shipwrecked || furina & neuvillette

🫧 14 🫧

Today is the day. The day where Furina has no choice but to betray those around her - but most of all, the day where she leaves Neuvillette. She doesn't want to - she doesn't want it to be what must be done, but it is. She's got no choice. She can't stand the thought of it, as she gazes over at him. Sitting at his desk, reading through the final arrangements for tomorrow. For the funeral that Furina won't be attending, the funeral that she knows will go on without her.

She can't help but feel a pang of sadness. She doesn't even want to begin to imagine was Dottore might attempt to do at that funeral. It was one thing when it was thought that Furina would simply be the target, when it seemed as if they'd leave Fontaine alone. But with his threat, with his promise to harm Fontaine... Furina can't stand the thought of it. She could never put them through anything like that ever again - certainly not with Dottore involved. She wouldn't let that happen. She acted as Fontaine's Archon for hundreds of years and she will always continue to protect them.

Neuvillette doesn't know of her plan, because she knows that Clorinde hasn't told him. Clorinde knows how much it will hurt the hydro dragon, knows that it will impact him more than anything else. She knows that Fontaine can't afford to have him fall apart before tomorrow. Furina feels guilty that her friend is carrying that burden, but she doesn't feel guilt towards her plan. It's for the best. She knows that, and that's what makes it hurt so bad. She loves him. She loves him more than she's ever loved anyone or anything before, and she turns away from him as a single teardrop falls from her eye. He looks so quiet, his head down and focused on the paperwork in front of him.
"I'll be right back," Furina glances at the clock. There thirty minutes until foreign diplomats are arriving in Fontaine for the funeral, and she has some things to do before then.
"Furina," he calls her name before she slips out the door.
"Yes?"
"I love you, no matter what."
She smiles, nodding. "I love you too, no matter how much I have to hear about water in Teyvat." She giggles, hoping that her sadness isn't showing through.
He nods with a warm smile, and Furina leaves his office.

She's never had to write a goodbye letter before. But, as she starts trying to put her feelings onto the sheet of paper in front of her... it all came spilling out. Words that she'd never expecting to be writing, let alone writing for Neuvillette. He wouldn't read them until she was gone, until she was far away - luring Dottore away. Luring him and those working for him out of Fontaine.

Neuvillette paces in front of his desk, feeling more anxious than he's felt in hundreds of years. He's been the Chief Justice of Fontaine for over four hundred years, he's felt with countless stressful trials and life changing events across Teyvat. But the thought of what tomorrow brings... he can't stop thinking about it. About the endless possibilities of what might occur. Furina was the first face he saw in Fontaine, the first smile that welcomed him into the city. The first person who offered him tea, who made him laugh in the brand new place. But now, all these years later.... He's supposed to just... go with the flow. Let whatever happens happen. That is not Neuvillette's way of dealing with things, and he's struggling. Struggling with the thought of it all, but mostly... of his worst fear coming true.

Losing Furina.

There's a knock on the door, and he pulls himself together. Smoothing out his robes, and standing in front of his desk as if he has simply paused.
"Neuvillette?" Clorinde enters the room, closing the door behind her. "Where is Furina?"
"Upstairs," he tells her, and Clorinde nods as she comes to stand in front of him.
"I didn't want to say anything, because I know how... I know how this will hurt you. But I... I've been thinking about it and... Furina's not planning on making it to the funeral." Clorinde says quickly. "She's not... she's... I mean-"
"I know," Neuvillette sighs, shaking his head. "I know."
"You know?" Clorinde exclaims, looking at him with shock written all over her face. "You know? Why aren't you doing anything to stop her?"
Neuvillette doesn't know the answer to that question. He doesn't know how he knew - he just knows Furina. He knows how her brain works, knows her so well from the past several hundred years they've shared together.
"It's not that simple, I'm afraid." He utters the words slowly, aware that Clorinde is flushed with anger.
"In what way? How is it not simple? Can't we... can't we do something?"
"No," he tells her, hoping that he is coming across calm, hoping that he is fooling her. "This is Furina, there's no point trying to stop her."
"Yes, there is!" Clorinde practically yells. "It's because it's Furina that there's such a reason to fight for her!" Neuvillette turns away from her, her emotion in her voice causing him to teeter closer to the edge of spilling his secrets. "You care about her, you... you love her. That, I'm quite sure of. So why just stand back and let her sacrifice herself unnecessarily? We planned the Funeral... if she's just going to slip into the night... what was the point of it all?"
He's never seen Clorinde this angry, never seen her fists clenched so tightly at her sides. Neuvillette closes his eyes for a moment, aware that he's getting close to overflowing with emotion. He can't do that - because if Furina sees the rain, she'll know he's upset. And he doesn't want her to know he knows.
"Trust me, Clorinde."
"I thought I did trust you, Neuvillette. I really thought I did. But now... I can't believe you're just letting her go."
He turns around, aware that his voice comes across sharper than he desired.
"If you think that I want to let her go, if you think I want to send her off with Dottore, if you think I want to just... stand back and watch it all happen... you're wrong, Clorinde. There's not a single thing about the next forty eight hours that I want. I don't want a single part of it. What I want is to take Furina, and flee. Abandon it all, my duties, abandon Fontaine, abandon it all. I want to take her to the edge of the world where Dottore could never find her. What I want, is for her to live a happy, warm, and healthy life!" He yells, which is unlike him. Outside of the Opera Epiclese, he does not raise his voice, he does not yell.
"Then do it, Neuvillette. Take her and take yourself and leave until this all blows over. We've got a safe house in Inazuma, we've got connections there. I could reach out to them - to Kamisato Ayato or even Yae Miko. There's so many people who would drop everything - I mean, go to Monstadt, go to Liyue. Go anywhere,  just don't stay here. It's not too late." Desperation floods her voice in a way that he's never heard before. And the way she's saying it... she's making it seem like it might actually work. But it would be selfish. It would be cruel to Fontaine, and they would suffer. He could never do that. But Clorinde makes it seem like... just for a moment... it's a possibility.