shipwrecked || furina & neuvillette

🫧 33 🫧

"I don't want to have to do this," Neuvillette is on his knees in front of her. "I don't want to have to, my Lady Furina."
Furina plays with his hair. "We haven't got a choice, Neuvillette." She bites her lip to keep herself from falling apart. "We have to do this. It's the only way. I have to break him - I have to. It has to be me. It's the only way."
"I don't want you to be with him - last time... last time he almost drowned you - last time, he-"
"I made it out alive last time, and I plan on doing the same thing again. But... Neuvillette - I... I need you to promise me something." She speaks slowly, trying to make sense of the words in her head.
He looks up at her, and Furina cups his cheeks as her thumb wipes away his tears.
"Don't make me promise." He tells her as if he can read her mind.
"You have to promise that you won't be the one to come and find me," Furina tells him. "If he thinks that he can extract the essence of Hydro Dragon that is in my Vision... we can't let him get you."
"No-"
"Neuvillette, can you imagine what he could do to you?" Furina brushes away a tear from his eye. "If you are alive, so am I. You cannot be the one who finds me or rescues me, or whatever you want to call it. It cannot be you."
"I'm stronger than he is - I'm... I am stronger than all of them."
"You saw what he did earlier - you... you couldn't move, Neuvillette. You were frozen, just like the rest of them. I know your strengths, I know what you are capable of. But if he pulls something like that... he could do anything to you."
"But he could do anything to you, Furina. I'll kill him, I swear it. The moment he lays another finger on you, I'll-"
Furina nods, pressing a finger to his lips. "I can't let him wreak havoc here, Neuvillette. I didn't spend five hundred years acting as Archon to let Fontaine crumble, to be the reason that Teyvat is led to ruin. If it's my mental strength he wants... then I'll show him just how strong I can be. I wanted to die for five hundred years, Neuvillette. Five hundred years is a long time to be thinking that you want to die - thinking that you should just kill yourself." Furina pauses. "I... I have always done everything I can to protect Fontaine - I have always given everything I have. This is no different. I acted as Hydro Archon without a sliver of power in my body... for five hundred years. I... I can make it through this. You just have to promise me that you won't be the one leading my rescue. I don't want you anywhere near him. Promise me, Neuvillette. I need you to promise me."
"I could kill him, right now. I could... I could-"
"No." Furina shakes her head, a smile tracing her lips like starlight. "No. Not yet, not this way. He'll get what he deserves. But I don't... I don't want you to go near him. We have to play our cards right."

The plan is settled, and Furina anxiously walks into the Opera Epiclese, her heart pounding. Although, she feels surprisingly calm - considering what she's about to do. The plan they're about to announce to a room full of Archons and powerful figures. Furina feels weird - walking in here and not sitting on her throne. She glances up at it, before tears prick her eyes and she stares down at the floor. This was the only way to end it - she had to do this.
Both she and Neuvillette walk up and onto the stage, and even though she has to fight to keep the memories at bay, she takes a deep breath.
Furina sits down on the edge of the stage, her legs hanging off, her hands clasped in her lap. It takes her back to hearing the Oratrice carrying out the death penalty, but she keeps quiet.
"Thank you for coming," Neuvillette speaks, his voice loud and powerful. "As I'm sure you've all been made aware, Dottore has threatened Teyvat."
The room stays silent. Furina stares down at her hands, picking at the skin around her nails.
"Dottore wants Lady Furina to be handed over by sunset, or Teyvat will lie in ruin." Neuvillette pauses. "There is only one solution to this, and it pains me to say it, but Lady Furina and I have discussed every possible outcome to a great extent. The only one that ends... with the best possible outcome." He shakes his head as if he cannot believe the words he is about to say. "Unless we want to get into a war with Snezhnaya, we cannot simply... kill him."
"What?" Clorinde's voice sharply sounds throughout the room. "Furina-"
"I must go into the belly of the beast," Furina tells her, finally meeting her eyes. "We cannot kill him, but that does not mean I can't destroy everything he has. Turn the Fatui against each other. It's... it can be done. I will see that it is done." She speaks up, finding the courage from somewhere deep inside her. "I am Furina de Fontaine," she stands up. "And Dottore will pay for the threat against our nations, our homes. I promise you."
"We have devised a plan," Neuvillette speaks, glancing over at Furina. "I have every faith in Lady Furina, and I hope you share that with me." He looks down at Clorinde, who is standing with her arms crossed, beside Navia.
"Of course we do," Navia is the first to reply.
"What sort of plan did you come up with?" Clorinde asks, even though it's clear she is unimpressed with the situation. 
Neuvillette clears his throat and begins to explain it.