Archive of Our Own

         “If I love you, is that a fact or a weapon?” - Margaret Atwood, we are hard on each other 

Karma was a fickle thing really. Navia considered herself to be good and kind, staying positive no matter what. And yet, how many people had she lost? How many was she supposed to mourn for? She wanted to believe that the gods didn’t determine everything, that there was some sort of fate that rewarded the good and punished the bad. She wanted to believe that was what gave life some sense of purpose. 

After she reconciled with Clorinde she lost her two closest aides. Now after she had finally reached normalcy in her life with Clorinde by her side, after Fontaine had survived their prophetical crisis, after the people of the Spina Di Rosula were overcoming their grief and loss… the people were displaced, the impending doom of the abyss order forces were near, and the woman she loved most in the world was missing. 

What did she do to deserve this?  

The abyss had been popping up all over in various areas of Teyvat, and Navia had heard reports from the Akedemia that they had taken up residence in the desert near Natlan — consuming everything in its way. She thought back to those first three days of chaos, the abyss had taken over Romaritime Harbor first, and she was recruited into a task force with a number of Fontaine’s influential figures and leaders, including the Chief Justice, former Archon, and the Lord of the Fortress of Meropide. Clorinde had also been pulled to the force, and even the children of the House of the Hearth were there to represent the Fatui. 

Navia had been on edge since hearing of the abyss breaking through Natlan’s borders. She had barely slept and had thrown herself into her work, trying to contain the fear and anxiety at bay. No matter what consumed her, she was a leading figure in the community and felt responsible for maintaining the physical and emotional stability of those around her. The demoiselle was overwhelmed by the coordination of emergency supplies and potential deracination logistics, trying her best to support the people of the Spina both in Poisson and the Fleuve Cendre. It was difficult knowing that Fontaine needed her; the people of the Spina needed her. 

Despite their quick uptake, the abyss began moving north rapidly, making their way to some residences southwest of Mont Automnequi and slaughtering a family that had been picnicking in the area. Fearful for the people of Poisson, Navia quickly declared an evacuation to the Court of Fontaine. Any later would’ve spelled disaster too. The Spina helped those evacuate with a group of Gardes waiting across the bay, but while they were waiting for the boats to come to load the last group of evacuees Navia spotted an incoming group of the abyss near her father’s grave. 

She alone managed to hold them off, but suffered from large amounts of corrosion inflicted by the rifthounds, collapsing in front of her father’s grave. By the time she came to she was in the Palais Mermonia, in Furina’s old residence, hearing a heated argument in the other room where their task force was headquartered. Sigewinne, the head nurse from the Fortress of Meropide, informed her that Clorinde and Wriothesley had found her and brought her back and that she had managed to purify a little over half of the corrosion in her body during the past eighteen hours. 

By the time the shouting had finished, a familiar face came to see her. Though the champion duelist seemed alright, she held a grim expression. Clorinde explained to Navia that they had an emergency meeting to talk about the situation with Poisson, and to go to Elynas, where it seemed like the majority of the new abyssal base was. 

Clorinde was chosen to go. 

Navia’s heart sank. Although she knew that Clorinde knew Elynas better than anyone else, was a Marechaussee Hunter, and was still Fontaine’s only undefeated champion duelist, she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Though Navia desperately wanted to go with her, she could barely lift her body out of bed without help. Clorinde stubbornly denied the request before the full sentence had even exited Navia’s lips. Even Furina, who could be a bit of a pushover after her descent from godhood; and Freminent, though taciturn and seemingly conflict-averse; both outwardly disapproved of the blondes' desire.

And there it began, the last few hours of peaceful sleep she remembered she’d had. The duelist came to say goodbye after the sun had set and the traces of color had all but faded from the skylight, going undercover in the dark of night.

Clorinde never returned.

Navia had obsessed over that night a thousand times in her mind, going over the last things she had said to Clorinde before she disappeared. They had talked for nearly an hour at Navia’s insistence, mainly about the citizens of Poisson and the current state of the abyssal army. 

Most if not all of Fontaine was safely within the walls of the court of Fontaine, though there was a small base in Lumidioce Harbor that was being helped by Liyue. Although looking back Navia remembered bits and pieces of the conversation, the image of Clorinde sitting upon the edge of the bed remained carved in her mind. 

The twilight shone against her navy blue hair like how sunlight reaches into the depths of the sea, her tricorne hat still atop her head like it was glued there. Sitting there in her usual uniform, she was dignified and regal as ever. She had looked down at Navia with a small smile, but there was no lack of warmth in her violet eyes. They had grown up together, and Navia understood every micro-expression the duelist had to offer. Despite everything, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, indicating that Clorinde was a bit concerned. 

The duelist had reached to touch the vision on her chest absentmindedly. “Focus on getting better. This mission is only supposed to take me two days max.” She reassured.

Navia remembered frowning, wanting desperately to reach out and touch her hand. Now knowing it was the last time she’d be able to do so, she regretted abstaining. “Knowing you you’ll end up getting everything we need in one.” Her heart had ached and her breath hitched in her throat, like the corrosion was burning in her chest again. “Just.. be careful.” 

Maybe it was from the small amounts of corrosion left in her body, but her hands had gone cold and it felt a bit difficult to breathe. Navia wasn’t one to believe in superstitions, but she wished that she had a good luck amulet to hand to Clorinde before she went off. She wished she would’ve listened to her heart and begged her to stay. 

“Of course I will.” Clorinde nodded. She opened her mouth to say something else, but closed it, looking up at the fading light from the skylight above. 

Navia pressed her lips in a line, fiddling with the edge of the silk top sheet. There was so much she wanted to tell Clorinde, but the chaos of the impending war with the abyssal army left her thoughts in equal disarray. It was only a few months back that she had truly realized and come to terms that she was in love with the woman in front of her. 

Every glimpse of her was glorious and life-changing in its own right, and it seemed like the sight of her lasted hours longer than it truly did. Clorinde sat looking up to the light, the position accentuating her gently sculpted jawline. She was like a painting that gave color new meaning. The blue jewel that dropped from her ears glistened in the light, and the gold detailing hanging from her epaulets fell backward slightly with her shoulders. As much as she had seen her in the past, her very image seemed to take her breath away.

Clorinde herself was nervous, Navia could tell. “Are you sure I can’t come with you? Why are you going alone..?” Concern laced her voice.

The duelist didn’t move, but instead, she closed her eyes. “I grew up training tracking and camouflage from my master. Anyone else would be a detriment.” She sighed, lowering her head. “You’re the only one I’d trust, but it would still be a no even if you were feeling better.” 

Clorinde seemed to know something didn’t feel right either, but as much as Navia wanted to ask, she held back. Their responsibility to Fontaine was bigger than any worries. She didn’t want to give Clorinde a reason to stay behind. Really though the demoiselle knew as the renowned champion duelist and Marechaussee Hunter Clorinde’s sense of responsibility was too much for her to turn away from going, even if Navia asked her to.  

Navia understood her training as a Marechaussee Hunter to an extent, but she was always behind as much as she tried to emulate the techniques of the duelist. “I suppose there’s nobody else who can do the job better than you then.” Navia smiled. “It’s unfortunate I can’t go with you though.”

“I was worried about you,” Clorinde mentioned suddenly. There was a dust of pink on her cheeks; even at her age she still got embarrassed speaking her true emotions. 

“Both my skin and my head are tougher than Consigliere’s shell, that’s always what Papa said when I was younger.” Navia teased. They used to play with the old tent tortoise when they were younger, well, as much as they could play with an old large animal like him. “It’ll take more than an abyss lector and a few rift hounds to take me down.”

“Still, you need to stop taking on things like this alone.” Clorinde chided. Navia was reminded of her father’s chastising from when she was younger. “You’re not invincible.” Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. 

“Yeah yeah.” Navia sighed. She had wanted to remind her that the only person to land a hit on her in the last five years was Clorinde herself during a sparring session. “You’re the only person on my level around here. With you and I, the abyss doesn’t stand a chance.” She suspected that the Neuvillete and Wriosthley also had significant skill, but had never seen it in person. 

Clorinde nodded, and they managed to settle into a comfortable silence. Navia’s head raced with words she wanted to say but didn’t dare. It wasn’t the right time to confess her feelings, nor provide any anxiety-filled comments that might shake Clorinde’s confidence. Part of her believed that even if she told the duelist her psyche was so strong that it wouldn’t affect her. But the other part knew that as much as people liked to forget, she was still human. Distant thunder rumbled which snapped both back to reality. It was time. Navia reached out, placing her hand upon the duelist’s thigh. 

“I’m serious. Be careful.” She felt like she was almost begging.  

“I will.” 

She wished she remembered that last look on Clorinde’s face, but it seemed to escape her memory. She only remembered the soft tone of her voice. 

Freminet had made a few clockwork birds that looked almost exactly like a Bluecrown finch, designed to fly back and forth and pass messages along while still being inconspicuous. As long as both Freminet and Clorinde’s anchor mech was still operating, the small clockwork finch knew its destination, and messages could be tied around their legs. It was an art form really, and within the first few hours, they had received a bit of correspondence from the duelist. 

They were nestled deep within Elynas and looked like they were planning to take over the Fort Charybdis Ruins. Apparently the ley line there was stronger, and there was a key for them to gain power with the machines they were making. The abyssal army thought if they could tap into the power there, it would allow them to somehow take over all of Fontaine quickly. 

There was a bit more information, supposedly sketches of machines and weapons with Fontainian mech and clockwork, but it was too difficult to decipher. Freminet and Chevruese would check it out when she brought it back. 

After the first day correspondence turned to eerie silence. Freminet told them that Clorinde’s anchor had something wrong with it, so the finches couldn’t fly to her. Instead, they’d circle around in the sky, searching for a signal, then flutter back to the ground from the absence of it. There was one finch still with Clorinde, but it never came back to their base. 

Clorinde, the clockwork finches, the machine sketches, none ever came.

Despite four full days of surveillance after Clorinde’s silence, nobody caught sight of the duelist. It was like she had disappeared into thin air. 

Navia’s sleep only worsened. She had begun acting out of character and demanding they send a team into where the base had been, demanding they send her in. Although she knew Clorinde well enough that she had to still be alive, that she couldn’t have been beaten and wouldn’t have allowed herself to get killed, the anxiety remained that she was too hurt or injured to get any sort of signal out.

Navia felt like she was going insane. By the time the week mark had rolled around since Clorinde’s last communication, she barely slept more than two hours at night, dedicating herself to the displaced citizens now living in the court of Fontaine. As much as she begged to go on reconnaissance missions, Neuvillete refused to send her. At the meeting on the eighth morning, she had an uncharacteristic outburst after Freminet, Chevreuse, Neuvillete, and Wriothsley were picked to investigate the unstable ley lines in the Fort Charybodis Ruins. 

Frustrated and running on fumes, she materialized her claymore after a comment from Wriothsley about how she was still “not fit” to go with them at that time. Charlotte stepped in between and tried to hold her back, but only became another target, being pushed into Lynette. Before she could make the few feet to the duke, an unexpected jab pierced the back of her shoulder. With her run-down health, she felt the effects immediately and crumpled onto Wriothsley before she could swing at him. Sigewinne had struck her with a tranquilizer. 

The few minutes after that passed in a blur. Somehow she had begun sobbing, Lyney and Furina helped bring her over to a couch in the next room, and Sigewinne gave her some medication that she took without question. The demoiselle's emotions were all over the place, and her heart felt like it had been carved from her chest — although she had lived without Clorinde for three years after her father died, she felt lonelier and more lost than she had ever been the last few days. Somehow she ended up with her head in Furinas lap, and finally, she slept. 

After a night of decent sleep and subsequent days where someone else from the task force was required to go with her on outings (they all told her it was for ‘safety’ concerns, but Navia knew they were more babysitters of her sanity), she felt somewhat back to normal. Although the concern for Clorinde remained, the duelist had yet to show up dead or severely injured. The demoiselle found solace in that. She knew that there was still a chance to find her alive, hopefully without injury. 

The remaining days passed quickly. Although a member of the task force was always with her during the day, it was difficult to go back to normal. Stuck with nightmares and bouts of insomnia, she got just enough sleep to function. It was better than the previous days but she was a shell of herself. 

Lynette, who wasn’t much of a talker, seemed to join her frequently; they fell into a routine of enjoying each other’s company in comfortable silence. It was nice to not be expected to chat. Freminet and Neuvilette were similar, but they both left more of an awkward silence. Furina and Charlotte were nice, but they had a way of tip-toeing around her that she didn’t like; Lyney and Sigewinne were a bit too cheery for her to keep up with. Wriothsley, well, they were only paired up once, and it was just weird. Although he mentioned that he shouldn’t have gone about her outburst that way, Navia was embarrassed and awkward which in turn made him awkward.

She was rarely alone. Even then her friends insisted she stay at Furina’s residence in the city. Occasionally she’d go out in the evenings after the former archon had fallen asleep, restlessly strolling the empty streets. Normally the court still had quite a bit of activity in the evenings, but since the abyss attacks, there was nary a soul around. She always seemed to find herself in front of the fountain in the middle of the Vasari Passage, lured in by the gentle glow. In those times she’d imagine what Clorinde was doing and what she would do once she came back home. Then she would quietly slip back to Furina’s and try her best to sleep. 

The days seemed emptier without the duelist by her side. Normally they had their own routines sure, they weren’t together every second of every day, but seeing Clorinde always gave her the strength to go on through the busy and hard days. 

On the eve of the fourteenth day since Clorinde’s disappearance the task force held an emergency meeting. Reports sounded that the abyss was moving toward the Fort Charybodis Ruins from the east slopes of Mont Automnequi. After the reconnaissance mission a week before, Freminet and a few scientists from the Fontaine Research Institute realized that the machines Clorinde had described in her messages were meant to take advantage of the ley line activity there. 

Neuvillete explained that one of the Seals of Chymical Marriage was there, which was probably what they were after. Essentially the device was one of the seals of keeping the primordial sea from the world above. The theory the researchers had was that the unstable ley lines were causing problems with the seal, and the machine was supposed to gather the energy of the ley lines to break it completely. 

Although Fontanians were no longer at risk of dissolving within primordial sea water, there were serious concerns about creating and taking life with it, especially with abyssal sorcery. Not only that but tainting their fresh-water resources with it could prove to be dastardly. It was a heavy priority to secure it before things got out of hand. Navia wasn’t told much of the details, but supposedly Neuvillete and Wriosthely had sealed leaks before within the Fortress of Meropide. They could do it again at the ruins. 

The two, Charlotte, Furina, and Lyney were set to go in addition to her. Sigewinne, Freminet, Lynette, and Chevreuse had left directly after the meeting; as Freminet and Sigewinne needed to find and process Spring of the First Dewdrops. In the morning Navia’s team would meet up with them at the site while Chiori and Emilie stayed back at the Court of Fontaine to handle other matters. 

Remembering the primordial sea brought thoughts of Melus and Silver, and of her father. Yet again it was being used as a threat to her and Poisson. There had been quite a bit of time since their deaths (especially her fathers), but nothing would ever erase the emptiness of their loss. It only made it more difficult to think of Clorinde. 

She willed herself to think positively and ignore the clawing pit in her stomach. To swallow the nauseating fear. 

They were set to leave at dawn. 

Lightning flashed in the distance, a rumble filling the sky like the ground had just been cracked open. Navia paused as the boat continued to move, looking up from underneath the awning. As the nation of hydro, the demoiselle had seen plenty of storms in her lifetime, but this seemed different, it seemed glaringly ominous. 

“—Navia?” The sound of her name brought her back to the present, looking over to the blonde magician whose hand was outstretched. Wriosthely cleared his throat, preparing to speak as the others gathered around the helm. It seemed Navia was the only one in any disarray. 

She recognized something on Lyney’s face, a flicker of anxiety. Thunder boomed before Navia could respond, and both flinched. They turned to see a sudden flash of lightning near the top of the island’s hill. Instinctively she took a step back, and Lyney’s gentle pat on her back helped to console her.

“We’re going to have to go to the East side of the mountain, it looks like they blocked off access to the inner ruins cave on this side.” Wriosthely sighed.

“Somethings wrong..” Navia murmured, though it was barely audible with the sound of the rain pelting against the awning overhead. It seemed awfully quiet for a place where the abyss was supposed to be surrounding. 

A flash of purple shot through an area above the hill, and without hesitation she began to move towards it, like it was calling her heart forward without thought. Suddenly stepping into the rain, she attempted to reach for the railing of the vessel. A hand on her shoulder pulled her from this trance before going too far. “Navia..?” Furinas voice was gentle but concerned. “What’s going through your head?” 

“I..” Navia’s voice died in her throat. What was going through her head? Something was sitting there right under the surface, like her body recognized what was going on but her brain was a step behind the shrouded and murky truth. Everyone was looking at her, and she suddenly felt embarrassed. 

Before either of them could speak, another boom sounded, another flash of purple in the distance up the hill. She could feel Furina falter behind her, stepping back within the cover as Navia’s body willed her to move forward toward the shore. She could feel the hairs on her body stand on edge despite the fact that the rain was causing them to stick to her. 

It was familiar, oh so familiar.

Something clicked, the final piece, as she saw movement far away, a similar stature and outline that she knew all too well. Frantically she turned on her heel, pinpointing the one person who had the gadget to confirm her suspicions.

“Charlotte, I need your kamera—“ Navia spoke desperately, impatiently putting her hand out to grab it.

Surprised, Charlotte blurted “What?” The rest of the group looked just as bewildered as the journalist. When she realized Navia wasn’t backing down, she sighed. “You need to dry yourself off first.” Charlotte rubbed the lens with a cloth. “Navia?” 

“I saw her..” Navia began, exasperated. She glanced back out into the distance, hoping that the figure wasn’t simply her mind playing tricks. Furina pulled her back underneath the awning. 

“Saw ‘her’ ?” Lyney asked, handing the demoiselle a small towel.

“Clorinde! She—“ She turned around, pointing in the direction of the ruins.

“Navia..” Furina began, shaking her head. She held a look of pure pity. It was clear she didn’t believe her.

“She was there. I swear on the archons!” The president reached out to the Kamera once more. The group of three paused and looked at each other. “Give me that and I’ll prove it.” 

Charlotte finally handed over the device, pleading for Navia to not get it wet. Whether from excitement or nerves, Navia’s hands trembled, trying to zoom in on the ruins from the distance. She could hear murmuring behind her, but tuned it out, trying her best to focus. The rain was making visibility difficult, and the continued movement of the boat created a worse and worse angle. She needed to get it right before they passed a hill and all evidence was lost. 

As she zoomed in on the top of the mountainous area, there she was, dark navy hair cascading down her back, her hand on the hilt of a sword that was blade first into the dirt. The pouring rain made it hard for any of them to see clearly in the picture, but Navia had seen the duelist from a distance so many times. She just knew .  

“I have to go.” Navia began, her eyes pleading and desperate. “I know this is important but, she may know something.”

Neuvillete gave her a disapproving look, and by the archons, she wanted to rip him apart. Every fiber of her soul was drawing her to the figure in the far distance. Another thunderous boom sounded in the distance. She looked back quickly, afraid that if she looked away too long this chance would disappear and be washed away in the rain. 

“I don’t think..” Charlotte began, looking among the group for approval. The rest of the group was too nervous to say no; though not nearly as much as the demoiselle herself, they also wanted answers.

“I’ll go by myself and you guys can come after you secure the ruins.” Navia pleaded, her voice slightly cracking. “Please.” 

Neuvillete’s lips pressed into a line. As the Iudex he was the voice of authority, and she feared he would deny her. “Alright.” He finally gave in. “We need to meet with the other team immediately, but as soon as we secure the ruins I’ll send a few people up to the surface.”

Navia nodded. Her hand tapped at the gold buttons holding her stomacher to her bodice. 

Neuvillete turned towards Wriothsley. “Let us pull closer to the shore—“ 

“There is no time.” Navia shook her head. “I can’t lose this lead.” She placed the towel in Lyney’s hands almost abruptly and gave the rest of the group a solemn look. “I’m sorry.. but, be safe.” 

“Wait, Navia!” Furina called. Navia backed out under the awning, shaking her head. “Just wait a —“ She dove headfirst into the water, into the silence of the sea. 

The current pulled at her feet, threatening to bring her to the depths. Thankfully though Navia considered herself a good swimmer and managed to pull herself ashore. She took a moment to steady her breath, looking down after ringing out her sopping wet clothes to see her hands trembling and slightly reddened. 

The water had been colder, perhaps due to the nature of the storm, but she was full of adrenaline and didn’t feel any difference. Even though her now-soaked clothes weighed her down, she still pushed her way up the trail. The higher she got the worse the visibility seemed, materializing her gunbrella to aid her sight. The ship she had just been on was now too far away to see, and her heart was racing because she couldn’t see the duelist up ahead of her. 

Realistically she knew this area had most likely been taken over by the abyss; she couldn’t just go around yelling and giving away her location while she was flying solo. Navia didn’t care. She decided she would take whatever repercussions came before calling out. “Clorinde —!” Her voice flew out of her mouth too easily. Digging her heels into the softened earth, she trudged up the hill, “Clorinde! It’s Navia! Clorinde, where are you?!” Her voice was starting to crack, she was scared she had lost the one chance to bring the duelist back home for good. “Clorinde — hah.. please!” 

Another boom of thunder and lightning struck maybe a few yards away from her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. She feared maybe her desperation had caused her to imagine the duelist and instead, she was chasing a ghost. But then, she finally saw her. In the wake of the flash of light, as her eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkened sky once more, there Clorinde stood. 

“Clorinde!” She shouted, taking a few steps closer. 

There was no response from the blue-haired girl, and Navia’s grip on her gunbrellas handle tightened as she laid eyes on the woman standing in the middle of the rain. Her clothes were soaked through, and although she looked uncharacteristically disheveled there was nothing big changed from the last time she saw her. Her hair was removed from the low ponytail she usually wore it in, and there were several rips in her dark stockings. Her hat was now missing the feathers that once stuck out of it, and there were rips in her coat and gloves.

It made Navia uneasy.

As Clorinde stepped a bit closer, making her face clearer, she was surprised to see a dark cloth wrapped around her eyes like a blindfold. Her vision, which was barely clinging onto the undone cravat, was almost bursting with electro energy. She could see the electric currents coming off of it, similar to clockwork mekas going haywire before they exploded and broke down. She had never seen that in a vision before, making her even more nervous. 

The state of Clorinde wasn’t normal. Even the way she stood, shoulders hunched with a loose grip on her sword's hilt, and the blade point touching the ground gracelessly was something that was just plain wrong. Clorinde was always incredibly dutiful in taking care of her blades, and her form and stance when it wasn’t in use was something that had been drilled into her from her master. Although she wasn’t a soldier, many of her actions were akin to one: carefully calculated and routine. 

Navia made her way closer, pressing her lips into a thin line. She knew something was wrong, but with the blindfold on Navia couldn’t tell what her friend’s mental state was like. One thing was for sure though, even with the rain rolling down the duelist's face her expression didn’t change. It was empty. 

Now only a few yards away from her, Navia paused from her position underneath her umbrella. The water poured down from the sky, creating a gentle slapping sound on the canvas. “Clorinde?” She called, a bit gentler this time. “It’s Navia. I’m...” 

Clorinde’s hand tightened on the hilt of her blade, and she pulled her shoulders back a little bit, but nothing changed in her face. Much to Navia’s dismay no words graced her lips. 

Carefully, Navia took a step closer. She could see more now and could tell that Clorinde’s clothes didn’t fit as well anymore. She wasn’t emaciated thankfully, but she could tell the other had lost weight. At this point, she could see that a button on her bustier was missing, and the braided rope from the epaulet on her right shoulder was only attached to the front. Now it limply hung down the side of her chest. Her coat collar was on the verge of pulling apart as well, and her gloves were no longer the pure white they usually were. They looked like they had been stained with dirt. 

“Clorinde…” She began. The tears flowed almost immediately. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Losing strength, her gunbrella lowered behind her back. “They looked and told me they couldn’t find you.” She swallowed harshly, and her feet slowly made their way forward. “I’ve been so worried about you.” Now only a few feet away, she reached a shaky hand out to her face to pull away the blindfold. Had they done something to her eyes? Could she see..? “What did they do to you Clor..?” 

By the time she realized what was about to happen, she regretted trying to reach out. In an instant, her arm was wrenched upwards, and her leg was being pulled forward by the duelists. With Clorinde’s body falling with her, Navia lost her balance and landed hard onto the ground beneath her, her shoulder slamming into the ground with the full force of both their body weights.

Clorinde’s icy cold hand pressed down on the base of her right wrist, and she could feel her fingers spasming with the restriction of the ligaments underneath it. Navia coughed harshly, now with her face up to the sky the downpour was making it difficult to open her eyes or her mouth. Her gunbrella had fallen from her hand in their scuffle, but Clorinde’s knee was pressing deeply into her bicep. She could only swivel her left forearm a few inches around, trying to fumble for it. 

Before she could truly gain her bearings, a sharp blade pressed up against her throat. Her breath hitched and she paused in her attempts to move, though the rain had stopped falling right onto her face. Cautiously, Navia swallowed and opened her eyes. 

The duelist was hovering over Navia. Her dark locks dripped with water but the only hint of emotion in her face was a faint furrowing of her eyebrows. Her eyes were still covered by the black fabric, but Navia was dumbstruck by how gaunt the duelist looked.

Ironically Navia’s mouth felt dry. “Clorinde.” She began cautiously. Her heart thrummed in her throat, and the impact on her shoulder was aching. She willed herself not to start getting emotional. After all, there was a sword against her neck and the woman she loved was pressing her deeper into the ground. No matter the sparring sessions they had in the past, both understood the rules of the game — as soon as one of them was trapped in a vulnerable position the winner was decided and there was no reason to stay there anymore. This situation now only meant one thing: Clorinde saw Navia as a threat.

Something was keeping Clorinde from slicing her apart, and for that, Navia was eternally grateful. But why? Why was she hostile in the first place? She was desperate to figure out the truth. “Clorinde please…” She started once more. Trying to slow her breaths, she tried not to panic as the blade moved with the movement in her throat. “I don’t know what happened but it’s me.. it’s Navia.” The pressure against her neck subsided by a minuscule amount as Navia watched Clorinde’s shoulder relax. The president silently cheered. 

“I’m sorry it took me so long.” Desperately she searched her face for any sort of emotion, but what she could see of her expression it had since faded back to that irritating indifference. “I don’t know what you went through, but I’m here now. We can go back home—“ Navia paused at the wavering of her voice, trying to calm herself. 

“We can go back to the court of Fontaine, get you dry, and go back to the Palais Mermonia.” Navia paused, still trying to ascertain whether or not she was getting through to the duelist. She cursed the damn blindfold. She wished to see the truth in her eyes. Whatever happened she figured that must have something to do with it though, the idea that the visual stimuli might be keeping her from facing the truth. 

Well, that is if the abyssal army did something to her. But she was certain that’s what must’ve happened. Even regularly the pair never went a few days without communicating with each other, even if it was just small letters or gifts left at doors. Even if Clorinde had gotten hurt in the initial reconnaissance and was limited to a small area, she would’ve found a way to contact the team — or the team would’ve found traces she left behind. She was always good at that. Maybe it was from her training as a Marechaussee Hunter, but she knew when to leave small clues; marking trees, carving into rocks, snagging pieces of her uniform along a path.

“Do you remember when we were playing as kids down in the Fleuve Cendre, and we used to talk to Monsuier Consigliere?” She tried, she hoped that a memory, some dredge of the past might help her relax. She needed to find a way out of this compromising position. She needed to get that blindfold off. “Some of the children who we evacuated from Poisson have taken to him see..” Navia spoke gently, almost like she was speaking to a child. Although the blade wasn’t up against her skin and she could see Clorinde relaxing, it didn’t mean that she could let her guard down. 

“They’ve begun to decorate his shell with all sorts of things.” She continued, trying to feign a light laugh. “It’s quite a sight, you should see it once we get back.” 

Suddenly Clorinde faltered, her grip on Navia’s body softening as she shook her head, like she was shaking away some thought or a bug that was too close to her face. Although it had been flickering with electric energy for a while, Clorinde’s vision began crackling with electric energy, almost like it was about to burst. Navia could almost feel the hairs on her neck raise with the way it hung from her cravat, so close to the blonde. 

Maybe she needed to separate her vision from her on top of the blindfold. By this point, she concluded that there must’ve been something wrong with Clorinde’s mental state, though she was slightly managing to get through her. Was it brainwashing? Hypnosis ? She wasn’t sure. 

A noise akin to a strangled huff came from Clorinde, and Navia realized it was her chance, the duelist momentarily letting loose to press the back of her blade-filled hand to her head with an almost pained expression — that is from what she could tell. 

In a sudden move, Navia used her vision to rumble the earth beneath them, using the leverage of her unsecured legs to buck her hips, forcing Clorinde further up her torso. With another push of her left leg, she managed to flip them both around, to the point where Clorinde was now pressed against the ground. Despite the precarious situation, Navia instinctively protected Clorinde’s head, cradling the back so her hand would brace the impact with the soil beneath. 

Too focused on removing the blindfold Navia didn’t have enough time to react to Clorinde’s outburst. The duelist managed to slice into Navia’s forearm just as she had to pull away from her blind and wild swipes. More than the sting of the deep gash in her arm, there seemed to be some sort of electric current seeping into the blade, like she had been shocked by static electricity. 

Her arm burned intensely and she barely resisted the groan of pain bubbling in her chest. She scrambled off Clorinde, managing to push herself back just far enough to avoid another swipe of her sword. 

Blood dripped down her arm down to her fingertips, worsened by the rain. The wound was on fire. “ Archons ..” She hissed. The other hand grasped at her underskirt, sopping wet but still good enough for a makeshift bandage. Ripping the fabric Clorinde rose to her feet, so she haphazardly wrapped the wound as best she could. 

Clorinde stalked towards her, and Navia did her best to scramble to her feet with one hand.  “Clorinde, wait!” She tried, but the other blade quickly came across in one fell swoop, narrowly missing her chest. “Please, Clorinde!” With another swipe, Navia was falling into the damp earth, favoring her injured arm. 

Clorinde wasn’t listening, seemingly going on some sort of rampage that most likely wouldn’t stop until Navia was taken down. Navia could see the purple electricity coming off the duelist's vision, a sudden strike of lightning hitting a tree to the right of them both. The rain was pelting down harder now, feeling like small rocks hitting her skin. 

Clorinde swiped erratically, unlike her usual temperate and methodical form of fighting. It was just as quick though, slicing through the air with vigor. With the increase of the rain impeding Navia’s vision, the damning proximity of the last lighting strike, and the duelists' fervor to take her down, Navia’s heart raced like it was a clockwork mecha that was going haywire. 

Navia spotted her claymore just a few feet away, pushing backward with a singular hand. Despite the coldness of the rain, the wound burned with intense pain. “Ugh!” She clutched her arm to her chest, managing to tumble and roll to her left as another quick slash came through the air. In an effort to delay the hunter, Navia managed to conjure a few geodes into the area where Clorinde’s sword headed down, entrapping her blade.  

Finally, the blonde managed to stand, stumbling through the rain to grasp her claymore. In a matter of seconds, Clorinde had broken free of her sword in the stone. For a moment Navia was in awe, feeling like she had witnessed some miracle of the duelists' strength. But it was quickly overshadowed by the need to save her, as it felt like Clorinde became the damsel in distress rather than the knight in shining armor. She had always been Navia’s knight — even aiding in her father’s dying wish to protect her to her last breath. 

Navia laughed under her breath at how silly it seemed like it was now some fable her mother left for her. But it was her turn to save her love, even if that meant getting hurt in the process. In fact, the thought of harming her love, even in self-defense, felt cruel and against her sense of morality. Yet she knew a normal person would realize that any attacker was an enemy. Her brain told her that she couldn’t help her if Clorinde was running wild trying to kill her first. 

Lost in her heart and mind's clash, Clorinde was already there, raising her sword. Navia managed to catch the downward strike with her own blade, blanching at the sudden shock going through her left arm. That was the thing about claymores — they had to be held with incredible strength, which often meant using both hands to support their weight. Something she didn’t have too well at that moment. 

“Please, urgh — Clor—!” With a gasp of pain, she looked up towards Clorinde, but a chill settled over her as she realized that Clorinde’s expression was blank. In a normal sparring session like this, the duelist would furrow her eyebrows in deep concentration and even grit her teeth as an unconscious defense mechanism. Here despite the intense pressure weighing against her shoulders, Clorinde looked as expressionless as one of the porcelain dolls she used to see in shop windows.

Her strength was quickly faltering. In a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure, Navia arched backward and twisted while releasing her claymores’ weight, causing Clorinde’s body to propel itself into the muddy path shoulder first. 

Anxiety washed over Navia. Despite having needed to do that to the duelist, watching her collision with a small splash made her heart tumble. She tried to reposition her grip on her claymore, but the pouring rain was making it more and more difficult to not only maintain her grip but also to see what was in front of her. The duelist was getting more and more difficult to track. “Clorinde, please! It’s me!” She cried. She wiped the rain from her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

It was no use, it was getting harder and harder to keep track of everything. The makeshift bandage was doing nothing to help either, the wet cloth wasn’t stemming any of the bleeding. Instead, it seemed to seep through with a continuous sting. Another deep rumble of thunder hid the wet slaps of incoming footsteps, and suddenly Clorinde was in her peripheral — sword dragging and being raised to strike. In an effort to spare herself, Navia managed to raise a weak geo shield. It was shattered only seconds after impact but gave her enough time to stumble backward to relative safety.

Another strike of lightning struck down mere yards away from her, and she felt a slight shiver of electricity going down her spine. Only a few feet away Clorinde almost seemed to be glowing from her vision.. a bright purple glow emanating from it. A few yards to the left of them stood a section of crumbled ruins. Despite what remained, rough and fragmented, there was enough still standing to shelter them from the weather. 

Navia’s head was flittering with possible plans. She needed to get the blindfold off of Clorinde, needed to somehow disarm her, and needed to lure her into the covered area, or at least hold off until some other members of the task force were able to catch up with her. Somehow she needed to do all that while causing the least harm possible. Thoughts floated in between. What had happened? What was going on beneath down in the ruins? How long would the task force be occupied? Where had Clorinde been all this time? Was her sight damaged? Was that blindfold really keeping her from seeing? Navia couldn’t tell. The duelist seemed to find the demoiselle easy enough, but being able to track a target while they weren’t in her sight was something she had learned with the Marechaussee Hunters. But why was she emanating electro energy? Was her vision broken? 

She decided to focus on disarming Clorinde first. With the way her arm was feeling she wasn’t sure she could keep up with the weight of her claymore in the weather conditions. If she had to fight, she would be better with hand-to-hand combat. Although Clorinde had bested Navia much more in that case, she still had a better chance. But the question was how could she possibly disarm the champion duelist? She thought back to earlier when she had utilized her geo vision to momentarily encapsulate Clorinde’s weapon.

Clorinde stalked forward, and Navia spun on her heel to back her way toward the ruin structure. Each swipe Navia narrowly missed, but the plan was formulating in her head. She could attempt to use geo to keep Clorinde’s weapon stuck, but it would utilize a large amount of power and energy. Instead, she hoped to lead Clorinde towards the ruins and lead her blade to get stuck in the crumbling rock.

As she managed to evade the slicing blade (though it eventually caught her skirt in a close call), she tried once more to talk to the navy-haired girl. “Clorinde I know you’re in there!” Navia shouted. “By the archons, I will make them pay for what they did to you!” A tear fell down her cheek, mixing in with the rest of the rain. “I’m so so sorry..” 

Another two lightning strikes cut down to the right and left of them, and Clorinde’s vision crackled with energy. Suddenly more rapid-fire slashes came at her, seemingly cutting through the rainfall. Navia desperately parried her, managing to fend her off before a wrong step on a stray mud-covered piece of rubble caused her descent to the muddy ground beneath her. 

She managed to brace her fall with her shoulder, looking up in worry as the navy-haired girl continued to hurl toward her at top speed. It seemed she wouldn’t be able to wait to subdue Clorinde’s blade. Although her face seemed calm, the way she held her body and gripped her sword with such vigor was purposeful and raw. Even during her duels she always seemed relatively at ease, and although each strike was precise it was never with as much energy as right then. In a majority of her duels, it all seemed effortless.

As the next swing hailed from the sky, Navia swung onto her back, narrowly missing the blade now pressing into the muddy earth. Desperately she began manifesting the geodes around Clorinde’s blade in an effort to finally disarm her. 

Trying to maintain the geodes’ strength around the blade as the duelist began pulling with incredible strength was taxing. Navia managed to make it back to her feet, but the energy draining from her was enough to leave her lightheaded and tipsy. She leaned slightly on the hilt of her claymore. Any longer and she wouldn’t be able to continue this form, so in an effort to prevent Clorinde from regaining her weapon, she raised her claymore and swung at the exposed blade. 

With a crack, the sword broke in two, and Clorinde flung back with her hands still on the hilt, stumbling a few steps back. Navia knew she would not be happy about it after she retained her conscious state, but that was something she’d deal with when she came to. Using the last reserves of her energy Navia dropped her claymore and lunged at Clorinde, one hand grasping around her waist while the other tried to keep the few inches of the broken blade from going anywhere. As they hit the ground the broken sword clattered two yards away onto the old marble floor of the ruins. 

Navia attempted to soften the blow to the gravel by twisting, giving her shoulder most of the impact. The stinging jolt was interrupted by Clorinde’s knee coming up to make contact with Navia’s stomach; her grasp on Clorinde faltering along with her breath. Pain spread through her jaw before she could move, quickly realizing that the duelist had indeed punched her in the face. 

It wasn’t that she wasn’t prepared for hand-to-hand combat, but it still seemed to come quicker than her mind could register. At the same time, everything seemed to go in slow motion. The president sharply drew a breath as her other shoulder dug itself into the wet gravel below, but she couldn’t catch herself. 

Clorinde’s face, still as marble, looked down with considerable emptiness. Despite the duelist's lack of mercy Navia still found herself too focused on the girl before her. 

She didn’t even see the two gloved hands wrapping around her throat. 

A coldness washed over Navia; fear entangled desperation. Despite her instinct to pry them away, Clorinde’s grip was solid and strong. 

A gasp — 

The pain in her throat was blinding. Clorinde wasn’t heavy, but it seemed as though she was intent on crushing her, placing all of her weight into the chokehold. 

Another gasp —  

Navia had begun to panic. The small gasps to try and get air in were of no use; it simply wasn’t enough. She tried to open her mouth to speak. Clorinde, please! But all that came out was a slew of indecipherable gurgling and choking. 

Gasp —  

The president was becoming lightheaded now, digging at wrists and fingers to desperately remove the duelist's grip. Her world was spinning. Her body was quickly losing energy. 

Gasp —  

The edges of her vision were blurring black, and more spots were appearing to take her into unconsciousness. Is this it? Is this really the end? There was a ringing in her ears now. Her eyes.. I just want to see them once more. 

Although the lack of oxygen was ruining her coordination, Navia desperately reached toward Clorinde’s face, her own gloved fingers clawing at the sides while trying to catch the fabric. 

Gasp —

Finally, there was a familiar glimmer of purple, shining like an electro crystal fly. Navia had managed to pry the blindfold away from the left side of Clorinde’s face, but she was quickly losing strength. Her two fingers fastened around the cloth were pulling down the rest, managing to reveal the other lavender eye. 

Gasp —  

Navia couldn’t help but relax at the sight. With her spotty vision, it almost seemed like the duelists' eyes were the only color amidst the darkness. The initial warmth brought on by Clorinde’s sight was quickly overtaken by creeping guilt and nausea. 

By the archons.. her gaze, it was so.. empty . 

At the same time, these thoughts came rushing to her suddenly the pressure in her throat lifted, and she found herself sputtering coughs and wheezing in any air she could manage. As her head swayed and she attempted to lift herself with her uninjured right arm while the left was up to guard against any other attacks, Clorindes hands — still in a choking position — trembled in midair. 

There was a flash of something on her face, but Navia was too preoccupied, pushing the frozen duelist off and managing to crawl a few inches before retching up her breakfast. 

She nearly blacked out, her vision spinning, and her head swayed like it was about to topple over. Her jaw and throat pulsed with pain so much that the pain in her forearm seemed childish in comparison. By the time she came to her senses, still choking out a few coughs while she attempted to catch her breath, she managed to turn back around to catch Clorinde on her knees. 

Seeing Clorinde in the middle of a downpour dead-eyed and kneeling with her hands hanging limply by her sides was enough to make Navia want to throw up once more. Her body was aching, and although any normal person would have been frustrated and angry, Navia only felt overwhelming guilt. 

It reminded her of the guilt of her father, of her mother, of Melus and Silver. Although she tried her best not to dwell on the past, not to let the anxiety and fear drown her, and to think positively, the thoughts linger there in the back of her mind like a stain that she can never fully wash out. If only she had been stronger and could’ve gone with Clorinde on the initial exploration. If only she would have gotten better sooner. If only she had disobeyed orders and left to go find Clorinde immediately after she had disappeared. If only she hadn’t waited this long. If only she had spoken about her fears from the beginning. If only, if only, if only ... 

For a small moment, she guiltily welcomed the pain blooming through her. She could feel the pulsing of it through her throat and jaw, and the blood slowly spreading through the wet bandages in her forearm. She couldn’t bear to hurt Clorinde any more than she already had been. This pain though.. Navia could take it. She would take it all. 

Spots still clouded her vision, cutting out pieces of the woman kneeling a few feet across from her. The blank stare and muddled vision made Clorinde look like a doll in pieces, something somehow broken and torn apart. 

No, something dead and gone. 

Navia refused to believe that Clorinde was gone, after all, she had seen how she reacted before, when she had spoken of memories and even seen her face. She was in there, there was something blocking out her spirit. By the archons, Navia would get it back. So many faces popped into the back of her mind. She may not have been able to save them, but she would save Clorinde. Even at the expense of herself. 

But how? The answer seemed to be on the tip of her tongue but her body and mind were both heavy with fatigue. 

Navia raised her bloodied hand to shield the rain from her face, swallowing with pain she felt she could taste. Well, actually she did taste blood, but that seemed insignificant at that moment. She had to push forward. 

“Cl—ri—“ Clorinde.. She tried. Yet the words died on her tongue; her voice raspy and stuck in her throat. Unless she was inches from an ear, nobody would have even half a chance to be able to decipher any of her words. She gritted her teeth, wanting to scream in frustration. There went the plan of trying to talk her out of it. 

Shakily, she made her way to her feet, trying to keep herself from toppling over. She was still lightheaded. Everything in her body screamed to stop moving. Although Clorinde stared through her, she also rose to her feet, almost like a puppet mirroring Navia’s actions. The demoiselle choked down the anger boiling in her. 

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a bolt of lightning struck a few yards away. The smell of crisp burning overtook the air, and she could see Clorinde beginning to stalk forward. Instinctively she took a few steps back, trying to figure out a plan. 

The flashes of purple electricity from Clorinde’s vision struck something in her, now seeing it faintly at the edge of her fingertips. Her vision, wait, had the abyss done something to it? Her mind thought back to something the traveler had mentioned about their experiences in Inazuma, something about visions and delusions from the Fatui... In her current state, her memory was hazy and muddled, but it was the only lead she had. 

She glanced behind Clorindes right side to see the ruins she had been trying to lure her to earlier, Clorinde’s broken blade glimmering on the marble with the rain. If she could manage to get her into a more confined space… 

A sudden rumble of the earth caught them both off guard. Further up the hill the ground began to move, and a small part of rubble was suddenly coming down the hill in a landslide. Before Navia could register it, she had already enveloped both of her plans and now was charging at Clorinde head-on once more. 

Wrapping her arms around Clorinde’s stomach, she pulled her up and dove the duo into the dilapidated remnants of the past. With the ruins slightly in a decline of the hill, she found herself rolling a few times before they finally found themselves underneath. The tumbling marble from above narrowly missed them, clanging against the outer wall facing uphill.

Being wrapped around Clorinde’s stomach gave her better leverage of not getting choked out again, but she was quickly being pushed off by the duelists' hands in her shoulders. Electricity pulsed through the contact, feeling erratic jolts that made her body shiver. Both of them were soaked to the bone and dripping water over the smooth floor, so the push was enough for Navia to slide a bit away. 

The shock left her feeling odd in a way Navia couldn’t describe. Although her geo energy was enough to ground some of the electricity, her body tingled with bits and pieces of pain, like she was surrounded by pins and needles. She pushed herself to her knees, realizing that she needed to end this as quickly as possible.  Her energy was fading, and she was worried about what was occurring in the ruins below. 

Navia narrowly avoided an incoming fist, mentally chiding herself to stay focused. This fight wasn’t over. If she could get Clorinde backed into a corner (quite literally in this case) or pinned to the ground she could get close enough to swipe her vision. She couldn’t talk her way out of it, but she had one thing that might be able to bring Clorinde back to her senses — touch.

She braced herself for Clorinde’s next few punches, managing to create small geo shields on her forearms as she held them up to block. Before long she found herself nearly backed up to the wall. Although she found it a bit underhanded, she purposefully set herself up for the last hit, ducking under the duelist's arm and wrapping her leg around the others' ankles to utilize her momentum and trip her up.

Clorinde stumbled into the cold wall, barely avoiding falling with her hands spread out against the marble. As Navia found her footing and turned back the duelist's foot was swiping high into her shoulder, sending her flying into the corner. Yet again the electricity pulsed through, and it almost felt like it was burning. She landed with a groan, well, as much of one as she could manage. Her voice was like a scratched record on a phonograph, skipping and distorting anything that came out of her mouth. 

Her body ached, and the light geo energy she was using to resist Clorinde’s electricity was fading. The duelist seemed all too easygoing, which was fair since Navia had been avoiding harming her. Any thought to lay a hand on her made her feel even more guilty and overwhelmed.

Before she could rise, Clorinde was already hovering above her, the sole of her boot ready to strike. Her face seemed to burn into Navia’s mind, her purple eyes still and empty with dark circles underneath; her waving hair that fell around her face reminded her of tendrils reaching out from the deepest points of the sea, threatening to take her under. The navy tresses seemed to emphasize and illuminate her pale and gaunt face. Although it lasted mere moments, it seemed like time had stopped indefinitely. Her chest ached. She had grown to be able to read every single expression of Clorinde’s. But this… it was soulless. Devoid of any emotion. She hated it. Hated it all. 

Instead of pushing her off, Navia caught her boot, twisted her leg, and pulled it towards her upper body as hard as she could manage. Clorinde fell back onto Navia’s legs with a thud, and Navia quickly realized this was her chance. If she could orient herself back around... 

There was a fumble of limbs, a swift kick to Navia’s stomach while Navia had somehow grasped onto Clorinde’s cape. In an effort to turn herself around she took kick and punch, with the duelist trying her best to pry the blonde off of her. Although both of their clothes were wet Navia grasped onto anything she could, somehow managing to straddle her leg and pulling just inches from her cravat where her vision lay. 

She reached out with her free hand to grab the edge of the necktie, crying out as a sharp pain palpitated in her outer thigh. Instead of pulling her up, Navia fell forward in pain, looking back to see the familiar hilt of Clorinde’s sword sticking out of her leg. Panic wracked through her, realizing that the broken blade had somehow made its way back to the duelists' hands. 

The next few moments seemed to flash by like a kamera’s photos, vivid moments with emptiness in between — things were going in slow motion yet too fast to comprehend and keep up. Pain — a removal of of the blade — her hand wrapping around the vision crackling with energy — another pierce, this time in the side of her stomach —  ripping the vision from her chest — dragging the blade down her side, cutting her open — throwing the burning vision somewhere, anywhere — and suddenly her lips were pressed to the duelists. 

Everything seemed out of body, out of time. Navia only came back to reality when she realized that the other was kissing her back. 

Navia pulled away, cradling the crook of her cheek with a trembling hand. Finally, the light was back to Clorinde’s eyes, but her face was holding a bewildered expression. “Y-Yo-u’re bac—“ Navia’s voice was cracking and no louder than a sputtered whisper.  

“Navia..?” Concern laced her voice, but the Spina president was giving out. Her shoulders could no longer hold herself up, and Clorinde’s face was becoming more and more blurry. She could still feel the broken blade perforating her side, and the coldness of the rain seemed to finally chill her to the bone. 

Before she knew it, she was pressed against Clorinde’s chest, listening as her heartbeat sped and she called Navia’s name once more, this time filled with fear. She could feel her movement, pushing both her and Navia’s deadweight upright while trying her best to press against the open wound in her leg and not jostle the blade hilt still sticking out of her.

“No no.. oh gods…” Clorinde’s voice seemed too far away. A hand cradled the back of her head, and she embraced the coolness of the floor beneath her. “What have I ..?” Navia couldn’t help but relax at the sound of Clorinde’s voice. It sounded sad, but she relished hearing it one last time, just like her eyes. 

Navia was unsure of how much time had passed, but every few moments Clorinde’s icy hand would pat her cheek, getting her eyes to flutter open for a few moments. Things were being said, at least by the way the duelist's mouth moved and looked at her with a desperate gaze. Instead, everything sounded like she was drifting through the sea. Words were muffled and although her body seemed to be reacting to pain, weakly pushing away hands that were pressing down on wounds, it felt so far away. Her mind was sinking while everything else was connected above the surface. 

Strangely Navia felt at peace. Was she going to meet her end? Would she finally be able to see the people that left her too early? It felt so, at least out of all the times she fell sick or hurt. This... this felt different. She thought she would be more scared.  

Once again her eyes fluttered open tiredly at another cusp of her cheek. Clorinde was hovering just above her, tears streaming and a small patch of blood swiped across her cheek. She couldn’t hear her words, not clearly anyway, but Navia managed to read ‘Please’ from her lips. ‘I love you’ was next, and Navia smiled gently, using as much energy as she could muster. 

Her body felt cold, and the pain was so far away it seemed like she was imagining it. Clorinde’s forehead pressed to Navia’s, and she welcomed the gentle warmth radiating from her. The duelist leaned further down to place a gentle kiss on the demoiselle’s lips. 

Navia wanted to say she loved her, she wanted to leave her with parting words to be happy and take care of Poisson. She couldn’t leave her with that responsibility though. It seemed unfair. 

Navia wanted to believe in fate. She wondered if this is how the gods wanted her to go, at the hands of her lover like the end of a tragic play. In every lifetime she was certain she would love her just as much as she did then, even if it killed her. 

The heaviness of her eyelids was something she couldn’t ignore any longer. She let her eyes close. Though her senses were dulled, the smell of soft rain and Clorinde’s natural scent mixed together and permeated her nose. It was the last thing she remembered. 

Navia’s world was fading deep into the abyss. 

She would find her in the next lifetime.