-1This was going to just be a drabble, but I got wrapped up in the story. I think I may be the first to write Tethys x Rennac on fanfic. So it needed to get done.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all.
It had always been amount the money for Rennac. He was the son of a Carcinian merchant, born into wealth that he never got to touch. His father had been a stingy bastard, "Every desire must be earned." His father said that to him many, many times over the course of his childhood; whenever he asked for something, or tried to complain. As much as Rennac resented his old man, the lessons he'd been taught had reluctantly been ingrained in him.
Any want he had, anything he longed for, he worked for, if it could be gotten without a challenge it was beneath his notice. He only chased that which would give him a good run for his money, whether it be money, precious gems, or women, Rennac was always searching for a challenge and especially lucrative ones. So over the course of the first years he spent away from home, he acquired a reputation both as a renowned thief and mercenary, and as a heartbreaker. This led him to L'Arachel, or more accurately led L'Arachel to Rennac.
Oh Goddess, L'Arachel. She was the only employer he'd ever had that he could truly say hated. That woman was just as tightfisted as his father had been, and insisted on gallivanting across the countryside doing "heroic deeds" for free. Free! One day he was approached by the knights of Rausten, and asked to become an escort of the crown princess, and the only niece of the current King. Rennac accepted as he assumed that she would pay well being a princess and all, as, certainly princesses have large, deep purses that Rennac would have loved to dive into. Oh, how wrong he had been.
Eventually, things become so bad, that Rennac "quit without official notice," to join Grado. His first battle with the Grad forces involved defending and looting Jehanna Hall. Well, in reality, he was supposed to be opening doors. He saw opening every chest he could find as justifiable hazard pay. Then he heard hooves moving at an unnatural pace across stonework. 'Oh Goddess…' Was all Rennac had time to think before he was once again enlisted by L'Arachel. He just couldn't catch a break when it came to that woman. She seemed to have a knack for causing him pain. He felt in the same condition as her poor war pony; bruised, tired, and used.
The next thing he knew, he was in a battle for his life. Apparently the damn woman had charged into the fray, with her guard far behind her. In true L'Arachel style, she had left him once again facing down hordes of angry soldiers, and this time without even that oaf Dozla to hide behind. Every time L'Arachel healed him, her staff pulsing with a soft blue energy, he became aware that she was up to healing the full amount of damage he was now receiving. It had started with small cuts that didn't seal with the rest of wounds until it got to the point where open wounds continued to bleed freely, only staunched to a minor extent. Until she appeared.
Rennac's vision was swimming, barely able to hold his knife firmly, trying his best to look menacingly at the remaining grad forces in the hopes they'd assume him to much a threat by now to bother with. From what he could see, it wasn't working. He said his final prayers, mostly asking to be forgiven for a lifetime of theft and greed without meaning a word of it, when reinforcements arrived in the form of Vanessa, Forde, and Tethys. Rennac passed out, and the last thing he saw was a beautifully spinning form above him. 'Goddess…'