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There is a careful reverence that Neuvillette has for Furina, tucked deep in a heart that is no longer truly his. He’s never tried to fight it, not really. Not since the first time he looked into her eyes and his dragon roared that this was their mate. While he has never hesitated to call her out when he feels she’s stepping onto the wrong path, that doesn’t mean he has failed to place Furina above all else. The opposite, in fact. The willingness to involve himself in his treasure’s growth, the knowledge he has sought out and squirreled away over the years of her habits and her quirks sometimes feels too revealing. Furina is the one person he cannot be impartial to, and sometimes it feels like this is a truth everyone knows.
But he never really expected it to be used against him. Certainly not by a creature that should have no reason to know just how deeply enthralled Neuvillette is in this one woman alone.
So he's unprepared when this is what happens, after creatures of the Abyss manage to blindside him with a spell he isn’t able to dodge. He closes his eyes to the waking world and opens them in his subconscious, somehow chained beside his dragon while the Abyss Herald strides around his mindscape like it is a new territory to explore. The dragon roars and tries to tear at the many chains that bind it, but like Neuvillette’s own, his efforts are fruitless.
“Oh? How interesting?” The Abyss Herald clucks as he reaches into… somewhere and then- to Neuvillette’s horror- plucks out his devotion to Furina as if it were a physical thing for the for the Herald to toy with. The dragon’s thrashing grows harder, Neuvillette’s own attempts to reach his power more desperate, but still nothing works.
“Stop.” He demands, but it is of course in vain.
“So the Hydro Archon… Why, I’m sorry. The previous Hydro Archon holds the Hydro Sovereign’s leash? My, my, how fascinating. You think very highly of her, don’t you? You would never desire to do something that goes against her wishes, even though you love her so.”
The Abyss Herald smiles, a terrible, terrible thing as darkness begins to form around the glowing orb in his hand, staining the precious purity of it. “I wonder what would happen if you stopped being quite so selfless in your devotion. You’ve spent so long being her willing dog, asking for so little in return. Maybe it’s time for the leash to change hands, hmm?”
Neuvillette fights with all his strength against the darkness that he can feel encroaching on his most tender, vulnerable emotions. He tries to keep them from being twisted into something darker, something dangerous, and with his dragon working beside him, he almost succeeds. But as they continue to fight, his dragon begins to hesitate. The Abyss Herald isn’t trying to turn him into someone that would hurt their treasure, not truly. He’s trying to turn them into someone more selfish, someone willing to claim her for his own and damn all the consequences. Someone who would burn down the world and everyone in it if they tried to get in the way.
It’s a very clever tactic, for it’s what his dragon has been trying to get Neuvillette to become for centuries.
As the battle ticks on, his dragon slowly begins to turn against him.
It is the opportunity the Abyss Herald needs; the darkness is settling into the brightest parts of Neuvillette and staining them irreparably the second that his resolves shatters and he fails to continue to hold it back.
And then he wonders why he’d been trying to stop it at all.
The Abyss Herald smiles at the blackened orb in his hand, putting it back where he’d found it before turning expectantly toward Neuvillette.
“What are you going to do, if I leave and then set you free?” The Herald asks.
Neuvillette frowns, only one answer coming to his mind. “If I’m unable to find and kill you, I’ll go find my treasure. It’s about time she come live with me in my den.”
He wonders why he’s never forced her to do this before? Really, he’d been ridiculous in the past, wishing to respect her desire for freedom and independence. Doing so had only caused the both of them to suffer. He was sure that even if she weren’t willing to be with him at first, she could be convinced once they were inseparably bound. Yes, claiming her should be the first thing he does. She would be safe that way. And besides…
It’s better to ask for forgiveness then permission, or so the humans say.
“And if anyone tries to stop you?” The Abyss Herald asks.
“I’ll kill them.” Neuvillette answers simply.
“And the Traveler is becoming very good friends with your old master, isn’t she? Good, good. This should work out splendidly.” The Abyss Herald laughs, but Neuvillette has already stopped paying attention. Now that he has begun thinking of how he can now do what he’s wanted to for centuries, his mind has become fixed on the idea of it.
“Already feeling the obsession, huh?” The Herald laughs again at his lack of response. “Well, I believe I might just be able to set you free, then. Best of luck in your endeavors!”
Then the Herald is gone, and Neuvillette is blinking awake to the sight of a damp cave ceiling. Neuvillette flexes his fingers and calls his power, feeling relieved at the way it surges up in him once more. His dragon urges him toward Fontaine, toward their treasure, and Neuvillette listens.
Taking care of the Abyss Herald who had attacked him could wait. First, he had a mate to go find.