Work Text:
There's something wrong...
Neuvillette couldn't risk it. The Fortress of Meropide and all the people inside were in danger. He didn't need a paper from Wriothesley to tell him, his instinct and ties to the water were enough.
The chief of Justice left his office, but had he just put a foot outside of it a hand grabbed his sleeve and a high pitched voice echoed in the equally high ceilings.
"Neuvillette ! It's almost time for the afternoon tea with Arlecchino, you gotta come with me ! Please!!"
Neuvillette frowned at her words, looking down at the Archon he'd never consider his, as he would never serve under her commandment. Nor her, nor any of the usurper's either.
"Now is not the time Lady Furina. Besides, I've already told you I wouldn't accompany you for this afternoon tea. Now if you excuse me."
He tried to get rid of that rather annoying hand, but Furina didn't let go, and put as much weight as she could to make him stay.
"I can't do this without you ! Arlecchino doesn't take me seriously and you know it, she won't listen if you're not here."
He didn't have time for this...
The Fortress could get flooded within a few minutes...
"It is your job to force her to respect you, especially since she's a Fontainian and therefore one of your subjects."
"And so are you! That's an order from your Archon!" She snapped, pulling harder on his sleeve.
It took all the patience Neuvillette had to not tell her to piss off and grow a spine when it was more needed rather than throwing a tantrum. While he didn't throw all his thoughts at her, his eyes spoke for his mouth more than he would have liked.
"I do not have the time for this Lady Furina. While we're talking here, the people of the Fortress of Meropide are in danger, and if the Fortress falls, the whole Fontaine will."
Her eyes widened in what he understood to be fear, though he could never be sure with her. Her grip on him loosened, as she murmured between her teeth.
"I can't believe you'd sacrifice my life for the ones of mortals..."
Perhaps it was unfortunate for her that Neuvillette had such a good hearing, perhaps the curse was his as his heart clenched and his hand fell on Furina's shoulder to gently squeeze it.
"I'm trying to not sacrifice anyone."
Neuvillette managed to leave the Palais Mermonia, but crossed paths with the Traveler and Paimon at the main door.
"It's Neuvillette !" Paimon said, urgency in her voice, only confirming Neuvillette's thoughts.
"Traveler! I need you to head to the opera house immediately. Furina will soon be meeting with The Knave there. You must protect her and make sure she doesn't spend too much time alone with her."
To the confused face of the Traveler, he promised he'd explain later, before rushing to the Fortress of Meropide. Most of the prisoners were getting evacuated, but as expected, the Duke was missing. Neuvillette ignored the terrified cries of the inhabitants of the Fortress. They were safe as for now...but he wasn't sure it was everyone's case.
His breath shortened as he was approaching from the main office and its basement. The particular scent of the primordial water saturated the air, and he didn't reach the last level of the basement yet.
A cry of horror rang out.
Neuvillette hurried to the last level, where Clorinde was, staring at the last door lock that had just fallen down, water splashing at her feet.
She was alone.
Next to be the prey of the primordial water that pressed against the door.
The heels against the metallic floor made her look behind. Her eyes widened to Neuvillette's presence, a painful vice tightening around her throat.
"Monsieur Neuvillette—"
"Leave with the last prisoners. I'll take care of it from now on."
As firm as the Chief of Justice sounded, she knew something in his voice was off. Something his eyes only told, but she didn't get the time to guess what that he urged her out of there.
Lady Furina bless you Neuvillette, and come back alive...
She could barely hope for better, if hope for that drowning nation was still allowed.
The door burst into thousands of sharp pieces clanking against the walls and ground, while a wave greater than everything he'd seen collapsed on him.
The time had stopped. The water remained frozen around him, before it slowly retreated back as he went forward to seal it...until his eyes fell on a small cocoon of ice.
"Wriothesley !!"
It couldn't be too late. Wriothesley had found a way to protect himself from the water. His control over his vision was great, Neuvillette knew. He survived. That was for sure.
Keeping an eye on the water he couldn't fully control, he walked to the cocoon and forced the water around it to leave. The ice was melting, slowly, in a blue and purple pond.
A mass of black and greying hair emerged from the melted ice, followed by a soaked coat hiding a quivering body.
"By all the almighty dragons you're alive..."
He extended his hand to Wriothesley, who had barely opened his eyes and smiled at him. A tired smile, on blue lips and pale face, his clothes sticking to his skin like a new ice coffin only enforced the shivers.
"Leave... If you can't walk, crawl, but please leave."
Wriothesley shook his head. Violet droplets dripped from his hair, slid against his cheeks like tears, yet burnt them in a way he refused to show. He couldn't let Neuvillette panic and lose control over the waters, or their efforts for protecting Fontaine would have been in vain.
"It's fine... I-I'll still be there when you'll be back.. and Clorinde owes me a gift now that you're here.. I'll be fine..."
Lies a pure soul like Neuvillette couldn't detect despite his years spent in trials hearing fake testimonies and barely believable stories. But it was Wriothesley. He had to believe in him once more.
"You better be there then. That's an order from the Court."
The Duke let out a weak snort and nodded, slightly smiling at the figure of his partner leaving with the water he'd probably seal long enough to borrow some more time for Fontaine.
But Wriothesley's was already elapsed.
When Neuvillette came back, the ice had fully melted...and Wriothesley was nowhere to be seen. Where he was sitting lay his clothes. Still soaked in water.
"Wriothesley..?" He called, hoping he just left in minimal outfit to keep himself warmer than with clothes dripping in water.
He extracted the water from the clothes until they were dry and grabbed them, looking around for the Duke. A piece of metal clanked against the ornaments of his coat. Even if Wriothesley too had tons of ornaments on his clothes, something in Neuvillette pushed him to check. Turning the fur coat around, which only made more noises, his hand grasped at the vision chained to the back of the cloth. The splendid ice blue, granting control over ice and coldness, had turned grey.
Thunder cracked among the sudden dark clouds crowding the sky of Fontaine. Torrential rains one saw every hundred years fell from the crying heavens, while from the Fortress of Meropide emerged the dragon whose eyes remained as empty as the vision he attached to his coat. He said no word about Wriothesley's death, not even to Clorinde who came in a hurry yet stayed ignored. People rushed to their houses if they had some, prisoners were led back to the Fortress now that the danger was gone. Neuvillette, yet, stood under the rain, water drops like tears fell along his cheeks, while his eyes like mirrors reflected the deafened fury of the far lightning.
"You took everything away from me... The power I've inherited, the weight of my title...and now the man I love... I am not enough of a fool to go to war against you, but I'll make sure my judgment won't spare you."
A soft hand grabbed his. Neuvillette looked down, only to fall on Sigewinne, shivering under the coldness of the rain.
"Ah... Don't worry about me, I'm not the type to catch a cold. You should go back inside, the prisoners might need you."
She frowned in pity, as she knew the Chief of Justice was not as fine as his soft smile pretended.
"But you—"
"I'll go back to the Palais Mermonia soon too. I'll be fine, but I thank you for your concern."
He patted her head gently, still saving the face as he should, and waited for her to go back to the Fortress, before he left for his office he locked down immediately. Neuvillette fell on his chair, the wood creaked in protest, the last sound that rang out in the room before it turned silent, if not for the waterdrops to harshly hit the windows...then the desk and the paper the judge was trying to work on. The lines turned into a blurry mess, black ink merging with a white paper, too white for his tired eyes to handle them. They felt like burning, from the tears he shed along with the skies that cried with him, even long after he had no tears left.
For weeks, Fontaine drowned under the rain. People had thought it was their Archon's curse becoming true, some had started to leave the country, south to Sumeru or East towards Mondstatd. But others found the strength to protest at the gates of the Palais Mermonia. Neuvillette barely made any public appearance except for a few trials, and Furina, hating such weather, didn't really leave the palace either. That was until the protests threatened to overthrow their Archon and the whole system.
"Neuvillette !!" She cried at his eternally locked door, slamming her fists at it hoping he'd open
He never did. He filled papers, organized his archives, sent letters for legal procedures and basically killed himself at work, just to stay busy. But day by day, the weather was worsening.
Yet, Furina's complaints lasted for so long he actually lost count and patience. He opened the door just enough to look at her, frowning.
"Oh my me Neuvillette you gotta do something ! The people are—"
"Yours to calm down."
His eyes narrowed on her panicked figure. Her, the pathetic goddess who inherited a power that wasn't hers to have, who didn't have the courage nor the capacities to lead her nation correctly, had the audacity to ask him for help.
"They won't listen to me, you know it !"
She never got authority over her people. But it was time she learnt to, or risked her throne...and perhaps head.
"Foçalors. It is your job to be the people's favorite, and the one they believe in."
"Don't call me like that !!" She protested, tears at the corner of her eyes
She hated when Neuvillette called her that way. It felt....cold. As if he put a distance between them. One she never wanted with him... He was the backbone of the nation, her was barely the face...
"Neuvillette, please..."
"Even if I wanted...only time will make the rain stop."
He needed time. More time. An eternity perhaps. By the time the rain would stop, maybe Fontaine would be completely flooded and rest under the water. It wasn't his to stop...even if he knew how and why it never stopped pouring for weeks now.
"You're so young and detached from your people, it's only but normal that you don't understand... I doubt you ever will, but long lived beings like us shall never get in touch with mortals. That is our curse, heavier than the one weighing on your shoulders, Lady Furina."
Neuvillette closed the door despite her protests, pulled the curtains of his office and lit a candle to continue working for as long as his body allowed and Celestia knew he was resistant...
Knocks at what seemed to be the middle of the night made him frown. Neuvillette sighed, but still slightly opened his door, only to discover Sigewinne at his door, holding a small box in her hands.
"Good evening Sigewinne. What brings you here ?"
"The Traveler and Paimon are worried about your health...so they want me to check on you."
Neuvillette didn't have the heart to tell her no. He let her in, and sat at his desk again, finishing another pile of paperwork while she prepared her instruments. Yet, a small cup of tea appeared near the last mountain of paper at his side. It smelled like bergamot and lemon, with a touch of spices he couldn't identify.
"That was Wriothesley's favorite tea..." Sigewinne said while holding another cup close to her chest.
The rain momentarily stopped outside, as Neuvillette looked at the steaming cup and took it carefully.
"That was his favorite set too, right...?"
She nodded slowly, a knot in her throat as she waited for the rain to burst once more and flood the streets. A single ray pierced through the dark clouds towering the city and came to caress Neuvillette's cheek when he turned to the window. Its gentle warmth, akin to Wriothesley's hand, made a slight smile bloom on his face. His fingers slid against the border of the cup, like he used to when Wriothesley served him some hot water for their tea time.
"I can't guarantee the rain will stop," Neuvillette turned to the nurse, swallowing his pain back to force his smile a little more, "but I'll try my best."
Sigewinne's face lightened up. Neuvillette wouldn't give up on them yet... No matter the dangers that would fall on Fontaine, he would stand for them until his last breath.
As hours and days passed, the sky cleared up, and the Court of Fontaine started to breathe again. At her balcony, Foçalors reassured her people and protected her crown, while behind the curtains, the Chief of Justice strived for Fontaine's security; the primordial sea wouldn't make any more victims, the dragon promised with a last tear falling in his tea.