Athos knew he was in for a long shift guarding the Palace overnight when he walked into a shadowy inner corridor of the King's private quarters and found Aramis standing stock-still, eyes wide and arms out, an air of complete alertness on his features as he stared down the dark area.

'Can you hear it?' His friend whispered without turning around.

Athos sighed under his breath and cleared his throat before answering. 'No, what?' He replied, rolling his eyes in the darkness.

'You can't hear it?' Aramis' voice was incredulous.

'Aramis what am I supposed to hear?' Athos muttered, coming up to stand next to him, and, against his better judgement, peer down the corridor too. 'An intruder?'

'No it's a- THERE!' He put a hand up to silence his friend. The two men stood in the darkness for a few seconds; Aramis was looking around with wide eyes, clearly expecting to see something, whilst Athos squinted into the darkness, irritation beginning to pique in his chest.

'Whilst this is a very interesting endeavour which I am sure has some significant meaning to you, we do have rather more pressing matters to attend to,' Athos muttered after a while, 'like guarding the King, for example?'

'I know, I know, but I've been in this corridor for half an hour now trying to find the blasted thing and I won't go until I do!'

'Find what?!'

'A…oh its embarrassing really….' Aramis now looked rather shifty as he finally turned to his friend. 'I'm not here because I want to be, put it that way.'

'What does that even mean?' Athos put his hands on his hips and frowned at the medic. 'Why have you been in this corridor for half an hour?'

'Because…' Aramis sighed to himself before continuing. 'Right, I was guarding the King like the good little musketeer I am, yes?'

'Yes…?'

'And I was standing outside the King's bedchamber like an astute soldier when he knocks on his wall and shouts at me to come inside at once…' Aramis muttered, eyes still scanning the dark corridor.

'He says he had the most terrible dream of disembodied hands scratching lightly at his bedroom wall, beckoning him to his doom. He said he woke up to get some water and then heard the same scratchy noises outside his door.' At this Athos raised one eyebrow, to which Aramis shrugged lightly. 'I tried to make light of the situation until he shouted at me to shut up, and we listened for a few seconds… and sure enough there was a scratchy noise on his walls.' Aramis looked up suddenly, alert. Both men listened for a few seconds as Athos, too, heard the quiet scratchings on the wall.

'Well, what is it? He asked, voice low as a chill ran up his spine. The late hour and pressing darkness must be getting to him, he mused.

'Well, it's not disembodied fingernails, calling the King to his premature death, that much I can tell you!' Aramis snorted. He stood up straighter and stretched. 'I reckon it's either a very large moth, or a mouse. Although I hope it's a mouse- I hate moths.'

Athos sighed to himself. 'And the King?' He asked, crossing his arms, 'how is he?'

'Oh he's fine,' Aramis waved away the concern. 'After I fetched him a warm cup of milk and reassured him I would do everything I could to find the pesky ghost he settled right back down. You know how he gets when the Queen is away…'

'I see.' Athos cleared his throat. 'I assume you don't require my assistance to catch the mouse?'

'I will if it turns out to be a moth.'

'Just catch it in your hat and put it out a window.'

'I'm not going anywhere near it if it's a moth!' Aramis shuddered. 'Horrible little ugly butterflies.' He grumbled.

Athos snorted and rolled his eyes. 'Alright, just trap it in your hat and then let me know. I'll get rid of it for you.'

'Thank you, much obliged my friend!' Aramis grinned. Sighing once more, Athos stepped away and back down the corridor. 'Don't be too long! He called back. 'We've still got our rounds to go on!'

'I won't, don't worry!' Aramis replied, before he resumed his hunting position, eyes peeled for the King's ghost….

Thank you for reading! It was just a short, silly little idea I just had to get into writing :D

I have another, spookier, Halloween story planned so that will be posted in the next few days :)

Please review!