Which is hardly my fault!" protested Aramis wide eyed.

Porthos rolled his eyes, "Yes that was not your fault. But I can't believe you told me to leave you behind while I went after the thief!"

"Because that was what we were ordered to do!" countered Aramis, "Really Porthos you act as if you would follow Treville's every order down to the letter, but you certainly didn't this time!"

Porthos rubbed a hand across his face and peaked over his hand to look at Aramis despairingly, "You have known me for a while Aramis, you should know by now that I will not leave you behind."

Aramis opened his mouth to argue, but then shut his mouth deciding against arguing with Porthos. While he usually did not back down so easily, the wine he had consumed along with the pain ensured he did not have the energy to argue.

Porthos saw Aramis' eyes begin to droop, so he moved across the small space so he was sat next to Aramis. He rested an arm across Aramis' shoulder and moved his friend's head onto his own shoulder. He smiled seeing Aramis drift off to sleep, knowing it would be better for his friend. He shook his head fondly at Aramis, his friend would charge into fights ready to defend his friends, to the death if necessary. But Aramis hated his friends defending him at the cost of their own lives; Porthos wondered when Aramis would realize that his friends, especially Porthos, would never abandon him to whatever situation Aramis found himself in.