Pain. Renault couldn’t think of anything else except the excruciating, burning pain in his gut. Everytime he jostled it shot white hot throughout his body. He groaned and just the thought of sitting up made him want to vomit. Fuck it hurt. It’d been a while since he’d gotten stabbed. How the hell had he allowed an imp of all fucking things to actually stab him?

Fuck it was hot. Why was it so hot? His clothes were heavy. Heavy. Itchy. Hot. Pain. He tried to shake his head to clear his thoughts but his eyes went wide at the giant squirrel. How the fuck? It was at least eight feet at the shoulder and it had an acorn in its paws. It wiggled its nose and tilted its head him.

He tried to struggle up, but something heavy was keeping him down.

“Squirrel…giant squirrel,” he managed out. His voice sounded far away to him. Like it was at the bottom of a cave and underwater. 

“A giant squirrel?” 

Was that William? His voice sounded funny, higher pitched. Is that what was holding him down. Fuck everything hurts. It was so hot. He needed to get out of his clothes. “Hot…too hot.”

He glanced back to where the squirrel had been and it was gone. Boris stood in its place, that fluffy tail swaying lazily. He wanted to touch it. Bet it was soft. Super soft. “Pet the tail,” he muttered.

“Tail? Who’s tail?” 

“Boris…soft tail. Want to pet.” His head lolled backwards and he stared up at the shining armour that William always wore.

“You’re weird…something off.” He always wore armour. It was really weird. Gods if his gut could stop hurting that’d be great. Oh, the armour was pink. How had he never noticed it was pink before? No…not pink…green? What was going on. Why was his armour changing colours? 

He needed his clothes off. It was too hot. Too itchy. Too much. 

“Renault, what are you doing, boy?” 

Renault froze at the sound of a voice he hadn’t heard in years. The grass beneath him pricked into his skin. He glanced around, the pain was gone. It wasn’t hot anymore. He stood slowly. 

He stood in a courtyard, training dummies off to one side and buildings on all four sides. He cast his gaze around and landed on the form of a man that had died seven years ago.

Takahiro wasn’t a tall man, nor a particularly large one. He made up for his small stature in pure presence. His katana was sheathed at his hip and his arms folded over themselves. 

“Apparently, I’m dreaming about someone that died years ago. Kind of a shit dream, where’s the women?” He smiled slightly. It was good to see Takahiro again, but why was he there? Why was he dreaming about him? He was dreaming, right?

“You remember what happened last time, why are you letting yourself get close again?” The old man shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face.

Renault scowled. “The hell are you talking about? Get close? I’m not getting close to anyone.”

“Aren’t you? Is that not what you’re doing with that spitfire you’ve been travelling with?” Takahiro took several steps forward and dropped his arms to his side, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

“No, no it is not. I’m getting a cut of any money she gets.” Renault scoffed. “She’s just a means to an end, I’m not getting close to her.”

“We both know that’s bullshit. You don’t give a fuck about the money. You’ve been travelling with her for almost a month now and you haven’t gotten even a single throne. You’re worried about her getting hurt, just like you had been last time.” He was standing in front of Renault now, staring up at him.

“That’s not true at all.” Renault rolled his eyes and took several steps back, “I’m just waiting. That’s all. She’ll eventually get a job that will pay.”

Renault didn’t even see him remove the sword, sheath and all, until he was being hit on the head with it. 

“Stop being stupid, boy. You’re going to get yourself hurt and someone else is going to die.”

Renault froze, his jaw clenching, “That wasn’t my fault.”

“Is that what you keep telling yourself? That it wasn’t your fault I died that she died? Does that help you sleep at night, boy? Does that assuage the guilt upon your soul?” Takahiro snorted. “You’re as useless as you ever were.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Renault snapped again. “I…I didn’t ask you to jump in the way. I didn’t force you to block the blade. You did that. You did that on your own.”

“Of course I did, boy! If I didn’t you would have died, and you were like a son to me. I couldn’t let that bitch kill you, and you were going to let her! Of course I stepped in. I wasn’t going to let you die.” Takahiro hit Renault on the head with the sheathed sword again. “If you keep going like this you’re going to end up dead because I won’t be there to stand in the way again. Hell, she almost burned you alive once already! You should have left then, but you didn’t. You decided to travel with her anyways. I didn’t realize I raised a half-wit.”

“That is not what happened,” Renault said shortly. “She did not almost burn me alive, I had that well in hand.”

“Don’t lie to me. We both know that isn’t the case.” Takahiro shook his head. “You need to think before you act, you’ve never been very good at that. Impulsive as ever. Don’t fall for the girl. It won’t end well.”

Renault began to snort in response but the pain came back all at once and he was back on the moving creature with William’s arm draped over him to keep him place. He groaned. Why? Couldn’t he have stayed there just a bit longer?

Talking. Someone was talking. He couldn’t understand the words. He was lifted and his entire world tilted and spun. Renault tried not to vomit, but the way the world was moving was making his stomach protest. He heaved and more pain shot through his entire body. 

Renault awoke with a groan. His head spun and his entire body ached, but he didn’t feel like he was going to puke and the pain was manageable. He slowly sat up and glanced around. He recognize these walls. Ada’s? How had he gotten here? Last thing he remembered they had just killed those imps. 

He glanced down at his bare torso to see white bandages covering his entire abdomen and chest, a dark red spot on his side. 

Right, he’d been stabbed by a fucking imp. Stupid. How could he have been so stupid? He threw his legs off the side of the bed and slowly stood, his legs trembling. How long had he been asleep? 

Renault’s mind flashed back to the dream he’d had and he scowled. Of course he’d dream of the old geezer and not a pretty lass who wanted to enjoy his company. Everything Takahiro had said was wrong anyways. He wasn’t getting attached to anyone, that’s not how he worked. Not anymore.

He heard speaking from downstairs: Ada and William. The door was slightly open and the hinges squeaked as he exited the small room. The voices quieted and he walked to the edge of the stairs, holding his torso. 

“You’re awake.” Ada stood form her spot at her table and made her way up to him. “Come on, I’ll help you down the stairs.” she started to grab his arm to put over her slender shoulders. 

Renault pulled away. “I don’t need help,” he snapped. He wasn’t a cripple, he could move about just fine by himself. It was slow—painful—but he eventually made his way to the bottom floor. He dropped his hand from his wound and sat, not looking at either of them. 

He still couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to get stabbed. Of all the stupid things he’d done, that was by far one of the worse. 

“How are you feeling? Any pain?” Ada asked. 

“Fine,” he responded dryly. 

The Meskongan woman thinned her lips and levelled an icy stare at him. “Don’t lie to me.” her eyes flicked down to the steadily spreading spot of crimson on his white bandages. “You re-opened your wound by moving around.” 

Renault rolled his eyes, “I’m fine, I’ve had worse bug bites.” He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. “Where’s me sword and hat?” he asked. 

Ada frowned and walked over to the wall and grabbed both from the corner and brought them to him. “Well, if you’re going to be stubborn and refuse further help, I’m going to go gather some winter herbs.” She stood and walked out of the tower.

William was sitting at the end of the table, arms crossed over his chest as he watched Renault. He could feel the judgement radiating off of the large man and it made him bristle. 

“What?” Renault glared at William, his lips turning down into a scowl. 

“You will only hurt yourself more if you do not less Miss Ada take care of you and make sure you are properly healed,” William said. 

“I said I was fine. I don’t need a mother or a sitter.” Renault scoffed and shook his head. “So, what are your plans? Why are you running around with the wench?”

“I want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt, and this is part of my patrol area, anyway. The company is nice. Miss Mina is a very kind woman.” William nodded.

“Kind? Is that what you see her as? We must see very different sides. She’s crass, impulsive, stubborn, hot headed, and is going to get herself killed if she keeps going.” Which wasn’t why Renault was travelling with her, despite what Takahiro thought. He didn’t care if she got herself killed, why would he? People died all the time.

“She may be all those things, but she is also kind. You did not see the terror and horror on her face when you fell and she realized that you were hurt. She is a kind woman.” William uncrossed his arms and leaned forward on the table. “Why are you travelling with her?”

“Because I want to. I’m going to get money off the wench when she finally decides to take on a job that will pay,” Renault said with a shrug. 

William didn’t respond to him, and no more words were spoken.