Chapter Text
Oh, how glorious was the sun after the endless rain, when a nation destined to forever be submerged now emerged victorious from the receding ocean. For what had felt like an eternity, Furina had known the day of the Great Flood would come, the day she thought her whole world– Fontaine– would be lost to the water forever. Never did she even think or wonder of a day past such a disaster.
Yet, here she was, stumbling out of the Opera Epiclese, her cold grief greeted to the sight of life bubbling amongst the streets: people, wandering through the chaos of torn greenery, loose debris, and stretches of shallow water littering the streets.
“The prophecy… was wrong?”
Her grief-stricken heart swelled at the realization.
Before her, the people of her nation sobbed and held each other in joyous disbelief, flooding the streets to gaze at their home, damaged but no longer under waves. The remaining clouds of the storm melted away under the gaze of the sun, and the city, in all its soaked glory, was soon rampant with shouts and running. As Furina took another few steps forward, she could hear the cries of joy and relief permeating through the air and to the heavens, for the unprecedented day was one, if ever, a day to celebrate.
Furina shakily made her way down the first few steps of the Opera Epiclese, still staring about the city in a daze, and soon, people began to take notice of her.
It wasn’t long before she realized— perhaps, she wasn’t quite ready to face her people yet.
“Look, it’s Lady Furina! Lady Furina, you’ve saved us!”
The praise seemed to freeze Furina in place, draining away the little strength she had left in her body. Her legs suddenly felt weak and frail, and she found herself wordless as she struggled to keep herself from falling over in surprise.
‘ They believe… that I did this? ’
Though few didn’t make an attempt to recognize her, the rest of the straggling Fontaineans began to rush towards her, singing praises of the divine blessing they believed must have been from their one and only Archon.
“Lady Furina, our savior!”
“The Hydro Archon saved us from the prophecy!”
“Fontaine has been saved!”
Taken aback by the torrent of praise, Furina hesitantly took a step back up the stairs as her eyes welled with tears.
She was beyond grateful to see her people alive and well, but… somehow… seeing them like this, treating her like a god after all that had happened, left her feeling sick.
‘ Focalors, you should be the one receiving the love of Fontaine. You saved them, not me. ’
Furiously wiping her eyes with her hands, Furina found that she couldn’t get herself to stop tearing up. It was strange; she couldn’t place a name to the emotion responsible for her tears. Crying was hardly a luxury she had the chance to experience, and whenever it did happen, she always knew it was due to the persistent emptiness that haunted her existence.
Now, she had too many new and potent emotions coursing through her. Her overwhelming relief that Fontaine had been saved already would’ve been enough to make her weep, if she hadn’t been so shocked to numbness at the miracle of the receding waters, but now, in sharp contrast to her relief, she was drowning in a flood of guilt and shame.
She could only assume these were the cheers of Fontaineans who had yet to receive news of her trial, much less of her verdict, for if they knew… Furina was sure their joy would morph into rage and distaste.
After all, how could a false god like Furina deserve such love from the people she had so falsely misled?
‘ Should I respond like I always have, as Focalors? But… no, why should I even bother pretending anymore?... What right do I have to lie to these people, when I wasn’t the one responsible for saving the nation? ’
The sea of faces before her began to blur as a searing headache bloomed in the wake of all the stress, all the emotion and pain and grief she had experienced not just in that moment, but every moment for the past few centuries. Though she couldn’t recognize a face in the crowd, she recognized adoration. She saw raw admiration and gratitude, and it broke her heart as much as it warmed her.
This was truly the last place she wished to be– on a pedestal, basking in falsely given love.
Furina wished for nothing more than to simply vanish .
But perhaps that too was too selfish and too late of a wish to ask for.
“Lady Furina! Thank you, thank you for your blessings–!”
“Lady Furina! How did you undo the–”
“Look, look, behind her–”
“Lady Furina, you’ve truly–!”
“ Is that–? ”
“Lady Furina, Lady Furina!!”
Her chest burned and constricted as she took another step back up the stairs, and as she began to look around for somewhere to run off to, every breath became harder and harder to draw in. However, all the voices and the cheering and the people became faded, distant noise the instant she turned around to the sight of a formidable figure with long hair as white as snow, calmly perched at the top of the staircase.
‘ Neuvillette. Why is he here?... ’
Perhaps she should’ve been overjoyed to know the Iudex had survived the flood, though she had little doubt the fallen dragon could’ve fallen victim to even Primordial waters; or, perhaps she should’ve been grateful to just see the one who had saved and aided her numerous times throughout centuries. But instead, the sight of Neuvillette abruptly brought back memories of her trial, and in that instant, her frantic, raging mind honed in to a single thought.
‘ Perhaps… he’s here to carry out the death sentence, since the Oratrice failed. Is this… Is this really the end?... ’
Upon remembering her unfinished sentence, the false Archon stumbled.
Shrieking replaced the cheering of the crowd, and for a moment, Furina couldn’t figure out why such a horrid sound would come now, when the people should’ve been in high spirits for Fontaine’s survival.
But as her thoughts began to slow down, the world itself began to grow dull and blurry; all sounds and light became faint and cold as her balance suddenly shifted out of control, and the dizzying headache too began to fade. Her footing seemed to simply disappear beneath her as her body fell back, as gravity suddenly began to tug her down, and before her aching consciousness vanished, she heard a high-pitched shriek of her name and a flash of bright blue light at the top of the staircase.
“ Lady Furina! ”