𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 - Wriothesley x Neuvillette

The cumulus stage (Chapter 9)

They finally found the house from the letter. It was hidden, but not in a way that would make anyone suspicious if they accidentally found it. Wriothesley was about to just walk right in, but Neuvillette immediately stopped him. What was he thinking!? He can't just walk inside. Neuvillette thought to himself. He quickly scouted the area and checked for danger, but luckily didn't find anything. Or so he thought. They went inside and looked around. It was a small house with two rooms. The biggest was a kitchen and a living room combined, and the smaller one was a bedroom. 

The bigger room had a few documents and papers lying around, which Neuvillette took for later inspection. There was also a bookshelf with books about the research institute, the Fortress of Meropide, and fairytales and prophecies. 

In the small bedroom, there wasn't much. But on the bed was a small key. It looked old and rusty, like something you'd keep as a memory and not actually use. 

Wriothesley took the key and they were about to leave when the door closed in front of them. They looked at each other. Neuvillette could see the panic in the Duke's eyes and he felt the unease rise inside himself too.

They checked the window but it was locked. It was no use either way, because it was too small to escape out of. Neuvillette could just break a wall or teleport them away, but would they ever figure out who was after the Duke if they didn't stay now?

Something was wrong, and they could both feel it. They waited in silence, none of them even dared to breathe. They waited but nothing happened. Neuvillette took a small step forward and tried to open the door again. It opened. Everything looked completely normal and fine, but the feeling of unease never left him. 

They stepped into the bigger room again and stood there for a moment. They shouldn't have, they should have ran out of there as quickly as possible. Neuvillette regretted standing still when the floor beneath their feet collapsed and sent them down in a hole. The hole was so deep they couldn't see the bottom, and Neuvillette grabbed onto Wriothesley and held him close to protect him. He kept his arms tightly around the other man's waist and made sure they didn't hit the walls as they plummeted down.

 They fell into a pool of water, it was ice cold and Wriothesley shivered in Neuvilette's arms. The water consumed them. There was no light, just darkness, and in a way, it was oddly comforting him. He was tempted to stay in the water for a little while, but remembered he still had the Duke in his arms. A human who could not breathe underwater or stay in the cold for very long. He quickly swam up to the surface and looked around. 

There was an entrance and a tunnel not far away. He swam towards it and threw Wriothesley up onto the ground. His lips were blue and he was breathing quickly, as if his oxygen had been cut off. Oh. Right, it had. They were both completely soaked in the cold water, and Wriothesley was shivering. Neuvillette used his powers to remove the water from their clothes, making them dry again. But it was still cold, too cold for Wriothesley who on one hand was grateful Neuvillette had removed the water, but also irritated none of them had a pyro vision so they could heat up this god awful cold place.

Neuvillette's body heat was more than enough to regain his warmth, but Wriothesley's clearly wasn't. The cold water had cooled his core down, and now he was struggling to stay warm. Seeing this, Neuvillette took his coat off and put it over Wriothesley, who grabbed onto it and wrapped it tightly around himself, trying to keep the warmth. 

"Are you alright?" He asked the still shivering Duke.

"Yes.. Thank you." 

"Would you like to continue down the tunnel and explore this place?"

"What other options do we have?"

"I could get us back to the surface quite easily."

"We still need to figure out what this is. Have you seen it on any maps before?"

"No, none. I believe it's man made and pretty new. Someone must have moved the water here, as there should not be any."

With a sigh, Wriothesley stood up and looked down the tunnel."Well, let's get going then." He said.

"Wait a moment, do you have anything we could use as a light? The tunnel is pitch black." Neuvillette asked.

"No, i don't."

They stood there for a moment before Neuvillette sighed and said, "I believe i have an option that could work, although i would like to avoid it."

Wriothesley was immediately struck with curiosity and asked, "What is it?"

"I have elemental markings on my body, which can light up."

"What?"

"You know how a vision lights up when you use it?"

"Yes?"

"Imagine tattoos that do the same."

"You have that?"

"Yes."

"Well, go ahead, i wanna see that."

"Do you have anything else whatsoever that we could use to avoid using my method?"

"Nope."

"Are you completely sure, Wriothesley?"

"Yes, i have nothing." He did have a lighter on him, but he wanted to see what Neuvillette was talking about.

Neuvillette unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. In the darkness, Wriothesley couldn't see much, only distinguish the pale skin from the dark surroundings. 

But when light blue tattoos all over the Chief Justice's torso and arms suddenly lit up, he could see every little detail of his upper body. He stared. He didn't even try to hide it. He stared shamelessly at Neuvillette, who thought Wriothesley was staring at the elemental markings. In reality, Wriothesley was of course captivated by the markings, but he was far too busy admiring his physique to care for the glowing tattoos. God, everything about Neuvillette was fucking majestic. 

Then it hit Wriothesley, "Why do you have those? Are you the real hydro archon?"

"Don't be absurd, i am not the hydro archon."

"Then why do you have blue glowing tattoos?"

"They are NOT 'blue glowing tattoos' They are hydro elemental markings."

So you're some sort of elemental being?"

"Definitely not a snake."

Wriothesley chuckled, "Of course, not a snake, got it. But what are you?"

"None of your business, let's get going." 

Leaving no room for further questions, Neuvillette began walking down into the tunnel, his elemental markings lighting up the way for them as they slowly descended into the underground tunnel.

Thank you all for over 1k reads, i really did not expect that. I wrote the first 3 chapters as a joke, but will continue the story if people actually are interested in it.