The three exhausted musketeers had barely been asleep for two hours when a pain-filled scream sliced through the air, causing the men to jump to their feet – weapons drawn as they searched for the cause of the sound.

Their attention was immediately drawn to Treville, who was desperately trying to calm a frantic D'Artangan from thrashing and screaming as the lad was clearly in the clutch of a severe nightmare, even in his unconscious state. "Peace D'Artangan, you're safe lad just calm down!" Treville's desperate plea to their youngest snapped the men from their frozen state at the sight of their brother in pain. They rushed to D'Artangan's side in an instant. Aramis, settling back into medic mode straight away, placed a hand to the boy's forehead before almost recoiling at the heat coming off of his little brother. "We need cold water, NOW! This fevers getting too high. If it continues to climb he could seize!" the medic yelled to no-one in particular, knowing the order would be seen quickly he began checking the wounds on the young man in front of him for signs of infection. Swearing as he found several wounds beginning to fester he reluctantly left the boy's side to go and prepare a large batch to poultices, desperate to stop the wounds getting worse.

At the sight of his protégé in a pain filled nightmare Athos had rushed to sit by the boy's head, whispering comforting words and running his had through his hair – the same as he had done for his blood brother Thomas whenever he had suffered a nightmare as a child. Athos breathed a large sigh of relief when his actions appeared to be soothing the wounded man in front of him. Sharing a glance at Porthos, who had positioned himself by D'Artangan's uninjured hand – gripping it strongly in an attempt to anchor the boy to them and help him escape the dream, their eyes echoing each others fear for the boy they had both come to love dearly as a brother.

"ne…need…t…to…get…back" panted D'Artangan sleepily as his head tossed softly, drawing the attention of all three of his brothers and pulling Aramis away from re-bandaging the stab wounds on the boy's chest.

"ne…need…t…to…get…back" he repeated before letting out a small whimper of pain that tore at his brothers hearts

"Get back where lad?" Porthos asked the unconscious gascon, not really expecting an answer but needing to say something. So needless to say he was surprised when D'Artangan's head turned towards him as the boy's eyes opened – though he could tell by the fact they were glazed over in pain and fever that the boy wasn't really back with them, not yet.

"Th…They're…hurt…ha…have…to…help" D'Artangan murmured quietly, though each man strongly doubted whether he realized he was doing it.

Athos, being the closest to the man was able to make out what he was saying more clearly than his brothers so was the first to put together what the man was talking about. Sighing fondly at the young man whose head was now in his lap he resumed stroking his hair "We're safe D'Artangan, you saved us. Be at peace." This seemed to placate the injured man as his eyes closed once again and he fell into a more peaceful sleep.

Over the next few hours D'Artangan's nightmares return with a vengeance as the fever coursed through his already weakened body and the three elder musketeers found themselves alternating between assuring the lad that they were healthy and okay and restraining him as he thrashed, reliving the torture he had undergone in the last few days.

Fear was building in Aramis's gut, he knew his brother could not survive much more of this fever. Each time he thrashed he only served to further damage himself and Aramis found himself wondering how much more his brothers battered body could take before it simply gave out.

He forced himself to shake of these morbid thought and remain positive, the nightmares that caused him to thrash were slowly becoming less prominent and his fever, although high, hadn't risen anymore.

It was another several hours before Aramis let a small flame of hope burn in his chest. D'Artangan seemed cooler than he had previously, and had managed a couple of hour's undisturbed sleep. Finding a moment to breath Aramis looked to his other brothers – both had fallen asleep, leaning against the wall of the cave. Porthos still gripping D'Artangan's hand – though now with significantly less force and Athos had his hand in D'Artangan's hair. Smiling fondly at the sight Aramis retuned his gave to the young gascon, surprised to find the boy staring at him, looking blessedly more lucid then the last time the lad had opened his eyes.

"…'Mis?" D'Artangan croaked, disbelief and hope filling the word, as if he wasn't sure whether the man was truly before him or not.

"Yeah D'Art I'm here, so are Athos and Porthos" he replied softly gesturing to the sleeping brothers on the other side of D'Artangan "How are you feeling little brother?" the medic asked as he went to check the infected wounds – forcing himself to ignore the wince of pain the action drew from D'Artangan but felt himself relax as he saw the wounds looking much clearer and less infected.

"…'Mis 'u okay?" D'Artangan's question surprised the medic so much it must had shown on his face as the gascon continued "…y…you were…hurt…side" the boy mumbled sleepily.

Shaking his head at the fact the boy seemed oblivious to his own pain at the moment "I'm good D'Artangan-"

"We all are thanks to you" interrupted a rather somewhat groggy sounding Athos

D'Artangan turned his head at the sound of his mentor's voice. "'Thos… P'thos." Smiling tiredly at the sight of both his other brothers' awake and healthy, relief loosening his lips before he could stop himself from voicing the fear that had kept him going throughout his torture. "Thou…thought I … failed… thought I … let…you die…don'…wanna…be…left...alone…again" he said quietly, exhaustion becoming apparent as he spoke.

Smiling softly at his stubborn brother who seemed determined to stay awake, despite the needs of his body Athos returned to stroking the man's hair "You did not fail D'Artangan. We are all alive and well because of you. We will not leave you. Rest you've been through a lot. You're body needs rest"

"Mmm'kay" the boy mumbled before returning to the peaceful oblivion of sleep, content to know he was not alone and that his brothers would watch over him.