Chapter Text
It was a late afternoon, and the sun was shining on the western faction of the sky. Furina de Fontaine, the former hydro Archon and the present rising star stood before a bakery. She wasn’t out to buy any cakes or bread or anything in general. The sweet, warm aroma was tempting, as were the colourful displays through the window. But that’s not the point.
Strange thing, she thought. She was almost sure there wasn’t a bakery there yesterday. Furina had been living in the neighbourhood for over a year by then. Maybe she took the wrong turn around the corner? Yes, that might be it.
Speaking of the wrong turn…where did she originally plan to go again?
“Lady Furina! I can’t believe my eyes! What brings you here?” someone called out from the side.
She was about to whirl around and yell, “Lady Furina’ isn’t anywhere!”. The title had been frustrating after she stepped down as acting Archon. It took some time for her neighbours to adjust, and there were still people who’d call her by that, which often warranted a scolding.
But there came more talking.
“Lady Furina is here?”
“It’s Lady Furina!”
“What brings Lady Furina here?”
“Lady Furina! I’m a big fan of yours……”
“There must be something dramatic on show……”
“Of course there would be! It’s Lady Furina after all.”
And now things were getting out of control. A crowd was gathering. Men, women, and children. They were excited and swarmed to form a semicircle around her. The eyes, the cameras, the gossip, everything was sharp and bright and loud.
It was becoming too much.
Think, think––what do they want?
It was weird. It had been a year since the last time she had such thoughts, but Furina knew what they wanted. She knew it forwards and backwards until it was engraved on her character. They wanted drama.
They wanted her, their Archon.
No, no, no, that can’t be……
She’s no longer the Archon, and the prophecy ended a year ago! She could tell them that, make them leave her alone. She was free. She had every right to!
Furina breathed and breathed again. There was a sharp pain in her chest. A long-forgotten fear that was resurfacing.
Think, Furina. What do they want from you?
It was hard. It’s always been hard. But Furina managed to open her mouth and speak––she always does.
“Sorry everyone, but I really need to go now……”
That was completely out of character! Put on a show! Give them what they want!
There was no “Hydro Archon”. There was no need for drama. She was simply Furina, and she planned for it to remain that way. Furina pushed past the crowd. There wasn’t an actual need for “pushing”. People moved out of her way with respect, but Furina felt that she would rather have them not.
She took a few steps forward. There were no more crowds to stop her, not a single person. Her steps turned swift. Another turn at another familiar yet strange building. Furina ran. She had no idea where she was headed. There was the Café Lutece, and there was Arouet. For some reason he seemed younger. The café owner had been well into his forties but now looked in his thirties. The gardemeks had updated to older models. The taste of fashion was also somewhat outdated.
Everything screamed strange. Everything, until it finally hit. There was a calendar in the shop window, and she just happened to be passing by. The month and date had been exact, but the year……
Nothing was strange to begin with. Everything was familiar, too familiar.
It was seven years before the prophecy.
Her heart stopped. The realization came crashing down like floodwater. Everything, everything that she had worked for was gone. The prophecy was looming over her head again. Everyone was going to die. Maybe they wouldn’t if she kept her act up. There was nowhere to return to. Her apartment was gone. Palais Memoria would welcome her with open doors. Her room awaited her, as were the miserable sleepless nights.
She took another turn into an alleyway, hoping for it to be deserted so that she could catch some breath.
It was not. “Lady Furina? what a surprise to see you here.”
It was a Garde. Furina knew them all too well by their blue uniforms. Most of them were diligent workers, and they were diligent to the point that she would have to insist harder on getting herself private time. But she never had the nerve to reject their company. She was powerless after all.
“I was just patrolling this area. You look displeased today, is something the matter?”
Powerless, even a vision wielder had more capability than her, the supposed Archon Focalors.
Even a Vision wielder……
A spark of hope ignited in her chest, a straw of possibility. She clung to it as her right hand moved to her hips. She touched the smooth fabric of a looped ribbon and prayed to whichever god in charge of this entire situation.
Please, please let it be there.
A metal casing with four extending claw-like tips, it held onto a blue jewel with one smooth rounded surface instead of many facets. She looked down. There it was––her vision. It emitted a ghostly blue glow, pulsing under her touch. Furina exhaled a long sigh. At least, she still had something.
“Where are your bodyguards?”
It was the Garde, again. Furina will have to deal with her first. She inhaled, her mind running to collect the right words to say.
‘Don’t panic. You must first divert her away. ’
“No need to be worried. I was just taking a stroll around the city and getting to know my citizens. I commend you on your sense of duty, but you should know a god’s power well exceeds that of a human and does not need her bodyguards all the time.”
The Garde nodded. “Of course, Lady Furina. I’ll be back at my job then. Feel free to call me if you need something.”
Furina watched as the Garde marched away and disappeared from the alley. She leaned herself against the brick walls of the buildings. Her breathing and heartbeat calmed as she clenched her vision. The gemstone hummed, brimming with hydro energy.
She was eight years into the past. It was seven years before the prophecy took place, and that likely meant that she would have to go through another seven years of suffering. But Furina had her vision this time, and she knew of future events. There was the possibility that she could save the people who had been lost to the primordial sea. Overall, things looked brighter on the surface.
Furina sighed. “I guess the second time’s the charm.”
‘But it might be a good choice to…...’
Furina shook her head. It was still buzzing from adjusting to all that had happened in the past hour. Her mind was still making suggestions for her to run, probably because of all the panic.
The sky began to change into an orange and yellow hue. She should begin heading towards the Palais, which would be about an hour’s walk from her current location. Neuvillette from eight years ago would be worried (though he seldom expresses anything openly). And the Gardes of the Mansion Gardiennage would be freaking out if she disappears for too long.
Furina walked out of the alley. People on the streets greeted her as she took the steps toward the Court Region Waterway Hub where the elevator to Palais Memonia was. Furina nodded at them and waved, trying to get herself into character. She entered the Waterway Hub. The station’s main hall was as splendid as ever, with walls of white stone and shining marble floors. She took the steps to the side of the front desk and headed for the elevator.
Palais Memonia was on the top floor. Clementine line was on the second, and Navia line was on the third. Callas line was on the fourth floor behind the Palais. Speaking of which, it hadn’t been destroyed by the explosion from the research institute, yet. Furina planned to keep it that way. The institute had really gone unchecked for security and sanity during the last decade.
Furina inhaled.
If this is some kind of realistic dream, I hope I wake up soon.
She exhaled and pressed the button to the top floor.
‘It might not be a good idea……’ the voice in her mind whispered.
But there’s no turning back now. She thought. What must be done should be done.
‘Yes, but this is too rash.’
Rash, Furina thought. Of course, it’s rash. Her every decision about the prophecy had been rash. What else was a helpless human supposed to do?
‘No, that’s not what I mean……’
“Then what do you mean!” Furina snapped.
Oh, she realized. I’ve been talking to the voice inside my head.
Before she could contemplate whether she was hallucinating and had gone insane (well, if getting sent back eight years wasn’t madness driving already). The elevator doors opened, revealing ten Gardes and two Gardemeks. A Garde huffed upon seeing her. The gears of the Gardemeks clanked.
“Uhh…Hi?” Furina took a step backwards. In all her years of enacting archonhood, she had not once experienced such hostility.
There must be something she missed.
She had her vision.
She was in her body from eight years later.
It clicked. Furina didn’t have to “act” as the archon. There was already a Furina doing the exact thing, the Furina that belonged in this time.
‘……And this is exactly what I was trying to say,’ commented the voice in her head very unnecessarily.
“Thanks,” Furina huffed. “You should’ve explained that a lot earlier. ”
Another Garde snarled at her. “We found the perpetrator!” He yelled. “Foolish of you! disguising as Lady Furina and trying to infiltrate the Palais. You’ll have ten seconds to surrender, else we’ll have to resort to forceful measures. Raise your hands to your head and turn to your back. Ten–”
‘The difference between cosplaying and disguising as Lady Furina is legally defined……’
Skip the unnecessary details, I’m the one who passed that law!
‘This would be a tedious case that would likely become a trial overlooked by the Chief Justice personally. The punishment ranges from a month up to five years to the Fortress of Meropide. However, along with the act of infiltrating the Palais……’
“Eight, Seven–”
“Should I surrender?” In a world where there exists seawater that can dissolve humans, it may not be hard to convince the court that she was indeed Furina from eight years later.
‘No, you risk exposing your identity and setting off the prophecy. Although I cannot believe that I am the one saying this, I suggest making a run for it. ’
“Run for it?” Furina asked. Her mind was completely blank by then, but it made sense. Her eyes skimmed the dozens of Gardes that had gathered before her. They arranged themselves into three rows, completely blocking the long skywalk to the Palais. “How?”
‘Blast them with water, that should be enough to clear a path without harming them.’
“Five–”
Furina took a deep breath and concentrated. The air became moist as her vision pulsed against her body. Hydro energy gathered in her hand, and she soon felt a sort of strain in her arms, like pulling on a large slingshot or bow.
“Three–”
‘Not enough, you need to put in more force. The water should shoot out like a waterfall.’
More force, Furina thought. She imagined pushing the water into her arms like loading explosives into a cannon. Willpower was a strange thing. It was hard to know if you were truly willing something to happen or simply imagining things. But the tension in her arms was increasing, so she guessed she was on the right track.
“Two–”
The air grew moist, and Furina felt her hair curling because of it. Particles of blue light were gathering around her. She figured that she was the only one who could see them as the Gardes weren’t responding to the abnormality.
“One–”
I really should have gotten more practice with my vision.
Furina thrust out her arms, and a beam of water, about three meters in diameter, shot forward. The Gardes in the center were knocked out in a blink, but the ones to the side had avoided the first blast.
“She’s a vision wielder! Load the firearms and get ready for––”
Furina turned and the beam of water spun to the sides finishing the Gardes there. She turned to the other side. The Gardes there were basted to the ground as well.
I hope they survived that.
‘They should be fine.’
“Should be fine?”
‘…attacking a Garde could result in a sentence that ranges from a week to a lifetime.’
“Great! Now what do I do?”
The Gardemeks were already recovering. Their gears clattered and rattled as they struggled to stand up.
‘There’s no turning back. Head behind Palais.’
The voice in her head was clearer than before. There was no more time to think, so she followed it and hoped that the voice knew what it was doing. She ran through the elevated walkway and up the flight of stairs to the back of the Palais. Behind her, the Gardes shouted, and heavy metal steps clomped against the stone floor.
The back of the Palais was a dead end. The platform was a few hundred feet in the air.
“What now?” Furina panted. “Jump?”
‘Jump,’ asserted the voice. ‘It’s the only way to get out of here.’
Escaping into the city would be entirely out of the question. Her appearance and costume were too recognizable. The entire Court of Fontaine was encircled by a very, very tall wall, and there were only a few selected exits for leaving. Luckily, Palais Mermonia just happened to be at the edge of the city borders, its height and location made escaping as simple as a jump with a wind glider (under the condition that one finds a way to penetrate the Palais defence).
Furina only began learning how to fly after stepping down from being Archon, after all, a god wouldn’t need a glider to navigate the sky. She mastered the skill quickly and would even say that she was rather proud of the achievement. The height gave her enough time to extend her wind glider. The little invention from Mondstadt had always perked curiosity in her by how light and small it could become after being folded, yet its wing-like structure managed to remain steady while airborne.
Furina summoned her three salon members. She would need them to hold the guards while flying out of shouting range.
Furina jumped, extending her glider before the fall could speed. The Gardes were still yelling behind her. She heard a bubble exploding, an attack from the crab-shaped Mademoiselle Crabaletta. There was no shooting, as it would be hard to while having water constantly splashed in the face or shoved into the gap of your gears (most gardemeks weren’t waterproof as far as she knew). The wind was in her favour that day. The shouting grew smaller and smaller until they faded into the distance.
‘This would likely result in a fair amount of paperwork for the Palais.’
“Well, good luck to Neuvillette for dealing with this mess.” Furina hummed. She was sure of herself being insane at this point. And people eventually stop caring about anything when they are mad. The brisk evening breeze cooled her heated face. Her heart was still pounding, and her breathes were rapid.
‘……’
“I must either be in this crazy dream, or have gone completely insane, or both. First, I get, for whatever reason, sent eight years in the past. There’s the prophecy again. I thought I was going to have to redo everything again and was on the brink of breakdown. But after realizing that I still had my vision, I began to think things wouldn’t be as bad as they originally were……”
‘You’ve completely missed the possibility of ‘yourself’ also existing in this time.’
“Exactly that! Then ‘Tada! You’re now a potential perpetrator for disguising as yourself!’ Oh, don’t want to risk exposing your identity and setting off the prophecy? Attack the guards! That would surely be a great resolution to your most pressing issues!”
‘……Sorry, I was at my wits end and couldn’t think of a better solution.’
“And then here I am! floating in the sky, shouting at the voice in my head.”
‘……’
Furina inhaled deeply. All the rambling had made her out of breath. “You know what’s more insane? This voice in my head sounded like someone I know, which would quadruple all the madness if you confirm it, and I am a little mixed feeling on this……”
She reached up and pinched her forehead. It was a slightly hazardous move that made her glider wobble to the side. Furina didn’t care, it was the sanest thing she’d done in the past few hours.
“Is that you in there, Neuvillette? And while you’re at it, are you the one behind all this?”
‘For your first question, yes. And no, I have barely any idea how things have gotten to the state as they currently are.’
“How did you come up with the escape route? It doesn’t align with your personality.”
‘There was a theft case in the Palais thirty-five years ago. The culprit took the same route and succeeded.’
“But he was caught red-handed while smuggling only three days later.”
Furina laughed. She wondered which was more amusing, having a dragon speaking in her head or the fact that the Chief Justice had just personally suggested the former Archon to defy justice in action.
‘Furina, are you alright?’
She could imagine Neuvillette standing before her now. He would have the same expression he had during the days which followed the flood, and then he would be asking if there was anything he could do for her.
“I wish to say that I am,” she sighed. “No, I doubt anyone would be after all of that.”
Neuvillette did not respond. Furina knew that he couldn’t. He had been careful about touching on topics regarding the prophecy. He was gentle, almost too gentle.
“Anyway, we should prepare for landing. It’s getting dark. ”
The sun had sunken below the horizon, and half of the sky was now a deep purplish blue. The moon was rising in the distance, and the landscapes below were getting blurred by the shadows. There was a path that extended up a mountain. And it should, from the previous view above, lead to a small village halfway up. Furina followed it as she lowered herself in altitude.
She landed smoothly on the stones and uncovered dirt on the path. The sky had gone completely dark. Fontaine was in its early winter season, and while there was barely any snow, the night winds were not kind. Furina shivered.
There’s a village up the mountain, she was sure of it. She would have no other choice but to spend the night there. Furina hiked up the path. The sky was now dark and full of stars. She heard the chirping of insects and the cooing of an owl in the trees. Everything else was silent.
Exhaustion was catching up. She hadn't done much walking or running, but her legs were wobbly, and her eyelids were falling heavy. Her head spun and her vision began blurring.
One step, two steps, another step……The path seemed to go on forever.
Furina squeezed her arm with her fingers and twisted the skin there. She cannot afford to pass out yet. It hurt. It wasn’t a dream.
Her dizziness subsided.
“Neuvillette?” she called out, attempting to keep herself awake. “Can you hear me?”
For a split second, there was nothing. But it was only a split second, Neuvillette answered.
‘Yes, I hear you Furina. You sound exhausted.’
It might just be her mind playing tricks on her, but Neuvillette’s voice was more discernable. It sounded with concern. Almost as if he was standing right before her.
“Because I am,” she stated. “Talk to me, I need to keep myself awake and alive.”
‘I’m not good at amusing, but I’ll try my best.’
Furina wished she had the energy to smile. Part of her felt relieved. At least Neuvillette was there with her––well, he sort of was, anyway. “Tell me about how things are from your side.”
‘I am in this rather odd vacancy at the moment. ’
Vacancy?
“As in my head?” Furina asked.
‘No, it would be more accurate to say I am in your vision.’
Furina touched the jewel strapped around her hips. It glowed in response.
‘My physical body is somewhere else. I’m not sure of the location as of current. I can sense some happenings in Fontaine from the water and talk to you through the connection of your vision. The messages were vague at first. But after you became conscious of my existence, it is now easy to communicate.’
The communication is dependent on the will of both sides of the connection. Furina made a note to herself. “You mean even you cannot be sure of where you are?”
‘I might be trapped within some kind of seal, likely a doing of the entity behind all of this.’ Neuvillette huffed.
She couldn’t think of anything else, so Furina chuckled. The flickering of village lights came into view. It consisted of a dozen houses, each separated by some distance between the others. There was a stone path which led to the nearest cottage. Furina followed it. She dragged herself up the front stairs and knocked on the wooden door.
She heard footsteps.
What if they recognize her? The village was only some distance away from the Court of Fontaine, and Furina was famous. How was she going to explain?
The door creaked open, and the lights within the house shone into her eyes. It was a mix of yellow and orange that was bright and warm.
She heard the husky voice of an old man. He asked if she needed help.
The light before her grew brighter.
Furina crumbled to the ground and fainted.