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The battle was over, yet there was still a war to be prevented and injuries to be tended to. So with haste they re-boarded and detangled / fixed up their airship and resumed their course toward Paris-much to the shock of the Church attendants.

"I'm so sorry, Regina." Constance soothed, offering condolences as she eased her new-found friend into a chair so she could examine her injuries. They had all been lucky to escape with no fatal injuries; Athos and Constance miraculously had none whilst Aramis and Porthos had a few bruises here and a gash there, D'artagnan and Regina were the ones who got off worse.

"It's fine," Regina assured. Because despite the fact that as heartless as it may have sounded, she was actually relived her mother and brother were gone. No longer could they threaten or harm her, no more would they be a threat to the things she held dear.

"Your father saved my life, he is a good man," Constance said as she helped Regina back into her old clothes-her uniform needing to be cleaned of blood.

"I know. " Regina smiled as she stood and limped to where her father stood talking with D'artagnan. "Hey."

D'artagnan turned and pulled her into a one-armed hug. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, your girl stitched me up and set my ankle into place, you?"

Surprisingly it wasn't D'artagnan who answered but Athos. "Ah, the runt's fine, Aramis patched him up. And he was just explaining how he recovered the diamonds. I still can't believe you pulled it off D'artagnan." Athos chuckled.

D'artagnan shrugged. "Eh, what can I say."

Regina smiled at their antics as she wrapped her arms around Athos. In the past few days it was obvious that D'artagnan and Athos had grown closer, more so it seemed since the disagreement whether to go into battle or not.*

"Well, one of you can start by figuring out how we're going to get the diamonds back to the queen secretly," Porthos put in. "Cardinal Richelieu is no doubt waiting for us still."

"Getting the diamonds to the Queen is my job, you worry about the Cardinal," Constance replied.

"But how exactly will you manage that?" Aramis asked from his position at the helm.

"Simple. Before I was captured, I left Regina's horse with Monsieur Treville; we agreed that if I was captured he would wait for us in the fields outside the city. So all you would have to do is drop me off there, I'll take Regina's horse and go get the diamonds polished and then return them to the Queen."

"Okay, that just leaves Richelieu," Athos muttered. "Any ideas?"

D'artagnan hesitated a moment then said, "What about the letter Milady handed over? She said it could be of use to us."

When neither Athos or Regina answered -both suddenly deep in thought, Aramis took it upon himself. "Yes, and it could very well be a trap-"

"Hold on Aramis, D'artagnan may be right," Athos interrupted "I never saw her like that before, only right after Regina..and Mordaunt were born." He glanced at Regina looking for her opinion but she was no longer at his side, instead she had already walked toward the pavilion and picked up the scroll, breaking its seal.

Aramis sighed, "Athos there's no way she could possibly have know-"

"Oh yes she did, Papa look at this!" Regina called Athos to her side.

"That woman truly was smart enough to deceive anybody and play every angle. Well at least you learned not to follow her," Athos said after reading the letter and stowing it in his pocket.

"It wasn't that hard," Regina said, despite remembering a time when she did the exact opposite.

Athos saw this and pulled her close. "I would have loved you anyway."

"So, should we prepare for a fight?" Porthos asked.

"Not really, just be on your guard. Aramis, full speed ahead, Lady Constance will give you our course." Athos replied.

Even with the assurance of the diamonds and safety against Richelieu, there was still an air of uncertainty-and it wasn't Planchet's airsickness either. It was well after noon by now, and it wouldn't be long before they dropped Constance off outside the city, and she alone had a good thirty minute journey from: the gates, to the jewelers to the Palace.

"

By a stroke of luck there was still some fog lingering due to the earlier storms, so it was a good cover as they lowered Constance to where Monsieur Treville waited in the field below.

"Meet you at the Palace then, Captain?" Porthos shouted.

Treville nodded and sped toward the city.

They continued their journey, sure that the people of the city below were getting a good show.

"Uh, priest. I know you're new to the whole sailing thing, but you may want to slow it down," Porthos noted as they neared the palace.

Aramis said nothing.

"Aramis, slow down." Porthos repeated more forceful than before.

"I would love to, if I could, but I can't," Aramis retorted sarcastically, not to mention slightly panicked.

"What do you mean!" Athos demanded, warily grabbing a nearby post.

"Well it seemed when we crash landed and got tangled up, we disabled the rudder and the ability to slow down.

"Meaning?" D'artagnan asked with a sinking feeling, as he followed Athos' example, clinging to the battered railing with one hand, his other hooked around Regina's waist.

"We are going to crash, eventually."

"More like NOW!" Planchet screamed as they got dangerously close to the palace.

"Move over, before you kill us," Porthos retorted, pushing Aramis out of his way as he took control of the wheel.

With a single rough turn Porthos managed to avoid the palace as the airship banked sharply to right, sailing away at the last possible minute.

"Please let us not do that again!" Planchet groaned.

Porthos chuckled. "Hold on."

The airship lifted up slightly before veering to the left as it circled the palace gardens-the ground getting closer and closer, until with a bone rattling crash did the airship touch down in the gardens, skidding forward-surely crushing anything in it's path, until it settled alongside the fountain.

"Is every one alright?" asked Aramis, as they righted themselves.

The others simply groaned, mumbling their confirmations.

"Athos, we have company," D'artagnan warned.

"Oh for the love of-Come on!" Athos growled, sword in hand as he spotted Cardinal Richelieu and his guards.

The others followed his example as they rushed out of the airship, coming head on with Richelieu's guards.

"What is the meaning of this!" King Louis demanded, as he came outside-stopping any fight that was about to take place.

"Your Majesty," Richelieu began. "These men are-"

"Are delivering you a gift, Compliments of the Cardinal," called Monsieur Treville as he rushed into the garden.

King Louis chuckled. "Cardinal, you shouldn't have."

Richelieu was shocked for a moment but quickly recovered. "Well your Majesty did request one of those. So.."

"He wanted it to be a surprise, so I was more than willing to lend my musketeers to retrieve one for you," Treville put in.

King Louis smiled as he admired his new airship-effectively missing the deathly looks that passed between the two older men behind him. "Hold on, what happened to it?" he added once he got a good look at it.

"Rochefort tried to sabotage the craft. Turns out he was Lord Buckingham's spy," Athos put in. "He has been dealt with."

"Rochefort?" King Louis turned to Richelieu. "Wasn't he captain of your Guards?"

"Actually, his eminence was the one who uncovered the spy," Athos interrupted handing the letter to the King.

Richelieu, who read the letter over the King's shoulder, sent the Musketeers a furious look.

King Louis finished the letter and looked to Treville and Richelieu. "Let me get this straight...you two not only delivered me an airship, but helped take out a traitor among us. How can I reward your services?"

"Well, I'm sure his majesty will think of something." Queen Anne said, as she appeared behind him, Constance in tow.

"Anne." King Louis smiled, seeing the diamond necklace.

Queen Anne returned the smile "I was just returning from the jewelers-"

"You look beautiful...I know, it's early, but would you care to dance?"

"I would love to."

Happily the pair stepped onto the dance floor, leaving a smug Treville and a furious Richelieu behind.

"

The Musketeers stayed at the celebration awhile longer, during which Constance and D'artagnan got a little closer, and Richelieu tried to persuade Athos, Porthos, Aramis as well as D'artagnan and Regina to join him, to which he got some crude and sarcastic replies, much to the humor of Monsieur Treville.

"So what now?" Treville asked as he noticed the five beginning to part.

"Today we drink," Athos muttered. "But tomorrow, it's back to protecting France."

"Oh?" asked Treville.

"Yes, besides what else are we supposed do?"

"Yeah, after all, we are musketeers," Regina put in.

"But I thought you didn't believe in that?" D'artagnan teased.

"Perhaps I was wrong."

"She's right," Aramis said "And there are still things in this world worth fighting and dying for."*

"And I can't believe I'm gonna say this..But, I believe in us, and until I stop, I'll keep on fighting, no matter what France may require from us," Athos agreed.

Porthos grinned, placing is sword in the ground. "All for one,"

The others-Treville included, grinned and did the same. "And one for all!"

End Chapter X.

A/N: *That wasn't meant to be slash, but can be taken that way I suppose, it was originally intend to capture the Athos/D'artagnan father son moment, I've been trying to sneak in.

* I always thought this was more Aramis' line than Athos'

" Chapter breaks, i thought the big lines were too much

Alright, there you have my first completed story-that has held my attention through out the process.

The sequel: Moonlight and Swordplay will be out some time in October. Also the title on this will be changed to: the paths we choose.