Chapter Text
How painful and gut wrenching it must have been to watch her own people get swallowed up and formed into streaks of water, but not be able to do anything to stop it.
One by one, the prideful Hydro archon Focalors saw her own people come into contact with the water that has turned against them for good, and had their human flesh and bones dissolve into water that joins the mass of ocean. The prophesied tragedy was coming true. Having every Fontainian born with sin, and having the sin within them join the murky depths of sea water. But in order for that to happen, the outer shells that holds said sin must be broken, turned obsolete. Meaning, completely dissolved.
Worse off, she couldn't stop it, despite her very own self being the most powerful living entity in the land, harnessing the power of the same thing that is going against her people.
"Lady Furina!", was the last thing one female Fontainian screamed, as her body completely dissolved into water in a matter of seconds. The Hydro Archon did not even had time to react, to reach out to the lady to save her. Not an arm of hers had time to stretch out, to give the now dissolved lady a chance to be saved. Furina was alerted to a member of the gardes, screaming for his life as she watched his own hand turn into water, and having his screams abruptly cut off wit his whole existence turning into water.
The water level was rising rapidly, prompting people to run for their lives, away from the water after seeing what fate would befall them if they failed to do so. But the water was faster than them. Furina was stunned, nearly oblivious to the cries of her own people begging for mercy from the gods beyond. The water came, sweeping past Furina's shoes, stretching up the smooth stone pathway. It ignored her, even as the water level rose to her ankles.
The Chief Justice of Fontaine's austere front was immediately shattered, replaced with a look of shock and horror. He did not see the whole transformation of flesh to water. It was the bone chilling scream that caught his attention to what was really happening to the garde near him. Another scream followed, then another, and another, and another. It was a symphony of screams that filled Neuvillette's sensing ears.
Neuvillette turns to the grand Fountain of Lucine that stood right smack center of the Opera Epiclese's courtyard, after being alerted to it via a sudden loud pop and crack of stone. A pillar of water shot straight up from the fountain, falling with large, loud splashes of heavy pressure.
He watches as one single splash of water lands on the arm of a Fontaine citizen, turning him into water before the victim even knew what was going on. This was happening right left and center.
Neuvillette's attention was then snatched by the series of cracks forming on the stone courtyard, stemming from the amount of water pressure spouting from the Fountain of Lucine. A vein of cracks reach his feet, stretching wider and longer, up until the steps of the grand Opera Epiclese, and it still did not stop there.
When will it stop?
Focalors, you've been negligent, ignorant.
What have you done, oh dear Hydro archon?
We've drowned.
You're left to cry alone, on your throne, in the sea of broke debris consisting of what used to be your thriving kingdom. There was no one to blame, but you and only you.
Oh how Fontainians were born with sin. You, Focalors, are born with the most sin of all! Dissolving into the depths is too kind of a punishment for a creature like you. So instead, your soul deserves to crumble and burn in your broken wall made of your insecurities!
Non-Fontainians have drowned in the endlessly growing sea, not able to dissolve, and with not a single melusine to be found. She now floats alone in her throne, her tears only contributing to the sea that has swallowed up her glorious nation.
The tips of the taller buildings that once graced the fine streets of the Court of Fontaine now stick out of the increased ocean level. The sea is supposed to bring forth a sense of tranquility, and yet it now is an eternal reminder of sorrows and a tragic day. Furina just kept crying and crying, the sea before her just invoking more tears.
"What do I do..?" Furina kept questioning herself with this question, and each time drawing a blank. Where has the confident Lady Furina gone to? It was finally time for the archon of justice to face her incapability and accept the fact that she probably was nothing but a glorified failure. This was the other side to the honorable Lady Furina. A weak, insufferable woman that hides underneath the confident front.
How unsightly for an archon of her magnitude.
She was drowning in her own sorrows, not thinkin towards the future. Her sadness is so immense, that she would probably spend the rest of eternal time simply sobbing on her throne, unmoving. But if not for the sudden roar of a dragon, she would indeed continue to cry.
Furina looked up at the dark clouded sky, and contrasted against the depressing and dull sight was the long figure of none other the the Hydro dragon, a creature whose whereabouts have been unknown for hundreds of years! What has prompted it to come out of hiding now?
Perhaps, awaken by what has happened to its homeland.
The Hydro dragon felt the wind caress the entire length of its scales as it soars over the vicinity of a ruin ridden Court of Fontaine.
Furina wasn't alone in her tears, however. It had begun to rain heavily some few hours ago, and she had just been sitting there letting her form be soaked. The now pitiable archon remembers the story of the Hydro dragon now, how the clouds would rain over Fontaine each time the great beast bore tears.
She continued to trail the dragon with her blue toned eyes, as it circled the entirety of the sunken nation.
Furina now hoped she wasn't alone, that there was still someone, or something, that was still out there, a sentient being with emotions who could probably empathize with her plight. Seeing the dragon gave her hope, like there was something left to salvage.
The dragon's fierce, mighty, and vocal roar emanates through the atmosphere packed full of growing tension. But Furina wants her hope to beam through this grey and reach out to the Hydro dragon. She thinks it's about time for her pleas and cries of help to be heard, no, she wants them to be heard. Clearly, this is a crisis that she cannot recover from on her own.
The mythical beast, without Furina's prior knowledge, suddenly made a mad dash for a large piece of floating debris situated behind the archon's throne. A splash, then a bright blue light, before Furina turns around and witnesses none other than the Chief Justice Monsieur Neuvillette himself, standing perfectly poised on the flat rock platform with a displeased expression splayed on his usually stern features. A tear runs down his face, however.
His hand, as usual, stills in front of his stomach, while the other remains by his side. A what would be considered an awkward silence falls over the scene between the archon and the Chief Justice, but the earlier individual feels relieved that she would to have to stand alone in this disastrous plight. Tears continued to stain her pretty face.
"Sometimes I forget who you truly are, Monsieur Neuvillette..." Furina's voice was often interrupted by her uncontrolled sobs. She was kneeling down in the seat of her throne, body tilted to the side to meet the male who stood behind on a rock platform.
The Chief Justice chooses not to offer up a verbal reply, instead providing a stare he deemed appropriate to the failed god before him. The longing silence only instilled a further sense of insecurity.
"Say something, please.."
Neuvillette prolongs the silence.
"S-stop this. You have a mouth, so you can talk!"
Yet, still no answer. The insecurity was eating her up from the inside, like se would break down again. Her hands tightened their grip on the back of her throne. Maybe if she held onto the wood any tighter, the wood would splinter.
"You're toying with my feelings! Speak up! Say something for the love of everything...!" Furina'a voice in pierced by a sob.
Neuvillette sighs, laying that still hand by his side too. His expression remains ever unchanging, as he opens his mouth to speak.
"Lady Furina. I knew I would find you here. It seems like the prophecy is correct in every way, shape and form, and even right down to the nitty gritty details." He looks around him, seeing nothing but murky waters, "So, what do you have in mind now? Because the prophecy states that you will do absolutely nothing but cry for eternity."
There was one more line Neuvillette wanted to mention, it being "And it is your fault and your fault alone.", but that would probably be overstepping, and end up being too harsh for an already emotionally vulnerably archon.
Furina lets out a sigh, but was followed up by a choked sob afterwards. It was so hard for her to speak, in the midst of grieving for her people and her nation. She wanted to retort, like she usually would on any other day. But it felt as if there was a plug clogging her thoughts, thus not allowing them to turn into verbal words.
"Anyways, seeing as to how you don't seem to be able to utter another word right now, I figured I would do the talking for you." Neuvillette paused for a moment after speaking, giving himself some time to clear his throat. "It's-"
But he finds himself being rudely interrupted.
"You are in as much fault as I am!" Furina yells, her body jerking, causing her floating throne to sway on the surface of the water.
Neuvillette was no stranger to each and every one of Furina's behaviors and antics. He was used to those moments of levity in the court, those moments when Furina would use her rude mannerisms. He knew how to deal with her, how to make her settle down.
Furina's breathing was heavy, her nose clogged with an ungodly amount of snot. Those tears just won't stop. Her choked sobs mercilessly assailed her ability to even speak feebly. Her thoughts remained unreleased, swirling like a hurricane in her mind. Neuvillette watches Furina, in her most vulnerably state he had ever seen in his long life.
"As I was saying," The Chief Justice continues, his voice slightly softer this time, "It's time to rebuild Fontaine. I know, I know what you are thinking, Lady Furina, that there is absolutely nothing left to redeem."
"B-because there... t-there really isn't anything left.." Furina mumbled.
Neuvillette tilts his head, "Have you forgotten about the Fortress of Meropide, Lady Furina?"
It seems like Furina really had completely forgotten about Fontaine's infamous undersea prison.
"The Fortress of Meropid is completely sealed off from the waters, that is, assuming all entrances were closed off when disaster struck."
Neuvillette was right. The Fortress of Meropide was a deep, underground prison that practically acted as its own economy. He could only hope and pray that the duke had kept his domain safe, for it could be the only remaining inhabited space in all of Fontaine. But of course, it was just a hope.
"I suggest we start there." He firmly states.