A Different Life
The Three Musketeers/ The Musketeers Crossover
Two d'Artagnan's swap places and experience each other's life.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Three Musketeers or The Musketeers
~The Three Musketeers~
"Ah young man! Will you do me the honors of being my volunteer for my next trick?" The visiting magician urged d'Artagnan forward from his place in line next to Athos and Aramis.
"Come d'Artagnan, it will be great fun!" King Louis beamed at his friend and Musketeer. d'Artagnan stepped forward warily while giving the three older men behind him a glance.
"Perfect, stand right there! Attaboy, just stay still." The magician fluttered around the young man while scattering powder of some sort.
"Now! I give you, d'Artagnan!" The man grinned as the powder ignited brightly covering d'Artagnan entirely.
"d'Artagnan!" Athos stepped forward in concern, Aramis and Porthos at his heels when the outline of the young Musketeer collapsed in a heap.
When the smoke cleared, an older man wearing worn brown leathers, a marked up pauldron sitting obvious on his shoulder. A gun with extra balls and powder along with a silver Musketeer sword and a small dagger were adorning his hips and back. The strange man had the same hairstyle as their d'Artagnan, but was clearly not the same man that was once standing there.
"Guards!" The King shouted and the Red Guards came and restrained the magician who was looking confused. Ann clutched at her husband's hand while Constance covered her mouth with both hands as she stared at where her love had disappeared with shock.
Athos knelt next to the strange man while Porthos and Aramis drew their swords as a precaution. Athos reached out to roll the man over; he let out a surprised noise when he suddenly found himself flat on his back with the tip of a dagger at his throat.
"Who are you?" The man growled, eyes glinting dangerously and with the knowledge of someone who had seen many battles.
"We should be asking you that!" Porthos growled back as he and Aramis tensed up.
"Release our friend and we can discuss this like civilized men." Aramis offered, not one for needless bloodshed.
"You three remind me of some men I know." The man hummed as he released Athos, spinning his dagger a few times before sheathing it in the small of his back while he took in the throne room and the others.
"I am King Louis of France, may we know your name good sir?" Louis spoke up first, hiding how his friend's disappearance hit him.
"King Louis?" The man looked at the young red head with wide eyes.
"This is my Queen, Ann. The men you have already met are my Musketeers." Louis gestured as he spoke.
"Athos, Aramis and Porthos." The man finished as he looked at the trio with new eyes.
"Why yes, how did you know?" Louis asked surprised.
"I'm assuming your d'Artagnan just disappeared." The man asked, crossing his arms looking put out.
"He did and you showed up in his place." Porthos confirmed.
"Ah it appears we have a slight problem on our hands then. My name is Charles d'Artagnan of the King's Musketeers and it seems I am a long way from home." d'Artagnan gave the room a bow, leaving them speechless.
~The Musketeers~
"You are saying your d'Artagnan, but not our d'Artagnan?" Treville rubbed his eyes as he, Constance and the other three of the Inseparables looked at the much younger man who was looking annoyed from the seat Porthos had forced him into.
"I guess, sorry who are you again?" d'Artagnan snarked whiling giving the other three men darting looks and Constance an intense stare every so often.
"I am Defense Minister Treville to King Louis and these are his Musketeers." Treville repeated his title again.
"No sorry I don't know any Treville and the last time I checked the Musketeer Regiment was disbanded." d'Artagnan shook his head as he crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Disbanded? Why?" Aramis asked curiously as a stone settled in his gut.
"Budget cuts, the Cardinal, process. Take your pick, or at least that is what Athos said." d'Artagnan shrugged, not having been able to get more information out of the older men back home.
"Looks like the Cardinal finally got his way someplace." Porthos grumbled while Athos looked pained at his own name.
"How did you meet us, or well the versions of us you know?" Athos cut in after elbowing Porthos giving him a look.
"I met Athos by bumping into him, he got offended by me calling him the town drunk because he smelt like it." d'Artagnan said remembering back, grinning at the snort Porthos and Aramis gave while Athos glared at them like he was daring them to comment.
"I bumped into Porthos when he was trying a new jacket on. He got offended when I told him the truth of seeing a lady giving him money." d'Artagnan rolled his eyes fondly thinking of the larger man and their first encounter. While Porthos sputtered when Aramis snickered behind his hand.
"Aramis gave me a ticket, I had not been having a good day so I sort of ended up challenging all three of them to a duel… It turned into us Vs. the Red Guards and then somehow they took me home with them." d'Artagnan wasn't totally sure how that had happened but he wasn't complaining they did.
"Sounds familiar." Aramis smiled fondly thinking of their own pup like Gascon.
"That sounds like our whelp as well." Porthos laughed cheerfully.
"Why were you in such a rush?" Athos asked sending d'Artagnan a concerned look as he put the pieces together.
"I had been chasing Rochefort. He had insulted my horse and shot me. I ended up killing him on the roof of the Notre Dame later. This was after we fled England to stop a war from starting." d'Artagnan waved his hand like it was old news to him.
"Always getting in trouble aren't you?" Constance smiled fondly getting a wink in return.
"Rochefort, right of course." Treville sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Aren't you a little young for that sort of thing?" Constance asked her worry for her own d'Artagnan bleeding through.
"The King, Queen and my love Constance are the same age as I. Just because we are young doesn't mean we can't handle things." d'Artagnan retorted hotly as his pride flared up.
"He's a Gascon for sure." Athos muttered while Constance flustered while silently pleased this d'Artagnan was together with his own version of her.
"Porthos still calls me a little shit, but I give Planchet money for wine so he's fine with it." d'Artagnan winked while Porthos snorted this d'Artagnan was amusing.
"Can we get back to how to get our d'Artagnan back?" Athos snapped, if he was going to deal with a Gascon he wanted it to be their Gascon.
"Yeah your Athos alright, but you seem less moody than mine." d'Artagnan observed.
"Ah, so there is a Milady in your world as well then?" Aramis asked knowingly.
"Yeah there was. She betrayed you guys and was a spy for both the Cardinal and Buckingham. We caught her, but before Athos could shoot her she threw herself overboard." d'Artagnan explained, hating the wince this Athos gave and didn't ask what she had done in this place having a feeling it was much worse than the Milady he knew.
"What were you doing before you ended up here?" Athos directed the subject away from Milady as it was still a sore point for him after all these years.
"We were in the throne room at the King's request to enjoy a visiting magician's show. He threw some powder around me, there was a bright light and I was suddenly here." d'Artagnan explained thinking back.
"Damn, we'll have to wait for your end to figure something out then." Aramis swore under his breath, kissing his cross out of habit as he thought about their d'Artagnan.
"Looks like I'm stuck here for the time being… So what do you do around here for fun?" d'Artagnan leaned back in his chair with a painfully familiar grin.
~The Three Musketeers~
"You want to spar?" Athos looked at the older (not their's) d'Artagnan in shock.
"Why not?" d'Artagnan was shedding his jacket, seemingly uncaring that the King, Queen and her ladies in waiting were watching with thinly veiled excitement while the Red Guards were overseeing the Magician who was working on a way to reverse this.
"Unless your scared of course." d'Artagnan sent them a challenging grin as he drew his sword with a 'shing'.
"All d'Artagnan's must be little shit's." Porthos surmised to Aramis who hummed his agreement as Athos drew his own sword.
"Fair warning, my Athos was the best at swordplay, Porthos at hand-to-hand combat and Aramis is an expert marksman. They were the ones who trained me." d'Artagnan grinned cheerfully before he and Athos bowed in respect before their blades clashed. d'Artagnan suddenly laughed as he blocked a swing of Athos' blade before rolling out of the way of the next one.
"What pray tell is so funny?" Athos demanded as he parried a blow, the strength behind it was surprising considering how lean d'Artagnan looked.
"I just haven't had fun like this in a while. Since we left the frontlines of the war it's been drama after drama. It's nice to get back to basic's." d'Artagnan admitted as he and Athos fell into an easy sparring pattern.
"War? You were on the frontlines of a war?" Athos felt like someone had punched him in the gut as flashes of their young Gascon fighting in the frontlines flew through his mind.
"I had excellent men and a superb Captain at my sides." d'Artagnan said easily as the spar finished with both of them still in possession of their swords.
"You were holding back." Athos accused as the two rejoined the other men, still wrapping his mind around the thought of d'Artagnan in a war.
"I just figured your d'Artagnan would like to return to you with all your pieces intact." d'Artagnan smirked in a familiar cocky way.
"Porthos is right, all d'Artagnan's are little shits." Aramis shook his head.
"I'll take that as a compliment." d'Artagnan bowed to the King and Queen who had approached the small group as that the spar had finished
"Bloody good show!" Louis smiled brightly.
"Thank you your Majesty." d'Artagnan bowed again making Louis fluster a bi.
"We were just informed that the magician is ready to send you back d'Artagnan." Anne smiled kindly.
"My thanks you Majesty." d'Artagnan smiled back, sending a wink to the blonde Constance (he liked redheads better) who blushed lightly sending him a small smile in return.
"A word of advice about your d'Artagnan… Don't let him bottle things up and when heartbreak finds him… Be there for him, being alone is not a good way to recover." d'Artagnan advised the three men, suddenly looking old and tired as the magician scattered the powder around him.
"We promise." Athos said fiercely getting a smile in return before a white light took him form sight.
When the light cleared their young, headstrong d'Artagnan was returned.
"Did you miss me?" d'Artagnan asked with a grin at the group in front of him.
"d'Artagnan!" Constance launched herself into her love's arms while Aramis muttered a prayer while Porthos clapped Athos on the shoulder both men relieved that their Gascon brat was back.
"So looks like the other us are married." d'Artagnan wiggled his eyebrows at the blonde that was clinging to him.
"Are you always so cocky?" She teased, a blush on her fair skin at the mere idea. She held onto his hand when the three older men came over to make sure their Gascon was safe and whole while the King and Queen watched in relief.
"Don't worry, the other you's and some man named Treville took good care of me." d'Artagnan was silently glad to see the three Musketeers that he knew who were gathered around him with worry on their faces.
"Treville huh?" Athos exchanged a look with the other two.
"I am glad you are unharmed and back where you belong d'Artagnan." Louis smiled at his friend while Ann mirrored that smile happy to see Constance reunited with her own love.
"Thank you your Majesty. I am glad to be back." d'Artagnan bowed his head at the King and Queen, noticing how the other three men had caught the man responsible for the problem.
"Allow us to punish the man responsible for this your Majesty." Athos asked of Louis while Porthos tightened his grip on the magician while Aramis's fingers tapped the hilt of his sword.
"Of course." The King allowed before escorting his Queen, Constance and d'Artagnan out into the garden to regal d'Artagnan with the tales of the d'Artagnan who showed up in his place.
"You will not be getting off so easily." Porthos promised.
"You see, you touched someone precious to us." Athos drew his sword slowly.
"And I bet the other versions of us feel the same. So on behalf of the six of us." Aramis trailed off as he made a cross over his chest, eyes dark.
"We shall deliver your punishment." Athos finished grimly as their swords flashed.
~The Musketeers~
"So the other me was half my height?" d'Artagnan asked amused from where Constance was buried against his side while his three brothers and Treville were sitting around the table in Athos' office.
"Same hair though." Aramis noted making d'Artagnan roll his eyes fondly.
"He was a mouthy brat, but he was defiantly a version of you." Porthos stated, lips twitching every so often.
"His Porthos does call him a little shit and after I sparred with Athos he decided all d'Artagnan's are little shits." d'Artagnan gave a cheeky grin that made Athos groan and the others laugh.
"Either way we're just glad you are back where you belong." Athos clapped d'Artagnan on the shoulder, eyes soft and fond.
"Yeah Athos was gonna burst a blood vessel if you hadn't come back when ya did." Porthos told d'Artagnan with a smirk on his face.
"A toast!" Athos glared at Porthos as he raised his glass.
"To d'Artagnan being home where he belongs!"
"Here, here!"