Work Text:
If she were to perish this second, that would be peace compared to the torment she faced at this second. Even if it took a thousand lifetimes, Furina would prefer it over the agony she faced now… How lucky mortals were, to have their lives cut short in so many ways. Oh how she envied them. How easy it was for them to control their fate. A mortal being could cast aside the chains that held them to this world without even a thought… Whether it was simply leaving their family behind to start a new life or to terminate their pitiful existence because it was too hard for them to cope.
In truth, she was just a mortal too, but cursed to live out the sins of those around her. It wasn’t right, but she had a part to play, after all. She was created for this, a fractured part of her Archon’s soul that was bound to this planet to walk in her place and made to play inm the great theater of life.
It was unfair. Unrighteous. Sinful. How dare they hold more power then the Great and Glorious Archon. Why was this to be her fate? Had she not attoned? Were the Heavenly Principles mocking her? Why?! Why did they get to control fate while she suffered so? While her people suffered for sins of a being she had never met before?
Oh how she had wept and wept and wept, the tears mixing with the water around her, joining the sinners of Fontaine. She was alone. She was always destined to be alone.
~“The people will all be dissolved into the waters. And only the Hydro Archon will remain, weeping on her throne.”~
Furina had tried. They all tried. The House of the Hearth. Neuvillette. Wriothesley. The Traveller. Navia. Clorinde. Every single one of them tried to fight the Prophecy and yet, it was no use. It was over. They failed. Gone. Either swept and and drowned in the wake of water that crashed over the court or dissolved into nothing, leaving no sign of life remaining in the terrifying calamity. The screams that came from the people would pierce her nightmares for eons on end, the wails and cries of both the innocent and the damned echoing forever more in her mind. They were all gone.
No one remained… Except for her.
Something stirred against the Hydro Archon's foot as she rested upon her once grand throne and Furina stirred, pausing her anguish. She expected perhaps it was simply the Great Flood’s current or even an unhappy crab nipping at her toe.
Instead, a white-furred jacket brushed against her boots, a dimmed Pyro vision pinned to the back, never again to bear the furious and devastating power of fire. It barely glistened, the blue of the water forever cast over it and leaving it naught but a simple treasure that would never be used again.
Furina could only wail as she scooped Arlecchino's clothing up and held it to her chest, sobbing into her beloved's jacket, yet no tears fell, only the water absorbing them from her eyes. She told her to run. She told her to flee and save herself, and, for a moment, Furina believed her. She believed in Arle.
What was left was nothing but droplets. No, not even that. Not even a goodbye was exchanged, only bitter words and broken hearts. Curses and insults, oil and water before both met in a passionate embrace in front of all. Yet, the damned Harbinger smirked and walked away, spear in hand, ignoring Furina’s pleas to run.
“Why… Why did you not listen… Why…?!”
The waters did not answer. The cries of the Hydro Archon echoed in the empty throne room, bouncing and returning to her tenfold, leaving Furina to only wail even louder. The Great Flood simply churned, threatening to rip away the last remaining piece that tied her to the land, to take what was hers and cast it into the depths and never return.
She would deserve it, no? It was all her fault.
Her fault for not fighting harder, for not finding a solution to the crisis at hand and instead being forced to turn to her enemies for guidance.
It was her fault for failing Focelars, for failing the task she was created for, for allowing Fontaine to fall to the Heavenly Principles. She tried, she tried so hard, but it wasn't enough. She was never enough.
And it was her fault that everyone she knew, everyone she loved, was no longer living. Her friends, her allies, her found family and more… All gone, dissolved into nothing for the Sins of the past they had no control over.
What a pathetic excuse of a God.
Furina…
Furina…
She swayed slightly, the tides pushing her too and fro, but never sending askew from her seat, rocking back and forth pathetically. She wept, but something touched her face. She tried to cry out, but nothing came from her lips.Something roughly grabbed her and, and she let out a sheer cry of terror and pain, before she was dragged down into a never-ending abyss of the void, darkness enclosing all around her. A thousand needles pricked at her skin, monsters lurched from the sea and cackled, reaching for her limbs and tearing--
“Furina, Furina, wake up!”
Her eyes snapped open and Furina could only scream, curling up against the warm body that pressed itself against her. Tears ran from her eyes, while sobs wracked her body and dry heaves came from her throat. A hand stroked down her back, light claws scratching through her top but she didn't care. She just cried and clung to the person as if her life depended on it.
“You're safe. I have you, my love. You're okay,” Arlecchino murmured, her words soft and caring into the former Archon's ear. She dared not move, she just wrapped her arms around her lover even tighter and let her cry into her shirt, “I got you, darling, I have you. Trust me…”
“You'll never be alone again.”